Chapter 13

How does this towel look so familiar?

Liu Yumei recalled, isn't this the one that the Li family boy had hanging on his shoulder today?

"What kind of situation is this?"

Liu Yumei wanted to take the towel down, but just as her hand was about to touch it, she stopped.

She turned her head to look at the inner room; at the doorway stood the girl's figure.

"A-Li, you were already lying down, why did you get up again?"

The girl didn't speak.

"A-Li, did you put this towel here?"

The girl didn't answer.

"A-Li, this is the place for the spirit tablets, the most precious place for offerings; you can't just put things here. The towel should be put where it belongs. Grandma will help you take it to wash clean, okay?"

The girl's eyelashes began to twitch.

"Then let it be, let it be; it's quite good here, hehe, quite good."

The girl returned to calm.

"A-Li, go to sleep; Grandma won't move it. Grandma promises that when you wake up tomorrow, you will still see it here."

The girl turned and went in.

Liu Yumei sighed, and then a smile appeared on her face; she had just noticed that this time, when A-Li was about to get angry, only her eyelids twitched slightly, but her body didn't tremble, which was also a kind of progress.

Over the years, they had been avoiding A-Li's illness; this was not only because she would cause harm to herself and those around her in that violent state, but also because after every episode, her condition would become more severe.

Currently, the most important thing was the treatment of A-Li's condition; everything else was secondary.

Liu Yumei finally found her husband behind the tablets of her two older brothers.

"It really wronged you, having to make do with my two brothers for a while. You didn't fight, did you?"

Back then, the old man pursued her shamelessly, but he was often disciplined by her brothers; even after she married him, he and her brothers would shout and almost fight every time they drank together.

The difference was that before they were married, the brothers would find faults to pick on him, but after they were married, he would use the drunkenness to provoke the brothers every time, and shamelessly shout:

"Come on, hit me! If you have the ability, just beat me to death! If you beat me to death, your sister will have to be a widow for me!"

The brothers were so angry their teeth itched, constantly complaining that she was blind to have been tricked by him.

Actually, besides being a bit narrow-minded and holding grudges, the old man was really good to her.

She gently wiped her husband's tablet with a handkerchief: "Old man, this is your granddaughter wanting you to make room for her things, so just bear with it."

After speaking, Liu Yumei moved the tablet and leaned her husband's tablet against her father's.

"Talk more with my dad; a son-in-law is half a son."

Although that dirty towel in the center was a bit of an eyesore, Liu Yumei still spoke with joy in her tone:

"You guys, don't be angry with A-Li. A-Li ending up like this today, isn't it all because of you? Who told you all to die so decisively and heroically back then, leaving not a bit of incense protection for your descendants.

This Li family boy, his name is Li Zhuiyuan, it sounds quite nice, and he is quite interesting, just precocious to a terrifying degree.

I have seen many smart children, but like him, this is the first time in my life.

This child's feeling to me, besides that bit of lingering childishness, is like he is deliberately acting like a child.

It's a pity; such people often do not live long.

But it's hard to say; he lives with Li Sanjiang now and is Li Sanjiang's relative, so sharing good fortune should be much simpler than for us.

However, these don't matter anymore.

I just hope he can help our A-Li slowly cure her illness. Our A-Li has suffered too much bitterness and too much pain; this shouldn't have been what she deserved.

You guys, when you sank into the river and died, you were all shouting for the new world.

This world is too big, and I, a woman, have shallow vision and cannot contain it; I can only watch my own granddaughter, only hoping she can be like other little girls, happily laughing and speaking generously.

If you have spirits in heaven..."

Speaking of this, Liu Yumei couldn't help but roll her eyes at the tablets, her tone turning into resentment and complaint:

"If you had left some spirit behind according to the old rules before you died, how could my granddaughter have become like this!"

After bathing, Li Zhuiyuan went to find another towel, scrubbed it clean with soap, and hung it on the clothesline.

Passing in front of Li Sanjiang's bedroom door, he hesitated for a moment, but finally pushed the door and entered.

On the bed, Li Sanjiang was holding a cigarette with his legs crossed, humming a little tune, brewing sleepiness.

