Chapter 63: Doing Something Meaningful

Li Yi felt that the workers were particularly enthusiastic today, and they were also more generous than usual.

Normally, many of them would be satisfied with just a serving of liangpi and a pancake, or at the very least, a cup of cold water.

But today, many were having two servings of dxmbang liangpi with one pancake, or even one serving of liangpi with two pancakes—they were really going all out!

He’d also heard the factory announcement earlier. Though he was surprised the factory would address this matter to the workers, he could still sense the management’s goodwill in the broadcast.

To return the favor, Li Yi was especially generous when portioning out the sides today—everyone got a huge, heaping serving!

Just as Li Yi was busy at work, someone suddenly shouted, “The factory director is coming!” and the workers immediately cleared a path for him.

Almost immediately, Li Yi saw seven or eight middle-aged men wearing Zhongshan suits walking toward him!

Li Yi immediately stopped what he was doing; after all, he was on their turf and couldn’t afford to be rude.

Just as Li Yi was hesitating whether to go over and say hello, he saw the middle-aged man leading the group actually say to him with a friendly smile, “You’ve been working hard, young man. With you here, the food at our factory has clearly improved. Thank you!”

Hearing this, Li Yi’s first thought was, “Has the sun come up in the west?”

These days, when someone sets up a stall on their own turf, the first reaction of those in charge should be to chase them away immediately—after all, no one wants to get dragged into trouble, right?

So the reaction of these sugar factory officials was off—very off!

But Li Yi was no ordinary person. Although he sensed something was off, he didn’t let it show on his face.

Instead, he said with feigned humility, “It’s no trouble at all. I must thank you all for your generosity in allowing a commoner like me to make a living here. I also want to thank my fellow workers for their support. Thank you, everyone!”

At that moment, Director Qiu stepped forward and pointed to the middle-aged man who had spoken earlier, saying, “Young comrade, let me introduce you. This is Director Liang of our sugar factory!”

“You’re Comrade Plant Manager? I truly neglected my manners just now!” Li Yi said hurriedly.

“I’m just an ordinary person too—don’t worry about it!”

Then Director Liang turned to Director Qiu and said, “Liangyong, didn’t you say you’d treat the six of us to some liangpi? Let’s get on with it!”

Director Qiu immediately replied, “Young comrade, there are eight of us. Bring us eight servings of liangpi, plus twelve white pancakes—and make sure to load them up with chili!”

“Sure thing, everyone, just a moment!”

The liangpi was prepared in no time, and Li Yi handed it out to the officials one by one, but he didn’t accept any payment from them.

However, Director Qiu clearly didn’t want to take advantage of him, so in the end, he handed the money and grain coupons to Li Na.

Meanwhile, Tang Xue sat to the side, watching the sugar factory’s top officials squat on the ground just like ordinary workers, eating the cold noodles and flatbreads Li Yi had made. She couldn’t help but feel that the scene was a bit bizarre!

In fact, Tang Xue wasn’t the only one who felt this way; most of the workers also found it somewhat unbelievable.

Don’t let their modest administrative ranks fool you—within this factory, these plant managers and deputy managers were local tyrants with immense power.

Normally, it was hard enough for ordinary factory workers like them to even catch a glimpse of these executives, let alone sit down and eat together like this.

Moreover, they knew the factory had a dedicated canteen for the executives. Under normal circumstances, master chefs prepared their meals for lunch and dinner—so why on earth would they come here to eat liangpi?

Of course, they had no idea that the executives were doing this simply to make a good impression on the young man selling liangpi.

They assumed Li Yi’s liangpi was simply so delicious that the executives couldn’t resist trying it—which, in effect, served as a free advertisement for his business.

More importantly, with these executives setting the example, it effectively signaled to the rest of the factory’s employees that buying liangpi here was perfectly acceptable.

As a result, even more workers came to sample Li Yi’s liangpi!

Over 300 servings of liangpi were completely sold out by a little past 1:00 p.m., and the 200-plus liangpi cakes had been sold out long before that.

Afterward, Li Yi, accompanied by Li Na and Tang Xue, cleaned up the area and then set off for the county public security bureau in a mule cart.

On the way, Tang Xue asked in surprise, “Is your business usually this good every day?”

“Pretty much, but today seems even better. Usually, it takes until around 2:00 PM to sell all 300 portions of liangpi!” Li Yi replied.

“That’s still pretty fast!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “So, would you be interested in setting up a stall with me in the future?”

“Me… would I be able to?”

“Of course you can, but I think it’s a bit of a waste to spend your time running a stall. You should be doing something more meaningful!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“What do you mean by ‘more meaningful things’?”

“Studying!”

“Studying?” Tang Xue asked, looking utterly incredulous.

“Hmm, I remember you went to high school, right?”

“I did, but I was sent to the countryside before I graduated!” Tang Xue replied.

“As you know, the national college entrance exam has been reinstated. In the past two years, many people have changed their lives through it. So I hope you can settle down and study hard—maybe the Li family will have a college graduate of our own someday!” Li Yi said.

Tang Xue’s eyes lit up instantly, but then darkened again.

“Only unmarried people can take the college entrance exam, and we’re about to…”

There hadn’t been this requirement a few years ago, but starting this year, the authorities issued a directive setting two criteria for the college entrance exam: applicants must be under 25 and unmarried!

Tang Xue was only 19 this year, so age wasn’t an issue, but since she was about to get married, she clearly didn’t meet the requirements.

However, Li Yi smiled and said, “What’s the big deal? We can hold the wedding banquet first, and as for the marriage certificate, we can wait to get it for now!”

“But… does not having a marriage certificate mean you’re unmarried?” Tang Xue asked in surprise.

“Exactly. As long as we don’t get the marriage certificate, legally you’re still unmarried!”

Li Yi then added, “I definitely won’t put off getting married to you forever, so if you want to go to college, you’d better buckle down and study. Once you get into college, we’ll go get the certificate!”

“Okay, thank you!” Tang Xue said earnestly.

To be honest, she never would have imagined that Li Yi would actually be willing to let her study and go to college.

After all, these days, let alone married women—even for unmarried girls, there are few families willing to pay for their education.

In the traditional view held by most people, what good is it for a woman to study so much?

Even if women hold up half the sky, girls are ultimately meant to get married—and the sky they’ll be holding up belongs to someone else’s family. Yet the money spent on their education comes from their own family.

Therefore, most parents were reluctant to let their daughters pursue an education.

This was especially true for married women—after all, once married, they were expected to be the family’s main labor force, earning work points and bearing children.

But Li Yi believed that for her, earning money was a waste of time; only studying was truly meaningful.

These words struck a chord deep within Tang Xue’s heart, making her instantly feel that marrying Li Yi might be the absolute best decision of her life—without a doubt!