Chapter 112: How Much Did We Earn This Time? A Gold Cat That Recognizes Its Owner

In the main hall of the old house, the whole family was gathered: Lin’s mother, Caiyun; Liu Juan with her two sons; and Xiulan holding her daughter.

“Daddy, hug me!!”

Xiaoxia hadn’t seen her father in over half a month and struggled to get out of her mother’s arms to be hugged by him.

Lin Yue’s two sons also hugged his legs, expressing how much they missed him.

Lin Heng put down his things, wiped his sweat, walked over, and picked up his daughter, who was about to cry. Smiling, he said, “Did my little darling miss Daddy?”

Xiaoxia rested her head on his shoulder and said sweetly, “Xiaoxia missed Daddy a lot! Mommy missed you too!”

“My precious baby, let Daddy give you a kiss.” Lin Heng’s heart melted at his daughter’s cuteness as he kissed her soft, fair cheek.

“Daddy, don’t leave again. I want Daddy.” Xiaoxia wiped her eyes, her tears forming little pearls of sadness.

“Second Brother, you don’t know how much Xiaoxia missed you. Every day after you left, she’d pull us along to look for you, and she’d cry if we couldn’t find you. We told her you were in the mountains, so she’d drag us to go up the mountain every day.” Caiyun said with a smile.

Lin Heng looked at his daughter and then at his wife. Her gaze was full of care and longing, soft and gentle like autumn waters.

Lin Heng and his nephew had been up in the mountains for nearly twenty days. Xiulan had undoubtedly been worried.

“It’s okay, I’m back now. I won’t leave for a while. I’ll stay with you all, okay?” Lin Heng said while caressing his daughter’s little face.

“Okay!” Xiaoxia stopped crying, though her tone was still a bit delicate.

“Alright, let Mommy hold you so Daddy can unpack. Okay?” Lin Heng tested the waters.

But Xiaoxia hugged his neck tightly, shook her head like a rattle drum, and her voice turned teary again. “No, no! I want Daddy to hold me.”

Helpless, Lin Heng patted her back and comforted her. “Okay, Daddy will keep holding you and won’t put you down.”

On the other side, Lin Yue’s two sons were much easier to deal with. After a hug, a spin around, and a few questions about what they’d been up to, they were content to go off and play, leaving the eldest son to explain the rest.

Lin Heng, however, noticed the envy in his brother’s eyes, as if he wished for a little daughter who’d act spoiled and clingy like Xiaoxia.

“Alright, let’s distribute the goods. As per the usual rules, whatever herbs or mushrooms you gather are yours. If you hunt alone, the game is yours; if someone helps, it’s split proportionally.”

Lin’s father began dividing up the goods.

First was Lin Heng’s share. He hadn’t gathered many herbs, but they were valuable and useful—around ten pounds dried.

For mushrooms, he had fifty pounds of tea tree mushrooms, one and a half pounds of Ganoderma (Lingzhi), and thirteen pounds of shiitake mushrooms—all dried.

As for the game, he had caught a musk deer, a wild piglet, and a seven-pound softshell turtle.

For furs, since Lin’s father hadn’t helped with the big wild boar, he gave Lin Heng the muntjac skin and the masked civet skin.

Additionally, there were about fifty pounds of wild boar meat, some stir-fried intestines, and three pounds of Taibai Mountain acacia honey, all of which went to Lin Heng.

Lin’s father’s own harvest included five catfish, totaling around twelve pounds, one small wild piglet, thirty pounds of tea tree mushrooms, half a pound of Ganoderma, and about thirty or forty pounds of dried medicinal herbs from the fresh ones he’d brought back earlier.

Lin Yue, the eldest brother, had one or two catfish from last time, a badger pelt, and most of the meat.

Additionally, he had gathered sixty pounds of dried herbs, thirty pounds of tea tree mushrooms, half a pound of Ganoderma, and three pounds of Taibai Mountain acacia honey.

In terms of earnings, Lin Heng had gained the most. Although hunting was difficult, it was much faster for making money than gathering medicinal herbs since valuable herbs were rare.

Excluding the wild boar meat, badger meat, the piglets, and the musk deer, just counting the furs, herbs, mushrooms, fish, and turtle:

Lin Heng earned about 230 yuan.

Lin’s father earned around 75 yuan.

Lin Yue earned about 130 yuan.

Lin Wei only earned around 3 yuan.

The fur prices were calculated at the lowest estimates, so they could be worth more.

