Chapter 71

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin immediately looked at Li Zhuiyuan, their gazes burning; at this moment, silence spoke louder than words.

Since leaving home, they had indeed experienced many eerie things and seen many dead, but after being stuffed with rich food, they began to miss something light to nourish their stomachs.

For them, salvaging a normal corpse was just a way to cultivate their character.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

The two immediately smiled at each other. Runsheng lit a "cigar," while Tan Wenbin couldn't stop rubbing his hands excitedly.

Yin Meng entered the inner room. She first pushed open the coffin lid, then went outside to bring in the clay pot that had cooled to a lukewarm temperature, poured it into a bowl, and fed it into the old man's mouth spoonful by spoonful.

This wasn't medicine, but more like a thick sugar water, used to keep the old man alive.

After feeding him, Yin Meng opened a basin of hot water, changed the old man's diaper, carefully wiped his body, and finally changed him into clean clothes.

After doing all this, she wiped the sweat with the back of her hand.

The old man opened his eyes.

Yin Meng froze for a moment, then laughed out loud:

"Grandpa, you can actually open your eyes, and your complexion is much better. It seems you're going to get better."

Li Zhuiyuan had been standing by watching. He knew the old man could open his eyes; he was paralyzed by a cerebral infarction, not a vegetable. Besides, many vegetables could also open their eyes to take a look.

The old man had deliberately not responded in the past because he wanted to chill his granddaughter's heart; it would be best if she just treated him like a mule to be handled and served. He knew his own physical condition and didn't want his granddaughter to hold onto any hope.

Opening his eyes voluntarily today should be to take one last look at his granddaughter.

As for the good complexion that appeared on his face, it was actually the standard "flash of light before death."

After Yin Meng happily said a few words to the old man, she picked up the basin containing the dirty clothes and went out to wash them.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the side of the coffin, looked at the old man, and saw relief in his eyes.

Last night, the old man hadn't asked him to tell Yin Meng the truth. It seemed he didn't want his granddaughter to tear open new scars after experiencing being "abandoned by her parents" in her childhood.

Just looking at Yin Meng's attitude toward those two half-brothers, heh, Old Man, don't go saddling your granddaughter with two burdens.

But on second thought, Li Zhuiyuan felt the old man wouldn't make such a mistake.

To put it bluntly, those mixing on the river couldn't possibly be truly kind-hearted people.

How simple it was to kill someone on the river; just tie a stone to them and sink them.

This group of people had the means and the ability. In normal times, they relied on the Heavenly Dao, on kindness, and on secular rules to constrain themselves, but what if one day they didn't care at all?

So, never push an "honest person" to the edge.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the entrance of the inner room and happened to see Yin Meng drying clothes while wiping away tears.

That was true; as a legitimate, traditionally trained corpse-salvager, how could she not recognize the flash of light before death?

It was nothing more than both sides acting out a play, seeking a decent curtain call.

Yin Meng thanked and agreed to the help Tan Wenbin offered. After tidying up the house, she led everyone on their way.

Along the way, the two boys seemed to want to find Li Zhuiyuan, a child of the same age, to talk to, but Li Zhuiyuan was carried on Runsheng's back and ignored them, focusing on not contacting, not understanding, and not being responsible.

The journey wasn't far; it was in a village adjacent to the county town, and many villagers were gathered around the river pond to watch the excitement.

Two corpses, one male and one female, were still floating on the water surface, the man face down and the woman face up, yet they were tightly connected, as if unwilling to separate even in death.

If it weren't for the fact that these two fought every three days in the village, people would probably be spreading rumors that they had agreed to commit suicide for love.

Li Zhuiyuan got down from Runsheng's back, stood by the river pond, and took a glance. He knew clearly that these two weren't inseparable in death, but that the corpses had stuck together.

Unlike the usual white and translucent floating corpses, their bodies were black, like two pieces of spoiled, blackened pork skin jelly.

Two middle-aged men were arguing with a one-eyed old woman. Looking at the gear the two men were carrying behind them, they should be local corpse-salvagers.

There were two floating corpses here, and both were black and looked wrong, so the price for salvaging them would have to be calculated separately.

Clearly, the two sides hadn't been able to agree on the price, and the one-eyed woman would rather let her son and daughter-in-law continue soaking in the water than "suffer this loss."

