Chapter 77: Being Stalked Yet Again

Nothing happened that night, and early the next morning, Li Shankui and his wife headed over to the new house with their tools.

The foundation had been mostly laid the day before, so today they were set to begin building the walls.

Li Yi didn’t concern himself with that. After preparing the cold noodles early in the morning, he set off for the county seat with his third older sister, Li Na.

But before heading to the county seat, they had to make a detour to the educated youth commune to pick up the female educated youths and their mushrooms.

When the bright red mule cart arrived at the sent-down youth camp, most of the youths were already out in the fields.

Although the farm work wasn’t particularly busy and they could have skipped it, the educated youth chose not to rest in order to earn a few more work points.

Tang Xue didn’t go to work today—not because she didn’t want to, but because Li Yi simply wouldn’t let her.

Besides, she had to wait in the dormitory for Li Yi to come pick up the mushrooms—she simply couldn’t leave!

The moment the mule cart pulled up outside the female educated youth dormitory, Tang Xue opened the door and stepped out carrying a basket of mushrooms.

Seeing this, Li Yi hurriedly called out, “Where should I put it? Let me carry it!”

With that, he took a few quick steps forward and snatched the basket from Tang Xue’s hands, causing Li Na, standing nearby, to roll her eyes.

Her younger brother really was a strange one. Before they’d even confirmed their relationship, he acted like he owned the place. It wasn’t just Tang Xue—there had been over twenty female educated youth of all ages at the commune over the past two years, yet he hadn’t set his sights on a single one.

Of course, no one had any interest in him either!

But look at him now—as soon as they got serious, he turned into a total wife’s slave.

It’s just a basket—maybe thirty or fifty pounds—is it really that big of a deal?

Every woman in the village is treated like a man, and the men are treated like beasts of burden—yet I’ve never seen a woman in any household who isn’t allowed to lift even a single basket.

But she had no idea that Li Yi knew Tang Xue was already carrying his child, and that this was the most unstable stage of the pregnancy—jerking or tugging at it could cause a miscarriage. He couldn’t afford to be careless!

If he hadn’t been worried that the girl would be scared if she found out, Li Yi would have explained the situation to her.

With just two back baskets and a single basket of goods, it didn’t take much. In less than two minutes, Li Yi had loaded everything into the car. He then asked Tang Xue to lock the dormitory door, and the three of them set off for the county seat.

But the moment the three of them stepped out the door, a figure as skinny as a stick crept silently toward the female educated youth dormitory.

Xu Hong had seen those female educated youth go into the mountains to pick mushrooms yesterday afternoon, but he hadn’t given it much thought. After all, life had been incredibly hard for them these past few years; going hungry due to a lack of food was a common occurrence.

So many people had the habit of picking mushrooms in the summer to stew for a meal, or drying them to store for later, to eat when there was no grain in the winter.

Especially the female educated youth—as soon as the farming season ended, they’d head into the mountains to forage for mushrooms. It had become second nature to them!

Consequently, Xu Hong didn’t think much of it!

But last night, he saw Li Yi escort Tang Xue back and stay in the female educated youth dormitory for quite a while. The chatter of the female educated youths carried far, and Xu Hong faintly heard something about mushrooms and mountain produce.

This made him suspicious—was Li Yi planning to take those female educated youth out to sell mushrooms?

So today, he deliberately skipped work and waited here specifically to see if his hunch was correct.

Sure enough, after everyone else had gone to work, that bastard Li Yi drove his mule cart right up to the educated youth settlement.

He’d just seen the guy carry several baskets of stuff out of the female educated youth dormitory with his own eyes. Although he was too far away to make out exactly what it was, it had to be mushrooms.

But just to be safe, he decided to sneak into the female educated youth dormitory to see if the mushrooms those women had picked yesterday were still there!

If Li Yi really was secretly running a mushroom business with those female educated youths, he’d talk the male educated youths into joining in too.

Knowing Li Yi as he did, that guy would absolutely never agree.

That guy was nothing but a lecher—why would he care about the male educated youths?

Doing so would inevitably alienate Zhou Guangya and the others. With all of them joining forces, wouldn’t they be able to take down a petty troublemaker like that?

The dorms at the educated youth camp were in pretty rough shape, with drafty holes everywhere.

Plus, in the middle of summer, people usually didn’t keep their windows shut tight—otherwise, when they came back, their homes would be as hot as a steamer, which was just too uncomfortable.

So Xu Hong didn’t even need to pick the lock; he just had to press his face against the window to get a clear view of what was inside.

He scanned the room from side to side and, sure enough, spotted some mushrooms drying near the window.

Xu Hong had just felt a bit disappointed, thinking he might have imagined things, but upon closer inspection, the quantity clearly didn’t add up.

He had seen it clearly yesterday: those female educated youth had picked at least several baskets of mushrooms—at least seventy or eighty pounds, possibly even over a hundred.

But now, looking at what was by the window, there was barely enough to weigh ten pounds.

Moreover, the mushrooms were either too small or too large—likely just the leftovers.

Realizing that the high-quality mushrooms were indeed missing, Xu Hong finally felt certain of his suspicions.

He decided right then and there that once Zhou Guangya and the others returned, he would definitely tell them about this.

……..

Li Yi had no idea he was being targeted by those petty people again, but given his personality, he wouldn’t have cared even if he had known.

After all, in his eyes, the people at the educated youth commune were all scum—utterly insignificant and no match for him.

If he wanted to, he could crush them at any moment.

After all, those people were just a bunch of outsiders with no real roots in the Nanzishan Brigade; if anything were to happen, the villagers would absolutely never come to their aid.

Even if they were in the right, it wouldn’t matter!

That’s just how villagers are—forget all the high-minded principles. As long as someone hasn’t done something to provoke the wrath of heaven and the people, everyone would still rather help a relative than stand up for what’s right!

With Tang Xue by his side, Li Yi felt the ten-mile journey was far too short; before he knew it, they had arrived.

But even before they reached the State-Run Restaurant, Li Yi spotted Wang Anguo and the others standing at the entrance from a distance, waiting for him like door gods.

Sure enough, the moment the bright red mule cart pulled up to the entrance, Wang Anguo came rushing over to greet them!

He had Li Na and Liu Jingshan handle the unloading of the goods, while Li Yi, accompanied by Tang Xue, followed Wang Anguo inside the restaurant.

After they sat down, Li Yi asked with a smile, “Brother Wang, you’re a criminal investigation captain, after all. Coming out to greet me at the entrance of the State-Owned Restaurant every day—aren’t you afraid people will talk?”

Wang Anguo chuckled and said, “What can I do? This is the only place I can catch you!”

“Hahaha, what do you need from me? I’ve got to get back to my stall after this!”

Instead of getting down to business, Wang Anguo pointed at Tang Xue and said, “No need to rush! Brother Li Yi, you haven’t introduced me to this young lady yet.”

Li Yi immediately caught on—the guy was worried Tang Xue might spill the beans. He burst out laughing and said, “Tang Xue, my wife. She’s an educated youth from the city!”

Just as Li Yi was about to introduce Wang Anguo to Tang Xue, the man spoke up first: “So you’re my brother’s wife. I’m Wang Anguo, captain of the county criminal investigation team, and a good friend of Li Yi’s!”

Tang Xue hurriedly replied, “Um… Hello, Captain Wang!”

“Calling me ‘Captain’ is too formal. Just call me Brother Wang from now on!”

Wang Anguo’s enthusiasm left Li Yi a bit bewildered. If he hadn’t known that the guy was married—and that his wife was that feisty woman An Hong—Li Yi would’ve genuinely worried that the guy had his eye on his wife.