Chapter 73: Newbie Protection Period

Entering the new house, Liang, the carpenter, was busy working. Today, he was planing the wooden boards to make furniture.

“Do you need help?” Lin Heng asked with a smile.

“No need, I’m just preparing the boards these days. I won’t assemble them yet; we’ll do the assembly together in a couple of days,” Liang shook his head.

“By the way, the wood for the pavilion and the corridor is all processed. Now, all that’s left is to install the tiles, and then your corridor and pavilion will be complete.”

Liang pointed to the wood placed under the eaves. It was all pine, with the posts and boards made from old pine trees felled on the mountain.

“Great, I’ll wait until this afternoon when my dad and brother return and have them help with the installation.”

Lin Heng placed Xiaoxia down, went inside, and grabbed tung oil to treat the boards for preservation. Outdoors, wood is more vulnerable to termites and decay.

“Bang bang~”

Xiaoxia reached out her little hand to grab the brush, thinking it was a game when she saw Lin Heng applying the oil.

“No, you can’t play with this. If you get your clothes dirty, mommy will spank you,” Lin Heng warned her.

The little girl froze for a moment, her big innocent eyes staring at Lin Heng. “Mom… spank me, I spank… her.”

After saying that, she tried to grab the brush. Thanks to Lin Heng’s daily teaching, Xiaoxia, who was only 1 year and 2 months old, could already speak quite clearly, even though her vocabulary was still limited.

“I hope you can say that in front of your mom,” Lin Heng said helplessly, unable to continue his work.

After a moment of thought, he went to grab the plow’s reins and a basket with a rope. He threaded the rope through one of the posts and hung the basket about half a meter off the ground.

Xiaoxia looked on in confusion. When Lin Heng tried to lift her and place her inside the basket, she suddenly grabbed his clothes and refused to let go.

“Wah wah…”

Her little mouth puckered, and she immediately started crying.

“Why are you crying? It’s so much fun!” Lin Heng said, gently swinging the basket in the air. Xiaoxia, crying at first, soon realized it was actually quite fun. She grasped the edge of the basket with her little hands and stared outside with a silly look on her face.

“Hehe (=^▽^=)”

Suddenly, her face lit up with a big smile.

“Indeed, swings are the ultimate trick for kids,” Lin Heng shook his head and turned back to apply the tung oil.

“Bang bang!!” Not long later, the little girl shouted.

“Coming, let’s swing, let’s fly into the sky!!” Lin Heng knew the swing had stopped and turned to give it a little shake.

Before long, Xiaoxia learned the word “swing,” shouting happily, “Dad, swing!”

And so, the swinging continued for the whole morning. Lin Heng finished applying tung oil to all the wooden structures, while Xiaoxia fell asleep in the warm sun, swaying gently, with a little blister on her nose that kept swelling and shrinking.

“You really know how to take care of kids,” Liang, the carpenter, complimented when he saw this.

“Hehe, swings are the ultimate trick,” Lin Heng smiled faintly.

When he was a child, he always wanted his own swing, so he and his older brother, Lin Yue, built one in the forest behind their house. But since they used vines, it broke after a short time, and they had to rebuild it.

At 12:30, Xiulan and the others returned from the mountain.

“Too crazy, the Bamboo Shoal Cliff is full of people picking bamboo shoots.”

Lin Heng’s father shook his head.

“How much did you collect?” Lin Heng asked his father, who hadn’t filled his basket yet.

“We didn’t collect much, only around 40-50 jin of bamboo shoots. It’s all up to your brother and Xiulan now.”

His father sighed, the mountain was overcrowded these days, with people either picking bamboo shoots or collecting mushrooms and honeysuckle. Even the wild chickens were staying away. Lin Heng didn’t get a chance to hunt.

“Xu’an, you deal with the bamboo shoots. I’ll go cook,” Lin Heng’s mother said as she put down the basket and entered the kitchen.

“Okay.”

Lin Heng’s father sorted through the bamboo shoots, which had already been pre-processed in the forest, and soaked them in a wooden barrel. These were the small bamboo shoots, about the size of a thumb, which would taste better than the thicker ones if soaked in water.

