Chapter 8

Grandma Liu said her granddaughter didn't have ordinary autism; now, Li Zhuiyuan believed it.

"Uncle Sanjiang, Uncle Sanjiang!"

Behind him, Niu Fu's voice and footsteps were getting closer and closer; the girl's gaze was still staring at his movement.

But she couldn't keep staring at him...

Li Zhuiyuan walked toward the girl, stopped four meters in front of the threshold, and then moved two steps horizontally, using his own body to block the girl's line of sight toward Niu Fu.

Actually, it would be simpler to walk up to the girl and cover her eyes with both hands, but he didn't dare.

Grandma Liu's previous warning was definitely not groundless, not to mention, there was Li Sanjiang's bloody lesson.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the girl's eyelashes were trembling slightly.

He just didn't know if it was because of the approach of him, a stranger, or because of what she "saw."

However, the girl didn't turn to the side in an attempt to bypass his obstruction to continue watching, but returned her neck to its previous position, looking straight ahead.

She had frozen again.

Li Zhuiyuan let out a sigh of relief in his heart; he was truly afraid that the other party would suddenly explode and rush up to bite him.

However, this was the first time he had been this close to her.

Her retro attire really suited her well; it could be said that they complemented each other perfectly.

She sat there, as if he were the outsider who had intruded into her era, her private garden.

Liu Yumei walked over at this time, lightly placed her hand on Li Zhuiyuan's shoulder, and said softly: "Xiao Yuan, Grandma warned you, don't get too close to A-Li."

"I remember, Grandma." Li Zhuiyuan pointed to the threshold in front, "I won't get any closer."

Perhaps the previous contact made Liu Yumei have a good impression of this boy; she couldn't help but tease, "How about it, is our A-Li pretty?"

"Hmm, pretty, just like you."

"Hahaha..."

Liu Yumei was amused and laughed; she walked into the room and glanced at the six-story wooden shelf placed on the shelf in the inner room, which was filled with spirit tablets; those on the left were all surnamed Liu, and those on the right were surnamed Qin.

She picked up an empty small dish, selected a few pieces of pastries from the offering plate below, turned and walked out, and handed the small dish to Li Zhuiyuan:

"Come, Grandma treats you to snacks."

"Thank you, Grandma." Li Zhuiyuan reached out and took it.

"It was taken down from the offering plate; it's clean."

"Hmm."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't mind; he picked up a piece of crispy cake and took a bite; it was soft and delicate in his mouth, with a rich aftertaste.

Liu Yumei asked: "Is it sweet?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "Delicious, not sweet."

Liu Yumei sat down on the threshold and looked at Li Zhuiyuan: "When is your mother coming to pick you up to go back to the capital?"

"Depends on when Mom has time."

"Do you miss Mom?"

"I do."

"You do? Why couldn't I hear it?"

"I miss her in my heart."

"You're a steady-natured one; do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"My parents only have me."

"Our A-Li is also an only child." Liu Yumei said, looking at the girl; her eyes were full of kindness.

She had a gesture of raising her hand, as if wanting to touch her granddaughter's head, but pulled it back.

"Grandma Liu, where are you from?"

"Grandma's ancestors were boat people on the river; there's no ancestral home. But if you really want to talk about it, this Yangtze River is the ancestral home of Grandma and her grandfather."

Mentioning Qin Li's grandfather, a look of reminiscence appeared on Liu Yumei's face.

Immediately, she looked at Li Zhuiyuan with this expression.

Li Zhuiyuan understood and asked:

"Grandma and Grandfather's relationship must have been very good, right?"

"It wasn't good at the beginning; our two families were mortal enemies; later, that shameless thing took a fancy to me and insisted on marrying me, which angered my father and my brothers so much that they almost tied him up and sank him in the river; the two families almost had another fight."

Seeing that Liu Yumei still had more to say, Li Zhuiyuan continued to ask: "And then?"

"And then, didn't he just trick me into it? I married him and bore him a child."

"Did your family accept Grandfather?"

"Hmm, they accepted him, and even sank into the river together."

Speaking of this, Liu Yumei suddenly came to her senses; why did she say that?

"Right, Xiao Yuan, why did your parents divorce?"

After asking, Liu Yumei regretted it somewhat; how could she ask a child this.

"Because they couldn't live together anymore."

"Your father's problem?"

"Dad loves Mom very much."

At this time, Niu Fu's voice came from behind in the distance: "Alright, Uncle Sanjiang, it's settled then; I'm leaving, I'll wait for you at home."

Li Zhuiyuan was somewhat surprised; was it that fast?

He secretly looked back and discovered that Niu Fu, who had walked to the edge of the dam, was still severely hunchbacked; Li Zhuiyuan let out a sigh of relief in his heart, but he still immediately went to find Li Sanjiang.

"Great-grandfather, Great-grandfather."

"What's wrong?"

Li Sanjiang didn't stop when he heard the call, but walked straight to the restroom, unzipped his pants, and sat on the dragon throne.

