Chapter 171: (End of this volume)

All around, the falling peach blossoms fell into stillness.

Its figure also hunched over along with it.

An apology in itself has no practical meaning.

The only role it plays is to draw a full stop on the premise that one party is tired, weary, and exhausted.

Wei Zhengdao was not wrong in the matter of teaching the Black Skin Book.

Since it wanted to learn, he taught it.

But this is only the high-sounding version of the story.

Substituting Li Zhuiyuan's perspective into Wei Zhengdao's, he could roughly infer that the Wei Zhengdao of that time did not truly care about the companions around him.

Wei Zhengdao should have truly been unaware of the side effects of the Black Skin Book's secret arts at that time, but with his intelligence, did he really not spare a thought to ponder in that direction?

He was likely too lazy to do so, feeling there was no need.

Or perhaps, relying on this secret art for a short time to allow a partner by his side to gain explosive growth in strength was beneficial to his group.

Under the peach tree, was the source of its anger really that it had to bear the side effects of the secret art itself?

What truly troubled and tormented it was precisely because, during his long and painful life of self-suppression, he had repeatedly recalled and ruminated on that period of time on the ground, thereby gradually reaching a conclusion:

He actually didn't consider himself a friend.

He was even more furious that even after so many years had passed, even after experiencing such things, deep down in his heart, he still couldn't let him go.

In his own state of being neither human nor ghost, he still hoped that he could die cleanly and decently.

Li Zhuiyuan could understand this state of his; if he hadn't met A Li first, then when facing Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, and the others, his way of treating them would likely have been the same as Wei Zhengdao's back then.

It is the Tan Wenbin or Runsheng of the past.

If Wei Zhengdao had told it to its face back then that it needed to practice this to benefit the team, and that this secret art might cause it great side effects.

It likely would have agreed, and then even if it fell into the same situation, at least, there would be no resentment in its heart.

But as it happened, the Wei Zhengdao of that time would not say such things.

Because he detested such behavior, just as Li Zhuiyuan feels very painful every time he deliberately has to display "human touch" now.

He and people like Wei Zhengdao reject such emotional behavior to the bone.

The still peach blossoms continued to fall.

It waved its hand, feeling listless.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that his goal had been achieved; the conversation regarding Wei Zhengdao ended at this moment.

Or perhaps, after both sides obtained the answers they wanted, the truth itself became less important.

It turned around and walked step by step into the depths of the peach blossoms.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I will keep an eye on it. If I discover that there is any part of him that hasn't died cleanly, I will help him clean it up."

It nodded.

Li Zhuiyuan: "That child, do you want to give it a name? I know you don't care about these things anymore, but sometimes, leaving behind more thoughts can also make it easier to pass the time while waiting for death."

"Yu."

Yu?

Xiong Yu?

Li Zhuiyuan felt pity for that child; clearly such a smart little one, to be given such a name.

However, he didn't know if the child would like this name after growing up, he only knew that the Xiong Shan couple would certainly be overjoyed with this name.

This pair of Jianghu outlaws had suffered enough from having no family background, and their own abilities and personalities didn't support them in continuing to break through this shackle, so they poured all their regrets into the path of seeking protection for their son.

Being willing to leave behind a name is a form of recognition.

To take a step back, if that child grows up and encounters something outside, he can run back to Nantong and kneel before the peach forest; no matter who is chasing him, as long as it hasn't been suppressed and perished, it will certainly not sit idly by.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Then let the nickname be Benben?"

It didn't speak, continuing to walk into the depths of the peach forest. Its figure had already disappeared for the most part, but one could still vaguely see that it made a waving gesture.

It was indifference, it was not caring, it was letting it be, but it could also be understood as a form of tacit consent: let it be so.

Li Zhuiyuan: Truly a pretentious person.

Such a person, he would not take into his team, because he wouldn't be able to stand its drama.

He is already a person without emotions, and he still has to spare the mental effort to take care of its sentimentality?

From this point of view, Wei Zhengdao being able to accept it by his side back then might have already involved an internal compromise.

The vast majority of regrets stem from the immaturity of the past.

If Wei Zhengdao had also drawn a team portrait back then, and if he could luckily obtain it in the future, he should be able to savor a sense of fullness of melancholy when viewing that painting.

It disappeared.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, then opened them again, ending the spirit walk.

The Xiong Shan couple knelt prostrate behind the offering table, they were trembling.

Because in front, all the peach blossoms on the peach forest fell, leaving only bare tree branches.

Is it a dead heart, is it letting go?

Except for Li Zhuiyuan who could guess in this direction, outsiders would not consider this factor at all, only feeling that that one had become angry.

The aura revealed under the previous emotional agitation made the Xiong Shan couple feel that the other party could likely wipe them out with just a single thought.

Having lit the lamp twice and admitted defeat, they no longer possessed the courage to raise their heads proudly when facing extreme danger.

This is also why Li Zhuiyuan would no longer let them participate in his river walk; the two of them are not afraid of death, and are willing to die, but this kind of death actually contains a kind of cowardice and avoidance.

