Chapter 75 (End of this volume)

The early morning wind, stealthily arriving, carries a touch of summer’s cool freshness.

As Li Zhuiyuan stood by the water tank on the second floor brushing his teeth, he saw Tan Wenbin, dressed in a vest and sports shorts, running down the dam with high, deliberate strides, beginning his morning run for the day.

Tan Wenbin had maintained this habit for half a year now.

People truly are animals with infinite potential.

A year ago, Tan Wenbin was still a rebellious young man who would steal his mother’s money to buy game consoles, hide adult comic books in his textbooks, keep explicit magazines under his bed, and liked to pretend to be an adult by wearing a cigarette behind his ear.

Now, he was a youth who studied diligently during the day, focused on practicing his skills in the evening, and considered his forty-minute morning run a way to clear his mind and enjoy self-discipline.

Because of his illness, Li Zhuiyuan sometimes felt a sense of trance and unreality when looking at himself in the mirror. If Tan Wenbin could see his year-ago self in a mirror, he would probably just stubbornly say that the person inside must be a illegitimate child left behind by his dad during his wild youth.

And he would add:

“Look at that twisted, split-open face, his blood is indeed impure.”

After washing his face, he returned to his room.

A Li was standing in front of the drawing table, drawing.

The girl was drawing a landscape, and the landscape not only had a grand atmosphere but also featured a large dam.

The walls of this room were covered with paintings. There were four or five versions of the large bridge crossing the river to Shanghai.

In one of these versions, cars and crowds flowed like water and dragons on the bridge above the river, while the area under the river in Bai Family Town was thick with ghostly energy, a perfect combination of reality and nothingness.

At the other end of the drawing table was the boy’s desk, piled with professional books. Below it were several cardboard boxes, all containing data, plans, and design drawings.

These were just the ones currently being used. Many others had already been read and researched and were sent by Li Zhuiyuan to the eastern room to enrich A Li’s collection boxes.

Xue Liangliang had been basically Luo Gong’s secretary for the past half year, and Luo Gong had been in the project execution phase for this entire period, often needing to travel to various places to attend review meetings and report meetings.

Whenever he was near Nantong, Xue Liangliang would take a day or half a day off from Luo Gong under the guise of delivering study materials to his junior brother.

Tan Wenbin’s pager was only used to receive messages from two people: his father, Tan Yunlong, and Xue Liangliang.

Every time Liangliang Ge called Tan Wenbin, he would leave the items by the Yangtze River. Runsheng would have to ride the tricycle a long way to pick them up, and at the same time, he would also bring him a clean change of clothes.

In this way, Xue Liangliang’s visits to Nantong became more frequent, and Li Zhuiyuan’s collection of materials grew.

In addition, Luo Gong would also occasionally mail journals, magazines, and some relatively specialized yet non-confidential data files to Li Zhuiyuan.

At the same time, he would also pose questions for the boy, asking him to come up with his own designs. For convenience, he would conduct multiple question-and-answer sessions simultaneously, then mail them all together to Li Zhuiyuan, who would then review them and reply in one go.

The two sides were truly like competitors, one desperately “absorbing,” and the other desperately “forcing growth.”

Li Zhuiyuan had reason to suspect that his advanced preview of “university professional courses” here had gone a bit beyond the scope.

No matter how smart a genius is, to achieve something in a certain field, they cannot avoid the step of deep cultivation. In the past half year, Li Zhuiyuan had indeed spent too much time and energy on the matter of “studying.”

But this was also unavoidable. As long as the peach blossom forest below was not dead, he couldn’t do much else in the village.

Now, as long as it was a normal, ordinary drowned corpse, Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Yin Meng would all rush to salvage it. Even Grand Great Grandpa had become a hands-off boss.

As for those kinds of corpses that could come ashore and walk by themselves, it had truly been a long time since he had seen one. If he hadn’t experienced it personally, he would have to suspect that it was not real and just an illusion from when he was mentally abnormal.

When she was tired of drawing, Li Zhuiyuan would stand up and walk to the girl’s drawing table. The girl would also leave the drawing table and come to his desk.

Li Zhuiyuan would pick up a drawing pen and use drawing as a form of relaxation. A Li would then look through the design drawings.

The girl could understand them, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to draw either.

Moreover, she seemed to be born with a certain special sense that allowed her to turn cold data and drawings into dynamic water flows within a painting.

Li Zhuiyuan had also created a painting with A Li as the prototype, but the boy had not been able to draw A Li from the front, so he only depicted her back.

In the painting, the girl stood on a mountaintop, with a surging river in front and a crowd of ancient common people below and behind her.

This composition was very suitable for appearing in a water burial mural.

This counted as the boy’s self-entertainment during his boring studies. The next day when he woke up, a boy’s back had been added next to the girl in this painting.

The two people were still holding hands.

The style of the painting suddenly became like a kindergarten wall painting again.

In fact, the two were still children in the end, no different in nature from children of the same age playing in the mud in the village, it was just that their mud looked a little more advanced.

Li Zhuiyuan had already deciphered the “Qi Shi Chunqiu.” The difficulty of deciphering this book increased the further he went, and it took him longer. Li Zhuiyuan later discovered that this book should have a code book.

Otherwise, even with his deduction and calculation abilities, it would take so much effort. For a normal Qi family member, not to mention learning it, just understanding the words on it would require painstaking research for half a lifetime, which was obviously impossible.

And the code book should be a foundational item passed down by the ancestors of the Qi family, similar to the Liu family’s “Liu Shi Wang Qi Jue.”

Because he lacked this item, Li Zhuiyuan could only use the most foolish method of hard deciphering.

This book itself was a mechanism kaleidoscope. After deciphering it, it recorded mechanisms and space techniques, which were the skills that the ancestors of the Qi family relied on for their livelihood. Even within the clan, it was indeed necessary to keep it secret and only pass it down on a small scale, because this involved the secrets of who knows how many tombs. Once leaked, it would certainly incur the hatred of ancient authorities.

The book was a good book, but for the current Li Zhuiyuan, it was a bit like a chicken rib, something with little practical use. His major was water conservancy engineering, and he didn’t need to design any “security” or “anti-theft” measures, because there were troops near large water conservancy projects.

Compared to the ancient fear of tomb robbers, now they needed to worry about defense against missiles from the air.

However, although it was a chicken rib now, it would definitely be useful later. The old professors in the family courtyard had helped him decipher the coordinates on the bamboo slips. Although three places were still vague, the approximate locations had all been confirmed.

