Chapter 325

"Great Emperor is wise!"

Zhao Yi bowed down toward the big fire in front of him.

Actually, Zhao Yi was thinking in his heart:

The Great Emperor is still comfortable.

Sitting at home, stepping on the Bodhisattva with his feet, then a new batch of Yin Division ghost messengers surnamed Zhao automatically came to the door with shackles, and the merit was also transmitted to him along with the descendants under the door.

It's just that Zhao Yi wouldn't say these words on the surface now.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Alright."

Zhao Yi: "Thank you for your hard work."

The two walked side by side out of the ancestral hall from the back door, then detoured slightly to the outer residence garden.

Even walking so far away, they could still hear the bursts of crying coming from the ancestral hall.

Zhao Yi pointed to a rockery in the pond in front and said: "Old Tian used to like to sit on that and play when he was carrying me."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Could you play at that time."

Zhao Yi: "There are fish in the pond, I like to watch fish, like me, only able to squirm on the bed."

Saying that, Zhao Yi stepped on the stone lotus leaves and came to the central rockery, and waved to signal the youth to come over too.

Li Zhuiyuan followed, and the two sat on the top of the rockery together, covered by potted trees, invisible from the outside.

Zhao Yi reached out and dug in the crevice, digging out a rattle drum that was old but had moss marks and was still well preserved.

Shaking it, it still made a "clatter clatter" sound.

Zhao Yi shook it in front of the youth, half showing off and half seducing:

"Hey, do you like it?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't pay attention.

He could understand the emotional precipitation of people at a specific time, but he couldn't integrate well yet.

However, at least now, he didn't feel that Zhao Yi was doing something meaningless. Perhaps, meaninglessness itself was also a kind of purpose.

"Give it to you?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't even look at this rattle drum.

Zhao Yi shrugged, wiped it carefully, and put it into his bosom.

"We have a custom here. If a child is sick and has many disasters when young, make a rattle drum for him, cut off a lock of hair and place it in the drum. This way, when the child plays and knocks this, he can dispel diseases and eliminate disasters.

This drum was still made for me by Old Tian himself."

After speaking, Zhao Yi reached out and turned the stone block in front of him.

The formations and restrictions of the outer residence had been cracked and mastered by him in advance. At this moment, he was equivalent to the controller of the entire outer residence.

"Rumble!"

At the ancestral hall, a roar sounded, and the birds on the eaves spat out flames.

The Zhao family members who were crying and shouting there just now were now running out crying and shouting in a swarm.

Someone must have been unlucky, fell down or was trampled, of course, there must also be a very few who didn't intend to leave the ancestral hall, intending to die with this Jiujiang Zhao family.

Zhao Yi ignored them. Those who wanted to be buried here, let them be buried. He didn't mind lending a hand to add a handful of soil.

The ancestral hall collapsed, and various courtyards also began to crack. This terrible movement of the earth shaking and mountains rocking chased this group of Zhao family members all the way.

After they all ran out of the outer residence gate, Zhao Yi stood up, clapped his hands, and flames rose from various places. Soon, the inside of the entire Zhao residence was filled with fire and thick smoke.

"Alright, let's go too."

Zhao Yi and Li Zhuiyuan went down the rockery. Just as they came out of the big mansion gate and hadn't walked down the steps yet, Zhao Yi stopped and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"I haven't walked out yet, at least for now I am still a Zhao family member. You guys, even for such a short while, you can't hold back, really."

Zhao Yi's figure disappeared from the spot.

Li Zhuiyuan stood in place, waiting for him.

Soon, one person after another was thrown over, all falling behind the youth, each with a distorted body, having been dealt a heavy hand.

These were all spies sent by local and nearby forces in Jiujiang after hearing about the special shock that happened to the Jiujiang Zhao family.

Most of them were guests who had come on the day of the Zhao family patriarch's birthday celebration.

This is the jianghu; the death of any big fish will immediately attract a crowd of fish and shrimp eager to feast on the corpse.

The one who destroyed the Zhao family today was Zhao Yi himself, and Zhao Yi was not sad... of course, he wasn't crazy enough to be overly happy either.

There was an unspeakable gloom in his heart, and he wanted to vent. It just so happened that as he was getting sleepy, a human-flesh pillow was delivered to him.

Zhao Yi had returned.

At the entrance of the massive Zhao residence, people were lying everywhere in a jumble.

Zhao Yi crooked his finger at the inside of the main gate, and the fire surged instantly. This gate had already burned until it was nearly an incinerator.

He bent down, picked up a person, and threw him inside the gate; screams immediately followed.

"Hoo..."

Zhao Yi felt that this sound was very pleasant to hear.

He picked up the second one, throw;

He picked up the third one, throw;

Throw, throw, throw, keep throwing.

