Chapter 60: Good Intentions and a Donkey’s Liver and Lungs

Li Xiangdong saw his wife’s reaction and instantly remembered that this song had not yet spread in the mainland.

“I didn’t just make this up. You don’t know Lan Yingying now, but you’ll know who she is in the future.”

“A woman?”

“That’s right, and she’s quite a beauty.”

“Li Xiangdong, you’re so shameless! You’ve only been out for one day and you’re already hooking up with other women? A beauty, you say, and you even want to introduce her to me, pah!”

“I…”

Li Xiangdong almost couldn’t catch his breath. “What on earth are you talking about? Lan Yingying is a singer from Hong Kong!”

“Ah~ She’s a singer…” Zhou Yuqin knew she had jumped to the wrong conclusion and was now so embarrassed she wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

She quickly changed the subject, as if talking to herself, “Why isn’t Mom back yet? You watch the kids, I’m going to make dinner with my sisters-in-law.”

Li Xiangdong saw his wife turn to leave the room before she even finished her sentence.

He quickly walked to the doorway, blocking Zhou Yuqin’s exit with his body, and continued to hum: “The green willows sprout~ I wait for my man’s return but he doesn’t come, who has my man fallen for~”

Blocked and teased by Li Xiangdong, Zhou Yuqin was now extremely embarrassed. “Aiya~ Stop singing!”

She forcefully pushed aside Li Xiangdong who was blocking the door and quickly walked out.

“Who has my man fallen for~~”

Li Xiangdong leaned against the doorframe, deliberately dragging out the last note, and sang another line at his wife’s retreating back.

Seeing Zhou Yuqin walking towards the main house, her pace quickened even more.

Li Xiangdong chuckled, turned back into the room, walked to the kang bed and asked, “Do you think Dad’s singing just now was good?”

“Good.”

Li Xiaohai nodded his head vigorously. Seeing that his sister Li Xiaozhu had no reaction, he even used his hand to press on his sister’s head, helping her nod.

“Dad’s here to play with you for a while.”

Li Xiangdong took off his shoes and got onto the kang.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was time to get off work.

The alley started to get lively.

Li Xiaojiang, who was playing in the courtyard, saw his father come home from work. He took a creamy candy from his pocket, ran over, and stuffed it into his father’s hand.

“Dad, this is the White Rabbit creamy candy my third uncle brought back. Third uncle also cooked instant noodles for us.”

Big Brother Li looked at the candy in his hand, a surprised expression on his face as he listened to his son. He stroked his son’s head and smiled, “Is that so? Your third uncle is so good to you. You must listen to your third uncle more in the future. Dad won’t eat the candy, you can keep it for yourself.”

Li Xiaotao came over and said, “Dad, if you’re not eating it, give it to me. Third Aunt gave my big brother a lot, I only have two.”

Li Xiaojiang was unhappy to hear this. “Why should I give it to you? Even if Dad doesn’t eat the candy, it’s still mine.”

Big Brother Li looked left and right at his two sons who were about to lock horns, and directly unwrapped the candy and threw it into his mouth.

He walked to the sink with his hands behind his back, washed up briefly, and then knocked on the door of the west wing.

Li Xiangdong opened the door and saw his big brother standing at the entrance. “Big Brother, you’re off work. Do you need something?”

Big Brother Li looked his third brother up and down, then looked at his own dusty appearance, a hint of envy in his eyes.

“It’s nothing, I just came to see. That’s a really nice set of clothes you have.”

Li Xiangdong smiled. Facing his big brother alone, he really didn’t know what to talk about for a moment. “Didn’t Dad come back with you?”

Big Brother Li chuckled, “He’s back. He’s behind, dragging Mom home.”

That word “dragging” was used well!

It fully expressed Mother Li’s struggle and reluctance…

“Big Brother, wait a moment.”

Li Xiangdong went into the room and handed the two bags of instant noodles on the table to his big brother. “When Dad, Mom, and Second Brother get back, have Eldest Sister-in-law help cook these two bags of instant noodles. Don’t think it’s too little.”

Big Brother Li took the instant noodles. “It’s already good to have two bags of such an expensive thing to taste. Other families can’t even get it if they want to. I say you should still save it for Little Six and Little Seven to eat.”

Seeing his big brother decline, Li Xiangdong didn’t want to argue endlessly over two bags of instant noodles, so he went straight back into the room and closed the door.

“This Third Brother is really…”

Big Brother Li looked at the instant noodles in his hand with curiosity. “Oh, it’s even Shanghai’s instant noodles? They all say Shanghai is a ‘ten-mile foreign concessions’. I must have a good taste today and see if there’s any foreign flavor in it.”

Li Xiangdong, hearing his big brother’s words from behind the door, had a slight smile on his lips.

To be able to connect eating instant noodles with the “ten-mile foreign concessions,” his big brother was also a strange talent.

After Big Brother Li had walked away, Li Xiangdong came out of the room with a lunch box in his hand and walked to the stove in the main house. “Honey, you forgot the lunch box.”

Zhou Yuqin saw her husband looking at her with a half-smile. Her face flushed slightly, she reached out to take the lunch box, and without a word, turned back to her work.

Second Sister-in-law saw that the third brother and his wife weren’t talking. She glanced at them curiously, opened the lunch box that was set aside, and saw it was full of sautéed pork slices and scrambled eggs with tomatoes!

She exclaimed in surprise and was about to ask Li Xiangdong where the lunch box came from when she was interrupted by the sound of an argument at the main gate.

Father Li was dragging Mother Li, and the two of them entered the courtyard bickering.

Mother Li shook off Father Li’s hand that was grabbing her arm and said angrily, “Why did you drag me back?”

Father Li snorted and walked towards the sink. “At this time, you’re not at home cooking, but still out there gossiping. If I didn’t drag you back, you wouldn’t even remember to come home after dark!”

“We have three daughters-in-law. Can’t we eat without me?”

Mother Li said unhappily, “Besides, what’s wrong with me coming home late? I’m happy that Dongzi has a good job. If I don’t say it, I’ll feel suffocated. I just want all the neighbors in the alley to know!”

Old Man Li and Old Lady Li heard the argument in the courtyard and hurried out of the room. They saw their son and daughter-in-law standing in the courtyard, each one louder than the other.

The old couple was just about to say a few words to persuade them, but after hearing what their daughter-in-law said and thinking about it, it made sense!

Their Dongzi was mischievous as a child and didn’t have a good reputation in the neighborhood. Now that he finally had a decent job, of course, they had to publicize it vigorously in the alley.

Not to say that every household had to know, but at least eight or nine out of ten households should know!

Old Man Li spoke up, “Daughter-in-law is right!”

Old Lady Li nodded in deep agreement. She looked at her son and said, “Why are you so meddlesome all day? Isn’t your wife doing this for our Dongzi’s good name? Let alone her not coming back to cook dinner, even if it gets dark outside, I’ll personally wait for her at the door with a flashlight.”

With someone backing her up, Mother Li’s momentum grew even stronger. “Listen, you listen carefully to what Mom and Dad are saying. You just don’t understand anything, and you thought I was embarrassing you outside!”

Father Li, hearing his parents and his wife all ganging up on him, vigorously rubbed his face a couple of times with the towel in his hand.

He threw the used towel onto the faucet and said irritably, “You’re all good-hearted! I’m the one with a donkey’s liver and lungs, alright!”