Chapter 376

Li Zhuiyuan: "There is one thing you need to pay attention to; after going out this time, fly the banner of 'Nantong Corpse-Fishing Li' for me."

"Alright, now, everyone go down and eat lunch first."

Chen Xiyuan, who had always been extremely enthusiastic about eating and drinking, was currently walking toward the stairs, but the frown she had previously furrowed hadn't relaxed.

Even if the little brother's request was a bit strange, and what the little brother said at the end was indeed something she couldn't understand, but hadn't this always been the little brother's style.

Chen Xiyuan felt that she should have adapted to it long ago.

However, inexplicably, it was as if a haze rose in the bottom of her heart, and even when walking down the stairs, with the change in height, her brain produced dizziness and nausea.

After walking out of the hall on the first floor and coming to the flat ground, being irradiated by the sun again, her whole body felt as if it had been ignited by anxious fire.

Probably because this sunlight was too dazzling.

She actually didn't dare to look up.

Auntie Liu brought the dishes to the table and beckoned to Chen Xiyuan:

"Come and taste it quickly; I made drunken shrimp for you, see if it suits your taste."

Chen Xiyuan sat down somewhat woodenly, picked up her chopsticks blankly, and clamped several drunken shrimp into her mouth in one go.

With a sip and a melt, the freshness of the shrimp meat and the just-right seasoning taste bloomed in her mouth.

For a moment, Chen Xiyuan's eyes lit up.

All the discomfort, numbness, dry fire, and anxiety disappeared, and the whole person seemed to have come back to life.

She looked at Auntie Liu excitedly and said:

"Sister, it's delicious!"

"If it's delicious, eat more; and this mutton, it's different from the East Mountain sheep in your place."

"It has a heavy gamey smell, and the cooking method follows its gamey smell; you can just taste it as a flavor similar to smoked."

Chen Xiyuan went to clamp a chopstick full and sent it into her mouth; indeed, the "mutton taste" was very heavy, but cooperating with the rush of garlic sprouts, one bite down, her appetite opened directly.

Chen Xiyuan bit the head of her chopsticks and looked at Auntie Liu very embarrassedly, asking: "Sister, is there enough food? I want to eat with an open stomach."

Auntie Liu bent down, brought her face close to Chen Xiyuan, and pointed to the kitchen:

"These, in the kitchen, are all packed in basins; you can eat as much as you can, and if there's any left, and your Grandpa Li wakes up later and finds out, he'll say I'm not doing my job again."

"Hehe, sister, you're really good."

Chen Xiyuan felt relieved, held her rice bowl, and began to sweep away like a whirlwind.

Auntie Liu went to the kitchen to bring out the dishes packed in basins one by one; when all these basins were placed on the table, the dishes originally packed in plates had already been emptied and could retire.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush downstairs, but kept watching Chen Xiyuan's changes.

Seeing that she had returned to normal, the youth held A-Li's hand and walked toward the stairs.

Zhao Yi huddled on the side, following closely.

He knew that he had to do the work first, and only after finishing the work would he be qualified to take the reward, but his heart was truly itching, and he just wanted to eat a reassurance pill first:

"Little ancestor, after this matter is finished, when you teach my people, can you also give me

Li Zhuiyuan stopped in his tracks and looked at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi placed both hands on either side of his chest, a smile on his face.

But the next moment, a single question from the youth caused the smile on Zhao Yi's face to vanish instantly.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, "You, did you know about this all along?"

At Zhao Yi's level, keeping one's emotions from showing on one's face was already a basic skill; even in the final second before death, he could still uphold the professional ethics of a good actor.

A change in expression meant an answer.

The premise of disguise and lying is that you are willing to bear the cost of being seen through by the other party.

Clearly, Zhao Yi had made his choice the moment it happened; he could not afford to bear it.

Zhao Yi: "I thought you already knew."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's eat."

Zhao Yi: "Mm, I am indeed hungry."

Everyone took their seats and began to eat.