Soon, Lin Yue and his wife, Liu Juan, returned. They had gone to pick honeysuckle again, bringing back a lot more than the day before, but only a small amount of mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

Lin Heng asked and found out they had gone up to the Three-Leaf Gorge.

Lunch was almost ready when Xiulan and Caiyun returned, each carrying a basket—one full of bamboo shoots and the other with mushrooms.

“These mushrooms are great, so many good ones,” Lin Heng said when he saw the baskets, which contained a dozen egg mushrooms and a lot of chicken oil mushrooms, though they had fewer beef liver mushrooms.

“I was lucky today, all the egg mushrooms were from me, while Xiulan found many chicken oil mushrooms,” Caiyun proudly said, holding her head high, looking like a fisherman who caught a rare fish.

“Looks like we’ll be lucky too, let’s hurry and get the egg mushrooms inside so mom can fry them,” Lin Heng said, feeling hungry.

The people in the mountains were poor, and they lived on mushrooms to get by.

For lunch, they had noodles with egg mushrooms in a spicy and sour sauce. The combination of the refreshing, smooth egg mushrooms with the spicy sauce was both delicious and satisfying.

Lin Heng didn’t even care that the soup was hot; he ate it quickly, savoring the smooth and satisfying texture that went straight to his brain. The hunger and fatigue vanished, and soon a stronger desire to eat kicked in until his stomach was full.

Normally, Lin Heng didn’t drink the soup, but today he finished it all.

“Refreshing, so refreshing!” Lin Heng couldn’t help but praise.

Lin Heng’s mother gave him a disapproving look, “No one’s competing with you, are you just dumping it into your mouth?”

Everyone else had barely finished half a bowl, but Lin Heng had already eaten two.

“I can’t help it, I’ve always eaten this fast,” Lin Heng laughed sheepishly. It was a habit from childhood when he was always hungry.

After the meal, Lin Heng told his father and brother that the materials for the corridor and pavilion were ready.

“Once it’s ready, we’ll help build it,” his father nodded. After resting for a bit, the three men went to Lin Heng’s new house.

“Lin Yue, I have to say, after your brother decorated his house, it looks completely different,” Lin Heng’s father commented as they looked at the backyard. It had looked ordinary before, but now, after the work was done, it really had a certain charm.

“Yes, it feels like sitting here drinking tea would be such an enjoyable experience. I think I’ll put a pavilion in my backyard too,” Lin Yue nodded.

“No problem, mine is yours, you can come anytime,” Lin Heng smiled.

The house he built was originally intended to be a pretty country cottage.

“Alright, let’s start building,” Lin Heng’s father said. The three of them went to the front yard to move the wood.

This was a 3×3 meter pavilion, with the four main posts already installed a few days ago. The posts were 20 cm in diameter and had been carbonized and coated with tung oil.

“Lin Heng, hold the ladder steady. Your brother and I will put up the crossbeams,” his father said, setting the ladder against the posts and climbing up while holding a beam.

The posts had pre-drilled holes, and once the beams were inserted, the four posts connected to form a stable structure.

With a series of hammering sounds, the beams were secured. Lin Heng’s father added some wooden wedges to firmly lock the structure, then climbed onto the beams.

“Pass me the short posts,” he said.

Next, they installed long and short posts at the center and sides, with the middle higher than the sides, forming a triangular frame. They then fixed the upper beams, installed rafters, and started laying the tiles.

Since all the wooden beams had been pre-prepared by the carpenter, the assembly was quick. In about an hour and a half, a small wooden pavilion was built.

It faced a small wooden bridge over the fish pond, and from the pavilion, one could enjoy the sound of the stream, watch the fish swimming, and once some lotus flowers were planted in the pond, the scene would be even more picturesque.

Lin Heng’s father stood in the pavilion, looking around the yard. Having spent his whole life working as a farmer, he rarely took time to enjoy life.

His shoulders bore the weight of the family, and his most frequent words were about resting when he got old—building a fish pond and living off the land.

But those were always just idle words. He could never relax and always had to keep working, as if it was his destiny.

