Chapter 39

Lunch was very sumptuous.

It was originally prepared to entertain guests, but the guests had left.

However, on most people's small tables, there were just a few more dishes, with no real change in portion size; only at Lu Runsheng's place did the original large basin become two large basins.

Li Sanjiang caught sight of this and couldn't help but curse: "Damn it, why don't you just use a washbasin to eat!"

Lu Runsheng asked with some delight: "Can I?"

Li Sanjiang was so choked up he rolled his eyes.

Only then did Lu Runsheng realize he had misinterpreted the meaning; he smiled sheepishly, then held the incense in his left hand and a spoon in his right, and began to eat alternately.

Li Li Zhuiyuan looked at the drunken shrimp in front of him; these shrimp had been soaked in white liquor, seasoned with scallions, ginger, and garlic to remove the fishy smell.

He picked one up, put it in his mouth, and gave it a light suck, and the shrimp meat came right out, tasting fresh and delicious.

He picked up a drunken mud snail, bit the front end with his teeth, and then slowly pushed outward to separate the snail meat from the shell; the snail meat was very small and tasted very crisp when chewed.

One must be careful eating this; you can't be fast. If you are even slightly impatient, you might end up eating the sand inside the mud snail along with it.

Coastal areas generally have a tradition of eating raw marinated seafood, and for those accustomed to it, this is a delicacy that is hard to give up.

But for most inlanders, this kind of dish is simply terrifying.

Actually, that's true; raw marinated food does indeed carry a relatively high risk of parasites.

After Li Li Zhuiyuan had a small taste, seeing that A Li was also uninterested in these two plates and hadn't moved a single chopstick, he stood up and picked them up, intending to take them to Li Sanjiang so he could have them with his wine.

"Give them to me."

Liu Liu Yumei spoke up.

Li Li Zhuiyuan then took the drunken shrimp and drunken mud snails to the table where Liu Liu Yumei and Liu Yi were sitting.

"Not used to eating them?"

"Mm."

"Good stuff, you don't know how to enjoy it."

Liu Liu Yumei ate two drunken mud snails in a row and took another sip of the yellow wine in her cup.

Liu Yi said with a smile: "A Li doesn't like these either."

Liu Liu Yumei shook her head: "A Li just thinks they're too much trouble."

Immediately after, Liu Liu Yumei asked Li Li Zhuiyuan: "What did the people who came this morning intend to do?"

"Buy a house. They took a fancy to Hu Zi's house."

"Oh, how is that house?"

"Very spacious, and the fish pond is quite large too. They're in a hurry to sell now, so it's very cheap. Grandma, are you interested in going to take a look?"

"What would I go look for? I don't have the money to buy it anyway."

"Even if you don't buy it, it's fine to go take a look."

"If I don't have the money to buy it, looking at it will only make me feel more frustrated when I sleep at night, so it's better not to go. Besides, I'm not from this village; according to the rules, I can't buy it either.

In short, in all things, one must still follow the public rules."

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that Liu Liu Yumei was deliberately reminding him that he should call the police to solve it and not mess around on his own.

"The police officers are busy too. Besides, isn't there still a slogan about police-civilian cooperation painted on the outer wall of the police station?"

Liu Liu Yumei took a deep look at the boy in front of her, picked up her yellow wine, took another sip, and said indifferently: "In a group of monkeys, there is also a mountain king."

The meaning was that among this group of water monkeys, there really was a tough character.

Li Li Zhuiyuan said: "It's also possible that it's just picking a general from among the short ones."

"Heh heh." Liu Liu Yumei smiled, waved her chopsticks, and said, "Go eat, child."

Li Li Zhuiyuan walked back to his small table.

Liu Yi lowered her voice and asked: "Do you want me to go see exactly what books Xiao Yuan is reading?"

In the boy's words earlier, it actually implicitly included the matter of the Four Seas Family fish pond, hinting that since they could mistake the bait hole and stumble, their level was just so-so.

This realization already made Liu Yi feel alarmed, even more so than when the boy asked her that morning if she had any poison.

The latter indicated a child's temperament, while the former meant that this child seemed to have really entered the gate, and had entered very deeply.

Liu Liu Yumei shook her head: "Earlier, when that child hadn't come, going to look at the books in Li Sanjiang's basement might have still been worth talking about; now that this child has already seen the way, going to look again would easily get yourself stirred into it. Could it be that you are in a hurry to go see A Li?"

"How could that be? You need someone to serve you by your side."

"Although I have lived a long life, I don't know how to cook."

Liu Yi: "Looking at it this way, the books in Uncle Sanjiang's basement are really quite extraordinary."

"Indeed extraordinary. Didn't he say that during the destruction of the Four Olds, there were several groups of people who specifically entrusted their books to him here?"

