Chapter 79: The Chain Reaction Triggered by the Mulberry Yellow

“Be careful,” Xiu Lan said after seeing that Lin Heng was fine. She then went to clean up the dishes.

Lin Heng brought in the dry, unusable straw and spread it out on the bed, then placed the blanket and sheet for his wife on the side.

When he went out to help his wife with the dishes, he noticed that his mother had come back after sending someone off and was helping out. He grabbed a broom and swept the floor, and there was little left to do in the house.

“Here, this is for Xiong Ba’s meal.” Xiu Lan brought out a big bowl of leftover food, with some chicken bones mixed in.

“Okay.”

Lin Heng took it outside and poured it into Xiong Ba’s dog bowl.

“Woof woof~”

Xiong Ba wagged his tail excitedly. As soon as Lin Heng approached, the dog stretched its head out and eagerly started eating.

“There’s some clay tiles and wooden boards left over there. Tomorrow, I’ll order a fancy dog house for you.” Lin Heng patted Xiong Ba’s head and promised.

He had intended to build one earlier, but since they were always moving houses, he never got around to it.

“Second brother, Xiao Xia has fallen asleep. Should I put her in bed?”

Inside the house, Cai Yun, holding Xiao Xia, asked softly.

“Come over here, she has her own bed.”

Lin Heng led the way. This time, he had a carpenter make a special baby bed, with high barriers around it so they wouldn’t have to worry about the child rolling out.

“This little bed is beautiful,” Cai Yun said with bright eyes as she looked at the crib.

“Of course, it’s made of pure pine and finely polished,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Cai Yun placed Xiao Xia in the crib, and as she covered her with a blanket, she noticed the four corners of the blanket had ropes tied to them. She was puzzled. “What is this for?”

“To prevent her from kicking off the blanket. I tied it to the four sides of the crib, so she can’t kick it off. It’s the first time we’re using it, so let’s try it out.”

Lin Heng explained and tied the ropes.

“Did you come up with this idea, Second Brother?” Cai Yun said in disbelief.

“Of course. Otherwise, I’d be worrying about her catching a cold while we sleep,” Lin Heng laughed.

“Hope it works,” Cai Yun said with a smile, and left with Lin Heng’s mother.

Xiu Lan sent them out the door and closed it, then suddenly felt a bit uneasy. The house had gone from being full with 11 people to just three, and it felt too quiet—she wasn’t used to it.

“Go wash your feet and rest. Do you still want to take a bath?” Lin Heng had already prepared foot-washing water and slippers for them both.

“No need, I haven’t gone out today,” Xiu Lan shook her head.

“Then hurry and sit down and wash, I’ll wash after you,” Lin Heng said.

Xiu Lan blinked and sat down to wash her feet. As soon as she took off her shoes, Lin Heng’s hand reached over.

“I knew it,” Xiu Lan said with a mischievous glint in her bright eyes.

Lin Heng said seriously, “I just saw you were tired and wanted to give you a foot massage.”

“Then go ahead,” Xiu Lan nodded, watching him as he worked.

“Really soft,” Lin Heng said with a silly smile.

It took a while to finish washing Xiu Lan’s feet. After Lin Heng finished his own and emptied the water, they both turned toward the bedroom.

“Ah!”

As soon as they entered the bedroom, Lin Heng lifted Xiu Lan in his arms. She was startled and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck to avoid falling.

“What are you doing?” Xiu Lan gave him a mock glare.

“Hehe, what do you think? Xiao Xia has her own bed, so we don’t need to worry about waking her up tonight,” Lin Heng grinned.

Xiu Lan looked down, her face turning slightly red. “Do you want me to give you a son?”

“Let’s leave that for next year. Let’s just forget about it for now,” Lin Heng chuckled as he placed Xiu Lan on the bed, blew out the oil lamp, and the battle began.

The soft moonlight filtered through the window, and inside the room, a silent battle began, much fiercer than before.

In the newly built house, they didn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing, so the intensity increased. They fought three rounds before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

The next morning, they woke up close to 7 AM. They exchanged a glance, and Xiu Lan’s face turned red immediately.

Under the thin summer blanket, the two of them were still in a completely honest state.

“Your… it touched me again,” Xiu Lan gave Lin Heng an annoyed look.

Lin Heng laughed heartily. “Can’t help it. It’s a natural phenomenon.”

Xiu Lan rolled her eyes and quickly got dressed, then went to soak the dirty bed sheets outside.

