Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Hou San put his arm around Li Xiaotao's shoulder and pushed the door open like two buddies. As soon as he saw Li Xiangdong, he was surprised to see Gao Xinmin there as well!

He turned around and was about to run away!

Seeing his son about to run away, Hou Jianshe hurriedly said, "Taozi, stop your master!"

Upon hearing Hou Jianshe's words, Li Xiaotao quickly ran two steps, grabbed Hou San's clothes, and carried the struggling Hou San back.

"Li Xiaotao! I am your master, how dare you treat me like this! This is utterly disrespectful!"

Li Xiaotao sniffed. "Master, I have to listen to my grandmaster."

"you you..."

Hou San was furious. He should never have made his apprentice kowtow to his father. Now look what happened, his apprentice, whom he had only taken in a few days ago, had betrayed him!

Seeing his son's spineless state, Hou Jianshe, who hadn't even considered hitting him earlier, was now losing his temper again. "Why are you running away?"

Gao Xinmin, who was standing nearby, picked at his ear. "Old Hou, what did your third son call me just now? Old Gao? Did I hear that right?"

Hou Jianshe walked over and slapped Hou San on the back of the head, "Hurry up and apologize to your Uncle Gao."

Hou San lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, "Uncle Gao, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you Lao Gao. I'll never do it again."

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Xiangdong quickly went over and asked Li Xiaotao to let go of Hou San.

"Hou San, which one is your room? I'm quite curious, please take me to see it."

As he spoke, he nudged Hou San, who immediately understood.

"Come on, Dong-ge, that room is mine."

Hou San pulled Li Xiangdong away, and Gao Xinmin looked at Hou Jianshe and laughed, "Do you think your son is stupid? He just doesn't use his intelligence in the right place. You should educate him properly in the future."

Hou Jianshe gave a wry smile. "Your child is well-educated. We should keep in touch. I'll gradually learn from you."

"If there's good wine, I'll definitely come more often."

Gao Xinmin was very proud. He would be modest about other things, but when it came to educating his children, he couldn't be modest at all. His children were known for being exceptionally sensible.

Hou Jianshe laughed and said, "Since you're here, there must be good wine. Shall we play another game?"

"Then let's play another round."

The two sat down and continued playing chess.

Hou San went straight to his bed after entering the room.

Li Xiaotao tugged at his clothes and asked, "Master, are you angry?"

Upon hearing this, Hou San sat up on the bed and looked at Li Xiaotao angrily, saying, "How good I am to you as your master! I even bought you an ice pop just now, and you betrayed me!"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "Hou San, that's enough. Your father has spoken, how could my Xiaotao not listen?"

Li Xiaotao nodded and said, "Of course I will listen to my grandmaster. A good child is one who listens."

"I've lost out, I've lost out big time, Brother Dong! I finally managed to get a disciple, and he actually listens to my dad! Isn't that infuriating? It's driving me crazy!"

Hou San leaned back and lay down on the bed, pulling the blanket over his head.

Li Xiangdong threw back the covers and asked, "Stop acting strangely. Did your dad notice anything wrong with the Tieguanyin tea Xiaotao brought over?"

When the topic of tea came up, Hou San stopped joking around. He got out of bed and took a paper package from a drawer.

"Luckily I found out yesterday, otherwise we would both have been tricked by this bag of tea. If my dad had seen it, we would have been in big trouble. My dad's box of Tieguanyin is a good tea, there isn't even any broken tea leaves in it. My dad can tell at a glance!"

"is it?"

Li Xiangdong couldn't help but feel a little scared; he almost got exposed!

As Hou San stuffed the tea bag into Li Xiangdong's satchel, he said, "Brother Dong, this tea bag..."

"Tea? What kind of tea?"

Hou Jianshe, who pushed open the door, stared intently at the two of them.

"What tea? We didn't say anything, Dad. How did you get in?"

When Hou San saw his father suddenly push the door open and come in, he was so frightened that he trembled.

Hou Jianshe asked suspiciously, "Really? Dongzi, what did my third son just slip into your bag?"

"No...nothing."

Li Xiangdong took out the box of Longjing tea that Wang Dahai had given him from his satchel.

"I brought a box of Longjing tea today. I originally wanted to give it to you to drink, but Hou San said that your family doesn't lack tea and that I should take it home and drink it myself."

Hou Jianshe took the tea box, opened it, and took a look.

"Isn't this the Longjing tea that Wang Dahai brought back? This is really good tea, Dongzi. You're the one who knows how to think of people. Your Uncle Hou loves drinking tea the most. You don't need to take it home. I'll accept this box of tea."

He finished speaking and, satisfied, took the tea leaves and turned to leave. After taking two steps, he turned back and said, "Dongzi, if you have nothing else to do, come out quickly and give me some advice on how to beat your Uncle Gao."

"Alright, Uncle Hou, I'll be right there."

"Okay, hurry up."

As soon as the door closed, Hou San patted his chest and said, "Holy crap! That scared me to death."

Li Xiangdong plopped down on Hou San's bed. Luckily, he had a box of tea in his bag today, or he would have been exposed!

Li Xiaotao looked at the two of them and asked in confusion, "Third Uncle, Master, what's wrong with you two?"

Li Xiangdong and Hou San said in unison, "Kids, mind your own business."

"You stay inside, I'm going out now."

Li Xiangdong sighed and walked out of Hou San's room.

He made up his mind: he would use the Tieguanyin tea to make tea eggs as soon as he got home, to avoid any further trouble.

Hou Jianshe waved and said, "Dongzi, come and take a look at how to proceed with this step."

Gao Xinmin said casually, puffing on his cigarette, "When two people are playing chess, talking too much is foolish."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangdong turned around and walked directly to the kitchen.

"Aunt Hou, let me help you cook."

Aunt Hou smiled and said, "You can cook too?"

Li Xiangdong looked at the vegetables Hou Jianshe had bought; there was also a fish among them.

"Aunt Hou, can you and Uncle Hou eat spicy food?"

“He can eat a lot. Your Uncle Hou can eat the spiciest food.”

"Then I'll show you what I've got today."

Li Xiangdong planned to make boiled fish, a dish he didn't have yet. He looked at the seasonings in the kitchen and found they were much more complete than those at his home.

No, he'll go find Qian Bin when he gets back this afternoon and ask him to get some seasonings from the state-run restaurant. His cupboard only has oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar; he can't even show off his cooking skills and change up the flavors when he's at home.

"Dongzi, your knife skills are quite good."

Aunt Hou thought Li Xiangdong was joking, but she didn't expect him to actually start doing it.

These days, apart from chefs, there aren't many men who can cook, and if outsiders find out that the man in charge of the household is cooking, they'll laugh at him.

As time slowly passed.

"Honey, what dish did you make?"

Hou Jianshe and Gao Xinmin, who were playing chess in the living room, came over after smelling the aroma.

"Mom, what did you cook today? It smells so good!"

Hou San and Li Xiaotao also ran over from the house.

"Brother Dong, are you cooking?"

Hou San squeezed into the kitchen, leaned close to Li Xiangdong, and swallowed hard. "Brother Dong, is this fish you made?"

Seeing everyone looking at him with curiosity, Li Xiangdong smiled and explained, "This is Sichuan-style boiled fish."

"It's delicious."

Hou San spoke for everyone.