Chapter 19

The woman slowly stood up, and Zhao Hequan was lifted up by her grabbing his neck.

She leaned her face over, as if she was looking at him carefully.

Gradually, from Zhao Hequan's neck, which was the place where the woman's hand was grabbing, black spots began to grow, and soon spread to his whole body.

Then, these spots began to expand step by step, fusing with each other, forming black abscesses one after another. The central area of each piece bulged, and pus kept overflowing, sliding down his body, and finally gathered at his feet off the ground, forming liquid streams dripping on the ground.

However, Zhao Hequan didn't show pain or struggle, and seemed to be still sleeping soundly.

On the contrary, an ominous premonition suddenly rose in Li Zhuiyuan's heart. If touching this woman would cause infection and rot, then the two pieces of broken meat that fell on his face earlier...

His face began to itch.

After feeling it carefully, it was really itchy, not a psychological effect.

But now, even if it was itchy again, Li Zhuiyuan didn't dare to reach out and scratch.

Immediately, the woman lifted Zhao Hequan with her left hand alone, holding him horizontally beside her body. This immediately formed a sharp contrast; the woman's physique was indeed a bit outrageously tall.

Li Zhuiyuan had been shocked by the woman's appearance and eye contact earlier, so he ignored this point. Now, he found that the woman's figure was very much like the statue in the temple.

It should be that she had found the person she wanted to find, so the woman carried Zhao Hequan and walked toward the bottom of the dam.

She walked very steadily, looking forward.

Then, when she was halfway through, her body continued to move forward, but her head suddenly turned ninety degrees and looked over.

Li Zhuiyuan's heart trembled,

She,

Was actually still observing him!

While looking at him here, the woman continued to move forward, and finally, left his line of sight and went down the dam.

The itch on his face was still continuing.

Li Zhuiyuan lay there without moving, his eyelids still maintaining a slight opening.

The passage of time was a bit distorted at this moment, and he didn't know how long had passed. Anyway, he continued to insist on not moving.

Suddenly,

In the lower left corner of his line of sight, the woman's bloody and rolling face suddenly protruded.

Like someone who had already left the house, but remembered something, her body was still outside the house, but she leaned her neck back and poked her head back to look at you.

Those two rows of white teeth were the only position that could present her facial expression.

Under the brain's supplement, giving her flesh and five senses, she should be smiling.

As if saying,

Hehe,

I'm just looking again to see if you are really sleeping.

It's just that this time Li Zhuiyuan was no longer scared; he had long ago had a premonition that this would happen.

Because the chill around him didn't dissipate, it meant the woman hadn't gone far and was still nearby.

In his brain, he could imagine her standing under the dam without moving.

Liu Jinxia had said that those dirty things would have an exceptionally strong interest in people who could see them, so even if you "saw" them, you had to pretend you didn't see them.

Finally, the oppressive atmosphere disappeared, the chill dissipated, the summer heat swept back, and the evening breeze also brought fresh air.

As if walking out of a freezer, from body to soul, there was a feeling of thawing.

This made his face even itchier.

It seemed that as long as he could reach out and scratch a few times now, it would be the most crisp and comfortable thing in the world.

However, Li Zhuiyuan still didn't move.

His willpower had relaxed, and his self-control had almost collapsed, but he still forced himself to rely on inertia, retaining the previous sleeping posture and eye corners.

Suddenly, the cold appeared again. This time it came very fast, very urgent, and very fierce.

It wasn't that he was dragged back into the freezer, but that the freezer opened its door, grew legs, and swallowed him.

Two sounds of landing came to his ears, mixed with the crisp friction of chains.

In his line of sight, a little bit in front of him, a pair of legs appeared. At the very bottom was a pair of feet still dripping with pus.

This was Zhao Hequan's feet; he was now being carried by the woman.

So, the woman was now standing behind him, very close to his head.

She was still looking at him.

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but feel that the woman's persistence was difficult to understand.

Since you have tried to test him again and again, why not just lift him up like you treated Zhao Hequan?

Aren't you still having one hand free?

At this time, Li Zhuiyuan thought of the message he heard during the day that it was two college students from Haihe University who used a hammer to break the chains on the female Bodhisattva.

It should be Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan.

But the woman only lifted one Zhao Hequan, but didn't lift Xue Liangliang.

So, this proved that the woman came out this time and could only take one away?

In an instant, Li Zhuiyuan's brain became clear.

