Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Hou San said urgently, "Stop talking! My father is behind us! He knows about the tea. Help me up, let's run!"

Li Xiangdong: "..."

He didn't know what to say. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would never have accepted that packet of Tieguanyin tea yesterday no matter what Hou San said!

Why don't you run to the platform?

"Huh~?"

"What do you mean 'ah'? There are too many people on the platform, your dad would definitely be too embarrassed to lay a hand on you!"

Hou San looked annoyed upon hearing this, "I didn't expect that!"

"Forget it, it's too late to say anything now."

Seeing his disheveled appearance, Li Xiangdong asked, "Did your father beat you up and hurt your leg?"

Hou San leaned against Li Xiangdong. "No, I tripped myself. I wasn't paying attention when I was running."

Li Xiangdong asked again, "How did you tell your father about the tea?"

I said I used it to make tea eggs.

Hou San urged, "Brother Dong, can you stop asking? My father is coming soon!"

Awesome!

Li Xiangdong was truly impressed by the simple-minded Hou San.

Any excuse is better than saying you're making tea eggs!

This is just plain stupid!

However, Hou San was loyal enough not to betray him. In order to live up to this friendship, he could only speed up his pace!

"You two, stop!"

Hou Jianshe's furious shouts came from behind.

Li Xiangdong instinctively stood still, then turned around and saw Hou Jianshe with an angry expression, holding a familiar tin tea box as he walked towards them.

He whispered to Hou San, "Hou San, run to the office quickly, I'll stop your father."

"Brother Dong, we're counting on you."

Before Hou San could finish speaking, he limped into the office.

Li Xiangdong followed Hou San inside, then closed the door and stood in the doorway.

Hou Jianshe strode up to Li Xiangdong and said, "Dongzi, get out of my way!"

Li Xiangdong stood still and said, "Uncle Hou, getting angry is bad for your health. Can't we talk things out calmly?"

The noise in the corridor attracted the curiosity of the people in the offices on both sides.

They all opened the door and peeked out.

"What are you looking at! What's so interesting!?"

Hou Jianshe's gaze swept over, and the curious crowd quickly pulled their heads back.

The head of the labor and personnel department of the passenger transport section is not someone to be trifled with!

Hou Jianshe turned his gaze back to Li Xiangdong, "Let me tell you, Dongzi, I can't calm down right now, and I can't stay calm. You better get out of my way!"

Li Xiangdong wiped the spittle that Hou Jianshe had sprayed on his face, and suddenly his face turned ferocious. He grabbed Hou Jianshe's arm and said, "Uncle Hou, hurry, go to the infirmary and call the doctor. My appendicitis has flared up."

Hou Jianshe shook off his hand, "Dongzi, don't try that on me. When your Uncle Hou was out in the game, you were still breastfeeding at home!"

Li Xiangdong chuckled dryly, feeling utterly awkward...

He pulled out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket. "Uncle Hou, why don't you have a smoke to calm down?"

While he was taking out a cigarette, Hou Jianshe shoved him into the office.

Hou Jianshe's eyes, blazing with anger, swept around the office before spotting Hou San hiding under the desk. He said furiously, "Why don't you run away? Why aren't you running anymore?!"

Wang Dahai stood up and advised, "Old Hou, what are you doing? Can't you talk things out?"

Hou Jianshe said, "Dahai, don't worry about it. I'm disciplining my child."

Hearing Hou Jianshe's words, Wang Dahai could only sit back down in his chair.

Hou Jianshe walked over and slammed his hand on the table twice. "You get out here right now!"

Hou San was like a mouse seeing a cat, his legs twitching, and he stammered, "Dad, I have to go with the car later, can we talk about it when we get back?"

Hou Jianshe roared, "Third brother! You..."

"Ugh!"

Li Xiangdong hurriedly responded, then jokingly asked, "Uncle Hou, why did you call me?"

Hou Jianshe turned to look at Li Xiangdong, "I called Hou San, why did you respond?!"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "You weren't calling me. I thought you were calling me. Sorry, Uncle Hou, it's just a habit of mine. I'm the third child in my family."

Hou Jianshe looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Oh~ you're the third brother too. Let me ask you, did you eat the tea eggs from yesterday?"

Li Xiangdong feigned ignorance and asked, "What tea eggs? Are tea eggs sold now?"

Hou Jianshe said, word by word, "I'm talking about the tea eggs that Hou San cooked. Did you eat them or not?"

"I did not eat."

Li Xiangdong quickly shook his head. Hou Jianshe was clearly still angry; he didn't want to drag him into this.

"It's good that you're not involved in this."

Hou Jianshe had no suspicions.

Liu Erdan happened to walk in at that moment. "What's going on? Dad, what brings you here?"

Hou Jianshe placed the tea canister he was holding on the table. "Open it and see for yourself."

Upon hearing this, Liu Erdan opened it and exclaimed, "This..."

He now understood what had happened. His brother-in-law had pulled off a clever switcheroo, managing to trick him completely.

"Old Hou, isn't this the Tieguanyin tea I gave you? What's wrong?"

Wang Dahai reached out and took the tea canister in front of him. He looked inside and chuckled, "Alright, Lao Hou, don't be angry. I still have some pre-Qingming Longjing tea that I got back some time ago."

As he spoke, he got up and walked towards the lockers.

Hou Jianshe sighed, his voice tinged with helplessness and resentment, "Dahai, that's not what I meant. It's all because of that bastard Hou San. He managed to find the Tieguanyin tea I hid."

"I wouldn't have said anything if you had just taken some out to drink, but he actually used it all to make tea eggs and ruined it! I usually wouldn't even drink it myself, and now it's all gone."

The office was completely silent...

Wang Dahai's hand, which was unlocking the door, paused for a moment.

Liu Erdan advised, "Dad, don't be angry. If you want to drink Tieguanyin tea, I'll get you some."

"Let's put everything else aside for now; I need to vent my anger first."

When Hou Jianshe saw the Longjing tea that Wang Dahai had taken out and heard what his son-in-law had said, he was no longer as angry as before, but there was still a fire in his heart that he hadn't vented.

He urged again, "Third brother, get out from under the table right now."

Liu Erdan noticed his father-in-law's change and kicked Hou San, who was hiding under the table, saying, "Come out, stop hiding."

Hou San crawled out from under the desk, trembling, and stood in front of his father, saying shamefully, "Dad, I was wrong. I will never touch your tea leaves again."

Hou Jianshe completely ignored him, saying, "You better hand over my meal ticket first!"

"What meal ticket?"

Hou Jianshe remained silent. Hou San, feeling uneasy under his father's intense gaze, chuckled and pulled a stack of meal tickets from his pocket, then handed them to Hou Jianshe.

After stuffing the meal ticket into his pocket, Hou Jianshe said, "Turn around and stand properly."

"Oh."

Hou San had been beaten a lot before, so he knew what was going to happen next. He smoothly turned his back to his father.

"You bastard!"

As Hou Jianshe spoke, he kicked Hou San in the butt.

That kick was powerful and heavy, full of a father's love.