Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong mentioned Hou Quan repeatedly, his voice both clear and loud.

He earned his nickname "Li the Loudmouth" and "Loudmouth Dong" with his genuinely loud voice!

After dealing with the passengers who brought them the tin kettles, he pulled a bewildered Hou San back to the rest area.

Hou San sat on the bed, puzzled, and asked, "Brother Dong, what's wrong with you today? Why do you keep calling me by my full name?"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "Isn't it better to call you by your name? How can people write you a letter of commendation if they don't know your name?"

Upon hearing this reason, Hou San was excited but then became conflicted.

"Brother Dong, it was clearly the two of us who did the work. It wouldn't be fair to you if I took the commendation letter by myself."

Li Xiangdong lay on his bed, explaining with a smug look, "Don't worry, if those passengers really write us letters of commendation, I'll definitely be included."

"That's good."

Hou San's excitement completely overwhelmed his fatigue. He glanced at Li Xiangdong, who was resting with his eyes closed, and sat on his bed, chuckling to himself.

Li Xiangdong squinted and secretly glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Hou San was told by those around him since childhood that he had "burned his brain," but he was actually a person who desperately lacked recognition.

Li Xiangdong deliberately mentioned Hou San's name repeatedly, actually hoping, from a friend's perspective, that the upcoming letter of commendation would soothe his wounded heart.

The moving train carries all walks of life, good and bad, some helping each other in times of trouble, others taking advantage of others' misfortunes, and some bullying honest people.

After passing Dezhou Station, Li Xiangdong, who was carrying a tin kettle to pour hot water for passengers, had just passed through the connecting area between two carriages when he suddenly noticed that the carriage in front of him was very quiet.

Quietly strange!

He gestured to Hou San behind him to be quiet, and then the two of them tiptoed to the carriage door.

He peeked into the carriage and saw a burly man inside, followed by two shady-looking young men.

The burly man held a dagger in one hand and an oil paper package in the other.

"Does this braised chicken smell delicious?"

The burly man stood in front of a passenger, gesturing with the dagger in his hand.

The threatened passenger swallowed hard. "Delicious!"

The burly man nodded. "As long as it smells good, that's fine. I can see you've had a tough time, so how about this, I'll do you a favor and sell it to you at a low price."

The passenger asked cautiously, "Sir, how much...how much do you want?"

The burly man patted the passenger on the shoulder. "Ten yuan! Not much, right?"

The passenger muttered under his breath, "Isn't this robbery?"

The burly man laughed loudly, "How the hell are you so right! You're only just realizing it? Hurry up and hand over your money!"

The only tool the burly man used to extort money was probably the roast chicken in his hand.

After getting the ten yuan, he didn't give the roast chicken to the passenger who paid, but instead went to the next passenger to continue extorting money.

He even specifically sought out passengers whose clothes had no patches, and of course, those dressed as cadres were his first choice.

Li Xiangdong whispered in Hou San's ear, "I'll stay here and watch over things. Go and call the train police."

Hou San nodded, turned around, and crouched down as he ran towards the carriage where the train police were resting.

Soon Hou San arrived with three train police officers. In front of Li Xiangdong, the three officers cocked their guns and rushed in while shouting "Don't move!"

There was a flurry of excitement.

Li Xiangdong watched as three men, already handcuffed, walked past him in a line under the guns of the railway police.

He felt something was really wrong!

It shouldn't be that someone escaped capture and ran up to him, and in the end, he subdued this escaped criminal in just a few moves.

Or perhaps he was holding his injured arm, stepping on the unconscious bandit he had knocked out, and then accepting everyone's praise?

Why is this not what he expected?

The credit for the pay raise slipped right through his fingers...

The only thing that made Li Xiangdong feel relieved was that the three train police officers smiled and nodded at him.

Ugh, what a perfunctory response!

Hou San waved his hand in front of Li Xiangdong, "Brother Dong, what's wrong?"

Li Xiangdong sighed and said, "Hou San, if I hadn't asked you to call the train police, and the two of us had gone up and subdued them, wouldn't we have gained both fame and fortune?"

Upon hearing this, Hou San rubbed his nose. "Brother Dong, there are three of them."

"Two against three is not a big deal, the advantage is still on our side."

“But, Brother Dong, not only do they have daggers, but they are also all strong and burly. Most importantly, they are ruthless and willing to risk their lives.”

"Cough cough~"

"Dong-ge, I think we can easily handle pouring water for the passengers, but let's forget about subduing the thugs."

"Shut up, shut up now!"

Li Xiangdong, who missed a great opportunity, felt as if he had lost a fortune, until the train stopped at its destination.

The train conductor's office carriage.

Gao Xinmin looked at Li Xiangdong and Hou San standing in front of him and said with a smile, "You two did a good job. Thanks to your timely reporting, the passengers did not suffer any losses in this emergency. I will report this matter to you when we return to Beijing."

"Thank you, Uncle Gao!"

One stroke of good fortune after another came crashing down on him, and Hou San was so excited he almost fainted.

"It's what we should do, thank you for your trouble, Uncle Gao."

Li Xiangdong was also happy. Things had taken a turn for the better. Even the smallest contribution was still a contribution, and he didn't mind.

Gao Xinmin chuckled and made the two happy for a while before continuing, "Let me tell you something else that makes you happy. When you came back this time, I left the crickets you were messing around with here."

Upon hearing this news, Li Xiangdong and Hou San once again flattered Gao Xinmin.

Wang Chenghao and his gang stopped dealing in crickets for the time being, and everything returned to normal.

The three chatted for a while, and when they got off the car, the other colleagues had already gone to the guesthouse. Only A-Zhe was squatting on the platform, smoking and waiting for them.

The four of them arrived at the guesthouse chatting and laughing, with Gao Xinmin carrying two thermos flasks and two enamel basins for them.

Gao Xinmin was the train conductor. He occupied a room by himself. After putting his things in the room of Li Xiangdong and the other two, he turned around and left to go back to rest.

Hou San looked at the things that A Zhe had bought for Wang Er Kui and said, "They look pretty good."

Ah Zhe nodded and said, "Of course, I bought the best."

As he spoke, he took out two pounds of assorted candy from his satchel, saying, "I bought this separately, so include it in the price."

"Did you buy candy?"

Hou San also took out two bottles of Xifeng liquor from his satchel. "Look at the liquor I brought. This is good liquor. Wang Erkui has never tasted it before!"

"Hou San, you're amazing, I'm impressed!"

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he took out a large pack of Qianmen cigarettes that he had prepared.

Hou San chuckled and said, "It seems the three of us have the same idea."

Li Xiangdong smiled in response.

Their ability to make a steady income is largely thanks to Wang Erkui, their supplier. Now that he's married, the three of them will naturally be more attentive.