Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong didn't let Uncle Zheng drive the donkey cart to take them back. The distance was very short, and they could just walk for a while as if it were a stroll.

on the way back.

A Zhe asked, "Dongzi, did you have something on your mind when you asked Uncle Zheng those questions earlier?"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "At first, I didn't. I was just curious when I saw a few brick and tile houses that suddenly appeared. As I listened, I started to think about it."

Ah Zhe continued, "You mean silver dollars?"

Li Xiangdong shook his head and said, "It's not just silver dollars, there must be other things too. Uncle Zheng said that when they distributed the landlord's property in their village, a lot of bottles and jars were smashed, but I think there must be a lot of good stuff left behind."

“We don’t have much money right now. When we come to collect the crickets for the last time, the three of us will take the opportunity to ransack Uncle Zheng’s village.”

"Sure, you can arrange it."

Ah Zhe nodded, but then he thought for a moment and asked doubtfully, "Besides silver dollars, you know about the others too?"

"I understand a little bit, I understand a little bit."

Li Xiangdong wasn't being modest; he genuinely knew a little about counterfeits. If a high-quality fake were placed in front of him, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Ah Zhe curiously sized up his childhood friend; they had grown up together, going to and from school together and practically naked.

He and Li Xiangdong, and even most of their students, were semi-literate and didn't learn much at school.

The key point is that schools don't teach these things, which puzzled him.

"Dongzi, when did you learn all this?"

Li Xiangdong smiled and said, "What? You think I'm a spy? You won't study badly, but I can't learn something too? You ask me when I learned it, and I'll tell you."

He leaned close to A Zhe's ear and chuckled, "I learned it from others during the years you ate insects in the Southwest."

After he said that, he ran away.

"You son of a bitch, Li Xiangdong, don't you dare run away!"

A Zhe chased after him desperately, wondering as he ran, "How could Li Xiangdong know that he ate insects?"

Could it be that his father said it?

Damn, is that what he wants to eat?

If you don't eat, you'll just go hungry!

"Okay, okay, I was wrong."

Li Xiangdong stopped running, mainly because he was worried about A Zhe's health. A Zhe had just been kicked by a donkey that morning and was still injured.

Ah Zhe grabbed Li Xiangdong by the neck and asked, "How did you know I eat insects?"

Information is scarce now, and the two places are more than 2,000 miles apart. Few people in Beijing know that there is a dietary habit of eating insects in the southwest region.

Li Xiangdong pushed A Zhe away and laughed, saying, "You said that yourself when you were drunk."

"I said that when I was drunk?"

Ah Zhe frowned and thought for a moment. The last time they drank together was at his house. "Damn! Qian Bin and the others found out too?"

"Cough cough~"

Li Xiangdong continued to deceive him, saying, "No, it was when you were drunk and I was helping you to the toilet that you saw a plump little white bug in the toilet bowl and blurted it out."

Ah Zhe, his face turning pale, said, "Shut up! What I ate was bamboo maggots!"

Wow, you actually ate it!

"What do you mean? Are you trying to trick me?"

"No, no, you were making smacking noises in the bathroom back then."

"What a load of nonsense! I eat what grows inside bamboo, those are not the same thing at all!"

"Okay, okay, whatever you say, I've never tried it before!"

The two playfully bickered and returned to the guesthouse in high spirits.

"Dong-ge, you're back."

When Hou San saw Li Xiangdong and the other man, he got up and walked over. "After you left, Wang Chenghao came looking for me."

"Ok?"

"What did he say?"

Ah Zhe was no longer angry and followed Li Xiangdong and Hou San into the house.

Before Hou San could speak, A Zhe asked first, "What did he ask you?"

Hou San replied, "He asked me what we were going to do with these crickets. I explained it to him based on what Dong Ge had told me before."

A-Zhe asked angrily, "Did he believe it?"

Li Xiangdong rolled over and lay on the bed, laughing, "He definitely didn't believe it. If he did, he wouldn't have been watching us this morning and coming over to ask Hou San about us while we were out."

Hou San patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I didn't say anything. He even wanted to come into our room to take a look, but I ignored him."

"Let him think about it himself, we don't need to take it to heart."

Li Xiangdong said he didn't care. He wasn't worried about anyone suspecting them of dealing in crickets. Even if you were to deal in crickets with them, as long as you had the ability, you could do whatever you wanted.

As for if they suffer losses in the future and want to shamelessly come to him for help, that's not impossible. He happens to be very curious about the ways others deal with things.

If the other party disagrees, and there are no relatives or friends involved, he will simply remain silent and watch the show from the sidelines.

"Ah Zhe, is the spot where you were kicked by the donkey alright?"

"I'm much better, Dongzi, you don't need to worry about it."

"Oh, since everything's alright, you and Hou San can go get the food. I won't go out."

"Damn, I thought you cared about me!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get your food. My eyes are a little sore, I'm going to take a nap."

After Li Xiangdong finished speaking, he closed his eyes. He was indeed tired. He had to examine each of the hundreds of crickets carefully, not missing a single leg or antennae.

"Dongzi, wake up."

Li Xiangdong rubbed his eyes, got up, and went to eat.

While eating, Hou San couldn't help but complain, "That little bastard Wang Chenghao tried to trick me into telling him something by holding a box of Peony cigarettes. Did I have to tell him? He didn't even consider what kind of cigarettes I, the Marquis, smoke."

Ah Zhe put down his chopsticks and asked, "What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?"

Hou San boasted, "A panda!"

"You have a panda? Then why don't you think about letting me smoke one? Hou San, you're such a scoundrel! If it weren't for me, Uncle Zheng's donkey would have kicked you to death!"

A Zhe was furious. He didn't even know Hou San was smoking Panda cigarettes. The worst part was that Hou San had Panda cigarettes and was still trying to take advantage of his Daqianmen cigarettes!

Hou Sanrang made A Zhe blush, and quickly took out a Panda cigarette from his pocket and handed it to A Zhe.

"I don't smoke."

Li Xiangdong waved his hand, refusing the cigarette Hou San offered, "Hurry up and eat, we still need to gather and head to the train station after we finish eating."

Ah Zhe didn't smoke either, he just clipped it to his ear. The three of them quickly finished their meal, returned the lunchboxes, and waited for the group to gather.

On the way to the train station.

Ah Zhe carried the sack over to Li Xiangdong, touched his arm, and then gave him a wink.

Li Xiangdong turned his head and saw a young man of about his age standing not far to his left, staring at the three of them.

He turned back to Ah Zhe and smiled, "Let's go, it has nothing to do with us. Next time, we'll just have Uncle Zheng take the crickets to the train station, and the three of us can take turns watching them. That way, we won't attract attention by walking around like this."

Ah Zhe nodded and said, "Okay, we'll do it your way."

Hou San asked, "What about lunch? We don't get to eat breakfast while we're collecting crickets, we can't just skip lunch too, can we?"

Ah Zhe said speechlessly, "Can't you just eat a steamed bun? Is eating more important or making money?"

Hou San chuckled and said, "Making money is important, making money to get married."