Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Seeing his daughter crying so hard, Li Xiangdong picked her up and went out to play with her two older sisters.

Li Xiaozhu is a very vengeful girl. After being spanked by Zhou Yuqin, she didn't look for her mother for an entire afternoon and evening, and stayed in Li Xiangdong's arms the whole time.

They would call for Li Xiangdong to feed them and take them to the toilet, but would turn their heads away when they saw Zhou Yuqin coming over.

Zhou Yuqin rarely has any free time, and she even has time to tidy up the house and help her mother-in-law cook dinner.

As the family of four lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) until it got dark and they went to sleep, Li Xiaozhu still sidled up to Li Xiangdong, sticking her butt out towards Zhou Yuqin.

Li Xiaozhu was originally sleeping between Li Xiaohai and Zhou Yuqin, but now she is lying next to Li Xiangdong, which makes Li Xiaohai unhappy.

"I want to sleep while holding my little sister."

Looking at her son kicking the blankets and making a fuss, Zhou Yuqin said somewhat angrily, "Go to sleep now."

"No, my sister will miss me if I'm not by her side."

Li Xiaohai threw a tantrum, and Li Xiaozhu joined in with shouts of "Dede!" The room suddenly became lively.

Zhou Yuqin slept next to her daughter because she was worried that Li Xiaozhu would wet the bed at night. Now, she was so bothered by her son and daughter's noise that she had to switch places with Li Xiaohai and let the two children sleep in the middle.

"Go to sleep now."

Zhou Yuqin tucked the blankets in for them.

After putting the two little devils to sleep, Zhou Yuqin sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, and looked at her husband with a smile, saying, "This brat really holds a grudge."

"This is the first time she's ever been hit in her life, and you hit her so hard. How could she not be angry with you? It's okay, she'll be fine after she wakes up tomorrow."

Li Xiangdong smiled, touched his daughter who was curled up asleep, clutching his clothes, and said, "Let's go to sleep too. I have to get up very early tomorrow."

"Well, go to sleep."

...

...

"Third brother, are you awake yet?"

"Dad's awake."

"Why didn't you turn on the light when you were awake? I thought you were still asleep."

"I'm the only one awake; they're still asleep."

"Oh, then hurry up."

Li Xiangdong dressed in the dark, having already packed everything he needed into his satchel the night before.

He pushed open the door and saw his father holding an egg and two steamed buns filled with pickled vegetables.

Li Xiangdong didn't stand on ceremony and took the egg to eat first.

"Dad, you don't need to wake me up so early anymore."

Mr. Li yawned. "Then who will lock the door when you leave? What if there's a thief?"

Li Xiangdong thought about it and agreed. There are too many idle people nowadays. They don't have proper jobs, and if they are short of money, they will definitely resort to crooked means.

He swallowed the egg in his mouth. "Dad, would you like to earn some pocket money?"

"Oh? How do you make money?"

Upon hearing about making money, Li's father was no longer sleepy. He could only keep two yuan from his monthly salary, and the rest had to be given to his wife.

He had no objection to this, after all, it was something he and his wife had discussed long ago.

When a family lives together, everything is easy to discuss, but money is the easiest thing to cause discord.

In many large families that haven't separated, the parents who are in charge of the household manage the money, and all the children hand over their salaries.

Their family was different. Li's eldest brother and second brother only gave their mother 5 yuan a month for living expenses, and saved the rest for themselves.

This way, there will be fewer conflicts, and when the family property is divided in the future, there won't be any resentment over who earns more or less.

This caused Li's father a lot of trouble, as his salary was basically used to cover the daily expenses of the whole family.

So now he is very interested in what his youngest son is saying.

Li Xiangdong did not directly answer his father's question, but said, "My mother told you about my cricket business, right?"

Mr. Li nodded. "They told me, and they also told your grandparents. With so many things you brought back, they'll get suspicious sooner or later. It's better to let them know sooner rather than later."

Li Xiangdong asked, "My grandparents didn't say anything, did they?"

"Let me tell you to be careful. Don't worry too much. Your grandparents have lived a long life and have experienced everything. As long as you don't get into trouble, they will be fine."

What Li's father said made sense. Old Man Li and Old Woman Li were over seventy years old and had experienced the warlord era and the Japanese invasion of China. Li Xiangdong's dealing in crickets was nothing to them.

Moreover, Li Xiangdong had told his mother that all those who travel to other places by truck do this, so Li's mother must have said the same thing to them. Otherwise, the old couple would have talked to Li Xiangdong long ago, probably to give him money if he needed it, and not to let him take the risk.

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "That's good. I said I'd let you earn some pocket money. Actually, it's not for anything else. I have a lot of cricket-related equipment and I'd like you to help me deliver it to the train station. Of course, I won't let you work for free. How about I give you 10 yuan a month?"

What he meant by letting Li's father earn some pocket money was simply giving his father some money to spend in a different way. If he gave it to him directly, his father definitely wouldn't accept it.

That's great. He only has to put in a little effort, and his dad will feel at ease taking the money.

"You're paying me this much for delivering your stuff for a month?"

Mr. Li was somewhat surprised, but then he thought, "You're not trying to fool your old man, are you?"

"Can I pay first?"

Li Xiangdong took out 10 yuan from his pocket and stuffed it into his father's hand. "Do you want to do this job or not? If you don't want to, give me back the money."

"What are you thinking? Of course I'd do something like this."

Mr. Li put the money away and asked, "Where are the things?"

"It's at A-Zhe's house."

"You're messing around with crickets, and Ah Zhe's doing it too?"

“There are three of us, plus Hou San, who is Xiao Tao’s master. Now you can rest assured, right? Remember to tell my mother and grandparents not to worry.”

"Okay, I got it. You're really slippery."

Mr. Li smiled; his youngest son had told him about Hou San's family background.

The father and son reached a deal.

Mr. Li went back into the house to get a flashlight before going out with his son, locking the door from the outside.

The two of them quickly arrived at A-Zhe's house, flashlights in hand.

Ah Zhe's father was still sleeping. Ah Zhe opened the door and was surprised to see Li's father. "Uncle Li, what brings you here?"

"There's too much stuff for the two of us to carry, so my dad is here to help."

Li Xiangdong explained, and the three of them carried the things to the train station. Li's father didn't go in; he put the things outside the train station building and then went home with a flashlight.

A Zhe went inside and called Hou San to come out and help, while Li Xiangdong smoked a cigarette and looked at things outside the building.

"Brother Dong."

Hou San walked out with a smile.

Li Xiangdong said, "Hou San, I've missed you terribly these past two days."

"Really? Dong-ge, you missed me?"

Hou San said hesitantly, "Actually, I missed you too, Dong-ge~"

Li Xiangdong shuddered upon hearing Hou San's cloying words. "How disgusting! Can't you speak properly?"

Ah Zhe, standing to the side, kept scanning the two of them with his eyes, making 'tsk tsk' sounds.

Li Xiangdong said irritably, "What are you tsk-tsk about? Hurry up and come carry these sacks!"