Chapter 18

At five o'clock in the morning, Li Zhuiyuan raised his head, sat up, leaned against the chair, and half-opened his eyes.

This posture was maintained until five-thirty. With the gradual recovery of perception, his head began to feel dizzy and painful, his pupils refocused, and his consciousness began to return.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his forehead with both hands and kneaded slowly.

He didn't know how he fell asleep, or even when he woke up.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, Li Zhuiyuan took a deep breath and looked at the desk, discovering a pool of blood there, and the notebook used for calculation was also stained red.

His gaze swept over the horizontal and vertical bars on it, and Li Zhuiyuan felt a sharp pain in his brain, immediately closing and buckling the notebook.

He gradually recalled that before he lost consciousness, he seemed to be calculating his own destiny?

It seems that one cannot calculate one's own.

Looking up at the time, Li Zhuiyuan stood up to clean and tidy the table, then picked up a washbasin to take a bath, and by the way, rubbed and hung up the clothes stained with blood.

After tidying up, he didn't return to the room, but sat on the rattan chair on the terrace used for reading.

The morning breeze with a chill kept blowing on his face, making his whole person regain some vitality, although his head was still a bit uncomfortable.

The light in the east room bedroom turned on. Through the window reflection, one could see a petite figure sitting, and there was also an adult figure next to her combing her hair.

So, A-Li got up so early every day.

Looking and looking, the window reflection figure disappeared, and the sky was also in the last stage of gray-black.

The hall door of the east room was opened, and the girl walked out of the room, hugging the Go small wooden box in her arms.

She raised her head and saw Li Zhuiyuan, who was already sitting outside the second-floor bedroom. The two looked at each other.

Soon, Qin Li came to Li Zhuiyuan's side and sat down on a small stool.

She didn't spread out the oil-paper Go board like in the past, but looked at the boy.

After a while, Li Zhuiyuan discovered that a warm and soft little hand actively held his hand.

Perhaps in the girl's cognition, every time he held her little hand, she could get peace and solace in her heart, so this time she actively held his hand, hoping to give the same.

The boy and the girl just sat holding hands, looking at the rice waves gently blowing in the morning breeze, witnessing the gray in the sky being gradually replaced by the morning light.

Time passed very slowly, but time also passed very quickly.

"Achoo!"

Li Sanjiang walked out of the bedroom and sneezed.

Turning his head, he looked at the boy and girl sitting side by side there, and suddenly remembered the boy and girl under the seat of Guanyin Bodhisattva in the New Year pictures.

It wasn't that they looked alike, but the exquisiteness of the two children's appearance was really exactly the same as the round lines of the boy and girl in the New Year pictures.

Li Sanjiang sniffed and rubbed with the back of his hand. He had noticed his recent changes. He used to think that it was good for a person to live freely and leave freely. He didn't expect that because of the appearance of Little Yuan Hou in his old age, he really found the happiness of having grandchildren in his old age.

Liu Yi called for breakfast.

Today's breakfast was exceptionally early, because Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan were both going out.

Breakfast was not porridge, but boiled instant noodles, Three-Fresh Noodles.

Liu Yi also poached an egg under each noodle bowl.

The noodles were delicious. Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel hungry at first, but after eating a few mouthfuls, he felt that his body's perception was like completely melting ice, and he soon finished a bowl.

Liu Yi went to cook another bowl for Li Zhuiyuan and brought it over.

After finishing the second bowl of noodles, Li Zhuiyuan felt that he had completely gotten rid of the sequelae of calculating his own destiny last night.

"Do you want more?" Liu Yi asked.

"I'm full, Liu Yi."

Beside him, Qin Li also put down her chopsticks. She ate noodles slowly because she always sucked noodles of the same length, then bit them off, chewed and swallowed, and then ate the second mouthful.

Li Sanjiang also finished eating, smacked his lips and said:

"To be honest, these instant noodles are really not as delicious as the plain noodles in the noodle shop in our town. Putting some lard, soy sauce, and pepper powder, and then sprinkling some small green onions, is much more beautiful than this."

Liu Yi echoed: "That's true."

If other adults said this, it was mostly to save money by belittling instant noodles so they wouldn't buy them later.

But this point didn't exist in Li Sanjiang. A batch of paper offerings being destroyed almost caused his cash flow to break, which showed that he really didn't save money in his daily life, and used whatever he earned on life, especially in eating and drinking.

In fact, in the vast towns and villages at present, being able to have instant noodles for breakfast belonged to the luxurious act that could make the children next door cry with envy.

