Back home, Li Yi rushed over to the new house again!
Although they were just a few brick-and-tile houses, they paled in comparison to the luxurious villas and riverside penthouses he would own in the future.
But these few houses held great significance for Li Yi, as they would be his and Tang Xue’s marital home—and perhaps the place where their children would be born.
Therefore, even though the house wasn’t finished yet, Li Yi had already envisioned a happy life for his family in the future.
When Li Yi arrived, he found that the walls of the new house had already been erected.
After all, the main house consisted of only three rooms. With five or six master bricklayers and seven or eight laborers working simultaneously, the workload was really quite light!
Not seeing his father, Li Shankui, Li Yi went over to his mother and asked, “Mom, where’s Dad?”
“He went to town to pick up the roof purlins. I reckon he’ll be back soon!”
Then Zhang Yuehong suddenly asked, “Why did you come back so early today?”
“Hehe, I sold everything quickly, so I came back early!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Hmm, have you prepared the food for the roof-raising ceremony tomorrow?”
“Pretty much. I bought 10 pounds of meat, 5 pounds of tofu, and two big bundles of glass noodles, plus I got 10 pounds of sorghum liquor. I think that should be enough!”
“That’s quite a lot…”
Just as they were talking, the sound of bells suddenly rang out from outside.
Li Yi looked out and saw five or six mule-drawn carts clanging their way toward them, led by none other than his father, Li Shankui.
Soon the carts arrived at the open space in front of the new house. Li Yi could now see clearly that they were loaded with logs, each about 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter.
Judging by the wood, they were likely pine logs, and all of them had been processed.
“Dad, you’re back?”
Li Shankui nodded and said, “Yeah, step aside—we’re about to unload!”
Then, Li Shankui called out to the others to come help unload the wood.
The logs were heavy; although they had been cut into four-meter-long sections, they were still too heavy for just one or two people to lift, so the laborers all rushed over to help.
After a Herculean effort, they finally unloaded all the beams, and Li Shankui walked over to Li Yi.
“What brings you here? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing much, just wanted to see how the house is coming along!” Li Yi said.
“It’s going smoothly. We’ll be raising the ridgepole and hanging the rafters tomorrow, and we’ll be able to cap the roof and lay the tiles the day after!” Li Shankui said.
“Alright. I see the work’s moving along quickly. Dad, make sure to pay the uncles and older men a bit extra when the time comes!”
“Got it! Leave that to me. If there’s nothing else, you should head back!”
“Alright!”
Actually, Li Yi wanted to talk to his parents about the two job openings at the sugar factory, but he figured this wasn’t the right place for that conversation. He’d wait until tonight instead!
As for those two job openings, Li Yi had actually decided long ago to give them to his eldest sister and her husband.
There were four siblings in Li Yi’s family: his eldest sister Li Mei, his second sister Li Lan, his third sister Li Na, and Li Yi, the youngest.
His eldest and second sisters had both married young. Although they lived not far from Nianzi Mountain Village, they rarely came back.
Li Yi felt a sense of guilt toward his two married sisters, especially his eldest sister.
Of the four children in the family, it was naturally his eldest sister, Li Mei, who had sacrificed the most.
In the early years, with so many children in the family, his parents worked tirelessly to earn as many work points as possible to ensure they had enough grain to get through the winter, never daring to take a day off. As a result, caring for the younger siblings fell entirely to his eldest sister.
By the time she reached junior high school age, Li Mei was doing very well in her studies, and her teachers were eager for her to continue her education.
However, since the second and third sisters also needed to attend school at the time, the parents ultimately made the heart-wrenching decision to have the eldest sister drop out and return home to work in the fields, where she could earn enough work points to support the family for half a month.
And so, the eldest sister became the first child in the family to be given up.
This wasn’t unusual in those days; every family went through the same struggles, and Li Mei herself never blamed her parents.
But what truly made Li Yi feel guilty was that, because of his mischief and youthful ignorance, he had directly ruined his eldest sister’s life.
Three years ago, 17-year-old Li Yi got into a fight and injured someone.
Eventually, the victim came to their door demanding compensation, threatening to report them to the police if they didn’t pay.
Li Shankui and his wife had no choice but to pay.
But the family simply didn’t have the money. Just as they were at a loss, his eldest sister, Li Mei, stepped forward, using her own marriage as a bargaining chip to secure 100 yuan in compensation for Li Yi.
Her husband’s surname was Yang; his name was Yang Wenguang, and he was from Jiziwa Village, eight kilometers away from Nianzishan Village.
Yang Wenguang was a kind man, not unattractive, and a veteran, though he had a disability.
He had been injured while serving in the military; Li Yi didn’t know the exact details of how it happened, but he knew that his brother-in-law couldn’t use one of his arms properly and seemed to have trouble walking.
And that was precisely why, at twenty-six or twenty-seven, no one was willing to marry him!
In an effort to find a wife for Yang Wenguang, the Yang family had deliberately spread the word that they would pay a 100-yuan dowry to anyone willing to marry into the family.
A few years ago, 100 yuan was a substantial sum.
But even so, no one was willing to marry into the family—until Li Mei, with her back against the wall and for the sake of Li Yi, married into the Yang family.
However, Li Mei’s life in the Yang household was far from easy. Although her brother-in-law was a good man, he had no say in the family’s affairs.
On top of that, the eldest sister had gambled away the entire dowry on Li Yi’s behalf, so her in-laws were very upset about it—especially her mother-in-law, who was a thoroughly wicked woman. The eldest sister had suffered a great deal at their hands over the years.
But what Li Mei found most unbearable was her younger sister-in-law, who, relying on her parents’ favoritism, bullied her all day long.
Li Yi recalled that just this year, his eldest sister became pregnant, yet even then, the Yang family showed her no consideration whatsoever.
Taking advantage of the fact that her husband was away working at the logging camp, they relentlessly overworked her, leading to a sudden miscarriage at seven months. Not only was the baby lost, but the mother didn’t survive either—a tragedy that claimed two lives.
When her husband returned from the logging camp and learned the terrible news, he completely broke down.
Later, when he learned that all of this had been forced upon her by his mother and his younger sister, he was filled with regret, hatred, and guilt. Finally, one early autumn morning, my eldest sister’s husband went alone to the reservoir on the back mountain and jumped in…
In my father’s previous life, his health suddenly collapsed within just a few years. Aside from being driven to despair by his daughter-in-law, my eldest sister’s death dealt him an equally devastating blow.
According to my mother, as my father was passing away, he kept calling out my eldest sister’s name, in addition to cursing him.
It was clear that even on his deathbed, his father felt he had wronged his eldest sister!
In his previous life, by the time Li Yi had made his fortune, his eldest sister was already gone, leaving him no chance to repay her.
In this life, he absolutely cannot let that tragedy repeat itself!
But after all, those who had done him wrong were his sister-in-law’s parents and younger sister. He couldn’t just kill them without regard for his sister-in-law’s feelings, and besides, this was a society governed by the rule of law—he couldn’t just eliminate people on a whim.
So Li Yi decided to first get his older sister and brother-in-law jobs at the sugar factory, far away from those villains, and deal with the rest later.