"Then looking at it now, the identities of those several groups of people are not ordinary either."

"There is no such logic in this world that only we are allowed to have good eyes, while others are all blind and can't see."

"You are right."

Liu Liu Yumei actually had a few more words that she kept in her heart and didn't say out loud.

That is, no matter how extraordinary the books are, they are ultimately just books.

And the more extraordinary the books, the harder they are to understand.

How many people have spent their whole lives on books of the Profound Gate without ever truly understanding one?

She likes to sit on the dam drinking tea, and the boy would sit above her reading books. She only remembers that the child read books as if flipping through a comic book, one after another.

If they were really extraordinary treasures of the Profound Gate, for him to read them in this way and still be able to understand and learn them, it would really be somewhat unreasonable.

But the facts seem to be laid out right here.

When he first moved in, he was just a child who had been frightened by his first experience with a 'dead-fall'; now, not only can he distinguish between the bait hole and the main hole, but he can also personally guide a 'dead-fall'.

A child like this, before the liberation, would probably have been fought over by various families scrambling to have him inherit their own mantle.

Heh...

If what their own family worshipped wasn't a dead spirit tablet, as long as there was a little bit of spirit, they would probably be clamoring in the night to let themselves accept him as a disciple on their behalf.

They might even have to fight another round over whether he should follow the Qin or the Liu family tablets.

Look,

Liu Liu Yumei picked up the wine pot and poured herself another cup of wine.

When A Li's illness is cured later, as a token of gratitude, she might be able to pass the "Liu Family Qi-Gazing Art" to him.

After Li Li Zhuiyuan sat back down, he ate his lunch with peace of mind. There were some things he had to make clear to Grandma Liu, and he also had to state his own attitude.

After all, he still needed Liu Yi to provide him with a safety net.

Although the matter would happen at Hu Zi's house, if he failed to contain it and things went out of control, it might also affect his home. At that time, he would have to ask Liu Yi to return to their hometown to accompany Uncle Qin to take care of his uncle.

After lunch, Lu Runsheng, with his big belly, didn't intend to rest and wanted to continue working in the workshop.

Li Li Zhuiyuan stopped him and handed him a few blueprints: "Brother Lu Runsheng, please help me make these things first; I have an urgent use for them."

Lu Runsheng took the blueprints, didn't even look at them, and said directly: "Okay."

He believed that Xiao Yuan wouldn't give him blueprints he couldn't understand or couldn't make.

Li Li Zhuiyuan and Qin Li went to the room.

He continued to pick and choose from those ten taboos, while A Li continued to carve with a graver.

The desk was very large, enough to accommodate the boy and girl doing their own things without interfering with each other.

In the end, Li Li Zhuiyuan selected two taboos.

Actually, among the books he had read, there were many types of taboos, but many did not have the conditions for implementation. Even among the ten he had carefully selected, at least half were eliminated because the conditions for success were too complex.

For some necessary materials, he could understand their names but didn't know what they actually were in reality, and the prefixes were often 'hundred-year' or 'thousand-year'.

There were also some special triggering instruments that were like making evil artifacts when crafted; human-skin drums even appeared, and they were marked with the age of the young boys and girls to be selected.

Others required him to build an underground palace in a special environment, collect yin and yang feng shui, and then put the Little Huang Ying inside.

To be honest, if he had the conditions for this kind of undertaking, would he still need to rack his brains to find ways to deal with that group of water monkeys?

The final two selected.

One was to change the corpse-raising ground into a sha-rushing ground in a short time through preliminary changes to the feng shui, which was a bit like sprinkling water into a wok of oil.

One was to trigger the boiling resentment on the Little Huang Ying by wrapping a scripture banner around her body. One must pay attention to the effect of the scripture banner; it's similar to how a strong wind can blow out a fire, but proper fanning can make the fire burn more vigorously.

However, at his current level, he only needed to worry about whether he could start the wind, and didn't need to worry about what to do if the wind was too strong.

From a practical perspective, these two were the easiest to achieve.

And the effect was similar to a stimulant; after being used on the Little Huang Ying, she would immediately fall into a state of deep lethargy, which would prevent the situation of losing control in the later stages.

Li Li Zhuiyuan had already asked Lu Runsheng to hand-craft the materials for the formation flags, but he still had to re-plan and design the specific usage. At the very least, he had to clarify which points of the feng shui needed to be changed, which required a large amount of deduction and calculation.

He opened the drawer, pulled out a roll of large white paper, and cut a section according to his needs.

Li Li Zhuiyuan picked up a pen and ruler and, following the memory of that night, drew the terrain and scene of Hu Zi's pond and its surroundings.

He had been influenced by this kind of family learning from his parents since he was a child, and coupled with his good memory, it took him about half an hour to finish drawing it.

