Chapter 37

These past few days, the main thing Li Zhuiyuan did was read.

He ignored the hints and suggestions from Grandma Liu time and again. He didn't go to disturb A Li, nor did he think about approaching her again to seek contact and explanation.

Because he knew that blind pestering was just a meaningless self-indulgence.

A Li had gone back to her room; she had sealed herself off again.

But Li Zhuiyuan knew how to call her out again.

The last time the girl came out, it was because the cat-faced old woman had entered the house, so all he needed to do was recreate the scene.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know if the cat-faced old woman had dissipated, but even if the three people in the Niu family hadn't died yet, they should be on the verge of death from their children's "filial piety" by now.

The evil spirit on the black cat was estimated to have dissipated seven or eight-tenths; the medicinal effect might not be enough.

Furthermore, even if he found it, it probably wouldn't dare to come, fearing it would encounter a zombie again after entering the house.

But this corpse wasn't a Chinese cabbage by the roadside; it seemed it could always be encountered inadvertently, but when one seriously wanted to actively find them, it was quite difficult.

After thinking it over, only Little Huang Ying was left.

Firstly, she lived close by.

He just needed to carry the bell and the incense burner, walk a few steps, and lead her home. He couldn't go outside to catch one alive and then have Runsheng carry it back in a tricycle.

Secondly, they had a history of cooperation.

Finally, and most importantly, Li Zhuiyuan clearly remembered that when Little Huang Ying led the bearded man and his son into the pond, she didn't have black energy rising from her body like the cat-faced old woman and the Zhou-surname Taisui corpse.

Although he didn't know why, this also meant that Little Huang Ying was highly likely still there; she hadn't dissipated.

Right now, the scene recreation was successful.

Little Huang Ying's arrival successfully attracted A Li's attention. A Li came out, came into the dream, and Li Zhuiyuan finally "saw" her again.

However, after apologizing, the boy had nothing more to say.

He didn't want to explain the impact of that phone call from Li Lan on him, nor did he want to elaborate on his own illness, and he certainly wouldn't say that he also needed comfort and support—that they could help each other.

If these words were useful to A Li, then Liu Yumei, who was A Li's own grandmother, would have probably said them countless times.

The only role that cumbersome explanations could play was to be cumbersome.

He only needed to show an attitude: his balcony was open again, and he hoped she could come out and take another look.

He had what she needed, and he needed her eyes to have him in them again.

Mutual need was the most stable bond in interpersonal relationships.

The boy and the girl just stood there in silence.

Behind the two, Little Huang Ying still maintained the posture of raising her arms halfway. Today, she was brought here mainly to act as a telephone line.

Besides that, because of her presence, the nearby area could have gusts of cold wind and low, deep wails, so the environment and atmosphere wouldn't be so monotonous.

After a long time, A Li turned around and walked into the room.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't call her back, didn't chase after a clear result; he just raised his head, looked at the night sky with some disgust, and waited for dawn.

However, before dawn, he still had to send the person he invited back.

Li Zhuiyuan walked back to Little Huang Ying, bent down, picked up the incense burner and the bell, then turned around and paced slowly backward until those cold, wet hands once again completed their fit with his shoulders.

Closing his eyes, he tried hard to imagine that he was now at the bottom of the water, his body constantly floating up, up, up, and up again...

As his head broke the water surface, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes again.

He looked back and saw Runsheng standing by the dam, holding a seven-star hook in his left hand and a Yellow River shovel in his right, maintaining a defensive posture.

Returning to reality, the underworld walk ended.

Li Sanjiang, who had drunk too much liquor today and was sleeping soundly in the room, probably never imagined that he had painstakingly arranged multiple fortune-turning rituals just to cut off the dark side of Xiaoyuan, so he could live the life of a normal person.

As a result, the boy had gradually figured out the rules of walking in the underworld through repeated practice.

"Ding ling ling... ding ling ling..."

The bell rang, Li Zhuiyuan turned around, and the cheongsam figure behind him also followed him, holding his shoulders.