But they are also a mirror, letting Li Zhuiyuan see the other side of a failed river walk.

From here, one can also see Grandmother Liu's ability; she forcibly pulled back the spirit of Qin Shu, who should have been wasting away his remaining years, and although he didn't regain the sharpness of his youth, he no longer looked listless.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the offering table; Xiong Shan and Lihua, as if having found their backbone, felt their hearts settle and slowly stood up.

The youth held yellow paper, brought it to the candle to light it, then casually threw it forward, and said:

"The child has a name, called Yu, Xiong Yu."

Xiong Shan and Lihua were stunned at first, then knelt down again, kowtowing toward the peach forest.

Their purpose in coming here was to seek a future protection for the child; they really didn't expect that after coming for less than two nights, this goal would be achieved.

This place is truly a blessed land.

"Go back, it's time to rest."

Xue Liangliang returned early in the morning.

He stayed under the river for the entire second half of the night, while Liu Changping slept in the car until dawn.

After sending Xue Liangliang back, Liu Changping's chartered car mission this time was considered complete.

He could have stayed for a few more days; anyway, his charter fee was calculated by the day, with fuel costs paid separately.

But with the year-end approaching, because of the return of his brother-in-law, the wedding process after the New Year had to be discussed again, so he had to go back to accompany them, and besides, he had to treat his brother-in-law to a drink.

Xue Liangliang paid the charter fee for Tan Wenbin.

After all, this car was ostensibly chartered for Xiaoyuan, but in reality, it was all running his errands.

He originally wanted to add a red envelope, but Liu Changping firmly refused, but he didn't refuse some Nantong local specialties that Li Sanjiang wanted to give him, and they were all loaded into the car.

Before leaving, Li Sanjiang followed the local Nantong custom that a "child" visiting for the first time must receive a red envelope; this meant he no longer viewed him as just a driver.

Liu Changping accepted it.

However, after he drove away, he came back once more, bought a lot of cigarettes and alcohol, and fearing that Li Sanjiang wouldn't accept them, he placed them on the already widened road, pressed the car horn continuously, and after seeing someone come out of the house, he immediately drove away.

The price of these cigarettes and alcohol was much more expensive than the local specialties and that small red envelope.

In the morning, Auntie Zhang came to call Li Zhuiyuan to answer the phone.

Li Zhuiyuan went to answer it; the person calling was Yin Meng.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, Grandmother Liu said she would bring A Li back to Nantong for the New Year, but because Qin Shu and Liu Yi haven't returned yet, she has to wait a while before returning, waiting for them to come together."

"Mm, I know."

"That's all for this matter, we will set off to return this afternoon."

"No rush."

"Hm? Brother Xiaoyuan, please be more specific."

"It was my oversight when I called yesterday. Anyway, there's nothing going on now, and I'm in Nantong, it's very safe.

So, you can also return home for the New Year later.

Runsheng cannot get out of bed yet; returning in this state would make Great-Grandfather and Grandfather Shan sad to see.

Brother Binbin and A You can continue to stay at school and finish the final exams, so there will be no need to take make-up exams when school starts next year."

"Okay, Brother Xiaoyuan, I will go tell them, and then report back to you."

"If they agree, there's no need to report back, to save trouble."

"Mm, understood."

Yin Meng hung up the phone, one hand placed on her chest, feeling her heart beating "thump thump thump".

She immediately went down to notify everyone of this matter.

Everyone didn't have any opinions on this matter itself, but they were all shocked by this rare gentleness of Brother Xiaoyuan.

Lin Shu You: "Miss Qin Li is not by Brother Xiaoyuan's side, right?"

Yin Meng: "Not there."

Lin Shu You: "Then Brother Xiaoyuan, was he stimulated by something?"

Tan Wenbin: "How about this, Mengmeng, you go back first, we can take care of ourselves, and for Runsheng, let A You and Lu Yi help take care of him, that will be no problem."

Runsheng nodded.

Yin Meng: "No, I'm not at ease leaving Runsheng to be taken care of by others."

After a pause, Yin Meng added another sentence: "Besides, Brother Xiaoyuan has already given the order, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to go back rashly alone."

Tan Wenbin: "Then that's fine, let's do as Brother Xiaoyuan said, I also need to go look at the exam schedule."

Looking at the exam schedule was not to clarify the exam time for each subject, but to use his status as class monitor to pull strings with the corresponding subject teachers.

The degree of freedom for university exams has always been very high; whether it is strict or whether they make things difficult for you is often up to the teacher's own discretion.

In the next few days, Tan Wenbin, leaning on crutches, went to invite many teachers to dinner and tea.

Teachers who hadn't outlined the exam scope therefore outlined the scope.

Teachers who had already outlined the scope gave even more specific sample questions.

The advanced mathematics teacher got drunk, got happy, and directly gave the exam paper to Tan Wenbin.

This made Tan Wenbin very embarrassed; fearing the teacher would make a mistake, he dismantled one set of papers, supplemented them into three sets, photocopied them, and handed them to his classmates.

