Chapter 92

Returning to the old house, Li Dong picked up the phone on the table and checked the time—it was half past eleven.

"There's still some time."

He first tidied up the package he had brought over. Apart from the tiger penis wine, which he would place in the farm's storage room later, there were also yellow-precious, mushrooms, black fungus, wild fruits, pheasants, rabbits, a few bottles of good wine, and stamps. This time, he also collected three sets of small denomination Renminbi, a total of fifteen notes, each set worth two to three thousand yuan.

This would make a good gift. Since Gao Jia's birthday was next month, giving her the three sets of small denomination Renminbi as a gift would be appropriate. Li Dong first put the three small sets of Renminbi and the stamps in a drawer and locked it.

He then sorted out the mountain goods and the yellow-precious, setting them aside to organize later. Li Dong packed the gifts he would bring the next day: two bottles of wine, two boxes of yellow-precious in gift boxes, two soft-shelled turtles, and a pheasant to prepare later.

He also packed two large gift boxes of monkey head mushrooms and dried wild fruits, and some pastries and candies from 1978 for his daughter.

"Finally, it's all sorted out."

"I'll deliver the tiger penis wine to the farm first, then come back to sleep."

He still had a bit more than a pound of fried knife fish, which he took to the farm, where there were refrigeration facilities.

He had planned to rest after finishing, but just as he was about to take a shower and go to bed, his phone rang.

"Uncle Han, relatives are coming over. I'll ask Uncle Wei Guo if there's still some food left."

What relatives would come over in the middle of the night to eat, Li Dong muttered. But Uncle Han Xiaotao's father had helped him a lot, making the water wheel and the wheelbarrow.

Uncle Han Weiguo had already gone to bed, so Li Dong's call was quite unexpected.

"It's Uncle Xiaotao who's back. I'll go and prepare."

"Thank you, Uncle Wei Guo."

Li Dong hung up the phone, went to the farm, turned on the lights, and helped prepare some ingredients. There were still some vegetables, fish, and shrimp in the pond, and some soft-shelled turtles to be killed and cooked. As for the rest, it would have to do for the late hour.

He hadn't seen Uncle Han Weiguo for many days and noticed that he looked thinner. Li Dong thought about how Uncle Weiguo used to look when he was young, and the contrast was stark.

"Uncle Wei Guo, I'm sorry to disturb you so late."

"It's nothing. What do we have?"

"Fish, shrimp, soft-shelled turtles, and some vegetables."

Uncle Han Weiguo looked it over and said that it wouldn't be a problem to prepare seven or eight dishes, which was quite good for a late-night meal in the countryside.

The car didn't arrive until half past twelve. Li Dong muttered, wondering why they would come to the village so late at night when they could have rested in the city and come back the next day.

The car stopped, and an elderly man stepped out, trembling. A young man immediately ran over to support him. "Grandpa, take it slow."

"I don't need support, I can still walk."

The old man looked around the farm and smiled. "This place is nice."

"Young man, you've put a lot of effort into this."

Li Dong thought to himself that he had indeed taken inspiration from the mountain commune in 1978.

"Please come in, sir, and have a seat inside."

Uncle Han Weiguo also came out to greet them. "Uncle Wu."

"Good, good, Uncle Wei Guo."

"Hongkang, this is Uncle Wei Guo."

"Uncle Wei Guo, I'm sorry to disturb your rest so late."

A while later, Uncle Han Xiaotao's father, Han Weihai, also arrived.

"Uncle Wu."

The old man's name was Han Wu, who had participated in the Korean War and was once thought to have been killed in action. He returned in the 1990s, but the village had long assumed he was dead.

Li Dong didn't fully understand the complicated family dynamics but knew that it was his responsibility to treat the old hero well.

"Sir, I'm sorry for the hasty preparation. Please bear with us."

"Young man, don't be so formal. It's I who has disturbed you."

Although the preparation was a bit rushed, the table still had a few wild delicacies, especially the black rice, which the old man particularly enjoyed.

"It's rare to eat this now."

Han Wu smiled and pointed to the black rice, saying to the young man, "Hongkang, try it. Black rice, I haven't had it in years. Thank you, young man."

"You're welcome, sir."

Li Dong smiled and placed the wild soft-shelled turtle on the table. "Sir, this is a wild soft-shelled turtle. Please try it."

The wild soft-shelled turtle surprised Han Hongkang. The small farm's dishes had a unique charm. Although the black rice and wild soft-shelled turtle weren't particularly expensive, they were quite rare.

After the soft-shelled turtle was served, Li Dong noticed that the other dishes in the kitchen were quite ordinary. He thought about the knife fish in the freezer and decided to contribute half of it.

"Uncle Wei Guo, can you help me process this knife fish?"

"Knife fish?"

Uncle Han Weiguo was surprised. Knife fish hadn't been seen in the Yangtze River section of Chicheng for nearly thirty years. Seeing the already fried knife fish, he felt a bit regretful that it wasn't fresh.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it."

Uncle Han Weiguo hadn't cooked knife fish in many years and put some effort into it.

"Knife fish?"

When Li Dong brought the knife fish to the table, the old man was quite surprised.

"I didn't expect to eat knife fish from my hometown again. I can die without regrets now."

"Grandpa."

The young man comforted his grandfather, who was emotionally moved, and nodded gratefully at Li Dong. Knife fish was indeed rare, and it was unexpected to find it in his hometown, especially at this time.

With the knife fish, soft-shelled turtle, black rice, and a few other local dishes, the meal, though not lavish, was satisfying. The old man was very happy and ate for nearly an hour before going up the mountain to pay respects to his parents and ancestors. They soon left, and Han Hongkang exchanged contact information with Li Dong.