If the piglets and the female musk deer were included, Lin Heng’s earnings for this trip would be around 270 to 280 yuan, far surpassing his father and brother.

Lin Yue’s earnings were high primarily because he trapped a badger and spent more time in the mountains, gathering extra herbs.

Once the distribution was done, Lin Heng’s haul was the largest, making everyone envious. However, everyone else was also satisfied with their own share. This trip to the mountains had not been in vain.

Lin Yue’s wife, Liu Juan, couldn’t hide her smile when she saw her husband’s gains.

“Dad, take this civet skin. If you hadn’t trapped the piglet, I wouldn’t have been able to kill the big boar.” Lin Heng handed the civet skin to his father.

Before his father could say anything, Lin Heng brought out some wild boar meat and gave a strip to both his father and elder brother, each weighing about twelve pounds.

“No need to say anything. We’re family. Big Brother, you didn’t keep all the badger meat for yourself, did you?” Lin Heng said.

Lin Yue also shared his fifteen pounds of badger meat, giving five pounds each to Lin Heng and their father.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that. Take your shares home, wash up, and come back for dinner later,” said Lin’s father, not standing on ceremony.

Lin Heng looked at his daughter, who still clung to him despite his sweaty clothes, showing no desire to get down.

“Caiyun, help Xiulan with the stuff. I can’t carry it all while holding Xiaoxia.”

Carrying his daughter, Lin Heng returned home. Entering the yard, he noticed that the vegetables he and Xiulan had planted two months ago had all borne fruit.

Whether it was long beans, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, or peppers, the vines were full, more than they could eat.

On the trellises along the yard walls, pumpkin, gourd, and winter melon vines had climbed all over, making it hard to believe he had been gone for only twenty days.

Picking a rustic cucumber, he rubbed off the spines and bit into it.

The cucumber was crisp, juicy, and sweet, with a slightly astringent tang from its tender skin.

“Daddy, I want some.”

Xiaoxia touched her father’s face with her little hand and said sweetly.

“Here, you can have the core.” Lin Heng ate the outside and gave her the tender, sweet core.

Xiaoxia took one bite, her cheeks bulging, then finished the rest, leaving her satisfied.

Afterward, Lin Heng went to check on the piglet and musk deer, making sure they were secure.

Xiaoxia opened her small mouth and bit down on half of the cucumber. Her cheeks puffed up for a while, then she took a bite of the other half and stopped eating.

Lin Heng finished the rest in two bites, then walked over to check on the badger cub. The little guy had grown a lot, weighing about ten pounds now.

It wasn’t afraid of people anymore. Lin Heng tossed a leftover cucumber, and it happily ran over to pick it up and eat.

“Where should we put the musk deer and wild piglets?” Xiulan walked over, winking at Lin Heng with eyes full of soft affection like autumn water.

She hadn’t seen her little man for more than twenty days, and she missed him dearly, though with so many people around, she could only show it through her gaze.

Lin Heng looked at his wife and softly said, “Let’s tie them in separate baskets first, so they don’t fight.”

“Brother, I’ll head out now, I won’t disturb you and Sister-in-law.” Caiyun put down her things, grinned, waved, and left.

“Xiaoxia, let Mommy hold you. Daddy will go take a bath and come right back, I promise I won’t leave.” Lin Heng put his daughter down and said.

“Let’s make a pinky promise!” Xiaoxia stretched out her little hand, her voice now sounding a little less soft, but more crisp.

“Okay, pinky promise!” Lin Heng smiled and made the pinky promise with his daughter.

Xiulan, watching her daughter, said, “I’ve washed your clothes and put them in the wardrobe, you can get them yourself.”

“Okay!”

Lin Heng took the turtle from his bag, went to get clean clothes and a towel, and headed to the backyard.

“Phew!”

As soon as he reached the backyard, he heard the hissing sound of a cat trying to scare him. Turning around, he saw a red-haired cat with leopard-like spots tied under the eaves.

“Eat at my place and sleep at my place, and if you keep hissing, I’ll make sure you go hungry.” Lin Heng glanced at it, thinking the cat had no gratitude. If it weren’t for him, it’d probably be a skeleton by now.

The cat had grown quite a bit, now only slightly smaller than a typical tabby cat.

It looked like he could finally identify its breed—this was a Qinling golden cat, a medium-sized wildcat. It was also known as the “yellow tiger” and was a very powerful predator capable of hunting muntjacs and badgers. The males could grow over thirty pounds, while the females could reach over twenty pounds.