Runsheng rubbed the back of his head with the back of the Yellow River shovel.

He didn't quite understand what Xiaoyuan was doing by bringing the corpse out of the water and back in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he didn't think deeply about things he didn't understand; anyway, Xiaoyuan would tell him what to do.

Not encountering anyone in the middle of the night, Li Zhuiyuan very smoothly led Little Huang Ying back to the front of the bearded man's fish pond.

"Hmm?"

Previously, when leading Little Huang Ying out of the pond, Li Zhuiyuan had his back to the fish pond. Now that he was back, Little Huang Ying was still behind him and hadn't gone down.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan was able to re-examine the original appearance of the fish pond under the temporary loss of Little Huang Ying's influence.

It wasn't that he hadn't been here before, but at that time he hadn't read the "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art." At that time, it was like a child who didn't know how to read visiting ancient monuments and scenic spots; he couldn't understand what was written on the inscriptions at all.

Now, he noticed something wrong.

Little Huang Ying was clearly not inside, but the Feng Shui atmosphere in this fish pond was even gloomier than when he arrived.

If it had become more dissipated and clear, it would be understandable. The opposite meant that there was something even more special deep in this fish pond, and Little Huang Ying had actually acted as a cover for it while she was above.

Could it be that this was the reason why Little Huang Ying hadn't shown any signs of dissipating after completing her revenge?

"Ding ling ling... ding ling ling..."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush to place the candles and send Little Huang Ying down, but led her to walk slowly along the edge of the fish pond. He wanted to try to see if he could see the true mystery of the fish pond.

However, as he walked, Li Zhuiyuan didn't gain more harvest; instead, Little Huang Ying behind him gradually showed signs of restlessness.

Li Zhuiyuan knew it was because he had kept her up for too long.

The hands that were originally holding his shoulders had changed to grabbing, and the force was getting stronger and stronger. The wet cold had soaked Li Zhuiyuan's whole body.

For a time, Li Zhuiyuan was also stirred into a state of annoyance, and even his state of Qi-gazing was difficult to maintain, becoming stumbling, like the ghost-drawn characters in the "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art" he had to pick up again after being interrupted.

However, just then, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's mind.

He raised his hand and tried to observe the Feng Shui atmosphere of the fish pond according to the feeling of reading those ghost-drawn, sloppy characters.

Under this twisted, folded, and irregular fluctuation, several details that hadn't been seen before actually presented themselves.

【Supreme Yin Fishing, Lonely Pond Reflecting the Moon, Favorable for Burying Noble Women, Accumulating and Drawing Auspiciousness.】

This was an excellent place for water burial. If a noble woman of a family was buried here, it could protect and nourish the fortune of future generations.

The reason ancient people didn't like water burial was that hydrological patterns were easy to change. At that time, it was not only inconvenient for descendants to mourn with incense, but it was also easy to destroy the original Feng Shui pattern.

But the custom of water burial had existed since ancient times. Firstly, the auspicious cave was precious; secondly, it was not easy to be robbed; thirdly, some people had special identities and just wanted to be buried without being known.

The pond in front of him, although it had a great degree of damage, basically retained the Feng Shui pattern.

The reason Li Zhuiyuan hadn't been able to see it before was that its damage was equivalent to a wrong question. If you used the correct lecture notes to apply it, it was easy to be mismatched.

But in this world, unless it was just built, where could you find a perfect Feng Shui pattern without any damage?

Therefore, this kind of sloppy wrong-in-wrong-out was actually the correct way of thinking to solve practical problems.

In this way, his previous guess was wrong. This person didn't write the characters extremely ugly because they were nervous and urgent when copying the book, but the person copying the book actively added their own practical understanding through the form of the characters.

This was truly... an unimaginable high-end technique.

It was clearly stealing someone else's stuff, but they understood it more deeply than the original owner.

Why could he still be sure it was copied?

Because if the Liu family themselves had mastered this cognitive method of improving practice, they couldn't have intentionally continued to write the characters neatly, increasing the difficulty of comprehension for future generations.