In short, while other classes were still in a stage of tension and anxiety, Class One was receiving "frequent reports of victory".

Tan Wenbin's status as class monitor was further elevated during the final exams.

After all, he didn't do any of those annoying things that other class monitors would do, handing them all over to the class secretary, and he handled many good things that other class monitors didn't have the ability to handle.

Lin Shu You's eyes recovered to the point where he could read and write; he excitedly hugged a stack of photocopied papers and followed Tan Wenbin back to the dormitory.

"Brother Bin, if the counselor re-elects the class monitor next semester, you will definitely be re-elected with an overwhelming advantage."

"If all the class monitors in the school were like me, then this school would have to become a mess."

"Brother Bin, you don't need to talk about yourself like that."

"What I said is just the truth; instead, you kid, aren't you going back to Fujian for the New Year?"

"I'm going back to Nantong for the New Year, and after the New Year, I will return to my hometown in Fujian."

"Isn't that late?"

"No, my family will celebrate the New Year once more because I'm back."

At the dormitory entrance, Zhou Yunyun was standing there with a bag, waiting.

Lin Shu You saw Zhou Yunyun, like a mouse seeing a cat.

"Hello, Sister Yun."

After greeting without even raising his head, Lin Shu You hugged the papers and ran into the dormitory.

Tan Wenbin said with some confusion: "This kid seems to have always been quite afraid of you."

In the past, every time he went to find Zhou Yunyun, Lin Shu You would disappear for half a day; at first, Tan Wenbin thought this kid was sensible, understanding the principle of not being a third wheel, but later he found something was wrong; this kid seemed to be deliberately avoiding Zhou Yunyun.

"I've washed all the dirty clothes in your dormitory for you; these two pieces of clothing are torn, I'll take them back, mend them, and then bring them back."

"Don't be like this, if you treat me like this, I'll get arrogant."

"Your injury, is it okay?"

"It's okay, recovering well; I should be able to stop using crutches before going home for the New Year."

"Then I'll go back first, I still have an exam this afternoon."

"Good luck, strive to get a scholarship."

"You too."

"I have too many absences, I can't get it; it should be left to someone more deserving."

Zhou Yunyun stepped forward, hugged Tan Wenbin, and then turned and left.

Tan Wenbin just stood where he was, watching the girl's departing back.

"The person has already gone far away, still looking?"

From behind came the voice of his biological father, Tan Yunlong.

"Dad, how long have you been here?"

"For a while."

Tan Yunlong had been hiding for a while; after all, seeing his son's partner helping his son wash clothes, he, as a father, was really too embarrassed to show his face; he couldn't just go up and say: let me help you wash together?

"Dad, the cigarettes are in my pants pocket."

"Stinky kid." Tan Yunlong took out cigarettes from his own pocket.

Tan Wenbin: "Smoke mine, what's in my pocket is Huazi."

"Heh." Tan Yunlong reached out and took the opened Huazi from Tan Wenbin's pocket, one for himself, one for his son, "Your level, it's really raised fast."

"I've been busy pulling strings with teachers these days, how can I not take some good cigarettes."

"Why do you only do these things that can't be brought to the table?"

He, Tan Yunlong, has never liked flattery and pulling strings in his life, but the son he gave birth to is oily and slippery.

Tan Wenbin: "It's okay, there aren't many black sheep like me in this society."

"As long as you know what you're doing. By the way, your mom wants you to go back with her and Zhou Yunyun during the New Year."

"What about you? You're not going back? Director Tan, this won't do, just got promoted and forgot the elders and fellow villagers in your hometown?"

"I'm busy during the New Year, I can't get away."

"Then I can't either, I have someone here."

"You kid."

"Your old man."

The father and son smoked silently together.

Tan Yunlong could only say: "Then I'll take half a day to send your mom and the others back to Nantong."

"That's more like it."

"Really can't count on you." After saying this, Tan Yunlong laughed himself.

He really had no confidence when saying this.

"Dad, wishing you an early Happy New Year." Tan Wenbin cupped his hands, then stuffed that pack of Huazi into his father's pocket.

"You take it, it's not appropriate for me to carry this, it has a bad influence."

"It's okay, smoke it secretly in your office."

Returning to the dormitory, after doing some problems and memorizing some exam points, Tan Wenbin leaned on his crutches and came out again, going to Grandmother Liu's house.

The old lady has been in an increasingly better mood recently, likes to find people to chat with, and doesn't like those serious topics, wanting to chat about those domestic trivialities.

So Tan Wenbin specifically collected many emotional stories from the school, and also collected some family rumors about teachers from Fatty Wu.

Every time he went, he would chat with the old lady over melon seeds for the whole afternoon, and by evening, he would sponge a meal of the Songxiang Tower chef's craft.

These days, leaning on crutches and eating well, he had gained several pounds of meat on his body.

"Yo, Master, busy?"

"Ay, Mr. Tan is here."

