Chapter 74

Li Lan hoped to find an emotional anchor point through having a normal son. Unfortunately, the son she bore shared the same illness as her.

She despaired.

But Li Zhuiyuan didn’t feel he had done anything wrong.

Even the most powerful church couldn’t sell indulgences to those not yet born.

When the boy’s heart changed the term ‘mother’ to ‘Li Lan’, it meant he had already severed this relationship.

“You continue to suffer and struggle, I’m too lazy to watch.”

Rather than self-consumption internally, it’s better to consume others externally.

Li Zhuiyuan put down the cup, planning to leave.

“Pa!”

Like the electric light cord in great-grandfather’s home being suddenly pulled down, Li Lan’s entire being was extinguished.

She became very cold and indifferent, and something in the depths of her eyes seemed to be rapidly peeling away.

She lifted her head again and looked towards the boy standing in front of her.

The moment their gazes met, Li Zhuiyuan felt his heart beating violently, very painfully, as if it would jump out of his throat at any moment.

In his mind, the scene of himself looking in the mirror quickly appeared.

It was her, and it was also him.

He recognized the ‘person’ in front of him, because inside his own body also lived one, and, after that transfer ceremony, it seemed to have appeared, changing ‘Wei Zhengdao’s name to ‘False Zhengdao’.

In reality, Li Lan had already lost.

Whoever speaks first loses.

The phone call to Zhang Ayi’s small shop half a year ago was Li Lan’s last moment of hysteria.

She had gone from a normal person who might occasionally get sick to a sick person who might occasionally be normal.

This was the destination she feared most, and very likely, it was also her own destination.

“Weird and stimulating things easily raise the threshold. When your raised threshold can no longer be satisfied, you will actively choose to become like her.”

It was still Li Lan’s voice, with an even gentler tone, but it was like evaluating a poorly designed machine.

She even regarded herself as a machine.

Li Zhuiyuan gritted his teeth tightly, his hands supporting the table, his expression constantly changing, and his body began to tremble.

“You should also choose an anchor point.

She is the jītuō,

What are you?

Support, symbiosis?”

Li Lan brought her face close to Li Zhuiyuan’s face, carefully staring at the boy’s face: “You should, be able to persist longer than her.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t speak, but his fingernails had already dug into the red paint on the table.

Li Lan stretched out her hand and gently stroked the boy’s head:

“You continue to play. When you’re tired of playing, when you can’t move, my true son will come to find me.”

Li Zhuiyuan forcefully pushed the table with both hands, staggering back several steps, leaning against the cabinet to avoid falling.

He stared at the woman in front of him in terror.

Li Lan no longer looked at the boy, but got up, walked to the sink, and carefully and seriously washed her hands:

“You two really are mother and son. You are the same as the previous her, always thinking of leaving some dirt on your body. Why not clean? Being a person is so dirty.”

After washing her hands, she neatly organized the documents and reports on the table into her briefcase.

Then, she left.

Two successive ‘kacha’ sounds, were the opening and closing of the door.

Li Zhuiyuan, leaning against the cabinet, slowly sat down on the ground, holding his head in his hands.

Just now, Li Lan had shown him the appearance after the illness had completely erupted.

A strong sense of suffocation attacked him. He felt as if he had been thrown into a sealed glass bottle, and no matter how he pounded, it was all muffled and silent.

He felt like he was going to go crazy, the feeling of being suppressed almost crushing him to pieces.

The boy’s gaze fell on the thermos on the dining table. He stood up, walked towards the dining table, grabbed the thermos with his left hand, and tilted the spout downwards, placing his right palm below to catch the water.

Inside was freshly boiled water.

The spout continued to tilt, and white steam mingled with boiling water fell down.

“Dada da……”

The boiling water fell on the ground.

The boy quickly withdrew his hand.

“Can’t do this, A Li will be angry.”

“Hu…… hu…… hu……”

For a moment, some fresh air infiltrated the almost suffocating space. The boy breathed greedily.

He walked out of the house and closed the door.

“Kacha!”

Li Zhuiyuan lifted his hands and touched his face. The sound of the just closed door was like a stapler, re-stapling this human skin back onto his face.

Immediately after, the boy opened the door and closed it again, opened and closed again.

“Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!”

Well, staple it a few more times.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan come out, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan said goodbye to the old professors. They exchanged contact information, hoping to invite them to the school for lectures or something in the future.

Next was to eat roasted duck.

They had originally only ordered one set of duck and two dishes, which should have been enough.

But as soon as Li Zhuiyuan thought of Li Lan saying “being a person is truly dirty”, he couldn’t help but forcefully stuff the duck meat wrapped in pancakes into his mouth.

This made Wu Xinhan order another half set of duck.

Early the next morning, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan got up early. They originally thought not to disturb Xiao Yuan and let the boy sleep more, but who knew that when they opened their door, the opposite door’s Xiao Yuan also opened.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan was taken by them to eat halushki and bought some local specialties.

They rushed to the airport, boarded the plane, and Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan both fell asleep.

Li Zhuiyuan then looked out of the porthole at the blue sky and the thick white clouds below.

He hadn’t slept all night last night.

The plane landed, and there was a school car to pick them up. Before dark, Li Zhuiyuan returned to Great-grandfather’s home.

There was a happy event in the west of the village. Great-grandfather had taken Runsheng and Yinmeng to eat at the banquet, and Tan Wenbin had returned home.

He went straight to the second floor, walked into his own room, where A Li was holding a small plane and carving a spirit tablet.

A whip lay on the ground beside her, half of which was already wrapped around the surface of the spirit tablet.

When the boy wasn’t home, the girl either drew or helped the boy with these handicrafts.

When Li Zhuiyuan appeared at the door, the girl looked up, the corners of her mouth curved upwards, and her eyes brightened.

But soon, the girl seemed to sense something, and her expression also fell.

“Look, no.”

Li Zhuiyuan opened his hands to the girl, his palms free of any wounds.

“I don’t have any on my body either. I endured it, really, I did it.”

The boy exerted himself to prove himself, like boasting about his “exam results.”

Compared to that, the so-called math competition exam was not worth mentioning at this time.

The girl’s vanished smile returned.

After seeing the girl, the tightly wound string in Li Zhuiyuan’s body finally loosened.

He walked to the side of the bed, lay down, blinked twice, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

He dreamed many dreams in this sleep. Sometimes he was himself, sometimes he was Li Lan, sometimes he was being led by Li Lan, and sometimes he and Li Lan stood side by side, watching a distant pair of mother and son walking hand in hand.

The sky brightened, and the boy woke up.

The girl was sitting by the bed, looking at him.

Just like the last time he was exhausted, last night, she had guarded him again.

Liu Yumei felt that meeting the boy at Li Sanjiang’s home was A Li’s good fortune.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that meeting A Li at Great-grandfather’s home was his own good fortune.

Two doors that should have slowly closed, after meeting, got stuck together, and also actively supported each other.

Aunt Liu’s voice came from downstairs, like the sound of a temple bell, purifying the mind and putting a complete stop to his trip back to Beijing:

“Time for breakfast!”

……

Students had winter vacation, which meant New Year was coming soon.

Zhang Ayi’s small shop had quite a few new snacks, and there were even various small firecrackers placed in front of the shop door.

During the year, only at this time were children’s spending habits relatively strong. From early to late, children in groups of three and five came to buy things continuously.

Li Zhuiyuan also walked over to buy things.

“Yuanzi brother!”

“Yuanzi brother!”

Hu Zi and Shi Tou waved enthusiastically at Li Zhuiyuan.

They had actually received New Year’s money too, but usually, money was tight, and once they got money, it often came and went quickly, and they had already spent it all.

At this moment, they belonged to the group accompanying the children with money in their pockets, actively recommending which firecrackers were fun, so that after the children bought them, they could also surreptitiously grab a few to play and get addicted.

Seeing that Yuanzi brother had also come to buy firecrackers, they immediately enthusiastically stood by Li Zhuiyuan’s side, acting as consultants.

Li Zhuiyuan took a few boxes of firecrackers and sparklers, then asked: “What do you want? Help yourselves.”

The eyes of the two immediately brightened, but each only took one box of the cheapest.

“Take a few more boxes.”

Seeing Yuanzi brother so generous, they were no longer polite and selected a few boxes of their favorites.

