Chapter 9
Is it because of thoughts in the day that there are dreams at night?
After all, in these two days, he had seen her and felt pleased with her presence quite a bit, almost using her as a brush wash.
However,
The next moment,
Qin Li, standing on the embankment, lifted her head to look at Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing on the balcony.
It was the first time their gazes met.
Li Zhuiyuan understood. It wasn’t that he had dreamed her up; it was that she had entered his dream. Dreams are projections from reality. He had almost habitually framed her in a fixed way, and she shouldn’t have had extra movements in the dream.
That’s not right…
Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly.
This time,
Was he sure this dream belonged to him?
Was it possible that he and Qin Li below were both participants?
Perhaps he hadn’t dreamed enough times to summarize too many rules and experiences. He was still just starting to read the book, and what he was reading was just introductory popular science.
It was like a question was placed in front of him, but he didn’t even understand the meaning of the question.
Maybe,
Qin Li knew something?
She could actively look towards him, so could he expect her to speak?
But, the first floor was very lively and noisy right now. If he went down the stairs, he would have to pass through the middle of the first floor, which was very impractical.
The second-floor balcony wasn’t too high, but jumping down directly from his small building was also unrealistic.
Because this was very likely not his dream, he had also lost the qualification to casually take risks and make mistakes.
Li Zhuiyuan squatted down and waved his hand towards Qin Li below, signaling her to come closer to see if they could lower their voices and whisper a few words.
However, before Qin Li could react, Li Zhuiyuan heard the sound of footsteps coming from the staircase behind him.
He turned his head and saw four middle-aged women walking towards him. They were wearing brightly colored clothes, and their faces were heavily powdered and rouged.
They also saw Li Zhuiyuan. In fact, it could be said that they were rushing towards Li Zhuiyuan.
“Little boy, why are you here? Go find a seat!”
“Quick, go find a seat, hurry and go sit with the first batch. The second batch will have to wait for a long time!”
“Yes, yes, yes, the first batch finishes eating quickly and goes home to sleep. Don’t delay going to school tomorrow.”
When dealing with weddings and funerals, and there are many guests and not enough capacity, they will divide into batches for eating. The first batch of people finish eating, and then the table is tidied up, and bowls, dishes, and cold dishes are re-arranged before the second batch of guests are seated.
“I’m not…”
Before he could finish refusing, an old grandma reached out and grabbed Li Zhuiyuan’s hand.
Instantly, Li Zhuiyuan found that his original clothes were gone, replaced by a set of blue, small, long robes. They were very old-fashioned but very new in color.
The old grandma’s grip was also very strong, directly pulling Li Zhuiyuan, causing him to stumble several times. While going downstairs, Li Zhuiyuan still wanted to pry open her hand.
Her hand was very white, that kind of pale white, and there were no lines visible.
Seemingly sensing his struggle, the old grandma suddenly stopped and slowly turned her head:
“Little boy, you’re not being obedient, are you? You don’t want to go?”
Her voice became very slow and gloomy. The original light in the staircase also dimmed down, leaving only a little brightness, all hitting the old grandma’s face.
Li Zhuiyuan took a deep breath and forced a smile onto his face:
“Go, eat the banquet, I want to eat the banquet.”
“Really obedient.”
As soon as the words fell, the light in the staircase instantly recovered.
The old grandma continued to pull Li Zhuiyuan’s hand and go down, all the way to the first floor.
Originally, his great-grandfather’s first floor was purely used as a warehouse, and the walls on all four sides were too lazy to be painted, all just the original concrete color.
But now, the entire first floor was hung with lights and decorations, arranged in a very festive manner.
Tables were set up one by one, each covered with a red plastic film, with bowls, dishes, and cold dishes placed on top.
There were many people coming and going, men, women, old, and young. They were all wearing overly bright new clothes, and their faces were also thickly powdered and rouged, with obvious rouge.
Li Zhuiyuan probably knew what they were.
Because the tables, chairs, benches, and plates on the first floor were all set up, but the paper people, stacked high, were not to be seen.
After the old grandma pulled Li Zhuiyuan to the first floor, she let go of his hand and went to busy herself. Li Zhuiyuan turned around and found that the stairs he had just come down… were gone.
He didn’t stand in place foolishly either but walked towards the door. His great-grandfather’s house had many front doors for the convenience of shipping, and at this time, the door panels were also removed, completely open.
