Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Cheapskate."

Li Xiangdong didn't take the bowl that was handed to him. Instead, he tugged at Li Xiaozhu's pigtail and pinched her chubby cheek.

Li Xiaozhu pointed to the scrambled eggs in the bowl that hadn't been scraped clean, and exclaimed with a smile, "There's still some left to eat!"

"Grandpa, you can have mine."

Zhang Miaomiao, who was standing to the side, was very well-behaved. She thought that Li Xiangdong really wanted to eat, so she handed him her bowl.

"You eat it yourself, I'm just teasing my little sister."

Li Xiangdong smiled and pointed to Li Xiaozhu, who was bending down and continuing to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a wooden spoon while shoveling steamed egg custard into her mouth, signaling Zhang Miaomiao to eat quickly.

"Uncle Three."

"Dad, you're back."

Standing at the door of Li Xiaomei and her sister's house, Li Xiaobo called out to them. Li Xiaohai then poked his head out of the house and noticed that Li Xiangdong's hands were empty and his cloth bag was flat.

He didn't even leave the house, nor did he ask Li Xiangdong for food.

Li Xiangdong turned to look at the two of them, "Did you two have steamed egg custard?"

Li Xiaohai nodded. "I ate it."

"Third Uncle, Third Aunt steamed an egg for me, my younger siblings, and others, and added sesame oil!"

Li Xiaobo chuckled, looking quite satisfied.

Because Li Xiangdong helped with sourcing eggs, although the Li brothers' families couldn't eat as much as they wanted, they still had plenty of eggs at the dinner table every day.

However, since both Brother Li and Brother Li Er were doing manual labor, their nutrition had to be adequate, so eggs were not given exclusively to Li Xiaobo and his children.

Moreover, Li Xiaobo is not a two or three-year-old child. Li Ersao would not spoil him or steam eggs for him separately. When the family eats eggs, they are usually fryed and served together.

"Is it delicious?"

"good to eat!"

"As long as you take good care of your younger brother and sister at home, you can ask your aunt to cook for you whenever you want to eat."

"Okay, Uncle, I understand."

Li Xiaobo was overjoyed to hear Li Xiangdong's promise.

"You two shouldn't always be reading comic books indoors, or you'll damage your eyes."

"Okay, Dad."

"Understood, Third Uncle."

Just as Li Xiangdong was thinking about using coercive measures on Li Xiaohai and Zhou Yuqin to prevent them from becoming nearsighted in the future, Zhou Yuqin walked out of the west wing with an excited and joyful expression.

"Stop arguing with them for now. The new house is all set up. I'll take you to see it."

"I haven't changed my clothes or washed up yet."

"Then what have you been doing in the yard since you came back? Come back to wash up and change clothes after you've finished watching."

Unable to suppress her urge to share, Zhou Yuqin grabbed Li Xiangdong and started to walk out.

"Dad, Mom, are you going to the new house? I want to go too!"

Li Xiaohai quickly caught up, and Li Xiaobo followed closely behind.

"Don't go~ Don't go~"

Li Xiaozhu, who was engrossed in scraping the bottom of the bowl, got off the small stool and followed along with the empty bowl.

"I'll take you with me, stop shouting."

Li Xiangdong comforted his daughter, took the bowl and spoon from her hand, and turned to Zhou Yuqin, saying, "They're all going, so let's take them with us."

As he spoke, he took the bowl and spoon from Zhang Miaomiao's hands, put them in the sink to soak in water, and then, holding Li Xiaozhu's hand with his left hand and Zhang Miaomiao's hand with his right, called Zhou Yuqin and Li Xiaohai to go to their new home together.

During the days he traveled with Ququ Sun, Li Xiangdong had entrusted the task of tidying up the new house to Ququ Sun. Now that the new house was ready, he was indeed quite curious.

Two adults and four children came out of their home and arrived at the door of their new home. Zhou Yuqin stepped forward to unlock the door, and Li Xiaobo and Li Xiaohai rushed in first.

"Clatter~ Clatter~"

When Li Xiaozhu saw her two older brothers run into the yard, she wanted to go and play with them too.

"Walk slowly, don't run."

Li Xiangdong pulled the two little girls over the threshold and into the courtyard before letting them go to chase after Li Xiaohai and his companion.

With the children gone, Li Xiangdong and his wife can now look at their new house in peace.

Pass through the hanging flower gate.

Li Xiangdong's eyes lit up instantly when he glanced into the yard!

There was a tree planted on each side of the main house entrance!

Previously, the courtyard was empty except for a large water vat placed at the midpoint of the intersection of the cross-shaped bluestone path.

Huh?

Upon closer inspection, Li Xiangdong saw that the water tank had been replaced, and fish were now being raised inside.

The water in the tank was a bit murky. Li Xiangdong stood in front of the tank, squinting as he counted the red figures swimming around. There were eight small red carp in total.

"Great, great, it would be even more beautiful if you added a water lily."

"That's what Uncle Sun said too."

Zhou Yuqin smiled and echoed, and Li Xiangdong nodded.

After watching the fish, the two walked to the tree, which had been pruned and was now somewhat bare.

Li Xiangdong recognized the two trees as pomegranate trees. "Wife, could these two pomegranate trees be rock sugar pomegranates?"

"It's rock sugar pomegranate."

"Uncle Sun is amazing!"

Li Xiangdong couldn't help but sigh. These two pomegranate trees looked quite old, and their trunks were even thicker than the one in his old Li family's house. These days, you really can't get them without some connections.

"Let me show you the main house first; the furniture inside is beautiful!"

Zhou Yuqin was a little anxious, feeling that her husband was acting very strangely. After coming over, he didn't want to look at the furniture, but kept staring at the fish and trees.

"Okay, okay, I'll do as you say."

Li Xiangdong followed Zhou Yuqin into the main room with a smile.

The four children who were running around in the yard saw the two of them enter the main house. Li Xiaohai was the first to turn around and run towards the main house, and the other three followed behind him.

"Beautiful, right?"

This wasn't the first time Zhou Yuqin had seen the furniture and decorations in the room, but she still couldn't suppress her excitement and joy!

"Hmm, not bad, really not bad!"

Li Xiangdong looked from east to west and nodded with great satisfaction.

The main house has three rooms, and the east room is closed off, so Li Xiangdong can't see what's inside.

In the center of the living room, directly in front of the north wall, there is a long table. On either side of the long table are tall flower stands. The flower stands are used to hold flowers, and they are currently empty. This was specially left empty by Ququsun. Everyone has different preferences, and Li Xiangdong can choose what flowers to place on them.

Just like in the Li family's house, a red paper was placed in the center of the altar, on which the names of the Li family's ancestors were written in calligraphy.

Below the long table was a rosewood eight-immortal table, on which sat a small brass incense burner, and on each side of the table was an armchair.

The original west room was converted into an open-plan space by the Huang family. Li Xiangdong used to come over to drink with Uncle Huang, and they would sit there.

The Huang family had planned to go abroad long ago, and after returning, they didn't waste money on furniture and decorations. Before, when you walked into the main house, you could see a large round table on the west side.

Now, the view is blocked by a screen, ensuring a certain degree of privacy.

Where the old Huang family's dining table used to be, there is now another table, but the new table is made of rosewood, as are the chairs around it.

To put it simply, all the furniture in the main room is made of rosewood...