Chapter 397 Starry Sky Dream Rice Wine
Xiulan tried to make part of the mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year. Lin Heng bought some, but she had nothing to do with her children at home, so she decided to make some of them herself.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the smelly mandarin fish was also prepared. Lin Heng gave one to his eldest brother, and kept two at home. The remaining three were stored in the freezer until he wanted to eat them.
After cleaning the stinky mandarin fish, the smell actually disappears. After frying, it is almost invisible. You don’t need to add any seasonings, just a little ginger slices and peppercorns, add a little chili sauce and cook for two minutes. It’s out of the pot.
The meat of the stinky mandarin fish is very firm, and it has a special smell when you eat it. You can’t tell whether it’s smelly or fragrant, but it’s really delicious.
When they got up early in the morning on the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin Heng took care of their children at home. Xiulan and the others all went to the Guanyin Mother Temple to offer incense. By the way, they also opened Xiaoxia's herring stone pendant.
At noon, Lin Heng’s family made a big table and invited his parents and elder brother’s family. In the evening, he went to his elder brother’s house to eat. The Mid-Autumn Festival day ended with a cheerful dinner.
Fish, chicken, as well as tofu, crabs and snails, everyone felt physically and mentally comfortable and felt like they had gained two pounds.
After eating, we came out to see the bright moon hanging high in the sky. The bright yellow moon seemed to be able to see the small craters above.
Xiulan brought out moon cakes and mosquito coils, and Caiyun brought out checkers. Today, her parents were not in a hurry to leave, but played with him.
While eating moon cakes and chatting, Xiaoxia asked everyone to tell her the story of the moon. Father Lin and Mother Lin knew that there were quite a few stories about the moon, so they smiled and told Xiaoxia.
"Grandma, let me tell you about Chang'e flying to the moon." Mother Lin hugged her and said.
"Grandpa will tell you later about Wu Gang's cutting down Gui and the Jade Rabbit making medicine." Father Lin also said with a smile.
None of them had read any books, and they were all telling fairy tales passed down orally, stories that Lin Heng had told him before when he was a child.
Xiaoxia shook her head. She had heard this story many times: "No, no, no, I've heard these two before, and I don't want to hear them!"
"Then we won't do anything else, dear granddaughter." Mother Lin said helplessly, spreading her hands.
"Dad, tell me." Xiaoxia got into Lin Heng's arms and said coquettishly.
Lin Heng put down the food and looked at her and said, "Then let me tell you about the world we live in. Does Xiaoxia think the world we live in is round or square?"
< br>Xiaoxia tilted her head and thought for a while, pointed to the moon and said: "It is round, the moon is round."
"In fact, the world we live in is a spherical one, and we live on the surface of the ball. , if we keep walking in one direction, we will eventually return to the origin from the back direction..."
Lin Heng demonstrated to Xiaoxia with a round pastry. Xiaoxia opened her eyes wide and was surprised to find that walking around on the ball can actually return to the starting point.
"Then why are there still flat lands and high mountains?" Mother Lin next to her wondered.
“That’s because we are too small and the ball is too big. On the whole, even the highest mountain is just an inconspicuous small bulge on the big sphere of the earth, just like our hands. The lines on the palm are also insignificant and do not affect its spherical shape at all... "
"Also, the moon revolves around our earth, and it will always face us from the current side. This is called tidal locking..."
"And outside the sky, the sun It's actually a huge fireball..."
Lin Heng told Xiaoxia all this from the simplest astronomical knowledge, and tried his best to explain it all. Caiyun next to him was also helping to explain.
Not only Xiaoxia is fascinated by this knowledge, but his parents are also fascinated by it.
When Lin Heng finished speaking, everyone was still looking up at the stars, as if at this moment everyone understood what the moon meant and what those stars in the sky meant.
It turns out that this universe is so big and so gorgeous, and it turns out that human beings are so small.
"Dad, I really want to fly out and have a look." Xiaoxia huddled in Lin Heng's arms and looked at the moon and said.
"Then you can work hard to become an astronaut, and then you can go out on a rocket to see the earth." Lin Heng said with a smile.
There was a time when he wanted to fly out and see if the earth was really round. The universe was so mysterious that people were full of curiosity, but he was destined to have no chance.
But Xiaoxia still has the opportunity to use her prophetic advantage to obtain enough money to train her in that direction.
But, it depends on what Xiaoxia wants to do when she becomes sensible. One of the meanings of making money is that her children can do what they want to do.
"Then I want to be an astronaut when I grow up!" Xiaoxia said, raising her little hand.
"I also want to be an astronaut!" Lin Wei's voice rang out from the eldest brother's yard next door. Apparently he also heard Lin Heng's speech.