Seeing Yin Meng arrive, the one-eyed woman immediately pointed at her triumphantly and laughed: "Alright, no need for you two black-hearted things anymore. My eldest granddaughter is here."

As she spoke, the one-eyed woman walked over very enthusiastically. She had a smiling face when she started, a crying tone halfway there, and when she reached them, she was crying and laughing with precise control. Then she wiped away her tears and grabbed her hand, as if she had finally found her backbone.

"Eldest granddaughter, you're finally here. Quick, quick, salvage your parents. They're so pitiful~ so pitiful~"

Tan Wenbin couldn't help but roll his eyes on the side, thinking that there were such shameless people in this world.

When Yin Meng was young and ignorant, she would cry and go find her mother, but her mother would deliberately hide and not see her. Every time, it was the one-eyed woman who would come out and scold the girl with the most damaging and poisonous words.

Once, in the dead of winter, the one-eyed woman poured a basin of water on her, making Yin Meng walk home crying while soaking wet.

The girl was also stupid; after returning home, she told her grandfather that she had fallen into a ditch because she was playing.

The old man was also stupid and actually believed it.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that the old man's love for his granddaughter was real, but his carelessness was also real; otherwise, he wouldn't have truly believed that "letter" left by his son back then.

Yin Meng didn't get warm with the one-eyed woman, only saying faintly: "I'll salvage them."

"Hey, hey, good, good, good."

Yin Meng looked at the two local peers. Their complexions were a bit ugly, but they couldn't say anything, so they could only light a cigarette to themselves and carry their gear back with their heads down.

She was salvaging her own mother, which didn't count as breaking the rules or stealing business.

Although they felt a bit disgusted, it was just a casual job, so they started to handle it.

Tan Wenbin set up the altar and lit candles, and Runsheng moved the small fishing boat over and placed it by the river pond.

Yin Meng stood before the altar and began to perform the ritual.

Li Zhuiyuan stood beside her, watching with great interest.

Compared to his own great-grandfather's casualness in rituals, Yin Meng was clearly much more professional and standard. Although many rituals weren't standard, one could still see ancient rites.

Especially those obscure syllables emitted from the throat through rapid vibration of the lips and teeth, which made Li Zhuiyuan very interested.

Last night, when the old man was doing business, facing that ghost shadow, he also used this method to communicate.

"Ghost talk," sometimes it could also be a complimentary term for a certain special ability.

After the ritual was finished, Yin Meng began to prepare to salvage the corpses, but before she could leave the altar to go down, she saw Runsheng and Tan Wenbin had already rowed the boat out, using Yin Meng's gear.

Yin Meng stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Li Zhuiyuan helplessly: "How embarrassing."

"It's fine, their hands are itching."

Yin Meng smiled: "My hands are itching too."

Because her prices were expensive, she couldn't get a few corpse-salvaging jobs all year round, and this time she was also eager to try.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin cooperated very tacitly. Because the two corpses were stuck together and couldn't be separated, the two simply stood shoulder to shoulder, each carrying one, and then:

"One, two, three!"

From the boat, they jumped to the ground together.

Yin Meng watched the whole process and said with some surprise: "The rules for corpse-salvaging in Nantong seem to be like ours."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't commit himself. If his great-grandfather came, Yin Meng probably wouldn't have this feeling.

Runsheng's set of procedures had been corrected by him according to the records in Wei Zhengdao's book, including the moves to deal with the dead in the "Zhengdao Demon Subduing Record," which he had also taught Runsheng, and Tan Wenbin had learned from Runsheng.

It could be said that what Runsheng and the others had just demonstrated was a textbook template, the most professional and standard movements.

Too lazy to unload and roll them up, the two carried the corpses directly into the one-eyed woman's house, where a large straw mat was spread over a row of long benches, and the corpses were placed on top.

The one-eyed woman found a white bed sheet to cover her son and daughter-in-law, and then her nose went sour. Just as she was about to enter the state of crying, the two women beside her stepped forward; one poked her waist, and the other whispered a few words in her ear.

The one-eyed woman immediately became alert, first dispersing the villagers who had come into the house to see the corpses, leaving only her own relatives, and then specifically stepped forward, took Yin Meng's hand, pulled her into the house, and then stood up the door panels of the living room.

