Chapter 17

Having personally experienced two "death-reversal" incidents and just finished reading *Records of Strange Occurrences in the Jianghu*, Li Zhuiyuan had originally been looking forward to making persistent efforts in his studies regarding death-reversals.

It was as if, having finished reading the concepts, he should now give himself some formulas, and then see if he could find an opportunity to apply those formulas to solve a problem.

But once these two sets of books were pulled out, it felt as if he had only just started one course, and had already opened two new ones for himself.

Turning his head to look at that chest, he was hesitating over whether to put these two sets of books back and pull them out again, when the words his great-grandfather had said to him that night surfaced in his mind:

"Little Brother Yuan Hou, you cannot be overly ambitious; you must learn from a solid foundation."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. Forget it; since he had already pulled them out, he would just read them.

Once he finished reading them, perhaps next time he would be able to read the physiognomy and tell fortunes for the death-reversed?

But this kind of self-consolation really could not stand up to scrutiny.

Was he to read the physiognomy of those death-reversed who had been soaked into pork-skin jelly?

Or tell Xiao Huang Ying and the Cat-Faced Old Lady that their fortunes were bad and they would die a violent death?

Carrying a complex and helpless mood, Li Zhuiyuan hugged the two sets of books, left the basement, and went up to the second floor. From below came Liu Yumei's voice:

"Little Yuan, come down and help Grandma make tea."

Li Zhuiyuan looked down. A lightbulb was hanging at the entrance of the east room. Under the light, Liu Yumei was sitting there, and beside her, along with a set of tea utensils, was a Go board.

"Coming, Grandma Liu."

Li Zhuiyuan responded, sent the books into his bedroom desk, wiped the dust off his body with a towel, and ran downstairs.

Even if Liu Yumei hadn't called him, he would have found a separate time to talk to her about Qin Shu teaching him martial arts.

Especially after touching these two sets of books, the idea of practicing martial arts became even more urgent. Since the textbooks were off-topic, he could only choose to catch up on the progress through extracurricular tutoring.

"Grandma, drink tea."

"Mm."

After making the tea, Li Zhuiyuan sat down opposite Liu Yumei. He didn't rush to speak about his own affairs, but waited for Liu Yumei to speak first, so that he could then take advantage of the situation to set his conditions.

After all, who would specifically make tea to drink late at night before going to sleep for no reason?

However, just as Liu Yumei was about to speak, the door of the east room was opened from the inside. Qin Li stood at the doorway; she was in white silk pajamas, which shimmered with luster under the light.

"A-Li, you go back to the room to rest first. Grandma and Little Yuan have some things to discuss."

Qin Li didn't move.

Liu Yumei could only wink at Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Qin Li: "A-Li, you go to sleep first. I will get up early tomorrow to read."

Qin Li turned around and closed the door.

Liu Yumei sighed. The two of them were still children now, so it didn't matter, but if they waited until they were adults and her own daughter was still this close to the boy before her, listening to this boy's words, then she would have a headache.

However, there was a pressing problem at hand that needed to be solved in time.

"Little Yuan, come into the room tomorrow to pay respects to my family's spirit tablets."

"Mm?"

"Just consider it a social visit."

"Alright, Grandma Liu."

This was like visiting a friend's house and seeing the elders of the friend's family. If the elders had already become spirit tablets in the house, one also had to pay respects.

"By the way, talk to A-Li and have her clean up those dirty towels and the rotten duck egg."

"Towels?"

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly remembered. No wonder he had to find a new towel to wash and hang out every night these past few days. He had been wondering where the dirty towels had gone; it turned out they had all been taken by A-Li.

But what was a rotten duck egg?

Liu Yumei was a bit embarrassed to speak, but she still had to bite the bullet and explain: "A-Li has a habit of taking the things you give her back home. Perhaps it's because I told her, or she thinks so herself, that the mourning hall should be the place where the most precious things are placed, so A-Li put those dirty towels there.

That duck egg must have been the one you peeled for her when we were eating breakfast that day; it's already rotten.

I don't dare touch the things A-Li puts up there for fear of her throwing a tantrum, so only you can help me clean them up.

Also, teach her that she shouldn't put other things in the mourning hall in the future."

Having to ask an outsider for help to educate the granddaughter she had raised herself, Liu Yumei felt truly depressed.

But she couldn't help but bring it up; otherwise, every time she talked to the spirit tablets, she would have to endure the smell of the rotten duck egg.

