Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Looking at Hou San who had returned, Wang Chenghao asked in bewilderment, "What are you doing here again? Did you leave something in our room?"

"No."

Hou San shook his head and asked with a sly expression, "Were you guys not full just now?"

"Hou San, what are you trying to do? Are you here to cause trouble?"

"Hou Laosan, don't go too far!"

"Don't you know whether we've eaten enough or not? Didn't you eat all the food on the table just now?"

Wang Chenghao raised his hand and pressed down, signaling everyone not to be impulsive. After everyone calmed down, he looked at Hou San with a dark face.

"Did you come here to laugh at us?"

"no."

Hou San chuckled and reached into his cloth bag, taking out five steamed buns and placing them on the table.

"Dong-ge said you probably haven't eaten enough, so he asked me to bring you some steamed buns."

"Thank you."

Wang Chenghao's expression softened considerably upon seeing the steamed buns, as did the other four.

They were indeed quite hungry late at night, and it would be good to have a steamed bun to fill their stomachs.

However, seeing that Hou San neither left nor spoke after putting down the steamed bun, Wang Chenghao asked, "Is there anything else?"

"It's nothing. I was just worried that drinking too much alcohol would be bad for your health. Here, I'll take this half-pack of dried fruit."

Before Hou San could finish speaking, he grabbed the half-pack of dried fruit from the table and ran out.

Inside the room, Wang Chenghao and the others watched as the door, which had been closed by Hou Sanli, bounced open again, and they all began to curse inwardly!

The atmosphere in the other room was much more harmonious.

Li Xiangdong and A Zhe sat on their respective beds, soaking their feet and chatting. Suddenly, A Zhe let out a burp.

"Hiccup~ Dongzi, I ate too much just now. I feel like I won't need to eat breakfast tomorrow. Hou San and I have gotten you out of this mess, right?"

Li Xiangdong rubbed his feet together in the water. "Well, you guys came back at just the right time. I really don't have much to say to them."

Ah Zhe sighed, "Their methods are a bit underhanded, but we have no evidence."

Li Xiangdong nodded, understanding that A Zhe was referring to the bamboo tube.

"Don't worry about it. I knew from the beginning that we couldn't keep our cricket dealing a secret for long. All those excuses we made up before were just to delay things for a while."

He laughed as he spoke, "Let them learn it if they want. We're not at a loss. You and Hou San ate quite a lot of their food just now, so consider it tuition we collected."

"Dongzi, please stop talking. I feel like I'm about to burst from all the food I've eaten."

As A Zhe spoke, he let out another burp. He and Hou San had each eaten a braised chicken, and they had also shared most of the bag of peanuts.

"Brother Dong, catch."

Hou San pushed open the door and threw the paper package containing dried fruit directly into Li Xiangdong's arms.

Li Xiangdong opened the paper package and said speechlessly, "Wang Chenghao and the others only had this half-pack of dried fruit left in their room, why did you bring it back?"

Hou San explained, "I want to bring it to Wang Erkui tomorrow. He's never eaten anything this good before."

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "Is this your tuition fee for Wang Erkui?"

Ah Zhe laughed when he heard Li Xiangdong's words. Hou San, that guy, does nothing serious all day, but he's learned a lot of unreliable things.

"Hehe, Dong-ge, you're right. This half-pack of dried fruit is tuition."

After Hou San finished speaking, he rummaged through his satchel and pulled out a few sheets of straw paper. He then threw the satchel onto the bed and tried to run outside with his legs clamped together.

Ah Zhe hurriedly called out, "Where are you going now? Don't go and cause trouble for others again!"

Hou San stopped and turned around to explain, "I'm going to the outhouse."

"Go to the outhouse."

Ah Zhe grinned mischievously, "Hou San, do you know what day it is tomorrow?"

Hou San frowned and asked in confusion, "What day? Your birthday?"

"Bah bah bah!"

Ah Zhe spat three times, "Tomorrow is the Ghost Festival, it's pitch black outside, be careful when you go to the outhouse by yourself."

"Ah~!"

