Chapter 449

Chen Xiyuan raised her head, took a deep breath, blinked hard, her eye sockets turning red:

"I can tell that the old lady is taking care of my feelings."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You heard wrong; she is taking care of my feelings."

Chen Xiyuan: "Hmm..."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Go back and help cook; you should be hungry."

Chen Xiyuan: "I'm not hungry."

Li Zhuiyuan: "My hearing is good; when you released your domain just now, what was presented before me was the phenomenon of clouds and thunder. Only then did I discover that there were only clouds, no thunder; that was your stomach growling."

Chen Xiyuan covered her stomach; this time, even her face turned red.

"Then... then I'll go."

"Go ahead."

Chen Xiyuan carried the goods into the village.

The Feiyi strung on the flute had faint black mist permeating its body; in the eyes of ordinary people, it was just a big girl carrying a small, skinned lamb.

After crossing the concrete bridge on the village road and turning north into the path, the end was Grandpa Li's house.

Here, Chen Xiyuan stopped her steps.

Walking from the opposite side was Lihua.

She was holding Xiao Hei in her arms and leading Benben by the hand.

In the morning, Xiong Shan met Qin Shu in the fields and learned that the people in the house had already returned, so Xiong Shan told Lihua to hurry and send the dog back, and bring the cub along as well.

Xiao Hei's laziness was famous; at home, there was someone who could discipline it, but at the bearded man's house, it completely let itself go, lying in the dog kennel and not wanting to move at all. Lihua really didn't dare to scold or whip it, so she had to pick the dog up.

As for Benben, he could walk now, so he could carry a small schoolbag and a milk bottle and walk by himself.

Lihua tied a rope to her son, and the other end was wrapped around her own hand.

It was both because she was worried about the many potholes on the village road and her son accidentally falling, and also because she noticed that her son seemed very resistant to going to Uncle Sanjiang's house and wanted to slip away.

"Miss Chen, you're back."

"Yes, Auntie Lihua."

"That's perfect, could you help me take this over?"

"Sure."

Chen Xiyuan bent down and picked up Benben.

Benben sighed, didn't struggle, and chose to compromise with fate.

Xiao Hei glanced at the "small lamb" strung on Chen Xiyuan's flute, consciously jumped out of Lihua's arms, shook its body after landing, picked up the rope that had just been leading Benben, and wagged its tail very fawningly to "deliver" it to Chen Xiyuan.

Chen Xiyuan was carrying goods with one hand and holding the child with the other, so she didn't take it; she raised her chin toward Grandpa Li's house, signaling for the dog to walk by itself.

Xiao Hei then carried the leash and walked itself home.

Nowadays, Xiao Hei couldn't see its former injuries; it had recovered extremely well, and its frame was thicker and its fur was even blacker and brighter.

The local rural native dogs were basically small to medium-sized; Xiao Hei's build was already a transcendent hegemon in the village.

Quite a few people had found Li Sanjiang, wanting to ask Xiao Hei to help with breeding.

Li Sanjiang actually agreed, but Xiao Hei bared its teeth and growled at people every time, expressing strong refusal.

Although the youth had long promised it "glory and wealth" among dogs for this lifetime, it wasn't willing to have another dog in the house that provided blood.

Benben was in Chen Xiyuan's arms, raising his hand, pointing at Xiao Hei in front, his mouth constantly saying: "Hmm~~~ Ba!"

Every time he said "Ba", Xiao Hei would twist its body, jumping horizontally left and right, while speeding up its pace, and then look back and "Woof" twice at Benben mockingly.

This was a little game between a child and a dog, but wasn't it also a re-enactment of scenes that had happened in the past?

Walking to the dam.

Liu Yumei was sitting at the square table, holding long cards in her hand.

She had already asked Liu Yi to notify the old sisters to come to her place to play cards after lunch.

Having been out for these days, she hadn't touched them for a while, and her hands were really itching.

Just now, when Li Sanjiang came down and saw this scene, he whispered a sentence: Forget it, this is the gambling addiction acting up again.

Liu Yumei: "You're here."

Chen Xiyuan: "Yes, I'm here."

Liu Yumei: "Go cook."

Chen Xiyuan: "Yes, going right now."

After putting the child on the dog's back, Chen Xiyuan ducked into the kitchen.

Liu Yi, while tying her apron, asked while looking at the table full of fresh ingredients:

"What do you want to eat? Auntie will make it for you."

