Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Play..."

Seeing her older siblings playing in the yard, Li Xiaozhu wanted to go down and play too, so she kept patting Li Xiangdong with her little hands.

"Dad, go get a stool. Shall we sit here and watch our older brothers and sisters play?"

Li Xiangdong carried his daughter back into the house and got a small stool. After he sat down, he put Li Xiaozhu on the ground and then held her between his legs to prevent her from falling if she lost her balance.

"Let's go...play..."

Li Xiaozhu persisted, twisting her body in an attempt to break free.

"It's so sunny under the sun, be careful you don't get so tanned. Look at Xiaojiang and Xiaotao, they're like black lumps of coal, Dad can't even see them when it gets dark."

Li Xiangdong had no desire to stand in the scorching sun; it would have been much better to sit comfortably under the eaves and wait to watch the excitement.

"Uncle Three!"

Li Xiaojiang ran into the courtyard and ran straight towards Li Xiangdong after seeing him.

Before he could run over, Li Xiangdong said, "Wash your hands."

"Oh."

Li Xiaojiang turned around and ran to the sink to wash his hands.

Li Xiangdong glanced at the children in the yard and said loudly, "Remember from now on, wash your hands first after you come back from the toilet, understand?"

"Understood, Third Uncle."

"I know dad."

The children all responded in agreement.

Li Xiaotao walked to the edge of the pool and watched Li Xiaojiang, who had washed his hands and was now rinsing his head under the tap.

He chuckled and said, "Big brother, we have soda, would you like some?"

"Soda?"

Li Xiaojiang wiped the water droplets from his face and, while drying his hair with a towel, turned to ask, "Third Uncle, did you buy us soda?"

Li Xiangdong waved his hand with a smile, "It wasn't me, it has nothing to do with me, Third Uncle was just watching the show."

When Li Xiaojiang heard that it wasn't his third uncle who bought it, he stopped paying attention to what his third uncle said next.

His mind was filled with nothing but soda. His eyes swept across the bottle and he saw it in Li Xiaobo's hand. "Soda!"

"Big brother, this is from Xiaotao. I'm just helping him carry it. It has nothing to do with me."

Li Xiaobo is used to being a fence-sitter and doesn't dare to offend anyone, so he can only try to extricate himself from the matter of framing Li Xiaojiang.

Li Xiaojiang put down the towel he was holding, walked over, took the soda bottle, and asked in confusion, "Why is it this color?"

Before his elder brother could react, Li Xiaobo quickly ran to his third uncle's side, feeling safer there.

Li Xiangdong glanced at his little nephew who had run over, smiled slightly, and said nothing.

"This soda isn't right!"

Although the adults in his family had never bought them soda, Li Xiaojiang knew what soda looked like, and he had drunk soda from his classmates when he was in school.

He frowned, took a sip, and then spat it all out, "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

Li Xiaohai leaned closer and asked, "Brother, why did you throw up? Wasn't it sweet?"

"Sweet my ass!"

Li Xiaojiang turned to look at Li Xiaotao, who was laughing heartily to the side.

"This isn't soda, the bottle is filled with water. Li Xiaotao, did you drink the soda and then fill it with water to trick me?"

How did I trick you?

Li Xiaotao rolled his eyes. "The water in the bottle is so sweet and delicious. If you don't want it, give it to Xiaohai."

"Uh-huh."

Li Xiaohai nodded and said, "Big brother, if you don't want to drink it, give it to me. I wanted to drink it just now, but Brother Xiaotao wouldn't let me drink more, so I only took a sip."

What's so great about water?

Li Xiaojiang poured the water from the soda bottle directly into the sink.

"Li Xiaotao, you're too green to try and scam me. You know you can get a refund for a soda bottle, right? It's mine now."

"Can I get a refund for the bottle?"

Li Xiaotao stared wide-eyed as he turned to look at Li Xiangdong, "Third Uncle, is my eldest brother lying to me?"

Li Xiangdong smiled and nodded, saying, "He didn't lie to you. Didn't you know you can get a refund for the bottle? If you don't want the money, you can exchange it for a cream popsicle."

Li Xiaojiang said smugly, "Did you hear what Third Uncle said? You're such a fool! I'm going to take this soda bottle to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange it for a cream popsicle. I won't let you have a single bite; I'll make you drool!"

Li Xiaotao immediately objected upon hearing this, "Brother, give me back my soda bottle right now. My master bought it for me."

"What are you dreaming of?!"

Looking at the furious Li Xiaotao, Li Xiaojiang felt a sense of revenge.

"If you don't give it to me, I'll beat you up!"

Li Xiaotao clenched his fists, then hesitated before lunging at Li Xiaojiang.

"Stand still! If you take another step, I'll smash the soda bottle, and neither of us will get a cream popsicle!"

Li Xiaojiang gently tapped the soda bottle in his hand against the sink.

He didn't want to fight. In the past, when the two brothers fought, the odds were 40/60, with him being 40% and Li Xiaotao being 60%.

The main problem is that his younger brother is too strong; he has no chance of winning.

"you..."

Li Xiaotao was furious. He had kindly offered his older brother some sweet water, but his brother wanted his soda bottle instead.

When Li Xiaobo, who was standing next to Li Xiangdong, heard that soda bottles could be exchanged for cream popsicles, he quietly took a few steps back, turned around, and slipped into the house.

After he asked for the other soda bottle, he stuck it directly into the back of his pants.

Li Xiangdong watched as Li Xiaobo sneaked back to his side. He lifted his nephew's clothes to take a look and was overjoyed when he saw the soda bottle.

"Aren't you afraid your brother Xiaotao will beat you up?"

Li Xiaobo chuckled, took two steps back, and pressed his back firmly against the wall.

Li Xiaotao, who was in the yard, saw that his older brother would rather smash the soda bottle than return it to him, and he snorted.

"Fine, if you won't give it to me, there's another one inside. I'll take it and exchange it for a cream popsicle."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and ran into the main room.

"Grandma, where are your empty soda bottles?"

"Xiaobo took it."

"Li Xiaobo!"

Li Xiaotao stormed out of the house and stood in front of Li Xiaobo, demanding, "Where's the soda bottle?"

"Here it is."

Li Xiaobo reluctantly pulled it out from the back of his pants.

Li Xiaotao snatched it away angrily, saying, "Who told you to steal it? This is mine, don't you know that?"

Li Xiaobo shrank back in fear. "Brother Xiaotao, I didn't steal it. I took it for you."

"is it?"

"Yes Yes."

Just then, Li Xiaohai walked over and said, "Dad, I want to eat a cream popsicle too."

"Just wait a moment."

Having watched the excitement for a while, Li Xiangdong called all his nephews and nieces to his side.

"Would you like soda or popsicles?"

Li Xiaojiang asked, "Third Uncle, will you buy it for us?"

Li Xiangdong nodded. "I'll go buy it for you, but you can only choose one item."

Li Xiaojiang's eyes darted around. "Third Uncle, let's discuss this first."

"Okay, you two take your time to discuss it. I'm not in a hurry."

Li Xiangdong got up, picked up his daughter, and walked into the main room.

As soon as he left, his nephews and nieces started talking all at once.

"Big brother, I want to eat an ice pop."

"What are you going to eat, popsicles? Let's drink soda!"

"Big brother, I want to eat an ice pop too."

"No way, you've all had your soda, but I haven't. Besides, aren't you all silly? If we finish our soda today, we can take the bottles to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow and exchange them for popsicles."

"Oh, right, big brother is really smart."

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