Chapter 80: Someone from the Old Li Family is Here to Pay the Electricity Bill!

“Dongzi, don’t go! If you’re not satisfied with the price, we can discuss it further.”

Uncle Sun quickly got up and went forward, pulling and dragging Li Xiangdong back to his stall. He offered his own stool for Li Xiangdong to sit on and even殷勤地 handed him a cigarette.

“Dongzi, you’re a kid with connections, able to trade crickets from Ningyang. Uncle Sun admires people like you…”

Li Xiangdong interrupted Uncle Sun’s compliments and said directly, “Uncle Sun, let’s get down to business. This isn’t some exclusive trade you’re running. Give me an honest price. If not, I’ll go ask at other stalls.”

Uncle Sun saw that he was a tough nut to crack. He slapped his thigh and said with a pained expression, “Alright then, Uncle Sun will take a small loss. I’ll give you 1.5 yuan per cricket.”

Li Xiangdong blew out a puff of smoke. “2 yuan. I’m bringing them back from over a thousand li away. Do you think this is child’s play?”

The wrinkles on Uncle Sun’s face all squeezed together. “Dongzi, your price is too harsh. You have to leave some soup for Uncle Sun to drink.”

Li Xiangdong smiled, “Don’t think you can fool me just because I’m young. You’re selling local Beijing crickets for 3 yuan. If not, I’m really going to find someone else.”

Seeing that he couldn’t fool Li Xiangdong, Uncle Sun chuckled and said, “Alright, then 2 yuan per cricket. But let’s agree first, I have to inspect the goods when they arrive. I won’t accept any subpar ones.”

“What are you thinking? If they weren’t good quality, why would I bother bringing them back? It wouldn’t even be worth the trouble.”

“Dongzi, how many can you bring back? When can we trade?”

“It’s hard to say the exact number, at least two or three hundred. As for the time… today is the 14th. I’ll come find you on the 19th. I can’t say for sure if it will be earlier or later, but I will definitely come on the 19th.”

With the trains these days, no one could guarantee they would be on time.

With the matter settled, Li Xiangdong didn’t plan to ask for prices at other stalls. This was the current market rate.

Any higher and no one would want them. After all, Beijing also had crickets, they just weren’t as famous as Ningyang’s.

Li Xiangdong stood up and said, “Uncle Sun, it’s getting late. I’ll be heading back.”

Uncle Sun looked up at the position of the sun. “Go on back. I should be packing up and heading home soon too. Dongzi, you must remember to come on the 19th. Uncle Sun will be waiting here for you. You can’t be playing a trick on me.”

Li Xiangdong had just taken two steps when he heard Uncle Sun’s words. He turned back and smiled, “Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m bored with nothing to do. Why would I come here to trick you for no reason?”

“But Uncle Sun, I don’t think ‘Cricket Sun’ sounds good. It’s like the cricket’s grandfather is coming to claim kinship. You should probably stop calling yourself that in the future.”

“You little rascal! Are you making fun of me?!”

Uncle Sun casually picked up the katydid cage he usually played with and threw it at Li Xiangdong, who was turning to run.

“Thank you for the katydid.”

Li Xiangdong precisely caught the token of affection Uncle Sun had thrown at him. He held the fist-sized bamboo katydid cage to his ear and listened. “A good insect.”

After exclaiming, he looked at Uncle Sun and said, “You have too much of a temper. Remember to drink more tea. I’m off now.”

He then turned and ran, shouting as he went, “Don’t worry, Uncle Sun, I’ll take good care of this katydid.”

Uncle Sun stood at his stall, watching Li Xiangdong run further and further away. He shouted in exasperation, “You little bastard! Give me back my katydid!”

Unfortunately, the distance was too great, and Li Xiangdong didn’t hear him.

He ran all the way to the bus stop. It was rush hour, and a long queue had formed in front of the bus stop sign.

The bus was crowded, no different from later generations. He had thought about getting a monthly pass, but then he remembered that he would be traveling to other places frequently with the train in the future, so a bus monthly pass wouldn’t be very useful. He dismissed the idea.

A monthly pass, if he didn’t take the bus at least once a day, he felt like he was losing out.

…

The main gate of the house was not closed.

Li Xiangdong stepped directly over the threshold and stood in front of the screen wall, poking his head into the courtyard to look. No one.

He could only hear the chirping and chattering of children from the main house. Among them, Li Xiaotao’s voice was the loudest, constantly shouting about how delicious it was, how fragrant it was.

He changed his voice and shouted, “Someone from the old Li family, come out and pay the water and electricity bill~”

The voices in the main house stopped for a moment, and then Mother Li came out. She walked towards the door and asked, “What water and electricity bill? Did you come to the wrong door? Didn’t our family already pay this month?”

As soon as her words fell, she saw her youngest son standing in front of the screen wall. She took two steps forward and slapped him on the back. “You little rascal, you’re never serious.”

Mother Li’s slap wasn’t hard, so Li Xiangdong didn’t dodge. “I was just teasing you. Did Ah Zhe bring the dough twists to our house?”

“He just left. He brought a full 5 large packages of dough twists. He said you bought them together in Tianjin. We all tried them, they’re delicious.”

“As long as they’re delicious. I’ll get something else for the family when I have the chance in the future.”

“You go inside first, I’ll go get you some food.”

Li Xiangdong and Mother Li chatted as they walked towards the main house.

“Third Uncle is back.”

“Third Uncle, the dough twists you bought are so delicious!”

“Dad, did you buy meat? I want to eat meat!”

“Aiya, Third Uncle, why is there a katydid chirping on you?”

“Katydid! Third Uncle, did you buy a katydid?”

As soon as Li Xiangdong entered the house, he was surrounded by the children. He smiled and dealt with them for a few sentences, then urged, “Go eat quickly. I’ll play with you after you finish eating.”

He sent the children away and first greeted his grandparents, his father, and his brothers and sisters-in-law who were eating at the large dining table.

Then he looked at Zhou Yuqin, who was feeding their daughter. “Wife, you’ve worked hard these past two days.”

In this era, couples rarely expressed their inner feelings to each other.

Hearing this suddenly, and in public, Zhou Yuqin blushed and stammered, “Not hard, what’s, what’s so hard.”

“Dad… hug…”

Li Xiaozhu, sitting in her mother’s arms, spoke up and relieved her mother’s embarrassment. She pouted, and tears welled up in her big eyes.

Li Xiangdong quickly reached out and picked up his daughter. “Did Xiao Qi miss daddy?”

“Miss…”

Li Xiaozhu hugged his neck, and tears began to fall one by one.

Seeing his daughter start to cry, Li Xiangdong’s heart ached. He quickly took the katydid cage out of his pocket and held it to her ear. “Listen, doesn’t it sound nice?”

“No… no… want.”

Li Xiaozhu pushed away the katydid cage by her ear and hugged his neck tightly, not letting go.

Li Xiangdong put the katydid cage on the table and patted his daughter’s little bottom. “Let’s not cry anymore, okay? Daddy will feed you, okay?”

Li Xiaozhu looked at him and murmured, “Okay…”

Li Xiangdong sat down, picked up the small iron spoon his daughter used for eating, and scooped up half a spoonful of rice. “Open your mouth, ah~”

Li Xiaozhu stood in his arms and opened her mouth, shouting along, “Ah~”