From the Northeast to Yunnan-Guizhou, from grasslands to the Gobi, from the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains to Qiandao Lake, from basins to plateaus, and within rivers, and even within the sea.

The geographical span of the coordinates was so large that Li Zhuiyuan felt incredible looking at the map. But the masked man born in the Spring and Autumn Period had carried these bamboo slips with him even after becoming a corpse, so they must have their secrets.

Moreover, in the bamboo slip coordinates, there was one place that was unexpectedly very close to the “Jian 572 Civil Defense Engineering Investigation Report.” There was a very high probability that it was the same place.

That is to say, the white moonlight in Luo Gong’s heart was also one of the nine major coordinates recorded on the bamboo slips.

This couldn’t help but make Li Zhuiyuan suspect that the three files Li Lan had thrown to him in the capital half a year ago, which corresponded to the area within the sea, Jian, and Fengdu respectively, also had some deeper meaning.

Li Lan, who was already completely ill and considered herself to have shed human nature, yet still continued her work, what kind of purpose did she harbor?

Li Zhuiyuan found it very difficult to empathize with her thoughts, and he didn’t dare to try to empathize, but looking at it from the side, there must be something at a deeper level that attracted Li Lan to pursue it.

Without fail, the start of every day was still Aunt Liu’s call:

“Time for breakfast!”

Li Zhuiyuan led A Li downstairs by the hand. A small blackboard hung by the living room door on the first floor. It was originally used to temporarily record accounts, such as how many tables and chairs the eastern family needed or how many paper figures the western family needed. Most of the time, it was idle.

But three months ago, Li Sanjiang solemnly wiped the blackboard carefully with water, picked up the chalk, and wrote on it very seriously — “Remaining 100 days.”

After being told that the “One” was written incorrectly, Grand Great Grandpa simply erased it and changed it to “100 days,” and then continued to decrease it with Arabic numerals.

This board was of course not written for his great-grandson to see, after all, the great-grandson had already been admitted in advance, and the relevant certificate was even offered by Li Sanjiang under the image of the old man (Confucius) in the small compartment.

Li Sanjiang was writing this for Zhuangzhuang.

Today, the number newly written on the blackboard was “3.”

Tan Wenbin came back from his morning run and quickly bathed and changed into a clean set of clothes by the well.

It had to be said that even though the skill of salvaging corpses had only given him a strong and healthy body, that was compared to a freak like Runsheng.

He came from a police family, and his body genes were originally good. Plus, while exercising diligently, he also ate a lot. When he was shirtless, he was no longer a white-skinned weakling but visibly strong.

Yin Meng’s coffin craftsmanship was excellent, and sleeping inside was truly warm in winter and cool in summer.

Every evening, Tan Wenbin and Runsheng slept in coffins, one belonging to Li Sanjiang and the other to Great Grandpa Shan.

The reason Great Grandpa Shan’s coffin was still here was because Li Sanjiang was worried that if he sent it home, Shan Pao would sell the coffin for money.

Anyway, when Shan Pao kicked the bucket someday, letting Runsheng send the coffin over again would still be in time.

Runsheng also deeply agreed with this.

“Why are you still taking a holiday tomorrow?” Li Sanjiang was a little puzzled as he smoked. “The college entrance examination is almost here.”

Tan Wenbin said: “Grand Great Grandpa, our school is not a college entrance examination test center. We have to go to a test center school. They just gave us two days off to let everyone prepare. We’ll go to the test center school collectively the day before the exam and stay in their dormitory.”

Li Sanjiang asked: “Can you bring food?”

“Yes, if you don’t stay in the test center dormitory, you can even go home.”

“That’s good then.” Li Sanjiang flicked the cigarette ash. “I’ll have Ting Hou prepare rice cakes and zongzi that day. I’ll bring them to you on the morning of the college entrance examination.”

“Heh heh.” Tan Wenbin didn’t refuse, just smiled.

“Take the exam well!” Li Sanjiang patted Zhuangzhuang’s shoulder. “Study well, really, study well.”

“Don’t worry, Grand Great Grandpa, I’m fine. I’ll fill in your address for the admission notice. After you’ve seen it, Grand Great Grandpa, I’ll take it home for my parents to see.”

“Haha!” Li Sanjiang laughed happily. “Zhuangzhuang is good, he didn’t eat all this food from Grand Great Grandpa for nothing.”

After finishing breakfast, Runsheng rode out the tricycle, and Li Zhuiyuan and A Li got on.

The school was holding the final mobilization assembly for the college entrance examination today. It should be a requirement from the school, so the boy had to show his face today.

When they arrived at the school, the banners on the school gate and the teaching building behind it that read “Warmly congratulate our school’s Li Zhuiyuan on winning the first prize in the National Mathematics Competition” were still new, and the earlier “City Prize” and “Provincial Prize” ones also looked very bright.

Because the school would indeed regularly replace the banners.

“Xiao Yuan, A Li and I will wait for you nearby.” Runsheng pointed to a small alley in the distance.

“Okay.” Li Zhuiyuan responded and then looked at A Li, who was still sitting on the tricycle. “We’ll go shopping later. After we’ve finished shopping, we’ll go eat fried skewers.”

The girl nodded.

They said it was a holiday tomorrow, but after the morning assembly, it was actually just self-study. Students could go home directly to prepare, and Tan Wenbin would also come out.

Li Zhuiyuan walked into the school with a copy of “Wei Zhengdao” in his hand. Last semester, he would still come back to take the monthly exams and midterms. This semester… it was his first time stepping through the school gate.

The school didn’t urge him to come to school or take exams either, they would just indirectly sound out Li Zhuiyuan’s “breathing” through Tan Wenbin.

The boy went straight to the principal’s office, attracting quite a few teachers to follow him along the way. If he could be seen every day, it wouldn’t be surprising, but this was the boy’s first appearance after winning the National Mathematics Competition.

Sun Qing must have prepared early. She was unexpectedly not in her own classroom but waiting here.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan coming, she went up and took the boy’s hand, smiling and saying: “Let your homeroom teacher take a look. Oh my, it’s been a long time. Our Zhuiyuan has really grown taller.”

The homeroom teacher calling herself “homeroom teacher” was already very awkward. Saying “it’s been a long time” to her own class student was even stranger.

But the surrounding teachers’ gazes were all envious and admiring, and no one cared about this language error.

Putting themselves in her shoes, if they could get the title of homeroom teacher of a top college entrance examination student for free, they would be even more out of control than Sun Qing.

Later, when writing about this in their resume, the person looking at the resume would know that the top student in their class didn’t come to class at all.

