Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Stop! Stop! Hou San, it'll overflow if you pour any more!"

"No, Dong-ge, don't worry, it won't overflow."

Hou San bent down, glanced at the small wine glass in front of him, and dripped two more drops into it.

His hand was very steady when pouring wine; he had honed this skill by pouring water for passengers on the train. Two drops of wine landed perfectly in the glass, filling it to the brim.

"Great!"

Seeing this, Li Xiangdong gave a thumbs up, and Hou San chuckled and said, "When I drink with my dad and the others at home, I can only drink one cup. I practiced this skill for a long time before I mastered it."

As soon as he said those words, everyone sitting at the table was full of admiration.

They really went to great lengths just to drink a drop or two more!

"Dad, eldest brother, second brother, A-Zhe, Hou San, Xiao Jiang, Tao Zi, thank you for your hard work today. Let's have a drink together first. Xiao Jiang, you two brothers have some soda."

After Li Xiangdong finished speaking, everyone raised their glasses or picked up their sodas, but Hou San did not move his hands.

"Brother Dong, I won't drink with you guys. I can't even lift my glass."

"..."

After Li Xiangdong and the others clinked glasses and drank, Hou San leaned on the table and took a slurp...

"Hou San, drink in small sips and eat your food first."

Li Xiangdong kindly reminded him that five qian of wine is not a good drink; if Hou San gulps it down in one go, he'll probably be going to sleep soon.

After Hou San, who had been sipping his drink from his glass, sat down, Li Xiangdong looked at the Li Xiaojiang brothers.

"You two hurry up and eat, then go to the kitchen to get more when you're done."

Li Xiaojiang and Li Xiaotao were still young and didn't drink alcohol at the table, so Li Xiangdong specially used the bowls they used at home to serve each of them a bowl of pig offal.

"Dongzi".

After toasting Old Man Li and Li's father, A Zhe sat down and looked at Li Xiangdong.

“That waste pit is too big. It will be a lot of work for us to dig it out. Since you said that the waste will appreciate in value in the future, why don’t we just spend money to hire more people to dig it out? It would take us forever to finish digging it out by the time we finish.”

Just as Li Xiangdong was about to explain, Brother Li raised his hand and gently patted the back of Li Xiaotao's head.

"Stop eating, didn't you see your uncle's wine glass is empty? Get up and pour some wine."

"Okay, Dad."

Li Xiaotao was enjoying his meal when he heard that he was being asked to pour some wine. He put down his chopsticks and steamed bun, got up, picked up the wine bottle on the table, and walked towards A Zhe.

When Li Xiangdong saw this scene, a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips. Why did he go to all that trouble to call Li Xiaojiang and Li Xiaotao over to eat?

A Zhe and Hou San are guests, and Old Man Li and Li's father are elders. Since the two brothers aren't coming, who among the three brothers, Li Xiangdong, will do the job of serving wine?

He can't possibly escape!

"Third brother, Zhe is asking you a question, what are you laughing at?"

Li's father ate his favorite pig liver, then picked up his wine glass and downed the rest of the wine in one gulp.

Li Xiaotao, who had just filled A Zhe's glass with wine, moved to pour more wine when he saw this.

Li Xiangdong's gaze shifted from Li Xiaotao to A Zhe, "You said you'd pay people to do it, so tell me, how much is appropriate to pay someone to dig up waste materials for a day?"

"That's physical labor. Even if lunch is provided, it still costs a dollar."

These words were spoken by Li Erge, and Li Xiangdong nodded to him upon hearing them.

"When we were digging for scrap, I told you, right? Right now, a kilogram of top-grade Hetian jade pebbles only costs 100 yuan. Wouldn't it be better to just buy ready-made ones with that money? Why would I spend my money hiring people to dig for scrap?"

"Third brother, you're right! When shall we go buy it?"

Brother Li's eyes lit up when he heard about buying jade pebbles.

He believed Li Xiangdong's words, precisely because he believed that the scrap materials would appreciate in value in the future, and that hoarding the good materials would definitely earn him more money!

Although Brother Li wasn't wealthy, he still had the courage to spend a kilogram or two of Hetian jade pebbles.

Not only him, but Brother Li and A Zhe were also tempted. None of the people present were short of a hundred or two yuan.

"Brother Dong, how about we go buy it next time we're off work?"

Hou San had thoroughly enjoyed scavenging waste materials, and now he would rather pay for it.

"I don't have any connections. We'll talk about this later."

Li Xiangdong smiled and shook his head.

He really had no connections. These days, everything is done through official channels. For example, the jade factories in Beijing receive their supplies directly from Xinjiang Province, which are then transported by train.

There are no raw stones on the market. Ordinary people can buy seed jade, but what they can buy are all finished products. Raw stones are not available.

Unless we go directly to Xinjiang province to collect them, everyone here has a job.

Even if we hand this matter over to Ququsun, it won't work. He'll be completely clueless. Not only can we not guarantee safety, but buying too little won't be worthwhile, and buying too much will require the Hou family to find train cars.

It's troublesome.

It's not just about spending money, time, and effort; you also have to rely on favors, and favors are the hardest to repay!

Wait two more years, until the market opens up further, and until those savvy jade dealers start operating between Beijing and Xinjiang. That will be the time to buy.

Old Man Li, who had been sitting at the table without saying a word, just drinking and eating meat, noticed the regret on the faces of his two older brothers, Li Da Ge and Li Er Ge.

Old Li put down his wine glass and said, "If you don't have any connections, just keep digging for scrap. It's free, why do you have to spend money? It's only because I'm old that I'm not going to dig with you.

He looked at A Zhe as he spoke, "Xiao Shi."

"Yes, Grandpa, please tell me."

"It's best not to hire anyone to dig up the waste. You guys can do it quietly yourselves and don't talk about it to outsiders. There are plenty of smart people in the world. The fact that no one is digging up that waste might just mean that no one has thought of it."

"If you spend money to hire people, and word gets out, things could get unsettled at that waste pit. Even if others don't think of it, what will the people you bring to dig up the waste think?"

After Old Man Li finished speaking, he continued drinking, and his father chimed in.

“Those people definitely think we’re digging for treasure. They may not have Dongzi’s insight, but we’ve already spent money. Nobody’s a fool. They’ll definitely have their own agenda.”

“The people we paid to hire might bring their relatives and friends to dig the next day. They won’t care whether the waste is valuable or when it will become valuable; they’ll just take some for themselves first.”

After Li's father finished speaking, Old Man Li tapped him with his chopsticks and said, "You've made progress."

"hey-hey."

It was rare for Li's father to be praised by his own father, and he raised his wine glass with a smile on his face.

"Dad, let me toast you."

"Yeah, I'll just take a sip. Dongzi won't let me drink more."

"Okay, you can have a little bit, just a token amount, I'll drink it all."

As Li's father spoke, he downed two ounces in one gulp, which made Hou San very envious.

He wanted to chug it all down in one go too!