Chapter 134: Building a Cabin, Breeding the Little Ewe

“Hey bro, is the Schisandra ripe yet?”

That afternoon when they returned, Lin Heng asked.

“Nope, still a few more days to go,” Lin Yue shook his head, then added excitedly, “I heard you guys were out cutting trees with a chainsaw—I’m coming with you tomorrow!”

“Of course, we’ll get things done even faster with three of us,” Lin Heng nodded with a grin.

They only chatted for a bit before Lin Heng’s daughter started whining to go for a walk, so he had no choice but to take her out for a run around.

As they walked near the ginkgo tree, the rooster he’d chased off before took advantage of his distraction and pecked his butt, flapping its wings as it fled.

“Damn it!”

Lin Heng grabbed a rock and started chucking it down the path, but the rooster was fast and got away.

He didn’t dare chase too far, worried his daughter might wander off on her own.

“Whose rooster is that?” Lin Heng asked.

“Liu Lan’s. It pecks people all the time,” someone nearby replied.

Lin Heng shot a glare at the rooster from afar and silently held a grudge.

He continued the walk with his daughter, playing the “What’s this?” game as they went.

“Daddy, what’s this one?”

By the roadside, Xiaoxia pointed curiously at a plant with small black fruits.

“That’s black nightshade. The black berries are edible.” Lin Heng plucked one, pretended to offer it to her, then popped it into his own mouth.

Sweet and tangy—he’d had plenty growing up.

Xiaoxia huffed and stomped her foot, then picked one herself and popped it into her mouth, followed quickly by a second and third.

Lin Heng had a few more as well before leading her away, reminding her once again not to eat random wild fruit when he wasn’t around.

Every time she tried a new wild fruit, Lin Heng repeated the warning—he didn’t want his precious daughter getting sick.

On the way back, he spotted that aggressive rooster again—but it kept its distance this time.

The next morning, Xiulan, Lin’s mother, Liu Juan, and a few others went up to Red Maple Mountain too. They were digging up peanuts at the foot of the hill and watching over the cattle and sheep.

Lin Heng and his brothers headed up the mountain to keep cutting wood. For every tree they felled, Lin Heng planted two different saplings in its place.

They chopped down thirty more logs that morning, which was about the number they needed.

“How are we going to move all this?” Lin Yue asked, staring at the six-meter-long logs, each weighing hundreds of pounds.

“No need to move them. We’ll cut them into planks on the spot with the chainsaw, then transport them,” Lin Heng already had a plan.

“Easier said than done,” Lin Yue muttered, shaking his head.

“Take it slow. We’ve got time,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He didn’t have experience, but he’d seen others do it in videos—mostly some guy in the Russian Far East, probably just a toddler right now.

That afternoon, the three of them worked on learning how to cut planks with the chainsaw.

First they figured out how to stabilize the logs, then how to make the first cut. They ruined three logs in the process without really getting the hang of it.

The next morning, Lin’s father got them up early to keep at it.

They spent another full day and wasted five more logs, but finally got the hang of it.

The planks they managed were four to five centimeters thick—any thinner and their skills wouldn’t cut it.

Cutting planks was way more work than chopping trees. It took them a whole week just to saw through a little more than half the lumber.

During that time, Lin Heng also made two trips into town. Liu Qicheng still hadn’t settled the rental situation, so he wasn’t much of a threat for now.

Business on Lin Heng’s side was just so-so—nothing like the rush they had during the second market after opening the shop.

On the afternoon of the fourth day of the lunar month, Lin Heng took his daughter out for another walk. Just as they reached the ginkgo tree again, that damned rooster showed up—creeping up behind him.

Just as it was about to pounce, Lin Heng spun around and grabbed it by the neck.

“Gawk-gawk!”

The rooster let out a shrill, miserable cry, wings flapping wildly. It even crapped itself in fear.

“Now you know fear?” Lin Heng sneered. He’d been fed up with this rooster for a while.

Now that he’d finally caught it, he grabbed it by the wings and neck and marched straight to Liu Lan’s house.

“Liu Lan, I’m buying this rooster. How much is it?” Lin Heng asked.

They were officially starting construction on the log cabin the next day. The planks weren’t all done yet, but they’d decided to begin anyway.

There was a lot going on—he still wanted to go pick Schisandra berries and other wild goods, and also catch some softshell turtles in the river at night.

After some discussion, the three of them decided to at least get the floor done tomorrow. The rest could wait.