"I love everything Sister makes."

"You're just sweet-mouthed. Alright, it's almost mealtime; let's be quick, hurry up and start the fire."

"Yes."

Chen Xiyuan flicked her flute, and the Feiyi fell under the table; right next to it was a basket of sheep heads bought and prepared for marinating.

Liu Yi glanced at it, continued cutting vegetables, and didn't take it to heart.

Chen Xiyuan started two stoves, first stuffed a lot of firewood inside, then raised her flute and blew air toward the two stove mouths.

"Hum!" "Hum!"

The two stoves had flames as vigorous as the rapid stoves used by rural banquet masters.

The vegetables were stir-fried, and Liu Yi used a spatula to scoop them into a bucket.

Next was steaming rice and steamed buns and boiling soup.

Liu Yi: "Alright, you can rest for a bit; wait to eat."

"Hehehe, okay."

Chen Xiyuan took a deep breath, smelled the fragrance of the vegetables, and her stomach started "growling" again.

She reached out and touched her stomach.

Hmph, the little brother actually said my stomach's growling sound was like thunder; clouds and thunder, how could it be that exaggerated!

Suddenly, Chen Xiyuan froze.

Liu Yi washed two apples, took a bite of one herself, and prepared to hand the other to Chen Xiyuan.

She saw Chen Xiyuan sitting behind the stove, her face flushed by the firelight, not moving at all.

Liu Yi then silently walked out of the kitchen, facing away from the inside, and leaned against the door frame facing out.

Chen Xiyuan, sitting behind the stove, had her mind full of the little brother's voice: clouds and thunder, clouds and thunder, clouds and thunder...

Her nose started to turn sour, and tears couldn't stop flowing down.

Being able to receive the little brother's call and let herself come to help, Chen Xiyuan felt that she had already won a great bargain for the Chen family, but she didn't expect that on this basis, the little brother also gave her a great gift.

Clouds produce thunder!

Chen Xiyuan raised her flute.

From her fingertips, clouds and mist overflowed, wrapping around the flute; subsequently, there was also slight electric light swirling, attempting to merge into the clouds and mist.

The emerald flute was made of bamboo from the Chen family's ancestral grave, unparalleled in hardness; this attempt could only use it as a carrier first. If she tried to test it directly with her own body and forcibly open a new domain, then once something went wrong, it would be a case of exploding and dying.

It's just that this electric light and clouds and mist conflicted with each other and couldn't achieve fusion on the flute for a long time.

The train of thought seemed to be correct; no, it was definitely correct; Chen Xiyuan believed in the little brother's guidance.

It was herself who currently had no way to put it into practice.

At this time, the fire in the stove was low, and the steamed buns weren't steamed yet.

Chen Xiyuan habitually aimed the flute at the stove mouth and blew a breath.

With the melody as the guide, the clouds and thunder actually formed harmony cleverly in this dynamic.

"Bang!"

Chen Xiyuan succeeded.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Moreover, she also successfully blew up the stove; the ashes inside exploded out, smoking her whole person, top to bottom, pitch black!

The small yellow pickup truck first drove past the village road, then backed up.

After turning into the village road, it drove past the pavilion, then backed up again.

Driving was Tan Wenbin, wearing sunglasses, but actually, his eyes were wrapped in bandages.

Sitting in the passenger seat was Lin Shu You, his whole body limp, leaning on the seat.

Lin Shu You dictated, Tan Wenbin operated, interpreting the meaning of the driver and passenger.

Runsheng was lying in the back of the truck, with four cages covered in talisman paper pressed under him.

Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the pavilion and stood by the car.

Tan Wenbin's tone was full of self-blame: "Brother Xiaoyuan, the mission is completed, but I made everyone seriously injured and overdrawn."

Li Zhuiyuan: "When I was in command before, didn't I often make everyone look like this?"

Tan Wenbin licked his lips.

He knew Brother Xiaoyuan was comforting him; before, that was high-difficulty river-walking, and Brother Xiaoyuan led everyone to escape from death and achieve a comeback.

This time, when he was in command, the threat of the evil spirits, relative to everyone's current strength, was far less difficult than in the past. When reviewing it in his heart on the return trip, he could find many mistakes and loopholes.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Go live at the bearded man's house; hurry up and heal your injuries."

Tan Wenbin: "Understood, don't worry, Brother Xiaoyuan; although the injuries are serious this time, it won't take too long to recover, and it won't delay the next stage of the plan."

