Chapter 11: A Grudge-Holding Wife

Li Xiangdong walked into the living room of the main house, fanning himself with the cattail leaf fan. He saw his mother chopping vegetables for toppings and his two sisters-in-law vigorously kneading dough.

He said in surprise, “Pure white flour, Mom, you’re really generous today.”

“When have I ever been stingy? Our family can afford to eat it once in a while.”

Mother Li continued chopping vegetables without looking up. “We happen to have some sesame paste at home, so we’re having cold noodles for lunch today. This hot weather is making people flustered. Your dad and the others have been busy all morning, so they’ll feel comfortable eating this when they get back.”

Li Xiangdong nodded in agreement. The weather was too hot, and he had no appetite. Cold noodles would be better.

“Do you need me to help with anything?”

“What can you do? Just wait to eat.”

Mother Li looked up at him with a look of disbelief, her tone full of disdain.

Hey!

Really… she was looking down on him.

Li Xiangdong walked into the west room where Father and Mother Li slept, opened a drawer, and rummaged through his dad’s stash.

He didn’t expect his dad to have Mudan cigarettes. These were good smokes.

In this era, the saying went: high-ranking cadres smoke Mudan, mid-ranking cadres smoke Xiangshan, workers, peasants, and soldiers smoke the 23-cent ones, and rural cadres happily roll their own thick cigarettes.

The reform and opening-up had started last year. In a few more years, foreign trade cigarettes, Yunyan, and Hongtashan would become popular.

He pocketed the only two packs of Mudan, took a few more packs of Daqianmen, and left the remaining few packs of Shengchan in the drawer. At 8 cents a pack, they were harsh on the throat. He’d better leave them for his dad.

Well, when he made money in the future, he would buy his dad Zhonghua cigarettes!

Now that he had cigarettes, he couldn’t be without a light. He took a box of matches as well.

He had to take them. Buying matches required tickets, and he didn’t have any.

He was reluctant to smoke the Mudan, so he opened a pack of Daqianmen, took out a match from the box, struck it on the side, brought the cigarette in his mouth to the flame, lit it, and took a slow drag.

It had a strong kick and was harsh on the throat.

Li Xiangdong hadn’t smoked a cigarette without a filter in a long time. It took him two drags to get used to it.

When Mother Li saw her third son come out of the room with a cigarette in his mouth and his pockets bulging, she didn’t say anything. It wasn’t a big deal for a son to take a couple of packs of cigarettes from his own father.

The mindset of the times was different. In this era, a man smoking was a sign of maturity.

However, Li Xiangdong didn’t want others to smoke his secondhand smoke. He came out of the room and squatted on the steps at the entrance, smoking slowly.

Seeing his third uncle squatting on the steps smoking, Li Xiaojiang walked over and squatted beside him, whispering, “Third Uncle, can you give me a drag?”

“You know how?”

Li Xiangdong glanced at him. After their private chat, his eldest nephew was treating him as one of his own, daring to ask for anything!

Li Xiaojiang quickly explained, “Third Uncle, I don’t know how. It’s just that a few classmates in my class know how to smoke, and I want to learn too.”

Li Xiangdong scolded, “Learn the bad things instead of the good! How old are you, and you already want to learn to smoke!”

“Third Uncle, keep your voice down.”

Li Xiaojiang was terrified, afraid his mother would hear.

But it was too late. They were squatting right at the doorway. How could his mother not hear from such a close distance?

The eldest sister-in-law came over in a huff, her flour-covered hand directly twisting Li Xiaojiang’s ear. She said angrily, “You little bastard, you’re really asking for it. I’ll teach you to smoke, I’ll beat you to death!”

Li Xiaojiang, who was squatting, was directly pulled up by his ear by his mother. The pain made him quickly beg for mercy.

“Mom, I was wrong. Please let go, I’ll never do it again.”

“Get back to your room and stay there!”

As the eldest sister-in-law spoke, she gave his ear another harsh twist.

Li Xiaojiang rubbed his red ear and walked towards his room. Halfway there, he turned back and glared at Li Xiangdong resentfully. He never expected his third uncle to set him up!

Li Xiangdong chuckled, went back to the room to put away the cigarettes, and kept the opened pack with him.

He saw that his daughter had stopped nursing and was now sitting on the heated brick bed, playing with the ice cream stick in her hand, occasionally putting it in her mouth to lick.

“Xiaoqi, let go quickly. You can’t put this in your mouth to play. What if you hurt yourself?”

Li Xiangdong wanted to take the ice cream stick from his daughter’s hand, but she was holding it too tightly, and he didn’t dare to use force.

As the two were struggling, Li Xiaozhu’s other hand reached out, grabbed a handful of his hair, and pulled hard a couple of times.

“Bad… hit you…”

Tears almost came to Li Xiangdong’s eyes from the pain, but his wife was watching with a smile.

“What are you laughing at? Hurry up and help me!”

“You deserve it.”

Zhou Yuqin came over and tickled her daughter’s ticklish spots a couple of times, making her giggle. The hand holding Li Xiangdong’s hair finally let go.

Li Xiangdong rubbed his scalp and said, “How do I deserve it? I was just worried about our daughter.”

“I’m watching her. What could happen?”

Zhou Yuqin didn’t care at all. Everyone raised their children this way, and she hadn’t seen anything happen to anyone’s child.

Li Xiangdong said, “You can’t be so sure. She’s so young, what does she know? It’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, my intentions were good.”

Zhou Yuqin said irritably, “Are you saying my intentions were bad? I should have just ignored you and let our daughter teach you a lesson.”

“Hey, you’re such a cruel woman. Oh, I get it. You’re holding a grudge.”

Li Xiangdong curled his five fingers and made a fist.

“It was just a couple of grabs. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

Zhou Yuqin ignored him and asked in a negotiating tone, “Can you watch the child for a while?”

Li Xiangdong leaned back against the heated brick bed. “Sure, I’ll play with our daughter for a while. If you have something to do, go ahead.”

“You agree?”

Zhou Yuqin was slightly surprised. She didn’t expect her husband to actually agree.

“I don’t have anything to do. I just want to go and help Mom and my sisters-in-law with some work.”

She explained. After being back in the city for so long, she couldn’t help with any of the housework. Watching her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law busy all day, serving the whole family, made her feel a little uncomfortable.

If it were in the past, she wouldn’t have said anything. It was just that she felt her husband was a little different today, so she decided to ask.

“Alright, you can rest assured leaving the child with me.”

Li Xiangdong understood his wife’s thoughts.

Zhou Yuqin nodded happily. She quickly walked out of the room, afraid her husband would change his mind.