She was fine, just smelling it while talking, but the ancestors of the Qin and Liu families had to be cultivated by it at all times.

Also, she was afraid that if A-Li put something new in the mourning hall later—recently, breakfast had been porridge with fish jelly—she was truly afraid that if she wasn't careful, A-Li would bring a bowl of fish jelly that she and Little Yuan had eaten back home and place it in the main seat of the mourning hall.

"I understand, Grandma Liu. I will come to pay respects to the tablets tomorrow."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't ask why he couldn't go pay respects now. He knew that Grandma Liu didn't want A-Li to think she was snitching.

"Mm, very good." Liu Yumei nodded with relief. Her gaze fell on the Go board. "Take a look, do you like this Go board?"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the Go board carefully. It was an old object with some age to it; smelling it closely, there was even a hint of sandalwood.

Especially these Go stones; grabbing a few in his hand, they were smooth and cool. Although their quality and luster were consistent, looking closely, one could still see slight differences, meaning these stones were not molds from an assembly line, but were dripped using ancient methods.

"Grandma Liu, this is a good thing."

Li Zhuiyuan was already somewhat immune to the good objects Liu Yumei took out from time to time.

At present, although the era label of "ten-thousand-yuan household" was gradually receding, being able to so luxuriously display such family background was truly jaw-dropping.

"Seeing that you and A-Li know how to play Go, I dug this thing out for you to play with. You can take it back to your room in a while."

"Alright, then I'll keep it with me for now."

Liu Yumei nodded with satisfaction and was just about to see him off when she heard Li Zhuiyuan say again:

"Grandma Liu, I have been weak and sickly since I was young, so I want to exercise my body with Uncle Qin."

Liu Yumei glanced at the boy before her. Although he was fair and tender and indeed couldn't be associated with being robust, she couldn't see any sign of him being weak and sickly.

However, she immediately understood the boy's meaning. In the past, she would have used a few words to brush it off without hesitation, but now that she had just asked him for a favor...

Forget it, just teaching some kung fu or something didn't count as breaking the rules, and it wasn't teaching anything else.

"Alright, I'll go tell your Uncle Qin."

"Thank you, Grandma."

"Come, let's play a game."

"Alright."

Having been manipulated by a child, Liu Yumei still felt a bit uncomfortable. She hadn't intended to play Go, but in the end, she couldn't resist playing a game.

Then, she regretted it. By the middle of the game, she felt that the general trend was gone.

Li Zhuiyuan had initially thought that since he had gained an advantage, he would just let Grandma Liu torment him a bit to vent her anger. He took it for granted that Qin Li's Go skills were all taught by Grandma Liu, and he definitely wouldn't be the old lady's opponent.

But as they played, he suddenly discovered that Grandma Liu's Go skills were not as good as his own.

Relying on his mental arithmetic, he could barely be considered an amateur expert, while Grandma Liu was at most at an amateur intermediate level.

"Grandma, I'm sleepy. How about we stop playing?"

"Mm, then you go to sleep."

"Coming."

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, put away the Go stones, and then hugged the Go board and went back upstairs.

Liu Yumei walked into the room and came to the bedroom. Qin Li had her eyes closed, sleeping very obediently according to the boy's words.

A loving smile appeared on her face.

No matter what,

Her own A-Li was increasingly having that feeling of a little girl.

"Our family's A-Li's illness will definitely be cured, definitely."

Arriving at the second-floor terrace, he happened to see his great-grandfather standing on the edge just finishing urinating, currently in the final stage of shaking it off.

"What are you hugging?"

"A Go board Grandma Liu lent me."

"You still need to focus your mind more, read more books, and study hard."

"I know, Great-Grandfather."

"Mm, Ying Hou's family has had an incident, so she can't come for a while. You need to hurry up yourself."

"What happened to Yingzi's family?"

"They say her Grandpa Nan and Grandma Nan both got sick and are lying in the health center. Ying Hou and her mother are taking care of them there."

Yingzi's Grandpa Nan and Grandma Nan should be her maternal grandparents.

Li Zhuiyuan finally understood why Yingzi hadn't come to him for tutoring these days. Logically speaking, no matter how poor her comprehension was, she should have finished reading the last set of questions long ago.

"Do we need to go visit?"

"Visit my ass. Her mother's maiden home is in Jiuweigang; you have to transfer buses several times. Besides, if the people really can't make it, if anyone goes, it should be your grandfather. What would I go visit for?"

