Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

A Zhe's father stood aside, took the Daqianmen cigarettes that Li Xiangdong handed him, lit one, and took a puff. He looked at the younger generation gathered together and felt a good sense of joy in their lively atmosphere.

He hadn't felt this relaxed and carefree in a long time, and a smile slowly appeared on his face. "Dongzi, are you going to use a pig's tail to cure your daughter's drooling? You can't cut it; you should let the child hold it whole."

Li Xiangdong nodded and replied, "That's right, my daughter drools the moment she opens her mouth."

Xiang Lin said arrogantly, "Dongzi doesn't watch his mouth. Do you think you're watering the fields in the countryside? You're drooling all the time."

Ah Zhe's father said happily, "Dongzi's daughter is a lucky one."

Li Xiangdong wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "Uncle is right. With me, her father, around, my daughter will have endless blessings to enjoy in the future."

"Hey, Binzi, how's your knife skills? Can you clean the bones out of a pig's tail?"

The meat was cut up, and the pig's head meat and offal were mixed together. Each of them had a large bowl of soup with it.

Li Xiangdong didn't use a bowl. He asked A Zhe for two empty wine bottles, poured the wine from the tea mug into the bottles, and washed them thoroughly with water. He put meat in one bottle and a pig's tail in the other for his daughter.

He had originally wanted his buddies to help him carry the stool back, but seeing how eager they were to get home, he didn't say anything in the end. He decided to talk about it when he got home after drinking that night.

It was right during rush hour, and the alley was bustling with people. Li Xiangdong walked with his head down, avoiding people, and hurried home.

These days, life is tough for everyone. If the aunties and grandmas in the alley find out that there's meat in his teacup, the whole alley will be talking about it the next day!

Li Xiangdong, having overcome numerous obstacles, returned to his own doorstep only to find it closed. He bent over and forced the door open.

He wouldn't dare kick him; his mother would scold him for a whole year if she found out!

"Daughter-in-law! Wife-in-law!"

"what happened?"

Zhou Yuqin handed her daughter to Li's mother and quickly came out of the house.

"What did I shout? I was calling you, what's wrong?"

"I'm coming back to bring you some good things."

Li Xiangdong held the teacup to her nose and let her smell it. "Does it smell good?"

Zhou Yuqin's eyes lit up. "It smells so good! Is there meat in here?"

Li Xiangdong nodded. "It's fresh out of the pot, have a piece to try first."

"Let the children eat, I won't eat."

Zhou Yuqin hadn't eaten meat in a long time, and she was craving it, but with so many children in the family, how could she, an adult, have the nerve to compete with them for food?

"Then we'll eat later. I brought back quite a lot of meat, and I also brought something nice for our daughter."

Seeing that he was being mysterious and wouldn't say what it was, Zhou Yuqin curiously followed him into the main room.

When Li Xiangdong entered the house, he saw his mother holding her daughter and feeding her corn porridge with a spoon.

"Little Qi, look what your father brought you."

As he spoke, he placed the teacup he was holding on the table and lifted the lid.

When Li's mother saw a whole pig's tail soaking in a full teacup of meat soup, she exclaimed in surprise, "Third son, where did you get such a big pig's tail?"

Several children were sitting on small stools by the small dining table, drinking corn porridge from their bowls. When they heard their grandmother mention pig tails, they put down their bowls and ran over.

"Where? Where's the pig's tail?"

"It's delicious!"

"Third Uncle, the pig tail you brought back is really fat!"

The nephews and nieces looked at the pig's tail in the teacup and all wanted to pounce on it and take a bite!

"What's all the noise about? Go back to your seats and eat!"

As soon as Li's mother shouted, the room fell silent, and her nephews and nieces sat back down dejectedly.

"Dad, meat, I want to eat meat."

Li Xiaohai was too short to see the pig's tail in the teacup, but he heard his older brothers and sisters say that the pig's tail was really fat and fragrant, and must be delicious!

He hugged Li Xiangdong's leg, shouting that he wanted to eat meat.

"Wait a minute, there will be food for you, don't rush."

After dealing with his son, Li Xiangdong said to his mother, "These are the snacks we brothers will have with our drinks tonight. I brought them back especially for Xiaoqi to eat, to cure her drooling problem. Don't worry, the bones in the pig's tail have been removed."

As he spoke, he took the pig's tail out of the teacup, touched it to make sure it wasn't too hot, and then put it in his daughter's hand.

When Li Xiaozhu first saw the pig's tail, she stared wide-eyed at her father, holding it in both hands, unsure of what to do.

Li's mother put the tip of the tail into her mouth, and she sucked on it twice, giggling and holding on tightly.

Li Xiaohai tilted his head back and finally saw the big pig tail his sister was holding. His mouth watered. "Sister can't finish it, Dad, sister can't finish it!"

"Let your sister eat first, and we'll talk about it later if she can't finish it, okay?"

Li Xiangdong gently shook his leg, but couldn't shake his son off. "Aren't you hot? Stop hugging me!"

Zhou Yuqin walked over, squatted down, picked up her son and put him back at the small dining table, placing him on a stool. "You can have whatever your sister doesn't finish, but now you eat your food properly, understand?"

Li Xiaohai said happily, "I understand, Mother."

Li Xiaotao, who was standing to the side, watched his younger sister Xiaoqi eating meat in her grandmother's lap. He was so tempted that he couldn't even drink his corn porridge. His eyes were fixed on the teacup with the pig's tail. He said, "Third Uncle, my sister is eating pig's tail. Can I have a couple of sips of the broth?"

"Yeah, Uncle, can we have some meat soup?"

"Uncle, there's so much meat soup, let each of us have a sip!"

Knowing they wouldn't get any pig tails, the nephews and nieces turned around and asked for some broth.

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "You can have the meat soup, but once you drink the meat soup, you can't ask for anything else."

Everyone in the room knew he was just teasing the children; he brought back two teacups, so it was impossible that he only had one pig's tail.

They just felt it was strange; Li Xiangdong had never brought food home before, so what was going on today?

Everyone looked puzzled when they saw the two teacups he brought back.

Is it because they have a job that their third child has become more mature and sensible?