Declining the Wang Anguo couple’s invitation to stay, Li Yi returned to the county bureau, caught up with his black horse-drawn cart, and headed back to Nianzishan Village.
Although he had slept for several hours that afternoon, he was still feeling a bit under the weather because he had drunk at least eight liang of baijiu at noon.
On top of that, the wind hitting him as he stepped outside caused the alcohol to rush to his head all at once, and he instantly began to feel dizzy and disoriented.
Fortunately, the black horse was quite experienced; even though Li Yi lacked the energy to control it, the horse still safely pulled him back home.
By the time they arrived home, it was already 8:00 p.m., and the sky had grown completely dark.
At the Li family’s old residence, everyone had been worried about Li Yi because he hadn’t returned.
Suddenly, they heard a noise outside the front gate. Third Sister Li Na and Tang Xue immediately went out to check and found that Li Yi had returned.
However, when they saw Li Yi in the carriage, everyone was startled.
Li Yi looked completely drained of energy, and upon closer inspection, they could smell the strong scent of alcohol on him.
“Yi, why did you drink so much?”
Tang Xue hurriedly said, “Sister Na, don’t say anything—let’s just help him inside first!”
The two of them scrambled to help Li Yi into the house. Seeing his son in such a state, their elderly father, Li Shankui, couldn’t bear to watch any longer and immediately began scolding him.
This was the Li family’s usual approach to discipline!
Unfortunately, the more they did this, the more rebellious Li Yi became.
Fortunately, Li Yi was merely feeling miserable at the moment; his mind was actually quite clear.
“Dad, please spare me the scolding. I didn’t want to drink either, but today I really had no choice!”
Seeing that Li Yi was still thinking clearly, everyone believed him.
Afterward, Tang Xue and Li Na helped Li Yi to the west wing, where his mother prepared a bowl of hot tea to help him sober up.
After drinking the tea and working up a light sweat, Li Yi felt much better.
Even so, he still didn’t feel quite right. He had originally intended to say something important to Tang Xue, but in the end, he forgot.
……..
Early the next morning, Li Yi was roused by his third older sister, and the siblings set to work once again on their grand endeavor of making liangpi.
After breakfast, the two mule-drawn carts set off once more.
Only this time, in addition to Li Yi and Li Na, Tang Xue had come along as well.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Li Yi; rather, Li Yi had told her that he needed to take her to the commune to get a letter of introduction.
They also had to exchange national grain coupons—all essentials for their journey.
On the way, Tang Xue sat astride the side seat on the other side of the cart, looking at the farmlands on either side of the gravel road and said, “The crops are growing really well this year—it’s going to be another bumper harvest!”
Li Yi, however, shook his head and said, “That’s not necessarily true!”
“Why?”
“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘The weather is unpredictable, and misfortune can strike at any moment’? The same goes for crops—until every last grain is safely stored in the granary, you never know what might happen!”
Li Yi said this because he knew that the first half of the year had indeed been blessed with favorable weather, but no one could have anticipated that after autumn set in, Qing Shan County would be plagued by continuous rain for over half a month.
By the time the weather cleared, much of the crop had rotted in the fields.
Especially wheat and buckwheat—their yields had dropped by more than half.
However, upon hearing Li Yi’s words, Tang Xue stared at him intently, as if she had discovered something extraordinary.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“No, I just suddenly realized you seem to have quite a way with words!”
“Literary flair?”
“Yeah, I noticed you speak just like a certain person!” Tang Xue said again.
“Who does he look like?”
“My teacher!”
“Your teacher?”
“Yeah, my high school teacher’s last name is Cui. He was a college student from Beijing. He’s really funny and always has a quick wit!”
Tang Xue continued, “I hadn’t noticed it before, but the more I listen to you speak, the more I feel you really do resemble him!”
Li Yi immediately understood—Tang Xue wasn’t saying they looked alike, but that their demeanor was similar.
“Haha, how could I possibly compare to a teacher like him?” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“Why not? It seems like every time you open your mouth, it’s either an idiom or a riddle—you don’t sound at all like someone who didn’t finish middle school!” Tang Xue said.
“Do you care that much about my educational background?” Li Yi asked suddenly.
“Not that much, but a little bit, I guess!” Tang Xue admitted honestly.
However, Li Yi just smiled and said, “Then you won’t have to worry about that anymore!”
“Huh?”
Seeing the puzzled look on Tang Xue’s face, Li Yi smiled and said, “Actually, schooling and knowledge are two different things—just like a diploma doesn’t equal culture!”
Li Yi continued, “Although I didn’t finish junior high and don’t have a diploma, I consider my cultural literacy to be quite good!”
Tang Xue nodded immediately and said, “Hmm, I can tell. You really aren’t the uneducated slacker people say you are—you’re actually quite capable!”
Being praised like this by his wife made Li Yi feel incredibly happy.
“By the way, when are we going back to my place?” Tang Xue suddenly asked.
“I was just about to mention that yesterday. I originally planned to leave in a day or two, but some unexpected circumstances have come up, so I’m going to postpone it for a few days!” Li Yi said.
“What happened?” Tang Xue asked, sounding a bit anxious.
“Nothing major. Captain Wang is taking a new post in the city, and a few of us are planning to see him off,” Li Yi said, half-jokingly.
“I see. Well, we really should see him off. After all, Captain Wang has been quite kind to us,” Tang Xue said.
“Yeah, but it won’t be later than the end of the month,” Li Yi said.
“Okay…”
…….
The two chatted as they walked, and before long, the carriage arrived at the county town.
Just as before, Li Na drove the bright red mule cart to the market stall, while Li Yi drove the horse-drawn carriage, carrying Tang Xue to the state-run restaurant.
After handing over the mountain produce, Li Yi took Tang Xue to the nearby grain and oil station.
This was a facility specifically for buying and selling grain and oil, as well as exchanging grain coupons. If Li Yi and Tang Xue wanted to leave the province, the locally issued grain coupons would be useless; they would have to exchange them for nationally valid grain coupons.
Upon arriving at the grain and oil station, the staff inside asked as soon as they walked in, “What do you need?”
“Comrade, we’d like to exchange some national grain coupons!” Li Yi said.
“How many?”
Li Yi immediately pulled a stack of bundled grain coupons from his shoulder bag and said, “500 jin!”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, the young woman across from him froze in surprise.
She had been working at this grain and oil station for three years, and this was the first time she had ever seen anyone redeem 500 jin of grain coupons.
After all, a large bowl of noodles at a state-run restaurant cost only two liang of grain coupons—500 jin? That was incredibly extravagant!
“Comrade, are you really going to exchange 500 jin of national grain coupons? You should know that exchanging local grain coupons for national ones requires a supplement of oil coupons!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “I know. Ten jin of grain coupons require one liang of oil coupons—I’ve already got five jin of oil coupons ready!”
The young woman looked at Li Yi, then finally nodded and said, “All right, then!”
She then proceeded to exchange the tickets for him!