Chapter 91: The Resentment of the Male Educated Youths

Nianzi Mountain Brigade. Educated Youth Camp!

In the male educated youth dormitory, the kerosene lamp flickered on and off.

On the small table beneath the lamp sat a dish of peanuts and a dish of pickles. Several male educated youths were gathered around the small square table, drinking in silence.

“Damn it, that slut Tang Xue—what gives her the right to make money without bringing us along!”

“Exactly. She’s just a loose woman—does she really think she’s some kind of goddess?”

“She’s just hooked up with some village ne’er-do-well. It pisses me off so much…”

Listening to the angry voices of these educated youths, Xu Hong, standing nearby, felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

He’d finally managed to stir up the anger simmering inside these guys—all that scheming hadn’t been in vain!

Ever since he’d discovered that Tang Xue was taking those female educated youths into the mountains every day to pick mushrooms for money, he’d been hatching a scheme.

Xu Hong didn’t expect Tang Xue to take him along to make money. He knew she’d already blacklisted him—even if he got down on his knees and begged that slut, she wouldn’t help him.

So he quietly told the other male educated youths about it, egging them on to go find Tang Xue and get her to take them to forage for mountain produce.

If Tang Xue agreed, he would tell those male educated youths the true market price of the wild produce, making them resent her.

After all, mushrooms that sold for six or seven mao per jin, and she was only paying others one or two yuan a day—that was clearly unfair.

But knowing Li Yi—that good-for-nothing—he knew the guy didn’t like them educated youths at all, so it was highly unlikely he’d help them.

This would inevitably provoke resentment among the educated youth.

At that point, if he stirred things up a bit behind their backs, those guys would surely come to hate that good-for-nothing.

Sure enough, things turned out exactly as he’d predicted.

When Zhou Guangya and the others found Tang Xue and explained their purpose, that vile woman indeed rejected their request without hesitation.

This infuriated Zhou Guangya and the others!

They were all educated youths who had come to the countryside together, and whenever there was trouble, it was always the male educated youths who took the brunt of it.

Now that there was a chance to make some money, these female educated youths had abandoned them—it was simply outrageous.

So after returning, the male educated youths drowned their sorrows in alcohol!

“Brother Zhou, say something! We can’t just let this slide!” someone said angrily.

“What do you want me to do? They didn’t bring us along—what can we do about it?” Zhou Guangya sighed.

“Damn it, if I can’t do it, they won’t get a chance either. Tomorrow I’m heading up the mountain to stomp all those rotten mushrooms to pieces!” someone said angrily.

“The woods behind the mountain are huge. Mushrooms are everywhere—how could you possibly pick them all?”

“Well…”

“What they’re doing is profiteering—they’re undermining socialism. We should report them to the commune!”

“Do you really think reporting them will do any good? If it did, Xu Hong wouldn’t have been beaten so badly by that bastard, would he?”

Just then, Zhou Guangya suddenly turned his gaze to Xu Hong and, emboldened by the alcohol, asked, “Xu Hong, tell me the truth—did you report that good-for-nothing from the Li family that day?”

Everyone had asked Xu Hong this question before, but he’d never answered—he’d just told them to stop asking.

Although everyone had a pretty good idea of the answer, they didn’t know the full story.

Hearing Zhou Guangya’s question, everyone’s gaze fixed on Xu Hong.

Xu Hong hesitated briefly, but finally nodded and said, “Yeah, I was the one who reported him!”

Zhou Guangya frowned and asked, “Why did you report him?”

“Because that good-for-nothing told the people at the state-run restaurant not to take our mushrooms. He wanted to have the market all to himself, and I couldn’t stand it, so I did it!” Xu Hong said.

Xu Hong’s move once again earned Li Yi a wave of hatred:

“Hmph, that good-for-nothing from the Li family is truly rotten to the core—he’s the worst of the worst. How could he do something like that!”

“Exactly. We sell our mushrooms, and he sells his. What gives him the right to make the state-run restaurant refuse to buy ours!”

“Damn it, I’d love to chop that bastard to pieces right now…”

But they could only dream of it. After all, in Nianzishan Village, they had always been outsiders.

Usually, the commune members seemed friendly enough, but if they dared to cause trouble with the locals, those members would turn on them in a heartbeat.

This kind of thing had been all too common over the past few years, so they really didn’t dare lay a finger on Li Yi.

Zhou Yaguang suddenly asked, “Did you actually see that good-for-nothing from the Li family get arrested by the police?”

“Yeah, I saw him get arrested with my own eyes, but for some reason, he was released again by evening!” Xu Hong said in a low voice.

Zhou Yaguang narrowed his eyes and said, “If I’m not mistaken, that guy has connections in the county who helped him smooth things over!”

“The Li family has connections in the county?”

“Yeah, I heard from people at the commune a while back that Li Yi saved the father of a county official on the road. He’s probably relying on that connection!”

The news of Li Yi’s recent rescue and subsequent commendation had spread like wildfire throughout the village. Although Li Yi had specifically instructed Feng Kai and the others not to reveal Wang Anmin’s identity, everyone still knew he had saved the father of a local official.

Upon hearing Zhou Guangya’s words, everyone fell silent.

If Li Yi really had such powerful connections in the county, reporting him to the commune would certainly be of no use.

For a moment, the male educated youths all fell silent!

Just then, Xu Hong suddenly spoke up: “I have an idea—maybe we can sabotage their mushroom business!”

“What idea?” someone asked immediately.

Xu Hong didn’t come out and say it outright. Instead, he opened the dorm room door, peered outside to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and only then returned to the room.

Then he whispered, “Everyone knows that Li’s good-for-nothing son’s mushrooms are all sent to the state-run restaurant. Right now, the state-run restaurant is the only place in the whole county with that kind of demand. All we have to do is make sure the state-run restaurant stops buying Li Yi’s mushrooms!”

“Why should state-run restaurants listen to us?” someone retorted.

Xu Hong gave a sinister smile and said, “Hmph, of course they won’t listen to me. But if the mushrooms they buy from Li Yi make someone sick, do you think they’ll still want his mushrooms?”

“Make people sick?”

“Right. Not all mushrooms are edible—there are plenty of poisonous ones out there!” Xu Hong said.

“But… they’ve been supplying them for so long without any problems.”

Xu Hong replied, “The reason they’ve been fine is because they’ve inspected every single mushroom—of course they wouldn’t let any poisonous ones slip through. But we can do this instead…”

Then, Xu Hong laid out his plan!

After hearing Xu Hong’s plan, the male educated youths present were all stunned.

Although they were all furious at Li Yi and Tang Xue’s actions, they had never considered harming anyone.

But if they followed Xu Hong’s instructions, they would be setting someone up—and might even invite unnecessary trouble.

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Seizing the moment, Xu Hong pressed on: “We’re not really trying to harm anyone—we just want justice!”

“Besides, we don’t need to put those highly toxic mushrooms in there. We just need to mix in some ‘cow dung mushrooms’—they’re not that poisonous. Do it a couple of times, and I bet those people at the state-run restaurant won’t dare take Li Yi’s mushrooms anymore.”

“Once they stop taking Li Yi’s mushrooms, don’t you think our chance will come? Then we’ll let those cheap women watch us make a fortune!”

You have to admit, Xu Hong’s words were quite inflammatory.

No sooner had he finished speaking than someone immediately chimed in: “Damn it, fortune favors the bold—let’s do it!”

“Count me in. I’ve had more than enough of these hard times where we can’t even eat our fill or keep warm!”

“Alright, let’s do it…”

…….

Night fell, and the sky grew dark!

Under the faint moonlight, Li Yi held Tang Xue’s hand as they walked along a country lane.

These past few days, walking Tang Xue back to the educated youth commune at night had become Li Yi’s happiest moment.

Since she had already accepted Li Yi from the bottom of her heart, and with everyone else mostly asleep at night, Tang Xue didn’t refuse Li Yi’s occasional displays of affection; gestures like holding hands seemed to have become second nature to them.

Moonlight bathed Tang Xue’s figure, and a gentle breeze stretched their shadows long.

The feeling was truly pleasant, and both of them were in high spirits.

“Honey, do you hold it against me?” Li Yi asked suddenly.

“Blame you for what?”

“For not giving you that spot at the factory!”

Tang Xue shook her head and said, “No. Working at the sugar factory is certainly a good option, but I know you had your own reasons for making this arrangement. You wouldn’t do anything to harm me!”

Li Yi nodded and said, “Aside from the fact that my older sister and brother-in-law really need help, the biggest reason I didn’t want you to work at the factory is that it’s too exhausting—and it’s not your only option!”

“Huh?”

“Actually, I didn’t tell Mom and Dad, but today, Director Liang initially wanted to recruit me—he offered to hire me directly at their sugar factory as head of security or office director, with official cadre status!” Li Yi said.

“So… so you turned it down?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to work at the factory, and I don’t want to stay cooped up in this little mountain village forever—and neither do you!”

Li Yi continued, “Our future shouldn’t be spent living a mundane life in this remote mountain village. What I want is to conquer the stars and the seas, and you’ll follow in my footsteps, always being the harbor of my soul!”

“Am… am I up to it?” Tang Xue asked, sounding a bit unsure.

“You can, because you’re the one I, Li Yi, have chosen—you’ll definitely be able to!”

“Okay!”

At that moment, Li Yi spoke again: “My plan for you is still to go to college. In the next day or two, I’ll get you some middle and high school textbooks. After we’re married, you can study at home—don’t worry about anything else!”

“Okay!”

In truth, Tang Xue had always longed to go to college from the bottom of her heart.

Back in middle school, she was an excellent student and had even been accepted into the best high school in the county.

But just as she was overjoyed to share the news with her parents, her mother told her that the family could only afford to send one child to school, and they had already decided to let her younger sister—who was still in eighth grade—continue her education.

As for her, she was told she couldn’t go to high school!

This wasn’t the first time Tang Xue had been treated differently. Although she longed to continue her education, she could only silently accept her parents’ decision.

Afterward, she went home to make a living by assembling cardboard boxes to help support the family.

She never would have dreamed that, just as she was about to get married, Li Yi would be willing to let her continue her studies—and even encourage her to go to college. This surprise came as a complete shock.

The walk to the educated youth settlement wasn’t far, and before long, the two arrived at the gate.

Just as Li Yi was about to bid Tang Xue a reluctant farewell, she grabbed his hand and said, “Um… those male educated youth came looking for me today!”

