January 12. The 18th day of the 12th lunar month. An auspicious day for weddings!
Early in the morning, the Li family courtyard was already bustling with activity.
Relatives and friends had all gathered to witness Li Na’s wedding.
Among them were relatives and friends from their hometown, as well as local friends from the capital.
Although the Li family hadn’t invited many people, Li Yi’s popularity and extensive network meant that, even within a small circle, quite a few people had turned out.
Fortunately, most of the guests were only planning to attend the banquet at the restaurant; only close family members and those brought over from the village came to the Li family’s courtyard.
In the side room on the west side, Li Na had already finished getting dressed and was wearing her wedding gown, chatting with her mother and two older sisters.
Just then, Li Yi walked in from outside.
Seeing his third older sister all dressed up, Li Yi was momentarily taken aback.
His third sister had clearly been carefully dressed for the occasion today: her face was lightly powdered, her hair adorned with flowers, and gold earrings sparkled in her ears, though she wasn’t heavily made up.
Paired with her festive red wedding gown, she looked exceptionally beautiful.
“Xiao Yi, why are you standing there dumbfounded without saying a word?” Li Na asked with a smile.
Li Yi hurriedly replied, “Um… Third Sister’s husband just called. He said they’ve already set off, and the wedding procession is expected to arrive in ten minutes. You’d better get ready!”
Before Third Sister could say a word, Second Sister Li Lan blurted out, “Oh my, that fast? Then I’d better hurry out to block the door—we can’t let them just take Nana away that easily!”
“Second Sister, that’s enough. Don’t give him too hard a time!” Li Na urged.
“Got it. Look how scared you are!” Li Lan said with a laugh.
Li Na’s face flushed slightly, and she said, “It took me ages to find someone I like who’s willing to marry me. You can’t scare him away!”
“Haha, I know, I know. I won’t give him a hard time—it’s just a formality!”
With that, Li Lan walked toward the door and called out to the guests drinking tea in the main hall, asking them to join her at the entrance to perform the “blocking the door” ritual.
Blocking the door is a custom in central North Province, where the groom is set up with a series of challenges to pass through one by one.
This is done partly for the festive atmosphere, and partly to make the groom realize that marrying a wife is no easy feat, so he’ll cherish his hard-won bride.
As soon as Second Sister stepped outside, Li Yi pulled a small red booklet from his pocket and handed it to Li Na.
“What’s this?”
Li Na asked as she took the item.
However, when she saw exactly what she was holding, she froze for a moment, then frowned and said, “Xiao Yi, why are you giving me a passbook?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “This is some pocket money Xiao Xue and I saved up for you!”
Li Na opened the passbook and took a look, then let out a gasp: “Ten… ten thousand… you… you… I can’t accept this…”
Hearing the figure of 100,000 yuan, Li Na’s mother, who was in the room, was also stunned.
She never imagined her son would give his younger sister 100,000 yuan in pocket money; it was completely beyond her wildest dreams.
Only the eldest sister, Li Mei, remained relatively calm. During her trip to Hong Kong, she had truly witnessed just how wealthy her younger brother really was.
Never mind the luxurious villa worth hundreds of millions; just their spending during those few days in Hong Kong had given her a clear understanding of her younger brother’s financial standing.
100,000 yuan was certainly a substantial sum, but when she recalled how they had spent over 500,000 yuan on gold jewelry in a single day while in Hong Kong, Li Mei found nothing to be surprised about.
Seeing her third sister at a loss for words, Li Yi smiled and said, “They say a poor couple faces endless troubles. There will be plenty of expenses after we get married, so just keep this money!”
“But that’s way too much—it’s almost half a year’s revenue for the shop!” Li Na said.
“My income isn’t limited to just those few restaurants!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“But you don’t usually give away ten thousand at a time. Besides, your brother-in-law and I have our salaries plus the shop’s profits—we can’t even spend it all. We have no use for this money!” Li Na said.
“If it’s useless, just put it in the bank to earn interest. Anyway, I’ve already given it away and have no intention of taking it back!”
