Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Seeing that his family was waiting for him to speak, Li Xiangdong knew that he had to tell the truth today.

He gritted his teeth and decided to go all out, even if it meant losing face. "A few days before I went back to the city, I wasn't careful when I was cutting pig feed and almost fed the village pigs to death."

The courtyard fell silent instantly...

Everyone was looking at him strangely, even his grandparents were shaking their heads.

Li's mother jumped up and down, hitting him, "You good-for-nothing! You can't even cut pig feed properly! What else can you do?"

Enraged, Li's father took off his shoes and was about to beat him up, yelling, "You bastard, you're good for nothing, but you're number one at causing trouble!"

As Li Xiangdong dodged, he shouted, "I didn't do it on purpose! Besides, the pig isn't dead, it just had diarrhea for a few days!"

He wasn't lying; he had received the news and knew he would be able to return to the city soon.

Then, while working, they were so happy that they didn't pay any attention to cutting pig feed and didn't know what the village's collective pigs ate.

They all had diarrhea for four or five days in the end, and they almost died of dehydration...

Later, the village accountant approached him and told him that the pigs with diarrhea had been weighed and that he knew it wasn't intentional. He then rounded down the amount and asked him to compensate the village with 6 yuan.

Where did he get the money back then?

There wasn't enough time to send a letter home asking for money, as he was going back to the city in two days. In the end, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and go to his father-in-law's village next door, Zhoujia Village.

But he was too embarrassed to say it directly, so he could only fool his father-in-law by saying that his family was going back to the city and that he should go see his grandson and granddaughter so that he wouldn't miss the children in a few days.

Zhou's father, an old man from the countryside, never imagined that his son-in-law would have so many cunning schemes.

In the end, not only did I have to pay 6 yuan, but I also lost a lot of face.

Feeding a pig and almost causing it to die from diarrhea is a huge joke in the countryside!

Li Xiangdong still remembers how his father-in-law looked at him when he came home, his lips trembling with anger!

"Father, Mother, please stop hitting him."

Zhou Yuqin knew that her husband was embarrassed to go to Zhoujia Village, and even more embarrassed to see her father.

She stepped forward and stopped Mr. and Mrs. Li, saying, "The matter has been resolved. He doesn't want to go back. I'll go back by myself in a couple of days. Please don't get angry with him."

Old Man Li asked, "Was it your father who cleaned up your mess in the end?"

Zhou Yuqin nodded and said, "My dad paid 6 yuan to the village, so it's all over now. He's just too embarrassed to go see my dad."

Old Li sighed and looked at Li Xiangdong, saying, "In the end, as long as the pig isn't dead and we can settle it with compensation, it's not a big deal. The key question is, are you planning to never see your father-in-law again for the rest of your life?"

"I'm just a little embarrassed."

Li Xiangdong scratched his head awkwardly. He knew that such things spread very quickly in the countryside, and he guessed that his father-in-law was too embarrassed to go out for a while.

Li's father kicked Li Xiangdong in the butt, "You bastard! At home you mess with me and pack up my cigarettes, and in the countryside you mess with your father-in-law. In a few days, buy some things and go apologize to your father-in-law in person!"

Grandma Li said, "Dongzi, do as your father says. When you and your wife go back to get the household registration certificate, go and apologize to your father-in-law in person."

Li Xiangdong patted the footprints on his bottom and nodded, saying, "I understand, Grandma."

"No one should mention this again. Just pretend nothing happened. Take all the children back inside and give them a few words of advice. Make sure the neighbors in the alley don't find out."

Old Man Li made the final decision, and everyone in the courtyard nodded in understanding, each listening to his instructions.

West wing.

Li Xiangdong went back to his room and rummaged through his belongings. He was going to report to his workplace the day after tomorrow, and he needed to dress presentably.

He took out his few clothes from the closet and looked at them, but there were really very few pieces that he could wear out.

The clothes he wore before going to the countryside were no longer suitable for him, so his mother altered them and gave them to Li Xiaojiang and his brothers.

This is how it is in every family now. The older children wear the clothes and then pass them on to the younger ones, patch upon patch, with needle holes all over the pant legs.

Later, when he went to the countryside, given the social environment at the time, it would seem as if he, as an educated youth receiving re-education from poor and lower-middle peasants, didn't have two patches on his clothes, as if he hadn't received a deep education and wasn't integrated with the poor and lower-middle peasant class.

Even during his time back in the city, he couldn't manage to get a set of clothes without patches. His family's cloth ration coupons were limited and needed to be saved for making new clothes for the New Year. The supply and marketing cooperative didn't always have defective cloth available. The white vest and shorts he was wearing were his father's.

In the end, he managed to cobble together a set of clothes without any patches. It turned out that he had bought them for his wedding. Luckily, his wedding was also in the summer, so he could wear them now.

He wore a short-sleeved polyester shirt and army green pants. The pants were made of pure cotton and were alright, but he really didn't like the polyester shirt. It didn't absorb sweat, and if he wore it to do any work, he would be completely silent.

But he couldn't go without wearing them, so he put on his clothes and took out a new pair of work boots. The family didn't lack these; they were all given to him by his father and brothers.

Standing in front of the mirror, Li Xiangdong fiddled with his hair a couple of times.

After living in the countryside for seven or eight years, his handsome face still looks so youthful. Time always seems to leave a crack on people like him.

Li Xiangdong turned around and looked at Zhou Yuqin, who was holding her daughter in her hands and letting her learn to walk on the kang (a heated brick bed), and said smugly, "How about it? Isn't your man handsome? We've been married for four years, and your husband is still as handsome as when we first met."

"Stop being so vain. How can a grown man like you care more about these things than we women do?"

Zhou Yuqin felt somewhat helpless. She had been bewitched back then. When she went on a blind date, she saw that he was good-looking and eloquent, and foolishly married him. She never imagined that her life would turn out so miserable.

Fortunately, starting this morning, she noticed a change in her man, and with his work issues resolved, she believes things will gradually get better.

Li Xiangdong shook his head. "You don't understand. I'm just young and inexperienced. Even after twenty years, I'll still look like this. At that time, we'll look like mother and son. If we go out together forty years from now, outsiders will see us and say, 'Hey, this grandson is so filial. He even knows to accompany his grandma for a walk.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Xiangdong, realizing what he had said, quickly spat out a few times. How had he ended up bringing himself into this?