“Because of the mushrooms?”

“Yeah, they heard from somewhere that you took us female educated youth out to pick mushrooms to make some money, so they want to join in too!”

“What did you say?”

“I… I turned them down. You told me not to like them!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Those guys have provoked me time and time again, and they’ve been picking on you. There’s no way I’d help them!”

“But I saw how upset they looked when they left. I’m worried about them…”

“Don’t worry. If they behave themselves, that’s fine. But if they dare pull any more stunts, don’t blame me for dealing with them harshly!” Li Yi said coldly. dxmbang

“Okay!”

“Go on in. See you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow!”

……..

After returning home, Li Yi sorted through the mushrooms and other mountain produce the children had brought and loaded them onto the cart, then began kneading the dough.

Normally, he could have done this the next morning and still made it in time, but there were simply too many orders for tomorrow, so he had no choice but to prepare the dough in advance and get up at dawn to finish the work.

Watching Li Yi haul out five or six bags of Fuqiang flour all at once, Li Shankui looked utterly stunned.

He had previously watched his son make liangpi, and even then, using just over a bag of flour had already surprised him.

He never imagined that in such a short time, his son’s small business had grown so much.

Seeing how hard his son was working, Li Shankui immediately offered, “Why don’t you take a break? Let me help you knead it.”

Li Yi shook his head and said, “Dad, you don’t knead it evenly enough. It affects the proofing and washing later on. I’ll handle it.”

“Hmm, I’ve been thinking it over, and giving both spots to your older sister and brother-in-law might not be the best idea!” Li Shankui said, puffing on his pipe.

“What’s wrong with that?” Li Yi asked immediately.

“I’m worried your second sister might feel left out. You know she’s always been a bit headstrong…”

Hearing his father mention his second sister, Li Yi smiled and said, “It’s fine. My second sister is different from my eldest sister. Even if she has an issue with it, she’s easy to handle!”

“Well, you’d better make sure to talk it over with your second sister beforehand, so she doesn’t end up beating you up!”

Li Shankui clearly knew his second daughter’s temperament very well; if she got upset, she might just really give her son a good thrashing in front of everyone.

Li Yi just smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll handle it!”

As for his second sister, Li Lan, she was essentially a more intense version of Mrs. Su from the TV series *Everything’s Fine*.

If the eldest sister’s gentleness represents one extreme, then the second sister’s domineering nature represents the other.

Her mother-in-law was also quite the character. Back then, she’d heard that the Li family’s daughters were gentle, virtuous, and hardworking, so she sent someone to propose the marriage.

After Second Sister Li Lan met her husband, Zhang Xuefeng, she also thought he was quite a catch, so she agreed to the marriage.

However, after the wedding, when her formidable mother-in-law tried to manipulate her, she discovered that Second Sister’s personality was nothing like the gentle girl she’d imagined. Second Sister had a sharp tongue and was highly combative; her in-laws’ attempts to stir up trouble were repeatedly thwarted, leaving them thoroughly humiliated.

Later on, Second Sister grew tired of arguing with them. She simply brandished a kitchen knife and forced her husband to split from the old family home, and the two began living their own little life.

As for my second sister’s husband, he was the classic “henpecked husband”—whatever my second sister said went. So Li Yi sometimes felt he was a lot like Su Daqiang, just much younger.

Li Yi had actually considered whether Second Sister might have any objections regarding the factory positions secured for Eldest Sister and her husband.

Of course she would—it’s only human nature.

But Li Yi wasn’t neglecting his second sister and her husband. Both of his older sisters had been very good to him—they were all his flesh and blood—so how could he possibly ignore his second sister?

It’s just that right now, there are priorities. As soon as an opportunity arises for his second sister, he certainly won’t let her down.

Besides, in his previous life, the family he likely owed the least to was Second Sister’s. He had no children of his own, his eldest sister had passed away young, and his third sister refused to forgive him—so he was closest to Second Sister’s family.

In fact, before he died, he had already notarized a significant portion of his assets and gifted them to his second sister’s family without compensation. So, in this life, he would put his second sister’s affairs on hold for the time being.

That evening, the entire Li family sat together in the courtyard for dinner!

Dinner was a feast. Li Yi had cooked it himself, preparing minced pork with green beans, stir-fried pork with potato slices, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a cold salad, and a soup!

The main dish is freshly made scallion pancakes—golden brown and absolutely fragrant!

Although there wasn’t much meat, this meal was certainly a luxury in the countryside these days.

During the meal, Li Na chattered away to Tang Xue about what had happened today while they were setting up their stall in town, and of course, she mentioned that someone had given Li Yi two big bags of candy.

Upon hearing this, Li Shankui immediately furrowed his brow and asked, “Xiao Yi, what’s the story here?”

Li Yi replied right away, “Dad, I was actually planning to tell you about this after dinner. It’s really no big deal—a couple of days ago, I did a favor for the manager at the sugar factory. He gave me two bags of sugar to repay the favor!”

Li Shankui breathed a sigh of relief and said, “You helped them, but why did you accept their gift?”

Li Yi smiled and said, “I didn’t want to take it, but they insisted on giving it to me. Plus, Captain Wang from the Criminal Investigation Division delivered it personally—I couldn’t very well refuse!”

Before he could finish, Li Na, with her big mouth, chimed in again: “They didn’t just give my little brother two big bags of sugar—they also gave him two spots to get into the factory!”

“What kind of spots?” Li Shankui asked again.

“They’re spots for regular workers at the sugar factory!” Li Yi replied.

Hearing this, Li Shankui said excitedly, “Really? So that means you and Xue can go work in the city from now on?”

Their mother and Tang Xue were both surprised and delighted.

In their eyes, having a formal job at a factory was far more promising than running a street stall—especially at the county’s renowned sugar factory, where they’d heard the benefits were quite generous.

And with two workers in the family all at once, it would be hard for their future not to prosper.

Li Yi smiled and said, “In theory, that’s true. But I don’t plan on working at the factory, and I don’t intend to let Xiao Xue go there either!”

“What did you say?”

Li Shankui, who had a somewhat short temper to begin with, immediately set down his bowl and chopsticks, his brow furrowing tightly as he looked ready to explode.

Li Yi hurriedly said, “Dad, please let me explain. Don’t get angry!”

“Speak up. If you can’t give me a solid explanation, I’ll break your legs!” Li Shankui snapped angrily.

“Dad, I know you want Xiao Xue and me to have stable jobs so we can build a good life together, but have you ever considered that I already have a better plan for our future?”

“What kind of plan could be better than working in a factory?”

“I’m definitely going to start my own business!”

Seeing his father on the verge of another outburst, Li Yi hurriedly said, “Dad, do you know how much a full-time worker at the sugar factory makes these days?”

“Thirty-six yuan, I suppose!”

“That’s right. Permanent employees do make 36 yuan. Since wages haven’t gone up in ages, there’s even a saying: ‘Long live 36 yuan!’”

Li Yi continued, “That’s 36 yuan a month, so 432 yuan a year. After covering food, rent, and social obligations, how much do you think I’d be able to save by the end of the year?”

Before his father could answer, Li Yi continued, “Dad, do you know that just by going out and closing two deals these past few days, I’ve already made a thousand or two yuan? That’s equivalent to what I’d earn working at the factory for several years. Do you really think there’s any point in me sticking with that job?”

“What kind of deals? Where did you get a thousand or two?” Li Shankui frowned.

The others also looked at Li Yi in astonishment, unsure what he meant.

“The county’s holding a big meeting these days, and the state-run hotel is in charge of catering. To save trouble, Director Li ordered four hundred portions of liangpi from me every day—deliveries started today!”

Li Yi continued, “On top of that, the sugar factory is distributing benefits to its employees, so Factory Director Liang has also placed an order with me for a batch of liangpi and white-skin pancakes!”

“How many?” Li Na asked instinctively.

“Eight hundred servings of liangpi and 1,600 white-skin pancakes every day—for a whole week!”

At those words, everyone was stunned.

Although they didn’t know how much profit a single serving of liangpi yielded, the sheer volume of over a thousand servings a day was staggering. Even if he only made a few cents per serving, that would still add up to a significant amount.

And that didn’t even include the mushrooms Li Yi delivered to the state-run restaurant every day—that was where the real money came from!

Li Shankui finally understood why his son looked down on the factory’s meager monthly salary of 36 yuan. When he thought about how his son was bringing in several hundred yuan a day—equivalent to several years’ work at the factory—he realized that no one in their right mind would want to go there!

After a brief silence, Li Shankui finally sighed and said, “If you’re not going, then what’s the point of those two spots?”

His mother, Zhang Yuehong, interjected, “If you don’t want to go, then let your third older sister and Xiaoxue take them. It’s good for girls to have a steady job, and it’ll be nice for them to have each other’s support if they both work at the factory!”

Li Yi shook his head and said, “Xiao Xue’s main priority is her studies; she’s going to college. As for my third sister, I plan to keep her by my side so she can learn the business from me and become a big boss someday!”

“Then who are you planning to give these two factory spots to?” Zhang Yuehong asked, puzzled.

“To my eldest sister and her husband!”

At those words, the elderly Li Shan Kui and his wife were both taken aback.

That answer was truly unexpected!

“Why did you think of giving them to your eldest sister and her husband?”

Li Yi paused for a moment before saying, “Dad, do you know how my older sister has been doing these past few years?”

“I asked her last time. She said your brother-in-law treats her very well and is quite considerate!”

Li Yi gave a wry smile and said, “My brother-in-law is indeed very good to my eldest sister, but she hasn’t been doing so well in the Yang family!”

“What’s going on?” Li Shankui’s eyes widened as he asked urgently.

“Father, you know I hang out with all sorts of people, and I know a few young folks from their village, Juziwa. According to them, my eldest sister hasn’t been doing well at all these past few years!”

“You don’t mean your brother-in-law…”

“It has nothing to do with my brother-in-law… well, not exactly. As you know, he works at the forestry station tending to the trees and is rarely home. Plus, he doesn’t have a say in household matters. My sister has to deal with her in-laws and her younger sister-in-law all the time!”

Li Yi continued, “From what I’ve gathered, they don’t treat my sister like family at all. I won’t go into the specifics, but I don’t want my older sister to stay in that household and be mistreated any longer!”

Li Shankui nodded and said, “Once I’m done with these few days of work, I’m heading over to Juziwa. If those two old fools from the Yang family dare to bully Meizi, I’ll make them pay…”

Perhaps he’d spoken too hastily; before he could finish his sentence, Li Shankui began coughing violently.

