Chapter 111

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng talking, Xue Ba stood up and said, “Xiao Yuan, Runsheng, you two chat amongst yourselves.”

“Ah, Uncle Xue, sorry, I have something to discuss here.”

“Ah, no problem, no problem, I also have something to do.”

Xue Ba chuckled, picked up his tools, and went to tidy up the potted plants in the courtyard.

Li Zhuiyuan had noticed when he arrived yesterday that there were quite a few potted plants at the house, as well as several small stone tables arranged into scenes.

Xue family’s allocated farmland had been rented out by Brother Liangliang long ago, which allowed the two elders to detach from traditional rural labor and live a life of retirement early on.

Usually, Xue Ba’s hobby was tidying these potted plants, and then he would go to the corridor to drink tea and listen to storytelling.

After lunch, Aunt Xue would go out to play Mahjong. Her card friends were all elderly women, and she was quite young among them.

“Brother Runsheng, let’s go upstairs.”

“Okay.”

Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs and sat down at the desk Brother Liangliang used to use.

Taking out his notebook and pen from his backpack, Li Zhuiyuan drew three circles on a blank page.

Three groups of people had all arrived in Min’an Town, yet they were in three different Min’an Towns.

This was a situation he hadn’t anticipated before setting off.

Was it evil miasma?

Was it a Xuanmen array?

Or was it a spatial interlayer he had experienced before? Or some other rare mystery in the natural world?

Not long ago, during the club recruitment at the playground, that president who resembled someone introducing UFOs had also talked about many unsolved mysteries around the world.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, letting the warm sunlight through the window fall on his face.

Since he couldn’t contact Binbin and Mengmeng, he lacked too much information, so he simply couldn’t deduce anything right now.

Moreover, he suspected that something abnormal had already happened on Yinmeng and Tan Wenbin’s side.

Because his current situation being normal… was, on the contrary, extremely abnormal.

Was it because of Brother Liangliang’s identity as a Bai family son-in-law that this storyline was developing with a delay?

This factor’s influence couldn’t be ruled out, but Li Zhuiyuan didn’t think it was the main reason.

Last time when Jingjing was possessed at Shimu’s house, Jingjing had shown disgust towards Xue Liangliang’s Bai family aura, but it was only to the degree of disgust; she would still do what she planned to do to him. Even Xue Liangliang himself was like this, let alone his family.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan suspected that his storyline should have unfolded the slowest to begin with.

Fatty Wu’s future in-laws were already sick, and Fan Shulin’s friend was already divorced. These two storylines had, in fact, already shown aberrant changes.

Xue Ba’s 50th birthday was next month. Xue Liangliang, who was relevant to this storyline, was still in Dujiangyan. He would need to finish his work or take leave to come back to celebrate his father’s longevity… And most likely, before returning home, he would still need to return to Nantong once.

He had come early.

But this wasn’t wrong, because this was a deliberate effort to gain an advantage.

The current situation was equivalent to the entire team being covered by a huge black cloth, unable to see each other, but the problem wasn’t big. Fighting blindly had its methods, and he had never acted as a blind person before.

“Brother Runsheng.”

“Yes.”

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan deep in thought, Runsheng consciously stood at the doorway of the room, holding a ‘cigar’ in his hand and smoking.

He walked to the desk and asked, “Xiao Yuan, have you thought of a way to find Binbin and Mengmeng?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “No.”

“Then…”

“Brother Runsheng, I need you to help me think together.”

“Me?” Runsheng pointed the tip of the ‘cigar’ towards his own face, “I’ll do my best.”

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Brother Runsheng, if you were in Yinmeng or Tan Wenbin’s place, what would be the first thing you would think of after settling down in Min’an Town?”

“I would come find you, Xiao Yuan.”

“If you couldn’t find me, or even inquire about the Xue family?”

“I…”

“Brother Runsheng, would you leave Min’an Town? After all, there are problems here, and we can’t contact the outside world.”

“No, we are specifically rushing towards the problem. I won’t leave Min’an Town. I will continue to do what I can according to the plan you instructed beforehand, pushing the clues forward, hoping to meet you and report back later.”

“So, Yinmeng and Tan Wenbin should be doing the same things.”

Runsheng scratched his head and asked, “Xiao Yuan, do you need to ask me these questions?”

