Chapter 112: Li Yi’s Promise
When the villagers saw Li Yi, they all stopped what they were doing, and everyone’s gaze fixed on him.
Li Shankui and Feng Kai, upon seeing Li Yi, strode over.
As soon as he reached his son, Li Shankui looked at him and said, “The whole village is here. You’ve really put us in your debt this time, kid!”
Feng Kai smiled and said, “Yi, don’t feel any pressure. Everyone came of their own free will—no one forced you!”
Li Yi smiled and replied, “Uncle Feng, I know!”
Then Li Yi strode to the front of the crowd and bowed deeply to everyone.
“Uncles, elders, and aunts, thank you all for coming to my home today to help. I, Li Yi, keep my word. This morning I said I’d lead everyone to make money together, and I certainly won’t go back on my word!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a chorus of cheers erupted in the courtyard, accompanied by scattered, uneven applause.
Li Yi motioned for everyone to quiet down, then continued, “I think this drying shed and the storage shed will be ready by tomorrow, but they’ll still need a few days of airing out before they’re usable.”
“Also, there are only seven or eight days left until Xiao Xue and I get married. So I’ll give you all a firm promise: after we’re married, everyone should come register at my place. Then I’ll lead you all in making money together!”
“Great!”
Hearing Li Yi’s firm promise, the villagers erupted once more in thunderous cheers.
This time, everyone knew Li Yi wasn’t just stringing them along.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the courtyard grew electric.
Lately, they’d watched families with children bring money home every day—especially those with several kids, who sometimes collected ten or so yuan from Li Yi in a single day.
Take Dongzi’s family, for example: they have two children working with Li Yi. Dongzi earns five yuan a day, and Xiao Jing earns three yuan a day.
Over the past month or so, the brother and sister had each brought home over a hundred yuan.
This made Dongzi’s mother overjoyed; she told everyone she met how capable her children were and how generous Li Yi was.
This, however, made the childless families green with envy—they were practically itching to have a whole litter of kids right then and there.
Consequently, over the past few days, people have been approaching the Li family and Tang Xue—both openly and discreetly—with the sole aim of begging Li Yi to help them earn money.
Even if they only made one yuan a day, it was still better than earning work points doing farm work.
One work point is worth three cents; even if you earned the full 12 points, that would only amount to 36 cents.
It’s obvious which option is more profitable!
Now that Li Yi has finally agreed, everyone is naturally thrilled!
After saying all this, Li Yi looked up and saw that it was already getting late, so he told everyone to call it a day and finish whatever was left tomorrow.
The villagers, of course, wouldn’t dare disobey the words of Li Yi, their very own God of Wealth.
They immediately gathered their tools, bid farewell to the Li family, and headed home.
Li Yi, however, wasn’t in a hurry to go back; instead, he took a look around the main hall of his new home.
Although the interior wasn’t dry yet, the floor had already been finished.
At Li Yi’s request, the floor of his house was not made of red bricks but was instead poured directly as a concrete slab.
Although we used quite a bit of cement, it’s actually easier to maintain than a typical red-brick floor—after all, the gaps between the bricks make them a hassle to clean.
In addition, the carpenter has already started work and is currently on-site with two young apprentices, making the doors and windows.
After asking a few questions, the master carpenter told him that the carpentry work would be finished in three days at most, and then they could start plastering and painting the walls!
Li Yi did a quick mental calculation; at this rate, the timeline would just barely work out!
Li Yi then urged the carpenters to work as quickly as possible to save time, before taking his parents back to the old house!
When they arrived at the old house, Li Na had already returned from the back mountain!
The bright red cart was loaded to the brim with mushrooms and all sorts of mountain produce.
Since those female educated youth were with the children today, Li Na had brought them back as well, which saved Li Yi the trip to the educated youth camp tomorrow.
When Li Shankui and his wife walked in and saw that their eldest daughter had actually returned, they were both surprised and delighted, and naturally had plenty of questions to ask.
Ever since their daughter got married, she had only come back once the first year; after that, she hadn’t returned even once.
And because they hadn’t provided their eldest daughter with a dowry, they felt they had no right to visit and were ashamed before the Yang family, so they hadn’t dared to call on them.
Little did they know that this parting would last three whole years!
Li Yi didn’t interrupt his mother and older sister as they caught up. After distributing the children’s allowance from the previous day, he began preparing dinner.
It was too hot inside, so Li Yi simply moved the square dining table outside and then set out the dishes from the pot one by one.
Soon, the whole family sat outside to enjoy their dinner.
With the family reunited and delicious food on the table, the atmosphere was naturally cheerful.
Soon, seeing that everyone had nearly finished eating, Li Yi set his bowl down on the table and said, “Mom and Dad, there’s something I need to tell you!”
“What is it?”
Li Shankui stopped packing tobacco leaves and asked in a deep voice.
“From now on, my eldest sister is going to live at home!” Li Yi said.
“Live at home?”
As soon as Li Shankui heard this, he sensed something was wrong. It was one thing for a daughter to visit her parents’ home, but if she were to live there permanently, that would be a problem.
“Yes, Dad, Mom. We had no idea all these years—my sister’s life with the Yang family has been absolutely miserable!”
Immediately, Li Yi recounted in detail to his parents everything he had witnessed that day at the dxmbang, as well as the facts he had uncovered in his previous life.
After hearing Li Yi’s account, everyone was stunned!
Li Shankui and his wife, as well as Li Na, Tang Xue, and the others, were shocked that the Yang family had treated their eldest sister that way.
They were even more astonished that Li Yi had beaten every single member of the Yang family, returned the dowry, and demanded that Yang Wenguang come to finalize the divorce proceedings.
As for Li Mei, she was surprised to learn that many of the things her younger brother had mentioned didn’t happen today, but over the past few years.
Clearly, her younger brother had been keeping a close eye on her life all this time; otherwise, he wouldn’t have known the details so clearly.
She even began to wonder if her younger brother had come to visit her at all today—perhaps he’d simply come to confront the Yang family!
“Smack!”
Li Shankui slammed his tobacco pipe down on the table, leaving a dent in the surface.
Then, his swarthy face darkening, he said, “Meizi, is what Xiaoyi said true? Is that Yang family really treating you this way?”
“Father… I…”
Seeing the hesitant look on his daughter’s face, Li Shankui said sternly, “Tell me the truth!”
Li Mei knew there was no escaping it. She nodded immediately and said, “It’s pretty much what Xiao Yi said, but Wen Guang is really good to me…”
“Smack!”
Li Shankui slammed his hand down on the table and shouted angrily, “Good my ass! His parents and siblings have bullied you into this state—how is that ‘good’?”
Then Li Shankui turned to Li Yi and said, “You did the right thing. Since the Yang family has been fixated on that 100-yuan dowry, we’ll just give it right back to them!”
“Meizi, I’m sorry I married you off to the Yang family. From now on, just stay at home with the kids. As long as I have a bite to eat, neither you nor the children will go hungry!”
Seeing this turn of events, Li Mei felt both moved and exasperated. Her father’s temper was exactly like her brother’s, and with him meddling like this, her situation with her husband was likely to become even more precarious.
For the moment, she could only turn a pleading gaze toward her mother, hoping she would say something to stop her father and brother from actually forcing her to get a divorce!