Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

With $1,200 in hand, Uncle Huang and Aunt Huang felt more secure, their faces beaming with joy as they saw Li Xiangdong off at the door.

With the signed agreement tucked into his pocket, Li Xiangdong skipped along excitedly, humming a tune under his breath.

"The joyous drums and gongs herald the celebration year after year... Today is a good day, may all your wishes come true..."

He had only sung half of "Good Days" when Ah Zhe and Hou San, holding soft drinks, appeared in his line of sight.

"Dongzi, is everything done?"

"done."

Li Xiangdong couldn't hide his joy. "Hou San, what do you think of this courtyard?"

Hou San raised his hand and pointed to a courtyard behind him. This courtyard was about fifty meters away from Lao Huang's house.

"I didn't see anything, Dong-ge. Look, the gate is locked."

Li Xiangdong peeked out and saw that there was indeed a rusty iron lock hanging on the gate.

"Hou San, think about whether the location and size of this courtyard suit your taste. Are there any problems with these two points? Buying a house is a big deal, so you have to think everything through."

Hou San took a sip of soda and nodded.

"I've figured it out. The location is good, and the yard is quite big. Once it's finished, it'll just be me and Da Ni living there, which is perfect. I just want to go inside and see what it's like inside."

"Come back tomorrow, and I'll take you to the landlord so they can bring the key and open the door for you to take a good look, okay?"

Hou San was naturally pleased with what A Zhe said.

"Do you still want some soda? Dong-ge's still has some. I bought ten bottles. Come on, let's go, A-Zhe, you can have another one."

A Zhe pushed Hou San away from grabbing his arm. "No need, I can't even finish a bottle. Come over early tomorrow. Dongzi, I'm going back now. I haven't been able to rest well for several days, and I feel a little dizzy."

"Then you should go home and get some sleep."

Li Xiangdong urged A Zhe to go back and rest. He and Hou San couldn't even get a good rest on the train when they weren't on night shifts, let alone A Zhe, whose biological clock would start to get messed up whenever he went out on the train.

The key reason why their work doesn't involve only one day off per week is to allow flight attendants to rest properly when they have a day off. If they only have one day off, it won't be effective in relieving fatigue.

"Let's go, Hou San, come with me to the office."

What are you going to the office for?

"Find your father."

"Looking for my dad?"

"Well, it's getting late, and going to the post office would be too much of a hassle. I'd like to use the phone in your dad's office."

The two walked into Old Li's yard one after the other, talking as they went.

"Daddy~ Sweet water~ Sweet~"

Li Xiaozhu was sitting in the courtyard, happily drinking a bottle of soda. When she saw Li Xiangdong return, she squinted her eyes and began to show off with a grin.

"Here, let me have a taste."

Li Xiangdong walked over and took the soda, it was Beibingyang brand, which he liked.

He tilted his head back and drank it down to less than a fifth of what he had drunk before, then casually handed the soda back to Li Xiaozhu.

"Drink slowly."

Li Xiangdong strolled leisurely toward the west wing, leaving the 'victim' Li Xiaozhu and the onlooker Hou San speechless.

"Your dad is really bad! Am I right?"

Hou San smacked his lips and muttered a complaint. Li Xiaozhu glanced at the empty bottle of soda in her arms and completely agreed with Hou San's words.

"Mmm~ You're naughty~"

"Do you want to drink more? Uncle Hou will get you another bottle."

Li Xiangdong, who hadn't even entered the house yet, stopped and turned around after hearing Hou San's words.

"Hou San, don't give her any more soda. She's still young and shouldn't drink too much."

"Oh, I see. I understand. Don't worry, Dong-ge, I won't give it to her."

Li Xiangdong nodded, went inside, and closed the door.

"The agreement is signed. Keep it for now; you'll need it when you go to transfer the property tomorrow."

Li Xiangdong took the agreement out of his pocket and handed it to Zhou Yuqin, who had come over, to look at.

Have you discussed the job position?

"I said we'll do it together tomorrow."

"tomorrow?"

