The appeal of liangpi is astonishing. These police officers from the county bureau were tasting this delicacy from the Shaanxi region for the first time, and they were instantly won over.
Add to that the fact that they were genuinely hungry today, and forty-plus of them polished off over a hundred servings of liangpi and over a hundred white-skinned pancakes in one sitting. Their appetite truly astonished Li Yi.
Afterward, Wang Anguo tried to give Li Yi some money, but he refused.
For one thing, Li Yi didn’t really care about the money—taking it wouldn’t make him rich, and refusing it wouldn’t make him poor.
Secondly, he knew these police officers had just returned from the front lines of a human trafficking bust. He couldn’t offer much help, but providing them with a meal was the least he could do—considering it a gesture of gratitude on behalf of the local residents!
By the time he left the county bureau, it was already past 4:00 p.m.—a full two and a half hours later than usual.
But Li Yi was in high spirits!
Although his liangpi business hadn’t made a penny today—in fact, he’d lost quite a bit—some things simply couldn’t be measured in money.
First, thanks to his intervention, not only were all the human traffickers rounded up, but he also restored peace and order for the local residents.
More importantly, he had successfully rescued over a dozen abducted children—a truly meritorious deed!
Second, he had now cleared the hurdle with the police. With Wang Anguo backing him up, not only could he continue setting up his stall at the sugar factory gate, but even if he set up shop on the busiest street in the county seat, no one would dare to touch him.
Of course, Li Yi isn’t the type to draw attention to himself, so he wouldn’t do something like that.
As the saying goes, pride comes before a fall; in business, the worst thing you can do is flaunt your success so brazenly—you never know when someone might take a dim view of you.
Making a fortune quietly is the way to go!
Take this recent incident where he was reported, for example. Although Li Yi ultimately didn’t ask Wang Anguo who had reported him, he could roughly guess the likely culprit.
Anyone who would be so persistent as to go to the county bureau time and time again must be someone he knows. A stranger would have to be out of their mind to do something so self-defeating.
But why would an acquaintance want to harm him?
It must be because he’s been a bit too flashy lately!
First he was paying a dowry to marry a girl, then buying a bicycle, and now he’s building a brick house—who wouldn’t be envious and jealous seeing that!
So, even though he’d been given a “get-out-of-jail-free card,” Li Yi didn’t want to cause a huge stir.
In short, stay low-key—don’t go overboard!
However, with Wang Anguo as his powerful backer, Li Yi has developed a new perspective on the liangpi business!
Although he couldn’t set up street stalls to sell liangpi everywhere, he could certainly wholesale it to state-run restaurants!
Given liangpi’s appeal, it’s bound to become a signature dish at the state-run restaurant.
Besides, state-run restaurants are currently the only dining establishments in the county open to the public, and business there is absolutely booming every day.
Once he secures this channel, his sales volume is bound to be off the charts!
Although the wholesale price to the state-run restaurant certainly wouldn’t match what he’d make from his own street stall, if the volume was high enough, his earnings wouldn’t be any less than running his own stall.
With that in mind, Li Yi decided to make a bigger batch tomorrow and take it to the state-run restaurant to give it a try!
If it didn’t work out, it didn’t matter—worst-case scenario, he could just give the unsold stock to Wang Anguo and the others!
However, what Li Yi didn’t know was that just as he was happily planning his future business ventures, the village was in an uproar!
Once Xu Hong confirmed that Li Yi had finally been arrested, he felt a surge of satisfaction. He immediately returned home and spread the news!
Before long, the entire Nianzishan Brigade knew that Li Yi had been arrested by the police for profiteering!
Since Tang Xue lived at the educated youth commune—and the news had first spread from there—she found out about the situation almost immediately.
Although she didn’t know if it was true, she rushed over to the Li family home and told Li Na and Li Shankui the news.
This terrified the Li family—speculation and profiteering were no small matter in those days; one misstep could land you in prison!
Li Shankui immediately wanted to go into town to find his son!
But Li Na stopped him. She knew her younger brother well; though he had a bit of a rebellious streak, he never did anything without being sure of the outcome.
Since he had sworn up and down that day that he had connections in high places, he must have had a solid plan—he would never deceive them.
So Li Na told her father to wait a while; if he really couldn’t wait any longer, then they’d go into town!
Yet, no matter how long they waited, Li Yi didn’t return, and even Li Na began to grow anxious.
At 6:30 p.m., just as Li Na was beginning to think it necessary to go into town to gather some information, a clear jingle of a bell suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard!
Everyone looked out the window, and the towering figure of the big red mule came into view!
Li Na’s face lit up with joy, and she immediately ran out of the house in excitement.
As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Li Yi driving the mule cart into the courtyard and beginning to unload it.
“Yi!”
Li Yi looked up and saw his third older sister running toward him like a gust of wind, apparently intending to hug him.
He instinctively reached out his hand and shouted, “Stop!”
Li Na was taken aback by his sudden movement and stopped in her tracks.
“Is this brat rejecting me?”
Once she came to her senses, Li Na flew into a rage. She stormed over, grabbed Li Yi by the ear, and snapped, “You little brat! You think you’re too big for your britches now, daring to reject your own sister? Just wait until I teach you a lesson!”
Li Yi quickly begged for mercy, “Sis… my dear sister, it hurts, it hurts…”
“So you’re not rejecting me?” Li Na demanded loudly.
“I’m not looking down on you! You said we’re both adults now, and you suddenly pull a stunt like this on me—how am I supposed to handle that?” Li Yi hurriedly explained.
“What do you mean, adults? You’re just looking down on me…”
Just then, Tang Xue, who had followed them out of the room, watched the siblings bickering, her eyes filled with envy!
Although she also had a brother and a sister, her brother looked down on her, and her sister wasn’t close to her—they never played around with her so affectionately like this!
Just then, Li Yi spotted Tang Xue and hurriedly said, “Sis, let go! My wife is watching!”
Tang Xue heard this, and her face instantly turned bright red!
Li Na, however, grew even more “angry” and retorted immediately, “Way to go, Li Yi! Now that you have a wife, you’ve forgotten your sister. So what if Xiao Xue is watching? Does that mean I can’t teach you a lesson anymore?”
Li Yi wrenched his arm free from Li Na’s grip and ran straight over to Tang Xue, feigning a pitiful expression as he pleaded, “Honey, save me!”
Although Tang Xue didn’t want to get involved in the sibling feud, for some reason, she couldn’t help but say, “Sis Na, just let him off. We’ve got more important things to ask him!”
Li Na stared at her best friend in astonishment, her face a picture of disbelief!
She knew full well that Tang Xue didn’t actually like her good-for-nothing younger brother; she’d only agreed to marry him out of necessity. That’s why, during those first few days, she’d been constantly worried that Tang Xue might take her own life.
But just now, when she’d heard her brother call her “wife,” Tang Xue hadn’t objected—in fact, she’d looked downright bashful!
This wasn’t right—it was very, very wrong!
And Tang Xue had even pleaded on her brother’s behalf—had the sun risen in the west?