Li Yi hurried over to pat him on the back, saying, “Dad, just leave this to me. I promise I’ll make sure my sister isn’t mistreated!”

“All right then. Once you’re done with Liang, head over to Juziwa!” Li Shankui said.

“Alright!”

………

Back home, Li Yi rushed over to the new house again!

Although they were just a few brick-and-tile houses, they paled in comparison to the luxurious villas and riverside penthouses he would own in the future.

But these few houses held great significance for Li Yi, as they would be his and Tang Xue’s marital home—and perhaps the place where their children would be born.

Therefore, even though the house wasn’t finished yet, Li Yi had already envisioned a happy life for his family in the future.

When Li Yi arrived, he found that the walls of the new house had already been erected.

After all, the main house consisted of only three rooms. With five or six master bricklayers and seven or eight laborers working simultaneously, the workload was really quite light!

Not seeing his father, Li Shankui, Li Yi went over to his mother and asked, “Mom, where’s Dad?”

“He went to town to pick up the roof purlins. I reckon he’ll be back soon!”

Then Zhang Yuehong suddenly asked, “Why did you come back so early today?”

“Hehe, I sold everything quickly, so I came back early!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Hmm, have you prepared the food for the roof-raising ceremony tomorrow?”

“Pretty much. I bought 10 pounds of meat, 5 pounds of tofu, and two big bundles of glass noodles, plus I got 10 pounds of sorghum liquor. I think that should be enough!”

“That’s quite a lot…”

Just as they were talking, the sound of bells suddenly rang out from outside.

Li Yi looked out and saw five or six mule-drawn carts clanging their way toward them, led by none other than his father, Li Shankui.

Soon the carts arrived at the open space in front of the new house. Li Yi could now see clearly that they were loaded with logs, each about 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter.

Judging by the wood, they were likely pine logs, and all of them had been processed.

“Dad, you’re back?”

Li Shankui nodded and said, “Yeah, step aside—we’re about to unload!”

Then, Li Shankui called out to the others to come help unload the wood.

The logs were heavy; although they had been cut into four-meter-long sections, they were still too heavy for just one or two people to lift, so the laborers all rushed over to help.

After a Herculean effort, they finally unloaded all the beams, and Li Shankui walked over to Li Yi.

“What brings you here? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing much, just wanted to see how the house is coming along!” Li Yi said.

“It’s going smoothly. We’ll be raising the ridgepole and hanging the rafters tomorrow, and we’ll be able to cap the roof and lay the tiles the day after!” Li Shankui said.

“Alright. I see the work’s moving along quickly. Dad, make sure to pay the uncles and older men a bit extra when the time comes!”

“Got it! Leave that to me. If there’s nothing else, you should head back!”

“Alright!”

Actually, Li Yi wanted to talk to his parents about the two job openings at the sugar factory, but he figured this wasn’t the right place for that conversation. He’d wait until tonight instead!

As for those two job openings, Li Yi had actually decided long ago to give them to his eldest sister and her husband.

There were four siblings in Li Yi’s family: his eldest sister Li Mei, his second sister Li Lan, his third sister Li Na, and Li Yi, the youngest.

His eldest and second sisters had both married young. Although they lived not far from Nianzi Mountain Village, they rarely came back.

Li Yi felt a sense of guilt toward his two married sisters, especially his eldest sister.

Of the four children in the family, it was naturally his eldest sister, Li Mei, who had sacrificed the most.

In the early years, with so many children in the family, his parents worked tirelessly to earn as many work points as possible to ensure they had enough grain to get through the winter, never daring to take a day off. As a result, caring for the younger siblings fell entirely to his eldest sister.

By the time she reached junior high school age, Li Mei was doing very well in her studies, and her teachers were eager for her to continue her education.

However, since the second and third sisters also needed to attend school at the time, the parents ultimately made the heart-wrenching decision to have the eldest sister drop out and return home to work in the fields, where she could earn enough work points to support the family for half a month.

And so, the eldest sister became the first child in the family to be given up.

This wasn’t unusual in those days; every family went through the same struggles, and Li Mei herself never blamed her parents.

But what truly made Li Yi feel guilty was that, because of his mischief and youthful ignorance, he had directly ruined his eldest sister’s life.

Three years ago, 17-year-old Li Yi got into a fight and injured someone.

Eventually, the victim came to their door demanding compensation, threatening to report them to the police if they didn’t pay.

Li Shankui and his wife had no choice but to pay.

But the family simply didn’t have the money. Just as they were at a loss, his eldest sister, Li Mei, stepped forward, using her own marriage as a bargaining chip to secure 100 yuan in compensation for Li Yi.

Her husband’s surname was Yang; his name was Yang Wenguang, and he was from Jiziwa Village, eight kilometers away from Nianzishan Village.

Yang Wenguang was a kind man, not unattractive, and a veteran, though he had a disability.

He had been injured while serving in the military; Li Yi didn’t know the exact details of how it happened, but he knew that his brother-in-law couldn’t use one of his arms properly and seemed to have trouble walking.

And that was precisely why, at twenty-six or twenty-seven, no one was willing to marry him!

In an effort to find a wife for Yang Wenguang, the Yang family had deliberately spread the word that they would pay a 100-yuan dowry to anyone willing to marry into the family.

A few years ago, 100 yuan was a substantial sum.

But even so, no one was willing to marry into the family—until Li Mei, with her back against the wall and for the sake of Li Yi, married into the Yang family.

However, Li Mei’s life in the Yang household was far from easy. Although her brother-in-law was a good man, he had no say in the family’s affairs.

On top of that, the eldest sister had gambled away the entire dowry on Li Yi’s behalf, so her in-laws were very upset about it—especially her mother-in-law, who was a thoroughly wicked woman. The eldest sister had suffered a great deal at their hands over the years.

But what Li Mei found most unbearable was her younger sister-in-law, who, relying on her parents’ favoritism, bullied her all day long.

Li Yi recalled that just this year, his eldest sister became pregnant, yet even then, the Yang family showed her no consideration whatsoever.

Taking advantage of the fact that her husband was away working at the logging camp, they relentlessly overworked her, leading to a sudden miscarriage at seven months. Not only was the baby lost, but the mother didn’t survive either—a tragedy that claimed two lives.

When her husband returned from the logging camp and learned the terrible news, he completely broke down.

Later, when he learned that all of this had been forced upon her by his mother and his younger sister, he was filled with regret, hatred, and guilt. Finally, one early autumn morning, my eldest sister’s husband went alone to the reservoir on the back mountain and jumped in…

In my father’s previous life, his health suddenly collapsed within just a few years. Aside from being driven to despair by his daughter-in-law, my eldest sister’s death dealt him an equally devastating blow.

According to my mother, as my father was passing away, he kept calling out my eldest sister’s name, in addition to cursing him.

It was clear that even on his deathbed, his father felt he had wronged his eldest sister!

In his previous life, by the time Li Yi had made his fortune, his eldest sister was already gone, leaving him no chance to repay her.

In this life, he absolutely cannot let that tragedy repeat itself!

But after all, those who had done him wrong were his sister-in-law’s parents and younger sister. He couldn’t just kill them without regard for his sister-in-law’s feelings, and besides, this was a society governed by the rule of law—he couldn’t just eliminate people on a whim.

So Li Yi decided to first get his older sister and brother-in-law jobs at the sugar factory, far away from those villains, and deal with the rest later.

By the time they left the sugar factory, it was already noon!

Factory Director Liang insisted on having Li Yi stay for lunch, but he declined.

Knowing these state-owned enterprise leaders as he did, a meal without at least eight or ten dishes and three or five bottles of Moutai would be utterly beneath their status.

Never mind whether it was extravagant or not—that was just the prevailing atmosphere these days.

Li Yi couldn’t hold his liquor, and his drinking habits were even worse—otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up groping Tang Xue while half-drunk.

So ever since that incident, he’d decided to quit drinking—some mistakes are best made only once!

When Plant Manager Liang saw that Li Yi was adamant about not eating, he didn’t press the issue.

He could tell this young man was genuine and had strong principles. Since he was insisting, so be it!

The car pulled out of the sugar factory’s gates, but Li Na wasn’t there.

Wang Anguo asked in confusion, “Where’s your sister? Why don’t I see her?”

“She must have gone over to the textile factory!”

Li Yi explained, “A few days ago, the sugar factory had a major safety inspection, right? The workers weren’t allowed to leave the premises, so we temporarily moved our stall over to the textile factory!”

“Alright, I’ll give you a ride there!” Wang Anguo said.

“Sure!”

Sure enough, when the little jeep arrived at the textile factory, they could see Li Na bustling about from a distance.

Wang Anguo was about to drive right up to her, but Li Yi stopped him immediately, saying, “If you drive up like that, all the female workers there will run away!”

“Hahaha, I completely forgot about that!” Wang Anguo said with a laugh.

Seeing that Li Yi was about to get out of the car, Wang Anguo suddenly said, “Brother Li Yi, you’ve got to clear your schedule for next Tuesday!”

“What’s up?”

“It’s my old man’s 60th birthday, and I’d like to invite you!”

Li Yi thought it over. There were still six days until next Tuesday, so he should have time.

“Alright, I’ll come find you at the county bureau then!” Li Yi said.

“Alright!”

Just as Li Yi got out of the car, he saw Wang Anguo getting out too.

Then, right in front of him, Wang Anguo opened the trunk of the 212 Jeep and unloaded two burlap sacks.

“What’s in there?”

“A gift from your senior brother!”

“A gift?”

“Haha, nothing much—just some white and brown sugar produced at their factory. It’s not worth much!”

With that, without waiting for Li Yi to say anything, Wang Anguo hopped into the car, stepped on the gas, and sped off into the distance.

Li Yi looked at the two burlap sacks of sugar in front of him and couldn’t help but shake his head.

Sugar was a scarce commodity in those days. Even though there was a local sugar factory, the price of white sugar had long been stable at 80 cents per pound—and you still needed sugar coupons to buy it.

Sugar coupons were even harder to come by than the money itself.

According to policy, each person was rationed only half a jin of sugar every three months—just two jin a year, and not a gram more.

Yet sugar was a rare tonic in this era—needed for women during their postpartum confinement, and for sick children and the elderly at home—making it the hottest commodity on the black market.

Yet Plant Manager Liang had given him two burlap sacks of sugar at once—each standard sack weighing 50 jin, totaling 100 jin.

