Chapter 59

"Huh, who’s here?"

Li Dong was just about to activate the return to 2018 when he heard the sound of a bicycle bell. After all, there wasn’t a single bicycle in the entire Han Village.

"Who’s visiting?"

Li Dong muttered, unable to resist peeking out. Huh, it seems they’re heading to his house.

"Better go back and see what’s up."

Xiaojuan was just a child, and Li Dong was worried she wouldn’t be able to handle it. He left the things where they were, glanced around, and saw no one in the dark. He carefully emerged from the woods.

"Xiaojuan, is your dad not home?"

As Li Dong stepped into the courtyard, he heard someone speaking. The voice was so familiar, it must be an acquaintance.

"Gaowei Min?" He slapped his forehead, remembering, and quickened his steps. Sure enough, it was Gaowei Min.

"Da Da?"

Xiaojuan was surprised to see Li Dong return. Hadn’t he left a while ago? How did he come back so soon?

"Quick, get some water for Uncle Weimin."

Li Dong gave Xiaojuan a look and greeted Gaowei Min with a smile.

"Weimin, why are you here?"

Gaowei Min took a few sips of the tea and pulled out an invitation, handing it to Li Dong. This was quite rare; in the countryside, a simple notice was often enough for a wedding, no need for an invitation.

"Since the wedding is tomorrow, I came to deliver the invitation."

"Oh, you’re too polite."

Li Dong laughed. "A simple notice would have been fine."

"How could I? You’ve done so much for me." Gaowei Min laughed. Originally, getting the watches wasn’t impossible, but it might have been too late. Now, thanks to Li Dong, he had a pair of matching watches for the couple.

Not to mention, Li Dong had also helped get a beautiful mosquito net. It wasn’t just a small thing; a relative from the city who came to see it in the afternoon said it was very nice and asked where it was bought, wanting to get one too. When they heard it was from Shanghai, they marveled at how beautiful it was.

This made Gaomin very happy, and he said he would thank Li Dong properly later. Gaowei Min also thought it was right; with such a big favor, he had specially asked someone to write the invitation and delivered it in person.

"It’s just a small favor."

"Is everything at home almost ready? If you need any help, just let me know."

Li Dong still needed Gaowei Min to help him get bricks and cement.

"Everything’s almost ready."

"That’s good."

"By the way, do you have enough bicycles? I have a relative with a new one, I’ll ask him."

"Really?"

Bicycles were never too many. In Gaowei Min’s house, including those borrowed from relatives, there were only three or four, mostly half-used.

"Of course. How about this, I’ll ride over early tomorrow."

"That’s great."

Gaowei Min didn’t expect this trip to be so worthwhile. After thanking Li Dong, he didn’t stay long, as he had a lot to do at home and needed to pick up the bride early the next day.

"I’ll see you out."

"No need, you go back."

After seeing Gaowei Min off, Li Dong thought he should definitely get a bicycle. In this era, it was the most convenient mode of transportation.

"Xiaojuan, make sure to lock the door. Dad’s leaving."

Xiaojuan pouted, thinking Da Da was boasting again. How could he get a bicycle? Even the team leader didn’t have one, and Uncle Weihan couldn’t afford one even when he was in junior high.

Li Dong didn’t know Xiaojuan’s thoughts. He closed the courtyard gate, left the village, and circled back to the small woods. Everything was still there.

"Activate."

The screen numbers flashed, and Li Dong felt a darkness before his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back in the old house he had bought in Han Village.

156:25:54

250

1978.9.19

"Sure enough, increasing the sun value by one hundred increases the carrying weight by eighty-five."

Li Dong wanted to study further, but the wild chickens and rabbits were restless, while the deer was quieter, though it seemed bolder and even rubbed against Li Dong’s leg.

"Ouch, that hurts." The little thing must have done it on purpose, rubbing against Li Dong’s wound.

"Let’s tidy up the things first."

It had only been a couple of hours since Li Dong left, and it was still early.

