"They put up a pole beside the corner room at the Li family's place across the way. No idea what that thing on top is." Preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, Lu Family's Eldest Sister-in-Law suddenly remembered it and mentioned it to Lu Yingming, who was frying fish.
"A pole? Are they drying something?" Lu Yingming asked casually.
"Doesn't look like it. It looks more like... one of those antennas in the movies?" In summer, the cultural center in the County Seat occasionally sent film projection teams down to show movies to the farmers. They were outdoor screenings, usually war films, so Sister-in-Law Lu knew what those things looked like.
"An antenna? Surely not? What would the Li family need an antenna for? They don't have a radio transmitter." Lu Yingming thought Sister-in-Law Lu was talking nonsense.
"It's standing right there. Go look and you'll see." Feeling that he didn't believe her, Lu Family's Eldest Sister-in-Law grumbled, then went back to her work.
"I'll have to take a look later." People back then were still very alert to the distinction between friends and enemies, but Lu Yingming would never believe the Li family had ties to enemy agents. If anything, Li Jianguo was even more steadfast than he was.
If it really was an antenna, he would have to go and see what was going on.
But he was busy and soon forgot about it. By the time he finished what he was doing, his son had already come rushing in, shouting that he was hungry.
Though Lu Family's Eldest Sister-in-Law grumbled, she still put together some food for him to take into the room that served as both living room and bedroom, and opened a bottle of liquor for Lu Yingming while she was at it.
As Lu Yingming