And that day, Liu Yumei swept over the book in his hand with the cover intentionally torn off. She only saw the messy and sloppy handwriting and didn't recognize at all that this was her family's "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art."

Li Zhuiyuan became curious: who on earth was the person who copied the book?

But at least one thing could be determined right now: the main hole that the gang of water monkeys wanted to find should be right here.

It was just that the gang of water monkeys were not skilled enough and were confused by the spirit-trap at Sihai's fish pond, broke the Earth Yin Red Sha, and even lost two people.

Now the police were already conducting surveillance in the hospital ward, waiting for their accomplices to come and visit the patients so they could catch them all in one net.

No, what was going on?

Li Zhuiyuan originally thought the sticky stuff dripping on his body came from Little Huang Ying behind him, but the problem was, how could what flowed down from Little Huang Ying be warm?

Lowering his head, he touched his chest, touched his chin, and finally touched his nose...

Alright, no need to continue touching; he had already perceived his nosebleed gushing out violently.

What was going on?

Was it the physical overdraft caused by his accelerated learning of the "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art" these past few days that hadn't recovered, or was it that using the newly understood method of Qi-gazing was also a huge burden on himself?

But no matter what, if he didn't stop the bleeding, he would really have a problem.

Most importantly, it seemed that because his fresh blood kept flowing, Little Huang Ying behind him, who was no longer calm, became even more restless!

She was no longer satisfied with just grabbing his shoulders. Her head had already leaned to the side of his face. Although she had no breathing, she was like a wild beast leaning close and sniffing the prey.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't dare to delay any longer. Besides, the purpose had been achieved. He immediately turned his head to look at Runsheng standing in the distance and pointed to the position where the candles should be placed.

Originally, Runsheng was just following behind and wasn't too close, so he didn't know Li Zhuiyuan's situation. Now that Xiaoyuan turned to face him, under the moonlight, Runsheng saw Xiaoyuan's face and clothes were full of blood. Combined with Little Huang Ying's violently shaking figure, he directly saw it as Little Huang Ying choking Xiaoyuan's neck and gnawing at his neck!

Immediately, Runsheng picked up the Yellow River shovel and prepared to come up to rescue Xiaoyuan, but heard Xiaoyuan shout a sentence:

"Those two places, place the candles, light them!"

Runsheng's head and body had a conflict of inertia. Holding the Yellow River shovel, he did a single-leg support rotation.

If he hadn't relied on the shovel to insert into the ground in time to stabilize his figure, he might have fallen directly and rolled into the fish pond just now.

After climbing up immediately, Runsheng quickly placed the candles and took out matches to light them.

Li Zhuiyuan shook the bell and led Little Huang Ying to this place just right.

He stood with his back to the pond and broke the incense in the incense burner to extinguish it.

But Little Huang Ying didn't let go.

She didn't want to leave.

The situation at this moment could be interpreted as explaining what it meant to invite a god easily but send him away with difficulty.

Runsheng had already picked up the soul-returning basket. He was ready to cover the corpse and then hold the corpse and fall into the water together.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed the bell against his face, covered it with fresh blood, and then swung it backward. The crisp bell sound rang out in the air and finally fell into the fish pond.

Little Huang Ying let go, turned around, and walked toward the fish pond.

The water surface gradually covered her body, and her hand grabbed the bell floating on the water surface.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately pulled out two sheets of yellow paper, lit them with the candle, opened his arms, and then grabbed the burning yellow paper and slapped it hard!

"Slap!"

Sparks flew from the yellow paper, but it also went out directly.

And the two candles on the ground turned green in the flame core.

Li Zhuiyuan stepped on them with his feet, completely extinguishing the two candles.

After doing these, he looked at Little Huang Ying in the fish pond. Little Huang Ying had turned around at this time, the water level covered her chest, but left her neck and head, and was staring at him.

"The gate of life is closed, three sacrifices will send you off, please return!"

Finally, Little Huang Ying slowly sank into the water surface. After her black hair scattered and she completely sank, her figure could no longer be seen.

