Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Before dawn, Li Xiangdong woke up, or rather, he was woken up by Gao Xinmin slapping him on the buttocks.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Gao Xinmin standing in front of his bed and quickly got up. "Uncle Gao, what brings you here?"

Gao Xinmin asked with a serious expression, "What do you think?"

When Li Xiangdong saw A Zhe winking at him and making an eight gesture while standing at the door of the cubicle, he immediately understood that Gao Xinmin had received the news.

There were more than just the three of them in their train conductor's rest carriage, and the soundproofing in the compartments wasn't good either. With such a loud noise last night, the others must have heard it.

He said with a forced smile, "Uncle Gao, please don't be angry."

How could Gao Xinmin not be angry? As soon as he woke up, an employee came to tell him that Li Xiangdong and the other two not only brought a handgun into the car, but also took it out to play with it late at night.

He pointed at Hou San, who was still fast asleep, and said, "Go and wake him up."

"Oh."

Li Xiangdong agreed, walked over and pushed Hou San, shouting, "Wake up, get up quickly."

"What's wrong, Dong-ge? It's not even dawn yet, I'm going to sleep a little longer."

Hou San squinted at the scenery outside the car window, then closed his eyes, turned over, and fell asleep again.

"Get up quickly!"

Li Xiangdong nudged Hou San again.

"Get out of the way."

Gao Xinmin shoved Li Xiangdong aside, clenched his fist tightly, and then slapped Hou San on the back with a loud 'smack'.

"Oh~!"

Hou San, who was sleeping soundly with his body curled up, suddenly straightened up!

He opened his eyes, turned around, and saw Gao Xinmin's slap about to land. He blurted out, "I'm awake!"

"I'm awake, Uncle Gao, please stop hitting me."

Hou San quickly got off the bed and said angrily, "Uncle Gao, it's not even dawn yet. Why are you coming over instead of sleeping? Besides, what did I do to you? I was sleeping soundly, why did you hit me?"

Gao Xinmin glared at Hou San. "What do you say? Give me the gun!"

Hou San, looking completely bewildered, asked, "What gun?"

Gao Xinmin grabbed Hou San's shoulder and squeezed it hard. "What gun did you say? Don't make me kick you."

"Ouch! Ouch! Uncle Gao, let go!"

Hou San's face contorted in pain.

Li Xiangdong bent down and picked up the cloth bag on Hou San's bed. "Uncle Gao, the gun is here."

Upon hearing this, Gao Xinmin released Hou San, took the cloth bag from which he took out a pistol. "I'll be waiting for you in the office car."

As he spoke, he threw the cloth bag onto Hou San's bed and walked out without looking back.

Hou San rubbed his shoulder and asked suspiciously, "Brother Dong, how did you know I had a gun in my bag? And how did Uncle Gao know?"

Li Xiangdong countered, "Don't you remember what happened last night?"

Hou San shrugged and stretched his limbs. "What happened last night?"

Standing at the door, Ah Zhe said irritably, "You still have the nerve to ask what happened? You almost scared me to death last night! I couldn't sleep soundly when I got back!"

Hou San frowned and looked at A Zhe, "You little brat A Zhe, who do you think you are?!"

"Oh ho~ I haven't even settled accounts with you yet, and you still have the nerve to insult me?"

"What's wrong with me scolding you?!"

Li Xiangdong had gotten up in such a hurry that he hadn't put on his shoes yet, and he was putting them on now when Hou San and the other man were already rolling around on the bed.

"Let go!"

Li Xiangdong stepped forward and separated Hou San and A Zhe. "Are you two never going to stop? Don't you know the train conductor is still waiting for us? Hou San, hurry up and put on your shoes and come with me."

"Hmph~!"

Hou San glared at A Zhe, put on his shoes, and followed Li Xiangdong out.

Li Xiangdong turned around and asked, "Hou San, you really don't remember what happened last night?"

"I really don't remember Dong Ge!"

Hou San slapped his forehead as he spoke, "What exactly happened last night?"

Ah Zhe gritted his teeth and said, "You were drunk last night, I told you to go to sleep but you wouldn't, and you pointed a gun at me, have you forgotten? You even said 'slap' in the mouth, I'll slap your grandpa!"

"You even pointed a gun at me."

Li Xiangdong added that he was also quite frightened.

When Hou San heard that he had pointed a gun at Li Xiangdong and the other man, he no longer cared about A Zhe's insults. If someone else had pointed a gun at him, he would have cursed their ancestors for eighteen generations!

"Dong-ge, A-Zhe, calm down. I drank too much last night. If I hadn't been drinking, I definitely wouldn't have pointed a gun at you."

Hou San forced a smile and began to apologize to Li Xiangdong and the other man.

Li Xiangdong sighed, "Alright, you should think about how to deal with Gao Xinmin first."

How did Uncle Gao know?

"The commotion last night was so loud, someone must have overheard it and reported it to the train conductor."

...

...

The train conductor's office carriage.

Li Xiangdong, Hou San, and A Zhe stood together obediently.

Across from him, Gao Xinmin held Hou San's Type 54 pistol. "I heard the three of you had a good time drinking together last night?"

Li Xiangdong and A Zhe both said in unison, "I didn't drink it."

Gao Xinmin nodded, indicating that he understood. "Then do you two know that the safety on this pistol isn't off?"

Seeing the surprised expressions on Li Xiangdong's and the other man's faces, he said, "Oh, so you two didn't know? You're lucky to be alive."

As he spoke, he took two steps forward and kicked Hou San, saying, "Do you even know what that means?"

With a kick filled with rage, Gao Xinmin knocked Hou San to the ground.

Li Xiangdong looked at Hou San lying on the ground and thought to himself, "Good kick!"

That damned Hou San, I almost sent him to see his great-grandmother last night!

Hou San looked at Gao Xinmin with a pitiful expression, "I...I don't know."

Gao Xinmin shouted at Hou San, "Stand up!"

"Oh."

Hou San stood up straight. "Uncle Gao, I was wrong. I really didn't know."

"Shut up!"

Gao Xinmin asked with a dark face, "Where did this pistol come from?"

Hou San stammered, "I took the pistol from my father's study... I took it from him."

Seeing that Gao Xinmin was about to kick him again, he quickly took two steps back.

Gao Xinmin put down his raised foot. "You're still hiding, huh? Fine, let's see how long you can hide. Stealing a gun from home and drinking during work hours, I can't control you, but I'll get your dad to control you!"

Upon hearing that Gao Xinmin planned to tattle on him to his father, Hou San immediately cowered, "Uncle Gao, could you please..."

"No! Get out of here right now!"

"okay."

When Hou San saw Gao Xinmin glaring at him with his bull-like eyes and yelling at him to get lost, he not only dared not beg for mercy again, but also abandoned his pistol and ran away.

Gao Xinmin looked at Li Xiangdong and the other man, "Why didn't you two try to stop Hou San from drinking?"

Li Xiangdong said speechlessly, "I tried to persuade him, but Hou San wouldn't listen. What could I do?"

"Just kick him!"

Gao Xinmin waved his hand and said, "You two should go too."

"Oh, goodbye, conductor."

"Uncle Gao, please calm down. We're leaving now."

Li Xiangdong and A Zhe made their escape as soon as they finished speaking.

Hou San, who was hiding in the connecting area between the carriages, saw Li Xiangdong and the other man come out and called out softly, "Brother Dong~ I'm here."