Li Zhuiyuan paid and left.

Hu Zi and Shi Tou then, with firecrackers in their pockets, ran in front of those children and showed off very arrogantly.

Back home, Li Zhuiyuan walked to Runsheng, who was weaving paper figures:

“Runsheng brother, give me two cigarettes.”

“Okay.”

Runsheng lit two thin incense sticks and handed them to the boy.

The boy, holding the incense, walked in front of A Li and handed her one burning incense stick.

Then, the boy and girl began to place firecrackers in various places, lighting them together with the incense.

From time to time, firecracker sounds came from the dam and the vegetable field below.

Yinmeng, holding an ink string in her hand, walked out of the house, lightly twisted her neck, looked at the two playing below, and was a little dazed for a moment:

“They are really interesting.”

Runsheng responded and asked: “Do you also want to set off firecrackers?”

Yinmeng nodded: “Okay, it’s New Year.”

“You wait.”

Runsheng put down the vine in his hand, entered the inner room, then hugged eight two-kick firecrackers:

“Come, set them off.”

“Set these off?”

“Yes, if you don’t set them off, they’ll expire. You should still be able to hear the sound now.”

“My dad called me, my dad called me!”

Tan Wenbin had a pager tied to his waist. While pointing there, he stuck out his hips and walked out. This posture was like a pelvic dislocation. His term-end exam results were good, so Tan Yunlong bought him a pager. Since then, he always wore it on his waist, and to match it, he specifically went to town and chose a pair of jeans and a belt.

Runsheng: “Your dad called you on the face?”

“Haha, I know you’re jealous.”

Tan Wenbin continued to stick out his hips, walking down the dam like a crab.

This action made Yinmeng behind him and Liu Yumei sitting on the dam drinking tea both smile.

Tan Wenbin quickly ran to Zhang Ayi’s small shop to return the call, then he ran back and shouted to Li Zhuiyuan, who was still playing with A Li setting off firecrackers in the field:

“Xiao Yuan brother, my dad said the police station will send people to pick you and Grandpa Li up later. They said the station has a strange corpse and want you to go see it.”

“Okay.” Li Zhuiyuan nodded, and together with A Li, they left the field and went to the well by the dam to wash their hands.

Tan Wenbin asked: “Do I need to go shout Grandpa Li back?”

Liu Jinxia had a job and invited Li Sanjiang over to discuss it. He still wasn’t back.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “No need, we’ll go.”

“Okay.” Tan Wenbin also thought so. Whether Grandpa went or not was the same.

Runsheng asked: “Xiao Yuan, are we going too?”

“Runsheng brother, I’ll call you if needed.”

“Okay.” Runsheng walked below the dam and tore open the packaging paper of the two-kick firecrackers, pulling out the fuse inside.

Before long, a police three-wheeled motorcycle drove over. Tan Wenbin, while shouting “Uncle Liu,” led Li Zhuiyuan and sat on the motorcycle.

After they left, Yinmeng, holding an incense stick, lit a two-kick:

“Bang…… pa!”

After setting one off, Yinmeng looked at Runsheng and said:

“I say, why is it so peaceful here?”

Runsheng pointed towards the direction of Big Beard’s house in the distance: “Xiao Yuan said it’s because there lies a big guy who isn’t dead yet.”

“When will he die?”

“I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. After another semester, Xiao Yuan will go to university. Just bear with it a little longer.”

At the same time, Tan Wenbin, sitting on the motorcycle, was constantly rubbing his fingers. After experiencing a big stimulation, the long mundane life seemed a bit hard to bear.

They arrived at the station, and Tan Yunlong personally came out to receive them.

Tan Wenbin pulled out two cigarettes, first handed one to Uncle Liu, who drove the motorcycle, and then handed one to Tan Yunlong:

“Come, Team Tan, have a cigarette.”

Tan Yunlong took the cigarette and asked: “Smoking again?”

Tan Wenbin stuffed the cigarette box back into his pocket and laughed: “How can I? It’s not New Year yet. Grandpa Li gave it to me.”

“Xiao Yuan, follow me.”

“Okay, Uncle Tan.”

Tan Yunlong took Li Zhuiyuan to the forensic room. Tan Wenbin naturally followed along.

