Chapter 60: Good Intentions Spurned

Seeing his wife's reaction, Li Xiangdong instantly remembered that this song had not yet spread to the mainland.

"I didn't just make this up myself. You don't know Lan Yingying yet, but you'll find out who she is later."

"A woman?"

"That's right, and she's a beauty, too."

"Li Xiangdong, you have no shame! You've been out for just one day and you're already flirting with other women? A beauty, no less, and you even want to introduce her to me. Pah!"

"I..."

Li Xiangdong almost choked on his breath. "What on earth are you thinking? Lan Yingying is a singer from Hong Kong!"

"Oh~ She's a singer..." Realizing she had completely jumped to the wrong conclusion, Zhou Yuqin felt so awkward she wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.

Eager to change the subject, she muttered as if talking to herself, "Why isn't Mother back yet? Keep an eye on the kids, I'm going to help the sisters-in-law with dinner."

Seeing that his wife was about to turn and walk out before she even finished her sentence, Li Xiangdong hurried to the doorway and blocked her path with his body, continuing to hum softly: "The green willows sprout~ waiting for my man to return, yet he does not return, and whom has my man grown fond of..."

Cornered and teased by Li Xiangdong at the door, Zhou Yuqin felt overwhelmingly embarrassed. "Oh, stop singing already!"

She shoved Li Xiangdong away from the doorway with force and hurried outside.

"Yet whom has my man grown fond of~~"

Leaning against the doorframe, Li Xiangdong dragged out the final note deliberately and sang another line at his wife's retreating back.

Seeing Zhou Yuqin heading toward the main house, her pace quickened even more.

With a chuckle, Li Xiangdong turned back into the room, walked up to the brick bed (kang), and asked, "Tell me, did Dad sing well just now?"

"Yes."

Li Xiaohai nodded vigorously. Noticing that his younger sister Li Xiaozhuer remained unresponsive, he reached out to press his sister's head down, helping her nod along as well.

"Dad will play with you for a while."

Li Xiangdong took off his shoes and climbed onto the kang.

***

In the blink of an eye, it was time to get off work.

The alleyway began to bustle with activity.

Playing in the courtyard, Li Xiaojiang saw his father coming home from work, pulled a piece of creamy candy from his pocket, and ran over to press it into his father's palm.

"Dad, this is the White Rabbit creamy candy Third Uncle brought back, and Third Uncle even cooked instant noodles for us to eat."

Looking at the candy in his palm and listening to his son's words, Eldest Brother Li wore a look of surprise. He stroked his son's head and smiled, saying, "Is that so? Your Third Uncle is so good to you, you must listen to him more from now on. Dad won't eat this candy, you keep it for yourself."

Li Xiaotao scurried over and chimed in, "Dad, if you're not going to eat it, give it to me. Third Aunt gave Big Brother a whole bunch, but I only got two."

Hearing this, Li Xiaojiang immediately frowned in displeasure. "Why should I give it to you? Even if Dad doesn't eat it, it's still mine."

Glancing left and right at his two sons who looked ready to butt heads at any second, Eldest Brother Li simply unwrapped the paper and popped the candy straight into his mouth.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he walked over to the water basin to wash up briefly before knocking on the door of the west wing room.

Li Xiangdong opened the door to find his eldest brother standing there. "Big Brother, you're off work. Looking for me?"

Eldest Brother Li looked his third brother up and down, then glanced down at his own dusty and tired appearance, a trace of envy flashing in his eyes.

"Nothing much, just came by to check on you. This outfit of yours really looks nice."

Li Xiangdong smiled. Facing his eldest brother alone, he wasn't quite sure what to talk about. "Didn't Dad come back with you?"

Eldest Brother Li chuckled. "He did, he's dragging Mother along behind him on the way home."

What a well-chosen word, "dragging"!

It vividly captured Mother Li's struggle and reluctance...

"Big Brother, hold on a second."

Li Xiangdong went inside and handed two packs of instant noodles from the table to his eldest brother. "Wait until Dad, Mom, and Second Brother are back, and have First Sister-in-law help boil these two packs. Don't mind that it's not much."

Eldest Brother Li took the instant noodles. "With something this expensive, just getting two packs to taste is already great. Other families would love to eat it and can't even get any. If you ask me, you should save them for Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi."

Seeing his eldest brother trying to decline, Li Xiangdong had no intention of getting dragged into an endless argument over two packs of instant noodles, so he simply stepped back inside and shut the door.

"This Third Brother is really..."

Eldest Brother Li looked curiously at the instant noodles in his hand. "Oh, Shanghai instant noodles? They always say Shanghai is a place of bustling glamour, I'll have to see for myself today if these taste like the big city."

***

Hearing his eldest brother's words through the door, the corners of Li Xiangdong's lips curled into a smile.

Connecting instant noodles to the bustling glamour of Shanghai, his eldest brother truly was an eccentric character.

By the time Eldest Brother Li had walked away, Li Xiangdong came out of the room holding his lunchbox and walked over to the stove in the main house. "Wife, you forgot your lunchbox."

Seeing her man looking at her with a half-smile, Zhou Yuqin's face flushed slightly. She reached out and took the lunchbox, and without saying a word, turned right back to her chores.

Second Sister-in-law Li watched the third couple in silence, curiously glancing between them before opening the lunchbox placed nearby. Inside, she found a full box of sliced fried meat in thick sauce and stir-fried tomatoes with eggs!

She let out an exclamation of surprise and was about to ask where Li Xiangdong had gotten the lunchbox when she was interrupted by shouting from the front gate.

Father Li was tugging Mother Li along as the two of them bickered their way into the courtyard.

Mother Li yanked her arm out of Father Li's grip and said indignantly, "Why did you drag me back for?"

Father Li let out a "hum" and walked toward the water basin. "At this hour you should be home cooking, instead of gossiping outside. If I hadn't dragged you back, you wouldn't even think of coming home after dark!"

"We have three daughters-in-law, is the family going to starve just because I'm not here?"

Mother Li grumbled unhappily, "Besides, what's wrong with me coming home late? I'm happy Dongzi got a good job, and if I don't talk about it, I'll burst inside. I want every single neighbor in the alley to know!"

Hearing the commotion in the courtyard, Grandpa Li and Grandma Li hurried out of their room to find their son and daughter-in-law shouting at the top of their lungs.

The elderly couple initially intended to step in and offer some words of persuasion, but after hearing what their daughter-in-law had to say and thinking it over—it made complete sense!

Their Dongzi had been mischievous as a child and didn't have a very good reputation in the neighborhood. Now that he finally had a respectable job, it naturally called for some serious publicity throughout the alley.

Even if not every single household knew, at least eight or nine out of ten should know!

Grandpa Li chimed in, "Our daughter-in-law is right!"

Grandma Li nodded in profound agreement. Looking at her son, she scolded, "Why are you always making a fuss over nothing? Your wife is only doing this so our Dongzi can have a good reputation! Don't say she's not back to cook dinner; even if it were pitch black outside, I'd hold a flashlight myself and wait for her at the front gate."

With someone backing her up, Mother Li grew even bolder. "Did you hear that? Listen carefully to what Mom and Dad said! You just don't understand anything and thought I was out here embarrassing you!"

Hearing his parents and his wife all ganging up on him, Father Li scrubbed his face fiercely a couple of times with the towel.

He flung the used towel onto the water faucet and said with a huff, "Fine! You're all acting out of kindness, and I'm just the ungrateful villain, is that it?!"