This was a kind of reverse competition. The two sides of the competition were himself and Zhao Hequan. If he showed flaws, the woman might let go of Zhao Hequan and turn to grab him instead.

Li Zhuiyuan was impossible to be willing to sacrifice himself to exchange for Zhao Hequan's escape. If he had to choose one of two, it must be Zhao Hequan accompanying the woman down.

Anyway, his ideal country was America, visas were hard to get, and the ocean was vast and hard to cross. Reincarnating to the past was also a shortcut.

Simple suffering was not easy to bear, but once the problem was simplified into a competition, it belonged to being pulled back to the track he was best at.

The fierce chill came fast and went fast. The woman should have left again.

But Li Zhuiyuan just fixed himself like this.

He no longer cared whether this dream had woken up, nor did he care whether the woman would come back again. He continued to maintain this posture and this degree of half-closed eyes.

His face was still very itchy, which forced him to find another way to divert his attention.

He began to ponder the algorithm in the eighth book of *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*. Anyway, he had nothing to do, and didn't dare to do anything now, so he might as well continue to learn.

In his brain, rows of human faces kept emerging, and gradually overlapped.

Li Zhuiyuan could now make a human face emerge in his heart, and she could be male, female, old, or young;

Looking closely, in fact, from eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth to ears, they were constantly changing.

At that time, there was a game of sticking flower paper among girls in the capital, which was a paper printed with a model's body, attached with a pile of stickers from hairstyles to various clothes. You could choose the hairstyle and clothing you wanted to tear off, and because the back had glue, you could stick it on the model, like a simple version of doll dress-up.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that he was playing this game now, but the accessories in his makeup library were far too rich compared to the toy box of flower paper.

While playing, a thought gradually rose in Li Zhuiyuan's heart:

Could he try to make this face move and talk?

The first seven books of *Exquisite Explanation of Yin-Yang Physiognomy* were a large amount of rote memorization and calculation. In the eighth book, it was the transformation from science to metaphysics. The "metaphysics" here referred to a threshold.

Thanks to the fact that his mother often took him to see a psychologist when he was a child, at that time he naively catered to his mother's needs and, according to the doctor's treatment guidelines, actively created a split personality for himself.

Then, could the same method be used here?

This thought made him feel frightened, because he felt that he seemed to have found the breakthrough idea for the eighth book!

But at the same time, Li Zhuiyuan also felt danger. He was completely in control of the personality he created alone before, but if he created a personality according to someone else's template in his brain, would it still be safe?

"Little Yuan Hou, wake up. Hehe, still sleeping, we are going to work."

Li Weihan's voice sounded in his ear, followed by a rough but warm hand stroking his face.

Li Zhuiyuan was clear that this was really waking up.

He didn't know whether the woman had come back to continue testing him after that time.

However, that was no longer important. Immersed in the learning atmosphere, he really ignored the changes in the outside world. He didn't fall asleep, but was "dead" more than falling asleep.

"What's wrong, Little Yuan Hou, is it uncomfortable sleeping outside?" Li Weihan asked with concern.

"No, no Grandfather, I slept very well."

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at the room, and found that the college students were also up, washing up. Zhao Hequan was also there, not dead, and was laughing and talking with his classmates.

"That's good. Your uncle fetched water, let's wash our faces."

After simple cleaning and receiving breakfast, everyone went to the construction site early. Today's work tasks were based on the village. As long as they could finish early, they could go home early, without having to sleep here for another night.

Li Zhuiyuan also came to the river project. This time, he was lazy and found a stone to sit down, supporting his chin with his hand.

He was very entangled. He felt that he had found the key to the eighth book, but didn't dare to try.

He vaguely felt that this was like when he calculated his own destiny last time.

This line of work had many taboos. No, it was that this line of work was composed of various taboos.

The vigorous atmosphere on the construction site gradually dispelled the haze in Li Zhuiyuan's heart;

He somewhat wanted to open up. The first seven books were enough for him to look at other people's physiognomy when he had nothing to do. As for the eighth book, it should not be used except at special times.

Alright, go help Grandfather and the others transport mud.

Li Zhuiyuan was about to stand up, his gaze moved down, and he suddenly found a gray spot on the inside of his left forearm. Looking at his right forearm, there was a piece of the same spot in the corresponding position.

He immediately touched his face. His face had no feeling, and there was no itch when he woke up. He almost forgot this.