It was much more detailed than a sketch, and many unnecessary burdens were discarded. He grabbed the edges with both hands and lifted it up; it had a bit of the sense of a photograph.

Li Li Zhuiyuan used double-sided tape to stick it on the wall, and then he stood there, staring at it.

But as he looked, he gradually frowned.

The reason he chose to draw it was the same as using scratch paper, to reduce the burden on his brain, but this picture... failed to have any effect.

Because feng shui phenomena cannot be drawn with clear lines. When he calculated, he still had to form a realistic picture in his brain first, then add the feng shui phenomena, and finally perform the deduction and calculation.

This picture was truly a bit... like taking off one's pants to fart.

He couldn't use this drawing method; he had to use the ink-wash painting method.

Li Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs. His family was in the paper-craft business, so there was no shortage of pigments, palettes, and brushes on the first floor. He selected a set and ran back up.

He cut a new piece of paper, placed it on the table, and Li Li Zhuiyuan picked up a brush and began to draw.

But as he drew, he felt something was wrong again.

It wasn't that the method was wrong; the method was definitely correct. The key was... he didn't know how to draw.

Geniuses, he had seen many of them among his classmates, but everyone just learned fast; no one was born knowing things.

On a professional track, skipping the learning process, a genius is no different from an idiot.

This is also the reason why he had never been able to beat A Li at Go; A Li had obviously learned it, while he hadn't.

Although the most direct way was to go to the scene to see the location, now that the water monkeys were already eyeing Hu Zi's house, it was impossible not to attract attention if he ran over there to wander around rashly.

The key was that this wasn't something you could get a result from just by looking at it; it required a long time of deduction and calculation. Therefore, he couldn't go to the scene; the risk was too high.

Liu Yi definitely knew how to draw; he had observed her methods of coloring paper figures, which clearly showed a very deep foundation in painting.

Grandma Liu also knew how to draw; she liked to lean on a table on weekdays and take a brush to design clothes for A Li herself.

But unfortunately, these two people definitely wouldn't help him draw this.

Li Li Zhuiyuan sighed, walked out of the room, and went downstairs to the workshop.

Pushing open the door, Lu Runsheng inside was working hard to hand-craft the iron cone patterns; these iron cones would serve as flagpoles later.

"Xiao Yuan, you're here."

Lu Runsheng handed a large porcelain cup to Li Li Zhuiyuan.

The porcelain cup was a bit dirty, and inside was soaked agastache leaves.

Li Li Zhuiyuan took it and drank two large mouthfuls.

After handing it back, Lu Runsheng drank it all in one go, then picked up the kettle on the small stove and refilled the porcelain cup with hot water.

"I was wondering why it was so hot. Brother Lu Runsheng, why did you put the stove inside the room?"

"Heh heh, sometimes heating it up a little makes it easier to craft. It's a bit hot, but just drink more water; it doesn't matter."

"You must take care of your health."

"My health is fine. Don't worry, I've eaten my fill."

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that from Lu Runsheng's perspective, as long as he had eaten his fill, it was as if nothing was a problem.

It's just that the conditions of this workshop were indeed simple, and the space was a bit small. If he could get a professional studio in the future, that would be great, with his own electric furnace, machine tools, and cutting machines.

That way, it would be convenient to make anything.

However, for now, he could only think about it.

"Brother, I have something to tell you."

"Okay, Xiao Yuan, go ahead." Lu Runsheng didn't stop and continued his work.

Li Li Zhuiyuan told him about the water monkeys.

Lu Runsheng asked in surprise: "Xiao Yuan, you didn't tell me when they came this morning. Was it because you were afraid I would give the game away?"

"Mm."

"What a pity. I've seen similar scenes on TV, and I think I could act a bit."

"No rush. You can polish your acting skills a bit more; you'll be able to later."

"Mm!"

Lu Runsheng picked up a black and white towel to wipe his sweat.

"So, Xiao Yuan, are we going to stab them in the butt while they are about to dig up that grave?"

As he spoke, Lu Runsheng even raised the iron cone he had just polished and made a "stabbing" motion.

"Maybe we won't even need to take action ourselves; the Little Huang Ying might be able to make them all 'attend the feast'."

"That would be a pity. Watching others take action while I can't get into the game, I always feel it's not satisfying.

In movies, it's usually acted out like that: the Little Huang Ying kills them first, then a fierce person appears among them to suppress the Little Huang Ying, and finally, at the critical moment, we make our entrance."

"You've already choreographed it all?"

"I have to think about it, right? That way, working is more energetic."

"Brother Lu Runsheng, you keep busy; I'm going up first."

"All right, don't worry. You go think about your business; leave this to me."