Therefore, the first floor and the embankment outside were almost half-connected.
Just as he walked to the door, Li Zhuiyuan saw two young women, pulling a little girl, come in. It was Qin Li.
Unlike him, her clothes hadn’t changed, probably because what she was wearing was already very suitable for this place.
At this time, Qin Li’s eyelashes started to flutter, and her body also started to tremble slightly.
Li Zhuiyuan guessed that she might be about to suddenly attack and bite people.
The two young women pulling her seemed to also notice Qin Li’s abnormality. They both lowered their heads to look at her, and at the same time, the position where the three of them stood, the light started to dim, and this dimness was still expanding step by step. The other people included in it also stopped their respective conversations and other activities, all looking over with gloomy faces.
Li Zhuiyuan was now sure that this was not his dream.
Of course, it wasn’t Qin Li’s dream either.
He hadn’t heard that anyone who behaved out of line in their dream would suffer a backlash from the surrounding environment.
This was clearly someone else’s dream. Although he didn’t know whose it was, it was currently immersed in the dream, and the illogical, out-of-line behavior in the dream would disturb it, making it wake up.
After waking up, it might throw a tantrum; it might also strangle the two insignificant shrimps that disturbed its beautiful dream, and then continue to dream.
But no matter which situation it was, Li Zhuiyuan felt it was very unfavorable to him right now.
So he actively walked forward, stood in front of Qin Li, and said with a smile:
“Sister, I finally found you. You don’t know how long brother has been looking for you.”
Li Zhuiyuan again looked at the two women holding Qin Li’s hands and said:
“Thank you for helping me find my sister. She’s very prone to running around by herself. She’s not very good here.”
Saying that, Li Zhuiyuan also stretched out a finger and pointed to his forehead.
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
“Your sister is here.”
The two women showed expressions of sudden realization.
The shadow that was still expanding earlier stopped expanding but did not retract.
The people outside the shadow were doing what they should be doing, but the people inside the shadow were still continuing to look over here.
Still not enough!
Li Zhuiyuan pursed his lips. He actively reached out and grabbed Qin Li’s hand, then reached around her back with his other hand and gently patted Qin Li’s head:
“Sister, be good, don’t be afraid, brother is here, brother will take good care of you.”
After saying and doing that, Li Zhuiyuan was already waiting for the scratching, tearing, and biting that was very likely to happen next.
But he had to take this gamble. Since Qin Li had actively looked up towards him downstairs earlier, then he would gamble that she could still continue to endure this time!
Their bodies were very close, and Li Zhuiyuan could feel the girl’s hand trembling.
Through these two days of one-sided observation in reality, Li Zhuiyuan clearly understood that the girl in front of him rejected all contact from the outside world.
Only her grandma could softly persuade her to eat next to her, but even Grandma Liu didn’t dare to have any intimate actions towards her.
However, what made Li Zhuiyuan happy was that the girl’s trembling gradually weakened, and her breathing also started to stabilize. Not only did she not push him away, but she didn’t even struggle with the hand he was holding.
Seeing the girl finally settle down, the patch of shadow under his feet also immediately started to shrink, and finally, disappeared.
The people who had been staring here without moving earlier all turned back and went to do their own things, including those two women.
Phew… safe for now.
Li Zhuiyuan looked at Qin Li and softly asked: “Do you know what we should do next?”
Qin Li had no reaction. She just looked at him.
Okay, she probably didn’t know either.
If it were during the day, and he could hold her hand and let her look at him, Li Zhuiyuan felt he would be quite happy.
This feeling was like a perfect piece of art interacting and responding to you.
But in the current environment, Li Zhuiyuan found it very hard to have this mood.
“Take your seats, take your seats, everyone quickly take your seats!”
“Good, sit down, sit down, quick sit down!”
Someone was organizing the seating.
At this time, the safest choice was to blend in.
“Let’s go find a place to sit,” Li Zhuiyuan said to Qin Li, then led her hand and walked towards a table where only a little boy was sitting.
Who knew, just as they were about to sit down, they saw the little boy immediately bend down and cover the bench, shouting:
“This is the seat I reserved, this is the seat I reserved! My dad, mom, grandpa, grandma, uncle, second uncle are coming right away, you can’t sit!”
