Chapter 83 Jiang Ji Returns to the Village. It's good that he's willing to put in the effort for me.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, and having rested at the semi-reclusive residence for quite some time, Ye Li no longer thought about finding a car.
He and Jiang Ji slowly left the county town.
There were more than a dozen cars waiting at the city gate.
Some of the vehicles already had people and goods on board.
Some of the cars were still empty.
The owners of these vehicles are almost all farmers from the surrounding villages who earn a living by transporting people and goods every day.
Jiang Ji glanced around and pointed to an empty mule cart, saying to Ye Li, "Shall we take the cart back?"
"Taking a car?"
Ye Li was surprised.
The city gate is only three miles from Wild Jujube Slope...
"You've walked quite a distance today, you should rest for a while if you can."
Jiang Ji explained.
Actually, he would have preferred to carry Ye Li back home.
However, the basket on his back was too heavy for Ye Li to carry.
If we wanted Ye Li to rest for a while, we could only take her by car.
Ye Li was unaware of Jiang Ji's thoughts, but he could barely suppress a smile. What a considerate husband!
He coughed, leaned closer to Jiang Ji with a serious expression, and whispered, "What you said makes sense."
"We should definitely conserve our energy now so we can serve you better tonight."
"..."
Jiang Ji took a deep breath.
In public!
He was showing tenderness and pity, but Ye Li, on the other hand, was preoccupied with nothing but sexual pleasure!
However, he also lowered his voice and said, "Your considerations are more practical and insightful."
He's just slow to react.
Ye Li chuckled upon hearing this, pointed to the mule cart not far away, and said, "Then let's hurry up and go back to the workshop. After that, it'll be time for dinner and bed."
The itinerary was packed, and there was even a bonus waiting at the end. Jiang Ji smiled and said, "Okay."
So the two of them came to an empty mule cart.
The owner of the mule cart was also waiting for people from his village to return. However, Yezaopo was nearby, only three miles away, and could be reached in half an hour. So the owner accepted the job.
Ye Li paid four coins, and he and Jiang Ji got into the mule cart.
The mule cart took them right to their doorstep.
Liu Yi and Ye Adie were still at the workshop; only Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya were at home.
Jiang Mai sat in the room reciting her lessons.
Jiang Ya was kicking a sandbag in the yard.
Upon seeing Jiang Ji and Ye Li return, Jiang Ya cheered, immediately threw down the sandbag, and ran towards Jiang Ji while calling out "Big Brother."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mai couldn't sit still any longer and hurriedly came out of the house as well.
Ye Li hadn't seen Jiang Ji much in the past week, let alone the two of them, so the two of them each grabbed one of Jiang Ji's hands and kept shouting happily.
Once they calmed down, Ye Li announced that they would be having hot pot that night and even showed the two of them the ingredients in the basket on her back.
The baskets were full of meat, all kinds of meat, each portion wrapped in oil paper.
The two were overjoyed to see so much meat.
Jiang Ya patted this and touched that with her little hands, overjoyed: "Brother Li, is the hot pot so plentiful? You actually bought so much meat."
He's never eaten hot pot before in his life.
"Yes, a hot pot has everything, much more plentiful than regular meals."
"These are what your older brother and I packed up at Banxianju. Banxianju is the place we went to last time..."
Ye Li explained the origin of these ingredients.
But as he spoke, the smile on Jiang Ya's face gradually disappeared.
The little guy stared at him with his big eyes, his little eyebrows furrowed, and his lips pouting so much they could hang an oil bottle on them.
Li Ge and his eldest brother went out for a big meal, but they didn't take him and his second brother along!
Ye Li was amused by his little expression, so she pulled him into her arms, cupped his little face and rubbed it a few times before saying, "Alright, alright, let's go eat tomorrow, okay?"
"Tomorrow?" Jiang Ya blinked her big eyes.
"Yes, we're going to see your Brother Bao tomorrow. How about we stop by Banxianju for a big meal on the way?"
This promise is great, and it can be fulfilled tomorrow. Jiang Ya immediately regained her previous joy: "Great! Brother Li is so nice!"
He reached out his little arms and hugged Ye Li's neck, calling out "Brother Li, you're so good!" several times.
Jiang Mai, who was standing nearby, was also very happy and shouted along several times.
After they finished laughing, they skipped and hopped after Ye Li and Jiang Ji to the workshop.
Right now, the workshop's job is to fry tofu puffs.