Sun Qing led Li Zhuiyuan to the principal’s office. Inside were the head teacher, Teacher Su… that is, all of Li Zhuiyuan’s subject teachers.

There was also a camera set up in the office.

Next, Li Zhuiyuan stood in the most central position, maintained a smile, and then various combinations of arrangements kept changing behind him.

After the shooting was finished, Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but rub his cheeks. Even he, who was very good at acting, felt a little sore at this point.

Then, Wu Xinhan brought the boy to the school auditorium.

Facing the long table, in the middle position was Li Zhuiyuan, with the principal and vice principal sitting on either side of the boy.

The high school students were gradually entering the venue. Li Zhuiyuan noticed that many of them were wearing bright yellow talismans on their bodies. These were the lucky talismans from the “Zhuiyuan Secret Scroll.”

The boy initially failed at drawing talismans and racked his brain thinking about what use this talisman could have. He really didn’t expect it could have this effect.

Especially the group of boys sitting in the first two rows, they simply unfolded the talismans and stuck them on their foreheads, in order to absorb more of the child prodigy’s luck at this moment.

This scene looked like two rows of straight, dead bodies sitting in front.

When it came to their interests, young people’s superstition could make old people feel that it was simply too feudal and superstitious.

Li Zhuiyuan saw Tan Wenbin making faces at him from below, and then Zhou Yunyun walked over. The boy sitting next to Tan Wenbin very consciously gave way.

The principal and several teacher representatives began to speak.

Unlike the hundred-day oath master assembly, they had to encourage fighting spirit and would even spend money to invite “speech experts” from outside the school to specially boost morale.

This assembly mainly focused on de-stressing, telling students that the college entrance examination was not the only path in life. At the same time, each subject teacher also reminded them of the points to pay attention to during the exam.

Wu Xinhan turned his head and asked the boy in a low voice: “Xiao Yuan, do you want to say a few words?”

Li Zhuiyuan’s final speech was a very brief joke:

“Everyone remember to write ‘Solution’ first when solving problems.”

There was a collective stunned silence below at first, then a collective burst of laughter, followed by enthusiastic applause. Many people waved the “Zhuiyuan Secret Scroll” and talismans.

After the assembly ended, Li Zhuiyuan, accompanied by Wu Xinhan and other leaders and teachers, walked towards the school gate.

The boy could feel the sadness from the surroundings, because everyone knew very well that after leaving the campus this time, it would be very difficult to see each other again.

The boy was quite grateful for the school’s preferential treatment towards him, so he stopped at the edge of the flower bed at the school gate.

Ignoring the sign that read “No entering the flower bed,” the boy walked in, bent down under the ginkgo tree, and picked up several leaves, clipping them inside a book.

This was also the purpose for which he had specially brought the book this morning.

Wu Xinhan took off his glasses and cried.

The teaching teachers were also all red-eyed.

Other teachers and leaders, seeing the principal cry, also silently cooperated by wiping the corners of their eyes.

Although there wasn’t that deep emotion or that strong expression, it wasn’t completely false either.

Because sometimes tears fall just to leave some wet traces in the book of life, making it convenient to recall.

The senior year classroom was already in chaos.

The students tore up paper and books, and then sprinkled them downstairs.

The junior high school students downstairs and in the opposite building then lay on the balconies watching their senior high school seniors going crazy, with a mixture of envy and anticipation.

The teachers rarely came to maintain order, and the school cleaning aunt was also happily picking up sacks and starting to pack things to sell as waste.

Tan Wenbin rested his head on his hands, lifted his feet onto the desk, and watched the shouting classmates around him in a half-lying posture.

If he hadn’t met Xiao Yuan Ge, if he hadn’t experienced those things half a year ago, he, who was still the left protector, would probably be the one leading the charge and being the most boisterous.

When other people made noise, they at least retained some sobriety. He himself would probably tear up even his textbooks and become a complete idiot who didn’t even have a proper book to look at in the last two days.

Just now, he just felt that his classmates were really cute. He could enjoy this atmosphere, but he was too lazy to move and join in.

With the help of Xiao Yuan Ge, his scores in several mock exams were very stable, his average rank was in the front row of the class, and for the upcoming college entrance examination, he just treated it as a process that was destined to happen, and there was nothing to be nervous about.

Zhou Yunyun sat in Li Zhuiyuan’s original seat. The surrounding environment was noisy, and everyone’s voices were drowned out.

The female class monitor mustered her courage and said something in Tan Wenbin’s ear:

“Tan Wenbin, I like you.”

When Tan Wenbin heard this, his first reaction was to pretend not to hear.

But then he thought this wasn’t appropriate, so he turned his head to look at Zhou Yunyun. The girl didn’t shy away, she was very frank.

Tan Wenbin instinctively wanted to nonchalantly reach out and hook the class monitor’s chin, and then imitate a High Yanei tone:

“Come on, girl, give grandpa a smile.”

But in the end, the boy only extended an arm and lightly patted the class monitor’s back in a half-hug.

Quite a few classmates nearby saw this scene, but no one booed, because it was too pure, as pure as an advance farewell to classmates.

“Good luck, let’s all get into a good university!”

He neither agreed nor refused, and it was more like a blessing than a promise.

Zhou Yunyun also generously hugged him back. The tips of their noses briefly smelled each other’s scent.

Youth, when spoken out, there is no regret.

Immediately, Tan Wenbin picked up his backpack, elegantly flipped over the desk, first went to an empty desk to collect the flower pot into his backpack, and then shouted and squeezed his way out of the crowd.

After indulging, there was inevitably some emotional low.

When they finished wandering the small commodity street with Xiao Yuan Ge and sat down to eat fried skewers, Tan Wenbin held a skewer and self-tortured the remaining two pieces of fried tofu on the plate.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a piece of paper and gently wiped the sauce from the corner of A Li’s mouth.

Then he turned his head to look at Tan Wenbin and deliberately asked: “Confessed to the class monitor and got rejected?”

Tan Wenbin: “Yeah.”

Runsheng glanced at Binbin, didn’t say anything, lowered his head and took a bite of the fragrant, and continued to eat his chicken skewer.

This fried skewer shop was at the corner of the street, and their table was in the quietest spot. Only here could A Li sit down quietly and eat something.

Li Zhuiyuan said: “Since you made the choice yourself, it’s good as long as you don’t regret it.”

“No regrets.” Tan Wenbin took a sip of soda, burped, and said: “Xiao Yuan Ge, our future is the dead bodies in the vast ocean. Only like this, will I not let down the biceps I’ve worked so hard to build!”