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's not that I'm afraid of delaying this, but Great-Grandpa is preparing to help Grandpa Shan build a building, and needs you to go move bricks."

Tan Wenbin: "Then it can't be delayed even more."

The small yellow pickup truck drove away.

Li Zhuiyuan returned to the pavilion and sat down.

Lunch was delivered by Benben.

Benben was riding on Xiao Hei, and Xiao Hei was carrying a basket in its mouth, with vegetables inside the basket.

Li Zhuiyuan placed the basket on the stone table in the pavilion and took out the vegetables.

There were only vegetables, no staple food.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Benben.

Benben first nodded, then shook his head.

The stove at home exploded, and the rice and steamed buns all fell down.

At this moment, Chen Xiyuan was taking a bath, Qin Shu was rebuilding the stove, and Liu Yi was patching the pot.

There was currently no manpower to deliver food here.

In the past, when Lihua sent the child, she always sent the child into the room on the second floor, truly a lamb entering a tiger's mouth.

This time, Chen Xiyuan put the child on the dam, which created an opportunity for Benben to skip class.

Benben hugged Xiao Hei, and Xiao Hei also understood, carrying Benben to play in the fields to the south.

The southern field was right next to the village road, with people coming and going, unlike behind the house to the north where it was hidden from view, and the paintings in the room on the second floor didn't dare to fly out to catch people with great fanfare.

Li Zhuiyuan asked: "Have you eaten?"

Benben patted the milk bottle that still had half left in front of his chest, and shook the small schoolbag on his back again.

When Li Zhuiyuan and A Li were eating vegetables, Benben leaned on Xiao Hei, holding the milk bottle in his left hand and spicy strips in his right hand.

From time to time, Benben also wanted to invite Xiao Hei to eat a bite, but Xiao Hei didn't like spicy strips; in its eyes, milk couldn't compare to the tonic it drank every day.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished eating, he collected the bowls and chopsticks back into the basket.

Xiao Hei picked up the basket again, flicked its tail, and signaled to get on the dog.

Benben burped milk, climbed onto Xiao Hei's back, and one child and one dog flew home from the fields.

"Clatter clatter clatter clatter!"

The sound of a tractor rang out.

Driving the tractor was Xu Ming.

Red jacket, red hat, used to cover up the traces of blood seeping from his wounds.

Behind the tractor, the Liang sisters were sitting, one with a desolate expression, the other with wandering eyes, like widows bringing back the remains of their late husbands to their hometown.

Lying on the board, wrapped tightly in three layers inside and three layers outside, was naturally Zhao Yi.

When Li Zhuiyuan walked closer, Chen Jing first raised her head and shouted happily:

"Brother Yuan!"

Directly shattering the atmosphere Zhao Yi wanted to create.

The Liang sisters' expressions also couldn't hold up, all lowering their heads; the older sister was still better, still able to maintain solemnity, while Liang Li covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

Zhao Yi was still making his final stubbornness.

Li Zhuiyuan: "The books I chose for you are here."

Zhao Yi didn't move.

Li Zhuiyuan: "A set of 'Grand View of Theatrical Shadows', suitable as a supplement and enhancement for your puppetry, and can also further develop and utilize the dragon skin on your body; you can view yourself as a puppet controlled by yourself, enriching your movement techniques."

Zhao Yi's fingers, hands, and feet started to tremble slightly, as if he had a reaction.

Li Zhuiyuan: "A set of 'Seven Injuries Severing Life Blade', this is a blade manual for breaking one's own meridians and perishing together; others at most use it two or three times in a lifetime and it's completely wasted; you using that blade is wasting it anyway, it fits perfectly."

Zhao Yi raised his head, struggling to get up.

Li Zhuiyuan: "A set of 'Universal Salvation and Calamity Relief Sutra', can help you nourish and stabilize the crack of the Life and Death Gate while seeking opportunities for further development and refinement."

Zhao Yi sat up straight, his gaze like fire, staring at the youth standing behind the tractor.

The levels of cultivation techniques and secret manuals have high and low, but when applied to an individual, it only depends on whether it's suitable.

In terms of preciousness, the three sets of secret manuals that the guy surnamed Li gave him this time were one major grade lower than the ones he chose blindly last time, but each one was very suitable for him.

Movement techniques, attack intensity, future development.

This was truly chosen with care, and also planned for him.

Li Zhuiyuan threw the books he was carrying in.

