Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong carried his daughter into the house to fetch a kettle of hot water, and Li Ersao also went back into the house to bring out a thermos.

Li Xiaobo and Li Xiaohai, the two mischievous boys, were too dirty. Since the weather was quite hot, Zhou Yuqin and Li Ersao decided to give the children a bath right there in the yard.

Although they were no longer going to beat their child, they used more and more force when scrubbing the black mud off their son's body.

Li Xiaobo and Li Xiaohai were in so much pain that they kept yelling and screaming, while Li Xiangdong and his daughter Li Xiaozhu were laughing at the scene.

"I rely on!"

Seeing the bicycle still parked in the yard, Li Xiangdong realized that he hadn't returned it yet.

"Xiaomei, Xiaolan, are you two doing your homework?"

He carried his daughter and pushed open the door to enter the room of Li Xiaomei and her sister.

The west wing was divided into two rooms, and the one on the south side was where the two sisters lived.

Their family owns a house, unlike other families in large courtyards where three generations are crammed into one or two rooms.

As the children of Brother Li and Brother Li's family grew older, their son and daughter could no longer sleep with them.

After discussing it, the family vacated the room, which was originally intended for Li Xiaojiang and Li Xiaotao to stay in.

However, the two brothers did not cherish this opportunity. Without their parents watching over them, they made a ruckus at night and wouldn't sleep. The next day, the room was occupied by the sisters Li Xiaomei and Li Xiaolan.

"Uncle Three."

"younger sister."

Li Xiaomei and Li Xiaolan got up and walked over from the table.

"Could you watch your sister for a while, Uncle? He's just going out for a bit and will be back soon."

Li Xiangdong didn't want to disturb the two sisters who were doing their homework, but his daughter only liked to play with her two older sisters besides him and his wife, and no one else could coax her, not even her mother.

Moreover, Li Xiaozhu had just taken a shower, and Li Xiangdong was worried that the child would catch a cold, so he had no choice but to bring her over.

"Third Uncle, you go ahead and do your work. I'll watch your sister for you. I'll do my homework when you get back."

Li Xiaomei reached out and touched Li Xiaozhu's feet, making her laugh incessantly.

"Sister...play..."

"Okay, you can play with your sisters on the kang. Dad will come and carry you back to your room in a little while."

Li Xiangdong put his daughter on the kang (a heated brick bed), turned around and went out of the house. He said something to his wife, then pushed his bicycle and walked out of the yard.

Do you want some water?

Li Xiaomei lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) and pinched Li Xiaozhu's face.

"Play..."

Li Xiaozhu raised her hand and touched her little braid, wanting her older sisters to braid it for her.

"Sister will braid your hair."

Li Xiaomei took off her shoes and got onto the kang (a heated brick bed), then turned to Li Xiaolan and said, "Go do your homework, I'll watch over her."

"Ah."

Li Xiaolan gently rubbed Li Xiaozhu's chubby cheeks before sitting back down at her desk to continue doing her homework.

After returning the bicycle, Li Xiangdong hurried back and pushed open the door to find his daughter lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) playing with her toes.

"She didn't cause you any trouble, did she?"

Li Xiaomei laughed and said, "No, Uncle, my little sister is very obedient."

"It's good that you didn't cause any trouble. Let's go, come back to the house with Dad."

Li Xiangdong picked up his daughter from the kang (a heated brick bed), then walked over to Li Xiaolan, who was engrossed in her homework, and patted her on the back.

"Sit up straight, don't slouch when you're doing your homework."

"Oh."

Li Xiaolan straightened up and continued writing.

Li Xiangdong picked up the vocabulary book on the table, opened it, and looked at it curiously.

The handwriting is fairly neat, about the same as his.

"want..."

Li Xiaozhu saw the notebook in his father's hand and reached out to grab it.

"What do you want to do? This is my homework, you can't play with it."

Li Xiangdong dodged his daughter's hand and quickly put the vocabulary book back on the table.