Outside the house, the villagers whispered to each other.

Tan Wenbin saw Li Zhuiyuan sitting on a small stool, so he followed and squatted down, asking curiously: "Brother Yuan, they aren't rushing to arrange the funeral, what are they doing?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Entrusting orphans."

Tan Wenbin: "Can they be this shameless?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't answer, looking down at an earthworm crawling out of the soil at his feet, half its body outside and half inside.

Tan Wenbin asked again: "Brother Yuan, what should we do?"

"What should we do?"

"I mean, should we help her?"

"What does it have to do with us?"

"At the very least, we count as friends, right?"

"Then respect the friend's choice."

"Uh..." Tan Wenbin scratched his hair hard. "But this doesn't feel right. What if she really loses her head and agrees?"

"Then respect her fate."

Inside the house.

Yin Meng stood in the middle, surrounded by a group of people, including the two boys.

The one-eyed woman pointed to this group of adults and introduced them: "Eldest granddaughter, they are all your relatives. This is your eldest uncle, this is your second uncle, this is your eldest aunt, second aunt..."

The one-eyed woman had three sons and one daughter; Yin Meng's mother had married her youngest son.

Yin Meng's gaze swept over this group of "relatives" who had no blood relationship with her at all.

At this moment, they all had smiling faces.

The one-eyed woman continued: "Eldest granddaughter, your parents have left just like that, and my sky has collapsed. I'm an old woman, and my body isn't good either, but these two grandsons can't be left without anyone to look after them.

They still have to go to school, eat, and wear clothes. I really have no way to carry this~"

The one-eyed woman started singing again.

A group of "uncles and aunts" beside her immediately followed:

"That's right, that's right."

"It's difficult, really difficult."

Yin Meng didn't speak.

Seeing the girl not picking up the conversation, the one-eyed woman wasn't discouraged. She took Yin Meng's hand on her own and called the two grandsons over:

"Come, Niuwa, Mawa, from now on, you will live with your sister. Sister will provide you with food and drink, and provide you with schooling. Quick, thank your sister."

"Thank you, sister."

"Thank you, sister."

The one-eyed woman turned her head to look at Yin Meng and said lovingly:

"Arranging it this way is also for your own good. You are alone at home. If you get married in the future, you won't even have any maternal relatives, and you'll be bullied.

Niuwa and Mawa are your own brothers, born of the same mother, after all. If you raise them, they can help you in the future, and they will be your backbone and confidence.

This matter is settled."

The one-eyed woman smiled happily and prepared to open the door. First, she would close the door to say things in the house, and then open the door to announce it to the villagers. Even if there was no written agreement, with this process, the matter would be settled.

Yin Meng finally opened her mouth and asked: "You want me to raise them?"

"Ah, right. Don't you like your two brothers? Look, how obedient they are."

Every time the two children went to the county town and arrived at the coffin shop, Yin Meng would either leave them for a meal or give them some pocket money. The one-eyed woman knew the girl was kind-hearted.

Yin Meng asked again: "You want me to raise them?"

"Of course, that would be great. If you get married in the future, with two brothers, your husband's family definitely won't dare to bully you; even if you don't plan to get married, these two brothers of yours and their children can also help you in your old age."

"Oh."

Yin Meng nodded.

Seeing this, the people around breathed a sigh of relief, and while showing smiles, they also sent various praises to the girl.

The one-eyed woman was even happier, the wrinkles on her face blooming like daisies.

The two boys must have been instructed by their relatives and elders, and at this time, they both grabbed the girl's legs: "Sister."

Yin Meng raised her hand and swung it down heavily toward the two boys:

"Snap! Snap!"

Both boys were knocked to the ground, clutching their swollen right cheeks, their corners of their mouths broken and bleeding.

At this moment, the house was dead silent.

Breaking this silence was the crying of the two boys after they came out of their dazed state.

The one-eyed woman slapped her thighs with both hands and wailed: "Oh my god, this heartless thing!"

She cried and shouted while pouncing toward Yin Meng.

Yin Meng raised her foot and kicked her directly in the chest.

"Bang!"

After the one-eyed woman was kicked to the ground, she rolled several times.

