Chapter 156: Brotherhood Joy and the Big Fishpond Project

There were two people coming—walking behind was Lin Heng’s uncle-in-law, Li Baiquan, who didn’t exactly surprise Lin Heng.

The real surprise was the young guy walking ahead—Li Baiquan’s second son, Li Shiwei, Lin Heng’s childhood friend.

Li Shiwei looked more like his mother—about 1.65 meters tall, wheat-colored skin, well-defined features, and a scar on his cheek from a childhood wrestling injury.

He shook his head and sighed as he looked at Lin Heng. “Man, getting out here isn’t easy. I’m here to help you dig the fishpond—partly to earn some money, partly to hang out with you.”

“Ha! You’re more than welcome. I just happen to need help,” Lin Heng said, clapping him on the shoulder with a big grin.

He knew Li Shiwei was basically henpecked, tightly controlled by his wife, so it really wasn’t easy for him to come out like this.

Li Baiquan shook the bag in his hand and laughed. “I’ve got everything ready. Let’s find a day to go blast some fish!”

“No problem, we’ll pick a day to blast fish,” Lin Heng agreed. He was curious to try out that ‘big weapon’ fishing method.

The two chatted a bit more with Lin Heng’s father and older brother before pitching in to help with the work.

Lin Heng didn’t hold back, leading the five of them to lay out lines together.

“You called sixty people this time? You’re really planning a big operation. Aren’t you worried about failure?” Li Shiwei asked, eyes wide at the scale. He was a little scared—losing money on this could be huge.

Lin Heng waved his hand, smiling. “Not worried. If we’re going to do it, we’ll do it big. Worst case, we go back to hunting. Besides, with the Procurement Station backing us, I won’t starve even if we lose.”

“True, you’re really making money now. So how’d you learn to shoot a bow so well?” Li Shiwei sighed. Since getting married, he rarely hung out with Lin Heng anymore—not because he didn’t want to, but his wife forbade him from hanging out with riffraff.

Now that Lin Heng was rich, his wife had changed her mind, which made Li Shiwei a little embarrassed—though Lin Heng himself hadn’t changed at all.

“Some things just come naturally,” Lin Heng laughed.

As they laid lines, the group chatted, spending the whole morning getting the job done. The stakes were nailed in and leveled. Tomorrow, when the workers arrive, they could start right away.

Lin Heng then took Li Shiwei to see his fishponds. The grass carp in the ponds were thriving, and Lin Heng sprinkled some cornmeal he’d brought into the water.

“I even built a small wooden cabin up the mountain. I’ll show you this afternoon.”

After checking the ponds, Lin Heng smiled and said, “You’re lucky now. What kind of project do you think would be good if you wanted to get rich?”

Li Shiwei’s envy grew. Lin Heng had become so impressive—he never imagined he’d get this rich.

Lin Heng clapped a hand on Li Shiwei’s shoulder and shook his head. “Honestly, your place at Mu Jialiang doesn’t even have a dirt road. Getting rich there’s really tough.”

At least here they had a dirt road passable by vehicles. Up at Mu Jialiang, the mountain trails were less than half a meter wide, and even walking was exhausting.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Li Shiwei sighed, feeling the future was bleak living up there.

“You can’t realistically dig ponds or grow fruit trees on your mountain. For now, raising cattle or sheep is probably your best bet,” Lin Heng said thoughtfully.

In his memories of his past life, Li Shiwei hadn’t suffered much, but neither had he prospered. Like countless ordinary people, he drifted without a goal or courage to fight.

This life, Lin Heng decided, once he got richer in a couple of years, he’d give Li Shiwei a hand. Right now was too soon—he was only a small-time earner himself, not able to lead others yet.

“I’m thinking the same—planning to buy two ewes and breed them slowly,” Li Shiwei nodded. He wasn’t as rich as Lin Heng, so he had to save bit by bit.

Back at Lin Heng’s home, he invited them both to eat.

When they learned Lin Heng had recently trapped another wild boar, they were at a loss for words.

“Those wild boars will turn tail just seeing you now—six taken down in six months. That’s ruthless,” Li Shiwei shook his head in admiration.

