Chapter 208: The Male Educated Youths Are Back

Early the next morning, Li Yi got up at the crack of dawn. First, he and Third Sister prepared the cold noodles and white flatbreads, then they drove the horse-drawn cart into town to deliver the goods.

After delivering the mushrooms, Li Yi went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and began a major shopping spree.

Since they were heading to Qin Province—a round trip that would take several days—they had to carefully plan for food, drink, and supplies for the journey.

First, Li Yi bought two red suitcases to pack their clothes and other essentials.

In addition, he bought two olive-green canteens and two new lunch boxes, also for the journey.

All that’s left is food and supplies—we’ll need to bring along sponge cakes and shortbread, as well as canned goods, peanuts, sunflower seeds, milk candies, and candied fruit.

After all, we’ll be traveling by car or train the whole way, and for the vast majority of the time, we won’t be able to buy anything.

And since Tang Xue is pregnant, I have to make sure I’ve prepared plenty of food and drink for her.

Besides, when going home, everyone wants to make a grand entrance.

Regardless of the outcome of this trip—whether it ends in disaster or not—I have to make sure my wife looks her best.

Although Tang Xue already had quite a few new outfits, it still wasn’t enough.

So Li Yi bought Tang Xue a yellow floral dress and a new set of underwear.

Finally, Li Yi bought 10 bags of Fuqiang flour and two buckets of cooking oil all at once, filling up a cart to haul back to the village.

Back home, Tang Xue was packing her things with her mother’s help.

They had laid all the clothes out on the kang and were about to pack them into a burlap sack.

Seeing this, Li Yi immediately told them to stop.

He was indeed prescient to have bought two suitcases.

Otherwise, his mother would have actually made him carry that burlap sack while taking Tang Xue back to their hometown.

Seeing that Li Yi had actually bought two such beautiful suitcases, Tang Xue was overjoyed.

Girls, after all, have a natural fondness for bags and suitcases.

She then happily took the suitcases and packed all of their clothes inside.

In the afternoon—perhaps knowing they were about to leave—Second Sister returned.

This time, however, she didn’t bring her eldest nephew, Zhang Ning; instead, she left him with her husband.

Upon asking, they learned that Second Sister’s mother-in-law had offered to babysit for them.

My second sister knew this was her mother-in-law’s way of reaching out to them. Although she still harbored some resentment over the favoritism the elderly couple had shown a few years back, she reminded herself that they were, after all, her husband’s own parents—and her son’s grandparents. In the end, she decided not to hold a grudge and left the child with them.

Li Yi also thought his second sister had handled the situation perfectly!

My second sister’s in-laws were different from my eldest sister’s in-laws. The scum of the Yang family were the kind who would devour people whole, while my second sister’s in-laws were simply biased because they had a younger child.

But this kind of thing is all too common in the countryside, and the root cause is poverty.

Given limited resources, after marrying off the eldest son, they naturally expected him to help support his younger siblings—and strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with that.

Since the old couple has already made the first move to be friendly, what’s there to hesitate about?

Besides, I’m leaving tomorrow. If my second sister doesn’t come back, I’ll have to ask my third sister to put her street stall on hold—after all, the family’s mushroom business is more important.

Now that Second Sister is back, it really is the best of both worlds!

…….

That afternoon, Li Yi, Tang Xue, and Second Sister continued harvesting mushrooms at the new house, while Zhang Yuehong stayed home to cook.

Since her son and daughter-in-law were leaving for Qin Province tomorrow, Zhang Yuehong decided to cook a nice meal that evening to send them off.

She slaughtered a chicken, plucked it, and put it in a pot to simmer.

At the same time, Zhang Yuehong scooped out two bowls of the cured pork she’d been saving—too precious to eat—to prepare a pot of braised cured pork with glass noodles.

However, just as she was busy, she heard someone calling from outside the front gate.

Upon hearing the voices, Zhang Yuehong immediately put down what she was doing and went out to see what was going on.

To her surprise, there were more than a dozen people at the gate.

Upon closer inspection, she realized the leader was none other than Feng Kai, the village Party branch secretary.

The rest were the male educated youths who had been taken away from the village some time ago, along with their families. After all, most of them had visited the Li family before, so Zhang Yuehong still had some influence over them.

“Xiao Yi’s mom, is Xiao Yi home?” Feng Kai asked with a smile.

“He is, but he’s over at the new house. What’s the matter?” Zhang Yuehong asked, sounding a bit nervous.

Although she wasn’t quite sure how these male educated youths had been released, as a mother, she was still worried that they might cause trouble for her son.

“Nothing much. These kids have been released, and their families wanted to come thank Xiao Yi, so I brought them over!” Feng Kai said.