“Yes, I need to confirm it, because my sense of substitution is easily distorted.”

He was the formulator of the task plan. The constraints of the plan were very low for him. After all, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t have a ‘Little Yuan brother’ above him.

Therefore, in this kind of situation, his countermeasures would be more extreme.

For example, to prove once, since there were three Min’an Towns, were the townspeople he saw in the current Min’an Town he was in real living people?

He could find someone who had committed a crime and escaped legal sanction, or find a village tyrant, act on behalf of heaven, and observe their death.

He could also inquire whose home had a dying old person or patient and watch their last dying moments.

Even if the folk customs of Min’an Town were simple and everyone was healthy, he could still inquire who had a new grave at home, dig up a grave, and find a fresh corpse for an experiment.

Wei Zhengdao’s “Zhengdao Fumo Record” just recorded such a passage:

“People are the easiest objects to find flaws in. From the bodies of these ‘people,’ one can discover the characteristics of this complex environment.”

But obviously, Yinmeng and Tan Wenbin were unlikely to do this.

Therefore, to ensure the behavioral styles of the three lines were unified, he had to coordinate and follow their behavior in order to form a joint force.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up his pen and quickly drew a sloppy fish on the notebook.

The tip of the pen kept lightly dotting the body of the fish.

In fact, there were still many things he could do. He could use arrays, feng shui, Qimen Dunjia techniques, and other means to seek more violent breakthroughs.

The difficulty of looking up was very high, but he didn’t want to demolish the house, just wanted to drill a hole in the corner of the wall, which was quite feasible.

No matter what the principle of this environment was, he could research it and try to poke at it.

Looking at the ‘fish’ in front of him, Li Zhuiyuan said in his heart:

“Do you also want me to do this?”

This fish had willingly taken the bait for him.

Its subjectivity was a problem that couldn’t be bypassed, but this problem had a dual nature, because you couldn’t confirm which side was its intention and which side was its deliberate guidance.

Facing such a situation, there was a method that ensured the lowest limit: ignore its existence and intention. You only needed to firmly and unswervingly follow the plan you originally believed to be correct.

Li Zhuiyuan closed the notebook.

Runsheng opened his mouth and said, “Xiao Yuan, I’m worried about Binbin’s side. If he really encounters something, I’m afraid he won’t be able to handle it alone.”

“Brother Runsheng, I have more confidence in Brother Binbin.”

Runsheng nodded in disagreement.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Yinmeng’s skills are indeed better than Brother Binbin’s, but when facing a special environment, Brother Binbin is better at utilizing the environment than Yinmeng.”

“Xiao Yuan, you are right.”

“Okay, Brother Runsheng, now no matter how we worry about them, it’s meaningless. We should focus our energy on what we should do.”

“Xiao Yuan, tell me, what should we do now?”

“According to my deduction, we should still have a rather long empty window period. What we want to do now is shorten this empty window period and advance what should happen in the future.

For example… advance Uncle Xue’s 50th birthday.”

…

Lunch was still hearty.

During the meal, Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative to say, “Uncle Xue, Aunt Xue, Runsheng and I will go out to sketch after lunch. We will come back quite late, so you don’t need to wait for us for dinner.”

Xue Ba said in surprise, “So late?”

“Well, I want to sketch more so I can use it in class.”

Aunt Xue looked at Xue Ba doubtfully and asked, “Why didn’t our Liangliang sketch?”

Li Zhuiyuan explained, “Although Brother Liangliang and I are in the same university, our majors are different, and some courses require us to choose them ourselves.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Aunt Xue nodded, but still added, “It doesn’t matter, we’ll wait for you both to come back and eat.”

Xue Ba then countered, “Don’t say you’ll wait, it will make the children worry, and they won’t be able to concentrate on sketching.

How about this, Xiao Yuan, it’s okay no matter how late you come back, but you must pay attention to safety. I’ll leave the door open for you, and the food will be in the pot. When you come back, you can heat it up and eat it yourselves.”

“Okay, thank you, Uncle and Aunt.”

“Hehe, this child, thank you for what? We treat you as our own family.”

After the meal, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng went out.

Aunt Xue tidied up the bowls and chopsticks and said to her husband, “Then I… I’m going to play cards?”