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze fell on Tan Wenbin’s side, on the obviously overly large backpack. Inside was the flower pot that had always been placed on Zheng Haiyang’s desk.

Some things, Binbin would never forget.

This was also the place Li Zhuiyuan admired Tan Wenbin the most. After all, lacking emotion as he was, he could even cut off his own mother.

Just then, a few whistling guys reached out and held down two young students at the next table, saying they were short on cash recently and wanted to borrow some money to spend.

Tan Wenbin picked up the plate with sauce from in front of him and directly poured it onto the head of one of them.

The other person just turned around, and Tan Wenbin’s foot kicked the other person’s heart and stomach, kicking him to the ground, and then followed up with another kick, sending the other person rolling away.

This was a move aimed at dead bodies. When used on a live person, the strength was even more terrifying.

The other two companions of the person saw the situation and all found things around them to fight, some grabbing lemon acid bottles and some grabbing bamboo skewers.

Runsheng looked at Li Zhuiyuan. Li Zhuiyuan bit into the starch sausage that A Li handed him while nodding.

Runsheng stood up and walked over.

Tan Wenbin cursed while retreating behind Runsheng.

He wasn’t afraid and didn’t feel like he couldn’t win, but he was going to take the exam soon and couldn’t injure his hand.

Soon, several hooligans were beaten to the ground by Runsheng. The hooligans no longer had the arrogance they showed when they wanted to forcefully take money from others earlier. Instead, they spat blood foam and cried out to report to the police.

Runsheng used the tip of his shoe to count the teeth on the ground. Seeing that there weren’t enough, he just stepped directly on the mouth of the one with the most teeth.

“Pfft! Pfft!”

After the other person spat out his teeth, Runsheng’s heart was finally comfortable.

Just then, not far away, a police car drove over. It wasn’t there because the police had been called. It should just happen to be passing by on official business and saw the fight.

Tan Wenbin lifted his backpack, patted it lightly, then carried it as a single-shoulder bag. After a whistle, he nudged Runsheng with his arm:

“Let’s go quickly, the cops are here.”

Runsheng glanced at him and replied: “It’s your dad.”

The police car door opened, and Tan Yunlong walked down. As he walked over, Tan Yunlong took off his police hat and then kicked Tan Wenbin several times in a row.

No way, he had just pointed to the front in the car with his colleague and said: “This is my son.”

Then, even through the car window, he could see the mouth shape of his son saying “cop.”

“Ow, ow, ow!”

Tan Wenbin kept dodging. Fortunately, his dad also had a sense of proportion. His feet didn’t lift high, only kicking his calf, which hurt but didn’t hinder anything.

After venting, Tan Yunlong asked: “What happened?”

Tan Wenbin: “Hooligans collecting protection fees.”

“You beat people up like this?”

“We were just being brave for justice and contributing to the construction of a harmonious society.”

The two students who were oppressed and had their money demanded earlier had originally slipped away. Seeing the police come and finding out about Tan Wenbin and Runsheng, they were afraid they would be misunderstood, so they immediately ran back to testify.

Tan Yunlong said: “Tonight, your mom and I will go to Great Grandpa Li’s house to bring you rice cakes and zongzi. Your mom even dug out the qipao she wore when she was young.”

“Can your mom still wear that qipao now?”

“I hid it and your mom took it out in advance to find a tailor to make it bigger.”

“Okay, Tan Team.”

“Short of money again?”

“Really not short of money, I’m just happy that you have this skill, otherwise I wouldn’t be this miracle.”

“Take the exam well.”

“Yes, sir!”

…

The college entrance examination test center was at Pingchao Middle School. Tan Wenbin went to the school the night before with his classmates to take the bus organized by the school to the test center. That night, they also stayed in the dormitory of the lower grade students who were temporarily on holiday.

Early in the morning, Tan Wenbin ran to the school gate. Many parents were gathered here, each bringing breakfast.

Tan Wenbin ate rice cakes and zongzi while mumbling: “Grand Great Grandpa, you had Runsheng ride the tricycle to bring you here early in the morning? This is quite far.”

“No, Principal Wu drove Xiao Yuan to the test center, I just hitched a ride.”

“Where’s Xiao Yuan? Did he eat? Oh, no, that’s not right, Xiao Yuan doesn’t need to eat this.”

“How can that be, I just let him eat in the morning, it’s good that it’s at least the exam day, besides, Principal Wu himself also brought some.”

“Okay, I’ve eaten well, Grand Great Grandpa.”

“Good luck, Zhuangzhuang, just skip the difficult questions, just do all the ones you can do, do your best…”

Tan Wenbin patiently listened to Li Sanjiang’s nagging, but Li Sanjiang had just heard a few sentences like that, and this smelly boy unexpectedly didn’t wave his hand to dismiss the nagging and say “I know, stop talking,” instead, he framed him.

“Okay, Grand Great Grandpa Li, I understand.”

Tan Wenbin opened his arms and gave Li Sanjiang a hug, then turned around to find his homeroom teacher.

Li Sanjiang smiled. His favorite was always Xiao Yuan Hou, but Xiao Yuan Hou was too sensible and well-behaved. In life, Zhuangzhuang was more suited to his temperament.

Seeing Zhuangzhuang walk far away, Li Sanjiang waved at his back again:

“Take the exam well, child.”

Other classes were all handed out admission tickets by the homeroom teacher in person. Li Zhuiyuan’s was personally handled by Principal Wu. When he got off, the stationery bag and admission ticket and other items were handed to the boy.

The first subject in the morning was Chinese. Li Zhuiyuan spent less time on it than usual because he had to write the words more beautifully.

When it came to the second subject, math, Li Zhuiyuan quickly finished writing the paper. Before handing it in, he tried to empathize and review the math paper from the perspective of how it would be set up for Tan Wenbin.

Then, he blinked his eyes.

Because he discovered that from Tan Wenbin’s perspective, this math paper was too difficult.

No, it should be said that for the candidates of this year, the difficulty was seriously over the standard.

Li Zhuiyuan was a little suspicious: Who set the questions like this, do they have a grudge against the students?

Although everyone had the same set of difficult questions, students with poor psychological quality might have their mentality explode immediately after finishing the math exam.

Li Zhuiyuan handed in his paper early and got into Principal Wu’s car. Principal Wu opened the insulated container for Li Zhuiyuan to eat.

“Principal Grandpa, this math is a little difficult.”

“Huh?” Wu Xinhan was stunned for a moment. The first prize winner of the National Mathematics Competition said it was difficult, so how terrible was the difficulty of this year’s math exam?

“For ordinary students.”

