Chapter 50

The afternoon had no sun, the sky was somewhat cloudy, the wind had risen, and the rain still seemed to be on the verge of falling.

In the long hot summer season, this time was a rare comfortable interlude.

Li Sanjiang was leaning back in a rattan chair, a cigarette clipped in his left hand, a tea mug in his right. An old-fashioned radio in a wooden box on the wall was broadcasting the news.

Li Zhuoyuan sat beside him, head bowed, eating watermelon.

The news was just reporting on the situation in the Middle East.

Li Sanjiang sat up, put the cigarette butt into a Jianlibao can containing water, then picked up the can and shook it.

“Too grandpa, eat some melon.”

“You eat. Too grandpa’s mouth isn’t greedy.”

“The melon isn’t sweet.”

“Oh, good.”

Li Sanjiang smiled, picked up a piece of melon, still thinking his great-grandson was deliberately tricking him into eating.

The result was that as soon as he took a bite, he immediately cursed:

“Lack of conscience. I told him to pick a good one for me, and he knocked and knocked, actually picking a bad one.

Okay, these remaining ones, take them to Runsheng to eat later.”

“Runsheng brother and the others have some.”

“However much they have, it’s not enough. Before, just Runsheng ate a lot. Now Zhuangzhuang’s appetite has also been brought up.”

“Bingbing brother has been using his brain recently, I think.”

That morning, he had handed a whole book of math problems to Tan Wenbing. Although he couldn’t see, he could feel the air stop for a full half minute.

Tan Wenbing wanted to speak several times but stopped, but in the end, he endured it.

However, that book of math problems, he just threw it there from the beginning and basically didn’t look at it.

It wasn’t until Runsheng started learning instruments, and Li Zhuoyuan also specially took time to teach some basic physiognomy and fortune-telling, that Tan Wenbing finally realized:

Some things you want to evade will always wait for you on the road of life.

He originally thought he had opened a new door, but only after he actually went in did he discover that this door was shared with the college entrance exam.

Before, he would have died before thinking that learning dead body salvage actually required passing physics, chemistry, and math first.

However, lengthy indoctrination of principles was indeed not as good as visiting a dead body salvage family once and eating a meal.

He finally picked up that book of math problems and started doing them.

His academic performance was originally very average, and this set of problems was quite difficult, so he did them very slowly, but at least he didn’t give up again.

This also led to his recent sharp increase in appetite. He was very happy, feeling that he was growing his brain.

“Speaking of which, why are they still fighting over there?” Li Sanjiang picked up a handkerchief beside him and wiped his hands. “I remember when the country was just founded, they were just fighting. At that time, there were still banners hanging in the village with big characters written on them, supporting and aiding them, opposing imperialism.”

“Um, it seems they’ve been fighting for a long time.”

The news broadcast ended and the next program began. A male and female host started chatting about reading books.

The male host gave an example, saying that there was a nation that respected knowledge very much. Adults would smear honey on books, and when children flipped through the books, they would feel that knowledge was sweet.

He also said that respecting knowledge and science was the reason why this nation had wandered for two thousand years and still had vitality.

The female host’s voice was full of emotion, praising that it was indeed the nation recognized by the world as the smartest.

Li Sanjiang used the handle of a palm-leaf fan to scratch his neck and said: “Something’s not right, ah?”

“Ah?”

“Xiao Yuanhou, ah, you say, the smartest nation, how could they still wander for two thousand years?”

“Too grandpa, you are correct.”

At this time, A Li walked up from the stairs, holding a large bowl in her hand.

Smelling the Chinese medicine, Li Zhuoyuan knew that he should drink the medicine.

He took it from A Li’s hand, put it in front of him, picked up a spoon, and started drinking it spoonful by spoonful.

Earlier, when he only had nosebleeds, Aunt Liu gave him a relatively mild medicine. Since he went blind, this medicine’s nature was much stronger, and even the taste was so bitter that it made people numb.

Li Zhuoyuan could only comfort himself while drinking, that good medicine tastes bitter.

Li Sanjiang smiled with narrowed eyes, looking at the girl, nodding non-stop.

After finishing the medicine, Li Zhuoyuan greeted Li Sanjiang, then led A Li back to his room. He walked in first and took out three bottles of milk.

