Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Zhou's father walked ahead with his hands behind his back, while Li Xiangdong shoved the shy little snotty-nosed boy into the yard. He casually put down his basket and sickle somewhere, then pulled the little snotty-nosed boy into the kitchen.

The little snotty boy smiled as soon as he saw Zhou Yuqin, "Auntie, I'm here."

Zhou Yuqin, who was kneading dough, was also surprised, "Little snotty-nosed brat, what are you doing in Zhoujia Village?"

The little slug laughed and said, "I've come to your village to cut pig feed."

“I met him on my way back with my dad, and invited him to our house for lunch.”

Li Xiangdong explained for a moment, and then introduced Zhou's mother to her.

"A guest is a guest, Dongzi, quickly take him inside to have some candy."

Zhou's mother welcomed the little snotty-nosed boy who came to freeload a meal, saying, "At noon we'll have stewed vegetables and steamed buns made from two kinds of flour. There will be meat in the stew later."

The little snotty-nosed boy nodded and ran out of the kitchen to his basket. He took out a cornbread from it and ran back. "Grandma Zhou, I brought a cornbread with me."

"Give me the cornbread, Grandma will put it in the pot and heat it up again for you."

Zhou's mother took the steamed bun from the snotty-nosed boy and said, "Go inside and play with your Uncle Li. He can get you some candy."

Zhou Yuqin then spoke up, "Your sister is inside, go and go play with her."

"Yeah, I miss my sister too."

As Little Snotty spoke, he looked at Li Xiangdong. Li Xiangdong understood that he was a little reserved in an unfamiliar environment, so he went over and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'll take you."

Li Xiangdong first pushed the little snotty-nosed boy out of the kitchen, then turned back and whispered to Zhou's mother, "Mom, don't heat up the cornbread for him."

Zhou's mother smiled and nodded, "Go and rest in your room. I know what to do."

As she spoke, she put the little slug-shaped steamed bun into the cupboard.

Li Xiangdong brought the little snotty-nosed boy into the house. Since no one was in the living room, the two of them went into the inner room.

At this moment, Li Xiaozhu was sitting cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), her head resting on her aunt's body, holding a candy wrapper in one hand and waving her other hand at her father, Zhou, who was trying to touch her braids.

When she saw Li Xiangdong enter, she straightened up and pointed at Zhou's father, "Dad...you're bad..."

When Li Xiangdong heard his daughter complain, he smiled and said, "What's wrong with being naughty? What's wrong with Grandpa touching you?"

"don't want..."

After Li Xiaozhu finished speaking, she climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

"younger sister."

The little snotty boy who followed Li Xiangdong into the room saw Li Xiaozhu grin and smiled. He glanced at the clean and tidy bed and stood still.

When Li Xiaozhu heard someone calling her, she stopped, turned around, and sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed), staring curiously at the little slug with her big eyes.

"You're the little slug my dad was talking about? Come and play with me."

Zhou Yuqi didn't mind the dirty little snotty-nosed boy. She grabbed two pieces of candy, put them in his hands, and pulled him to sit on the edge of the kang.

Li Xiangdong chatted with them for a while before coming out of the house. He strolled around the yard for a bit but found it uninteresting, so he went back into the kitchen.

The steamed buns made from the second batch of dough were ready, and the side dishes for the stew were chopped. Zhou's mother cut the two pounds of fatty pork that her son-in-law brought in half, keeping one half for her family to eat slowly, and using the other half to make the stew for lunch.

Li Xiangdong leaned over, picked up a piece of meat that his mother-in-law had cut, walked to the door, and looked at it in the sunlight. Good heavens, it was translucent!

There's a saying, "as thin as a cicada's wing." This kind of handicraft is so exquisite that it could be exhibited at the Canton Fair. His mother-in-law will definitely make a fortune if she opens a restaurant selling beef noodles.

Li Xiangdong was worried that such thin slices of meat might disintegrate in the pot!

"Mother, you rest, I'll take care of it."

Li Xiangdong took the cleaver from Zhou's mother and began slicing the meat with a clang. He didn't slice it very thick, just the normal thickness.

Then, disregarding the objections of Zhou Yuqin and her mother, he denied all their doubts.

He took over the kitchen without hesitation, and he's in charge of cooking the big pot of vegetables for lunch today!

"Dongzi, don't cut the meat so thick, cut it thinner!"

"Pour less oil! Do you even know how to cook? Don't pour so much, there's too much oil!"

The mother and daughter standing to the side were so anxious watching Li Xiangdong's cooking that they were practically jumping up and down.

This was the first time Li Xiangdong had come to his mother-in-law's house to help them cook, but Zhou's mother was anything but happy.

Her heart was bleeding; she wished she could kick her son-in-law out of the kitchen, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

What should I do if I'm angry but can't vent my anger?

He could only vent it on his eldest daughter. His son-in-law was very skilled at cooking, which showed that he did this often. His eldest daughter must have spoiled him a lot at home.

"Mom, why are you pinching me? It's not like I'm the one causing trouble! Can't you be reasonable?"

Zhou Yuqin was wronged and rubbed her arm, quickly taking two steps to the side. She was furious. What did this have to do with her?

It was the first time she had ever seen her man cook, and in all her life, it was the first time she had ever seen someone pour oil into a pot while cooking!

Why eat so much meat and oil in one meal?

And yet, one cannot live forever!

Adding to the pain, Zhou Yuqin glared fiercely at Li Xiangdong after being pinched by her own mother.

'Gululu'

As time went on, the aroma of the stew from the big pot grew stronger and stronger, and Zhou's mother and Zhou Yuqin's stomachs began to rumble.

The aroma wafting into their noses made them swallow hard.

As Zhou Dewang and his family entered the courtyard, they were greeted by the aroma of meat filling the air. As Zhou Dewang walked toward the kitchen, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Second Aunt! Your cooking smells amazing! I could smell it even before I came in!"

He saw Li Xiangdong in front of the stove and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow~ Dongzi, you're in charge of cooking!"

"Uncle, Aunt, Sister-in-law, you've arrived."

Li Xiangdong called out through the window first, then looked at Zhou Dewang standing at the door and said with a smile, "Brother Wang, you and your uncle and aunt come inside first. We'll start eating once everyone is here."

"Okay, no rush, you go ahead and do your thing."

Zhou Dewang glanced at the oil floating in the large iron pot and turned to leave. He had no choice but to leave; he couldn't stand seeing such a mess when cooking.

No wonder his aunt and sister were standing in the kitchen without saying a word; they must have been choked by the layer of oil in the pot.

City people are really generous; if it were him, this amount of oil would last him a month!

"Wow, what kind of food is this? It smells so good!"

"It smells so good! The aroma reminds me of the big pot meals in our village twenty years ago."

"Even communal meals don't smell this good, it's so delicious! My sister-in-law really went all out for her son-in-law's visit."

Hearing the sounds from the yard, Zhou's mother knew that the people she had invited for dinner were arriving one after another. She composed herself and came out of the kitchen.

"Dehong, Deyuan, you're both here! I'll have Yuqin serve each of you a bowl of food and take it home."