Chapter 3: La Xier pays off the debt?
Li Ye pulled Li Dayong out of the classroom. Li Dayong skillfully took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to Li Ye, and then struck a match to light one for him.
"Brother, you shouldn't have stopped me just now. That bastard He Weiguo is taking advantage of me. If I spare him this time, he will be able to go to heaven next time."
Others are afraid of He Weiguo's teacher uncle, but Li Dayong is not. His grandfather's family are all in the power system, and the one who manages the electrician is as powerful as the one who manages Carrot Head.
But no matter how powerful Li Dayong's grandfather was, if he really hit He Weiguo, it would be very troublesome, so Li Ye held him back just now.
"There's no point getting angry with this kind of person, cough cough cough cough."
Li Ye took only one puff and started coughing due to choking.
What is this?
Li Ye picked up the cigarette in his hand, looked at it carefully, and threw it away in disgust.
It would be fine if there was no filter, but the tobacco inside was pitch black and of uneven lengths, mixed with a lot of small sticks. It was obviously garbage made up of leftovers.
But before the cigarette thrown by Li Ye hit the ground, Li Dayong nimbly rushed out and picked it up before several classmates.
"It's my fault. I forgot that you had a fever and your throat is not working properly. But I only have this little food. I can't afford to smoke Daqianmen like you can."
“.”
Watching Li Dayong put out the cigarette and carefully put it back into the deflated cigarette box, Li Ye couldn't help but want to laugh.
But he touched his trouser pocket and took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes.
"Here, take mine!"
Li Ye took out a cigarette and gave it to Li Dayong, then looked at the people around him and started passing out cigarettes.
Several familiar classmates hurriedly took it, lit it and started enjoying the smoke.
The students nowadays are not like the "little emperors of the family" in the previous life. Each of them has a few hundred dollars in their pockets and can have a meal at Haagen-Dazs or stay in a hotel with a girl without blinking an eye.
Everyone generally has no money, and having a few cents in pocket money a month is normal. Having a few dollars in assets is considered a "millionaire".
If you have little money, you must spend it frugally. Students with poor conditions roll their own tobacco leaves. The eight-cent "Economy" and nine-cent "Mass" cigarettes are very affordable for student smokers.
If you buy a goldfish for 1.5 cents, you will be very proud among the students. If you are determined to buy a pack of Big Harvest for 2.3 cents, you will definitely attract a lot of envy and jealousy.
And Li Ye is the kind of person who is often envied, jealous and hated.
Li Ye had a hard childhood. Both his father and grandfather lost their jobs, and he had no memory of his mother. It was said that they divorced for special reasons and never showed up again.
After his grandfather and father returned to work, Li Ye was compensated with pampering. The Da Qianmen in his pocket and the brand new Huili shoes on his feet were luxuries that his friends envied.
The Huili shoes of this era are much more impressive than the Nike and Adidas that Li Ye had in his previous life. Anyone who has a pair of new Huili shoes will look and feel better.
So Li Ye had a really good life in the past few years, until Lu Jingyao's backstab a few months ago, which turned the pure, kind, and confident handsome boy into a timid, inferior, and autistic introverted man.
Li Ye and Lu Jingyao were high school classmates. The boy was handsome and the girl was pretty. In their youth, they fell in love.
However, in this era, although the term free love has long been around, Chinese people are still very reserved and traditional.
If middle school students born in 1981 fell in love too early, they would be considered "bad students". If they held hands, they would probably be criticized by the teacher. If they put their arms around each other's waists, they would probably be expelled from school. If you dared to hit someone, you would be drowned in saliva.
So Li Ye followed the normal folk procedure - getting engaged.
Although the country implemented family planning at that time, local customs were not corrected so quickly. It was very normal for eighteen-year-olds to get engaged. There were even several classmates in Li Ye's class who got married without a certificate at the age of twenty!
Last winter, Li Ye begged his family to come and propose marriage. In exchange for 120 yuan, a Phoenix bicycle, fish, meat, and some supplies, the Li family and the Lu family became relatives.
Just this amount of betrothal gift alone could be counted in the entire Qingshui County.
Li Ye's grandfather was an old revolutionary. After he resumed work, he worked in the grain system. His father was the workshop director of a fertilizer factory. His conditions were not bad.
Lu Jingyao's father was just a substitute teacher in a middle school without a regular job, so this marriage seemed like an attempt by the Lu family to marry above their station.
After the engagement, the Li family not only paid for the Lu family to repair their house, but also used their connections to help Lu's father solve the staffing problem. It can be said that they truly treated Lu Jingyao as their granddaughter-in-law.
But everything changed when Lu Jingyao was admitted to university a few months ago.
After Lu Jingyao received the admission letter, the Li family immediately decided to marry off their two children.
Li Ye, who was fantasizing about his upcoming wedding night, ran excitedly to the Lu family and shared the "good news" with Lu Jingyao.
In his opinion, his love with Lu Jingyao, who was not well-matched with him despite his family's opposition, had finally come to fruition, and the family planning supplies he had secretly hidden would soon come in handy.
However, the Lu family's reaction gave Li Ye a heavy blow.
The fragments of memory that Li Ye inherited from the original owner clearly recorded the scene of the next day.
Lu Jingyao's father, who had been a coward for half his life, timidly came to Li Ye's house, carrying two big fish and half a pig, and then took out a handful of change that was obviously borrowed from here and there.
"My Jingyao has been admitted to university. She may not return to Qingshui County after she starts working, so I won't delay your Li Ye. I have paid back the betrothal gift. I still owe you 45 yuan, which I will be able to pay back soon."
The Li family’s anger can be imagined.
If they were just two kids dating freely, they would have broken up, but Lu Jingyao and Li Ye went through a formal engagement process and received congratulations from Li's family and friends.