A smile gradually appeared on Zhao Yi's face.

"Li, do you want to come and experience it too?"

Li Zhuiyuan walked down the steps and headed outside, not intending to wait for him.

Seeing this, Zhao Yi kicked the remaining people inside one by one, then waved his hand, and the residence gate closed; only blue smoke continuously spilled out from the cracks in the door.

Taking one last look at this outer residence, Zhao Yi turned around, raised his arms slightly to the sides, pinched his fingertips into an orchid gesture, and hopped down the steps.

Nothing else, his body felt light.

Li Zhuiyuan, who had long since gotten into the car and sat in the passenger seat, watched as Zhao Yi walked over, spinning and dancing.

After opening the car door and sitting in, he was still swaying his body and singing, interpreting what it meant to be frivolous.

"Li, I have to arrange a trip for Grandma Liu tomorrow. When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"In such a rush to return to Nantong?"

"Not returning to Nantong first; going to Jin Ling."

"Is there something important?"

"University final exams."

"That is indeed very important."

He started the car and headed toward Mount Lushan.

Not long after they drove out, it started to rain outside, and it was getting heavier and heavier. Zhao Yi turned on the windshield wipers.

"Li, help me see how long this rain will last?"

Li Zhuiyuan opened the car window, looked up at the sky to observe the feng shui weather, and replied:

"It won't last long; it will stop before dawn, and there will be fog tomorrow morning."

Zhao Yi smiled: "That is exactly when our Jiujiang is at its most beautiful."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out, took a bottle of water from the car drawer, looked at the brand, frowned, and put it back.

"Not used to our local purified water?"

"Hmm."

"I think it tastes quite good; it has a local flavor of ours."

"Purified water still needs added flavor?"

"That's true too."

Zhao Yi stopped the car in front of a small shop that was still open, opened the car door, ran through the rain, and when he got back in, he was holding two cans of Jianlibao.

"Here, there are no straws in this shop, you'll have to make do."

With a "pssh" sound, he opened them and handed one over.

Li Zhuiyuan took it.

Two people, one big and one small, moved in sync, both tilting their heads back to take a drink.

Zhao Yi: "I've already recognized a god-relative; from now on, Cui Cui is my god-sister."

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, not wanting to hear what came next.

Zhao Yi: "Cui Cui calls you Brother Yuan Hou, so calculating it that way, I am your Brother Yi Hou, right?"

He turned his head and saw the young man feigning sleep.

Zhao Yi didn't feel regretful either; he continued to be happy on his own, and while driving, he honked the horn a few more times.

When they returned to that small residence on the mountain peak, Li Zhuiyuan saw Chen Jing, who had come out of seclusion, with Xu Ming standing behind him.

Chen Jing ran toward Li Zhuiyuan very happily: "Brother Yuan!"

Zhao Yi had kept him hidden all along, sparing no cost to build his foundation, and the results were very obvious.

Now, Chen Jing's muscles, bones, and skin had all been developed to an extremely high level, equivalent to a reservoir that had been built to high standards, just waiting for water to be diverted into it.

Xu Ming had aged a lot; he had spent a lot of effort taking care of Chen Jing these days, and now, he could finally rest.

Zhao Yi: "Perfect, Xu Ming, starting tomorrow, help me take care of A Yan and A Li."

Xu Ming was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a bitter smile.

Chen Jing clenched his fists and said: "Brother Yi, you should have let me out earlier, so I could help you beat up the bad guys."

Zhao Yi: "Yeah, I regret it too. I killed quite a few Zhao family members today; if I had known, I should have kept a few, so you could see some blood and sharpen your skills."

Chen Jing: "Zhao family members?"

Zhao Yi: "Li, are you really not staying one more day? If you miss this scenery, it will be hard to encounter it again next time."

Li Zhuiyuan: "The scenery you miss is the most beautiful."

Zhao Yi smiled and didn't try to persuade him further.

Early the next morning, the four of them boarded a large truck and headed straight for Jin Ling.

Zhao Yi drove his jeep and parked it outside the gate of the Jin family courtyard.

He went in to have a breakfast made by A Ping, and when everyone was about to go out, A Ping picked up her shoulder pole; she was going to set up a stall to sell crispy candy.

But seeing them laughing and playing today, A Ping didn't want to set up her stall today; she wanted to go play with them too.

But A Ping was too embarrassed to speak up, so she had to pick up her shoulder pole first, stand under the eaves, lower her head, and rub her fingers.

"Going out to play, no need to bring so much candy; you won't be able to finish it. Just bring a little to satisfy your hunger on the road; after all, things in scenic areas are expensive."

Liu Jinxia reached out, took the shoulder pole off A Ping's shoulder, took two large pieces of crispy candy, and then took A Ping's hand to go out together.