With guests at home, daily entertainment activities were naturally put on hold; guests couldn’t be neglected.

“Go ahead, the children won’t be back until the evening anyway.” Xue Ba waved his hand, “I’ll also take a nap, and then go drink tea and listen to books.”

Aunt Xue untied her apron, took some pocket money, and went out the door full of energy.

Xue Ba then went upstairs, walked into the bedroom, turned on the electric fan, lay down on the bed, and started taking a nap.

The courtyard door, which wasn’t locked, was pushed open, and Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng came back again.

They hadn’t just done nothing after going out. Li Zhuiyuan went to the shop to buy some things and signaled Runsheng to take them and mix water according to the proportions.

Then, he first went upstairs, came to the doorway of Xue Ba’s bedroom, heard the uniform light snoring inside, and knew that Xue Ba had already entered a state of sleep.

Gently opening the bedroom door, he walked in. Li Zhuiyuan took out a Qingxin talisman and stuck it on Xue Ba’s forehead.

At this moment, Xue Ba entered a better state of sleep.

Li Zhuiyuan lightly squeezed his right hand, and his ring finger knuckle knocked on Xue Ba’s forehead once.

The better sleep state, plus the effect of finger trembling echoing to awaken, formed a kind of offset.

Xue Ba’s eyelids began to tremble slightly.

Li Zhuiyuan knocked again, and Xue Ba’s eyelids flipped open a slit, revealing his eyes inside.

Almost, just this state, similar to a ‘lucid dream,’ although sleeping, there was a certain perception of surrounding things.

This state didn’t last too long; Li Zhuiyuan had to seize the time.

He brought his mouth close to Xue Ba’s ear and began to speak in a suggestive tone:

“Great Dao is fifty, Heaven derives forty-nine; exceeding longevity is not complete, children’s blessings are forever stable; a broken mouth month has excess and deficiency, offspring will come to supplement the whole.

Poor Dao wanders the four seas, today over the Xue door, hearing the family style is pure and upright, Xue Lang has talent, specially grants these words.

The great longevity must be advanced, not greedy for perfection, otherwise, it will delay the son’s marriage and be unfavorable to the Xue family’s descendants.”

Li Zhuiyuan repeated the above words several times continuously.

When Runsheng came in holding a bowl of water and a brush, Li Zhuiyuan quickly stood up, dipped the brush in the prepared water, and wrote down the words on the floor and walls.

Listening to the old couple’s night talk last night, he naturally knew that the old couple’s biggest worry now was Brother Liangliang’s marriage and when they could hold their grandchildren.

With this demand as a pain point, requiring Xue Ba to advance his 50th birthday by one month wasn’t a big problem.

This way, the changes that would have occurred after the month’s excess could be advanced to now.

There was no morality or immorality in deceiving them like this. He was here now, and if anything happened, he could step forward to solve it. If he wasn’t here, heaven knows if this old couple would be in danger when things happened.

After finishing writing, Li Zhuiyuan tore off the Qingxin talisman from Xue Ba’s forehead, and together with Runsheng, left the room, went downstairs, out of the house, and out of the courtyard.

Xue Ba leisurely woke up, sat up from the bed, his eyes showing a thoughtful look, savoring the words ringing in his mind.

“Was it a dream?”

But soon, Xue Ba discovered that it didn’t seem to be a dream, because he saw the words from the dream appearing on the floor and walls.

“Cannot exceed longevity completely, this will be bad for Liangliang’s marriage and descendants, must do it in advance, as soon as possible!”

Xue Ba went downstairs in a panic. He wanted to go find his wife to discuss it.

Just like this, Aunt Xue, who had just sat down at the card table and hadn’t played several rounds, was pulled back by her husband.

Aunt Xue originally wanted Xue Ba to wait for her to finish playing, but Xue Ba repeatedly urged her that there wasn’t enough time and told her to quickly come home with him to look in the bedroom.

The old ladies at the card table and those watching all covered their mouths and laughed. One of them even joked:

“Hurry back, your man can’t wait.”

Aunt Xue blushed and could only follow Xue Ba back home.

After closing the door, Xue Ba told Aunt Xue about the immortal elder he had just dreamed of and also brought Aunt Xue upstairs back to the bedroom to look at the words.

The words that were originally visible had all disappeared at this time.

