Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Xiao Linzi, do you even know how to knock? Can't you change this bad habit that's been going on for so many years?"

Li Xiangdong walked over, pulled Xiang Lin behind him, grabbed the brass ring on the gate, and knocked twice, neither too hard nor too softly. After hearing no response from inside the courtyard, he knocked three more times.

"Coming, coming, who is it?"

The hurried voice carried a hint of probing as the door slowly opened.

A gaunt young man first peeked out from the side, then yanked the door open and yelled, "Xiang Lin, you son of a bitch, I know without you even having to guess who it was that banged on the door!"

The skinny young man was A Zhe, a childhood friend of Li Xiangdong and his friends; his real name was Shi Zhengzhe.

After finishing his rant, A Zhe went up and bumped fists with Li Xiangdong and the others one by one.

When it was Xiang Lin's turn, A Zhe punched him directly in the chest.

Xiang Lin rubbed his chest. "Is it really necessary? I just knocked on the door and you're making such a big reaction."

Ah Zhe chuckled dryly, unsure how to answer, and instead asked, "Little Lin, why did you shave your head like you were in a labor camp? Did you just get out of there?"

Xiang Lin retorted, "Stop talking nonsense, you rascal. I'm learning hairdressing from a master barber right now."

"How many times have I told you not to call me wrinkled!"

"Forget it, 'Zhezi' sounds much better, it doesn't sound right when I call him A Zhe."

"Even if it doesn't sound right, you have to call me that. That's what my mother has called me since I was a child."

Ah Zhe's eyes reddened as he spoke, "I really didn't expect you guys would still remember to come see me. Thank you, brothers."

Li Xiangdong stepped forward, hooked his arm around his shoulder, and felt the dry skin on his hand, indicating that he had suffered a lot over the years.

"Dexing, we not only came to see you, but we also brought you some nice things. Is your uncle not home?"

When A Zhe heard Li Xiangdong ask about his father, he glared at Xiang Lin and said somewhat embarrassedly, "My father is inside. It's all Xiang Lin's fault. He banged on the door and scared my father half to death. Xiao Lin, can you at least know some manners next time you come to someone's house?"

Xiang Lin clasped his hands in a gesture of apology, saying, "Brother, I'll definitely be more careful next time."

"Alright, stop acting strangely. Let me see what good stuff you brought."

Ah Zhe walked to the bucket, looked down at the big, white, plump pig's head, and his mouth almost watered. He quickly swallowed a few times and greeted them with a smile, "Come on in with me, brothers, welcome to my humble abode."

"What are you pretending to be, a cultured person? 'Greetings to my humble abode'? Can you even write those four characters?"

“Dongzi is right. Azhe, don’t be embarrassed to admit it. Although your dad is a university teacher, we’re all the same. When we were in school, the school was closed, and now we’re all semi-literate.”

"Damn it, don't touch me, or you'll spill the wine in your teacup."

"No wonder there was a smell of alcohol in the teacup! It turns out the teacup was filled with alcohol!"

The group chatted and laughed, and the sense of estrangement from parting gradually disappeared. They pushed and shoved each other as they entered the courtyard.

When A-Zhe's father heard them laughing and talking, he came out of the house.

"So it's you guys who came to play with Ah Zhe, right? You guys play, I'm going back to my room to read for a while."

Li Xiangdong and the others only came to their senses after watching A Zhe's father enter the east wing; they almost didn't recognize him!

When A Zhe's father was a university teacher, he was full of vigor and his back was straight. But after A Zhe's mother left, he just became a little dejected.

He was nothing like he is now, with gray hair, a hunched back, and difficulty walking.

He's only in his forties, but he looks like a sixty-year-old man.

"this..."

Li Xiangdong had something to say but didn't know how to say it.

"It's okay, don't worry about my dad, let's hurry up, I'm so hungry."

Ah Zhe livened up the atmosphere, urging everyone to get started.

Li Xiangdong and the others sighed and got to work.

Qian Bin went to the kitchen to take a look, and after coming out, he said, "The pots that A Zhe uses for cooking are a bit small. We can make do with buckets, but his stove is no good. A single-burner stove takes too much time."

Ah Zhe pointed to a pile of junk in the corner, "There are some bricks in there. If we need to, we can build a stove. I'll dismantle it later when we're done."

"That's okay too."

Li Xiangdong put down his teacup and followed them over to start rummaging around. They found the bricks for the stove and some wood for the fire.

Under the guidance of Qian Bin, a professional, the stove was successfully set up.

Li Xiangdong contributed the matches, which ignited two pieces of waste paper to set the wood chips ablaze. After that, the group made their way out of the mess.

Now they could only rely on Qian Bin. Li Xiangdong and the other two followed A Zhe into the main room.

"Wow, this room is quite spacious."

The main room was empty, with hardly any furniture, and even loud voices echoed.

Ah Zhe invited them to the table, pulled out a long bench from under the table, took out a few cups, and poured water from a thermos.

"We're out of tea at home now, so we'll just have to drink plain water."

"It's okay, it doesn't matter what I drink."

Li Xiangdong took out a Daqianmen cigarette and gave one to each person.

After lighting the fire, his eyes swept across the room and he saw a square stool behind the door. He was startled, walked over, picked it up, and looked at it.

It's made of mahogany, and the carved patterns on it are exactly the same as the table in his house!

Damn, could that mahogany table in his house belong to Ah Zhe?

But then he realized the timing didn't add up; when his grandfather found the table in his house, Ah Zhe's family hadn't experienced any trouble yet.

He asked, "Ah Zhe, where did these square stools come from?"

A Zhe glanced at it and said nonchalantly, "The neighborhood office brought it here. The furniture that was confiscated from my house can't be found because it's been too long, and the registration form is also gone. All of these things in the house now were put together from the neighborhood office's warehouse."

Li Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. If it really was A Zhe's stuff, he would be upset if he didn't return it to A Zhe!

Ah Zhe continued, "I had forgotten about this if you hadn't asked. My dad is still a bit paranoid. He said that those are old mahogany furniture pieces, and he's worried that keeping them at home will cause trouble. He told me to find some time to throw them out as soon as possible. But this will save us trouble. We can just take them to the yard and let Qian Bin use them for firewood."

What the hell!

Using old mahogany furniture to cook pig's head is just like his nephew Li Xiaojiang – both are spendthrifts!

This is incredible! He's worried about whether his stomach can digest it.

Li Xiangdong quickly stopped him, saying, "Don't waste it. If you don't want it, I'll take it. I'll take it home tonight."

A Zhe asked curiously, "Dongzi, what do you want it for? Although my dad said these square stools are made of mahogany and are old furniture, he also said that they're not worth much now."

"I know, I just like it, I don't want anything else."

Li Xiangdong knew, of course, that these things were worthless now; otherwise, he would have been too embarrassed to ask for them.

Ah Zhe said nonchalantly, "Take it if you like it. Anyway, my dad doesn't allow these things to be kept at home."

When Li Xiangdong heard A Zhe agree, he held the square stool for a while, admired it, then sat back down at the table, tugged at his arm, and asked in a low voice, "What happened to your father?"