Li Zhuiyuan "thumped" and collapsed on the ground, raising his head, but the nosebleed was still flowing.

"Brother Runsheng, help me roll two paper balls."

"Okay, good!"

Runsheng immediately picked up the yellow paper and rolled two balls, but the first one he rolled was a bit too big and couldn't be stuffed into the nostril, so he had to roll it again.

After stuffing them in, the nosebleed didn't stop. After soaking into the paper balls, it continued to flow out. After replacing them with two new paper balls, the nosebleed could be considered to have stopped.

Li Zhuiyuan breathed heavily. He felt a very obvious chest tightness and weakness; this was a symptom of excessive blood loss.

Runsheng was taking care of him carefully on the side. He really didn't care that there was a corpse in the fish pond, ran there to fetch a lot of water, and helped Xiaoyuan pat his forehead and wash the blood stains on his cheeks.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

After resting for a long time, Li Zhuiyuan finally recovered.

Runsheng breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and said with lingering fear: "Xiaoyuan, she is so fierce."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "She is very good, it's my problem."

Little Huang Ying had already been restrained enough. This time it was really his problem. Who could have thought that looking at Feng Shui could lead to physical overdraft?

Even the most docile lion, if you go to tease it while you are bleeding, if it really eats you, you deserve it.

But this was also the price of exploration that must be paid when connecting theory with practice. It could only be said that fortunately it was Little Huang Ying. If it were replaced by other corpses, even if Runsheng could save him, it would be inevitable to have a big battle with the corpse.

"Xiaoyuan, what exactly were you doing tonight?"

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and pointed to the fish pond in front: "Brother Runsheng, there is a tomb below."

Hearing this, Runsheng immediately showed excitement and grabbed the Yellow River shovel again.

"Xiaoyuan, I'll go dig it up!"

"Brother Runsheng, what movie did you watch recently?"

"Indiana Jones, there are three parts, all shown on the county station."

"Brother Runsheng, grave robbing is against the law."

"Ugh..."

"Also, I suggest you can watch the 'News Broadcast' after dinner in the future."

"Okay, I will. Then what should we do about this place?"

"The water monkey didn't find this place, so let it be. Anyway, it's buried below."

Because of Li Lan's work, Li Zhuiyuan also had a certain understanding of archaeology.

Nowadays, either a major project is started, or a tomb is robbed or naturally damaged and needs protective research excavation, otherwise, they won't actively dig up a tomb.

Due to its special nature, the tomb chamber of a water burial is much deeper from the ground than that of a soil burial, and the difficulty of excavation is also greater. Since Little Huang Ying is still here and hasn't dissipated, it proves that the main hole here is well preserved. Since that's the case, let it continue to be preserved.

"Brother Runsheng, tonight's matter must be kept secret."

"Understood."

Li Zhuiyuan stood up slowly and took another deep look at the fish pond in front of him. This place was indeed a good place to raise a corpse.

If that gang of water monkeys hadn't been completely caught and were still unwilling to give up on the main hole here, he would really look forward to the water monkeys finding this place, because what would be waiting for them here wouldn't be a simple Earth Yin Red Sha.

Returning home, Li Zhuiyuan took another bath, and then he found that this piece of clothing couldn't be washed clean. After all, it was a blood-stained garment. Throwing it around randomly might scare people.

He could only fold it up first and burn it in the stove tomorrow.

After dealing with himself, Li Zhuiyuan lay on the bed and took a nap while it wasn't dawn yet.

But his body must have been really overdrawn, and he had lost a lot of blood. This nap went directly until noon.

When he woke up, he didn't even open his eyes before he perceived the intense sunlight from noon.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes, looked at the carvings above the bed, and even carefully distinguished the various patterns on them.

Finally, there was no way to avoid it, so he could only choose to face reality.

He turned his head and looked toward the door.

The girl was sitting in the chair.

She was wearing a light green ru-skirt today, bringing a feeling of both dignity and rebirth.

The feeling of being able to see her every time he opened his eyes was really good.