“Oh, okay, I understand.” Wu Xinhan first ate a calming pill, then immediately realized something, “Xiao Yuan, you eat first, I’ll go ask around.”

Li Zhuiyuan finished eating and then took a narrow nap in the car.

Then, he was woken up by crying voices outside the car.

He turned his head to look and discovered that many students were indeed crying after finishing the math exam.

Even more terrifying was that several students were laughing, laughing like Ji Gong, seeing through the world.

Wu Xinhan returned to the car, wiping sweat while scolding: “I found out, a scumbag student stole a paper and was caught. This time, the math exam used the backup paper temporarily.

The difficulty of this backup paper is a bit exaggerated. I’ve already had the teachers go and comfort the students in each class.”

“Principal Grandpa, who set the backup paper?”

“We don’t know yet, but I think this guy is probably going to be cursed by the students for several decades.”

After the afternoon exam was over, Li Zhuiyuan was sent home. Before the sky was bright the next day, Wu Xinhan drove over to pick him up again.

When the afternoon exam was over, at Li Zhuiyuan’s request, they waited for Tan Wenbin to finish the exam and come out.

“Ah, the beds in the dormitory are really not as comfortable as the coffin at home.”

Wu Xinhan glanced at the rearview mirror and only took it as Tan Wenbin making a witty remark.

Tan Wenbin said again: “The other subjects were okay, but this math was really difficult. I really couldn’t do several big questions at all. I just followed what you taught and wrote the word ‘Solution’ first, then filled in all the related formulas I could think of.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “You’ll get some points.”

“Really?” Tan Wenbin blinked his eyes in disbelief. “This is math, not Chinese or politics.”

Wu Xinhan also pricked up his ears. He was the principal, but he wasn’t in charge of specific teaching work.

Li Zhuiyuan: “The questions this time were too difficult. The college entrance examination is for ranking. When scoring, they will definitely find a way to widen the score gap and find a way to give you points. It’s possible that you’ll get a lot of points for just writing ‘Solution’ in a big question.”

Tan Wenbin: “Then our school is really in for it this time. I know that basically all the classmates, according to what you said at the assembly before the exam, took the paper and first wrote down the ‘Solution’ for the problems they could solve.”

Wu Xinhan happily honked the car horn: “Beep beep beep beep beep!”

… After the exam was over, all that was left was to wait for the results. After all, the university applications had already been filled out before the college entrance examination.

Li Zhuiyuan also officially began preparing for his university life. The first thing to do was to move out the more than ten boxes of books from the basement of Grand Great Grandpa’s house to air them out.

He had accumulated too many books and files in the past half year and hadn’t gone to the basement to look for books in a long time.

But since he had to go to Jinling, he definitely had to select a few sets to bring.

Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Tan Wenbin were busy moving the boxes up and down. They moved all the boxes to the second floor, then took them out one by one, opened them, and let Li Zhuiyuan screen them.

Actually, the dam was more spacious, but Grandma Liu was sitting there drinking tea after all, and Li Zhuiyuan didn’t want to stir up any more Qin and Liu family secrets there.

That would really be too unsightly.

But what Li Zhuiyuan didn’t expect was that he found something even more embarrassing.

“Qi Men Zong Gang.”

The boy flipped through a few pages of this book and stood in his original spot for a long time holding it.

He had painstakingly spent time and energy to decipher that set of books, and it turned out that the code book was unexpectedly just in the basement at home?

Fortunately, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t find a text version of “Qi Shi Chunqiu” in the books below, otherwise, he might really have collapsed.

Right now, he could only comfort himself that the process of forcefully deciphering was itself a form of learning, which could deepen his understanding and faster comprehend the Qi family’s mechanism and space techniques.

Worldview, morality, health, harvesting yin to supplement yang, drawing yang to nourish yin…

These kinds accounted for the majority, and they were actually very important, even precious, but for a teenager, they could be swept aside for now.

Li Zhuiyuan mainly wanted tool books. In the end, he selected three sets, which were “Zhang Fa Classic,” “Qi Xing Outline,” and “Di Zang Bodhisattva Sutra.”

Although the books of Wei Zhengdao also talked about methods to break miasma, and the Qin and Liu families also talked about observing Qi, they were all a bit like formulas, not very practical. The first two books were specific examples under those formulas and could help him better lay the foundation.

The “Di Zang Bodhisattva Sutra” talked about walking in the underworld. His learning of the Yin family’s twelve methods was the basic method of walking in the underworld, and this book was more advanced. The cover page of the book simply wrote:

Those who learn this method can pass through the underworld and step on the Yellow Springs, to listen to the Buddha’s teachings under the Bodhisattva’s seat.

Of course, this was an exaggeration, but it also explained the wonderful use of this book. Anyway, the books in Grand Great Grandpa’s basement were not nonsense.

What made Li Zhuiyuan a little disappointed was that he didn’t find any more of Wei Zhengdao’s books, nor any from the Qin and Liu families.

Moreover, Li Zhuiyuan also vaguely discovered that his past method of improvement through simple “reading books” had reached a certain critical point.

Because inheritance ultimately relied on “people,” even in the current industrial era, there would be a phenomenon of technological “loss” caused by the generational gap in industrial technicians.

Just like the things Luo Gong was “mailing” him now, they had already gone beyond the category of books. Behind every piece of data and design material was the effort of who knows how many contemporary people.

Next, Runsheng and the others would re-categorize the books, pack them back into boxes, and move them back to the basement.

These books were all treasures. Their current price was not low, and when the antique craze came in the future, their price would only be higher, especially Wei Zhengdao’s stuff. He liked to write books on Buddha’s skin paper, which was even more precious.

It could be said that Grand Great Grandpa had always lived a life on a pile of gold.

But… Grand Great Grandpa also didn’t seem to lack money.

Even if Grand Great Grandpa’s wealth were multiplied tenfold at this moment, he would still live the life he was living now.

When Li Zhuiyuan came back after washing his hands by the well, he saw Li Sanjiang sitting on a chair at the corner of the dam, holding a pen in his hand and a book, as if calculating accounts.

“Grand Great Grandpa, what are you calculating?”

“Grand Great Grandpa is calculating your tuition fee.”

“Grand Great Grandpa, my tuition is waived.”

“Then accommodation and book fees?”

“Also waived.”

“Living expenses…”

“There’s a scholarship.”

“So, Xiao Yuan Hou, when you go to university, you won’t need to spend a single penny from home?”

“I should still be able to earn some.”

“Humph!”

Li Sanjiang threw down the pen and folded his arms.