But this disappearance, on the contrary, further confirmed Xue Ba’s thoughts, making the matter more real.

“This longevity must be done in advance, as soon as possible.”

Although Aunt Xue didn’t see the words, since this matter involved holding grandchildren, she also echoed with the mentality of rather believing it than not believing it:

“Right, right, then let’s do it in advance.”

“Then how about tomorrow?”

“Where do you have time to prepare dishes and invite a cook? Even if you invite people to eat, you can’t invite them today and have them come tomorrow.”

“That’s right, then what should we do? What’s the earliest time we can do it?”

“Besides, if you notify and invite people in advance for your longevity day, it’s hard to say if you still need to refuse them one by one?”

“Yes…”

At this time, the sound of a door opening came from another room.

Xue Ba and Aunt Xue walked out of the room and saw Li Zhuiyuan standing at the doorway.

“Xiao Yuan, why are you back?”

“I was in a hurry when I went out and forgot to bring the paint.” As he spoke, Li Zhuiyuan waved the paint box in his hand. “Uncle Xue, Aunt Xue, what were you arguing about in the room just now?”

“It’s like this…” Xue Ba explained the matter. During their exchange these two days, he had already treated Xiao Yuan as an adult.

“This is easy to handle. As for how to celebrate the longevity, just invite some close relatives and neighbors to have a meal at home tomorrow, set a big round table and it’s fine.

As for the one a month from now, Brother Liangliang will also be back then. Just do it in his name. He hasn’t been home for a long time, so just have a banquet to thank relatives and friends for taking care of the family in the past.

If someone asks why the longevity wasn’t celebrated that day, Uncle Xue, just say that a fortune teller advised you to do so, and everyone will understand.”

“Xiao Yuan’s method is good, let’s do it that way.” Aunt Xue clapped her hands and said.

“Right, let’s do it that way. Tomorrow… no, you should go buy dishes now and set a table tomorrow.”

“Isn’t it the same if I go buy it tomorrow morning? It’s even fresher.”

“Didn’t you forget? You need to worship the ancestral grave on the morning of the longevity day. If you go buy dishes tomorrow morning, what about the offerings?”

“Right, I forgot about that. I’ll go buy the dishes now.” Hearing ‘worship the ancestral grave,’ Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze condensed. After Aunt Xue went downstairs, he opened his mouth to Xue Ba and asked, “Uncle Xue, do you have a custom of worshipping the ancestral grave before celebrating longevity here?”

“Yes, this is a custom here. It’s also considered notifying the ancestors and letting them share in the happiness.”

“Then Uncle Xue, can Runsheng and I go with you tomorrow morning?”

“The ancestral grave is on the back mountain. The road may not be easy to walk, and you need to go before it gets light. Xiao Yuan, you don’t need to…”

“Uncle Xue, we also have a custom in Nantong. When we are guests at someone’s house and they want to worship their ancestors, we also need to follow along and worship.”

“Then okay. I’ll call you when it’s time to set off tomorrow.”

“Okay, Uncle, I’ll wait for you.”

“Aren’t you going to sketch quickly?”

“Not going to sketch, Uncle Xue. I’ll write longevity couplets and longevity characters for you. My calligraphy is quite good.”

“Alright, alright, then I’ll really thank you, Xiao Yuan.”

Li Zhuiyuan returned to his room.

Worship the ancestral grave?

Li Zhuiyuan remembered that Fatty Wu’s prospective in-laws had something happen after going up the grave.

The old couple were busy preparing dishes until the evening. Li Zhuiyuan then quickly wrote the longevity couplets and longevity characters early on.

Around four o’clock in the morning, Xue Ba came to knock on the door.

He just lightly knocked and softly called out, originally thinking the young people wouldn’t get up and he would go by himself.

Unexpectedly, the door was just knocked open, and two people came out from inside, both with bags on their backs, fully prepared.

Xue Ba said, “You don’t need to carry so many things.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re used to it. Let’s go quickly, Uncle Xue.”

“Ah, then okay.”

Aunt Xue didn’t go, but if Xue Liangliang were at home, he would need to go with them.

Xue Ba originally had a shoulder pole carrying two baskets, with offerings and paper money inside.

Runsheng saw the situation and simply carried them together.

“How embarrassing, it’s heavy.”

