Chapter 206: The Baffled Second Sister’s Husband

Early the next morning, Li Yi didn’t go to the county seat himself; instead, he had his father, Li Shankui, drive the black horse-drawn cart into town to deliver the goods.

As for himself, he rode his bicycle back to Yaogou Village with his second sister and his eldest nephew, Zhang Ning.

First, his second sister had been visiting her parents’ home for nearly a month, so he wanted to go check on her.

Secondly, he needed to send some money to his second sister’s husband, since the volume of mushrooms he was buying every day was no small amount.

Although the purchase price was relatively low—just 10 or 15 cents per pound of mushrooms—and the price wasn’t fixed, the daily cash outflow was still substantial.

A while back, his sister-in-law’s husband had mentioned running out of money, so the family had scraped together two thousand yuan for him—though given the massive volume of purchases, that sum likely wouldn’t last long.

Li Yi guessed his funds must have run out long ago; he had no idea how he was managing.

After riding for over two hours, Yaogou Village came into view in the distance.

With a child and an adult in tow, and the road still sloping upward, even Li Yi—with his sturdy build—was starting to feel the strain.

Seeing her younger brother panting, Li Lan said with concern, “It’s not far now. Let’s take a break before continuing!”

Meanwhile, his older nephew, perched on the crossbar of the bicycle, excitedly patted the handlebars and shouted, “Uncle, go!”

Li Yi was breathing heavily but smiled and said, “It’s okay, sis. Just hang in there—we’re almost there!”

After riding for another twenty minutes or so, they finally reached the village entrance.

Before they even entered the village, they saw several women coming toward them, some carrying baskets and others carrying backpacks.

When they saw Li Lan, the women were taken aback at first.

Since Li Lan hadn’t had to work in the fields during her stay at her parents’ home, she was wearing relatively clean clothes.

Plus, Li Yi had bought her a floral blouse and plastic sandals, so her outfit was far more stylish than that of the rural women in front of her—she looked just like a city woman.

Consequently, at first, none of them actually recognized her.

“Oh my, is Ningning’s mom back?”

“Good heavens, I almost didn’t recognize you!”

“You’ve been away at your parents’ place for quite a while this time—it’s been almost a month, hasn’t it…”

Second Sister hurriedly got out of the back seat of the car and greeted the women.

After chatting for a few minutes, the women realized Second Sister was in a hurry to get home, so they didn’t hold her back to chat any longer—especially since they were busy heading out to pick mushrooms themselves.

Even though the women had walked away, Li Yi and Li Lan could still hear their voices—filled with either exclamations of surprise or envy.

It could be said that even before they entered the village, Li Lan could already sense the changes among the villagers.

It certainly wasn’t like this before!

Because of her feisty nature—especially the incident where she’d used a kitchen knife to force her second sister’s husband and her parents to divide their property—the villagers dared not say anything to her face, but behind her back, they had no shortage of gossip about her.

On top of that, everyone knew that her second sister’s family was in a tough spot, so people used to avoid them like the plague.

How different it was now—these people actually greeted her when they met, and with such warmth.

Li Lan knew that this shift in their attitude wasn’t because she had changed, nor because her family had changed—it was because her younger brother, Li Yi, had made something of himself.

Thanks to him, she and her husband had also become respected figures in the eyes of the villagers, which was why they now looked at her with newfound respect.

Thinking of this, Li Lan’s gaze toward her younger brother held a touch of gratitude!

Li Yi, riding his bicycle ahead, didn’t notice his second sister’s expression; he was simply relieved to have finally reached their destination.

To the villagers, a bicycle was a luxury item, but in Li Yi’s view, it was fine for short distances; for anything over 10 kilometers, it really wasn’t as good as a mule cart—it was just too tiring!

Arriving at his second sister’s courtyard, Li Yi saw his brother-in-law working shirtless in the yard.

The courtyard had completely changed since his last visit; the vast space was now almost entirely filled with wooden frames.

These frames were built with logs as thick as a bowl’s rim as the main supports, then covered with thinner wood and bamboo poles, and finally layered with waterproof tarps, one layer upon another.

