Chapter 416: Back to the Village!
Qingshan County, Nianzishan Village!
The journey from Beijing to Qing Shan County was over 360 kilometers, requiring a drive across the northwestern part of Hebei Province.
Even though Li Yi had set out early in the morning, by the time he returned to the village, it was already past two in the afternoon.
There was nothing to be done about it; the road conditions were simply terrible, with winding mountain roads everywhere, making it impossible to drive at any speed.
This made Li Yi miss the G6 and G7 expressways from his previous life. Since those two highways opened, the trip from Beijing to Qing Shan County took no more than three hours.
How different from now—it often takes six or seven hours, which is absolutely grueling!
But there was nothing to be done. At the moment, infrastructure development across the country was severely lagging behind. Never mind expressways—in many places, even basic gravel roads hadn’t been built yet.
Qingshan County was at least somewhat better off; it had basic road access.
As the car pulled into the village, Li Yi couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotion and excitement.
This was his first Chinese New Year since his rebirth, and he had originally planned to spend it at home with his parents.
But unfortunately, due to the matter of Jiang Xue’s family reunion, he ended up having to spend the holiday in Beijing, which truly left Li Yi feeling a bit regretful.
But while he felt a sense of regret, Li Yi had no regrets.
After all, Jiang Xue and the baby’s safety were more important; with her due date approaching, it simply wasn’t practical for her to return to her hometown to give birth.
Now that the baby had been born safely and he had successfully become a new dad, the greatest regret of his past life had been made up for.
Just as Li Yi’s thoughts were racing, the car entered Nianzishan Village.
Through the car window, Li Yi saw that the village looked just as it had before—not much had changed.
If there was any change at all, it was that every household had hung up bright red Spring Festival couplets, giving the place a very festive look.
To be honest, Li Yi had long since stopped caring much about the Lunar New Year.
Especially in his previous life, aside from Qingming Festival—when he would remember to visit “Tang Xue’s” grave—Li Yi never celebrated any other holidays.
The reason was simple: most holidays were a time of bright lights and family reunions, yet he was always alone, a solitary figure. That agony was something few could truly understand.
So, seeing the village so full of the festive spirit, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn up slightly…
At the Li family’s old residence, Zhang Yuehong was playing with her little nephew on the kang, while Li Mei was crouched on the floor washing clothes.
“Meizi, look at this little cutie. He keeps smiling at me—he really loves me!”
Li Mei smiled and said, “That’s for sure. Mom’s been helping me raise him all this time, so of course he’s close to you!”
“Exactly. This kid gets attached to whoever takes care of him!”
Suddenly, Li Mei sensed her mother’s mood had grown a bit somber, and she immediately knew her mother must be missing her younger brother, Xiao Yi, and her two grandchildren!
“Mom, are you missing your grandkids?”
“A little. I reckon the baby will be a month old in a couple of days, and neither your father nor I have even seen what he looks like yet!”
Then Zhang Yuehong couldn’t help but start nagging about her son, adding, “Xiao Yi really is something. It’s one thing not to come back, but why hasn’t he even sent a single photo of the baby to the family!”
Li Mei hurried to reassure her: “Mom, don’t be hard on Xiao Yi. He’s got to take care of Xiao Xue and the baby, plus he’s busy running the shop—he must be incredibly busy.”
“Maybe once the baby is past the postpartum period and a little stronger, he’ll bring his younger sister, her husband, and the baby back to visit you all!”
“I’m not blaming them, Mom. I just want to know what the baby looks like…”
Just as they were speaking, a sudden “rumbling” sound came from outside.
Zhang Yuehong looked out the window and saw a car driving straight into her yard—that was the source of the noise.
“Meizi, a car has pulled in. Go see who it is!”
Hearing her mother’s voice, Li Mei didn’t dare delay. She hurriedly stood up from the stove bench and rushed out the door.
As soon as she opened the door, Li Mei saw her younger brother, Li Yi, getting out of the car and unloading things from it.
“Oh, it’s Yi! He’s back!”
Li Mei then hurried over to help.
Seeing that his older sister wasn’t wearing any warm clothes, Li Yi hurriedly said, “Sis, go inside first. Don’t catch a chill—you might get sick!”
“It’s fine, I’ll help you!”
“No need… there isn’t much. I can handle it myself!”
Saying this, Li Yi took several cloth bags from the car and followed his older sister back inside.
Zhang Yuehong, sitting on the kang, knew her son had returned and was equally thrilled.
Seeing Li Yi come in, she hurriedly asked, “Xiao Yi, are you here alone? Have Xiao Xue and the kids come back yet?”
“It’s just me—they’re all still in the capital!”
“Why didn’t you bring them back with you?” his mother asked, frowning.
“The children are too young; they can’t handle the rigors of such a long journey. We’ll bring them back once they’re a little older!” Li Yi explained.
Li Mei, standing nearby, chimed in, “Mother, Xiao Xue hasn’t even finished her postpartum confinement yet—we can’t invite trouble!”
“Oh…”
Seeing the look of disappointment on his mother’s face, Li Yi smiled and said, “Mother, although Xiao Xue and the baby can’t come back, you and Father can go to the capital to visit them!”
“Ah… we’re going to the capital?” Zhang Yuehong said, looking surprised.
“That’s right. The baby will be one month old in a couple of days. I came back this time specifically to take you and Dad to the capital for the full-month celebration!” Li Yi said.
“But… are we really going to the capital? Will your father and I be able to handle it?”
Knowing that his mother had never traveled far in her life—the farthest she’d ever gone was the county seat—he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about taking her to the capital.
With that in mind, Li Yi hurriedly said, “Of course you can! Both my third sister and I are in the capital—do you think we’d lose track of you and Dad?”
“I… maybe you should ask your father first!”
This was such a big decision; Zhang Yuehong didn’t dare make it on her own, even though she really wanted to go to the capital.
“Where’s Dad? Why don’t I see him?”
“He went to help out at a construction site. He’ll be back tonight!” Li Mei replied.
“What construction site? What kind of work can they do in this freezing cold?” Li Yi asked curiously.
“It’s the school construction site. A few days ago, Mr. Huang’s brother-in-law came by and said they’ll start construction soon, so they need to prepare the materials in advance!”
Hearing this, Li Yi immediately understood: temperatures here would rise in April, making construction possible.
It was already March, so it made sense for the construction crew to arrive early to get ready.
But there were still some things he didn’t quite understand, so he asked right away, “Sis, they’re starting to build a school—what’s Dad doing there?”
“It’s nothing much. It’s just that Mr. Huang’s brother-in-law came to visit Mom and Dad specifically a few days ago and brought quite a few gifts.”
Li Mei continued, “He also mentioned that he’s new to the area and doesn’t even speak our language well, so he asked Dad to find some people to help out on the construction site. Dad figured that Mr. Huang has been pretty good to you, so he agreed!”
“I see. Well, I’ll go check out the construction site!”
With that, Li Yi started to head out, but just as he stepped through the door, he turned back.
He walked over to his mother, pulled out a stack of crisp new 100-yuan notes, waved them in front of his little nephew, and said, “Here, this is your New Year’s money from Uncle. Reach out and take it!”
It was unclear whether the little guy understood what Li Yi had said, but he actually reached out and grabbed the colorful stack of bills.
“Xiao Yi, why are you giving a child so much New Year’s money?” his older sister asked, somewhat surprised.
“Hehe, don’t worry about that, sis. This is for my nephew!”
With that, Li Yi smiled and walked out the door!
Shortly after, the sound of a car starting up could be heard outside once more!
PS: One more chapter to go—stay tuned!