Chapter 168

Through the handwriting, Li Zhuiyuan could sense the emotions of the diary’s owner as these words were written.

The young man lifted his head and looked at the window in front of him.

It was an old-style wooden window, somewhat dilapidated with obvious gaps.

The diary owner must have been crouching behind this window, looking down carefully through the gaps.

The courtyard of the earthen building was very large. In the center was a bonfire pit where a group of people likely sat around during meetings.

In that group of people, the diary owner saw himself.

Thinking about it, he must have been extremely terrified at that moment.

Li Zhuiyuan flipped through the front pages of the diary. The diary was not a school notebook, so many people didn’t write their names on the first page. The content was also basically described from the first-person perspective, using “I”.

However, Li Zhuiyuan was relatively lucky; he quickly found information about the diary owner’s name.

[When Zhao Gong shouted out “Cui Hao” and “Li Ren”, I turned my head to look at Li Ren. In his eyes, I saw helplessness and dissatisfaction. Thinking back, my eyes also had the same emotions at that time.

This was probably the price for not giving a red envelope when Zhao Gong previously announced the birth of his son and invited everyone to gather for a meal.

Alas, I really don’t understand how his son being born in his hometown could lead to a banquet being held remotely at the worksite, and still shamelessly collecting gifts.

If I had known earlier, I would have given.

Now it’s done; I’ve been assigned to stay behind, and can’t even go home for the New Year.]

The diary owner was named Cui Hao, and the person who stayed behind with him was named Li Ren.

Ran Dacheng originally wanted to invite the two of them to his home for the New Year, but then he discovered that these two people had disappeared just before the New Year.

He suspected that the two of them had taken unauthorized leave.

During every festive occasion, people often think of their families. The local conditions were also harsh, so secretly dropping their burdens to go home for a New Year reunion wasn’t incomprehensible.

But now, according to the diary content, the matter wasn’t that simple.

Now the problem was:

Where were Cui Hao and Li Ren now?

Even if they were afraid to go home, they shouldn’t have had no news at all. At least Xue Liangliang should have received advance notice.

The people living here were not ordinary workers; they were all technicians or managers. Taking unauthorized leave was one thing, but why would they change their names and hide like that, even giving up their company identity?

This was a construction team, not an army.

Therefore, these two people were likely truly lost contact with.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly flipped through the diary content from the period before the New Year.

Cui Hao’s diary was full of various dissatisfactions with leaders and colleagues, naming more than ten specifically.

However, amidst the large amount of complaining and cursing, there was also quite a bit of work content.

A major reason for the delay in construction progress was the frequent accidents at the worksite.

Today someone broke a leg, tomorrow another cut a hand, and someone even fell into the mixer and directly lost their life.

Roughly looking through, there were more than ten people seriously injured due to accidents, and three had lost their lives.

Considering the scale of this project, it was already quite exaggerated.

Under this background, if construction progress could still be guaranteed, that would truly be seeing a ghost.

Moreover, Cui Hao’s diary also recorded another matter.

That was that the construction team had absorbed quite a few local young and strong laborers. There was a Miao village nearby, and quite a few people from the Miao village also came here to work and earn money. In one accident, one person from the Miao village was seriously injured and two died.

Later, the Miao village collectively came to demand an explanation, causing the project to stop for a full half a month.

This was a labor protection dispute, which was not Li Zhuiyuan’s current focus of attention.

What Li Zhuiyuan noticed was the description in Cui Hao’s diary:

Today there was heavy rain and the worksite stopped work. I don’t know why, but that evening that group of Miao village people came to the worksite, holding torches, singing and dancing, making quite a big noise. Then they fell from the worksite scaffolding, causing an accident with two deaths and one injury.

Cui Hao said that they must have been drunk that evening.

No wonder both sides dragged on for so long over this. The Miao village felt their people were injured or killed at the worksite, and the construction unit also felt wronged.