As expected, these were set up by his sister-in-law’s husband for drying mushrooms.

Zhang Ning hadn’t seen her second sister’s husband in over half a month. Upon seeing him, she immediately cried out excitedly, “Dad… Dad…”

At the same time, he struggled to climb down from the truck’s crossbar.

Fearing he might fall, Li Yi quickly set him down on the ground.

Hearing his eldest nephew’s cries, my second sister’s husband immediately turned his head.

When he saw that his daughter-in-law and son had returned, he immediately dropped what he was doing and ran out to greet them.

After exchanging pleasantries, the group went back inside.

Once inside, Li Yi asked right away, “Second Brother-in-Law, how’s the harvest going over here?”

“It’s going great. Everyone’s really enthusiastic. It’s not just our village—even the villagers from nearby Xuejiawa, Xiaoyushuying, and Fugou have come to sell mushrooms. We’re collecting at least four or five thousand catties every day!” her second brother-in-law said.

“Where do you keep all those mushrooms? I don’t see many here at home,” Second Sister asked in surprise.

“How much can we possibly store in this tiny place? I’ve put them in the village’s big warehouse!”

“The big warehouse?”

“Yeah. It’s not harvest season yet, so the production team’s warehouse is empty. I just asked Uncle San if I could borrow it for a while!”

Second Sister’s husband’s Uncle Three was the village production team leader—Li Yi knew this. Storing the mushrooms there wasn’t a bad idea, but preventing theft was another matter.

Li Yi immediately asked, “Aren’t you worried they’ll get stolen if you leave them there?”

“I only send them over after they’re dried. Dried mushrooms aren’t exactly something people in our village are keen on!”

Then my second sister’s husband added, “Besides, the big warehouse is right in the village committee’s courtyard. There’s a livestock shed there, and to prevent the large animals from getting lost, the villagers send someone there every night to keep watch!”

“Heh, that’s actually a good thing—a free warehouse that even comes with security guards on night watch!” Li Yi said with a laugh.

“Actually, everyone’s happy to help keep an eye on the mushrooms in the warehouse!”

“Why?” my second sister asked, puzzled.

“Heh, that’s the only way I can feel at ease collecting everyone’s mushrooms, and the villagers get to earn some money too, don’t they?” her husband explained.

Hearing Second Sister’s husband mention money, Li Yi immediately asked, “Second Sister’s husband, logically speaking, you should have run out of money by now. Why haven’t you gone home to get more?”

“Last time I went, your Second Sister said there wasn’t much money left at home, so I’ve been running a tab for now. I’ll pay them back later!”

“Will the villagers be okay with that?”

“Of course they’ll be happy—it’s not like I’m not going to pay them!” Second Sister’s Husband said with a laugh.

“How much do you owe?” Li Yi asked right away.

“About two thousand yuan.”

“Hmm!”

Li Yi immediately unfastened the shoulder bag he was wearing, pulled out a thick stack of 10-yuan notes, and pushed it toward his second sister’s husband.

“Brother-in-law, here’s twelve thousand yuan. Take it and keep it. From now on, just take as much as you need—money isn’t an issue!”

Staring at the bundles of brand-new, crisp 10-yuan bills before him, Zhang Xuefeng was dumbfounded.

Twelve thousand yuan—that’s twelve hundred bills. He’d never seen that much money in his entire life.

You have to understand—even if the two of them worked their fingers to the bone for a whole year, the money they’d end up splitting between them would never exceed 500 yuan.

And that was only in a good year; in an average year, they’d be lucky to split a few hundred yuan.

Twelve thousand yuan—even if his whole family worked their entire lives without eating or drinking, they might not be able to earn that much.

For a moment, Zhang Xuefeng found himself looking at his wife, completely at a loss.

Li Lan naturally understood how her husband felt. She smiled and said, “This money all belongs to Xiao Yi. I gave it to you so you can use it to buy mushrooms—just keep it and use it as you see fit!”

“Alright!”

……