This was encountering someone who had reserved seats in advance.
If it wasn’t for the thick rouge on the little boy’s face, indicating at a glance that he was a child transformed from a paper person, Li Zhuiyuan would have suspected he was Huzhi or Shitou.
The last time he ate at Da Hu’s house, Huzhi and Shitou also went ahead to occupy seats for their brothers. Their expressions, tone, and posture were almost exactly the same.
“Child, child, there are two empty seats here, sit here. This way our table will be full.” An old grandpa wearing mourning clothes at the next table actively greeted them.
“Okay, Grandpa.”
Li Zhuiyuan immediately pulled Qin Li to this side. After he sat down, he saw Qin Li still standing and could only softly remind her: “Sit down.”
Qin Li didn’t move, still standing.
Li Zhuiyuan could only reach out, grab her waist, and pull down with force, and she sat down.
However, when he touched her waist area, Li Zhuiyuan felt her start to tremble again.
After he let go of her hand, she calmed down again.
Lowering his head to look at the hand he was still holding… Li Zhuiyuan probably understood that this was the maximum degree she could currently accept.
“Child, where are your family’s adults?” The old grandpa in mourning clothes asked.
His tone was quite kind, but with this makeup… even a kind person would look very strange.
Li Zhuiyuan: “My grandpa and grandma are helping in the kitchen. They told me to bring my sister over to eat first.”
“Oh, so that’s it, hehe.” Immediately, the old grandpa in mourning clothes looked at Qin Li again, “This girl is really well-behaved. How old is she?”
Qin Li didn’t pay attention to him.
Li Zhuiyuan knew that even if she was willing to pay attention, she wouldn’t be able to answer because she probably didn’t understand Nantong dialect.
Grandma Liu’s family lived at his great-grandfather’s place. Liu Yi and Qin Shu helped his great-grandfather with things, but they fundamentally didn’t have any interaction with the people in the same village. Even when they spoke to him, they used Mandarin, let alone someone like Qin Li who sat in the doorway all day long without moving.
It was a good thing she didn’t speak. If she opened her mouth and spoke Mandarin, it would attract more curious questions. At this juncture, the more she said, the more wrong it would be.
“Grandpa, my sister is ten years old. She had a fever when she was little and wasn’t sent to the health center in time, burning her brain. She can’t hear well and doesn’t speak.”
Li Zhuiyuan deliberately said it loudly so that everyone at the table could hear. Anyway, first block off the opening for Qin Li’s side.
“Oh, so that’s it, alas, what a pitiful child, tsk tsk tsk.”
“Alas, we have one in our team too. When he was little, he had a fever, and his family’s adults didn’t pay attention, and his brain was burned.”
“Exactly, raising children requires more attention, otherwise the child suffers, and the adults who raise her later also suffer.”
The people at the same table started to exchange glances.
At this time, the old grandpa in mourning clothes asked Li Zhuiyuan again: “How old are you?”
“I’m eleven years old.”
Li Zhuiyuan added one year. Although Qin Li was actually only one month younger than him, he definitely couldn’t say ten years old. The two of them didn’t look like twins at all, and “mother” couldn’t give birth to two in one month.
At that time, don’t bring up another one being brought by a widower dad and one being brought by a widow mom, forming a remarried family.
That way, the discussion at the entire table would definitely be more energetic, and it was possible that people at the next table would also join in.
“Do you go to school?”
“Yes, fourth grade.”
“Oh, then your sister?”
“My sister doesn’t go to school. She just stays at home and sits all day. Only today, with the banquet, did we bring her out.”
“Mm.”
The old grandpa in mourning clothes didn’t continue to ask and turned to chat with other people at the same table.
Li Zhuiyuan finally got a moment of peace. He glanced at Qin Li sitting beside him, moved closer, and softly said: “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
This wasn’t being attentive, but rather appeasing, implying, “Steady down a bit, don’t explode.”
Qin Li turned her head and also looked at Li Zhuiyuan.
Li Zhuiyuan saw no emotions in her eyes.
Then, Qin Li turned her head back and continued to stare blankly.
Li Zhuiyuan felt that she should be able to understand, after all, she could eat by herself… it wasn’t that she had no life self-care ability, moreover, she was still clean.
Every time after she finished eating, Grandma Liu would help her wipe herself clean.