Infected by Lu Runsheng's emotions, Li Li Zhuiyuan also sorted out his own emotions and planned to go up to conquer that difficult problem. Even if he couldn't draw it on scratch paper, he could calculate it by force; at worst, he would have another nosebleed.

However, Li Li Zhuiyuan didn't go upstairs first, but came to the kitchen. At this time, it was when Liu Yi decocted medicine for him.

"Xiao Yuan, you're here. Heh heh, this bowl is for you, and this bowl is for the dog to drink."

"Thank you, Liu Yi. This bowl is for me, right?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan confirmed it again; he didn't want to drink the wrong one.

"Yes, that's right. Drink it."

The medicine was very bitter. Li Li Zhuiyuan drank it at a steady pace, and it was finally finished after much difficulty.

"Liu Yi, this medicine is very expensive, right?"

"It's not worth much money; they are all common tonics. It takes some effort when decocting to stimulate the medicinal properties and harmonize them with each other, and the effect comes out. However, Xiao Yuan, according to what you said, you often have nosebleeds and dizziness, so you must take good care of your body and don't cause a deficiency that damages your vitality prematurely."

"I know, Liu Yi."

"In addition, it's best to drink this medicine in the morning, preferably as soon as you get up. Following the morning qi, the body recovers, and then supplemented by the medicinal soup, the effect is best.

How about this: from now on, I'll have A Li bring it to you in the morning. Anyway, A Li also goes to your room in the morning."

Li Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "Okay."

He didn't refuse because he knew this was Grandma Liu and the others wanting to speed up the progress, using his name to give A Li extra homework.

Although, this scene felt strange when he thought about it.

Every morning when he opened his eyes, the girl would walk to his bed with the medicine.

But for the sake of his own body, and also for the girl's condition to continue to improve, he still had to drink this medicine.

In the past, there were indeed classmates in his class who were in poor health and often sick. Li Li Zhuiyuan originally thought he didn't have this problem because Li Lan had the same illness as him, but Li Lan's body had always been fine, and she could even sleep in the open and go to the scene.

But the problem was that he was now in contact with these things, and calculating them was much more complex and exhausting than calculating math problems.

The little black dog was sleeping in its kennel. When Li Li Zhuiyuan came over with the medicine bowl, it opened its eyes, yawned, came over by itself, drank all the medicine, and then, with its water-filled belly, lay down and continued to sleep.

After this period of feeding, with good food, good drink, and good medicine, the little black dog's coat was even blacker and shinier, and Li Li Zhuiyuan discovered that its tongue was also black. From head to toe, the only white thing left was its teeth.

This was the dog Liu Yi had picked out and bought for him; its quality should be extraordinary.

Going upstairs and walking into the room, Li Li Zhuiyuan intended to roll the paper balls for himself first and then force a calculation, but he saw that although A Li was still at the desk, she had moved to his original position.

The girl was no longer holding a graver in her hand, but a brush.

After walking closer, he confirmed that the girl was indeed painting, and it was already almost finished, just in the final stage.

After looking carefully, Li Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but widen his eyes. She was imitating the fish pond picture he had stuck on the wall, and she had even painted the weather phenomena.

The difficult problem that had troubled him and the price of nosebleeds had been solved by the girl.

As the last stroke ended, A Li put down the brush, put her finger into the cup, dipped it in water, and then gently and evenly sprinkled it on the drawing paper, letting the ink color spread further, and the weather phenomena became even clearer.

Finished.

The girl turned around and looked at the boy.

"A Li, you really are a genius."

The girl heard the praise, and her eyebrows seemed to curve slightly.

Then, she stood up, reached out, and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck.

Li Li Zhuiyuan felt that it seemed necessary to change to a more suitable way of acting spoiled to his great-grandfather in front of A Li next time, or secretly tell his great-grandfather to change a response style.

Otherwise, every time it was like this, it would spoil the mood.

But for the moment, he could only gently pat the girl's head and say:

"A Li, whatever you want, I will buy it for you. I have money, I have plenty of money."

Ceremony complete.

A Li let go with satisfaction and sat back in her seat.

Li Li Zhuiyuan sat down, stared at the painting, and began to deduce.

Every twenty minutes, he would pick up a pen and mark a point on the painting; this was the position where the flags needed to be inserted.

In the end, he marked a total of twelve points.

Even if all twelve points were inserted with formation flags, one formation eye would still be missing, but there was no need to worry about this; the formation eye was the Little Huang Ying herself.

Next was the material for the formation flags. Lu Runsheng would make the flagpole part, but the tricky and complex part was the flag surface. Ordinary cloth would be moved by the wind, which was not conducive to presentation, so it had to be a fixed surface, preferably high-quality yin-quality wood chips. Only after carving patterns on them could the effect be maximized in a short time.