“Haven’t you trapped any? Seems like lots of people have been hunting boars lately. Your mountain should be even better hunting ground,” Lin Heng grinned, curious.

“Not easy. We kept watch five nights, fired one shot that injured a boar, but didn’t catch it.” Li Baiquan shook his head, patting his thigh with a helpless smile.

“Yeah, that’s bad luck,” Lin Heng said, nodding. But it was normal—injured boars were hard to track, especially if the wound was light.

Once the meal was ready, Lin Heng helped bring it to the table—six dishes that morning: three with braised meat, one stir-fried white rice fish, and two vegetable dishes.

Li Shiwei hadn’t eaten meat in days. After a sip of wine, he started eating ravenously.

“This meat is seriously good,” Li Shiwei said, satisfied after the meal.

It was the first time this year he’d eaten his fill of meat, and only at Lin Heng’s place. Elsewhere, he felt bad eating that much.

“Eat all you want—there’s plenty of fat meat we’re worried no one will finish,” Lin Heng laughed.

After the meal, Lin Heng helped Xiulan wash the dishes, then gave Li Shiwei a tour of his house and showed him his modern compound bow.

Everything—the backyard garden, the fishponds, even the bow—made Li Shiwei incredibly envious. He kept sighing how great it was to have money.

He figured if he had that kind of wealth, his wife would be as kind and respectful as Xiulan, no longer bossing him around.

Lin Heng’s wealth was now solidly in the upper-middle class. Even casual things he owned would spark envy and jealousy from many.

But he wasn’t showing off—he was simply sharing his harvest and happiness with his childhood friend.

“Come on, I’ll take you fishing.” After showing Li Shiwei around the house, Lin Heng took him out to fish for fun.

Although Li Shiwei had never fished before, he fell in love with the sport after just a short while, sitting alone by the stream fishing all afternoon.

Lin Heng fished for a bit but quickly lost interest—he was tired of catching the same old creek bass, nothing surprising anymore.

He lay down on a rock in the shade, dozing off, chatting with Li Shiwei.

“Fishing’s really fun,” Li Shiwei chuckled.

“Of course,” Lin Heng smiled, sitting on the rock under the tree, happy to see a newbie hooked on fishing.

After they’d caught enough, the two cleaned the fish and fried some with oil at home. They saved a portion and placed the rest on the table.

Lin Heng gave one to Xiulan, smiling, “We did pretty well this noon, huh?”

“Yeah, not bad,” Xiulan accepted Lin Heng’s gesture.

Since her husband and Li Shiwei rarely met, she naturally said nothing and let them have fun. She could handle the household chores on her own.

Lin Heng grinned, thinking how understanding Xiulan was—so different from Li Shiwei’s wife.

He remembered that when he used to hang out with Li Shiwei, his wife would come running within half an hour, chasing him back to do this or that. It wasn’t anything serious, just trivial stuff that got really annoying.

Even when Li Shiwei could do the chores himself, she’d insist on calling him back. Playing in the mountains was never fun for him, so Lin Heng stopped going.

That afternoon, Lin Heng took his father and a few others to Red Maple Mountain to help build a small wooden cabin.

Lin Heng, his older brother, and Li Shiwei worked and joked together—building a little paradise-like cabin was a childhood dream for all three.

They all got into it, unanimously deciding to put up a swing.

They set up a swing frame by the cabin and cut some palm fiber on site, twisting it into four-strand ropes about two centimeters thick.

“Who’s climbing the tree?” Lin Heng laughed.

They chose two big maple trees for the swing, and now someone had to climb up and fix the crossbar on the branches.

“How about we race? Let’s see if your tree-climbing skills have gotten rusty,” Li Shiwei said, eyeing Lin Heng.

Growing up in the countryside, they were all expert climbers—climbing bamboo was easy, let alone these trees.

They often raced climbing trees as kids. Sometimes if they tore their pants, they dared not go home or had to kneel and beg their mom for forgiveness to avoid a beating.

Thinking back now, those were memories long past. For the reborn Lin Heng, they felt even more distant.

“Bring it on. I’m not scared of you,” Lin Heng grinned.

“I’ll count us down,” Lin Yue smiled.

“Okay.”

Under the tree, at Lin Yue’s signal, the two grabbed ropes and started climbing.