Moreover, this matter hadn’t been completely resolved even before the New Year. Both sides still confronted each other from time to time.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but suspect that this application was not for technical support, but rather that the construction unit wanted to find people to take the burden off their hands. Perhaps they didn’t expect Xue Liangliang to solve it, but hoped that after Xue Liangliang couldn’t solve it, they would continue to call for people to come forward.

As for the reason for the frequent accidents, since they hadn’t had time to go to the worksite to see, they temporarily didn’t know whether it was caused by objective construction conditions or by non-standard construction.

Of course, it was also possible that it was neither, but another special trouble.

Li Zhuiyuan held the diary and went downstairs to call everyone together. While handing the diary to Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin to look through together, he also gave a brief oral introduction.

Everyone sat in the first-floor courtyard, with a fire lit in the middle and food boiling in a pot.

Ran Dacheng had sent some cured pork ribs and fruits and vegetables. There was already rice and flour in the house. Runsheng simply processed them and boiled a pot of soup rice.

Xue Liangliang picked out the key points from the diary to read, then handed the diary to Tan Wenbin. He picked up a spoon and served rice to everyone while saying to Li Zhuiyuan:

“Xiao Yuan, if something like this really happened, then I can only listen to your command.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Cui Hao and Li Ren must be found. We need to figure out exactly what happened before the New Year.

In addition, we also need to investigate the Miao village. I suspect that the accident that evening with those three Miao people was not caused by drinking alcohol.

We haven’t been to the worksite, and we need to conduct an on-site investigation there.

However, the first thing to do now is to ensure the safety of our ‘nest’.

You all eat first.”

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and first walked into an office on the first floor. He took out paper and pen and drew a formation layout diagram on the office table.

Formations must be adapted to local conditions, especially now that Li Zhuiyuan’s understanding of formations had deepened. He wanted to incorporate the principles of feng shui into it so that the formation could exert a greater effect.

After designing it, he still needed to do a step-by-step breakdown to simplify complex matters, and then hand it over to the next level ‘contractor’.

When he finished drawing the diagram and came out, Tan Wenbin and the others had also just finished eating.

Li Zhuiyuan handed the formation diagram to Tan Wenbin. Tan Wenbin flipped through it page by page, then subcontracted it to his next level.

This process was very familiar to everyone in the team.

Soon, Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Lin Shuyou, each holding formation flags and other materials, went to arrange them according to the positions marked on the diagram.

In the earthen building at night, sounds similar to multiplication tables could be heard continuously.

If any elderly villagers passed by and heard this noise, they might recall memories of previous literacy classes.

Xue Liangliang felt it was inappropriate to sit idle, so he moved closer to the young man.

“Xiao Yuan, find some work for me too.”

Li Zhuiyuan took out a stack of his drawn ‘test paper talismans’ from his pocket and handed them to Xue Liangliang:

“Brother Liang, paste these talismans on the ground.”

“Where specifically should I paste them?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“Okay, then you eat slowly.”

Li Zhuiyuan picked up his meal box. The soup rice had already cooled. He added some hot water to it, then ate it with pickled vegetables and sausage he had brought from home.

Everyone was busy until late at night. The formation was finally set up. At the formation’s eye, Li Zhuiyuan lit three candles, then signaled everyone to rest.

It was their first time here, in an unfamiliar environment. It was better not to run around at night and to conserve energy for dawn.

All six of them slept on the floor in an office on the first floor using sleeping bags. Even though there were beds ready on the second floor, no one went up to sleep.

The door of the first-floor office was open, facing the courtyard. The space was large, so no matter what happened, there would be more room to maneuver.

Tan Wenbin arranged the night watch shifts, and then it was time to sleep.

The night was peaceful, and dawn came with the crowing of roosters.

After everyone washed up and ate something simple, Li Zhuiyuan assigned the daytime tasks.

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng would stay in the village and conduct inquiries.