Sending his great-grandson to university was a burden, but more than that, it was a joy. Now his joy had been taken away.

He had even fantasized about going to the post office on a fixed day every month to send money to his great-grandson. When people asked him what he was doing on the way, he would sigh and proudly hold up the remittance slip: “Ai, isn’t this sending money to our Xiao Yuan Hou!”

If the child didn’t have enough money, he would call Zhang Aunt’s small store temporarily, and he would happily scrape together some more money and rush to send it to help.

Okay, now the dream was shattered.

Li Zhuiyuan could only go up and hug Grand Great Grandpa’s neck: “Grand Great Grandpa, I don’t have enough money. I have to buy books, I have to buy materials, I have to buy new shoes and clothes, and I still have to keep up with the other classmates in my class.”

The corner of Li Sanjiang’s mouth began to rise.

“I can’t live worse than the classmates in the city. I can’t let them laugh at me for being from the countryside. So, Grand Great Grandpa, you still have to send me money every month.”

Li Sanjiang nodded vigorously and agreed: “That’s right, that’s the reason!”

In the distance, Liu Yumei, who was drinking tea, almost sprayed out the tea she had just drunk.

The old lady wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and said to Aunt Liu, who was standing beside her: “This smelly boy, he’s perfected how to coax his Grand Great Grandpa.”

Aunt Liu reminded in a low voice: “The smelly boy is coming.”

Li Zhuiyuan walked over. Seeing that the tea was a little cool, he first helped brew a new pot.

“Grandma Liu, when I go to university, will you continue to live here?”

“You go to your university, what does that have to do with me.”

“But…”

“But what energy, do you really think you’re some big shot, huh.”

“Yes, yes, yes, you’re right.”

“People, sometimes you shouldn’t overestimate yourself too much, it might be easy to fall that way.”

“You’re right to educate me, I remember.”

“Go ahead, don’t bother me.”

“Okay, good.”

Li Zhuiyuan ran away.

Liu Yumei gently cut the tea lid and said to Aunt Liu in a low voice: “A Ting, do we have a house in Jinling?”

“Yes, but it might be a little far from Sea River University.”

“Then buy one nearby.”

“Understood.”

“Ai, this is also for A Li’s illness. In the past year, A Li has gotten so much better in all aspects. It’s normal for a child I raised to have a cold temper, and I don’t hope A Li is the kind of lively and active girl, but she still can’t speak.

Anyway, that smelly boy has to cure our A Li so she can speak.”

“Then do you plan to take him as a nominal disciple? This won’t leave here.”

“No rush for now. We have a request for him now, taking him as a disciple directly might not be a good deal.

When we get to Jinling, find some time to put the ‘Liu Shi Wang Qi Jue’ on his desk and let him learn it first. When he has many things he doesn’t understand, he will naturally come to me to ask, and then we’ll go with the flow.”

“You still think things through.”

“Heh heh, no matter how smart a child is, he’s still a child in the end. How many tricks can he have?”

“Heh heh, that’s true.”

Aunt Liu covered her mouth and chuckled softly. As an outsider, she saw clearly that the boy had deliberately come over to seek a scolding just now.

The old lady laughed at Li Sanjiang for being played perfectly, but she herself was actually playing it just right.

At dinner time, the postman rode his bicycle over and shouted across the rice field:

“Accepted! Accepted!”

This year, families whose children went to a technical school had to host a banquet, let alone a proper good university.

Tan Wenbin immediately put down his chopsticks. Just as he was about to go out, Li Sanjiang stopped him, then took out two packs of cigarettes from his pocket and threw one unopened pack to Tan Wenbin:

“Go quickly!”

“Okay!”

Tan Wenbin went to get the admission notice. He was admitted to Sea River University.

Actually, he wasn’t that excited. Even though the college entrance examination math paper was very difficult, it didn’t affect his mentality and performance in other subjects. This admission notice came very naturally.

However, after crossing the rice field covered with weeds, and when he was about to appear in front of the crowd on the dam, Tan Wenbin still raised the admission notice and ran up excitedly, shouting:

“I’m accepted! I’m accepted!”

Dinner ended in happy laughter and cheerful voices. The crowd chatted until late at night.

Then, those who should go to bed went to bed, and those who should enter coffins entered coffins.

Li Zhuiyuan took a bath and then pushed open his Grand Great Grandpa’s door and walked in.

Li Sanjiang was sitting on the bed, counting money.

“Grand Great Grandpa.”

“Yeah.” Li Sanjiang nodded. “This is a red envelope for Zhuangzhuang.”

“Okay.”

“Runsheng Hou and Meng Hou are also going to Jinling with you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll have to pay the rent in advance. I’ll scrape together some more here, no problem.”

“Bright Ge has rented a house outside the school. I’ll live at school, and they can live with Bright Ge. Anyway, Bright Ge doesn’t go home often.”

“But, living with other people is inconvenient in the end.”

“Uncle Tan has to rent a house for Binbin Ge. This was Binbin Ge’s condition before the college entrance examination.”

“Then that’s fine, Zhuangzhuang isn’t an outsider.”

“Grand Great Grandpa, when we leave, won’t you be lonely?”

“You’re going to university, it’s not like you won’t come back during holidays. Boy, don’t worry about your Grand Great Grandpa. When you’re young and energetic, you should go out and see the world. Your Grand Great Grandpa was also a master who made a living outside when he was young.”

“Then what about the matters at home…”

“I’ve talked to your grandpa and grandma, they’ll move in and live with me. Your grandpa is still okay, he can help with farm work. Your grandma’s craftsmanship isn’t great, the paper figures she makes are hideous.

Just let your grandma be responsible for cooking. Guiying Hou’s cooking is good.”

“Grand Great Grandpa, do you know that Aunt Liu is leaving?”

“She pickled several jars of pickled vegetables and sauces in advance, and also made a large batch of paper figures in advance. The meaning is very obvious. I estimate she’ll mention it to me in a few days.

I’ll just have to find another skilled worker. Tsk, I’ll ask around a bit more later.”

“Grand Great Grandpa, it’s good that you have a plan in mind.”

“Xiao Yuan Hou, don’t worry about your Grand Great Grandpa. In this world, no one can truly live without anyone.” Li Sanjiang reached out and touched the boy’s head. “Outside, just play as you should. Don’t forget, if your Grand Great Grandpa is sick or not well, he won’t hide it and won’t not call you.”

“Okay, I know.”

“Oh, right, there’s still one more thing to handle. The things here, I’ll have the village head and the others witness a will, it’s left to you.

