"Sister Li, are the streets of the city really full of cars?"
"Do you city people eat meat every meal?"
Do city dwellers really defecate in their rooms while they sleep?
Grandma Yu's grandson, Hu Zi, kept asking Li Xiyue questions.
Li Xiyue was both amused and exasperated, and was about to reply.
Just then, Tiger heard the noise and immediately ran to the door, shouting, "Dad, you're back!"
Li Xiyue looked over and saw that it was Captain Xu Guoqiang. Only then did she realize that Grandma Yu was actually the captain's mother. She quickly stood up and said, "Captain."
Xu Guoqiang was unaware that his mother had invited the educated youth to their home for dinner. He assumed she was asking him for a reward, so he said, "Don't worry, the team committee will reward you for saving the ox. Go back and wait."
Li Xiyue felt a little embarrassed; she hadn't come to ask for a reward.
"Go back what?" Just then, Grandma Yu came out carrying the dishes. Hearing her son's words, she said angrily, "Yueyue is my guest. If you dare to kick her out, I'll never forgive you."
Xu Guoqiang remembered that his mother had mentioned Li Xiyue as her benefactor, and he slapped his forehead, "Li Zhiqing, please sit down."
"Thank you, Captain." Li Xiyue sat down and asked, "How are the oxen?"
Xu Guoqiang said, "It's nothing serious. Thanks to your timely treatment, Li Zhiqing, I really want to thank you this time. I will commend you in front of everyone in the production team at the morning meeting tomorrow."
"Thank you, Captain."
I don't know why, but the villagers here have a strong aversion and disgust towards educated youth. This time, she saved the oxen, which may improve everyone's view of educated youth.
"Hello, Captain. Yueyue and I are sorry to bother you." Huang Xinrui came out of the kitchen with a bowl of food and said with a smile.
Xu Guoqiang frowned, glanced at her, and nodded in response.
Could it be that all the educated youth have come?
Following behind Huang Xinrui, Sun Xia saw through her husband's thoughts and said with a smile, "Mother invited Li Zhiqing and Huang Zhiqing to our house for dinner. Guoqiang, Li Zhiqing saved Mother's life on the train."
Xu Guoqiang was relieved; it was good that not everyone had come. He glanced at Li Xiyue, who had a humble expression, and went inside to get a bottle of wine.
The dishes were all ready, and everyone sat down at the table.
"Uncle, hug me." A little girl of two or three years old, with two little pigtails, stretched out her little hands to Hu Zi, wanting a hug.
Tiger lifted her onto the stool, saying, "Sit tight, don't fall off."
Sun Xia quickly sat down next to her granddaughter and helped her up.
Xu Guoqiang has two sons. His eldest son, Xu Dalong, is already twenty years old, married, and has a daughter, Xu Lanlan, who is being cared for by Sun Xia.
Both he and his wife work at the supply and marketing cooperative, where they usually eat and live, only returning home on holidays.
The youngest son, Xu Xiaohu, is only twelve years old. After graduating from elementary school, he refused to continue his studies and spent his days causing trouble with a group of children in the village.
The family of five, plus Li Xiyue and Huang Xinrui, a total of seven people, sat around the table.
The meal was plentiful, with fish, meat, vegetables, soup, rice, and steamed buns.
Xu Guoqiang glanced at the food on the table and knew that his mother really valued Li Xiyue. He then opened the wine he had been saving and was reluctant to drink.
"Come on, Li Zhiqing, you saved my mother's life and also saved the production team's oxen. As your son and the team leader, I'd like to toast you."
Li Xiyue humbly replied, "Captain, you flatter me. I know medicine, and it is my duty to treat the sick and save lives. As for the oxen, I am a member of the production team, and it is only right that I contribute to the production team."
Xu Guoqiang was pleased with her words, filled her glass to the brim, and then went to pour one for Huang Xinrui.
"Captain, I don't drink. I didn't save anyone or do anything meritorious. I just came here with Yueyue to freeload. You don't need to worry about me. Just thank Yueyue." Huang Xinrui quickly refused.
Her words made everyone laugh.
Grandma Yu said, "Guoqiang, please thank Yueyue for me. If it weren't for her on the train, you wouldn't have a mother."
"Mom, who told you to run around like that?" Xu Guoqiang got angry as soon as he mentioned it.
Grandma Yu said, "Who told you not to let me see Cuiyu?"
Cuiyu is her daughter, who married and moved to Ontario. She gave birth to her third child before the Lunar New Year, but the baby was too young to come back for the holiday. She missed her daughter and wanted to visit her, but her son wouldn't allow it, so she went secretly.
"Did I say you couldn't go? I said I'd go with you when I'm less busy, why are you in such a hurry?"
"When are you ever not busy? Who knows how long we'll have to wait?"
Seeing her mother-in-law and husband arguing, Sun Xia quickly advised, "Guoqiang, we have guests here, say less." Turning to her mother-in-law, she said, "Mom, Guoqiang is the brigade leader, and he oversees five production teams. Of course he's busy, you have to be more understanding of him."
“Grandma, my dad was so worried when you left, he almost called the police.” Tiger also chimed in, trying to comfort her.
"You brat, how dare you say that? Did you steal the letter of introduction from your grandma?" Xu Guoqiang raised his hand and slapped his son.
Tiger covered his head and explained, "I saw Grandma was so anxious, I was afraid she'd get sick from worry..."
"You guys..." Xu Guoqiang instantly lost his temper; the old and the young were all driving him crazy.
The old man, who is quite old, dares to go out alone, and the young man dares to steal a letter of introduction. If this gets out, how will he, as the captain, fare?
"Guoqiang, there are still guests here!" Sun Xia didn't expect her husband to say this in front of outsiders, and quickly winked at him.
Xu Guoqiang then realized he had said the wrong thing and felt somewhat remorseful.
Li Xiyue looked bewildered. "I was so focused on eating and drinking that I didn't hear anything."
Huang Xinrui shoveled a mouthful of rice into her mouth and said, "What are you talking about? The rice smells so good, I can't care about anything else."
"Don't worry, Yueyue and Xinrui aren't those shallow girls... Alright, that's enough, let's eat." Grandma Yu waved her hand.
She knew her son had it tough, managing such a large production team all by himself, and that she herself had indeed done something wrong, so she stopped pressing the issue.
Xu Guoqiang took a deep breath, raised his glass, and said, "Li Zhiqing, I'd like to toast you."
Li Xiyue picked up her empty wine glass, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Sun Xia quickly refilled her glass, saying, "I didn't expect Li Zhiqing to have such a high alcohol tolerance."
Li Xiyue said with a smile, "I drank a lot of medicinal wine with my grandfather when I was a child, and that's how I developed this skill."
"I'll drink this, you can drink as you like." Xu Guoqiang tilted his head back and downed the wine in one gulp, showing great generosity.
After several rounds of drinks and halfway through the meal, the room was bustling with activity when a man rushed in, saying, "Captain, the deputy captain wants me to call you back to the office. It's important."
Xu Guoqiang's eyelids twitched, and he roared, "What is it now? Can't you just shut up for once? It's always this or that. Do we even want to get production going? Do we even want to win the rotating red flag?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
