Chapter 14: Li Na’s Misunderstanding
By the time they returned to the village, the sun had already set!
When Li Yi, Dongzi, and the others returned to the Li household carrying several baskets of mushrooms, Li Shankui and his wife, along with Li Na, were standing dumbfounded around the large pile of supplies Li Yi had brought back.
They had just returned from work, and as soon as they walked in, they saw the floor covered with rice, flour, and cooking oil!
Though they didn’t know how much these items were worth, they figured it must have cost at least a few dozen yuan to buy them all.
They all knew Li Yi had been busy these past few days selling that “liangpi” in the county town, but in Li Shankui and his wife’s eyes, that was just hard-earned money—they truly had no idea where Li Yi had gotten the funds to buy all this.
Hearing a commotion in the courtyard, Li Shankui hurried out to investigate and saw his son returning with a group of young lads.
Judging by the large baskets they were carrying, these young lads must have been out in the mountains picking mushrooms again.
After helping carry the baskets of mushrooms into the house and seeing the boys off, Li Shankui called Li Yi into the room.
Squatting beside the stove, Li Shankui pointed to the rice, flour, and cooking oil on the floor and asked sternly, “Did you bring all this back?”
Li Yi nodded. “Yep!”
“That must have cost quite a bit. Where did you get all that money?” Li Shankui asked in a low voice.
Li Yi knew what his father was worried about and immediately replied, “It did cost quite a bit, but I earned every penny of it myself!”
Before Li Shan Kui could speak, Li Na, standing nearby, couldn’t help but interject, “Li Yi, do you think we’re all idiots? You’ve only been out selling things for two days—how could you have earned that much?”
Li Yi didn’t blame his third older sister for not believing him. It was mainly because he’d gotten into so much trouble in the past, and every time he messed up, his family had to clean up after him.
“Of course I couldn’t have made that much just from the stall—what about the money from selling mushrooms?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than his mother, Zhang Yuehong, exclaimed in surprise, “Did anyone actually want those mushrooms?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Not only did people want them, but they’re actually quite valuable!”
“Valuable… How much per basket?”
“Basket?”
Li Yi said slowly, enunciating each word, “70 cents… per pound!”
The three people in the room were stunned, as if they’d heard something unbelievable; Li Shankui even dropped the tobacco pipe he was holding onto the floor.
Li Na was the first to recover, exclaiming in surprise, “Really, 70 cents a jin?”
“Of course it’s true!”
“Tell me, how much did you sell that basket for yesterday?” Li Na asked, somewhat excitedly.
“That basket yesterday was a bit small—less than sixty jin—and I sold it for a total of 40 yuan!”
“40 yuan?”
Li Na instinctively covered her mouth. Li Shankui and his wife were equally stunned. Apart from the heavy breathing of the few people in the room, there was no other sound!
No wonder they were so shocked. Although life had improved somewhat in recent years, the money they received each year was still pitifully small.
With three members of the Li family working to earn labor points, they could only hope to receive 100 yuan at most after deducting their food rations for the year.
Yet Li Yi earned 40 yuan in a single day just from selling mushrooms—a figure that completely shattered their expectations.
“So how much did you make selling liangpi?” Li Na asked again.
“Over thirty yuan!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Li Na asked, somewhat excitedly, “So that means you made over 70 yuan today?”
Li Yi nodded and said, “To be exact, I made 71.2 yuan. But after buying all this stock and giving Dongzi and Shitou two yuan each, I’ve got 33.4 yuan left!”
As he spoke, Li Yi took out the pouch he used to hold his change and dumped all the money onto the kang.
Seeing the colorful bills, receipts, and coins scattered before them, Li Shan Kui and the others felt their minds were spinning.
After the initial shock wore off, Li Na suddenly fixed her gaze on Li Yi and said, “I’m going with you tomorrow!”
“Sure!”
Originally, Li Yi hadn’t wanted to take her along. After all, the government’s policies regarding the private sector were still unclear, and setting up a street stall was still quite risky.
Although he kept a relatively low profile when setting up his stall outside the sugar factory, there was no telling when someone might report him, so bringing her along really wasn’t a good idea.
