Li Yi was unaware of what had happened in the county seat; at that moment, he was pedaling his bicycle toward the town.
After Secretary Wang left, the people at the commune tried to cozy up to him, but Li Yi was worried about his third older sister, Li Na, and had no time to deal with them.
So Li Yi made up a flimsy excuse and left the Hongqi Commune.
Li Yi knew full well that those people were only trying to get close to him to gain access to Wang Anmin’s connections—they didn’t truly value him.
As for the connection with the Wang family, Li Yi intended to use it cautiously; after all, favors tend to diminish the more they’re used, so he couldn’t afford to waste them carelessly.
Naturally, Li Yi had no interest in dealing with those people!
It had been years since Li Yi had ridden a bicycle, but to his surprise, it felt as natural as ever—not the slightest bit of effort!
He covered the dozen or so kilometers from Hongqi Commune to the county seat in less than half an hour—that was really fast.
In fact, Li Yi had noticed that since his rebirth, his body seemed to have undergone some kind of change.
This change wasn’t as powerful as the “golden finger” abilities in novels; it was just that his strength had increased slightly, and his physical condition had improved.
Although it wasn’t particularly noticeable, Li Yi could feel it deeply himself.
By the time he reached the county seat, it was already 11 o’clock. Instead of heading to the state-run restaurant, Li Yi went straight to the sugar factory!
When Li Yi arrived at the sugar factory gate, he found his father, Li Shankui, and his third older sister had already set up their stall.
Seeing Li Yi approach, Li Na immediately exclaimed happily, “Did you manage to sort things out over there?”
“Yeah, it’s all taken care of!”
“What exactly happened? Did those people at the commune have nothing better to do than investigate you?” Li Na asked immediately.
She’d been worried the whole way there, fearing that something might have actually happened to Li Yi.
When her younger brother stood before her, safe and sound, she knew he was innocent, and that lingering worry turned into anger toward those people at the commune.
“It’s nothing much. They just gave me a certificate of merit and 200 yuan!”
“Huh? What does that mean? Why would they give you a certificate and money?” Li Shankui asked, puzzled.
“Do you remember when I saved an old man on the day of my engagement?”
“How could I forget? Because of that, you nearly messed up the marriage proposal!” Li Shankui said.
Li Yi immediately explained, “That old man’s son is a local official in the county seat. After he found out we’d saved his father, he wanted to thank us. But his secretary miscommunicated the message, and the commune misunderstood. Long story short, it was all a huge mix-up!”
Before Li Shankui could say anything, Li Na chimed in from the side: “So that’s how it was. I always said that even though you’re no model student, you wouldn’t have the guts to break the law!”
Li Yi didn’t want to get into an argument with his third sister over this, so he quickly changed the subject: “Sis, how’s the sale of the mountain produce going?”
“Take a guess.”
“Yesterday’s sales weren’t huge. I’d guess about 120 yuan?”
Li Na smiled and said, “It’s way more than that!”
“How much then?”
Li Yi asked curiously; after all, he was quite confident in his own judgment.
Yesterday’s haul of mountain produce totaled only about 170 to 180 jin. Based on the going rate, that would be worth no more than 120 to 130 yuan, with a margin of error of no more than 5 yuan.
This was a skill he’d honed from going door-to-door in his previous life—it was almost impossible for him to be wrong.
“I’m not kidding you—it sold for a total of 153 yuan!”
“That can’t be right. Why so much?” Li Yi asked in surprise.
Li Na replied immediately, “That guy surnamed Liu said there’s a type of mushroom in our mountain produce called ‘monkey something-or-other.’ That stuff is really valuable—it’s worth 5 yuan a jin!”
“We had a total of six and a half jin of that mushroom—that alone brought in over thirty yuan!”
With Li Na’s reminder, Li Yi suddenly remembered—yesterday, those young guys had indeed picked a bag of monkey head mushrooms.
He knew that in the future, that stuff was indeed very valuable—pure wild specimens could sell for at least a hundred yuan per kilogram.
