Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Inside a nearby tavern, there were hardly any customers yet, only the clerk sitting behind the counter idly fiddling with an abacus.

Li Xiangdong and his two companions sat in a corner of the hall. On the table in front of them was a plate of peanuts and a small two-ounce wine jug.

The wine was poured, and the three of them huddled together and talked in hushed tones.

"439 crickets, two yuan each, and four more sold for twenty-five yuan each, for a total of 903 yuan."

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he opened his satchel, reached into the bag with both hands, and counted out 96 yuan. 80 yuan was the capital for collecting crickets, and Hou San paid for the four braised chickens he bought on the way back.

"Hou San, this is your capital, get ready."

He handed another 60 yuan to A Zhe and continued, "We earned 747 yuan on this trip. We'll split 200 yuan among the three of us, and use the remaining 147 yuan to buy crickets next time. You two have no objections, right?"

Hou San said with a grin, "No, I'll do whatever you say, Brother Dong."

Ah Zhe nodded in agreement, saying, "That makes sense, I have no objection."

Li Xiangdong tossed a peanut into his mouth and asked, "Do you two want the receipts that Ququ Sun and I exchanged?"

Hou San shook his head and said, "I don't want it. My family has plenty of tickets."

A Zhe thought for a moment and said, "I don't need it for now. When my dad got his back pay, his company gave him a lot of receipts. Dongzi, you need these receipts now, so you can keep them."

"Then I'll thank you both in advance. This is your share of the money."

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he looked around and, after confirming that no one was around, hurriedly stuffed the money into their cloth bags.

The money and tickets he has left in his satchel are worth 200 yuan, which is what he earned on this trip.

Ah Zhe noticed that the amount of money in his bag was clearly incorrect. "Dongzi, did you give me too much money?"

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "It's not much. There's also 147 yuan in it for our next cricket purchase."

A-Zhe asked in confusion, "Why are you giving this to me? You're the leader of the three of us, shouldn't you be keeping this money?"

Li Xiangdong waved his hand, "Just take it. If I take it back, I'll have to explain to your sister-in-law. If she knows we're carrying so much money on us, she'll be worried sick and won't be able to sleep."

Ah Zhe nodded upon hearing this, and Hou San, eating peanuts, laughed and said, "Brother Dong really dotes on his wife. When I marry Da Ni, I'll treat her just as well."

Upon hearing this, Ah Zhe laughed and said, "Hou San, we haven't even had a drink yet, so please don't talk nonsense while you're drunk."

Hou San snorted and ignored A Zhe.

Li Xiangdong raised his glass. "Come on, let's have a drink, the three of us, to celebrate before we all go home."

'Ding'

After finishing their drinks, the three grabbed a handful of peanuts each and walked out of the tavern one after the other.

Seeing that Hou San's face was flushed, Li Xiangdong asked, "Are you alright? Do you need me to take you home?"

Hou San shook his head. "I'm fine, Brother Dong. I'm just a little dizzy. If I go home like this, my mom will definitely beat me. Brother Dong, can I stay at your house for a while?"

"Go ahead, it'll be a good opportunity to get acquainted with the place."

Seeing that he was starting to walk unsteadily, Li Xiangdong stopped and handed the cricket box he was carrying to A Zhe, then took the sack from Hou San and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

Ah Zhe laughed and said, "Hou San, give me the cricket box you're holding too. You're really something, you've only had a little wine. If you're like this, you shouldn't drink next time."

The three of them chatted and laughed as they walked to the bus stop, and half an hour later they arrived at the alley where Li Xiangdong lived.

Hou San's drunkenness had mostly subsided. Standing at the entrance of the alley, he said, "Brother Dong, I'm fine now. Give me the sack."

"Row."

Li Xiangdong let go of the burlap sack on his shoulder. Now that there were no crickets in the bamboo tube, he no longer needed to be as restrained as when he returned.

There was a big tree at the entrance of the alley, and under its shade, four or five old men were playing chess. Two of them were playing against each other, while the other three were gesturing and fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans.

A group of middle-aged women and elderly ladies, some holding children and others doing needlework, huddled together chatting about gossip from the neighborhood.

Li Xiangdong and his two companions kept their heads down as they walked, afraid of being spotted by the elderly folks.

Suddenly, a little boy with his bare bottom ran up in front of them and blocked their way.

He stood with his hands on his hips, head tilted back, and shouted, "Who are you three? Who gave you permission to come to our alley? You're not allowed to leave here."

Li Xiangdong leaned down and looked at the little brat in front of him, laughing, "Hey, you've got some nerve, daring to stop me. Don't you want your little pecker anymore?"

Upon hearing Li Xiangdong's words, Heidan instinctively covered his groin with both hands and ran away while complaining, "Grandma~ someone's trying to pinch my little chicken."

When Grandma Black Egg saw her grandson running over, she hugged him and slapped his bottom, saying, "All you do is cause trouble all day long."

She looked up at the three of them and smiled, "Dongzi's back! Oh~ isn't this the Shi family's son? I heard you've also been assigned to work in the railway system?"

Ah Zhe smiled and nodded, "Hello, Auntie."

Grandma Black Egg praised A-Zhe a couple of times, then turned to Li Xiangdong and asked, "Dongzi, what's bulging in that sack?"

When Li Xiangdong saw the old man playing chess and the old woman chatting all looking at the three of them, he put down the sack and took out a bamboo tube. Luckily, he had put all the cotton away beforehand.

"These are all junk I collected. They're things people throw away at the train station that they don't want anymore. I take them home to use for cooking and heating."

Curious, the crowd gathered around, and each person picked up a bamboo tube to examine it.

Why did you do this to perfectly good bamboo?

"You spendthrift! Isn't this just wasting things?"

"Dongzi, could you give me one? I want to take it home and use it as a pen holder for my grandson."

Li Xiangdong laughed and said, "Sir, please take whatever you like. Pick one that's thicker; the thinner ones won't hold properly."

Despite losing seven large, thick bamboo tubes, Li Xiangdong and his two companions successfully passed the test.

"This is really interesting, Dong-ge. I never thought these bamboo tubes could be used as pen holders."

Hou San was somewhat excited; he rarely saw such a spectacle since he lived in a large compound.

Ah Zhe objected, "What a load of rubbish! If you lived in a hutong, you wouldn't think that way. Every time you come home with anything on you, they'll inevitably check you."

Li Xiangdong nodded in agreement, acknowledging that living in a hutong (traditional alleyway) could indeed be inconvenient at times.

The three of them walked quickly to Li Xiangdong's door.

Before I even opened the door, I heard a heart-wrenching cry coming from the yard.

Hearing the crying from inside the courtyard, Ah Zhe saw Li Xiangdong standing motionless at the gate. "Dongzi, has something happened to your family? What are you standing there for? Hurry up and go in and check!"

Hou San also asked anxiously, "Brother Dong, what happened at your house? Don't block the door, let's go in and see what's going on."

"It's nothing, the kids at home are just playing around."

Li Xiangdong smiled through his clenched teeth.

He gently pushed open the door, walked slowly to the screen wall, put down the burlap sack on his shoulder and the cricket box in his hand, and peeked out into the courtyard.