Some provinces and regions even gradually developed instant noodles into local special delicacies, such as meatball instant noodles with poached eggs.

Li Sanjiang picked up his luggage, stomped his feet, and prepared to set off.

His luggage was exceptionally long because he also put that peach wood sword inside. Ever since this peach wood sword helped him kill the corpse demon last time, he became more and more precious and cherished it.

He also specifically went to the village committee to call the manufacturer, wanting to order another batch of goods, but was informed that the furniture factory had changed from state-owned to private and had long ago stopped the production line of peach wood swords.

Now, the one in his hand became a limited edition.

Li Weihan and the others came, each pushing a small cart with baskets and tools on it.

"Uncle Sanjiang."

"Grandfather."

"Great-Grandfather."

The four uncles all looked very regular in front of Li Sanjiang, because Li Sanjiang didn't spoil them on weekdays. If he saw them, he would directly scold them as ungrateful wretches, making them have to detour when they saw Li Sanjiang from far away in the village.

Pan Zi and Lei Zi were happy and immediately ran to Li Zhuiyuan. During this time, Li Zhuiyuan didn't live at his grandparents' house, and they had fewer opportunities to get together.

"Let's go!"

Li Sanjiang patted his trouser legs, then held Li Zhuiyuan's hand and followed Li Weihan and the others out.

Qin Li watched Li Zhuiyuan leave. She had known long ago that Li Zhuiyuan was going out today, but seeing him leave, she still slowly lowered her head, and her gaze fell on the noodle bowl Li Zhuiyuan had just finished eating.

Liu Yumei immediately winked at Liu Yi. Liu Yi took a step forward and collected the bowls and chopsticks to wash.

Immediately, Uncle Qin came back carrying a large bundle of bamboo, threw it on the dam, and clapped his hands.

Liu Yumei sat beside Qin Li and smiled: "A-Li, I'll let A-Li make you a rattan chair the same as Little Yuan Hou's. What do you think?"

Qin Li didn't respond.

Liu Yumei pursed her lips and said to Qin Li: "These two days you hurry up and make two identical new rattan chairs suitable for children to sit and lean on."

Qin Li nodded.

Qin Li raised her head,

Not obviously, but she was indeed happy.

On the side of the road at the entrance of the village, without waiting long, an old-fashioned bus drove over.

At this time, town buses didn't have stations and fixed stops. Although there was certificate management, they were generally private contracting in nature. If they saw people waiting for the bus on the side of the road, they would stop, and passengers could also call to get off at any time.

Li Sanjiang wanted to give a few more instructions to Little Yuan Hou, but the bus came too fast, so he could only get on the bus first. After the bus drove away, Li Weihan picked up Li Zhuiyuan and put him in the cart of Uncle Li Sheng, letting him sit.

Then, everyone walked along the side of the road together. Before long, they caught up with the team from Siyuan Village.

Basically, they were all male strong labor forces in the village who met the age requirements. There were not many women. This was also because the vigorous river dredging project had entered its final stage, and the required labor and working hours had been greatly reduced.

Forty or fifty years ago, every specific season, almost all rural people in Jiangsu, men, women, old, and young, had to carry tools and be organized. Those near the river repaired river embankments, and those without rivers built reservoirs.

Sometimes when catching up with key project battles, they would be organized to relatively far places to work together.

In the middle of winter, the cold wind was biting. In those years, there were not many engineering machines, basically relying entirely on manpower.

Within the appropriate age range, everyone had to participate; at that time, the construction period was long, and it took a long time to eat and live on the construction site, bringing their own dry food and building their own sheds.

I don't know how many old people left behind the roots of illness because of the hardship of dredging the river in those years.

Uncle Li Sheng laughed: "Still remember the bitterness when going to dredge the river with parents when I was a child. What did Dad like to say to us at that time? If you don't study well, you have to keep dredging the river, haha."

The three uncles next to him all laughed along.

Second Uncle Li Zheng said: "In the end, Dad's words were all in vain. Our brothers didn't have the brains to study at all, and in the end, only the little sister studied out."

Third Uncle Li Xiong nodded and said: "That's right, that's right. Mom was biased when she gave birth. All the good brains were left to the little sister."

Li Weihan pretended to be angry and laughed and scolded: "What kind of farts are you cubs releasing? If you could study, could I not grit my teeth and support you?"

Everyone laughed again, and it was another round of mutual teasing and scolding.

Everything seemed to have returned to a long time ago.

Four people, led by their parents, went to work to dredge the river together. On the way, it was also like this.