Ran Dacheng had a tractor and wouldn’t always stay in the village normally. Cui Hao and Li Ren might have had contact with other people in the village, so this part of the clues needed to be collected.

Furthermore, since the diary recorded such a strange scene, they also needed to gain a basic understanding of local customs, stories, and legends.

Anyway, Li Zhuiyuan was very relieved that Tan Wenbin was handling this aspect and didn’t need to say anything more himself.

Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou would go to the worksite together to conduct an inspection.

Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng would go to the Miao village to investigate.

Through inquiries in the village, they found Ran Dacheng’s home.

In his home’s threshing ground, quite a bit of cured meat was drying. The living conditions were clearly much better than those of other villagers’ homes.

Ran Dacheng was eating breakfast and didn’t expect Xue Liangliang and the others to come so early. After quickly wolfing down a few mouthfuls, he hurriedly drove out his tractor, carrying the four people towards the worksite.

The road to the worksite had been simply repaired, better than the road entering the village, but still very bumpy.

During the journey, Li Zhuiyuan asked Ran Dacheng about the location of the Miao village.

Ran Dacheng said the road there was even harder to walk and he could take them tomorrow, but Li Zhuiyuan refused.

Separate action naturally increased risk, but since they had already made this decision, they naturally wanted to maximize efficiency.

Almost at the worksite, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng got off the tractor. From here, there was a branch road that went over the mountain and reached the Miao village.

Ran Dacheng said he would wait here on the return trip to pick them up and take them back together, then continued driving Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou towards the worksite.

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t rush to take the branch road but stood still, looking down at the slightly lower hydropower station worksite from a high vantage point. At the same time, he took out his compass.

There was a standard pattern of gathering yin and converging evil. Generally speaking, hydropower stations were indeed suitable for building in this kind of terrain. Although not standard, water potential often belonged to yin.

But what made Li Zhuiyuan somewhat strange was that under the gathering yin and converging evil arrangement, there should have been a phenomenon of yin tide accumulation and depression, but the mountain bodies on both sides of the hydropower station were barren and bare.

Either the construction of the dam had broken the feng shui pattern here, or the originally gathered yin tide had been neutralized by other things… or rather, absorbed.

If it was the latter, it meant there were special things at the construction site. Without leveling it, accidents would easily occur during construction.

Fortunately, Xue Liangliang had Lin Shuyou protecting him, and when assigning tasks to go out this morning, Li Zhuiyuan had also instructed them to only observe and not take specific actions, meaning they should just run if they saw something bad.

“Brother Runsheng, let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Runsheng bent down. Li Zhuiyuan got on his back, and Runsheng started running.

The mountain road was rugged, but Runsheng still walked steadily.

In the eyes of people from the plains, crossing mountains and ridges was an adjective describing difficulty, but in the eyes of people from the mountains, this was their daily life.

What Ran Dacheng meant by crossing one mountain was not referring to a single slope. This mountain had several continuous ranges.

Even at Runsheng’s speed, he still ran for nearly an hour before they saw the buildings of the Miao village on the opposite slope.

This was a Miao village that had already come into contact with the outside world but hadn’t truly developed. The closer they got to it, the more they could feel a primitive atmosphere.

Brother Liang said that in the future, such places would all become tourist attractions.

But that was the future. At least now, when an outsider suddenly entered their world, there was still a portion of vigilance between them, besides curiosity and exploration.

Before reaching the village gate, someone came to inquire about the purpose of Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng’s visit. The other person had a very strong Chinese dialect accent.

However, Li Zhuiyuan could understand, after all, he had experienced the tempering of the Nantong dialect.

Li Zhuiyuan told them that he was a newly arrived investigator from the worksite, here to inquire about the accident situation from last year.

Hearing this self-introduction, the eyes of the surrounding people showed clear hostility, but an elder person dispersed the young people and signaled them to follow him up.

Young people’s behavior logic was easily guided by emotions. Elders understood that fighting was not the real way to solve problems.

