Back home, Li Yi handed the cleanup to his third older sister, under the pretext of letting her get a head start on learning the ropes of running a street stall.
As for himself, he took Tang Xue and headed straight for the new place!
Naturally, their behavior drew Li Na’s displeasure. As she packed up her things, she cursed Li Yi, calling him an ungrateful wretch who’d forgotten his sister now that he had a wife!
But Li Yi remained completely unfazed. Holding Tang Xue’s hand, he walked out the door with determination, as if he hadn’t heard a single word of Li Na’s rant.
Once they reached the front gate, Tang Xue said somewhat sheepishly, “Isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”
“Are you worried my sister will get mad?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“Well, it feels like we’re taking advantage of Sister Na!”
“No way. She’d love for us to be together all the time!” Li Yi said.
“Really?”
“If you don’t believe me, turn around and look!”
Tang Xue immediately turned around and saw Li Na looking at the two of them with a warm, maternal smile—there wasn’t a trace of anger on her face.
“How do you know Sister Na isn’t really upset?” Tang Xue asked curiously.
“I know my sister better than anyone. She’s stubborn as a mule—if she were really mad, she wouldn’t have yelled at us like that!” Li Yi said.
“Then what would she do?”
“If she’s not too mad, she’ll just beat me up—the kind of beating that leaves me bloodied and bruised!”
“What if she’s really, really angry?” Tang Xue asked again.
“She might just hide away and never see me again!”
As he said this, Li Yi felt a sudden lump in his throat.
It had been just like that in his previous life. After learning of Tang Xue’s suicide, his third older sister had locked herself in her room for a day and a night.
After that, she left Nianzishan Village.
She didn’t take a single penny from the family, nor did she ask for a letter of introduction—she just left.
She vanished for thirty years. If she hadn’t regularly sent money back to their mother, Li Yi would have thought something terrible had happened to her.
After Li Yi had made his fortune, he pulled out all the stops to find Li Na, and finally tracked her down at an electronics factory on the coast.
By then, she was already fifty years old, but she looked as if she were sixty—she had aged terribly.
Moreover, through his inquiries, Li Yi discovered that his third older sister had never married; she had only adopted a young girl with a disability.
Filled with guilt, Li Yi wanted to bring the mother and daughter to live with him, but she refused.
Although she had forgiven Li Yi by then, her life had already been ruined.
Tang Xue had no idea how much Li Yi had been thinking about all this, but upon hearing how terrifying her eldest sister-in-law could be when angry, she said with lingering fear, “Then we definitely can’t make Sister Na angry from now on!”
“Haha, it’s okay to tease her a little. My sister has a sharp tongue but a soft heart—as long as you don’t go too far, you’ll be fine!”
“Mm-hmm!”
Along the way, the two encountered quite a few villagers. Seeing Li Yi and Tang Xue chatting and laughing together, the villagers couldn’t help but compliment them, saying they looked like a golden boy and a jade girl, and that they had the look of a married couple.
Every time he heard such comments, Li Yi was overjoyed.
Tang Xue, meanwhile, stood shyly behind Li Yi, neither speaking nor turning away.
Li Yi could tell that the girl was already trying her best to adapt to her new role as “Yi’s wife.”
Although she didn’t seem to have fully adjusted yet, she was trying her best, and Li Yi was truly satisfied.
……..
Arriving at the new house, Li Yi noticed that the walls had already been built up to a height of one meter. At this pace, it would take no more than three days to lay the roof beams and tiles!
Once the interior was filled in, they could start plastering and finishing the interior!
Even so, the timeline was still a bit tight if they wanted to finish the new house in just over ten days.
Seeing the young couple approach, Li Shankui immediately walked over.
“Master Zhao says we’ll be raising the ridge beam the morning after tomorrow. You don’t need to set up your stall that day—just make sure to prepare some good wine and food for the occasion!”
Li Yi knew that the beam-raising ceremony was a major occasion in the local tradition. It was customary to treat the laborers to a good meal, and sometimes even set off firecrackers to bring good luck and celebrate the occasion.
“Sure! I’ll take care of the food!” Li Yi replied.
“Hmm, also, Master Zhao wants to ask you about the bathroom. It’ll require waterproofing, plus rebar and cement—it’ll cost quite a bit. Are you really going to do it?” Li Shankui asked again.
“Yes, we have to do it!”
It wasn’t just for Tang Xue—Li Yi needed it himself.
He certainly didn’t want to stand in a basin of water to bathe in the middle of winter, or—like the rest of the villagers—simply stop bathing altogether once winter arrived, staying dirty for the entire season. The very thought made him feel uncomfortable.
Li Yi didn’t mean to look down on the ordinary villagers, after all—they didn’t bathe in winter simply because they were lazy or lacked the means to do so.
In fact, this was a survival strategy the local people had developed over centuries. Qingshan County was located in the northern frontier, where winters were dry and cold, with biting winds.
Under such conditions, bathing every few days would be nothing short of reckless.
After all, things were different back then compared to later times; medical care was far from advanced, and sometimes even a simple cold could be fatal.
On one hand, you feel unwell; on the other, you risk getting sick or even dying. You’d have to think carefully about which to choose!
Although he understood the reasoning, Li Yi simply couldn’t accept it, so he was determined to build this bathhouse.
He was even planning to build a stove in the bathhouse someday—it would be so warm and cozy!
Seeing that he couldn’t dissuade his son, Li Shankui decided to say no more.
Then, he turned his gaze to his daughter-in-law and said, “Xue, with you and Xiaoyi about to get married, why don’t you send a telegram home—or even write a letter?”
At these words, Tang Xue’s face turned pale!
“Uncle, I’m capable of making my own decisions—I won’t be telling them!”
Tang Xue knew full well that her family was still waiting for her to return.
So, no matter what, they would never agree to her marrying Li Yi.
It wasn’t just because this was a remote, impoverished backwater—they were worried she’d suffer here—but also because they were waiting for her to return to DXMBANG so they could sell her for a good price.
“But… is it really okay not to tell your family about something as big as getting married?” Li Shankui asked, frowning.
Tang Xue replied immediately, “It’s fine. It’s me marrying Li Yi, not my family—it won’t be a problem!”
Seeing that his father was still trying to argue the point, Li Yi immediately said, “Dad, let’s just do as Xiao Xue says. After all, there’s really no way I can bring this up with her parents!”
“But we can’t keep it a secret forever!”
For a traditional old man like Li Shankui, marriage and having children were the most important events in life—how could they possibly keep it a secret from her parents!
“Dad, after we’re married, I’ll take Xiaoxue to Qin Province. I’ll go there in person to apologize and take the blame!” Li Yi said.
“Well, if you two say it’s fine, then so be it. But if your in-laws don’t let you in the door, don’t blame me for not warning you!” Li Shankui sighed.
“It’ll be fine. You know your son’s capabilities better than anyone!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Alright then!”
……..