Originally, Li Li Zhuiyuan intended to go to the graveyard with Lu Runsheng at night. He didn't need to dig up graves, because one could often see broken coffin boards exposed outside there.

But now...

Li Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at the wood flower rolls in front of A Li and the tablet that had been split in half under A Li's feet. It seemed that there was already a better board material to choose from.

For example,

These ancestors' boards.

When they finished eating, the village head came.

The village head was all smiles, saying repeatedly, "Uncle Sanjiang, this is a good thing you've gotten."

Immediately, he took out several handwritten documents, which had already been stamped with the village committee's seal, as well as the signatures and fingerprints of Hu Zi's wife and eldest son.

Li Sanjiang sighed that Ding Dalin's speed was really fast; he had bought a retirement house just like that?

Looking down at the content of the document again, his face froze for a moment: "Why is it Hu Zi's house that was bought?"

The village head must have received a red envelope from the middleman and said with a smile:

"A house and fish pond obtained for nothing, just tell me whether you want it or not. He has already settled the money. You sign this, and as long as your conscience is a little black, you can turn around and drive them out. Even if he wants to sue you, he won't win."

"But I warned him not to buy Hu Zi's house."

"It's cheap. I see that although he is a returned overseas Chinese, he probably hasn't made a big fortune. If he had really made a big fortune and returned to his hometown to invest, the town would have directly approved a new plot of land for him."

"That logic holds."

Although he felt it was unlucky to have Hu Zi's house, based on the principle of not taking it for free, Li Sanjiang still signed and pressed his fingerprint.

At worst, after Ding Dalin leaves, he would just ask Xiao Yuan Hou to sell the house.

"That's settled then. He probably is in a hurry to return home to live, saying he'll find someone to clean it up tomorrow and officially move in the day after tomorrow. At that time, he wants to invite a theater troupe to perform all day, and invite the whole village to come over to join in the fun and eat the feast."

"That's really lively. On the dam of Hu Zi's house, the feasting hasn't stopped for a while now."

"Heh heh, that's just us talking like this now. When we go to join in the fun and pay our respects the day after tomorrow, we must keep our mouths shut. I'll remind the others in the village when the time comes."

"I know."

"Oh, by the way, he said that when he invites the villagers to eat the feast, he won't accept any gifts."

"I'll still give it."

"Right, you have to give it; it counts as giving a gift for your own house."

Li Sanjiang nodded, pulled out two cigarettes for the village head, and the village head took the one inside.

"Okay, that's it. Uncle Sanjiang, I'll go back first. You guys keep eating."

Li Sanjiang lit a cigarette and said to Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Xiao Yuan Hou, Great-grandfather has earned you a house."

"Thank you, Great-grandfather."

"This is nothing. You wait, Great-grandfather will save some more money here, and before I close my eyes, I will definitely get you one in the city for you to use when you get married."

As he spoke, Li Sanjiang deliberately glanced with the corner of his eye at Grandma Liu, who was eating at a table far away.

Seeming afraid that the other party wouldn't hear, he deliberately raised his volume:

"After our Xiao Yuan Hou gets married, he has to live in the city!"

Hmph, let that snobbish old lady look down on people again.

Liu Liu Yumei picked up her wine glass and took a sip of wine. She was too lazy to get angry with this show-off old man.

Her Qin and Liu families had old houses in Suhuaiyang and other places, and years ago, they even specifically donated several mansions to the country as cultural relic protection units.

However, just because the two children play well together now doesn't mean they must climb up the pole of childhood sweethearts to get married.

She, Liu Liu Yumei, actually just wanted to cure her granddaughter's illness and hadn't really thought about turning that Li family boy into her grandson-in-law in the future.

Since ancient times, wealthy families recruiting a son-in-law into their family don't look for virtue, but for honesty and reliability.

If you really pick someone shrewd and capable, you can't suppress him. Then the family property in the future will all be this boy's, and he will eat you clean without even leaving you a surname.

After dinner, Li Li Zhuiyuan drew the pattern blueprints for the formation flags.

Then he went downstairs to the kitchen and personally cooked ten packs of three-fresh noodles, which he sent to Lu Runsheng in a basin.

Lu Runsheng was still staying up late rubbing iron, and seeing a large basin of noodles with two thick incense sticks on top, the corners of his mouth almost split to the sky with joy.

After reminding him again to rest early, Li Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs to take a shower and sleep.

Waking up from sleep, Li Li Zhuiyuan first stretched, then turned his head.

He saw the girl sitting on the chair at the door, holding a bowl of medicine in her hands.

This appearance was unexpectedly cute and naive.

A Li stood up, carried the medicine to Li Li Zhuiyuan's bedside, sat down, and slowly moved the bowl toward the boy's mouth.

The boy knew that she was learning from the way the elders in the family used to treat her, feeding him medicine.

