Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

"Brother, open the door!"

The knocking on the door ended, and Lin Yue's voice rang outside.

"It's brother. Did he catch a prey?" Xiulan asked curiously.

"I'll find out when I go take a look." Lin Heng said as he stood up to take a look.

Opening the gate to the yard, he saw his eldest brother standing at the door, carrying a large wild boar with brown and gray hair on his shoulders.

Lin Yue said excitedly: "The trap we set worked today, but this wild boar is not big."

"Come into the room and talk!" Lin Heng quickly let his eldest brother in, without stopping the other people who followed him in to watch the fun.

"This wild boar is probably only over a hundred years old, a bit too small." Lin Yue put the wild boar down and said.

Lin Heng smiled and said: "Okay, this size is the most suitable."

"Yes, a wild boar this big is the most delicious."

"No matter how old you are, you are too old to be able to bite your flesh."

Several old men onlookers echoed that they seemed to be very knowledgeable about what they ate.

When Lin Heng went to get the scale, Lin Yue told everyone about his hunting process. In fact, the wild boar was already dying when he went there. Lin Heng's big clamp dug into the flesh and blood. The wild boar had lost a lot of blood due to its violent struggle. Even if he didn't make up for that shot, it would be difficult for it to survive.

After taking the scale to weigh it, Lin Heng smiled and said: "One hundred and twelve pounds, which is pretty good."

Pig fat in autumn. The hair of this wild boar is gray. At first glance, it looks like a young wild boar that is one or two years old. The meat quality is the best.

Lin Yue nodded and said, "That's okay. I'll go back and let your sister-in-law boil some water. You can also boil some here. We can kill the pigs later."

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded in agreement, took Xiulan into the house, then went to the kitchen to boil two pots of water, and then boiled a bucket of water in a wooden barrel as hot as possible.

The few old men and women who came into the house to watch didn't want to leave, so Lin Heng poured them a glass of boiling water and ignored them. Several people found it a bit boring not to kill the pig for a long time, so they ran into the house and took a look at Lin Heng's freezer before reluctantly leaving.

Lin Heng saw them leaving and quickly closed the door, but left it unlocked.

"Do you want to freeze this wild boar after killing it?" Xiulan asked while looking at Xiaoxia.

Lin Heng glanced at the wild boar and said, "Just keep some of the fresh meat, and dry the rest into bacon before storing it. The weather is now very suitable for drying bacon."

Although this is a female wild boar, the fresh meat still tastes great. Sun-cured meat not only retains its own flavor, but also reduces the smell.

Another thing is that the heavy salt in bacon can kill parasites and bacteria in wild boar meat.

"You think the same as me." Xiulan said with a smile.

The fresh taste of wild boar meat is not particularly good, but she still likes to make it into bacon before eating it. The advantage of the freezer is that worms will not grow when the bacon is frozen.

"Dad, are we still making Qiuli ointment today?" Xiaoxia grabbed the Tangli in the dustpan and asked, tilting her head.

"Let's do it. We'll do it in the afternoon after the pig is killed." Lin Heng picked up a Tang pear and took a bite.

Compared with before, Tangli is now much sweeter, but still a bit astringent.

When the water was almost boiling, Father Lin and Mother Lin came over.

"Such a big wild boar is awesome." Father Lin turned over the wild boar and said with a smile.

"There is no need to kill pigs for the New Year." Mother Lin said happily.

"The water is boiling, let's soup the pig first." Lin Yue reminded with a smile.

Then they went to the old house and brought a big wooden bucket. The big wooden bucket, which had not been soaked in water for a long time, leaked badly. Fortunately, the pigs are relatively young and the soup is ready in ten minutes, so the hair can be plucked out easily.

The next step is to hang it up, disembowel it, and cut the pork.

This pig had a greater credit for being able to hit Lin Yuezhan. He advocated an equal share, but Lin Heng naturally did not want to take advantage of his eldest brother.

The final result of the discussion was to give him the pig's head and lard fat, and the remaining two people would divide it equally.

In terms of internal organs, Lin Heng got the pig's large intestine, pig's liver and pig's lungs, while the small intestine, pig's heart and pig's belly were all given to his elder brother.

The pork is divided equally, from the spine into two halves, half for each person.

"Brother, put these two pieces of meat in your freezer and freeze it for me. It'll be delicious and fresh."

After the meat was divided, Lin Yue held up two pieces of pork belly and said with a smile.

"That's no problem." Lin Heng cut it into small pieces, put it in a plastic bag and stored it separately.

His family also left about ten pounds of fresh meat, not whole pieces, but all lean meat.

This wild boar eats well in autumn and has a lot of fat, but the fresh fat is not tasty.

Mother Lin helped Lin Heng salt the pork and asked, "I got a lot of fennel seeds this year, do you want them?"

"Yes, I'll go get it with you later." Lin Heng nodded. This time I used light salt for the pork, because I have a freezer so I don’t have to worry about it going bad if the salt is too little.