Jiang Dahe and Jiang Fuzheng are both not here.
Only half of the thousand catties of tofu had been fried, but it gets dark early in winter, so Ye Liang was already preparing to go back, and Liu Yi would take over his work.
With nothing to do at home, Uncle Ye carried his basket over and chatted with everyone while doing needlework.
Liang Erxiang and Jiang Liu were also there.
It's so cold at home, but here there's a fire and people around, so they prefer to stay here and chat.
Actually, other villagers also wanted to come over and chat.
There's a fire here, and the aroma of tofu puffs fills the air. How comforting it would be to casually stuff a sweet potato and a handful of peanuts into the stove!
But Jiang Fuzheng wouldn't allow it.
Although the workshop was built hastily and the employees came from all over the country, the rules could not be omitted or abolished.
This is a legitimate workshop; how can we allow unauthorized people to come and go as they please?
Manager Yu is very particular. What if he sends someone to conduct a surprise inspection and finds a bunch of people chatting and laughing around the stove? What would that look like?
To please Manager Yu, Ye Li spent a fortune of his own money to have everyone wash their hands with soap before starting work. At first, Ye Li only had a few people who made tofu wash their hands with soap, but the next day he had all the employees wash their hands with soap.
In addition, you need to trim your nails to prevent dirt from getting under them!
Ye Li's standards are so high, he certainly can't hold her back.
Therefore, he does not allow non-employees from the village to come and chat.
At this moment, all the people in the workshop are the workshop's employees.
The employees responsible for frying tofu puffs greeted Jiang Ji, the scholar, with great joy—for Yezaopo, the workshop and the scholar were a double blessing!
Jiang Ji responded with a smile.
Ye Liang hadn't seen Jiang Ji for a long time, so he wasn't in a hurry to leave. He asked about the daily life at the county school, and then, urged by Ye Li, he took the tofu puffs and got on the oxcart to go home.
Afterwards, Ye Li led Jiang Ji on a tour of the workshop.
The workshop occupies an area of slightly over one acre, or about 700 square meters.
The kitchen shed, mill shed, and four small huts only occupied half of the area, with the other half being open space.
Therefore, it looks quite spacious.
Everything was very simple.
The courtyard walls, sheds, and houses are made of mud bricks.
The weather overhead was gloomy and overcast in winter.
Beneath my feet was brown earth, barren and devoid of any green.
Judging from its appearance alone, this workshop has absolutely nothing remarkable about it.
No one would have guessed that this was actually a silver mine.
He looked up at Ye Li beside him.
Ye Li was wearing a rabbit fur coat, a hat and scarf, with her hands tucked into her sleeves, covering herself up so that only her delicate face was visible.
His gaze softened.
"Let's go back. It's a bit cold here."
"Not watching anymore?" Ye Li asked.
“We’ve seen everything we needed to see. Let’s go back,” Jiang Ji said.
"Okay, I'll call my father."
Ye Lidao.
He and Jiang Ji only packed the meat; for the hot pot dinner that night, they needed to prepare some vegetables like cabbage and radishes.
You also need to prepare the broth and dipping sauce.
He couldn't finish it all by himself.
When they got home, Ye Li asked her father to prepare cabbage and radishes, and Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya to peel garlic.
Jiang Ji was in charge of kneading the dough and rolling out the noodles.
At noon at Zuixianju, I was so focused on eating meat that I didn't eat any noodles.
I need to make it up tonight.
Hot pot sesame sauce with hand-pulled noodles is absolutely amazing!
Ye Li always orders this when she goes to a hot pot restaurant.
After giving his instructions, Ye Li rolled up his sleeves and started stir-frying the bottom of the pot.
To make the broth delicious, you have to be generous with the oil and spices. First, add two large spoonfuls of lard, then add salt, scallions, ginger slices, garlic cloves, dried chili peppers, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and other seasonings. After stir-frying, add water.
Add a few more red dates and goji berries, and you're done.
Next comes making the dipping sauce, which Ye Li believes is much more important than the base sauce.
Add sesame paste, minced garlic, vinegar, crushed peanuts, chopped green onions, and chili oil to the bowl, then add a little sugar to enhance the flavor, and it's almost ready.
This dipping sauce is delicious, even for dipping shoe soles!
By then, it was completely dark.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Liu Yi returned.
The workshop is finished.
After all the tofu puffs were fried, they were moved to a special room for storing them.
Jiang Dahe and Jiang Rong, the two on night watchmen, were also in place.
