Ever since she was a child, her parents had never liked her and she had always been resentful. Why couldn't she go to school? Why did she have to feed her brother? Why did she have to starve when her brother could eat his fill?
However, now that her children had their own families and were full of grandchildren, even though she would occasionally think about the past, she was still a soft-hearted person. Seeing her parents like this, she felt bad. She had the obligation to take care of them.
"I'll stay here." Four was worried about leaving Wang Yulan alone.
"I'm not going back either." Five agreed. She didn't want to go back to help Wang Yulan take care of her grandmother. She just couldn't stand the loneliness and boredom at home.
No matter how run-down the town was, no matter how shabby it was, one could still watch movies, walk around, and buy food.
Wang Xi hurriedly said, "Auntie, I'm fine here alone. Uncle will come and take my place later. You guys should go back."
"Go back with Erhe. We don't need you here. Tell your uncle not to come tonight." Wang Yulan was angry at the mention of her brother.
Seeing that his mother was determined, Li He didn't say anything else. He pulled Wang Xi and said, "Let's go. We'll go back and drink tonight."
He turned around and saw that Five was still standing there. He squinted at her and said, "What are you waiting for? Let's go back."
Five was about to retort but Four pushed her away. "Hurry up. There's something going on at home. Go and take care of the child."
Five had a way out of this embarrassing situation. She didn't want to make things difficult for Second Elder Li, so she obediently left the ward.
When they reached the bridge by the river, Xi Zi parted ways with Li He and his sister. He waved and said, "I'm going back to slaughter the sheep. I'll be there later."
Li He said, "Be careful on the way back."
The siblings didn't say a word to each other on the way back.
At five o 'clock in the evening, Xi Zi drove the tractor and delivered the mutton.
Li He asked Chen Yongqiang to come over and help clean up. Then, Li Hui, Li Long, and the rest of the men cooked. They did not ask the women to help. All the men knew the taste of men.
Lamb with scallions and braised lamb were their specialties. Sometimes, one had to admit that the best chefs were all men.
In the evening, the table was full again.
Wang Yulan stayed with her mother in the hospital until she was discharged from the hospital. It was already New Year's Eve.
"You're so busy that you don't even want your home anymore." Li Zhaokun expressed his dissatisfaction, blaming his wife for being such a busybody!
"When you become paralyzed, your three daughters will definitely leave you aside!" Wang Yulan said.
"How dare they!" Li Zhaokun said majestically.
At the side, Li He taught Li Lan how to write Spring Festival couplets. He taught him how to cut and fold the paper in great detail.
Li Lan didn't say a word. He did whatever his father told him to do. He wrote whatever he was told to write. After a while, he wrote a lot.
"Not bad." Li He didn't force his son to write well. After all, it wasn't easy for him to write horizontally and vertically at such a young age. He encouraged him, "You can write cursive next year."
"Okay." Li Lan was obviously happy to be praised by his father.
Wang Yulan went to the kitchen to check on the work. He found that the two daughters-in-law had arranged the house in an orderly manner. The kitchen had prepared all the necessary preparations. The food for the New Year's Eve dinner wasn't bad. The only thing that made him unhappy was that there were too many vegetables and too little meat.
A table full of vegetables would make others feel shabby.
Having meat on the table was a symbol of wealth.
According to the rules of previous years, Li Fucheng and his wife would stay at Li Zhaohui's place. However, this year was different. The old couple decided to stay at Li Zhaohui's place. In terms of family size, Li Zhaohui's family was the weakest. From Li Yan to Li Kuo, none of them were married.
Therefore, they had to join in the fun for Li Zhaohui's family. Otherwise, compared to Li Zhaohui's family, Li Zhaohui's family would seem too miserable.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Li He brought the children to visit as usual. As long as it was a relative from Li Zhaohui's village, he went to visit them.
When he got home, Da Zhuang, Chen Yongqiang, and the rest came to invite him to play mahjong. He did not reject them.
This time, they played mahjong at Chen Yongqiang's newly built piggery. The roof was made of steel beams and tarpaulins. There was a walkway in the middle and pigsty on both sides.
If they had not entered the piggery, they would have thought that it was a vegetable greenhouse.
As there were no piglets in the piggery yet, it was brand new. There were only some farming tools, fertilizer, and seeds inside.
Chen Yongqiang placed two big tables in the walkway and two charcoal basins in the pigsty. In an instant, the piggery was warm.
Li He laughed. "Don't cause gas poisoning. None of them will survive."
Chen Yongqiang pointed to a window on the top right. "It's ventilated."
"That's good." Li He felt hot and stuffy, so he took off his jacket.
"Do you think the stocks will rise?" Liu Four asked while they were playing mahjong.
Although Liu Four was not facing Li He and did not mention Li He's name, everyone looked at Li He. The noisy mahjong table next door quietened down.
"Why are you looking at me?" Li He did not know what to do. "I'm not the God of Stocks. I don't even invest in stocks."
"Erhe, you're the best here. If I don't ask you, who else would I ask?" Chen Yongqiang said bluntly.
"Buy. Buy as you see fit." Li He remembered that it was a bull market. However, he could not remember when it ended. Hence, he added, "But let me be frank. I can't guarantee that the stocks will rise. I'm just adding my opinion based on the future market.
Even if you have a hundred yuan, you can only buy ten yuan. Otherwise, you'll be crying if you lose money. "
Liu Four chuckled. "I'm relieved to hear that."
"Take it easy, you guys." It was impossible to persuade them not to invest in stocks. Li He could not be bothered to say more.
The night ended with him losing two thousand yuan.
When he got home, it was already four in the morning. His family was already up and busy. It was not good for him to continue sleeping. He could only help fetch water from the well under He Fang's grumbling.
He Fang said, "Do you think you're still a young man? Can your body take it?"
"What are you talking about?" Li He poured a bucket of water into the vat. As he yawned, he forced himself to say, "I'm not seventy or eighty years old."
Although he was stubborn, after breakfast, it was not like that. He just washed his feet, locked the door, and laid down on the bed. He did not respond to anyone who called him.
He slept all the way until noon.
When he woke up, his eyes were a little blurry. He saw his daughter running around. "Why are you running around? Be careful not to fall."
"Daddy, I'm not running." Li Yi felt wronged.
Li He did not say anything. He fetched a bucket of warm water from the well and washed his face. Only then did he feel better.
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