"Great-grandfather, there is something I thought about, and I still need to tell you."

"Oh? What is it? Go ahead."

"Last night, Niu Fu's mother came to our house and used the tables, chairs, bowls, chopsticks, and paper figures on the first floor to hold a birthday banquet for herself. It was very lively, and I was pulled to participate."

Li Sanjiang frowned slightly, subconsciously leaning up: "Continue."

"When the banquet was about to end, a zombie appeared and had a fight with Niu Fu's mother. Niu Fu's mother couldn't beat it, and at the last moment, she sent me away."

"Sent you away? Sent you where?"

"I woke up."

"Oh." Li Sanjiang nodded, thinking of himself being chased by a group of zombies in his dream, and he understood. The child must have had the same dream of zombies as he did. He comforted him, "Little Yuan Hou, just consider it a dream. Don't worry, nothing will happen tonight."

Not doing the fortune-turning ritual tonight, he could also have a good sleep.

"But, Great-grandfather..."

"It's okay, don't take it to heart; Great-grandfather understands."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded; sure enough, Great-grandfather understood.

"Great-grandfather, there is one more thing. Have you noticed the problem of Grandma Liu and the others living here working for you?"

"Of course I noticed it long ago, hehe."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded again; sure enough, Great-grandfather knew.

Li Sanjiang laughed secretly in his heart: This family is helping him farm, making paper offerings, helping him send tables and chairs to the banquet, and also covering cooking and cleaning... yet they only want such a little bit of wages.

Hehe, if this isn't a brain problem, what is?

These days, it's not easy to find such long-term workers who take little and do much and have brain problems; he must cherish them.

"Anything else, Little Yuan Hou? If not, go back to sleep; Great-grandfather is sleepy too."

"The last thing, actually, I have been tutoring Sister Yingzi every time. Sister Yingzi's comprehension ability is quite average, and she learns quite slowly."

Li Zhuiyuan discovered that after he finished speaking, Li Sanjiang's lips pursed, and the sides of his face became more and more bulging, as if he were holding back something very uncomfortable.

Quiet for ten seconds, finally:

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

Li Sanjiang laughed so hard that it affected his wounds, and he couldn't stop gasping for air, but he still couldn't help but laugh and scold:

"You little slippery head, if you don't want to study, just say so. You even find such a lame excuse. Do you think your Great-grandfather is a fool?

Alright, alright, no more nonsense. Go back to sleep quickly. Ying Hou will definitely come tomorrow. No matter how much you play, you can't escape studying!"

"Great-grandfather, good night."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't argue anymore; even if it was Great-grandfather, he wasn't omniscient and omnipotent, and there were always some things he couldn't understand, which was normal.

Returning to his bedroom, lying on the bed, covering himself with the quilt, Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and slept.

This sleep was very stable, and he didn't dream.

When the sky was just getting light, Li Zhuiyuan woke up, sat by the bed for a while, felt it, and discovered that the sleep quality was far inferior to when he was dreaming.

Getting out of bed and picking up the washbasin, preparing to wash up, just as he opened the door, he saw a girl standing at the doorway; it was Qin Liu.

She had styled her hair today, inserting a wooden hairpin; her upper body was a white garment, and her lower body was a black horse-face skirt, looking exquisite and elegant.

Good-looking people must also be paired with good-looking clothes to complement each other.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that Qin Liu's daily clothes were not something that could be bought in stores. First, the current trend was for foreign, trendy clothing styles, and traditional retro styles were already considered rustic and not presentable; second, Qin Liu's clothes were very fine from design to workmanship, and it was feared that only those small clothing workshops with heritage could make them to order, and the price was not cheap.

However, looking at Grandma Liu's style of casually giving a jade thumb ring worth a three-bedroom apartment in the capital as a meeting gift, her family certainly didn't lack money.

There was dew on the girl's hair tips; Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but reach out and touch her hair, feeling a bit of dampness.

"Have you been waiting here for a long time?"

The girl didn't speak, just looking at Li Zhuiyuan.

"Next time I wake up, I'll go to the east room to call you to read together, so you don't have to stand here and wait, okay?"

The light in the girl's eyes dimmed a little.