Li Sanjiang had made a large sum of money during this period. The funerals of the three Niu family members all invited him to perform rituals.

Originally, when he heard that the three Niu family siblings had almost all died at the same time, he felt a little uneasy in his heart, always feeling that it was because his last underworld birthday was not handled well.

But first, these three siblings originally had a bad reputation in the village, and second, the family members of the three siblings were most clear about how they died.

Before people died, they thought of killing him to quickly be liberated, but after people died, these younger generations became afraid, afraid of following in their footsteps.

So they all hurried to invite Li Sanjiang to perform rituals, and the red envelopes were also very generous.

Li Sanjiang just went. The ritual matters were on the same day, rushing to three families’ work in one day. This money earned was quite comfortable.

Then, he immediately bought a lot of food and drinks for his great-grandson.

In Li Zhuoyuan’s room, the snacks were in the cabinet, and the beverages were in boxes.

If he hadn’t stopped him in time and said enough, he was afraid that he could compete with Aunt Zhang in the village to open a small store soon.

Li Zhuoyuan didn’t like to drink this milk. It only had a little milk taste; it was mainly saccharin taste.

However, A Li’s first collection box was already full of Jianlibao. Now she had just opened the second box, so she naturally needed to put some new things in it.

The boy and girl each held a beverage and sat on the rattan chair.

They had played chess in the morning, but not in the afternoon.

Li Zhuoyuan bowed his head, facing the empty small desk, looking up at a book.

His eyes still couldn’t see, but he could still look at books. The books he read were all stored in his brain, and now he could flip them out again and ruminate.

A Li should know what the boy was doing. Like before, she stuck to him and sat.

Every time Li Zhuoyuan “flipped a page” in his heart, he would habitually “look” towards her. She would also lift her head and look back. The two had no eye contact.

They just watched like this until dusk, when the sky gradually darkened.

Aunt Liu shouted: “Time for evening meal!”

Li Zhuoyuan stood up, gently stretched lazily. This way of “looking at books” was also quite good. There was no need to worry about insufficient brightness hurting his eyes.

Going downstairs to eat, Liu Yumei opened her mouth and said: “Tomorrow morning, I and A Ting will take A Li out for a trip.”

When Li Sanjiang heard these words, the chopsticks he had just picked up slid directly off.

“We’ll try to be back the night after tomorrow.”

Li Sanjiang picked up the chopsticks, wiped them on his sleeve, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Runsheng said: “It’s okay, I’ll cook.”

Li Sanjiang cursed: “You want us all to eat delicious food, ah? These two days, let’s make do with plain porridge and small pickled vegetables. It’s just right to cleanse our stomachs.”

After the meal, A Li went to her room to take a bath. Liu Yumei beckoned to Li Zhuoyuan.

Li Zhuoyuan didn’t react.

Liu Yumei then reacted and shouted: “Xiao Yuan, come over here.”

“Coming, grandma.”

“Want some tea?”

“Grandma, drinking tea right after eating is not good for your stomach.”

“Just finding an excuse to talk.”

“Then you say it.”

“According to reason, I shouldn’t bring A Li to leave here now, but tomorrow is a special day, and we have to go on this trip.”

“Grandma, this is your family matter, and, A Li should indeed go.”

“You guessed what we are going to do tomorrow?”

“How is that possible?”

“Hehe, if your eyes were still good, I should have brought you along to go for a walk, but I estimate you are probably not in the mood right now either.”

“Grandma, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Alright, that’s how it is. A Ting will decoct the medicine for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow in advance. Remember to take it on time.”

“Um, I will.”

Li Zhuoyuan walked back. When he passed by Runsheng and Tan Wenbing, he stopped.

Runsheng moved a small stool behind Li Zhuoyuan, and Tan Wenbing helped him sit down.

The TV was just playing the TV series “Chen Zhen”. The lead actor was Liang Xiaolong.

Runsheng was folding paper while watching, and Tan Wenbing was doing problems.

Li Zhuoyuan heard the “swish swish” sound of the pen on the scratch paper and couldn’t help but say: “Bingbing brother, wait a while and go to my room to get the desk lamp to use.”

“Okay.” Tan Wenbing nodded, not being polite. Anyway, Xiao Yuan didn’t use it now.

Runsheng liked to move the TV to the outside dam in the evening and watch while working. This was convenient and clean.

