Li Yi had just finished loading his goods and was planning to head to the educated youth camp to pick up the female educated youths and their mushrooms before driving to the county seat.
Just then, a young man came over to tell him that the male educated youths had all been arrested and were being escorted to the village committee office.
Not knowing the details, Li Yi immediately drove the bright red mule cart over to check it out.
As soon as he entered the village committee office, Li Yi was startled by the scene before him.
The vast courtyard was packed with people—no fewer than two hundred men, women, and children of all ages—just like a members’ assembly.
With a quick glance, Li Yi spotted Tang Xue standing alone in the crowd and immediately waved to her.
Tang Xue had been feeling a bit self-conscious, but she was also deeply hurt. Having just been slandered by those male educated youths, she had nearly burst into tears right then and there.
Upon seeing Li Yi, she seemed to find a pillar of strength. She ran straight through the crowd toward him, threw herself into his arms, and burst into tears.
Li Yi was startled. He quickly handed the mule cart to his third older sister, Li Na, who was standing nearby, then gently patted Tang Xue on the back and whispered words of comfort.
“Honey, don’t cry. What happened?”
Tang Xue didn’t say a word; she just kept crying!
The villagers around them were dumbfounded. Although they knew the couple was about to get married, seeing them hugging and crying in public like this was still a bit hard for them to accept.
But no one dared say a word. Although Li Yi had turned over a new leaf lately, the intimidation factor of a former troublemaker wasn’t so easily shaken off.
Everyone knew just how wild this kid was. A few years ago, when he was still just a teenager, he’d beaten another local thug from a neighboring village so badly that the man was seriously injured.
If he hadn’t been so young back then, he would likely have been arrested and sentenced.
If they dared to confront him in front of so many people, he might just snap!
After a long while, Tang Xue finally vented her pent-up frustration and then shyly slipped out of Li Yi’s embrace.
“Is someone picking on you? Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it for you. Don’t be afraid!” Li Yi said earnestly.
Hearing this, a wave of warmth washed over Tang Xue. She shook her head and said, “It’s nothing. It’s just that Xu Hong and the others said I was meeting with a man in secret—they’re slandering me, accusing me of adultery.”
Li Yi immediately understood. It must be that the public security officer who’d been staking out the female educated youth dorm had been discovered, and those bastards were deliberately smearing Tang Xue to throw people off the trail!
“Hmph, where are those bastards? I’ll kill them!” Li Yi said angrily.
“Captain Li has already taken them to the county bureau!”
Seeing the look of pure fury on Li Yi’s face, Tang Xue hurriedly interjected.
Although she was deeply moved that her husband was standing up for her, she didn’t want to get Li Yi into trouble over this.
“Hmph, so what if they’re hiding at the county bureau? Since they dared to smear you like that, I’m going to add a charge of defamation to their list of crimes!” Li Yi said in a deep voice.
Dongzi, standing nearby, asked in confusion, “Brother Yi, what’s a defamation charge?”
Li Yi replied immediately, “Defamation is the act of intentionally fabricating and spreading false information that is sufficient to disparage a person’s character and damage their reputation—especially in serious cases!”
“Wow, there’s a crime like that? How long would the sentence be for that?” Dongzi asked again.
“Those found guilty of defamation shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of up to three years, criminal detention, control, or deprivation of political rights,” Li Yi said.
Li Yi’s words were like dropping a depth charge into the crowd. In an instant, a buzz filled the air as people whispered to one another, discussing the matter:
“My God, so cursing someone is a crime now? And the punishment is that severe?”
“Yi must be pulling our leg—this is way too scary!”
“I don’t think so. Yi speaks with such conviction; he probably isn’t pulling our leg…”
Feng Kai, a seasoned veteran, saw right through Li Yi’s intentions. He knew Li Yi wasn’t actually planning to press charges against those male educated youths—he was just trying to intimidate the village’s gossipmongers.
Immediately, he shouted, “You all heard what Yiwa said, right? If you keep spreading rumors, you really might get arrested and sentenced. So from now on, keep your gossip behind closed doors—say whatever you want among yourselves—but don’t go blabbing about it everywhere. Otherwise, no one will be able to save you!”
After saying this, Feng Kai glanced at the sun and added, “It’s getting late. Everyone, go home. Don’t let this hold up our work!”
Just then, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, “Wait a minute!”
The crowd then saw a man with a limp, leaning on a cane, step forward. He approached Li Yi and said, “Yi, can I ask you for a favor?”
Li Yi recognized the man before him. His name was Lin Jianhai, a veteran.
He had been injured while serving in the military, and due to his physical condition, his family had always struggled to make ends meet.
“You want to come with me to sell mountain produce and make some money, right?” Li Yi asked.
“Yes. You know my situation, Yi. Four kids and two elderly parents—we’re all relying on your sister-in-law’s labor points to get by. It’s really…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi immediately replied, “Alright, I’ll agree to it!”
“You… you really mean it?”
“Mm-hmm!”
No sooner had Li Yi finished speaking than someone else chimed in, “Yi, you can’t just help Jianhai and leave us out!”
“That’s right! We want to earn money with you too—even if it’s just one yuan a day!”
“Exactly, you can’t play favorites…”
…….
Li Yi knew he had to resolve this issue. Otherwise, even if he dealt with those male educated youths today, who knew who might pop up in the future.
Although he wasn’t afraid, he didn’t have the energy to deal with this kind of thing constantly.
He then raised his hand to signal for silence.
Once everyone in the room had fallen silent, Li Yi spoke up: “Uncles, elders, and aunts, let me make one thing clear: the reason I didn’t bring you all into the mountain produce business earlier wasn’t because I didn’t want you to make money, but because the circumstances didn’t allow it!”
“There were two reasons for this. First, the state-run restaurants couldn’t handle such a large volume of mountain produce. Second, my family didn’t have enough space to store all that stuff!”
“If we couldn’t sell it that day, we’d be stuck with it the next. Our family is poor—we can make a profit but can’t afford to take a loss—so I didn’t dare take everyone on that risk!”
Just as everyone thought Li Yi was about to turn them down again after all that,
Li Yi suddenly changed his tone and continued, “Now that our new house is built, I’ve had Master Zhao and his team set up a drying shed. Once it’s ready, I’ll be able to help you all make money!”
“So from now on, it won’t just be Brother Lin who can make money with me—everyone in the village can, but only once my courtyard and drying shed are built!”
After saying this, Li Yi paid no further attention to the villagers’ reactions.
He simply took Tang Xue by the hand and drove the bright red mule cart away from the village office!
Leaving behind a crowd of villagers with a mix of expressions!