novelraw Chapter 325 - 322: A Negative Example
Chapter 325 - 322: A Negative Example
Seeing that the kids weren’t the least bit scared, Li Xiangyang squatted down to their level. "Your uncle knows someone who was playing with firecrackers when he was little and got his eye blown out," he said. "His left eyeball was completely gone."
As he spoke, he pulled down one of his eyelids, revealing the red inner lining. "See? Isn’t that scary?"
The children looked and were indeed frightened. "We won’t throw snap-pops at people anymore."
Li Xiangyang ruffled Lin Jun’s hair. "You’re all good kids. When we go to East Market, I’ll take you to see a movie."
The children’s eyes lit up as they looked at him. Lin Jun raised his hand. "Uncle, I want to see *Tunnel War*!"
Li Xiangyang smiled and nodded. "Alright, we’ll see *Tunnel War*."
The kids jumped for joy. "Yay! We’re going to see *Tunnel War*!"
Lin Jun and Lin Gang waved and ran toward the bicycle, with Lin Qing pulling Little Douzi along in pursuit.
Lin Lan held Lin Hong’s hand, a wide smile on her face as she watched Lin Jun help Little Douzi onto the bike’s rear rack. Then Lin Jun straddled the top tube and started to wobble forward.
Lin Guozhu said quietly to Lin Lan, "That grandson of Aunt Lin’s has been raised all wrong. When he comes to our house to watch TV, his eyes are darting everywhere. He can’t sit still for a second."
Lin Lan didn’t know Aunt Lin’s grandsons, but she laughed when she remembered the boy’s nickname. Looking at Lin Hong, she asked, "Why do you all call him ’Third Slob’?"
Lin Hong giggled. "His older brother and sister call him that, so we just copy them."
Lin Guozhu asked, "Do you guys fight with them often?"
Lin Hong made a face. "We never play with them. He’s the worst. He spits at us whenever he sees us."
The three adults laughed, each one reminded of their own childhood quarrels with other kids.
When they got home, Little Douzi, Lin Jun, and the other children were already gathered around a small table, each holding a cured pork rib and gnawing away with greasy mouths. The large, square dining table was laden with meat dishes.
Chicken stewed with mushrooms, longsnout catfish boiled with pickled greens, yellow catfish braised in soy sauce, carp with broad bean paste... The air was thick with their rich aromas.
Wu Shufen placed the copper kettle of hawthorn tea next to the brazier and said to the children, "Little Hong, after you’ve eaten, make sure your little brother drinks some hawthorn tea. It’ll help with his digestion."
Lin Hong nodded. "Got it, Grandma."
"Come and sit down, dear."
Lin Changyou called out, then sat with Wu Shufen at the head of the table. He looked on cheerfully at his sons and daughters-in-law, his daughter and son-in-law, and all his grandchildren at the small side table.
’Life for the family is getting better and better,’ he thought. ’A table this full of meat... we’re eating better than the landlords of the old days.’
’Once Little Lan and Xiangyang have their wedding feast and a child or two, and once my third son starts his own family and my fourth son comes home from the service and gets married... as long as the whole family is safe and sound, I’ll be content.’
Wu Shufen looked lovingly at Li Xiangyang. "Xiangyang, help yourself to whatever you like. Don’t stand on ceremony."
Li Xiangyang smiled and nodded. "You all eat, too."
Lin Changyou had Lin Guozhu fill everyone’s glasses, then raised his own. "As the old saying goes, ’A harmonious family prospers in all things.’ In the future, no matter what, you must all get along and talk things over. This family will only continue to flourish if you are all of one mind."
He was a little worried that once they started making more money, the brothers would not be as close as they were now.
"We know," everyone replied in unison.
With a constant supply of meat dishes over the New Year, the children weren’t as ravenous as usual. After gnawing on a couple of ribs and a few pieces of cured chicken, they went off to play.
Little Douzi and Lin Jun huddled together to play Chinese checkers, while Lin Gang and Lin Hong looked at the picture books Little Douzi had brought.
Lin Qing had the biggest craving for sweet rice wine. He sidled up to Zhao Xiaohui. "Mom, can I have a sip of sweet rice wine?"
"Just one sip?" Zhao Xiaohui eyed him skeptically.
