They had agreed on what to write and what to do once he went back. What happened next would depend on Li Qingxia.
Du Chunfang had said little throughout the discussion. By the time Li Long was ready to leave, she had brought a basket of vegetables out of the vegetable plot. It was the basket Li Long had brought over when he bought peaches earlier; he had left both peaches and basket at his eldest brother's place.
"These were just picked. Some of the vegetables from your front courtyard have been pickled, and Chinese cabbage has been planted in some of the cleared patches. Take these home to eat."
There were tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplants, and some celery in the basket.
Li Long did not refuse. He opened the car door and put the basket on the back seat. Just as he was about to get in and start the engine, something else occurred to him. Holding the door, he turned to his father, Li Qingxia.
"Dad, Brother Anmin's mother, my second aunt, is she still alive? Does she have trouble with her legs?"
"Yes. This year... she should be seventy-five, shouldn't she?" Li Qingxia said after thinking it over.
"Anmin's mother has trouble with her back as well as her legs. Anmin's father died young, and raising all those children wore her out." Du Chunfang knew more about it than Li Qingxia.
Then she looked at her eldest son, then her youngest, and an unbidden pride rose in her heart. Her sons were so capable. First, her eldest had gone out to make his way in the world, so that even during those years, their family had hardly gone hungry and had even had spare grain to help others.
Du Chunfang was not stingy, or rather, she did