Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong woke up late today, not because he was lazy again.

The family of four all got up rather late today. It was only after Li's mother knocked on the door to call them for breakfast that they got up, yawning.

Last night, Zhou Yuqin gave her daughter a good scolding, which almost made her cry in the process.

Li Xiangdong was in an even worse situation. After comforting his wife, he had to comfort Li Xiaohai, who was too scared to speak after waking up in fright. He also had a tattletale daughter who kept bothering him.

After finally calming her down, Zhou Yuqin went to wash herself and change her clothes. Li Xiangdong followed her off the kang (a heated brick bed) to get clean sheets from the wardrobe so he could change his daughter's mess.

After a long and tiring process, the family of four, now lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), were all wide awake and none of them could fall asleep.

Sitting in the main living room, Li Xiangdong yawned, wiped away his tears, and continued eating.

Sitting next to him, Zhou Yuqin yawned and fed Li Xiaozhu, who was squinting in her arms, egg custard with a spoon.

Li Xiangdong picked up a piece of pickled vegetable with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and said, "Mom, put more sesame oil in the pickled vegetables from now on. Don't be stingy. I'll bring back two more bottles for the family after we finish eating."

Li's mother glanced at him and said, "I know."

The atmosphere in the room was a bit strange. Although the children at the small dining table were making a lot of noise, no one at the large dining table spoke.

Only the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Li, and the brothers and sisters-in-law would give the couple strange looks from time to time.

That kind of look, where he doesn't say a word but just glances over casually, is making Li Xiangdong very uncomfortable!

"Third brother, have you finished eating? Come out with me for a bit."

Li's father put down his chopsticks and walked outside, leaving Li Xiangdong, who was following behind him, feeling completely bewildered.

main entrance.

After taking out a pack of cigarettes, Mr. Li lit one for himself and threw the cigarette pack directly into his youngest son's arms.

Li Xiangdong was slightly surprised; this was the first time his father had offered him a cigarette on his own initiative.

Even though it was thrown over, it's still a form of fatherly love.

He was quite pleased, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

"Dad, what's wrong? Did Mom find out about the ten yuan I gave you? Don't worry, I'll go explain to her in a bit."

Mr. Li rolled his eyes at him, "Your father has lived most of his life, how could I not even hide my secret stash of money properly!?"

Li Xiangdong asked in bewilderment, "Then why did you call me out? Did you run out of money? That was ten yuan! Did you spend it all so quickly? Did you always borrow money from others before, and pay back all the ten yuan I gave you?"

"shut up!"

Mr. Li felt like his youngest son was stabbing him in the chest, and he said angrily, "It's not about the money!"

Li Xiangdong couldn't figure out what his father wanted to do. "What is it? Just tell me!"

Mr. Li glared at him and said in a low voice, "You're already a father of two, don't you know how to be careful? Is your addiction really that bad?"

"Ah~"

Li Xiangdong had just put the cigarette in his mouth and hadn't even taken two puffs when he heard his father's words and took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Didn't you give this to me?"

He felt speechless. He glanced at his father and guessed that his father had suffered some grievances with his mother and had called him out to vent his anger on him.

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

Mr. Li blushed and didn't know how to start the conversation. He just kept smoking.

Seeing his father stammering and not saying anything, Li Xiangdong said anxiously, "Just say what you have to say, stop smoking, you're burning your hands with the cigarette butt."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Li threw away his cigarette butt, stubbed it out, and carefully considered the matter again before saying, "You two should keep a closer eye on the child at night from now on. If necessary, send the child to your mother and me in our room beforehand."

Depend on!

Li Xiangdong understood the implication in his father's words and instantly realized the reason why his father had called him out.

No wonder everyone was giving me weird looks during breakfast!

"What are you thinking? That's not how it is!"

Li Xiangdong recounted how Li Xiaozhu, after being beaten, stayed up all night to retaliate against Zhou Yuqin by urinating next to her.

"Oh, so that's what happened. The little girl holds a grudge."

Mr. Li thought his third son and his wife were too self-disciplined, and he was so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground!

"Is there anything else you want to say? If not, I'm going back to my room."

Li Xiangdong was also a little embarrassed. He was too ashamed to look at his father's face, so he lowered his head and turned to leave.

"and many more!"

"What's wrong now, Dad?"

Give me back the cigarettes in your pocket.

"Hehe, it's just a casual thing to do, I'll take it out for you right now."

Li Xiangdong stuffed the cigarette his father had just thrown into his father's hand, then strode quickly into his own room.

After entering the room, he sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), leaned back, closed his eyes, and prepared to take a nap.

‘Bang’ sound.

Zhou Yuqin pushed open the door and entered the room. She sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) with a blush on her face and didn't say a word.

Li Xiangdong opened his eyes after hearing the noise and saw that Zhou Yuqin's face, ears, and neck were all red.

He couldn't help but laugh and asked, "Where are the children?"

"They're playing with their older brothers and sisters."

"If Dad wanted to talk to me, who was he talking to? Was it to tell you to be more careful in the future?"

"You are going to die!"

Zhou Yuqin was already feeling embarrassed by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law's questions, and now she was even more ashamed and angry after hearing her husband's words. She slapped her husband's thigh hard.

Li Xiangdong didn't feel any pain and continued to laugh, "What's there to be embarrassed about? Didn't you explain things clearly to my mother and the others?"

Zhou Yuqin nodded. "It's clear now."

Li Xiangdong said nonchalantly, "That's settled then. Now that things are clear, what's there to be embarrassed about?"

Zhou Yuqin glanced at him and said, "Do you think everyone has a skin as thick as yours?"

Li Xiangdong straightened up, sat up, and put his arm around his wife. "What's wrong with that? Let them talk. Doesn't this just show how loving we are?"

Zhou Yuqin blushed and pushed him away, saying, "Stop talking nonsense."

Li Xiangdong chuckled, "So what are you planning to do? Hide inside and not go out?"

Zhou Yuqin lowered her head, her hands constantly twisting the hem of her clothes. "Let's talk about it later. I'll stay in the room for a while."

Li Xiangdong thought for a moment and said, "I'm planning to go to the department store. Do you want to come with me?"

Zhou Yuqin looked up at him and asked in confusion, "What are you going to the department store for?"

Li Xiangdong got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), took out the bicycle ticket given to him by A Zhe's father and the two milk powder tickets given to him by Aunt Hou from his cloth bag.

Zhou Yuqin looked at the receipts her husband handed her and asked in surprise, "Where did you get these receipts?"

"Given to me by someone else."

Li Xiangdong explained it to her again, and then asked, "Are you going or not? If not, I'll go by myself."

Seeing her husband about to leave with a cloth bag slung over his shoulder, Zhou Yuqin hurriedly said, "Go, go, I'll go! Don't go yet, wait for me!"