Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

The villagers of Zhoujia Village, carrying hoes to work, saw Li Xiangdong walking towards them from afar, carrying a full bamboo basket of pig feed.

"Isn't this Xiaoyi's son-in-law? Instead of resting at home in this sweltering heat, he's out gathering such a big basket of pig feed."

"This son-in-law from the city isn't spoiled at all; he's much better than those educated youths who were sent to the countryside a couple of years ago."

“He’s a capable kid. Some people used to say that Xiaoyi’s son-in-law was a lazy and irresponsible person. I think that rumor is false.”

"Uncle, it's time to go to work. It's too hot, remember to drink more water."

Li Xiangdong greeted the passing villagers with a smile.

"Okay, okay, good boy, Uncle understands. You should go home now. Look how sweaty you are. Don't get heatstroke."

"Brother Dehong, get down to the fields."

"Dongzi, why are you cutting so much pig feed? Don't overwork yourself."

"Brother Dehong, it's okay, I used to do this job all the time."

"Hey~ Dongzi, that's not right, how do you get home this way?"

"Oh, well, it's like this, your village is a bit winding, so just follow the main road so I won't get lost."

"Yes, the road to our village is a bit winding, but you haven't come here often enough. You should come back more often in the future. You should go back soon."

As Zhou Dehong walked along carrying his hoe, he said to the people around him, "Dongzi is really a hard-working person. The big pot of stew he made at noon was also delicious."

After most of Li Xiangdong and his group had left, he happily carried his bamboo basket and headed towards his father-in-law's house.

He squeezes out every last bit of residual value; this is also a 5S-level process.

When he returned to his father-in-law's house, he drew a bucket of water from the well and was about to wash up when he heard crying coming from inside. He quickly washed his hands and ran into the house.

"Father...Father..."

When Li Xiaozhu woke up, she opened her eyes and, not seeing Li Xiangdong, began to sob.

When Zhou Yuqin saw her husband enter the room, she said, "Come and hold her quickly. Our daughter will look for you when she wakes up, and she will cry if she can't find you. Luckily, you came back in time."

"Here he comes, Dad is here."

Li Xiangdong quickly picked up his drowsy daughter from the kang (a heated brick bed), supporting her bottom with one hand and gently patting her back with the other.

"Dad... pee..."

Li Xiaozhu squinted, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

"You need to pee..."

Before Li Xiangdong could finish speaking, he felt his daughter suddenly release the floodgates in front of him.

Wow!

Li Xiangdong quickly squatted down, picked up his daughter, and made her pee on the ground. "Did you do this on purpose? How could you be so mean?"

"Daddy...you're bad..."

Li Xiaozhu squinted her eyes and giggled as she urinated.

"What's wrong with me? Your dad has never bullied you!"

After Li Xiangdong waited for his daughter to finish urinating, he got up and handed her to Zhou Yuqin, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), saying, "Stop laughing and quickly wipe her bottom."

Li Xiangdong glanced down at his clothes; his chest and pants were covered in urination from his daughter.

He reached out and slapped Li Xiaozhu's butt, "You're just messing with your old man!"

"You're bad... I'll hit you..."

Li Xiaozhu was slapped, and she tried to slap back.

Li Xiangdong teased her on purpose, reaching out and gently patting her hand before immediately dodging away, saying, "You can't hit me."

"Hit...hit..."

After wiping her bottom, Li Xiaozhu climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) without a care in the world. When she saw her father take another step back, she got angry and turned over to get off the kang.

"Stop teasing her."

Zhou Yuqin reached out and hugged her daughter back, saying, "Go wash up quickly and change into my older brother's clothes."

Li Xiaozhu sucked on her finger, pointed at Li Xiangdong who was leaving, and shouted, "Mother...hit..."

"What are you doing? You're not behaving like a proper little girl at all. Stop sucking your fingers."

"Humph~"

"You brat, you've even learned to hurl insults at people now."

...

...

Li Xiangdong found his mother-in-law and said, "My father is still sleeping, Mom. Have my older brother and sister-in-law gotten out of bed? Could you get me some of my brother's clothes?"

Zhou's mother asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Li Xiangdong said with a wry smile, "Your granddaughter peed all over me."

Zhou Yuqi, who was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) playing with candy wrappers, said, "My niece is so great!"

Zhou's mother patted her little girl, smiled, and got off the kang (a heated brick bed). "It's alright, a child's pee isn't dirty. Wear your father's clothes. Your father has a set of clothes without patches."

"I'm going to go play with my niece."

Zhou Yuqi got up, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and ran out of the room.

Zhou's mother took out a set of Zhou's father's clothes from the closet, saying, "Change out of your clothes and I'll wash them for you in a bit."

"No need, Mother, I'll wash it myself."

Li Xiangdong took a set of Zhou's father's clothes out of the house. Luckily, he had just filled a bucket with water, which was just enough to wipe himself down.

After cleaning up, he washed his clothes again. There was a bamboo pole in the yard for drying clothes. He shook the washed clothes a couple of times and hung them up. The weather was good, and he estimated they would be dry before dark.

"Oh~ the brat is out?"

When Li Xiangdong saw his sister-in-law carrying her daughter out of the house, he walked over and reached out his hand, "Daddy will carry you, let's go find your brother to play, okay?"

"Do not..."

Li Xiaozhu held a grudge and turned to hug her aunt's neck, saying, "Auntie...dede..."

"Okay, Auntie will take you to find your brother."

Zhou Yuqi looked at Li Xiangdong and asked, "Brother-in-law, do you know where Xiaohai and the others went?"

"They said they went to catch wild rabbits for fun."

"Then I roughly know where they went. Brother-in-law, are you going with them?"

"Go, I've got nothing to do anyway, might as well go for a stroll."

Li Xiangdong greeted Zhou's mother and Zhou Yuqin, then slowly followed his sister-in-law down the mountain.

He saw a few wildflowers by the roadside, picked them, and tucked them behind his daughter's ear.

Li Xiaozhu had flowers tucked under her ears, which made her extremely happy. She kept shaking her head to show them off to Li Xiangdong and the other man.

"Brother Wang~"

On the way from the village to the foot of the mountain, Li Xiangdong saw Zhou Dewang carrying a Type 56 rifle on his back and a wild rabbit in his hand, walking towards him. The rabbit in his hand would occasionally kick its leg.

"Brother Wang, just got back from hunting in the mountains?"

Li Xiangdong glanced at the rabbit once, then kept his eyes fixed on the gun slung over Zhou Dewang's back.

"Hey, on my way home after having lunch at your house, I ran into Xiaohai and the other three. They said they were going to catch wild rabbits for fun. My dad was worried about their safety going up the mountain, so he asked me to take the village gun and shoot one for them."

Zhou Dewang walked over, picked up the wild rabbit and showed it to Li Xiaozhu. "Are you scared? Call me uncle, and I'll let you play with it."

"don't want..."

When Li Xiaozhu saw the wild rabbit, she covered her eyes in fear and hid her head in Zhou Yuqi's arms.

"Take it away quickly, don't scare my niece anymore."

Zhou Yuqi patted Li Xiaozhu on the back, "We're not afraid, Uncle is holding a little rabbit."

"hehe."

Zhou Dewang scratched his head awkwardly and turned to Li Xiangdong, saying, "Are you going to find Xiaohai and the others? No need to go. My dad took them to play in the village committee's yard. Let's go together. I'll return the gun to them too."

Turning back, halfway there Li Xiangdong couldn't help but ask, "Brother Wang, can I take a look at your gun?"