Late at night, all was quiet!
On the earthen bed, Tang Xue snuggled tightly against Li Yi’s chest, her arms wrapped around her man’s neck, listening quietly as he recounted his experiences in the provincial capital.
Although Tang Xue’s family was from Qin Province, it wasn’t too far from the provincial capital, Chang’an.
but there was still some distance to cover. As a result, she had only been to Chang’an once in her life—when she went to work in the countryside in Beibei Province.
Her impressions of the provincial capital were mostly stuck in the past, from several years ago.
When she learned that Qingcheng, the capital of Saibei Province, actually had such a huge shopping mall filled with so many things for sale, Tang Xue was both surprised and filled with longing.
No matter the era, women have an innate interest in shopping, and even a reserved girl like Tang Xue was no exception.
After Li Yi had finished explaining, Tang Xue suddenly asked, “I’ve been crunching the numbers these past couple of days. Based on our current income and expenses, we’re losing about 200 yuan a day—that’s 6,000 yuan a month.”
“If this continues for two and a half months, that’s a shortfall of at least 15,000 yuan. Where do you plan to come up with that money?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “I’ve thought this through. Right now, there are two options.”
“Two?”
“Yeah, the first idea is to take out a loan,” Li Yi said.
“A loan… Are you talking about the kind of loan you get from a bank? That comes with interest, you know,” Tang Xue said, sounding a bit worried.
“Hehe, banks are offering interest-free loans now—the kind that don’t charge any interest!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Really, no interest?”
“Yep!”
Li Yi had already made a point of asking around to get the details on bank loans; personal loans had already been implemented.
In fact, lending has always existed, but in the past, the borrowers were generally not ordinary people, but production teams.
Older folks know that a few years back, since agricultural production was organized collectively, farmers were just members of the collective and were only responsible for manual labor.
As for purchasing agricultural supplies when the production team was farming, that was the production team’s responsibility.
When a production team needed funds for production, it could apply for a loan at the commune’s credit union.
They would repay the loan in the fall after selling their grain to the government.
In other words, in the past, individual farmers neither sought nor needed loans.
Even if they had wanted to, there were no regulations in place, and credit cooperatives would not have lent money to individuals.
However, starting this year, some areas have allocated collective land to individual farmers, and individual households in each village have become the primary units of agricultural production.
This has given rise to a new problem: what should farmers do when they urgently need funds for spring plowing and seed preparation but have none at home?
First, they borrow from relatives and friends; second, they take out loans from the commune credit union.
“Forget about borrowing from others—everyone’s poor these days, so a loan is the only option.”
Tang Xue thought for a moment and asked, “How much can one borrow?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and replied, “If I were to apply for a loan on my own, I probably wouldn’t get much. But if I get someone to vouch for me, tens of thousands of yuan shouldn’t be a problem!”
“Is there actually someone who can help with a loan?” Tang Xue asked in surprise.
“It’s not exactly helping with a loan—it’s just putting in a word with someone at the bank, or maybe acting as a guarantor!” Li Yi said.
“Are there really people who do that kind of thing? Aren’t they afraid of getting themselves into trouble?”
“Haha, maybe no one would help if it were someone else taking out a loan, but if it’s me, there are plenty of people willing to help!” Li Yi said confidently.
As he spoke, Li Yi couldn’t help but think of Wang Anguo, Li Gang, Liang Yukuai, and even Old Master Wang and the others.
As long as these people stepped in to help, it wouldn’t be a problem to secure not just ten thousand or so, but even thirty or fifty thousand.
“Is getting a loan a hassle?” Tang Xue asked again.
“Normally, it’s not a hassle—in fact, it’s very simple.”
Li Yi knew that getting a loan these days wasn’t just hassle-free—it was practically a breeze. The only downside was that the loan amounts were usually quite small.
If any family in the village needed an emergency loan from the credit union, all they had to do was get a letter of introduction from the village committee certifying that the farmer genuinely needed the loan, and they’d receive the funds at the credit union—it was that simple.
But there was one issue: farmers usually only borrowed a hundred or two yuan; it was rare to hear of anyone taking out a loan for 1,000 yuan.
After all, a bag of fertilizer costs only a few yuan these days, and seeds and other supplies are very cheap; most families simply don’t have such large financial needs.
So, if Li Yi wanted to take out a loan, he could borrow at most a thousand or two yuan; any more than that would likely be out of the question.
There are exceptions, though. If someone vouches for you—and that person is highly respected in the community—then it’s a different story.
However, Tang Xue seemed quite resistant to the idea of taking out a loan, so after a few words, she changed the subject.
“What’s your other idea?”
“Earn it myself!”
“But… but how is that possible? Where would you get that much money in such a short time?” Tang Xue asked in surprise.
However, Li Yi just smiled and said, “Nothing is impossible. Think about it—it only took me two months to go from having nothing to where I am now.”
“Do the math—I’ve made at least fifteen or sixteen thousand yuan in these two months. Making another ten thousand or so in the next two months isn’t impossible either!”
To be honest, Li Yi did have quite a few ideas for making money.
For example, he could head over to Panjiayuan in Beijing right now. With his keen eye, he could pick up a batch of antiques, bring them to Guangzhou, and sell them to foreigners at a high price.
I wouldn’t dare say much, but making three or four thousand yuan in a month wouldn’t be difficult at all.
Or, for instance, Li Yi knew there was a general’s tomb on the hill behind his house.
In a few years, due to mountain excavation, the general’s tomb would be accidentally uncovered, yielding several boxes of gold and silver alone, not to mention priceless cultural relics and treasures.
If Li Yi were willing, he could sneak in and haul out a box or two.
Forget tens of thousands—he could easily make hundreds of thousands.
However, Li Yi was a man of principle; he only took the money he was entitled to.
There was money that, even if placed right in front of him, he wouldn’t give a second glance.
The problem was that the money-making methods Li Yi knew of either required a lot of time or a substantial amount of capital, making them somewhat impractical.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to do them if he really wanted to—it just depended on whether it was worth the effort.
Although Tang Xue found this hard to believe, when she thought about Li Yi’s performance over the past two months, she felt that perhaps her man really could pull it off.
With that thought, she nuzzled her head against Li Yi’s chest.
Then she said softly, “I know you’re a man with ideas, and I don’t want to use my own perspective to change your mind. But I hope that whatever decision you make, you’ll think of me and the kids!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Of course. In my heart, you both mean more to me than I do to myself!”
“You’re so kind!”
“You’re wonderful too!”
……..