Jiang Fuzheng had just gone over and soaked the beans for tomorrow with the two of them.
The workshop is truly on the right track.
Whether Ye Li, the workshop owner, is present or not, the business can operate normally.
Ye Li was naturally satisfied with this.
His initial intention in setting up the workshop was simply to take the money and not get involved.
So the whole family sat around the stove and happily ate hot pot in a small iron pot.
Jiang Ya was quite excited.
Because tomorrow he can go to Banxianju to eat hot pot.
He pestered Ye Li and Jiang Ji to inquire about the situation at Banxianju.
Liu Yi and Ye Adie listened with great interest to the various details of Banxianju's life, as it was the first time they had ever eaten hot pot!
When Ye Li mentioned that lunch hadn't cost any money and that it would be half-price every time they ate there, the two of them felt their interest piqued.
Half price?
This is a great deal!
Once we have more money in a couple of years, we can go and broaden our horizons.
Everyone was very satisfied with the dinner. Not only were all the ingredients that Ye Lijiang brought back eaten, but even the three pounds of noodles that Jiang Ji had made were finished.
Everyone was stuffed with their bellies. After the meal, Liu Yi and Ye Adie asked Jiang Ji and Ye Li to wash up, while the two of them were responsible for cleaning up the pots and pans in the kitchen.
Jiang Ji got up and went to the bathroom to boil water when he was halfway through his meal.
The shed behind the new house is no longer in use, but the stone mill and iron pot are Ye Li's private property. Ye Li did not donate them to the workshop, so he used the iron pot in the shed to boil two large pots of water.
The large iron pot in the kitchen wasn't idle either; it had also been used to boil a pot of water.
Four large pots of hot water were enough for the whole family to wash up and for him and Ye Li to take a bath.
He first had the two little ones, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya, brush their teeth and wash their feet. After they got onto the kang (a heated brick bed), he and Ye Li brought out the bath tub and started taking a bath.
Liu Yi and Ye Adie were still awake outside, so after washing their hair, they sat facing each other and took a proper bath.
But the bathtub was small, and beneath the water, their limbs were intertwined. Moreover, the two, who had not been intimate for a long time, reacted the moment their bodies touched.
The oil lamp was dim, and the bathroom was filled with steam. Ye Li looked at Jiang Ji across from her.
The handsome young man's face was flushed from the heat, and his dark eyes stared at him without blinking. His expression was as gentle as a summer night breeze, which quickly made Ye Li feel dizzy.
Ye Li couldn't help but lean into his arms.
He also stretched out his arms and pulled Ye Li into his embrace.
This kind of skin-to-skin contact is something I haven't felt in a long time.
They both closed their eyes at the same time, deepening their embrace.
Ye Li buried his face in Jiang Ji's wet neck. At this moment, he was sitting on Jiang Ji's lap and could clearly feel the discomfort from his thigh. Following his instincts, he reached into Jiang Ji's hand.
The overwhelming pleasure almost made Jiang Ji groan out loud.
But there are people outside!
Jiang Ji had no choice but to put his hand into the water as well, grab the messing hand, and grit his teeth, saying, "Don't move yet."
Sensing Jiang Ji's restraint, he chuckled, wriggled a few times in Jiang Ji's arms, and then said, "You have really poor self-control."
"..."
Jiang Ji gritted his teeth: "If I don't react, then something bad will have happened."
Ye Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, thinking of all the gossip he had been holding back all day, and said, "I've only told you the bare minimum about Manager Yu's matter. Do you want to hear more?"
Jiang Ji was eager for him to change the subject, so he quickly said, "Go on."
"This is a long story, it goes back more than twenty years..."
Ye Li spilled all the information she had heard from Jiang Fuzheng.
He couldn't say anything in front of Jiang Fuzheng before, but now that he was facing Jiang Ji, he could finally unleash his fury.
The twists and turns in this story left Jiang Ji speechless.
Thinking of the scene of Yu Cai slowly making her way down the stairs today, he sighed, "What has this child done wrong?"
Yu Cai was only five years old at the time!
That's Jiang Ya's current age!
"That's right, but County Magistrate Yu only imprisoned that concubine for more than ten years, and during that time he certainly didn't lack food and drink."
"This punishment is too lenient; it should be an eye for an eye."
Scumbag.
What a scumbag father.
Jiang Ji remained silent for a long while before saying, "Chen Shimei."