Li Li Zhuiyuan accepted it gladly.

Then,

Early in the morning, Li Li Zhuiyuan went to wash his hair.

Li Sanjiang came out of the room yawning, saw Li Li Zhuiyuan by the water vat, and asked:

"Xiao Yuan Hou, what's wrong? Did bird poop fall on your head today too?"

"Great-grandfather, I feel my hair is a bit oily, so I'm washing it."

After breakfast, Li Li Zhuiyuan returned to the room, gave the design drawings to A Li, and let her be responsible for carving them on the boards.

He himself began to draw scripture banners. With the experience of drawing talisman paper in the past, it was not difficult to draw this time.

Moreover, the "power" of the talisman paper also made Li Li Zhuiyuan believe that his scripture banners would definitely not have an excessive effect, but would only stimulate the Little Huang Ying without really suppressing her.

At noon, the materials were all ready, and the flagpoles at Lu Runsheng's place were also rubbed smooth.

The afternoon was for assembly and piecing together, and the twelve formation flags were completed.

Li Li Zhuiyuan deliberately added a long rope to the scripture banners, so that Lu Runsheng could swing them up from a distance when the time came.

Originally, Li Sanjiang thought that since they were moving tomorrow, Ding Dalin should come over tonight to gather with him and talk. Who knew Ding Dalin didn't come; the one who came at night was Tan Yunlong.

Tan Yunlong rode a motorcycle, and Tan Tan Wenbin was riding on the back.

The father and son brought quite a few gifts, and on the motorcycle trunk, bedding and a bag were tied, which contained toiletries.

It turned out that the city's education bureau was going to conduct an inspection, so the town high school had to interrupt the summer vacation classes and give the students a week off to wait until the inspection was over before returning to class.

Tan Yunlong said that his work was busy and his wife was going on a business trip recently, so he could only leave his son here to be taken care of, which would be just right for him to follow Xiao Yuan to study well.

Li Sanjiang heard it as coming to give Xiao Yuan Hou a good tutoring.

However, apart from being occasionally muddled about individual matters, Li Sanjiang was very shrewd most of the time. He decisively pushed back the living expenses Tan Yunlong gave, and patted his chest to guarantee that he would take good care of his son. After all, everyone knew the necessity of getting along well with the police station.

Tan Yunlong walked to Li Li Zhuiyuan, bent down, patted Li Li Zhuiyuan's shoulder, and whispered:

"Those two who are in a coma are about to wake up."

Li Li Zhuiyuan nodded; this meant that the group of water monkeys was also about to dig.

"Brother Binbin, I'll trouble you first. If he doesn't listen to you, you call me, and I'll beat him to death."

Li Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at Tan Tan Wenbin standing behind. Tan Tan Wenbin showed Li Li Zhuiyuan a "you know" smile.

Tan Yunlong left.

Tan Tan Wenbin hugged the bedding and said: "Xiao Yuan, where is your room? Can I sleep with you?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan looked at Lu Runsheng. Lu Runsheng immediately walked to Tan Tan Wenbin's side, took his bedding, set up another round table next to his own, neatly spread the bedding on it, and patted it:

"Come, you sleep here with me at night."

Tan Tan Wenbin was not only not dissatisfied but nodded excitedly: "Okay!"

After nightfall, Li Li Zhuiyuan went to sleep early. He had to stay up late tomorrow night, so he had to recharge his batteries today.

Lu Runsheng's work was finished, and he was finally able to continue watching TV with peace of mind.

Tan Tan Wenbin accompanied him to watch. After watching the TV until it was all fixed black and white screens, Tan Tan Wenbin took out a game console and taught Lu Runsheng to play Tetris. This machine also came with another airplane game.

Lu Runsheng played very happily, but soon, the game console ran out of battery.

"Oops, I forgot to bring batteries."

"It's okay, then let's sleep." Lu Runsheng turned off the lights and went to the table bed.

On the opposite table, Tan Tan Wenbin also lay down.

The pitch-black first floor was full of paper figures, lined up neatly in the moonlight.

Tan Tan Wenbin felt it was very atmospheric, a bit scared but also a bit excited.

He lay on his side facing Lu Runsheng, covered half his face with the quilt, and asked in a muffled voice from inside the quilt:

"Lu Runsheng, do you know about 'dead-falls'?"

"I know."

"Is it that kind of corpse that falls into the water after death?"

"Otherwise?"

"Is it that kind that can walk ashore by itself after death?"

"Otherwise?"

Hearing this answer, excitement appeared in one of Tan Tan Wenbin's eyes, while he silently retracted his feet that were exposed outside into the quilt.

"Lu Runsheng, have you ever fished one up?"

"I have."

"You are really amazing."

"Xiao Yuan is even more amazing."

