Chapter 539: Returning to My Hometown!
Late at night, all was quiet!
After the passion had subsided, Jiang Xue, her face flushed, rested her head on Li Yi’s arm while tracing circles on his chest.
Earlier, after receiving jewelry worth a million, an excited and delighted Jiang Xue had taken the initiative to throw herself into her man’s arms and make her move.
It was rare for his wife to be so proactive, so Li Yi naturally wasn’t going to pass it up.
And so, sparks flew, leading to a passionate encounter.
Li Yi found her hands a bit ticklish, so he immediately pinned down her mischievous hands and said, “Stop fooling around!”
“You’re such a bossy guy. It’s okay for you to touch me, but not for me to touch you?” Jiang Xue said, sounding a bit indignant.
She clearly remembered that just moments ago, this stinky man had been rubbing her down there with all his might. Now that spot was throbbing slightly, and she was starting to wonder if he’d rubbed it until it was swollen.
“How could that be the same?”
“What’s the difference? It’s all flesh, isn’t it? How come yours is flesh, but mine is a soccer ball?”
Li Yi was instantly rendered speechless!
His wife was a typical woman from Qin Province—gentle as water when she was in a good mood, but when she had a bone to pick, she didn’t hold back.
Clearly, his slightly rough handling earlier had left her less than satisfied.
At that moment, Li Yi quickly changed the subject and said, “Xiao Xue, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you!”
Sure enough, Jiang Xue’s train of thought was quickly diverted by Li Yi. She asked, with a hint of languor, “What is it?”
“I’m thinking of going back to my hometown. Do you want to come with me?”
“Go back to your hometown? When?”
“In the next day or two,” Li Yi replied.
Jiang Xue didn’t ask what Li Yi was going back for; she simply replied, “Sure, I’ll go with you. It’ll give my parents a chance to meet Yunrui and Yunjin too!”
“Alright, if you’re coming, let’s head out after dawn!”
“That’s so sudden. I was planning to swing by the old family home to take that box of facial oil over to my mom!” Jiang Xue said.
“It’s cosmetics!”
“It’s all the same, isn’t it? It’s just like our Wan Zi Qian Hong and Yu Mei Jing!”
Li Yi smiled and didn’t argue; his wife was right.
“Then let’s go to the old family home first thing tomorrow morning, and then head back to our hometown!”
Li Yi then explained, “After all, school starts in a few days. If we’re going back, we need to leave early—otherwise, we won’t be able to stay for more than a few days!”
“Okay, I’ll do as you say!”
“Go to sleep. We’ll get up early tomorrow!”
“Mm-hmm…”
………
The next morning, at dawn!
Li Yi was fast asleep when he heard a rustling sound near his ear.
He was always a light sleeper, so he immediately opened his eyes and looked over, only to find Jiang Xue getting dressed beside him.
He glanced at the sky outside. Although it was already quite bright, the sun hadn’t risen yet—it was clearly not even eight o’clock.
Sure enough, Li Yi glanced at the wall clock—it was just past six.
“Honey, why are you up so early? Why not sleep a little longer?”
“You go back to sleep. I’m going to make some noodles for you, then pack the things we need to take back to our hometown!”
“What’s there to pack? If we’re missing anything, we can just buy it when we get back!” Li Yi said, rubbing his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter if we pack our own things, but we have to pack Yunrui and Yunjin’s!”
Only then did Li Yi remember his two kids. He immediately climbed out of bed and got ready to get up.
“You go back to sleep. Leave the rest to me!”
“You can’t handle it all by yourself—I’ll help you!”
With that, Li Yi quickly gathered the clothes he’d left scattered everywhere and put them on.
Then he put on his shoes, got up, and set to work.
By the time the two of them had finished washing up and packing their things, it was already 7:30 a.m. By then, Zhang Ziqiang and Juanzi had also gotten up.
Learning that Li Yi and his wife were returning to their hometown today, the two hurriedly packed a few essentials, and the group set off from the Li family’s courtyard house!
The group first stopped on the street for a quick breakfast, then headed straight for the Jiang family’s old residence.