The inner environment of the Miao village was full of a wild beauty.

However, it wasn’t completely primitive. Things from modern life outside were also present here.

Especially upon seeing two children sitting on small stools in a household yard, holding pencils and doing homework, and the wind from the village blowing through the illustrations in their language books, the scene became somewhat light.

The middle-aged man led Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng to an old house, where an old man was sitting inside, bowing his head and smoking a bamboo tube pipe.

After a simple exchange, the old man nodded, indicating he understood. The middle-aged man then withdrew.

The old man exhaled a long breath, lifted his head, and seeing Li Zhuiyuan, his eyes showed a slight surprise, and he asked:

“How come a child?”

The old man’s Chinese was very standard and fluent.

Li Zhuiyuan took out his documents, which included his student ID and an internship certificate issued by his unit.

The old man took them and looked carefully, then handed them back to Li Zhuiyuan. At the same time, he turned his head and shouted to the room inside:

“Ah Mei’er, bring some food.”

A pleasant response came from inside: “Is there an outsider?”

Generally, grandpa only spoke Chinese when outsiders came.

“Hmm, an outsider, quite extraordinary, a smart child.”

Ah Mei came out carrying food. She was about the same age as Yin Meng, with very bright eyes and a smile like a crescent moon.

Upon seeing Li Zhuiyuan, Ah Mei couldn’t help but reach out and want to touch the young man’s face:

“He’s grown really handsome.”

“Cough…” The old man coughed, interrupting his granddaughter’s action, and reminded her: “Although the child is young, he is now a government person.”

“Oh, that’s really scary.” Ah Mei withdrew her hand, covered her mouth, and expressed surprise.

The old man handed the bamboo tube to Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head, indicating he didn’t smoke.

Runsheng at his side’s eyes lit up.

The old man smiled and handed the bamboo tube to Runsheng.

Runsheng hugged the bamboo tube. The old man taught him how to suck. After Runsheng took one puff, he still felt it wasn’t enough. He took out an iron box from his bag, opened it, and took out a thick incense stick from inside, lit it, and put it into the bamboo tube.

Then he took a strong puff. Runsheng’s face showed a comfortable expression.

The old man was very curious.

Runsheng took out a thick incense stick and handed it to him.

The old man didn’t try to light and smoke it but put it under his nose to smell it. Then he suddenly stood up and looked at Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng with a changed gaze:

“You two, exactly who are you!”

Being able to see another layer of identity from one incense stick proved that the old man was not an ordinary person.

Ah Mei looked tense and walked to her grandpa’s side.

The old man reached out and patted his granddaughter’s hand back, then changed to a milder tone and asked again:

“You two, did you come to solve that thing?”

Li Zhuiyuan said: “Grandpa, can we sit down and have a good chat?”

“Please sit.”

After detaching from the category of ordinary people’s identities, chatting became easier and simpler. This was a situation Li Zhuiyuan was happy to see unfold.

Traditional Miao people generally had two surnames, one Miao surname and one Han surname. The old man’s Han surname was Wen, and his Han name was Wen Xiushan.

Just by hearing this name, one knew that the old man’s family background was very good previously. Of course, his current status in the Miao village was also very high, somewhat similar to a clan head in southern areas. He not only managed the clan’s internal secular affairs but also managed sacrifices.

This sacrifice obviously involved some things. Old Man Wen was not just curious about Runsheng eating incense but saw the hidden wonder in this incense.

Initially, in the general’s tomb, Tan Wenbin had used these incenses to connect with those ghosts and walk through back doors.

Li Zhuiyuan’s self-introduction was relatively simple. He said his family had people who researched Xuanmen, and he had also learned some things through his ears and eyes.

The old man obviously didn’t believe this set of rhetoric, but when going out, not overly revealing one’s family’s background was common sense, and he didn’t find it strange.

Both sides quickly started chatting about the worksite matters.

The old man said that after people from the village went there to work, he detected that there were problems at that worksite.

