Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong was a little unsure of Kong Zhaoyao's intentions, so he could only suppress his own thoughts for the time being and focus on helping Hou San and A Zhe move the sacks and cricket boxes into the house.

Hou San and A Zhe put down what they were holding and consciously picked up the bowls and chopsticks on the table to start eating breakfast with Li Xiangdong and Ququ Sun.

Now, every time they come to sell crickets, they eat breakfast and lunch at Cricket Sun's house.

Firstly, Ququ Sun was too slow in inspecting the goods; secondly, it was also to save some money. Anyway, Ququ Sun had earned quite a bit, so he didn't care about this little bit of food.

After breakfast, as usual, Li Xiangdong went to the inner room to catch up on sleep, while Hou San and A Zhe helped out with the cricket.

"Dongzi, get up and have lunch."

After being woken up by A Zhe, Li Xiangdong went to the yard to wash his face before sitting down at the table to eat.

Each person has a bowl of plain noodles, and there is also half a bowl of pickled vegetables mixed with sesame oil on the table.

Ququ Sun earns a lot of money, but he doesn't care much about food since he eats alone. There are no seasonings or side dishes in the small kitchen by the door.

"Uncle Sun, what are you doing with all this money? You should at least go out and buy some groceries from time to time."

Hou San slurped up a mouthful of noodles, swallowed, and looked up with a smile, saying, "Uncle Sun is saving all the money he earns. He must be thinking of finding us another Aunt Sun."

Ququsun glared at the outspoken Hou San, "I'm practically half-buried, what interest do I have in finding a wife?"

Ah Zhe laughed and said, "Uncle Sun, you're only in your early forties and you're already half-buried in the ground? Does that mean the three of us are buried up to our knees? There are still decades to go, what's wrong with you finding a companion? Who can gossip about that?"

Li Xiangdong nodded in agreement. As long as he didn't find an eighteen-year-old girl, but someone of similar age, no one would gossip.

As they spent more time with Ququsun, they gradually learned some of Ququsun's past, realizing he was a pitiful person.

When Ququ Sun was young, he had a wife, but she was in poor health. They were married for several years but had no children, and eventually, she passed away.

By the time Ququ Sun recovered, the tide of humanity had begun. His family's class background was bad, and people were trying to avoid him as much as possible. Naturally, no one wanted to jump into his fire pit.

This has dragged on until now, and I'm all alone, with only two rooms and a room full of cricket jars.

Ququsun smiled and said, "I don't care about gossip at all. It's just that a person's life is less than a hundred years. After experiencing all the joys and sorrows, there will always be people and things that you can't let go of. You are still young. You don't understand now, but you will understand later."

A Zhe and Hou San didn't understand, but Li Xiangdong had a deep understanding of it.

Why do older people like to talk about the past? It's simply because they have something on their mind.

He originally thought that Cricket Sun was all alone until now because of external factors, but he didn't expect that his Uncle Sun was a sentimental person.

Being loyal is good; loyal people tend to have principles in their actions, and I like dealing with such people.

After lunch, Li Xiangdong took over from Hou San and A Zhe, letting the two of them go to rest.

He chatted idly with Cricket Sun without neglecting his work.

"Not bad, Dongzi, you do have some skills."

Cricket Sun was very satisfied with the crickets he had bought. As an old hand, he naturally knew which crickets sold best right now.

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "I'm far inferior to you; I only know a little bit about the basics."

"It doesn't matter how much you know, as long as you can make money. You wait here, I'll go get the money for you."

Li Xiangdong and the other cricket grandchildren got up and went out of the house. He went to the inner room and woke up Hou San and A Zhe, who were still catching up on sleep.

"Is everything ready, Dong Ge?"

"Yes, Uncle Sun went to get the money."

Hou San and A Zhe went to the tap in the yard to wash their faces, while Li Xiangdong waited inside for Ququ Sun to come and settle the bill.

After waiting for a while and seeing no one come, he became a little worried, so he went to the door of the next room and knocked on it.

"Uncle Sun, are you alright?"

"It's alright, you don't need to go in..."

Before Ququsun could finish speaking, Li Xiangdong had already pushed open the door and entered the house.

Upon entering the room, Li Xiangdong immediately froze on the spot!

His gaze was drawn to the antique furniture, the paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls, and a display shelf.

This was the first time he had ever entered this room, which was filled with wonderful treasures.

That cricket grandson is something else!

Seeing his reaction, Ququsun casually said, "What's so interesting about some broken jars and a few pieces of old furniture?"

Li Xiangdong rolled his eyes at him. "Uncle Sun, you're not right. I think these bottles and jars are quite pretty."

Cricket Sun waved his hand and said, "What's so pretty about it? It's just so-so."

Li Xiangdong walked up to the display shelf, pointed to a bottle on it, and said, "If you don't like it, you can give this bottle to me."

Cricket Sun looked at him suspiciously. "What do you want it for?"

Li Xiangdong rubbed his nose. "I'll take it home for my mother to use for making Laba garlic in the winter."

Ququsun was stunned. The bottle that Li Xiangdong was pointing to was a polychrome gold-painted official kiln vase with flowers and wealth from the Yongzheng period.

When he heard Li Xiangdong say that he was going to use it to pickle Laba garlic, he immediately felt an itch on his scalp.

He's lived for over forty years and has never had such a thought in his head!

Cricket Sun's lips trembled with anger. "You son of a bitch, aren't you afraid of eating yourself to death?! You better tell me honestly, do you know what these things are?"

Li Xiangdong nodded, "I know a little, but I'm far inferior to you."

"Humph!"

Cricket Sun didn't respond. He was worried that Li Xiangdong would target his precious cricket, so he started to chase him away.

"Come on, let's go talk in the room next door. Ugh, I don't have anything to say to you. Once I give you the money, the three of you should leave now."

Li Xiangdong was reluctantly pushed out of the house by Ququ Sun. He looked at Ququ Sun, who was locking the door, and said, "Uncle Sun, can you let me take another look? I'm not in a hurry to go home."

"What are you looking at? Be careful you don't get your eyes stuck!"

Ququsun directly refused his request, pulled him back to the next room, and stuffed a wad of money from his arms into his hand.

"I'll round it up for you. Didn't you say you didn't need the tickets for now? Here's nine hundred yuan. Hurry up and count it, and then we'll leave."

It was indeed Li Xiangdong's prior instruction not to require receipts; he had exchanged quite a few recently and didn't need them for the time being.

However, his mind was filled with the treasure he had just seen, so he handed the money to A-Zhe, who was standing to the side.

"You can have some."

The nine hundred yuan was quickly counted out. After saving it for the next time he was dealing with crickets, Ah Zhe divided the rest of the money on the spot.

The three of them packed their own portions. Li Xiangdong looked at Ququ Sun, who was sitting at the table drinking water, and after thinking for a moment, sat down next to him and asked, "Uncle Sun, do you know what the current market price of silver dollars is?"