A Ping smiled very happily, sitting in the car with Cui Cui, like a little girl, pointing out the car window and talking non-stop.

After playing for a day, Zhao Yi sent them back.

A Ping was about to go cook, but was stopped by Liu Jinxia.

"Zhao Yi."

"Yes, Grandma."

Liu Jinxia made a gesture of touching her pocket to take out money: "Go to a restaurant outside, buy a few dishes, and order more rice..."

"Understood."

"Come back, I haven't given you the money yet."

"I'm showing filial piety to my god-grandmother, what money do I need?"

Zhao Yi ran out.

Liu Jinxia took her hand out of her pocket and said with some surprise:

"This grandson is actually quite useful."

Cui Cui: "Brother Yi Hou is a very good person."

Liu Jinxia said unhappily: "Whoever plays with you and buys you things, you think they're good, right? What if someone treats you well in the future and then thinks about being your father?"

"Let him be. I have classmates and friends now, but Mom doesn't."

Liu Jinxia: "You're certainly generous."

Finding a stool to sit down and rest, Liu Jinxia said with emotion to Li Juxiang beside her: "Seriously, Xiang Hou, pick another one; even if you have another child, by the time that one grows up, Cui Cui will be an adult. Anyway, the savings I have will be left to Cui Cui across generations, even if you have another grandson."

Li Juxiang: "Mom, you're doing it again. In this life, watching over one Cui Cui and then watching over you, I am satisfied."

"Mom is someone who has been through it; I know it's hard to endure life alone. Mom will die of old age, and Cui Cui will grow up and fly away from here. By then, you won't even have anyone to talk to."

As parents, we don't have other extravagant hopes; we just hope you can live well."

Behind the crack in the window, Jin Xingshan let out a sigh.

Li Juxiang: "Sigh, is there a radio inside? Why did I hear the sound of an erhu?"

Liu Jinxia: "Is there? Why didn't I hear it?"

Li Juxiang: "It's gone now; I must have heard it wrong. It was the sound of the wind."

Liu Jinxia: "Hmm."

"Mom, we're already in Jiujiang, do you want to go to the local police station and ask?"

"Why go through all that trouble?"

"Just ask, what if?"

"No 'what if's, not asking."

"Mom, how come you changed your mind again? We clearly agreed on it when we came, and you promised. Whether we find them or not, if we've tried, we can have peace of mind."

"Not looking anymore, no need to look."

Seeing her mother's firm attitude, Li Juxiang couldn't persuade her anymore, so she got up and went to the main room to find Cui Cui, who was playing with A Ping.

A Ping was too good to Cui Cui; she was willing to give Cui Cui things that looked very precious to play with as toys.

Liu Jinxia stood up and walked to the kitchen; she planned to tidy up the bowls and chopsticks she would need later.

She checked the thermos bottle; A Ping had gone out to play in the morning too, so she hadn't had time to boil water.

Liu Jinxia poured water into the pot, sat behind the stove, took out matches, lit the dry grass, and started to boil water.

Behind her was a haystack, which A Ping had stacked very neatly. Liu Jinxia grabbed a handful of firewood and put it into the stove. When she turned around to grab another handful, she saw a crack in the blackened corner of the wall behind her.

Liu Jinxia turned her body sideways and reached out to dig.

After digging for a long time, she dug out a rattle-drum.

Liu Jinxia sat back down, staring blankly at the child's toy in her hand.

She shook her wrist, and it went "clatter, clatter."

She shook it again, and tears flooded out.

After Li Juxiang finished looking after Cui Cui, she also came to the kitchen.

"Mom, Mom, are you here?"

At first, there was no response.

But the stove was burning, and there was firelight behind it.

Walking around to the back, Li Juxiang saw her mother lying on the haystack, crying until she was out of breath.

"Mom... what's wrong with you?"

Li Juxiang stepped forward with concern and placed her hand on Liu Jinxia's shoulder.

Liu Jinxia shook off her daughter's hand, sat back down while wiping her tears hard, and explained with a stiff neck:

"I haven't used the stove for too long, and the smoke is hurting my eyes. The doctor said that after my cataract surgery, my eyes shouldn't be exposed to smoke."

"Then let me burn it."

"Hmm."

Liu Jinxia got up and left the kitchen as if she were running away.

Zhao Yi walked back carrying a large pile of vegetables in both hands.

Afraid they wouldn't be used to spicy food, except for keeping a few specialty dishes, Zhao Yi watched the chef cook the rest, fearing the chef would have a habitual shaky hand.

Arriving at the courtyard gate, he saw Liu Jinxia leaning against the wall by the door.

She was waiting for him on purpose.

"Grandma?"

"Zhao Yi..."

"Don't be so polite, Grandma."

"Okay, grandson."

"Yes, grandson is here."