"Oh."

"Go back to your room and sleep early."

"Great-Grandfather, do you have a magnifying glass here?"

"A magnifying glass?" Li Sanjiang pondered for a moment. "Look in the stove groove and see if there is one. I wanted to use it to start a fire before, but later found it wasn't as good as matches. What do you need that thing for?"

"To read."

The words in those two sets of books were truly too small.

"Is it so hard for a child to read that you need a magnifying glass? How about this, Great-Grandfather will take you to the optical shop in town and get you a pair of glasses?

Forget it, I'm afraid the level of the optical shop in town won't do. Great-Grandfather will take you to the city's People's Hospital to get them."

"No need, Great-Grandfather. I'm just taking it to look at the pictures. My eyes aren't nearsighted."

Li Zhuiyuan first went into the bedroom to put down the Go board, then ran to the kitchen downstairs. Sure enough, he found the dust-covered magnifying glass in the stove groove. After cleaning it, he returned to the bedroom and turned on the desk lamp.

The first one he took out was *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*, totaling eight volumes.

Flipping the page, there was no preface or foreword, not even a label for the first chapter; it was content directly.

Li Zhuiyuan held the magnifying glass and read seriously.

After finishing three consecutive pages filled with dense text on both sides, Li Zhuiyuan found something wrong.

These three pages actually had a lot of words, all talking about the same thing—eyebrows.

From the direction and angle of the eyebrows, to the density and thickness, to the length and color... it talked about nearly a thousand kinds in total.

Starting from the fourth page, it began to talk about eye bags.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't continue reading, but flipped back two pages and confirmed it; it had spent two large pages talking about eye bags.

Next, it began to talk about eyelids.

Faintly, a guess arose in Li Zhuiyuan's heart... although there was no label for the first chapter, what it talked about in the early stages was probably all "eyes," right?

But having dawdled for so long, it was actually still only a part of "eyes."

Li Zhuiyuan flipped this book to the last page and found it was talking about crow's feet... still eyes.

Then, he took out the second book, looked at the front end, and then flipped back. Mm, the first three pages of text were all talking about earlobes.

Flipping to the last page again, it was talking about the back of the ears.

Picking up the third volume and using the same method to quickly confirm, sure enough, it was talking about the philtrum, which was the area between the lips and the nose.

So, the first four books talked about: eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Logically speaking, the five senses refer to eyebrows, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Here, it combined eyebrows and eyes into one volume and didn't give eyebrows a separate volume.

It was actually quite nice.

Skipping the basic concepts, Li Zhuiyuan took out the fifth volume and read the first page seriously... he didn't understand it.

But he had roughly found the feeling; this seemed to be permutations and combinations, with each combination corresponding to a short paragraph of text explanation, and it was extremely concise.

The general meaning was that space was limited, so many things were omitted, and the person reading the book should understand it themselves.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes. So, this was physiognomy?

It wasn't the kind of fortune teller who walked up to you and said: "Your forehead is dark; you fear a disaster recently."

According to the logical narrative of this book, it should be: Do you know how many permutation and combination options are represented in the forehead?

Li Zhuiyuan didn't understand at all. Clearly, it was a physiognomy book involving feudal superstition, so why did it exude a thick scientific rigor?

How much energy did the author of this book have, and how many people's physiognomy had they observed carefully?

No, the power of one person couldn't do it, and even a sect couldn't do it.

If this book wasn't written with eyes closed, then the author must have collected and researched countless relevant works and notes of predecessors to be able to summarize it.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the sixth book and read the first page seriously.

Fine sweat oozed from his forehead, and his earlobes turned red; this was generally his performance when his brain was thinking rapidly while solving difficult problems.

After finishing the first page, he still didn't understand the content, but he understood the rules.

If the fifth book was permutations and combinations based on the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose of the first four, then the sixth book was the permutation and combination of permutations and combinations based on the former.

If, by the fifth book, one could still pass by rote memorization, then by this sixth book, it already involved the level of mathematical calculation, and the amount of calculation was too large.

Li Zhuiyuan took a deep breath and opened the seventh book.

This time, he read the first page very quickly because he was just confirming his guess.

Sure enough, the seventh book was a further increase based on the sixth book, and the difficulty of understanding and calculation was no longer a simple doubling.

"Hoo..."

Li Zhuiyuan really wanted to wash his face now, but after hesitating for a moment, he still opened the eighth book.