There was a pole outside with a light bulb hanging on it. The brightness was enough, but the angle was not good.

Runsheng asked: “A Li and their family are going out to do what tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, there must be something.”

In fact, Li Zhuoyuan probably guessed that Liu Yumei was going to sweep the tombs of A Li’s parents.

He had seen it very early, that Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu were not A Li’s biological parents, but only held a name.

“Xiao Yuan, are you free tomorrow?”

“School hasn’t started yet, which day am I not free?”

Tan Wenbing muttered softly: “You’re free even when school starts.”

“I passed by the town fair during the day when I was delivering folded paper and found someone set up a small table to tell stories. There were quite a few people listening below. I asked, and they’ll be there tomorrow too. Xiao Yuan, I’ll take you to listen tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Li Zhuoyuan didn’t want to dismiss Runsheng’s good intentions. He was also trying to find something fun for himself since he couldn’t see.

Early the next morning, Li Zhuoyuan specially got up very early, but when he went downstairs to the east room, he still touched the lock on the door.

Liu Yumei and the others must have left at midnight.

Leaving early was also so they could come back early.

Li Zhuoyuan simply found a stool and sat on the dam.

“Ah, Xiao Yuan, you’re up so early.” Runsheng rubbed his eyes and went downstairs. “I’ll go make breakfast.”

“Runsheng brother, let’s go to town to eat.”

“Okay, I’ll go put the instant noodles on the stove so grandpa can boil noodles for himself to eat when he gets up.” Runsheng went into the kitchen and then quickly ran out again, patted Tan Wenbing awake, and urged: “Get up and wash, we’re going to town.”

Tan Wenbing yawned. Although he hadn’t had enough sleep, he nodded.

After a simple tidy up, Runsheng rode the tricycle, carrying Li Zhuoyuan and Tan Wenbing towards Shannan town.

There were many tables placed in front of the breakfast shop. The three of them specially chose the table in the outermost corner because Runsheng wanted to smoke.

Li Zhuoyuan ordered three bowls of small wontons and three steamers of small steamed buns.

Originally, Li Zhuoyuan wanted to order more, but Runsheng stopped him.

After the wontons and small buns were served, Li Zhuoyuan asked with concern: “Runsheng brother, is this little enough for you to eat?”

“Xiao Yuan, look, what is this?”

Runsheng stuffed a dry, hard slice into Li Zhuoyuan’s hand. When he touched it, he could feel the roughness and small holes.

“Mantou slice?”

“Wow la la.” Runsheng shook the bag in his hand. “Hehe, I brought a big bag. It’s just right to soak in the wonton soup.”

“Runsheng brother…”

“Xiao Yuan, you eat yours. I’m just tasting something fresh. You don’t know how big my appetite is. How can I eat freely in an outside shop? That would be a waste of money.”

“Give me some too.” Tan Wenbing reached out and grabbed a handful and put it over. He would probably boldly say ‘eat casually, I’ll treat you’. Now he didn’t, because before they weren’t familiar, now they were good friends.

Li Zhuoyuan bit hard into a dry mantou slice, but couldn’t bite through it. Finally, he put it in the bowl to soak.

Beside him, Runsheng was biting with a cracking sound. During this time, he also got another bowl of soup with Tan Wenbing and the boss.

“Hu… comfortable.”

“Burp…”

After the two big eaters finished eating, they patted their bellies. They should have buttoned up their clothes because this sound was very muffled and crisp.

“Yo, still have some, ah? Give me one slice too.”

Li Zhuoyuan’s ear moved slightly. This was the first time he heard the radio-like Nantong dialect.

“Still two slices.” Runsheng picked them up and handed them to him.

“Good, enough.”

That person held a bowl of noodles or wonton and sat at the same table. Then he twisted open a lid, and the air quickly filled with the smell of fermented bean curd, still a little spicy.

Tan Wenbing sniffed his nose and asked: “Why is your fermented bean curd this color?”

“This is my Sichuan-flavored fermented bean curd. I added chili.”

Another mouthful of the radio-like Sichuan dialect.

“Eh, you’re the one who told stories on the stage yesterday.” Runsheng patted his forehead. “You weren’t wearing that long robe, I didn’t even recognize you.”

“Hehe, are you here to listen to storytelling today, ah?”

“That might not be the case, we came specifically.”