After sorting through the wild chickens and rabbits, none of them had awakened intelligence. The softshell turtle was the same. This saved Li Dong some trouble. He put the wild chickens and rabbits in the cage, the softshell turtle and eel in the fish pond, and the bottles of liquor and other small items from the supply cooperative on the large glass cabinet and shelves.

It really filled up a lot. A few more trips, and his small supply cooperative would be complete.

He hung up a few supply cooperative promotional posters, and it really looked the part.

"Let’s freeze the pig stomachs."

He put the wild boar meat in the refrigeration box. This time, he brought a lot of mountain goods. Fortunately, he had plenty of jars from his farm, so he packed them in jars and placed them on the shelves. The more he looked, the more he thought buying the jars was a good idea.

"Really nice."

After admiring it, Li Dong remembered the clams. He had thrown them in the water tank casually, planning to deal with them later. Li Dong didn’t notice, but the clams seemed a bit different, with patterns forming a character.

But Li Dong didn’t notice. After tidying up, he put the chair he had carried over in the living room.

"Clean it up later."

After a busy session, he took a shower. He couldn’t take a bath because of the wound on his leg.

"Huh, the wound seems much smaller." Although it still hurt, it wasn’t as red and swollen. Li Dong wondered if the wound would heal on its own if he made a few more trips.

Suppressing his thoughts, Li Dong started organizing the stamps into the album. There were over a hundred, including some from 1977 and 1976, which Li Feng hadn’t noticed when buying them.

"Go to the hospital early tomorrow."

Although the wound on his leg had improved, it still needed to be treated.

Thinking of Uncle Guoqiang, Li Dong shuddered. He was lucky to have asked, or a penicillin injection might have caused serious problems.

"Country doctors are too scary."

"Maybe I should get some medical books for Uncle Guoqiang to read?"

The villagers in Han Village were nice, and Li Dong didn’t want a tragedy like being sent to the hospital by penicillin. "I’ll check if there are any medical books from that era on Taobao."

"Let’s do it."

Li Dong took out his phone. He still needed to buy a bicycle. The Forever brand was good, a retro bicycle with a carrying capacity of about fifty pounds and a soft seat for passengers, plus a light.

It cost about 600 yuan, not cheap but not too expensive. Li Dong ordered one. After searching for a while, he found it hard to find medical books from forty years ago.

"If that doesn’t work, I’ll buy some modern books and copy them."

Li Feng muttered and bought a few books on planting, paying for them.

"The seller is quite business-savvy, giving me a free collection of essays."

Li Dong muttered and went to bed, planning to get up early to celebrate his daughter’s birthday.

The next morning, Li Dong was woken by the deer licking his face. He was covered in saliva, and he couldn’t help but laugh and cry.

"Good girl, I’ll cut some grass for you later."

He opened the door, and the deer ran out to the corner of the yard. Li Dong looked. "Peeing or pooping?"

"So smart?"

Li Dong was surprised. The deer was smart, but not this smart. The wild boy was also smart but often pooped in the yard, making Li Dong threaten to stew him a few times.

"Really smart."

Li Dong had planned to release the deer back into the wild, but now he changed his mind. "A clean deer, not bad to keep."

"Xiaohua."

Li Dong named the deer. "Xiaohua, how nice, I’m really good at naming things, simple and nice." The deer seemed to like the name, rubbing against Li Feng.

"Hey."

The urine smell, it used his pants as toilet paper. "Xiaohua, you just got a nice name, and you’re doing this to me?"

"Wait, you’ll be a bachelor for life."

Li Dong decided to get back at Xiaohua for using his pants as toilet paper, deciding not to find her a mate. "Single, always single, see how you like that."

"Ah."

He had to change his pants. Li Dong changed into a new set of clothes, tidied up, and opened his phone. Besides a message from his daughter, Gaojia had sent a few photos, but no other messages.

He casually opened his Moments, but there was nothing useful.

Just as he was about to close WeChat, a message notification came.

It was from Liu Mingdong, the section chief who had added Li Dong’s WeChat on his second visit.

Liu Mingdong asked if Li Dong was free the next day, planning to bring a few friends over to play. He asked Li Feng to call him back.

"Mr. Li, I’ll bring a few friends over tomorrow. Can you prepare lunch for us?"