But Big Beard’s house, bah, that’s not right, it’s Big Lin’s house. Although that house and the peach blossom forest are also in my name, that day, it wasn’t actually included in the public notarization of the will.

In two days, I’ll invite the village head and the others to have another meal and get that notarized publicly as well.

I estimate that Big Lin has been gone for so long, with no calls or letters, that he’s probably not alive anymore.”

Li Zhuiyuan knew that Ding Dalin and the others had been gone for almost a year.

Li Sanjiang exhaled a smoke ring and smacked his lips: “Although it looks a bit bad to do this, Xiao Yuan Hou, you have to go far in the end. In case something really happens to me, bah bah bah, in short, we have to prevent it.

In the village, if things aren’t laid out clearly, it’s easy to cause trouble.

Anyway, I also had an agreement with Ding Dalin. The house and land are all in my name, he can live there. After he leaves, they’ll be yours, Xiao Yuan Hou. If he ever comes back someday, you can just let him continue to live there.”

The next day, Li Sanjiang hosted a small banquet at Big Beard’s house, invited the village head and the others to witness a new will, and everyone drank wine.

Li Sanjiang was in a high spirits today and drank a lot. Runsheng carried him back, then pushed the car over.

There were some candles and yellow paper on the car. Everyone set up an offering table for the peach blossom forest on the dam.

Although Wei Zhengdao’s friend had bad intentions, he actually did a good thing. Regardless of how much the crowd complained about him in their hearts, he did protect the area’s peace for a whole year.

It was estimated that he could continue for one year after another. Heaven knew when he would completely die.

In this world, there were originally fresh and pure existences without flaws. The “protective divine beasts” in various myths and legends, upon closer inspection, were not necessarily good things in origin. The main point was to discuss the trace, not the heart.

What Li Zhuiyuan did today was a small sealing ceremony.

Adding the word “small” in front actually had nothing to do with the sealing afterwards. The essence was almost the same as ordinary villagers worshipping the Dragon King by throwing pig heads into the water.

Regardless of whether you were willing or not, I would first put a “high hat” on you. This way, even if you wanted to cause trouble later, it would be somewhat difficult to do so openly.

Burning paper, chanting spells, reciting sutras, Li Zhuiyuan very seriously completed this set of ceremony procedures.

This set of procedures had no substantive effect, it was purely for show, far less effective than directly lying on the ground in the peach blossom forest and walking in the underworld.

But this was just performing for the dead body to see, mainly expressing an attitude.

After the ritual was finished, Li Zhuiyuan stood in front, holding a bowl of yellow wine in his left hand and incense in his right, drawing circles three times with the burning incense stick in the wine bowl.

Behind him, Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Yin Meng also held the same things and did the same actions.

“Offer wine.”

The three people went up together, extended their bowls outside the dam, and poured the wine into the mud below.

Following that, Li Zhuiyuan went up alone. Below the dam, three patches of wetness could be clearly seen, but when Li Zhuiyuan poured the wine from his hand down, the wine was instantly absorbed by the ground, and the ground became dry again, without even a drop of wine stain.

This was truly dry.

Li Zhuiyuan could even imagine the ferocious laughter of that thing underground. It truly wanted to see himself practice the method in Wei Zhengdao’s black-skinned book and end up as miserable as it was.

Pity, it was destined to be disappointed. He had already learned the black-skinned book and even used it several times, yet he didn’t show any trace of being parasitized by a dead body.

Suddenly, Li Zhuiyuan thought of a possibility.

Perhaps, while he was complaining about it, it was also complaining about him underground.

Because from its “perspective,” because of its existence, dead bodies wouldn’t appear nearby. This led to him not being able to manipulate dead bodies and being unable to “infect” even if he learned the black-skinned book.

But it had to hold on stubbornly, wanting to see his miserable end, but the harder it held on, as long as he didn’t leave his hometown village, he wouldn’t encounter a dead body.

This belonged to a dead knot where both sides were uncomfortable.

However, this point could be utilized.

Leaving aside the previous ceremony and chanting, he could say something else.

Li Zhuiyuan’s toes were slightly pointed outward, and he stood firmly, looking straight ahead.

“Pop!”

He snapped his fingers himself, opened his eyes, and walked in the underworld!

In his line of sight, it was half real and half gray and hazy.

Before he learned the basics, he thought every time he walked in the underworld he had to fall asleep. Later, he gradually explored the half-dream, half-awake state, but in fact, he could directly combine both.

Otherwise, how would those Taoist monks who went to deal with dirty things do it? To see dirty things, they had to fall asleep, and they could see them when they slept, but how would they deal with them?

Looking back at the path he had taken, Li Zhuiyuan even admired himself a little. Just like deciphering the “Qi Shi Chunqiu,” he always relied on his good brain to force out stupid methods.

The boy didn’t see “it,” but below the original pond position in the peach blossom forest, he could see a faint black layer.

“Before I met you, I could often encounter dead bodies. After meeting you, I couldn’t.

Now, I have to leave home to study. I will definitely encounter many dead bodies outside. I will use the method in the black-skinned book you taught me.

But I don’t believe I will become an existence that is neither human nor ghost like you. I am more talented than you, I am smarter than you, and my life is better than yours.

If you don’t believe it,

Let’s wait and see in a few years.

Oh,

By the way,

If there’s nothing going on at home, I just won’t come back.”

After he finished speaking, the originally black patch of soil gradually became stained with a layer of blood red, but it soon disappeared again.

Li Zhuiyuan snapped his fingers again, ended his walk in the underworld, and his line of sight returned to normal.

Tan Wenbin, who was standing behind him, also learned to snap his fingers.

Of course, he was just imitating Xiao Yuan Ge’s posture. If he wanted to actively walk in the underworld now, he still had to burn incense and chant spells to increase the success rate.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished speaking, his implicit meaning was that if you don’t want me to continue living safely and comfortably here, then you should continue to ensure the peace of my old home. This way, I can freely wander outside, get as miserable as you, and then come back crying to see you, allowing you to get what you wish for.

However, to be precise, his old home was just Grand Great Grandpa, grandpa, and grandma who were helping relatives. If he checked the household registration more carefully, looking at the relationships, in fact, there was only Grand Great Grandpa at home.

But Grand Great Grandpa was rich and didn’t seem to need this one below to protect him.

Even if he and the others left, Grand Great Grandpa only needed to hire another worker and could continue to live a comfortable life with wine and meat.

To take ten thousand steps back, if there were really any troublesome matters, Great Grandpa Shan could also come over to cover for Grand Great Grandpa.