"Let's go back and ride big horses."

He quickly picked up his daughter and left, not wanting his little niece's hard-earned homework to be torn up by his daughter.

"Dad, I want to play too!"

After washing up, Li Xiaohai pushed open the door and entered the room. He saw his sister riding a horse, so he kicked off his shoes and climbed directly onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

Li Xiangdong, like an old ox, carried his daughter and son around the kang (a heated brick bed) a few more times before slowly lying down and not moving.

"Father, get up quickly."

Li Xiaohai sat on his back with his younger sister in his arms, and patted him when he didn't move.

Li Xiangdong said weakly, "I'm tired. You two can sit on my lap and play by yourselves."

"Play..."

Li Xiaozhu leaned over him, grabbed his hair, and started pulling hard.

‘Hiss~’

Li Xiangdong gasped.

"What are you doing!"

Zhou Yuqin, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) mending her son's clothes, raised her hand and slapped her daughter's hand hard.

"Don't cry, or I'll keep beating you."

"bad..."

Li Xiaozhu called out to Zhou Yuqin, her lips trembling as tears streamed down her face.

Zhou Yuqin watched her cry without comforting her, and pointed at the two of them, saying, "Get off your father. Do you need to pee? If not, go lie down and go to sleep."

"Mom, I don't want to pee."

Seeing Zhou Yuqin's outburst, Li Xiaohai quickly got off his father and lay down in his own spot, making sure to cover himself with the blanket.

Li Xiaozhu climbed off her father with tears streaming down her face, but unlike Li Xiaohai, she didn't listen. Without looking back, she climbed straight to the innermost part of the kang (a heated brick bed), where she huddled in the corner and cried out to Zhou Yuqin.

"You... are bad..."

Li Xiangdong turned over, clapped his hands at his daughter, and said, "Come here, Daddy will hold you while you sleep."

Li Xiaozhu sat huddled in the corner like the little match girl, ignoring her father's calls and staring blankly at her mother as she shed tears.

Li Xiangdong got up and went over to hug his daughter. "Daddy, look, oh~ your hands are all red from hitting them. Let's not cry anymore, okay? Daddy will blow on them for you, okay? You're a big girl now, you have to be good from now on, you know?"

"Mmm... blow..."

Li Xiaozhu stretched out the hand that had been hit to Li Xiangdong's mouth.

"Hoo~ hoo~ Okay, let's go to sleep."

Li Xiangdong blew on her twice to soothe her and then let her lie down next to him.

"You should go to sleep too. It's getting dark. You can do these chores tomorrow when you have time."

When Zhou Yuqin saw her husband start to yawn, she didn't want to leave the light on and disturb his sleep, so she got up, put away the clothes and needlework, and then came back to take off her shoes and get on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Why are you staring wide-eyed instead of sleeping?

Zhou Yuqin saw her daughter's big eyes open and tapped her forehead with her finger.

Still angry, Li Xiaozhu twisted her body and pressed herself against Li Xiangdong, who was standing next to her. She wished she could get as far away from Zhou Yuqin as possible.

"Go to sleep, don't worry about her, I'll pat her to sleep."

Li Xiangdong gently patted his daughter's back with one hand to lull her to sleep, while pulling the light cord with the other.

With a 'click', the room was pitch black, with only a sliver of moonlight shining through the window.

As Li Xiangdong patted the camera, his movements gradually slowed down.

"You brat, are you doing this on purpose?!"

Zhou Yuqin's angry voice woke Li Xiangdong, who was just falling asleep, and he quickly pulled the light cord.

"what happened?"

Sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), Zhou Yuqin pointed to a wet patch beneath her and said, "Look for yourself!"

"This~"

Li Xiangdong patted his daughter, who was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) with her butt sticking out and secretly laughing.

"How could you be so wicked? Who taught you to piss on your mother?"

Li Xiaozhu rolled over and saw her mother's gloomy face. She shrank closer to Li Xiangdong and said, "Mother...you're bad..."