If he were to get them onto the black market, a conservative estimate would put their value at 120 yuan—and they’d be the kind of goods people would be scrambling to buy.

Looking at this whole situation, Director Liang first gave him 200 yuan as a token of appreciation, then offered him two permanent staff positions, and on top of that, these two huge sacks of sugar—his sincerity was truly evident.

Not to mention the large orders he’d placed for liangpi and white-skinned pancakes—roughly calculating this week’s earnings, he’d make at least a thousand yuan.

You have to admit, this Plant Manager Liang is really pulling out all the stops. He handled this so well that even Li Yi couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up!

Don’t think that Plant Manager Liang is just using company resources to pay back a favor—after all, in this day and age, favors are the hardest thing to repay.

Spending a little money now to settle the debt is no big deal, but if the day ever comes when Li Yi personally shows up demanding repayment, that won’t be something that can be resolved with just a thousand or two.

Seeing Third Sister handling things with such ease, Li Yi didn’t bother her. He just squatted in the shade of a tree, watching, and keeping an eye on his two big bags of white sugar.

Just past 1:00 PM, Li Na finally wrapped up her business!

Li Yi immediately came over to help, and in the process, loaded the two big bags of sugar into the car.

“What’s this?” Li Na asked, wiping the sweat from her brow.

“Sugar!”

Li Na paused for a moment and asked, “Is that all?”

“Yeah, one bag of white sugar and one bag of brown sugar!” Li Yi replied.

“Where did you get so much sugar? There must be about 100 pounds of it!”

“Someone gave it to me—a full hundred pounds!”

“Who gave it to us? They’re really generous!”

“That Plant Manager Liang from the sugar factory!”

Li Yi didn’t hold anything back and recounted the whole story, though he didn’t mention to Li Na that he’d been pretending to be a fortune-teller; he simply said he’d discovered, by pure chance, that the sugar factory’s facilities had safety hazards.

His explanation was roughly the same as what he’d told Tang Xue earlier about dxmbang.

Li Na wasn’t interested in the specifics. When she heard that the sugar factory had offered Li Yi two permanent positions, she exclaimed with delight, “Does that mean we’re going to have two workers in our family?”

These days, being a factory worker was still highly sought after, and the reason was simple: workers were entitled to government-rationed food and actually got paid!

Li Yi smiled and asked, “What, do you want to go?”

“Can I?” Li Na asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“No way!”

“Hmph, I knew it. Are you planning to go to the factory with Xiaoxue?”

“No, I plan to give these two spots to my older sister and brother-in-law!” Li Yi said.

“Big Sister and her husband? Why?”

“We’ll talk about the details when we get home. For now, let’s focus on dealing with all this candy!” Li Yi said with a smile.

Seeing that Li Yi didn’t seem keen on discussing the topic, Li Na didn’t press him further.

She knew her younger brother had always been stubborn since childhood; once he made up his mind, it was hard for anyone to change it. Fortunately, he wasn’t acting recklessly now, so there must be a reason for his decision.

“Why don’t we take them to the black market and sell them?” Li Na suggested.

Li Yi chuckled. “Let’s not do that. Setting aside whether it’s safe or not, it’s just a bit of a face-saving issue!”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? You still care about that?”

Li Na looked at Li Yi as if he were a monster. Her younger brother had always had a thick skin since childhood, and she was curious how he could be so shameless.

“That’s not what I meant. They just gave us these candies as a gift, and I’m going to turn around and sell them on the black market. Is that appropriate?”

Li Na thought for a moment and said, “You’re right, that doesn’t seem quite right. So what do you suggest we do?”

“Why not take them back to the village? See if any families need them and sell them to the villagers at cost!” Li Yi suggested.

“Better to help our own people than strangers—that works!”

“Let’s go. We need to head to the supply and marketing cooperative right away. We’re raising the roof beams tomorrow, so we’ve got to stock up on some good wine and meat!” Li Yi said.

“Okay!”

……..

Faced with Director Liang’s invitation, Li Yi remained completely unfazed!

He could tell that Director Liang was genuinely inviting him, and he could sense the weight of this opportunity.

Under normal circumstances, given his educational background, the chances of him getting into a major factory like the sugar mill were slim to none.

Even if he did get in, he’d likely be stuck doing the work of an ordinary laborer.

Yet Director Liang had directly promoted him to a managerial position—any ordinary person would have accepted the offer long ago.

But was Li Yi an ordinary person? Clearly not.

He simply smiled and said, “Thank you for your appreciation, Brother Liang, but I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you—I have no intention of joining the factory!”

Wang Anguo and Li Gang were both taken aback. They had considered this possibility—after all, a true exceptional talent is bound to stand above the rest.

No matter what decision Li Yi made, they would have understood.

But they hadn’t expected him to refuse so flatly, so decisively.

Factory Director Liang wasn’t upset. In fact, he could tell from Li Yi’s decision to set up a stall right outside their sugar factory that he wasn’t the type to be bound by rules.

Besides, that little stall of his might look makeshift, but it actually brought in quite a bit of money.

Selling a few hundred servings of liangpi a day—even if he only made five cents per serving—still added up to several dozen yuan in daily income.

Now look at their sugar factory—even as the factory director, he only made seventy or eighty yuan a month. It was simply not an attractive offer.

“Brother Li Yi, won’t you reconsider? It’s a rare opportunity,” Wang Anguo reminded him.

Li Yi suddenly thought of something and said, “Brother Liang, I really don’t have any plans to join the factory myself, but could you give me two spots for others to join?”

“No problem,” Director Liang replied immediately. “But they’ll only be regular positions—I can only give you managerial roles!”

“No need for a managerial position—a regular job is fine!” Li Yi said.

“Alright then. Just send the person directly to me whenever they’re ready to start, and I’ll have someone handle their onboarding!” Factory Director Liang said.

“Thank you so much, Brother Liang!”

“Let’s not mention ‘thank you’—if we’re being honest, every single employee at our sugar factory should be bowing to you in gratitude!” Factory Director Liang said with a laugh.

“Hahaha, Brother Liang, you’re joking. Let’s not bring up the past!” Li Yi said.

Wang Anguo knew Li Yi’s temperament. Although he was always willing to help others, he never liked to dwell on things once they were over.

Maybe that’s just how things are done in their line of work, or perhaps it’s simply Li Yi’s personality.

“Brother Liang, let’s just put this behind us. You know what happened, and that’s all that matters!” Wang Anguo said.

“Alright, then it’s over!”

Then Plant Manager Liang spoke again: “Actually, the reason I had Anguo bring Brother Li Yi over today is that I need your help with two things!”

“Brother Liang, just tell me—I’ll do whatever I can to help!” Li Yi replied.

“First, I want you to take a look and see if this matter has been completely resolved.”

Then Director Liang explained further, “To be honest, after what happened last time, I’m still a bit uneasy about it!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Judging purely by appearances, the matter seems to be resolved, but…”

The moment he uttered those two words, the expressions of everyone present changed. It was just like when a doctor delivers a diagnosis—the moment that “however” comes out, it never bodes well!

“But what? Brother Li Yi, just say it—I can handle it!” Factory Director Liang said, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Brother Liang, don’t worry. What I mean is, while your immediate crisis regarding workplace safety has passed, your factory is actually hiding an even greater crisis!” Li Yi said.

“A bigger crisis?”

Those words terrified Director Liang. This crisis had nearly landed them all in prison—what kind of life-threatening disaster could this “greater crisis” possibly be?

Wang Anguo also hurriedly asked, “Brother Li Yi, could you tell us what this even bigger crisis is?”

Li Yi shook his head and said, “It’s still too early to say. Let’s wait until the government relaxes its controls on the private sector.”

“The government is going to relax its controls on the private sector?”

Factory Director Liang was taken aback by this. He hadn’t heard a thing about it—not even a whisper.

Li Yi smiled and said, “They won’t relax controls just yet, but they will ease restrictions on individual businesses! Don’t ask too many questions—it will all become clear by the end of the year!”

“Well…”

“Brother Li Yi, are you saying that the crisis at our sugar factory is related to the government relaxing its controls on the private sector?”

“Yeah, there’s no point discussing this right now. By then, you might not even be the plant manager anymore!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“You’re right!”

Then Director Liang spoke again: “As for the second matter, I’d like to place an order with Brother Li Yi for some liangpi and white-skinned pancakes!”

“Ordering liangpi and pancakes? How many do you need?”

“Eight hundred servings of liangpi a day, and sixteen hundred pancakes. Let’s make it a week-long order!” Director Liang said, making a startling announcement.

Li Yi immediately understood—this so-called “favor” was just a roundabout way for them to thank him.

“Brother Liang, there’s no need to go this far…”

Before he could finish, Factory Director Liang cut him off and said, “It’s not entirely about gratitude. The main reason is that the factory wants to provide some benefits to the employees!”

“Perks?”

“Right. Actually, every year when our factory is rushing to meet production targets, we provide extra meals for the workers. Sometimes it’s mutton soup, and other times we hand out cookies or twisted doughnuts!”

Factory Director Liang continued, “But meat dishes are simply too expensive—each employee wouldn’t get much. And while biscuits and twisted doughnuts aren’t cheap either, most employees take them home for their elderly parents and children, which defeats the purpose of our initiative!”

“I’ve tried the liangpi you make—it’s delicious, affordable, and doesn’t keep for long. I plan to provide an extra meal every day for all the workers in the factory for the foreseeable future—just liangpi and white flatbread!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Aren’t Workshop 1 and Workshop 3 out of commission? Do the workers still have to meet their quotas?”

“They’re out of commission, but we still have three production workshops that are fully operational! Besides, we’ll need to tear down and rebuild those non-compliant factory buildings during this period. In short, the workers are definitely going to have a particularly tough time in the coming days,” said Plant Manager Liang.

Li Yi knew full well that this was just lip service—who hands out cold noodles and white flatbreads as employee benefits?

But he didn’t refuse Plant Manager Liang’s offer. He nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll take the job. When do you need it?”

“How about tomorrow?”

“Sure!”

“Hahaha, then it’s settled!” Factory Director Liang said happily.

“Rest assured, 800 portions of liangpi and 1,600 white-skinned pancakes will definitely be delivered to you on time by noon tomorrow!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Alright!”

……

In the jeep, watching Li Na driving the bright red mule cart all by herself, Wang Anguo asked with some concern, “Is it really okay to let your sister run the stall all by herself?”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Why wouldn’t it work? My sister is every bit as capable as any man—this won’t be a problem for her!”

