Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

After Li Xiangdong returned to the room, he didn't turn on the light. He had just sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the dark when Zhou Yuqin behind him murmured, "What did Father say to you?"

"Father said we're going to split up the family tomorrow."

"Separate?"

Zhou Yuqin's drowsiness vanished instantly. She got up and sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to separate the family?"

Li Xiangdong briefly recounted the conversation, and Zhou Yuqin was no longer sleepy!

Although my older brother and sister-in-law are easy to get along with, all the able-bodied men in the family have jobs and earn a good income, and Old Man Li even has a retirement pension.

In this situation, if Li Xiangdong continues to contribute to his family's income, with one of the younger generation supporting the entire family's well-being, what would happen if word got out...

Zhou Yuqin guessed that this was one of the reasons why her grandparents wanted to separate the family property, and she spoke a few words to Li Xiangdong.

Li Xiangdong was greatly surprised after hearing this. "I hadn't thought of any of this."

Zhou Yuqin rolled her eyes. "What was your reputation before? Of course you wouldn't think about these things."

"Fine, fine, I'll be shameless, okay?"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "After the family splits up, you can be in charge of your own affairs. Aren't you overjoyed?"

"Screw you."

Zhou Yuqin nudged him. "Are we going to have to fight separately from now on?"

"What do you think? Since we're planning to split up, we should all cook for ourselves. If we're still eating and drinking together, what's the point of splitting up?"

"You have a point."

Zhou Yuqin reached for the flashlight on the kang (a heated brick bed), got up, stepped over Li Xiangdong, and got off the kang.

"What are you going to do?"

"Take the money box."

Zhou Yuqin rummaged through the wardrobe and took out a small wooden box containing money. She walked to the head of the kang (a heated brick bed) and pulled up Li Xiangdong, who was lying down.

"Don't sleep yet. There's nothing in the small kitchen by the door. Let's figure out what we need to buy."

Li Xiangdong reluctantly got up and sat cross-legged. "Can't we wait until tomorrow to do this?"

"You've made me feel wide awake, you should go to sleep later too."

"Alright, from now on you're in charge, you'll make the decisions."

The young couple verbally met, turned on their flashlights, and began searching for the necessary receipts.

How much money is there in total?

Li Xiangdong only knew the general outline; he didn't know the specific numbers.

"One thousand five hundred and thirty-three yuan."

Zhou Yuqin blurted it out without thinking. She counted it every few days, and she knew very well what was in the small wooden box.

She knew what she needed to buy for the small kitchen and quickly found the necessary receipts.

She pointed to a thick stack of national grain coupons in the small wooden box, "I haven't even asked you yet, why are you exchanging so many national grain coupons?"

Li Xiangdong explained, "Didn't I tell you before that after we stop dealing with crickets for a while, we plan to collect silver dollars? These grain coupons are for collecting silver dollars."

"Why not just use money directly?"

"Better safe than sorry. Let me put it this way: if you had a silver dollar that could be sold for 10 yuan, would you rather have the money or the national food stamps?"

"Of course it's the whole country... Oh, I see."

"You just understand."

Zhou Yuqin nodded, then asked, "Were these industrial vouchers also prepared in advance?"

"That's right, you're so smart. It's getting late, let's go to sleep."

After carefully putting the small wooden box back in the wardrobe, Li Xiangdong lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed) and pulled Zhou Yuqin into his arms.

"Shall we do that?"

...

...

Although he had been up all night, Li Xiangdong had something on his mind, so he got up from the kang (a heated brick bed) as soon as it was light.

He took a toothbrush and a teacup, dipped them in some tooth powder, and squatted down at the doorway to brush his teeth.

Brother Li yawned as he came out of the east wing, walked to the pool and washed his face. He looked at Li Xiangdong, who looked tired, and asked, "Didn't you sleep well last night? Did your daughter wet the bed again?"

"Ah."

Li Xiangdong rinsed his mouth. "That's right, I peed on the bed again. I'll have to wash the sheets later."

Li Erge, who was squatting at the door of his house, spat out the toothpaste powder in his mouth and said with a smile, "Don't let the child drink too much water at night, and remember to get up again in the middle of the night to help him pee, so that your sister-in-law won't always have to wash the sheets."

“It’s no use talking to her. She cries for milk powder every night, and my husband and I are completely helpless.”

Li Xiangdong directly pinned the blame on his daughter. Zhou Yuqin had also suggested that their daughter could drink formula in the morning, but he refused.

Washing bed sheets is easy, but finding an excuse is not!

‘Pa~’

After entering the house, Li Xiangdong slapped Zhou Yuqin, who was still sleeping, and said, "Mother and sisters-in-law are already up. You should get up too. If you want to sleep in, you can do so after we separate the family."

Zhou Yuqin rubbed her bottom and glared at him. "Isn't it your fault that I can't get up?"

"It's my fault, I was wrong. You go wash up quickly, I'll wash the children's faces and dress them."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuqin got up, tidied herself up, and went to help Li's mother and the others make breakfast. Li Xiangdong looked at his son and daughter rolling around on the bed and became worried.

"Xiaohai, can't you dress yourself?"

"I can!"

"Then you'd better hurry, your brothers are already playing in the yard."

Li Xiaohai was tricked into putting on clothes, and Li Xiangdong wiped his face. He then happily ran out of the house to play with his brothers.

"Come here quickly, Daddy will help you get dressed. Let's go find your sister to play."

Li Xiangdong beckoned to Li Xiaozhu, who was hiding inside the kang (a heated brick bed) and didn't want to get dressed.

"Sister...play..."

"Come over here if you want to play."

When Li Xiangdong saw his daughter crawl over, he bent down, picked her up, and began to dress her.

"Play..."

Li Xiaozhu twisted and turned, refusing to put on clothes, and struggled to get off him.

Li Xiangdong threatened her, "You're not listening, are you? I'll go call the doctor to give you a shot."

"Do not..."

Upon hearing about the injection, Li Xiaozhu stopped fussing and obediently cooperated in getting dressed. She reached out and touched her head, "Uncle..."

"Dad doesn't know how to braid hair, shall we go find my sister instead?"

"Mmm... Sister..."

Li Xiangdong held his daughter and had his niece braid her hair before taking her to the yard to learn to walk.

"Dad has let go, so you must stand firm."

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he released his grip on her hand, then took a step back, squatted down in front of her, and clapped his hands to urge her to come over.

"Father...Father..."

Li Xiaozhu stood shakily, her hands outstretched as if in surrender, her buttocks sticking out, too afraid to move.

"Come over here quickly."

"Daddy...hug me..."

“Come over here and Daddy will hug you.”

Li Xiaozhu tentatively took a step forward, but lost her balance and swayed to the left. Startled, she used all her strength and wobbled to the right.

She looked like she took two steps, but actually didn't move at all. She almost fell to the ground, but Li Xiangdong caught her in his arms in the end.

Seeing his daughter about to cry, Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "Isn't it really fun? We won't let your brother play with it, Dad will only play with you, okay?"

"Hmm... play..."

When Li Xiaozhu heard that her father was only playing with her, she forgot about being frightened earlier and clapped her hands, insisting on playing again.