Ch 14: The Scumbag’s Daily Wife-Doting Life [QT]

After the matter with Jia Xiaotao temporarily settled down, Xie Li did not keep dwelling on it for long. He focused wholeheartedly on reviewing textbooks and preparing for the college entrance examinations, while also teaching Li Tiantian her lessons along the way.

Still, amid all the busyness, he heard about what happened afterward.

Jia Xiaotao’s maiden family lived in a village twenty li away. News spread quickly in the countryside, and it was said that when she first returned home, she loudly declared she intended to stay there permanently. Unless Li Erniu personally came to beg forgiveness, she would never go back.

But the Jia family’s circumstances could not support such an idea.

Jia Xiaotao had three brothers, all married with children. Altogether, the household contained more than ten people across three generations. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Their courtyard was already cramped with their own family members. Where would there be room for Jia Xiaotao to stay? If she were merely returning to visit occasionally, that would be one thing. But this time, she announced she planned to live there long-term…

No one in the family welcomed the idea.

On top of that, little fatty Li Tiansheng was spoiled and badly behaved. Even after arriving at another household, he remained unruly. Relying on the fact that he was much taller and stronger than children his age, he either bullied one uncle’s child or hit and cursed another uncle’s child. Whenever he encountered older children he could not beat, he immediately threw tantrums and screamed for Jia Xiaotao to save him.

Jia Xiaotao had grown used to acting tyrannically in the Li household. Back at her maiden home, she remained just as unreasonable. Whenever her nephews upset her, she would immediately grab them and unleash a furious scolding without restraint…

Watching their own children cry so hard they could barely breathe while having nowhere to seek justice, the wives of the three brothers finally exploded with anger.

In less than a month, several huge fights erupted one after another inside the Jia family.

Left with no other choice, Jia Xiaotao could only return to Xiaoxipo Village in disgrace with Li Tiansheng.

Because she had returned voluntarily, and because she had cuckolded Li Erniu while stubbornly refusing to reveal the identity of the outside lover, Li Erniu’s attitude softened not at all. Instead, he became unusually hardheaded. Whenever interacting with Jia Xiaotao, he refused to give even a single inch.

The two of them constantly fought.

Arguments turned into screaming matches.

Screaming matches turned into physical fights.

Pots, bowls, and basins shattered across the floor on a daily basis.

At first, the villagers still went over to watch the excitement unfold. Li Jianguo also rushed over repeatedly to break up the fights, afraid something serious might happen.

But after enduring this chaos day after day, eventually even the villagers grew too lazy to watch anymore. They simply let the couple continue fighting as they pleased.

As for Li Jianguo, he finally gave up entirely on this nephew and nephew’s wife and focused all his attention on preparing for the summer harvest instead.

After hearing about everything, Li Tiantian ended up telling Xie Li the whole story as well.

“Do you think… she’s kind of pitiful now?” she asked cautiously, secretly studying Xie Li’s expression.

After listening, Xie Li merely nodded. His expression did not change in the slightest, nor did he comment on the matter. Instead, he calmly rolled up his sleeves and somehow produced a thick stack of exercise books from who knew where.

“Forget about that. Let’s talk about the homework you handed in yesterday instead.”

Li Tiantian: “……”

Helpless.

Small.

Wronged.

Perfectly composed, Xie Li slowly pointed out each mistake in her homework one by one. Watching Li Tiantian lower her head further and further in defeat, he accepted the notebook back and quietly curled his lips upward as she trudged back into the room to redo her assignments.

Li Tiantian did not know the outrageous things Jia Xiaotao’s family had done in the previous life, which was why she remained softhearted.

Xie Li actually thought that was a good thing.

He had no intention of telling her those ugly matters. He wanted her to continue living without worries, remaining a carefree young girl untouched by such darkness.

Of course, he also did not want Li Tiantian dwelling endlessly on the matter either. Since that was the case, then it was best to slowly let the incident fade away and stop bringing it up in the future.

After all, with him around, Jia Xiaotao’s family would never again gain even the slightest advantage in this lifetime.

Right now, Xie Li’s greatest priority was getting into university.

…

The textbooks of this era were still fairly simple and not difficult. Relying on the memories in his mind, Xie Li reviewed the material at an astonishing pace.

What remained afterward was reinforcement practice, using endless drills and problem-solving to strengthen his exam-taking ability.

Li Tiantian’s learning progress was also quite good.