But as she walked, she felt some pain in her legs. When she thought about the wild movements from last night, her face turned red again.

For a simple country girl, some things felt too extravagant.

Lin Heng also got up, feeling sore in his waist. He shook his head and muttered, “Truly, a 28-year-old figure so delicate, the waist wielding a sword to strike ordinary men.”

After using the bathroom, Lin Heng noticed his daughter was awake. He took her to the bathroom and then sat in the rocking chair, basking in the sun to recharge his energy.

After a while, he took Xiao Xia to feed the chickens and ducks.

“This is the little chick, cluck cluck cluck, this is the little duck, quack quack quack, and this is the little lamb, baa baa baa.”

Lin Heng taught his daughter as he scattered ground corn to feed the chickens and ducks.

“Little chick cluck cluck cluck, little duck quack quack quack, anti-inflammatory baa baa baa~”

Xiao Xia grabbed some corn and tried to throw it, but it all landed outside the cage.

“Get closer and try again,” Lin Heng lifted his daughter.

She opened her little mouth and repeated the words. Finally, the corn landed inside.

“Good job,” Lin Heng smiled and kissed his daughter.

Xiao Xia grinned and threw another handful of corn into the cage, saying, “Little chick cluck cluck cluck.”

Watching the chickens and ducks scramble for the food, her face lit up with joy.

However, when Lin Heng brought out the lamb, she got scared and hid behind his leg.

“Don’t be afraid, it won’t bite you,” Lin Heng said, laughing.

“Afraid!”

Xiao Xia clung to his leg, not wanting to let go.

Lin Heng picked her up, and she buried her face in his arms, too scared to look.

Lin Heng was puzzled. He didn’t know why she wasn’t afraid of the dog but was scared of the lamb. Maybe it was just because she had never seen one before?

He tied the lamb to a grassy area, took his daughter back to wash her face, and fed the fish near the water.

“I forgot to bring soap for Big Brother and the others,” Lin Heng realized when he was washing his face with soap.

“Go take it over later,” Xiu Lan said as she handed him a towel.

Lin Heng wiped his face. “Okay.”

“What do you want for breakfast?” Xiu Lan asked.

“You decide, anything is fine,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Then I’ll make sauerkraut soup.”

“Good.”

Xiu Lan went to cook, and Lin Heng took Xiao Xia to his older brother’s house.

“Little brother, want to eat? Sauerkraut noodles. Want some?”

When Lin Heng walked into the yard, his older brother, Lin Yue, smiled.

“Xiu Lan is cooking, I came to bring you soap. The one I gave Mom wasn’t very good. These ones are better; the older they get, the better they work.”

Lin Heng smiled and put the soap on the table, turning to leave.

“Little brother, no need to be polite, but you should stay and play for a bit,” Lin Yue said.

“Yes, stay and have a drink before leaving,” his sister-in-law, Liu Juan, quickly placed the bowl down and poured Lin Heng some water. She had been craving soap for a while.

“Okay,” Lin Heng sat for a bit.

The yard of his older brother was filled with various fruits and vegetables, with only a third left open.

After a while, Xiao Xia wanted to go home and play with the dog, so Lin Heng took her back.

“Lin Heng, take this mustard seedling back for Xiu Lan to make sauerkraut. Your brother dug up too much yesterday, and we can’t eat it all,” his sister-in-law handed him a bundle of mustard seedlings as they left.

“Alright, thanks,” Lin Heng said, not refusing.

He returned home and gave the mustard to Xiu Lan.

“Just put it there, I’ll pick it later,” Xiu Lan nodded.

Lin Heng let Xiong Ba play with Xiao Xia and started building a dog house.

It was simple: a square with a length, width, and height of two meters, leaving two sides open—one for the door and the other for the roof.

He used the boards to create a triangular roof. After some thought, Lin Heng decided not to use the clay tiles, instead using some leftover straw from last year. Part of it went to decorate the roof, and the rest was for Xiong Ba’s bed.

“Alright, your house is finished. Eat well and grow strong,” Lin Heng led Xiong Ba over and patted his head.

“Woof woof!!”

Xiong Ba let out a joyful bark, crawled into the small house, lay down, stood up again, played for a while, and then ran over to bring his dog bowl, placing it at the door.

“Once you’re done, it’s time to eat, the food is almost cold,” Xiulan said, looking at him.

“I told you to eat first,” Lin Heng chuckled.

Xiulan glanced at him and smiled, saying, “I just like waiting for you to eat together, hurry up and come eat.”