Lin Heng glanced at the cat, then grabbed a wooden bucket, scooped some water from the fish pond, and placed the newly caught turtle in it. He then grabbed a wooden basin and fetched some water from the well to wash up.

After taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, it was already ten o’clock, and the stars were shining beautifully in the sky.

Back in the main hall, Xiulan was organizing his things. The hunting bow, arrows, and hatchet were neatly hung on the wall. The mushrooms and herbs were being placed in the garden sieve to dry. Everything in the house was tidy and clean.

“Did you make these wooden bowls and basins yourself? Your craftsmanship is quite good.” Xiulan said, pointing to the wooden bowls and basins on the table with a smile.

Lin Heng nodded and said with a smile, “Of course I made them. On rainy days, when I missed you, I made these to pass the time. I’d carve a little bit at a time, and in the end, I made all these. I also left some ugly ones on the mountain and didn’t bring them back. I must’ve thought about you tens of thousands of times.”

Xiulan glared at him and said, “Stop with the nonsense, I don’t believe you.”

Lin Heng walked over and hugged his wife’s waist, whispering in her ear, “It’s true, I swear.”

Xiulan softened for a moment but pushed him away and said softly, “Don’t you see our daughter is still here? Just say it, don’t be all over me.”

“One hug won’t hurt.” Lin Heng smiled and shrugged.

“These lean meats have gone a bit bad. When I get back, I’ll fry them with oil. We can also turn the fatty meat into lard; it’s hard to preserve this weather.” Xiulan said, not wanting to tease him, pointing to the fatty meat.

“You decide,” Lin Heng said, shrugging again.

“Then it’s settled. Let’s go to my parents’ place for dinner first, and we’ll deal with it when we get back,” Xiulan said, smiling.

“Okay,” Lin Heng nodded, then picked up a bottle of cooled boiled water from the big cupboard, smiling, “Is this for me?”

“Who else would it be for? For the great and mighty boss?” Xiulan shot him a look and said, somewhat annoyed.

Lin Heng drank it all in one go, then picked up his daughter and headed toward the old house.

Once Xiulan locked the door, Lin Heng asked as they walked, “Has that little wildcat settled in with the family yet?”

“Kind of, but it only recognizes Xiaoxia. When I approach, it hisses and is very fierce. Xiaoxia once touched its belly, and it just lay there without moving, eyes half-closed.” Xiulan complained.

“Seems like it really recognizes its owner,” Lin Heng laughed. The little cat was quite smart, sticking to Xiaoxia. Now that it was growing up, it would be harder for him to kill it.

When they arrived at Lin’s father’s house, the group was chatting, especially Lin Wei, their eldest nephew, who was vividly describing their life in the mountains. His two younger cousins were listening with envy.

Lin Heng held his daughter and didn’t want to interrupt. He sat next to his wife, quietly listening.

“The catfish really has a long life. We worked the whole afternoon, brought it back, and it still survived after being placed in water.” Lin’s father said as he walked in, marveling.

“Of course,” Lin Heng smiled. The resilience of catfish was truly extraordinary.

Other fish can only change to a different water area by swimming along the flow of water, but catfish can simply crawl onto land and hop across.

Therefore, catfish can be found in water bodies all over the world, large and small. They are truly the elites of evolution.

Soon, the meal was served. Over the past couple of days, they had too many fruits and vegetables to finish, so Lin’s mother cooked nine different dishes.

“Come, dinner’s ready.”

Lin’s father spoke, picked up his chopsticks first, and the family focused on the meat and braised catfish, while Lin Heng was more interested in the cold dishes like gray greens and lettuce.

The food had been too greasy over the past few days, and he was getting a little tired of it, especially after having meat every day to finish the wild pig’s internal organs.

After a few bites of vegetables, he felt incredibly refreshed. He practically finished a whole plate of gray greens and lettuce by himself.

“Come on, Xiaoxia, eat some fish.” Lin Heng picked up a piece of catfish and fed it to his daughter.

Wild catfish meat is a great food: no bones, tender and nutritious.

Xiaoxia happily took a bite with her chopsticks.

After a small sip of yellow wine, they finished dinner quickly and went home because it was already quite late, so they lit three candles on the dinner table.

On the way home, Lin Heng had already coaxed his daughter to sleep. When they entered the bedroom, he placed her on the small bed.