Tomorrow—Lunar August 5th—was a lucky day. Just right for sacrificing that damned rooster that had harassed him over and over.

Liu Lan was picking vegetables outside her house. Hearing this, she beamed. “Of course! One yuan per jin. I’ll grab my scale.”

She came back with a steelyard scale and some rope, tied up the rooster, weighed it, and said with a smile, “Eight jin, two liang. Just give me eight yuan.”

“Come by my place to get the money,” Lin Heng replied.

Liu Lan carried the rooster and, on the way, kept tossing flirtatious glances and throwing out teasing jokes. Lin Heng, holding his daughter’s hand, acted like he didn’t hear a thing.

At home, he mentioned the payment to Xiulan, who turned around to grab the cash.

Liu Lan watched with envy. How happy Xiulan must be, managing the family’s money like that.

After she left, Lin Heng said to Xiulan, “Honey, get the barbecue seasonings ready. I’m getting up early tomorrow to kill this rooster. We’ll go to Red Maple Mountain for a barbecue.”

“Okay,” Xiulan nodded.

Lin Heng tossed the tied-up rooster into a corner under the eaves. It let out a sharp cry, as if it had already foreseen its miserable fate.

He helped gather the drying peanuts, and dinner was a simple meal of cornmeal and fish.

That night, he cuddled up with his wife for some intimacy, strengthening their bond and “discussing technique and form.”

“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!!!”

Early the next morning, the bound rooster began crowing hysterically.

“You really have a death wish, huh?”

Lin Heng sat up with a cold smile. He’d been exhausted and wanted to sleep in, but the bird wouldn’t shut up, forcing him to get up early and deal with it.

He grabbed his tempered steel dagger and slit its throat in one swift motion, collecting the blood in a small bowl.

Its feathers were truly beautiful—dark blue and deep red. Lin Heng trimmed off a few.

Then came boiling water, gutting, cleaning—done in one go.

“Woof woof~” Xiongba wagged his tail excitedly, flashing that typical Samoyed grin.

“Here, lick my hand,” Lin Heng offered. The dog immediately obliged.

Under the eaves, Jinbao looked proud and aloof, seemingly disdainful of Xiongba.

But when it saw Xiongba eating a cooked chicken organ, it licked its lips in envy.

Fortunately, Xiaoxia woke up and gave it a pet, then asked Lin Heng for two small fish to feed it.

Lin Heng had originally planned to invite the whole family to Red Maple Mountain for a day out—a kind of camping trip.

But his mother and sister-in-law declined.

“You all go eat. Your sister-in-law and I are heading into the hills to pick Schisandra and dig up medicinal herbs,” his mother said.

“Yeah, and we’ll need Xiulan to help watch the kids today,” Liu Juan added with a smile.

In the past, they would’ve stayed just to eat a bit, but now they didn’t care—they weren’t hurting for a few bites of meat anymore.

“Alright then,” Lin Heng agreed.

After breakfast, Lin Heng and his group set out with the kids—and brought the cattle and sheep along, too.

The little goat he and Xiulan had bought was now over 30 jin. Its coat was snow-white, and recently it had started bleating more—seemed like it was in heat.

Lin Heng was wondering whether to find it a male goat, though if they did that, they wouldn’t be able to butcher it for New Year’s.

“Let’s find one. We can just buy lamb for New Year,” Xiulan said.

“Alright then, at noon we’ll find a household with a strong ram for mating,” Lin Heng nodded and said.

After heading up the mountain, they tied the big yellow ox and the sheep to graze on the hillside. Lin Heng found a spot near the stream full of small pebbles and started a fire to make charcoal.

The waterwheel was the same one they had used for roasting a pig last time. After tying up the chicken, he left the rest to his wife, Xiulan.

His second nephew Lin Tao was nearby, watching with his two-year-old brother. Xiaoxia was playing around with Xiongba.

Once the group arrived at the site, Lin’s father smiled and said, “Let’s first dig nine pits and bury the wooden posts.”

Naturally, the cabin couldn’t be built directly on the ground—it had to be raised, supported by wooden posts.

They had chosen two fallen pine trees for the posts, already dead and semi-dry.

The posts had all been sawn to size—1.2 meters long, with 60 centimeters buried underground and 60 above ground.

Lin Heng and his elder brother worked together digging the pits, one digging, the other shoveling out the soil, switching roles as needed.

Father Lin brushed the wooden posts with asphalt. He had asked someone to buy it from the building materials shop in town. It seemed even more effective than tung oil for this purpose.