This was probably the reason why Li Weihan was so concerned about this river dredging. The sons all had their own families and were also fathers of several children. On weekdays, they all took care of their own small families, so it was inevitable that there would be some friction and discord.

Only at this time, with everyone carrying tools and pushing carts, looking alone, could they find those nostalgic memories of the past.

However, this warmth was destined not to last long. Families with many children who were not well-off would basically face the same problems, so they could only wait until the days were better in the future and everyone was older, then it would be possible to put down those calculations and grudges and truly regain family affection.

Of course, it was also possible that they would never be able to put it down for a lifetime, and the brothers would not communicate with each other until death.

The team kept moving forward, and the uncles kept introducing to Li Zhuiyuan, Pan Zi, and Lei Zi what they saw on the road.

"This embankment was repaired by us back then. We were still young at that time and could only help transport soil in the back."

"This reservoir was also built by us at the beginning. It was so cold at that time, and it was frozen."

"This ditch was also dug by us. Lei Zi and Pan Zi were still young at that time, hahaha."

Following their introduction, Li Zhuiyuan, sitting in the cart, kept looking out. He was somewhat touched in his heart. He originally always thought that many facilities that existed as a matter of course were not things that existed as a matter of course.

Today, these water conservancy facilities that almost every village has are the best imprints of that era project that is entering its final stage, and are the crystals poured out by the sweat and payment of the vast number of laborers under shoulder-carrying and hand-lifting.

The team of Siyuan Village kept merging with the teams of other villages during the march, and the scale of the team began to get larger and larger, gradually unable to see the head or the tail.

The village leader would carry a flag with the village name written on it, while the township leader would carry a larger flag and hold a loudspeaker.

The flag was already old, and the words on it had long been mottled and fallen off. Even the loudspeaker that didn't conduct electricity had long been rusty. However, today they only had some symbolic functions. The habits and self-consciousness cultivated for decades had long been engraved in the hearts of several generations.

Li Weihan's tools were shared by his sons, and he was able to light his water pipe relatively leisurely. The smoke he puffed out gradually made his gaze somewhat blurred. Maybe it was smoked by the smoke, or maybe this steady man suddenly felt something in his heart.

He said: "Remember when rushing the work, the cultural troupe came to the construction site to perform to encourage everyone. I just remember that paragraph, and I don't know who on the stage said it, but it was:

If this embankment is not built now, this river is not dug now, and this reservoir is not built now, then it is left for our children in the future to build. We have eaten all this bitterness, so our children won't have to eat this bitterness in the future.

Now it seems that what was said is really right.

Pan Hou, Lei Hou, and the others won't have to dredge the river in the future."

The uncles also echoed one after another. The days now are indeed much better than before.

The construction site was relatively far. The teams of several towns gathered and set off early, and didn't arrive until noon.

Moreover, there were many simple construction sheds on the side of the construction site, and nearby civilian houses were also temporarily requisitioned to provide hot water and dry food.

Hot water could be fetched at any time, and dry food was distributed in the form of large and small teams in the village.

The Li family sat around together, eating green onion rolls, and the four uncles took out the salted sauce and pickles brought from home one after another.

"Little Yuan Hou, are you used to eating?" Uncle Li Sheng asked.

"Mm, delicious." Li Zhuiyuan broke the green onion roll and sent it into his mouth. The green onion fragrance mixed with the noodle fragrance was indeed very delicious.

"Now it's providing meals. In the past, when we dredged the river with your grandparents, we all brought our own dry food. We couldn't even get hot water and had to burn it ourselves."

After eating, there was no time for a nap. The cadres of the brigade came down and began to arrange the responsible work sections for everyone.

Soon, Li Zhuiyuan saw a dense crowd of people, carrying tools and pushing small carts, walking down the river ditch that had not yet been diverted but was a bit muddy, like a group of ants.

But they were not humble or small at all, but gave people a kind of shock.

With small collectives as units, everyone shouted slogans and began to work vigorously.

Li Zhuiyuan was originally brought along and didn't belong to the labor category, so naturally, he wouldn't be assigned tasks. There were many children of similar age who came with adults playing nearby, and some children were still eating rolls in their hands.

However, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't play with them. He followed Pan Zi and Lei Zi to push carts to transport soil.

At this time, a group of young people who looked like college students walked over and asked Pan Zi and the others to help pull a rope and set up a mark for measurement. Li Zhuiyuan was also assigned a task, holding a wooden cone and standing at the designated position.