How can you tolerate such humiliation?
Even Xiao Yan couldn't stand it, right?
It is not the style of a soldier to pester and harass. Li Ye's father Li Kaijian ignored Li Ye's pleas and did not take any action to save the relationship. He immediately threw the returned betrothal gift out of the door, cursing himself for being blind and treating the betrothal gift as feeding the dog.
But then Li Kaijian took out his anger on Li Ye, beating him with a belt until his butt was so bruised that he couldn't even sit on the stool.
[We all study the same subjects, why can't you get into university? 】
[If you hadn't insisted on marrying his daughter, how could I be so embarrassed? ]
Li Ye felt aggrieved. Even though his butt was swollen from being beaten and he couldn't ride a bike, he still asked Li Dayong to take him to find Lu Jingyao to question her.
When they arrived at Lu Jingyao's home, the door was closed and Li Ye was not received. It was Li Dayong, who had a loud voice, who started scolding and called all the neighbors over. Only then did Lu's father take Lu Jingyao to meet Li Ye.
Father Lu said awkwardly: "I actually like you, Li Ye, too. If you can get into BJ next year, I won't stop you two."
When Father Lu said these words, Lu Jingyao lowered her head and said nothing, but her clenched fists and trembling body showed the resentment in her heart.
The simple-minded Li Ye believed what Lu Jingyao's father said and enrolled in the repeat class of the county No. 2 Middle School to prepare for the exam.
But a few days ago, a remittance slip from Beijing was sent directly to the school.
Lu Jingyao actually sent 45 yuan to Li Ye.
College students in the 1980s had "salaries", and the government would give Lu Jingyao a subsidy of 22.5 yuan per month to cover her food, clothing and other expenses. It only took her a few months to scrape together the 45. How strong was her desire to get rid of Li Ye?
No matter how slow-witted Li Ye was, he understood Lu Jingyao's determination.
What's even worse is that several girls who used to have a good relationship with Lu Jingyao received her letter. They didn't know how she put it together, but a lot of rumors spread in the school overnight.
He called Li Ye "Huang Shiren" and forced the Lu family to pay back the money. If they didn't, he would use Lu Jingyao, known as "Xier", to pay off the debt.
The original owner, who had been carefully cared for by his family since childhood, had never been exposed to such dirty water. He fell ill and died in bed that night, which allowed Li Ye to take over his place decades later.
The reason why Li Dayong went to find He Weiguo so angrily just now was because of this incident.
Everyone knew that Li Ye had just fallen seriously ill because of Lu Jingyao, and now He Weiguo said such heart-wrenching words. Li Dayong wanted to smash his head with a hammer.
. . . . . . . .
When the cigarette was almost finished, a few girls came over and stood in front of Li Ye.
Li Ye had a deep impression of one of the girls with a round face, who was Lu Jingyao’s “best friend” Xia Yue, and she had also received a letter from Lu Jingyao a few days ago.
Xia Yue took a book and handed it to Li Ye, saying coldly: "This is the law book that Sister Jingyao sent to you. Study it carefully."
Li Ye looked at the big red title of "New Marriage Law" on the cover and asked in surprise, "Are you sure you sent it to me?"
Xia Yue raised her eyebrows and said, "Of course it's sent to you. People like you need to read more books and learn more about the law, so as not to..."
Li Ye interrupted Xia Yue before he could finish and said coldly, "Since it was sent to me, why did you open it privately? Don't you know that it is illegal to open other people's mail privately?"
“.”
"Don't you think it's ridiculous that a person who breaks the law laughs at others for needing to learn the law?"
Xia Yue was stopped by Li Ye. She opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
Seeing the strange looks from the people around her, Xia Yue's round face instantly turned red with embarrassment.
"Humph, no matter how you try to argue, you are still Huang Shiren."
In the end, Xia Yue used her "stubborn" attribute, threw the book to Li Ye, and turned away.
"Who do you say is Huang Shiren? Stop right there. You have been the one spreading rumors these days, right?"
Li Dayong started to curse immediately, but Xia Yue and other girls walked away like proud peacocks.
Li Ye stopped Li Dayong from chasing after him and opened the book sent by Lu Jingyao. He found that the book had been read by someone else, and many paragraphs and regulations were marked with a conspicuous red pen.
The "New Marriage Law" was promulgated on January 1, 1982. It placed great emphasis on "freedom of marriage", and the part marked in red is related to this.
Li Ye was speechless.
What sins did the original owner commit in his previous life?
How could such a handsome and kind-hearted boy from a wealthy family choose to date a girl who wields the weapon of law?
Do you know how dangerous this is?
What’s the difference between this and those medical ladies who applaud and explain to you the principle of sponge expansion, and then go crazy and cut you to avoid vital points?
The former will cause you to lose money, and the latter will cost you your life. What the hell is going on?
Li Dayong saw that Li Ye remained silent and thought that Li Ye was upset because of Lu Jingyao again, so he said angrily: "Brother, how about we go to Beijing to find her? Since she dares to act like a Chen Shimei, I will let the whole school know about it."
Li Ye smiled and shook his head, "Chen Shimei is the top scholar, does she have the qualifications?"
Li Dayong said unwillingly: "Then let her bully me like this, isn't that too much of a bully?"
Li Ye closed the book and said softly, "That can't be possible. But going to the capital is too troublesome. Why should we go so far away?"
"Brother, what do you mean?"
"It's okay. Come with me to collect debts after school today."
Originally, Li Ye didn't want to get entangled with Lu Jingyao anymore. After all, it was the original owner's past connection. But now it seems that he still needs to remind her not to make trouble endlessly.
"Reputation" is very important these days. If you are labeled as Huang Shiren, it may affect your chances of getting married in the future.
(End of this chapter)
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