As Lin Yue dug, he sighed, “It feels like we’re realizing a childhood dream.”

Back then, they had wanted to build a log cabin themselves, but lacked the tools. The result was something that didn’t even resemble a pigsty.

“True,” Lin Heng chuckled. If he had the chance, he still wanted to build a little treehouse. As a kid, he had always dreamed of having a small house in a tree.

Digging only 50 centimeters deep wasn’t too hard. Once done, Father Lin brought over the asphalt-coated posts and buried them.

Lin Heng’s plan was to build a 36-square-meter cabin—a perfect square.

With the nine posts in place, the next step was to level them out. All the posts needed to be perfectly aligned in height.

That wasn’t hard for the three of them—tools made the job straightforward. Once that was done, they heaved over three six-meter-long planks of oak. The bottoms were coated with asphalt and the top with tung oil.

They weren’t about to mess with complicated mortise and tenon joints—not because they didn’t know how, but because it was too much hassle.

They simply used large steel nails to fasten the beams, reinforced with steel rods on the outside. It was rock-solid.

For a single-story wooden cabin, this was more than sturdy enough.

By the time the three beams were nailed in place, it was already noon, and the three of them were getting hungry.

“Let’s go eat,” Lin Heng said, looking at his father and older brother.

In the afternoon, they’d lay the floorboards and put up the columns. For the columns, they did plan to use mortise and tenon joints—those were simpler.

“Lunch is ready,” Xiulan called out.

The three men came over. After roasting all morning, the chicken was now a golden, crispy brown.

Lin Tao had been drooling for quite a while already.

Besides the crispy golden roast chicken, they also had white steamed buns for lunch—leftovers from yesterday. Having them on the mountain saved a trip back home.

“This rooster meat really hits the spot. So flavorful.”

Lin Heng tore off a piece, dipped it in some seasoning, and took a bite, praising it without hesitation.

By the stream, under the shade of the trees, the crispy chicken skin and tender meat lived up to its reputation—this free-range rooster had flavorful and chewy meat.

“People say roosters that eat centipedes and hornets are even more nourishing. Who knows if it’s true, but everyone should eat more,” Father Lin said with a smile. He served the grandkids first before taking a bite himself.

“As long as it tastes good, that’s all that matters,” Lin Yue laughed.

They all sat on stones. A cool breeze blew by from time to time. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating shifting patterns of light and shadow. Eating in a place like this had an indescribable charm.

Ever since Lin Heng opened the acquisition station, things had noticeably eased up at home—especially for Father Lin.

He used to be busy all the time, either farming or foraging herbs. Now, he was starting to enjoy the occasional leisure outing.

“Dad, want a drink?” Lin Heng took out a pouch of yellow rice wine and handed it over.

“Just a little,” Father Lin chuckled, taking a sip.

A bite of chicken, a sip of wine—Father Lin leaned back happily on a rock.

Xiongba lay nearby, waiting for bones. He wasn’t in a rush—he knew they’d all end up his eventually.

After lunch, Lin Heng lay back on a rock for a short nap. The mountain breeze was really pleasant.

Call it lazy or laid-back—it just felt good.

Xiaoxia played with grass nearby, Xiongba crunched on bones, and everyone was too relaxed to talk. Lying there, listening to the stream, the wind, and the innocent laughter of children—it was a kind of peace.

Maple trees got their name because when the wind blows, their leaves make a rustling sound, like the voice of the wind itself.

“Alright, let’s get back to it,” Father Lin said after an hour of rest. The three of them got up and resumed work.

First, they carried over some wooden planks. Though thick and heavy, they were manageable.

The planks hadn’t been polished yet, and the chainsaw cuts were rough.

That was fine for now. Once they got electricity, they’d buy an electric sander. Hand-sanding would be a nightmare.

The sides facing the ground were coated with asphalt, the rest with tung oil—black was just too unsightly.

By the end of the afternoon, they had finished the base for the 36-square-meter cabin.

Then, they planed the columns and carved out mortise-and-tenon joints.

After thinking it through, they decided to finish all the columns and beams first, then install them all at once.

Since it was only a single-story cabin, four meters in height would be enough. The roof would be all wood too, topped with a waterproof tarp—no worries about rain.

Lin Heng also planned to put wooden boards around the cabin to build a little camping area, so their family could come and play without stepping in mud.

But that would be a gradual process. By the time they finished planing and carving the joints in a few posts, it was already dusk.

