frightfiction Chapter 136 The Li family is bustling with activity, four large items including a radio.
Chapter 136 The Li family is bustling with activity, four large items including a radio.
Li Xiao, the younger sister, was still a little worried. She looked back and saw her brother holding onto the back of the bike, which reassured her. As she pedaled, she called out, "Brother! Don't let go, hold on tight!"
Li Ju'an shouted loudly, "Don't worry, it's all set! I'll hold it firmly."
The brother and sister rode their bicycles in front of the shoveled snow-covered courtyard. At first, Li Xiao rode wobbly, but Li Ju'an held the back of the bike and encouraged her, "Sister, ride boldly!"
Li Xiao rode with increasing ease. As the wind subsided, she shouted, "Brother, don't let go! Don't let go!"
A tiny person was riding on the Phoenix 28 bicycle. At first, Li Xiao was wobbling around, but now he could pedal steadily and skillfully, and he also had a good grasp of the handlebars.
But what she didn't know was that Li Ju'an had already let go of the hand holding the back of the car at some point and was quietly following behind her.
Lu Zhiqiang was stunned. Li Ju'an let go? He just let go like that? And after he let go, Li Xiao was still able to ride that far by himself?
"Brother, don't let go!"
"Don't worry, sis, ride boldly forward!"
Li Xiao confidently rode ahead alone for a long distance, when she suddenly turned around and was startled. Her brother was no longer supporting her from behind; instead, he was following her to the left and behind, jogging alongside her bike.
She was startled, and the handlebars began to tremble and sway. "Brother! Brother!"
Just as the girl was about to fall, Li Ju'an steadied the seat and told Li Xiao to look back: "For such a long distance, our Xiao Xiao is the best. She rode it all by herself. Xiao Xiao, you can ride a bike now."
Li Xiao looked back and saw that Lu Zhiqiang was standing far away, almost out of sight. She couldn't believe that she had ridden all that way by herself.
"Brother! I can ride a bike!"
"I can ride a bike now, bro!"
The brother and sister's hearty laughter filled the entire village with the warmth of family affection, making everyone feel cozy inside.
……
Just then, Chen Shangqiang drove away in his truck. Seeing Lu's mother like this, Lu's father felt uneasy.
The woman hadn't worn makeup since getting married. But when Chen Shangqiang arrived, Lu's mother suddenly started dressing up and fussing over her appearance, even using a lipstick she hadn't used in over a decade, which made Lu's father feel a pang of jealousy.
When he thought of Lu's mother calling Chen Shangqiang "Old Classmate," he said sarcastically, "So that truck driver is the Old Classmate. I've heard you mention him before, but he doesn't look that handsome."
When Lu's mother heard that her husband was unhappy, how could she not understand what he was thinking? She affectionately took his arm and gently pinched his old face with her fingers: "Look at you, you're such a bear. No one else is as handsome as you. Otherwise, I would have been the most beautiful girl in the village when I was young and would have ended up with you."
Mr. Lu was immediately appeased by his wife; he was easily swayed by her charms. He nodded and smiled, "That's right, you're quite the chatterbox. Come on, let's share a bed. My dear wife, let me hold you and sleep a little longer."
Lu's mother, unable to resist being hugged, laughed and scolded him, "Get lost, you old hag, still pretending."
"Wife, I don't like hearing that. Let me show you if I'm an old man with blemishes. Come on, ouch, ouch, wife, slow down."
Two minutes later, the sound of Lu Jinyang making an ice sled could be heard loudly in the yard. Lu Jinyang made two skewer pieces from ash wood poles and spent two hours making an ice sled for Li Ju'an, which he gave to Li Xiao to play with, as a favor for borrowing the bicycle.
Mr. Lu looked up and yelled, "Lu Zhiqiang, shut up!" After he finished, he pulled up his belt and looked out the window, only to find that it wasn't Lu Zhiqiang, but his nephew Lu Jinyang. He couldn't say anything to his older brother's child, so he could only suppress his anger and smile apologetically at his wife, "I didn't do well. It's just that the child is being noisy. I'll definitely improve next time."
