Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

In the courtyard of the village brigade.

Li Xiaohai was showing off to the Zhou brothers and Little Snotty.

"White Rabbit milk candy and instant noodles are so delicious, and the twisted dough sticks are fragrant and crispy, covered with sesame seeds."

“We also ate braised chicken, hehe, my brother Xiaojiang secretly took us to eat it, my dad didn’t even know.”

The little slug asked curiously, "Is White Rabbit milk candy made of milk?"

Li Xiaohai nodded and said, "My mother said it was made from milk."

"Does the braised chicken taste as good as the stew we're having today?"

Zhou Zhengqian swallowed hard as he listened to his cousin's words.

Li Xiaohai boasted, "Of course! It's even better than my dad's big pot of stew. When are you guys coming to my house? I'll treat you to some delicious food."

Zhou Zhengkun asked, "Will we get roast chicken when we get there?"

Li Xiaohai shook his head and said, "No, we've all eaten. All we have at home now are White Rabbit milk candy and fried dough twists, which my mom has locked in the cupboard. But if you come to my house, my mom will definitely take them out for you to eat. We can also ask my dad to buy some cream popsicles."

The Zhou brothers nodded and said, "Then it's settled."

Li Xiaohai quickly agreed, "Yes, no, cousins, don't worry."

"I can't go, I have to stay home and gather pig feed."

The little slug was feeling a bit down.

Li Xiaohai patted his chest and said, "It's okay, little snotty brother. Next time we come back, I'll bring you White Rabbit milk candy and cream popsicles from the city."

The little slug refused, saying, "Don't bother giving me any. I won't eat it. You and your sister can have the good stuff."

Zhou Zhengqian added, "Xiaohai, the cream popsicles you brought from the city have all melted."

Zhou Zhengkun retorted, "You can still drink sugar water after the popsicles melt."

Zhou Dewang walked into the yard carrying a rabbit and asked, "What kind of sweet soup do you want? What are you all talking about?"

Li Xiaohai and the Zhou brothers ran over when they saw the wild rabbit.

"Wild rabbit!"

"Uncle Dewang, you caught a rabbit! That's amazing!"

"Wild rabbit, Uncle Dewang, I want to play with a wild rabbit."

Little Snotty wasn't familiar with Zhou Dewang, so he didn't follow him over. Instead, he walked up to Zhou Yuqi and called her "Auntie."

He looked at Li Xiaozhu, who had two flowers clipped to her ears, wiped his hand on his clothes, and then patted Li Xiaozhu's head. "Little sister is so pretty."

When Li Xiaozhu heard the little snotty-nosed boy compliment her on her looks, she grinned happily, "Dede..."

The little slug happily replied, "Oh~ my little sister is so good."

...

...

After receiving the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle from Zhou Dewang, Li Xiangdong was quite fond of it. He held it in his hand, looking at it from left to right, and even pointed the gun at the birds in the tree and gestured with it a couple of times.

He didn't actually fire a shot; he'd never fired a gun before, and firing would have been a waste of bullets.

He knew Zhou Dewang was going to the village brigade to return the gun, so he dawdled along the way and enjoyed being a little boss.

Just as Li Xiangdong reached the courtyard gate, he saw Li Xiaohai and his two brothers reaching out to snatch the wild rabbit from Zhou Dewang's hand. He hurriedly shouted, "What are you three doing? Don't you have any manners?"

"It's nothing, Dongzi, I was just teasing them."

Zhou Dewang smiled and handed the rabbit in his hand to Zhou Zhengqian, "Take it and play with it. When you're done playing with it, your uncle will kill it for you to eat."

The villagers' favorite meat is still fatty pork. They don't really like meats like wild rabbit and fish, which are not oily.

In addition, with limited seasonings available now, it's difficult to mask the inherent fishy smell of these wild animals, making it impossible to create anything delicious.

However, after eating a large pot of stew cooked by Li Xiangdong at noon, Zhou Dewang realized that his brother-in-law was willing to use oil, which was why he gave such instructions.

"Uncle Dewang, I understand."

Li Xiaohai stroked the wild rabbit a couple of times, then ran to Li Xiangdong's side and asked, "Dad, what are you holding?"

"Keep the gun away from me."

Li Xiangdong quickly pointed the gun upwards.

"Dongzi, there are no bullets in the gun."

Zhou Dewang patted his pocket, indicating that the bullet was in his pocket and that he didn't need to be so careful.

Depend on!

It seems the gun is out of bullets.

Li Xiangdong let Li Xiaohai reach out and touch it, but he wasn't satisfied with just touching it a couple of times and asked, "Dad, can I play with the gun for a while?"

Li Xiangdong refused, saying, "You can't lift it, just touch it a couple of times."

"Oh, then I'm not playing anymore. I'm going to play with the wild rabbits with my cousin."

When he wasn't allowed to hold it and play with it, Li Xiaohai lost interest. He ran to his two cousins, and the three of them put the rabbit on the ground and started petting it.

Zhou Dewang was a good shot and hit the rabbit in the leg. In addition, the rabbit had been carrying it all the way here and was already barely breathing. It could only lie on the ground and let Li Xiaohai and the other two do as they pleased.

"Dongzi".

Zhou Dewang shouted and pointed to a room next door.

Li Xiangdong followed Zhou Dewang inside, and wow, it was a mini weapons depot.

The small room was filled with firearms. Apart from a few old Hanyang rifles and several boxes of bullets, the rest of the room was filled with Type 56 semi-automatic rifles and Type 56 assault rifles.

Two light machine guns and an 82mm mortar were also placed in the corner of the wall.

Li Xiangdong's mouth watered at the sight of all the guns and ammunition in the room. "Brother Wang, do you have any handguns?"

"Yes, I have."

Zhou Dewang opened an ammunition box and picked out a Mauser pistol from a box of various types of pistols.

Li Xiangdong took it and examined it carefully. This thing had appeared in many movies and TV dramas in later generations; it was an anti-Japanese war artifact.

"Brother Wang, this..."

Before Li Xiangdong could finish speaking, Zhou Dewang interrupted him, "No way, Dongzi, you can't get your hands on these guns."

"alright."

Li Xiangdong sighed and returned the Mauser C96 to Zhou Dewang.

After putting the gun away, Zhou Dewang said, "Dongzi, if you want to fire a couple of shots to have some fun, I'll give you some bullets. You can take them and go for a spin in the mountains. Maybe you can even catch a wild rabbit or a pheasant. But I really can't give you these guns. These are all collective assets of our Zhoujia Village."

Li Xiangdong said unwillingly, "Brother Wang, I won't take it for nothing, can I pay you?"

Zhou Dewang waved his hand and said, "Even money won't work. What kind of place is this? In the old days, we were under the emperor's nose. These guns are all registered."

After hearing Zhou Dewang's explanation, Li Xiangdong was completely disheartened. His goal had not been achieved, and he was somewhat disheartened.

To his surprise, what greeted him as soon as he stepped out of the house was...

"Dad, look, a grenade!"

Li Xiangdong watched as his dutiful son, standing in the middle of the yard, threw a grenade at him.

That was a pretty accurate throw...

He shuddered as he watched the grenade roll to his feet.

In an instant, two thoughts popped into his mind.

Oh no, is he going to be reborn again?

You bastard Li Xiaohai, you son of a bitch!