Now it seemed that he had suffered after all.

Why it didn't appear on his face was also easy to understand. Certain effects during the dream last time didn't necessarily have to be manifested on his face. At that time, he was not a real body.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his arms and looked carefully. Although the two pieces were only the size of a coin, this thing... was very likely to spread.

At this time, two people walked over from the front. To be precise, it was Xue Liangliang supporting Zhao Hequan walking over.

They were a measurement group. Regardless of whether there was any conflict last night, they still had to complete the task together today.

"Brother, what's wrong with him?" Li Zhuiyuan asked.

Xue Liangliang said: "He is not feeling well, I'll take him to see a doctor."

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that Zhao Hequan's neck was completely blue-black.

Yes, he was only hit on the face by broken meat on the woman's face, but he was carried away by the woman grabbing his neck, which was definitely the most serious.

After Li Zhuiyuan greeted Li Weihan, he followed Xue Liangliang and them back to the dam where they slept last night, where a barefoot doctor was sitting in town.

The doctor untied Zhao Hequan's shirt, checked his symptoms, and then his face became very ugly.

"Doctor, is he poisoned, or bitten by a poisonous insect?" Xue Liangliang asked anxiously.

"In our place, where are there such powerful poisonous mosquitoes and insects? Poisoning doesn't look like it either. It's not that fast. Didn't you say he was completely fine this morning?"

"Yes, he was completely abnormal this morning."

"Hey." The doctor was a bit embarrassed. "Send him to the health center in the nearby town to see. Go there for an examination. I can only see some headaches and fever here."

"Doctor, I have it here too." Xue Liangliang rolled up his sleeves on both sides.

Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing beside him, saw that there were gray spots on his arms just like his own.

It was also true. The woman also squatted in front of him last night, almost grabbing him instead of Zhao Hequan, so it was normal for him to be hit by some broken meat.

"Hurry to the hospital. You also go for an examination together. Don't be any infectious disease or something."

"Alright, then I'll put my friend here first, and I'll go find a car."

The doctor frowned, but could only nod, and then took out an old mask from his pocket and put it on himself.

After Xue Liangliang left, the doctor looked at Zhao Hequan again. At this time, Zhao Hequan's consciousness was already a bit blurred.

The doctor muttered: "It really doesn't look like he's sick, it looks like he's been invaded by dirty things."

Barefoot doctors were people with basic medical knowledge levels trained or designated by the state after the founding of New China. They had no establishment and were both farmers and doctors. Although they generally couldn't compare with doctors in regular hospitals in terms of medical professional level, they played a huge role and made outstanding contributions to improving and guaranteeing rural medical conditions in a specific historical period.

At the same time, because of this professional characteristic, they often had their own understanding of some special difficult and miscellaneous diseases, and were not so exclusive.

"What did you say?" Li Zhuiyuan heard it and asked curiously.

The doctor didn't speak. He wouldn't be so superstitious as to scare a child.

"Did you encounter dirty things and get invaded?" Li Zhuiyuan asked actively. "How to solve it?"

The doctor found it funny: "Little child, how do I know how to solve it? I am a doctor, not a fortune teller."

Li Zhuiyuan was a bit disappointed. It seemed that he could only wait until he went back and his great-grandfather returned.

He actually roughly knew that Auntie Liu Jinxia and Auntie Li Juxiang also seemed to have solutions to this kind of problem, but he was really embarrassed to find them, because the way their mother and daughter solved problems was too simple and rude.

At this time, Xue Liangliang, who had just walked out for a while, came back again, followed by a middle-aged man with half-white hair wearing work clothes.

This man had thick and steady eyebrows, a square face, and carried a righteous and majestic aura.

"Luo Gong." The doctor saw him and also took the initiative to stand up and greet him.

The other party was the deputy commander of the project and also the department head at Haihe University. In recent years, he had basically been responsible for organizing the water conservancy construction projects in this area.

"Mm." Luo Tingrui raised his hand to respond, then walked straight to Zhao Hequan, checked the situation, and scolded Xue Liangliang beside him in a low voice, "Do you have brains? Who told you two to be so impulsive yesterday?"

"Director, it's my fault."

Luo Tingrui had a dark face: "Didn't I teach you that when encountering tombs or temples during construction, it must be handled. Even if there are no conditions for relocation and resettlement, you must burn a few sticks of incense and say a few good words before pushing these things! You two are good, directly using hammers to smash!"

