Early the next morning, when Li Long got up, the room already felt bitterly cold. He rubbed his hands and feet, hurriedly pulled on his clothes, and went over to the stove. A poke with the fire hook told him the fire had long since gone out.
He had been exhausted when he got home last night and hadn't fetched more coal from the coal shed. Now he would have to start the fire all over again.
Li Long pushed the door open, rubbed his hands, and jogged over to the coal shed. He pulled out a few reeds for tinder, grabbed a handful of corncobs and two pieces of split firewood, then hurried back inside.
In that short time, his ears had already turned red from the cold.
He opened the stove door and cleared out the ashes with the fire hook, then laid in the reeds, corncobs, and split firewood. After replacing the stove lid, he took out his Kerosene Lighter and bent down to light the fluffy reed heads he had deliberately left sticking out by the door. Once the fire caught, he shut the stove door.
While he was gathering up the ashes, the door opened and Li Qiang came in, rubbing his hands.
"Uncle, Mom says to come wash your face and get ready for breakfast."
"What are we having?" Li Long asked as he scooped up the ashes.
"Cornmeal porridge, pickled vegetables, cornmeal cakes-oh, and steamed buns!" Li Qiang's eyes shone.
"Sounds pretty good." Li Long smiled.
"Not good enough. I still want meat," Li Qiang said quietly. "My sister told me not to say anything, but I know she wants some too..."
"Then we'll have meat for lunch." Li Long carried the dustpan full of ashes outside, saying as he walked, "How does that sound?"
"Great! Uncle, what kind of meat?" Li Qiang tilted his head back and asked, his eyes sparkling. "Are we having crow meat again? That was tasty, but there wasn't much of it."
"Gugu Chicken," Li Long said, patting Li Qiang's head. "No rush. Let's have breakfast first."
"What's a Gugu Chicken? Mom won't let us kill our chickens. She says they're going to lay eggs next year."
"Not our chickens." Li Long went out and dumped the ashes, left the dustpan by the door, and led Li Qiang into the west room.
Steam from cooking and boiling water had made the outer kitchen damp. Liang Yuemei was stir-frying pickled vegetables. When she saw Li Long come in, she kept stirring and said:
"Xiao Long, hurry and wash your face. Breakfast is almost ready."
"All right," Li Long answered. He went over to the washstand in the corner, saw that the basin had been filled with fresh water, and quickly washed his face.
Li Qiang had already run into the room he shared with Li Juan and called out to his sister:
"Sis, Uncle says we're having Gugu Chicken for lunch!"
"What?" Li Juan was tidying their pillows and quilts and hadn't heard him clearly.
But Li Jianguo, who was outside, heard and snapped:
"What Gugu Chicken? Where would we catch any this time of year?"
Feeling wronged, Li Qiang went over to Li Jianguo and stubbornly said:
"Uncle said so. He said we're having Gugu Chicken for lunch."
Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei both looked at Li Long.
"I caught a few last night." Li Long pointed outside. "I put them in the snow. I was going to pluck and clean them after breakfast."
"A few?" Li Jianguo looked astonished. He knew exactly what his younger brother was like. Never mind catching Gugu Chickens-he wouldn't even lend a hand when they slaughtered a chicken at home. What had gotten into him?
"Five." Looking rather pleased with himself, Li Long held up his hand and spread all five fingers.
"Come on, let's have a look!" Li Jianguo wasn't quite convinced.
"I want to see too!" Li Qiang shouted, then followed behind Li Long.
Li Juan said nothing, but followed them as well.
Liang Yuemei wanted to go too, but with vegetables still in the wok, she could only listen to what was happening.
Li Long went over to the snowbank along the courtyard wall. Using the wooden snow shovel, he broke open the crust and scraped aside some snow, revealing the Gugu Chickens he had piled together inside.
"One, two, three... five! Sis, there really are five!" Li Qiang counted happily as Li Long laid the Gugu Chickens out one by one.
"All right, all right, quiet down." Li Jianguo shot him a look, then asked Li Long in a low voice:
"Xiao Long, where did you catch them?"
"By the fields." Li Long pointed east. He was about to explain exactly where when footsteps and barking came from outside.
Li Long tried to put the Gugu Chickens away quickly, but it was already too late.
A girl appeared at the gate.
Li Long glanced at her without speaking.
Li Jianguo smiled and greeted her first:
"Oh, Shufen, you're here?"
Wu Shufen hadn't expected to find both brothers, Li Jianguo and Li Long, outside with the two children. She froze for a moment.
Then she spotted the Gugu Chickens at Li Long's feet and couldn't help swallowing.
She had spent quite a while on the way here thinking through what she would say, but now the words wouldn't come.
At Li Jianguo's greeting, Wu Shufen looked slightly flustered. She didn't know what to say.
Looking at the Gugu Chickens, Wu Shufen thought it wouldn't hurt to put off bringing up the breakup for another day or two.
To be fair, Wu Shufen was quite pretty. Though she was wearing a padded jacket with a bold floral print, her padded trousers had clearly been altered for a slimmer fit. Her rubber-soled winter shoes were fashionable, as was the floral scarf wrapped around her head-back then, Li Long had fallen for that pretty face and her knack for dressing well.
Unfortunately, he hadn't seen that behind her pretty face was a fickle heart that despised the poor and chased after the rich.
Seeing Wu Shufen staring intently at the Gugu Chickens, Li Jianguo remembered that she was his brother's girlfriend and said with a smile:
"Well... Shufen, you see, Xiao Long caught these Gugu Chickens yesterday. How about..."
"Brother." The instant Li Long heard this, he knew what Li Jianguo had in mind and cut him off. He glanced at Wu Shufen before continuing:
"Brother, let me ask her a few things first."
Li Jianguo knew his younger brother had always been at a disadvantage in his relationship with Wu Shufen. After all, she was pretty and had plenty of suitors. Seeing his brother suddenly take the initiative seemed like a good thing, so he said:
"Go ahead."
Then he turned to Li Juan and Li Qiang and said:
"You two, get inside."
He turned and headed indoors himself.
It was best not to listen in too much when a couple was talking.
But Li Long didn't care whether anyone else was there. He asked Wu Shufen directly:
"Did you hear from Gu Ermao that I got fired, so you came here to break up with me?"
What? Break up?
Li Jianguo stopped abruptly and turned to look at Li Long in surprise, then at Wu Shufen.
Wu Shufen hadn't expected Li Long to bring it up first, and she immediately found herself on the back foot.
But she was definitely going to break up with him. Worried that Li Long might say something nasty, she hurriedly spoke:
"Yes, let's break up. You've been fired, so you must have done something wrong! You were the one who pursued me in the first place. Back then, I thought you were sincere and had a future. I just never imagined your character was this bad. Getting fired is something that affects you for the rest of your life, and I don't want to be... dragged down with you later..."
At that point, Wu Shufen stopped.
She knew Li Long's temperament: vain and desperate to save face. Breaking up was fine, but it was a shame about those Gugu Chickens-if they hadn't broken up, he would definitely have given her two or even three.
Maybe he'll give me a chicken anyway to try to win me back? Should I take it?
One look at her expression told Li Long what she was thinking.
You can break up with me, but you want to eat my chickens?
Not a chance!
(End of chapter)
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