Then Li Yi added, “What I’m really curious about is, you two aren’t doing any real work—where exactly are you taking me?”

“Heh, to be honest, my senior brother wants to meet you!” Wang Anguo said.

“Your senior brother? Why does he want to see me?”

“Well, you’ve actually met him before—he’s Director Liang from the sugar factory!”

“Director Liang is your senior brother?”

Li Yi said with some surprise; this was the first time he’d heard of it.

“Didn’t I tell you before? When Director Liang was young, he apprenticed under my old man, so my brother and I have always called him ‘senior brother’ since we were kids!” Wang Anguo explained.

“So that’s how it is!”

Li Yi then said, “So it looks like we’ve identified the problem at the sugar factory!”

“Yes, we’ve identified it—and it’s led to a massive scandal!” Wang Anguo said.

“Oh, can you tell me about it?”

“Although there are disciplinary requirements, you’re practically a participant in this matter, so it’s okay to tell you.”

Wang Anguo continued, “Yesterday, my senior colleague once again organized the factory’s technical team to inspect all the factory buildings. They discovered serious safety hazards in the steel beams of two of the buildings.”

“More importantly, the head of the technical team had reported these issues to the relevant supervisor as early as six months ago, but received no response for a long time. The supervisor even tried repeatedly to sweep the matter under the rug. My senior colleague realized something was wrong and immediately called the police, requesting an official investigation into the matter!”

“Our investigation has revealed that Fan Tongyu, the deputy plant manager in charge of work safety at the sugar factory, engaged in the practice of substituting inferior materials and cutting corners during the construction of Production Halls 1 and 3, as well as several subsequent production workshops and warehouses. They secretly replaced the high-quality steel beams originally specified with substandard products from small factories, which ultimately led to the beams snapping and nearly caused a major work safety accident!”

Hearing Wang Anguo’s words, Li Yi was secretly shocked.

In his previous life, the authorities hadn’t disclosed this; they’d only stated that the steel structural components in the production workshops failed to meet quality standards, which had triggered the safety incident.

He never imagined there were so many shady dealings behind the scenes—it was truly an eye-opener!

“So what does Plant Manager Liang plan to do now?” Li Yi asked again.

“The entire factory has suspended operations for repairs and inspections to identify potential hazards, while we await instructions from higher-ups!”

“Will he be held accountable?” Li Yi asked.

“No, my senior colleague hasn’t been in office long. Whether it’s project approvals, construction, or the final acceptance inspection, none of it has anything to do with him!”

Wang Anguo continued, “On the contrary, thanks to his vigilance, he not only prevented a serious production accident but also exposed a bunch of parasites preying on the state—that’s a major achievement!”

“That’s good to hear!”

“So why is he meeting with me this time? To thank me?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“Well, after my senior brother heard that you specifically asked me to remind him about this matter, he was deeply grateful. So he repeatedly asked to meet you, this master of yours. As for how he plans to thank you, I’m not sure!” Wang Anguo said.

“Alright, I’ll meet him then!”

Li Yi naturally didn’t believe Wang Anguo was unaware of the matter, but he didn’t press the issue.

Since the other party wanted to meet him, he’d meet him.

Besides, people who do good deeds without seeking recognition are called Lei Fengs, and he, Li Yi, was clearly not one of them.

Soon, the car arrived at the main gate of the sugar factory.

After presenting their IDs, the car drove straight into the factory grounds.

After the three of them got out, led by Wang Anguo, they headed straight for the factory director’s office on the second floor.

By this time, the factory’s security personnel had already been withdrawn, but along with them, more than twenty mid-to-senior-level officials had been taken away.

Consequently, when the factory staff saw Wang Anguo and Li Gang in their uniforms, they all felt a chill run down their spines.

Upon reaching the plant manager’s office, Wang Anguo knocked on the door. Hearing “Come in” from inside, he pushed the door open and entered.

Liang Yukuai had just hung up the phone when he looked up to see his junior colleague Wang Anguo and Li Gang’s son entering with a man who looked both familiar and unfamiliar.

The reason he described him as both familiar and unfamiliar was mainly because Liang Yukuai had seen Li Yi before—wasn’t he the guy who set up a small stall at the factory gate every day?

His junior apprentice had personally approached him earlier, asking him to look out for this young man.

As for why he found him unfamiliar, it was because Liang had just keenly noticed that both his junior apprentice and Li Chujia’s son treated this young man with great respect.

As the three entered, the younger apprentice and Li Chu’s son instinctively walked on either side, while the young street vendor walked right in the middle.

Such an instinctive gesture was no small matter; it indicated that, in the minds of those two, this young man held a higher status than they did.

It was much like when city or provincial leaders came down for an inspection, and everyone else would naturally step aside to the sides.

“Junior Brother, could that ‘master’ you mentioned be this young man here?” Factory Director Liang said with a smile.

Wang Anguo replied immediately, “Senior Brother, you’re spot on. Brother Li Yi is the master who saved me, Gangzi, and you!”

“So the master really is Brother Li Yi,” said Director Liang. “I was blind to see that. Please forgive my oversight!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “I wouldn’t dare claim to be a master. Besides, that’s not something we should be discussing right now. Director Liang, just think of me as an ordinary person with a keen eye for detail!”

As far as Li Yi was concerned, he was telling the truth anyway. Whether they believed him or not was none of his business.

Of course, Director Liang didn’t really take him at his word—after all, an ordinary person wouldn’t possess such abilities.

However, he also knew that the higher-ups strictly prohibited any mention of feudal superstition, so the title of “master” was indeed not a good one to hold. Li Yi had good reason for not wanting them to use that term.

“All right then, Brother Li Yi, please have a seat!”

After everyone had taken their seats and Director Liang had his staff serve them tea, he said, “Brother Li Yi, I won’t beat around the bush. I really can’t thank you enough for what you did this time. If it weren’t for you, not only would I, as the factory director, be in big trouble, but who knows how many of our front-line workers would have been killed or injured!”

“Words of thanks are too hollow, so I won’t dwell on them. Quite a few people at the factory have been arrested, leaving several positions open. I was wondering if Brother Li Yi might be interested in taking on the role of Head of Security or Office Director here at the sugar factory?”

At these words, both Wang Anguo and Li Gang looked stunned.

The sugar factory was one of the most profitable enterprises in all of Qing Shan County. While other factories were struggling more and more, the sugar factory’s orders were already booked through the middle of next year.

And with the factory’s strong performance came top-notch employee benefits and compensation, making it the number one place most people in the county aspired to work—bar none.

Even a single permanent position at the sugar factory was currently valued at a conservative estimate of 800 to 1,000 yuan.

Not to mention that Director Liang was now offering the positions of Head of Security and Office Director—these were bona fide leadership roles that money simply couldn’t buy.

For a moment, both men’s gazes fixed on Li Yi, eager to see how he would choose!

Today, Li Yi slept in for the first time ever. If it weren’t for his third older sister, Li Na, coming into his room to wake him up, he might have slept right through until dawn.

But even after getting up, he had noticeable dark circles under his eyes, just like a national treasure—a panda.

Li Na didn’t think much of it; it was obvious he hadn’t gotten enough rest.

After all, his younger brother had been working from dawn till dusk every day lately, without a single day off. Especially these past few days, with the demand for liangpi skyrocketing, he’d had to get up at four or five in the morning to knead and let the dough rest—so it was only natural he wasn’t getting enough rest.

If making liangpi weren’t such a technically demanding process—and if she knew how to do it herself—she definitely wouldn’t have woken Li Yi up.

Since Liu Jingshan’s order alone required four hundred sheets, Li Yi would need to make at least seven hundred sheets of liangpi today.

Even with his enhanced physical constitution, he was finding it a bit too much to handle.

It wasn’t until eight o’clock in the morning that Li Yi finally finished making all seven hundred sheets of liangpi.

He then loaded the cart and, with Li Na in tow, headed straight for the educated youth commune!

By then, Tang Xue at the sent-down youth camp was already ready. As soon as Li Yi’s mule cart arrived, she helped load several baskets of mushrooms and mountain produce onto it.

However, she wasn’t going to the county seat with them today, because last night she had promised Zhang Xinyao and Feng Qian that she would go into the mountains with them that afternoon to pick mushrooms.

Li Yi didn’t press the matter, but simply reminded her to be careful, avoid climbing up and down steep slopes as much as possible, and stay safe.

Then, he drove the big red mule, taking Li Na straight to the county seat.

As soon as they left the educated youth commune, Li Na couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao Yi, tell me, are you two…”

Seeing his third sister looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to, Li Yi immediately said, “Sis, just say what’s on your mind. Don’t look like that—it’s hard to watch!”

“You and Xiaoxue… haven’t you been doing *that* again?”

Li Yi froze for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, “What exactly are you talking about?”

Li Na’s face flushed red. She pressed her two thumbs together and said, “You know, that thing!”

Li Yi immediately got the picture. He shot her a look and said, “Sis, I really want to know what’s going on inside your head. You’re way too dirty-minded!”

“What’s so dirty about it? Just look at the two of you—you’re both sporting panda eyes. And you came home so late last night. It’s only natural I’d wonder!” Li Na said indignantly.

Li Yi thought about it carefully. Tang Xue had seemed—or perhaps, maybe… probably—to have dark circles under her eyes just now. Clearly, she hadn’t slept well last night either.

“I’m telling you, it’s a coincidence. Do you believe me?”

“Like hell I believe you! Two people losing sleep at the exact same time? How coincidental is that?”

“If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Xiao Yi, you two are getting married soon. I don’t mind you being too intimate, but you’ve got to think about Xiao Xue. She’s still young—don’t go causing a tragedy so soon!” Li Na said.

Li Yi grinned and said, “Sis, you’re a little late with that!”

“What do you mean?”

“Figure it out yourself!”

Li Na suddenly covered her mouth and stammered, “You… you… she… Xiao Xue…”

“Come on, it’s just a pregnancy. Is it really that big of a deal?” Li Yi said.

“You little bastard, she’s pregnant! How can you say it’s no big deal?!”

At that moment, Li Na suddenly realized something. She stared at Li Yi and said, “Wait a minute. It’s only been about a month and a half since your first time together. How could you tell Xiao Xue was pregnant so quickly?”

“I couldn’t tell!”

“Then you… you little bastard, you were just messing with me, weren’t you?”