She had already dished up the food.

While eating, Lin Heng brought up a topic again that he had mentioned earlier: “Wife, remember I told you about wanting to buy some black hoof mushroom (mulberry mushroom)?”

Xiulan was surprised, “Why bring this up again? Are you going to start now?”

She had thought it was just a passing fancy of his, but she didn’t expect he was really serious about it.

“Yes, do you know what black hoof mushroom is used for?” Lin Heng asked.

“Chinese medicine, right? I’m not really sure what its exact effects are,” Xiulan shook her head.

“Do you know about cancer? A disease that’s almost impossible to survive once you get it. The old man from the Wang family in the village died from stomach cancer,” Lin Heng continued.

“I know, what does that have to do with this?” Xiulan didn’t quite understand.

Lin Heng explained with a smile, “Here’s the thing. I was reading at the library before and saw reports that in 1968, Japan discovered that the extract of black hoof mushroom has cancer-fighting properties. In 1974, Korea made the same discovery. Recently, I heard they’ve started exporting it. The price of black hoof mushroom is definitely going to rise, so I want to buy some now before the price goes up, and sell it later.”

What he said was all true, with no exaggeration.

Xiulan looked at Lin Heng, thought for a moment, then said, “If you want to do business, I won’t stop you, but I don’t understand this. Here’s the deal, as long as you leave fifty yuan for the family as emergency money, you can go ahead with your business. After all, you’re good at hunting too, so even if it doesn’t work out, we can always slowly recover.”

A month ago, she might have hesitated for a long time, but now she decided to trust her husband, just like she had believed he would turn over a new leaf.

“Wife, thank you for your trust,” Lin Heng said, somewhat touched. Only Xiulan would trust him like this. If it were another man in the village, his wife would probably scold him and threaten to “go back to her parents’ house” or “stop living together.”

Many rural families don’t prosper, partly because some women are short-sighted and overly controlling about money.

“I definitely trust you. As long as you don’t steal or rob, it’s fine to try a small business. We can’t be farmers our whole lives,” Xiulan glared at Lin Heng as if saying, “How could you doubt my trust in you?”

She had run a small tofu business before, but gave it up because there was too much farm work to do with Lin Heng. She didn’t mind business that much.

Of course, the main reason was that collecting black hoof mushroom didn’t carry much risk. Even if the price didn’t rise and maybe even fell a little, they wouldn’t lose too much.

Lin Heng was excited. After finishing their meal, they went out to put up a large sign that read: “Buying black hoof mushroom, any amount, 0.8 yuan per pound, same as in town.”

“Here, fifty yuan should be enough, right?” Xiulan asked, looking at Lin Heng.

“That’s enough,” Lin Heng nodded, then went out to plant the sign by the roadside and started going door-to-door to collect.

“You’re really collecting black hoof mushroom?”

Yang Zhaotao was surprised when he saw Lin Heng.

“Yes,” Lin Heng nodded.

“Alright then, wait here, I’ll get it for you.” Yang Zhaotao nodded and went to fetch the black hoof mushroom.

Lin Heng weighed it: “One pound and three ounces, here’s one yuan. Don’t bother with the change, just help me spread the word.”

“Sure,” Yang Zhaotao grinned, happy to take advantage.

After Lin Heng left, Li Caifeng came out of the house, looking confused. “What’s he doing? Does he have too much money to burn?”

Yang Zhaotao laughed, “You don’t get it. People with money can afford to waste a little.”

Lin Heng went door-to-door to the fifty or so families that lived close by. He collected 32 pounds of black hoof mushroom and spent 27 yuan. The extra 1.4 yuan was given away as a reward to encourage people to help him spread the word.

He didn’t return home until noon, feeling sore in his lower back.

Xiulan and Xiaoxia had gone out to pick some chickweed, gray vegetables, and rape seedlings, and were busy gathering them when they saw him coming in, holding his waist.

Seeing him enter, Xiulan couldn’t help but laugh. “If you’re tired, rest properly and go out again later.”

Lin Heng put the black hoof mushroom down, walked over, and poked his wife in the armpit, “Still laughing? Don’t you have sore legs too?”

“Ha ha, no, ha, wrong, wrong, ha ha, really wrong…”

Xiulan couldn’t stand the tickling and begged for mercy while laughing.

“Tickling~”

Seeing the two playing, Xiaoxia also reached out her small hand.

Lin Heng ran away, but Xiulan caught her: “So you’re the one tickling me, huh?”