After setting down the gifts they’d brought for his mother-in-law and the old man, and exchanging a few brief words, Li Yi and Jiang Xue left the Jiang family’s old residence and headed straight for their shop in Beiguan Village.
After all, since it was such a rare trip back home, Li Yi naturally had to ask Dongzi, Qiangzi, and Liu San if they had any letters or other items to send to their families.
Sure enough, upon hearing that Li Yi was returning to his hometown, the young men were all thrilled beyond measure. They eagerly handed over the money they had saved to Li Yi, asking him to take it back home.
Dongzi and Liu San’er, who were more literate, even took the trouble to write letters to their families, while the others were too lazy to write and simply asked Li Yi to pass on a few words for them.
After spending nearly half an hour at the shop, at 10:00 a.m., the Volga sedan finally pulled out of Beijing, heading straight for Nianzishan Village in Qingshan County!
……..
Nianzi Mountain Village. Village Committee Headquarters!
It had been pouring all day. With rain this heavy, it was impossible to work outside, so all the able-bodied young men in the village had gathered at the village committee office.
Although they had the rare chance to take the day off, the expressions on everyone’s faces weren’t particularly cheerful, and the atmosphere in the office was somewhat oppressive.
Old Party Secretary Feng Kai coughed slightly as he puffed on his pipe. When he finished a bowl, he tapped the pipe against the sole of his foot.
After shaking out the ashes, he tucked the pipe back into the tobacco pouch.
Then, clearing his throat, he said, “Stop looking so gloomy. Let’s hear it—what are your thoughts on this policy from the higher-ups?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone piped up, “Secretary Feng, I don’t agree with splitting up and going it alone!”
“I don’t agree either, but now that our village has been raising sheep with Xiaoyi, we can finally see a glimmer of hope for the future. What are we supposed to do if we have to go our separate ways?”
“That’s right. Things have finally started looking up, and now they want to split us up? What kind of nonsense is that!”
“You’re absolutely right. Can’t we just wait a little longer before splitting up…?”
…….
Ever since early spring, when Li Yi returned, slaughtered all those rams, and hauled them away, every household in the village had received a decent sum of money.
Over the past few months, the remaining ewes and the several hundred head of cattle and horses have all grown up. Barring any mishaps, they should be ready to give birth and reproduce next year.
Just as life was starting to look hopeful, an order came down from above requiring every village in the county to report the acreage of their land and population, and to prepare for a redistribution of land after this year’s autumn harvest, fully implementing the household contract responsibility system.
In other words, the authorities were putting an end to the communal dining system and wanted everyone to go it alone!
For most members of other production teams, this was a good thing, but for Nianzishan Village, the situation was different.
Once everyone went their separate ways, not to mention the risk of disrupting the team’s strong momentum,
More importantly, what would happen to the cattle, sheep, mules, and horses?
After all, they weren’t all collective property; they couldn’t be distributed like the land and the team’s production tools. Therefore, the vast majority of the village’s members didn’t want to go it alone.
Feng Kai tapped the weathered, patina-covered octagonal table in front of him with the bowl of his tobacco pipe and said, “Household-based production is a regulation from above; no one can change it. Haven’t you had enough of the communal dining system after all these years?”
“Secretary Feng, those years of the communal system were indeed tough, but haven’t things gotten better now?”
“Exactly! If others are splitting things up, why can’t we do the same?”
“Right, we won’t split up…”
Feng Kai sighed and said, “We can’t just ignore the policy from above and refuse to divide things up—that would be a serious mistake!”
“Then what are we supposed to do? Once we split up, who’s going to take care of all those cattle and sheep? Whose land will we use for forage? These are all big problems!”
“Exactly. Right now, everything belongs to the collective, so no one says anything. But once we split up, it’ll all be our own property. Who’s going to want to use their own supplies to feed the collective’s cattle and sheep?”
“That’s exactly it. Once we split up, it’ll be a complete breakup. We really need to think this through…”
Just then, someone in the crowd muttered, “If only Xiao Yi from the Shan Kui family were here!”
The moment those words were spoken, the entire room fell silent…
………