Chapter 78

"Shoes are broken, hat is broken, the cassock on the body is broken; you laugh at me, he laughs at me, a fan is broken..."

Xue Liangliang reached out and turned up the volume.

The next moment, except for Li Zhuiyuan, everyone in the car sang in unison:

"Namo Amitabha, Namo Amitabha..."

The TV series "Ji Gong" starring You Benchang had been released for several years and was still hot today.

After the song ended, the car finally quieted down.

Yinmeng asked: "How much longer until we reach Jin Ling?"

Xue Liangliang: "We'll be there in about an hour."

"Then you are quite close to the provincial capital."

"Close?" Xue Liangliang laughed, "Jin Ling is the provincial capital of Jiangsu, but most cities in the province are not that close to Jin Ling. On the contrary, it's more convenient for my hometown in Anhui to go to Jin Ling."

"This still doesn't count as close?"

"This still counts as..." Xue Liangliang remembered that Yinmeng was from Fengdu, and the provincial capital was Rongcheng, "Also, compared to your side, it is indeed much closer. But you guys usually wouldn't go to Rongcheng; it's more convenient to go to Shancheng, right."

"Last time I came back with you guys, passing by halfway, that was the first time in my life I arrived in Shancheng."

Tan Wenbin slapped his forehead and said regretfully: "You should have said so earlier. If we had known, we would have stayed in Shancheng for two more days to accompany you to play."

Yinmeng said sadly: "I originally thought Nantong would be more fun."

She had actually lived at Li Sanjiang's house for quite a long time. At first, she had also gone to the city area and tourist attractions, but she felt they were all meaningless.

Especially around the New Year, Li Sanjiang wanted to go to Langshan to burn incense, and Yinmeng accompanied him. As a result, when climbing the mountain, she hadn't even finished warming up before she reached the top.

Therefore, even when she had free time with no work in her hands, she would rather watch TV and practice martial arts at home, too lazy to run out.

Yinmeng asked again: "Is Jin Ling fun?"

Xue Liangliang said: "Don't have too high expectations for natural landscapes; they certainly can't compare to your hometown, but there are many cultural attractions here.

Right, last time Xiao Yuan came to Jin Ling to take the exam and went back, he didn't play much. Now there is time to go shopping. Let him take you guys; he can be the tour guide and explain."

Li Zhuiyuan responded: "Hmm."

Tan Wenbin opened a bottle of soda, took a sip, and said: "Attractions or not is secondary. The main thing is to see if there are any Dead-Falls. Since we've finally left our hometown, we must catch enough."

Xue Liangliang: "That's a question. If I knew this, could I still live to know you guys?"

Tan Wenbin looked at Li Zhuiyuan again and asked: "Brother Yuanzi, can you find a fishing spot?"

Li Zhuiyuan thought for a while and said: "Actually, from the perspective of Feng Shui and Qi luck, our group of people gathered together is relatively easy to encounter dirty things."

"Ah?" Tan Wenbin scratched his head, "Why does it feel like a math problem?"

"About the same. There are four corpse-salvagers here." Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang, who was driving, "And a son-in-law of the Bai family."

Xue Liangliang: "Do you have to add those two words 'son-in-law'?"

Li Zhuiyuan spread his hands: "Five cleaning balls put together, the surroundings are too clean, naturally it will attract some dirty things to come over and even it out."

Tan Wenbin understood and said: "That means, as long as we gather together, under normal circumstances, the probability of encountering dirty things is much higher than normal people?"

"Hmm." Li Zhuiyuan nodded, "If you still want to find them subjectively, the probability will be even greater."

Tan Wenbin clapped his hands and said: "That's good. In the future, I'll change my morning run to a night run by the river."

Xue Liangliang shook his head and sighed: "Binbin, you are truly hungry."

Tan Wenbin glanced at Xue Liangliang: "Brother Liang, you are a full man who doesn't know a hungry man's hunger."

"Xiao Yuan, play for a while during this period before school starts. After school starts, you can also experience university life for a while. After the teacher is busy with the things in his hands, he will launch a new project. At that time, he will transfer people from the school, and you will definitely be in it."

"Okay."

Tan Wenbin asked: "What about me?"

Xue Liangliang joked: "Aren't you going to run at night?"