There were many mosquitoes these days, so Xiulan had made an opaque mosquito net for their daughter, so she wouldn’t get bitten while sleeping.

After settling his daughter, Lin Heng turned to get into bed, and Xiulan had already taken off her clothes and was “resting.”

She had anticipated that Lin Heng would return these days and had been bathing and making herself smell nice every afternoon after the sun set.

Lin Heng lay down and gently wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist. She immediately turned over and hugged him tightly, and the two kissed right away.

Xiulan’s hot, burning body silently conveyed how much she had missed him these days.

Lin Heng explored with passion, even though he was exhausted from the day’s work. His youthful, determined spirit was unstoppable, like a knight charging ahead.

Before anything else, however, he ate two big soup dumplings.

In the dim room, the bedsheets were changed twice. Eventually, Lin Heng fell asleep, holding his wife’s curvaceous body.

The next morning, Lin Heng slept until noon at 12 PM, only waking up when the sunlight finally reached the bed.

“My God, I’m so tired,” Lin Heng lay in bed not wanting to move. Xiulan and their daughter had already gotten up.

“Dad, wake up!”

Before long, their daughter entered the room, running to the bed to call him.

Xiaoxia now walked very steadily, no longer like before when she always looked like she was about to fall over.

“Okay.”

Lin Heng smiled and rubbed his daughter’s face, got dressed, and walked out with her.

“Since you’re up, come eat. I saved some rice and vegetables for you.”

Xiulan was in the kitchen rendering oil. When she saw Lin Heng coming over with their daughter, she spoke.

“I’ll be right there. Let me plant this tree first.”

Lin Heng initially planned to eat right away, but when he saw the cypress bonsai in front of him, he remembered he had forgotten it last night.

He quickly trimmed it, cutting the roots shorter, removing some leaves, and cutting off the decaying parts.

After that, he planted it in a flowerpot, watered it thoroughly, and placed it in the corner of the eastern wall, where it was damp with limited sunlight.

“Don’t die on me,” Lin Heng thought to himself, quite satisfied with the bonsai.

The cypress had a grayish-white bark that exuded a sense of stillness and desolation, yet a branch of green leaves sprouted from it. The scene of life and death was poignant.

Back inside, Xiulan had already placed the meal on the table.

Lin Heng sat down to eat while Xiulan and their daughter sat beside him, talking.

“While you were up in the mountains, many people came to sell mulberry mushrooms. I bought them at the price you suggested, a total of over 280 pounds, and spent over 80 bucks.”

Xiulan reported to Lin Heng as she watched him.

“Well done, buy them all no matter how many come,” Lin Heng nodded.

The more mulberry mushrooms, the better. Xiulan was indeed a good wife; she followed what he had said and didn’t do anything behind his back.

If it were another woman, she might not only keep them from him but perhaps secretly sell them and keep the money for herself, claiming it was for his own good.

“When do you plan to dig the fish pond? Have you thought about it? You need to find someone to pick a good date.”

Xiulan asked.

“I’ll go report to the village chief first and ask for the specifics, then I’ll find someone to pick a good date,” Lin Heng thought for a moment and said.

While eating, the two shared what they had been doing these past days.

At home, other than taking care of the child, Xiulan had been picking mushrooms and honeysuckle with Caiyun and Lin’s mother, collecting firewood, and checking on the soap they had made. Life had been simple and repetitive.

“I think the soap is good now. These days, I’m planning to sell some in the village with Caiyun to test the waters.”

Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said.

“Go ahead, it’s up to you. I’ll go to the village chief’s house to check the situation,” Lin Heng said after finishing his meal.

“Okay,” Xiulan nodded.

Lin Heng washed his face and was about to go out when Xiaoxia hugged his leg.

“Dad, don’t go.”

“I’m not leaving, I’ll be back in a little while,” Lin Heng said helplessly.

“Don’t!” Xiaoxia shook her head.

“Take her with you. She’s been checking on you every little while since you didn’t wake up this morning, afraid you’d leave. If you don’t take her with you, she’ll cry again.”

Xiulan laughed and said.

“Alright then.” Lin Heng looked at his daughter and, picking her up, walked outside with her.

“Wait a minute, take a piece of osmanthus soap with you.” Xiulan thought for a moment and decided it wasn’t right to go empty-handed, even though the village chief wouldn’t accept gifts.

She turned back and wrapped up a piece of osmanthus soap for Lin Heng to take with him.

(End of this chapter)