After a simple greeting, Tan Wenbin leaned on his crutches and went upstairs; just entering the room, he began to set the atmosphere:

"Old lady, that teacher who was dating a student I told you about last time, the matter was exposed, guess what happened..."

Li Zhuiyuan's recent life has been very regular.

Except for walking with Great-Grandfather in the village after breakfast and dinner every day, he used the rest of his time to re-review and organize the formations, feng shui, and arts he had mastered before.

With a deeper understanding of the core, he had to re-adapt, otherwise, the scene of a horse carriage pulling a locomotive would appear.

This is a very complex and cumbersome system engineering.

Because for the vast majority of people, core understanding lags behind the application level; many people are in a stage of knowing what it is but not knowing why it is when setting up formations and using arts.

Li Zhuiyuan is a special case here, and what's even more special is that his core understanding could actually be raised by a large margin again at a level that was already very high.

This belongs to the troubles of happiness.

Xue Liangliang has been living here, and his life is also very regular.

Every day before dawn, he rode his tricycle out of the house, and only returned riding the tricycle when the sky was about to go completely dark.

After returning, he would sleep soundly, exhausted.

Sleeping early and rising early every day, living more fully than anyone else in the family.

Making Great-Grandfather sigh endlessly: "It's almost New Year, and the child's work is still so busy, it's really not easy."

However, from that day on, Xue Liangliang didn't go out anymore, because the village chief held a meeting; the village was going to delineate some residential land and invite labor to build houses in advance.

This was to settle the Three Gorges immigrants who would be relocated here in the future.

The village had its own professional personnel for building houses; Xue Liangliang took the initiative to volunteer and changed some of the house's detailed designs.

After all, every place's self-built houses have local traditions; Xue Liangliang hoped to retain some of the housing details from the immigrants' side, letting them have more comfort of home.

After changing the design, Xue Liangliang also followed along to do some manual labor.

Seeing this, Xiong Shan went, and Lihua even went to help cook.

Every day during walks, Li Zhuiyuan would follow Great-Grandfather to go to the house construction site to walk around and take a look.

Li Sanjiang is old, and knows even better the difficulty of this relocation.

In the countryside, except for the children going to school, most people can't even speak Mandarin, and the Nantong dialect is the most difficult to learn and understand; when outsiders relocate here, they have to guess by gestures if they want to chat with locals.

Like houses and land, the country can compensate, but some things really can't be compensated for.

This afternoon, Li Sanjiang rode his tricycle, carrying a full load of things and Li Zhuiyuan, and went to the post office in town.

The things were all packed at home; Li Sanjiang took out a small notebook and let Li Zhuiyuan write the mailing address.

In each package, there were New Year goods, and a letter of New Year blessings and gratitude written by Li Zhuiyuan according to Li Sanjiang's instructions.

The mailing destination was Shanghai.

That time Li Sanjiang took Li Zhuiyuan to Shanghai to see his eyes, they received help from many people along the way; this was a return of gratitude; they also mailed once before the New Year last year.

The things were not many, nor expensive; in Li Sanjiang's words, people helped you for no reason back then, proving they weren't people seeking profit, and they were more willing to accept this kind of heart.

After returning from the post office, Li Sanjiang rode the tricycle again, carrying Li Zhuiyuan to Shigang Town to buy New Year goods, not for the family, but for Li Weihan and Cui Guiying.

After buying, he took Li Zhuiyuan to deliver them.

After a lot of tossing and turning, when they returned home, the sky was already dark.

Lihua was preparing dinner, and Xue Liangliang, who had worked for a day, was taking a bath upstairs.

Li Zhuiyuan and Great-Grandfather sat on the dam, watching TV.

Li Sanjiang didn't know where he took out a bag of walnuts, with a cigarette in his mouth, peeling them for his great-grandson.

Great-Grandfather peeled one, Li Zhuiyuan ate one, because Great-Grandfather felt that eating walnuts could nourish the brain.

The provincial channel on the TV was playing the news; the Spring Festival was approaching, and reporters went to the department store building to conduct interviews, asking all classic questions,

The response received was:

"This New Year is becoming less and less interesting; you can eat and buy everything on weekdays, feeling that the New Year is nothing rare."

"Compared to the past, the New Year atmosphere is really getting lighter and lighter."

Li Sanjiang handed the freshly peeled walnut to Li Zhuiyuan, looked up, and cursed in dialect:

"Le bi ri xiang de dongxi."

Li Zhuiyuan is now familiar with the Nantong dialect, and he understands the cursing words; this sentence describes a person: pretending.

Xue Liangliang happened to come down from upstairs after taking a bath, and said with a smile:

"People are in the provincial capital, and they are being interviewed in the department store building; the family conditions of those interviewed must be good.

Wait until when people in the countryside also say the New Year atmosphere is getting lighter and lighter, and the New Year is not interesting, only then will it mean that everyone's life is really getting better."

Currently in the village, Li Sanjiang's family's living conditions should be top-tier, because Li Sanjiang earns a lot and is willing to spend.