Hou San stood rooted to the spot, too afraid to move, but he felt he was about to burst, so he could only look at Li Xiangdong with a bitter expression.

"Brother Dong, I'm too scared to go by myself. Could you come with me?"

"Don't listen to Ah Zhe's attempts to scare you. There are so many people in our guesthouse, what are you afraid of? Go on."

Li Xiangdong didn't want to go out with Hou San; there were too many mosquitoes outside, and he, who was prone to attracting mosquitoes, couldn't stand it!

"Ah Zhe, you're a real scoundrel!"

Hou San felt he would have to change his pants if he didn't go soon, so he mustered his courage and went outside.

When Hou San finally came out of the house, Ah Zhe couldn't help but laugh when he thought about how Hou San had been tugging his legs together.

"Hou San is really straightforward. He eats and then poops. He can't hold anything in his stomach."

"You're really mean, why did you scare him for no reason?"

"Just teasing him."

After soaking their feet and drying them, Li Xiangdong and A Zhe lay down on their beds to rest.

"It's so itchy!"

A short while later, Hou San returned, scratching his butt.

"Damn mosquitoes! They bit me all over the butt."

Ah Zhe lay on the bed with his eyes closed and laughed, "The more I scratch, the itchier it gets."

"I don't want to scratch, but it's just so itchy."

"Hou San, quickly soak your feet and then go to sleep."

"I understand, Brother Dong."

...

Four o'clock in the morning.

Li Xiangdong woke up Hou San and A Zhe.

They were short on time to go to Wang Erkui's house to collect crickets, so they moved their departure time forward by an hour.

Now Uncle Zheng has also gone along the route a few times, and he has memorized all the road conditions.

In addition, Li Xiangdong and his group had flashlights with them, so they didn't have to worry about their car overturning on the road.

"Uncle Zheng, these are steamed buns for you."

Hou San yawned and handed over three white steamed buns. One bun was Uncle Zheng's breakfast, and the other two were the extra reward he had promised Uncle Zheng.

However, Uncle Zheng put all the steamed buns into the satchel on his shoulder, and then took out a cornbread from the satchel.

Hou San saw it but didn't say anything. Uncle Zheng had done this every time before, just to bring an extra steamed bun home.

"Drive~"

Uncle Zheng munched on a cornbread bun, flicked his small leather whip, and the donkey slowly started to walk.

For safety reasons, Hou San was forbidden from sitting in front of the donkey cart, while A Zhe and Uncle Zheng sat on either side of each other, with flashlights on their hands.

Looking around at the pitch black surroundings, Hou San felt a little scared and shrank closer to Li Xiangdong.

He nudged Li Xiangdong, who was dozing against the donkey cart, and asked, "Brother Dong, do you want some steamed buns?"

Li Xiangdong said with his eyes closed, "I'm not eating. You should ask A Zhe."

Hou San looked around, then shrank his neck and said, "Don't give him any."

Hearing Hou San's words, Ah Zhe, who was sitting in the front, turned around with a smile and said, "I'm not hungry."

Hou Sanqi said angrily, "I won't give you anything to eat even if you're hungry!"

Li Xiangdong patted Hou San, "You two stop fooling around. Hou San, you keep an eye on things for A Zhe. I'm going to take a little more sleep."

"Okay, Dong-ge, you can sleep soundly now."

As Hou San said this, he moved closer to Li Xiangdong.

The donkey cart swayed forward, and it was already getting light just as it left the county town.

The journey back from collecting crickets from Wang Erkui's house was bumpy, and Li Xiangdong and his group suffered considerable losses. So, they asked Uncle Zheng to put two layers of straw mats on the donkey cart.

Now that the donkey cart wasn't so uncomfortable, Li Xiangdong was sitting on a straw mat with his back against the cart frame, trying to catch up on some sleep, when he was suddenly woken up by Hou San shaking him.

He noticed that Hou San's face was pale and his neck was covered in goosebumps, so he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Hou San, trembling, pointed to a spot about two hundred meters to his right, "Brother Dong, there's something evil here!"