"Director, what should we do now?"

In fact, Xue Liangliang intended to burn incense and worship before pushing the temple yesterday, but Zhao Hequan snorted coldly, saying that this was the inferiority of the Chinese people, and directly smashed it with a hammer. He could only bite the bullet and follow.

Who knew that such a problem would occur the next day, but now it was obviously not the time to share responsibility and explain.

"Where was that statue moved to?"

"It was dragged to the west ditch and piled together with construction waste."

"Alright, you take him there first, and I will go to my temporary office to find incense.

Apologize first, and then send him to the hospital in the city. The health center in the town should have no way to deal with this symptom. Anyway, finding a car now also takes time."

"Alright Director, I know."

Xue Liangliang carried Zhao Hequan on his back and ran toward the dam.

Walking and walking, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Li Zhuiyuan who followed.

"You..."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't talk nonsense and showed his forearm to the other party.

Xue Liangliang was very surprised: "Little friend, did you also go to smash it?"

"I don't know."

In fact, Li Zhuiyuan was the most innocent. He now possessed the ability to walk in the underworld, but the whole thing really had nothing to do with him. "Then go burn incense with me. After burning incense, you tell your family, and I will take you to the hospital in the city."

"Alright, brother."

The two, to be precise, the three came to the west ditch where waste was piled. That female Bodhisattva statue was placed there alone.

The villagers who were constructing still had basic taboos and didn't let it lie there. There was a stone next to it to ensure it could stand.

After putting Zhao Hequan down, Xue Liangliang walked to the statue and bowed first:

"Yesterday was my fault, please forgive... " Pausing, he looked at Li Zhuiyuan beside him, "At the very least, you must forgive this child."

Last night, Xue Liangliang also said sonorously: This world is materialistic.

However, this didn't seem wrong. In the eyes of a true materialist, as long as there is a ready-made law to explore and solve, then even if it is a ghost, it is a materialistic ghost.

Li Zhuiyuan observed this statue carefully. This statue had been in the water or mud for a long time, and the lacquer body had long been peeled and corroded. What entered his eyes was large pieces of red rust-like surface, which should be the material of some kind of mud used to shape the statue.

But this also corresponded to the state of the woman when she appeared last night, rolling and scorched, bloody and blurred.

Most importantly, other parts of the statue's face could no longer be seen, but only at the corner of the mouth, a section of white tooth lacquer remained. It should be that the pigment was special and more durable, and from the face shape of the lacquer, the lower jaw was retracted, which instead left a gap for the mouth, which might not be completely filled even under the mud.

Li Zhuiyuan also bowed, and then a nursery rhyme that his great-grandfather led him to send Xiao Huang Ying surfaced in his brain. He had a good memory and really remembered it word for word, so he recited it:

"Offerings to you today, sacrifices to you next year, human feelings reach here, are you satisfied?

Regardless of yin or yang, you must speak of reason.

If you have grievances, report grievances; if you have hatred, report hatred. The world is bitter, you must not go against it."

Beside him, Xue Liangliang looked at this child, his eyes widened, because he saw... professionalism in this child.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished reciting, he added: "I will set up a small offering table for you after I go home, and offer all my snacks to you to make up for it."

Xue Liangliang asked in surprise: "Will this be useful?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head and said truthfully: "I don't know."

He just followed his great-grandfather's topic and copied the answer.

Immediately, Li Zhuiyuan raised his arm again:

"Eh?"

The gray spot that was originally the size of a coin had now shrunk to the size of a soybean, and the color had become lighter.

Li Zhuiyuan blinked. He didn't expect that his great-grandfather's answer would be so useful!

"Look at yours." Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang. He needed to compare now.

Xue Liangliang immediately spread his arms. His gray spots not only didn't shrink, but also became larger.

He immediately said: "Little brother, hurry up and teach me to recite."

"Alright."

Next, Xue Liangliang learned from Li Zhuiyuan and recited the words just now. It's just that he changed Li Zhuiyuan's last sentence "offer snacks" to "go to the school cafeteria to order dishes and set up an offering table in the dormitory for you."

After reciting, he waited for a while.

Xue Liangliang pulled up his sleeves like scratching a lottery, and also made a sound of surprise.

The spot had shrunk, but it didn't shrink back to the size of a soybean, but became the same as before.