No need for too many words, no need for extra expression. Just this one look could make his body and mind start to be happy.

Li Zhuiyuan got out of bed, walked to the snack cabinet, and took out three bottles of energy drinks. It was still the old rule: hand two bottles to the girl, and help her open one of them. Actually, the boy didn't like drinking sweet soda in the morning, but the girl liked to clink glasses with him.

After the girl took a sip, she put down the energy drink and reached out to hold Li Zhuiyuan's right hand, prying it open again.

The wound had scabbed over. Li Zhuiyuan was too lazy to bandage it again after taking a bath last night. At this time, the burn mark on the palm had dimmed, but the bloodstains from the five fingernails around it were still clear.

The girl ignored the wound she had caused herself, and her index finger rubbed against the burn mark on the palm.

"Don't worry, I won't have a next time."

After that phone call, in his heart, he no longer used the title "Mom."

He didn't want to think about whether that night was Li Lan's final hysteria or the final twisted warmth during a symptom attack. He was tired.

She said he wasn't the son she wanted, but how was she the mother he wanted?

Indeed, two people who were both mentally ill wanted to extract true feelings and reliance from each other. In the end, wasn't it just mutual torture?

The boy had decided to take off the mask he wore when facing Li Lan.

When you actually have nothing, you will subconsciously cherish everything you can grab in your hands. Now, he was already willing to discard it.

The girl looked at the boy and spread out her right hand.

On the palm were five clear marks of fingernails piercing in, and the wounds had also scabbed over.

This meant that after she pinched him that night, she also pinched herself.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his eyes, grabbed the girl's hand, and said in a deep voice: "You won't have a next time either."

The girl nodded.

Li Zhuiyuan's fingers stroked the wounds on the girl's palm. He knew that no matter whether it was "childhood sweethearts," "playmates," "partners," or the so-called affection involving adults, it was inappropriate to describe the two of them.

Because he and she were both gamblers.

Precisely because they had experienced the feeling of winning, they were unwilling to accept losing and chose to sit back at the gambling table.

In essence, they still couldn't afford to lose.

Both wanted to be a normal person, and neither was willing to accept it, so he would go find her, and she would come back.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that Li Lan should hate his way of thinking, but it didn't matter, because A Li didn't care either.

Sometimes, habitually thinking about things too simply and directly would appear cold and ruthless, but many people who were suffering in their relationships were often because they thought too much.

The two held hands and went down the stairs.

A Li was very happy. Li Zhuiyuan could perceive the small hand in his palm shaking, especially when turning the corner of the stairs; she seemed to want to stand on tiptoe and turn around. Although she didn't make this action, Li Zhuiyuan had already filled it in his brain.

On the dam, Liu Yumei was wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

Last night, she secretly stood behind the window and watched. She was anxious that the boy only said that one sentence, and even more worried that her granddaughter didn't have any reaction and turned back to the room... opening her eyes and waking up.

However, the granddaughter soon closed her eyes and went to sleep again.

Liu Yumei felt more and more that she was old and didn't understand the thoughts of young people. When her grandfather was pursuing her, it was a grand affair, and the Qin and Liu families almost had a fire fight.

Who would have thought that this generation of young people would become so subtle.

But no matter what, the granddaughter was better again. This time, she didn't want any more mishaps. She hoped the illness wouldn't recur until her granddaughter was fully recovered.

Hmm, he wanted to do that rune carving, right? In the afternoon, she would personally take an axe and chop up all the ancestral tablets in the house, sending them to make wooden flower rolls.

Perhaps because the joy was too intense, Liu Yumei didn't go deep into suspecting how the boy managed to receive the corpse.

Of course, it was also possible that she had suspected it long ago, but didn't want to pay attention to it at all. To put it bluntly, if it weren't for the influence of the fortune backlash, even if the boy went to kill or set fire now, she would choose to secretly help him destroy the evidence behind his back.

Because she had already tasted the flavor; the key to her granddaughter's recovery was on the boy.

This wasn't to say that Li Sanjiang's fortune was useless; it was precisely because they lived at Li Sanjiang's house that they could meet this boy.