Zhao Yi disregarded the bandages bursting, reached out to catch them, and held them in his arms.

Although he was extremely excited inside, he still spoke gloomily:

"Guy surnamed Li, do you know that this is raising a tiger to cause trouble?"

"In my heart, you are a dragon; don't be inferior and look down on yourself."

"Fine, guy surnamed Li, since you are so straightforward, then if there's anything in the future, just directly..."

"Remove the bandages tomorrow, help me rebuild the dojo; I'm in a hurry to use it."

"Guy surnamed Li, couldn't you have said that later, and let me be moved for a while longer?"

"You've already returned late and deliberately wasted time."

"Anyway, with her here, I'm definitely not the first one to return to report; then what's the point of rushing just to get ahead of Tan Daban?

Might as well stay until the end, when no one is disturbing, and have a good talk about love and chat with you.

However, I still have to thank you; you are truly merciful, giving me a night of rest time after returning."

"There is a new dojo design drawing tucked in the book; you need half a night to thoroughly understand it."

"Oh hehehe, thank you for giving me half a night of rest time."

"You have to provide subcontracting drawings for Chen Xiyuan and the others, to help them understand and cooperate with the construction; this also needs half a night."

"Guy surnamed Li, I don't know what language to use to praise you fiercely for a moment.

A-Jing, you get off the car to help move things; Xu Ming, drive."

The tractor started again, heading toward the bearded man's house.

Chen Jing jumped off the car, holding a box in her arms.

"Brother Yuan, it's heavy; I'll move it back to the room for you."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and touched Chen Jing's head.

A Li packed up the chessboard and walked out of the pavilion.

The people had been picked up, and they could go back.

On the way back, they met Li Weihan coming over on a bicycle.

"Little Yuan Hou~"

"Grandpa."

"Is your Great-Grandpa at home?"

"Not here."

"Is this going to drink again? I've looked for him twice these days, and both times he was drunk; it seems that the matter of me asking him to help me choose a wedding date for Pan Zi before, he also forgot."

"Didn't forget; Great-Grandpa told me the date."

Li Zhuiyuan reported a date.

Li Zhuiyuan had seen Pan Zi's fiancée, remembered her physiognomy, and combined with the approximate time Pan Zi mentioned when he sent him back last night that they were preparing to hold the wedding, picking a good date during this period was very simple.

Li Weihan repeated this date in his mouth several times: "Is this date good or not?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Great-Grandpa said it's extremely good."

Li Weihan: "Fine, then I'll tell Pan Zi's father and the in-laws, and everyone will arrange it."

"Goodbye, Grandpa."

Li Weihan smiled and nodded; before getting on the car, he looked at Li Zhuiyuan and then at A Li beside the youth, and smiled:

"One by one, there is hope for the future; hehe, there is hope for the future."

Li Zhuiyuan returned home.

Liu Yumei was chatting with the old sisters while playing cards; when the youth and others returned, she just glanced at them casually, and then her gaze changed suddenly, falling on the box in Chen Jing's arms.

Li Zhuiyuan smiled at Liu Yumei.

Liu Yumei moved her gaze away and continued playing cards.

Going upstairs and returning to the room, Chen Jing placed the box on the ground.

"Alright, Brother Yuan, I'm going back; I'll help Brother Yuan check if my Brother Yi's bandages have been removed."

After Chen Jing left, Li Zhuiyuan and A Li sat face-to-face across the box.

The youth signaled for the girl to place her hands on the box.

After the girl did so, the color in her eyes faded quickly, and bursts of ghostly wind, with the girl and the box as the center, constantly spread outward.

"A Li, you can stop."

The girl's eyes showed struggle, her hands trembled slightly as she left the box, and the ghostly wind dissipated.

A Li looked at the box and shook her head gently.

The box was a seal laid down by Zhao Yi; in order to seal the broken blood porcelain bottle inside, he had exhausted all his efforts.

But even so, with A Li's firm will, contacting this blood porcelain bottle across the box would still be affected.

Li Zhuiyuan: "After the new dojo is built, I will add a seal inside the bottle; then you won't have any burden when using it."

This kind of evil thing must have an extra layer of insurance; once an accident occurs leading to it going out of control, it can immediately trigger a catastrophe.

Fortunately, there were many evil things around Li Zhuiyuan, and the youth also had rich experience in dealing with evil things.

