Nianzishan Village. The Li Family!
When Tang Xue saw Li Yi turn his gaze toward her, she immediately felt a bit nervous and blurted out, “I don’t want any money!”
“Ha!”
As soon as she said that, everyone in the house couldn’t help but burst out laughing!
Li Yi said, “You’re my wife. The money I earn is yours—how could you possibly refuse it?”
Then Li Yi took out a passbook and handed it directly to Tang Xue: “There’s two thousand yuan in this passbook. Take it!”
“I… I haven’t moved in yet. I don’t want it!” Tang Xue said stubbornly.
“It’s only a matter of time before you move in. Besides, don’t forget our agreement!” Li Yi said.
Before Tang Xue could say anything, Third Sister asked curiously, “What agreement?”
Tang Xue also looked at Li Yi with curiosity; she really had no idea what kind of agreement they had made.
Li Yi smiled and said, “We agreed that from now on, I’ll make the big decisions for the family, and Xuexue will handle the small ones!”
“Isn’t managing the money a big deal?” Tang Xue asked innocently.
“Heh, making money is a minor matter to me, so from now on, you’ll be in charge of these little things!” Li Yi said with a smug look on his face.
Li Na immediately shot him a withering look and said, “You’ve made a little money and now you think you’re God’s gift to the world!”
Without waiting to see what Tang Xue thought, she snatched the passbook right out of Li Yi’s hand and handed it to Tang Xue.
“Xiao Xue, since he gave it to you, just take it. I know his personality—if you leave the money with him, it might just vanish one day!”
“Sis Na, I…”
“Stop with the ‘I’ and ‘you’—just take it!” Li Na said bossily.
Li Shankui also said in a stern voice, “Just take it. We’re family now, and besides, he’s got several thousand yuan left anyway!”
Seeing that everyone was urging her to take it, Tang Xue hesitated briefly before tucking the passbook away.
Li Yi then put the remaining money back into the tin can. This money would serve as his capital for buying wild produce in the future—and as the foundation for building his own business empire!
Next, the family made detailed plans for Li Yi and Tang Xue’s wedding.
Li Yi placed great importance on this wedding; almost everything had to be done to the highest standard.
When they finally crunched the numbers, if they followed Li Yi’s plan, marrying this bride would cost at least three thousand yuan.
And that was a conservative estimate—after all, he’d already spent over 1,200 yuan on the house, and the wedding supplies plus the dowry would run him another 700 to 800 yuan.
Add in the cost of the wedding banquet, and three thousand yuan wouldn’t even cover it.
Keep in mind that these days, for an ordinary family to marry off a daughter, it costs at most three or five hundred yuan; some manage to bring a bride home for just a hundred or two.
Take the Yang family, for example, when they married off their eldest daughter, Li Mei: aside from a 100-yuan dowry, they only hosted a few tables of banquet food, which came to no more than 150 yuan in total.
It was much the same when the Zhang family married off their second daughter—it didn’t cost more than two hundred yuan.
But Li Yi was spending three thousand yuan to marry a wife—it just seemed extravagant no matter how you looked at it, so much so that even Tang Xue couldn’t stand it and wanted Li Yi to cut back a bit.
But on this matter, Li Yi was as stubborn as a mule—he was set on it.
No one could change his mind!
What everyone didn’t know was that marrying Tang Xue was essentially Li Yi’s lifelong obsession from his previous life.
Unfortunately, in his past life, Tang Xue had passed away, leaving Li Yi with a lifetime of guilt.
This time around, he absolutely couldn’t let her slip away, and he was determined to make the wedding a grand affair!
Seeing Li Yi so determined, Tang Xue felt both moved and a little guilty.
After all, what happened that night wasn’t entirely Li Yi’s fault, yet now he was going to such great lengths over it—she suddenly felt a deep sense of unease.
After much hesitation, she finally decided to come clean with Li Yi about that incident!
Although the incident was difficult for her to bring up, she couldn’t deceive his feelings—it made Tang Xue feel like a thief.
After discussing the wedding arrangements, Li Yi prepared to take Third Sister and Tang Xue back to the educated youth commune before returning to the bridal chamber to rest.
However, when the three of them reached the entrance of the sent-down youth commune, Tang Xue suddenly turned to Li Na and said, “Sister Na, you go on in first. I need to have a word with him!”
Li Na smiled and said, “We’ve been talking for so long already—aren’t you done yet?”
Li Yi immediately replied, “Sis, you’ve been on your feet all day. You should go inside!”
“Alright, alright, I won’t disturb you two while you’re getting cozy!”
With that, Li Na hummed a tune as she walked into the sent-down youth camp!
Under the faint moonlight, Tang Xue and Li Yi stood face to face, the atmosphere between them a bit suggestive!
Li Yi looked at Tang Xue, who looked nervous, and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong? Is something on your mind?”
“Um, I…”
Seeing Tang Xue was a bit nervous, Li Yi stroked her hair and said softly, “Don’t worry, take your time.”
Hearing Li Yi’s gentle voice, Tang Xue felt a little more at ease, then said, “Li Yi, I’ve been lying to you about something. Can you forgive me?”
“Lied to me? What is it?”
“It’s… it’s about what happened that day!”
“That day?”
Tang Xue’s face flushed as she said, “It was on the kang at your place… you know, that day!”
Li Yi immediately understood and frowned, saying, “What do you mean? I don’t get it!”
“Everyone says you took advantage of me while I wasn’t aware and did that thing to me… but that’s not actually how it happened…”
Before Tang Xue could finish, Li Yi hurriedly asked, “So you’re saying nothing happened between us?”
“No, it did happen. We definitely…”
“If it happened, then why are you saying you deceived me?” Li Yi was also completely baffled by Tang Xue’s words.
Besides, in his previous life, Tang Xue had indeed been pregnant when she committed suicide, and based on the timeline, it should have been his child. He didn’t understand what exactly she meant by “deceived.”
Tang Xue bit her lip, then finally mustered the courage to say, “That day, you didn’t force me down—it was… I was the one who took the initiative!”
“Vol… voluntarily? Is that the kind of ‘voluntary’ I’m thinking of?” Li Yi asked, looking utterly shocked.
“Um… I seduced you. I’m sorry, I…”
At this point, Tang Xue’s voice trembled slightly; she didn’t know what she was about to face.
Maybe Li Yi would look down on her because of this, or even call off the engagement.
She had braced herself for the storm to come…
However, Li Yi’s reaction next took Tang Xue completely by surprise.
He ran his fingers through his hair and said, somewhat excitedly, “I didn’t realize I was that charming—that I could actually make you take the initiative to… you know…”
“No, I’d had a few drinks that day, and I was feeling a bit down, so that’s why…”
Li Yi looked at Tang Xue, who was clearly anxious, and asked, “Why are you bringing this up now? Didn’t you think about how I might react once you told me?”
“I did. I thought you’d look down on me—or even leave me!” Tang Xue said.
“Then why did you say it?”
Tang Xue suddenly looked up at Li Yi and said earnestly, “I know you married me because of that incident, but I don’t want to deceive you! Even if I’m going to marry you, I want to do it with integrity—not like a thief!”
Hearing this, Li Yi suddenly laughed, then pulled Tang Xue into his arms…