Beside him were two college students. One was measuring and one was recording with a pen. Because they called each other by name, Li Zhuiyuan knew that the one measuring was called Xue Liangliang and the one recording was called Zhao Hequan.

Zhao Hequan smiled and said: "There are fewer and fewer such projects. Future juniors and juniors won't have to be assigned to the construction site to do this. I really envy them."

After Xue Liangliang reported a piece of data, he lowered his head and continued to measure while refuting:

"No, there will only be more such large projects in the future, but our country will no longer have to mobilize the masses for voluntary labor like in the past. The most difficult period is almost over, and it will only get better in the future."

"Xue Liangliang, what are you talking about?"

"Why, don't you believe it?" Xue Liangliang smiled. "Then you just wait and see in the future. Believe me, this kind of project, in the future, can only be considered small to the point of being insignificant."

"Since it's insignificant, what are we doing here?"

"I mean it's insignificant in the future, not referring to the past and present. Nantong is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. In the past, so many water conservancy projects were repaired, one for ship transportation, two for agricultural irrigation, and three, most importantly, for flood and waterlogging prevention.

If there were no such infrastructure, there would be no talk of future development."

"Hehehehe." Zhao Hequan laughed. He felt that this classmate who was in the same group as him was a bit silly.

The data was measured,

Xue Liangliang stood up straight, reported the last set of data, and stretched his waist at the same time, looking at the noisy but orderly construction scene in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh:

"The great people are creating great history."

"Wake up, Xue Liangliang, you almost made me think I was in a political class. Are you secretly memorizing books for the final exam?"

Xue Liangliang smiled and didn't respond. Lowering his head, he saw Li Zhuiyuan, who was holding a wooden cone, also looking at him and smiling. He reached out and touched Li Zhuiyuan's head and asked:

"Little friend, are you so young and also came with your adults?"

"Ang." Li Zhuiyuan responded, "Being small is also the people."

"Hahaha!"

Xue Liangliang was amused by this sentence and laughed heartily, couldn't help but bend down and hug Li Zhuiyuan, and then took out a few White Rabbit creamy candies from his pocket and stuffed them into Li Zhuiyuan's pocket.

He felt that this little friend was very interesting, and Li Zhuiyuan also felt that this big child was very interesting.

Especially the expression and tone when he just said those words made Li Zhuiyuan think of his Grandpa Bei.

At this time, some commotion came from the construction site in the distance, and someone ran here while shouting:

"Dug something out! Dug something out!"

In engineering operations, digging things out was the norm. Although everyone felt novel, not many people went to see it. After all, they had to hurry up and complete their tasks.

However, these college students assigned to the construction site were much freer after completing their tasks. Zhao Hequan immediately pulled Xue Liangliang and urged:

"Go, Liangliang, let's go see together and see what was dug out."

Gradually, news kept coming over, and everyone roughly knew that a small temple had been dug out, about the size of an ordinary family's toilet.

Logically speaking, this didn't count as anything. As an alluvial plain area, the density of ancient tombs and ancient buildings was definitely far less than that of the Central Plains, but occasionally ancient small landlord tombs or sacrificial temples would be dug out during construction operations.

However, under the background of the special era, archaeological excavation and protection had to give way to the project. Anything blocking the construction route would be dug and pushed.

Of course, it was also because the small landlord didn't have enough face to attract the attention of relevant parties. At least it had to be a small noble.

However, if it were in a place like Xi'an or Luoyang, if it were encountered during construction, the small noble would have to stand aside, because it wasn't very rare.

However, the temple dug out this time was a bit unusual. Some people passed the news that a female Bodhisattva was worshipped in the temple, the female Bodhisattva was tied with chains, and the other ends of the iron chains were nailed to every corner of the small temple.

The masses saw that this shape was a bit evil and didn't dare to come forward to deal with it.

It was still two college students from Haihe University who used a hammer to break the chains and push the Bodhisattva statue down.

Only then could the project continue.

By dusk, basically all major and minor teams had long ago exceeded today's tasks. Everyone had experience. If they finished early and passed the inspection, they could go home early, and at the same time, they could finish work early to arrange where to sleep tonight.

At this time, the advantage of the Li family's four sons was reflected.

They didn't need to build a shed by the river or sleep on the ground with a straw mat, but occupied a dam of a civilian house requisitioned by the construction site.

Although the dam didn't have a wall, having a flat piece of ground under them, with a well and a toilet nearby, was already a very good camping condition.

The four uncles were responsible for fetching hot water, collecting dry food, and finding dry grass to make beds, while Li Weihan sat and rested in place with Li Zhuiyuan, Pan Zi, and Lei Zi.