At this point, the idle Li Zhuiyuan started to pay attention to the dishes on the table.
What was placed now were all cold dishes: cold mixed spinach molded into a column, preserved egg tofu, fried peanuts, salted duck eggs cut open and placed on a plate…
There were only two pure meat dishes, sliced salted meat and braised small ribs, but the amount of these two dishes was very small. Fortunately, they were cut small, enough for each person at the table to have two chopsticks.
These braised ribs were placed right in front of him. They were eaten cold, sweet in the mouth yet not greasy. The last time he ate at a banquet, Li Zhuiyuan had a deep impression of this dish.
But now seeing this dish, he didn’t have the slightest appetite. Heaven knows what this thing actually was.
At this time, the sound of singing came.
People at nearby tables all looked in that direction, and not a few people even stood up.
Li Zhuiyuan also turned his body to look. In a small open area in the center of the seating area, there stood a man and a woman, and beside them, an old man held an instrument.
The man and woman were wearing opera robes, and their makeup was even richer. On the basis of thick powder and rouge, more extensions and exaggerations were added.
Under the accompaniment of the old man beside them, the man sang first, and after some body movements, the woman continued to sing.
Li Zhuiyuan knew that this was a local Nantong opera called Tongju.
Li Weihan and Cui Guiying had once taken him to watch it on the village head’s embankment. The characteristic of this opera is its strange and eerie vocal cavity, high-pitched and mournful, with strong impact.
To outsiders, it was just… extremely unpleasant.
At that time, Li Zhuiyuan had just arrived in Nantong and was still in the stage of learning and getting familiar with the local dialect. At that time, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying listened as if they were drunk and stupefied, while Li Zhuiyuan felt the magical sound entering his ears, causing extreme pain.
This time was the same. The people at the entire table and nearby were all listening very intently. Li Zhuiyuan looked at Qin Li again, thankfully, she had no reaction.
Along with the performance, someone holding a basket started to distribute chopsticks to each table. Another person specifically held vinegar and soy sauce to pour into the dishes. Each table had six dishes, generally shared by two people.
“Come, little boy, eat.” The old grandpa in mourning clothes picked up a piece of ribs and put it in Li Zhuiyuan’s bowl.
“Thank you, Grandpa.”
“Eat, don’t just look.”
“Okay, Grandpa, you eat too.”
“Mm.”
“Woof!” “Meow!”
At this time, Li Zhuiyuan found that many cats and dogs had run under the table. There was one not far from his feet.
Li Zhuiyuan picked up the ribs, and while no one was paying attention, threw them down. The dog below immediately picked them up and ate them.
Next, Li Zhuiyuan threw all the dishes the enthusiastic old grandpa in mourning clothes clipped for him under the table like this. Soon, many cats and dogs gathered around his side.
Li Zhuiyuan was actually quite familiar with these cats and dogs. He had seen them among the piles of folded paper during the day, but at that time, they might not have been as lively and well-fed as they were now.
The old grandpa in mourning clothes: “Child, call your sister to eat. She’s just sitting there and not eating at all.”
Li Zhuiyuan could only turn his head and mean to say: “Sister, eat.”
Who knew, just after he finished speaking, Qin Li picked up her chopsticks and started clipping dishes. She clipped three chopsticks full into the bowl in front of her, then lowered her head and opened her mouth.
No, you’re really going to eat?
Li Zhuiyuan quickly pulled her hand.
Qin Li turned her head to look at Li Zhuiyuan. This time, there were actually emotions in her eyes, although very weak, they were definitely there, and it was doubt.
Li Zhuiyuan could only move his mouth to her ear. Well, it was also normal for a brother and sister to whisper some words:
“Don’t eat, feed the animals below.”
Qin Li lowered her head, looked at the group of cats and dogs below, then stood up and directly picked up a plate of dishes on the table.
Looking at this posture, she planned to pour the entire plate down to feed them.
This action of directly picking up the plate immediately caused dissatisfaction and frowns among the other people at the table.
Li Zhuiyuan had to stand up, snatch the dish plate back, and put it down again, smiling and educating: “Sister, this is for everyone to eat together. You can’t be greedy, it’s not all yours.”
Seeing Li Zhuiyuan say this, the adults at the table looked much better. Many people said:
“Just let her eat if she likes it, it’s fine.”
“The plate is just placed in front of her.”
