Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Back then, my dad said something wrong at school and got beaten up by his students. He injured his leg that day, and because he didn't get treatment in time, plus the humid climate in the southwest, I don't know how he ended up with this problem. You can't tell usually, but today my dad isn't feeling well, so he's walking unsteadily. Just you wait and see, it's definitely going to rain in the next couple of days."

When A Zhe said these words, his tone was extremely calm.

Li Xiangdong asked, "Didn't you go to the hospital to get checked out?"

"My son and I just got back and haven't had a chance to go to the hospital for a check-up yet."

Ah Zhe smiled and said, "Anyway, my dad's injured leg is more accurate than the radio these days."

Zhang Sen suddenly stood up, slammed his fist on the table, and said angrily, "Damn it! You can still laugh? Who beat your dad up like this? Let's go find him, I'll beat him to a pulp!"

"Keep your voice down, don't let my dad hear you."

Ah Zhe went to close the door, but Qian Bin ran in at that moment. He walked to the table, grabbed a cup without asking whose it was, and chugged it down in one go. "What were you guys arguing about? Ah Zhe, do you have any chili peppers at home? I'm planning to stir-fry some pig intestines."

"Yes, I'll go get it for you. My dad and I have been living in the Southwest for the past few years, and our tastes have changed. Now we have everything but chili peppers at home."

Qian Bin stopped A Zhe, who was about to leave the house, and said, "Is it in the kitchen? I can get it myself. A Zhe, you and Dongzi can continue chatting."

After Qian Bin left, A Zhe went over and closed the door. He sat back down at the table, smoking a cigarette, and continued, "I appreciate your kindness, brothers, but the matter is over. The people who beat my dad have already come to apologize. Let's leave it at that."

He changed the subject, "I know Binzi, he works in the restaurant kitchen with his dad. What have you guys been doing since you came back from the countryside? Have you been assigned jobs?"

Xiang Lin touched his head, which looked like it belonged to a labor camp. "Didn't I just tell you? I've been assigned to be an apprentice at a barbershop."

Zhang Sen looked embarrassed. "I was assigned by the neighborhood committee to drive a tricycle, and I've been doing it for a while now."

"I will report to the passenger transport section under the Beijing Railway Bureau tomorrow."

Li Xiangdong didn't want to say it, as it would seem like he was showing off, but since everyone else had, it wouldn't be good for him not to.

"Damn it! Dongzi, weren't you supposed to be assigned by the neighborhood committee to pop popcorn?"

"Yes, Dongzi, I heard about it too. Why are you working for the railway system again?"

When Xiang Lin and Zhang Sen heard Li Xiangdong say he would be reporting to the railway system tomorrow, they couldn't deny being envious, but they weren't malicious; they were simply curious.

"We're going to share a place!"

A Zhe looked surprised. He had also been assigned to the passenger transport section of the Beijing Railway Bureau by the street office, but he had no intention of going.

Xiang Lin seized the opportunity, "What do you mean 'also'? A-Zhe, you weren't assigned to the railway system too, were you?"

Seeing Ah Zhe nod, Zhang Sen deliberately joked, "This is just too unfair! I also want to work in the railway system. I pedal a tricycle every day, and my legs are so swollen from all that pedaling!"

Xiang Lin laughed loudly, "Forget it, if anyone's going, it'll be the three of us. With those long legs of yours, it would be a waste if you didn't ride a tricycle."

"Get lost! Who said long legs mean you have to drive a tricycle? You're just jealous that I'm taller than you. It's your fault for not eating better when you were growing. Now I have to look down when I talk to you."

Zhang Sen shouted for Xiang Lin to stand up and compare their heights.

Seeing that the two were about to argue, A Zhe laughed and said, "You two stop arguing. To be honest, I don't plan to do this job that the neighborhood office arranged for me. How about I go to the neighborhood office and talk to them about transferring my job to you two? I just don't know if the neighborhood office will agree."

Xiang Lin said urgently, "A Zhe, we were just joking around. I didn't mean to steal your job. Would I be human if I did that?"

"Yeah, buddy, I'm not the kind of person you think I am!"

Zhang Sen echoed this sentiment, saying he was just joking and had never actually thought of it that way.

"Ah Zhe, don't just do whatever you want. The neighborhood committee isn't your private business. Do you think you can call the shots?"

Li Xiangdong asked knowingly, "Besides, if you're not going to do the work assigned by the neighborhood committee, what are you planning to do?"

A Zhe hesitated for a moment and said, "There have been many families that have had problems over the years, but most of them came back last year. Why is it that my family has only returned to the city now? It's because my mother and my maternal grandfather's family said that we have overseas connections. My father still hasn't arranged a job for us. My father and I are planning to go abroad to stay with my mother in a while."

Xiang Lin and Zhang Sen were quite surprised to hear the news, but Li Xiangdong was not surprised at all.

In his previous life, Ah Zhe and his father went abroad in this way. Because communication was inconvenient, they didn't keep in touch much. However, Ah Zhe returned once after the millennium, so he roughly knew some of the situation.

After A-Zhe and his father went abroad, they found his mother and maternal grandfather's family through the local Chinese community. However, A-Zhe's mother had already remarried and had several children.

The father and son didn't argue when faced with this situation; they simply rented a place and stayed abroad.

Li Xiangdong knew that because of language and skin color issues, the father and son did not have a comfortable life afterward.

In particular, the father and son sold their family's courtyard house in order to go abroad. After the millennium, when A Zhe returned, he wanted to buy it back, but he was dumbfounded when he heard the price Li Xiangdong quoted!

Even though he knew that Ah Zhe and his father weren't doing well after going abroad, as a friend, he still wanted to offer them some advice.

"Zhe, do you have your mother's and grandfather's addresses abroad?"

Ah Zhe nodded and said, "My father knows. He sent us a letter after my mother passed away."

"It's good that you have an address. Ah Zhe, we've been childhood friends, so I might be a bit blunt with some things. Don't mind me."

Seeing that A Zhe gestured for him to continue, Li Xiangdong continued, "So many years have passed, how can you be sure that your mother hasn't remarried? I think you should write a letter to your mother first and ask her about her recent situation."

A Zhe didn't expect Li Xiangdong to say such a thing, but he knew that Li Xiangdong meant well. They were all adults, and some things were easy to understand once they thought about them.

"Dongzi, thank you. I will discuss it with my father again."

"What's there to discuss? Ah Zhe, can you speak a foreign language? Don't get lost again when you go out."

"Xiao Linzi is right. If you go abroad, we brothers will never see each other again. You'll be so lonely abroad."

Xiang Lin and Zhang Sen each offered a suggestion, urging A Zhe not to go abroad.

"I'll say it again: you and your father should think this through carefully."

Li Xiangdong still remembers the big, fat, dark-skinned man who accompanied A Zhe when he returned to China in his previous life.

When Ah Zhe introduced him as his son, he was completely stunned!