The newly rebuilt stove couldn't be used tonight; dinner was just boiling noodles in a small pot over a fire started with a pile of firewood.

Because Chen Xiyuan moved to the bearded man's house, and Tan Wenbin and the others were also healing there, boiling some noodles was enough for the remaining family to eat.

Li Sanjiang, while eating noodles, asked suspiciously:

"Hey, Little Yuan Hou, where are Zhuangzhuang and the others today?"

"Returned to school; they'll be back in two days."

"Oh, that's fine, that's fine."

After dinner, A Li was taking a bath in the east room.

Li Zhuiyuan was sitting on the rattan chair on the terrace, holding a pen in his hand, sketching the formation patterns inside the blood porcelain bottle.

After Li Sanjiang went upstairs, he didn't enter the room, but squatted down beside Li Zhuiyuan, and while smoking, took out a draft drawing from his bosom; he had asked someone to go today to draw the new house for Grandpa Shan.

Building a house in the countryside actually doesn't have that many requirements; most of them follow one template, and being able to involve the demand design level shows Great-Grandpa's importance to Grandpa Shan.

"Little Yuan Hou, help Great-Grandpa look, where needs to be changed?"

Li Zhuiyuan took the drawing, looked at it, and said: "Great-Grandpa, I have to finish the design draft I have on hand first; I have to ask someone to take it to Jin Ling to give to the teacher."

"This is not urgent, not urgent; your matter is important, busy with yours first; it's still early for Shan Pao's house to start construction, at least have to wait for the mules to come back."

Late at night.

In front of the desk.

Li Zhuiyuan had designed the formation inside the porcelain bottle.

The youth picked up the water cup with his left hand, and while drinking, quickly sketched on a piece of yellow paper with his right hand; after this cup of water was finished, the new house design drawing of Great-Grandpa was replicated on the yellow paper.

Taking out a pre-made small offering table from the hiking bag and tearing open the plastic seal, Li Zhuiyuan held this piece of yellow paper between his fingertips and pressed it into the small fire basin to burn into ashes.

Subsequently, the youth went to take a bath; after returning from the bath, he saw a line of very excited words left on the wall in front of the desk:

"The toilet must not face the road!!!"

When eating breakfast the next day, Li Zhuiyuan handed the new design drawing to Li Sanjiang.

"This is adding a basement?"

"Yes."

"Digging a basement at Shan Pao's house, no use, right?"

"Mengmeng said, she likes our basement."

When sleeping in the west room, Li Zhuiyuan had been disturbed by the insects of Liu Yi in the west room; having a basement, even if not used to put things, was suitable just for raising insects.

"That's fine, this is... the toilet?"

"Yes."

In the initial version, a toilet was built next to the main room, facing the road, with a large porcelain vat placed below and dragon and phoenix chairs placed above.

That is to say, the young couple living here could be so affectionate that they could face forward together, thinking about and looking forward to the future life path while using the toilet side-by-side.

"Putting a toilet inside the house?"

"Yes."

"Really extravagant, one downstairs and one upstairs, isn't this the same as a pigeon cage in the city? Hey, why is this toilet this style?"

"Squatting pit."

"I think Shan Pao won't be able to squat and pull it out, hahaha!"

After eating breakfast, Li Sanjiang called Qin Shu and Xiong Shan to accompany him to go out to sit for a fast.

At eight o'clock, Zhao Yi came over with his people and Chen Xiyuan.

The bandages had already been removed, and the skin on his body was still a bit sticky, looking like a newborn child, black and wrinkled.

Zhao Yi pointed at the skin exposed outside his clothes and said to Li Zhuiyuan:

"Look, guy surnamed Li, how much I sacrificed for you."

"Your injuries were already healed yesterday."

Yesterday's bandages were better described as covering up ugliness than healing injuries.

Zhao Yi: "My two wives are before me; I can't let them leave psychological shadows; at any rate, I also rely on my face to eat."

Liang Yan: "How could we be so vulgar."

Liang Li: "We appreciate your inner self, Boss."

Zhao Yi: "If I didn't look good, when I climbed over the wall into your house and saw you two practicing in the hot spring pool, you two wouldn't have given me time to apologize and introduce myself at all, but would have chopped me into eight pieces before I opened my mouth."

Chen Jing raised her head, listening with great interest.

The Liang sisters, one on the left and one on the right, one pinched Zhao Yi's arm and one pinched Zhao Yi's waist, blaming him for saying everything out loud.