"Then I will try to get up early in the future. If you come and I haven't woken up yet, you just enter the room and wait on the chair; this door isn't locked anyway."

The luster in the girl's eyes returned.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the clothesline and took down the towel he washed last night; it was hung up at night, so it wasn't completely dry, but it could be used.

He walked to the stool from yesterday, wiped it, and then put the towel on the wooden stool: "You sit first; I'll go wash up."

Qin Liu sat down.

Li Zhuiyuan went to wash up.

Qin Liu, sitting on the stool, had her gaze fall on the towel that was still quite clean; she reached out to grab it, but after thinking about it, she still took her hand back.

After brushing her teeth and wiping her face, just as she put down the washcloth, she saw Grandma Liu standing in front of her, which startled Li Zhuiyuan.

"Xiao Yuan, hehe, I'm really sorry, sorry for the trouble."

This was the first time Li Zhuiyuan saw Grandma Liu enter the main house and even go to the second floor. Thinking about how long Qin Liu had been waiting here to wait for him after getting up, Grandma Liu must have been accompanying her here for that long.

"Grandma, I like playing with A-Li."

"Then you guys play well; if there's anything, just call Grandma." Grandma Liu went downstairs with a smile.

Li Zhuiyuan put the washbasin back in the room; it was still too early, and the sun hadn't risen yet, so he didn't want to read.

Looking around the room, he picked up a small wooden box and walked out.

"A-Li, shall I teach you how to play chess?"

Qin Liu didn't speak, just staring at the small wooden box.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the small wooden box; this was bought by Qin Shu when Great-grandfather asked Qin Shu to buy snacks and learning supplies for him.

It was a Go set; the chessboard was printed on a translucent oil-paper, and the chess pieces were plastic circles the size of ladybugs; in short, it was very small and simple.

But it won by being low-cost and cheap; the stationery store in Shinan Town certainly wouldn't stock that kind of formal Go set—who would buy it?

"Let me tell you the rules of Go first..."

Before Li Zhuiyuan finished speaking, A-Li used her hand to pick up a black piece and placed it on the chessboard.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't speak anymore, picked up a white piece, and made a move.

After many moves, Li Zhuiyuan confirmed that the girl knew how to play Go.

He couldn't help but reveal a smile and threw himself into this game.

The two were playing blitz chess, and neither thought much.

Gradually, Li Zhuiyuan began to feel unsupported, and finally...

"I lost."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't let her win; he really lost.

Although he hadn't formally learned chess, his brain's computing power was good, and Go relied heavily on this aspect, so he didn't compare himself with national masters, but just placed him at the level of folk enthusiasts, and his chess strength wasn't bad.

But the girl was clearly more powerful; she should have formally learned it, and she played not only fast but also with great method.

Regarding this, Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel any sense of frustration; he knew he learned things fast, but it was impossible to skip the "learning" process.

In many fields, just having a good brain wasn't enough; it also required a lot of accumulation and precipitation, and even more, the support of a platform.

"A-Li is really amazing, shall we play again?"

The girl pinched a chess piece with her fingertips and circled it, looking up at Li Zhuiyuan; the meaning was very clear—she still wanted to play.

Li Zhuiyuan tidied up the chessboard and, seeing that the morning breeze seemed to have picked up, found four cement blocks from the west corner of the terrace to press down the chess paper.

The second round of the game began.

The speed of moves was still very fast, and Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but curl his lips slightly as he played.

He felt it; the girl was letting him win.

He didn't feel humiliated; instead, he was very happy, and then he began to deliberately make bad moves.

This time, the girl's speed of moves began to slow down, and her brows gradually furrowed.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't bear to continue teasing her, so he won anyway.

The girl looked up at Li Zhuiyuan.

Her lips had a faint trace of pouting, very inconspicuous; she should have been angry.

But her eyelashes didn't twitch, and her body didn't tremble.

"Alright, alright, it's my fault; I was wrong." Looking up, the sky was already bright, and from below came the sound of Liu Yi calling for breakfast.

Li Zhuiyuan put away the chessboard and took Qin Liu down for breakfast.

Very tacitly, the original single-person breakfast became a small table with two wooden stools.

