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By the time dusk settled in, the relatives who had carried food out with them were gradually returning. After setting down their empty bowls, they calmly chatted with Li Yang and Chen Qian for a few words, praising Chen Qian for her beauty and Li Yang for his ability, before leaving one after another.

The youngest uncle was the last to return. By the time he got back, it was already dark. He tossed the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen, then clicked his tongue at Li Yang twice before letting out a quiet laugh, waving his hand, and heading home.

"Tomorrow I'll take your aunts and the others over to Liu Family Village for a look around. Once we get back, this matter should pretty much be settled."

Only after all the relatives had left did Li Yang's mother, Chen Cui, smile and speak to him.

Turning the talk around in the nearby villages was how they could prevent the other side from influencing them.

Making the gossip about her village turn bad was the true counterattack.

Li Yang understood perfectly, so he simply and contentedly held Chen Qian and slept with her in his room.

The next day, his aunt, eldest aunt, second aunt, and auntie came again. Together with Li Yang's mother, they rode a three-wheeled vehicle and set off. The men did not go. After all, women could handle this sort of thing more easily, while men doing it would seem petty.

Thus, by noon, the women returned again. They ate a meal at Li Yang's house, then went home separately after finishing.

"All right, it's fine now. You brat, remember to tell us next time you do something like this."

After returning from the other village, Li Yang's mother still shot him an exasperated look. However, seeing that Chen Qian was still there, she did not say much more. Instead, she chatted with Chen Qian for a while before going off to take her afternoon nap, leaving the young people plenty of space.

Li Yang chuckled twice. Seeing his mother's reaction, he knew the matter had been handled more or less completely, and he was quite satisfied. He comfortably returned to his room, held Chen Qian, and slept through the afternoon. After waking, he took her around the old house in the village a couple of times.

By the time they returned, it was already time for dinner.

"Dad, Mom, tidy up the house over the next few days. I'll take you to live in Heyang. I have a house there."

At the dinner table, Li Yang ate while offering his parents his suggestion. "The two of you can't earn much working away from home, and it's easy to wear yourselves out. Why not rest at home? I'll leave you enough money. Do whatever you feel like doing."

"Don't. Stop right there. Nowhere is as comfortable to live in as this house. It's three stories with a small courtyard, and all the relatives and friends around us are people we know. If we want to eat something, we have our own vegetable garden. When we're bored, we can ride the electric scooter out fishing. If you really want your mother and me to enjoy our retirement, just let us stay here."

His father, Li Jianshu, raised a hand to stop Li Yang before he could finish. "Besides, your maternal grandmother is getting old. Your mother and I live close by, so if anything happens, we can hurry over to check on her."

"We originally planned to build this house for you to use after getting married. Since you don't need it now, it works out perfectly for us to use it instead."

His mother, Chen Cui, joined in as well, her expression full of satisfaction. Clearly, she was delighted to live there.

Li Yang frowned, but after thinking it over, he realized they did have a point, so he shook his head.

"Then let's do this. In a few days, I'll have people properly renovate our house. We'll reorganize the drainage and electrical wiring, have them install air conditioners, heating equipment, water heaters, televisions, and water dispensers in the rooms. We'll renovate the second floor too, set up a tea room for drinking tea, get a sofa for watching television..."

"Once the second floor is renovated, Li Ling and Li Na will be able to live more comfortably when they come home for vacation."

"Dad, you should get your driver's license too. These next few days, come with me to pick out a car. Then, whenever you want to go somewhere, you'll be comfortable even in the dead of winter or the height of summer."

Since they were not going to Heyang, he would make the conditions at their old home as comfortable as possible, bringing everything up to the most satisfactory standard.

As for his parents being lonely, there was his younger sister Li Ling, who was five years younger and seventeen that year, and his youngest sister Li Na, who was eight years younger and fourteen. That was not a problem.

The two sisters were in their second year of high school and their third year of junior high respectively. Because of the age gap, they did not fight with each other. Instead, they listened closely to Li Yang.

After all, both their phones had been bought by Li Yang with his wages...

With two school-going younger sisters around, his parents would not be lonely or bored. It also meant he would not need to make the exhausting round trip between Heyang and the county every vacation as he had previously considered. It was much more convenient.

Li Yang was very pleased with the arrangement. His parents, on the other hand, were reluctant to let him spend so much money, but he did not care in the slightest. That very night, he contacted designers in the city and asked them to come personally the next day for an inspection. He was determined to give their old home a thorough makeover.

When the house at their old home had been simply renovated, Li Yang's father had done all the work himself to save money. Only after everything was finished did he discover a basic mistake: he had failed to separate the toilet's water pipes from the household water pipes!

As a result, they had later been forced to open a door in the kitchen and build a separate dry latrine used only for defecating.

The electrical wiring had not been set up with two-way switches either. After turning on the light by the door, they still had to walk back over to switch it off when they went to bed. They had endured it in the past because they had been short of money.

Now that they had money, naturally everything had to be changed back properly.

The solar water heater had never been supplemented with an electric water heater; they had fans but no air conditioners; the second floor was empty and bare; and there was a lack of useful heating equipment in winter...

Every single thing, one after another, had to be changed now.

After the designers arrived the next day, Li Yang slipped them a personal red envelope containing a thousand yuan. With that incentive, they carefully inspected every inch of the house and offered suggestions, finally providing the renderings and blueprints on the third day.

On the fourth day, Li Yang began contacting workers and told them to start construction according to the plans the following Monday.

His youngest sister, who was in junior high, would be coming home for the weekend. Li Yang wanted to halt the noisier work before she returned to school.

During these days, Li Yang's side was living in comfort, but things were far less pleasant for Liu Lili and her younger brother.

The slander the two of them had spread had initially been fairly successful. Some people had actually believed it.

But once Li Yang placed the facts before everyone, Liu Lili could no longer simply cast aside the truth whenever she pleased. The neighbors around her old home began pointing fingers and whispering about her family, and public opinion changed in an instant.

When Liu Lili was scrolling through her WeChat Moments, she even discovered that a friend from her hometown had posted a screenshot of her chat with Li Yang. Although the names had been blurred, she recognized at a glance that it was her conversation with Li Yang.

Chen Dong: Living long enough to see everything—the legendary little fairy has actually appeared in my town.

Liu Lili went completely blank when she saw the post. Then her expression changed dramatically as she realized that her reputation throughout her hometown circle had inevitably begun to stink. She immediately tried to demand an explanation from Chen Dong.

But when she tried to leave a comment, it failed. She clicked into his profile and discovered that he was no longer her friend—he had actually deleted her.

"Fuck!"

Liu Lili's face twisted as she spat out a vicious curse. But with matters having reached this point, she realized there was nothing she could do. All she could do was swallow her anger and wait for the matter to blow over.

During that time, she would find a man capable of tolerating all her little tempers, marry him, and settle down.

That way, the impact of this matter would be greatly reduced.