Chapter 117: Visiting Second Sister’s House
When she stepped out of the supply and marketing cooperative, Tang Xue felt completely dazed!
It wasn’t just her—in fact, everyone in the supply and marketing cooperative, whether the shopkeepers or the ordinary customers, felt the same way.
Although the reforms had been in place for two years, everyone’s life was still a struggle.
The vast majority were still struggling to make ends meet, resorting to wild vegetable buns to tide them over during lean times—they’d never seen anyone so extravagant.
By a conservative estimate, this young couple had spent at least 500 yuan today—enough to cover two or three years’ income for many families!
Tang Xue hadn’t expected Li Yi to be such a big spender either; in less than two hours, he’d already spent 680 yuan.
Although they were buying essentials for the wedding, this guy bought two watches at once, plus a sewing machine and a radio—all of which cost over 400 yuan.
On top of that, Li Yi bought her all sorts of clothes, shoes, and headpieces—anything and everything she might need for the wedding!
She was deeply moved, but it also truly hurt her wallet!
In the carriage, seeing Tang Xue’s dazed and adoring expression, Li Yi smiled and asked, “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“You spend money way too freely—it’s a little scary!” Tang Xue said honestly.
“Scared of what? Scared that one day I won’t be able to make money anymore, or that our family can’t handle it?”
“Well, a regular worker’s monthly salary is only about 36 yuan. You just spent over an hour’s worth of their annual income—this is…”
Before Tang Xue could finish, Li Yi chuckled, “Isn’t today a special occasion? I want to make our wedding a grand affair!”
“But there’s no need to be this extravagant. Aren’t you worried the villagers will gossip?” Tang Xue said.
“Haha, what gossip?”
Li Yi continued, “Once we’re married, I’ll start collecting wild produce on a large scale. By then, everyone in the village will be making money with me. When everyone’s well-off, who’s going to be jealous of us?”
“Hmm! But I still…”
In truth, Li Yi had figured it out: the girl wasn’t upset because he could afford to spend money, but because she felt the pressure.
He was making money too fast—so fast that it had already put immense psychological pressure on his wife.
In his own eyes, making a few hundred yuan a day was still too little—so little that he wasn’t even in the “ten-thousand-yuan club” yet.
But in Tang Xue’s eyes, he earned in a single day what others made in a year—or even several years.
As for her, back when she was earning work points in the commune, she’d work herself to the bone just to get 8 to 10 points—which, on average, amounted to about three cents.
The gap in their incomes made this girl from the city feel uneasy.
Realizing this, Li Yi suddenly shifted toward Tang Xue and grabbed her hand.
Tang Xue was startled by Li Yi’s bold move—they were right out on the street!
Holding hands so openly was just too embarrassing!
“You… let go! Don’t you care what people think?” Tang Xue said, her face flushing.
“Let them laugh if they want—it won’t cost me a thing! Besides, I’m holding my wife’s hand—who dares to laugh at me?”
“You…”
“Hahaha, all right. From now on, I’ll let you manage all my money. You tell me how much to spend, and I won’t waste a single penny!” Li Yi said.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I swear to God!”
“Don’t. You’re such a scatterbrain—you come up with something new every day. You’d better not swear!”
Although Tang Xue was touched, she also knew Li Yi’s personality—he was quite unpredictable.
Who knows—he might swear today and be splurging again tomorrow. It’s better not to make any promises at all!
After all, the heavens are watching, and one shouldn’t make promises lightly!
Besides, she could tell he truly cared about her and wouldn’t change just because he’d made some money.
“Honey, after we drop these things off, let’s swing by Second Sister’s place!” Li Yi suddenly said.
“Should I go with you?” Tang Xue asked.
“Yeah, Second Sister is different from First Sister. They’ve already split from my in-laws, so it’s no big deal for you to go over there!” Li Yi replied.
“All right, then!”
“Mm-hmm!”
……..
Back home, Li Yi asked Tang Xue to go inside and keep his older sister company for a while, while he carried all the groceries into the house.
After taking a few sips of cool well water, Li Yi returned to the living room.
Seeing his older sister talking with Tang Xue, Li Yi smiled and said, “Sis, we’re going to visit our second sister’s place in a bit. Do you want to come with us?”
“I think I’ll pass. With this big belly, it’s just not convenient to go anywhere!”
Although Li Mei was tempted, she ultimately dismissed the idea after considering her condition.
“Alright then. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be able to bring Second Sister home today, so you’ll get to meet her then!” Li Yi said.
“Huh? Isn’t your wedding still a few days away? Why bring her back so early?”
“Sis, we bought so much cotton and duvet covers. Just making the new bedding alone will take several days, and we also need to make new clothes and other things—we’ll need help with all that!”
Actually, Mother had already found someone to make the bedding, but Li Yi wanted the siblings to be reunited sooner, so he decided to bring Second Sister home early.
Besides, Li Yi knew his second sister was feisty and decisive—leaving the wedding arrangements to her was far more reassuring than relying on their mother or eldest sister!
“All right, then. Drive safely on your way!”
“Okay!”
With that, Li Yi and Tang Xue headed out the door, riding the black horse straight to his second sister’s home!
Li Yi’s second sister had married into a place called Yaogou, a true mountain village!
Although it was a mountain village, the economic conditions here were considerably better than those in Nianzi Mountain, thanks to the village’s own enterprise—a brick and tile factory.
Yaogou was rich in yellow clay, and the village officials had capitalized on this resource by establishing a collective brick and tile factory early on.
Although it was just a simple horse-hoof kiln, and the bricks and tiles were still shaped and fired by hand, the operation was quite profitable.
Plus, since they could produce bricks and tiles right in the village, most villagers built brick-and-tile houses, making it a prosperous village known far and wide.
The twenty-mile journey took a full hour and a half—not because Black Horse was slow, but because the mountain roads were so treacherous.
Since the vehicles traveling to and from Yaogou were often heavily loaded with bricks and tiles, they were all heavy-duty trucks.
And since the roads up and down the mountain were all ordinary gravel paths, potholes were easily created, and if washed out by rain, they became even more difficult to traverse.
To be honest, Li Yi was starting to regret bringing Tang Xue along.
The bumpy, potholed road was simply too rough, and he was genuinely worried it might cause her harm—after all, she was now expecting!
Fortunately, Tang Xue seemed to have gotten used to the rough terrain and didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
And so, a little after 1:00 PM, the two of them finally arrived at the village where Second Sister lived!