Several large lightbulbs were connected to the dam, one to provide lighting for the people below, and two to be a road sign. This was also a hot water supply point, and there were also barefoot doctors here.

Li Zhuiyuan saw Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan again. A total of more than 20 college students in their group were led by a teacher and lived here tonight.

However, their conditions were better and they could live indoors.

Several uncles sat on the made beds and educated Li Zhuiyuan, Pan Zi, and Lei Zi:

"Children, look carefully. This is the benefit of reading. You must study hard."

Li Weihan, who was smoking a water pipe nearby, was choked into coughing. Weren't these words what he used to say to these four cubs?

It was almost the same scene, the same situation, and the same earnestness.

But, it was useless.

Li Weihan considered that he understood, and was relieved: people teach people, but they can't teach; things teach people, and once is enough. Some pits in front, no matter how much others preach, it's useless. You must step into them yourself to understand this truth, but what is the meaning of that at that time?

Lei Zi and Pan Zi listened to the preaching from their fathers and uncles with patience for a while, then couldn't help but stand up, shouting at some children of similar age nearby, and played the game of hitting paper bags.

They were all paper bags folded by themselves. They gathered together and took turns. Whoever could flip the other's paper bag, then the paper bag belonged to whoever.

The big children gathered there and played hotly, constantly making crisp sounds of "Pa pa pa!", and a group of small children surrounded the edge to observe and watch carefully, learning techniques.

Li Weihan turned his head and found that his Little Yuan Hou didn't join in to play that game, but was sitting there, reading a book seriously with it on his knees.

Li Weihan leaned his head over and took a look, only feeling that the words on it were dense like tadpoles, and couldn't help but ask worriedly:

"Little Yuan Hou, can you see clearly?"

"Grandfather, I couldn't see clearly at first, but now I can see clearly."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't bring a magnifying glass, because he had already adapted to this small font. To be precise, after getting used to reading, he no longer needed to accurately distinguish the details of the strokes of these words, but looked at the general feeling, and could recognize what the words were.

He was also slow to realize that after quickly memorizing books with a magnifying glass, he gradually realized the original intention of the author writing the words so small.

This was specifically to exercise the reader's "eye power," not that kind of visual eye power, but the feeling of looking at things, the feeling of visualizing detailed things.

Li Zhuiyuan vaguely found a breakthrough. The key to the eighth book of *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy* was the transformation from concretization to visualization. First, thoroughly understand these concepts and applications through rote memorization and a large amount of calculation, then collectively refine them, and form a qualitative change with the accumulation of quantitative changes, completing the sublimation from science to metaphysics.

He could already feel that so many eyebrows, eyes, mouths, noses, ears, and all kinds of faces composed of them that he had memorized in his brain began to gradually distort and fuse.

Although the degree was still very shallow now, he had already found the direction. In the end, only one face would remain in his brain, and then when he saw people in reality who needed physiognomy, he would directly imprint their faces into his brain to correspond and form.

"Mm, be careful not to hurt your eyes." Li Weihan exhorted and then stopped disturbing his grandson from reading.

Looking at his grandson reading seriously with his head down, then looking at Lei Zi and Pan Zi who were shouting loudly playing paper bags,

Li Weihan only felt that life was a cycle. Wasn't this the same feeling as when he looked at his daughter who was studying and those four unpromising sons?

He used to wonder, they were all his children, how could a nest produce both a phoenix and four grass chickens.

Now he had a premonition that this story would repeat itself in his grandchildren's generation.

Uncle Sanjiang said when drinking that their old Li family's ancestral grave was burned, which made him give birth to Lan Hou. Mm, in a few years when Little Yuan Hou grows up and takes the college entrance exam, I'm afraid it will have to be burned again.

Over there, the college students were assigned tasks and were also practicing. The energy of young people was always unimaginable. They didn't rush back to the room to sleep, but sat around under a lightbulb on the dam, took out some food they brought, and held a tea party.

Xue Liangliang noticed Li Zhuiyuan. He had a deep impression of this little friend, took a meat floss bread wrapped in oil paper, and walked over, placing it in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head, saw him, and smiled: "Thank you, brother."

"Little friend, are you a local?"

Although he was also working on the river project and his body was dirty, the child's dress and temperament didn't look like a doll in the countryside at all. It was mainly this unconstrained and generous posture revealed in his bones.

"Ang, yes. My name is Li Zhuiyuan. This is my grandfather, and behind is my uncles."