“Dad, in a couple of years, I’ll build you a villa. You’ll drink tea and take walks in the villa every day, it’ll be even more beautiful than this, even grander than the old landlords,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, a faint look of longing appeared in Lin Heng’s father’s tired brown eyes, followed by a slight smile as he patted Lin Heng on the shoulder: “Just make sure you don’t make me worry about you. Don’t let it get to the point where you can’t even afford a meal and need me and your mom to help.”

After building the new house, they could settle down and live well. The family would continue to work hard together.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll work with my brother to earn money and build a big house for you and mom,” Lin Yue also said with a smile.

Hearing this, Lin Heng’s father smiled, “Just make sure you two get your own lives in order first. Now, go on, let’s go deal with the front yard.”

Although he knew that the words from his sons might be hard to realize, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of longing.

Lin Heng was also happy. The best thing about this family was that they were all united. Even though his sister-in-law, Liu Juan, was shrewd and calculating, she was very filial to his parents.

It was this harmonious and warm family that made him feel motivated and full of hope.

If it were like his uncle’s family, where the father and son are constantly draining each other, one husband despises the wife, the other wife despises the husband, life would have no meaning.

Upon reaching the front yard, the work was the same as before—installing cross beams, erecting pillars, setting up main beams, adding purlins, and laying tiles.

Lin Heng had originally planned to repair the roof of the corridor with straw, but then he realized it would be too troublesome to replace it every year. Since there were still many ceramic tiles left, he decided to just use them.

“Alright, good luck and smooth sailing!” Lin’s father smiled and wished after laying the last tile, then climbed down from the ladder.

“Are you still going to lay stones?” Lin’s father asked, always unable to sit still.

“Yes, but it’s not much. I’ll handle it myself,” Lin Heng nodded.

“Well, let’s go. We’ll help you finish it,” Lin’s father said as he prepared to grab tools and go up the mountain for stones.

His older brother, Lin Yue, patted him on the shoulder and said, “It’s not much work, three of us will finish it in no time. If you do it alone, it’ll take half a day.”

“Alright,” Lin Heng agreed without hesitation.

As they walked, he discussed with his older brother about moving the pigsty to the back of the house.

“I don’t think there’s a problem. Keeping it in the yard really stinks, especially in the summer with mosquitoes everywhere. I plan to move the pigsty out next year,” Lin’s father nodded, agreeing with the suggestion.

“Then let’s find a good day in the next couple of days to fix the pigsty and the chicken and duck pens,” Lin Yue said, nodding. It’s indeed better to build them outside.

“No need to pick a specific day. Tomorrow is a good day to start the work. When I had someone check the dates, tomorrow was the first available day,” Lin’s father said, turning his head.

“Good, then we’ll start tomorrow,” Lin Yue agreed.

After moving and laying the stones, it was nearly seven o’clock. The sky only darkened at around eight these days. When they returned to the old house, Lin’s mother was already cooking.

Lin’s sister-in-law, Liu Juan, was chopping pigweed, while Xiu Lan and Cai Yun were gathering mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The boletus mushrooms they had collected yesterday were sliced and completely dried in the sun today.

Xiao Xia was training the rooster, playing the stick-throwing game. When she saw Lin Heng return, she hurriedly dropped the stick and stumbled over to him, shouting, “Daddy~”

“Come here, baby, give me a kiss.” Lin Heng picked up his daughter and stretched his face toward her.

“Smack!”

The little girl kissed Lin Heng’s face with her soft, pink lips. Satisfied, Lin Heng lifted her onto his shoulders and jogged around the yard.

“I knew it, showing off your daughter.” Lin Yue envied. He had three sons, but not a single daughter.

Although he was happy with his sons, he sometimes wished for a sweet, affectionate little girl like Xiao Xia, who was so well-behaved, unlike his sons who only knew how to be mischievous.

But it was out of his hands. Due to the family planning policy, they had paid fines for having three children, and he couldn’t dare to have a fourth.

Moreover, it was impossible to have more children now, since his wife, Liu Juan, had already undergone sterilization.

Lin Heng grinned: “It’s fine, she’s also your niece. You can hold her.”

“I don’t want to hold her,” Lin Yue shook his head, worried that if he held her for too long, he might start dealing with his own naughty boys.

“Dad, second uncle, I saw a rabbit!”