Li Na snapped, making a move to yank Li Yi’s ear.

Li Yi hurriedly said, “Sis… sis, calm down, we’re trying to catch the bus!”

“Hmph, I’ll let you off this time. But if you dare pull a joke like that again, I’ll break your legs!” Li Na said through gritted teeth.

But Li Yi just smiled and said, “Sis, I wasn’t entirely joking just now. My wife might actually be pregnant!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Although the symptoms aren’t very obvious yet, I’ve noticed she’s been feeling a bit chilly, dizzy, and weak these past few days. Plus, her appetite hasn’t been great. And when I held her hand yesterday, I noticed her temperature was higher than normal!”

Li Yi continued, “At first I thought she had a cold, but after asking her about it, it didn’t quite fit. It actually sounds more like early pregnancy symptoms!”

“Is that for real? Am I going to be an aunt?”

“It’s very likely. Otherwise, I wouldn’t let her do anything at all!” Li Yi said.

“Have you told Xiaoxue yet?” Li Na asked again.

“No!”

“Why not? How can you not tell her about something this big?” Li Na panicked as soon as she heard that.

“Sis, pregnant women are very emotional, and we’re not even married yet. If word of her pregnancy gets out, it’ll be considered a premarital pregnancy. You can just imagine how the village gossips will tear us apart.”

“But you can’t keep hiding it from her forever…”

“We don’t have to keep it from her forever. We’re getting married in another two weeks. It won’t be too late to tell her then, and we won’t have to worry about others finding out!” Li Yi said.

“Hmm, you really do think of everything!”

“That’s exactly why I asked you to take over the liangpi stall—I need to focus on planning the wedding from now on. Xiaoxue isn’t just the woman I’ve chosen to marry; she’s also a major contributor to the Li family. This wedding has to be exactly what she wants!” Li Yi said.

“You’re right. Don’t worry about the stall—I’ll take good care of it for you!” Li Na said confidently.

“Alright!”

…….

Upon arriving in the county seat, he went to the state-run restaurant to deliver goods as usual.

After handing over most of the truckload of mushrooms to Liu Jingshan and his team and settling the payment, Li Yi planned to head to the sugar factory to set up his stall.

But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw a small jeep parked next to the bright red mule cart.

Through the car window, Li Yi immediately recognized the person inside as none other than Wang Anguo.

This guy was quite something. Just yesterday, he’d told Wang that as the captain of the criminal investigation squad, showing up at the state-run restaurant first thing in the morning to wait for him was bound to invite gossip.

Well, he’s clever—he’s simply changed his tactics and switched to a jeep.

Didn’t he know that these days, a car stands out far more than a pedestrian?

Seeing Li Na and Li Yi emerge from the state-run restaurant, Wang An Guo rolled down his window and said with a smile, “Brother Li Yi!”

“Captain Wang, is your Criminal Investigation Unit that idle?” Li Yi teased.

“Idle? Don’t you see we’re all sporting dark circles under our eyes?”

The next thing they saw was Li Gang’s head poking out the back window, his face full of resentment.

Li Na, standing nearby, couldn’t help but laugh when she saw his face—two distinct dark circles were clearly visible against his relatively fair complexion.

On closer inspection, Wang Anguo looked much the same, though his face was naturally dark, so you wouldn’t really notice unless you looked closely.

With Li Yi included, the three grown men all looked the same—just like a gathering of pandas.

At that moment, the three of them noticed each other’s peculiar appearance, and once they caught on, they couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

…….

On the outskirts of the county… the sugar factory!

Tonight, besides Li Yi and Tang Xue, the senior officials of the Qingshan County Sugar Factory were also unable to sleep.

The factory office was filled with cigarette smoke; aside from Director Liang Yukuai, all the middle-level and higher-ranking officials were present.

Even more shocking was the presence of quite a few police officers standing guard inside.

However, the relationship between the sugar factory officials and the police was somewhat complicated—it hardly seemed like a cooperative one.

After all, even if anyone in the conference room wanted to use the restroom, they had to first report to the police officers at the door, who would then assign someone to escort them there.

This treatment was exactly what one would expect for a criminal suspect!

Seated at the head of the conference table, Liang Yukuai silently smoked a cigarette, though his mind was clearly elsewhere—he didn’t even notice the ember was about to burn the fingers holding the cigarette.

Factory Director Liang had never imagined that, by following his junior colleague’s advice, he would uncover so many problems—problems that might even lead to a major case.

This morning, when his junior colleague Wang Anguo rushed to him again, urging him to conduct another safety inspection of the factory before resuming production,

Trusting his junior colleague, Plant Manager Liang decisively postponed the resumption of production and ordered another comprehensive safety inspection of the entire facility.

Thanks to Li Yi’s deliberate reminder, Director Liang and his team focused their inspection specifically on the safety of the production workshops and other buildings.

They didn’t realize the extent of the problem until they started inspecting—and what they found nearly left them paralyzed with fear on the spot.

After a thorough investigation by the technical department, they discovered that the steel beams on the roofs of Production Workshops 1 and 3 had multiple cracks, and in some places, they had already snapped.

It’s important to note that the steel beams in the production workshops aren’t just load-bearing roof beams; more importantly, they also support the tracks for the motor transport system.

In other words, a ring of transport tracks is installed beneath the steel beams, with multiple sets of motors suspended from the tracks.

When raw materials need to be fed into the sugar-making equipment, workers simply operate the motors manually—there’s no need for them to carry the loads by hand.

Each of these transport tracks carries more than ten motors.

Combined with the raw materials below, if the motors are running at full power, the suspended load could exceed several thousand or even tens of thousands of pounds.

Given the current issues with the steel beams, it won’t be long before they are crushed by the massive roof above.

If heavy loads continue to be dragged along below, it will only cause the steel beams to collapse even faster and more completely.

One can only imagine the consequences if the steel beams were to suddenly collapse while the workers were in the midst of full-scale production.

If the aging wiring discovered yesterday posed a risk of short circuits and fires, then the problems uncovered today are enough to completely destroy the entire sugar factory.

It goes without saying what would become of these people if that were to happen.

After the problems were discovered, Plant Manager Liang and the others were stunned.

After all, both Workshop 1 and Workshop 3 were brand-new facilities rebuilt just two years ago. To meet the sugar mill’s production standards, all the load-bearing steel beams had been custom-ordered from renowned domestic manufacturers—a process that had cost a fortune.

They had previously inspected samples of the steel beams produced by this supplier and found them to be exceptionally sturdy and durable.

Moreover, the supplier was a military-to-civilian conversion enterprise; it was neither likely nor possible that they would cheat a small business like theirs.

Most importantly, the sugar factory had always maintained strict control over safety standards, with the technical department conducting facility inspections almost every week.

How could such an obvious problem have gone undetected? It defies common sense!

Immediately, Plant Manager Liang ordered all the technical department team leaders to be summoned and questioned them personally.

But this inquiry uncovered a major problem!

It turned out that the technical department had discovered this problem long ago and had repeatedly submitted detailed reports to Fan Tongyu, the deputy plant manager in charge of this area—and not just once.

However, the matter had been dragging on for so long without ever being resolved.

Consequently, the head of the technical department found this puzzling and had specifically sought out Deputy Plant Manager Fan to discuss the matter.

However, the response we received was that the factory administration is currently looking into the matter.

Furthermore, because the factory’s current production workload is so heavy, and in order to fulfill the tasks assigned by higher-ups, it is impossible to replace the steel beams in the short term; therefore, everything will have to wait until this year’s production targets are met.

After listening to the situation briefings from the technical department’s team leaders, Plant Manager Liang was completely dumbfounded.

He had no prior knowledge of such a critical matter, and regarding an issue of this magnitude, Fan Tongyu hadn’t even consulted him, the plant manager.

Considering that Production Workshops 1 and 3 were under Fan Tongyu’s direct supervision, and that he had personally led the negotiations for all the equipment,

Now that such a serious problem had arisen, instead of focusing on resolving it, he was actually trying to cover it up—which was completely against common sense.

Liang Yuke, having weathered many storms in his career, quickly realized there was something fishy going on.

While he had someone keep Fan Tongyu and the other factory officials in check, he simultaneously summoned all middle-level and senior managers to the conference room under the pretext of holding a safety meeting.

In addition, he personally dispatched a trusted aide to the county public security bureau to inform his junior colleague, Wang Anguo, of the situation and asked him to personally lead a team to the sugar factory.

Upon receiving the order to attend the meeting, the factory’s cadres filed into the conference room in unison. As soon as they arrived, they were all taken into custody by police officers who had been waiting there.

Subsequently, Wang Anguo, Li Gang, and others personally conducted interrogations of the relevant personnel.

This investigation brought to light some previously unknown internal secrets within the sugar factory.

As the investigation deepened, a massive corruption ring led by Deputy Plant Manager Fan Tongyu was exposed.

It was like pulling a radish and bringing up the mud—as one person after another was led out for questioning, the others in the conference room could no longer sit still.

It was simply unbearable!

No one knew what was happening; everyone could only hear the police repeatedly calling out familiar names, and those who were called out never returned to the conference room.

Occasionally, through the conference room door, they could even hear someone shouting, “I’m innocent!”

For a time, the dozens of officials in the sugar factory’s conference room were all gripped by fear.

Compared to the others’ worries and fears, Director Liang was mostly overcome by a sense of dread.

Even before Wang Anguo and the others arrived, he had discussed the situation with key members of the technical department. According to them, based on their inspection results of the two production workshops, the quality of the steel beams used in the upper structures was completely substandard.

Under these circumstances, even under normal production conditions, the structure wouldn’t hold up for much longer.

Not to mention the current heavy production workload, with all production workshops operating at full capacity.

If production hadn’t been halted in time today, a problem might have occurred in as little as a month and a half.

In the worst-case scenario, the entire factory building could have collapsed, likely resulting in significant casualties.

Liang Yukui suddenly recalled what his junior apprentice had told him earlier—that the master had said he, like the other factory officials, had a dark spot between his eyebrows, indicating a fate marked by legal troubles.

That was spot on!

If the other party hadn’t warned them, not a single senior executive in the entire factory would have escaped unscathed this time.

So Liang Yuke silently vowed that once this matter was resolved, he would definitely express his sincere gratitude to that master!

The moonlight shone like water; the night was deep and still!

Lying on the earthen bed, Li Yi couldn’t fall asleep. Partly, of course, it was because the midsummer heat was unbearable, but partly it was because of what Tang Xue had told him that afternoon.