Li Zhuiyuan divided the pickles into a small plate for the girl as usual. After the girl began to eat, he followed his habit, pried the duck eggshell, and after peeling the top, used chopsticks to dig and eat.

Suddenly, noticing the girl beside him had stopped eating, Li Zhuiyuan looked over and found she was looking at the duck egg in his hand.

"Shall I open one for you? But it won't be convenient to control the portion this way."

Qin Liu still stared at it.

Li Zhuiyuan could only crack a duck egg for her too, carefully peel off a bit of the shell, and hand it to her.

Qin Liu took it with both hands, held it in her arms, and lowered her head to look at the duck egg with the broken top seriously.

At this time, Li Sanjiang swayed downstairs.

Looking at the double table of Little Yuan Hou and the girl, and then looking at the family table of Liu Yumei, Qin Li, and Liu Ting, he silently walked toward his own small table for lonely old people.

Just as he was about to start, he saw a figure appear on the small road in front of the dam.

A boy of about fourteen or fifteen with dark skin was pushing a wheelbarrow with an old man sitting on it.

The boy was only wearing a pair of patched blue shorts, bare-chested, and on his feet were plastic liberation shoes that clearly didn't fit.

The old man was bald, his stature clearly shrunken due to old age, wearing a pair of plastic slippers, and holding a water pipe in his hand.

Seeing this, Li Sanjiang helplessly put down his chopsticks and said: "Fine, the beggar is here."

After that pair of grandfather and grandson got on the dam, Li Sanjiang stepped forward enthusiastically to greet them: "Oh, I knew you guys would come today, but I didn't expect you to come so early."

The old man took a puff of his pipe and said: "We traveled through the night on purpose; coming to your place can save a breakfast."

"Ting Hou, is there any porridge in the pot?" Li Sanjiang asked.

The old man snorted coldly, disdainfully: "If I came to your place to drink thin porridge, wouldn't I have come in vain? We want to eat dry food."

"Fine, fine, fine. Ting Hou, go cook."

"Alright."

Liu Yi went to the kitchen to cook.

"Little Yuan Hou, come here." Li Sanjiang called Li Zhuiyuan over and pointed at the old man to introduce him: "This is your Old Mountain Uncle."

"Fart! Why should I be a generation lower than you!"

"Then fine, just call him Mountain Grandpa."

"Hello, Mountain Grandpa."

"Hey, good, a handsome little child, with delicate skin and tender flesh, really obedient."

Li Sanjiang smiled and touched Li Zhuiyuan's head, saying: "Little Yuan Hou."

"Great-grandfather?"

Hearing this, the old man's face turned red, and he said angrily: "Good for you, Li Sanjiang, you are still intentionally taking advantage of me!"

"Heh, I'm too lazy to take advantage of you; aren't you about the same age as the child's grandfather, Han Hou?"

Li Zhuiyuan was somewhat surprised; that is to say, this old man was much younger than Great-grandfather, but looking at it, his own Great-grandfather was younger than him.

In the distance, Liu Yumei, who was drinking porridge, put down her bowl and chopsticks and used a handkerchief to cover her nose slightly.

That old man had a stench of a corpse from the water on him, which was really off-putting. Looking at his appearance, it was also the look a corpse-salvager should have, while looking at Li Sanjiang... eating well, living well, and being well-nourished was the exception among exceptions.

To put it bluntly, as long as one has a decent background and a decent job, who would be willing to choose to be a corpse-salvager? This inherently determined the economic status of corpse-salvagers in the village, and adding the various taboos of corpse-salvaging... there was rarely peace in their later years.

Liu Yumei didn't intend to continue eating. Seeing her granddaughter also leave the table, maybe that Xiao Yuan was called over to recognize people, but the granddaughter didn't go to the second floor to wait and accompany him to read, but walked straight back to the east room.

Hmm?

Liu Yumei walked back to the east room curiously and slowly, and just as she was about to cross the threshold to enter, she saw her granddaughter come out again.

"Still going to find Xiao Yuan?"

The girl didn't speak, crossed the dam, went to the second floor, and sat in the northeast corner, waiting for Li Zhuiyuan to finish his work and come to read.

