January 14, the 20th day of the 12th lunar month!
On the gravel road leading from the capital to Qingshan County, a massive yet somewhat peculiar convoy was speeding through the wind and snow.
The reason it was called strange was mainly because the composition of this convoy was truly baffling.
The convoy was led by a Jeep, followed by a Volga sedan and a large passenger bus.
That alone would have been odd enough, but to top it off, five or six Jiefang heavy-duty trucks brought up the rear. This combination made the convoy look somewhat strange and incongruous!
In the Volga sedan, Li Yi held Yun Jin in one arm while gazing out the window.
In the back seat, Jiang Xue held Yunrui in her arms and chatted with her mother about the grand spectacle of her third sister’s wedding the day before yesterday.
That wedding two days ago was indeed an unprecedented spectacle—at least for the Li family.
Although it wasn’t as grand as the weddings of Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua, it was far more lavish than the ceremony Li Yi and Jiang Xue had had back in the day.
In fact, Li Yi had intended from the very beginning to throw a grand wedding for his third sister, Li Na, and had no intention of rushing through it.
After all, she was his own sister, and this was her first marriage in two lifetimes—it simply had to be a grand affair.
But even with all that preparation, the sheer scale of the wedding day still caught Li Yi off guard—and left him a little stunned.
That morning, the rituals—such as picking up the bride and sending her off—went smoothly. Although a motorcade was used to pick her up, there was nothing particularly special about it.
However, when it came time for the banquet at noon, things suddenly took an unexpected turn.
First, Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua arrived with their wives. Besides them, a group of young people from their circle who were familiar with Li Yi also showed up—a grand procession of over a dozen people.
Right after that, the leadership teams from the Second State-Owned Cotton Mill, the Beijing Candy Factory, and the Yanjing Television Factory all arrived. These groups alone added another twenty or thirty guests to the wedding banquet.
But that wasn’t all. Just before the auspicious hour, his eldest aunt arrived with his eldest brother’s widow, Xu Manqiu, and their two young grandsons, followed shortly by Jiang Longyin’s family.
Shortly after, my second aunt and Jiang Longze’s family, along with several prominent branches of the Ye family in Beijing, arrived one after another. Even the Lin family, with whom we were not very close, sent a representative.
Most surprisingly of all, the patriarchs of the Jiang and Ye families finally made an appearance as well.
This left the Li and Long families speechless and stunned the other guests who had come to offer their congratulations.
Wow, they had thought it was just an ordinary wedding, but they never expected so many bigwigs to show up.
Fortunately, Li Yi and Long Zhanjun had anticipated this and had made sure to prepare several extra tables of food.
Even so, because there were simply too many guests, they nearly caused a bit of a fiasco that day!
But in any case, Third Sister’s wedding concluded successfully, and Li Yi finally had one less thing weighing on his mind—another item crossed off his to-do list!
However, with Third Sister’s marriage, another matter had to be put on the agenda: saving Jing Shu’s biological parents.
Li Jingyu was Third Sister’s adopted daughter from her previous life.
This girl’s background was truly pitiful. Her biological parents were both employees at the Lin’an Furniture Factory, and the family had once lived a busy yet happy life, just like any ordinary family.
But this past March, a sudden disaster struck the family, leaving them devastated. Jing Shu’s parents both perished in the tragedy, leaving behind only three-year-old Jing Shu.
Since none of Jingzhu’s other relatives were willing to adopt her, the little girl was eventually sent by the government to the Lin’an City Orphanage, where she became an orphan awaiting adoption.
The bond between Third Sister and Jing Shu was also quite special. According to Third Sister, after she left home all those years ago, she traveled south and eventually settled in Lin’an.
Later, by a twist of fate, she became a temporary worker washing sheets and pillowcases at the orphanage, and the two unfortunate souls met unexpectedly at the Lin’an Orphanage.
At first, Third Sister hadn’t considered adopting Xiao Jingyu, but after providing her with special care on one occasion, she grew fond of the poor little girl and ultimately decided to adopt her.
Third Sister said it was her eighth month at the orphanage. One morning, the director suddenly gathered all the teachers and caregivers, explaining that a child had contracted pneumonia and was in critical condition, requiring emergency hospital care. He asked who would be willing to go to the hospital to look after the child.
Everyone knew pneumonia was contagious, so no one wanted to go. In the end, Third Sister stepped forward and volunteered to stay at the hospital and care for the child.
And so, Third Sister stayed with Xiao Jingyu in the hospital for a month and a half. Upon returning to the orphanage, Third Sister formally adopted Xiao Jingyu.
Although her circumstances at the time did not meet the requirements for adopting an orphan, fortunately, she was an employee of the orphanage. Additionally, the director saw that she genuinely cared for Xiao Jingyu, so he ultimately helped her complete the adoption paperwork.
The fact that Third Sister had always been alone in her previous life was partly related to her adoption of Xiao Jingyu, but Li Yi remained deeply grateful to his niece.
It wasn’t just because the little girl had accompanied Third Sister through those most difficult years; more importantly, she had proven through her actions that Third Sister’s lifelong dedication had been worthwhile.
In her previous life, Third Sister had developed a severe liver disease before Li Yi found her. Upon learning that she could save her mother by donating part of her own liver, Xiao Jingyu did not hesitate to undergo the procedure—a decision that even led to a breakup with the boyfriend she had been dating for three years.
Fortunately, Li Yi found them around that time and brought my third sister to Beijing for treatment, so in the end, Xiaojingyu’s liver donation wasn’t needed.
For the decades that followed, Third Sister lived happily by Xiao Jingyu’s side.
In this lifetime, he changed the fate of many people, including Third Sister’s.
Now, Third Sister has married Long Zhanjun, and in the near future, they will have children of their own. She and Xiao Jingyu no longer share the bond of mother and daughter.
Besides, it’s better for a child to live with their biological parents, so Li Yi decided to make time to visit Lin’an and help the little girl’s parents survive that life-or-death crisis.
Fortunately, the disaster was scheduled to strike at the end of March, and it was only late January now, so there was no rush.
The most important thing right now was to celebrate the New Year properly. After working hard all year, it was time to give himself a few days off.
Just as Li Yi was deep in thought, Zhang Ziqiang’s voice suddenly rang out: “Brother Yi, we’ve entered Qing Shan County. Should we head straight back to the village, or go into the county seat?”
“Let’s go back to the village!”
After speaking, Li Yi turned his gaze back out the car window.
January in the northern frontier is the coldest time of the year; the region, frozen solid, can only be described as desolate.
The landscape was a stark contrast of white and black: the white was the snow that hadn’t yet melted, and the black was the bare earth.
Apart from that, there was not a single other color in sight!
Though such a scene could hardly be called beautiful, in Li Yi’s eyes, it was the most beautiful sight in the world.
Because these were the colors of his hometown, the backdrop etched deep into his very bones.
It had been four and a half months since he last left home, and he now felt a sense of trepidation as he neared his hometown.
Although there were beautiful courtyard houses in the capital and luxurious villas on Hong Kong Island, Li Yi still felt that the brick-and-tile houses of Nianzi Mountain Village were the most comforting.
No one understands homesickness better than Li Yi. In his past life, when he wandered alone in the capital, he would often dream of his family’s mud-brick house, the stone millstone in the village office courtyard, the large reservoir on the back mountain, the water pumping station at the western edge of the village, and Dongzi, Shitou, Yongzi, Xiaogouwa…
No matter how far he traveled, or how his status might change, there was always a place in his heart that he longed for—because that was where his roots lay, the ultimate home of his soul.
Thinking about his imminent return to Nianzishan Village, Li Yi couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement…
……