"Hehe, my name is Xue Liangliang. You are in elementary school, right? What grade?"

"Mm, third grade."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. In fact, it was sometimes difficult for him to explain to outsiders what grade he was in. He only knew that after his class reached the age, they would automatically advance.

For a period of time, the old professors were tortured by each other until they almost collapsed, and several very young teachers came to give them lectures. The effect of this mutual torture suddenly increased rapidly, and everyone scratched each other exceptionally happily.

Later, he found out that these several exceptionally young teachers were considered seniors of their class.

"Study hard and strive to get into college in the future."

"I will, brother."

At this time, at the tea party over there, someone began to shout toward this side: "Xue Liangliang, hurry up and prepare. It will be your turn to speak next."

"Coming, coming."

Xue Liangliang turned and walked back to sit down.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the group of college students sitting around over there. It was a similar scene that he often saw in school.

Those big brothers and sisters were students just like him. They liked to sit on the campus lawn, playing the guitar and reciting poems. The men also liked to keep their hair long to cover their eyes.

Tonight's tea party topic was about their future prospects. The topic was brought up by the teacher leading the internship, which was very consistent with his identity.

Zhao Hequan was speaking. He was the boy who measured with Xue Liangliang during the day. At this time, he had already entered the final concluding stage:

"America is a country where even the air is exceptionally sweet.

And my future is in America!

I have already applied for studying in America with my girlfriend. We will stay in America in the future, in the country of freedom and dreams, to enjoy our freedom and realize our life ideals!"

When he was speaking, his eyes and the lightbulb on his head shone with each other, shining with light.

His face was intoxicated, and also pious.

When his speech ended, the students around applauded and cheered.

At present, Western fever, especially the American dream, was sweeping up a storm among intellectuals nationwide, especially young college students.

After the reform and opening up, the gap in realistic material life and the impact of Western popular culture were destroying the self-confidence of this generation with terrifying destructive power.

Going to America and staying in America was not something unspeakable at present, but a kind of extremely normal political correctness.

Even the internship teacher didn't feel there was anything wrong. After all, there were not a few school teachers and professors who went out, and many people went out on public missions and then slipped out of the team and stayed.

"I also hope that everyone will have the opportunity to go to America to find their life significance in the future. My girlfriend and I look forward to meeting everyone again on the other side of the ocean."

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and glanced at Zhao Hequan. He didn't use *Theory of Destiny Deduction* to deduce, but just used *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy* to simply apply his physiognomy.

The results obtained this way would be relatively few and not accurate enough, but Zhao Hequan's physiognomy was relatively standard:

【Marriage is bumpy, lonely for life.】

Li Zhuiyuan fell into deep thought: But he looked like he should have a very good relationship with his girlfriend, so did he calculate wrong again?

After Zhao Hequan finished speaking, he walked down, and the next one to go up was Xue Liangliang.

Li Zhuiyuan handed the meat floss bread to Lei Zi, who had lost all his paper bags and returned in low spirits and was sulking.

Then, he closed the book, supported his chin with his hand, and wanted to listen carefully to how this brother talked about his own future.

Xue Liangliang walked to the center of the students. He didn't raise his head, his expression was very calm, not excited. The brightness of the lightbulb on his head hit his back, rendering a layer of halo, and it was like the rising sun.

"My future is in the Daxinan.

I study water conservancy. I think that in the future, the Daxinan, which has rich water system resources, is the place where I can display what I have learned.

The geology there is special and not very suitable for the construction of nuclear power plants, but it contains rich prospects for hydropower generation. The country will definitely vigorously build hydropower stations there in the future, and energy is an important cornerstone of the country's industrial development.

I believe that in the future, the hydropower generation in the Daxinan will not only meet the production and living needs of local people, but also supply and support the whole country.

This is a great cause. I think it is my honor to be able to integrate my future into it."

After he finished speaking, the students in the audience couldn't help but look at each other, feeling that an alien had suddenly entered among them.

Some classmates who were familiar with him lowered their heads and laughed, obviously they had long been accustomed to these behaviors of Xue Liangliang.

However, many villagers who were sleeping on the floor nearby were also listening to the movements of these college students. After Xue Liangliang finished speaking, many people shouted "Good!".

At this time, the one who felt the most unable to hang on his face was Zhao Hequan. Although the classmates and teachers didn't show anything, he felt that Xue Liangliang was deliberately targeting himself, and couldn't help but speak with some sarcasm:

"Oh, what are you pretending for? I don't believe that if you had the opportunity to go to America, you wouldn't go. Don't say America, even if you had the opportunity to go to Japan or South Korea, you would go."

