Yao Gou Village. The Zhang Family!
Li Lan was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen, while Zhang Xuefeng sat cross-legged on a stool by the stove, tending the fire.
As for little Zhang Ning, with two snot-streaks hanging from his nose, he was sitting on his father’s lap, happily munching on a cookie.
“I need to talk to you about something, okay?” Li Lan asked as she chopped vegetables.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuefeng couldn’t help but shudder.
His feisty wife was always straightforward; she was the one who made all the decisions, big and small, in the household, and she usually didn’t allow him to haggle.
The fact that she’d suddenly used the word “discuss” today meant it was almost certainly not good news.
Seeing that her husband hadn’t said a word, Li Lan immediately raised her voice slightly. “I’m asking you a question!”
“Just tell me what you want—why all this ‘discussing’?” Zhang Xuefeng said, his survival instinct kicking in.
“I think my older sister is about to give birth, so I want to go visit my parents’ house!”
Zhang Xuefeng let out a long sigh and said, “I thought it was something serious. Do you need me to drive you there?”
“Of course! If you don’t take me, how am I supposed to get there carrying the baby?”
“Alright, wait a sec—I’ll go borrow a car from the production brigade… Wait a minute, honey!”
“What’s wrong?”
“My older sister’s having a baby—what are you going to my parents’ place for? If we’re going, we should be going to my older sister’s house, right?”
“You’re so clueless, and you still think I’m being unfair!” Li Lan said exasperatedly.
“Let’s talk this out calmly. Why are you yelling at me?”
“Hmph, you know just as well as I do how Big Sister gets along with her in-laws. She definitely can’t go back there for her postpartum confinement. And since they don’t have a place in the city, staying in their dorm wouldn’t work for that either. I’d bet she’s spending her confinement at her parents’ house!” Li Lan said.
“You’re right about that!”
Then Zhang Xuefeng suddenly asked, “Honey, do you think Xiao Yi is home?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Every time I see those dried mushrooms in our side room, I get a little anxious. I want to ask Xiao Yi when we’re going to sell them!”
“It makes me nervous too. I’ll have to ask him about it once we get there…”
Just as they were talking, the sound of a bell ringing came from outside the house.
Li Lan looked up and glanced outside, only to be startled to see a mule cart parked right at the front gate.
That fiery red color—wasn’t that their own bright red mule?
Without a moment’s hesitation, she dropped the kitchen knife onto the cutting board, flung open the door, and ran outside.
Zhang Xuefeng was startled by her sudden movement and immediately grabbed his son, following her out.
As soon as they stepped outside, Zhang Xuefeng saw that the wooden gate had already been pushed open, and his brother-in-law, Li Yi, was striding in, driving the mule cart.
At the gate, Li Lan asked with a look of surprise, “Yi, what brings you here?”
“Everyone at home misses you. They asked me to come pick you and Ningning up to stay for a few days!”
Li Yi said as he unloaded the cart and tied up the mule.
“Let’s talk inside!”
Once they were inside, Second Sister asked immediately, “Xiao Yi, has something happened? You look pretty flustered.”
Li Yi smiled and said, “No, it’s just that Eldest Sister gave birth, and Third Sister and I were planning to…”
Before he could finish, his second older sister cut him off, then asked excitedly, “When did Big Sister give birth? Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A chubby little boy. He was born five or six days ago!”
“My son… my son, that’s right—what were you about to say just now?” Second Sister said happily.
“Third Sister and I are heading to the capital in a few days, so I wanted to ask you to stay at our place for a while and help me look after Xuexue!” Li Yi said.
Second Sister didn’t ask any further questions and simply replied, “Alright, then let’s head over after we finish eating!”
“Great!”
“You two go ahead and chat. I’m going to start cooking!”
With that, Li Lan turned and went into the main room.
Once Second Sister was back in the kitchen, her husband immediately asked, “With the New Year just around the corner, what are you and Third Sister going to the capital for?”
“I’ve opened a shop in the capital and I’m a bit busy, so I’ve asked Third Sister and a few female educated youths from the village to help out. I need to see them off!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“You opened a shop? In the capital?”
