Li He stuffed money into the hunchback's mouth, and the hunchback was annoyed. "Do you pity me or what? Do you want me to be a beggar?"
He Zhaodi bumped Li He with her elbow. "Take it back."
Li He had no choice but to go to Chen Yongqiang's house to buy the goat that had just given birth.
Chen Yongqiang said, "Take the lamb with you."
Li He said, "What do I want the lamb for?"
"Without the old goat, how can the lamb live? It's only five or six days old, and I have to open its mouth to feed it. Take it, take it with you."
Li He had no choice but to take the whole family at once. "Help me take it to the hunchback. I can't hold it alone."
Fatty Chen stuffed the two lambs into Li He's arms. "If you carry them, the ewe will follow behind."
Although the two lambs were just born, they weighed seven or eight kilograms each. Li He felt uncomfortable carrying them, so he simply carried one in each arm.
He carried the two lambs and walked in front. He found that the ewe was indeed following behind him, bleating. Motherhood did not discriminate between humans and animals, and their feelings were equal.
In the countryside, chickens were the weakest of the domestic animals. Old hens held their chicks in a half-squat position, and they could protect more than a dozen chicks under their wings. Occasionally, when a dog ate the chicks, the old hens would stand up and fight with the big dog, even if they knew they were no match for it …
Li He walked in front and got farther and farther away from Fatty Chen's house. The ewe suddenly stopped and cried even louder. Seeing that Li He did not stop, she continued to follow him.
The hunchback did not refuse this time. He just said, "Keep the sheep with me for now. When the child can eat, let your mother take the sheep away."
Then he found a bowl and skillfully squeezed a bowl of goat's milk. He sniffed it. "There's no ram, no smell."
He Zhaodi helped boil it on the stove. After it cooled down, she poured it into a bottle and stuffed it into the child's mouth. The child did not reject it at all.
She smiled and said, "This child is easy to raise."
The hunchback heaved a sigh of relief and grinned. "That's good."
Liu Chuanqi came over and went into the house to look at the child. After a while, he came out and said to the hunchback, "Do you really want to adopt this child?"
The hunchback said unhappily, "Are you kidding me? If you want to give it to me, that's fine. Just see if there's a place that can accept it."
Liu Chuanqi pursed his lips. If it was a boy, it would be fine. Who would want to accept a loss-making product?
"What I mean is, if you enter the household registration, your five guarantees will be gone, and you will not meet the conditions of the five guarantees."
Li He replied, "It's not like he's going through the adoption procedures. What conflict does it have with the five guarantees?"
The adoption law hadn't come out yet. He felt that Liu Chuanqi was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Liu Chuanqi said angrily, "If he doesn't report the case to the police station, will he be registered?"
Li He thought about it and decided not to say anything.
The hunchback replied, "You can still farm. If you don't have the Five Guarantees, then so be it. Just register your household registration."
Liu Chuanqi said, "I'll give you a certificate. You can go to the police station yourself. Don't forget to pack two packs of cigarettes in your pocket. You don't need me to tell you anything, right?"
After Liu Chuanqi left, the hunchback said, "With the addition of a child, I won't be celebrating the New Year alone this year. It's very good."
Today was New Year's Eve. Li He couldn't stay there any longer, so he went home first.
Four and Five started fighting again. The reason was that Five had thrown Four's shoes onto the roof.
Four couldn't bear to wear the new shoes. She was saving them for the New Year. Five couldn't bear to see her happy, so after a few words, he threw the shoes on her.
After Four pushed Five to the ground, he ignored her. He stood on the chair and picked up the shoes with a long bamboo pole.
Li He was used to these two clowns, so he pretended not to see them.
Li Zhaoming was sitting at the door and chatting with Li Zhaokun.
Li He was so shocked that his jaw dropped. How could these two brothers pee in the same pot?
Li Zhaoming said to Li He, "I was just asking, where did you go?"
"I'm at the hunchback's place. Did Second Aunt cook at home?" Li He muttered to himself, "It's the New Year, why aren't they busy cooking at home? What are they doing here?"
"It's still cooking. I was thinking this morning that Dong won't be at home for the New Year, so there seemed to be fewer people. Then, I received a letter from him in the morning."
Li He saw that Li Zhaoming was holding a big red booklet in his hand and was all smiles, so he asked tentatively, "Good news?"
Li Zhaoming laughed and said, "It's not really a happy occasion. Dong got a third-class merit and even sent a letter home. He's showing off a lot."
"Dong is doing well in the army. Let me see the certificate." Li He didn't want to embarrass him, so he had to support him. Even if he wasn't interested, he had to show that he was.
"Let me see." Li Zhaoming instantly found a soulmate.
Li He opened the certificate and saw that it was a third-class merit for resisting the ice disaster. He said respectfully, "It'll help you get promoted in the future. Even if you don't stay in the army, your salary will still increase if you transfer to a local job."
"That's good. No matter what, just don't come back to farm in the future."
"Dong is smart, he'll definitely have a bright future." Li He really didn't know what Dong's life would be like in the future. It was completely different from his previous life. He understood why Li Zhaoming came over, but he was just showing off to Li Zhaokun. Did he really not understand his own brother?
Li Zhaokun didn't even care about his own son's future, so why would he care about his nephew's future? Li Zhaoming was just pretending to be blind!
Li He praised him a few more times, and Li Zhaoming left in satisfaction.
For the reunion dinner, Duan Mei was the chef. She wasn't much better than Wang Yulan. They all lived at home, so how could they be generous? However, there was still fish.
Even though Li He wasn't satisfied with the reunion dinner, he couldn't pick on his younger sister-in-law, so he could only say that it was good.
Wang Yulan said, "In the future, when Erhe gets married, we'll take turns to cook for both families."
As soon as she started eating, she started to think about the future. The more she thought about it, the happier she felt.
Li Zhaokun said, "You wish. You haven't even gotten into bed and you're already talking in your sleep."
"What do you mean I'm talking in my sleep? Don't you know how to talk during the New Year?" Wang Yulan's temper was rising quickly. Every time Li Zhaokun took a step back, she would take the opportunity to take a step forward. It was as if she had slowly figured out the trick.
Li Zhaokun only cared about drinking and didn't pay attention to her anymore.
On the first few days of the New Year, Li He visited a few of his relatives as usual and gave his grandmother 500 yuan. His grandmother's body was much stronger than before, and she was in good health.
On the fifth day of the New Year, he basically visited all of his relatives, but an unexpected relative came to visit.
This year, not only did his uncle visit their house for the first time, he even gave them two bottles of wine.
Even though his whole family visited Li He every year, other than his aunt, his uncle and his two cousins never came to their house. Naturally, Li He and his family didn't go either.
Li Zhaokun had a fight with his uncle at the dinner table in the past, and the two of them were completely annoyed. They didn't contact each other until they died, and they didn't even greet each other when they met.
It wasn't rare for a fight to happen at the dinner table. There were even cases of a son-in-law fighting with his father-in-law at the dinner table. What was even more rare was that the two of them got angry after drinking too much and got into a fight.
Therefore, it wasn't a big deal for a son-in-law to fight with his brother-in-law.
Li He didn't know who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Even though he knew that his biological father was unreasonable, he had no choice but to side with him.
His uncle worked at the county's winery. He was in his early forties and looked decent. When he saw Li Zhaokun, he asked warmly, "Big Brother, you didn't go out to play cards this year?"
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