Just as they were talking about sons, Lin Heng’s eldest son, Lin Wei, ran in, followed by his younger brother.

“A rabbit? Where?” Lin Yue asked, looking at his son curiously.

“Across the river, by the big pile of straw in the field. I was using a slingshot to shoot green flies when I saw a rabbit. I wanted to shoot it, but before I could take a few steps, it ran into the bushes and disappeared,” Lin Wei excitedly pointed in the direction.

“That’s interesting, we should get up early tomorrow morning and check it out,” Lin Heng nodded.

“Can I go too?” Lin Wei asked, not believing that his second uncle would take him.

“Of course. Don’t you start school at eight? We’ll head out at six,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Okay, second uncle, you’re the best!” Lin Wei jumped with excitement, eager to experience hunting firsthand.

“Is it okay for him to follow us? Won’t he scare the rabbit away with his jumping around?” Lin Yue expressed concern.

“It’ll be fine. He’ll be quiet,” Lin Wei quickly shook his head.

Lin Heng smiled and reassured him: “It’s just a rabbit. Let him go if he wants.”

Beginners often have good luck, just like those who go fishing for the first time and accidentally catch a big fish. There’s definitely some kind of mysterious luck involved.

Hearing Lin Heng’s words, Lin Wei felt closer to his second uncle than his own father.

“I… want to go too~” Xiao Xia pouted and waved her dirty little hands, signaling that she wanted to go too.

“Okay, okay, I’ll take you along,” Lin Heng tossed his daughter into the air and caught her, making her giggle.

But after tossing her a few times, he started feeling back pain.

“Can you take her?” Xiu Lan asked after finishing her work.

“Hey little brother, what do you think about going out to catch yellow eel tonight?” Lin Yue asked while washing his hands.

Because the house construction had delayed things, this was only their first time catching yellow eels this year.

“Take Dad with you. He’s good at catching yellow eels, and my legs hurt,” Lin Heng said, turning his back pain into a leg ache.

“It’s fine, we’ll go together,” Lin’s father agreed, interested in catching yellow eels.

“Let’s eat first, the food’s ready,” Lin’s mother called out as she came out of the kitchen.

Dinner was sauerkraut noodles with six butterfly vegetables. After drinking some wine, the noodles were ready.

After eating, Lin Heng went to rest. He lay in bed, playing with the big grey wolf and teasing his daughter. Lin’s father and Lin Yue went to the field to catch yellow eels, with Lin’s father using a bamboo yellow eel trap.

As they left, they confidently declared their goal was to catch 15 pounds of yellow eel. Lin Heng thought they’d be lucky to catch 10 pounds.

“Tomorrow we’re building the pigsty…” Lin Heng lay in bed and recounted the day’s work to Xiu Lan.

Xiu Lan also shared what she had seen and heard in the mountains, and they talked about their plans for tomorrow.

Life in the countryside was usually simple—eating, working, and going up the mountain or down to the river. But if a couple was harmonious, even these mundane days could be warm and joyful.

Around midnight, Lin Heng heard the gate open and got up to put on a jacket.

“How did it go? What did you catch?” Lin Heng asked, smiling.

“Hehe, son, you really missed out today. I caught something good,” Lin’s father said with a sly grin.

“What is it? Besides turtles, what else could it be?” Lin Heng wasn’t too concerned, even if it was a turtle, it wouldn’t be bigger than the one he kept.

“It’s not a turtle, it’s a little grass turtle,” Lin’s father shook his head and pulled out a palm-sized grass turtle from behind. Its shell had golden streaks and was pitch black, very distinctive.

“Where did you find it?” Lin Heng was surprised. This was even rarer than a turtle.

“Just in the irrigation ditch by the field. It probably ran in from the river,” Lin’s father said, laughing.

“Impressive! Though it won’t fetch much money, it’s great for keeping as a pet,” Lin Heng said, feeling a bit envious.

“What about the yellow eel?” Lin Heng asked.

“There wasn’t much, only five or six pounds, and some ran away,” Lin Yue said, a bit disappointed.

“Not bad. Hurry up and wash up, then go to bed,” Lin Heng said, not surprised.

After that, he returned to the house, told Xiu Lan about their catch, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

(End of chapter)