Chapter 34: Persuading My Father

When Li Shankui returned home, Li Yi had just seen Dongzi and the others off.

Spotting two bottles of fine sorghum liquor on the cabinet, Li Shankui frowned and asked, “Didn’t you go see Uncle Feng today?”

“I did, and the land was approved!” Li Yi replied.

“Then you didn’t give him any liquor?”

“I did, but he refused it and even said…”

“What else did he say?”

“Uncle Feng said he was afraid you’d break his legs!”

“You’re such a chatterbox. He’s already approved the land for you—why would I cause him trouble just over two bottles of wine?” Li Shankui shot his son a look and said.

“The wine is a minor issue. The main thing is that Uncle Feng has allocated that plot of land at the east end of the village to me!”

“Is there still residential land at the east end of the village? How come I didn’t know about that?” Li Shankui asked, puzzled.

“Yes, there is—it’s that patch of black rock soil!”

Hearing Li Yi’s words, Li Shankui stopped mid-drag on his cigarette and said in a deep voice, “You mean that plot of land where nothing grows?”

“Yeah, that’s the one!”

“How can we take that plot? If we do, we won’t be able to grow anything in front of or behind the house. No way. I’m going to go talk to him. Isn’t this just bullying us?”

Seeing his hot-tempered father about to lose his cool again, Li Yi immediately stepped forward to stop him and said, “Dad… Dad… Calm down. It’s not Uncle Feng’s fault!”

“He’s the Party Secretary—if it’s not his fault, whose is it?”

“It’s my fault. I was the one who insisted Uncle Feng allocate that plot to me!” Li Yi admitted honestly.

“You… you insisted?” Li Shankui pointed at Li Yi, his face a mask of disbelief.

“Yes, I’m the one who insisted Uncle Feng approve that plot of land for me—he had no choice but to agree!”

“You… you good-for-nothing! What on earth do you need that barren wasteland for…”

Seeing his father’s temper flaring up again, Li Yi hurriedly said, “Dad… my own father, for heaven’s sake, can you just let me speak? I have my reasons for doing this!”

“What the hell kind of reason is that? I think you’re just thick as mud…”

Just then, Li Na returned from the educated youth commune. Hearing her father’s shouting from a distance, she immediately came inside to ask what was going on!

Although Li Shankui had a short temper, he was very kind to his third daughter. He immediately said, “Third daughter, this good-for-nothing actually asked Uncle Feng for that patch of black rocky land at the east end of the village as a homestead. Isn’t that just nonsense!”

She glanced at Li Yi, and her brows involuntarily furrowed.

Everyone in the village knew the condition of that black-rock plot, and Li Na couldn’t believe her younger brother wasn’t aware of it.

Besides, given Uncle Feng’s relationship with their father, even if her younger brother didn’t know, he would have explained it clearly.

“Xiao Yi, tell your third sister—what were you thinking?”

Seeing his third sister by his side, Li Yi knew his father’s temper would likely be slightly more in check, giving him a chance to wriggle out of this… to explain himself!

“Dad, I know the situation with the Black Stone Land. Aside from not being able to grow crops, nothing else is a problem!” Li Yi said.

“The fact that we can’t grow anything there is already bad enough. What more do you want?” Li Shankui retorted.

“Dad, do you know how big a plot Uncle Feng allocated to me?”

“How big?”

“A full three mu!”

Li Shankui shot him a disapproving look and said, “It’s not small, but if you can’t even grow a single potato, what good is it, no matter how big it is?”

“It’s incredibly useful!”

Li Yi continued, “Dad, I begged Uncle Feng to give me that plot mainly because it’s big enough. I plan to set up a farm there someday—I can’t do that without enough space!”

“A… farm? What are you going to raise?”

Li Shankui was taken aback by his son’s outlandish idea. These days, although the authorities didn’t really interfere with villagers raising their own livestock—unlike a few years ago when each household was limited to three chickens and forbidden from raising pigs, cows, sheep, horses, mules, or donkeys—

But they were merely turning a blind eye; the restrictions hadn’t actually been lifted.

Raising a few chickens on the sly or keeping a single pig was already nerve-wracking enough—yet his son actually wanted to set up a full-scale farm in broad daylight? Wasn’t that just asking to be caught red-handed?

“Dad, I know what you’re worried about, but the policies have changed now!”

Li Yi continued, “Household-based production contracts have been in place in Anhui Province for over two years now, and the household-based production responsibility system has begun pilot programs in some provinces. Whether we can put food on the table will depend entirely on us!”

“Then you should definitely get some good land. That way, you’ll be able to grow more grain!” Li Shankui said.

“Father, working the land may keep us from starving, but it won’t make us rich! With your son’s ability to make money, do you really think I’ll be tilling the soil just for food in the future?”

Hearing his son’s words, Li Shankui fell silent.

If Li Yi had said this to him before, he would have certainly grabbed his shoe and given him a good thrashing.

But ever since he and Li Na had helped out at a stall last time, Li Shankui had been completely blown away.

In less than half a day, his son had earned the equivalent of six months’ salary for a full-time job by selling mountain produce and running a stall selling liangpi.

For old farmers like them, who toiled in the fields, it might take two years just to earn that much.

So when Li Yi said he wouldn’t farm just to make ends meet anymore, Li Shankui believed him.

Seeing that his father seemed to be warming up to the idea, Li Yi continued, “Dad, I want that plot of black rock land not just because I want to build a big house, but also because once the policies allow it, I plan to set up a livestock farm there. This is part of my long-term planning—it’s not just a passing whim!”

Li Na glanced at Li Yi and asked, “Can you make money running a farm?”

“Absolutely!”

Li Yi spoke with absolute certainty; he knew that with the recognition of the private sector, the nation’s economy would enter a period of rapid growth.

In just a few decades, the nation’s economic standing would shift from looking up to the West to looking down on the rest of the world.

In this environment, public demand for meat would experience explosive growth, and for most of the coming decades, the livestock industry would be a profitable venture.

“If that’s the case, I support Xiao Yi’s decision!” Li Na said.

Li Shankui was a bit taken aback. “Did I ask for your opinion? What good does your approval do?”

But he couldn’t help but seriously consider what his son had just said. If his son were content to be a farmer, having a few acres of fertile land to cultivate would indeed be quite nice.

However, his son’s aspirations clearly didn’t lie in becoming a simple, hardworking farmer—in which case, even the black soil of Northeast China would be of little use to him!

In that case, that patch of rocky land might actually be more useful to him!

With that in mind, Li Shankui could only sigh and say, “I’ve said all I needed to say. I hope you don’t regret this later, kid!”

“I won’t regret it—I definitely won’t!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Hmm, since you’ve made up your mind, when do you plan to start?” Li Shankui asked again.

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Dad, the sooner the better! After all, we’re building a house that’s soft on the inside and hard on the outside (mud bricks on the inside, brick cladding on the outside). We need to make the mud bricks in advance, and it takes at least a week from shaping them to drying them out!”

“Add in preparing the other materials and hiring carpenters and bricklayers—if we wait too long, we won’t make it in time!”

Li Shankui nodded and said, “Then I’ll go find people tomorrow. Farm work isn’t too busy right now, so it should be easy to hire people!”

“Alright, leave it to me!”

Li Yi then handed over all the money he’d saved up over the past few months—more than six hundred yuan—to Li Shankui, telling him to use it for building the house.

And Li Shankui didn’t hesitate—he pocketed the money right away!

……..