Li Zhuiyuan kept waving his hand and shaking his head: “You can’t do that, it doesn’t follow the rules.”
“Bang… pa!”
The sound of firecrackers came from outside, and the children at nearby tables started covering their ears and crying.
The firecrackers were set off one after another, more than a dozen. When the last one finished, the atmosphere of the whole venue dimmed down. The other people at the table suddenly stopped moving, and the people at the next table also stopped moving.
Everyone sat up straight, their gaze forward.
Although he didn’t know why, Li Zhuiyuan quickly imitated their posture. He glanced at Qin Li beside him out of the corner of his eye. Well… she didn’t need to learn, she was a professional.
Outside the door, an old lady, surrounded by a group of boys and girls, walked in.
As soon as she appeared, the atmosphere of the whole venue became somewhat stagnant.
Through the gaps between people’s heads, Li Zhuiyuan recognized her. It was the old lady he had seen in his dream at Liu Jinxia’s house that day, the one carried by Niu Fu.
How could she be here?
He clearly remembered that when Niu Fu left his great-grandfather’s house, he was hunched over.
The old lady’s body was a bit stooped, but her spirit was very good, even abnormally good. Her pupils were tinged with green light, and her face even had tufts of fine fuzz growing on it.
In addition, there seemed to be several black thread ends on her face… or perhaps black whiskers that grew out of nowhere.
It looked like… a cat face.
The old lady walked to the edge of the main table under the opera stage and smiled at the surroundings:
“Today is my birthday. Everyone has given me face by coming. You must eat and drink well, hehe.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the originally dimmed atmosphere recovered its brightness.
All the people who were sitting up straight just now naturally started clipping dishes, eating, and chatting again.
Li Zhuiyuan felt fortunate that his and Qin Li’s seats were just right, half-facing away from the old lady, and there were several tables in between. They were children and relatively small, so they shouldn’t be seen.
But just as he was feeling fortunate, in the blink of an eye, he saw the old lady actually pick up a wine cup and start going from table to table to toast!
He recognized her, so she would definitely recognize him too.
This should be her dream… no, Li Zhuiyuan now felt that the environment here could no longer be simply described as a “dream”. He and Qin Li were very likely in another special environment.
But no matter what, he couldn’t be seen by her.
The old lady toasted very quickly, saying a few words, and then toasting a cup to the people at a table. Going down like this, it wouldn’t be long before she reached their table.
Li Zhuiyuan immediately said loudly to Qin Li: “What, you miss Grandma?”
Qin Li turned her head to look at him, her eyes showing doubt again.
Li Zhuiyuan deliberately patted the table underneath with his hand, and the entire dining table immediately trembled several times. Quite a few people’s dishes that they had just clipped fell back.
“Ai, sister, don’t make trouble. We’re eating. You don’t eat yourself, don’t affect others!”
The doubt in Qin Li’s eyes deepened.
Li Zhuiyuan faced the other people at the table and apologized: “Sorry, my sister here…”
He again pointed to his forehead.
Everyone showed understanding expressions. Brain burned out, right? Any unreasonable behavior was normal.
Li Zhuiyuan pulled Qin Li up and left the table: “Okay, I’ll take you to find Grandma. Ai, I really can’t stand you. I still haven’t eaten my fill!”
Immediately, Li Zhuiyuan led Qin Li towards the door, but just as they approached, they saw a row of men in old-style servant clothes standing outside.
Some of them were chatting, some were leading firecrackers, and although they each had things to do, they controlled the exit area.
It was impossible to leave from here. Moreover, Li Zhuiyuan observed the old lady’s posture. It seemed she didn’t plan to just toast one round. If they continued to stay here, even if they played hide and seek nonstop, it would be very easy for her to notice them.
He looked around. The stairs to the second floor were gone. The only area where they could hide now was the northwest corner, which led to the kitchen.
At this moment, the sound of frying dishes came from there.
Li Zhuiyuan led Qin Li towards the back kitchen. Along the way, in order not to attract the attention of outsiders, he kept scolding Qin Li:
“Look at you, you just have to make trouble and find Grandma.”
“It was so hard to get to eat at a banquet, and I still didn’t get to eat so many good dishes.”
“Ah, the old hen soup is served, and you made me not get to eat the chicken leg!”
