Chapter 168: with translation of the chapter title

168 Boat crossing the path of life, biasedly abandons itself; self-destructive prophecy buries its own self.

The implied meaning is that the He Family's hidden virtue is about to be exhausted; they can only accumulate some hidden virtue by continually doing good deeds, to sustain the two remaining members of the He Family to live another half‑life.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have lived to see today; they would have dropped dead outright in the year they bought the knife on credit.

Therefore, after that, the He Family put away their compass and carpenter's square, threw away the Luoyang shovel, broke the yin‑probing claws, buried the ancestral black donkey hooves in the soil, and declared that from now on they would seal the mountain bones.

But some people, it's easy to change the rivers and mountains, yet hard to change their innate nature.

After living a peaceful life for a long time, they thought they had done enough good deeds, that no major disaster would come, and they returned to this line of work, thinking that as long as they didn't go ahead, nothing would happen; but the result was still the same—what filth rises from below, what of it is clean?

Tushan Family

He Family

After Tushan Jiu finished speaking to Xie Shiyu, she seemed helpless, as if with a headache, and said:

"Honest and diligent, half a life without trouble; now at forty‑six, I have reached my end."

Little Nine

The second elder ought to nag again about the good deeds of these fourteen years, and now there's one less family member doing them.

Ghost See Sorrow

Great Luck Bearer

Cooking smoke curled lightly, firelight filled the ground; after finishing their meal at Grandma Wang's house, Grandma Wang and the neighbors all brought over vegetables they had grown themselves.

Also, those whom Tushan Jiu calls auntie also need to go up the mountain together, to help Tushan Jiu and the others tidy up.

But Tushan Jiu politely declined; she had already laid dust covers in the house before leaving, so there was no need to tidy anything.

As for the little courtyard, Grandma Wang and the others tidy it up once a week, so it won't get messy there.

Xie Shiyu had the driver return to the city; they can just come pick them up tomorrow morning.

The roads on the mountain have also been repaired, so they are easy to walk.

The two of them held hands, not in a hurry, leisurely heading up the mountain.

Tushan Jiu swayed the ancient bronze lock key in her hand, humming a song in high spirits.

Xie Shiyu looked at her indulgently; with her lively presence, he could hardly take his eyes off her.

A cool breeze brushed their cheeks; Yun Shi is not as cold as Nan Cheng, making it very comfortable.

He has never enjoyed such a leisurely, contented life either.

Xie Shiyu thought that in the future, his and her twilight years would surely be spent here.

After walking for a while, Xie Shiyu saw a large Chinese-style manor.

A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes; he turned to Tushan Jiu and asked, 'Is this the little courtyard you mentioned...?'

Tushan Jiu nodded, 'Yes, welcome home.'

Upon hearing the two words 'home,' Xie Shiyu felt his heart stir.

Tushan Jiu took the key to unlock the gate lock, and in passing tore off the two talismans on the door.

Click— the lock opened.

The two ancient-style doors swung open on their own.

At the same moment, a huge boom rang out in the sky over Yun Shi.

Tushan Jiu lifted her gaze to the sky, her beautiful eyes narrowing slightly.

Xie Shiyu asked her what was wrong.

She shook her head and murmured, 'Is someone trying to welch on a debt? Or do they think they haven't died fast enough?'

'It's fine, ignore him; this is a lesson from heaven, and he can't wriggle out of it.' Having said that, she took Xie Shiyu's hand and walked inside.

Hearing that, Xie Shiyu didn't ask further.

They entered the manor.

Xie Shiyu glanced around at the courtyard layout.

Actually, Xie Shiyu's earlier surprise wasn't due to lack of experience; on the contrary, the Tushan Family's manor is actually about the same size as the Xie Family's.

It's just that Tushan Jiu always calls her own place the 'little' courtyard, constantly using that word, which would naturally mislead him.

So when he sees that the entire hilltop is Tushan Jiu's family's 'little' courtyard, he will surely find it unexpected.

At the same moment, some ghosts on Hou Shan popped their heads out with a puff puff puff as soon as Tushan Jiu tore off the talismans.

'Tushan Jiu is back?'

'Little Jiu Jiu is back?'

'I'll go check; over the past few days three people came knocking at her door, including the one called Young Sect Master who is quite handsome—I don't know if she knows, I ought to tell her.'

'Me too, me too! A few days ago I saw someone in a wheelchair being pushed up; he thought someone was at the Xiao Jiu's home and knelt for several hours, seemingly surnamed He—I also need to tell Xiao Jiu'er!'

'Hold on, hold on, hold on, don't go—I just came back from there; Xiao Jiu Jiu is back, but she has a man called 'Ghost-Seer Sorrow' by her side!'

'What! Xiao Jiu Jiu has 'Ghost-Seer Sorrow' by her side!'

'Yeah, I heard the villagers say that's Xiao Jiu's fiancé.'

Ghost-Seer Sorrow = Great Fortune Bearer

'Ah! That means Xiao Jiu Jiu's return this time means we can't even get close, huh! So unhappy!'

'Sigh, as long as Xiao Jiu can break that curse, as long as she can be happy, we who have watched her grow up should feel happy for her, right?'

'Right, then you go climb a wall and tell Xiao Jiu who all came by; I'm off to play mahjong.'

'The male ghost who came back from the village gave an embarrassed look, 'What the heck, why does bad luck always happen to me? It's really uncomfortable to appear near a Great Fortune Bearer!'

Although he muttered, he still drifted toward the manor.

In the manor, the two of them set to work tidying the house, like a couple doing chores together, enjoying it.

Suddenly, Tushan Jiu heard a whistle; she turned her head to look outside.

And in the same spot, Xie Shiyu showed no reaction at all.

Tushan Jiu said to Xie Shiyu, "Keep wiping, a ghost is looking for me—I'll go out to see what's up."

Xie Shiyu looked up at her, nodded, turned and fetched his clothes from the hanger, draping them over her shoulders, "Mm, go on, put on a piece of clothing—Yun Shi's morning‑evening temperature swing really is quite big, don't catch a cold."

"Thank you." Tushan Jiu smiled.

Going outside, Tushan Jiu walked straight to the front yard; as soon as she opened the door she saw at the doorway a constipated‑looking Zhang Erzhu.

"Erzhu? You came to see me about something?"

Zhang Erzhu spoke extremely fast, finished delivering the message, and then hurriedly floated away.

Tushan Jiu reacted and shouted, "Help me thank everyone—I'll buy you something tasty tomorrow!"

"I want to eat roasted chicken leg!" The soul had vanished, but the voice still lingered.

Tushan Jiu chuckled lightly: "Okay, I know."

She adjusted her loose clothing and closed the door.

The two groups of people Zhang Erzhu mentioned, she knew who they were without having to count.

The first wave was the corpse‑chasers coming to the Xiang family's door; this second time, the surname He—naturally that's He Qian.

Upon discovering he had a fatal illness and wouldn't live more than two months, he naturally panicked and wanted to come again to beg for a knife on credit.

But it was useless.

He is one who, on the boat's path to life, instead abandons himself, burying himself with self‑destructive sayings!

Others could borrow a knife three times, but he only had that one chance.