For these trees with few branches, climbing tested arm and leg strength and technique. Legs squeezed tight, hands hugging the trunk, swiftly scaling upward.

Lin Heng was halfway up when he heard Li Shiwei laugh, “Lin Heng, you lost. Drink an extra cup tonight.”

Turning his head, Lin Heng exclaimed, “Wow! You must be born under the monkey sign!”

He thought he was already fast, but Li Shiwei had reached the branch first and was sitting there.

“You’re such a noob, clearly haven’t climbed in ages. You gotta follow big bro’s lead,” Li Shiwei laughed heartily.

“If you’re so good, try swimming. Climbing trees doesn’t count,” Lin Heng shot back, then climbed up to sit on the branch.

They were over four meters off the ground, and the maple trees were smooth—just getting up there was impressive. Li Shiwei was basically a monkey.

“Here, tie the crossbar tight.”

Lin Yue tied the crossbar to the end of the rope below. Lin Heng and Li Shiwei pulled the rope up, hoisting the bar into place.

They secured it on the branch, then tied the palm fiber swing ropes to the crossbar, finishing the swing.

They say climbing up is easy, coming down is hard—if you don’t know how to get down, you’re basically relying on your ‘prostate brakes.’

Lin Heng was much more at ease this time. He grabbed the ropes and climbed down easily, much faster than Li Shiwei.

They brought over a prepared wooden board, tied it to the ropes, and a one-meter-high swing was ready.

Lin Heng sat on it to try, but Li Shiwei and Lin Yue rushed over and started pushing.

“Whoa, no! If this isn’t sturdy, I’ll break something!” Lin Heng quickly protested, but it was too late to get off.

“Here we go!!”

The two laughed, letting go. The swing swung a hundred and sixty or seventy degrees through the air—thrilling and nerve-wracking.

Men’s swings were a whole different game than women’s. The two brothers went wild, pushing like crazy.

Luckily, the palm ropes were tough, or they wouldn’t have survived such treatment.

But the fun was real—they often made swings out of vine when they were kids, and sometimes the vine broke, causing painful falls, but they’d get up and keep playing.

After a while, Lin Heng got off, and the three took turns swinging like village kids.

Then they built another swing next to it.

Lin Heng’s father and uncle, Li Baiquan, who knew some carpentry, helped finish the fence. They also sawed some boards, smoothed them with a wooden plane, and assembled a big table two meters long and one meter wide.

Lin Heng and the others helped make six small stools—easy stuff: a wooden board and four legs.

The necessary mortise and tenon joints weren’t complicated, and it was done quickly.

Once the table and stools were brought inside, the wooden cabin looked a little more alive.

“Shouldn’t we have a stove inside? How will we cook?” Li Shiwei asked, curious.

“We’ll build the cooking stove outside. After all, we don’t cook here often. Inside, we’ll just have a charcoal heater for warmth,” Lin Heng thought for a moment and said. If they made both a stove and a heater inside, it’d be too much trouble—lots of fireproof materials would be needed, or the wooden house could easily catch fire.

So they decided to just put the stove outside since the place was only used for occasional overnight stays; charcoal heating inside would be enough.

“What about a bed? Should we make one?” Lin’s father asked with a smile.

Since they got a diesel saw and could cut wood themselves, making ordinary furniture became much easier. He had grown fond of crafting things on his own.

It used to be exhausting to saw boards by hand—he could barely cut a few pieces in a whole day.

“Make a bed board and two long benches. We can set them up when needed and lean them against the wall when not; they won’t take up space,” Lin Heng nodded.

“Alright.” Lin’s father nodded and went to grab some boards to work on.

The three of them uprooted all the small trees near the house, leaving only the big trees, making the whole forest look neat and clean, almost like a dreamlike woods.

Working together was easy and enjoyable, almost like reliving their childhood memories.

“That should do it. In a few days, we’ll have a barbecue here,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“I’ll go practice archery then,” Lin Yue laughed as he picked up Lin Heng’s old wooden bow and started practicing.

Li Shiwei, who was familiar with hunting rifles, was also interested in archery and joined in.

Using a traditional bow and arrow was much harder than a modern compound bow, but they were both excited to try.

