Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Dongzi, the twisted dough sticks you three ordered are ready."

Zhao Si walked over and saw Li Xiangdong staring intently at the flour bag that read "Supply to Tianjin Railway Station Canteen". He coughed twice, walked over, and picked it up.

"Don't overthink it. We finalized this a bit late, and I haven't had time to prepare yet. This is just using the flour from the cafeteria as a temporary measure. I'll make up for it later."

Anyone who believes that is a fool. They hadn't even had breakfast when they finished their business. In a whole morning, what couldn't they have done?

Of course, Li Xiangdong wouldn't be foolish enough to say such things. He shook his head and said, "Fourth Brother, you don't need to explain to us. The three of us didn't see anything."

Zhao Si was overjoyed to hear this. He thought it was good that he hadn't seen it before; the child was sensible!

He grinned and said, "I fried a few extra dough twists when I was frying them earlier. I'll pack a few more pounds for you later."

"No need, Fourth Brother. Keep it for your own children. Just give them what you need. We can't take advantage of you."

Li Xiangdong refused outright. He thought Zhao Si was just making a fool of the three of them with a few pounds of fried dough twists.

Zhao Si knew that of the three people in front of him, Li Xiangdong was the most difficult to fool. He took two steps forward, grabbed Li Xiangdong's arm, and pulled him aside.

"Dongzi, the three of you must not tell any outsiders about what happened today. Consider it a favor your brother owes you. If you ever encounter any trouble in Tianjin in the future, your brother will step in and help you sort it out."

Li Xiangdong smiled and said, "Then I'll thank you in advance, Fourth Brother. But I have another favor to ask of you. If I want to eat seafood in the future and I can't come to Tianjin, you'll have to help me with that."

He pointed at Hou San and the other man, and continued, "Don't worry, I will tell my two friends that we really didn't see anything today."

Li Xiangdong naturally wouldn't meddle in other people's business. If Zhao Si dared to do this so openly in the cafeteria, then at least all the staff in the cafeteria would benefit from it.

There are also issues with the accounts between the canteen and the warehouse, which definitely involve more than just one or two people. We can't think about this any further.

A chain, from top to bottom, was covered in leeches...

"No problem. Whenever you want to eat seafood, just send someone to tell me, and your fourth brother will definitely take care of it for you."

“There are trains from Tianjin to Beijing every day, and they can deliver to you on the same day. The canteen’s cold storage has ice, so it will be fresh when it arrives at your home.”

Zhao Si was relieved. As long as there was something to ask for, that was fine. He was afraid of encountering someone who had no desires or wants, because then this whole thing would be a ticking time bomb.

Li Xiangdong's request was nothing; in fact, it was a good thing for Zhao Si, as it meant he could earn more money.

Hey, this is a really satisfying business deal.

The two reached an agreement privately.

Li Xiangdong looked at the flour sack in Zhao Si's hand and said, "Brother Si, you'd better be more careful in the future."

Zhao Si just smiled and patted him on the shoulder, it was unclear whether he listened or not, or whether he would take it to heart.

"Fourth Brother, are the flour sacks still useful? Why don't we use them to make twisted dough sticks?"

"What a coincidence! That's exactly what I was thinking. Aren't I considerate of you, my younger brother?"

As Zhao Si spoke, he walked outside the canteen, shook the bag in his hand, and then came back with Li Xiangdong and the other two to put all the wrapped twisted dough sticks into the bag.

Li Xiangdong and his two companions bought a total of 60 jin (30 kg), and Zhao Si insisted on packing three more bags for them. The 66-jin (33 catties) bag of flour was not enough to hold it all, so they put some more into their cloth bag.

The three men said goodbye to Zhao Si, then took turns carrying him to the train station, and swaggered onto the platform through the staff passage.

A bag of fried dough twists, with their sweet aroma, attracted frequent glances from passengers on the platform.

The staff at Tianjin Railway Station only glanced at it curiously, and then went about their business; they'd seen this kind of thing many times before.

Their curiosity stemmed from Tianjin's coastal location; most train conductors from other places would dabble in imported goods, and very few would pack a bag of food like Li Xiangdong and his two companions.

"Hou San, what's in the bag?"

"Comrade Li, what are you three carrying? It smells so good!"

Li Xiangdong and his two colleagues were surrounded by their colleagues who had come on the same train. He took out a packet, opened it, and shared it with everyone.

"Xiao Li, did you buy these twisted dough sticks from the fourth guy in the cafeteria?"

"It must have been the fourth brother who blew it up. He's not good at anything else, but his skill at frying dough twists is unparalleled."

"No matter how delicious it is, you'll get tired of it if you eat too much of it. Now I ask Zhao Si to bring me some seafood. I've had enough of fried dough twists."

Yang Dabao stood outside the crowd and shouted, "What are you all doing huddled together? Get out of there and do what you're supposed to do! The train conductor will be here soon."

Upon hearing Yang Dabao's words, everyone dispersed, leaving only Li Xiangdong and two others standing in place.

Before Yang Dabao even got close, a sweet aroma wafted into his nose. "Good heavens! Is this all twisted dough sticks? You three are really something!"

Before Li Xiangdong could reply, Hou San saw Yang Dabao approaching and hurriedly asked, "Brother Yang, is there any news about the two who were arrested?"

Li Xiangdong also wanted to know the final outcome for those two guys, and his gaze towards Yang Dabao was filled with curiosity.

"The train conductor and Lao Zheng have already coordinated with the police station in Tanggu, and the person will be sent back to Beijing in a couple of days."

Yang Dabao sighed as he spoke, "They've definitely lost their jobs, but at least they can go back. Even though they'll be in jail no matter where they are, as long as they can return to Beijing, their families will be able to see them, and they can spend fewer years in jail."

Li Xiangdong nodded upon hearing this. Yang Dabao was right. In those days, transportation was inconvenient. Even though his family members all worked in the railway system, traveling back and forth was very tiring.

Yang Dabao looked at the bag of fried dough twists and said with a smile, "These can be put in our rest room. Don't worry, we who come out to work on the road all know the rules. We won't touch things that don't belong to us."

"Hurry up, we're about to start preparing for departure."

As Yang Dabao turned to leave, Li Xiangdong quickly took out two packets of fried dough twists from his satchel and stuffed them into Yang Dabao's hands.

"Brother Yang, I have to thank you for this. If it weren't for you introducing us, we wouldn't have been able to buy such cheap stuff. These two packs of fried dough twists are a token of my appreciation. Please don't look down on them."

Yang Dabao smiled and returned a package to Li Xiangdong, saying, "It's too much. Your nephew won't like it if I take it back. It would be a shame if it got moldy if it stayed too long."

He said this while taking a bag of fried dough twists and left to get on the bus and arrange the work for the crew.

Li Xiangdong carefully put away the bag of fried dough twists that Yang Dabao had returned and urged, "Alright, stop looking at it and hurry up and move the stuff to the lounge."

He watched as A Zhe stood there dumbfounded after hearing Yang Da Bao's words, and thought to himself that A Zhe was still too inexperienced. When Yang Da Bao was complaining to him, what he said was even more impressive.