"This..." Xue Liangliang frowned. "Could it be that the Bodhisattva also knows that the food in our school cafeteria is very difficult to eat?"

Li Zhuiyuan felt that it might be because he really smashed the statue yesterday.

"Why is there another child?" Luo Tingrui came over with incense.

"This child also encountered the same problem."

Luo Tingrui was a bit puzzled, but didn't ask any more, but handed a stick of incense to Li Zhuiyuan, then one for himself, and one for Xue Liangliang.

As for Zhao Hequan, who was unconscious, he gave him a big handful.

Next, Luo Tingrui stood at the very front, bowed seriously with incense, and then unbuttoned his collar, sat down in front of the statue regardless of the dirt, kept patting the ground with one hand and grabbing his chest with the other, and began to complain.

Recalling from the bitter days before liberation, to the purpose and significance of building roads, bridges, and water conservancy projects, and finally the future outlook.

He spoke very devotedly and emotionally, completely losing the rigorous temperament of an engineer before. If you didn't know, you would think he was holding a small symposium.

Moreover, it seemed that he was afraid that the local temple wouldn't understand Mandarin, so he specifically used a lot of Nantong dialect, although it was very clumsy and not standard.

After finishing, he stood up, pressed Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang's heads with both hands, and let them hold incense and bow again.

Finally, he dragged Zhao Hequan, who was unconscious, over and grabbed his head to kowtow.

After doing these, Luo Tingrui fastened his collar buttons, and his whole person became steady again.

Seeing the curious gaze from Xue Liangliang, he said angrily: "Learn it. I also learned this from my predecessors. There are not many such things in Nantong, but it is not common to encounter such things when opening roads and building bridges in the inland. Everyone has figured out this set of processes, and it is quite useful."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded convincingly, because he found that after this worship, the gray spot on his forearm, which was originally the size of a soybean, had disappeared, leaving only a trace that could not be seen, which could almost be said to be completely healed.

This was really too magical. If he went back and asked Liu Jinxia to treat it, I'm afraid Auntie Xiang Hou would have to roll on the ground in pain again.

Li Zhuiyuan began to ponder: Could this be considered another kind of metaphysical development?

It mainly relies on moving with emotion and reasoning; however, the key here seems to be a higher kind of righteousness, which even those dirty things can only retreat from.

Xue Liangliang's spots shrank to the size of a soybean, but also became much lighter, which should also be no problem. Even if this trace was left permanently, it wouldn't be a big deal for a water conservancy boy.

As for Zhao Hequan, he seemed to have relaxed a lot and began to hum and recover some consciousness, but he was the most serious one, and now even if he recovered half... it felt like the difference between being sick enough to die ten times and only dying once.

After all, Li Zhuiyuan saw with his own eyes that "Zhao Hequan" was carried away by the woman.

Where was he carried to?

Li Zhuiyuan looked around at the foot of the statue. It seemed that there was no place suitable for hiding things here, but he saw a line of carved characters between the two feet on the base of the statue:

"Mother Bai."

Was it the woman's title?

It was very consistent with the local habit of address. For example, Liu Jinxia was "Grandma Liu" in the guest's address.

So, this was not a female Bodhisattva statue, but it wasn't wrong to call it that, because in the shallow and broad divine cognition of ordinary people, female divine positions seemed to be able to be called a female Bodhisattva.

"Send him to the hospital in the city." Luo Tingrui sighed and said to Xue Liangliang again, "You also go to the hospital for another examination, don't leave any problems."

Xue Liangliang pointed to Li Zhuiyuan and said: "This little friend also needs to be examined."

"Mm, little friend, which village and which team is your adult from?"

"Siyuan Village, Fourth Brigade, Shinan Town."

Luo Tingrui looked at Xue Liangliang: "I will go and tell his adults, just say that you students took him to the city to walk around and play, and send him home by car at night. The construction site cannot leave me. You take them there, and the car should be waiting at the entrance now."

"Alright, Director."

Xue Liangliang carried Zhao Hequan again, and then signaled Li Zhuiyuan to follow. There was indeed a car parked at the west entrance of the construction site. The driver was also inside. Seeing people coming, he immediately

Xue Liangliang helped Zhao Hequan up again, then signaled for Li Zhuiyuan to follow. There was indeed a car parked at the opening on the west side of the construction site, and the driver was inside; seeing them approach, he immediately drove toward the city.