Indeed, as they walked this way, the people at nearby tables were all eating and drinking respectively, and there were no shadows under their feet. Everyone felt very normal.
Finally, Li Zhuiyuan led Qin Li into the kitchen. As soon as they entered, they saw a large plastic basin with many dirty dishes piled around it.
Seven or eight old grandmas were squatting beside the plastic basin, holding cloths and washing dishes.
However, there was no water in the plastic basin, but sand. They were cleaning with sand.
Beside the large stove, a fat chef wearing an apron was frying dishes. His actions were very skilled; he was clearly a master at a glance.
But the ingredients placed in the baskets beside him were all stacks of white paper;
What he held in the seasoning jars was not oil, salt, soy sauce, or vinegar, but various colors of paint;
Beside him, there was also a large bucket, which held all paste.
He first heated the pot to burn the paste, then poured in a stack of white paper, stirred it, and then continuously added various colors of paint. Finally, he collected the sauce over a high heat. When he lifted the large pot to place the dishes, what he poured out were plates of dishes with complete color, aroma, and taste.
Moreover, the flames rising from the large stove were not ordinary colors, but a faint green, like ghost fire.
“Little boy, go out and play if you want to play. Don’t be in here hindering the work!” The big chef urged impatiently.
Li Zhuiyuan opened his mouth: “Wow, you are so amazing! The dishes you make are also so delicious. When I grow up, I want to be a chef too. I want to follow you and learn!”
“Hehe.” The fat master put away his earlier impatience and laughed, “Study hard, be a chef, it’s too hard in this hot summer.”
“No, I just want to be a chef. Being a chef is so good, you can eat many delicious things. Also, my brain is stupid, my grades are bad, I can’t learn.”
“If you’re not good at studying, then you have to quickly learn a skill, otherwise you’ll starve to death later.”
“You are really so amazing, wow, that’s how it’s done, you are too amazing. I’ll just watch from the side, I won’t cause you any trouble.”
The fat master didn’t agree, but he didn’t drive them away again either.
Li Zhuiyuan stood beside him, praising him from time to time, and by the way, helped pass a plate to add some paint.
Actually, this kind of praise was really against his heart. After all, this chef was just stewing white paper and paint in a pot, no matter what dishes he made.
But seeing the finished dishes come out of the pot like this… it felt really strange.
Just standing there for a long time, someone came by from outside: “The first batch is finished, the second batch is seated!”
Next, more dirty plates were sent over. After the old grandmas’ sand washing ceremony, they were placed on the chef’s side to be re-served.
The first dishes served were still cold dishes. There was a master for cold dishes, so the fat master could rest for a while. He first picked up the towel hanging around his neck to wipe off some sweat, then picked up two pieces of tiger skin meat from beside him. After eating one piece himself, he handed the other piece to Li Zhuiyuan.
“Come, eat.”
“No, no.”
“Eat, don’t be polite.”
“I just ate my fill.”
Li Zhuiyuan felt that perhaps he had praised him too much earlier, which led to the fat master’s current excessive enthusiasm.
However, just after he refused for the second time, the fat master’s expression suddenly turned cold.
Li Zhuiyuan noticed that a shadow appeared under his feet, and it was expanding step by step.
The cold dish master who was placing the plates beside him and the old grandmas who were washing dishes all turned their heads to look at him.
Obviously… in this year, where was a child who would refuse a large piece of meat?
Li Zhuiyuan was helpless and could only take the piece of meat from the fat master’s hand, then put it in his mouth, chewing it while showing a shy smile, as if his earlier refusal was just shyness:
“Delicious, truly fragrant.”
The fat master’s face showed a smile, the shadow below started to retract, and the other people around continued to be busy.
“Ah, sister, why are your shoes broken? Why are you so careless? These are your new shoes. I don’t even have new ones to wear. See if Mom doesn’t hit you when we go back!”
Saying that, Li Zhuiyuan squatted down, pretending to help Qin Li tidy her shoes. In fact, he secretly spit out the piece of meat in his mouth, quietly placed it on the ground, then reached out and grabbed Qin Li’s left ankle, letting her lift her foot and step on that piece of meat.
He hadn’t considered simply swallowing this piece of meat. At worst, it would just be like eating some paper, not a big deal. But the problem was that as soon as this meat entered his mouth, a particularly difficult-to-describe sense of nausea attacked him, going straight to his brain, and his stomach also started to cramp.
