February 9th, 1991, the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Li Ye's home was in complete chaos, chickens and dogs flying everywhere.
"Who let the roosters out of their cage? Li Ye, hurry up and catch them! Those are New Year gifts for your mother-in-law—they're about to fly away!"
"..."
Li Ye hurried outside to catch the chickens. These days, everyone had to "send New Year gifts" to their fathers- and mothers-in-law during the holidays, preparing mountains of chicken, duck, fish, meat, and all sorts of miscellaneous things. It was nowhere near as quick and clean as simply sending a red envelope decades later.
But free-range roosters these days were genuinely impressive. Even with Li Ye's heaven-defying legs and reflexes, he chased them for ages without catching one.
They had two wings, after all. They really could vault over eaves and scale walls! With a couple of easy flaps, they disappeared, flying straight into who knew whose cooking pot.
If they had been those "feed chickens" from decades later, they would have been out of breath after running two steps. No one would have needed to chase them so hard.
When Li Ye finally returned with a miserable face, Wu Juying began roaring again. "You're not even thirty yet, and you can't catch a chicken? In the old society, you wouldn't have survived three days.
"And where did all this smoked meat from my basin go? Who did you give it to this time? We're going to Xiao Yu's house tomorrow to send New Year gifts. How am I supposed to prepare them now? One chicken and half a slab of meat?"
Li Ye said miserably, "Grandma, I just got home from work. I haven't even had a sip of water! When would I have had time to give