"Sure, Mr. Liu, when will you arrive, and how many people?"

This was a good opportunity. Liu Mingdong had a wide network. Thinking of how Boss Tian, a big boss, always flattered him, these friends couldn’t be ordinary people.

"Four or five people."

Liu Mingdong laughed. "You arrange it. Stew a softshell turtle, do you have any eels?"

"Yes, Mr. Liu. Yesterday, I went into the mountains and a villager had just caught a few wild boars. I’ll prepare some wild boar meat and a wild boar pot for you." Li Feng smiled, wild boar meat was a good thing.

"That’s great. Wild boar meat is a delicacy."

Liu Mingdong was delighted. Wild boar meat, especially from the mountains, was rare. Usually, it was hard to get genuine wild boar meat outside, mostly farmed.

Wild boar, wild softshell turtle, and wild eels, plus some mountain goods, would be enough for four or five people. Li Dong casually asked if they needed any alcohol.

"We’ll bring our own." They were not ordinary people, and they would bring at least Maotai or Wuliangye.

"Alright."

Li Dong hung up, thinking that with such wild delicacies, more and more guests would come. Not every farm had such unique advantages.

"I forgot to mention the wild chickens and rabbits."

Li Feng slapped his forehead, having focused on the wild boar.

But thinking about it, four or five people wouldn’t need that much, so he decided not to mention it.

After tidying up, Li Dong tied the deer in the farmyard, cut some grass, and prepared a salted water bowl. He then set off, taking the stamp album, two small colorful turtles, and cutting about six pounds of wild boar meat and two smaller wild boar stomachs.

He also brought some mountain goods, especially dried wild fruits, which Gaojia had asked for more of. Her colleagues liked them and wanted to buy more, especially since they knew the fruits were genuinely from the mountains, not fake, and reasonably priced.

With the two bottles of Laogujing, it was quite a load. Li Dong packed it all in a burlap bag and headed to the bus stop. When he got on the bus, he realized he had a stack of money from before 1978, which was no longer usable.

Li Dong was amused by his forgetfulness, but a girl nearby helped pay the fare, one yuan.

"I’ll add you on WeChat and send it to you."

"No need, Mr. Li."

"Do you know me?"

Li Dong was surprised, looking at the girl, who was in her twenties. He didn’t recognize her.

"I’m an intern teacher at No. 1 High School."

"Oh, I remember now."

Li Feng slapped his forehead. "You came last autumn, right?"

"Yes."

The girl was actually surprised. Mr. Li had changed so much; if not for his voice, she wouldn’t have recognized him. They chatted, and Gu Xi learned that Li Dong now ran a farm in Xiangshan, confirming the rumors.

They added each other on WeChat. When Gu Xi saw the swans and carriages in Li Dong’s Moments, she was surprised. The farm looked nice, and she decided to visit when she had time, as it wasn’t far from her home. Gu Xi lived on the back street, about three or four stops away, usually in the city, and only went home on weekends. This time, she was back for a relative’s wedding.

They parted ways after getting off the bus. Li Dong took a taxi to Xiaojuan’s grandmother’s house, where he would celebrate Xiaojuan’s birthday.

He met Zhang Fengqin and a few old ladies chatting downstairs. Seeing Li Dong with a burlap bag, they wondered why he brought so many things, as Gaojia had brought a lot recently.

"This child, why bring so many things?"

"Mom, just some mountain goods."

"Mountain goods, that’s a good thing. Fengqin, you have a good son-in-law."

"What do you have? Let us see?"

"Just some mushrooms, dried fruits, and some meat."

"Meat? This child, do you think we can’t get meat in the city?" The old ladies laughed, finding it amusing.

"This child, we have everything at home. It’s not light to carry so many things."

"It’s okay. I met a villager who had caught a few wild boars and bought some wild boar meat to let you and Dad try. By the way, Dad’s stomach isn’t good, so I got two wild boar stomachs."

"Wild boar stomachs, that’s not cheap and hard to get genuine wild boar." The old ladies’ eyes widened.

"Luckily, a group of wild boars came down to eat corn and got trapped."