"Is A Ping the only one left in this courtyard?"

"Hmm, only A Ping is left. You should have noticed too, A Ping's brain here..."

"Hmm, I'm not stupid, how could I not notice that A Ping is still a 'child'."

"Sigh, the original owner of this courtyard was a scholarly family with good conditions. They originally had a daughter, but one day, the daughter was abducted by human traffickers.

The couple, the heads of the family, lost their appetite and couldn't sleep from then on, looking for their daughter everywhere, but in the end, they couldn't find her.

Later, they adopted A Ping, who had been abandoned by her biological parents, and poured all the love they had for their own daughter onto A Ping.

After that, the original owners of this house passed away.

The neighborhood committee is aware of A Ping's situation and provides some extra care on a daily basis.

This courtyard is temporarily rented to tourists, and the income is left to A Ping. When A Ping is no longer here one day, this place will probably be hung with a plaque and treated as a semi-cultural relic protection site."

Making up lies is actually not difficult, as long as you know what the other person wants to hear; the details don't matter, even if they can't stand up to scrutiny.

Jin Xingshan didn't want to be recognized by Liu Jinxia; getting her back just to lose her again would be like subjecting his daughter to another mental torture.

Liu Jinxia's feelings about her biological parents were also very confused.

For her, what she most urgently wanted to know was whether she had been abducted by human traffickers or sold by her biological parents.

Now, she had heard the "truth."

She had been abducted by human traffickers; her biological parents hadn't abandoned her. They loved her and missed her; otherwise, they wouldn't have adopted another daughter, A Ping, even knowing that A Ping's brain wasn't right.

Liu Jinxia:

"Where is the grave of the owner of this house?"

Cui Cui didn't know why they had to visit the grave of the host family while staying in their house.

But since she was born, her grandmother had been managing this trade, so it could be considered that she had been influenced by what she saw and heard.

Following her grandmother, Cui Cui kowtowed together, then squatted to the side to burn paper.

Liu Jinxia had originally wanted to restrain her emotions and didn't want to make it too exaggerated.

On the way here, she was still very calm.

But when she arrived at the grave and her hand touched her parents' tombstone, her emotions broke through the dam.

She would cry, and she would wail. All of a sudden, the crying tone in the Nantong dialect couldn't be stopped.

Li Juxiang was suspicious at first, then doubtful, and finally felt it was very absurd. Looking at this tombstone, it was hard to imagine that there could be such a coincidence in this world?

So, the people buried inside here should be her own biological grandfather and grandmother?

Logically speaking, she should be sad and upset at this moment.

But just as Cui Cui had no feelings for her biological father because she had never met him, Li Juxiang was also very unfamiliar with her biological grandfather and grandmother.

She even felt a little happy in her heart, happy that her mother's knot had finally been untied.

It's just that this emotion definitely couldn't be shown, so she hugged her mother, comforted her softly, and wiped away her tears.

A Ping, who had been brought along, kept wanting to rush over and dig up the grave.

Fortunately, she was discovered by Zhao Yi in time and held down.

After the worship, Zhao Yi arranged for Liu Jinxia and the other two to go to a nearby teahouse, letting them sit down and calm down to soothe their emotions.

Immediately, Zhao Yi returned to the grave.

A Ping, who had snuck out alone, had already started digging the grave with her bare hands, and both her hands were rubbed bloody.

Zhao Yi pulled her away, sighed, found a handkerchief to help her wipe her hands, and took out medicinal powder to apply to them.

A Ping was still staring at the grave, her face full of anxiety.

But Zhao Yi deliberately glared at her in anger, and A Ping behaved.

After all, she was a "little girl" with the mental age of an eight-year-old; being glared at by this demon who was famous in the jianghu for destroying his own family was still scary.

Subsequently, Zhao Yi personally dug up the grave and carried Jin Xingshan, who was lying inside, out.

Jin Xingshan had a smile on his face; he was very happy.

Lying in the grave, being able to hear the voices of his children and hear their farewells was truly a fortunate thing in life.

He was satisfied, truly satisfied.

Zhao Yi noticed that Jin Xingshan's already meager vitality was fading at a faster rate than before; he estimated that his passing would be a matter of these few days.

Seeing Jin Xingshan come out, A Ping smiled, leaned close to Jin Xingshan, and helped him pat the dirt off his clothes.

Jin Xingshan said to Zhao Yi with emotion: "Heaven has not treated me poorly, truly."

He could speak; although it was as faint as the sound of a mosquito, he had truly spoken. This was his final moment of clarity before death.

However, Zhao Yi didn't respond.

Jin Xingshan looked at A Ping, and A Ping reached out, grabbed Jin Xingshan's arm, and placed the old man's hand on Zhao Yi's shoulder.

Zhao Yi turned his head and took a look.