Seeing that a fight had started, the two "uncles" rushed up angrily. Yin Meng not only didn't dodge but took the initiative to step forward, flipping one of them to the ground with a shoulder throw, then locked the other's arm and kicked him in the back.

She had the ability to fight the dead, so dealing with ordinary people was truly easy.

"Why are you still hitting people!"

"Don't you have any upbringing!"

The "aunts" and "young aunt" were still chattering on the side. Yin Meng walked up, grabbed one by the hair, and slapped her twice.

"Snap! Snap!"

The others wanted to hide, but Yin Meng chased them, grabbing one by the hair with each hand, dragging them back, and forcibly pressing them in front of the two corpses on the straw mat, making their faces stick to the corpses.

Yin Meng pressed their heads, rolling them back and forth, which was equivalent to giving them a beauty treatment; one couldn't tell if it was water or grease on their faces.

"Ah!!!!!!!!!"

Screams followed one after another.

After fixing everyone in the house, Yin Meng saw whoever climbed up and kicked them down again.

Her expression was very calm, she didn't cry, shout, or make a scene, and didn't even scold, but her fists and feet were very hard.

The two boys were left alone at first, but they took the initiative to run over and "beg sister not to hit them." Yin Meng backhanded them with another slap each, begging for symmetry.

Hitting children was wrong, but she was also a child, and most importantly, beating the children relieved her anger.

After finishing, Yin Meng walked to the living room door.

"Bang!"

The door panel was kicked broken, and Yin Meng walked out.

The villagers poked their heads to look into the house and found a pile of people lying inside.

Tan Wenbin stood up, walked to Yin Meng, and clapped hard: "Can do, can do, really worried you would agree."

Yin Meng rolled her eyes at him: "My brain isn't water-damaged."

Runsheng observed the inside and shook his head, saying: "Not all the teeth were knocked out."

At this moment, someone among the villagers shouted: "The village chief is here, the village chief is here!"

A middle-aged, burly man wearing a hat with a cigarette tucked behind his ear walked over. His gaze swept across the scene, and the scene immediately quieted down. It seemed this village chief had great prestige in the village.

"Hitting people, someone is going to be beaten to death, find the police station, find the police station!"

The people in the house crawled out, each with a face swollen like a pig's head, disheveled, like ghosts coming out of a cage.

The village chief looked at Tan Wenbin and Runsheng standing beside Yin Meng and was about to speak when Li Zhuiyuan's voice came first: "Runsheng, Binbin, step back."

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin immediately stepped back.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at Yin Meng and said: "Everyone just saw it, she was the only one who went in, no one else followed."

The surrounding villagers nodded one after another.

The village chief was shocked. This girl had such ability, beating a house full of people by herself?

He looked at the girl and asked: "Speak, why hit people?"

Yin Meng: "They wanted to..."

Li Zhuiyuan: "They wanted to tie her up and marry her to another family to collect a bride price. This is human trafficking!"

The village chief froze for a moment. Regardless of whether it was true or false, once this reason was stated, plus the fact that the girl fought by herself, even if it went to the police station, it would be a muddled affair with no follow-up, let alone any way to pursue accountability.

"You're talking nonsense!" The one-eyed woman's teeth were full of blood as she shouted desperately, "Who wants to sell her, who wants to sell her!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Then what did you call her in to do? What blood relationship does she have with you, and what kind of relative is she!"

After speaking, without waiting for the people in the house to react, Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand: "Let's go, go home."

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin each carried their things, then opened the way on the left and right, taking Yin Meng and squeezing out of the crowd.

The villagers were just here to watch the excitement, and seeing the two men with a shovel and a hook, they took the initiative to make way.

Several young people in the village wanted to look at the village chief's expression to see if they should stop them. This was out of traditional local territory sentiment, but the village chief didn't give any look at all.

The one-eyed woman couldn't believe it: "Just let them go like this, they almost beat people to death!"

The village chief glared at her and asked: "What were you going to do when you called the girl in?"

The one-eyed woman said as a matter of course: "Let her take the two brothers to live!"

Hearing this, the villagers looked at each other, and the village chief also held a breath in his chest.

"Deserved!"

Spitting heavily on the ground, the village chief walked away directly.