Xiaoxia’s eyes widened, and she nodded crisply at her mother.

“I’ll tickle you too~” Xiulan tickled her twice, making her daughter laugh heartily.

Afraid that she might catch a cold from laughing too much, Xiulan let her go.

“Tickle you~”

After being released, Xiaoxia didn’t repent and ran over to take revenge, showing that she still dared.

As a result, she was caught and tickled again by Xiulan, who also patted her bottom a few times.

After playing for a while, Lin Heng pulled his daughter over to teach her about wild vegetables, giving her two small leaves while he helped his wife pick them.

“Tomorrow morning, you should help Dad and Brother weed the cornfield. Although we’ve split the family, this year’s crops still need to be harvested together,” Xiulan said.

They referred to corn as “baogu” in their area.

“Okay,” Lin Heng nodded.

Creak!

Just as they finished speaking, the sound of the front yard gate opening came, followed by Lin’s father, mother, and uncle.

“Lin Heng, I heard from the villagers that you were collecting Blackhoof mushrooms today?” Lin’s father asked directly.

Lin Heng had anticipated this. The reason he chose to start a business after splitting the family was because Xiulan was supportive, but others might not be.

“Yes, collecting Blackhoof mushrooms makes money,” Lin Heng nodded.

“How does this make money?” Lin’s father glared at him.

“In less than two months, the price of Blackhoof mushrooms will rise significantly, and then we can make money,” Lin Heng said, spreading his hands.

“Are you a fortune teller? How do you know it will make money in two months?

We just told you to live a good life, and you’re already being unreliable.

The little money you made from hunting is all gone. How will you and Xiulan live in the future?”

Lin’s mother was furious, thinking Lin Heng was too risky and had become arrogant with a little money.

Traditional Chinese medicine prices fluctuate, and she feared Lin Heng would lose all their savings.

“Yes, you should stick to hunting and not mess with these things,” his uncle said with a stern face.

“Stop messing with these things and focus on hunting. You can live comfortably by farming and hunting. Why do you have to do these things?” Lin’s father warned with a frown.

This was the typical mindset of farmers, driven by weak capital and the inability to afford losses, leading to a reluctance to take risks. Lin Heng’s past life was the best example.

Fifty thousand yuan in 1992 might be nothing to the wealthy, but for a rural family, it could take decades or even a lifetime to repay.

Lin Heng had anticipated opposition but didn’t expect it to be so strong. It was one thing for the villagers to call him crazy, but his parents were also very worried.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Heng smiled and explained, “I don’t want to be a farmer facing the earth and back to the sky all my life, ending up with nothing.

I don’t want you to be sick and unable to afford hospital bills when you’re old.

I don’t want to be a father who can’t contribute a penny when my son gets married.

I’ve been wandering in the city for years, not just idling around. I’ve read many books and thought about many things.

So I came back, hunting to make money, not just to provide meat for the family, but to earn money to start a business and lift the whole Lin family out of this hard life.

Everything has risks, and I’m willing to take this risk. I’ve already researched it, so you don’t need to worry.”

After Lin Heng finished speaking, his parents and uncle fell silent.

Poverty had been their lifelong struggle, and no one understood its pain better than them.

Sometimes, seeing others succeed in business, they also thought about trying it themselves.

But with elderly parents and young children, the thought of irreversible consequences in case of failure made them quietly extinguish this idea in the silent, dark nights.

So they were silent now. Lin Heng was just like them in their youth.

“Dad, Mom, Uncle, I agree with him. Trying it out isn’t a big deal. Even if we lose money, we can still sell the Blackhoof mushrooms and not lose too much,” Xiulan said, initially stunned by Lin Heng’s words but then speaking up for him.

Lin’s father opened his mouth, then waved his hand heavily and sighed, “Fine, since it’s a joint decision between you two, you can decide for yourselves.”

After speaking, he turned and left, his broad back seeming to gradually thin, feeling truly old at this moment.

Lin Heng wanted to stop him but didn’t get up. He had to keep going now.

He would never let this family suffer the hardships he endured in his past life again.

“If it doesn’t work, remember to stop in time,” Lin’s mother said, then turned and left.

She didn’t understand much, only not wanting her son to lose the hard-earned money, a simple mother’s heart.

His uncle looked at Lin Heng and finally said, “Let me know when you go hunting.”

Lin Heng smiled slightly, “I’ll ask Old Tian later, and we’ll set a time, no later than the day after tomorrow.”

(End of chapter)