Chapter 488

Zhao Yi walked from the foot of the mountain toward the summit, passing the scenic area's ticket checkpoint along the way.

His bamboo residence was built right in front of the Lushan Waterfall, belonging to the core area of the scenic spot.

A staff member spread their hands toward Zhao Yi, demanding to check his ticket.

Zhao Yi waved his hand impatiently and shouted, "I'm a local!"

Seeing that he was a local, the staff member let him pass.

Zhao Yi did not rush to the summit; instead, he went down to the waterfall pool.

Chen Jing had been soaking in it for several days; his whole body was waterlogged, white and bloated.

He was facing upward, eyes open, but there was no light in them.

Zhao Yi picked up a stone and threw it at Chen Jing, cursing:

"A-Jing, don't you dare actually drown here and become a corpse demon; I really don't have the confidence that I could suppress that."

Chen Jing slowly turned his head, looked at Zhao Yi on the bank, and emitted an incomparably hoarse voice:

"Brother Yuan... Brother Yuan..."

"Alright, your Brother Yuan is fine. Thank you for your performance these past few days."

Hearing this, Chen Jing immediately sat up, and then his whole body sank rapidly, "gurgling" to the bottom.

Zhao Yi had no choice but to take off his clothes, jump into the water, fish Chen Jing out, and carry him back to the bamboo residence on the peak.

The sentry posts outside his own home had all been withdrawn, and even the ticket-checking staff had returned to their original selves; they should have been cleared out completely.

Because he was already able to receive the results of matters through his own established channels, it would be meaningless for the other party to keep watching him to see if he would leak information.

"Alright, Li, now you can continue drinking your beverage and prepare to choke to death."

Back home, after throwing A-Jing to Xu Ming to take care of, Zhao Yi walked into his study and took a stack of letters from his bosom.

Flipping through them, he pulled out an interesting signature—Tao Zhuming.

He tore open the letter and spread it out on the desk.

The content of the letter was not small, but it was all nonsense like "a day without seeing you is like three autumns"; the real point was in the bottom line.

Tao Zhuming did not write this letter to collude or cooperate with him; in fact, up to now, he had indeed been actively approached by many family heads, but Long Wang Tao was not among them.

"Brother Zhao, I am just curious whether Ling Wuxing has contacted you."

Li Zhuiyuan inserted three sticks of incense into the incense burner on the offering table.

Grandma Liu was not at home, but the young man would come to offer incense every day.

It was quite convenient; he didn't even need to prepare or replace the offerings. The food usually placed on the offering table was not for sacrifice, but Grandma Liu's own snacks.

There were no spirits left in the house, so even if he offered them, they couldn't eat them; naturally, the ritual was simplified. Even these burning incense candles came with excellent incense and insect-repelling effects—the main point was practicality.

Walking out of the east room and standing on the terrace, he looked up and gazed into the distance. The sky was filled with red clouds, looking exactly like the frozen red face of a stone in winter.

On the village road ahead, Shitou was being kicked from behind by his father.

After being kicked to the ground, Shitou stood up while rubbing his buttocks, not daring to delay, and continued to sob as he walked forward, fearing that if he walked too slowly, the next kick would come soon.

The redness on his face was not from the winter cold, but from being slapped.

Although they were far away, Li Zhuiyuan still heard the cursing from Shitou's father:

"You little beast, you don't learn anything good, all you know is running to the video game arcade every single day!"

In the early years, video game arcades were still high-end places, generally only found in city parks and cultural palaces. Later, they opened to private businesses, and with the massive influx of pirated arcade boards, they not only rapidly covered city corners, but their penetration rate in towns and townships was also very high. You didn't even need to be in town; if you were quick-witted, you could just buy a few machines and put them in your own home in the village, sitting at home collecting money and selling game tokens—locally called "selling boards."

When Li Zhuiyuan first arrived in Nantong, there were no video game arcades in Shigang Town, so that summer he was still taken by Pan Zi and Lei Zi to catch fish and shrimp in the village. If he had come a year later, he probably would have been taken to the town's video game arcade by the two older brothers.

Children simply couldn't resist its temptation; the video game arcade was the holy land in their hearts. Even if they didn't have money to buy tokens, just standing inside and watching others play was enough to keep them fascinated for a whole day.

Of course, in midnight nightmares, there was also no lack of the father's face suddenly reflecting in the colorful, incredibly exciting screen while one was excitedly manipulating the joystick and hitting the buttons.

After Shitou and his father passed by, Hu Zi's figure appeared behind, looking burdened with worries.