“Yo, then you’re honored guests. It’s still early now. If you’re willing to give me a cup of tea, I’ll start telling stories after I finish breakfast.”

“Okay, ah.” Li Zhuoyuan agreed.

After that person finished breakfast, he said: “Please.”

The three of them followed him to the table under the stage. The stage was very rough, just a few cabinets set up as a small stage, with two sails hanging behind it.

Runsheng went to the small shop in the middle to buy a bottle of mineral water. When he came back, he saw Li Zhuoyuan taking out money and handing it to the storyteller. The storyteller smiled and accepted it.

Runsheng then realized that asking for a cup of tea meant giving a small tip, not stupidly buying a bottle of water.

This money was actually not much, just the price of two cans of Jianlibao.

The storyteller didn’t go on stage, but sat on a wooden bench he had set up below, facing Li Zhuoyuan and the three of them.

He first did a simple opening, introducing himself as a wanderer making a living in the Jianghu, surname Yu, given name Shu, coming to this noble place for the first time to make friends, increase knowledge, and earn a meal.

Next, he started telling stories, telling about Qin Wang Li Shimin’s great victory over Dou Jiande in front of Hulao Pass.

Because the audience was three young people, he didn’t use Nantong dialect but Mandarin. The story was told with twists and turns, wonderful, and also included a segment of ventriloquism.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbing listened with great fascination, clapping their hands repeatedly.

Li Zhuoyuan clapped along while being surprised in his heart. What kind of master from which road had come out to experience life in the Jianghu?

This person was clearly not local, yet he could immediately learn the local dialect in a new place, and his ventriloquism was truly solid.

Although the market for traditional culture was experiencing a serious decline and low point now, how could such a person be left to wander the Jianghu?

The climax of the story was Li Shimin leading the Xuanjia Army repeatedly impacting Dou Jiande’s central army, ending with Li Shimin’s victorious return to court and being enfeoffed as Tiance General.

The story was wonderful, the performance was exquisite, and in the hot summer, it was like eating a large piece of ice-cold sweet watermelon, a wave of crispness from head to toe.

Although he couldn’t see, it allowed his ears to truly enjoy themselves, and it was a face-to-face, small exclusive experience. This money was well spent.

Li Zhuoyuan reached into his pocket again.

“Don’t, the tea money has been given. It’s all money earned from hard work. How can I accept your reward again? Besides, haven’t you already rewarded me with two mantou slices?”

“You told it really well.” Li Zhuoyuan said sincerely.

“Overpraising. You, child, your eyes aren’t a big problem, right?”

“They’ll get better.” “That’s good. What’s your name?”

“Li Zhuoyuan.”

“Li Zhuoyuan, Li Zhuoyuan, it’s always surname Li, right?”

“Otherwise what?”

Tan Wenbing still hadn’t had enough and said: “Can you tell another segment, ah?”

“I can’t tell anymore. I need to save it for the official performance at noon.”

Tan Wenbing nodded: “Then we’ll wait.”

“Ai, that might not be necessary. The segment at noon is also this one, just with some added water, talking about Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng in the Li Tang court, and then chatting about Wang Shichong in Luoyang city. It’s okay if you don’t listen.”

“That’s really a pity. What about in the evening, then?”

“It’s the same segment, with more water.”

Tan Wenbing: “……”

“When you’re out making a living, you only have so much in your belly. How can you take it all out in one gulp? Besides, it’s rare for someone here to listen to several shows in a day. If they have this much free time, they generally don’t have money either.”

Li Zhuoyuan asked curiously: “Master Yu, where are you from?”

“Child, are you asking about my hometown?”

“Um.”

“It’s hard to say where my hometown is. My dad and mom left early. I’ve been wandering along the Yangtze River since I was a child, from the mountain city to Jingchu and then to this estuary, back and forth all year round.

According to this, my hometown should be on this river.”

A smile appeared on Li Zhuoyuan’s face, as if he had heard a very interesting answer, but his heart silently sank because he had once heard a similar answer from Liu Yumei.

“It’s still early. Then I’ll tell you another scary little story.”

“Okay, ah, okay, ah.” Runsheng clapped his hands.

“I like to listen to this.” Tan Wenbing excitedly clenched his fists.

Yu Shu started telling the story.

