Chapter 28: Learning from Zhou Bapi So Early in the Morning!

The next day, it was the day to report for duty.

Li Xiangdong, who was still sleeping, was woken up by the crowing of a rooster. He felt like there were several roosters in the courtyard, crowing incessantly, as if they were fighting!

He struggled to open his eyes, sat up on the heated brick bed, and took a moment to collect himself. After he was a little more awake, he rubbed his face and looked at Zhou Yuqin, who was sitting at the head of the bed, dressing their daughter.

“What time is it?”

“It’s not even six yet.”

Zhou Yuqin finished dressing their daughter and began to braid her hair. Seeing her husband’s sleepy look, she said, “If you’re tired, you can sleep a little longer. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”

Li Xiangdong squinted his eyes. Seeing that the sky outside was already bright, he yawned. Just as he was about to say he would sleep a little longer, the crowing of the roosters in the courtyard started again.

He was annoyed by the crowing!

“Is our rooster trying to mate? It’s crowing non-stop. I’ll slaughter it sooner or later!”

Seeing his wife looking at him with a smile, his mind suddenly cleared!

“That’s not right! Don’t we only have a few old hens? Where did the rooster come from?!”

“It’s your son in the courtyard, learning to crow like a rooster with his brothers.”

Zhou Yuqin finished braiding their daughter’s hair, held her chubby body to prevent her from crawling around on the bed, and then began to put on her shoes.

“These naughty boys are really something else!”

Li Xiangdong gave a wry smile. He had thought that one of the crowing sounds outside sounded so familiar!

He got dressed, came down from the bed, took out a few pieces of toilet paper and put them in his pocket, then bent down to pick up the chamber pot on the floor and walked out.

Zhou Yuqin glanced at him in surprise, then smiled. Her husband had really changed. He used to find the chamber pot dirty and never touched it, but now he was taking the initiative to empty it.

Li Xiangdong came out of the room with the chamber pot and saw his nephews and son running wildly in the courtyard, still shouting and screaming.

“Are you guys pretending to be Zhou Bapi? Learning to crow like a rooster, so energetic so early in the morning. Can’t you be like Xiaomei and Xiaolan and help out with some chores at home?”

The three nephews and Li Xiaohai stood there and looked at Li Xiangdong without saying a word. It wasn’t until he left the courtyard that the four of them gathered together and started playing again, but they stopped shouting.

After taking care of his personal business, Li Xiangdong returned to the courtyard, rinsed the chamber pot, and put it in the corner of the room after he went back inside.

He walked to the washbasin stand and began to wash his face. The washbasin was white with a red rim, and there was a large red character for “double happiness” at the bottom, with two red carp next to it.

He rubbed his face a couple of times, then took the towel hanging on the rack, wet it, and wiped his neck as well.

Feeling refreshed, Li Xiangdong saw his daughter lying on the bed, her eyes fixed on him. He leaned over and tugged at the small braid on her head.

Li Xiaozhu scrunched up her little face, not happy about people touching her braid. She waved her two hands and started to push him away. Seeing that she couldn’t push him away, she shouted anxiously, “Hit… hit you!”

Li Xiangdong looked at her and said, “If you hit Daddy, Daddy won’t play with you anymore.”

Hearing her father’s words, Li Xiaozhu was stunned for a moment, then opened her mouth and said, “Hit… hit… giddy-up…”

Zhou Yuqin was amused by her. She walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently patted her bottom a couple of times. “All you say is ‘hit.’ You’re either hitting this or hitting that all day. Can’t you say something else? You little girl, you’re so cunning. You’re already so young and you know how to stir up trouble.”

Li Xiaozhu crawled over, her small hands clutching her mother’s clothes. She looked at her mother and grinned, then started to climb onto her.

Afraid that she would fall, Zhou Yuqin quickly picked her up from the bed.

Li Xiaozhu sat on her mother’s lap and began to nuzzle her head into her mother’s chest. She also put her small hand into her mother’s clothes, “Nainai…”

“Didn’t you just eat? Why do you want to eat again?”

Zhou Yuqin took her daughter’s hand out of her clothes. She didn’t have much milk left now.

Besides, her daughter didn’t know her own strength, and her milk teeth were very painful when she bit.

“You go wash up. I’ll hold her for a while.”

Li Xiangdong walked over and took his daughter.

Li Xiaozhu twisted her body, not wanting to be held by her father. She opened her arms and reached for her mother, “Drink… drink… nainai…”

“Let your mother rest for a while. Daddy will play with you, okay?”

Li Xiangdong held her and walked out of the room, “Daddy will hold you and we’ll go out and hit your brother.”

“Hit… hit… giddy-up…”

Hearing that they were going to hit her brother, Li Xiaozhu stopped crying for milk and clapped her hands, giggling.

The children who were running wildly in the courtyard saw Li Xiangdong come out with Li Xiaozhu and all gathered around.

“Third Uncle, you’re not sleeping anymore?”

“Third Uncle, why are you emptying the chamber pot today?”

“Dad, I want to hold my sister.”

Seeing her brothers gathered around, Li Xiaozhu leaned forward and wanted to get down to the ground, “Play… play… giddy-up.”

“Why are you so strong now?”

Li Xiangdong bounced his daughter in his arms a couple of times before holding her properly again. “We’re not playing with them. Look how dirty your brothers are. They stink. We’ll ignore them.”

“Giddy-up… stinky…”

Li Xiangdong saw Mother Li come out of the main house with a bowl, walk to the chicken coop between the main house and the west wing room, open the wooden door, and go inside.

He said to his daughter in his arms, “Grandma is going to get the eggs. Daddy will take you to see the old hens, okay?”

Hearing that they were going to see the old hens, Li Xiaozhu’s eyes lit up, “See… jiji…”

Mother Li chased the old hens in the chicken coop out of their nests, squatted down, and looked at them one by one. She took out a total of five eggs from the two nests.

So today, one old hen laid one egg. Ever since her third son came back from the countryside, she hadn’t seen so many eggs in a long time!

She carefully took the eggs out of the nests and gently placed them in the bowl.

After Li Xiangdong came in, he saw Mother Li squatting on the ground, looking at the eggs in the bowl and smiling. He said, “Whoa! So many eggs today.”

“Why do you walk so quietly, you child? You scared me!”

Mother Li glanced up at him. In the blink of an eye, the grandchildren who had followed her third son in gathered around and reached for the eggs. She quickly stood up with the bowl.

Looking at her clumsy grandchildren, she said angrily, “What are you guys doing? If you drop the eggs, we’ll see what you eat later. Get out of here, all of you. Who let you in? Don’t scare my old hens!”