"Brother Liang~ I was wrong~"

"Xiao Yuan hasn't enrolled yet, and he has already done I don't know how many sets of graduation designs."

"I was busy with the college entrance exam before. Is it too late for me to make up professional courses now? But I don't have a brain like Brother Yuanzi's."

"Don't worry, I'm scaring you. I or Xiao Yuan will go tell the teacher. Every project team has a labor quota. The requirements are only two: one is a major in this school, and the other is four limbs sound. What a coincidence, you meet the conditions."

"As long as I can get in, that's fine. Also, after getting in, is it like going to Wanzhou last time, without having to stay in school to study?"

"Hmm."

"Tsk, the gap in freedom between university and high school is really big."

"It's the gap between bosses that's big."

After the truck entered the Jin Ling city area, it drove straight to the north gate of the school and was stopped by the security guard.

Xue Liangliang poked his head out of the car window and shouted "Uncle" a few times, and the security guard smiled and opened the door, skipping even the registration step.

Inside the north gate is the living area. The cafeteria and dormitory buildings are all here. Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin live in the same dormitory, in the corner of Building 9, Zone B, on the third floor.

This dormitory is quiet, and unlike the six-person rooms in other dorms, there are only two bed spaces here.

"Wow, so good." Tan Wenbin couldn't help but exclaim after putting down his luggage.

"Accommodation preferential treatment was originally in Xiao Yuan's early admission conditions, but you were just inserted here to be Xiao Yuan's roommate."

"The teacher is really good."

"Don't thank the wrong person. How could the teacher care about this? It was me who used connections to arrange you in."

"Brother Liang, are you so influential in school?"

"I opened a few small businesses in school and know some people."

Everyone worked together and soon cleaned the dormitory. After making the beds and placing the daily necessities, everyone left the dormitory.

Xue Liangliang took everyone to a two-story building. On the left side of the main entrance hung a "University Activity Center" sign, and on the right hung a "Fair Price Store" sign.

The store area was not small, and the variety was quite complete.

Because it was still summer break, there weren't many students, so there was only a fair-skinned boy reading a book at the counter, and on the other side, an auntie was cracking melon seeds.

Seeing Xue Liangliang arrive, the two put down their books and melon seeds respectively and greeted him.

"Senior, you're here."

"Hmm, Zhihua." Xue Liangliang patted the boy's shoulder with his right hand, and took two invoices out of his pocket with his left hand, handing them to the other party.

After the boy took the invoices, his eyes widened immediately.

"Senior, listen to my explanation, I..."

"Do you know that if I report this to the school, you definitely won't be able to graduate."

"Senior, I was wrong, I'm sorry to you, I'll return the money..."

"No need to return it. Organize the account books and such, and then you can leave. I'll treat it as if this never happened."

"Thank you, Senior, thank you."

The boy put the account book and keys on the counter, then took his book and fled as if escaping.

Xue Liangliang picked up the keys and handed them to Yinmeng: "Here, you manage this store."

Yinmeng hurriedly waved her hands: "How would I know how to manage..."

"Didn't you say you opened a shop before?"

"I did open one, it almost went bankrupt."

"It's fine. I renewed the contract with the school at the beginning of the year. There are still three years left, and it's the exclusive one in Zone B. You only need to sit at the counter and be responsible for collecting money."

"That's fine."

"It's summer break now, not many people are left. After school starts, you still have to pick seven or eight poor students from the school list to help move goods."

Runsheng said: "I can come to move goods, no need to recruit people."

Xue Liangliang waved his hand: "That won't do. Providing work-study positions is a political task. Do you think the exclusive right here is so easy to sign?"

"Then I'll stay to help too." Runsheng still felt that working here could keep him closer to Xiao Yuan.

"That's no problem." Xue Liangliang pointed downstairs, "Upstairs is the rehearsal room. Some advance rehearsals for student activities will be held there. Downstairs there is half a basement, which I used as a warehouse, but I partitioned a few small rooms below. There are water, electricity, and bathrooms, but the lighting isn't that good. Auntie Sun also lives here usually."

The auntie who was cracking melon seeds earlier laughed: "Right, that's correct, I live here."

Xue Liangliang continued: "My meaning is, you guys can take a look at the environment below. If you think it's suitable, you can live here first. This is the house I rented outside the school. I'll give you the keys and address together. Mainly, living outside is far, and entering and leaving the school gate is troublesome."

