Chapter 30: Li Xiangdong’s Iron Backing

Mother Li asked, “Where’s your wife?”

“She’s tidying up the room.”

Li Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief. He was sitting on the steps with his daughter, lost in thought, when his mother suddenly called him. It really startled him. He thought his mother was going to find another reason to scold him!

“You’re holding the child. Let your wife come and help with the cooking first. You can do the chores in your own room after you’ve eaten. It’s not too late.”

Before Li Xiangdong could say anything, Zhou Yuqin must have heard from the west wing room. She hurried out of the room.

“Mom, I was just tidying up the quilt. Xiaoqi wet the bed again last night. Wait for me to wash my hands, I’ll be right there.”

At this moment, Li Xiaolan came out of the small kitchen in front of her eldest uncle’s house and ran over to stand obediently in front of Mother Li.

“Grandma, the steamed corn buns are on the stove. My mom said they’ll be ready soon.”

After the neighbors moved out, Li Xiangdong’s grandfather had torn down the coal sheds and earthquake shelters they had built themselves.

Only the small kitchens in front of each house were left. He thought that when the children in the family grew up and divided the household, they could save some money by not having to build new ones.

Now that their family was so large, one pot was not enough for cooking.

To save time, the small kitchen in front of his eldest brother’s house would also be used.

“Alright, Grandma knows. You and your sister go and set the table. When the water in the pot boils, Grandma will make you egg drop soup.”

Mother Li’s attitude towards her granddaughters was much better than towards her grandsons. She never had the problem of favoring boys over girls.

Of course, it could also be that she had too many grandsons and was tired of taking care of them. Compared to her mischievous grandsons, her attitude towards her granddaughters was more amiable.

After washing her hands, Zhou Yuqin came over and asked, “Mom, what can I do?”

Mother Li pointed to the pickle jar next to her, “Get a piece of pickled vegetable out and chop it. We’ll have this for breakfast.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Zhou Yuqin was quick with her work. After agreeing, she took out a piece of pickled vegetable from the pickle jar, washed it briefly with water, placed it on the cutting board, picked up the knife, and began to chop.

“Mom… hold…”

Li Xiaozhu, who was being held by the waist and standing on the ground, stretched out her hands and was about to go to Zhou Yuqin.

Li Xiangdong scared her, “Your mother is working. You can’t go and cause trouble for her. Your grandmother has a bad temper. Be careful she doesn’t get angry and come over to hit you.”

“Li Laosan, I heard you this time!”

Mother Li came up from behind him and pinched his ear.

“Giggle… hit… hit…”

Seeing her father being beaten, Li Xiaozhu clapped her small hands happily, drool dripping from her mouth.

“Mom, let go! I was just scaring the child for fun!”

Li Xiangdong sat on the steps, holding his daughter in his arms, unable to dodge.

Zhou Yuqin wanted to come over and say a few words, but before she could move, she was glared back by Mother Li.

Li Xiangdong had no choice but to give his eldest and second brothers, who were squatting by the sink and brushing their teeth, a meaningful look.

The eldest and second brothers just watched with a smile, and neither of them came over to mediate. He had no choice but to endure it himself.

“Why are you winking? Stop playing tricks on me.”

Mother Li looked at him with unkind eyes and twisted the hand that was pinching his ear again.

“Li Laosan, tell me, are you a thing? You’re not a thing. If you were a thing, would you mutter about your own mother behind her back? You’re a thing that’s not a thing, you only know how to gossip about people behind their backs!”

Li Xiangdong listened to his mother’s incessant nagging, something about being a thing or not a thing. His ears hurt and his head was spinning.

His mother’s mind was really sharp. No wonder that decades later, even with a cane, she could still scold him until he couldn’t open his mouth.

Just then, Old Man Li and Grandma Li, who had gone out to buy vegetables, came back. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Mother Li twisting Li Xiangdong’s ear hard.

Grandma Li’s heart ached for her youngest grandson, but she was old and couldn’t walk fast. She could only shout anxiously, “Aiyo! How did Dongzi provoke you? You’re a mother, how can you be so ruthless!”

Seeing Grandma Li shuffling over, Mother Li knew that her youngest son’s backer had returned. She ignored Grandma Li, let go of his ear resentfully, and went back to the stove to continue preparing breakfast.

Grandma Li walked over, touched Li Xiangdong’s ear, and asked with concern, “Your ear is almost purple. Dongzi, are you okay?”

Li Xiangdong smiled awkwardly, “I’m fine, Grandma. You go back to your room and rest. The food will be ready soon.”

Old Man Li, who was behind Grandma Li, glanced at the eldest and second brothers who were still brushing their teeth.

“Are you two busy?”

Hearing their grandfather’s question, the eldest and second brothers quickly rinsed their mouths.

“Not busy. Grandpa, what’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing. I thought you two were busy.”

After saying that, Old Man Li gave the two brothers a fierce glare, walked forward to support Grandma Li, and then called Li Xiangdong to go into the room with them.

The eldest brother looked at the second brother in confusion. The two of them exchanged a glance, not understanding what their grandfather was up to. After thinking for a while and not being able to figure it out, they each continued to wash up.

Seeing her in-laws go into the room, Mother Li stood in front of the stove and began to mutter, “Spoil him, just keep spoiling him. I’ll see what good you can spoil him into. Those who don’t know would think that only Laosan is their own flesh and blood, and the others were adopted. What’s wrong with me, a mother, hitting my own child a couple of times? I’m not his stepmother!”

Seeing Mother Li holding an egg and standing still, muttering something, Zhou Yuqin said, “Mom, what are you saying? I’ve finished chopping the pickles.”

“Oh, nothing. If the pickles are chopped, just leave them there.”

Mother Li cracked all the eggs into a small iron basin, stirred them with chopsticks, then scooped a ladle of boiling water from the pot. While stirring the egg mixture with chopsticks, she poured the boiling water into the small iron basin.

After the egg drop soup was ready, she took out the sesame oil bottle from the cupboard, first dipped the tip of a chopstick into the sesame oil bottle, and then stirred it in the egg drop soup.

She then dipped the end of the chopstick in the sesame oil, mixed the pickles, and then stirred it in the egg drop soup again. Not a single drop of sesame oil was wasted!

The boiling water in the large iron pot was not wasted either. Adding cornmeal made a pot of cornmeal mush.

After she was done, she looked up and saw the eldest daughter-in-law carrying a basket, followed by the second daughter-in-law. “Are the steamed corn buns ready?”

“They’re ready, Mom.”

Mother Li pinched one, and it was quite soft.

Whether their family steamed buns or steamed corn buns, they would always let the dough rise. This was mainly because Old Man Li and Grandma Li were old and their teeth were not good, so they couldn’t eat hard things.

Two plates of pickles mixed with sesame oil, a basket of steamed corn buns, a small basin of egg drop soup, and a large pot of cornmeal mush. This was the Li family’s breakfast.

“Grandpa, it’s time to eat.”

Li Xiaojiang ran to the gate and shouted at Father Li, who was still chatting with the neighbors outside. Then, as if his butt was on fire, he ran back into the courtyard and into the main house.

The children sat down at the small dining table. Mother Li brought the small iron basin over and served each of them a bowl of egg drop soup.

The other children didn’t cause any trouble and obediently held their bowls and began to drink in small sips.

But Li Xiaotao, that blockhead, was not afraid of burning his mouth at all. He took several large gulps.

His own brain was not very sharp, but he treated Mother Li as a fool. He directly handed the bowl to Mother Li and said with a silly smile, “Grandma, you didn’t fill my bowl of egg drop soup.”

Mother Li: “…”