Lin Heng taught all the techniques and methods he knew, but mastering them wasn’t something that happened overnight.

Even with talent, it took him a year in his previous life just to get the hang of it, and two years before he became skilled.

Most people wouldn’t persist that long. Drawing a bow was no easy task—after two hours of practice, your whole body ached.

Ancient archers were real tough guys, nothing like the delicate bow-wielding beauties in modern games.

Even women were more like strong “Barbie warriors” than fragile girls.

The two of them had decent stamina, but after half an hour they were both exhausted.

“This is really tiring,” Li Shiwei rubbed his shoulder, sighing.

Lin Yue nodded, “Yeah, pulling a bow a few times isn’t bad, but after many repetitions, your whole arm gets sore.”

“That’s for sure. Do you think ancient archers had it easy?” Lin Heng smiled. Every morning now he trained himself—warming up with Ba Bu Jin Gang exercises, then practicing archery with both hands separately.

Otherwise, he feared ending up with one strong hand and one weak, like a crab.

Afterwards, the three of them went to the river to bathe, competing in breath-holding and swimming. In these, Lin Heng completely outperformed his brother and Li Shiwei.

He could hold his breath for a full minute, and with practice underwater, up to a minute and a half—utter domination.

That night, the group enjoyed a good drink. Li Shiwei and his father were both lodged at Lin’s father’s house.

The Lin family had limited space; their rooms were full of quicklime, so no place for guests.

After Lin Heng put Xiaoxia to sleep and lay down, Xiulan snuggled up and smiled, “Did you have fun today?”

“Yes, thanks to my virtuous wife,” Lin Heng laughed, pulling her close.

“I thought you’d stay at the cabin with Li Shiwei tonight, but you actually came back,” Xiulan blinked playfully.

If Lin Heng hadn’t come back, she’d have been a bit sad. Luckily, he was sensible and well-behaved.

“No way, playing with brothers during the day is enough. At night, it’s better to hold your wife—soft and cozy,” Lin Heng said, nuzzling her like a cat.

“You’re so smooth,” Xiulan whispered, resting against him silently.

Lin Heng said nothing, holding her quietly until they nearly fell asleep, then loosened his grip and settled into a normal sleeping position.

The next morning, Lin Heng got up early, boiled hot water for his wife, and went to exercise.

“What are you doing? Looks weird,” Xiulan shook her head.

“It’s training. If you want to learn, I’ll teach you in a few days. It can extend your life, or I could teach you Tai Chi—it helps improve your figure and complexion,” Lin Heng smiled.

He had also learned Tai Chi and was quite proficient, though it was just for exercise—not like the martial arts in wuxia novels.

“Maybe later,” Xiulan said, tempted by the idea of looking better.

After training, Lin Heng shot fifty arrows at the target, then prepared breakfast.

By seven o’clock, workers began arriving at the Lin household.

“Come on in and sign in. Once everyone’s here, we’ll head straight to Red Maple Mountain,” Lin Heng said with a smile, pulling out a work log for attendance.

By 7:30, everyone was present. Including relatives, his uncle Li Baiquan and Li Shiwei, the three fathers Lin Xutao and his son Lin Hai, plus Lin Heng’s father and older brother—a total of 66 people.

After signing in, Lin Heng asked his father and brother to lead a group up the mountain first.

At Red Maple Mountain, Lin Heng divided everyone into six groups. Five groups were assigned to leveling the ground, spreading out from east to west. Family members led each group, with daily quotas to prevent slacking.

One group was responsible for building stone terraces—removing old unnecessary ones and rebuilding new ones according to Lin Heng’s plan.

“Alright, the work is all assigned. Work hard, and your wages will be paid on time. Like I said, we’re all from the same village—I don’t want any trouble,” Lin Heng said with a smile, signaling everyone to start.

After distributing the work, Lin Heng rode off alone on horseback, leaving everyone puzzled.

He rode to Huangtan Town and went to the only cement supplier, where cement was being loaded onto trucks.

That’s right—he was having it loaded.

“Boss Lin, this tractor trailer has one ton of cement, already loaded,” Zhang, the cement seller, greeted Lin Heng warmly as he arrived.