Zhao Yi's subordinates all stayed at Hu Zi's house, where Old Tian would cook for them; as for himself, he squeezed onto a table with Lin Shu You and the other three.

Picking up his chopsticks and glancing at the normal portion of food, Zhao Yi said with some surprise:

"No way, is this amount for you guys, or are you feeding sparrows?"

Immediately, Zhao Yi seemed to understand something and smiled:

"Congratulations, it seems you've made progress in your lessons recently."

The others had all finished eating early and put down their chopsticks.

Only Chen Xiyuan remained, still eating with focus.

She was already eating very fast, but she couldn't help the fact that the portion was truly large.

Runsheng broke the remaining half of the thick incense stick in his hand, set it aside for the next meal, then took out a metal box, pulled out a "cigar," lit it, and smoked silently.

Tan Wenbin took out two cigarettes, leaned over to light them from Runsheng's cigar, and flicked one to Zhao Yi.

At this moment, everyone was watching her eat alone.

In the gaps between drinking soup, Chen Xiyuan smiled apologetically: "Sorry about that, I'll be quick, almost there, almost finished."

Finally, Chen Xiyuan finished, lifted her head in satisfaction, and let out a sigh of relief.

Others say the apprentice is taught and the master starves; here, Miss Chen has taught the apprentice until the master is stuffed.

Liu Yi: "Are you full? If it's not enough, shall I add another pot of food for you?"

"Full, I'm full, Sister, your cooking is truly good, thank you for your hard work."

"The old lady said, when guests come to the house, there's nothing else to treat them with, but at the very least, we must ensure there's a bed to sleep in and a full meal to eat."

"Mm, thank you for me... uh, I seem to have forgotten to thank the old madam."

Last night, when she took A Li to Cui Cui's room, she heard the group of old ladies chatting in the room next door and almost couldn't move her legs from where she stood.

If it weren't for knowing the old madam would surely detect her presence, and that the little brother was still waiting for her downstairs, she probably would have opened her domain and gone in to sit among the old ladies until they finished.

Liu Yi: "Alright, no need to rush for this moment."

Chen Xiyuan: "Sister, please help me tell the old madam that after I go out to finish my business and return, I will serve her tea properly."

Zhao Yi sat on a stool nearby, his hands hanging down, his head lowered.

Just listen, when others come, they have a bed to sleep in and a full meal to eat; he himself hadn't even eaten his fill today.

Lin Shu You leaned his mouth toward Tan Wenbin and asked in a low voice: "Brother Bin, is Miss Chen calling Liu Yi 'Sister' on purpose to make Liu Yi sound younger?"

A You remembered that Miss Chen's identity here was that of Grandma Liu's distant grand-niece, which was a generation apart from Liu Yi, so calling her "Sister" clearly wasn't appropriate.

Tan Wenbin: "Just like the 'Niangniang' in Chuan-Yu, or the 'Mama' in Nantong dialect, it's likely just her habitual way of addressing an 'Auntie' of that age."

Upon hearing this, Lin Shu You breathed a sigh of relief.

He could view others' progress calmly, but if Miss Chen also started playing social games, it would bring him great unease.

Chen Xiyuan picked up the flute on the table, looked at Tan Wenbin, and waved her hand:

"Full, time to get to work."

Full of energy, high in fighting spirit.

Tan Wenbin pinched out the cigarette butt in his hand, stood up, and said: "Coming!"

Zhao Yi patted his stomach, stood up, stretched, and said:

"Ah~ I'm heading out too."

After they all left, Li Zhuiyuan looked at A Li beside him and asked:

"Do you want to go together?"

Among the three paintings, the youth had specifically chosen one closest to home for himself.

A Li shook her head, walked into the house, and went upstairs. She came to the second-floor terrace, looked down at the youth standing below, and revealed a smile.

She really wanted to go.

The youth had also told her that this evil spirit didn't pose much of a threat and wouldn't be difficult to resolve.

Theoretically speaking, the youth could stand on the periphery with her the whole time, watching Lin Shu You or Runsheng drag that evil spirit out and capture it.