The three people who had the accident were also his disciples from the village. His original intention was to help and let them go solve that problem so that it wouldn’t affect construction.

After all, he could distinguish good from bad and knew the benefits the hydropower station would bring to the local area after it was built.

But who would have thought that the problem wasn’t solved; instead, they were solved by the problem.

Speaking up to here, the old man’s face also showed helplessness and depression.

Before Li Zhuiyuan could speak, the old man first asked: “You say, this compensation, should we ask for it or not?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: “You should ask for it.”

It was just that the way of asking was a bit wrong. It was not a rare thing for a worksite to hire ‘capable people and strange men’ to perform rituals to drive away evil and ensure peace, but this part of the expenditure could not be written on white paper with black words, and no one dared to write it.

Moreover, if this kind of matter wasn’t made clear beforehand, it would be even harder to clarify afterward.

The old man initially underestimated the enemy.

Li Zhuiyuan: “If what you said is true, I will help you strive for that compensation.”

The old man waved his hand: “It’s not just about the compensation money. That place has problems. If the problem isn’t solved and construction continues, there will only be more troubles. Even if that hydropower station is finally built, it will instead trigger a bigger disaster.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Is this also the reason why you all went to stop the construction?”

The old man: “Half and half. We want the compensation money, but I’m also afraid this problem will become big. You all build the hydropower station, and can just pat your butts and leave. If there are any disasters here afterward because of this, we local people will have to bear them.

I’m not inflexible or unreasonable, but some matters, if not resolved well, will truly continue to kill people.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Can you describe that problem more specifically?”

The old man stood up: “I’ll take you to see someone.”

Under Old Man Wen’s guidance, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng walked into another household’s home in the village.

At the doorway, a pair of elderly couple sat. Seeing outsiders, the old couple immediately widened their eyes, which showed anger.

Old Man Wen scolded them a few sentences in Miao language, and the old couple then turned their heads away, no longer blocking the way.

Walking into the house, they pushed open a room. The room seemed a bit small, and the wooden walls seemed to have been newly placed.

Inside was a water tank, and a young man was soaking in the water tank.

The young man was listless. Hearing the noise, he opened his eyes, but his pupils were white, obviously indicating that his self-consciousness was not much left.

The tank contained herbal medicine, and several snakes were swimming inside.

But on the outer wall of the tank, dense gray fungal hairs had already grown.

“I have three disciples. He is the only one who survived that evening. Now, he can only barely maintain this state.”

Li Zhuiyuan asked: “Can he speak now?”

“Occasionally he will sober up and say some nonsense.”

The old man put his hand into the water tank and grabbed a snake from inside. Then he pressed his thumb on the snake’s belly.

The turbidity in the young man’s pupils slightly receded. His body started splashing in the tank, and he shouted incessantly at the same time, his expression sometimes terrified, sometimes fawning.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t understand what he was saying, but one pronunciation appeared repeatedly—Lao Bian Po.

The old man translated: “He is begging for mercy, begging her not to eat him; he also says that his brothers were washed clean, and since she ate his brothers, she shouldn’t eat him.”

Li Zhuiyuan asked: “He shouts that Lao…”

The young man noticed the change in the old man’s expression and immediately changed his words, asking: “Can’t I say the name?”

The old man nodded: “If you say it, she can hear it and will find you.”

Saying this, the old man reached out and grabbed the side of the wall, removing it.

Originally, the reason the room felt relatively small when they opened the door earlier was that all four sides of the room, including the floor and ceiling, had been newly added with a layer of wooden boards.

When these new wooden boards were removed, the original walls of the room were covered in claw marks.

She had not only come here once, looking at this prey.

She deliberately didn’t kill him, deliberately let him live a life worse than death, and even deliberately left traces of her coming.

Ordinary evil spirits’ behavior style wasn’t so arrogant. They rarely appeared in human gathering places, and still in a village that obviously had capable people.

The old man led Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng out of the house.