"Heh heh, I told my dad this time that I wanted to come here to study, but actually I just wanted to see if there was a chance to see a 'dead-fall'."

It was true that the school was temporarily closed, but it was false that his mother was going on a business trip. As soon as he proposed it, his parents immediately agreed.

Because in the eyes of Tan Yunlong and his wife, Li Li Zhuiyuan no longer belonged to other people's children; he was from the heavens!

Tan Yunlong was reliable. He specifically called the town high school to inquire about transferring and skipping grades. The other side asked where his child had studied before and what grade he was in. Tan Yunlong had seen Li Li Zhuiyuan's file bag before, so he reported that youth class.

At first, the person on the other end of the phone expressed very politely that they knew, and then hung up, a bit like giving him face.

An hour later, the phone rang again. The tone became very excited. The people on the other side were talking all at once, shouting and asking Tan Yunlong if he was sure it was that youth class.

And they said that as long as everything was true, he could come to the school to handle the procedures immediately, accompanied by the principal and director throughout the process, and there were a series of preferential conditions.

Tan Yunlong knew that Li Li Zhuiyuan wanted to have a summer vacation, so he didn't tell them Li Li Zhuiyuan's name and address, and pushed it back, saying he would bring the child when school started next semester.

However, Tan Yunlong confirmed one thing: this youth class was not the kind of university-affiliated primary school he had imagined.

Lu Runsheng prepared to sleep. He felt that this guy at the opposite table seemed to be a bit stupider than himself.

Tan Tan Wenbin laughed to himself again:

"Hey, do you know, when Xiao Yuan first told me he liked fishing up 'dead-falls', I foolishly asked him if it was a kind of snack."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tan Tan Wenbin saw Lu Runsheng's eyes seem to light up.

Immediately after, a voice that was resonant and carried infinite aftertaste came:

"Delicious, tasty!"

That night, Tan Tan Wenbin slept curled up in the quilt and didn't dare to get out of bed to pee.

Early the next morning, Tan Tan Wenbin groggily saw a girl in a red dress carrying a bowl of medicine walk past him and go up the stairs.

When he came last night, A Li had already been coaxed to sleep by Li Li Zhuiyuan, so this was his first time seeing her.

"This little girl is so beautiful. The stars on the posters don't look as good as her."

Lu Runsheng sat up, loosened his neck, and reminded: "Don't go near her."

"Why?"

"Except for Xiao Yuan, no one can go near her."

"There's such a rule?"

It was dawn, and Tan Tan Wenbin felt that Lu Runsheng was not so scary anymore.

"It's not a rule."

Lu Runsheng was relatively sensitive in this regard. He remembered that the first time he went to the second floor wanting to walk towards Xiao Yuan and A Li, A Li's body trembled.

At that time, the little girl gave him a feeling even more terrifying than the most terrifying 'dead-fall' he had ever seen.

"Breakfast is ready!"

Liu Yi's voice shouted punctually like a daily alarm clock.

Li Li Zhuiyuan and A Li went downstairs. Today he didn't let A Li feed him medicine, so he didn't wash his hair.

Tan Tan Wenbin smiled and wanted to come over to have breakfast together.

"Brother Brother Binbin..." Li Li Zhuiyuan hurriedly grabbed A Li's hand to remind her.

"You come and eat with me!"

Lu Runsheng grabbed Tan Tan Wenbin's neck, lifted him like a little chicken, and carried him to his own dining corner.

Tan Tan Wenbin forgot how he ate breakfast. Anyway, after the meal, his eyes were red, and he was a bit pained by the incense.

Early on, there was a clamor of gongs and drums at Hu Zi's house, and large speakers were playing loudly.

The villagers had all been notified by the village head yesterday, saying that a former overseas Chinese from the village had returned to the country to settle down and invited everyone to come to the housewarming feast.

And it was stated that everyone just needed to come and join in the fun and eat the feast, and no gifts would be accepted.

With this, all the men, women, and children in the village came over early to watch the fun.

Li Li Zhuiyuan and Lu Runsheng also came, followed by Tan Tan Wenbin who insisted on coming.

"What should we do with him at night? He is very curious." Lu Runsheng asked while making a hand-knife gesture in front of Li Li Zhuiyuan, "Knock him out?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan's eyelids twitched. He was afraid that Brother Lu Runsheng would get too into the role and not control his strength well, and chop the person to death with a hand-knife.

"No need for that, just tie him up."

"Okay."

Li Li Zhuiyuan began to observe the feast today.

Because there were so many people invited, they couldn't be placed on the dam or inside the first floor, so they extended to the fields and set up sheds.

In addition, the position for the theater troupe's performance was set up by the fish pond, with speakers, horns, and large drums all placed there.

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that this was to cover up the movement when grave robbing at night.