Rub the pork with salt and marinate it in a basin overnight before taking it out to dry or smoke.

"The pig intestines are also turned, so let's go back first." Father Lin said as he entered the house carrying the processed pig intestines.

Over at Hongfeng Mountain, the workers called were still clearing land, and he couldn't leave for too long.

"I'm with you guys." Lin Heng gave them a piece of meat so they could fry it for lunch. It happened that his third father, uncle, and others were also there.

When Lin Heng came back from Hongfeng Mountain with fennel, Xiulan also prepared a lot of spices for him.

"You crush these and smear them on the meat to make the bacon more delicious."

Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said that she was more experienced in handling bacon than Lin's mother.

"Okay." Lin Heng rinsed the spices, lit a charcoal fire and slowly roasted them, and finally pounded them into powder with a stone mortar and applied it to the pork.

At noon, they fried wild boar meat and ate rice. Wild boar meat still needs to be fried with hot and sour pickles and pickled radish to reduce the fishy smell of pork while retaining its unique flavor.

The hot and sour flavor is more delicious with rice, but Xiaoxia always slurps it up when it is spicy and asks for honey water to relieve the spiciness.

"This wild boar meat is not bad, it is quite tender." Xiulan commented after eating.

Lin Heng nodded and said, "It should be the wild boar from last year. The taste is also very good. It may be because they eat more chestnuts."

Compared with the wild boar meats they had eaten before, this wild boar meat tasted strangely much better.

Xiulan said, "Since it is not bad, let's keep more fresh pork."

"I will cut some more and put it in the refrigerator later." Lin Heng nodded.

In the afternoon, Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain to help with some work, mainly chatting with Lin Hai and Li Shiwei.

After returning home, he started to make autumn pear paste. His family bought both monk fruit and Sichuan Fritillaria.

Wash the pears and pour them into the pot and boil until they are soft. Then take them out and crush them with a mortar and put them back into the pot. Add monk fruit, ginger, red dates, and some Sichuan fritillaria and cook together.

Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. It took an entire afternoon to cook, and Xiaoxia was tired of waiting for the food.

Xiulan was in charge of stirring, and Lin Heng took the time to chop the pork ribs and pork legs into small pieces with an axe and put them in the freezer for storage.

Pork is delicious when made into bacon, but pork legs and ribs are not. They have to be cooked fresh to be the best.

After finishing the ribs and pork legs, Lin Heng processed the pig intestines, cut them, and fried them initially.

"Honey, do you think it's almost done?" Xiulan shouted as the sun was about to set.

Lin Heng came over and saw that the autumn pear paste was already thick and looked like honey in summer.

"It's completely fine." Lin Heng nodded, he took the pot off the fire, and went to get gauze to filter it again before putting it into a glass bottle.

"Three bottles of autumn pear paste are made from nearly 50 kilograms of pears." Lin Heng said as he looked at the finished autumn pear paste.

This bottle is 300 milliliters, and three bottles are less than one liter.

Xiulan took a spoon and tasted a little and said in surprise: "I thought it would be very sour and astringent, but it tasted so good, sweet and sour."

"Mom, I want it too~" Xiaoxia hugged her mother's legs coquettishly, she had been waiting for a long time.

Xiulan scooped a spoonful, blew it and fed it to her, and Xiaoxia smiled happily: "It's delicious!"

"Try it." Xiulan fed Lin Heng another spoonful.

After tasting it, Lin Heng nodded: "It's a little sour, you can add some honey."

The strong aroma of autumn pear paste is unquestionable, much stronger than the ones you buy. This kind of pear has a faint pear fragrance, which seems to be better than ordinary pears.

"This way, mom can also do some. There are still a lot of pears on the mountain." Xiulan said with a smile. Pears are still standing on the branches in winter, and those that fall to the ground are basically not rotten.

Lin Heng promised: "Tell her another day."

Put the autumn pear paste on the coffee table to cool, and they started to make dinner again. They fried pig intestines with pickled radish and made a pig intestines noodle dish.

The next day, they got up early and hung the pork to dry, not preparing to smoke it directly.

In the following days, Lin Heng took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to feel the last aftertaste of autumn. In addition to helping at Hongfeng Mountain, he accompanied Xiulan and Xiaoxia.

As it got colder, trees such as cotinus and red maple gradually shed their leaves. Hongfeng Mountain seemed to have a layer of beautiful leaf carpet. Unfortunately, Xiulan couldn't go up to see it this year. She couldn't climb such a steep slope when she was pregnant with twins. .

The work of clearing the land was not going fast. The work of removing tree roots and stones was very troublesome and time-consuming. Twenty people could only clear nearly one acre of land a day.

It was already the second Sunday in November. Caiyun was on holiday and could help take care of Xiulan. Lin Heng and his elder brother went to Baishigou to look for prey for two days.

Unlike last time, this time they had little harvest. They didn't catch any large prey in two days. Lin Heng got the most enoki mushrooms, and the prey he caught was a hazel grouse.