After finishing the first page of the eighth book, Li Zhuiyuan closed the book.

He leaned his body back against the chair.

He found he was wrong. He had previously wondered why a book of feudal superstition could exude a flavor of scientific rigor.

After flipping to the eighth book,

He saw metaphysics.

The classification of eyes, ears, mouth, and nose in the first four books was very much like raw data, or raw numbers. The fifth to seventh books were the application of raw numbers.

Using a more emotional metaphor, it could be compared to painting: you start from the most basic point, line, and plane, to drawing a complete thing, to layout and structure, to the combination of light and shadow for three-dimensional perception...

By the time you could perfectly copy a master's painting and draw excellent works, you were almost at the level of the seventh book.

This eighth book... required you to realize your own style, create a school, and become a master.

So, even if this book was real, ordinary people could only look at it and couldn't learn it at all, let alone get to the eighth book; you had to memorize more than a thousand kinds of eyebrows first.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze swept to the *Theory of Destiny Deduction* set next to it. Forget it, he would just let it break.

He sat up straight again and opened the first volume. Eh, there was actually a foreword.

Sure enough, these two sets of books were by the same author, because the first sentence of the first line was: "After reading the predecessor *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*."

Was this a necessary prerequisite?

Continuing to read down, Li Zhuiyuan found it wasn't, but that destiny deduction required several conditions: one was physiognomy, one was astrology, and one was the study of qi and luck.

"Could it be that there are two more sets by the same author in the chest that I didn't find?"

Soon, Li Zhuiyuan found he was wrong, because in the content of the foreword, the author expressed regret that he had only mastered physiognomy but no longer had the strength to study astrology and qi and luck.

Or rather, astrology and qi and luck were inherently inclusive and were not classified separately; in physiognomy and destiny, there were also theories of astrology and qi and luck.

According to the author's view, he felt that the true method of destiny deduction should combine these four academic subjects to truly achieve excellence.

"In other words, after learning these four, it only improves the accuracy rate, and it still can't be one hundred percent."

And the predecessor, physiognomy, was one of the auxiliaries to assist destiny deduction in improving the accuracy rate.

The foreword ended, and Li Zhuiyuan officially flipped to the content of the first page.

What appeared first was a corner of a graphic; to be precise, this page was just a corner of a graphic, and the text was written inside the graphic.

Li Zhuiyuan flipped the pages quickly, remembering each page of graphics in his mind. After finishing a whole book, he began to do a puzzle in his brain. He put it together, but it was still incomplete, yet he could see what it was.

It was the Eight Trigrams.

So, these eight books, when all put together, were a complete Eight Trigrams.

And this set of books, actually... was a complete new algorithm.

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan had an illusion that he was not living in his great-grandfather's house in the countryside, but had returned to the classroom in the capital.

The old professors and their group of child students, after torturing each other, revealed that grim smile.

"It really does have a feeling of being in class and learning."

Li Zhuiyuan checked the time and found it was already one o'clock in the morning. He stood up, left the room, went to the water vat to scoop out water, and washed his face.

After his whole person became refreshed, he also rekindled his fighting spirit:

"Learn, learn well!"

In the morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten. Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes, turned his head, and saw the brilliance that had entered his bedroom before the sun.

Qin Li was sitting on the chair, facing him sideways.

This was for fear of facing him directly like last time and scaring him when he woke up.

She was wearing an ao-qun today, which meant she was wearing a lined top on her upper body and a skirt on her lower body.

The top had a dark green background with white patterns, and the skirt had a light green background embroidered with landscape flowers.

This made Li Zhuiyuan, who had read books with a magnifying glass for half the night, feel exceptionally comfortable in his eyes.

After washing up, taking advantage of the fact that breakfast hadn't started yet, Li Zhuiyuan took out the Go board Grandma Liu had given him last night and wanted to play Go with Qin Li.

But Qin Li looked at the expensive Go board of normal size and didn't move to pick up the Go stones for a long time.

"Don't you like it?"

Qin Li didn't speak.

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to put away the Go board and take out the simple version of the plastic Go board paper that Uncle Qin had bought for him in town.

After laying it out, Qin Li immediately picked up the stones and made a move.

After losing three games in a row, Li Zhuiyuan somewhat missed the confrontation with Grandma Liu last night.

However, he could also feel the improvement in his Go skills. After all, being suppressed by the girl all the time made it easy to discover and improve his own shortcomings.