When the four returned to the county, it was already dusk. Yin Meng didn't rush back to the coffin shop but pointed to a hot pot restaurant and said:

"Eat hot pot, my treat!"

Entering the shop, they ordered a nine-grid hot pot. Everyone hadn't eaten much at noon and had rushed over, and after walking and salvaging corpses all afternoon, they were all hungry, and soon they were all dipping tripe and duck intestines.

Yin Meng ordered wine, stood up, and poured it for Runsheng, Binbin, and herself, then poured soy milk for Li Zhuiyuan.

She raised her glass.

"Thanks!"

After speaking, Yin Meng drank it all in one gulp, then coughed violently.

Tan Wenbin said with a laugh that was not a laugh: "Forget it, forget it, if we can't drink, we won't drink. You can drink milk with my Brother Yuan."

Yin Meng wiped her mouth and said: "The process must be followed!"

"It's already followed, followed. Come, the tripe is ready, eat quickly, or it will get old."

When facing the dead, the busiest might be Runsheng or Xiao Yuan, but at the dinner table, the busiest was always Zhuangzhuang.

While eating hot pot, everyone tacitly didn't talk about what happened today.

Tan Wenbin asked Yin Meng what she wanted to do if she didn't run the coffin shop in the future. Yin Meng said she didn't know, saying that perhaps not wanting to change was a kind of liking for the status quo.

Yin Meng asked the three what they wanted to do in the future. Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin answered that they wanted to go to university, and Runsheng answered that he wanted to ride a tricycle to carry them to university.

After everyone was stuffed, Yin Meng went to pay the bill.

The four walked back to the coffin shop side by side. When washing up, Tan Wenbin said with a smile:

"I found that sleeping in a coffin is really quite comfortable. When I go back, I have to persuade Grandpa Li to prepare a longevity coffin in advance, so I won't have to sleep on the round table in the future. Runsheng, what do you think?"

"If you dare to go back and say that, Grandpa Li will dare to beat you to death and let you lie in that longevity coffin for burial first."

"Just a joke. Let me tell you, I have a new breakthrough in my studies recently."

"What?"

"It's not convenient to say now. Let's talk in detail when we take the boat tomorrow. If you want to learn, I can teach you, but you have to beg me."

"Can't I find Xiao Yuan?"

"You really shouldn't say that; this Xiao Yuan might really not be able to teach it."

Last night, Xiao Yuan taught him the method to end yin-walking, which was to tell him to find the feeling of floating up.

This is like saying to a student who has just come into contact with the piano: just feel it with your heart and you can play a moving melody.

But the problem is, he doesn't even recognize the keys, and he can't read the music.

After washing up, everyone lay in their own coffins.

After Li Zhuiyuan slept for a while, he vaguely heard a burst of coughing. He turned his head and walked the yin.

Walking into the inner room, he saw the old man climbing out of the coffin, and a "rustling" sound came from Tan Wenbin's coffin beside him.

"He was like this last night, able to sense it, as if he was about to walk the yin. When I really pulled him out, he was scared half to death when he saw me."

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze condensed, and a shadow fell on the coffin where Tan Wenbin was, and it immediately became quiet.

The old man was startled by this scene and said hurriedly: "You can't use this move to interrupt his yin-walking. If the degree isn't grasped well, it will cause damage to his brain."

After speaking, the old man seemed to realize something and hurriedly smiled and shook his head: "Forget it, I'm overthinking. You grasp it more precisely than I do."

He had seen the boy's terrifying learning ability last night with his own eyes. The boy's attainments in the Yin family's twelve methods were now far deeper than his, the orthodox successor.

Frequent yin-walking easily causes loss of consciousness. Li Zhuiyuan was now controlling Binbin's frequency.

However, what Li Zhuiyuan found even stranger now was the old man's current state.

"How come you seem to be... better again?"

"Ah, I'm puzzled too. Logically, I shouldn't even have the strength to walk the yin today."

"Did your Yang lifespan come back?"

"Are they both dead?"

"Both are dead."

"Then that shouldn't be. The deal was done, why would there be a refund?"

Logically, this should have been a good thing that took advantage, but the old man couldn't be happy and instead cursed,

"Isn't this just delaying things for no reason!"

Clearly, he had already had a flash of light before death, and he was only a day or two away from dying and having a funeral. He was just about to free himself and his granddaughter, but he could continue to live.