As soon as he started, Li Zhuoyuan realized something was wrong. The background was in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The protagonist was a scholar who took a boat to the capital for the imperial examination. The boat overturned and he fell into the water and was saved by a commoner woman. The scholar admired her and called her Lady Bai.

Before the other person could continue telling the story, Li Zhuoyuan covered his eyes and gasped: “Runsheng brother, Bingbing brother, my eyes hurt so much. Take me back to drink medicine.”

If it were other matters, the two of them would definitely not leave now, but when it involved Xiao Yuan’s eyes, they immediately didn’t dare to delay. After saying goodbye to Yu Shu, they immediately carried Xiao Yuan onto the tricycle and rushed home.

On the way back, facing Runsheng and Tan Wenbing’s concerned questions, Li Zhuoyuan chose to express his worries.

“Brother, my eyes don’t hurt. I’m suspicious of that person’s identity.”

He had already told the story up to Lady Bai. If he continued, the dead body salvage would definitely appear, and then Runsheng and Tan Wenbing’s faces would change, which would be noticed by the other person.

This was also the reason why Li Zhuoyuan pretended to have eye pain and left in advance.

After listening to Li Zhuoyuan’s narration, Runsheng, who was riding the bike, let out a sigh: “This is meeting a fellow practitioner.”

Tan Wenbing was stunned for a while and asked doubtfully: “Are all the people in our line so talented, ah?”

Runsheng replied: “You’re also talented, you can fold paper.”

Tan Wenbing rolled his eyes: “Thank you, oh.”

Although Runsheng and Tan Wenbing were very surprised, they were not scared. One reason was that they hadn’t experienced the matter of Lady Bai. The other reason was that they were not clear about Liu Yumei’s true identity.

The former involved Liangliang brother’s personal privacy, and the latter involved the secret of the Qin and Liu families. Li Zhuoyuan was not convenient to say it arbitrarily.

After returning home, they found that too grandpa was not there. The instant noodles on the stove were instead eaten, so he must have gone out.

The three of them continued to do their respective things. Li Zhuoyuan continued to “look at books”, Runsheng watched TV, and Bingbing did problems.

At lunchtime, too grandpa still hadn’t come back, so Runsheng boiled porridge.

At dinnertime, too grandpa still hadn’t come back, so Runsheng boiled porridge again.

Although eating porridge was also quite good, it was difficult to go from luxury to frugality. On the days Aunt Liu wasn’t there, everyone’s quality of life seriously dropped.

Moreover, without Aunt Liu’s voice calling out “early, middle, evening” for meals, Li Zhuoyuan felt that his biological clock was somewhat disordered.

When serving porridge in the evening, Tan Wenbing said suspiciously: “Hey, it was Grandpa Li who suggested drinking porridge, and it’s also Grandpa Li who didn’t come back and went outside to feast.”

Too grandpa wasn’t home, but everyone wasn’t too worried because ordinarily Li Sanjiang was often invited out to eat and drink.

In the quiet summer night, Runsheng and Tan Wenbing continued to watch “Chen Zhen”.

Li Zhuoyuan sat beside them, doing his pre-sleep eye exercises. When he got to pressing his temples and scraping his eye sockets,

From the distant village road, the sound of cars and motorcycles came.

Tan Wenbing was like being electric shocked. He flipped over from the front of the TV to the small desk where he put his homework, and with a “pa” sound, he turned on the desk lamp and immediately switched to a deep thinking, problem-solving appearance.

Runsheng turned his head, glanced at him, and asked: “What’s wrong with you?”

Li Zhuoyuan guessed: “Bingbing brother, Uncle Tan is here?”

“Um!”

He recognized his dad’s motorcycle sound. Since he was a child secretly watching TV at home, as soon as he heard this sound, he would immediately turn off the TV and do his homework.

However, he waited and waited, but didn’t see the motorcycle drive over, let alone see anyone walk up the dam.

Runsheng asked doubtfully: “Your dad doesn’t want you anymore, ah?”

“Your dad just doesn’t want you.”

“My dad originally just didn’t want me.”

“Fuck, you’re cheating.”

Paused for a moment,

Tan Wenbing added: “Sorry.”

Runsheng laughed: “Hehehe.”

Tan Wenbing stood up: “My dad didn’t come for me, Xiao Yuan, Runsheng, want to go see, ah? Maybe something happened in the village again.”