Although she was delighted by her granddaughter's change and improvement, after the surprise gradually passed yesterday, Liu Yumei's heart also gradually began to feel sour.

Clearly, it was a little girl she had painstakingly brought up, but now in her eyes, there was only that Xiao Yuan.

Fortunately, the two were still young and didn't have those concerns.

But thinking about it, if they were like this when they were young, what would happen when they grew up?

Fortunately, this Xiao Yuan was going back to the capital after the summer vacation.

But, what if her granddaughter's illness wasn't cured by then and he wanted to leave?

Walking into the east room, Liu Yumei prepared to light some incense to drive away the smell and, by the way, calm her chaotic mind. Her gaze naturally swept over the tablet table.

Then, she immediately turned her head to look again.

"This..."

Seen, the position where her father was originally placed, the tablet was gone, and it had become...

A salted duck egg that had been cracked open.

The old man's surname was Lu, called Lu Shan, from Xiting Town, and he was also a corpse-salvager in the village.

The boy was called Lu Runsheng, picked up by Lu Shan by the river. Although he was an adopted son, the age difference was too large, so he let the boy call him Grandpa.

"Little Yuan Hou, your Great-grandfather and your Mountain Grandpa have a friendship that goes through life and death."

Lu Shan sneered: "Heh, yes, every time it's me who takes the risk and sells my life, and you just pass the money through."

"Hey, I believe in your ability, besides, that little job is nothing to you, and there's no need for me to take action at all."

"You old thing, the older you get, the thicker your skin."

Some jobs were more complicated, and an ordinary corpse-salvager couldn't handle it, so he would call friends to do it together; Lu Shan was the partner Li Sanjiang was used to.

The two had an incredibly good relationship, and whenever there was a dangerous job, Li Sanjiang would think of him first.

Just like this birthday banquet for the Niu family.

Li Zhuiyuan also felt it; Mountain Grandpa had a lot of dissatisfaction with his Great-grandfather, but this was also normal. Looking at the clothes of Mountain Grandpa and his grandson, it was clear that their lives were quite tight, while his own Great-grandfather here... it was feared that even the village chief's daily food wasn't as good as his.

They were in the same trade, but their lives were like heaven and earth; he must be unbalanced in his heart.

Liu Yi brought the food. Time was tight, so she only had time to stir-fry two dishes: one was sausage stir-fried with garlic moss, and the other was eggplant braised with salted meat. The portions were large, with more meat and less vegetables.

The freshly steamed rice was in an aluminum basin, steaming hot.

Seeing the meat, Runsheng began to swallow his saliva unconsciously.

What made Li Zhuiyuan somewhat surprised was that Liu Yi, who brought the food, also brought a handful of incense.

"Sister, bring me another rice basin."

"Alright, I forgot."

Clearly, the grandfather and grandson weren't coming to Great-grandfather's house for the first time; Liu Yi had entertained them before.

Liu Yi brought another large bowl basin, and Mountain Grandpa ladled the rice into it, then covered it with food.

Subsequently, he lit the incense and inserted it into the rice and food on the table respectively.

After doing this, he began to eat the covered rice in front of him in large mouthfuls.

Li Sanjiang took out white wine and poured a glass for Mountain Grandpa. He also took the opportunity to drink it in one gulp while eating, then tapped the table, signaling Li Sanjiang to continue pouring.

And Runsheng sat there, looking at the burning incense, without moving his chopsticks.

But he was clearly very hungry and impatient.

Liu Yi brought the soup over, tomato and egg drop soup, with a lot of balsamic vinegar.

Mountain Grandpa picked up the soup bowl, poured it directly into his basin, and then continued to shovel.

Li Sanjiang took out a cigarette case, pulled out two, flicked one to him, and then lit his own, cursing: "Damn it, did you come here on an empty stomach without eating yesterday?"

Mountain Grandpa continued to swallow with a "gurgle," and finally picked up the basin, took all the soup into his mouth, and only then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand with satisfaction, put it down, picked up the cigarette, tapped it on the table, and said:

"When I received your letter, I stopped eating; I've been hungry for almost three days."

"I said, if you starve to death, just wrap yourself in a straw mat and bury yourself; the child following you has to suffer this crime, it's really a sin."