The old man walked to the wall and pressed the mirror. The door panel immediately became transparent.

The Ghost Festival had passed, and the temple fair had ended, but it wasn't that there were no "people" on the road; there were still scattered ones walking.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that Fengdou, this place, should have its own unique mystery. In other places, the boy hadn't seen so many ghost shadows.

Perhaps the legend of Yin Changsheng ascending to heaven in broad daylight here wasn't groundless, but the "ascending to heaven in broad daylight" here might have a relatively large difference from the kind in normal people's cognition.

Although the flow of people outside was small today, the entry coefficient had increased. As soon as the door opened, a black shadow floated in impatiently.

These black shadows were almost all the same, as if wearing a black robe, completely unable to see the human face, and even unable to distinguish gender.

But it felt like he had "seen" them yesterday.

The old man and the black shadow began to communicate in obscure, buzzing sounds.

After the communication ended, the old man sighed, sat back in his chair, covered his face, and was somewhat unable to laugh or cry.

The black shadow didn't leave and still stood in place.

The old man waved his hand: "You should go."

The black shadow still didn't move.

The old man said angrily: "What, you still want to stick around?"

The black shadow turned and floated toward Li Zhuiyuan.

The boy was not only not afraid but somewhat secretly happy, his gaze revealing a bit of eagerness to try.

The old man reminded him: "He is from the Dragon King's family."

The black shadow stopped its figure and retreated from the coffin shop without hesitation, merging into the darkness.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the old man: "Why did you say it?"

"This is the Ghost Street, under the feet of the Great Emperor of Fengdou. Unless it's a last resort, don't conflict with these things."

"Your Yin family has been developing and inheriting here for a long time, right? Have you conducted research on the special situation here?"

"Our surname is Yin, the same surname as the Great Emperor of Fengdou. We... are his descendants."

"Is there a genealogy?"

"There is. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, our family was even imperial relatives."

Li Zhuiyuan looked around at this coffin shop: "It really doesn't look like an imperial relative's atmosphere now."

The old man didn't think so: "This is very normal. Pick any surname from the Hundred Family Surnames and count up; which family's ancestors haven't been princes or nobles?"

"Have you investigated it?" Li Zhuiyuan continued to pursue the previous topic.

"Yes." The old man nodded hard, "The ancestor was practicing Daoism, but the ancestor could ascend because he ate an immortal pill."

"I remember it seems to be recorded in the 'Baopuzi' that your ancestor also obtained a 'Scroll of Elixirs'."

"This is fake; it's recorded in the genealogy. If there really were such a thing, one could refine pills oneself, and I don't know how many ancestors would have become immortals and ascended.

In fact, according to the research of several generations of ancestors, what the ancestor ate might not have been an immortal pill."

"Then what was it?"

"A corpse pill."

"It seems your family really put in a lot of effort to research it in the past."

If there wasn't enough evidence, who would say their ancestor ate a corpse pill instead of an immortal pill? Just for fun to humiliate their own ancestors?

Relevant Taoist classics record that after Yin Changsheng attained the Dao and became an immortal, he played in the world for a long time before finally ascending... then the ascension here can also be understood as disappearing?

Is it possible that Yin Changsheng didn't fly up, but drilled down?

Combined with the line of words carved on the stone at the shop entrance:

"If a son does not walk at night, how does he know there are night walkers above?"

Yin Changsheng said that after he became an immortal, he knew how many people had successfully attained the Dao since his dynasty. He said that many immortals didn't like to disturb the world and only liked to live in seclusion.

If Yin Changsheng ate a corpse pill, then those reclusive immortal friends he spoke of, wouldn't they be...

The old man said: "The ancestors were very keen on researching this in the past, even to the point of obsession, but later, one was the decline of the family, and the other was that they didn't research anything useful after researching for a long time. The later ancestors also calmed down.

These things are all recorded in the genealogy. You can let Mengmeng take out the genealogy for you during the day. You can copy a copy... or just borrow it to read."

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the position where the black shadow had stood earlier, looking at the old man across the counter, and asked:

"Are you trying to do a deal with me?"

He really told the secrets of his ancestors, and even was willing to lend the genealogy.