But he never imagined they’d be this valuable in this era—costing six or seven times as much as ordinary tea tree mushrooms.
“Since they’re worth that much, I’ll have Dongzi and the others pick more from now on!” Li Yi said.
“Mm-hmm!”
Just as they were speaking, a pleasant bell rang out from inside the sugar factory!
The two knew the sugar factory workers were about to get off shift, and people would soon be coming to buy liangpi and white-skinned pancakes, so they immediately got ready.
Sure enough, within minutes, hundreds of workers streamed out of the factory, heading straight for Li Yi’s little stall!
……..
At 4:00 p.m., after restocking, the three of them returned to the village!
After unloading the supplies at home, Li Shankui didn’t go out to help in the fields; instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground, smoking with a pensive expression.
Seeing his father like this, Li Yi knew he had something to say.
After all these years, how could he not know his own father’s temperament!
“Dad, what’s wrong?” Li Yi asked as he tidied up.
“Sit down. I have something to ask you!”
Li Yi immediately put down what he was doing, walked over, and said, “Dad, go ahead—I’m all ears!”
“Why don’t you just sell mountain produce from now on? You should stop selling those cold noodles, okay?”
Before Li Yi could say a word, his third older sister, Li Na, piped up, “Why? Father, you’ve seen how booming Xiao Yi’s business is—it’d be such a waste to stop now!”
Li Shankui took two deep puffs from his pipe, then said, “It’s precisely because I see how booming that business is that I don’t dare let your brother continue it! Don’t forget, the agricultural cooperative hasn’t been dissolved yet!”
Li Yi knew exactly what his father was worried about: as long as the agricultural cooperative remained intact, the country was still operating under a planned economy.
Under these circumstances, his street vending and small-scale trading were illegal.
If it was illegal, he could be reported, or even arrested and sentenced.
“Dad, times have changed. The government has already allowed the emergence of a private economy. Although it hasn’t been implemented here yet, it’s already started in the southern regions!” Li Yi said.
“Then wait until the policies are in place here before you start. Anyway, even selling mountain produce can make you a decent profit!” Li Shankui said in a stern voice.
“Dad, selling mountain produce isn’t a long-term solution. Once winter sets in, the mushrooms and wood ear fungus will be gone!” Li Yi said.
“So what if they’re gone? With the rate you’re making money now, do you really think we’ll be short of cash for the New Year?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Father, I know what you’re worried about, but I promise nothing will go wrong!”
“What do you have to back that up?”
Li Shankui then raised his voice and said, “You’re not a child anymore. If you won’t think of yourself, at least think of that girl, Xiaoxue!”
“People are already gossiping about a city girl running off with you. If you get arrested, she’ll never be able to hold her head up again!”
Li Yi immediately replied, “Father, do you know who the son of that old man I saved the other day is?”
Knowing his father’s stubborn nature, Li Yi realized that simply appealing to reason wouldn’t work. He decided to bring up the heavyweight figure of Wang Anmin.
“Who?”
“His name is Wang Anmin—the top official in our county!” Li Yi declared, dropping a bombshell.
“The top official? The county Party secretary?”
“Right. He also said that if anything comes up in the future, I can go straight to him—we’ve got connections up there!”
Li Shankui knew exactly what his son meant and fell silent.
To be honest, seeing that his son had earned a month’s wages in a single day just by selling liangpi, Li Shankui was reluctant to give it up.
But recalling the severity of the crackdown on profiteering in recent years, he decided to make his son swallow his pride and quit.
If his son really did have connections in high places, perhaps this business could actually continue.
After all, the situation had indeed changed in recent years. Many households were raising far more chickens and pigs than the commune allowed, and quite a few were secretly taking their livestock to the black market to sell.
Whether it was the commune or the production team, they turned a blind eye to such activities, clearly tacitly approving them.
Thinking of this, Li Shankui couldn’t help but hesitate!