There was a sentence Li Zhuiyuan knew was useless to say, but he still had to say it:

“Perhaps I have a way to let him recover to normal.”

“Thank you.” The old man nodded, “But can you save our whole village?”

Li Zhuiyuan knew that this would be the answer.

The old man sighed and said: “This is her warning. When people were rescued that evening, she left traces in the house.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I will go try to handle her.”

The old man: “I won’t help you.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Understood, but can you give me a bit more information?”

The old man hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

He led Li Zhuiyuan back to his home and sat down at the place where they were chatting earlier.

The old man asked his granddaughter to get paper and pen and wrote down several lines on it:

Ya Bian Po.

Xiong Ga Po.

Lao Bian Po.

The old man covered the words with his hand, only pushing it in front of the young man, letting him look for a moment, then immediately folded the paper and burned it.

“Different places have different names for her. Her stories spread throughout Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan.

When I was very young, my grandpa told me her stories. When Ah Mei was young, I also told her.

But I really didn’t expect that she would actually appear near my home.”

Speaking up to here, the old man showed a bitter smile.

This was originally a horror story that elders used to coax children into being obedient and sleeping early.

Just like “if you’re not obedient, I’ll call the police uncle to catch you.”

Looking at the scared appearance of children, adults only found it fun and interesting.

However, when they discovered that the background of this horror story was actually right on their doorstep, they couldn’t laugh anymore.

Li Zhuiyuan’s face also showed a slight solemnity.

Being an evil spirit whose stories spread throughout a large area meant two characteristics: one was long existence; two was being very active at one point.

And this could be understood as… not easy to deal with.

“When I was young, I traveled outside and heard many versions of her stories. She might be one entity, or she might be a class.

Some say she was a woman who suffered grievances in life, and after death, resentment gathered, giving birth to a corpse demon. This class is uniformly called her.

Some say she was born a noble lady, but after her family was destroyed and her village was exterminated, she fell into slavery and was always tormented. Finally, she was buried alive, but she relied on her own hands to dig out of the grave, becoming neither human nor ghost.

Some say she was originally a saintess, but she walked onto an evil path, attempting to use herself to nurture a ghost fetus Gu. Finally, she suffered Gu backlash, mother and child in one body, with innate resentment and bloodthirst.

There are truly too many stories about her, and I don’t know which one is correct.

However, one point is common.

She,

Likes to eat small children.”

When saying this sentence, the old man’s gaze towards Li Zhuiyuan had some flicker.

“Especially children like you, who look clean and cultured, that’s her favorite.”

Li Zhuiyuan smiled politely.

The old man pursed his lips. This young man’s spirit and courage truly made him see him in a new light.

But soon, the young man’s next words raised the old man’s evaluation of him in his heart even higher:

“That’s good. I was still afraid she wouldn’t come.”

The old man nodded somewhat stiffly.

Next, the old man mentioned several other matters.

One was that when his three disciples prepared to deal with her, they brought several ancestral worship objects from the village. As a result, not only were there heavy casualties, but even those objects were completely destroyed.

Ordinary mountain spirits and ghosts couldn’t even approach those objects, but they seemed to have no effect on her at all.

Two was that one evening after the accident, the old man personally guarded the injured disciple’s home, attempting to wait for her arrival.

She came, quietly, and left traces in the house.

And throughout the entire process, the old man was completely unaware. This meant that if she wanted to kill him, it would be easy.

Three was that a clansman in the village went down the mountain to town to buy things and hitched a ride back with a tractor from a nearby village that night.

An old woman waved on the road, also wanting to hitch a ride, so that villager let her also get on.

The old woman had disheveled hair and a dirty face, and her clothes were tattered. After getting in the car, she looked very hungry, gnawing on something and eating with relish.