When Li Zhuiyuan lived at home, he could have enough snacks and drinks; this is a treatment that children of most dual-income families in the city would envy.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang: "Is the house built?"

Xue Liangliang nodded: "Mm, built."

Sure enough, the next day before dawn, Xue Liangliang rode his tricycle out again.

Another day passed, Xue Liangliang didn't go out, but stayed obediently at home.

Because Xue Ba and Xue Ma had arrived.

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang stood on the village road to welcome them; Xue Ba and Xue Ma had just gotten off the taxi, and before they could unload the things they brought, they started blaming Xue Liangliang for letting them take a taxi from the bus station to here, saying how much money this cost!

Xue Liangliang originally planned to rent a car to go to his hometown to pick them up, but they were unwilling, insisting on buying bus tickets to come over themselves.

But after arriving at the Nantong Bus Station, they really had no other way, so they could only take a taxi according to their son's instructions.

Along the way, the two old people watched the numbers jumping on the meter, only feeling their blood pressure rising along with it.

Xue Liangliang accompanied them with a smiling face, helping them take their things.

The two old people kept nagging and blaming all the way, until they arrived at the dam and saw Li Sanjiang, immediately switching to smiling faces, enthusiastically greeting and chatting with Li Sanjiang.

Xue Liangliang took the opportunity to tell his parents that he only asked for half a day off today to wait for them, and still had to return to the project site.

Then, he rode the tricycle and left again.

Li Zhuiyuan watched Brother Liangliang's dashing departing back, feeling that he was a warrior.

The Xiong Shan couple tidied up the west room and moved into the Big Hu Zi's house in high spirits.

Ever since their son was named "Xiong Yu" that night, the couple would go to the Big Hu Zi's house dam every night to set up an offering table and burn some paper.

For most of the day, the child was taken care of by Xiao Yingying; except when going to burn paper, the couple would bring their son over, and after burning paper, they would put their son back into the coffin that Xiao Yingying was lying in.

However, the couple's occasional whispers were also heard by Li Zhuiyuan.

The general meaning was why Lihua's stomach still had no reaction.

When they wanted a child last time, it was due to an accident without measures; after all, they weren't crazy enough to deliberately create a child just to take the child on a river walk.

So logically speaking, Lihua should be relatively easy to get pregnant.

The child is now being taken care of, and the couple only does farm work and makes paper figures during the day; for their physical fitness, this bit of toil is just drizzle, so they have plenty of energy to use for tossing and turning at night.

Yet they couldn't make any movement no matter how they tossed.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the child held in Xiao Huang Ying's arms.

It can only be said that some children can be only children because of national policy, while some children rely on their own merit and luck.

Even if he is only in swaddling clothes, he can still directly cut off the possibility of fatherly and motherly love being divided at the source.

Although this is not the child's original intention, this is the influence of the luck-bearer himself.

The next day, Xiao Yingying also brought the child and moved to the Big Hu Zi's house, because Runsheng and the others had returned, and she had to give up the coffin bed.

Yin Meng drove the car and brought the three brothers back.

Runsheng could walk freely on the ground, but couldn't do work yet.

Tan Wenbin could stop using crutches, but still had to be careful when walking.

Lin Shu You wore a pair of glasses, still presbyopic.

Li Sanjiang noticed the abnormality of the three, asked for the reason, and they explained that they went to the amusement park to play on the pirate ship, but the pirate ship derailed, throwing the three of them.

Xiaoyuan studied hard and didn't follow them to play in the amusement park.

Li Sanjiang asked again if the amusement park gave compensation, and after the answer was yes, he was slightly satisfied.

But in the end, there was still some regret; originally three sturdy and durable mules, but returning for the New Year, all of them were sick, simply a mule plague.

Grandfather Shan also came here to spend the New Year together, holding Runsheng's hand, sighing with heartache.

Runsheng took out a portion of New Year's filial money from his pocket and gave it to Grandfather Shan.

He was slapped back by Grandfather Shan, who cursed: "You're already like this, can I take your money, can I!"

As a result, at noon, Auntie Zhang called from there asking if anyone was playing Zha Jinhua.

Grandfather Shan's face twitched, he ran to Runsheng, and shook his hands with his back to Runsheng.

Runsheng silently handed that money to Grandfather Shan again.

Li Sanjiang saw this scene and cursed: "The old beast is really not a thing."

Grandfather Shan's face turned red, and he twisted his neck and said: "I'm saving money for the child."

Immediately, Grandfather Shan began to light his water pipe, struck several matches in a row, but couldn't light it, so he had to keep changing positions, then changed further and further outside the dam, and finally simply ran away to the gambling den.

Li Sanjiang cursed at Runsheng: "You also have water in your brain, actually giving him money."

Runsheng just smiled honestly.

He specifically gave Grandfather Shan a sum of money so that he could happily go lose it during the New Year.

Before the end of the store's winter break, calculating accounts and sharing dividends, he got a large sum of money.