The girl was no longer deliberately letting him win. By the third game, although he was still defeated, there was already an atmosphere of a formal game when the two played against each other.

But Li Zhuiyuan also knew that his limit would soon be reached. Unless he threw away all the books in his bedroom and replaced them with Go manuals to study, he would never be able to surpass the girl in Go skills.

It was just that what was the point of doing this? Being competitive about unnecessary things would only make one appear childish.

"A-Li, you play really well."

The girl seemed to be smiling. Although her expression didn't show it, the slightly trembling corners of her lips seemed to indicate the action she wanted to do.

Liu Yi called for breakfast. After breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the girl had once again held the salted duck egg he had peeled for her in her hand and hid it in her sleeve.

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed her hand and took out the salted duck egg:

"A-Li, eat the food. Don't hide it. If you want to collect things, I can give you some gifts specifically in the future."

The girl's eyes lit up.

After breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan came to the east room according to the agreement. Liu Yumei was not in the room, nor was she drinking tea outside the house according to her old habit; she was deliberately hiding far away.

This was the first time Li Zhuiyuan had entered the east room. Looking at the spirit tablets full of the Qin and Liu family names in the mourning hall, a feeling of familiarity inexplicably surged in his heart.

It seemed as if he had been to a similar place and had the same feeling, but he couldn't remember where it was or who had taken him there for a moment.

Li Zhuiyuan bowed to the spirit tablets. After finishing the ceremony, he moved to collect the dirty towels and the rotten duck egg on the spirit tablets.

Qin Li reached out and grabbed Li Zhuiyuan's arm. Her eyelashes didn't jump, and her body didn't tremble, but she also expressed her unwillingness.

That is to say, it was Li Zhuiyuan who was cleaning it up; if it were anyone else, even Liu Yumei herself, the girl would have already erupted.

"A-Li, be obedient. If you want to collect things, don't put them here. We can find a better place to put them. This place is for placing spirit tablets to offer to ancestors. Do you understand?"

A-Li lowered her head; she was very disappointed.

Li Zhuiyuan was thinking, what should he give her?

Giving her food definitely wouldn't work; she would definitely hide it secretly and let it continue to mold.

"A-Li, how about I give you that set of Go? It's not new; it's the set we used when we played Go this morning, packed in a small wooden box.

Just keep it with you. In the future, in the morning, you can take it out and find me, and we will use that to play Go together."

Qin Li raised her head. Although there was still no obvious expression, one could feel that her whole person had become bright.

Outside the room, Liu Yumei, who had deliberately avoided them and then quietly approached to eavesdrop, couldn't help but roll her eyes.

She could already imagine the careful care her granddaughter would have when hugging that worthless toy.

Walking out of the room, she saw Liu Yumei.

"Grandma Liu."

"Hey."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush to leave, but continued: "Grandma Liu, the weather is very good today. You should go out for more walks and breathe more fresh air; it's good for your health."

"I told A-Li, he will teach you after he is busy tonight. Don't be afraid of hardship."

"How could I be? Thank you, Grandma Liu."

When Li Zhuiyuan was holding Qin Li's hand and going up the stairs, he happened to see Li Sanjiang walking down. When there was no work, his great-grandfather usually got up late.

"How is your study recently?"

Li Sanjiang forgot that he had already asked last night; he just enjoyed this feeling of an elder caring about a child's study.

After all, if he really looked into it, he would probably discover what books Li Zhuiyuan had been reading recently.

Mm, it was also because Qin Li had been accompanying Li Zhuiyuan to read, so he was a bit afraid of the little girl and still didn't want to get close.

"A bit difficult, but I will work hard."

"Mm, working hard is good."

Returning to the northeast corner of the second-floor terrace, Li Zhuiyuan took out the books, set up the magnifying glass, and took out a blank notebook next to it.

In *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*, there were many terms and descriptions about "size" and "cutting." Besides that, there were many abstract classical Chinese texts, which should be commonly used in old medical books.

Li Zhuiyuan could read these words but didn't have a specific cognitive concept, so he could only take a pen and record them first.

Fortunately, the former could be asked to Liu Yumei; he could see that although Qin Li's clothes were custom-made, they must have been tailored by Liu Yumei. The latter could be asked to Liu Yi; Liu Yi was clearly knowledgeable in medicine.