It was as if he was eating food that absolutely did not belong to living people.
After standing up, Li Zhuiyuan started to take deep breaths, trying to get rid of the strong sense of discomfort he had just experienced as soon as possible.
Qin Li then lowered her head and looked at her feet. Her body started to tremble.
Li Zhuiyuan guessed that she felt her shoes were dirty.
Holding her hand, Li Zhuiyuan leaned towards her and softly said in a tired tone: “Please, just endure it for a while, be good.”
Qin Li lifted her head, gradually stopped trembling, and didn’t move her shoes away from the dirty thing.
Seeing her like this, Li Zhuiyuan’s heart actually felt a little moved.
But the feeling of being moved didn’t last long. It was probably the fat master who was really praised to the core. He actually took out a big chicken leg again and handed it over:
“Come, child, eat a chicken leg!”
Li Zhuiyuan: “…”
Without hesitation, Li Zhuiyuan took it, took a big bite, and smiled: “Chicken leg, really fragrant, really delicious.”
Fat master: “Hahahaha!”
“Oh, sister, where did you scrape oil stains on your skirt? Really, you don’t cherish new clothes at all. No wonder Mom says you’re a money-losing goods!”
Li Zhuiyuan quickly squatted down again, pretending to help his sister clean the stain on her clothes. He reached out and grabbed Qin Li’s right ankle, lifted it up, spit out the remaining chicken leg in his hand and the contents of his mouth, letting her right shoe step on it.
“Ah…”
Bitter mouth, dizzy head, stomach cramps, a strong sense of nausea and rejection from his entire body, almost made Li Zhuiyuan unable to stand up. If he hadn’t quickly supported himself with his hand, he might have really just collapsed on the ground.
But he finally relied on his willpower to stand up with great difficulty.
This food, he really couldn’t touch it at all. This wasn’t for living people.
Fortunately, the fat master didn’t continue to feed him. He started to busy himself with the hot dishes for the second batch of guests.
When the second batch finished, the banquet dispersed. Li Zhuiyuan felt that he and Qin Li could leave this place if they endured until the end of the banquet.
Finally, he saw the fat master pour out sweet rice ball soup from the pot.
This was the sweet dish of this banquet, the final dish. The appearance of this dish meant the end of the banquet.
Li Zhuiyuan’s heart trembled. He squeezed Qin Li’s hand: Good, it’s almost over.
Who knew, just at this moment, the old lady’s voice came from the kitchen door:
“Masters, you’ve worked hard. You’ve suffered hardships. It truly pains me.”
Li Zhuiyuan’s heart tightened. He immediately pulled Qin Li and squatted down behind the stove, using the stove and the fat master’s body to block the line of sight from the kitchen door.
Fat master: “Old Granny, may you live a hundred years, live longer than the South Mountain, hahaha!”
“Hehe, maybe not that long, living too long will annoy the descendants.”
“What kind of words are these? Having an old person at home is like having a treasure. I wish my own old mother could live to be a hundred years old.”
“Your mother is blessed to have you as a son. Those few of mine feel that if I live long, I will drain the descendants’ fortune and bring disaster to the family.”
“What kind of nonsense is this? Where do people say that about their own old mother? Truly not good people.”
“Ai, let’s not talk about them. They may not be wrong either. I’m also old and useless. Leaving home is also a waste of food, making them uncomfortable to see.”
“No wonder I didn’t see your two sons today. Your daughter didn’t come either, did she?”
“Mm, didn’t come.”
“Really, they didn’t even come for their old mother’s birthday. Too improper.”
“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. In a few days, I’ll just go find them, hehe… hehe… hey hey hee hee.”
The old lady’s laughter suddenly changed from normal to gradually becoming sharp, and this voice also changed from being outside the stove earlier to gradually becoming floating, and finally, becoming closer and closer and clearer and clearer. In the end, it seemed to be fixed right above his head.
Li Zhuiyuan, who was squatting and hiding on the ground, slowly lifted his head.
Just a few centimeters away from his face was a cat-faced old lady’s face.
He could clearly see the dense fuzz on her face, and he could even count the number of whiskers on her face. Her teeth were sharp and long, so long that her lips could barely cover them, and in her green pupils, there was full mockery.
“Little boy, you’re here?”
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