He kept one-third to buy rice, flour, grain, and oil for his grandfather's family, and to send for gambling.

The rest was given to Yin Meng, letting her go shopping for clothes.

Anyway, he didn't have the habit of spending money on weekdays, and keeping money on his body was useless.

Early the next morning, Liu Yumei's family returned.

The old lady changed from her attire in Jin Ling, and changed back to the clothes she used to wear in the countryside.

Qin Shu and Liu Yi also returned, with the obvious aura of dust and fatigue still remaining on them.

This was after digging up someone's ancestral grave, they hurried back.

There were many people on the dam, A Li didn't like it, but after Li Zhuiyuan walked up and held her hand, A Li smiled, her eyes always looking at the youth.

Li Sanjiang smiled and took out the key to unlock the east room.

Inside was cleaned very cleanly.

Because Li Sanjiang had secretly unlocked it and gone in to clean.

He was embarrassed to clean it openly; what if he cleaned it and people didn't come, that would be too shameful.

Now he felt it was not bad, especially when he found that when his great-grandson and that girl held hands and went to the second-floor terrace, the old lady didn't feel jealous, but instead had a face full of smiles.

Hey, this snobbish old lady actually changed her nature!

The east room was also one living room and two bedrooms; Qin Shu and Liu Yi lived in the south room together.

Li Sanjiang suggested they live in the Big Hu Zi's house, where there were still many empty rooms, but was refused by the old lady, saying they could live there.

Mainly, it was enough for everyone to know of each other's existence; there was really no need to deliberately let A Li and A Ting live next to them; kings don't meet kings.

A whole family, not sleeping in one place at night, but eating together, so the kitchen was very busy.

Liu Yi returned to her old profession, and she was used to using the stove in the kitchen.

Lihua very consciously helped out on the side, the kind more humble than an apprentice.

When there was nothing to do during the day, Qin Shu pushed the cart to deliver goods; during the New Year period, there were many banquets, almost every day had to be delivered.

Xiong Shan helped Qin Shu.

The couple was very fair; when working, they didn't dare to breathe heavily.

After meals, the old lady liked to set up a small table, letting Xue Ba, Xue Ma, and others chat and relieve boredom around her.

The old lady especially loved to hear Xue Ba and Xue Ma talk about their son, still not married, still not wanting children, and they were waiting to hold their grandchildren.

Because the old lady knew that the one from the Bai family had one, so the more she heard, the more interesting it was, and the melon seeds weren't enough to crack.

Li Zhuiyuan and A Li would walk around the village, occasionally going to Cui Cui's house to sit for a while.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Xue Liangliang took his parents to see the Yangtze River and the sea.

In the car, a rare time for the family of three to be alone.

Xue Ma asked curiously: "That old lady in the house, who exactly is she?"

Xue Liangliang was stunned for a moment, and asked: "Mom, what's wrong?"

Xue Ba said: "Should be a big figure."

"Dad, Mom, do you feel pressure sitting with her?"

Xue Ma hurriedly shook her head: "For such a figure to be able to sit and chat with us, that is something we can only wish for."

Xue Ba nodded: "Exactly."

Actually, the old lady had already put down her airs enough, but some things really couldn't be thrown away just by saying so; she sat there, and everyone naturally welcomed her.

Whatever she wanted to hear, everyone had to tell.

Xue Ba and Xue Ma originally had a belly full of words they wanted to say to their son, but these two days they had been repeatedly told to the old lady, just like sugarcane being repeatedly chewed, making them have no energy to go and lecture their son again.

Xue Liangliang first took his parents to Langshan to burn incense, standing on the top of the mountain, admiring the magnificence of the Yangtze River entering the sea.

After going down the mountain and sitting back in the car, Xue Ba and Xue Ma said that they had prayed for their son to get married and have children early when burning incense just now.

Xue Liangliang immediately nodded: "I heard that this Langshan is very spiritual!"

Subsequently, Xue Liangliang drove to the riverside he often went to, taking his parents, walking along here.

The river view was open, making people's hearts calm; Xue Ba and Xue Ma walked hand in hand, talking about things from their youth, as well as things from Xue Liangliang's childhood.

Xue Liangliang followed behind.

Behind, on the river surface, a water curtain slowly stood up, bowing to the two old people in front.

She was still wearing bridal clothes, but had newly applied lipstick and powder, and had added a whole set of jewelry and a phoenix crown.

The two old people were completely unaware.

Xue Liangliang stopped, looked at her, and she was also looking at him.

Although not speaking, they seemed to have heard each other's inner voice at the same time:

"I've wronged you."

"I've wronged you."

After the water curtain went down and the river surface returned to calm.

Xue Liangliang unconsciously puffed out his chest, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.

Xiaoyuan once said that some formal things also have their meaning.

He felt it now.

At this moment, he felt that he had grown up, truly realizing what responsibility and commitment were.

If the previous him was just living and working based on his unique vision and a burst of enthusiasm, then the current him began to truly plan his life.

This river, this water, these waves... this great landscape.

