Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong nudged Hou San, who was still fast asleep, "Wake up, don't sleep."

Hou San turned to the side, squinted, and mumbled, "What's wrong, Dong-ge? Stop shaking me, I'm dizzy. Let me sleep a little longer, I'm not eating breakfast."

'Snapped! '

Li Xiangdong slapped Hou San's buttocks, causing Hou San to yell "Ouch!" and immediately sober up.

Li Xiangdong yawned and asked, "Are you still sleepy? Do you want me to wake you up again?"

Hou San shook his head repeatedly, "I'm not sleepy, I'm not sleepy, Brother Dong, why did you wake me up?"

"Someone just came to tell us that the train conductor is going to hold a meeting with us now."

Li Xiangdong walked to the washstand, replied to the reporter, and quickly washed his face.

Hou San squinted at the time, got out of bed, and stormed out of the room, yelling, "Three in the morning, a damn meeting!"

Li Xiangdong smiled upon hearing this; the two of them had finally come to the same conclusion.

The two came out of the house. There were only seven or eight people in the corridor, all of whom looked like they hadn't woken up yet, and were dozing off against the wall of the corridor.

Li Xiangdong walked up to a colleague and asked, "Where are we going to have the meeting?"

The man closed his eyes and shook his head, saying, "I don't know, let's just wait here."

"..."

Li Xiangdong saw A Zhe come out of the house and waved to him.

A-Zhe walked over and asked, "Dongzi, what happened? Where did everyone else go?"

"I still want to ask you."

Li Xiangdong had a vague feeling that something must have happened, but he didn't know which unlucky person it was.

Hou San rubbed his eyes and said, "There are so few people. I know several people aren't here, including Brother Yang who lives across the street from me. They must have gone out to trade some things and haven't come back yet."

Ah Zhe yawned, "Then why wake up us honest folks who are just staying in the guesthouse?"

Li Xiangdong nudged A Zhe with his elbow, saying, "The train conductor is here."

The train conductor had messy hair and bloodshot eyes. He looked at the people standing in the corridor and realized that less than half of them were there.

"Okay, okay, you're all such busy people, who's going to call Old Zheng over for me?"

"Train conductor, I'll go." The man said and ran out.

Time slips away quietly.

The corridor was filled with yawns. Just as Li Xiangdong was about to fall asleep while standing, a middle-aged man in a railway police uniform walked over.

He looked at the train conductor and asked, "Why are you all standing outside? Is something wrong?"

The train conductor took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and said, "Old Zheng, the police station in Tanggu just called and said that one of our men has been arrested. They want us to go there now to identify him."

He threw his cigarette butt on the ground and continued, "I plan to have you come with me to negotiate. It would be best if we could get them to agree to hand the person back to the capital, and we can handle it internally within our system."

Old Zheng cursed his bad luck inwardly. He frowned and asked, "How many people? What did they do to get arrested?"

"Two of them, they said, were doing a private deal with a crew member who worked on the Hong Kong route, and the crew member detained them on the spot."

The train conductor sighed and glanced at everyone in the corridor. "In our line of work, everyone inevitably tinkers with things behind the scenes. We all know that. The reason I woke you up in the middle of the night is to teach you a lesson so you won't be so reckless as to do anything! Alright, go back to sleep."

Mother!

The two unlucky guys who got arrested must be the two who bullied Hou San.

After listening to the entire conversation, Li Xiangdong secretly felt fortunate!

Fortunately, he held his ground and resisted the temptations of Hou San and A Zhe. If the three of them had followed him there, he might have ended up singing "Tears Behind Bars"!

Hou San and A Zhe were terrified when they heard the news. They were no longer sleepy and were full of energy, although they were sweating profusely.

Li Xiangdong watched as the train conductor and police officer Lao Zheng disappeared from his sight. "A Zhe, come in with me."

The three entered the house and locked the door.

Ah Zhe patted his chest and said, "Thank goodness! Dongzi, you're absolutely right. It's a good thing the three of us didn't secretly follow them!"

Hou San nodded repeatedly, "That's right, if I get caught, my dad will break my legs."

Ah Zhe laughed and said, "If you get caught, your dad won't even be able to hit you, there are iron bars in between. Sigh, Dongzi, what do you think happened to those two who got caught?"

"do not know."

Li Xiangdong shook his head. The train conductor and police officer Lao Zheng had already gone to the police station, intending to transfer the person back to their Beijing Railway Public Security System.

If the person can't come back, then the sentence should be handed down as appropriate; there's nothing more to say about it.

But once the person can be handed over, things will be hard to say. What happens next depends on how strong your connections are.

If your connections aren't strong, your punishment will be reduced by one degree.

With a powerful background, they can continue to live a carefree life. People like Hou San, at most, will be dismissed from their jobs, but nothing else will happen to them.

No wonder the train staff are so brazen in their dealings with goods all over the country.

Damn, when I looked back, all I saw were escape routes...

Li Xiangdong grabbed A Zhe's arm and asked in a low voice, "What were you doing before you started drinking last night?"

Ah Zhe said speechlessly, "Dongzi, you don't think I went to report it, do you?"

"Then tell me, what were you doing during that time?"

When Li Xiangdong continued to press for answers, A Zhe rolled his eyes at him and said, "It's all your fault!"

Li Xiangdong looked incredulous. "My fault?"

Ah Zhe said with great shame, "Who else is to blame but you? Of course it's related to you! It's all because you told me yesterday in the toilet that there would be a surprise if I squatted in the first stall. I had diarrhea yesterday afternoon, and after we came back from the cafeteria, my stomach started acting up again. I was just curious."

???

Li Xiangdong tentatively asked, "And then you squatted down?"

Ah Zhe blushed and said, "Yeah, I squatted down! Now you know what I went to do, right?"

Li Xiangdong suppressed a laugh, "Okay, okay, I know, it's my fault, alright?"

No wonder Ah Zhe only changed his pants when he changed his clothes. He now understood. The toilet flush must have been quite strong, and his pants were probably splashed with a lot of water.