Where can these things be heard and borrowed for free?

The old man waved his hand: "I'm too lazy to recruit a son-in-law for Mengmeng to inherit the surname. Although the genealogy records many secrets, what use are they to me and Mengmeng?

If you like it, just take it. This is called making the best use of everything."

"Old Man, I'll give you one more chance, name your price."

"Take Mengmeng away, let her follow you."

"She's not a commodity; she's a person. Can I just take her away?"

The old man's expression relaxed. He didn't refuse directly but talked about the price, which proved that the other party was still willing to make this deal.

"Mengmeng is a pure-hearted child. I believe that with your intelligence, you can take her away. Ah, I'm not saying your intentions are impure."

"You're still alive; she won't leave."

"I will die."

"Then what happened just now? How did your Yang lifespan come back?"

"It didn't accomplish the task. The deal didn't go through, so it was refunded."

"But people died."

"It wasn't done by it. It said that the two boys in the house were playful and poured pesticide into the rice jar. The one-eyed woman couldn't bear to throw away the rice, but washed it and cooked rice. She was old and didn't dare to eat it, and she felt sorry for the two grandsons and couldn't bear to give it to the children, so she gave it to the two adults, and they were poisoned to death that night.

The one-eyed woman was afraid of being held accountable, so she tied the two dead people on the bed together, dragged them, and threw them into the river pond, pretending they had drowned."

"Could she have such great strength alone?"

"She told her eldest son, and her eldest son came to help her, on the condition that the youngest son's house and land would be given to the eldest son, and she could also move into the eldest son's house for him to support her in her old age."

"She's quite clear-headed. No wonder she wanted to dump the two boys on Yin Meng during the day. This is wanting to be 'debt-free'."

"Mengmeng isn't stupid; she won't agree."

"You really think so?"

"Otherwise?" The old man asked back as a matter of course, "I wouldn't go after those two boys. Grievances have heads and debts have owners; they are innocent."

"Mm."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe it.

He couldn't understand ghost talk, that's true, but if it were just a normal failed deal, the black shadow wouldn't have stood here for so long.

Most likely, it was because the big project didn't work out, so it wanted to discuss doing the small project to exchange for some reward.

Who the small project referred to was self-evident.

It was nothing more than the situation changing, and the old man feeling that the small project was unnecessary, which angered the black shadow that had worked in vain the whole time.

"I will die. I will let Mengmeng leave here without any worries. The world is very good now; she should go out and see. Once she has truly seen the outside world and feels she doesn't like it and returns here, at least she won't have any regrets in her heart."

"Tell me in detail about your method of death."

"Wanting to die isn't simple? Just do another deal and let the guest kill me."

"It is indeed simple."

"You don't know, I'm also in pain living now. I also want to be liberated."

"Then hurry up; I won't stay here for too long."

"Alright, don't worry. As long as you agree, I will arrange my death immediately."

"I can agree, but there is one thing I must clarify first. I count as a registered disciple of the Liu family, but I haven't formally entered the gate, so my relationship with the Liu family is different from what you imagine.

Don't think that I can definitely take Yin Meng into the Liu family."

"The ability you showed yesterday, here with me, whether you are a Liu family member or not, actually doesn't matter anymore."

"Good, I agree."

"Thank you."

"Didn't you say yesterday that you didn't hope she would walk this path?"

"I had a flash of light before death during the day. Although I didn't die, it made me see some things clearly. Mengmeng's path, she will choose it herself. If she really doesn't like this path, I believe you will also arrange her well, because you are the smartest person I have ever seen in my life."

Smart, almost not like a person.

"Sleeping."

"Rest well."

The next morning, Li Zhuiyuan sat up from the coffin after waking up.

Yin Meng was unloading the door panels with Runsheng, preparing to open the business that was destined not to have many customers.

"You're awake. I cooked century egg and lean meat porridge in the pot, want to drink some?"

Li Zhuiyuan bypassed the enthusiastic Yin Meng and looked at Runsheng behind her.

Runsheng shook his head with a serious expression.

This couldn't help but arouse Li Zhuiyuan's curiosity. How strange could food be to make even Runsheng feel it was unpalatable?

But he still didn't want to test the poison with his own body, so he shook his head: "I want to eat steamed buns."

