Chapter 316: A Tragedy Caused by a Box of Fountain Pens

The sun was high, and Li Ye finally broke free from the bewitchment of the God of Bedding, lazily climbing out of bed.

He really didn't mean to stay in bed; it was just that this sleep had been too comfortable.

The stove had been burning brightly all night, clearly someone had gotten up in the middle of the night to add charcoal.

The quilt and mattress both exuded a thick "sunshine smell," likely having been taken apart and washed just a few days ago, and the quilt cover had even been changed.

In the middle of the night, he had needed to relieve himself and was worrying that it was too inconvenient outside in the minus-ten-degree weather, only to find the chamber pot had been placed in the corner.

With this treatment... paired with two palace maids, would he really become a little family emperor?

As a result, when he opened his bedroom door, he found his two younger sisters guarding outside with eager eyes.

"Brother, wash water, towel."

"Brother, this is your toothpaste, just opened."

Li Ye: "..."

"Is this something you two should be doing? I'm not without hands or feet. Don't do this again, okay! What kind of society is this..."

Li Ye couldn't help but scold them with a smile. He really didn't want the two little girls to live like trembling guests under someone else's roof.

Thinking back to three years ago when the sisters followed Han Chunmei through the door, just because Li Ye glared at them fiercely, they were so nervous they didn't dare leave Han Chunmei's side for a moment. Li Ye felt he had been somewhat "lacking in love."

Now, after two years of improvement, although the two little girls had become close to him, he always felt there was still a hidden "gap."

What is a real younger sister like?

"Brother, give me all your pocket money, or I'll tell Mom you're secretly spending money on games and also having puppy love."

"Brother, I drowned Dad's lucky fish. I'll just say you did it. You say I'm framing you? Then consider this: will Mom and Dad believe you, or will they believe me?"

"..."

So Li Ye was very unaccustomed to his two sisters being like this.

However, immediately after, Li Ye heard his younger sister, Li Ying, say with a smile, "Hehe, Brother is buying us fountain pens! It's only right that I fetch wash water for Brother..."

"Oh, fountain pens, I remember now."

Li Ye finally remembered one thing.

Because Li Zhongfa had taken the lead in connecting with foreign businessmen from Hong Kong and started negotiating the introduction of an instant noodle production line, the family finally installed a telephone to facilitate contact with the outside world at any time.

So, the day he called home, he happened to hear his younger sister, Li Ying, crying loudly.

After asking, he found out that her fountain pen had fallen to the ground and the nib had broken, so Li Ye said heroically, "Stop crying, I'll buy you three when I get back. Use one, and keep two to look at."

He didn't expect such a small promise to be remembered by Li Ying until now.

Li Ye washed his face in a few swipes and said, "I bought the fountain pens for you. See if they were taken off the Volga in that yellow handbag."

Both sisters shook their heads in unison.

"No."

"No, after Sister came back, she didn't take anything off the car."

Li Ye understood. They were here to ask him for the car keys.

So Li Ye went to knock on his sister Li Yue's window, took the keys, and handed them to Li Juan: "Go get them yourselves! They're in that yellow handbag. Pay attention, those two black handbags are your sister's; don't touch them randomly!"

"Oh, oh, got it."

The two sisters took the keys and ran out the door excitedly.

"Slap~"

The window that had just been closed opened again, and Li Yue poked her head out with a dark face: "Why did you deliberately say not to touch my bags? Am I a man-eating tiger?"

Li Ye looked at his sister Li Yue for several seconds before saying, "Sister, you always pretend to be so fierce; aren't you tired?"

"..."

Li Yue looked at Li Ye blankly for a long time, until Li Juan and Li Ying carried a large sack of New Year goods into the house, before she "slapped" the window shut again.

"Sigh~"

Li Ye sighed lightly, also feeling somewhat helpless.

Sister Li Yue's personality wasn't originally so "fierce." In Li Ye's memory, there were various moments of care, such as Li Yue carrying him across the river, letting him eat first, and holding him to keep warm.