Li Sanjiang came down for breakfast. After sitting down, he saw the two children sitting together again and immediately sighed:

"Sure enough, the feelings between children are pure."

Then he looked up at Liu Yumei, who was wiping her tears in the distance, and couldn't help but hum softly:

"Keep stopping them, you snobbish old woman."

Li Sanjiang had always had a bad impression of Liu Yumei because he didn't like the snobbish air of a fallen landlord-class young mistress on her. After all, he, Li Sanjiang, had also made contributions to the liberation!

After breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan went to the workshop he had built to take a look. Various tools and materials had been placed inside. Auntie Liu, this housekeeper, was indeed impeccable.

Li Zhuiyuan left Runsheng in the workshop and let him start working. It was all the processing and preparation of initial materials, which wasn't difficult, but it was time-consuming and laborious.

Runsheng worked very energetically because this was to build a new set of equipment for him.

According to Runsheng's characteristic of having great strength, Li Zhuiyuan would change the materials and dimensions of the equipment next, which meant Runsheng's raw material processing volume would have to be larger.

In short, for this whole day, except for coming out for lunch, Runsheng didn't leave the workshop and didn't even watch TV.

After Li Zhuiyuan revised the new set of drawings early, he sat on the terrace and read.

This time he didn't need to forcibly pull the progress. He was already afraid of that feeling of overdraft. If he did this a few more times, let alone facing corpses in the future, he would become like a corpse himself first.

So rather than saying he was reading, it was better to say he was relaxing and soothing.

Beside him sat Qin Li, holding the "Qin Family Dragon-Watching Art" in her hands. Grandma Liu downstairs was drinking tea while looking upward with a smile.

Li Zhuiyuan had also considered whether to tell Grandma Liu about the new insights of the Qin and Liu families' "ghost-drawn symbols." After thinking about it, he felt it wasn't the time yet. At least he had to scan all the books worth reading in the basement first. What if there were other inheritances of the Qin and Liu families inside?

In the afternoon, Li Zhuiyuan put down the book, played several games of chess with Qin Li, and went to the first floor with her, opening pairs of snacks and drinks while watching TV.

Anyway, the TV bully wasn't there, so they could watch as long as they wanted.

It was just that watching TV alone would also be boring. Li Zhuiyuan thought about whether to take Qin Li to the cinema to watch a movie. Nowadays, except for holidays, the cinema was basically empty, so he didn't have to worry about Qin Li contacting strangers.

Li Sanjiang went out after lunch. When he came back and saw Li Zhuiyuan wasn't studying, he wasn't angry but very happy. He felt it was quite good; Xiaoyuan had gradually recovered from the blow of losing his household registration.

Around 5:30 in the afternoon, a motorcycle drove up. The driver took off his helmet; it was Tan Yunlong. After greeting Li Sanjiang, he easily picked up Li Zhuiyuan, restarted the motorcycle, and smoothly went down the dam with a turn.

Tan Yunlong's motorcycle was driven more wildly than Uncle Qin's. Fortunately, Li Zhuiyuan had a helmet this time.

When they arrived at the police family building, Tan Yunlong led the boy to the third floor and opened the door. A middle-aged woman walked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron, simple and generous, with great affinity.

"This is Xiaoyuan, right?"

"Hello, Auntie."

"Good, so well-behaved. You can call me Auntie Zheng."

Tan Yunlong asked: "Where is Binbin?"

"Binbin is doing his homework in his room."

Tan Yunlong opened his son's room door. In front of the desk, a high school student with a tall figure wearing a school uniform was burying his head in his homework.

Tan Yunlong walked to the desk and placed his hand on it.

Tan Wenbin's posture became a bit deformed.

Immediately after, Tan Yunlong opened his son's pencil case and took out a Tetris game console. The game screen was actually still paused.

Tan Wenbin lowered his head, not daring to look his father in the eye.

