Chapter 2 Zhou Xiaoying
When she got home, it was already past five o'clock. Zhou Xiaoying went straight to the kitchen. She planned to ask him what happened after she finished cooking.
But what she didn't expect was that Li Duoyu pulled her back before she even stepped into the kitchen.
"Your belly is so big, and you have been standing for a day of classes. I will cook tonight."
"It's only been three months, it won't have much impact."
"I told you to sit down and I'll do it."
In his previous life, Li Duoyu thought about making a lot of money all day, but his luck was always bad, and he kept dragging his family down.
After being released from prison, he was unwilling to make small money, so he took the crooked path again. There is a saying that "a dog can't change its eating habits", which is exactly what he is like.
He borrowed tens of thousands of usury from underground banks and followed the local snakeheads to sneak to the island country to work illegally.
In the 1980s, the island country could be said to be the richest place in the world. The starting price of a taxi was 10,000 yen, which was four months' salary for ordinary working class people in China at that time.
They all ate Kobe beef, lobsters were used for feasting, everyone played golf, and some island media even advocated that the land price in Tokyo was enough to buy the entire beautiful country.
At that time, if someone in the village successfully "landed" on the island, the family would not only set off firecrackers to celebrate, but also invite a drama troupe to perform a play in the ancestral hall.
At that time, Li Duoyu also came to the island with the dream of getting rich. He thought that he could pay off the usury in less than two years, and then make a lot of money, and then go home to build a big house and buy a big car.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he set foot on the island, he was sold to an illegal factory by the snakehead, doing the hardest and most tiring work, earning the least money, and even the minimum living security was a problem.
After escaping from the illegal factory with great difficulty, he caught up with the collapse of the island's bubble economy and the economy began to decline.
Because of working illegally and not speaking the language, Li Duoyu ran away when he saw the police. He washed dishes in the kitchen during the day and slept in a broken house at night.
Every day he lived in fear like a fugitive.
He was in his forties, and half of his hair was white.
After returning to his hometown, he found that he had missed the golden opportunity for development in China. The money he had saved in the island country over the years could only afford a house in the city.
What Li Duoyu found most difficult to let go was that he was unable to see his old father off during the years he was working illegally.
And his wife raised the children alone and paid usury over the years, which left her with a lot of problems. After he came back, she passed away in less than two years.
It can be said that it was a choice question in life.
Li Duoyu almost made the wrong choice.
Every day after September 17, 1983, Li Duoyu spent his time in regret.
Now that he has the opportunity to start over, he really doesn't want his family to experience such suffering again. He just wants to make money and live down to earth.
Zhou Xiaoying saw that Li Duoyu was being attentive and even went to the kitchen. How could she sit still? Her heart was already full of waves.
She knew what kind of person Li Duoyu was. The better he treated her, the bigger the matter was. Could it be that this time was more serious than a fight?
Or did he lose all his money in the shipment?
Zhou Xiaoying struggled with her thoughts, and then took out a small iron box from under the rice jar in the kitchen.
"There are two hundred in it, you can use it first."
Li Duoyu, who was cooking, was stunned by his wife's sudden words. After seeing the small iron box with "Gloriously Going to the Countryside" printed on it in her hand,
he instantly understood what was going on.
The small iron box was left to Zhou Xiaoying by her parents, and it was also her only dowry. She would not touch the money until the critical moment.
Since the separation of the family, except for this half house and furniture, he did not get any money at all, and his life depended on her salary from teaching.
Even the first sum of money used for the shipment was the salary Zhou Xiaoying had saved with great difficulty.
Recalling the past, Li Duoyu found himself a big idiot, not caring for such a caring and beautiful wife, but just fooling around outside all day.
When he got emotional, Li Duoyu couldn't help hugging this silly woman tightly in his arms.
When he hugged her tightly, Li Duoyu found that she didn't have much meat on her body, and she was very thin.