Mountain Grandpa lit the cigarette and said blandly: "I picked him up, so he has to follow me and suffer; this is as it should be. I also told Runsheng Hou, when I die, let him come to find you; he works for you, and you provide him with food."

"Don't talk nonsense; I'm older than you, so I'll definitely go before you."

Mountain Grandpa exhaled a smoke ring, wrapped his teeth with his tongue, spat under the table, and said: "Forget it, you are a disaster that lasts for a thousand years; I don't have the confidence to live longer than you, and I feel it's taboo to compare my lifespan with yours."

Finally, the incense on the food burned out, and a lot of incense ash fell on the food and rice.

But Runsheng didn't care at all; he picked up the aluminum basin containing the rice and began to eat.

Li Zhuiyuan was somewhat puzzled, but didn't have the nerve to ask.

Mountain Grandpa, sitting opposite, saw it and smiled: "Runsheng Hou ate dirty meat when he was young, so now he will vomit if he eats clean food for living people. Usually, even if he drinks a bowl of corn porridge, he has to insert a stick of incense first."

As he spoke, Mountain Grandpa suddenly leaned his body toward Li Zhuiyuan as if making a strange gesture, teasing and asking:

"Little Yuan Hou, right? Do you know what dirty meat is?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Dead person's meat?"

Mountain Grandpa's face froze; he really didn't expect this little child to ask back with a calm face. He originally wanted to tease the child and not say the answer, but now he was teased by the child and didn't know what to do.

Li Sanjiang said dissatisfiedly: "What are you babbling to the child, old thing?"

Mountain Grandpa pointed at Li Zhuiyuan: "Sanjiang, this great-grandson of yours is interesting; he's good material for our trade."

"Fart! My great-grandson has to go back to the capital to take the university entrance exam in the future; how could he walk this broken path of ours."

"Li Sanjiang, I look down on you the most, looking down on our trade while still salvaging corpses to make money. Heaven is really blind; why didn't it let a dead person swallow you!"

"Heh, not convinced? Hold it in."

"Great-grandfather, I'm going to read."

"Go, go."

Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs to the second floor. At this time, the morning sun was great, shining on Qin Liu's hair and horse-face skirt, like an exquisite sculpture.

Taking out the book and sitting down, Li Zhuiyuan apologized: "A guest came, so I accompanied him for a while; sorry to keep you waiting."

Qin Liu didn't speak.

Li Zhuiyuan spread out the book and began to enjoy today's wonderful reading time.

When he finished this volume and was preparing to change books, Qin Liu suddenly stood up and looked behind.

Li Zhuiyuan also looked over and discovered Runsheng standing there somewhat shyly.

He was very constrained because he was only wearing a pair of shorts. Logically speaking, this attire was very normal in the village; in the middle of summer, in the fields and dams of the village, there were bare-chested boys and men everywhere.

But this attire, in front of the young man and girl in front of him, appeared to have too strong a contrast.

Li Zhuiyuan's clothes and shoes were sent from the capital together. Although he didn't pay attention to food and clothing, he wasn't used to being bare-chested. As for Qin Liu, she didn't need to be mentioned.

Although Runsheng was older than them, when facing them, he was both inferior and wanted to come over to play together.

Li Zhuiyuan held Qin Liu's hand: "Brother Runsheng is a guest at home; it's okay."

Qin Liu listened to his words and stopped looking at him.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't surprised that Qin Liu would take the initiative to look at Runsheng; the girl seemed to have the ability to see dirty things, and Runsheng's posture of eating earlier... it would be strange if there wasn't something strange on him.

"Brother Runsheng, we are reading; come over and sit together."

"Ah, is this okay?" He wanted to sit, but just smiled and scratched his head.

Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative to walk over and hold his wrist.

His body was so cool.

Clearly, it was the middle of summer, and he had just eaten so much food; logically, he should be sweating and hot, but he was very dry and cool.

Runsheng followed Li Zhuiyuan over and sat down on the small stool.

Qin Liu's eyelashes began to twitch, and her body gradually trembled.

