Chapter 27: I Have Connections Up Top (Please Subscribe!)

Li Yi was unaware of what had occurred in the county seat; at that moment, he was pedaling his bicycle toward town. After Secretary Wang had departed, the people at the commune had tried to get on his good side, but Li Yi was preoccupied with thoughts of his third sister, Li Na, and had no time to entangle himself with them. Thus, he made up a flimsy excuse and left the Red Flag Commune.

Li Yi knew full well that those people only wanted to use him to build a connection with Wang Anmin; they did not truly value him. He intended to be cautious with the Wang family connection, as favors only grew thinner with each use and should not be squandered recklessly. Naturally, Li Yi had no desire to humor those people.

He hadn't ridden a bicycle for many years, yet to his surprise, it felt quite natural and effortless. The ten-plus kilometers from the Red Flag Commune to the county seat took him less than half an hour—a very impressive speed. In fact, Li Yi had noticed that since his rebirth, his body seemed to have undergone some changes. These were not as powerful as the "golden fingers" in novels, but his strength had increased, and his physical condition had improved. While not glaringly obvious, Li Yi could certainly feel the difference.

It was eleven o'clock when he arrived in the county. Instead of going to the state-run restaurant, he headed straight for the sugar refinery. When he reached the gate, he found his father, Li Shankui, and his third sister already setting up their stall. Seeing him approach, Li Na immediately asked, "Was everything settled on your end?"

"Yes, it's settled."

"What was that all about? Were those people at the commune bored enough to investigate you?" Li Na asked immediately. She had spent the whole day worrying, terrified that something might have happened to him. When she saw her younger brother standing before her, safe and sound, she knew he was innocent, and her worry turned into anger toward the commune officials.

"It was nothing. They just gave me a certificate of merit and two hundred yuan."

"Wait, what? Why would they give you a certificate and money?" Li Shankui asked, bewildered.

"Do you remember that old man I saved on the day of my engagement?"

"Of course I do. You nearly missed your own proposal because of that!" Li Shankui replied.

Li Yi explained, "The old man’s son is a leader here in the county. When he found out we saved his father, he wanted to thank us. It turned out the secretary relayed the message incorrectly, causing the commune to misunderstand the situation. In short, it was all a big mix-up."

Before Li Shankui could speak, Li Na chimed in, "So that's how it is. I told you, even if you are a bit of a rascal, you wouldn't have the guts to break the law!"

Li Yi didn't want to dwell on this, so he changed the subject: "Sister, how did the mountain goods sell?"

"Take a guess?"

"The volume wasn't huge yesterday. I’d estimate about one hundred and twenty yuan?"

Li Na smiled and said, "It was more than that!"

"How much, then?" Li Yi asked, curious. He was quite confident in his own judgment. The mountain goods from yesterday weighed about 170 or 180 jin; at current prices, it shouldn't have exceeded 120 or 130 yuan, with a margin of error of no more than five yuan. This was a skill he had honed wandering the streets in his previous life; it was almost impossible for him to be wrong.

"I won't tease you—we made 153 yuan in total!"

"That's not right. How could it be that much?" Li Yi asked, surprised.

Li Na explained, "That man, Brother Liu, said there was a type of mushroom in our haul—monkey-something-mushroom. That stuff is incredibly valuable; it's worth five yuan a jin!"

"We had six and a half jin of those mushrooms, and they alone sold for over thirty yuan!"

Reminded by Li Na, Li Yi remembered that the younger boys had indeed picked a bag of lion's mane mushrooms yesterday. While he knew they were quite valuable in the future—pure wild ones could sell for over a hundred yuan per kilogram—he hadn't expected them to be so pricey in this era, fetching six or seven times the price of ordinary tea mushrooms.

"Since they're that valuable, tell Dongzi and the others to gather more," Li Yi said.

"Understood!"

Just then, the melodic bell of the sugar refinery rang. They both knew the workers were finishing their shift and would soon be coming over to buy cold noodles and white-crust cakes, so they began to prepare. Sure enough, within minutes, hundreds of workers poured out of the factory, heading straight for Li Yi's stall.

...

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after restocking, the father and his two children returned to the village. Once the goods were moved inside, Li Shankui didn't go to help in the fields. Instead, he sat on the ground, smoking his pipe with a troubled expression. Seeing this, Li Yi knew his father had something on his mind. After all these years, how could he not know his father's temperament?

"Dad, what's wrong?" Li Yi asked while tidying up.

"Sit down. I have something to ask you."

Li Yi dropped what he was doing and walked over. "Dad, go ahead. I'm listening."

"Why don't you just stick to selling mountain goods and stop selling those cold noodles? Can you do that?"

Before Li Yi could respond, Li Na interjected, "Why, Dad? You saw how booming the business is. It would be such a waste to stop!"

Li Shankui took a deep pull from his pipe and said, "It's precisely because the business is booming that I'm afraid to let your brother continue! Don't forget, the agricultural collectives haven't been dismantled yet!"

Li Yi knew what his father was worried about. The collectives were still in place, and the country was still operating under a planned economy. Under these conditions, his street-vending business was technically illegal. Being illegal meant he could be reported, or even arrested and sentenced.

"Dad, the times have changed. The state has already begun allowing private enterprise. Although it hasn't been fully implemented here yet, it has already started in the southern regions," Li Yi said.

"Then wait until we have the policy here before you do it. You can still make plenty of money just selling mountain goods," Li Shankui said firmly.

"Dad, selling mountain goods isn't sustainable. Once winter comes, the mushrooms and wood ear will be gone," Li Yi replied.

"So what if they are? With the way you're making money now, are you afraid you won't have enough for the New Year?"

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, "Dad, I know what you're worried about, but I promise nothing will go wrong."

"What kind of guarantee can you give?" Li Shankui asked, then continued loudly, "You aren't a child anymore. Even if you don't care about yourself, you need to think about that girl, Xiaoxue! A city girl following you has already invited gossip. If you get arrested, she'll never be able to hold her head up again!"

Li Yi spoke up immediately, "Dad, do you know who the son of the old man I saved is?"

Knowing his father's stubborn nature, he knew that simple logic wouldn't suffice, so he decided to bring out the big gun: Wang Anmin.

"Who?"

"His name is Wang Anmin. He is the top official in our county," Li Yi said, dropping the bombshell.

"The top official? The County Party Secretary?"

"Yes. He even said that if I ever need anything, I can go directly to him. We have a connection at the top now!"

Li Shankui knew what his son meant and fell silent. To be honest, having seen his son earn a month's salary in a single day just by selling cold noodles, he was reluctant to give it up. But remembering the severity of the crackdowns on "speculation and profiteering" from a few years ago, he had been determined to make his son stop.

If his son really had a connection that high up, perhaps the business could continue. After all, the situation in recent years had indeed changed. Many families had chickens and pigs far exceeding the commune's quotas, and many people were secretly taking their poultry to the black market to sell. Neither the commune nor the production teams were cracking down on this; they were turning a blind eye, clearly tacitly allowing it.

Thinking of this, Li Shankui began to waver.