Zhou Xiaoying was frightened by Li Duoyu's hug, and hurriedly pushed Li Duoyu away. She finally understood why Li Duoyu was a little abnormal today.
"The door is still open."
"I just got pregnant not long ago, and my mother said that I can't come there."
Before she finished speaking, Zhou Xiaoying ran away from the kitchen with a flushed face like a frightened rabbit.
Li Duoyu was so depressed.
I didn't think about that, what are you afraid of, but when he looked down, he was speechless.
"Alas"
The food in 1983 was quite ordinary. For people living by the sea, there was one advantage, that is, there was no shortage of seafood, but most of them were salted fish and dried oysters.
When he was working illegally, he washed dishes for almost ten years, and then worked as a chef for five years. It was easy for him to cook some small dishes.
Zhou Xiaoying came out of the room with a blush on her cheeks. She saw a table of delicious food and was full of questions.
"You cooked all these. When did you learn to cook?"
"You don't trust me."
Zhou Xiaoying naturally didn't believe it. Li Duoyu could cook, which surprised her more than the last one in their class who got 100 points. She was afraid that he mistook sugar for salt.
Zhou Xiaoying carefully picked up a piece of dried oysters and put it in her mouth. Unexpectedly, it tasted very good, but she frowned.
Li Duoyu asked, "Is it not delicious?"
Zhou Xiaoying shook her head and said, "It's delicious."
"It's delicious, why are you looking so bitter?"
Zhou Xiaoying took out the enamel basin containing lard: "Half a month's worth of lard was wasted in one meal by you, how can I still laugh?"
Li Duoyu then realized that at that time, the island used lard, which required oil coupons to buy, and was rationed. Usually, they would only put more on festivals and worship.
The couple ate all the food on the table, but Zhou Xiaoying got morning sickness because she was too full and greasy, and she vomited all the food she swallowed.
She was so angry! Li Duoyu, who had been washing dishes in the island country for more than ten years, naturally washed the pots and bowls after the meal.
"Oh my, the sun is rising from the west."
"When did my uncle become so considerate, he actually knows how to love his wife and even helps wash the dishes, unlike when I was pregnant, I was doing it all by myself."
Li Duoyu, who was washing dishes in the courtyard, felt a headache when he heard this voice. Even though he hadn't heard it for many years, he still recognized it as the voice of his second sister-in-law Zhu Xiuhua.
This person is a famous chatterbox on Dandan Island.
She likes to praise one and step on another, and she uses double entendres. On the one hand, she accused Zhou Xiaoying of not doing housework, and on the other hand, she said that her lover was useless.
After graduating from high school, the second brother Li Yaoguo worked as an accountant in the village. He always wore a pair of black-framed glasses. He was a coward since he was a child, but he married the most ferocious tigress in the village.
He couldn't scold her or beat her, so she could only be a boss at home.
Li Duoyu felt that if there was anyone who was more miserable than him in his previous life, it must be the second brother.
Zhou Xiaoying, who had just finished her morning sickness, heard Zhu Xiuhua gossiping again, and hurried out to Li Duoyu and said, "Okay, I'll wash it."
"It's just a few bowls, I'll wash them in two seconds." Li Duoyu thought there was no need to pay attention to that woman.
But Zhou Xiaoying got anxious.
"Hurry up."
"With your second sister-in-law's mouth, if I ask you to wash the dishes once, half of the village will gossip about us tomorrow."
After Zhou Xiaoying said this, Li Duoyu remembered that women at this time can really hold up half the sky.
In a fishing village like theirs, men are responsible for the outside and women are responsible for the inside. Men usually go out to sea to fish, and housework such as cleaning fishing nets, mending fishing nets, and taking care of children are all done by women.
If a man takes over, he will be said to be afraid of his wife in private and become a joke at the table.
If Li Duoyu really washes the dishes, Zhou Xiaoying will also be gossiped by other village women, saying that she doesn't know what's good for her and doesn't do housework.
In short, it's very troublesome in this era.