"Then you have to work hard and don't let your dreams fade." Lin Heng smiled, picked up the mooncakes, handed one to his wife, and ate one himself.
"Listening to what you said, it's incredible to restore the universe."
Father and Mother Lin also had expressions of emotion on their faces.
Lin Heng smiled and said: "So enjoy life more, don't always work hard, and hire people when you need them."
"We know." Father Lin also smiled and stood up, "Okay, let's go back and go to bed."
Lin Heng stood up and sent the two of them out, watching the two fight. He slowly walked towards Hongfeng Mountain while holding the phone and talking. He felt a little emotional in his heart.
Lin Heng came back. Xiulan had already entered the house because her son was crying, and Caiyun also took the things back.
After taking a look at the bright moon and the silent moonlit night, he walked into the house to help Xiulan.
After changing the diapers of her two sons and carrying them into the bedroom, Xiulan fed them again, and then Lin Heng put them in the cradle and rocked them to sleep.
The two sons' beds were on the end of Lin Heng's feet, and the daughter's bed was on their left. While Lin Heng and the two were coaxing their son to sleep, Xiaoxia crawled over again and acted coquettishly: "Dad, tell me about the earth, moon and sun again. I still want to hear it."
"Okay, wait a moment. Ah, your brother is going to fall asleep soon." Lin Heng touched her head and said.
Xiaoxia nodded and lay on the edge of the bed looking at her two younger brothers. After a while, they fell asleep. They were placed in the crib and covered with a small quilt and a small mosquito net.
Taking off his clothes and going to bed, Lin Heng once again told Xiaoxia the astronomical knowledge he had talked about before. He regretted that there was too little material in this era. It was difficult to buy planet models and globes, and there were no small astronomical instruments. A telescope, otherwise you can take Xiaoxia to see the moon clearly.
Xiaoxia gradually fell asleep while he was telling her story. It seemed that she could have a wonderful dream tonight.
"I'm so tired today." Lin Heng lay down and looked at Xiulan.
"Although I am a little tired, I am also very happy." Xiulan replied, glanced at him and said softly, "Go to sleep." It's starting to get cold, so you need to cover yourself with a quilt when sleeping at night, otherwise you'll be freezing in the early morning.
The quilts I give my daughter and son are all fixed at the four corners and cannot be pushed open. Even so, I always have to get up in the middle of the night to cover them.
When I woke up the next day, life was as usual. After breakfast, Lin Heng went to the side of the town where the national highway was being built. He quickly met the excavator master here through the smoke. After chatting for a while, the master said You have to find a project manager.
He introduced the project manager to Lin Heng. After the discussion was almost complete, Lin Heng called him and the project manager to have dinner at the Jinyu Restaurant in the town. In the afternoon, he took people to Hongfeng Mountain to look at the approximate scale. Finally, after some discussion and negotiation, Lin Heng completed the matter at a cost of two thousand yuan.
When the excavator came to dig, he first paid a deposit of 500 yuan, and after the digging was completed, he paid the remaining 1,500 yuan.
The stipulation is that in addition to building a dirt road to the top of the mountain and digging two platforms of 1,500 square meters, we must also help to open up other wasteland a little.
Originally, Lin Heng wanted a large platform of 3,000 square meters, but they said that the construction volume of the large platform was too large, so it was eventually changed to two 1,500 square meters, with the same area, but the amount of work It's much smaller.
After Lin Heng sent the person away, Lin's father couldn't wait to come over and ask: "Son, have we negotiated?"
"How much is it?" Lin's mother also asked quickly.
Lin Heng explained: "We have agreed that the two thousand yuan will not count the money spent on cigarettes and meals. They will be responsible for paying..."
"So expensive!" Mother Lin was a little surprised. .
Father Lin glanced at her and said, "It looks expensive, but it's not a huge loss if you can do so many things. If it's labor, it's more expensive and the work will be slow. It may not be completed in half a year."< br>
"Yes, digging will be much faster. And since the National Day holiday is on the 1st, they will come over and dig first." Lin Heng nodded.
"That's okay." Mother Lin nodded. She was just asking about this kind of thing. If Lin Heng thought it was good, then that would be fine.
"By the way, son, there is one more thing. Two oxen are in estrus again. I guess the other cows are about to go into estrus as well." Father Lin said at this time.
"I'm going to take a look and breed some oxen in the next two days." Lin Heng said as he walked past.
The big scalper that his family gave to his eldest brother was fanned and did not have breeding function. However, there were many big scalpers in the village that were not fanned.
He put on his water pants and went to the cow and sheep pen. He first checked the cows in heat, and then used a shovel to clean and disinfect the sheep pen.