In only two months, she finished reviewing all the elementary school curriculum and began studying middle school material.

At this pace, although she would not make it in time for the very first restored college entrance examinations, if she continued studying, she should be able to take the exams in another two or three years.

There was, however, one unexpected problem Xie Li found difficult to explain.

Because of the times, schools currently taught Russian rather than English. His flawless Oxford-accented English was completely useless here, forcing him to seek help from other educated youths to learn Russian instead.

Fortunately, he had excellent talent for languages. His self-study progressed rapidly, and he could even teach Li Tiantian along the way, so there were no major setbacks.

Just like that, time passed in a blur.

By July, the season for the summer harvest arrived, and the production brigade officially began work as well.

Vast stretches of ripe rice fields waited to be harvested, gleaming with rich golden color. Whenever the wind blew across them, the fields rippled like waves rolling over an ocean.

Because after harvesting, the villagers immediately needed to replant the second batch of rice seedlings in order to harvest a second crop before winter arrived, both tasks had to happen simultaneously. The entire production brigade bustled with frantic activity.

Xie Li and Li Tiantian temporarily set aside their studies and joined the other educated youths in the brigade’s exhausting labor.

Before work officially began, the brigade first needed to assign duties. The entire village gathered at the threshing ground for a meeting.

Xie Li and Li Tiantian went as well.

The meeting was scheduled to begin at ten in the morning, but Li Jianguo was delayed by other matters and had not arrived yet. Xie Li went to hurry him along, but on the way out of the village brigade office, he unexpectedly ran into Hu Dezheng.

Since they had not seen each other for a while, Xie Li greeted him first.

Hu Dezheng turned around. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. The moment he saw Xie Li, panic briefly flashed across his face. Tugging awkwardly at the corner of his mouth, he forced himself to remain calm.

“Xie Li, you’re here too.”

“Yeah. I came to find the brigade leader for the meeting. What about you?” Xie Li glanced at the girl standing beside Hu Dezheng, then smiled slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Came together with Qian Lanxiang?”

Qian Lanxiang’s face instantly reddened.

“No. We just happened to run into each other on the way here, so we walked together.”

“Really?” Xie Li frowned slightly and studied the two of them thoughtfully. After a moment, he decided not to ask further and simply patted Hu Dezheng on the shoulder. “Then take your time. I’ll head off first. Tiantian’s still waiting for me.”

“Alright.” Hu Dezheng did not try to stop him and calmly watched him leave.

Walking back toward the threshing ground, Xie Li replayed the earlier scene in his mind and sharply sensed something unusual.

If they had truly just happened to meet on the road, why were they acting so nervous about it?

Could it be that, just like the recent rumors claimed, the two of them were actually together?

That was different from the previous life.

Still, the usually restrained Hu Dezheng, who never wanted anything to do with village girls, had unexpectedly fallen in love…

Xie Li did not know anything about Hu Dezheng’s family circumstances or understand his difficulties. From the bottom of his heart, however, he felt happy for him.

After arriving at the threshing ground, he told Li Tiantian about it.

Li Tiantian tilted her head and thought for a moment.

“There’s still an empty house plot next to ours. If Lanxiang and Educated Youth Hu get married, maybe we could become neighbors.”

“That might be difficult.”

Xie Li knew Hu Dezheng’s financial situation. His family only mailed him ten yuan every six months. With only that amount of money, building a house and marrying Qian Lanxiang would be nearly impossible.

Then again, not every father-in-law was someone like Li Jianguo.

Maybe they could still be together without building a house first.

Xie Li was quite optimistic about the relationship. With Hu Dezheng’s self-discipline and character, he should be able to get into university eventually. By then, the two couples might even become schoolmates.

If Qian Lanxiang married him, that would not be a bad future at all.

And once they reached the capital, she could keep Li Tiantian company so Li Tiantian would not feel lost and alone in a strange city.

…

More than ten minutes later, Li Jianguo finally finished handling his business and hurried over to the threshing ground, interrupting Xie Li and Li Tiantian’s conversation before stepping onto the stage to begin assigning work.

To conceal his current wealth, and also because his strength had increased enough that ordinary labor no longer challenged him, Xie Li chose the heaviest work this year, earning the maximum ten work points each day.

As for Li Tiantian, after some thought, he selected a much easier task for her: herding cattle.

Although it earned fewer work points, it was relaxed work. It was also the same task Li Tiantian had always done.