Regarding the Tang family, Li Yi’s understanding was extremely limited, both in his past life and in this one.

In his previous life, driven by guilt, Li Yi had never made direct contact with the Tang family; he didn’t know how to face Tang Xue’s parents.

Of course, guilt was only part of it; Li Yi also harbored some resentment toward them.

They knew full well that Tang Xue liked Tan Cheng, and they knew that Tan Cheng and Tang Bing had been having an affair for a long time, yet they deliberately didn’t tell Tang Xue, treating her like a fool.

In the end, they drove Tang Xue to the brink of despair!

Compared to Li Yi’s callousness, the cold-heartedness and ruthlessness of these so-called family members may have been the final straw that broke Tang Xue’s emotional resolve.

What made it even harder for Li Yi to accept the Tang family was that, after he had made his fortune, he went all the way to Qin Province specifically to find Tang Xue’s grave.

To his dismay, he found her grave looking like an abandoned, unclaimed mound—nothing more than a small pile of earth, with a tombstone broken in half and overgrown with weeds. It was clear that no one had tended to it for many years.

Li Yi sent people to track down the Tang family, hoping to have Tang Xue’s grave restored.

But to his surprise, the Tang family assumed he was seeking to arrange a posthumous marriage, so they immediately demanded an exorbitant sum—10,000 yuan.

This was 1990—normally, that was the price for marrying a genuine, untouched maiden, so calling it an exorbitant sum would not be an exaggeration.

Seeing how the Tang family treated the late Tang Xue, Li Yi felt not only anger but, more than anything, deep sorrow for her.

So, in the end, he paid the Tang family 10,000 yuan, rebuilt a grave for Tang Xue right there, and bought a large tract of nearby mountains, turning it into a memorial park.

Originally, Li Yi had intended to help the Tang family more out of respect for Tang Xue, but because of their actions, he ultimately classified them as strangers and never paid them any further attention.

However, after hearing what Tang Xue had to say today, Li Yi felt that there must have been more to her suicide in his previous life.

Given Tang Xue’s personality, she might have been angry that Tan Cheng married Tang Bing, or perhaps she felt despair upon discovering she was pregnant, but that wouldn’t have driven her to suicide.

First, she wasn’t the kind of fiery woman who was brave enough to face life and death without fear. Second, for a girl who had gone to the countryside with only a few simple belongings at the age of sixteen, these events alone wouldn’t have been enough to break her spirit.

Putting together what he’d learned today, it was highly likely that the Tang family had forced her to marry that elderly widower—trading her happiness for a job for Tang Bing—and that, combined with a series of other setbacks, had ultimately driven Tang Xue to her death.

Although these events can no longer be verified, based on Li Yi’s decades of experience navigating the business world, his reasonable conjectures were likely the truth of the matter.

Thinking that in his previous life he had failed to investigate this matter thoroughly—allowing those scum to live their lives with impunity—Li Yi’s heart was filled with regret.

Fortunately, fate had no intention of letting those bastards off the hook, which is why he had returned.

In this life, he was determined to uncover the truth and ensure those scoundrels received the punishment they deserved.

…….

Tang Xue and several other female educated youth were also unable to sleep.

Tang Xue couldn’t sleep because of what had happened that afternoon.

After she had confided all her unspeakable secrets to Li Yi, Tang Xue had expected him to look down on her.

To her surprise, however, she saw not a trace of disdain or mockery on his face, but rather compassion and heartache.

Beyond that, Tang Xue also saw anger in Li Yi’s eyes—he was deeply moved by her ordeal and felt a burning sense of justice on her behalf!

In that single moment, Tang Xue knew she had made the right decision by staying in the city instead of returning home—this was a man worthy of her trust for the rest of her life!

He might not have a distinguished family background, nor a high level of education; he might even have a rural household registration, with eighteen generations of ancestors who were all “red-blooded” poor peasants and lower-middle peasants.

But he had a heart full of love for her—he truly held her dearest in his heart!

It could be said that Li Yi’s behavior today had completely shattered Tang Xue’s last vestiges of stubbornness!

Meanwhile, the other female educated youths in the dormitory couldn’t sleep, mainly because they were too excited.

That was because, after Tang Xue returned to the dorm that evening, she distributed the earnings from their mushroom-picking the previous day. Aside from Zhang Xinyao, each of the other female educated youth received 2 yuan.

Zhang Xinyao had accompanied Tang Xue to the new house to help out yesterday afternoon, so she hadn’t gone mushroom picking with Feng Qian and the others.

Tang Xue had originally intended to give her 2 yuan as compensation, but Zhang Xinyao refused. Although her family’s circumstances were modest, she was a proud young woman.

She would take what she was entitled to, but wouldn’t accept a single penny she wasn’t supposed to have.

The girls who received the money chattered happily, but Tang Xue couldn’t muster the slightest interest; her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her future life.

Her unusual behavior naturally caught the attention of the other female educated youths. In the moonlight streaming through the window, Feng Qian suddenly asked, “Xiao Xue, you don’t seem very happy. Did something happen?”

“Nothing…”

Before Tang Xue could finish, Feng Qian cut her off: “Xiao Xue, has anyone ever told you that you’re actually terrible at lying?”

“Huh?”

“You know, when you lie, you start to stutter a bit. We don’t even need to hear the rest of what you say to know it’s all fake!” Feng Qian said.

“Is… is that so?” Tang Xue asked, her face flushing slightly.

“Yes! It’s obvious!”

“Qian’s right—you start stuttering the moment you tell a lie!”

“Haha, I hadn’t noticed before, but now that I think about it, you’re right…”

Hearing her friends all say the same thing, Tang Xue felt like the fool in the fable of “covering one’s ears to steal a bell”—thinking she could fool everyone just by covering her own ears.

But in reality, everyone else could see right through her—except for her.

With that in mind, Tang Xue decided there was no point in beating around the bush. She sighed and said, “Something happened at home!”

“Would you mind telling us about it?” asked Sun Lu, who had been at the educated youth commune the longest.

Tang Xue hesitated briefly, then recounted how her family had recently processed her paperwork to return to the city, as well as their plan to marry her off to that old widower.

After hearing Tang Xue’s story, the young women in the room fell silent.

While they felt indignant at Tang Xue’s plight, what they felt most deeply was a shared sense of sorrow.

As female educated youth sent down to the countryside themselves, no one understood Tang Xue’s current situation better than they did—for every one of them had been abandoned by their families.

According to the regulations, only children were not required to go down to the countryside.

In other words, every single female educated youth present had other brothers and sisters at home.

With the exception of Sun Lu—the eldest daughter who had voluntarily requested to be sent to the countryside to take the place of her younger siblings—the rest had been selected by their parents after careful consideration.

Regardless of whether their parents had their own reasons, the fact remained that, at that very moment, they had been abandoned!

Precisely because of this, they understood Tang Xue’s feelings at that moment all too well!

On a country lane, Tang Xue walked with a heavy heart, not daring to look up at Li Yi.

She knew Li Yi truly loved her and wanted to build a family with her that everyone would bless—especially her parents.

But she simply couldn’t bring herself to do that!

Toward those so-called family members, Tang Xue felt only cold, bitter disappointment.

Seeing Tang Xue in such a low mood, Li Yi stepped forward, took her hand, and said softly, “Don’t be sad. I’m here for you through thick and thin!”

Li Yi’s words seemed to give Tang Xue immense courage. She lifted her head to look into his eyes and asked in a trembling voice, “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”

“No!” Li Yi replied decisively.

Now it was Tang Xue’s turn to be taken aback. She asked instinctively, “Why?”

“Because you’re my wife. When you’re ready to talk, you’ll tell me naturally. If you don’t want to, then it’s obviously not something I should know. I don’t want to put you in a difficult position!” Li Yi said.

Tang Xue was truly touched by Li Yi’s words. So this was what it felt like to be cared for and loved.

For the past dozen years, she had never experienced this feeling.

Tang Xue could hold back no longer. Not caring if anyone was passing by, she threw herself into Li Yi’s arms and burst into tears.

She wanted to cry out all the grievances she had endured over the years!

They say there are no bad parents in the world, but Tang Xue simply couldn’t understand why her own parents could be so heartless.

There were three children in her family; aside from her eldest brother, who was a boy, the other two were girls.

She was the second child—her older brother was Tang Lei, and her younger sister was Tang Bing.

Being caught between an older brother and a younger sister at that awkward age, Tang Xue could understand why her parents didn’t pay her much attention.

But what she couldn’t understand was that when the policy was implemented, the Tang family was required to send one child to the countryside to join a commune.

Her brother was clearly more suitable for the assignment than she was—whether in terms of age or physical fitness—yet her parents chose her without hesitation.

Fearing she might refuse, her mother even signed her up without telling her; Tang Xue only found out when the mobilization order was issued.

When it was time to leave, other parents were filled with heartache and reluctance, handing their children all sorts of bags and bundles.

She, however, had nothing; she came with only a few personal belongings.

During the first year, all the educated youth lived in dire straits, and most relied on financial support from their families.

Yet her family not only failed to send her a single penny but actually asked her for money.

At the time, her monthly settlement allowance was only 22 yuan—barely enough to cover her own food and drink—yet she still had to send a few yuan back home. Tang Xue couldn’t even imagine how she managed to survive that period.

She cried for a full ten or so minutes before her sobs finally began to subside.

Li Yi didn’t try to console her; he simply held her tightly in his arms and gently patted her back to help her breathe more comfortably while she cried, so she wouldn’t hold her breath.

He knew this young woman was feeling wronged, and if he didn’t let her cry it out, it would only lead to trouble in the long run.

Only after Tang Xue’s sobs had subsided considerably did Li Yi whisper softly in her ear, “All right, stop crying now. You won’t look pretty if you keep crying!”

Tang Xue had let off most of her steam. She nodded immediately, then shyly slipped out of Li Yi’s warm embrace.

Seeing that his wife’s big eyes were all puffy from crying, Li Yi said with a touch of concern, “Let’s not cry like this anymore. Look how swollen your eyes are!”

“I didn’t want to cry either, I just felt so wronged!”

“It’s okay. From now on, if anything upsets you, just tell me. I’m your husband—it’s my job to shield you from the wind and rain!” Li Yi said.

However, Tang Xue shook her head with a bitter smile; there were some things she simply couldn’t bring herself to say.