Xue Liangliang handed a key and a slip of paper with the address to Runsheng.

Runsheng didn't take it, pointing below: "Then we'll live below."

"Take the keys to the house outside too. I have more."

"Alright."

"Move things first, then let's go eat. The school cafeteria is basically closed now, only a few small windows are open, but there's really nothing to eat. But there is a Sichuan restaurant outside the north gate, the taste is very authentic."

The disadvantage of the semi-basement room was that the lighting wasn't good and it was easy to get damp, but for Runsheng and Yinmeng, this didn't count as a problem at all. If they were afraid of dampness, they wouldn't be corpse-salvagers.

Tan Wenbin was exceptionally satisfied with the room here. If he didn't need to go to the dormitory to accompany Xiao Yuan, he would really want to sleep here too. After all, in the long time past, he had gotten used to sleeping in a coffin.

Actually, if it weren't for considering Yinmeng is a girl, someone like Runsheng could have moved directly into the dormitory. At most, he could pull some strings with the dormitory auntie. As for the student union checking the dorms, they were nothing.

The little black dog raised at home had also grown up, but it still ate and slept all day, entering a pure retirement life earlier than Li Sanjiang. Runsheng unloaded it from the truck along with the dog cage and moved it to his room in the basement.

Walking out of the north gate and arriving at that Sichuan restaurant, the big sign read "Old Sichuan," and the small sign read "Wanzhou Grilled Fish."

Although it was a holiday, there were still several tables of guests in the shop, which was an extraordinary achievement for a restaurant by the school.

At the moment, most of the street nearby had closed down, and they would only reopen after school started.

After Xue Liangliang entered the shop, the boss, his wife, daughter, and son-in-law all came out to greet him, appearing overly enthusiastic.

Yinmeng heard her hometown accent and was very happy, so Xue Liangliang let Yinmeng go to the back kitchen to watch the ordering.

After all, it was still the off-season, and the prepared dishes wouldn't be too many. You couldn't just order whatever you wanted from the wall menu.

Tan Wenbin picked up the teapot on the table to pour water for everyone, and then asked Xue Liangliang: "Brother Liang, it seems you are really a regular here."

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the teacup and said: "This shop was opened by Brother Liangliang."

Tan Wenbin blinked hard: "Brother Liang, really?"

Xue Liangliang nodded: "After coming back from Wanzhou last time, I invested in this shop. The boss and his family are the ones I invited, but they also have shares; it's not purely working for me."

"Brother Liang, you are really amazing. Why don't you do business full-time? I think you could definitely make a lot of money that way."

"Why didn't you go engage in 'Zhuiyuan Secret Scrolls'?"

"I..."

"Making money isn't as happy as building dams."

Li Zhuiyuan took a sip of tea, then silently put down the cup.

Accustomed to Liu Yumei's tea, his mouth was picky now.

The dishes were served very quickly, and there was also a grilled fish.

"Heh." Xue Liangliang raised his chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish meat, "The main reason I invested in this shop is to make it convenient for myself to come and eat."

Runsheng: "Then it should be opened by the Yangtze River, even more convenient."

Xue Liangliang turned his head and shouted to the kitchen: "Cook another bucket of rice. We have someone here with a big appetite, and the rice won't be enough to block his mouth."

After eating, Xue Liangliang drove the truck away. He had to go back to Luo Gong to report.

Runsheng and Yinmeng went to the store. Taking advantage of the off-season now, they had to get familiar with it quickly.

Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin returned to the dormitory. Tan Wenbin took the clothes of the two out of the luggage bag and hung them up while saying:

"Xiao Yuan, do you think that student who originally looked after the store was deliberately gotten rid of by Brother Liang?"

"Hmm."

"I even suspect that Brother Liang specifically found someone to tempt him to take kickbacks, so he could fire him. But why do this? If this person's hands weren't clean, why not fire him earlier?"

"Brother Liangliang has no energy to manage things in school. If someone else managed it, they might also be greedy. This person was actually less greedy."

"Tsk, Brother Liang is really generous. He gave a store as soon as he came. In the future, we can just go to Runsheng's place to get food and drink, hahaha."

