Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong's junior high school education and shallow knowledge were simply insufficient for him to use words to describe the incredibly complex feelings deep within his heart at this moment.

All I could do was tell the little slug to hurry up and get it done!

Little Slug was caught red-handed by his Uncle Li, and he was very embarrassed. Seeing that his Uncle Li didn't say anything and just stood aside watching, he could only quickly pick out the remaining pig feed.

Of course, he was still very careful, after all, his family was indeed very poor, and if the pig really got sick, his family couldn't afford to pay for it.

"Uncle Li, I'm all packed."

"Okay, once you're all packed up, hurry home."

Li Xiangdong placed the paper package in his hand onto the bamboo basket that Xiao Buluchong was already carrying on his shoulder.

The little slug asked, "Uncle Li, what did you put in my bamboo basket?"

Li Xiangdong said irritably, "Don't worry, it's not for pigs to eat. It's a snack and candy specially given to you by your aunt."

"Uncle Li, here you go..."

Before the little slug could even utter a word of refusal, Li Xiangdong interrupted him.

"Shut up, don't say anything more. Why don't you want to accept the things your aunt gave you?"

Little Snotty shook his head and said, "No, Uncle Li, please tell Auntie for me. Uncle Li, you should go home now, I'm going home too."

Seeing him turn to leave, Li Xiangdong said, "Wait a minute."

The little snotty-nosed boy turned around and asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Uncle Li?"

Li Xiangdong sighed, "If anyone asks you again what I taught you, don't say things like peeping at girls taking a shower or going to the toilet."

The little slug stood up straight, listened attentively to the instruction, and said, "Uncle Li, I understand."

Li Xiangdong looked into his eyes and said, word by word, "Then Uncle Li will teach you another principle of life, which is that people should have more trust in each other."

The little snotty-nosed boy nodded, blushing, and said, "I understand, Uncle Li."

He turned and left as soon as he finished speaking, his pace quickening considerably.

"Walk slowly, be careful the snacks on the bamboo basket don't fall out!"

...

...

The sun has set, leaving only the afterglow on the horizon.

Li Xiangdong felt a bit bored because his mother-in-law wouldn't let him into the kitchen.

He just used a little too much oil, and this dutiful son-in-law isn't even allowed to cook a delicious dinner for his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Isn't that hateful?

"Dongzi, what are you doing?"

Brother Zhou and his wife, who had just finished work, carried their hoes into the yard and saw Li Xiangdong sitting on the threshold of the main room, leaning against the door frame with a blade of grass in his mouth.

The couple chuckled, thinking that their brother-in-law must be bored out of his mind staying at home; their rural area was indeed not as developed as the city.

During the busy farming season, people work hard and go home to sleep after work. During the off-season, they just get together to play cards. Some villages don't even have playing cards. The only way to pass the time is to bask in the sun.

"Nothing much, brother and sister-in-law, you two go wash up quickly, Mom will be cooking dinner soon."

Li Xiangdong got up, dusted himself off, and went over to offer his brother-in-law a cigarette.

Zhou Zhengkun ran out of the house and came to his sister-in-law's side, saying, "Mom, Uncle roasted wild rabbit for us this afternoon. It was so delicious! Grandma even saved two pieces for you."

"Really? Thank you for your help, Dongzi."

"No trouble at all. You and your brother can try it in a bit and see how it tastes."

Sister-in-law Zhou was too polite, and Li Xiangdong reciprocated with a polite reply.

He's really bored right now and doesn't know what to do. Chopping wood is out of the question; you might accidentally chop yourself with that stuff.

While Brother Zhou was washing up, he stood aside and chatted with him.

Dinner was quickly prepared, and the whole family sat down to eat in the main room.

Dinner was very light, perfectly in line with the daily diet of farmers in this era.

This is why the cornbread on the table was replaced with steamed buns made from two kinds of flour when the son-in-law came to visit.

After dinner, Li Xiangdong was pestered by his son again.

"Dad, I want to pet the little bird monkey."

Li Xiangdong slapped his arm with a "smack," killing a mosquito that was trying to suck his blood.

"If you want to go, just have your cousin take you."

Li Xiaohai tugged at Li Xiangdong's clothes and said, "Dad, come with us. Grandma won't let us go out."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangdong glanced at his two nephews who were standing silently to the side, but kept winking at him. He immediately understood that the three of them had probably already conspired to have Li Xiaohai take the lead.

It was getting dark outside. During the day, the children could run around the village freely, but not at night.

In rural areas nowadays, let alone streetlights, if a family has a flashlight, they're considered a good family.

When it gets completely dark, it will be pitch black everywhere outside. There are mountains not far from Zhoujia Village. If any wild animals come down from the mountains, you won't be able to escape.

As Zhou's father smoked, he saw his son-in-law getting impatient with his grandson's pestering him, so he slapped his grandson's bottom twice.

But the grandson who had been beaten was still relentless, insisting on going out to catch bird-like monkeys.

He got up and took a flashlight from the inner room. "Dongzi, if you don't want to, just take them there. These past few years have been good years, there's no shortage of food on the mountain, and those wild animals won't come down."

"Alright, then I'll take them with me as you wish."

Li Xiangdong sighed and took the flashlight from his father-in-law.

He actually wanted to go too. Cicada nymphs are hard to catch in the city, since there are very few large forests outside of some parks in Beijing.

He lightly slapped Li Xiaohai twice, just to show the others.

Look, the child is still young and disobedient, insisting on going out to play. What can I do?

I have no choice but to go along with it.

Brother Zhou was worried about his brother-in-law being alone, so he came out with him. He also brought two canning jars and a few long wooden sticks from home.

"Each of you has a stick, watch out for snakes in the grass."

Li Xiangdong took the wooden stick and asked, "Brother, where should we go to feel for it?"

"There's a grove of trees at the entrance of the village; there are fewer grassy patches there, so it's safe."

Li Xiangdong led Li Xiaohai, walking ahead with a flashlight in hand, while Brother Zhou followed behind with his two sons.

Upon arriving at the woods at the village entrance, Li Xiangdong and his brother-in-law went in first, using wooden sticks to clear away the grassy patches in the woods before letting the three of them in.

"There's one here!"

"I have one here too!"

"I have three here, come quickly!"

Brother Zhou followed Li Xiaohai and the other two with a flashlight, while Li Xiangdong felt around by himself in the moonlight.

"Have you had enough fun? It's about time we headed back."

Li Xiangdong couldn't take it anymore; there were too many mosquitoes in the woods, and they were specifically targeting him.

The group went home satisfied.

Brother Zhou went back to his room to rest, while Li Xiangdong led his three mischievous boys to the kitchen.

Looking at the two full jars of chickpeas, Li Xiaohai and the other two said, "Dad, shall we roast them?"

"Uncle, grill it!"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "We won't eat it tonight. We'll soak it in salt water and fry it in oil for you tomorrow morning. It'll be much more fragrant when fried. You can eat it one bite at a time, and the oil will ooze out when you bite into it."

P.S.: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!