Xue Liangliang asked back: "If it's for learning, why not go?"

"Pfft." Zhao Hequan pointed at him, "Look, you've said your true thoughts, haven't you? Once you go, you won't think about coming back. You don't know how big the gap between us and them is. This kind of gap can never be caught up with!"

Xue Liangliang shook his head: "It will be caught up with. Under its leadership, we have already achieved huge development achievements, and the future will definitely get better and better."

"But, you are developing, are they not developing? With such a huge gap, even if they stand still, if you are given a hundred years, you can't catch up!"

Xue Liangliang shook his head again: "Impossible. This world is materialistic. Unless nuclear fusion can make a breakthrough and achieve commercialization, the market cake of this world is destined to be limited. As long as we continue to develop, this will no longer be a chasing game."

Zhao Hequan frowned. He didn't understand, and other classmates didn't understand, including the internship teacher who also looked puzzled.

"Xue Liangliang, what on earth are you talking about? Aren't we backward chasers?"

"We are chasers, but not chasing. The better we develop and the more developed our industry is, the more cakes and markets we can grab. In the future, not only will they not stand still and wait for us, but they will constantly retreat and will actively... rush toward us.

I think that in fifty years, our total economic volume will definitely surpass Japan and South Korea."

The students looked at Xue Liangliang as if they were looking at a fool, and the class teacher couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh.

Xue Liangliang continued:

"Is this strange?

In the future, there will be a day when the volume of our shipbuilding industry will exceed South Korea, and the volume of our car industry will exceed Japan. After they lose these industrial advantages, won't they definitely retreat?

As for staying, maybe there are indeed good living conditions there now, but staying is not suitable for me. I hope that the platform where I can play what I have learned.

And I don't think that when different provinces in the country speak different dialects, they might be excluded, but after going abroad, under different races and skin colors, they will not exclude you and provide you with a free platform for development.

This is unreasonable, because it is too anti-human."

"Good!" "Good!" "Good!"

The cheers of the villagers nearby were even louder, including Li Weihan and the four uncles who also joined in the cheers. Although they didn't understand many words, out of some most simple feelings and expectations in their hearts, they felt that what this student said was painful.

Zhao Hequan was somewhat ashamed and angry: "You don't understand, it's you who don't understand. You don't understand America at all, nor do you understand the true meaning of freedom."

A student next to him echoed: "Xue Liangliang, since you say it so surely, then you must know what can make big money in the future. Tell us."

"That's right, tell us."

"We'll follow you to learn how to see the future and make money together."

Xue Liangliang pondered for a moment and answered seriously: "According to the development law of first-mover economies, when an economy is in a period of rapid upward development, its real estate industry is destined to usher in huge development.

So, if you want relatively stable investment appreciation, everyone can go to the core areas of big cities to buy houses, even if you go to the bank to take out a loan to buy."

Everyone was stunned first, and then burst into greater laughter. Many people laughed until tears flowed out.

Xue Liangliang sat down, and the next student went up to give a speech.

However, many classmates still looked at him with playful and teasing eyes while whispering to the classmates beside them.

Xue Liangliang didn't care, continued to sit in his position, and applauded for the student who was giving a speech.

Li Zhuiyuan still didn't use destiny deduction, but just silently looked at Xue Liangliang's physiognomy,

【Marriage is smooth, long life and peace.】

Li Zhuiyuan blinked. If this was the opposite result again, he would really be angry.

The night was deep, and the tea party had long ended.

The villagers on the dam were all asleep, and the group of college students were all resting. However, because there were not enough houses inside, and female students had to avoid suspicion, some boys could only sleep on the floor outside.

Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan were among them.

On the dam, snoring continued, as if a symphony had been played.

However, everyone was tired during the day, so there was no insomnia trouble, and they all slept very soundly.

Li Zhuiyuan lay beside Li Weihan, using a book as a pillow.

While sleeping, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt a bit cold. Logically speaking, even if you sleep outside in this season, you wouldn't be cold enough to make people shiver. Under him was straw brought by the uncles, and on his body was a quilt brought from home covered by his grandfather.

But soon, Li Zhuiyuan realized what was happening.

It was probably because since his great-grandfather was injured that time, he hadn't done a fortune-transfer ritual with him again, so he hadn't had that kind of dream for a long time.

At this time, this familiar feeling, Li Zhuiyuan knew... he had entered a dream again.

But with experience and theoretical knowledge, he was not as impetuous as before. He lay there without moving, quietly opening a little bit of his eyes.

