Chapter 43: Are We Brothers or Not?!

That blockhead, he runs really fast!

Li Xiangdong had wanted to say that he was still carrying a lunchbox, but who would have thought that although Hou San was short, his little legs could churn at a furious pace. Before he could even open his mouth, Hou San was already out of sight!

A-Zhe was washing his lunchbox and chuckled, "Xiangdong, you're such a shrewd person, how do you end up with a relative like Hou San? The guy is completely clueless; he didn't even know to bring his lunchbox for a meal. His family actually arranged a train-accompanying job for him—aren't they afraid he'll get himself lost when he's sent out of town?"

What the hell!

Hearing A-Zhe's words, the smile vanished from Li Xiangdong's face in an instant.

Hou San was a water supply worker, and so was he.

The crucial point was that Hou San had also mentioned that the two of them were assigned to the same train run.

Could this have been Hou Jianshe's plan all along?!

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. No wonder he had managed to land such an easy position—it turned out he was expected to help the Hou family babysit as well!

Seeing that his expression had turned somewhat peculiar, A-Zhe asked, "Xiangdong, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Let's go get our food first."

Li Xiangdong flicked the remaining water out of his lunchbox and followed A-Zhe to the food-serving counter.

A small blackboard hung on the wall beside the window, listing the dishes available for lunch.

There were sliced pork in sweet and sour sauce, stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, fish-flavored eggplant, cucumber salad, and mung bean soup, with steamed buns and rice as staples.

"Xiangdong, the food here at the cafeteria is pretty good, much better than what we eat at home!"

A-Zhe was rather excited. Although his father was a university professor and earned a high monthly salary, neither of them had any culinary skills, so they just muddled through their meals every day.

Not to mention the past few years, when it was sheer luck if the two of them managed to get enough to eat!

"It is quite abundant."

Li Xiangdong nodded. This standard was on par with the employee meals of some companies in later generations.

The two ordered their food, handed over their meal tickets, and brought their lunchboxes to a table to dig in.

A-Zhe took a bite of the fish-flavored eggplant and commented, "The taste is good, really delicious."

Li Xiangdong said, "The master chef in the cafeteria kitchen has decent skills, mainly because they are very generous with the cooking oil."

With that, he buried his head and started eating. His family's breakfast had been corn gruel and corn muffins. The corn gruel didn't keep hunger at bay, and finding the corn muffins too harsh on his throat, he had only eaten one.

Having been busy all morning, he was now starving.

Seven or eight minutes passed.

By now, more and more people were arriving at the cafeteria to eat.

Once they finished, A-Zhe stood up and said, "Let's go, Xiangdong, time to wash our lunchboxes."

Just as Li Xiangdong was about to get up, he looked up and saw Hou San hurrying into the cafeteria.

He said, "You go ahead. Hou San is here; I'll wait for him for a bit. If both of us go wash our lunchboxes, he might not be able to find the place."

A-Zhe laughed, "I can't speak for others, but with a guy like Hou San, that's entirely possible. I'll go wash the lunchboxes first, and you wait for him here."

As soon as A-Zhe left, Hou San walked over holding a lunchbox in one hand and clutching a stack of meal tickets in the other.

He sat down, put his lunchbox aside, and said, "Good thing my dad went to the bureau for a meeting, otherwise I would have had to run all the way back to the railway station building at the front to grab my lunchbox."

With that, he flourished the stack of meal tickets in his hand and gloated, "These are the meal tickets my dad keeps in his drawer—I took every single one of them!"

Li Xiangdong shook his head speechlessly and kindly warned, "Stop showing off. When your dad sits down to eat and realizes his meal tickets are gone, he's definitely going to track you down. Don't you think you'll get a beating then?"

Hou San rolled his eyes. "Psh~ You're just jealous because I have so many meal tickets."

Damn it!

Li Xiangdong decided it was time to teach him a lesson. The two of them were tied together now, and he certainly didn't want to spend every day being sneered at by Hou San rolling his eyes.

He silently stood up, walked to the opposite side, and sat down next to Hou San.

At that moment, Hou San was grinning triumphantly, just about to stuff the meal tickets into his pocket, when Li Xiangdong grabbed his arm in a tight grip.

Puzzled, Hou San asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Xiangdong didn't answer. Instead, he asked with an extremely warm and friendly smile, "Hou San, are we brothers or not?"

"Huh?"

Hou San was even more baffled.

Li Xiangdong exerted more force on the arm he was gripping. "I asked, are we brothers?"

Hou San muttered a couple of curses inwardly, but put on a beaming smile on the outside. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Brother Dong, of course we're brothers! But Brother Dong, could you lighten up a bit?"

Li Xiangdong smiled, released his arm, and threw an arm around his shoulder.

"The food in our cafeteria is really great. Not only is it delicious, but it's loaded with oil. But look at me, a father with no real ability—I can't even satisfy my own kids when they want to eat a bit of meat."

As he spoke, he patted Hou San's shoulder, pulled his own lunchbox out of his cloth shoulder bag, and placed it right in front of Hou San. "You understand your brother's meaning, right?"

"You brought two lunchboxes and didn't even say a word to me!"

Hou San's face twitched. He wanted to turn and leave, but Li Xiangdong was stronger than him, and he was held firmly in his seat, unable to get up.

"You don't need to say another word, Brother Dong. With an uncle like me, how could I possibly let my nephew go without meat?"

Saying this, he slapped a meal ticket down onto the table. "Is a serving of sliced pork in sweet and sour sauce enough for my nephew to eat?"

Li Xiangdong shook his head. "It's enough for your nephew, but don't forget you also have a little niece."

With a pained expression, Hou San reluctantly pulled out another meal ticket. "Then make it two servings of sliced pork in sweet and sour sauce."

Li Xiangdong smiled, "Thank you so much, brother."

Hou San, having forked over two meal tickets, felt his heart ache terribly. Wearing a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes, he said insincerely, "What's there to thank? Who else would we be if not brothers?"

With a gleam in his eye, Li Xiangdong looked at Hou San and asked, "How about adding an order of stir-fried tomatoes and eggs?"

Hou San squeezed the remaining meal tickets tightly in his hand. "Brother Dong, exactly how many nieces and nephews do I have?"

Li Xiangdong laughed, "Ha! Look where your mind went. Your brother here only has two kids; the stir-fried tomatoes and eggs are to take back for your sister-in-law to eat."

At this point, Hou San's face flushed red with anger at Li Xiangdong's shamelessness. "Brother Dong, you really treat your wife and kids so well!"

Li Xiangdong waved a hand dismissively. "Don't say that. My own wife and kids, if I don't cherish them, who will?"

"Hehe."

Hou San let out a dry, forced laugh. Right now, he felt like he could strangle Li Xiangdong. You care about your wife and kids, so why on earth are you making me pay for the meal tickets!

That morning, his dad had even told him to listen closely to Li Xiangdong's instructions in the future.

Bah!

Hou San rolled his eyes as an idea formed in his head. He wanted to trick Li Xiangdong and figured he would take the opportunity while Li Xiangdong wasn't paying attention to spit a couple of times into his lunchbox.

With that thought, Hou San smiled wickedly and said, "Brother Dong, once you finish eating, go wash your lunchboxes. I'll go help you buy the dishes for sister-in-law and the kids."