Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong squinted at the finger pointing at him and immediately felt a chill run down his spine!

In the distance ahead, there were twenty or thirty figures dressed in white standing in unison at the edge of the cornfield.

He couldn't help but blurt out, "Holy shit!"

Hearing the commotion, Ah Zhe, who was sitting in the front, turned around and asked, "What's wrong, Dongzi?"

He noticed that Li Xiangdong and Hou San's expressions were off. "Uncle Zheng, stop the car!"

"Xu~"

Uncle Zheng pulled the reins, and the donkey cart stopped in place.

Li Xiangdong and Hou San felt the donkey cart stop, and only then did they come to their senses.

"Hurry up, Uncle Zheng, don't stop!"

"Uncle Zheng, let's go!"

Ah Zhe was completely confused. "What's wrong with you guys?"

Uncle Zheng was also puzzled; he didn't understand why these two city kids were so frightened.

Hou San did not respond to A Zhe's question; he had already closed his eyes in fear and was trembling uncontrollably.

Li Xiangdong suppressed his fear and pointed to a group of white figures in the distance to his right.

Ah Zhe turned his head and stared blankly for a moment. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again, feeling like his soul had left his body!

Uncle Zheng stared intently at them, then frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "Don't be afraid, it's not something dirty. Those white figures are probably people from nearby villages who are getting ready to go to work in the fields."

As he spoke, he turned the donkey cart around, flicked his small leather whip, and the donkey headed straight for the group of white figures.

"Uncle Zheng, do we really need to go over there?"

"Yes, Uncle Zheng, let's not care if he's a human or a ghost, let's hurry up and go."

Li Xiangdong and A Zhe felt that Uncle Zheng was too bold. He saw it but didn't leave immediately. Instead, he insisted on going over to take a closer look!

As for why Hou San didn't try to stop him, it was because the guy was already terrified. He had his head buried between his legs and his body was practically curled up into a ball!

Uncle Zheng smiled nonchalantly, "It's alright, don't worry. The demons and monsters have already been dealt with. Let's go take a look. We can't let you three city kids have any lingering worries."

The demons and monsters we encountered before weren't real demons and monsters!

However, Li Xiangdong did not try to dissuade him again. Now that he had recovered, he gradually calmed down.

We really need to go and see what's going on up ahead. If he doesn't figure it out, he probably won't be able to sleep soundly at night anymore.

As the donkey cart moved forward and drew closer, Li Xiangdong began to hear some local dialect.

The group of white figures in front became increasingly clear!

They were indeed people working in the fields. Most of them wore white linen shirts, and to prevent the dew from the corn leaves from wetting their hair, they also wrapped a towel around their heads.

It was just that the distance was a bit far, and it was only just getting light, which led Li Xiangdong and the others to misunderstand.

Most importantly, today's date makes it hard not to make certain associations!

Uncle Zheng stopped the donkey halfway through the journey and asked with a smile, "Now you can see it clearly, right?"

A Zhe said awkwardly, "I saw it clearly, Uncle Zheng."

Li Xiangdong nudged Hou San, "We've mistaken something. Those aren't dirty things. Look up."

Hou San, whose head was still buried between his legs, slowly raised his head with one eye closed and the other eye squinted when he heard this.

Only after he could see clearly did he open his eyes and let out a long breath.

"Oh, it's a person! I was so scared."

Hou San patted his chest, then looked at A Zhe and said, "It's all your fault! If you hadn't scared me last night, we wouldn't have made such a fool of ourselves!"

As he spoke, he grabbed A Zhe by the collar, pulled him down onto the donkey cart, and then pressed himself against him.

"Dongzi~"

"Dong my ass!"

Li Xiangdong lunged forward and landed on top of Hou San.

He was terrified too, so he certainly wouldn't let Ah Zhe, his punching bag, get away with it!

Uncle Zheng smiled as he watched the three of them playfully fighting. He flicked his whip, turned back in the direction he had come from, and continued on his way.

Li Xiangdong and his two companions joked around for a while, then sat down together, each holding a steamed bun.

Hou San, chewing on a steamed bun, stretched out his hand and said, "A Zhe, give me the kettle."

Uncle Zheng slowly drove the donkey cart to Wang Erkui's house. As usual, he didn't go into the yard, but asked for a water bucket and let the donkey drink water at the door.

"Er Kui~"

Hou San pulled a paper package from his satchel. "Guess what's inside?"

Wang Erkui swallowed hard. "Braised chicken."

"No."

Hou San shook his head. "Haven't you had enough braised chicken yet?"

Wang Erkui stared at Hou San with wide eyes, as if he were looking at a fool. "Braised chicken is so delicious, I could eat it every day and never get tired of it!"

"I didn't bring you any braised chicken this time, but I did bring you some dried fruit from Beijing."

Hou San said, stuffing the paper package into Wang Erkui's arms, "I'll bring you braised chicken next time."

"I'm not picky."

Wang Erkui opened the paper package, looked inside, then carefully wrapped it up again and handed it to his mother who was standing beside him.

Aunt Wang said with a smile, "Let my Er Kui go and call someone over. You all go inside and have a bite to eat."

"I'll go call for help. Dong-ge, listen to my mother. There's still corn porridge in the pot."

After Wang Erkui finished speaking, he quickly ran out.

"Aunt Wang, we ate on the way here."

Despite Aunt Wang's enthusiastic invitation, Li Xiangdong ultimately declined.

Collecting crickets is the priority, and the three of them aren't actually hungry right now.

After these few times of coming to collect crickets, Wang Erkui's relatives also learned that they didn't need to crowd together. Instead, they lined up one by one, and those who hadn't gotten their turn stood together chatting and laughing.

A-Zhe, who was stuffing cotton into a bamboo tube, scratched his head and asked, "Dongzi, why are all the crickets yellow this time?"

While inspecting the crickets, Li Xiangdong explained, "This was something Wang Erkui and I arranged in advance. We haven't told you and Hou San about this before, so I'll give you a brief explanation this time."

"We'll be back in a few days and it will be September. In September, among crickets of the same quality, yellow crickets have the highest chance of winning."

"People fight crickets to win, so yellow crickets naturally sell best in September. After October 15th, green crickets will have an advantage. Now you understand why we're buying yellow crickets this time, right?"

Ah Zhe and Hou San could understand such a simple principle, and they both nodded.

A Zhe's eyes darted around. "Dongzi, do you think Wang Chenghao and his gang know about this?"

Li Xiangdong put down the cricket jar he was holding, stretched, and said, "Who knows? If they knew, they could have avoided this trap; if they didn't..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Ah Zhe picked up the thread, grinning mischievously, "They'd be so pitiful if they didn't know; they're definitely going to suffer a huge loss this time."

Li Xiangdong shook his head. "It won't be that bad. At most, the price will be lowered, and we won't make much money."

Hou San smiled broadly and said, "I really want to go back and see the crickets they collected right now."

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "I'd like to see too."

Hou San: "Hehe~"