Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Ah Zhe, who was off duty, walked into their cubicle, reached in, grabbed a peanut, and threw it into his mouth.

"You two are really living the good life, eating fried peanuts and pig's head meat, drinking some wine. You're living the perfect life."

Li Xiangdong looked up at him and laughed, "Drinking during work hours? I didn't drink. If you're not afraid of getting punished, come and drink with Hou San."

"forget it."

Ah Zhe shook his head, "Dongzi, eat slowly, I'm hungry too. I'll go get a glass of water and come right back."

Li Xiangdong stood up and said, "No need to rush, you wash up first, I'll go get some hot water."

"Row."

Ah Zhe responded and left.

Li Xiangdong looked at Hou San and instructed him, "That's enough for you. Stop drinking. I'll go get a pot of hot water so you can drink some water to sober up."

Hou San, his eyes glazed over, chuckled and said, "I...I know, Brother Dong."

Li Xiangdong ran to the dining car, took two clean water cups, returned the cups first, and then ran to fetch a pot of hot water.

Just as he finished pouring the water, Ah Zhe walked over, carrying not only a teacup but also three salted duck eggs and a bag of fried dough twists he had brought back from Tianjin.

Li Xiangdong picked up the tin kettle and filled A Zhe's teacup with water, then picked up a salted duck egg and began to peel it.

Ah Zhe laughed and said, "Hou San, are you alright?"

Hou San slurred, "Okay...okay."

Seeing that he was starting to slur his words, A-Zhe asked, "How much did you drink?"

Hou San chuckled but remained silent.

Li Xiangdong pointed to the lid of the military water bottle, "He drank about five qian (a unit of weight)."

After peeling the salted duck egg, Li Xiangdong handed it to Hou San, saying, "Eat more to calm down."

"Thank... thank you Dong... Brother Dong."

Hou San took the salted duck egg and ate it in big bites. He was already drunk and didn't feel the saltiness at all.

Li Xiangdong quickly handed him a water cup and urged him to drink more water.

A Zhe sat down next to Hou San, waited for him to finish his water, and patted him on the shoulder.

“You’ve made progress. When we were splitting the money at the tavern, you only drank two qian of wine and you couldn’t even walk straight after you left. Now you’ve drunk five qian and you’re not drunk yet. Young man, you have potential.”

"Is...right?"

Hou San scratched his head, picked up his water glass and took two more sips, then said, "When...when I can drink two jin of water...that's when I'll get married..."

"Two jin? To get married?"

Ah Zhe looked puzzled; what was all this about?

Li Xiangdong explained it with a smile.

A Zhe was at a loss for words. He felt that Hou San was overthinking things. Whether or not he could practice his drinking capacity was not the key. As long as he could put on a show of drinking like crazy when drinking with Kong Zhaoyao, Kong Zhaoyao might agree because of Hou San's attitude. After all, he was looking for a son-in-law for himself, not a drunkard to drink with.

However, this was just his idea, and he didn't intend to tell Hou San if it didn't work.

Li Xiangdong and Hou San were talking about how Hou San tricked his father when Hou San suddenly stood up and staggered out.

"Hou San, where are you going?"

"Pee...pee."

"Let me help you go."

Li Xiangdong got up and helped Hou San to the toilet.

Reaching the restroom door, Li Xiangdong asked, "Can you manage by yourself?"

"Okay, you...don't worry, Dong...Brother Dong."

"Never mind, I'll help you inside."

Li Xiangdong helped Hou San into the toilet and only came out after seeing him start to take off his pants.

He stood outside the door for a while, when Hou San suddenly knocked on the toilet door with a loud bang.

"Dong... Brother Dong, open... open the door."

Depend on!

Li Xiangdong thought he couldn't pull up his pants. "Don't push, the door opens inwards."

He opened the toilet door for Hou San with utter speechlessness and helped the drunken Hou San back to the resting cubicle.

Looking at Hou San, who could no longer walk on his own, A Zhe said, "Hou San, why don't you go to sleep first?"

"I...I'm fine."

"Okay, then stop drinking and eat more and drink more water."

"Uh-huh."

After helping Li Xiangdong settle Hou San in and giving him food and water, A Zhe looked at Li Xiangdong sitting opposite him and said, "We have to be careful on this trip to collect crickets. I have a feeling that Qin Liu's gang is still looking for us."

Li Xiangdong nodded and said, "We need to be careful. They suffered a lot of losses last time. Nobody would believe that they don't want revenge."

"Dong... Brother Dong, Ah Zhe, I... I'm telling you, we don't... we don't need to be afraid!"

Hou San swayed as he lay down on the bed, picked up his satchel, and pulled out a Type 54 pistol.

He stood up, using the small dining table for support, and pointed the pistol at A-Zhe, "If...if they dare to come, I'll shoot them all!"

As he spoke, he kept making 'slap slap slap' sounds.

Ah Zhe was so terrified when Hou San pointed a gun at him that he was completely dumbfounded. When he heard Hou San make a 'snap' sound, he slid off the bed.

Sitting on the ground, A-Zhe said in a trembling voice, "Hou San, you...you son of a bitch! Where the hell are you pointing your gun?"

"Hou San! Put the gun away right now!"

Li Xiangdong was also frightened. He was chatting with a drunkard who suddenly stood next to him with a gun. It was so unsafe!

"Dong... Brother Dong, you don't need to... don't be afraid."

As Hou San spoke, he turned around and pointed his gun at Li Xiangdong, who was sitting on the opposite bed.

"grass!"

Li Xiangdong quickly lay down.

"What...what happened to you?"

Hou San swayed slightly, his hand loosened, and the pistol fell onto the small dining table. He then plopped down on the bed.

As Li Xiangdong lay prone, he looked up and saw a dark gun barrel pointed at his head. Cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead. Trembling, he turned the gun around and aimed it at the car window.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Li Xiangdong looked at Hou San, who was grinning foolishly, and asked, "Where did you get this gun?"

"I...I came from..."

Before Hou San could finish speaking, he closed his eyes and slumped onto the bed.

After recovering, A Zhe stood up from the ground. He pressed Hou San down and slapped his buttocks a few times, but Hou San was too drunk to wake up. Instead of waking him up, he started snoring.

"That bastard Hou San scared me to death just now!"

A-Zhe pointed to the pistol on the small dining table, "Dongzi, what do we do with this thing?"

Li Xiangdong glanced at the dark pistol on the small dining table, swallowed hard, and said, "Let's talk about it when Hou San wakes up tomorrow. You should go back to sleep first."

Ah Zhe glanced at the pistol on the small dining table, and finally couldn't resist picking it up and examining it before reluctantly going back to sleep.

Li Xiangdong tidied up the unfinished food and put the pistol back into Hou San's satchel.

He lay on the bed, his heart pounding.

First grenades, then pistols these past two days, damn it, next time it won't be mortars!