After all, Great Grandpa Shan’s coffin might still be in Grand Great Grandpa’s hands.

After leaving Big Beard’s house, the crowd didn’t go home directly but first went to Zhang Aunt’s small store to call Xue Liangliang. After a while, the call came back.

Li Zhuiyuan inquired about the accommodation situation there. Xue Liangliang promised repeatedly that there was no problem and that everything had been arranged.

After both sides confirmed the early move-in date, Xue Liangliang proactively suggested considering everyone’s luggage and that he would drive a truck back from Jinling to pick up the crowd.

When he was on the phone, Luo Gong’s questioning voice came from behind. Xue Liangliang replied: “Teacher, I’ll drive a truck to pick up my junior brother later. He has a lot of luggage, a pile of books and design drawings. It’s not convenient to take the train or long-distance bus, and he’s still young.

It’s no trouble, junior brother is important. I have a driver’s license. I got it easily when I was working on construction projects, heh heh. By then, please help me borrow a car. Ai, okay, okay.”

Li Zhuiyuan understood that Bright Ge was so enthusiastic and willing to drive over personally, it was definitely not just for the master-brother friendship. He was eager for an opportunity to ask for a holiday from Luo Gong.

Now, thinking about it, he had to thank Uncle Qin for being a step slower initially and not getting through Bai Family Town in time.

After hanging up the phone, he returned home and told Aunt Liu in the kitchen about the move-in date.

Aunt Liu said somewhat unexpectedly: “Isn’t the summer vacation still very long, why are you entering school so early?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get into the university campus.”

“Then that’s fine. When your Grand Great Grandpa is sober, I’ll tell him.”

“Okay, thank you, Aunt Liu.”

“It’s a small matter, no need to thank me, it’s just helping out.”

After Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs, Aunt Liu wiped her hands on her apron and walked out of the kitchen to the eastern room to tell Liu Yumei the date.

“So early? Have we set down our things?”

“Set down early.”

“Then that’s fine. You should also pack your things. Mainly A Li’s clothes and my design drawings, don’t lose them.”

“I understand.”

The eastern room was a bungalow, and because there was no fireplace, the kitchen wasn’t there. So it was a layout of one hall and two bedrooms. Liu Yumei and A Li slept together in the north bedroom.

Aunt Liu walked to the door of the south bedroom, opened the door, and was immediately stunned. The boxes were stacked high, piled up to the bedroom door.

“Wow, unexpectedly so many?”

Liu Yumei sighed helplessly: “You don’t know how much space those design drawings take up, and that Bai family son-in-law, he is really diligent.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for people to move them. The house in Jinling has a basement, it can store them. What about these memorial tablets…”

Liu Yumei’s gaze fixed on the offering table. Initially, the memorial tablets were all from the previous year. Then, they gradually replaced the old with the new. Now, they were all new.

“After going to Jinling, buy some thunderwood and carve another set, no, two sets. Don’t break our A Li’s manual materials.”

“Wouldn’t it be more convenient to just give A Li the thunderwood directly?”

Liu Yumei shook her head, stood up, walked to the table, pulled open the drawer, took out a painting, and slowly unfolded it: “This is A Li’s painting.”

Liu Ting walked over and saw that in the middle of the painting was a room. The threshold of the room was very high. Outside the door was a cluster of strange ghosts, and inside the door, the offering table was bare, and all the memorial tablets were also cracked.

“They are willing. When A Li stops digging them up, it proves that A Li doesn’t blame them in her heart.”

…

Xue Liangliang drove a truck to pick them up. To avoid blocking the village road, he simply drove down a section into the field. Anyway, it was Grand Great Grandpa’s field, and no one would say anything.

Runsheng and the others started moving the luggage. There were indeed many things, and an ordinary pickup truck wouldn’t have been able to hold them.

Li Zhuiyuan and A Li had already said their farewells in the room. The boy and girl had a tacit understanding and didn’t feel the sadness of separation.

But when they went downstairs together, in front of Liu Yumei, the boy expressed reluctance, and the girl lowered her eyes, looking lost.

After Li Zhuiyuan got on the truck, he asked Xue Liangliang with some worry:

“Bright Ge, can you still drive?”

“Just sit tight and relax.” Xue Liangliang started the car, turned the steering wheel, and said: “Xiao Yuan, get me that cushion from your side. I’ll pad my waist.”

…

Not long after Li Zhuiyuan and the others went to study, Aunt Liu also formally resigned from Li Sanjiang.

Li Sanjiang had expected it early. Everyone had a simple farewell meal. When settling the wages, Li Sanjiang packed two extra red envelopes.

“One is yours, one is A Li’s.”

Aunt Liu looked at Liu Yumei, not knowing whether she should accept this or not.

Liu Yumei nodded: “Take it, it’s your Uncle Sanjiang’s kindness.”

Immediately, Li Sanjiang took out an even thicker red envelope and carefully handed it to A Li.

Although he had seen the changes in the girl this year, he was still a little afraid of this girl, especially when Xiao Yuan Hou was not by her side.

Liu Yumei’s gaze narrowed, and she asked: “Old man, what are you thinking?”

“This is for the child. Our Xiao Yuan Hou is pitiful, his dad and mom are divorced and threw him here alone. Fortunately, there’s a girl here to keep him company and play with her.”

Liu Yumei saw that Li Sanjiang didn’t say things like “for my great-grandson’s future daughter-in-law,” and her heart involuntarily warmed.

She reached out and took it:

“I’ll accept it on behalf of A Li. After seeing Xiao Yuan in Jinling, I’ll give him an even bigger one in return.”

…

After Liu Yumei’s family moved away, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying immediately moved in.

With Li Weihan accompanying him to drink and chat, Li Sanjiang’s life was no longer lonely.

For Li Weihan, this was already fulfilling a promise, providing for Uncle Sanjiang’s retirement, although Uncle Sanjiang’s body was still very strong.

However, he still used this reason to have his four sons take back the grandchildren who were staying with him. He, Li Weihan, distinguished clearly between serving the old and caring for the young.

Soon, someone came to the door wanting to do the paper figure work.

It was a woman, looking to be in her thirties, appearing quite honest, from Shigan. Her husband had died, she had no children, she was kicked out of her mother-in-law’s home, and her maiden home’s brother didn’t treat her well either. She wanted to work and live here.

Li Sanjiang had her make a paper figure first. Unexpectedly, the woman was very skilled with her hands and quickly made one. The paper figure was lifelike.

“Okay, it’s you. Right, you just said your name is Ying Hou, what’s your full name?”

“Xiao Yingying.”

(End of this volume)