Runsheng shook his head: “It doesn’t matter, it’s very light.”

Leaving the town and walking towards the back mountain, because Runsheng was carrying the shoulder pole and still walking fast, the time was greatly shortened.

When the sky was just dimly lit, the three people arrived at the location of the Xue family’s ancestral grave.

As soon as they arrived, Li Zhuiyuan perceived that the Xue family’s ancestral grave was not ordinary. In the secondary mountain gully, there were three rises and two falls, just three parallel hills, facing the river in front and leaning against the mountain in the back, which could be considered an auspicious burial site.

When the ancestral grave was selected in the early years, a specialized feng shui master must have been invited to select it.

The Xue family’s ancestral grave was located on the middle hill. Not surprisingly, on the two hills to the east and west, there should also be other families’ ancestral graves.

“Uncle Xue, whose families’ ancestral graves are on those two hills?”

Hearing this, Xue Ba’s eyes showed thought, and he said, “There should be graves too, but I don’t remember whose family.”

“Xiao Yuan, should I go take a look?”

“Go ahead, Brother Runsheng.”

Runsheng ran down quickly and ran towards that side. Li Zhuiyuan then arranged the offerings with Xue Ba.

Not long after, Runsheng ran back: “Xiao Yuan, there’s no grave on that hill.”

Xue Ba said in surprise, “How is that possible?”

Although he didn’t remember whose family it was, he subconsciously affirmed that there were.

Runsheng ran towards the west side hill again, and after coming back, he said, “There’s no grave there either.”

Xue Ba said in confusion, “It shouldn’t be. I remember there should be graves. I’ll ask people again after I go back to town.”

“Uncle Xue, let’s handle the matters first.”

Li Zhuiyuan was clear that the matter of whose families’ ancestral graves were on those two hills could definitely not be inquired about after returning to town.

At the same time, the place where something should be was empty, which was a bit like ‘this place has no silver three hundred taels.’

He vaguely had a premonition that these three places should be similar to the location of an ‘array eye.’

Thanks to Li Zhuiyuan having already sorted out his policy, he planned to continue following the original plan. Otherwise, these three hills would be key nodes for him to try and break through.

“Okay, I’ll worship the ancestral grave first.”

Xue Ba began sacrificing to his ancestors, first sprinkling wine, then burning paper money, and finally kowtowing.

When Xue Ba was kowtowing, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly perceived that at the topmost, highest position of the ancestral grave, there was some slight movement.

He immediately entered the Yin-walking state and saw a weak green light coming from above downwards, straight towards Xue Ba.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, subconsciously wanting to block it, but this hand, once raised, was put down again in the end.

Because this was not evil, but green glow.

People often said that the ancestral grave emitted green smoke, referring to this, seeing green glow as green smoke.

Generally speaking, only true ancestors who accumulated virtue and were buried in an auspicious site, and whose descendants in later generations were pure and good in character, could receive the protection of green glow, which was the so-called ancestral blessing.

This was considered a kind of blessing, with only benefits and no harm, so he had no reason to block it.

The green glow entered Xue Ba’s body, but he himself was completely unaware and continued to kowtow.

After the ceremony ended, Xue Ba began to pack up his things, and there were no other movements at the ancestral grave site.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but suspect, was the process still not ready?

If his judgment was wrong, and the main cause was not Xue Ba’s longevity ceremony, but a certain guest who came that day was the main cause, then advancing it this time was meaningless.

The three people returned home.

Li Zhuiyuan originally wanted to follow Xue Ba and inquire again about which out-of-town relatives would come to the big banquet after the month’s excess, but as soon as they started talking, Xue Ba clearly started to get sleepy, yawning constantly, and even almost fell asleep while sitting on the chair several times.

Aunt Xue came out, saw this scene, and quickly said, “You got up too early, hurry up and sleep for a while, get up after you sleep for a bit, you need to welcome guests.”

Xue Ba nodded groggily, just thinking of standing up, but almost fell.

“Brother Runsheng, help Uncle Xue go to sleep.”

“Okay!”

Runsheng reached out, practically carrying Xue Ba upstairs with one hand.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the bench Xue Ba was sitting on earlier. Was the sleepiness so strong?

Could it be… that the ancestors wanted to dream?