But in the end, there was still a certain danger coefficient; this was, after all, not a field trip.

She was unwilling to be a "burden" that he had to take care of when the youth might encounter danger.

Li Zhuiyuan smiled and waved at A Li.

Recognizing emotions and then consciously controlling them was in itself a huge step forward.

The youth could foresee that in the future, A Li would certainly be able to recover to a new stage; at that time, he wouldn't be able to trouble her to pack his hiking bag for him anymore, because she would have a bag of her own that needed organizing.

"Brother Runsheng, A You, let's go."

A Li stood on the terrace, watching the three youths get into the small yellow pickup truck, watching the pickup drive onto the village road and disappear at the edge of her vision.

She turned around, walked into the room, stood before her workbench, picked up the carving knife, and began to carve the patterns on the talisman armor once more.

In the kitchen, Liu Yi, who was washing dishes, withdrew her gaze and sighed.

Qin Shu, who was holding a file to scrape ash from the bottom of the stove pot, asked with some curiosity:

"Why the sigh?"

Liu Yi: "One day, A Li will go out with Xiao Yuan."

Qin Shu: "Isn't that a good thing?"

Liu Yi: "You don't understand."

Qin Shu: "If you don't say it, how would I understand?"

Liu Yi: "If the two of them go out together in the future, where will I go to crack melon seeds?"

Qin Shu: "Hehe, it's not like they aren't coming back."

Liu Yi: "Can that be the same? Now when Xiao Yuan comes back, it's called coming home; later, when they go out together and come back, that's called visiting relatives."

Qin Shu put the cleaned stove pot back and clapped his hands: "Truly complicated, I don't understand."

Liu Yi: "You blockhead, I don't expect you to understand. Open the salt bag and refill the seasoning jar."

Qin Shu washed his hands, took out the salt bag, and while tearing it open, said:

"There's one more thing I don't understand. Xiao Yuan just got back, there's definitely not enough time, and I just looked, the three groups of people are clearly not going in the same direction, which means it's definitely not a matter on the river."

Liu Yi: "So what?"

Qin Shu: "Since it's a matter on the shore, why not call me? I'm idle anyway."

Liu Yi: "Xiao Yuan has better thugs to use; Zhao Yi doesn't even need mentioning, and that Chen family girl is also very obedient to Xiao Yuan. When it comes down to it, it's just that our Xiao Yuan is growing up too fast."

Qin Shu nodded, poured the salt into the salt jar, and seeing the soy sauce bottle nearby had tipped over, he reached out and straightened it.

After straightening it, he froze.

Liu Yi had finished washing the dishes and chopsticks; as she turned around while wiping her hands, she saw Qin Shu standing before the seasoning counter in a daze and asked:

"What's wrong with you?"

Qin Shu:

"Back then, I should have straightened this soy sauce bottle."

Chongming Island is very close to Nantong, but wanting to land on the island is not easy.

First, one must go to the pier to wait for the ferry; the daily schedule is not frequent, and if one encounters bad weather, it is common to be unable to get on or off the island for two days.

When the small pickup was about to drive to the river, Li Zhuiyuan looked at the scenery outside through the car window.

He remembered Xue Liangliang once pointing here and saying that in the future, a great bridge would be built on the river, and the so-called Yangtze natural moat would become a smooth path.

Xue Liangliang even made a joke, saying that this bridge would be the Shanhai Pass for you Nantong people; once you cross it, it's equivalent to returning home.

Today, Brother Liangliang's vision still remains only on the design blueprints.

However, the three of them going to land on the island didn't need to go to the pier to buy tickets and wait for the schedule.

Lin Shu You stopped the small pickup, got out of the car first, and walked to the riverbank.

In the past, Brother Bin always did this kind of thing; today Brother Bin wasn't here, so it was his time to perform.

Without taking yellow paper to light, Lin Shu You's gaze narrowed slightly, and his vertical pupils opened.

The majestic aura of the White Crane Zhenjun poured down toward the river.