Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Wait a minute."

Zhang Miaomiao hurriedly called for a stop.

"Are you plucking chicken feathers to make a shuttlecock? A shuttlecock should be made from a rooster's tail. These are from two hens, so the shuttlecock won't look good."

"I don't make shuttlecocks, my sister has some."

Li Xiaozhu explained with a grin, "I want to pluck chicken feathers and sell them for money."

"So you wanted to sell it for money, maybe you shouldn't have taken it."

Zhang Miaomiao only knew that people would keep the chicken feathers to sell or trade when they slaughtered chickens. She had never seen or heard of this kind of practice, and worried that the other person would get beaten up, so she kindly tried to persuade them.

Unfortunately, Li Xiaozhu, being a money-grubber, didn't listen at all. She plucked a chicken feather, stroked the chicken's head, and said soothingly, "There's one more. It'll hurt for a little while longer. Don't squawk."

"What are you doing?"

Li Xiangdong had just seen two little girls running towards the west wing from the main house. At first, he didn't pay any attention, thinking that the two girls were just wandering around the yard again.

When he heard the rooster crow again, he knew things weren't that simple. He hurried out of the house and saw Li Xiaozhu plucking feathers from a chicken as he approached the chicken coop.

Zhang Miaomiao was unsure how to dissuade him when she saw Li Xiangdong approaching. She took the opportunity to let go of his hand, stood up, and greeted him, "Hello, sir."

Li Xiaozhu felt a pair of eyes staring intently at her. Feeling guilty, she didn't dare to look up. She secretly put her hand, which was clutching a chicken feather, behind her back, then stood up and hung her head.

"I'm asking you a question, lift your head. I can see everything, so what are you hiding?"

Li Xiangdong's target was right there, and Li Xiaozhu was caught red-handed, forced to take out her hand that was hidden behind her back.

"There's nothing else, just a chicken feather."

"So, you're planning to sell your wares at the recycling station for money too?"

Li Xiangdong remembered that Li Xiaotao had asked him for old newspapers, saying that he wanted to wrap chicken feathers so that he could take them back to the old house to dry and sell them for money.

He quickly understood his daughter's plan after communicating with everyone, and waved his hand, saying, "Isn't the chicken coop dirty? Come out quickly."

Zhang Miaomiao was alright; she wasn't even an accomplice. Li Xiaozhu, the culprit, had just come out of the chicken coop and was already trying to slip away.

"Stop right there, or I'll go get your mother."

Li Xiangdong threatened her verbally, closed the chicken coop door, fastened the wire latch on the door, stepped forward, grabbed Li Xiaozhu's shoulder, and slapped her buttocks twice.

"You've got some nerve. If I don't come over, are you planning to pluck those two old hens bald?"

"No."

Li Xiaozhu quickly denied it; she wouldn't be foolish enough to provoke Zhou Yuqin and deliberately invite a beating.

"no?"

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he slapped her buttocks again. "I caught you red-handed. If I hadn't come over, would you have let those two old hens go?"

Li Xiaozhu covered her buttocks, twisted her body to break free, and created a safe distance. "I just don't know how. I just want to pluck two feathers from a hen. Two feathers make four. After a few days, when the hen's feathers grow back, I'll pluck four more."

These words opened Zhang Miaomiao's eyes, while Li Xiangdong frowned, looking helpless.

"You're quite smart, huh?"

"I'm very smart."

Li Xiaozhu always accepted any praise, and to prove it, she even started counting on her fingers.

"Four chicken feathers plus four chicken feathers equals eight chicken feathers, eight plus eight equals sixteen, sixteen plus sixteen equals... equals..."

"Thirty-two, you idiot."

Hearing the commotion from inside the main room, Li Xiaohai peeked out from behind the curtain to watch the spectacle and then chuckled as he mocked the commotion.

Li Xiaozhu didn't retort, but instead asked, "What is thirty-two plus thirty-two?"

Sixty-four.

"Oh, it's sixty-four, brother. What's sixty-four plus sixty-four?"

"Wait a minute, let me calculate it."

"You idiot, forget it, I don't want to hear it!"

"..."

...

...

After calling Li Xiaozhu into the house, Li Xiangdong gave her another lecture, waiting for her to admit her mistake and show a good attitude.

When the lesson ended, he held out his hand, saying, "Give me the chicken feather."

"Give."

Li Xiaozhu reluctantly handed over the only chicken feather.

While playing chess at the octagonal table, Li's father took the opportunity to lecture him, "You're not allowed to pluck chicken feathers anymore, understand? What if you get pecked by a chicken?"

After saying this, he thought about how his granddaughter was a money-grubber, so he decided to do some calculations for her. He believed that after these calculations, his granddaughter would definitely not steal chicken feathers in the future.

“Listen to Grandpa, hens don’t like to lay eggs in winter anyway. If you pluck their feathers and scare them, they’ll lay even fewer eggs. How much are those few feathers worth?”

"Even if you pluck all the feathers off two hens, it still wouldn't be worth as much as one egg. An egg costs eight cents. Do the math yourself, and you'll end up not only not making a profit, but actually losing a lot of money."

Li Xiaozhu was greatly shocked after hearing these insightful words!

She started counting on her fingers, and no one knew how she was doing it, but the more she counted, the more her chubby face twisted in pain.

"Grandpa, I've lost out big time!"

Hearing Li Xiaozhu agree with his statement, Li's father was very satisfied with his educational achievements.

"If you know you're going to lose big time, then don't do it this way."

"I will never do it again."

"Be sensible, take your toys and go play with Miaomiao."

"Not urgent."

Li Xiaozhu shuffled her short legs to stand in front of her father and said, "Grandpa, I lost money."

"Ah."

Mr. Li nodded, "If he's changed, he's a good child."

Li Xiaozhu shook her head repeatedly, "No, I'm a good child, I know about this, Grandpa, listen to me, I lost money."

"and then?"

Mr. Li didn't react for a moment.

Old Li, sitting opposite, smiled and shook his head, tapping the table with a chess piece in his hand. "What the child means is that he wants you to make up for the money you lost."

"Great-grandfather is right."

Li Xiaozhu was overjoyed to hear that someone understood her.

Mr. Li blinked, genuinely surprised that he had gotten himself into this mess, and was somewhat reluctant to speak.

The key point is that he didn't say anything, and Li Xiaozhu was still standing aside waiting!

"Grandpa, can you fix it for me?"

Mr. Li said helplessly, "Tell me, how much did you just calculate on your fingers?"

"I haven't finished calculating yet, let me calculate it again."

Li Xiaozhu stretched out her two chubby little hands and counted the money on her fingers again.

"An egg costs eight cents. Two hens can lay two eggs a day, which is sixteen cents. Sixteen plus sixteen equals thirty-two, and thirty-two plus thirty-two equals sixty-four."

Everyone in the room listened quietly, waiting to see how far she could go in her calculations.

Feeling stared at, Li Xiaozhu scratched her head and asked, "Sixty-four plus sixty-four is... is... Brother, it's been so long, have you figured it out yet? Tell me quickly, what is sixty-four plus sixty-four?"