Lu Jinyang finished making the ice sled and called Lu Zhiqiang to help him drag it to the Li family's courtyard.
Two-legged ice sleds were very common in villages in the 80s. They were made of wooden planks, wooden blocks, and ice skates. Large steel nails were nailed to the logs, the nail heads were sharpened, and then the nails were driven in. That's how an ice sled was made.
The kids in the village all love playing on ice sleds. They slide slowly when sitting down and fast when kneeling! But they're not very flexible and are only suitable for younger children.
Lu Zhiqiang placed the ice cart at the entrance of the Li family's courtyard and was warmly invited inside by Song Lanhua.
As soon as they entered the house, they saw Li Ju'an arranging semiconductor components by the kang (a heated brick bed).
Li Xiao, who was sitting next to Li Ju'an, was drinking hot water with her hands in her pockets. The two siblings had just ridden their bikes back from outside.
In front of him was a 60-centimeter-long wooden box, and in his hand he was using screwdrivers of various sizes to examine a bunch of semiconductor components and a rather large and thick circuit board.
Lu Jinyang looked at him curiously and asked, "What's going on here?"
"radio."
"A radio? You can assemble it yourself?"
After installing the spare parts, Li Ju finally inserted four No. 1 batteries, completing the modification of the old-fashioned secondhand radio. The parts and circuit boards he used, including the wooden box, were all from Satellite brand transistor radios, manufactured after the factory was established in 1969. In the 1980s, radios gradually became more common in the city, and when city dwellers bought new radios, the old spare parts were no longer required by coupons, so he collected them for modification.
Otherwise, radio tickets would be hard to come by.
He connected the power cord to the power outlet; this old-fashioned radio required both a power adapter and batteries. After plugging it in, he turned on the radio, and it was now powered on normally. He fully extended the antenna, stretching it to its longest length, and the radio emitted a crackling, hissing interference.
The static was too loud and the reception was unclear, so he adjusted the antenna and moved the radio to the window.
The crackling sound suddenly disappeared, becoming clear. He quickly rotated the tuning dial in the center of the front panel to adjust the frequency. The tuning dial of a radio is usually located in the center of the front panel; he found the station. Then he rotated the volume control knob to increase the volume.
Once the clearest sound is available, press the "Play" button on the front panel of the radio to start listening to the broadcast.
The Li family became lively again.
In the 80s, the main source of information for villagers was wired radio. Even families with better financial means didn't necessarily own all four essential items: a watch, a radio, a bicycle, and a sewing machine. These four items were still considered luxuries.
Li Ju'an turned on the radio to listen to novels, storytelling, songs, and news from all over the country. Before long, Aunt Zhang from next door came in and called out, and several neighbors gathered around. News spread quickly in the village, and soon her mother, Song Lanhua, was surrounded by her sisters in the hand-weaving group, chatting warmly with them.
The older women were doing handicrafts while listening to storytelling and news reports around Song Lanhua. The atmosphere was warm and lively, filled with laughter and conversation.
Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang were astonished to see Li Ju'an modify the radio in just a few moments, and they kept calling him "brother" so he could teach them how to assemble a radio too.
Li Ju'an laughed and said, "Sure, you two are both from the forest farm, could you bring me a few sections of steel cable?"
He couldn't buy steel wire rope at the market. Last time, he had to ask Assistant Chen to buy it for a high price, which cost 25 yuan and two packs of cigarettes. It was too expensive, and he would have to owe him a favor.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiqiang patted Lu Jinyang on the shoulder and assured him, "No problem, we'll take care of the small things. My brother has now been promoted to a full-fledged accountant at the forest farm. He doesn't have much else to do except when payday is approaching, when he's busy organizing the inventory lists. Jinyang, remember that, and bring some steel wire rope for your brother Li later."