"Uncle Wei Guo, you go back and rest. I'll clean up here."

Li Dong took out two hundred yuan and handed it to Uncle Han Weiguo. "Uncle Wei Guo, thank you for your hard work today."

"This child, don't worry about the meal money."

Uncle Han Weiguo waved his hand and didn't take the money. Li Dong understood that as an elder, Uncle Han Weiguo didn't want to take money for the meal. "Uncle Wei Guo, it's the Mid-Autumn Festival tomorrow. Here's a box of tea and some crabs for you to take home."

Li Dong gave Uncle Han Weiguo a box of tea and a box of crabs, which Tian Liang had sent him.

"No, no, I can't take your things."

"Uncle Wei Guo, don't be so formal with me."

Li Dong insisted and handed the items to Uncle Han Weiguo, who reluctantly accepted. "I'll go back then."

Uncle Han Weiguo had already cleaned up the kitchen, so Li Dong didn't spend much time finishing. He took a shower and went to bed, waking up around eight the next morning.

"I'll send a message to Jiajia first."

Gao Jia was still sleeping when the phone rang. "Brother-in-law."

"Jiajia, are you still in bed?"

Hearing her voice, Li Dong thought she still hadn't broken her habit of sleeping in.

"Brother-in-law, do you have something?"

"I'll come over to give some gifts to Dad and Mom."

"I'll let Dad and Mom know."

Gao Jia had plans to go shopping with friends. She got up, washed up, and told Gao Guoliang and Zhang Fengqin that Li Dong was coming over. "Dad, Mom, Brother-in-law is coming over to bring some gifts for the festival."

"This child, he sent so many things last time, why is he sending more?"

Li Dong was sending monkey head mushrooms, mushrooms, yellow-precious, and other dried goods to his parents back home. "Label them properly, don't lose them."

"Don't worry."

The delivery man took the items with a smile. They weren't heavy but took up a lot of space. After paying, Li Dong drove to Gao Guoliang's neighborhood.

Gao Guoliang and his wife had always been very kind to Li Dong. When he got married, they had lent him sixty percent of the down payment for his first house and paid for the wedding banquet and the wedding photos.

During the first year of the New Year, Li Dong didn't even have money to buy clothes, but Zhang Fengqin bought him a down jacket worth over a thousand yuan. Zhang Fengqin and her husband didn't usually buy such expensive clothes.

They treated Li Dong like their own son. He knew that he was a bit stubborn and childish, and when he and Gao Lan had arguments, the old couple usually sided with him and criticized Gao Lan.

Over the years, Li Dong had received a lot of help and treated Gao Guoliang and Zhang Fengqin like his own parents. Whatever his own parents had, he always made sure Gao Guoliang and Zhang Fengqin had a share.

When he arrived at the neighborhood, Zhang Fengqin saw her son-in-law's car come in.

"Son-in-law is here. You chat, I'll go welcome him. This child has brought a lot of things again."

"What good things has he brought this time?"

The old ladies perked up. The last time, the mushrooms and black fungus he brought were very good, and the dried wild fruits were so rare that they couldn't be found in supermarkets.

"Just some mountain goods."

Zhang Fengqin wasn't sure what Li Dong had brought, but it was probably some mountain goods.

As they were talking, Li Dong came over with a large bag. "Mom, Aunt Wang, Aunt Liu, Aunt Zhang."

"Xiaodong is here."

"What good things have you brought for your mom?"

"Just some mountain goods. I went into the mountains and collected some monkey head mushrooms, yellow-precious, and some wild game."

Li Dong smiled. "Since it's the festival, I also brought a few bottles of good wine for Dad."

"This child is really filial."

Monkey head mushrooms were a good thing, and the yellow-precious caught the attention of the aunts, who gathered around to look.

Zhang Fengqin didn't stop them. Running a farm wasn't easy, and she wanted to help her son-in-law. "Xiaodong, do you have a lot of monkey head mushrooms?"

"I have some."

Li Dong looked a bit hesitant. "But most of them have been bought by the engineering company's General Manager Tian."

"Wild monkey head mushrooms are rare these days."

"Wild?"

Monkey head mushrooms were a specialty of Chicheng, but wild ones were rare.

"Yes, I got some wild monkey head mushrooms and yellow-precious this time." Li Dong smiled. "The quality of the monkey head mushrooms is good, and some of the yellow-precious are over ten years old. I plan to keep them to make some yellow-precious wine to sell at the farm."

Ten-year-old wild yellow-precious caught the interest of Zhang Fengqin and her friends. "Xiaodong, do you have any more yellow-precious and monkey head mushrooms? We want to buy some."

"Yes, we usually don't buy them outside because we're not sure about the quality."

The aunts immediately wanted to buy some. Li Dong wasn't necessarily selling, but a few calls to General Manager Tian, Director Liu, and a few other executives would ensure that these items were in high demand.

"Xiaodong, if you have any more, sell some to Aunt Liu and the others."

Zhang Fengqin's suggestion left Li Dong with no choice. "Okay, I'll bring some over. The quality will be guaranteed, but the price will be a bit higher. Monkey head mushrooms are 360 yuan per box, and yellow-precious is 200 yuan per piece."

"The price is fine as long as the quality is good."

Well, Li Dong hadn't even brought the gifts inside, but he had already made a sale, totaling nearly ten thousand yuan.

"Hey, what's in this lunch box?" Zhang Fengqin found an ice pack wrapped around a lunch box among the gifts.

"Some knife fish."

"Knife fish?" Gao Jia and Liu Qing'er, who had just come in, thought they had heard wrong.