On the way, Li Zhuiyuan pondered that since Luo Gong had gone to speak with Grandfather and the others, Grandfather and the others would certainly be at ease; after all, Luo Gong's status as deputy commander was even higher than that of the town mayor.

When they arrived at Nantong People's Hospital, it was already ten o'clock in the morning sharp.

Li Zhuiyuan checked his own arm; the colored marks were no longer visible, meaning he was completely healed. However, after returning, Li Zhuiyuan would still set up a small offering table to settle his promise.

Xue Liangliang was much the same; the soybean-sized mark on him had also shrunk to a faint trace.

However, unlike the situation where both of them had basically recovered, it seemed that all the pain had been borne by Zhao Hequan alone.

When they set off, he had regained a bit of his senses and seemed much better, but on the way, his condition began to worsen again; he vomited more than once in the car, and what he vomited was still sour, foul-smelling liquid.

It made the driver feel so distressed that the force with which he pressed the horn became much greater.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Xue Liangliang first arranged for Zhao Hequan to be sent to the emergency room, then held Li Zhuiyuan's hand to go through a series of examinations, including blood tests.

By the time they were waiting for the results, it was already close to mealtime. Xue Liangliang went to the hospital cafeteria to buy some steamed buns and brought them over to eat with Li Zhuiyuan.

"It looks like we'll have to wait until after work starts in the afternoon to get the report." Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuiyuan, "After I get the report in the afternoon, I'll go to the small shop at the entrance to buy you some milk and a small toy, and you can take them back with you."

"Thank you, Brother."

"What are you thanking me for? When it comes down to it, it was me who implicated you."

This matter had started because he and Zhao Hequan had used hammers to smash the idol; how could this little child also have gone to swing a heavy hammer?

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and took a bite of a bun. It was indeed because of him, but in his heart, he did not blame him.

It was hard for people to feel disgust toward someone as sunny, cheerful, and attentive as him, and he himself liked to play this kind of persona...

Hiss!

Li Zhuiyuan gripped the bun with his left hand and grabbed his head with his right, his expression pained.

Damn it, this feeling was emerging again.

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan felt his vision beginning to blur, and he had the sensation that he was becoming misaligned with his body; in fact, this was a concrete manifestation of the detachment between self-cognition and identity.

In his mind, the coldness and sarcasm that his mother had frequently displayed in recent years surfaced once again.

He knew very well that once he let this symptom slip out of control and completed the detachment, he would forever lose the identity of "Little Yuan Hou." When facing family affection and social relationships, he would be cold and resistant, unable to even act... let alone continue acting.

Yet, he truly liked this kind of life; he was unwilling to let go.

If his mother weren't in the picture, he might not have been so resistant, and might even have had the thought of trying to see what that feeling was like. But now, just because his mother's figure was there, he was afraid.

Perhaps even Li Lan herself had not expected that she had spent so much effort and energy finding psychologists and various methods to intervene and treat her son in time...

The effect was far inferior to this negative case study of herself.

"Little Yuan, what's wrong with you? Little Yuan, are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" Xue Liangliang was startled; he was terrified that this child had developed a major problem because of him.

In his heart, Li Zhuiyuan kept rapidly reciting his family relationship network. This time, he even brought out Grandpa Bei and Grandma Bei, and at the same time, the frequency with which he recited Qin Liu's name became even higher.

That girl who only had eyes for him—he really didn't want to respond with coldness when he returned and faced her gaze.

At the same time, Li Zhuiyuan was still reciting: My eighth book on physiognomy only provided the method to crack the problem; I haven't even dared to test it yet, so this doesn't count as having mastered it! My Eight Trigrams algorithm for destiny deduction hasn't been fully completed yet; although the progress is fast, what if I get stuck later on?

No, even if I have mastered these two books, there are still so many books in Great-Grandfather's basement; I definitely couldn't finish reading or learning them all. I will definitely fail, I will definitely not understand them, and I will definitely feel frustrated, powerless, and sick of studying!

"Snap!"

A silent, crisp sound, as if his conscious thinking and identity cognition had clicked back into place.

Li Zhuiyuan finally let out a sigh of relief, leaning his back against the chair, his face covered in cold sweat.

Sure enough, the frustration of studying was the most useful.

The fact that this situation suddenly occurred this time was likely related to him breaking through the eighth book during the night, causing him to lose his self-awareness as a poor student.