“Team Tan, this is……” A young female forensic scientist saw that two young people had come and was somewhat surprised.

She still remembered chatting with a folk corpse-fisher old man last time, and he had provided many ideas and insights.

This time, they shouldn’t have invited that old man. Why didn’t the old man come?

“Forensic Officer Xiao Wang, let’s begin.” Tan Yunlong didn’t give any extra explanation.

Forensic Officer Xiao Wang led the group to a stretcher bed. After reaching out and grabbing the edge of the white cloth, she still asked somewhat worriedly,

“Team Tan, is it really okay? I’m afraid of scaring them.”

Tan Wenbin shrugged: “Don’t worry. It’s just a giant view, what’s the big deal?”

Although the corpse was covered with a white cloth, the exposed feet were already highly swollen, indicating that it had been soaked for a long time.

“But it’s not just a giant view.” Forensic Officer Xiao Wang lifted the white cloth, revealing a swollen corpse. The chest area of the corpse was empty, as if a spoon of pork skin jelly had been scooped out.

Originally, Forensic Officer Xiao Wang thought she would scare the two, but who knew the two boys immediately looked up with interest, one on the left and one on the right.

“Hey, this is interesting, Yuanzi brother.”

“Um.”

“What’s wrong with this middle part? It’s still a round arc shape. How was it done? It couldn’t be that one, could it?”

“No.”

“Then that one?”

“Also no.”

Forensic Officer Xiao Wang stood by and listened, confused.

Tan Yunlong couldn’t help but glare at his son: “Speak like a human.”

Tan Wenbin was dissatisfied: “I told you to study hard.”

Tan Yunlong: “……”

Seeing that his father seemed really about to get angry, Tan Wenbin quickly explained: “Dad, these are professional terms I learned from Grandpa Li.”

He had seen it in “Jianghu Strange Records.” He had just thought of “child-mother dead fall” and “parasitic dead fall,” but Xiao Yuan had denied both.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and pointed at a green spot in the concave empty space of the corpse.

Forensic Officer Xiao Wang said: “Is it water grass?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “Not water grass, it’s animal hair.”

Tan Yunlong: “Xiao Wang, you didn’t test it?”

“I……” Forensic Officer Xiao Wang said somewhat embarrassed, “It’s my negligence. I didn’t notice it.”

“Uncle Tan, where was this corpse discovered?”

“In Tongxing River. We’ve already sent people upstream to investigate recent missing middle-aged men.”

“Is upstream closer to us or downstream closer to us?”

“What does this mean?” Tan Yunlong was somewhat puzzled.

Tan Wenbin said: “Dad, I know this river. It passes through here first, then goes to the next town.”

Li Zhuiyuan said: “Uncle Tan, then go downstream to investigate. Don’t go upstream.”

“Can a corpse go against the current?”

“Well, what if it was carried by a boat? There’s this possibility.”

“Okay, I know.” Although Tan Yunlong still didn’t understand, he planned to follow the suggestion and try it once.

Regardless of whether it was pretense or atmosphere, anyway, Forensic Officer Xiao Wang now somewhat recognized the two. She pointed to the corpse and said: “And, the amount of water seepage in this corpse is a bit strange.”

Tan Wenbin immediately got excited when he heard this: “This is good. I’ll bring the tools back later.”

Li Zhuiyuan said: “It doesn’t matter, this is considered normal.”

Forensic Officer Xiao Wang somewhat doubtfully asked again: “This is considered normal?”

“Yes, no need to worry.”

After walking out of the forensic room, Tan Yunlong again called Xiao Liu to send the two back.

After getting off at the village road in front of their home, Tan Wenbin finally couldn’t help asking: “Xiao Yuan, what exactly is that thing?”

“Corpse demon.”

Similar to the initial cat-faced old lady kind of existence, accumulated resentment from animal corpses and human corpses meeting and fusing.

“Oh?” Tan Wenbin gestured a circle with both hands, “That missing part, is that the demon’s body?”

“Um.”

“The corpse is here, so where did it go?”

“It was scared away.”

