This Huaiguo store is indeed very large. The main entrance is on Huaihai Road, but the back entrance is on Changle Road. The entire store covers an area of more than 1,000 square meters.
As you exit through the back gate of Changle Road, you'll find sheds erected on both sides of the street, filled with various furniture made of mahogany and rosewood.
Li Xiangdong was so tempted, he wished he could have them all!
At this moment, he truly regretted not having a space as vast as Mount Sumeru.
Li Ping looked left and right, and whispered to his second brother, "These dilapidated pieces of furniture are really expensive!"
Li Xiangdong laughed, "You haven't seen when they're really expensive!"
By the 1990s, the price of rosewood furniture began to rise slowly, reaching a peak in 2010, when a single pair of huanghuali dragon-patterned armchairs sold for a high price of 11.5 million RMB!
Huanghuali wood armchair with dragon pattern
If Li Xiangdong buys these rosewood furniture pieces now, he can make a huge profit of several hundred times his initial investment in twenty or thirty years without lifting a finger!
Everyone probably knows the famous Queen of Sandalwood. How did she make her fortune?
Rumor has it that she somehow acquired a large quantity of mahogany furniture, then went to Hong Kong, returned and established a real estate company, suddenly becoming rich!
However, it was still 1976, so Li Xiangdong wasn't in a hurry. He would just come back, take out his tens of thousands of yuan in savings, and make a big purchase.
Li Xiangdong was overjoyed just thinking about it; he finally understood why women love to shop!
After wandering around for a while, it got late. Li Xiangdong didn't want to sleep on the floor at Feng Yucai's grandmother's house anymore, so he and Li Ping booked a room at a nearby hotel.
Feng Yucai decided to go back and stay with his grandmother for the night, and then return to Huichuan County with the Li siblings the next day.
To express his gratitude to Grandma Feng for her help, Li Xiangdong bought some cloud cakes and egg yolk pastries and went to the Feng family home with Feng Yucai.
As I went in, I ran into Aunt Feng, who still had that same aloof air about her. "Where did this scoundrel come from? Ugh, he stinks!"
If Li Xiangdong were to tolerate being insulted like that to his face, he'd become a Ninja Turtle. "Brother Feng, how come your Tibetan Mastiff can speak human language?"
Feng Yucai stammered, his former flirtatious manner gone, "Tibetan...Tibetan Mastiff?"
Li Xiangdong looked intently at Aunt Feng across from him and said, "Isn't this a Tibetan Mastiff? It's black and strong, and the fur on its head is curly."
Aunt Feng was furious. She touched her newly permed hair. She hated being called dark, fat and short more than anything else in her life!
This little scoundrel actually called her a dog!
"Nong, nong, nong diezha chi lao..."
Li Xiangdong apologized exaggeratedly, "Oh dear, it's a person! Brother Feng, why didn't you remind me! My eyesight is terrible, I mistook a living person for a big dog. I'm so sorry!"
Seeing his aunt's face turn red with anger, Feng Yucai couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
It was dinnertime, and everyone was at home. Hearing the commotion at the Feng family's house, they all came out to see what was going on.
Aunt Feng had just suffered a setback, but she didn't want the neighbors to laugh at her, so with a flushed face, she stormed into the inner room and slammed the door shut!
Grandma Feng, both amused and exasperated, ushered the two into the house. Li Xiangdong felt a little embarrassed; he had finished his commotion and was about to leave, but he didn't want to cause any trouble for Grandma Feng.
Grandma Feng sighed, "A-Fen just has a bad temper, but she's not a bad person. Don't worry about her."
After chatting for a couple more minutes, Li Xiangdong left the snacks behind and secretly slipped thirty yuan under the snack box.
......
When Li Xiangdong and Li Ping returned to Lijiapo on October 25th, three days before Li Weijun and Liu Yuxiu's wedding.
The eldest brother's new house is at the entrance of the village, a bit far from Li Jin's house.
When I passed by, I saw people coming and going from the new house, and the road in front of the house was clean.
Along the way, almost every house had the character "囍" (double happiness) pasted on its front door, and Li Jin's house even had two large "double happiness" characters.
Single Happiness Character
Double Happiness Character
In Huichuan County, it is a tradition that when one family holds a happy event, such as a wedding or a marriage, other relatives will also put up the character "囍" (double happiness), but the size of the character will be adjusted according to the closeness of the relationship.
For example, when Li Xiangdong gets married, his new home and Li Jin's home will put up large double happiness characters, while Li Qingshan's home and Li Yuan's home will put up single happiness characters of the same size. However, Li Kang's home and Li Tang's home can only put up single happiness characters one size smaller.
For young people, pasting up the "double happiness" character is a fun activity. First, they make a pot of paste, then they take a small brush with paste on it and smear it in a cross shape on the back of the "double happiness" character, and then "slap" it onto the front door.
As more and more red paper was pasted on, it became soaked with the paste, staining everyone's palms red and sticky. People would then laugh and smear it on each other's faces.
Li Xiangchao, along with Li Xiangjie and five or six other boys, were going from house to house putting up "double happiness" characters.
Seeing Li Xiangdong return with his large and small bags, Li Xiangjie cheered and ran towards Li Xiangdong, stretching out his hands and wiping Li Xiangdong's face red with lightning speed.
Li Xiangdong: ......
My hands are so itchy, I feel like hitting someone, what should I do?
......
Li Weijun's home.
The house was spotless, inside and out. The brand-new pots, pans, furniture, and bedding, along with the red curtain embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water and the double happiness character on the door, all indicated that the house was about to welcome a new couple.
Li Wanshi sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), directing Li Tang's wife Hao Yulan and Li Qing's wife Wang Xiuhong to paste up the New Year picture of a chubby boy.
New Year pictures
Sitting under the kang (heated brick bed) were Zhao Sufang, Qi Chunlan (Li Xiangchao's widowed mother), Liu Shuping (Li Kang's wife), Qi Yuexian (Li Yuan's wife), and Chunhua (Li Song's wife).
These are all Li Jin's relatives; they came to help tidy up the new house.
Since taking Dr. Gu's medicine, Qi Yuexian's spirits have greatly improved, and she hasn't had a relapse recently.
"Sister-in-law, let's put up the paper-cut window decorations now."
Feeling grateful to her elder brother and sister-in-law, Qi Yuexian especially wanted to contribute to her nephew's wedding.
Liu Shuping also said, "Yes, sister-in-law, it's getting dark, and the couplets and window decorations haven't been put up yet! Let's not just sit here eating melon seeds and chatting idly!"
This person is straightforward, with a clear, fast-paced voice, and speaks with a mix of laughter and conversation.
Hao Yulan and Wang Xiuhong were being bossed around by Li Wanshi. They kept getting things crooked or uneven. After exchanging a glance, Wang Xiuhong said, "Sister-in-law, you two hurry up and stick them on. We need to rest properly later. Our arms are so tired!"
Zhao Sufang was in a good mood, holding a stack of paper-cut window decorations that everyone had made with red paper. "Alright, alright, you can sit and watch us do it!"
Several women laughed heartily at her antics.
Feeling annoyed at being left out, Li Wanshi saw Qi Yuexian pick up a paper-cut window decoration and immediately let out a loud "Ouch!"
Qi Yuexian was so frightened that she dropped the paper-cut window decoration in her hand to the ground.
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