It was only later that the Li family went downhill, and Grandpa Li Zhongfa and Dad Li Kaijian continuously lost their jobs, with more and more pointing and whispering around them.

In just a few years, sister Li Yue and Li Ye both became tough, competitive, and even a little bit extreme.

But this change wasn't stopped by Grandpa Li Zhongfa or Grandma Wu Juying, who had seen through the world.

Because in that kind of environment, being submissive didn't necessarily earn others' pity, but being sharp and shrewish could make some people have scruples and not dare to bully them too much.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad had all lost their right to speak, and Li Yue was too beautiful, with Li Ye as a weak point and Achilles' heel below her. If Li Yue hadn't been shrewish, who knew what would have happened?

But Li Zhongfa had been back at work for four years, and Li Yue's temperament was slowly returning to her true nature, but wanting to return to how she was ten years ago was very difficult.

And Li Ye's transformation was a bug, so now the two younger sisters weren't afraid of Li Ye, but they were still afraid of Li Yue.

Li Juan and Li Ying, like two little groundhogs, moved the New Year goods from the Volga one trip after another, and only then did they open the yellow handbag Li Ye mentioned, discovering two whole boxes of fountain pens.

"Eh, are these all fountain pens in this box?"

"Wow, it's not one box, it's two boxes! Hahahaha~"

Li Ying looked at the twenty fountain pens in the two full boxes, feeling as ecstatic as a miserable miner who had suddenly dug up a basket of gold.

If you want to know what gift children in the early eighties most hoped to receive, a fountain pen was definitely an important option at the top of the list, perhaps even the only option.

If a child came from an average family, it was very difficult to get a fountain pen in elementary school; basically, they all used pencils.

And even when they reached junior high, it was very likely they would inherit an old fountain pen from an older brother or sister with a nib that was almost split.

If the child's father or mother worked in a unit, the children at home would always pester them, asking, "When will that fountain pen of yours 'get lost'?"

Children of the future would find it very hard to understand the important status of something as devoid of entertainment as a fountain pen in the hearts of elementary and junior high students.

If you don't believe me, look at the movies of the eighties. When a father who had been away from home for many years returned to his hometown, were the gifts he brought for his children mostly pencils and fountain pens?

Children were also sensible. If you asked them what New Year gift they wanted, they wouldn't say, "I want a doll, I want a firecracker gun, I want White Rabbit creamy candy," but rather a fountain pen.

Because the consequence might be... I have a rolling pin here, do you want it?

So now, seeing the two full boxes of fountain pens, Li Juan and Li Ying's excitement was beyond words. If they told their little friends, wouldn't they be envious to death?

Li Ying looked at the fountain pen in her hand with glowing eyes: "Sister, this box is Hero brand. What is that box of yours? Is it Jin Xing brand?"

Li Juan was quick-eyed and snatched it away: "What do you mean this box is Hero brand? Is it yours? Give it here."

"..."

Li Ying was stunned, and it took her a long time to react: "No... there are two boxes of fountain pens in total, one for you and one for me... How are you even more unreasonable than a bandit?"

Li Juan raised her eyebrows and said sharply: "Who are you calling a bandit?"

"..."

Li Ying panted heavily, but in the end, she didn't dare reach out to snatch it back.

She hadn't grown tall yet, being more than half a head shorter than her sister Li Juan, and Li Juan was "good at wrestling." She understood the principle of a wise man not suffering immediate losses.

"Hmph~"

Seeing Li Ying admit defeat, Li Juan took out a fountain pen from the box and handed it over.

"What are you doing with so many fountain pens? Isn't one enough for you to use? This is a Jin Xing 703, do you know how expensive it is? If you take it to school, won't it be stolen?"

"I'll keep it in my pocket after class; who can steal it?"

"Look at you, can you keep a whole box in your pocket?"

"That's none of your business."

Looking at Li Ying, whose face was longer than a donkey's, Li Juan suddenly returned the fountain pen box to her.

"Here, take it, and make sure you hide it well!"

"Mm-hmm-hmm-hmm, hee hee."

