Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

The next day.

Four o'clock in the morning.

Li Xiangdong and his two companions rode in Zheng Shu's donkey cart for more than two hours before finally seeing Wang Erkui standing at their doorstep.

"Dong-ge, Hou-san, A-Zhe, you've finally arrived!"

Once the donkey cart had come to a stop, Wang Erkui helped carry things into the yard.

"Come on in. Didn't we agree last time that you'd come over to my wedding? My wife and mother have already prepared the meal and are just waiting for you."

Wang Erkui lifted the curtain to let Li Xiangdong and the other two into the house, while he turned around to pull Uncle Zheng, who was still drinking water at the door, out of the courtyard.

"Uncle Wang, Aunt Wang."

After Li Xiangdong and his two companions entered the room and greeted everyone, they placed the things they had brought on the kang (a heated brick bed). They couldn't leave them on the kang, as the table in the room was unstable and they were worried about breaking the thermos.

"You brought so much stuff from all this way, it must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Wang Erkui's parents were overjoyed when they saw the gifts they brought.

"Things in big cities are just so much better; our county's supply and marketing cooperative doesn't have anything this nice."

Aunt Wang held the thermos bottle, looking at it and praising it, a wide smile playing on her lips.

Uncle Wang's eyes never left the Daqianmen store and the two bottles of Xifeng liquor.

After exchanging a few polite words, Uncle Wang instructed Aunt Wang, "Honey, go and bring over the hot dishes from the stove."

"I'll go right away."

Aunt Wang put down the basin in her hand and greeted them with a smile, "You three, quickly take off your shoes and get on the kang (heated brick bed). Don't rush to collect the crickets, have something to eat first."

Aunt Wang had just left the house when Uncle Zheng was dragged in by Wang Erkui.

After another round of polite exchanges, the six grown men sat down around a small dining table on the kang (a heated brick bed). Although it was a bit cramped, everyone was in a good mood and no one minded.

Soon, Aunt Wang brought the food into the house, followed by a short-haired woman in her early twenties, who should be Wang Erkui's new wife. Judging from her appearance alone, she was more than a match for Wang Erkui.

Ever since Wang Erkui's new wife entered the house, Hou San has been craning his neck to look at her feet.

After Li Xiangdong noticed, he quietly nudged him with his elbow. These days, you can't just look at a woman's feet as you please.

If someone with a bad temper finds that Hou San dares to openly look at their wife's feet, they will definitely beat Hou San up!

When Hou San saw Li Xiangdong staring intently at him, he smiled, winked, and then gave Wang Erkui a thumbs up.

Wang Erkui understood Hou San's meaning. He didn't say anything, but just blushed and scratched his head.

Six dishes, including both meat and vegetables, are considered a high-standard meal by today's standards of living in rural areas!

Aunt Wang and Wang Erkui's wife did not sit at the table. Li Xiangdong and the other two knew that in some places women did not sit at the table when eating, so they did not say anything about it.

"Try my homemade sorghum liquor. If you don't like it, we'll drink this instead."

As Uncle Wang spoke, he picked up the Xifeng liquor that Hou San had given him.

Li Xiangdong took a sip of the sorghum liquor in front of him. "Uncle Wang, your homemade sorghum liquor is really good. You should keep those two bottles of Xifeng liquor for yourself."

When Uncle Wang heard Li Xiangdong praise the taste of his homemade wine, he smiled and said, "If you don't mind, then I'll keep these two bottles for my grandson's wedding."

There was still important business to attend to, so Li Xiangdong and A Zhe each only drank one cup, while Hou San was only allowed to take a sip as a token gesture.

Uncle Zheng drank a bit more, but he wasn't drunk, so it wouldn't delay him from driving the donkey cart when they went back.

After exchanging a few words of congratulations with Wang Erkui, everyone began to eat in silence. Even Li Xiangdong, who usually ate slowly and deliberately, ate much faster.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, they opened for business and began collecting crickets.

After a busy period, Li Xiangdong and his two companions were about to set off back home.

Wang Erkui said to Li Xiangdong and the other two who were already on the donkey cart, "Brother Dong, don't go yet."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and ran back into the courtyard. A short while later, he came out with Uncle Wang.

Each of them held two gourds in their hands, and a red knot was tied on the gourds for easy carrying.

"Brother Dong, we don't have anything good to offer you. The gourd contains our homemade sorghum liquor. Please don't find it offensive."

"Er Kui, don't say that. Uncle Wang's sorghum wine is a good thing."

Li Xiangdong did not refuse this kind offer, and A Zhe and Hou San were even less likely to refuse. Putting aside the quality of the wine, they were extremely fond of the wine gourd itself.

Uncle Zheng also received a share, but after he declined a few times, Wang Erkui simply hung it on the donkey cart for him.

After saying goodbye to Wang Erkui and his son, the donkey cart swayed and set off.

Li Xiangdong took the military water bottle handed to him by A Zhe and drank two sips of water.

He leaned against the donkey cart frame and turned to look at Uncle Zheng, who was focused on driving the cart.

"Uncle Zheng, you must have known all along that we're dealing in crickets, so why don't you think about catching a few and selling them to us?"

Uncle Zheng smiled and turned around to explain, "It's not that I don't want to catch them, it's just that good crickets are hard to catch, and if I catch the average ones, I'm afraid it will ruin other people's business."

Upon hearing his explanation, Li Xiangdong thought to himself, "What an honest man!"

He said with a smile, "It's alright. When you get back, you can catch some when you have time. I can't promise you a lot, but I can make you a few dollars each time."

"Okay, thank you then. Don't worry, I won't try to fool you with crickets that don't look good."

When Uncle Zheng heard Li Xiangdong's words, his hands trembled with excitement. To say that he wasn't envious before would be a lie to himself.

But he had been honest and upright his whole life, and if Li Xiangdong hadn't taken the initiative to bring it up, he wouldn't have been able to say these things.

As the donkey cart left the town, Li Xiangdong glanced at Hou San, who was still fiddling with the wine gourd.

He shifted his body and leaned closer to Hou San, asking, "When you were at Wang Er Kui's house, why were you staring at his wife's feet the whole time?"

Ah Zhe was also very curious and listened intently.

Hou San opened the lid of the wine gourd, smelled it, and said with a look of intoxication, "I wanted to see if Wang Erkui had listened to me and gone to buy his wife some leather shoes."

Upon hearing his explanation, Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "So it was you who gave Wang Erkui this advice."

He was right. These days, some new brides in the city can't even afford to wear leather shoes, but Wang Erkui's wife is wearing a pair. He figured Hou San must have told him that secretly when he pulled Wang Erkui aside last time.

Ah Zhe slapped his thigh and laughed, "Hou San, it's clearly Wang Er Kui who's getting married, but I think you're even more enthusiastic than him."

Hou San said smugly, "You don't understand, do you? If you love your wife, you should buy her little leather shoes."

When Li Xiangdong heard Hou San's words, he pondered them for a moment and thought to himself, "They make a lot of sense."

This is similar to the idea of ​​buying handbags for one's wife in later generations!