By the time they left the sugar factory, it was already past ten in the morning!
They had come as a pair, but left as a group of five—my eldest sister’s family had joined them.
Li Yi personally asked Liang Yukui for time off, explaining that since he had finally made the trip back, he wanted to catch up with his older sister and brother-in-law.
Naturally, Liang Yukui wouldn’t refuse Li Yi’s request and immediately granted them leave without hesitation.
Of course, while Li Yi had brought his older sister and brother-in-law out to spend time together as a family,
But more importantly, Li Yi wanted to discuss with his brother-in-law the matter of expanding their business to Hong Kong Island.
Since this was a serious matter involving my older sister’s husband’s former unit and comrades, we couldn’t discuss it at the factory; we had to take him back to our hometown to talk about it.
However, after leaving the sugar factory, Li Yi didn’t go straight home; instead, he stopped by the county credit union first.
The loan he’d taken out from the credit union last year was about to mature, so he planned to pay it off while he was back home.
Otherwise, once he returned to Beijing, he didn’t know when he’d be able to come back.
The repayment process went smoothly!
When the credit union staff received the 40,000 yuan, Li Yi could clearly see the relief wash over their faces.
Clearly, they had been worried that this loan—originally issued by the former director—would turn into a bad debt or a deadbeat account. They hadn’t expected Li Yi to not only pay it back but do so ahead of schedule.
After repaying the loan, Li Yi made another stop at the supply and marketing cooperative!
After buying some rice, flour, cooking oil, meat, vegetables, and eggs, Li Yi drove to Li Yeqiao and Liu San’s homes. He delivered the money and goods the two had brought back for their families, left some gifts behind, and only then returned to Nianzishan Village with his eldest sister’s family.
Back home, when his eldest sister saw Jiang Xue and the two children, she was naturally overjoyed and couldn’t help but ask after their well-being.
While they were chatting, Li Yi took Zhang Ziqiang to Yaogou Village to bring his second sister’s family back as well.
With that, everyone from the Li family was back home—except for the third daughter, Li Na, who was far away in Beijing.
To celebrate this rare family reunion, Zhang Yuehong spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen with her two daughters and daughter-in-law, preparing fried rice cakes, stir-fried vegetables, braised meat, and scrambled eggs.
During the meal, Li Yi even brought out a bottle of Moutai!
The family clinked glasses and enjoyed a joyful, harmonious meal…
…….
When Li Yi woke up again, it was already past six in the evening!
Although neither of his brothers-in-law had tried to force him to drink at lunch—they’d only asked him to take a small sip when they clinked glasses—his tolerance was simply too low, and that single sip was enough to send him crawling under the table!
Crawling out from under the bed, he shook his dazed head and couldn’t help but sigh.
His tolerance for alcohol was hopeless—whether it was baijiu, beer, or red wine, he just couldn’t handle it.
It was like that in his past life, and it was the same in this one—not a shred of improvement!
After taking a moment to recover, Li Yi finally surveyed the room.
To his surprise, the spacious room was completely empty. Not only were Jiang Xue and the child gone, but he couldn’t even see his eldest and second sisters.
Just then, the sound of his eldest sister and his wife chatting and laughing drifted in from outside the door.
Immediately, Li Yi put on his shoes, got up, and walked toward the door.
Under the eaves, his mother was watching over the little ones, while his eldest and second sisters, along with Jiang Xue, were drying mushrooms by the drying shed.
Although Li Yi had stopped dealing in mushrooms this year, his second older sister and her husband had continued to collect them.
However, since Liu Jingshan from the county-run restaurant had been transferred to the city hotel, the newly appointed restaurant manager didn’t recognize his brother-in-law and therefore wouldn’t buy his mushrooms.
Consequently, after harvesting, his mushrooms could only be dried and set aside to be sold in the winter.
Since Second Sister’s family didn’t have a drying shed or enough rooms to store the dried goods, they had to wait until they’d collected a full cartload before taking it to Nianzishan Village to dry it at the Li family’s new house.
Seeing Li Yi come out of the house, Mother immediately asked, “Are you awake?”
“Mm-hmm. Where’d Dad, my eldest brother-in-law, and my second brother-in-law go?”
“Your father went to the commune. Your eldest brother-in-law and second brother-in-law had nothing to do, so they went to the fields to tend the livestock!”
