Although the sudden appearance of Yang Yongjun and his wife had dampened the Li family’s spirits, everyone soon tacitly agreed to drop the subject.
Although Li Shankui and his wife wanted to advise their son that it was better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester,
But they had no idea what their son was thinking, and since he had always been a maverick from a young age, he simply wouldn’t listen to them.
On top of that, since their daughter-in-law now seemed to be siding with their son, they certainly couldn’t say anything—otherwise, they’d end up criticizing her as well.
So, the elderly couple wisely kept their mouths shut.
After clearing the table, the family gathered together for the happiest part of their day—counting their money!
Li Na took out her olive-green shoulder bag, emptied all the money and grain coupons inside, and the whole family scrambled to start counting.
It didn’t take long to finish counting: a total of 94 yuan and 60 fen, plus 84 jin and 6 liang of grain coupons.
Li Na then said happily, “After deducting 10 yuan for a fixed emergency fund and 13 yuan and 50 fen for the cost of ingredients, the net profit is 71 yuan and 10 fen!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Third Sister, you haven’t accounted for the cost of all the seasonings and side dishes yet—that’s a significant expense too!”
“Oh, right. Let’s just put three yuan a day for those!”
Li Na then divided the remaining 68 yuan into two equal portions of 34 yuan each, giving one to Li Yi and keeping the other for herself.
Seeing that Third Sister had earned 34 yuan in a single day—equivalent to a month’s salary for a second-level worker—Li Lan was green with envy.
“Second Sister, don’t envy Third Sister—our mountain produce business is the real money-maker!” Li Yi said.
“Xiao Yi, how much can we make from this mountain produce business?” Second Sister asked eagerly.
“Take a guess.”
“How could it be less than a few thousand yuan?”
“Haha, aim high!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“Is it over ten thousand?”
“Go even higher!”
“Xiao Yi, don’t scare me. Could it be tens of thousands?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “A conservative estimate of 100,000 yuan!”
“Ten… ten thousand yuan?”
It wasn’t just Li Lan who looked stunned; everyone else in the house had their eyes wide open, their faces filled with disbelief.
In an era where the average annual income was less than 500 yuan and anyone with 10,000 yuan was considered a rarity, 100,000 yuan was an astronomical figure, far beyond the comprehension of most people.
What they didn’t know, however, was that Li Yi’s 100,000 yuan was merely a conservative estimate.
That 100,000 yuan was based on Li Yi harvesting mushrooms by himself. Now that his second brother-in-law had returned to the village to help him, the stockpile would certainly be much larger than if he’d been working alone.
Still, 100,000 yuan was staggering enough on its own. Li Yi had deliberately given a relatively conservative figure so as not to alarm his family.
“Xiao Yi, if you make 100,000 yuan, how much will you give your sister?”
Li Lan didn’t mince words; she asked straight out.
“I’m giving my brother-in-law five cents profit per pound. As for you, once I ship the goods, I’ll give you five thousand yuan in one lump sum!” Li Yi said.
“Five… five thousand? That’s way too much!”
To be honest, she wouldn’t hesitate to ask for a few hundred or a thousand, but she certainly wouldn’t dare accept five thousand—that’s practically half a ten-thousand-yuan household.
Besides, she knew that even if her brother agreed, his wife might not, and her parents might not approve either.
After all, a daughter who’s married off is like water that’s been poured out!
Sure enough, upon hearing their son wanted to give his daughter five thousand yuan, Li Shankui and his wife immediately frowned.
“You’re thinking about splitting the money before the goods are even sold. Have you made a few bucks and gotten all full of yourself again?” Li Shankui said in a stern voice.
Li Yi smiled but didn’t argue. In the past, he hadn’t known what it meant to be filial; he’d always thought he was right and would talk back to his father.
Only after experiencing the trials of his past life did Li Yi come to understand that one must endure regret to truly cherish family bonds.
And there is nothing more tragic in life than wanting to care for one’s parents only to find they are no longer there. Having been given a second chance at life, he had gained a new, deeper understanding of the word “filial piety.”
Filial piety, filial piety—filial comes first, piety follows!
Seeing her father’s displeasure, Li Lan quickly changed the subject: “Xiao Yi, how much did you make today?”
Li Yi smiled and pulled out all of his day’s earnings from his shoulder bag. Adding the payment from the state-run restaurant for the cold noodles, the total came to 686 yuan.