"...No, he's a 'phoenix man' (a man from a poor background who achieves success)."
Ye Li corrected his statement: "A phoenix man refers to a man from a poor family who gets married and rises to a better life."
“County Commandant Yu is even worse; not only is he ungrateful, he has also forgotten his roots.”
"So he suffered retribution in this life, but unfortunately, it didn't fall on County Magistrate Yu himself."
"...He probably thought he was too capable, and after becoming an official, it was his turn to promote the Wu family, so he forgot his roots."
Jiang Jidao.
"Great skill?"
Ye Li scoffed, "If you're so capable, how come you can't even manage your own backyard? It's normal for adults to have the idea of 'wanting everything,' but people aren't inanimate objects like gold, silver, or antiques. People are uncontrollable."
"If you can't control the backyard, you'd better give up the idea as soon as possible, lest you get burned playing with fire."
It wasn't really self-immolation.
Because the fire didn't reach County Magistrate Yu himself.
Yu Cai's life was ruined.
Thinking of this, he added, "I reckon that Manager Yu hasn't gotten married yet because he's afraid of encountering another 'phoenix man' like that. Just thinking about it is a horror story."
Those who are well-matched with Yu Cai in terms of social standing would certainly not want to marry a cripple.
The lesson of marrying down has already cost Yu Cai a leg.
Under these circumstances, the Wu family would certainly not allow Yu Cai to repeat the mistakes of Wu Fulang.
So Yu Cai is already twenty-five years old and still single.
After listening to these words, Jiang Ji pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly: "You're right."
"But are you targeting me?"
As he spoke, he put his hand on Ye Li's shoulder and made Ye Li step back slightly.
He looked at Ye Li's face: "You're using County Magistrate Yu to teach me a lesson, aren't you?"
Ye Li blinked, looking completely innocent: "Didn't you say I wasn't reacting? That's when I started thinking about it."
"The examples aren't profound enough because the retribution doesn't fall on the scumbag himself."
"..."
Was it his fault just now?
But looking at Ye Li's feigned innocent face, he only thought it was pretty.
It's really beautiful.
Moreover, Ye Li had this thought because she liked him and valued him; otherwise, why wouldn't Ye Li lecture others?
Ye Li was worried about him; she was afraid he would run away!
Thinking of this, he felt a sweet warmth in his heart.
He appreciates the effort Ye Li puts into him!
It's best to focus all your attention on him!
So he honestly admitted his mistake: "It was my fault, and I'll remember it."
"You really remembered it?" Ye Li raised an eyebrow.
"I'll remember that. With your personality, if I dared to have any ulterior motives, wouldn't you chop my head off in the middle of the night?"
"Dream on!"
Upon hearing this, Ye Li immediately reached out and poked his chest: "I have plenty of ways to get revenge, I won't risk it all on myself."
"I understand, I understand."
Jiang Ji grabbed his hand, kissed it, and then said with a smile, "You're the best. You can even get a lifetime half-price discount just by going out to eat."
"You've saved more than three taels of silver in one go today. Looking around the whole county, which husband has your ability?"
Ye Li felt a little smug when she thought about it.
That's right.
Behind the seemingly perfect Banxianju restaurant lies high consumption, especially today when they ordered almost every type of meat!
Saving money is making money.
A smile appeared on his face, and then, seeing Jiang Ji kiss him, he closed his eyes.
Upon touching Jiang Ji's lips, he immediately opened his mouth, and Jiang Ji's tongue plunged in, teasing him all over, while his large hands were also restless, kneading and pinching his body.
His head was already a bit hot from being soaked in hot water, and Jiang Ji was using both his hands and mouth, so his body quickly became burning hot.
Just then, Liu Yi's voice came from outside: "Li Ge'er, I'm sleeping with Father."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ji was delighted and responded on his behalf.
Once Liu Yi's footsteps had faded into the distance, Jiang Ji could no longer hold back.
He's been holding back for a month!
The bathtub was too small to move around easily, so he picked up Ye Li and got up.
Standing in the bathtub, I didn't feel cold because my body was warm.
Once you start moving around, it's even less cold.
However, to prevent catching a cold, he quickly carried Ye Li back into the bathtub.
However, the bathtub space is too small to be truly satisfying.
Finally, he quickly washed the two of them, wrapped them in a long cloth used for wiping their bodies, and then carried Ye Li back to his room.
The kang (heated brick bed) is warm.
The kang table is brand new.
It's time to test the quality of the kang table!
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