“I’ll guide you there later. They’ll inspect the load. After all deliveries, come find me to settle the bill,” Lin Heng said.

He had bought ten tons of cement at 135 yuan per ton—1,350 yuan total. No wonder the seller was so eager to please.

If Lin Heng told him to do a Yangge dance right now, he’d do it without hesitation.

“All right, Boss Lin, don’t worry—I guarantee I’ll get it done perfectly for you,” said Zhang, a chubby man who looked like a bouncing ball when he smiled.

After finishing there, Lin Heng went to the Tuanjie Brick Factory. The factory had hired more workers recently because Lin Heng’s technical input had boosted their competitiveness and increased orders quite a bit.

As soon as Lin Heng arrived, the boss Wang Jie personally came out to greet him, warmly shaking his hand with a smile. “Boss Lin, what wind blew you here today?”

Wang Jie’s enthusiasm wasn’t just because Lin Heng had written that planning document for him—it was also because Lin Heng had just opened his own Procurement Station and was now a real boss.

The news about Lin Heng having taken over the old Liu family’s Procurement Station had spread all over the town’s business district. His approach was clean and decisive, striking right at the heart of the matter and leaving Liu’s side unable to recover. Anyone who heard about it broke out in a cold sweat.

Especially since Liu Qicheng had ended up in jail, many people suspected Lin Heng was behind it and began to fear him, thinking he must have an extraordinary background.

That’s why Wang Jie’s attitude now was genuinely respectful, even a little fearful.

Lin Heng understood all this but never explained anything—mystery kept people guessing, and the unknown bred fear, which made his work easier.

“To be honest, I’m here to collect some money,” Lin Heng smiled. “I’m investing in building a fish pond recently, so my funds are a bit tight.”

Wang Jie’s expression tightened. He quickly led Lin Heng inside, smiling, “Boss Lin, you promised half a year ago, but I’ve already invested all my funds and haven’t recouped anything yet.”

“What can I do? I’m pretty anxious too,” Lin Heng said with a troubled look.

Wang Jie thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “Do you need bricks for your fish pond construction? I can let you pay with bricks.”

“That won’t work; it’s not cost-effective. I can use stones—why bother switching?” Lin Heng shook his head.

Wang Jie persisted, “I can sell you bricks at cost price. They work much better than stones.”

This was exactly what Lin Heng wanted, but he wasn’t in a rush. He sipped his tea and thought a moment before asking, “How many bricks can I get for a thousand yuan?”

“Thirty-five thousand—that’s the maximum. Any more and I’d be losing money,” Wang Jie smiled wryly.

Lin Heng held up four fingers. “How about fifty thousand bricks?”

“No way. At that amount, I might as well just lend you money—I’d lose a fortune,” Wang Jie shook his head repeatedly.

“Then just lend me the money. You really think I don’t know roughly what your cost price is?” Lin Heng shrugged.

Wang Jie chuckled bitterly and poured more tea as an apology. “Alright, forty-two thousand. That’s my absolute limit.”

“Okay, then how about paying for forty thousand worth of roof tiles by the end of the year? Does that sound fair?” Lin Heng thought for a moment and proposed.

Wang Jie waved his hand, smiling wryly, “Fine, fine. Doing business with you, Boss Lin, I really can’t make a single cent.”

“Want me to do the math for you? At this price, making a hundred profit on the tiles is no problem, right?” Lin Heng smiled gently—he knew exactly how much these things cost.

“Boss Lin, no need to say more. It’s settled then. I’ll send people to deliver the goods for you,” Wang Jie didn’t want to argue further—doing business with experts was just too hard to make money.

“All right then, I’m off,” Lin Heng said with a smile and rode away after the deal was done.

Digging a fish pond naturally required bricks, plus building feed houses and hatcheries—an open pond alone wouldn’t be enough.

Afterward, Lin Heng took Hongzao to get new horseshoes, then went to the shop to find Wang Zhou.

“Lin, you finally showed up! If you hadn’t come soon, I was going to come looking for you,” Wang Zhou said excitedly when he saw Lin Heng.

“What’s going on? Something happened?” Lin Heng was surprised by his expression—it seemed serious.

(End of chapter)