Chapter 30: Being Watched

As he stepped out of the state-run restaurant, Li Yi was in high spirits!

He had saved Wang Anguo partly out of pity, not wanting a hero like him to meet such a tragic end.

But more importantly, Li Yi wanted to use Wang Anguo to test the possibility of changing a person’s fate.

After all, the inertia of history is immense, and forcibly altering a person’s destiny is actually very difficult.

In his previous life, Li Yi had once watched a movie where the male lead knew the female lead was going to be in a car accident that day, so he changed his plans in advance to prevent her from encountering that particular vehicle. Yet, the very next moment, she was struck and killed by another car. No matter how hard the male lead tried, the outcome remained unchangeable.

Having been reborn, Li Yi’s greatest wish was to change the fate of Tang Xue and their unborn child.

But he truly feared that his own strength alone was limited and that he would be unable to alter the arrangements of fate!

Furthermore, Li Yi wanted to know what impact recklessly altering one person’s fate would have on the entire world.

He dares not use Tang Xue as a guinea pig, but since Wang Anguo has offered himself up as a test subject, Li Yi naturally won’t hold back.

So far, the results have been quite promising!

Wang Anguo is alive, the suspect has been apprehended, and he’s even established a connection with this detective captain.

From now on, as long as it wasn’t anything major, this guy alone would be enough to keep him safe!

However, this was merely Li Yi’s initial assessment; whether he could completely alter Wang Anguo’s inevitable fate remained to be seen!

In high spirits, Li Yi drove his mule cart to the sugar factory to begin his street vending venture!

As he passed the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Yi went inside and bought a large quantity of rice and flour, along with two bottles of top-quality sorghum liquor!

Now that he had both money and ration coupons, he no longer needed to wait until after setting up his stall to redeem his grain coupons and make a special trip into town to buy supplies. He could easily stock up on everything he needed on his way back after selling his mountain produce!

What Li Yi didn’t know was that someone with ulterior motives had just spotted him carrying large bundles of goods out of the supply and marketing cooperative!

Xu Hong hadn’t expected to run into Li Yi in the county seat; his main reason for coming into town today was to check the post office for any packages addressed to him.

Even though they’d been sent down to the Nianzishan Production Brigade for nearly five years, they still struggled to adapt to the harsh conditions there. The vast majority of educated youth relied on regular financial support from their families.

Xu Hong’s family lived in Qin Province. Although their financial situation wasn’t particularly affluent, both his parents were factory workers, and their combined monthly wages totaled around eighty yuan—which wasn’t a small amount.

So, every month, his family would send him a package—sometimes money orders, sometimes food.

But this month, with the end of the month fast approaching, the package from home still hadn’t arrived. Xu Hong couldn’t help but feel anxious. Taking advantage of the fact that the fields weren’t too busy these past few days, he asked the brigade leader for a day off to go to the post office and check.

As he passed by the supply and marketing cooperative, he caught a glimpse of Li Yi out of the corner of his eye!

As for Li Yi, Xu Hong was seething with hatred!

In his eyes, Li Yi was nothing but an uneducated good-for-nothing, a parasite on society, scum!

None of this would have concerned him, but the fact that this bastard had made a pass at his beloved girl and even forced her to marry him had crossed his line.

But compared to Li Yi—who was tall, burly, and a local—Xu Hong was completely powerless.

That day, he had mustered the courage to bully Tang Xue, only to nearly get beaten to death by Li Yi. This made him even more wary of Li Yi, so whenever he saw Li Yi lately, he kept his distance.

He had originally planned to pretend he hadn’t seen him today, but Li Yi’s behavior was simply too conspicuous. He kept going in and out of the supply and marketing cooperative, bringing out large quantities of goods each time he went in.

Although he was across the street and couldn’t see clearly, Xu Hong could still make out rice, flour, cooking oil, quite a few condiments, and even bottled liquor!

It’s important to remember that even though the country had already undergone reform and opening-up, life in their remote little county town was still incredibly hard.

It was considered a luxury for any family to have a few spare yuan; who could possibly go on such a shopping spree at the supply and marketing cooperative?

As for drinking, if you were really craving a drink, you’d just buy some loose liquor—who could afford to buy bottled liquor at a dollar or two a bottle?

So, when he realized it was Li Yi, Xu Hong was absolutely seething with jealousy!

But after his jealousy subsided, Xu Hong began to wonder: where did this Li guy get all that money? What gave him the right to be so extravagant?

For the past few days, the villagers had been buzzing about Li Yi striking it rich. After all, the Li family had paid a dowry for Tang Xue and bought a bicycle—all of which required a lot of money.

Given that Li Shankui and his wife were just honest, hardworking peasants, even if they’d cashed in their life savings, they wouldn’t have that much money.

They’d also heard that Li Yi was organizing the village lads to go into the mountains to pick mushrooms to sell, so everyone assumed he’d made his fortune selling mushrooms!

But Xu Hong knew better: while there might be buyers for mushrooms, the price certainly wouldn’t be high.

After all, they’d once tried gathering mountain produce to supplement their income. They’d picked plenty of mushrooms, but when they took them to the city, hardly anyone was interested. In the end, they’d had to sell them off for a pittance just to get rid of them.

He just couldn’t believe that Li Yi’s mushrooms were any different from theirs. If theirs couldn’t sell, why would anyone pay a high price for Li Yi’s?

So Xu Hong concluded that Li Yi must have another source of income!

With that thought, Xu Hong suddenly felt that going to the post office wasn’t so urgent after all. He decided to keep an eye on Li today and see exactly what he was up to!

Li Yi had no idea he was already being watched. At that moment, he had successfully procured all the supplies he needed and was, feeling quite satisfied, preparing to set up his stall at the entrance to the sugar factory!

All he wanted now was to sell out the cold noodles and white pancakes in his truck as soon as possible, then return to the village to ask Feng Kai for a plot of land and get the house built as quickly as possible.

After all, there were only about twenty days left until his wedding to Tang Xue, and building a house and getting it ready in such a short time was a tight squeeze.

But he really didn’t want Tang Xue to feel shortchanged!

After all, for the vast majority of people in this day and age, marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and everyone wants to make it a grand affair!

The conditions in the old house were simply too poor—not only was it cramped and cramped, but living with his parents and older sister was just too inconvenient.

Building a house and marrying a wife were Li Yi’s top priorities right now; as for making money by running a street stall, that was secondary!

In his haste to get there, Li Yi didn’t notice that, at some point, a “tail” had attached itself to the back of his bright red mule cart, trailing him from a distance the whole time!

And so, Xu Hong quietly followed Li Yi all the way to the entrance of the sugar factory!

When he saw Li Yi park the mule cart, skillfully unload his market stall equipment, and quickly set up his stall, a hint of inexplicable madness flashed in Xu Hong’s eyes!