Seeing how happy Tang Xue looked, Li Yi was deeply moved.
What a kind-hearted girl!
Her own situation wasn’t exactly rosy either; after what happened, the pressure she’d been under must have been immense.
Even so, she still wanted to help others—a girl like this must have been an angel in a past life.
No matter what, he had to treat her well and help her keep that pure, innocent joy in her heart forever.
Seeing Li Yi staring intently at her, Tang Xue forced herself to suppress her inner panic and asked softly, “Why are you looking at me?”
“Hehe, honey, you’re really beautiful.”
“Am I prettier, or is Wang Xuemei prettier?” Tang Xue suddenly asked.
“Wang Xuemei? Who’s that?”
Li Yi frowned. He honestly couldn’t remember when he’d ever met such a woman!
“Don’t play dumb. She’s that woman from the next village… the one with the… well, you know, the big one!”
“What do you mean, ‘a bit on the heavy side’?”
Tang Xue’s face flushed, and she shot Li Yi a glare. “What do you mean? Don’t all you men care about that sort of thing? …If you don’t want to say it, just don’t. Playing dumb is no fun.”
With Tang Xue’s reminder, Li Yi suddenly remembered.
Wang Xuemei was the village beauty from the next village, wasn’t she? Her ample bust was indeed impressive!
In his previous life, he’d been completely mesmerized by her ample bust—so much so that he’d flat-out rejected Tang Xue’s marriage proposal, which led to the tragedy that followed.
However, that woman had only lingered in his memories for a short while before he turned twenty. After that, Li Yi had never seen her again, so he had long since forgotten her.
If Tang Xue hadn’t mentioned her this time, Li Yi would have almost forgotten she even existed.
Once he realized it, Li Yi immediately sensed a thick whiff of jealousy in the air.
“Honey, how could you do this?”
Caught off guard by Li Yi’s question, Tang Xue was momentarily flustered and hurriedly replied, “I… what did I do?”
“How can someone as ethereal as you be compared to a country girl like Wang Xuemei? That’s just cruel!” Li Yi said with a serious expression.
“Ha! How can you be so mean?” Tang Xue said with a smile playing at the corners of her eyes.
“Women don’t love men who aren’t a little bad. To make you fall for me, I have to be a bit naughty!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“If you keep talking nonsense like this, I won’t go out with you anymore!” Tang Xue said, feigning anger.
Knowing she was just being shy, Li Yi smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Let’s talk about something serious!”
Tang Xue wasn’t really angry. Hearing this, she replied, “What serious business?”
“I don’t object to you helping Zhang Xinyao and the others, but there are two things I need to discuss with you first!” Li Yi said seriously.
“Okay, go ahead!”
“The first thing is, no matter how much the mushrooms sell for, you can only give each of them two yuan a day!”
Before Tang Xue could speak, Li Yi explained, “It’s not that I’m stingy, but giving too much might make others jealous!”
“Besides, you should know the saying: ‘A measure of rice creates gratitude; a measure less creates resentment.’ Giving too much at the start isn’t necessarily a good thing—you can always give a little more later on!”
Tang Xue wasn’t stupid; she nodded immediately and said, “I get it. Besides, two yuan isn’t exactly chump change—that adds up to sixty yuan a month!”
“The second issue is, once you open this door, plenty of other people will come looking for you later. You need to be mentally prepared for that!” Li Yi said.
Tang Xue froze in her tracks. She’d been so focused on helping those few girlfriends that she’d completely forgotten there were other people in the village!
Never mind others—the male educated youths at the work-study camp alone wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this.
“Then… what should I do?”
Li Yi replied immediately, “If those male educated youths from the camp come looking for you, just turn them down flat. I don’t want to take any of those guys!”
Seeing the look of utter distaste on Li Yi’s face, Tang Xue couldn’t help but smile. This guy really holds a grudge!
However, Tang Xue didn’t have much regard for the male educated youths at the camp either, and she had no intention of dealing with them.
“But what if other women from the village come looking for me?”
“Just tell them you’ll take them along in a month, but not right now!”
“Why in a month?” Tang Xue asked, puzzled.
“Hehe, because in a month we’ll be married. By then, you’ll be my legally wedded wife, Li Yi’s proper bride—and you’ll be the one calling the shots!” Li Yi said with a smile.
Tang Xue’s face flushed crimson at Li Yi’s words, but a warm wave of emotion swept through her heart!
Although Tang Xue knew Li Yi was definitely teasing her, she sensed that his request to wait a month was about more than just getting married.
But hearing those words, she couldn’t help but feel a flutter in her heart.
Through her time with Li Yi over the past few days, Tang Xue discovered that he was completely different from what she had previously imagined.
Not only was he witty and humorous, but he was also exceptionally sharp-minded.
Moreover, he handled matters with tact yet never strayed from propriety; his social skills were impeccable, leaving absolutely no room for error.
In comparison, both she and Li Na seemed incredibly immature.
She could sense that the request she’d made today had put him in a difficult position.
“I’m sorry!”
“Why bring this up all of a sudden?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“I think I’ve caused you trouble!” Tang Xue said, lowering her head.
“Not really. It’s just that now isn’t the right time to take them on large-scale business ventures. Things will be fine in a little while!”
Under normal market conditions, helping the villagers lift themselves out of poverty and become prosperous wouldn’t be out of the question—in fact, that was exactly what Li Yi wanted to see.
But right now, the government hasn’t fully opened up the private sector yet. If he were to lead so many villagers in business together, they’d easily attract unwanted attention.
Drawing too much attention to oneself wasn’t a good thing these days. Take Mr. Nian, the founder of Shazi Sunflower Seeds, for example. Even though his sunflower seed business was booming, his large factory with over 100 employees was undoubtedly seen as an “oddity” at the moment.
Because of this, he was once labeled a “capitalist,” and the matter even reached the attention of higher-ups.
Li Yi certainly didn’t want to get on the authorities’ radar over something like this; otherwise, relying solely on his limited connections in the county, he might not be able to smooth things over.
Tang Xue, of course, didn’t think as deeply as Li Yi, but she knew he was telling the truth. She immediately replied, “Okay! I won’t be so headstrong from now on!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “You can be that way with me!”
“Huh?”
“You can still be willful in the future, but only with me!”
Then Li Yi added, “Also, remember this: you never have to say ‘I’m sorry’ to me, because you’re my woman. Taking care of you and solving your problems is my duty!”
Once again, Li Yi’s words made Tang Xue’s heart race, and her pretty face flushed.
She was a simple girl who had never been in a relationship before meeting Li Yi.
Even that so-called childhood sweetheart was nothing more than a one-sided crush on her part; over the years, they had communicated through nothing more than a few letters.
A girl as innocent as a blank sheet of paper—how could she possibly withstand Li Yi’s fierce advances? Tang Xue felt that if she stayed any longer, she would have to surrender.
Seeing that the mule cart was about to pass the educated youth camp, Tang Xue suddenly told Li Yi to stop.
She jumped off the cart, waved at Li Yi, and dashed into the commune in a flash, leaving a bewildered Li Yi standing there, his hair tousled by the wind!