“Thank him?”

“Yes, Xiao Yi wrote a statement of forgiveness for them, so the court acquitted them!” Feng Kai explained.

“Then… what about that kid surnamed Xu? Was he released too?” Zhang Yuehong asked, furrowing her brow.

“Not him. Xiao Yi didn’t write a statement of forgiveness for him, so he was sentenced to eight years!” Feng Kai said.

“Oh, if you want to see Xiao Yi, you should go to the new house!” Zhang Yuehong said.

“Okay.”

Feng Kai then turned to the male educated youths and their families and said, “Put your things down. I’ll take you to the Li family’s new house!”

Hearing Feng Kai’s words, the male educated youths bowed their heads and presented the various gifts they were carrying to Zhang Yuehong.

Zhang Yuehong had never seen anything like this before and hurriedly refused to accept them.

Just then, a woman in her forties took Zhang Yuehong’s hand and said, “Sister, please just take them. If you don’t, we won’t feel at ease!”

“That’s right, Sister. If it weren’t for your son Xiaoyi showing mercy, our Junzi would have been sentenced to prison. If that had happened, his whole life would have been ruined!”

“Sister, please just take them—they’re not worth much anyway…”

…

After all, Zhang Yuehong was just an ordinary rural woman; how could she possibly argue with these city folks? In the end, she had no choice but to accept the gifts.

Then, she watched as Feng Kai led the group over to the new house.

When they arrived at the new house, they happened to run into the villagers delivering mushrooms.

At that moment, the courtyard of the Li family’s new house was packed with villagers waiting to have their mushrooms weighed and paid for.

Suddenly, someone shouted, “Hey, isn’t that Zhou Zhqing, Liang Zhqing, and the others? How come they’ve all been released?”

Everyone immediately turned to look outside and instantly spotted Zhou Guangya, Yang Yi, Liang Jianjun, and the others.

Li Yi also heard the commotion and walked over to see what was going on.

Upon seeing them, Li Yi realized the court had handed down its verdict, and these people had been released.

When the group approached Li Yi, a middle-aged man in his fifties turned to Zhou Guangya behind him and said, “Comrade Zhou Yang is right here. Go up and speak for yourself!”

Zhou Guangya looked much thinner than before, his face somewhat pale. He walked up to Li Yi and bowed first.

Then, with a complex expression, he said, “Li Yi, first of all, I want to say I’m sorry to you and Tang Xue. Because of my jealousy and ignorance, I committed that shameful act. I regret my actions—please forgive me!”

“Secondly, I’d also like to say thank you. Actually, before the trial began, I had already prepared myself for prison, and the guys in the cell had told me that for people like us, it’s at least three years minimum.”

“But I never expected that you would put the past behind you and write a letter of leniency on our behalf. Thank you…”

At this point, tears suddenly welled up in Zhou Guangya’s eyes, and his voice choked with emotion.

No one knew how he had spent his time in the detention center.

Worry, fear, helplessness, and uncertainty about the future gnawed at his heart every day.

Added to that were the beatings and bullying from other detainees, which had left him utterly despairing.

But happiness came just as suddenly. On the day of the hearing, he had thought it would mark the beginning of his descent into darkness, yet the outcome was his immediate release.

So, at that moment, his gratitude toward Li Yi was genuine.

Li Yi patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m very glad to hear you say these things; it shows you’ve truly grown.”

“But I want you to know that this is just a small misstep in your life that can still be corrected. More often than not, however, once you make a mistake, there’s no chance for redemption—you’ll have to pay the price.”

“So I hope you’ll take this as a lesson for the future. No matter what decision you make, you must always consider whether you can bear the consequences!”

“Yes, I’ll remember that. Thank you!”

Afterward, Yang Yi, Liang Jianjun, and the others all stepped forward to express their remorse and gratitude, and Li Yi accepted the apologies and thanks they offered.

With that, the educated youth poisoning case—which had shaken the entire Hongqi Commune and even the whole of Qingshan County—finally came to a close.

Of the six male educated youths who had been arrested, all but Xu Hong—who had intentionally administered the poison—were released without charges after being detained for a few months.

Li Yi’s decision to put the past behind him and issue letters of forgiveness for these male educated youth was met with unanimous praise from the villagers.

After all, most villagers were kind-hearted; they did not want to see so many educated youth in the village sentenced to prison—that would have been too cruel.

The current outcome can be said to be the one that best aligns with everyone’s expectations.

Likewise, Li Yi was very satisfied with this outcome.

Moreover, having this matter resolved before his departure gave him a sense of relief, sparing him the worry of carrying it with him as he set out.

With the matter smoothly resolved, he could now take Tang Xue back to her parents’ home with a clear conscience!

……….