After Runsheng sent Xue Ba to sleep, he started pasting the longevity couplets and longevity characters.

Not long after, two families of relatives came to the door, followed by two families of neighbors from next door. The courtyard immediately became lively.

At this time, the little boy from the next door neighbor’s house came in carrying a large bamboo basket, laughing and shouting:

“Haha, Auntie, the boat went out early this morning and caught a big one. I’ve never seen such a big fresh catch. Hurry up and clean it up, we’ll make fish soup for lunch. This is also the Dragon King in the river celebrating our uncle’s birthday.”

In the bamboo basket was a big fish.

Runsheng suddenly bent down and said in a low voice in Li Zhuiyuan’s ear, “This fish is dirty.”

Li Zhuiyuan immediately looked at the little boy who brought the fish. The little boy was barefoot and bare-chested, with dark skin. Observing his interaction with the surrounding people, he confirmed that he was indeed the next door neighbor.

On the little boy’s body, Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t see any clues. He wasn’t evil, nor was he possessed.

Moreover, his words and actions were very natural, and his micro-expressions were also not improper, proving that he should not be lying.

So, this problematic fish was indeed caught by him unintentionally.

But this fish was very likely deliberate; it was willingly taking the bait.

Xue Ba had just returned from worshipping the ancestral grave, and this fish ‘followed’ right after. There was definitely a connection here.

Aunt Xue exclaimed: “Heavens, such a big fish, how can I kill it alone?”

“Aunt Xue, let Runsheng help you kill the fish.”

“Runsheng, can you?”

“Of course.”

Runsheng took the fish basket from the neighbor boy’s hand and walked towards the back kitchen. Li Zhuiyuan followed.

There was a small door outside the back kitchen, and inside there was a small courtyard of several square meters, which was basically unused.

Runsheng put the fish basket down here and turned to look at Li Zhuiyuan.

“Brother Runsheng, grab it out.”

“Okay!”

Runsheng reached out and grabbed the big fish. The big fish appeared unusually docile.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed down a seal with both hands and drew two red marks directly on both sides of the big fish, finally converging them at the head of the big fish.

The big fish immediately began to struggle violently, its fish eyes turned red, its scales turned black, and two rows of sharp fine teeth grew under its fish lips.

Li Zhuiyuan discovered that at this time, its appearance was seven or eight points similar to the big fish he saw in A Li’s ‘dream,’ the biggest difference still being in size.

Where did it still have the slightest resemblance to a fish? It clearly looked like a wild beast struggling madly.

Fortunately, Runsheng was strong and knew the skills of exerting force, otherwise, two or three ordinary adults really couldn’t hold it down.

“Xiao Yuan, help me get my Yellow River shovel.”

“Cannot kill it like that.” Li Zhuiyuan shook his head and took out an evil-breaking talisman from his pocket.

Runsheng understood, used his knee to resist the fish body, freed up one hand, and pried the fish head upwards to open its mouth.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly put the talisman paper into the fish’s mouth and quickly pulled away before it could close its mouth and bite his finger.

As soon as the evil-breaking talisman entered, the big fish’s struggle became more violent, and even Runsheng’s weight began to tremble under its push.

But soon, the big fish’s scales began to turn white, the red fish eyes also quickly became dull, and its struggling strength began to weaken more and more.

First, the scales gradually powdered, followed by the fish flesh, like a burned-out beehive coal.

“Crack…”

The big fish’s body completely cracked open. In the most central area, a black fish bubble actually survived under the power of the evil-breaking talisman and was still bouncing.

Inside the fish bubble, something seemed to be wriggling.

Runsheng swallowed.

“Brother Runsheng, you can’t eat this.”

“Hey hey.” Runsheng showed a shy smile on his face.

Li Zhuiyuan took out another evil-breaking talisman and threw it towards the black fish bubble. After the evil-breaking talisman covered it, it immediately began to burn. The fish bubble burst, and one by one, black, slender, earthworm-like things inside began to straighten their bodies and make their last struggles. Upon closer inspection, one could see neat fine scales on their bodies.

Finally, these things all turned into white powder, leaving a circle on the ground similar to a fireworks bloom pattern.

It took two evil-breaking talismans to suppress and kill this thing.

It was hard to imagine how terrible the consequences would be if this thing were truly put in a pot to make soup and eaten into the stomach.