"Little Yuan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now, Brother Liangliang." Li Zhuiyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and, to comfort him, deliberately said, "It's not this; I have epilepsy."

"Oh, I see. You sit here properly and don't go anywhere; I'll go get a hot towel to wipe you down."

"Mm, thank you, Brother Liangliang."

After Xue Liangliang left, Li Zhuiyuan caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye—it was Sister Yingzi.

Was she at this hospital too? Had her maternal grandparents been transferred here from the town health center?

Wouldn't that mean Great-Grandfather might be here too?

However, Li Zhuiyuan did not leave his seat to chase after her; he was afraid that Xue Liangliang would return, not find him, and become anxious.

Xue Liangliang returned with a new towel. He carefully wiped Li Zhuiyuan's face and signaled for Li Zhuiyuan to raise his hands, reaching the towel inside his short sleeves to wipe his body to prevent him from catching a cold.

"Little Yuan, you're not a local, are you?" Xue Liangliang asked with a smile, "When I asked you yesterday, you said you were a local, but when you were having your blood drawn earlier, I heard you communicating with the nurse in Nantong dialect."

"Mm, I was in the capital when I was little, and I just returned to my hometown recently."

"The capital, huh? I've been there. It was for a study exchange activity between universities, and I went to Weiming Lake."

Li Zhuiyuan thought to himself: That's a pity, we didn't run into each other.

"I'm so envious of the children in big cities," Xue Liangliang sighed.

"Where is Brother Liang's home?"

"Me? I'm from the countryside in Anhui. My old family house is very beautiful, just a bit poor."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. He also felt that many of the old houses around Siyuan Village were very beautiful, especially the roofs and the flying eaves design of those single-story houses; they were very lovely.

"It's a pity that after many families in my hometown got better conditions, they tore down the old houses and built buildings."

"That's also for a better life."

"I know, but I think that after we ordinary people live better lives in the future, we will be like people in developed countries and start to enjoy traveling. If the old houses aren't torn down, they might even become tourist attractions."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang. He felt that this big brother's thinking had a keen depth that even he marveled at.

He was not one of those born with innate knowledge, nor was he like the classmates in his own class who had special talents, but he seemed extremely adept at discovering objective laws and thus grasping the essence of problems—in other words, he had long-term vision.

Perhaps this was also a kind of genius.

"Haha, do you think I'm talking nonsense? How could anyone buy tickets and line up to visit these kinds of old houses and old small towns in the future?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "I think what you said, Brother Liangliang, should be right."

"You're also very smart, really. I can feel it. How are your grades in school?"

"Pretty good. There aren't many kids in class who are better than me."

"That's because you're still young. The things learned in lower-grade classes are few, the gaps aren't big, and the competition is small. When you go to middle school, high school, and then university later, you'll understand. Don't be arrogant or complacent now."

"Mm, I understand."

Li Zhuiyuan then pointed toward the stairwell: "Brother Liangliang, I just saw my cousin go upstairs. Her maternal grandparents are hospitalized here, and my cousin and my aunt should be accompanying them. I want to go see her."

"Alright, I'll go with you."

"No need to go to such trouble; I can go by myself."

"That won't do. After we get the examination report in the afternoon and confirm everything is fine, I still have to personally send you home."

"Alright, Brother Liangliang."

The fourth and fifth floors were the inpatient wards. Li Zhuiyuan didn't know the patients' names, so naturally, he couldn't check the room number and could only scan them one by one.

He didn't have to search for long before he heard a familiar and resonant voice: "Damn it, what is going on here!"

It was Great-Grandfather's voice.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately ran over, with Xue Liangliang following behind.

At the same time, some patients and family members appeared in the hallway, attracted by the commotion to see what was happening.

Arriving in front of the ward door, he pushed it open.

Li Zhuiyuan saw Li Sanjiang holding a peach-wood sword, shielding Yingzi, the Third Aunt, and two other middle-aged men and women behind him. On two hospital beds lay an old man and an old woman, who should be Yingzi's maternal grandparents.

At this moment, the two elderly people were convulsing wildly, with fresh blood overflowing from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, especially from their mouths, where blood was surging out, not only staining the hospital beds red but also quickly accumulating into two large pools on the floor.

Yet even so, they were still struggling with great difficulty to make intermittent sounds:

"Spare our lives... spare our lives... Lady Bai!"

(End of chapter)