Liu Changhai asked again, "Should I discuss it with my wife?"
"yes!"
"This is nonsense, what would my wife know..."
Liu Changhai laughed, "She's just a housewife. She cooks, raises the kids, and does sewing and mending. What can you possibly discuss with her... Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
Before Liu Changhai could finish speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his ear as it was being twisted. The familiar technique, the familiar pain…
"Xing'er, what brings you here?"
Liu Changhai's voice suddenly became stern, "Wife, wife, with so many people here, give me some face..."
Li Xiangdong chuckled twice and said to Wang Xing'er, pointing at Liu Changhai's clothes, "Aunt Xing, my Uncle Changhai is too stubborn. You should use family discipline if necessary!"
Wang Xing'er was a slender, beautiful young woman with delicate eyebrows and big eyes. She let go of his hand and said with a smile, "If there's anything you want to discuss with me, just say it now!"
Li Xiangdong took a notebook out of his bag and handed it to her. "These are some sketches I drew on the road. See if you can cut them into clothes?"
Wang Xing'er took it and looked it over. "These are all the new clothing styles that are being implemented in big cities? They look a bit strange."
"How is it? Can you make it?"
"Okay! I'll go back and draw another one based on your design!"
Wang Xing'er readily agreed. Liu Changhai touched his ear, which had been pinched red by his wife, and said to Li Xiangdong with pride, "Is there any clothing that your Aunt Xing'er can't make?"
Li Xiangdong mocked him, "I didn't expect Uncle Changhai to have two faces, one in public and one in private!"
As she spoke, she mimicked Venus's famous gesture, extending her two index fingers, spreading them to the side, and tossing her head.
Liu Changhai chuckled and said, "You're not married, so you don't understand. Only a real man understands."
Li Xiangdong stopped arguing with him and yawned. "Uncle Changhai, keep an eye on the fabric and get it unloaded as soon as possible. We still need to deliver fish and shrimp to Chang'an tomorrow."
"Aunt Xing'er, let me know when the sketch is finished!"
...
Li Xiangdong carried his bag and went home first. He quickly stripped off all his clothes, took a hot shower, changed into clean and comfortable cotton clothes, and lay on the warm kang (a heated brick bed) waiting for his wet hair to dry.
He fell asleep after a few moments, dreaming of eating roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and fennel pancakes in Chang'an!
"The pancakes need to be cut into strips, with plenty of aged vinegar and chili peppers. Yes, that's it, it's delicious!"
Suddenly, laughter came from under the kang (a heated brick bed).
Li Xiangdong opened his eyes groggily and saw that Li Ping was leading Li Jiabao, while Li Yan and Zhang Huan were standing by the kang (a heated brick bed) laughing.
"Second brother, what smells so good?"
Li Yan climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked curiously.
He was talking in his sleep!
Having not seen them for more than twenty days, Li Xiangdong really missed the little ones.
He asked Li Jiabao to bring him his bag, which contained local specialties from Chang'an that he had brought back.
"This is De Mao Gong Crystal Cake."
Li Xiangdong took out a package of pastries. When he opened it, the pastries were golden yellow with snow-white edges and the fillings were crystal clear, like crystal.
"This is a stone-baked flatbread. It's made by baking the flatbread on hot stones."
The bread rolls are uneven, indeed marked by the imprints of pebbles.
Li Ping tried a piece; the cake contained sweet red bean paste and had a very crispy and sweet taste.
There was also a packet of peanut brittle and a packet of persimmon cakes.
The little ones ate a little and then stopped. These things had to be given to their parents first, and then the parents would distribute them.
It doesn't matter how much stuff you have; that's the rule in Li Jin's family.
Zhao Sufang was naturally overjoyed to see her beloved son return and busied herself preparing a delicious welcome-back feast for him.
Li Xiangdong looked around and asked curiously, "Is Liu Yuxiu not here?"
Zhao Sufang has been extremely bothered lately, but she can't get rid of her. Today, she was finally away, but her son brought it up again.
"Second brother, one of her cousins got married, and she took Douzai to attend the wedding banquet."
Li Ping answered Li Xiangdong's question on Zhao Sufang's behalf.
Li Xiangdong quietly asked his mother, "Has she seemed a little strange lately?"
Zhao Sufang frowned and thought carefully, "Aside from being shameless, liking to take advantage of others, and having a habit of sowing discord, he doesn't seem to have done anything else outrageous."
If I do the math, it's been five months since August 15th last year.
Even if Liu Yuxiu and Li Weijun are good at hiding, after such a long time, their true colors should have been revealed.
Zhao Sufang asked uncertainly, "Could it be that she just wants to curry favor with me and your father, and then benefit from it?"
"However, Wang Shuli has secretly followed Liu Dagai and the others to meet several times."
Li Xiangdong fell into deep thought. He had previously sent people to keep an eye on the Liu family, and he had met with Wang Shuli, Liu Dagai, and Liu Yuxiu several times in secret.
As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a thousand-year-old thief, but a thousand-year-old way to guard against thieves.
After discussing it with his parents, Li Xiangdong decided to see what kind of evil Liu Yuxiu was up to.
But she did nothing, which was completely unexpected by Li Xiangdong.
“Mother, if you don’t like her, then don’t put up with it.”
Zhao Sufang sighed, "I just feel sorry for Douzai. If the adults are unreliable, the child will be raised badly."
Li Xiangdong was also helpless; he couldn't very well snatch the child from the other parents and raise him himself!
The mother and son sighed to each other twice, and then Li Jin went home.
He had a very loud voice, full of high spirits, "Second brother, the sewing machine issue is settled! President Yu helped coordinate ten machines; he really went to great lengths."
"That's good. I'll get some tiger bone wine and send it to President Yu later!"
He didn't expect that ten sewing machines could be ordered in just over ten days. This efficiency deserves a bonus for President Yu!
Li Jin's eyes lit up immediately when he heard about tiger bone wine. He knew very well the benefits of wolf bone wine; his previous back and leg problems had improved after drinking it.
If there were tiger bone wine, wouldn't it be even more effective?
Tigers are not easy to get...
"Tigers and bears roam the mountains of the three northeastern provinces."
Li Jin understood. "What? You're going?"
Li Xiangdong nodded, "I'd like to go. The ginseng, red ginseng, bear skin, tiger skin, and stuff like that over there are all good things."
Not many years later, tigers and bears will become protected animals by the state, and they will no longer be able to be hunted openly.
The father and son were chatting enthusiastically when Liu Changhai arrived with Wang Xing'er.
"Xiangdong, I've drawn two sketches first, take a look!"
Li Xiangdong took it and glanced at it, but he couldn't understand it.
"Uncle Changhai, go to the warehouse and get a scrap of cloth. Let my Aunt Xing'er cut it up and try!"
Soon, the cloth arrived. Wang Xing'er first used chalk and a ruler to measure and draw, and then her scissors made a dazzling series of "snip-snip" cuts.
Finally, I picked it up and compared it to the real thing, and it actually worked!
Li Xiangdong was relieved. "Aunt Xing'er, the village's garment factory is all in your hands now!"
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