But he also knew that unless he let her see firsthand how he made a living, his family wouldn’t rest easy.
“So, should we start preparing some things for the stall tomorrow?”
Li Yi shook his head. “We can prepare tomorrow. Since everyone’s here, I have something to say!”
“What is it?” Zhang Yuehong asked, looking at her youngest son.
“I want to ask for Xiaoxue’s hand in marriage tomorrow!”
Li Shankui, while filling his tobacco pipe with leaves, said, “That’s only right—you can’t skip the formalities!”
Zhang Yuehong added, “If you’re going to propose, you’ll need to prepare a dowry and other items. We’ll have to make a list!”
Li Yi immediately replied, “I don’t have enough for the betrothal gift right now, so let’s just use the money from home for now. I’ll buy the items for the marriage proposal when I come back from the county seat tomorrow!”
“That’ll work!”
Then Li Shankui turned to his wife and said, “Wife, go over to Old Lady Zhang’s place later and ask her to act as the matchmaker tomorrow!”
“Alright!”
After settling the main matter, Li Yi asked his parents and third sister to help prepare the mushrooms, while he cooked dinner.
In truth, evening meals in the countryside are usually quite simple—typically just some porridge with a few potatoes, or reheating the mixed-flour buns steamed at lunchtime. Whatever makes do, makes do.
But Li Yi knew that hoeing and watering the fields in the summer was the hardest work, and if one didn’t get enough nutrition, it was easy to wear the body down.
In his previous life, his father had passed away before he even turned fifty; aside from the guilt he felt over Tang Xue’s death, it was largely due to years of malnutrition.
So, whenever he had the time, he took charge of the family meals.
For dinner, Li Yi made oil-drizzled noodles. This classic dish was easy to prepare, delicious, and nutritious—perfect for the tastes of seasoned farmers like Li Shankui and Zhang Yuehong.
Knead the dough, roll out the noodles, boil the noodles!
Li Yi moved through the entire process with the fluidity of flowing clouds and water, as if he’d done it hundreds or even thousands of times.
After boiling the handmade noodles in boiling water and draining them into a bowl, Li Yi spread chopped scallions, Sichuan pepper powder, salt, and a thick layer of chili powder evenly over the noodles, then poured scalding hot vegetable oil over the seasonings.
The moment the hot oil hit the seasonings, it sizzled, searing the Sichuan pepper and chili powder until the bowl glowed red, and the aroma burst forth instantly.
After devouring a bowl of fragrant oil-splashed noodles, the Li family felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
While clearing the table, Li Na suddenly asked in a low voice, “This oil-splashed noodle dish isn’t from around here, is it?”
“Yeah, it’s a specialty of Qin Province!” Li Yi answered honestly.
“Qin Province again! Tell me the truth—have you had your eye on Xiaoxue for a while now?”
“Uh… what do you mean?” Li Yi asked, puzzled.
“Don’t play dumb—Xiaoxue’s hometown is in Qin Province!”
“I know, but does that have anything to do with it?”
“Of course it matters! That liangpi, roujiamo, and these youpo noodles are all specialties of Qin Province. It’s too much of a coincidence. You can’t possibly claim that learning these Qin Province dishes has nothing to do with Xiao Xue, can you?”
Li Yi hadn’t expected his third sister to think this way. He wanted to explain, but upon reflection, he couldn’t deny it—because it was indeed directly related to Tang Xue.
In his previous life, Tang Xue had been buried in Qin Province after her suicide, and every year Li Yi would go there to visit her and that poor child who hadn’t even had a chance to see the world.
Sometimes, Li Yi would even stay in Qin Province for a while.
Spending so much time there, he naturally picked up quite a few of Qin Province’s culinary specialties.
“Did you have your eye on Xiao Xue all along? You only learned all these dishes for her sake!”
Li Yi’s silence was naturally taken by Li Na as an admission; she seemed to have discovered something momentous, her gaze fixed intently on him.
Feeling a bit uneasy under his third sister’s gaze, Li Yi let out a wry smile. This was truly a perfect misunderstanding—he didn’t even know how to explain himself.