Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Today is a holiday, and many people who come to the department store are with their families, or even the whole family.

Children love eating and playing the most, and the toy area was one of the busiest areas in the department store today, with a constant stream of customers coming and going or stopping to linger.

Li Xiaozhu's voice was crisp and clear, and her surprising words stunned all the customers around her.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice, only to see that the one who uttered the astonishing words was a little girl.

She wore a tiger-head hat, two woolen scarves around her neck, a bright red cotton-padded jacket and trousers, and tiger-head shoes. Her gloves hung around her neck and dangled at her waist.

Her attire was very eye-catching and attracted a lot of attention. Passing customers would involuntarily take a second look, and upon closer inspection, most people would think, "Oh, it's this chubby girl."

On the other hand, Li Xiaozhu, who was the center of everyone's attention, felt that her idea was excellent and could help her brother Li Xiaohai, who was frowning with worry.

Although she suddenly felt the previously noisy sounds around her abruptly decrease, she didn't pay attention to it or think much about it.

Feeling quite pleased with herself, Li Xiaozhu looked extremely smug, hands behind her back, chin raised, waiting for praise from her older brothers and sisters.

"Don't drop it."

"Yeah, it's just for fun, how could you drop it?"

"Xiaoqi, don't give me any bad advice. Rubik's Cubes are probably not cheap."

"Yes, yes, it will definitely cost a lot of money. If you dare to break it for fun, your aunt will definitely beat you up."

Li Xiaojiang and his six siblings, along with Zhang Miaomiao, all spoke up, their words raining down on Li Xiaozhu like cannonballs.

Some of these words were kind advice, some were reasonable, and some directly used Zhou Yuqin as a threat.

Li Xiaozhu, who was waiting for praise, did not expect to be judged and lectured instead.

She was a little dumbfounded. Her hands, which had been behind her back, were unconsciously brought back to her front and placed on her stomach, rubbing it repeatedly. Her smug look from before was gone, replaced by a humble and eager-to-admit-mistake attitude after making a mistake.

This was the first time in her life that all her older brothers and sisters had ganged up on her, and Li Xiaozhu instantly felt extremely wronged, her reddened eyes glistening with tears.

“I know I was wrong. I just saw my brother frowning because he didn’t know how to play. Mom said that when my brother frowns, he looks like a little old man. I wanted to help him.”

Seeing that Li Xiaozhu suddenly seemed about to cry, Ge Youfu, who was the first to react, quickly squatted down and rubbed her tiger-head hat a couple of times.

"Playing with a Rubik's Cube requires intelligence and cleverness. You can't just smash it and glue it back together. You're the smartest kid in the family, so you should be able to figure this out, right? Now tell your brother if you can smash the Rubik's Cube to play with it?"

Li Xiaozhu, praised as the smartest, experienced a rapid and dramatic rise in her low spirits, shaking her head, "No way."

How do we play?

Ge Youfu smiled and pressed for more information.

Li Xiaozhu hummed twice through her nose, "Using my cleverness, I turned the cubes of the same color together."

Ge Youfu praised again in an affirmative tone, "That's right, our Xiaoqi is so sensible."

"Hey hey hey."

Li Xiaozhu squinted and grinned, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. She then raised her hand to wipe them away and continued to laugh.

"What happened?"

After getting a receipt and paying, Li Xiangdong returned with a new Rubik's Cube. He noticed many more customers around, all looking at their children and mistakenly thinking they were waiting in line to play with the Rubik's Cube in Li Xiaohai's hand.

"Xiaohai, play with your own toys. Put yours back for the other children to play with."

"Okay, Dad."

Li Xiaohai obeyed and went to Li Xiangdong's side. He took the Rubik's Cube from Li Xiangdong and handed it to Li Xiaobo. He then beckoned Li Xiangdong to bend down and whispered the events that had just occurred in Li Xiangdong's ear.

"Oh, I see. I understand."

Li Xiangdong learned that Ge Youfu had already disciplined her, and then he saw his daughter smiling and leaning close to Li Xiaobo, excitedly offering suggestions and pointing out how to turn the Rubik's Cube.

He simply kept the matter to himself and didn't intend to bring his daughter over for a lecture.

The child was just saying it and didn't actually fall. He has already admitted his mistake, so there's no need to keep bringing it up.

"Come over here."

Li Xiangdong called out to the children standing in front of the shelves so that they could make room for other customers with children.

As for the Rubik's Cube that had just been put back on the shelf, it was now in the hands of a little girl.

Li Xiangdong and his group walked to the side and saw Li Xiaobo engrossed in playing with a Rubik's Cube. Li Xiaohai wanted to come back but was too embarrassed to speak up.

"Dad, why don't you go and buy another one?"

"Do you know how much a Rubik's Cube costs? Why don't you buy another one?"

Hearing Li Xiangdong's question, Li Xiaohai guessed that the Rubik's Cube wouldn't be cheap, but he didn't know the exact price.

"how much is it?"

"Ten yuan."

"How many?"

A surprised exclamation rang out, and Ge Youfu's face was full of astonishment.

Of course, Li Xiaohai was also shocked by the price of ten yuan!

Actually, Li Xiangdong wasn't much better off when he first took out the money, but he certainly wouldn't show any weakness in front of his son and nephew, so he pretended to be nonchalant.

"Don't be surprised, the Rubik's Cube is an authentic product imported from abroad. It's not expensive to sell it for ten yuan in the department store."

"That's true."

Ge Youfu chuckled in response, his mind already racing with thoughts of his uncle, who seemed both wealthy and generous.

"Brother Xiaojiang, Sister Xiaomei, Miaomiao, do you know how much this Rubik's Cube costs?"

Li Xiaohai approached Li Xiaobo and the others. His father had said to buy the Rubik's Cubes for ten yuan each, and he bought them without batting an eye. He had to show off this!

"How many?"

"ten bucks."

"How many?!!!"

"Ten yuan."

"This is way too expensive! Is it made of gold?"

Of the eight children, Li Xiaotao was the one who couldn't accept it the most.

You know, he used to make money by selling scrap, but each time he was always a few cents short and less than a dime. If he wanted to save up ten yuan by selling scrap, he would probably have to sell scrap until he got married and had kids.

"That's really expensive."

Li Xiaobo, who was twisting the Rubik's Cube, stopped the turning motion instantly when he heard the price.

It wasn't that he was worried about breaking it and not being able to afford the repairs; it was that he was worried about actually breaking it. Li Xiaohai would keep nagging him about it afterward.

Li Xiaobo handed over the Rubik's Cube, saying, "Xiaohai, here you go."

Li Xiaohai was showing off and didn't have time. "Brother Xiaobo, you keep playing."

Seeing that he didn't answer, Li Xiaobo turned to look at the chubby girl beside him and changed the direction of her outstretched hand.

"Here, you can play."

"No, don't give it to me!"

Li Xiaozhu waved her hands repeatedly while taking a step back, inwardly relieved that she had narrowly escaped a severe beating...

PS: I couldn't find the domestic price of the Rubik's Cube. In 1982, the Rubik's Cube sold for about £6 in the UK market, which is equivalent to RMB 20-30. In the US market, it sold for $5-10, which is equivalent to RMB 8-16. Foreign toys are sold in Beijing Department Store.