He saw that he was still lying in place, beside him was his grandfather's sound breathing, and diagonally in front were his uncles and Pan Zi and Lei Zi.

But he knew this was not reality; this was a dream, because that strange chill was becoming more and more intense.

If he hadn't tried his best to endure it, he would have been unable to help but curl up his body and shiver.

At this time, he saw a woman walking up from the dam steps.

The woman was wearing white clothes, and the skirt was dragging on the ground for a long time. Chains were also wrapped around her body.

But the skin exposed outside the woman presented a scorched meat-red color. When walking, pieces of meat kept falling off, making a sticky sound.

After walking to the center of the dam, the woman stopped, and her head began to look around, as if looking for someone.

Others were all sleeping and couldn't see the woman.

Just as the woman was about to look toward this side, Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes completely.

After a while, feeling that the time was about right, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes again secretly.

But just this look, he found that the woman didn't know if she had looked around several times, or if she had been looking in this direction all along. In short, in Li Zhuiyuan's perspective,

He and the woman looked at each other!

In an instant, Li Zhuiyuan's blood seemed to freeze, and his heartbeat accelerated "peng peng peng".

The woman's face was bloody and blurred, like it was burned or scraped and dug. In short, it presented a terrifying horror of flesh and mud rolling in the spring.

The only conspicuous position was the woman's mouth. He couldn't see the lips clearly, only two rows of white teeth, which set off the horror even more!

The woman was still staring here. Li Zhuiyuan didn't dare to close his eyes and make extra movements this time.

But the woman took a step, step by step, walking toward his side.

Finished,

Did she notice that I could see her?

But even though the waves were rolling in his heart, Li Zhuiyuan still forced himself to remain motionless, even his breathing was controlled to be the same as before.

Accompanying the woman's constant approach, the tip of his nose smelled a burnt smell of meat, with a bit of moldy and sour smell, which was very disgusting and nauseating.

However, Li Zhuiyuan was still breathing as usual, as if he were still sleeping soundly.

The woman walked to the front and slowly squatted down.

Her terrifying face almost stuck to Li Zhuiyuan's nose.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't close his eyes at this time and was forced to look at her.

Looking at the rotten meat on her face, one piece after another fell, and two pieces of broken meat even fell on his face, sliding down his cheeks slowly.

Sticky, with disgusting juice.

At this moment, time seemed to pass extremely slowly, like a year for a second.

After staring for a while, the woman finally stood up, turned her head, and walked toward the central area step by step.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't bother with the broken meat still remaining on his face. He remained motionless, and even his eyes continued to maintain a slightly open slit.

Suddenly, the woman who was walking, her body was still walking, but her head turned 180 degrees on her neck, looking at Li Zhuiyuan again.

This scene simply scared Li Zhuiyuan's back into cold sweat. The biting chill brushed from the back of his head all the way down to his tailbone, and then brushed back from bottom to top.

Fortunately, he didn't close his eyes.

The woman seemed to have confirmed that this child just had the habit of opening a corner of his eyes when sleeping.

Her head turned 180 degrees again and went back.

"Hoo... hoo..."

In his heart, Li Zhuiyuan kept exhaling. He felt his head was dizzy and numb.

The woman seemed to have found the person she was looking for. She walked step by step toward the group of college students sleeping on the straw mat outside the door.

Finally, she stood between Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan.

Both were sleeping soundly, and neither knew that there was such a terrifying thing now, so close to them.

The woman opened her hands, her sleeves retracted, revealing her white bone-exposed arms, inside which were not only rotten meat, but also countless flesh maggots drilling in and out.

Li Zhuiyuan continued to maintain the slightly open eye posture. He would not change this action before waking up from the dream.

Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but think in his heart:

Could it be that the two college students who used a hammer to break the Bodhisattva statue's chains were Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan?

The woman slowly squatted down, and toward the neck of Xue Liangliang on the right, her hands reached down.

However, at the moment of almost pinching, the lightbulbs that were hanging on the dam above her head flickered a few times because of poor contact.

The woman's head immediately turned back, came to the direction of her back, and stared at the flickering lightbulb.

After the lightbulb flickered a few times, it returned to normal.

The woman's head turned toward her front, following the direction she had turned to her back earlier.

But her rotation this time was a bit insufficient, causing the face that was originally facing Xue Liangliang on the right to turn toward Zhao Hequan after clockwise rotation.

Her hands also naturally followed the direction her head was facing and moved over.

Immediately after,

Toward Zhao Hequan's neck,

Pinched down!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====