Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Xiaotao, go get two mugs and put these two cream popsicles in them. When your great-grandparents come back, they can have some sweet soup."

Li Xiangdong's grandparents are old and can't handle eating anything too cold, so they're fine with some sweet soup.

"Uncle, I understand."

Where is Li Xiaohai?

He looked around and realized that his son was not there. No wonder he always felt that someone was missing.

Li Xiaomei replied, "Third Uncle, Xiaohai is being made to stand in the room as punishment by Third Aunt."

Hearing that his son was being punished by standing in the corner, he knew that his son must have gotten into trouble.

Thinking about how Li Xiaohai would grow up and walk with a hunched back like an old man, he wanted to go over and remind his wife to make their son stand against the wall in the corner.

Seeing that his mother was about to go back inside, Li Xiangdong quickly picked up a creamy ice cream and handed it to her.

"Oh, what about mine? I didn't help you with any work. Besides, your mother isn't destined to eat creamy ice cream. Just give me a popsicle."

Li's mother loved doing this; she would say no, but in her heart she was extremely satisfied. Her son knew how to be filial to her, and her eyes would crinkle with laughter.

“You are my own mother, how could I, as your son, forget you? Please continue eating, I will go back to my room to check on you.”

Li Xiangdong carried the paper bag out of the house, eating an ice pop as he walked. He ran into his sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, who were also eating ice pops. The two of them thanked him.

After exchanging a few polite words, he finished his popsicle in a few bites and casually tossed the remaining stick into the yard.

When Li Xiangdong entered the room, he saw Li Xiaohai standing facing the wall with his head down.

Zhou Yuqin was holding her daughter and sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) nursing the baby. He walked over and saw that there were still tears in the corners of his daughter's eyes, so he smiled and gently pinched his daughter's face.

"Why are you crying? Tell Daddy who bullied you, and Daddy will go and beat him up for you."

Li Xiaozhu raised her head from her mother's chest, squinted her eyes, pouted, and pointed with her little finger.

"Dad...hit...hit Dede."

After she finished complaining, she buried her head and continued to nurse. Zhou Yuqin still had plenty of milk; Li Xiaozhu was a year and a half old and still had milk to drink.

Li Xiangdong looked at Zhou Yuqin and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Yuqin gently patted her daughter's back and explained, "Xiaohai woke up his sister when I wasn't looking. He told her to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy them popsicles and to stay awake and wait with him."

That's what happened.

Li Xiaohai is only a little over three years old, but he already knows to think of his younger sister when there is something delicious to eat. This behavior deserves praise.

Although the method was ill-considered, he is still young after all, so let it go this time. We can make him stand in the corner again when there is another opportunity.

"Come here, son."

Li Xiaohai walked over and said with a wronged look, "Dad, I didn't mean to make my sister cry. I was afraid that my older brothers and sisters would finish all the popsicles, so I woke her up."

Li Xiangdong patted his son's head. "Dad isn't blaming you."

He took an ice pop out of the paper bag and said, "This is for you, take it and eat it."

Li Xiaohai took the popsicle but didn't eat it. "Dad, I want to go play with my older brothers and sisters."

"Go ahead, they're all in the main living room."

Children like to eat together, and Li Xiangdong didn't intend to keep his son in front of him all the time.

"Honey, this is for you."

Li Xiangdong waited until his son came out of the house before handing the last cream ice cream to Zhou Yuqin.

"Eat quickly, or it will melt."

"I won't eat, you can eat."

“I just ate, and my family has some too. This was specially saved for you.”

"Then let's save it for Xiaohai to eat."

"Didn't I just give you some? Don't be so stingy with your food."

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he tore open the wrapper and stuffed the creamy ice cream into her mouth. "How is it? Sweet, right?"

"Ah."

Zhou Yuqin took a bite, her mouth was filled with the aroma of milk, it was indeed very sweet, and her mouth was sweet and her heart was sweet too.

"Eat...eat..."

When Li Xiaozhu saw her mother eating, she stared intently with her big eyes, stopped nursing, and reached out to grab the food.

Zhou Yuqin patted her daughter's outstretched hand, and seeing that she still wanted to eat, she said in a scareful tone, "You're too young to eat now. If you eat, your stomach will hurt, and the doctor will have to give you a shot."

Upon hearing that she needed an injection, Li Xiaozhu stopped clamoring for food and sat quietly in her mother's lap, drool constantly dripping from her mouth.

Li Xiangdong picked up a handkerchief from the side of the kang (a heated brick bed) and wiped his daughter's mouth. "You're so greedy! You want something else while you're drinking milk. If you don't drink milk, your dad will drink it!"

"Daddy...Daddy...eat..."

"My daughter is so sensible; she knows how to care for me."

Zhou Yuqin happily ate her creamy ice cream. Having grown up in the countryside, she had hardly ever eaten popsicles before, so she had no time to pay attention to this frivolous man in front of her and simply thought he was talking nonsense.

But seeing him actually move closer to her, she quickly dodged, her face flushed, and said anxiously, "Are you trying to kill me? In front of our daughter! You may not care about your reputation, but I do!"

Li Xiaozhu thought her parents were playing with her. She stood up shakily in her mother's arms and swung her hand at Li Xiangdong, yelling, "Hit...hit you...hehehe..."

“I was just teasing my daughter, how could you take it seriously? You two are both heartless.”

Li Xiangdong was not only misunderstood by his wife, but also slapped twice by his daughter. He got up and walked out of the house in anger.

But he had only taken a couple of steps when he turned back, reached into his wife's arms, patted her twice, gave her a precise squeeze, picked up a palm-leaf fan from the side, and hurriedly went out of the house, leaving his wife looking on in astonishment.

"Third Uncle, where did you throw away the popsicle sticks you left over?"

Li Xiangdong pointed with his finger, "There."

Following the direction he pointed, the children immediately ran over.

Li Xiaotao was the fastest. After seeing it, he stepped on it. Under the envious gazes of his brothers and sisters, he picked up the small wooden stick with a smug look on his face and stuffed it into his pocket.

Li Xiangdong walked to the pool, turned on the tap, and rinsed the palm-leaf fan with water, so that the breeze he created had a slight coolness.

He fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan that had been rinsed with water, and asked with a contented expression, "You're picking these up to exchange for popsicles, right? How many small sticks are needed to exchange for one now?"

He remembers picking up leftover sticks when he was a child, and searching the streets after school instead of going home so he could exchange them for an ice pop.

Li Xiaojiang said, "Third Uncle, 200 can be exchanged for an ice pop."

"Do you need this much now?"

He could exchange 100 of them for ice cream back then, so it seems that people's lives are better than before, and more people are eating ice cream now.

“Your third aunt has another one.”

"You're not allowed to take it from me, I'm going to ask my mother for it."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaohai ran into the west wing with his short legs, but soon came out dejectedly.

Li Xiaotao ran up to him and asked, "Xiaohai, give me the little wooden stick quickly, we're on the same side."

“My mom didn’t give it to me, but my sister is playing with it.”

"It's okay, you can ask your third aunt for it after Xiaoqi stops playing with it."

"Okay, Xiaotao, I understand."