Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

Seeing his grandson and granddaughter on the riverbank, constantly swatting at mosquitoes and scratching themselves, Mr. Li sighed and glanced one last time at the deeper part of the river.

For safety reasons, they did not dig deeper into the water. Li's father guessed that the two silver dollars should be lying quietly under the silt.

"Back!"

As soon as Li's father spoke, Hou San immediately perked up!

After getting ashore, cleaning up and tidying up his tools, Li's father looked at Hou San.

"There are only two bicycles. Hou San, you and my second son take the children home first, and the three of us will follow behind slowly."

"Alright, Uncle Li, we'll come pick you up later."

Hou San didn't stand on ceremony. He rode away on his bicycle first, carrying Li Xiaotao who was carrying two shovels on his shoulders. Li Erge followed quickly behind, carrying Li Xiaojiang and Li Xiaomei.

Li Xiangdong, his father, and his elder brother walked home together, each carrying a flashlight.

"Third brother, we've dug up so many silver dollars, how do you plan to divide them?"

Li Xiangdong knew that Li's father had arranged for Hou San to leave first because he had something to say. Since they were all family, he wasn't embarrassed at all and replied directly, "I'll take half, and the rest you four can split equally."

"Need not."

Brother Li, who was standing nearby, had a different opinion.

“Dongzi, Xiaohai poked the silver dollars out with a stick, and you were the one who discovered them. If you had just kept quiet and slowly fished them out, it would have taken a little more effort, but sooner or later you would have been able to fish all the silver dollars out of the river.”

“Your second brother, our father, and I are just here to help out. You don’t need to share these silver dollars with us. As for Hou San, you can divide them according to your plan; we don’t need them.”

"Make something nice for us tomorrow, and prepare two bottles of good wine. We can all get together as a family for a meal. Dad, you don't mind if I say that, do you?"

Mr. Li smiled and shook his head, "As long as you two brothers have discussed it, I'll listen to you."

He then changed the subject.

"Third brother, when are you going to buy that electric fan you promised me? The wind has been blowing hot these past two nights. The sooner you buy it, the sooner you can enjoy it. Your mother hasn't been sleeping well these past two nights."

"I'll go buy it tomorrow morning."

Li Xiangdong first reassured his father, then turned his attention to his elder brother.

"It's too hot, let's skip the meal and drinks, brother. Don't refuse, just split the silver dollars as I said, it'll save you trouble."

"Dongzi, no need..."

Brother Li didn't want to take advantage of this, but Li Xiangdong didn't give him a chance to speak again and directly waved his hand to interrupt him.

"Stop talking, brother. I'm too tired to talk anymore. Can't you just let me have some peace and quiet?"

"If you're tired, I'll tell you what to do."

"I didn't get enough rest while traveling in the car, and I have a headache."

"... "

This silenced Brother Li. Li Xiangdong had made it clear that he wanted a share of the silver dollars. He had declined twice without success, and if he didn't accept it again, there would be no point.

The father and his two sons were halfway home when two beams of flashlight shone from a distance.

The two people who arrived were Li Erge and Li Xiaojiang. They stopped their bicycles next to Li Xiangdong and his two children. Li Dage was carrying Li Xiangdong and Li Xiaojiang, while Li Erge was carrying Li's father.

Instead of returning to the old house, Li's mother and the others brought all the food to Li Xiangdong's house. After arriving home, Li Xiangdong and the others went to the water room to wash up, while Li's older brother went to return the neighbor's bicycle.

Main house.

When Li Xiangdong entered the house, Hou San was already sitting at the table wolfing down his food. Seeing the rice left to cool on the table, he casually sat down in an empty seat.

I watched TV while eating, and the show ended just as I finished dinner.

Li Xiangdong chased away Li Xiaojiang and the others, and then placed the silver dollars in stacks of one hundred each on the table, totaling nine hundred and sixty-three dollars. The thirty-five dollars he had picked up earlier were not included in this count.

He took half, and the remaining portion was divided equally among the four members of Li's father's family.

Li Xiangdong pointed out four stacks of 120 silver dollars and pushed them directly in front of his father and his three companions sitting at the table.

Hou San asked with a puzzled look, "Brother Dong, what are you doing?"

"You're offering silver dollars? What, you don't want them?"

Li Xiangdong joked with a smile, but Hou San shook his head very seriously, "No need to give me a share, I'm just helping out."

"Unexpected wealth is a windfall, and everyone who sees it gets a share. Besides, you've already gone into the water to work, so don't be polite with me."

After Li Xiangdong finished speaking, Old Man Li spoke up.

"Hmm, Dongzi is right. Hou San, accept it."

Hou San blinked, picked up the silver dollars in front of him, counted them, kept one hundred dollars, and threw the rest back to Li Xiangdong.

Looking at the twenty silver dollars that had returned, Li Xiangdong felt a bit tired and didn't bother to say anything more.

Following Hou San's example, Brother Li and Brother Li Er also only kept one hundred silver dollars for themselves.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Mr. Li was speechless. He was just a little slow to react, still thinking about the TV series he had just watched, when his two sons and Hou San all turned to look at him.

"It doesn't matter how much you give me, since it won't end up in my hands anyway."

Mr. Li muttered something and handed over one hundred silver dollars.

"Okay, that's it."

Old Man Li ended the distribution of the unexpectedly acquired silver dollars with his voice, and then Li Xiangdong reached out and gathered all the silver dollars together.

"I won't give you the silver dollars. I'll take them to Fujian Province, exchange them for money, and then distribute them to you. I'm just letting you know in advance that one silver dollar is worth seventeen yuan and six fen in Fujian Province right now."

Li Xiangdong is usually very tight-lipped and never talks about these things at home. Even his wife, Zhou Yuqin, doesn't know.

Now, suddenly mentioning the price of Fujian silver dollars caused a collective gasp of surprise in the room.

Mr. Li looked surprised. "Third son, how much did you just say?"

Li Xiangdong repeated, "Seventeen yuan and sixty cents, and it will probably go up a bit more."

"real or fake?"

Why would I lie to you about this? Ask Hou San if you don't believe me.

"Uncle Li, Brother Dong didn't lie to you, it really is seventeen yuan and sixty cents."

As Hou San spoke, he couldn't help but yawn.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Li, I'm back now. You can question Brother Dong all you want."

He said this, then patted his behind and left.

Li Xiangdong explained the current state of smuggling in Fujian Province, which convinced Li's father and others to accept the seemingly outrageous price.

"Third brother, at this price, can your father's hundred silver dollars be exchanged for a color television?"

Li's father's gaze was intense, and Li Xiangdong felt as if he was being burned. He raised his hand to rub his temples and let out a long breath.

"It's possible, but the key question is, why would you want to change to a color TV? There's already one in the house, isn't there? You come here every day to watch the news and TV dramas, and we haven't stopped you from doing so."

"Please don't do this on a whim. Once I've exchanged these silver dollars for cash, you can use your share to sponsor my eldest and second brothers so they can buy another courtyard for our family. I'll give you a larger share, but you don't need it. Just remember to let me know if you run out of money later."