Chapter 115: Shopping for Wedding Supplies

Zhang Yuehong was a traditional rural woman; she had never attended school and had little worldly experience.

Nearing fifty, the farthest she’d ever traveled was to Qingshan County, and the highest-ranking official she’d ever met was the commune director.

Having lived a quiet, law-abiding life her whole life, she was on the edge of her seat over what her son and daughter were doing now.

During the tense times of a few years ago, they had seen others rise and fall, so they worried that their son might get into trouble for being too flashy.

So, she felt that having just enough money to get by was sufficient—there was no need to be overly aggressive or take unnecessary risks.

However, her son’s ambition was clearly greater than she had imagined.

It seemed that the “huge” income of a few thousand yuan in less than a month meant next to nothing to him.

Now that her younger daughter has joined her son in running the business, her heart is in her mouth every single day.

But Li Yi understood the direction things were headed and clearly wasn’t going to listen to her, so after chatting for a while, they ended the conversation.

Before long, the sound of “clang, clang, clang” came from outside the courtyard!

Li Yi and his mother looked out at the same time and saw that it was Li Shankui returning in a black horse-drawn cart.

The agricultural cooperative hadn’t been dissolved yet, and nearly all means of production were collectively owned—including the bright red mule cart Li Yi had been using to transport mountain produce into town.

Today, Li Yi had planned to have his third older sister drive the big red mule cart to set up a stall, while he intended to go into town to buy things for the wedding, so one cart simply wasn’t enough.

Left with no choice, he had to borrow another horse-drawn cart from the production team.

Fortunately, the production team wasn’t very busy at the moment, so borrowing the cart went smoothly.

After his father returned, Li Yi loaded the mountain produce onto the black horse-drawn cart, while the liangpi, white-skinned pancakes, and other market goods were loaded onto the big red mule cart.

Then, father and son each drove a cart toward the educated youth settlement!

By the time they arrived at the educated youth settlement, Li Na and Tang Xue were already up and waiting for them at the main gate.

Upon meeting, Li Shan handed the bright red mule cart over to his daughter, then hurried off toward the new house.

Meanwhile, Li Yi, Li Na, and Tang Xue drove the two carts straight toward the county seat!

By the time they reached the county seat, it was nearly nine o’clock. Li Yi sent his third sister to the sugar factory to deliver the cold noodles and white-skinned pancakes, while he took Tang Xue to the state-run restaurant!

After handing over the mountain produce and cold noodles to Liu Jingshan and settling the payment, Li Yi, clutching 1,360 yuan, headed to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative with a sense of satisfaction.

The reason he had so much money today was mainly because the state-run restaurant had finally settled the payment for the cold noodles from the past few days.

A few days ago, the county held a large-scale meeting. To save trouble, Liu Jingshan had Li Yi prepare several hundred portions of liangpi every day, but he hadn’t settled the payment until now.

Now that the conference was over and the state-run restaurant no longer needed to provide meals there, they settled the entire bill for the cold noodles with him today.

After leaving the state-run restaurant, Li Yi was in a great mood and couldn’t help but hum a tune.

Tang Xue thought the tune Li Yi was humming sounded quite nice, so she couldn’t help but ask, “What song are you singing? I’ve never heard it before.”

Li Yi smiled and said, “I’m just humming to myself—there aren’t even any lyrics!”

“Oh, that’s really nice!”

Li Yi smiled but said nothing. How could Liu Dehua’s “Secretly Enchanted” not be good?

But he couldn’t sing it for her. The song wasn’t released until 1993—more than a decade ago—and it was in Cantonese.

If he sang it for Tang Xue, he’d inevitably have to explain its origins—better to save himself the trouble!

Besides, social norms were still very conservative back then, and many of the lyrics in that song would still seem quite explicit to people today.

So, just listen to the melody—there’s no need to sing the lyrics out loud.

……..

Soon, the two of them arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative in a black horse-drawn carriage!

However, Li Yi didn’t go straight inside; instead, he asked Tang Xue to wait at the entrance for a moment.

He first tied the black horse to a nearby post, then walked over to a group of young men standing nearby.

Liu San saw Li Yi approaching and hurried over, saying, “Big Brother, you’re here!”

“Hmm… Do you have any watch coupons?” Li Yi asked straight to the point.

“Yes, but only one!” Liu San replied hurriedly.

“One isn’t enough. Get me another one!”

“My buddy has another one, but it might cost a bit more!”

“How much?”

“You can give me 5 yuan for this one, but I’m not sure about his.”

“Go ask him. Get it for me for no more than 8 yuan; if it’s over 8 yuan, forget it!”

“Alright!”

“Also, get me a radio ticket and 20 industrial coupons!” Li Yi said again.

“I’ve got the cash register tickets and industrial coupons right here!” Liu San’er said.

“Alright, bring them over. See how much it comes to!” Li Yi said.

“It comes to 17 yuan and 60 fen. Just give me 17 yuan, bro!”

Li Yi wasn’t about to take advantage of him over a few cents, so he counted out 18 yuan and said, “I’ll wait for you at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. As soon as you get the watch coupons, bring them over right away!”

“Alright, give me half an hour. Whether I succeed or not, I’ll let you know!” Liu San’er said.

“Deal!”

After that, Li Yi took a stack of vouchers and returned to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Tang Xue looked at Li Yi with some curiosity and asked, “Did you go find those troublemakers just to buy these coupons?”

“Riffraff?”

“Yeah, everyone at our educated youth commune calls the guys hanging around outside the supply and marketing cooperative ‘bad boys.’ They say those guys don’t do any real work—all they know how to do is speculate and peddle goods, and sometimes they even scam people!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Don’t let their current shenanigans fool you—they’ll all end up doing pretty well for themselves in the future!”

“Really?”

“Heh, just look at me. I used to be just like them—a ‘bad boy’ too!”

“You’re not…”

But Tang Xue stopped mid-sentence.

Come to think of it, Li Yi was right in a way. Although he hadn’t been buying and selling goods every day like these guys, he hadn’t exactly been doing anything productive either.

“Alright, don’t dwell on it. I’ve got plenty of tickets. Today, we’ll get most of the stuff we need for the wedding sorted out!” Li Yi said.

“Hmm, but don’t go buying everything you see—just enough will do!”

Tang Xue had seen Li Yi spend money with her own eyes. To be honest, even though she was an educated youth from the city, she was still stunned by his spending power.

In his hands, money wasn’t money at all—it was downright terrifying!

However, Li Yi just smiled and said, “Today, you have to listen to me!”

“Why?”

“Because getting married is a big deal!” Li Yi said with a serious expression.

Tang Xue suddenly recalled what she had said earlier—that Li Yi would make the decisions regarding major family matters from now on. She hadn’t expected him to remember it so clearly.

“Alright then, but you still need to be careful with it. After all, that money didn’t just fall from the sky!”

“Got it. You really are my little housekeeper!”

With that, Li Yi took Tang Xue’s hand and strode into the supply and marketing cooperative!