Runsheng immediately answered and walked out of the shop: "I'll go buy them."

Yin Meng said with some disappointment: "But, there's still a lot of porridge left in the pot, I cooked too much."

Li Zhuiyuan comforted her: "It's fine, wait until Binbin wakes up, leave it all for him, he loves drinking porridge."

Lifting the coffin, washing up.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to Yin Meng again and said very frankly: "I want to see your family's genealogy."

Yin Meng didn't hesitate: "Good, I'll get it for you."

She wouldn't walk the yin, naturally she hadn't communicated with the old man. She just simply felt that the genealogy was nothing that couldn't be shown to others, especially since they were friends.

The genealogy was very thick and very large. For the convenience of reading, it could only be placed on the ground to read.

The Yin family did have a history, because the beginning of their genealogy looked like a fairy tale. After flipping through several large pages, it was all about which daughter-in-law or daughter of the Yin family, either taking a nap by the river or dreaming of some strange scene, and then, she became pregnant and gave birth to some noble figure.

It seemed that in that era, the women of the Yin family were only busy with one thing, and that was becoming pregnant inexplicably.

The middle section was like historical narrative, relatively rigorous, and could match official history.

At the end, there were dense research and scientific papers by the Yin family ancestors.

This couldn't help but make Li Zhuiyuan think of the original owner of the Road Tyrant Village, the ancestors of the Qi family.

They were all a group of madmen obsessed with research, but the Qi family ancestors researched spatial interlayers, and the Yin family ancestors researched their own family's most famous ancestor in history.

The content was too detailed, and there were large sections of travel notes and arguments inside. This actually couldn't be considered a genealogy anymore, but more like a summary of the family's research through the ages.

Counting what he already had on hand, the Qi family ancestor's notes, the bamboo slips on the masked man, plus the Yin family genealogy.

The Qi family ancestor's notes had always been kept in his mind, but because of his physical condition, he hadn't had time to decipher them yet, and the bamboo slips hadn't been restored well.

However, these three books were extremely worth reading.

People who love reading understand that when reading with excitement, and then weighing the thick follow-up content, what kind of happiness it is.

At noon, when Yin Meng was changing her grandfather's diaper, the old man opened his eyes again.

This time, he even spoke. The facial paralysis caused by the cerebral infarction was severe, the facial muscles were weak, the lips couldn't be lifted, and the voice was extremely weak.

It was Li Zhuiyuan who heard the movement and came in to act as a translator.

There wasn't much fresh content; it was all instructions and blessings from the elder to the younger, cliché but revealing true feelings.

The old man seemed very reassured about Li Zhuiyuan's ability. He didn't even mention letting his granddaughter go with the boy, and Li Zhuiyuan didn't add any foreshadowing for himself.

Everything, let nature take its course.

Yin Meng must have had a premonition of something. After the chat ended, she called Runsheng to accompany her to the fabric shop on the street to buy white cloth and black gauze, and also went to the funeral shop to buy funeral supplies.

The reason she didn't call Tan Wenbin to go together was that Binbin had food poisoning from the porridge she cooked in the morning and was vomiting and having diarrhea.

This made Li Zhuiyuan very surprised. You must know that Binbin had eaten the food of the dead a few times, and even eaten dirty cured meat, and even so, he couldn't withstand the porridge Yin Meng cooked.

When everything was ready, everyone was very quiet and peaceful. The funeral was foreseeable to be very simple, because whether it was the coffin shop or the corpse-salvager... they were destined not to have any relatives or friends.

Perhaps, the four of them were the only guests at the upcoming funeral.

That night, Li Zhuiyuan heard the sound of yin wind outside the coffin. He turned over and didn't walk the yin.

The next morning, everyone got up and ate the soy milk and fried dough sticks bought from outside for breakfast.

After the meal, Yin Meng, like usual, didn't go to see the longevity clothes that had already been prepared, but went to bring over the clean clothes and diapers she had washed.

Opening the coffin, she wanted to help her grandfather wipe and change.

Inside the coffin, the old man closed his eyes and had no breath; he had left very steadily and peacefully.

Yin Meng cried, tears streaming down her face, but after wiping them hard twice, she turned her head and smiled at the three people behind her:

"It's really good, my grandfather has left."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 72 =====