Just as she spoke, the sound of jingling bells came from outside the courtyard.
Looking out toward the sound, he saw his two brothers-in-law returning, each riding a mule, with a large bundle of lush green grass strapped to the back of each animal.
After tying the bright red mule and the black horse to the posts in the courtyard, Yang Wenguang and Zhang Xuefeng carried the hay into the hayloft before making their way over to Li Yi.
Seeing his two brothers-in-law approaching, Li Yi immediately said, “Second Brother-in-Law, you take over for Eldest Sister and Xiao Xue in a moment so they can go cook. First Brother-in-Law, you wash your face and come out with me!”
“Alright!”
Soon, the eldest brother-in-law finished washing up and followed Li Yi out of the old house!
Zhang Ziqiang saw this and was about to go out with them, but Li Yi stopped him.
After all, what he was about to discuss with his eldest brother-in-law was rather sensitive; even though Zhang Ziqiang was a government official, Li Yi didn’t want him to overhear.
Zhang Ziqiang was tactful enough to back off; once he was sure Li Yi was safe here, he didn’t insist on tagging along.
After leaving the new house, the two walked along the gravel road toward the back mountain.
Once they were far enough away from the new house, Yang Wenguang asked, “Xiao Yi, you asked me to come out here alone—is there something you need to discuss?”
“Brother-in-law, there’s something I’d like to ask you—I hope it’s not too much trouble.”
“What is it?”
“Which unit did you serve in before?”
Yang Wenguang was taken aback for a moment, then asked in return, “Why do you ask? That’s classified information. Even though I’ve left the military, we’re not allowed to disclose it to outsiders!”
“Then let me rephrase it: how strong was your unit’s combat capability?”
“Very strong… no, actually, exceptionally strong!”
“How strong?”
“How do I put this? Let me put it this way: my unit has faced off against the Bandit Eagles, the Bear Alliance, the British, the French, the Southern Monkeys, and the White Elephants. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’ve won every single battle, but the enemy has never gained the slightest advantage over us!” Yang Wenguang said.
Hearing this, Li Yi’s eyes lit up instantly.
Wow, this unit has beaten the other four major thugs plus a whole bunch of troublemakers. Even within the Rabbit Army, where land warfare reigns supreme, they must be top-tier!
He knew his brother-in-law’s background was no ordinary one, and it turned out he was right!
With that, Li Yi felt much more confident!
“Brother-in-law, are you still in touch with your old comrades, especially the ones who’ve retired?”
“Yes. Are you looking to ask them for a favor?”
“Yeah!”
“Something illegal?”
“No, Old Huang and I have set up a security firm in Hong Kong, and we need a team of professionals to go over there!”
Li Yi then explained his plan in detail to his sister’s husband.
After listening to Li Yi’s explanation, Yang Wenguang let out a long sigh and said, “If that’s the case, I don’t think it’ll be a problem, but…”
“But what?”
“It’s just that my comrades are scattered all over the country, so it won’t be easy to get in touch with them. Plus, many of them were officers when they retired and have military decorations to their credit. Back in civilian life, they might hold official positions, so I’m not sure if they’d be willing to follow you to Hong Kong Island!” Yang Wenguang said.
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Brother-in-law, I’d like you to quit your job at the sugar factory and focus on handling this matter for me. Are you willing?”
“Why wouldn’t I? But I really can’t say for sure how many would be willing to follow you to Hong Kong!”
“No problem. We’ll take whoever’s available. At the start, we just need to get the framework set up; the rest can come later!”
Li Yi knew that the massive military downsizing would begin soon. When that happened, nearly a million troops would be disbanded across the country, and among them would be no shortage of elite soldiers from various units.
There would certainly be no shortage of talent in that regard—not just dozens, but even hundreds or thousands wouldn’t be a problem!
But before that, Hong Kong still needed a group of professional and trustworthy people to go over there and set up the security company’s framework, and while they were at it, give Old Huang’s rag-tag bunch a proper training.
“Alright, I’ll mention it to Director Liang when I go back this time. But as for your sister…”
“Don’t worry about my sister. I plan to bring her and the kids to Beijing to live with us. Once the kids are in their first year of college, I’ll find her a job!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, I’ll go back and talk to your sister about it!”
“I’ll bring it up at dinner tonight. And we’ll need to make arrangements for my second sister, too!” Li Yi said.
“Alright…”
……..