With that, Li Yi turned and walked out of the side room.
The moment he turned to leave, Li Yi’s eyes reddened slightly.
In his previous life, aside from Jiang Xue and their unborn child, the people he owed the most to were his family—especially his third older sister, Li Na.
She had always believed she was the one who had ruined her best friend “Tang Xue,” which left her filled with guilt and ultimately drove her to leave for a distant land.
Li Yi could only imagine how difficult it must have been for her—a young woman—to make a living alone in a foreign land during an era of such strict household registration controls. She must have endured a great deal of hardship.
What pained him even more was that his third older sister never married and spent the rest of her life caring for her adopted daughter.
The only consolation was that her adopted daughter was a kind-hearted person, and his third older sister’s later years were relatively comfortable.
But no matter what, his third older sister had been unlucky in her previous life, so Li Yi was determined to make it up to her.
Honestly, if he weren’t afraid of scaring her, Li Yi would have given her a million—or even ten million—yuan right then and there.
But on second thought, he decided against it. After all, given the current economic climate in the country, that much money was actually unnecessary.
After all, the average person only makes thirty or forty yuan a month, and making ten thousand yuan a month is still practically a myth.
After composing himself slightly, Li Yi returned to the main hall.
Inside, his elderly father, Li Shankui, was watching Yun Rui and Yun Jin play on the kang while chatting with Feng Kai, Zhang Tongfu, Liu Darei, and the others.
Meanwhile, Jiang Xue was getting ready in the inner room. With her older sister-in-law—and best friend—getting married today, she, as the younger sister-in-law, had to look her best and be in top form.
Li Shankui and the villagers had all been specially invited by Li Yi.
He knew his father was a man who valued his reputation, so he couldn’t let anyone say the Li family was marrying off their daughter on the sly.
Besides, Feng Kai was Qiangzi’s grandfather, Zhang Tongfu was Juanzi’s grandfather, and Liu Darei was Dongzi’s father—inviting them over was also a chance to let them see how their younger relatives were doing!
Seeing Li Yi push open the door and walk in, Feng Kai asked with a smile, “I heard from your dad that we’re heading back to the village tomorrow?”
“Right, either tomorrow or the day after. What’s up, Uncle Feng?” Li Yi replied.
“Since we’ve finally made it to Beijing, we old-timers were thinking of buying a few things to take back. Would that be okay?”
At that moment, his father, who was sitting on the kang, explained, “Uncle Feng is asking if the car we’re taking back can hold it all. We don’t think that little jeep will have much room for luggage once it’s full of people!”
“What was I thinking? Buy whatever you want. I’ll find a big truck to haul your stuff back for you. How does that sound?” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Is that really feasible? Hiring a big truck isn’t cheap. Maybe we shouldn’t sell it after all…”
Before Feng Kai could finish, Li Yi cut in: “It won’t cost a thing. Our county’s sugar factory sends a convoy to Beijing every few days to deliver goods. I’ll give them a call right now to see if there’s a convoy coming in the next couple of days!”
“That’s great! Hahaha!”
“If that’s the case, then let’s head into town this afternoon to check out the big market. I heard from Dongzi that there’s a ‘Wang Something’ mall in the capital—it’s huge! You can find anything you want there!”
“Right, I heard that from Shitou too. I just wonder if the money and ration tickets we brought will be enough!”
“If it’s not enough, we’ll just buy a little less. We’re only here in the capital thanks to Xiao Yi, so we might as well pick up some things we’ve never seen before to show off to our wives and kids back home…”
Li Shankui listened as his old friends chatted back and forth, his heart brimming with pride.
His son had grown up. Now who would dare say that Li Shankui’s son was good-for-nothing, or that he was just a street urchin…
Just then, the sound of firecrackers suddenly rang out from outside.
Immediately afterward, firecrackers at the entrance began to crackle and pop.
Everyone in the room immediately realized that the groom had arrived to fetch his bride. They stopped talking and filed out toward the front door…
………