Chapter 42 My son is here to pick me up

"He said the scrap collection station charges five cents per pound, and a jar probably weighs less than half a pound. We can give him double the price and buy two or three hundred of them. It's much easier than carrying bamboo tubes."

"Do you know where the scrap yard is?"

"In the alley in front." Li Changle took him to the alley in front, saw the scrap collection sign, walked straight in, and came to the house with sacks piled on the steps.

The room was filled with all kinds of waste, including broken plastic sandals, bubble gum cans, wine bottles, scrap copper and iron...

Li Changle shouted to the old man who was busy inside, "Boss, are you selling those plastic cans?"

The old man stood up and glanced at him, his tone a little aggressive, "Why not sell it? I buy things to sell them. Which one do you want? I'll sell the ones with lids one by one. The ones without lids are cheaper."

"I want this one. How much is it?" Li Changle opened the sack and picked up a bottle without a cap. He found that it was quite thick, weighing about half a tael.

"One dime a pound, how much do you want?"

Li Changle calculated that there were about twenty in a pound, "I want ten pounds!"

The old man nodded and said, "Pick it yourself and call me when you're done."

"Okay!" Li Changle waved to Chen Yongwei who was standing outside. The two of them poured out the plastic cans of grain from the sacks and squatted there to start picking.

Chen Yongwei also followed him to pick those that were not deflated and looked cleaner. The two of them were busy for half an hour and picked a pile, estimating that there were about two hundred of them, so they asked the old man to weigh them.

The old man brought over a sack, filled it with vegetables and hung it on the hook of the large beam scale. After removing the skin, it weighed eleven pounds. Li Changle paid the money, and the two of them picked up the jars and put them in a backpack. The rest were put into two net bags.

Chen Yongwei carried a backpack and two net bags. "Plastic ones are still light. If I use bamboo tubes or clay pots, two hundred of them would bend my back."

"So, we need to use our brains when doing things. But if we eat less meat, we can get so many lightweight jars. How great!"

"Brother, hurry up! The minibus is coming." Before Chen Yongwei finished speaking, he ran out quickly and shouted at the top of his voice, "Master, brake..."

The minibus finally braked and stopped a few dozen meters away. Li Changle and Chen Yongwei got on the bus panting. When they got off and walked to the dirt road back to the village, they saw their two sons squatting by the road playing in the mud.

He pointed at the two children happily and said, "Awei, look, my son is here to pick me up. The sun is so bright, but the two little guys are squatting there without worrying about the heat."

Chen Yongwei was reminded of the past when he saw this. "I was like this when I was a kid. When my father came back to sell his catch at the market, I would wait for him at the intersection early in the morning, hoping that he would buy some meat and candy for him."

"That's your family. My family is big and we don't even have enough food. Where do we get the money to buy meat and candy?" Li Changle shouted at the two children, "My dear son, Dad is back!"

"Dad...Dad..." The two children ran towards him cheering.

The youngest son's face flushed, and he happily grabbed his hand and said, "Dad, have you sold all the fish and crabs? Have you bought any meat?"

"They're all sold out. We bought some meat, baked cakes, and candies." Li Changle saw that their hands were covered in dirt. "Your hands are covered in dirt. Let's eat them when we get home."

"Wow! So many delicious foods!" Li Xiaozhou wiped his hands on his trouser legs and stretched out his hands to show him, "Dad, look, there's no dirt on it! I want to eat baked buns."

The eldest son also wiped it on his trouser leg and looked at him eagerly.

"It's not clean, but you won't get sick if you eat it!" Li Changle looked at his son who was still a greedy cat, comforted himself, put down the bucket and took one for each of them, "Eat it!"

The youngest son took a bite and squinted his eyes in satisfaction, "It's delicious! It's as delicious as the fire-baked cakes sold by the old lady outside my grandmother's house!" The eldest son also nodded, and after thinking about it, he asked again: "Dad, did you buy it for Mom?"

Li Changle looked at his sensible eldest son and said with a smile: "Bought it, everyone has one!"

"Oh!" Li Xiaohai took a big bite without hesitation, puffed up his cheeks and started chewing. While eating, he looked at the plastic can that Chen Yongwei was holding, "Uncle Wei, is that the can of bubble gum you bought?"

Chen Yongwei smiled and nodded, "Yes! Your father bought the octopus jar, saying that it is lighter than the clay pot and there is no need to worry about it breaking."

"My dad is so smart!" The eldest son turned his head and looked at Li Changle, "Dad, have you sold the snow eels? Have you visited grandpa? Is he feeling better?"

"Is there anything your father can't sell?" Li Changle stroked the worried little guy, "Your grandfather is much better. The doctor said that as long as he is obedient and takes good care of his injuries, he will be discharged from the hospital and go home the day after tomorrow."

"The doctor is so awesome. I want to be a doctor in the future!" Li Xiaohai said seriously.

Li Changle said with certainty: "As long as you study hard, you will definitely succeed. Dad is waiting for others to call my eldest son Doctor Li!"

"Got it!" Li Xiaohai finished the last bite of the pancake, and the two brothers skipped and walked in front.

When I walked to the alley outside the house, I saw Zhou Ruonan and her sister-in-law weaving a net in the alley, and several nephews and nieces were also playing in the alley.

Li Xiaozhou ran over and said, "My dad bought some sesame cakes. They have meat inside. They are delicious!"

Li Xiaotao ran towards Li Changle, "Uncle San, we want to eat fire-baked cakes too!"

The eldest brother, Li Xiaoyang, said to Mrs. Li: "Mother, we want to eat sesame cakes, too. Please buy us one!"

The eldest sister-in-law glared at him angrily and said, "You are so old, but you only know how to play. You don't even help me wind two shuttle threads, and you just think about eating all day long."

A baked bun costs several cents each, and if you buy some for several children, it will cost several dimes. It would be better to add some money to buy some meat and stew some beans at home to satisfy your hunger!

"Wrapping the shuttle thread is a girl's job, ask Xiaoqing to help you!" Li Xiaoyang said righteously.

After hearing this, Li Xiaoqing said without turning around: "Didn't Xiao Hai help Auntie wind the shuttle thread? Isn't he a boy?"

Li Xiaoyang folded his hands, "Then call Xiao Tao!"

Li Xiaoqing stretched out a finger and said, "Shame on you, the big lazy one is worse than the small lazy one, the small lazy one is worse than the threshold, if you stretch your legs at the threshold, I will be lazy too!"

Li Xiaoyang glared at her and was about to say that she was the same as him when he heard Li Xiaotao shouting, "Brother, sister, Uncle San bought us some sesame cakes too."

He turned around and saw Li Xiaotao running towards him proudly with a fire-baked pancake in his hand. He immediately rushed to Li Changle and looked at him in surprise, "Uncle San, we have some too?"

"We have them all!" Li Changle pointed at the brown paper bag in the bucket with a smile and said to the brother and sister, "Take them yourselves, one for each of you!"

"My Third Uncle is still the best!" Li Xiaoyang happily took one and did not forget to flatter him, "Third Uncle, I will help you with work in the future!"

"Then go help your mother wind the shuttle thread, or you will have nothing to eat in the future!"

"Okay! I'll go after we finish eating, and I'll make sure we finish the whole shuttle."

(End of this chapter)

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