Including the dividend he received from his third older sister, Li Yi’s total income for the day reached 720 yuan.
Li Yi then took out the ledger for today’s mushroom harvest, calculated all the expenses, and concluded that dxmbang had made a net profit of 50 yuan today.
He then handed 700 yuan to Tang Xue, telling her to keep it to continue collecting mushrooms tomorrow.
Only then did the family finish settling the accounts for the day!
…….
Since the new house wasn’t fully aired out yet, and for the sake of the adults as well as the safety of the baby in Tang Xue’s womb, Li Yi and Tang Xue had to move back into the old house starting today.
To take care of his son and daughter-in-law, Li Shankui tidied up the small room on the west side and set it up for the young couple to live in.
Li Lan, Li Na, and their eldest nephew, Zhang Ning, would be staying in the main house with the elderly couple.
Late at night, when all was quiet, Tang Xue lay tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
“What’s wrong? Is something on your mind?”
Hearing Li Yi’s question, Tang Xue hesitated slightly, then gave a soft “Mm-hmm.”
“Is there something on your mind? Can you tell me about it?”
“If I do the math, it’s been about a month and a half since I received the letter from home. I’m a little worried that if they don’t see me coming back, they might come looking for me here!” Tang Xue said with some concern.
“Haha, so what if they come? As long as you don’t want to, do you really think they can force us apart?” Li Yi said with a smile.
“You don’t know my dad and my mom—they…”
Thinking of her parents’ heart-wrenching concerns, Tang Xue didn’t know what to say.
Li Yi gently stroked Tang Xue’s soft, jet-black hair, then said calmly, “I don’t care what they think. Right now, you, Tang Xue, are my wife, Li Yi’s wife. No one is going to take you away from me!”
Then Li Yi added, “You can’t even leave on your own!”
Though his words were domineering, they made Tang Xue’s heart flutter with sweetness.
“Mm-hmm, no one can tear us apart!”
Li Yi then said, “Honey, we can’t just keep putting off dealing with your parents. Why don’t we go back to Qin Province for a visit?”
“No… I don’t want to!”
“Running away won’t solve anything. Some things you just have to face eventually!”
As he spoke, Li Yi thought to himself: Some truths simply must be uncovered!
When the time comes, I’ll settle every grievance and avenge every wrong!
“Well… let’s wait a bit longer. We’ve finally had a few peaceful days; I don’t want them to disrupt our lives!” Tang Xue said.
“That’s fine, but I still think we should go back and see what their stance is. Even if we’re going to cut all ties, we need to settle things face-to-face!” Li Yi said.
“We’ll see.”
Hearing Tang Xue’s resigned sigh, Li Yi couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
The longer he spent with Tang Xue, the more Li Yi felt certain there must have been more to her suicide in his previous life.
In his previous life, he had learned of Tang Xue’s suicide from a letter written by Zhang Xinyao. According to her, Tang Xue had taken her own life after suddenly discovering she was pregnant. Somehow, the news had spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood, and everyone had accused her of being promiscuous and a “slut.”
Consequently, unable to bear the psychological pressure, Tang Xue ultimately chose to take her own life.
That explanation seemed plausible enough at the time, but now it left Li Yi deeply skeptical.
Although Tang Xue appeared delicate, she was actually incredibly strong-willed deep down.
This was evident from the way she had lashed out at Yang Yongjun’s wife earlier that day. She wasn’t the type to be so emotionally fragile that she’d jump into a river at the first sign of trouble—absolutely not!
Especially given that it was her own choice that night—Tang Xue must have had a premonition about the child’s arrival. She wouldn’t have collapsed just because it caught her off guard, and she certainly wouldn’t have taken her own life over it.
On the other hand, Li Yi hadn’t realized until now that the Tang family was actually planning to marry Tang Xue off to an elderly widower—all to secure a good job for her younger sister.
To sacrifice one daughter’s happiness for the sake of another—such parents were far more than just biased.
On top of that, Li Yi had met Tang Xue’s family in his previous life, and in his view, Tang Xue was completely out of place among her brother, sister, and parents.
Suddenly, a bold suspicion crossed Li Yi’s mind!
However, he didn’t voice this thought aloud; after all, it was too far-fetched. He’d wait until he had evidence before saying anything.