For instance, she didn’t want to tell her parents about this marriage—not because she didn’t want their blessing, but because she simply couldn’t.

Tang Xue could easily foresee that once her parents found out she was marrying a villager, they would surely storm right over and take her away.

After all, they had already arranged a marriage for her—only the man she was supposed to marry was someone Tang Xue simply couldn’t bear to look at.

Li Yi could sense the sorrow and despair in Tang Xue’s heart. He gently cupped her delicate face, looked deeply into her eyes, and said earnestly, “I can’t control what happened in the past, nor do I have the right to. But from the moment you accepted the betrothal gift from our Li family, you became my wife, Li Yi’s wife. So your problems are my problems!”

“In the past, you had to swallow your grievances and endure them in silence, but you don’t have to anymore. Because I, Li Yi, have more than enough strength to protect you, and I hope you’ll trust me!”

Feeling the sincerity in Li Yi’s heart, Tang Xue hesitated briefly but finally nodded.

After a long moment, she wiped the tears from her eyes and composed herself.

“Do you know why I don’t want to tell my parents about our marriage?”

“Is it because they don’t approve of our marriage?”

“Yes!”

“Is it because of me?” Li Yi asked again.

“No!”

“Then is it because they don’t want you to marry far away?” Li Yi asked again.

“No, that’s not it either. It’s because they’ve arranged a marriage for me!” Tang Xue said, dropping a bombshell.

“What?”

To be honest, Li Yi really hadn’t known about this. He hadn’t come across this information in his previous life, so at first hearing, he was quite shocked.

Tang Xue said with a bitter smile, “Last month, I suddenly received a letter from home. They’ve processed my paperwork to return to the city. You know, I was so happy when I got the letter. In over three years, they’ve written me a total of 12 letters, but this was the only one that didn’t ask for money!”

“I thought they’d finally had a change of heart and remembered me, the daughter they’d cast aside. But I never imagined that their request for me to return to the city was simply so they could sell me off again.”

Li Yi immediately asked, “Sell me again? What does that mean?”

“My mother said in the letter that they’ve already processed my paperwork to return to the city, and the job is at the county textile factory—but only on the condition that I agree to the marriage they’ve arranged for me.”

At this point, a hint of sorrow flashed in Tang Xue’s eyes, and she continued, “You’ll never believe the kind of person they’ve picked out for me!”

Although Li Yi already had an answer in his mind, he still said in a grave tone, “Go on. I want to see just how far they’re willing to go to mistreat my wife!”

Tang Xue’s voice trembled as she said, “The man they want me to marry is a department head at the steel mill where my dad works—his surname is Liu! He’s about the same age as my dad, maybe even a bit older.”

“His age isn’t the worst part. The worst thing is that he’s notorious for beating his wives. He beat his first wife so badly she jumped into a well and killed herself, and he drove his second wife out of the house after she went mad.”

Li Yi clenched his teeth and asked, “Why are they doing this?”

“Because they want to secure a good job for my younger sister at the factory, and I’m the favor they’re offering in exchange!” Tang Xue said, her face filled with sorrow.

Li Yi didn’t even know what he was feeling at that moment; he truly had an urge to kill someone.

In his previous life, he hadn’t investigated Tang Xue’s suicide until he’d made a name for himself a decade later. Since more than ten years had passed by then, many details remained unclear.

So what Li Yi had uncovered was this: after Tang Xue returned home, she discovered that her younger sister was involved with the man she had loved for over a decade, and while the entire family seemed to know about it, they had kept it from her.

Unable to accept this reality, Tang Xue ultimately threw herself into the river and took her own life.

But now it seemed there were hidden circumstances surrounding Tang Xue’s suicide back then—he just hadn’t investigated them thoroughly enough.

Back home, Li Yi handed the cleanup to his third older sister, under the pretext of letting her get a head start on learning the ropes of running a street stall.

As for himself, he took Tang Xue and headed straight for the new place!

Naturally, their behavior drew Li Na’s displeasure. As she packed up her things, she cursed Li Yi, calling him an ungrateful wretch who’d forgotten his sister now that he had a wife!

But Li Yi remained completely unfazed. Holding Tang Xue’s hand, he walked out the door with determination, as if he hadn’t heard a single word of Li Na’s rant.

Once they reached the front gate, Tang Xue said somewhat sheepishly, “Isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”

“Are you worried my sister will get mad?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“Well, it feels like we’re taking advantage of Sister Na!”

“No way. She’d love for us to be together all the time!” Li Yi said.

“Really?”

“If you don’t believe me, turn around and look!”

Tang Xue immediately turned around and saw Li Na looking at the two of them with a warm, maternal smile—there wasn’t a trace of anger on her face.

“How do you know Sister Na isn’t really upset?” Tang Xue asked curiously.

“I know my sister better than anyone. She’s stubborn as a mule—if she were really mad, she wouldn’t have yelled at us like that!” Li Yi said.

“Then what would she do?”

“If she’s not too mad, she’ll just beat me up—the kind of beating that leaves me bloodied and bruised!”

“What if she’s really, really angry?” Tang Xue asked again.

“She might just hide away and never see me again!”

As he said this, Li Yi felt a sudden lump in his throat.

It had been just like that in his previous life. After learning of Tang Xue’s suicide, his third older sister had locked herself in her room for a day and a night.

After that, she left Nianzishan Village.

She didn’t take a single penny from the family, nor did she ask for a letter of introduction—she just left.

She vanished for thirty years. If she hadn’t regularly sent money back to their mother, Li Yi would have thought something terrible had happened to her.

After Li Yi had made his fortune, he pulled out all the stops to find Li Na, and finally tracked her down at an electronics factory on the coast.

By then, she was already fifty years old, but she looked as if she were sixty—she had aged terribly.

Moreover, through his inquiries, Li Yi discovered that his third older sister had never married; she had only adopted a young girl with a disability.

Filled with guilt, Li Yi wanted to bring the mother and daughter to live with him, but she refused.

Although she had forgiven Li Yi by then, her life had already been ruined.

Tang Xue had no idea how much Li Yi had been thinking about all this, but upon hearing how terrifying her eldest sister-in-law could be when angry, she said with lingering fear, “Then we definitely can’t make Sister Na angry from now on!”

“Haha, it’s okay to tease her a little. My sister has a sharp tongue but a soft heart—as long as you don’t go too far, you’ll be fine!”

“Mm-hmm!”

Along the way, the two encountered quite a few villagers. Seeing Li Yi and Tang Xue chatting and laughing together, the villagers couldn’t help but compliment them, saying they looked like a golden boy and a jade girl, and that they had the look of a married couple.

Every time he heard such comments, Li Yi was overjoyed.

Tang Xue, meanwhile, stood shyly behind Li Yi, neither speaking nor turning away.

Li Yi could tell that the girl was already trying her best to adapt to her new role as “Yi’s wife.”

Although she didn’t seem to have fully adjusted yet, she was trying her best, and Li Yi was truly satisfied.

……..

Arriving at the new house, Li Yi noticed that the walls had already been built up to a height of one meter. At this pace, it would take no more than three days to lay the roof beams and tiles!

Once the interior was filled in, they could start plastering and finishing the interior!

Even so, the timeline was still a bit tight if they wanted to finish the new house in just over ten days.

Seeing the young couple approach, Li Shankui immediately walked over.

“Master Zhao says we’ll be raising the ridge beam the morning after tomorrow. You don’t need to set up your stall that day—just make sure to prepare some good wine and food for the occasion!”

Li Yi knew that the beam-raising ceremony was a major occasion in the local tradition. It was customary to treat the laborers to a good meal, and sometimes even set off firecrackers to bring good luck and celebrate the occasion.

“Sure! I’ll take care of the food!” Li Yi replied.

“Hmm, also, Master Zhao wants to ask you about the bathroom. It’ll require waterproofing, plus rebar and cement—it’ll cost quite a bit. Are you really going to do it?” Li Shankui asked again.

“Yes, we have to do it!”

It wasn’t just for Tang Xue—Li Yi needed it himself.

He certainly didn’t want to stand in a basin of water to bathe in the middle of winter, or—like the rest of the villagers—simply stop bathing altogether once winter arrived, staying dirty for the entire season. The very thought made him feel uncomfortable.

Li Yi didn’t mean to look down on the ordinary villagers, after all—they didn’t bathe in winter simply because they were lazy or lacked the means to do so.

In fact, this was a survival strategy the local people had developed over centuries. Qingshan County was located in the northern frontier, where winters were dry and cold, with biting winds.

Under such conditions, bathing every few days would be nothing short of reckless.

After all, things were different back then compared to later times; medical care was far from advanced, and sometimes even a simple cold could be fatal.

On one hand, you feel unwell; on the other, you risk getting sick or even dying. You’d have to think carefully about which to choose!

Although he understood the reasoning, Li Yi simply couldn’t accept it, so he was determined to build this bathhouse.

He was even planning to build a stove in the bathhouse someday—it would be so warm and cozy!

Seeing that he couldn’t dissuade his son, Li Shankui decided to say no more.

Then, he turned his gaze to his daughter-in-law and said, “Xue, with you and Xiaoyi about to get married, why don’t you send a telegram home—or even write a letter?”

At these words, Tang Xue’s face turned pale!

“Uncle, I’m capable of making my own decisions—I won’t be telling them!”

Tang Xue knew full well that her family was still waiting for her to return.

So, no matter what, they would never agree to her marrying Li Yi.

It wasn’t just because this was a remote, impoverished backwater—they were worried she’d suffer here—but also because they were waiting for her to return to DXMBANG so they could sell her for a good price.

“But… is it really okay not to tell your family about something as big as getting married?” Li Shankui asked, frowning.

Tang Xue replied immediately, “It’s fine. It’s me marrying Li Yi, not my family—it won’t be a problem!”

Seeing that his father was still trying to argue the point, Li Yi immediately said, “Dad, let’s just do as Xiao Xue says. After all, there’s really no way I can bring this up with her parents!”

“But we can’t keep it a secret forever!”

For a traditional old man like Li Shankui, marriage and having children were the most important events in life—how could they possibly keep it a secret from her parents!

“Dad, after we’re married, I’ll take Xiaoxue to Qin Province. I’ll go there in person to apologize and take the blame!” Li Yi said.

“Well, if you two say it’s fine, then so be it. But if your in-laws don’t let you in the door, don’t blame me for not warning you!” Li Shankui sighed.

“It’ll be fine. You know your son’s capabilities better than anyone!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Alright then!”

……..