Lin Qing nodded. "Yep! Just one."
Lin Guodong shot him a glare. "Don’t you dare—"
"Guodong," Lin Changyou cut him off. "It’s the New Year. Let him have a tiny sip."
Lin Qing shot Lin Guodong a triumphant look. "Grandpa said I can have a little sip."
Seeing that Lin Changyou, who rarely spoiled the children, had spoken, Lin Guodong shot his son a look, mouthing a silent threat. ’Just one sip. Otherwise, you’re in for it when we get home!’
Lin Qing scrambled to hide behind Lin Changyou. "Grandpa, Dad said he’s going to punish me!"
Lin Changyou patted him on the back. "Go on. If you only take one sip, he won’t dare."
Lin Qing nodded and went over to Zhao Xiaohui.
Zhao Xiaohui held the bowl to his lips. "Just one sip, you hear? Drink too much and your brain will get fuzzy, and you’ll get a big fat zero on your next exam."
"I would never get a zero." Lin Qing took the bowl with both hands, took a huge gulp, and licked his lips, wanting more. "When I grow up, I’m going to brew a whole vat of sweet rice wine and drink it whenever I want!"
Lin Changyou chuckled and nodded. "Good idea. When you’re all grown up and earning money, you can buy a whole vat of glutinous rice and brew all the sweet rice wine you want."
Wu Shufen looked at Lin Lan with a smile. "Little Lan, do you remember you used to say you wanted to brew a vat of sweet rice wine to sip on?"
Of all the children in the family, Lin Qing and Little Lan were the ones with the biggest sweet tooth. Their eyes would be glued to anything sugary.
Lin Lan smiled and shook her head. "I don’t remember that."
Lin Guodong grinned at Li Xiangyang. "Xiangyang, when Little Lan was a kid, she poured a packet of saccharin Mom had bought into the well. She wanted to make the well water sweet so she could drink sweet water all day long."
"That’s not a bad idea!" Li Xiangyang said, looking at Lin Lan with a laugh.
Lin Lan shot him a playful glare. "I wasn’t that silly! My brother is just making things up."
Wu Shufen laughed. "Your brother isn’t making it up. When we got home, you were still drawing water from the well. You had poured the entire packet of saccharin in."
Everyone burst into laughter.
The meal stretched on for three or four hours, with dishes being reheated as they cooled and then cooling again. They only started clearing the table when Gou Haiyan and another young woman appeared at the door, calling for Lin Lan.
Lin Changyou, Li Xiangyang, and the other men went out back to the pigsty, while Lin Lan smiled and politely welcomed the two women into the main hall.
Lin Li looked at Lin Lan and smiled. "Little Lan, look at you. You’ve changed so much we hardly recognize you."
Lin Lan laughed as well. "Of course I’ve changed. My kid is already old enough to run errands."
Wu Shufen placed peanuts, oranges, and hawthorn tea on a low stool, greeting the two women with a wide smile. "Haiyan, Lin Li, please, make yourselves at home!"
Lin Li was a cousin from her father’s side of the family. Back when they were girls, she, Gou Haiyan, and Lin Lan had been the best of friends.
Gou Haiyan had become a teacher and married a teacher. As a dual-income couple, they lived a comfortable life. It was said that Haiyan had contributed a great deal of money toward the Gou family’s new house.
Lin Li had married into the family of the New Prosperity Team’s leader; her husband was also the militia platoon leader, and they had a son and a daughter.
People in the production team loved to compare the three of them. The other two were held up as role models for families with daughters, paragons of how to raise a young woman.
’And my Lin Lan,’ Wu Shufen thought, ’was the cautionary tale.’
Wu Shufen remembered how Gou Haiyan’s and Lin Li’s mothers used to ask her how "her Little Lan" was doing every time they met.
’They probably never dreamed that the Little Lan they looked down upon would one day make such a spectacular comeback.’
Lin Li smiled. "Auntie, we’re not strangers. You don’t have to fuss over us."
Gou Haiyan added, "That’s right. It feels like years have passed in the blink of an eye since I last saw Little Lan. I’m so glad we caught her today. I still remember how we used to come over to your house to roast sweet potatoes during the New Year."