When asked what she was eating, she said she was eating chicken feet and even gave two to that clansman. That clansman ate one first and felt it tasted good. He put the other one in his pocket, wanting to bring it back for his child to eat. As a result, after getting off the tractor and walking the mountain road back to the village, he looked under the light and saw that it wasn’t chicken feet at all, but clearly bloody fingers connected together.

Li Zhuiyuan inquired about how that clansman who ate the ‘chicken feet’ was now.

The old man replied: He contracted a serious illness and died. The funeral was held just before the New Year.

Li Zhuiyuan asked again who the villager driving the tractor was.

The old man said his surname was ‘Ran’. Every so often, he would drive a tractor to the Miao village to sell some goods and also collect some mountain products to sell in town.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that the person driving the tractor was very likely Ran Dacheng.

However, from their contact, Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t detected anything wrong with him. He had been to his home, and his home was also quite normal.

Generally, those who have been in contact with evil spirits for a long time will leave some traces on themselves or their living place, more or less.

But he had none at all.

So, it wasn’t necessarily that Ran Dacheng and that Lao Bian Po were in the same group. It was highly probable that he was just lucky. Although he had contact with Lao Bian Po, he didn’t greedily ask her for things to eat.

By the end of the conversation, the old man truly had no more clues to provide.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, preparing to say goodbye.

The old man said: “Sorry, child.”

To preserve the village, he chose to bow his head and not directly conflict. This was understandable.

Because Lao Bian Po clearly had the ability to destroy this village.

Li Zhuiyuan smiled slightly and said: “You have already tried. The rest, leave it to me to solve.”

The old man: “If it can be solved, after the matter is done, my Miao village must…”

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, interrupting the old man’s words.

“I am not doing this for that.”

The old man: “I know, but this is a small token of our village’s intention.”

“I am also not doing this for you all.”

The old man fell silent.

Ah Mei opened her mouth and asked: “Young outsider, then what are you doing this for?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I am doing it for myself.”

Ah Mei was puzzled: “But you are not from here.”

The old man reached out and gently pulled his granddaughter, saying:

“When I was young, I met some people. They liked to say one sentence, and every time they said it, their expression was very solemn.

Sir,

Are you doing this for the righteous path?”

This time, it was Li Zhuiyuan’s turn to be silent. He might not have said such words.

The old man let out a sigh: “Sir may often visit my village in the future. Not for thanks, but only to seek the honor of your visit.”

“Okay.”

Li Zhuiyuan turned around. Runsheng at his side squatted down. The young man got on his back, and they walked out of the Miao village.

The old man stood still, watching their backs disappear.

“Grandpa, they’re gone, you’re still looking.”

The old man sat back down and brought the bamboo tube pipe to himself.

Ah Mei laughed: “Grandma often said that grandpa was very handsome when he was young. Grandma fell in love with you at first sight. Is it just like that young man earlier?”

The old man smiled, then shook his head. After exhaling smoke, he slowly said:

“I when I was young was far not as him.”

…

Li Zhuiyuan lay on Runsheng’s broad back.

When Runsheng ran, he would deliberately maintain the balance of his upper body to reduce the young man’s jolting. Li Zhuiyuan could even take this time to take a nap on Runsheng’s back.

He indeed fell asleep.

Because he had a premonition that this Lao Bian Po would be very difficult to deal with, and he had to constantly ensure he was in good condition.

To a certain extent, evil spirits who only massacred were actually easier to deal with.

And those who had power and knew restraint were instead more dangerous.

Because this meant she had a brain.

“Xiao Yuan, quickly look.”

Runsheng’s voice woke Li Zhuiyuan up. The young man opened his eyes.

The two of them were standing on a mountaintop. Further down was the branch road where they had separated from Brother Liang and Ran Dacheng earlier.

They had originally agreed that whoever finished their matters first would wait here, then ride the tractor back to the village together.

Now, standing on the hillside, they could see a tractor already driving past on the road far below.

The person driving the tractor was Ran Dacheng.

He was carrying four people behind him: Xue Liangliang, Lin Shuyou…

And Runsheng and himself.

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