Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Really? Hey, why are you clenching your fist? Open it up and give me and your great-grandmother a smile."

Upon hearing the laughter from Li Xiangdong and Old Lady Li, Li Xiaozhu stopped laughing and started shedding pearls.

"I'm tired from working, I'll laugh again tomorrow."

Li Xiaozhu wiped away her tears, twisted her body to break free from Li Xiangdong's hand, and turned to crawl under the octagonal table next to her.

Seeing this, Li Xiangdong started to coax, "Didn't you want to go to our family's restaurant? You haven't been there for days. Come on out and let's go together. If you don't come, I'm leaving."

Li Xiaozhu, who was crouching at the very back of the table, wiped away her tears a couple more times and emerged from under the table, sobbing.

"I go."

"Alright, stop crying. I was just teasing you. I'll buy you some sugar-coated fried dough sticks tomorrow morning."

As soon as Li Xiangdong finished speaking, Old Lady Li chimed in.

"Great-Grandma will scold your brother for you later, so let's not cry."

With red-rimmed eyes, Li Xiaozhu shook her head. "I wasn't crying. I was playing with my brother."

Li Xiangdong muttered to himself that he was being stubborn, but with a smile on his face, he pulled his daughter along, picked up the cloth bag containing the seashells, said goodbye to Grandma Li, and the father and daughter walked outside.

"Dad, White Rabbit milk candy."

"Oh, here you go."

"I want to eat two sugar-coated fried dough sticks tomorrow."

"Okay, two tickets, I got them, I'll buy them for you."

"Dad is so good."

The father and daughter came out of the house and went into the east wing while talking.

"Let's go to a restaurant."

"Go."

While cleaning, Zhou Yuqin noticed her daughter's red eyes. "You cried? What happened?"

"Mom, hurry up and get to work. The house of Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma hasn't been cleaned yet. Dad, let's go."

Li Xiaozhu pulled Li Xiangdong forcefully towards the outside of the house.

"I'll tell you when I get back. Remember to tell Li Xiaohai to stand against the wall for ten minutes after you see him."

"Half an hour!"

Li Xiaozhu increased the stakes and continued to pull Li Xiangdong along.

"Stop pulling, walk properly."

After leaving the east wing, Li Xiangdong pushed his bicycle out of the courtyard, stopped outside the gate, waited for Li Xiaozhu to get on the back seat, and then turned into the alley to the east of the gate by pedaling the bicycle.

"Father, Father, please stop!"

As Li Xiaozhu emerged from the alley, she excitedly patted Li Xiangdong on the back upon seeing Li Xiaohai.

"Sit still. If you're not going to the restaurant, I'll go by myself."

"I go."

After Li Xiaozhu finished speaking, she turned around and pointed fiercely at Li Xiaohai. Only after she had walked away and could no longer see Li Xiaohai did she turn back, grabbing Li Xiangdong's clothes with both hands and looking around with her big eyes.

"Dad, I want a sugar figurine!"

Thinking that Li Xiaozhu had just cried, Li Xiangdong turned directly towards the candy seller.

"Great, great, really great."

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Li Xiaozhu licked the sugar figurine, strolling around like a government official conducting an inspection, looking here and there with great satisfaction.

Li Xiangdong ignored her and started working with a hammer and nails. After all the shells were strung up and hung up, he walked into the warehouse with the hammer in hand.

"You're really bold to steal things like that. Put them back right now."

Confined inside the house, Li Xiaozhu, now holding a bottle of soda, explained, "I told the old lady, and she asked me to take it."

"I asked her to get it."

Sister-in-law Li, who was picking vegetables at the kitchen door, quickly came over to testify.

"Look, the old lady asked me to take this, right?"

Suddenly brimming with confidence, Li Xiaozhu, holding a sugar figurine in one hand and clutching her soda tightly in the other, smugly brushed past Li Xiangdong.

After putting the hammer back into the toolbox, Li Xiangdong chatted with his two sisters-in-law and Xiang Lin's wife for a few more minutes before taking his daughter, who had finished eating the sugar figurine, home.

When they arrived at their doorstep, Li Xiaozhu remained on her bicycle until Li Xiangdong pushed her through the hanging flower gate into the inner courtyard, at which point she finally got off.

"Dad, give me back my soda."

"Give."

Li Xiangdong handed over the soda he had tucked into his pocket and then parked his bicycle.

"Open it for me! How can I drink it if it's not opened?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Do I even need to say that?

"Can't you speak properly? Are you itching for a kiss, or what?"

"Hehehe, Dad is so nice. Hurry up and open the soda for me. I'll give you a sip once it's open."

"Sycophant."

Li Xiangdong smiled as he took the soda and went to the kitchen to get a bottle.

Li Xiaozhu, who was following closely behind, muttered, "They're so hard to please."

"What are you saying? Gossiping about someone behind their back is definitely not nice. I think you really want to get beaten up."

"No, I meant that Dad loves me the most, and I love Dad the most too."

"Then why not speak louder?"

"I'm afraid my mother will hear."

...

...

"Sister, come and have some soda."

Li Xiaozhu ran into the main room with a bottle of soda in her arms and called Zhang Miaomiao, who was reading comic books with Li Xiaohai, to come over.

"Give me a sip too."

Li Xiaohai approached with a smile, but seeing that the vengeful Li Xiaozhu ignored him completely, he looked at Zhang Miaomiao, who was drinking soda.

"Give it to me when you're done."

Zhang Miaomiao blinked, swallowed the soda in her mouth, and handed the soda bottle out. Li Xiaozhu immediately reached out to snatch it.

"Give it to me, sister, but the soda is mine."

"You're so stingy. If you don't want me to drink, fine."

When the brother and sister were arguing, Hou San came to their door carrying a bamboo winnowing basket.

"Brother Dong, here you go. This seafood was just delivered from Tianjin this morning, it's very fresh."

Thank you.

Li Xiangdong took the bamboo winnowing basket.

"You're welcome. This is what I promised Xiaohai."

Hou San had promised Li Xiaohai to bring back some seafood from Tianjin, and he kept his word.

Hearing the commotion from inside the house, Li Xiaohai ran over, excitedly thanking Hou San. He personally escorted Hou San to the front door, raising his hand high to wave goodbye.

"No playing."

When Li Xiaohai returned from dropping someone off, he saw Li Xiaozhu and Zhang Miaomiao squatting at the kitchen door, reaching out to touch the shrimp and crabs in the basin.

"Miaomiao, I wasn't talking about you, keep playing."

Li Xiaozhu frowned. "Why won't you let me touch you? I still want to eat you."

Li Xiaohai came up to him and said, "You didn't give me any soda either."

"I'll give you some soda."

"That's more like it. Where's the soda?"

"He's inside."

Li Xiaozhu pointed towards the main house, and Li Xiaohai immediately ran away.

Zhang Miaomiao said worriedly, "You've finished all the soda."

Li Xiaozhu reached out and touched the large crab in the basin, then squinted and began to laugh.

“I didn’t finish it. There’s still some good luck left in the bottle. If my brother drinks it, he’ll be lucky. He definitely won’t be angry.”