And this wasn’t even its body.

Li Zhuiyuan walked back into the house and happened to see Xue Ba, who had been sleeping upstairs earlier, slowly walking down while covering his forehead, shaking his head, and muttering something.

“Uncle Xue, what’s wrong?”

Xue Ba said somewhat blankly:

“Xiao Yuan, when I was sleeping just now, I dreamed of an immortal elder again. That immortal elder said some words to me.”

“Uncle Xue, what did the immortal elder say?”

“I feel like this is because of thinking during the day, dreaming at night. This dream cannot be taken as true.”

Li Zhuiyuan was surprised. The first immortal elder was his voice disguised, but this second one was very likely real and useful!

The result was that because he had pretended yesterday, Xue Ba didn’t believe the words of this ‘true immortal elder.’

“Uncle Xue, what if the immortal elder had other instructions? Quickly recall again, what did he say to you in the dream?”

“This immortal elder said, let me quickly go to Zhengmen Village and set up offerings and a blood bowl for worship.

He said that as long as I do this, it can bless my family to continue and offspring to prosper.

Look, didn’t the true immortal elder come over yesterday, and I had a similar dream myself, even the blessing reward is the same.”

“Zhengmen Village, isn’t that the place you told me about?”

Xue Ba nodded and said, “It should be that I talked to you, Xiao Yuan, about the exploration team matter yesterday, and it just happened to catch up with just now, and I dreamed it together. Who would go to that place? Anyway, I won’t go.”

According to local records, Zhengmen Village was originally a village under Min’an Town and was submerged by a flood more than two hundred years ago.

Its location was in the southwest direction of Min’an Town. For many years, there have been rumors appearing constantly that someone once saw a village there, and there were still living people in the village, wearing certain kinds of clothes.

Now there was a person in Min’an Town who said he had been to Zhengmen Village.

And this person, no matter whose home held a banquet in town, he would come. The host would specially take a big bowl to hold rice and cover it with vegetables, letting him sit in the corner with disheveled hair and eat by himself.

According to the old people, every place would have such a fool, although they were crazy and senile, they didn’t hit or harm people. Every family in the village and town would provide for him, which was also considered letting him protect peace for everyone.

Last month, an exploration team composed of six young people heard the legend of Zhengmen Village and wanted to explore. That exploration team was composed of university students and was brought to the Xue family, who also had a university student, by an enthusiastic small shop aunt.

Although they were not from the same university as their son, Xue Ba and Aunt Xue still enthusiastically entertained them with a meal and a night’s stay. They also found Xue Ba to understand the matter of Zhengmen Village. Xue Ba told them what he had heard and finally advised them not to take this risk. One reason was they couldn’t find it, and the second reason was that if they found it, it would be even more inauspicious.

However, this group of young people didn’t listen at all and set off on the road the next day. Moreover, they also brought the fool from the town with them as a guide.

The result was that a week later, the fool came back by himself, and there was no news of the six people in the exploration team at all.

People in town all said that the exploration team didn’t find Zhengmen Village, they just sent the fool back and left overnight, because the fool’s pocket had a sum of money, which should have been the guide fee given to him by the exploration team. The fool also took the money and went to the small shop to buy many candies to eat.

But Xue Ba and Aunt Xue didn’t think so, because those six young people liked the stinky mandarin fish made by Aunt Xue very much and said that they would come back to his house to eat again after they returned.

The old couple could tell that these were not polite words, but they never came back.

Xue Ba also secretly went to the police station to report the case. After the police station took down the record, they said they would contact the school to verify. When Xue Ba went to inquire again several days later, the police station said that the school replied that no student from this school was missing.

Being a university student himself, Xue Ba was clear that it was still the summer vacation period at that time, how could the school verify whether a student from this school was missing?

This matter also became a headless pending case, always weighing on the hearts of Xue Ba and Aunt Xue.

Up to now, Li Zhuiyuan could almost confirm that,

The place he truly wanted to go this time was Zhengmen Village!

“Hahaha, eat the banquet, hahaha, eat the banquet!”

An adult’s laugh came from outside.

The fool had arrived.

—

Too sleepy, rushed to this point, sorry, everyone waited for a long time. I’ll take a nap first, and there will be another chapter in the evening.

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