Starting next year,

He is going to tame them, transform them, and build them.

With his junior brother Xiaoyuan... together!

Zhou Yunyun came; her home was in Shigang, which was very close.

Plus Tan Wenbin had already visited, and although the two hadn't officially gotten engaged or held a banquet, both families had actually tacitly agreed.

As for age, in the countryside, there are many people of their age whose children are already buying soy sauce.

Li Sanjiang took them together to worship those two.

Those two's graves were built like a Sihe Academy, although mini, but still had several courtyards.

One big, one small, placed in the local cemetery, could be called a first-class luxury yin house.

When building this grave, it caused some trouble; villagers went to report it, and not only did village cadres come, but the town also sent people down.

After all, at present, it would be fine if you made a smaller one, but making such an extravagant one was really a bit too much, with so many eyes watching.

Seeing everyone's life getting better and better, and everyone benchmarking against this when building graves in the future, wouldn't that be a mess?

In the end, there was no other way; Li Sanjiang had to change his story about the road repair money.

Saying that the money was indeed given by that overseas Chinese, but that overseas Chinese was only a middleman, and the one who truly gave the money were these two who wanted their souls to return to their hometown.

Anyway, Ding Dalin had had no news since giving the money for planting peach trees, so he could make it up as he pleased.

Now, the cadres in the town had nothing to say; in this day and age, to attract foreign investment, local governments don't know how many preferential conditions they have to give.

People donated money to repair roads and bridges, provided for the widowed and elderly, and subsidized children's schooling for free, giving such a large sum of money, just for two graves, not too much, right?

Just like this, in this way, the two eunuchs "settled down" in Siyuan Village.

When Li Sanjiang brought everyone, he found that there were traces of candles and paper burning on these two graves, and the weeds nearby had also been cleared.

There should be many villagers who, when visiting graves during the New Year, specifically ran here to set up offerings for them too.

Many contemporary writers like to deliberately magnify the evil revealed in the countryside due to resource shortages.

Throughout history, most shrines were built in the countryside; how many could enter the city?

Human hearts are made of flesh; whoever treats them well, they know how to be grateful.

Li Sanjiang set up the offering table, and Tan Wenbin took Zhou Yunyun to kowtow.

This was what he had promised his "godfather" before.

Li Sanjiang saw Li Zhuiyuan standing there without moving, and hurriedly waved his hand to signal: "Little Yuan Hou, you kowtow one too, to get some good fortune; these two are not bad, they can bless you."

Li Zhuiyuan showed a look of difficulty.

Tan Wenbin hurriedly smoothed things over: "Grandpa Li, one thing is one thing; these are my life-saving benefactors, it's enough for me to kowtow."

Li Sanjiang: "What kind of talk is this."

Saying this, Li Sanjiang faced these two graves, holding burning incense:

"The two of you did good deeds for our village by repairing roads and bridges; I, Li Sanjiang, am grateful for your kindness; it's the New Year, I'll kowtow one for you."

Li Sanjiang knelt down, then turned his head and waved his hand at Li Zhuiyuan again.

Great-Grandfather had already knelt, and he was still standing, which was indeed inappropriate.

Li Zhuiyuan could only start to bend his knees, but before his knees hit the ground, he only heard a sound:

"Crack!"

The roofs of the main rooms of the two exquisite graves, one big and one small, cracked at the same time!

"Ayoyoyo!"

Li Sanjiang couldn't care about kowtowing anymore, hurriedly went up to check, and then ordered Tan Wenbin to call the village mason over; he had to repair them for them before nightfall.

When Li Zhuiyuan returned home, he found that Liu Jinxia had come, and Auntie Xiang Hou was helping in the kitchen.

Liu Jinxia, who had a fiery temper all her life, spoke with a bit of softness in front of Liu Yumei; she had heard more domestic trivialities and filthy things in her life, and her own family was even more of a book.

Telling this, Liu Yumei listened with great interest.

Cui Cui and A Li were playing Gomoku on the second-floor terrace.

"Brother Yuan Hou, hee hee, look, this is the bracelet Sister A Li gave me, pretty right?"

Cui Cui showed the wooden bracelet on her left wrist to Li Zhuiyuan.

The luster of that bracelet... was very similar to the "complexion" of the ancestors of the Qin and Liu families.

After Li Zhuiyuan took a look, he looked at A Li again.

Being able to shift her attention away from a single person, this itself was a manifestation of the illness improving.

Li Zhuiyuan had once thought about finding a hard gold object to suppress the fate on Cui Cui; although this wooden bracelet couldn't have a long-term effect, it could at least be effective for many years.

"Cui Cui, this bracelet, you should wear it every day from now on, don't take it off."

"Of course, I wouldn't be willing to take it off."

Before the New Year's Eve dinner, Tan Wenbin, Lin Shu You, and the others had to call home to wish a Happy New Year, and Xue Liangliang also pulled Li Zhuiyuan to call Master Luo.

Tan Wenbin first called his dad, then changed to Lin Shu You to call home.