At this moment, Uncle Qin had already brought back the raw materials for making incense, and Liu Yi was already preparing to make incense using ancient methods.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, what kind of existence was A-Li's family...

Shaking his head and putting aside distracting thoughts, Li Zhuiyuan officially began to memorize the books.

There were two classmates in the class who really had the ability to never forget what they saw.

Li Zhuiyuan knew he couldn't compare to them in this regard; the gap was very large, because he needed to look twice or even three times.

Halfway through, having maintained the posture of bending over to hold the magnifying glass for a long time, his neck was a bit sore.

Li Zhuiyuan continued to hold the magnifying glass with his left hand to read and recite, and used his right hand to press and knead his neck.

Before long, another warm and soft little hand also pressed and kneaded the other side of his neck.

A smile appeared on Li Zhuiyuan's lips; what a cute obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The whole morning, except for taking Qin Li to the bathroom once and drinking water once, Li Zhuiyuan was memorizing books.

He felt that his brain was already filled with all kinds of "eyes."

Once he finished memorizing the "ears, mouth, and nose" in the back, there should be dense and countless human faces of all kinds appearing in his brain.

Even the hairstyle model styles provided to customers by the largest barbershop in the capital were considered excessively barren and shabby here.

After lunch, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying came.

Li Zhuiyuan was immersed in memorizing books and didn't notice the situation on the dam; Qin Li beside him naturally wouldn't remind him.

When he noticed Qin Li's body beginning to tremble, Li Zhuiyuan looked up in surprise and saw Cui Guiying, who had deliberately lightened her footsteps and approached.

He hurriedly grabbed Qin Li's hand, fearing that the girl would erupt at his grandmother.

Seeing that her grandson was reading seriously, Cui Guiying didn't want to disturb him, and just smiled and said: "Little Brother Yuan Hou, reading?"

"Mm, Grandma, where is Grandfather?"

"Your grandfather is talking to your great-grandfather."

"Is there something?"

"Nothing much, it has nothing to do with you."

"Is it about the matter of Third Aunt's maiden home?"

"Uh... yes. They say they want to invite your great-grandfather to take a look."

"Oh."

Generally, when encountering illnesses that were difficult to handle in regular hospitals, many family members would find ways to take side paths to try. Moreover, this kind of thing where an old couple both fell ill was not very common, and it was indeed strange.

"This thin girl is really good-looking."

Cui Guiying made a gesture to reach out and touch Qin Li's head, but Li Zhuiyuan hurriedly blocked in front of Qin Li.

"Uh..."

Cui Guiying was stunned for a moment and could only touch her grandson's head.

"Grandma, she is shy with strangers."

"Oh, is that so? You two play quite well."

After talking to Cui Guiying for a while, Li Weihan also came up to see his grandson.

However, Li Weihan only asked two questions about whether he ate well and slept well, then didn't speak, just looked.

When it was about time, he prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Li Weihan said: "Oh, by the way, Little Brother Yuan Hou, your great-grandfather is going on a long trip the day after tomorrow and won't be back at night. It just so happens that the people in the village are going to dredge the river that day. I'll take you with me."

Cui Guiying complained when she heard this: "What for? Taking a child to dredge the river, what are you thinking?"

Li Weihan didn't care and said: "It's just a two-day thing. Staying outside for a night is no big deal. This isn't the past anymore; the dredging period is shorter, and it's not that bitter. Our family has four sons, including Lei Hou and Pan Hou, who are also going with me."

Cui Guiying: "Even if Uncle Sanjiang is going to Jiuweigang and isn't home, can't Little Brother Yuan Hou sleep in our house?"

"Uncle said it's not convenient to come home to sleep. After all, Little Brother Yuan Hou has left the family and hasn't returned to secular life yet."

In fact, Li Weihan's original intention was also missing his grandson. Plus, this time it was the whole family's strong labor force going out to dredge the river, so he wanted to take Li Zhuiyuan along to play and have fun.

"Little Brother Yuan Hou, are you willing to go with Grandfather?"

"Alright, Grandfather."

"Look, the child has agreed."

Li Weihan left with Cui Guiying. He came today mainly to pass a message to the in-laws in Jiuweigang to invite Uncle Sanjiang.

It was said that a relative of a patient in the same ward came to visit, and that relative was from Shigang Town, telling the story of the Li family corpse-salvagers in Siyuan Village, Shinan Town, as if it were miraculous.