Runsheng shook his head: “Not going. After the ad, the wonderful part will continue immediately.”

“I’ll go with you, ah, Bingbing brother.”

“Okay, let’s go, Xiao Yuan.”

Tan Wenbing led Li Zhuoyuan out. When they passed by Aunt Zhang’s small store, Tan Wenbing asked where the cars and motorcycles that had passed by earlier went.

Aunt Zhang was cracking melon seeds. She glanced towards the northwest and said: “They went towards Old Man Beard’s house.”

On the way to Old Man Beard’s house, Tan Wenbing asked somewhat worriedly: “Xiao Yuan brother, you say, what did my dad and the others go there to do? Is it possible that the matter has been discovered?”

“I don’t know.” Li Zhuoyuan shook his head.

If the matter was exposed, it should also be the identity of that dead water monkey in the car that was exposed.

Several police cars and motorcycles were parked outside Old Man Beard’s house. The police officers were shining flashlights.

But what could they shine out now? The fish pond had already been filled, and the large piece of land above it was also all planted with saplings.

“Eh, Xiao Yuan brother, I see Grandpa Li. He’s on the dam.”

“My too grandpa is not in trouble, right?”

“Not in trouble, not handcuffed. Grandpa Li is still smoking, ah.”

“Bingbing? Is that Bingbing, ah?”

“It’s me, Uncle Zhao.”

“Heh, how are you here, ah?”

“My relative’s house is here. I’m staying at his house to play.”

“Okay, I’ll go call your dad.”

“Uncle Zhao, please tell my dad that Xiao Yuan and I came together.”

“Oh.”

After a while, Tan Yunlong walked over.

“Dad!” Tan Wenbing waved his hand enthusiastically.

“Go aside.” Tan Yunlong ignored his son and came to Li Zhuoyuan, saying quietly: “People from above came. This morning, our police station went to pick up your too grandpa. We ate together at noon. In the afternoon, we went to several places, Xiting town, Shigang, all places where your too grandpa salvaged corpses.”

“Uncle, what kind of people are they, ah?”

“I’m not clear about that, but it shouldn’t be related to criminal investigation.”

“Does my too grandpa have any problems, ah?”

“No problem, just came to understand the situation, act as a guide, and talk about what happened. This house and the land around here are all under your too grandpa’s name, right?”

“Um.”

“Don’t worry, there’s no big deal, it’ll be over soon.”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

“Thank what, thank what. It’s not a case, and it doesn’t involve any confidentiality regulations.”

A familiar voice came from not far away: “Alright, it’s been a hard day for everyone to come along.”

Immediately, Li Zhuoyuan heard the dialogue between his too grandpa and that person: “Big grandpa, you’ve really had a hard day today.”

“Should, should, it’s cooperation.”

“You go back and rest early.”

“You too, hehe.”

This voice was Yu Shu.

“Yo, little friend, why are you here too?” Yu Shu discovered Li Zhuoyuan.

Li Zhuoyuan counter-asked: “Eh, storyteller mister, how come you are here, ah?”

“Not many people came to listen to the noon session, so I packed up and came out to do some part-time work.”

Yu Shu said as he squatted down in front of Li Zhuoyuan and reached out to touch Li Zhuoyuan’s head:

“Little friend, is your home here, ah?”

Li Sanjiang finished smoking his cigarette and walked over. Seeing this scene, he immediately said: “This is my great-grandson, hehe, this building will be his later.”

“Your great-grandson?” Yu Shu showed great surprise, “Really?”

“Of course, I’ll write his name on everything.”

“Oh, is that so. A quite smart child, I like him very much.”

“That may not be the case. My Xiao Yuanhou is smart, ah.”

“Alright, Old Man Li, I’m leaving. If there’s a chance later, I’ll invite you for a drink.”

“Good to say, good to say.”

Tan Yunlong took the initiative to walk towards Yu Shu and asked: “Do you still have arrangements for tomorrow, ah?”

“No, there’s nothing going on here, it’s very clean. I’ll leave tomorrow. It’s been hard on you.”

“I’m just following orders.”

The police on Old Man Beard’s side had already dispersed. Li Sanjiang brought the two people back home. On the way, Li Sanjiang kept complaining about the inexplicable day. In the morning, he was invited to the police station by a police car. In the afternoon, he went to several places one after another, and finally came to the village.