Because it was an all-day feast, it meant playing and singing for a whole day and night. The daytime performance was for the living, while the nighttime performance was for the dead.

What was particular was to handle both yin and yang thoroughly, implying that everything would go smoothly in the future.

However, there were very few all-day feasts in rural areas now, because the nighttime performance fee was several times more expensive than the daytime one, and ordinary families really weren't willing to spend this idle money to perform for ghosts.

With all these drums, horns, and large speakers, no matter how much noise was made at night, the villagers wouldn't find it strange.

Li Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart that this was what was called professional, and they were willing to spend money, buying a house and inviting the whole village to eat the feast.

The theater troupe's performance had long since begun, and people were surrounded all around. Li Li Zhuiyuan pretended to be curious, led Lu Runsheng to walk around the stage, and specifically went to a place with few people on the opposite side of the fish pond to take a leak.

This was actually to determine the coordinates for Lu Runsheng to insert the flags.

"Did you remember them all, Brother Lu Runsheng?"

"Don't worry, I remembered them all."

"When the time comes, I'll take two to insert, and the rest will depend on you."

Those formation flags were a bit heavy, and Li Li Zhuiyuan could only hold two and run now.

"What about me? What about me?"

Tan Tan Wenbin followed up and also unzipped his pants,

"How many should I take?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan comforted him: "Don't worry, leave the rest to you."

"Guarantee to complete the mission." Although he didn't know what the mission was, he just wanted to participate.

The feast started at noon.

Li Li Zhuiyuan took Tan Tan Wenbin to sit inside the house on the first floor with Li Sanjiang.

Tan Tan Wenbin asked curiously: "What about Lu Runsheng? Why doesn't he come to eat?"

"Brother Lu Runsheng is eating at home, and also, don't talk."

"Understood."

Tan Tan Wenbin made an "OK" gesture.

Lu Runsheng had to have incense when eating, and this action was too attractive. On weekdays, he would follow his great-grandfather to sit at the feast, and his great-grandfather would also give him food separately and let him find a corner to eat alone.

In today's scene, naturally, he couldn't arouse the suspicion of the water monkeys even more.

The quality of the feast was very high, and the local cook was invited. After Tan Tan Wenbin stopped talking, he ate until his mouth was full of oil.

After the feast dispersed, many villagers felt bad in their hearts and wanted to pay their respects, but were refused, so they went home to get some gifts and came over to present them.

Next, the whole afternoon was time for everyone to watch the performance together. The nighttime performance was taboo for the living, and except for the performers, no one would come to watch.

The level of this theater troupe was very high, with singing, dancing, acrobatics, as well as bone-shrinking skills and chest-breaking stone performances.

Li Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the performances behind... were actually real skills.

Judging from the details of the performers' behavioral habits, they all followed the routines of dealing with 'dead-falls'.

Looking at it this way, if it weren't for the two who contracted the fish pond being tricked and knocked down by the earth-yin red evil in the bait hole, with their skills, it wouldn't have been easy for the police to catch them.

At the same time, it also indirectly showed that Grandma Liu's evaluation of this group of water monkeys was correct.

Because this was definitely not a wild troupe put together temporarily; this was a very professional group of water monkeys.

After all, those who just wanted to steal graves and get rich wouldn't all specifically practice skills aimed at 'dead-falls'.

It seems that if the Little Huang Ying faced them, it would be hard to say who would win.

However, looking at the lively and clamorous scene in front of him, Li Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but feel a bit melancholy in his heart.

The first time he saw the Little Huang Ying was also in such a scene. At that time, the Little Huang Ying was still performing on stage.

It was she who gave him, who had just arrived in the countryside, a kind of wild aesthetic shock from the countryside.

Li Li Zhuiyuan's gaze fell on the water surface of the fish pond. I wonder if the Little Huang Ying in the fish pond is also watching the performance now?

Deep in her heart, she should also have resentment towards that white-affair troupe that took the money and ignored her whereabouts, right?

Just at this time, Secretary Jin, who had changed into a black tight-fitting suit and just finished singing a song, walked to the edge of the stage with a microphone and asked the people below:

"Everyone, what songs do you want to hear? You can tell me."

Rural people are generally thin-skinned. When asked the first time, no one was embarrassed to speak up and request a song.

Li Li Zhuiyuan took the lead and raised his hand.

Secretary Jin knew Li Li Zhuiyuan and smiled and waved at him, signaling Li Li Zhuiyuan to get closer to the stage: "Come, little friend, you say it. What song do you want to hear?"

She squatted down and handed the microphone to Li Li Zhuiyuan's mouth.

Li Li Zhuiyuan faced the stage sideways, just facing the water surface of the fish pond, and said in a clear voice:

"Mm...

I want to hear,

'Thousands of Songs'."

(End of chapter)