The other end of the phone was very lively, with gongs and drums; during the New Year period, there were many activities in the temple, and there were even temple spirit mediums already possessed, bestowing blessings and removing bad luck for the "patients".

The person answering the phone was Lin Shu You's grandfather, who was earnestly teaching Lin Shu You.

A ceremony had just ended, and the people there began to thank the child, saying that Master Master Tongzi had worked hard.

Beside, Li Zhuiyuan was chatting with Xue Liangliang about his itinerary for the day; upon learning that Xue Liangliang specifically took his parents to the riverside to let her see them pay respects, Li Zhuiyuan said a sentence:

"You have also worked hard."

On Lin Shu You's phone end, an exclamation immediately came.

"Not good, Master Master Tongzi has fallen, fallen!"

Lin Shu You's grandfather could only quickly say: "Something happened in the temple, you stay safely in Nantong for the New Year, home is safe, don't worry."

After saying this, he immediately hung up the phone to deal with it.

Lin Shu You blinked and hung up the phone.

Next, Xue Liangliang called Master Luo, and together with Li Zhuiyuan, wished Master Luo a Happy New Year.

Ordinary teacher-student relationships don't reach this point, but they were special; master is master, only when one is a father will one truly worry about the child's future.

Xue Liangliang had bought a lot of fireworks in advance, and they were all the box-sized firework types.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone started setting off fireworks.

In this day and age, except for the small firecrackers that children play with, fireworks still belonged to luxury goods; in the countryside, only families with very good conditions would buy some fireworks to set off, and they wouldn't last long.

On Li Sanjiang's dam, tonight became the most eye-catching place in the whole village; many villagers specifically came out of their homes and came to the vicinity to start enjoying the fireworks.

One batch was finished and another batch was moved out from the house; everyone took turns to have a go, and could even choose the firework style.

Even Tan Wenbin couldn't help but ask Xue Liangliang curiously: "Brother Liang, how many fireworks did you buy?"

Xue Liangliang shrugged: "Enough."

Tan Wenbin gave a thumbs up: "Brother Liang is generous."

Immediately after, Tan Wenbin leaned over and asked in a low voice: "This must cost a lot of money, right?"

Everyone knew Xue Liangliang had money, but Xue Liangliang didn't like doing business, so having money shouldn't be burned like this.

Xue Liangliang: "According to Western economic development laws, I think the domestic stock market will definitely be established and developed, so last year I entrusted friends to help me collect a lot of stock subscription certificates."

Tan Wenbin: "Is this thing very valuable now?"

Xue Liangliang: "It's okay."

Under the sky full of fireworks, Li Zhuiyuan and A Li stood hand in hand on the second-floor terrace.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the brilliance in the sky for a while, and looked at the romance in the girl's eyes for a while.

"Next year, I will be very busy, and will often go outside."

The girl couldn't speak, just gently squeezed the youth's hand to respond.

"However, every time I finish being busy, I will still come back."

The girl turned around, facing the youth.

"Look at Brother Liangliang, when he was busy in the past, it didn't delay him from returning to Nantong; following him, the frequency of my return will not be low."

The girl lowered her head, and the youth also lowered his head; the two people's foreheads gently pressed together.

"Are they still noisy?"

The girl closed her eyes.

The youth also closed his eyes.

The next moment, Li Zhuiyuan appeared in A Li's dream.

Outside, the thick fog had retreated to an extremely far distance; at a glance, one would think it was clouds hanging on the horizon.

Li Zhuiyuan held A Li's hand and stepped over the threshold.

The youth took out the white lantern stuck in the wall crack and led the girl to continue moving forward.

Here is the wilderness, here is the stream; the scenery here should have been very beautiful, just like a girl who could grow up healthily.

Accompanied by Li Zhuiyuan's continuous advance, the thick fog in the distance rolled continuously, as if swarming and retreating; not only did no one dare to come forward, but no one dared to stand in the first row.

Fearing that if they were not careful, they would be fished out by the lantern in the youth's hand again.

Not many people care about the process, most people only look at the result, and they, themselves, are one of the "results".

Although in the Jianghu, Li Zhuiyuan's reputation is still not obvious, but under this river's dark currents, this gang of "snakes, insects, rats, and ants" has already started to feel terrified of him.

Just like in reality, Liu Yumei's relaxation and happiness.

Because, the Long Wang family's gate of the Qin and Liu families is being re-established step by step.

It won't be long,

The entire Jianghu will recall the terror of the Long Wang Qin and Long Wang Liu standing there back then.

Li Zhuiyuan's palm ignited with karmic fire, burning this white lantern.

The youth threw it forward, the lantern cracked, turning into a cluster of brilliant colorful clouds, stirring the surrounding clouds and fog to surge wildly.

The fireworks in this dream are really not inferior to reality at all.

Li Zhuiyuan clapped his palms, raised his head, and looked at the clouds dyed with colors by the fireworks.

Said:

"Hide well, from today on, it's my turn to take the initiative to find you."

—

End of this volume.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 172 =====