As the brigade leader’s daughter, Li Jianguo could not bear to let her suffer too much in the fields. Usually she simply herded cattle to casually earn a few work points, since Li Jianguo himself earned enough to support both mother and daughter without needing her to labor heavily.

When Li Jianguo saw Xie Li’s choices, approval surfaced in his eyes. He openly praised Xie Li for being a real man with responsibility and backbone.

Xie Li smiled and did not take the praise too seriously.

After the meeting ended, the two of them returned home. Thinking again about Li Tiantian’s studies, he repeatedly reminded the young woman that even while herding cattle, she could not neglect learning.

“Preferably, you should study while herding the cattle. No slacking off. When I come back after work, I’ll check your lessons. If your grades slip, I’ll punish you.”

Punish her?

Heat instantly spread across Li Tiantian’s face. Biting her lip, she hesitated before saying,

“But… won’t my work be too easy? I’m worried I won’t earn enough work points by the end of the year and won’t get enough grain distributed.”

She was worried the two of them might go hungry next year?

Xie Li thought for a moment, then turned and walked back into the room. On the surface, it looked as though he was fetching something from inside, but in reality he took a cloth bag out of his space and tossed it toward Li Tiantian.

“What is th…”

Li Tiantian caught the cloth bag and opened it in confusion. The moment she saw the thick stack of ten-yuan bills inside, her unfinished question abruptly stopped.

Her eyes widened round with shock.

“So much money?!”

A trace of amusement surfaced in Xie Li’s eyes as he stroked his chin.

“There’s eleven hundred yuan in there. Keep it. Now you don’t need to worry about starving.”

After getting married, Xie Li stopped selling vegetables outside.

Because he could tell that the more produce he traded, the more curious Old Luo from the black market became about his identity. The man wanted to know where the vegetables came from and wanted to investigate who he really was…

So Xie Li simply stopped going to the county town altogether. He stopped growing vegetables as well and only casually raised ginseng in his space, ignoring everything else.

After all, with their savings, neither he nor Li Tiantian would starve.

The thousand-plus yuan he handed over was what remained from the previous three months of savings after purchasing the “three big items.”

Even so, it completely stunned Li Tiantian speechless.

One jar of face cream cost three yuan, and most people could barely bear to use it. The pile of money in front of her represented more than three hundred jars of face cream.

“How do you have so much money?” Li Tiantian blinked, looking at Xie Li with open admiration.

Then, as if suddenly thinking of something, her expression stiffened. Carefully testing the waters, she asked,

“You didn’t do anything bad, right?”

Xie Li rubbed her hair helplessly.

“Don’t worry. Your husband didn’t do anything illegal. My family gave me this money. Keep it safe and save it for university later. But… you probably understand my family’s current situation, so for now, don’t tell anyone about the money.”

After thinking briefly, he added another sentence.

“Your parents included.”

When Xie Li was assigned to Xiaoxipo Village, Li Jianguo knew exactly where he came from and understood it was impossible for him to naturally possess such a large sum of money. So eventually Xie Li would need to stage some sort of “selling fountain pens” excuse in front of Li Jianguo to explain the appearance of the money.

But Li Tiantian did not understand any of those complications.

As long as he explained something to her, she would believe it.

“Oh…”

Seeing Xie Li’s serious expression, Li Tiantian obediently gave up asking further questions. Raising three fingers solemnly, she promised,

“I swear I won’t tell anyone!”

Gentle laughter rippled through Xie Li’s eyes. Pinching her cheek lightly, he lowered his voice and praised her near her ear,

“Tiantian’s getting more and more obedient.”

Li Tiantian covered her burning cheeks, pressing her lips together to suppress a smile while sweetness filled her heart.

However, after learning they had this much money, Li Tiantian no longer wanted Xie Li doing heavy labor.

Even after Xie Li demonstrated his strength for her, she still insisted there was no need and stubbornly refused to let him continue.

Unable to argue with her, Xie Li could only give in and switch to slightly lighter work instead: nine work points a day, driving ox carts to transport harvested rice to the threshing ground.

Bright joy spread across Li Tiantian’s eyes. Holding her face in her hands, she said coquettishly,

“If you’re driving the ox carts, then I’ll definitely take very good care of the cattle. If they behave better, you’ll save more energy too.”

Xie Li looked into her eyes for a moment before quietly replying,

“Whatever you say.”

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