Perhaps because there were outsiders present, Tan Yunlong didn't get angry, but took a handful of jelly from his pocket and put it on his son's desk, then took out two more and handed them to Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan silently tore open a jelly and put it into his mouth. He knew that the relationship between this father and son was definitely very average. Maybe Tan Wenbin liked eating jelly when he was a child, but what kind of father would continue to give jelly to a high school senior?

Although Tan Wenbin gave him face and ate one, it looked more like performing a scene of father-son warmth.

Seeing this scene, Li Zhuiyuan sighed in his heart. Even if they were performing, there was warmth in their bones. Unlike him and Li Lan, there was no emotion, only acting.

"This is Xiaoyuan, Li Zhuiyuan. Xiaoyuan, this is my son I told you about, Tan Wenbin. You call him Binbin."

"Hello, Xiaoyuan."

"Hello, Brother Binbin."

"Come, you find a blank test paper for Xiaoyuan to do."

"What, let him do it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, then this one." Tan Wenbin pulled out a math one from a stack of blank test papers.

High school courses were basically all learned by the second year of high school. The entire third year was actually spent reviewing, revisiting, and brushing questions in rounds.

"Hmm, now, you come out with me."

"Dad..."

"Come out." Tan Yunlong walked out while undoing his belt.

Tan Wenbin showed a bitter face and followed him out.

Then, the door of the next room was closed, and Li Zhuiyuan heard several screams, mixed with reprimands from Tan Yunlong:

"I won't argue with you about the fighting, but you actually dared to steal your mother's money to buy a game console. How do I usually educate you? It doesn't matter if your grades are a bit poor, but you can't go down the wrong path as a person. Are you trying to make me catch you and put you in jail myself in the future!"

However, Tan Yunlong only whipped him a few times, and then started oral education.

In the middle, Auntie Zheng came to knock on the door several times, all to no avail.

Two hours later, the father and son walked out.

Auntie Zheng complained: "There are guests at home. If you don't want to eat, do you want to let Xiaoyuan go hungry?"

"Forgot." Tan Yunlong glanced at his son. "Isn't it still the fault of this unpromising thing."

Li Zhuiyuan had long since left the desk and was sitting on the edge of the bed reading a comic book he had dug out from a pile of books. Before the father and son came in, he had hidden the comic book under the bed sheet, and it hadn't been seen by Tan Yunlong.

Although Tan Wenbin wasn't crying anymore, his neck was still shrugging, looking very pitiful.

Tan Yunlong patted his son's head: "Go see how the test paper Xiaoyuan did is."

Tan Wenbin walked to the desk, flipped through the math test paper, and found that they were all answered.

"How is it, did he get them all right?" Tan Yunlong urged. "I'm asking you. Answer me."

"I don't have the answer in my hand... I don't know."

Tan Yunlong: "..."

Tan Wenbin flipped through the papers underneath and exclaimed: "They are actually all written!"

This stack of test papers was issued by the teachers in advance, requiring students to do them at home according to the progress. Inside, there were not only math but also multiple subjects.

Tan Wenbin discovered that except for the essay on the Chinese test paper, the questions on the other test papers were all answered.

He tried to pick some questions that he also knew and were simple to do, and found that the answers were consistent with what the boy wrote.

Not to mention other difficult questions, at least it ruled out the possibility that the boy was just writing blindly.

"How exactly is it? I'm losing face by staying here with you."

"Dad, these, these, are all correct."

"How about the others?"

"I have to do them slowly to know, but judging from the problem-solving methods and processes, he should know them. If you want to check the answers, I can go find the teacher tomorrow."

"Do it this way. Find the test papers you have written and taken before, select the most difficult big questions from several subjects, copy them down, and let Xiaoyuan do them."

"Oh, okay."

Tan Yunlong now wanted to confirm whether the boy really had the level of a high school student, otherwise, if he went to talk to the school about skipping grades and something went wrong, he wouldn't be able to clean up the mess.

Tan Wenbin copied a question into a notebook and then put it aside, saying to the boy: "Xiaoyuan, you do this first."

"Okay."

Li Zhuiyuan stood by the table and picked up the pen.