However, it wasn’t completely without harvest. The person at the end also stuffed him a pack of cigarettes.

Li Zhuoyuan listened while thinking about the identity of that storyteller mister. Obviously, storytelling was his part-time job. It was quite rare to be able to play the part-time job to that level.

But, taking a step back, since the other person could do things with the police, he was definitely not a bad person.

Here, there was also no need to worry.

Back on the home dam, Runsheng was still folding paper while watching TV.

Li Sanjiang walked over and tapped his head. Runsheng just smiled.

Tan Wenbing sat down, skillfully picked up a rattan and started folding paper, while regretfully saying: “I should have brought my homework book with me.”

Li Zhuoyuan was about to go upstairs, but his ear moved, and he said softly: “Bingbing brother, hurry back and do your homework.”

“Um?”

He still made a sound of doubt in his mouth, but his body habit threw down the work in his hand. He flipped over again, sat in front of the small book table, picked up a pen, and pretended to think.

Soon, Tan Yunlong walked up the dam.

Tan Wenbing heard the familiar sound of footsteps and silently hooked up the corner of his mouth.

Who knew that Tan Yunlong walked over, patted the back of his head, and cursed: “You’re fooling ghosts, ah!”

Tan Wenbing was very wronged. He thought: Dad, I’m studying so hard, why do you still misunderstand me?

“Pa!”

The next moment, Tan Yunlong pressed the switch, and the desk lamp lit up.

Tan Wenbing: “……”

Runsheng moved the TV outside to watch. The TV light was enough for him to work.

Tan Wenbing was used to doing his homework next to Runsheng, but because Xiao Yuan lent him the desk lamp, he no longer turned on the light bulb on the pole above.

So, in his dad’s view, he was doing homework in almost complete darkness.

Tan Yunlong carried a bag of things, put it down. It was some folk medicine that his wife had specially made.

He carefully selected it; there was no poison.

“Xiao Yuan, I just forgot to give you these. Take a look and eat some.”

“Um, thank you, Uncle Tan. My eyes will be better soon. I’ll still need to ask Uncle Tan to take me to register for school.”

“That’s a given. We’ll go when your eyes are better. The school over there also said that you can go anytime you want, it depends on your mood.”

“Um, okay, Uncle Tan.”

Tan Yunlong turned around. Before leaving, he still stopped in front of his son, picked up the homework book on the small book table, opened it, and it was densely written with the process of solving problems.

“Dad, these are problems that Xiao Yuan gave me.”

“Um, study hard.” Tan Yunlong put down the book, touched his son’s head, and left.

Runsheng would watch TV until he finished work every evening.

When the color bar screen appeared on the TV, he turned off the TV and turned his head to see that Tan Wenbing was actually still doing problems.

“You’re not sleeping yet?”

“You sleep first, I’ll do some more.”

“Oh.”

Runsheng washed up and went to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, he found that there was no one at the round table next door. He turned his head and saw that Tan Wenbing was sleeping soundly on the small book table, still holding a pen in his hand.

Runsheng walked to the small dog cage and touched its head.

The small black dog opened its eyes, looked at him, and continued to flip over and sleep.

Runsheng muttered: “Useless, ah.”

After Li Zhuoyuan woke up, except for going downstairs to eat porridge, he sat on the second-floor balcony for the rest of the time.

He had been continuously “looking” at “Liu Clan Qi Observation Art” and “Qin Clan View Jiaolong Method” for several days. He felt that in the premise that his eyes couldn’t see, it was possible to have a new understanding of Fengshui techniques.

Facts proved that he thought too much.

Meditating these days, he understood two things: one was that those “blind” image fortune-telling were generally unreliable; two was that he must protect his eyes well.

Tonight, Li Zhuoyuan waited outside for a long time, but Liu Yumei and the others still hadn’t come back.

Hearing the sound of Runsheng brother’s TV giving off a no-station “beep”, Li Zhuoyuan also walked into the room, did an eye exercise, and lay down to sleep.

He woke up from a sleep, and again habitually opened his eyes and tilted his head to look.

He saw a girl in a white skirt with flowers on her head, sitting there very gracefully.

The first reaction was that she was still so beautiful.

Then it was:

Oh,

My eyes are good.