Chapter 68: Tang Xue's Request

Li Yi had no idea what had happened in the county town. After all, he only knew a rough outline of Li Gang's situation and was not aware of the specifics, so naturally, he never expected Li Gang to run into danger today.

After he and Tang Xue arrived at the back mountain, the children were already waiting by the reservoir dam.

Seeing the two of them approach, the children immediately swarmed around, chattering excitedly as they reported their harvest for the day to Li Yi.

And Li Yi was not stingy with his praise, continuously commending the children for their hard work and capability.

Upon receiving Li Yi's praise, every child beamed with joy, their eyes full of adoration as they looked at him!

Watching Li Yi earnestly praise each child with gentleness and patience, Tang Xue suddenly felt a special kind of charisma emanating from him.

Although she couldn't quite put her finger on what this quality was, she felt it was truly charming.

For a moment, Tang Xue found herself staring at him in a trance!

Li Yi did not notice Tang Xue observing him in secret. At that moment, he was busy directing the children to tidy up the mountain goods.

Since they had returned earlier than usual and the sun had not yet set, Li Yi was in no rush to head back.

He had the children sort the mushrooms and mountain goods right on the spot and do a preliminary selection.

Any that were too small or too old were discarded, and the children were told to take those home to use in soups or stews.

Only those of the appropriate size were placed into the wicker baskets, ready to be delivered to the state-run restaurant the following day.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the sun finally set, and all the mountain goods had been processed and loaded onto the cart.

Afterward, Li Yi called the children together and distributed their earnings for the day.

"Dongzi, 5 yuan!"

"Xiaojing, 3 yuan!"

"Shitou, 5 yuan!"

...

"Erya, 1 yuan!"

"Goudan, 1 yuan..."

After handing out everyone's pay, Li Yi finally led Tang Xue and the cart as they made their way home.

Along the way, Tang Xue glanced at Li Yi from time to time, seemingly wanting to say something, yet hesitating as if feeling a bit shy.

"What is it? You're making me feel all strange!" Li Yi asked with a smile.

Tang Xue thought for a moment and said, "There is a favor I want to ask of you, but I don't know if I should bring it up!"

"Just tell me whatever it is. You're my wife, what is there to feel shy about?"

"I want to ask you to help Xinyao and the others," Tang Xue said.

"Zhang Xinyao, what's wrong with her?"

"Not just Xinyao, but also Feng Qian, Zhong Na, and Sun Lu. You know we are the only female educated youth left at the educated youth point. The rest have either been transferred back to the city or passed exams and left, and now we can only pass the time here!"

Tang Xue continued, "Life at the educated youth point is truly too difficult, and most of those who stayed behind come from families with less-than-ideal conditions, just like Xinyao."

"Her family situation isn't good to begin with; her father is disabled, and her mother is in poor health. Her grandmother looks down on her mother and doesn't like her either, so she has never bothered to arrange for her return to the city, and from time to time, she even makes her mother write letters demanding money from her!"

Zhang Xinyao had been sent to the Nanzishan Production Brigade as an educated youth for over four years, and Li Yi knew her character well. Aside from being a bit blunt, she was truly flawless in every other aspect.

Especially when it came to her conduct and interpersonal relations, she was leagues ahead of scum like Xu Hong, and her reputation for having good character was well-known throughout the entire brigade.

Most importantly, this girl was genuinely wonderful to his wife.

Not only in the present, but even after Tang Xue committed suicide in her past life, Zhang Xinyao was one of the few educated youths who still remembered her.

Every year or two, she would visit Tang Xue's grave to leave some flowers and burn paper money.

If he could help this girl out in this lifetime, Li Yi was more than willing!

"How do you want me to help them?" Li Yi asked.

Tang Xue thought for a moment and said, "If possible, I want to ask you to take them along to gather some mushrooms and mountain goods so they can make some money and improve their lives!"

"I know this puts you in a difficult spot, especially since you don't even take the people from the village! But the sisters at the educated youth point are having such a hard time. You could say that every single person who stayed behind is tightening their belt just to scrape by."

"You don't need to explain, I understand!"

Li Yi then continued, "It's not impossible to take them along to gather mountain goods and make money, but I can't show my face in this. You have to do it!"

"Me?"

"Right. Do you know why I don't let the adults in the village gather mushrooms?"

"I don't know!"

"On one hand, the sales at the state-run restaurant are limited; if there are too many mountain goods, they simply can't take them all. On the other hand, I don't want this matter to make the villagers' motives complicated!"

Tang Xue understood that the sales of the state-run restaurant were limited. After all, it was just a small county-level restaurant, and a few hundred catties of mountain goods a day was indeed reaching its limit.

However, she didn't understand the latter part.

With that thought, Tang Xue stared at Li Yi with her big, beautiful eyes, her face full of puzzlement.

Li Yi immediately explained, "You've seen how lucrative selling mountain goods is. A single trip delivering goods to the county town can earn me as much as other families make in several years. Even the children in the village can earn more in a single day than their parents do by going to the fields to earn work points!"

"If I specifically lead them in the mountain goods business, how many people in the village would still be willing to go out and work in the fields?"

Tang Xue seemed to understand a little, and upon careful thought, she could also comprehend Li Yi's dilemma.

After all, at present, a single work point was worth only about three cents. Even if one earned the maximum of twelve work points for a full day's labor, it only amounted to earning about thirty or forty cents.

Meanwhile, the little kids in the village—even the youngest ones—could earn a full yuan a day.

The older ones could even make as much as five yuan a day!

Who wouldn't be envious seeing that?

Tang Xue believed that if Li Yi were to announce that he was willing to lead the brigade members in the mountain goods business, probably everyone in the Nanzishan Production Brigade would be willing to drop their hoes and follow him.

If that happened, who would tend to the crops in the fields?

At the slightest misstep, they could be slapped with the grave charge of sabotaging production!

If he only took a select few individuals, then by favoring some and excluding others, he would inevitably end up offending people!

Rather than doing that, it was better to take none at all.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it through. Should we just forget about this idea then?" Tang Xue said.

Li Yi smiled and said, "Since you want to help those young sisters of yours, it's not a problem at all. As long as I don't show my face personally, everything will be fine!"

"How are we going to do that if you don't show your face?"

Li Yi immediately replied, "That's easy. You can have those female educated youths hand the mushrooms they gather over to you, and I'll help you transport the mushrooms to town to sell for money. Then you just give the money to them!"

"Is there any difference between that and you taking them along directly?"

"Of course there is. First of all, I don't deal with them directly, and I'm not the one giving them the money. I'm simply helping my wife sell a few mushrooms!" Li Yi said.

Tang Xue's eyes lit up, and she happily said, "Alright then, I'll go back and talk to them!"

Being able to help Zhang Xinyao and the others made Tang Xue genuinely happy from the bottom of her heart.

They were all female educated youths who had come from afar to join the brigade, arriving helpless and completely on their own.

Over the years, they had looked out for and helped one another, managing to endure the most difficult days.

Therefore, after seeing that Li Yi's method of selling mountain goods was truly profitable, Tang Xue had wondered if she could help them as well. She never expected that Li Yi would actually agree!