Chapter 130: Reconciliation
It wasn’t until that evening that Li Yi learned about his eldest sister’s husband, Yang Wenguang, splitting from the family, and he also learned the truth about Yang Wenguang’s background from his eldest sister.
Upon learning that Yang Wenguang was not biologically related to Yang Liushi, and that he and Yang Wenxi and Yang Wenjuan were merely half-siblings, many of the doubts in Li Yi’s mind were instantly resolved.
He had originally thought that it was simply his parents’ favoritism that had led to the tragedy of his eldest sister and Yang Wenguang in their past lives.
But now it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.
Thinking of this, Li Yi felt a new sense of sympathy for his brother-in-law!
Since he had chosen to split from the family—which effectively meant choosing his sister—it was only natural to let bygones be bygones regarding past matters.
Moreover, judging by his older sister’s recent behavior, she had no intention of divorcing her husband. Now that he had split from the family, the two had reconciled.
For his older sister, divorce is even less of an option.
Given that, Li Yi didn’t want to be the bad guy either.
All he could do was create favorable conditions for them—first, they needed to have the baby.
As for what happens next, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
At 6:30 p.m., Li Yi called his sister’s husband out, saying they should go for a walk together, but really he wanted to talk to him.
After all, the situation had become a bit tense, and to prevent any lingering hard feelings between them, it was best to get certain things out in the open.
On the gravel path leading to the back mountain, the two of them straddled the bright red mule cart and walked along at a leisurely pace.
“Brother-in-law…”
“Yi…”
They spoke at the same time, then stopped speaking at the same time!
“Xiao Yi, you go first!” Yang Wenguang said.
“Brother-in-law, do you still hold a grudge against me?” Li Yi cut straight to the chase.
Yang Wenguang replied immediately, “The day you first came back, I didn’t know the full story, so I did feel a little bit that way. But once I understood the situation, I stopped blaming you!”
“You really don’t hold it against me?”
“Yeah, I’ve been married to Meizi for over three years now. I know exactly what she’s like.”
Yang Wenguang continued, “If she hadn’t truly been wronged at home, given her personality, she wouldn’t have agreed to come back with you even if you’d asked her to!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Thank you for trusting my sister so much!”
“Meizi is my wife. She doesn’t look down on me even though I’m a good-for-nothing—so why wouldn’t I trust her?”
Li Yi said solemnly, “It’s not that I’m trying to pick a fight with your Yang family or force you to split up—it’s just that they’ve gone too far.”
“In fact, what you know so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The despicable things they’ve done are far more numerous and far worse than you can imagine!”
Yang Wenguang looked at Li Yi with a puzzled expression and asked, “Xiao Yi, what else do you know?”
“Your stepmother tormented my sister—partly because our family didn’t provide a dowry, but more importantly, because she didn’t want you and my sister to have children…”
Before Li Yi had even finished speaking, Yang Wenguang exclaimed in shock, “You… Little Yi, are you saying my mother deliberately… deliberately…”
“That’s right. She deliberately tried to make my sister miscarry!” Li Yi said in a low, heavy voice.
“W-why? What’s in it for her?” Yang Wenguang asked through gritted teeth.
“Of course there are benefits—plenty of them!”
Li Yi continued, “First, if you two don’t have children, both you and my sister will remain the family’s main laborers. Just think how much more grain and money you could earn for the household each year!”
“Second, as long as you two don’t have children, you won’t think about splitting the household. The money you earn will go into the communal account, which can be spent on Yang Liushi and her two children.”
“More importantly, your younger brother, Yang Wenxi, is good-for-nothing. He still hasn’t married, and Yang Liushi can’t help but worry about him.”
Although Li Yi had no evidence to back up these claims—they were merely his speculations—
However, considering the events of his past life, Li Yi believed his speculations were reasonable.
Yang Wenguang clenched his fists tightly, carefully recalling the actions of his family members over the past few years. A sudden realization dawned on him.
At that moment, Li Yi continued, “It’s no secret in Orange Hollow that my sister has been mistreated in your household—you’re the only one who doesn’t know!”
“Whether I’m right or not, just go back and ask anyone—you’ll find out. To be honest, my sister isn’t even treated as well as a maid in your household!”
“Smack!”
Yang Wenguang slammed his hand down on the cart’s shaft and shouted angrily, “How could they do this? How dare they?”
Li Yi immediately said, “All right, don’t get so worked up. Since things have come to this, you’ll just have to figure out for yourself how to handle your relationship with them from now on!”
“Hmm!”
Li Yi added, “I’m telling you this not to drive a wedge between you and them, but so you don’t harbor any hard feelings toward me. After all, you and my sister are going to spend the rest of your lives together.”
Yang Wenguang nodded and said, “Xiao Yi, I don’t blame you. You were only looking out for Meizi’s best interests, and besides, you’re not the one who did anything wrong!”
“I’m glad you see it that way. It means my big sister’s feelings for you weren’t in vain. Let’s call it even then—no one should bring up the past anymore!!” Li Yi said.
“Mm-hmm!”
“By the way, I told you before that I secured two spots for you and my sister to work in the city. You remember that, right?”
“I remember!”
Li Yi replied immediately, “Good to hear. I’ve already spoken to Factory Director Liang. Once I’m married, I’ll take you both to report for duty!”
Yang Wenguang looked at Li Yi and said, “Xiao Yi, my sister and I are able-bodied; we can earn our own living. You should keep those two spots for yourself!”
His wife, Li Mei, had told him about these two factory positions that afternoon. He knew they were specially given to him by the sugar factory leadership as a token of gratitude toward Li Yi.
Although he was quite tempted himself—after all, the sugar factory’s benefits were renowned throughout the county—
Plus, they’d start as permanent employees right away—something that would make countless people envious.
A spot like this could easily fetch between 800 and 1,000 yuan on the black market; for two spots together, people would absolutely be fighting tooth and nail for 1,500 yuan.
So, even though it was his own brother-in-law, he couldn’t just take them like that.
However, before he could finish speaking, Li Yi cut him off.
Li Yi said calmly, “Xiao Xue and I have our own plans for our jobs. You don’t need to worry about us!”
“But this is an opportunity to work in the city, after all!”
“Haha, as far as I’m concerned, the city is nothing special!”
Then, before Yang Wenguang could say a word, Li Yi pointed to the distant mountain range and said, “Do you know where I’m taking you?”
“I don’t know—I was just about to ask you!” Yang Wenguang said.
“I’ll show you the perks of village life in a minute!”
“What’s so great about the village?”
“Heh, you’ll find out in a minute!”
With that, Li Yi gave the big red mule’s hindquarters a light flick with the reins, and the mule cart suddenly picked up speed.
Before long, the mule cart arrived at the base of the Hou San Reservoir dam.
At that moment, the flat, wide embankment was crowded with children of all ages.
In addition, there were a few older girls—likely Feng Qian, Sun Lu, and the other female educated youth.
Lately, whenever they had free time, they’d go into the mountains with the children so they could look out for one another.
At that moment, they were busy sorting through the various wild mountain produce they had gathered.
Upon seeing the bright red mule cart at the foot of the dam, the children immediately let out cheers!