Tomorrow, the sixth day of the lunar eighth month, Lin Heng had to go to town to check on business. Father Lin and the others planned to explore deeper into the mountains.

“Let’s head back.”

The three gathered their tools and headed down the mountain.

Meanwhile, Xiulan had already taken Xiaoxia and the others down earlier. While waiting for Lin Heng, she had even gathered a full basket of pigweed.

On the way down, they happened to meet someone herding cows and sheep up the mountain.

“That’s Liu Ciwen’s family’s herd. Perfect timing for mating our ewe.”

Lin Heng spotted a large ram among the sheep and quickly led their little ewe over.

“What’s up?”

Today’s shepherd was Liu Ciwen’s older sister, Liu Cihua. She walked over curiously.

“I want my ewe to mate,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He remembered Liu Cihua was about eighteen or nineteen now—three years older than Liu Ciwen.

Her mute mother had three children: Liu Cihua was the eldest, the second was reportedly kidnapped, and the third was Liu Ciwen.

“Just herd it over,” Liu Cihua nodded.

Lin Heng handed her the rope and herded the ewe closer. The ram quickly picked up the scent and trotted over.

Lin Heng glanced at Liu Cihua, which made the shy girl a little embarrassed.

In truth, Lin Heng wasn’t looking at her—he was just spacing out, thinking. Liu Cihua was average-looking, nowhere near as pretty as Xiulan, in either figure or appearance.

And given her family’s situation, no one in the village had proposed. Everyone was wary of marrying into such a household.

Lin Heng wondered whether he should introduce her to Wang Zhou. In his past life, he remembered Liu Cihua as being very capable—she had married a man in the village who couldn’t find a wife and proved to be hardworking and enduring.

“Breeding’s done,” Liu Cihua said.

“Thanks,” Lin Heng snapped back to reality and went over to take the ewe back.

On the way home, Lin Heng thought over the matter again and decided he could mention it to Wang Zhou, see if he could come up and meet her sometime.

“Xiulan, what do you think we should bring to your parents for the Mid-Autumn Festival?”

Once home, Lin Heng asked again.

“A pound of white sugar is enough,” Xiulan thought for a moment and said.

“That won’t do. You’re coming with me to town tomorrow. We’ll buy a full set of clothes and shoes for your parents. Things in town aren’t expensive,” Lin Heng said, looking at his wife. Since they were going back, he wanted her to return with pride, to show her parents and siblings that she hadn’t made the wrong choice back then.

He didn’t want her to suffer even a little bit more. Just thinking about how she had to beg for money in their past life filled him with guilt.

Xiulan looked like she wanted to say something, but Lin Heng covered her mouth directly. “No more talking. It’s settled.”

“Too salty!” Xiulan glared at him playfully, annoyed.

“No use complaining. You’re stuck with me for life.” Lin Heng chuckled.

“Well, fine. If that’s what you want.” Xiulan looked at her husband and understood what he meant. Her heart felt warm and soft.

That evening, Lin Heng washed Xiulan’s hair using a shampoo he’d bought from the city. It worked way better than soap and left her hair smelling nice and fresh.

After Xiulan, he washed Xiaoxia’s hair too, then put on baby cream for her.

The next morning, Lin Heng took Xiulan and Xiaoxia on foot to town.

“Daddy, why are you picking flowers?” Xiaoxia asked, watching Lin Heng picking wild chrysanthemums by the roadside.

“They’re for my wife,” Lin Heng replied with a smile.

Xiaoxia tilted her head. “Who’s your wife?”

“My wife is your mom,” Lin Heng said again.

Xiaoxia looked confused, blinking her big eyes and thinking for a long while.

“Here, these are for you!” Lin Heng gathered the flowers and handed them to Xiulan.

Xiulan smiled and took them, sniffing lightly. The ordinary wildflowers suddenly felt full of meaning.

She didn’t say anything, but her eyes were full of affection for Lin Heng.

“So Daddy’s wife is my mommy!” Xiaoxia finally figured it out.

She let go of her mom’s hand and plucked a few chrysanthemums of her own, handing them to her: “Mommy, I’m giving you flowers too!”

Even though Xiulan often spanked her, she still loved her mom dearly.

“Thank you, Xiaoxia.” Xiulan took them and kissed her on the cheek.

“How come I don’t get any?” Lin Heng protested.

Xiulan lifted her chin and snorted, “You’re supposed to give, not get a reward.”

(End of chapter)