Li Zhuiyuan could only hold her hand again to see if he could calm her down; if not, he could only let Runsheng sit further away.

Fortunately, after holding her hand, she became quiet, so he could only hold it all the time.

Seeing this, Runsheng seemed to prepare to stand up somewhat awkwardly; he could tell that this incredibly beautiful girl was rejecting him.

"Brother Runsheng, don't be a stranger; A-Li is naturally afraid of outsiders, not targeting you. In this house, only I and Grandma Liu can get close to her. Now she's fine, so continue sitting.

By the way, Brother Runsheng, do you and Mountain Grandpa often go to salvage dead people together?"

Sure enough, when mentioning salvaging dead people, Runsheng immediately became much more natural and confident. He said: "Yes, now basically it's my grandpa who sets up the offering table on the shore, and I'm responsible for salvaging.

Let me tell you, just three months ago, I just salvaged a dead person, a dead baby. That guy was so evil, really, don't you not believe it."

"Did you encounter a whirlpool?"

Runsheng was stunned for a moment: "What is a whirlpool?"

"It's a river section that is prone to ground subsidence or whirlpools."

Runsheng slapped his thigh excitedly and asked loudly: "How did you know?"

Immediately, he seemed to realize and smiled: "Did your Great-grandfather tell you?"

"Saw it in a book."

"Book?" Runsheng looked at the book placed on the wooden stool in front of him and reached out to open the page, "This character, it gives me a headache; is it written in this book?"

"Hmm, yes, there are many volumes in this set of books."

"Record of Jianghu Strange Tales" focused on recording dead babies because, since ancient times, many places had the bad habit of drowning babies, so dead babies emerged one after another.

This type of dead person had a characteristic: they generally carried extreme malice with a strong purpose.

For other dead people, if you didn't happen to run into them, or if you turned back quickly after seeing them, most of the time it would be fine, but dead babies would deliberately spin in specific river basins and actively look for people.

The most common means was to lead people to dangerous places in the river and use the terrain to kill them.

Even in ordinary small rivers, there were dangerous places; if not careful, old fishermen would also lose their lives, and they would also use some special means, such as when you were swimming, using water plants to tie your feet, making you lose strength and drown.

Many of these dead babies died before they were born or just after they were born, having strong unwillingness and anger, but their own strength was weak, unlike other types of dead people who possessed many special means, and could only use terrain means to retaliate against the living.

Runsheng was very surprised: "Our trade can actually produce books?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "Indeed."

Runsheng: "Who is so idle to write about our corpse-salvaging?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know how to answer; he didn't know who the author of the book was, but he had a vague guess. At the end of each article, the dead person was "destroyed by the righteous path." Could it be that the author's name contained "righteous path"?

Runsheng said again: "What's even stranger is that writing a book is for people to read, and there are actually people who will read stories about corpse-salvaging."

Li Zhuiyuan: "..."

Currently, "Record of Jianghu Strange Tales" was full of dry goods.

"Brother Runsheng, let's talk specifically about that incident."

"Oh, right, I encountered a whirlpool that day, the boat capsized, and I myself fell into the mud and sand. Fortunately, I held my breath and desperately climbed up, only then did I survive it; otherwise, I would have been buried alive in the river."

"Really dangerous." Li Zhuiyuan added, "Brother Runsheng, you are really amazing."

Fortunately, Little Huang Ying only wanted to let herself lead the way at that time; if it were a dead baby, calculating the days, she would be about to pass her seventh day after death.

"Hehe, it's okay, mainly because that day Grandpa and I thought about having a good meal at the host's house after finishing the work, so we specifically went without eating lunch. If I had food in my stomach, I wouldn't have been made so embarrassed by that dead person."

"Then this time, we must eat until we are full before going."

"Of course, I like your Great-grandfather's house; every time I come to your Great-grandfather's house, I can eat until I'm full and eat well!"

"Was that dead baby finally salvaged?"

"Of course it was salvaged. It was very cunning; seeing that it couldn't kill me, it wanted to drill into the water plants and hide. I followed the water plants at the bottom of the water to dig it out.

Seeing that it couldn't hide there, it wanted to drill under the riverbed, and I dug it out like digging potatoes. Don't say, that appearance of being soaked white and swollen by the water really looked like a cooked, peeled potato.