"Yes, keep the agreement safe. I'll go to my workplace now and call the commune where your village is located, and ask them to send someone to notify your family so that someone can come over tomorrow to complete the formalities."

"So urgent?"

"Uncle Huang's family is in a hurry; I reckon they're in a rush to leave."

"Then you should go quickly, it's getting late."

"Ah."

Li Xiangdong was overjoyed to finally have the house he had been longing for. He casually patted Zhou Yuqin's butt, and under Zhou Yuqin's unsuspecting gaze, he patted it again before chuckling as he walked out of the house.

"Hou San, let's go."

Pushing his bicycle, Li Xiangdong carried Hou San and pedaled hard all the way to the main gate of the unit. After greeting Grandpa Hou, the two of them parked their bicycles downstairs in front of the office building.

Upon arriving at Hou Jianshe's office and explaining his purpose, Li Xiangdong dialed the commune where Zhoujia Village was located.

He didn't say he was looking for Zhou's father, but rather that he had an urgent matter to discuss with Zhou's uncle and hoped that the uncle could help send someone to Zhoujia Village.

Uncle Zhou was a village cadre, and the commune leader who answered the phone knew him. It was a simple matter, and he didn't need to run errands himself. The commune leader on the other end of the phone told Li Xiangdong to wait, and then hung up.

After waiting for more than half an hour, past the end of the workday, the ringing of the phone inside the room interrupted Li Xiangdong and his two companions who were chatting.

After the call connected and Li Xiangdong explained the situation to Uncle Zhou on the other end, Uncle Zhou repeatedly expressed his gratitude upon learning that Li Xiangdong had helped him get a workstation at home. In the end, Li Xiangdong had no choice but to hang up the phone first.

"Uncle Hou, I'm so sorry to keep you from getting off work."

"Hey, it's nothing, Uncle should thank you."

Through the casual conversation between the three men, Hou Jianshe learned that his son now had a large sum of money and had his eye on a courtyard house that he was planning to buy.

He only knew that his son was dealing in silver coins with Li Xiangdong, and he thought it was just a small-scale operation like when he was dealing in crickets. He never expected that Li Xiangdong and his group would be so capable of such a big undertaking!

Li Xiangdong was the one who brought up Hou San's desire to buy a house. He also told Hou Jianshe exactly how much the silver dollars in Hou San's possession were worth.

Once the silver dollars are spent, such things can't be kept secret. If he doesn't tell, he might end up being blamed.

"Uncle Hou, if you're free tomorrow, why don't you go with Hou San to take a look at that courtyard?"

"Yes, I have to check. I won't feel at ease if I don't. Dongzi, you should go back quickly, it will get dark outside soon."

"Alright, Uncle Hou, we'll see you back now. I'm off, Hou San."

"Oh."

Li Xiangdong simply smiled at Hou San's listless response.

I pedaled my bicycle home like crazy.

"Third Uncle, you're back."

"Uncle Three."

"father."

Responding to Li Xiaojiang and the others, Li Xiangdong parked his bicycle and walked to the pond to watch his father, who was pulling the power cord into the yard, wanting to try out the washing machine.

"Dongzi, how much did you spend on these things?"

Old Man Li asked softly, and Li Xiangdong explained in his ear, "It cost a total of two thousand five hundred, including the color TV in the house."

Because Li Xiaojiang and the others were around, it wasn't appropriate to talk about money in front of them. The two of them even moved to the side when they spoke in hushed tones.

"The power's on, third brother, come over and try it out."

"Hold on."

Having never used a washing machine before, Li's father didn't dare to operate it, so Li Xiangdong quickly went back into the house to change his dirty clothes.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in Lao Li's family, the washing machine was filled with water and started spinning. The washed clothes were transferred to the spin-dry tub, and the noise from the washing machine grew louder and louder.

Standing in the front row, Li Xiaozhu was very curious. After leaning against the constantly shaking washing machine, her whole body began to vibrate in sync with the washing machine.

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ So fun~"

P.S.: Here's the third update! Please urge me to update more and support me with your love!