When the in-laws heard this, they thought, isn't this the village where their daughter married? They immediately contacted them and wanted to invite someone to come out of the mountains to take a look.

After dinner, Li Zhuiyuan went to the dam to wait. Liu Yumei didn't break her promise. Uncle Qin brought Li Zhuiyuan behind the house and began to teach Li Zhuiyuan kung fu:

Squatting in a horse stance.

According to Uncle Qin's requirements, Li Zhuiyuan began to squat, and then Uncle Qin's hands corrected each force point, while his mouth told all the details to pay attention to.

After an hour of adjustment, Uncle Qin finally stopped saying anything.

And Li Zhuiyuan was already sweating profusely, and his feet were shaking.

But Uncle Qin just let him rest for a while and then squatted for another hour.

When going up the stairs to return to the room, Li Zhuiyuan was leaning against the wall.

At night, Liu Yumei was sitting at the door of the room cooling off, and Uncle Qin walked to her side and stood still.

"How is it?"

"The brain is truly good."

"The limbs are not good?"

"No, that's not it. I mean, the brain is good, and he learns everything fast. Compared to when I practiced martial arts when I was young, he understands much faster. He can already experience the rhythm of roots growing under his feet.

It's just that practicing kung fu requires suffering after all. Let's see if he can persist."

"Why, do you want to take an apprentice?"

"No, I don't have this idea."

"Teach him well. Remember, only teach kung fu."

"Alright, I understand."

Liu Yumei returned to the room, sat in front of the spirit tablets, picked up a piece of pastry on the offering table, took a small bite, and chewed slowly.

There was no smell in the mourning hall now, and she could be much more relaxed and comfortable.

"The Li family boy that A-Li likes to play with has started to learn kung fu from A-Li. I'll have to see if he can persist. If his brain is good and he can suffer...

Good heavens, I'm really curious how his mother gave birth to such a child."

Liu Yumei was preparing to sleep. She was going to let down her hair first and reached out to take the bronze mirror on the dressing table, but touched nothing. Looking closely, where was there a bronze mirror on this table?

But it was impossible for a thief to enter this room, and no one would touch her things, unless...

Liu Yumei walked toward the bedroom and looked at her granddaughter who was sleeping soundly. Her granddaughter was hugging a small wooden box in her arms.

"A-Li, this girl, wouldn't have taken my bronze mirror to give as a return gift, would she?"

For the next two days, Li Zhuiyuan lived very regularly: reading books, squatting in a horse stance.

The first day of squatting in a horse stance was very painful; he woke up in the morning and his legs were still sore. The second day, it felt much more normal. By the third day, he couldn't even feel the pain and fatigue.

He only felt that once he squatted in the horse stance, imagining himself as a tree growing on the ground, following the rhythm of his breathing and heart rate as Uncle Qin taught, his body swayed dynamically with small movements. Even his brain, which felt dizzy after reading books all day, became much clearer.

However, these three nights, besides teaching him to squat in a horse stance, Uncle Qin didn't teach him anything else.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't anxious either, because his breakthrough in reading books was faster.

Just rote memorization and arithmetic stacking were not difficult for him. In three full days plus night reading under the bedroom desk lamp after squatting in a horse stance, he had already read *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy* to the seventh book.

Besides that, he also took the opportunity to read three books of *Theory of Destiny Deduction*, barely mastering the basic algorithm for deducing destiny.

However, he also knew clearly that this was the advantage of early land-grabbing that he occupied by relying on his strong learning ability.

Further on, if he wanted to continue to go further, he would have to spend time and energy to conquer it bit by bit.

Especially the eighth book of *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*, he hadn't started reading it yet, but in his heart, he already knew its difficulty. But unfortunately, this eighth book was the most important!

However, even without great success, after learning these things, his heart was always a bit itchy, eager to try, wanting to see the practical effect.

On the second-floor terrace, Li Sanjiang was lying on a rattan chair, smoking and drinking tea, while leisurely listening to *Zha Mei An* being sung on the radio.

Li Zhuiyuan walked over and asked: "Great-Grandfather, when is your birthday?"

"What for?"

"Want to remember it in advance so I can celebrate your birthday."

"Hey, that's not a coincidence. It just passed before you returned to your hometown. To celebrate next time, you have to wait until next year."

"Then you tell me first, so I can write it down."

"Alright, alright, alright."

Li Sanjiang told him his birthday. The child even asked in great detail, even asking for the time, and he didn't take it seriously and told him everything.