“Yeah, I opened a restaurant!”
“Hahaha, you’re quite the go-getter, aren’t you? How’s business?”
“Not bad!”
Then his second brother-in-law asked, “By the way, what are you doing with those dried mushrooms? I’ve been worrying about them every day!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “I’m not worried, so why should you be? Besides, you’ve only got a few thousand pounds here, but I’ve got over a hundred thousand pounds back at my place!”
Originally, Li Yi had intended to haul all the dried mushrooms from his brother-in-law’s place back to Nianzishan Village.
But as he was hauling them back, he realized he didn’t have enough space at home, so he had to store the rest at his brother-in-law’s place. He hadn’t expected this to actually put pressure on him.
“Don’t say that! I’m just worried you’ll lose money. This is over 100,000 yuan worth of goods—if we can’t sell it, we’ll be in real trouble!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely sell it all!”
Then, Li Yi asked again, “Second Brother-in-Law, do you want to come stay in Nianzishan Village for a while?”
Hearing this, Zhang Xuefeng immediately shook his head and said, “Please, spare me. While your sister’s away, I can finally relax for a few days. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me day after day…”
Just then, Second Sister suddenly pushed open the door and said, “What are you two talking about? Acting all mysterious!”
“Um… I was telling Yi that I’d like to go with you guys. Do you think that’s okay?”
“Who’s going to watch the house if you go? Just stay home and wait for Ningning and me to come back!”
“Oh!”
Seeing his brother-in-law’s desperate look, Li Yi couldn’t help but laugh.
……
By the time Li Yi brought his second sister back from Yaogou Village, Yongzi and the others had already returned from the commune.
They had gone to the commune that morning to get a letter of introduction, but the official in charge wasn’t there, so they had to wait until the afternoon when he returned to get the matter settled.
Although the process had been a bit of a hassle, the outcome was still quite good!
Upon learning that the letters of introduction for all of them had been issued, Li Yi immediately told Zhang Xinyao and Feng Qian to return to the educated youth commune first to pack their things and wait for his news.
Once he had settled things at home, he would take them to the capital!
Over the next few days, Li Yi was extremely busy, spending his time procuring supplies and furnishings for the new house.
Although the new house was spacious and bright, with decent decor—and by Nianzishan Village standards, it could definitely be called “luxurious”—
However, many essentials were still missing, especially pots, pans, utensils, and everyday condiments like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
Normally, these everyday items shouldn’t be in short supply, but since no one had cooked in the new house since it was built, naturally, they weren’t all there. dxmbang
But there’s no choice now—it’s time to start cooking here!
After all, now that Tang Xue has moved in, the old house is a bit far away, and with her being heavily pregnant, it’s simply not convenient for her to go back there for meals.
So, Li Yi planned to have his second sister and Tang Xue cook here at the new house.
That meant they couldn’t be without anything.
Aside from oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, the new house was also running low on firewood and coal.
The village’s firewood is distributed to the members by the production team after autumn; if there isn’t enough, they go into the woods to gather branches or dig up stumps (tree roots).
After the Li family received their firewood allocation, they hauled it all to the old house, leaving hardly any at the new place.
The same goes for coal. This year, my father bought less than two tons in total, and all of it went to the old house.
But in the dead of winter, you simply can’t get by without firewood or coal.
So Li Yi spent two days, taking Yongzi and Xiaogouwa with him to haul firewood and go to town for coal—they were busier than ever.
After all, they didn’t know how long this trip to the capital would take, so Li Yi planned to take care of everything he could think of before setting off.
While Li Yi was busy making preparations, the situation in the capital was quite different.
Upon receiving a call from Li Gang, Jiang Longcheng learned that Li Yi would soon be arriving in the capital and immediately relayed the news back home.
Jiang Shiying, who had originally planned to return to Guangdong Province, heard the news and immediately decided to change her itinerary, planning to return at a later date.
He then shared the news with his wife, Ye Lingyun.
The couple began making preparations for their meeting with Li Yi, both of them filled with anticipation.
What they didn’t know, however, was that this meeting would lead Li Yi to uncover a momentous secret!