Li Ying, who had only hoped to get a few more fountain pens, couldn't figure out how she had regained what she lost, so she happily took it and hugged it tightly to her chest.

Li Ye watched the tug-of-war between the two younger sisters from afar, feeling it was quite interesting.

Li Juan and Li Ying were actually quite similar to Li Ye and Li Yue.

Li Ye and his sister were ostracized and envied because of Li Zhongfa's change in circumstances.

And Li Juan and her sister were not liked by the surrounding relatives because they followed Han Chunmei.

When others look at you through colored glasses, you can't reason with them. Either you become "unreasonable," or you become full of ghost ideas, or you just lie down and admit defeat.

The older sister, Li Juan, was actually quite similar to Li Yue, while Li Ye always felt the younger sister, Li Ying, wasn't stupid and was very smart.

For example, when she talked to Li Ye yesterday and today, she could explain things more clearly than Li Juan had instructed.

The smart Li Ying played with a box of fountain pens for a long time, touching each one, and then took an opportunity to return to the room. When she came out again, the fountain pen box was gone.

Li Ye had originally thought this was Li Juan "being generous" and no longer bullying her sister, but after Han Chunmei returned in the evening, he realized he had thought wrong.

After eating, Han Chunmei shouted at Li Ying: "What grade are you in, why do you need so many fountain pens? Give them to me for safekeeping. Don't worry, you won't lose a single one. Give them to me right now."

Li Ying blinked and said: "Mom, I... I'll give them to you in a moment."

But Han Chunmei was unusually strict: "Immediately, right now."

Li Ying was forced to the point of crying before she reluctantly went to the side of the large wardrobe, used all her strength to move the wardrobe to open a crack, and took out the fountain pen box from behind it.

She had to hide them; these ten fountain pens had to last a long time. Sister Li Juan was already in high school, and her grades were much better than hers. If she took one, what could she do?

Now that they were in Han Chunmei's hands, it would be good if six out of ten fell into her own hands.

In Han Chunmei's words: "You're failing your exams; using a fountain pen is a waste. It's good enough that I bought you new pencils. If you're in the bottom three again, I'll make you use pencil stubs."

But no sooner said than done, as Li Ying took out the fountain pens and was about to move the wardrobe back, Han Chunmei stepped forward to block it, reached out, and pulled a laundry detergent bag from behind the wardrobe.

Inside the laundry detergent bag was a stack of new and old banknotes—fifty cents, ten cents, five cents... colorful and very beautiful.

Li Ying was stunned; she was truly stunned.

Thinking back to the expression on her sister's face when she returned the fountain pens in the afternoon, she suddenly felt it was so cunning.

"Why is there so little?"

Han Chunmei held the laundry detergent bag, looking suspiciously at her two daughters.

Li Juan scratched her head, feeling that it was different from what she had estimated.

And Li Ying suddenly burst into tears: "What are you doing? There's no more, there's really no more..."

If a child wants to save money, they have to be stingy and cry poor. The pocket money had long been spent.

If you said you had saved money, would there be any new pocket money issued?

But Li Ying cried so miserably that even Li Kaijian felt very passive.

"Forget it, it's not easy for a child to save some pocket money..."

"It's not that I'm stingy with her spending money," Han Chunmei said. "It's that I can't let her develop the habit of valuing money too much. Do you know that the teacher at school said she was even doing business at school? It used to be just malt sugar, but last month she was even selling clothes. Speculation... If she gets addicted to doing business in the future, can her studies still be good? I must cut off her roots!"

"..."

Li Ye looked carefully at his teary-eyed younger sister, feeling he had underestimated her. How old was she, and she already knew how to engage in speculation?

However, it was precisely because of this careful look that Li Ye caught a hidden gaze from Li Ying.

She looked at the large bed where Li Kaijian and Han Chunmei slept, and under one of the legs of that large bed, a thin wooden board was padded.

Based on Li Ye's observation with his vision that surpassed ordinary people, that wooden board had been moved recently.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 317 =====

With Li Ye's vision, which was far superior to that of an ordinary person, he could see that the wooden board had been moved recently.

(End of chapter)