His elder brother was a little luckier and caught two pheasants. The other two didn't encounter any, which could be said to be a failure.

"I'll come back tomorrow to see, I don't believe there are none." On the way back, Lin Yue was a little unwilling.

"I don't recommend you come alone, it's too far and very dangerous." Lin Heng patted his elder brother's shoulder. He couldn't come tomorrow.

"Then I'll call someone else to come together. I'll tell you when I have a clue." Lin Yue thought about it and said that it was indeed very dangerous for a person to be in the wild.

When he got home, Lin Heng hung the chicken soup on the wall, ready to stew it for Xiulan tomorrow.

"This is quite expensive, why don't you keep it and sell it?" Xiulan suggested.

"No need, you are more valuable than anything else." Lin Heng refused with a smile.

Xiulan was amused and smiled: "You are the best at talking."

"I am telling the truth."

Lin Heng came over and sat beside her, listening to the fetal movement in her belly. It was very obvious now, and he could feel the fetus kicking its legs from time to time.

"I just don't know if it's a boy or a girl." Xiulan sighed while touching her belly.

"You will know in two months, don't worry." Lin Heng stroked her hair and said with a smile.

"Okay." Xiulan nodded.

The next morning, Lin Heng cooked the chicken with charcoal fire, added Codonopsis, red dates, chestnuts, and lotus seeds, and it tasted delicious with a little salt.

After stewing, Lin Heng took Xiulan for a walk to Hongfeng Mountain. She is now in the late stage of pregnancy, nearly eight months, and the burden on her body is getting heavier. She needs to be supported when walking.

But staying at home all the time is not a good thing. Even if you are reading, you can't stand it and need to walk out from time to time.

It is November 13th now. The leaves have basically fallen. Except for some pine forests, most areas are bare.

Trees like ginkgo, which shed leaves very late, can't hold on. With a gust of wind, countless golden leaves fall down, and the whole tree gradually becomes bare.

Xiaoxia picked up a lot of leaves and asked Lin Heng to teach her how to make flowers. After making them, she gave them to her mother, which made Xiulan very happy.

When we came to Hongfeng Mountain, we could see the workers who were clearing the land halfway up the mountain from a distance. Compared with a few days ago, the halfway up the mountain now looks much neater.

It is no longer as messy as before. The land that has been reclaimed has been planted with ryegrass, which has grown to three or four centimeters high, and looks green and well-arranged.

"Is ryegrass planted all over Hongfeng Mountain?" Xiulan asked while looking at the hillside.

Lin Heng nodded: "The land that has been reclaimed later cannot be planted for the time being. It is too cold. We have to plant it in the spring of next year."

Xiulan nodded and pulled Lin Heng slowly towards the breeding base.

"Awoo~"

As soon as they entered the breeding base, Lai Fu made a welcoming howl.

"It has been pregnant for a month, right?" Xiulan asked curiously.

"Yes, it should be born at the beginning of next month." Lin Heng nodded and said that he was looking forward to the child of Xiongba and Lai Fu. I wonder if it will inherit Xiongba's intelligence.

"Why don't we take it back and feed it something good? Mom and the others are reluctant to feed it well." Caiyun looked at Lai Fu and said.

"Okay, I'll bring Fengshou over some other day and replace Laifu." Lin Heng agreed. His mother would use rice to clean the remaining grease in the pot after frying pork, and she was really average in feeding dogs.

Their generation is often said to be "hard-working", and they are very distressed about things. They are reluctant to throw away expired things, and even those that are seriously moldy.

But in fact, there is no way, because they have experienced the famine years of eating tree bark and Guanyin soil, and the habit of saving has been engraved in their bones. It is difficult for those who have not experienced it to understand their behavior.

However, compared with before, his parents have improved a lot, and they are not the kind of stubborn people.

After playing here for a day, Lin Heng helped with the work, and Xiulan took a walk here. In the afternoon, when they went back, the hazel grouse soup was also stewed very well. The charcoal fire was lit again and heated, and the three of them could enjoy it together.

Days passed one by one, and it was the third Sunday of November in a blink of an eye. Lin Heng went hunting in the mountains with his eldest brother again.

This time, the direction is still Baishigou. The final destination is the Birch Cliff where Baishigou crosses Sanmianliang. This time, we stayed in the mountains for two days, hoping to catch more prey.

It was just the beginning of winter, and the prey was still plump and active. Both of them wanted to get a deer or roe deer home, so that they would have meat for the New Year.

But things did not go as planned again. Not to mention deer and robes, even wild boars could not be caught. Only Lin Heng caught two grouse and Lin Yue caught three golden roosters.

"Could it be that there is no prey here?" Lin Yue began to doubt his life.

Lin Heng exhaled and said, "Maybe it is possible."

It was really frustrating that nothing was found after two days of perseverance.

Lin Yue looked at the foggy sky and suggested, "Then let's go to Sanchagou next Sunday."

"I have to go to the district to attend the commendation meeting, so I have to wait until December." Lin Heng shook his head.