Li Zhuiyuan sat at the desk but didn't rush to open the book in front of him, instead turning his head to look at the tree outside the window.

He still remembered when he first met Brother Liangliang, it was on the river embankment where they were "picking the river" in his hometown.

At that time, Brother Liangliang, although already showing a temperament different from others, still carried greenness and shyness on his body.

Over the past year, Brother Liangliang had traveled north and south with Luo Gong and had indeed become much more mature and capable.

Also, everyone was actually changing.

For example, Tan Wenbin, who had changed into a tank top and athletic shorts after hanging up his clothes.

"Brother Binbin, are you really going for a night run?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did you take a bath just now?"

"I was afraid you would be embarrassed to take a bath alone."

"Oh."

"Let's go, Brother Yuanzi."

"Be safe."

"You say that, how could we encounter dirty things on the first day we moved into the school before school even started."

"Don't say such things."

"Heh, I did it on purpose."

After Tan Wenbin went downstairs, seeing the dormitory auntie moving things, he took the initiative to help, and then was invited by the dormitory auntie to the office to drink a cup of water and chat for a while.

After running out of the dormitory building, it was already ten o'clock at night. The fair-price store not far away was still lit.

Tan Wenbin began to run in the opposite direction, planning to run a circle, and if Runsheng and the others were still there when he came back, he would go to the store to ask for a soda.

Places seen during the day were another look at night, and plus it was a holiday now, so the school campus appeared very empty and quiet.

Tan Wenbin ran to a small artificial lake. It was called a lake, but it was actually a slightly larger pond.

He hadn't run along the lakeside for long when the sound of running came from behind.

Moreover, the person behind also took the initiative to speak: "Hey, classmate, hello!"

Tan Wenbin immediately accelerated his pace, changing from a flat run to a sprint.

"Hey, classmate, why are you running?"

After running for a long distance, Tan Wenbin gradually slowed down and stopped. Looking back, he found that the person had disappeared.

"Yeah, why am I running?"

"It must be that I've lived a comfortable life for too long and haven't entered the state. Hmm, it's definitely not that I'm Ye Gong who loves dragons."

In the dormitory, Li Zhuiyuan was reading a book under the desk lamp.

The new environment was a very good background atmosphere for reading.

"Drip-drop... drip-drop... drip-drop..."

In the dormitory hallway, from far to near, there were footsteps.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head. It wasn't Tan Wenbin returning, because Binbin couldn't possibly wear high heels to run.

"Drip-drop... drip-drop... drip-drop..."

The sound got closer and closer, finally stopping at the end of this floor's hallway.

Immediately after,

A light friction.

This was turning around, facing the dormitory door.

"Knock... knock... knock..."

The knocking sound came, each one very muffled, echoing in the cold hallway.

"Brother Binbin, you actually don't need to run at night."

Li Zhuiyuan closed the book, opened the desk drawer, and took out a purple whip from inside.

Four demon-subduing whips had been made in total; the others were black, and only this one of Li Zhuiyuan's was purple.

Because this was all the old memorial tablet skins that A Li had scraped off at that time and wrapped on bit by bit.

Holding the whip, he stood up.

"Snap!"

Li Zhuiyuan turned off the desk lamp. The brightness in the dormitory dropped sharply; too bright a light easily destroyed the atmosphere.

The knocking on the dormitory door paused for a moment because of this.

Li Zhuiyuan walked toward the dormitory door, and on the way, he casually turned off the dormitory ceiling light. The dormitory fell into complete darkness; this was the best background color.

The knocking on the dormitory door became sluggish.

The boy stood in front of the door and said: "The door isn't locked."

The knocking sound jammed.

The boy reached out and grabbed the doorknob, and without hesitation, with a "creak," opened the door completely.

Outside, there was no one.

Li Zhuiyuan, holding the whip, walked out of the dormitory and even deliberately closed the dormitory door.

"Bang!"

In the area at the other end of the hallway, the sound of high heels "drip-drop... drip-drop..." came, but no one could be seen.

Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative to walk toward that side. Seeing that he hadn't closed the distance with that sound, the boy gradually began to run.

"Drip-drop! Drip-drop! Drip-drop!"

The high heels got faster and faster, and also further and further away, until finally, they disappeared completely.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped his steps.

It ran away.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 79 =====

It ran away.

(End of chapter)