Lambs need to pay special attention to hygiene during the period when they are born. Not only do they need to clean the sheepfold every two days, but they also need to apply alcohol to disinfect their umbilical cords.
Nowadays, sheep cannot be vaccinated when they are born, so special attention needs to be paid to these issues.
You will still need to get vaccinated when you get older. Although according to his memory, there will be no particularly serious cattle and sheep epidemics in the next few years, you still have to get vaccinated when the time comes, and you can't save a small amount of money.
After cleaning the sheepfold and rinsing the water pants, Lin Heng returned home.
Xiulan made steamed buns made of fennel leaves today, which tasted great with porridge.
Lin Heng told her what happened today, and Xiulan thought it was a good deal.
After dinner, Lin Heng didn’t go out. He helped take care of the children at home. Xiulan wanted to use last year’s old glutinous rice and wheat to make rice wine.
The first step in making rice wine is to make wheat koji. Choose the best wheat and grind it with a millstone. The Xiulan has been prepared. Lin Heng can help grind it.
Because there is not much grinding, there is no need for animals, so two people push the stone and grind it by hand. There is no need to remove the wheat bran from the ground flour. It can be steamed directly in the pot. After steaming, let it cool to room temperature. Add the distiller's yeast, stir evenly, and place in a jar for sealed fermentation.
I made a wheat koji at this time in the evening. It will take a week for it to ferment, and then we can start making rice wine.
In fact, there are rice wine koji sold on the market now, which can be made directly with glutinous rice after buying it. However, farmers still like the production method passed down by word of mouth, and the rice wine produced has a more mellow taste.
Early the next morning, after dinner, Lin Heng and his father went to the village to look for suitable large cattle from house to house, preparing to breed the cows in heat.
After looking around, I finally chose the big ox from Jin Yan’s family, because her family also raised cattle and sheep. The big ox was well-proportioned and strong, and its balls were also very huge. Father Lin thought it was a breeding stock. Good stuff.
"Lao Jin, let's bring him over for breeding." After the discussion, Lin's father looked at Jin Yan and his father smiled and said, the breeding fee is one yuan, and they will be kept here at Hongfeng Mountain for the next two days. breeding.
Although the Lin family's proposed marriage to the Jin family had not been successful in the past, there was not much conflict, so it was normal to borrow cattle for breeding.
"Okay." Jin Gui took a puff of cigarette and nodded with a smile, and took Lin Heng and the others to pull the big bull, wanting to follow them to Hongfeng Mountain.
They led the cow to Hongfeng Mountain. Jin Gui looked around curiously, looking envious.
Lin Heng asked his father to follow Jin Gui to prevent him from running around, and then he and his mother brought over two estrous cows.
In front of everyone, first clean the key parts of the cow with water, and then check it before you start.
Someone helped hold the cow down so that the big bull could better complete the mating. After that, he put some grass on it and kept it here in Hongfeng Mountain for the past two days. It will be mated several times to ensure success.
After Jin Gui took a look at it, he went back with confidence.
Lin Heng took the cow back and looked at the lambs. After coming out, he helped his parents cut grass and clean up the vegetable garden.
When the excavator comes tomorrow, a road will be built up the mountain. There is no need to wind up the mountain in this area from the top of the mountain, because the slope is not big. Then a straight road will be built.
Just go straight up along the road in the middle of the shrimp pond and make it three meters wide.
Wait until you reach the top of the mountain, then start winding the mountain, all the way to the cabin on the top of the mountain.
The original path built along the mountain stream will be regarded as a path and will not be changed.
Going up the mountain will destroy part of the pasture and vegetable gardens. Today, they will harvest the vegetables and pasture that will be destroyed first to avoid wasting it.
The fresh grass that is cut is directly chopped with a grass chopper and fed to the cattle and sheep. Recently, silage and hay have not been fed.
It was already half past six when he finished his work. Lin Heng was holding a basket of picked purslane, which he had just cleaned up the vegetable garden.
"Daughter-in-law, let's eat cold purslane tonight."
Lin Heng opened the door and shouted.
In the house, Xiulan was collecting dried sweet potatoes that had been steamed and sun-dried. Xiaoxia was eating them secretly in the name of helping.
Seeing the basket he was carrying, Xiulan nodded and said, "Okay, have you picked it yet?"
"Yes, you can just wash it and serve it cold." Lin Heng nod.
After saying that, he put down the basket and came over to help. Xiaoxia took dried sweet potatoes and wanted to give him some.
After collecting the things, Lin Heng helped to cook. In the evening Xiulan made cold noodles, including cold purslane and cold cucumber shreds.
Eating purslane with a unique texture and taste, Lin Heng and Xiulan chatted about what they had done in the afternoon and ended their day happily.
(End of this chapter)