He had gone with Shitou, but when Shitou's father came to catch people, he happened to be using the toilet on the boss's ceramic vat. Now, he could only pray that Shitou would consider their brotherhood and not sell him out.

Runsheng put down the phone in Auntie Zhang Shen's small shop. He had just finished a call with Yin Meng. He chose to call here because the mobile phone bill was more expensive, and there were too many sharp-eared people at home; he felt embarrassed.

Facing Auntie Zhang Shen, who was knitting a sweater behind the counter, was fine; anyway, it was all Yin Meng talking and him echoing, basically just "uh-huh, uh-huh." Auntie Zhang Shen couldn't hear anything anyway.

After settling the phone bill, Runsheng bought some loose candies. When he walked out, he happened to bump into Hu Zi, so Runsheng grabbed a handful of candies and stuffed them into his hand.

"Thank you, Brother Runsheng."

Hu Zi ran forward quickly with the candies, caught up with Shitou, stuffed all the candies into Shitou's pocket, and squeezed Shitou's hand hard, looking exactly like a comrade on a secret front in a spy movie signaling that he must withstand the enemy's torture.

When Runsheng was walking home, a small pickup truck drove past him. Tan Wenbin, who was driving, waved at him.

The car drove onto the terrace, and Tan Wenbin got out, holding the newly collected intelligence from the Jianghu.

In the previous wave, many people's contact information had been left behind, which was equivalent to building an efficient intelligence network.

However, under normal circumstances, this intelligence was as good as not seen, because they were the parties involved, and the whole matter was a counter-layout done by Brother Xiaoyuan himself.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, there is a piece of intelligence you must see. I didn't even expect that I could receive his."

"Ling Wuxing?"

"Brother Xiaoyuan, can't you guess a bit more?"

"The hint you gave was too obvious."

Tan Wenbin handed Ling Wuxing's intelligence report to Li Zhuiyuan.

Ling Wuxing provided a clear perspective from the opposing side.

He even wrote the news of his grandfather's serious injury inside.

Between the lines, there was no humility or flattery, but rather a sense of detachment.

Tan Wenbin: "One is the grandfather, one is the grandson, same surname, why is the gap so big?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "You think the old guys are old and rotten, the old guys think you are young and naive. When they were young, perhaps they were also high-spirited. People will change. Sun Qinghua, the valley master in the small hell, wouldn't dare to recognize that future self."

Li Zhuiyuan handed Ling Wuxing's report back to Tan Wenbin. Tan Wenbin asked: "Ling Wuxing's grandfather, why did he encounter karmic backlash?"

"Because someone made him encounter karmic backlash."

Hearing this, Tan Wenbin looked at the door of the east room and smiled: "Sure enough, ginger is still old and spicy."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Grandma Liu didn't have cards to play before, it wasn't that her card skills weren't good. Also, even though she had already speculated about this Jianghu with the greatest malice, she still thought too well of them.

These under-the-table tricks that break the rules—they were able to take advantage back then not because they played how well, but because they were shameless enough."

Li Zhuiyuan touched his own face and continued:

"Fortunately, in terms of thick-skinnedness, they can't compare to me."

Tan Wenbin smiled lightly.

"Hahahaha."

On the kitchen roof, Lin Shu You, who was repairing the roof, heard the cold joke told by Brother Xiaoyuan and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Master Tongzi: "Jitong, you are courting death, how dare you..."

Lin Shu You: "Brother Xiaoyuan said it, so what if I laugh?"

Master Tongzi: "You, you, you, you are really going to piss me off!"

Lin Shu You shrugged indifferently and reached out to catch the tiles thrown up by Chen Xiyuan from below. Who knew that Miss Chen would jump onto the roof holding the tiles herself, pinch her own face with one hand, and ask curiously:

"A-You, explain to me quickly, what's funny about this sentence?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "In addition, when Ling Wuxing's grandfather encountered karmic backlash, he still had the Ling family Long Wang's spirit to help protect and resolve it, but the other old lady doesn't have such good treatment right now."

Tan Wenbin: "Will she... kick the bucket?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's possible, but I hope she can continue to live strongly."

Tan Wenbin: "Yeah, dying just like that would be too easy for her."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Logically speaking, Grandma Liu and the others should have returned long ago."

The intelligence report had been received, but the people who actually went out to do things hadn't returned yet.

It's just that Grandma Liu didn't like the tediousness of separation and return; every time, she left very decisively and then returned without prior notice.