“Scared away?” Tan Wenbin turned his head towards the direction of Big Beard’s house, “Corpse demons are all scared away in our territory? No wonder you told my dad to investigate downstream. That’s right, since this corpse demon was scared and ran, its original direction should have been coming towards here.”

A normal corpse could definitely only go with the flow, but it’s not strange for a corpse demon to go against the current.

“So, that water-seeping corpse can’t turn into a dead fall, right?”

“Um, it can’t turn.”

Tan Wenbin laughed somewhat helplessly: “I really feel like we should tear down Big Beard’s house and rebuild a temple. It really is protecting the border and the people.”

“Binbin brother.”

“Um?”

“Study hard.”

“Otherwise? Alas, besides getting ahead every day, there seems to be nothing else to do.”

Back home, Li Zhuiyuan saw that Li Weihan had come, bringing quite a few things.

They were sent by Li Lan from Beijing.

Every New Year’s holiday, Li Lan would send things back, including the monthly remittances, which never stopped.

This year, she sent particularly many New Year’s gifts, mainly adding a share for her ‘son’.

New clothes, new shoes, new stationery, and various snacks, two big bags full.

Li Weihan smiled and said to Li Zhuiyuan: “Xiao Yuan, look, your mother always remembers you.”

Li Zhuiyuan could only respond with the same happy expression, performing a bit in front of his grandpa.

Yes, he knew, she was using this way to remind him that she still remembered him.

On New Year’s Eve, at noon, Li Zhuiyuan followed Li Sanjiang to Li Weihan’s place for the reunion meal first.

Originally, Li Sanjiang was planning to invite Li Weihan, Cui Guiying, and the others to his home for New Year’s Eve dinner, but with the winter vacation here, Li Zhuiyuan’s uncles had again sent their sons to their parents’ homes, and the school had opened up again.

Li Weihan couldn’t very well bring all the children from home to Li Sanjiang’s home to eat, so they chose this compromise.

After finishing the meal and leading Li Zhuiyuan out, Li Sanjiang’s mouth was nonstop scolding those ungrateful people.

They didn’t go straight home, but turned towards Big Beard’s house, because this place was also in Li Sanjiang’s name, and it was reasonable to clean it before New Year.

Runsheng and Yinmeng had already come early to clean for a while. Li Sanjiang picked up a broom and joined in. Even Li Zhuiyuan picked up a rag to help wipe tables, chairs, and stools.

They were busy until dusk.

Li Sanjiang, with his hands on his hips, complained with a laugh: “Ay ya, having a big family business isn’t such a good thing either. Cleaning up is really tiring, haha.”

Finally, Li Sanjiang placed two Baota incense sticks on the dam.

These were made by Aunt Liu herself. If he had to buy them, Li Sanjiang really wouldn’t be willing to light them.

Incense smoke lingered, and Runsheng took several deep breaths beside him.

Li Sanjiang waved at him: “Go, go, go. This is for worshiping Buddha, so he can continue to bless you all next year.”

Hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng, and Yinmeng involuntarily looked towards the peach tree forest in front.

Could it be true? They really had to thank it for its blessings, blessing everyone collectively to have nothing to do.

But this bit of discontent could only be kept in their hearts. At most, they could complain a little verbally, but they couldn’t diverge excessively. After all, no matter what, the absence of a dead fall was a good thing.

During the New Year’s Eve dinner, Li Sanjiang gave red envelopes. Everyone except Liu Yumei got one. After all, they were either his younger generation or his workers. As for Zhuangzhuang’s share, he had already given it to him before New Year when he went home this morning.

Liu Yumei also gave New Year’s money.

Then, A Li handed the two red envelopes she received to Xiao Yuan.

The girl still remembered how the boy looked when he was short on money.

Li Zhuiyuan held A Li’s hand, entered the east room, opened her collection box, and put all four red envelopes inside.

In the evening, everyone sat around the TV watching the Spring Festival Gala.

When the zero-hour countdown ended, there were sounds of celebration from the TV, and outside, there were also sounds of timed firecrackers.

Local people generally didn’t have the habit of calculating specific months, but vaguely calculated age according to “New Year”.

Li Zhuiyuan held A Li’s hand, stood at the edge of the dam, and looked at the vaguely visible fireworks in the distance.

“A Li, we both grew one year older.”

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