Tan Wenbin took out another notebook and started copying the second question. When he finished copying the second question, he turned his head and found that the boy had already put down the pen and was waiting for him.

"So fast?"

Tan Wenbin took the notebook and checked it; the answer was correct.

Then, he saw Li Zhuiyuan "swish swish swish" and finish the question he had just copied.

Checking the answer, it was still correct.

This was a question with difficulty beyond the syllabus. During the exam, only two people in the class did it.

Li Zhuiyuan suggested: "Brother Binbin, you just read the questions directly, that's faster."

Tan Yunlong nodded: "You read!"

Tan Wenbin picked up a math test paper and started reading from the multiple-choice questions. Every time he finished reading, Li Zhuiyuan reported the answer.

Soon, except for the geometry questions that needed to look at figures, Tan Wenbin read all the questions on the entire test paper, and then the boy reported the answers directly every time.

Putting down the test paper, Tan Wenbin was stunned.

He usually admired the few students in the class with top grades. When discussing learning matters in front of them, he could always feel pressure and gaps, but in front of this boy, he didn't feel pressure, because he was directly crushed.

"All correct?" Tan Yunlong asked.

"Hmm, Brother Xiaoyuan is all correct."

Tan Yunlong, as if he had picked up a treasure, directly grabbed Li Zhuiyuan's arm and spun him around:

"Hahaha, he really is a genius child, really a genius child!"

Parents always had serious filters for smart children with good grades. Parents with candidates at home were even more exaggerated. At this moment, in Tan Yunlong's eyes, it really felt like the God of Literature had descended on his home.

Finally, after the excitement, he put Li Zhuiyuan down.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and pressed his forehead; he was a bit dizzy from being spun around just now.

"Xiaoyuan, I've inquired. The formal enrollment procedures can only be handled when school starts, and we have to call people from the Education Bureau to go to the school together. However, Binbin and the others' high school is also having classes during summer vacation. We can go to the school for a test first, and handle the procedures later. That way, you can enter the classroom and attend classes together first. What do you think?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "Uncle Tan, I want to have summer vacation."

"That's fine. It's only the end of July now, so there's still a month of summer vacation. When it's time to handle enrollment, I'll come to pick you up."

"Thank you, Uncle Tan."

"Don't thank me." Saying that, Tan Yunlong slapped his own son's head again. "Look at others, then look at yourself!"

Tan Wenbin hadn't fully recovered from the previous shock and subconsciously asked back:

"Why don't you ask what his father and mother's educational background is and what they do?"

"Slap!"

This slap was heavier than the last one.

"I'm telling you, you and Xiaoyuan will be classmates in the future. You should learn more from Xiaoyuan. Besides, he is young after all, so you are responsible for taking good care of him in life."

"Okay."

Tan Yunlong nodded. His son wasn't stupid enough to be hopeless.

You take care of him in life, and shouldn't he take care of you in studies? Although he kept saying that children's grades weren't the first priority, which parent's brain was flooded and didn't hope their child's grades were good?

The boy's performance of reporting the correct answer directly after hearing the questions just now had indeed shocked him, an old policeman. Such a child, as long as his son could be with him every day, even if he were a pig, he should be able to get some fairy spirit, right?

"Zheng Fang, Zheng Fang!"

Tan Yunlong walked out of the room. He couldn't wait to share what he had just seen with his wife in the kitchen. He believed his wife would only be more excited than him, and at the same time, he had to remind his wife to add a few more dishes quickly. No matter if they could finish eating or not, the important thing was to be grand.

In the room, Li Zhuiyuan sat on the edge of the bed, and Tan Wenbin sat in the chair, two children, one big and one small, facing each other.

"Brother Xiaoyuan?"

"Brother Binbin, don't be like this, just call me Xiaoyuan or Yuanzi."

"Brother Xiaoyuan, what do you usually do at home?"

"Read."

"Just keep reading?" This answer made Tan Wenbin a bit discouraged, but he still asked unwillingly, "Besides reading, what else do you like to do?"

"Salvage corpses."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 38 =====