Next, Li Sanjiang discovered that his great-grandson was looking at him carefully for a while, and writing and drawing in his notebook for a while.

"Little Brother Yuan Hou, what are you writing?"

"Calculation."

"Math problem?"

"Mm, almost."

"Let Great-Grandfather see." Li Sanjiang reached out and took the notebook, discovering that what was written in the notebook was not numbers, but horizontal and vertical bars that were either dense or loose.

"What is this?"

"Calculation steps."

"Do teachers teach this kind of thing now?"

"Mm, it's fast to calculate this way."

"Oh, then you calculate well and learn well."

"Mm." Li Zhuiyuan continued to calculate while continuing to observe his great-grandfather's physiognomy.

"Little Brother Yuan Hou, Great-Grandfather is going to Jiuweigang tomorrow and won't be back at night. Han Hou said he wants to take you to dredge the river?"

"Mm, I've agreed with Grandfather."

"Then that's fine. Just go out and get some air. Your grandfather is also missing you. Let me tell you, when your grandfather was that age, the one he cherished the most was your mother. Now, the one he cherishes the most is you. Your grandfather is really biased."

Finally, Li Zhuiyuan finished calculating. His brows furrowed, and his whole person revealed a decadent aura.

"Hey, Little Brother Yuan Hou, what's wrong with you?"

"Great-Grandfather, I calculated wrong."

"If you calculated wrong, you calculated wrong. Just know you're wrong. Recalculate. What's the big deal?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

In the calculation based on his great-grandfather's physiognomy and destiny deduction, the destiny of his great-grandfather he concluded was:

【Premature death, plagued by illness, short lifespan, exhausted wealth, avoiding water in destiny, forbidden to take side paths.】

Looking at his own calculation results, then looking at his great-grandfather lying there listening to the opera.

If only one or two were wrong, or one or two were vague, that would be fine. After all, he hadn't learned everything, and it was normal to have some slips and errors.

But, how on earth did he manage to get them all wrong?

No, it wasn't just a simple calculation error; it was all the opposite!

A thick sense of frustration rose in his heart. This was an experience he had almost never encountered in his past learning life.

Previously, he still had a bit of complacency about learning fast, but now, it was all gone.

"Great-Grandfather, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

"Alright, go, go. Sleep early. Your grandfather will come to pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Great-Grandfather, you sleep early too."

Looking at Li Zhuiyuan's lonely back as he left, Li Sanjiang scratched his chin in surprise, thinking:

This child just did a problem wrong, is it worth it?

Returning to the bedroom, he sat down at the desk.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the two sets of books in front of him, and suddenly had an urge to throw away the pen and push all the books to the ground.

He didn't want to learn anymore; he developed a feeling of weariness toward learning.

Supporting his face with his left hand, he picked up the bronze mirror on the desk to play with.

He had discovered that night that the small Go box was gone, and a very simple and ancient bronze mirror had appeared in its place.

He knew that A-Li must have taken his gift and also given him a gift.

The self in the bronze mirror had a frustrated face.

Looking at it, he suddenly felt that this was the normal performance he should have at his age.

This time, when facing this inexplicably appearing emotion, he didn't feel flustered or afraid, nor did he need to repeatedly hypnotize and persuade himself of his identity.

Unexpectedly, calculating a problem wrong could have this effect.

The frustration in Li Zhuiyuan's heart was slowly put away. He took the mirror with his left hand, continued to look at his face in the mirror, and then picked up the pen with his right hand and began to calculate.

Let me calculate myself again.

There is a saying that a doctor cannot treat himself.

But what is countless times more taboo than this saying is... a destiny-teller cannot calculate himself.

It's just that Li Zhuiyuan learned physiognomy and fortune-telling relying on the two sets of books moved out of the basement, without a teacher's guidance. Moreover, the author of the book obviously didn't consider that there would be someone who could read and learn this book who wouldn't even know such basic things. It's like the first page of a calculus textbook wouldn't give you a multiplication table.

Calculating and calculating,

Li Zhuiyuan felt his brain was a bit dizzy.

It should be that he was tired. Mm, sleep after calculating.

Continuing to calculate,

He felt he had a runny nose. Did he catch a cold?

Reaching out to touch it, looking down,

Fortunately, he didn't catch a cold.

It wasn't a runny nose,

It was blood.

"Pa!"

Li Zhuiyuan's small face knocked directly onto the desk, and he fainted.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====