It just lacked a bowl of soy sauce and some minced garlic."

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that when saying this, Runsheng licked his lips with his tongue.

In other aspects, Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to think too much and could only think that at that time, he was really hungry.

"Runsheng Hou, Runsheng Hou!" Mountain Grandpa's shouting came from downstairs, "Come down and make the bed for Grandpa; Grandpa will take a nap before lunch."

"Coming, Grandpa."

Runsheng stood up and ran down.

Qin Liu took the initiative to open the book on the wooden stool.

Li Zhuiyuan understood her meaning; she wanted to read with him, and she didn't want to be disturbed.

"Brother Runsheng is a guest; tomorrow Great-grandfather and the others will have to rely on Brother Runsheng."

Thinking about the combination of going to the Niu family's birthday banquet tomorrow, one wounded person, one old man who couldn't walk, one blind person...

Only Runsheng could be relied upon.

Qin Liu raised her head and looked at Li Zhuiyuan, her eyes slightly dark.

She seemed to be expressing grievance.

Li Zhuiyuan squeezed her hand: "Alright, be good, let's continue reading."

However, after Runsheng went down to make the bed, he didn't come up again.

At lunch, Li Zhuiyuan took Qin Liu downstairs and saw the two of them sleeping on the first floor, using a round table to make a bed; they also got up and ate lunch.

The amount of breakfast was indeed just breakfast, and lunch was carefully prepared by Liu Yi, which could be considered a small banquet.

The grandfather and grandson ate until their stomachs were round, then lay down on the round table bed for a nap, and then slept until dinner time. After dinner, they went directly to sleep, snoring like thunder.

One had to suspect that they had a special way to accumulate energy in advance for tomorrow's use.

Li Zhuiyuan was able to read almost all day again like yesterday, and today's efficiency was higher; he reached the twenty-fourth volume.

Because of the previous foundation and accumulation, he only needed to remember the names and characteristics of the dead people later.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that in another full day, he would be able to finish "Record of Jianghu Strange Tales," and he was looking forward to the next set.

Slightly strange was that Sister Yingzi hadn't come today, and Li Sanjiang muttered a word, but there was something to do tomorrow, so he could only wait until after tomorrow's business to find Han Hou to talk about it.

This night, it was dreamless again.

In the morning, Li Zhuiyuan specifically woke up earlier than yesterday, lay on the bed and felt it, hmm, he began to miss the spirit he had after waking up from a dream.

Sitting up from the bed, Li Zhuiyuan's mind was shocked, and then he discovered it was Qin Liu sitting on the chair in his bedroom.

The girl seemed to notice that she had startled someone, so she stood up and lowered her head.

He could feel her irritability and anxiety.

Li Zhuiyuan got out of bed, walked to her, and held her hand: "So good, I can see you as soon as I open my eyes."

The girl raised her head, and her eyes brightened.

She was wearing a white cheongsam today, with hairpins on her head, very elegant and noble, and her body also emitted a fragrance of orchids.

Li Zhuiyuan washed up first, and then played three games of chess with her; he happily lost three games.

When coming down for breakfast, Liu Yi pointed to the double wooden stool beside: "Xiao Yuan, you and A-Li eat here."

Li Zhuiyuan saw another table beside it, filled with wine and meat early in the morning. To take care of Runsheng, it was thoughtfully inserted with incense in advance.

At this time, the incense was burning;

It looked like a table of sacrificial food.

Liu Jinxia was carried by Li Juxiang on a tricycle. Seeing Li Sanjiang covered in wounds and bandages, Liu Jinxia was almost scared to tears, pointing at him and scolding:

"Li Sanjiang, you old beast, you are not a human, you are not a human!"

Liu Jinxia cried and made a scene for a long time, but in the end, she couldn't bear to quit, instead persuading her daughter to go back first.

Li Zhuiyuan and Qin Liu sat in their seats and started breakfast first.

After a while, Li Sanjiang greeted Mountain Grandpa, Runsheng, and Liu Jinxia to eat:

"Come, come, come, everyone is here, let's go to the offering table!"

(End of chapter)