At noon, Li Xia insisted that Li Long stay for lunch, so he did.
Li Xia's family had a refrigerator too. She explained that after selling meat to the canned food factory, they had scraps, bones, offal, and the like left over. Their family couldn't finish it all anytime soon, and selling it wasn't an option, so they had simply bought a refrigerator to freeze it.
Fortunately, Li Long also had a dried meat factory that bought odds and ends, so they never had much to store each time, and the refrigerator could hold it.
Li Xia took a piece of meat out of the refrigerator to thaw, then kneaded some dough, planning to make latiaozi with guoyourou.
Li Long offered to help, but Li Xia chased him out of the kitchen, so he stayed in the courtyard and asked Hongqin about things.
Hongqin was very much a city girl now. When she told Li Long about school, she spoke earnestly and in a well-organized way.
Li Long felt a little dazed. Students at this time were still very innocent. They were young, after all, and the environment was like that too.
Twenty or thirty years later, it seemed perfectly normal for third- and fourth-graders to talk about dating and who they liked. At this time, though, those were taboo subjects.
Naturally, Li Long didn't ask about such things. Instead, as they talked, he gently reminded Hongqin not to accept food from strangers, not to go with strangers, and not to wander into secluded corners on her way to and from school.
Li Long also gave her a few examples. Hongqin was rather frightened at first, but after listening, she suddenly said, "Isn't that just like Little Red Riding Hood? Her mother told her to stay on the main road