The short Li Zhuiyuan stood below; he was just missing a horsetail whisk.

Actually, Li Sanjiang's restroom was built quite thoughtfully, behind the new house, avoiding people.

In the village, many other families' restrooms were attached to the main house, facing the village road; when sitting on them, people came and went during the day, as if receiving an audience from a hundred officials.

When encountering acquaintances, they would even take the initiative to greet them and stop to chat.

"Great-grandfather, did you agree to him?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Doesn't he have, have that... on his back?"

"Great-grandfather knows, I didn't intend to go, but he doubled the sealing money, and it was the three siblings who added it together, so I had to go, hehe, it was really too much money."

"But it's dangerous..."

"Little Yuan Hou, money can make ghosts push millstones; danger is relative to not having enough money; just watch, Blind Liu will definitely go too."

"Great-grandfather..."

"Little Yuan Hou, your Great-grandfather here makes a living from this. Besides, it's fine; your Great-grandfather has seen many storms and waves, and I've never capsized."

"When are you going?"

"That depends on when Blind Liu sets the date, but I reckon it's soon; it has to be in advance; your grandfather Han Hou just said when he came to deliver your clothes that they are about to organize everyone to go dig the river."

"Dig the river?"

"Hmm, that is, digging the river; it's a decades-old tradition; the strong laborers in the ten miles and eight villages... no, the entire rural area of Jiangsu, basically all have to go.

So, we have to hurry and hold the ghost birthday before digging the river."

"We have to hurry and hold the ghost birthday before digging the river, otherwise the family won't have peace."

Niu Fu hadn't walked far from Li Sanjiang's house when he stood under a tree by the small river, one hand supporting the tree and the other unzipping his pants, preparing to relieve himself.

When he zipped up his pants after finishing, he inexplicably felt that his back had straightened a bit, and even jumped a little in place.

Looking back at Li Sanjiang's house not far away, Niu Fu couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

"It seems this Uncle Sanjiang is just like Grandma Liu, also spiritual!"

Li Zhuiyuan walked into the house and saw Liu Yi coloring a paper figure; Liu Yi smiled and waved at him:

"Xiao Yuan, want to come and play?"

"No, Liu Yi, I have something to do now."

"Okay, you go ahead with your business." Liu Yi smiled; she felt that this child's serious appearance was really cute.

Li Zhuiyuan carefully moved a paper house blocking the stairs, walked downward, and saw a rusty iron door.

There was a pair of cloth shoes on the ground in front of the door; Li Zhuiyuan bent down and found a key inside; the key was inserted, the door lock was opened, and with a push inward, a musty smell of dust immediately surged out.

It was pitch black inside; Li Zhuiyuan reached out and groped on the wall near the door, finally touched a rope, and pulled it downward.

"Drip."

No reaction.

Pulled it two more times.

"Slap!"

The light didn't turn on; the rope broke.

No choice, Li Zhuiyuan could only run back up and found a flashlight in the drawer of the cabinet at the door.

Unscrewed the back cover, it was empty inside; fortunately, the batteries were also in the drawer; two large batteries were inserted, the cover was turned back on, tested, and it lit up.

Returned to the basement, shone the light inside; the space inside wasn't large, not a full-sized excavation of the first floor's area, but there were really many things, and they were arranged in categories and in an orderly manner.

It seemed that Great-grandfather had indeed carefully organized them at the beginning, but it had indeed been several years since he had been down here; the dust accumulated on the things was already a thick layer.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to a shelf; his gaze was first attracted by a peach wood sword; he picked it up and blew on it, and dust flew.

"Cough... cough cough..."

After coughing, Li Zhuiyuan held the flashlight and carefully observed this sword.

Various patterns he couldn't understand were carved on it, and some reflective metal pieces were pasted on it; in addition, there were some seal characters.

In short, the style was very ancient, and the content was very rich.

Li Zhuiyuan appreciated it very carefully and with great focus, until he shone the flashlight on the lower end of the peach wood sword's hilt and read the words on it:

"Shandong Linyi Furniture Factory."

Li Zhuiyuan: "..."

Putting down the peach wood sword, Li Zhuiyuan picked up a copper coin sword beside it.

This time he learned his lesson, looked at the hilt first, then looked at the side of the sword, confirmed there was no factory statement, and then carefully observed the sword body.

"Kangxi currency, Qianlong currency, Jiaqing currency..."

Although the copper coins weren't very old, they should be real.

However, when Li Zhuiyuan continued to carefully shine the flashlight, he suddenly discovered that there were other things mixed inside, and the size was very different from the copper coins.

He used his fingers to pick at it, couldn't pick it off, could only continue to look for it in other positions on the sword body, and soon found others of the same size; this time he saw clearly...

It was actually many 1-cent and 5-cent coins!

This sword used copper coins on the outside, but the inside was all coins, and he couldn't even find a 1-jiao one.

Although fractional coins were also coins... they couldn't be considered fake, but with such a mix, Li Zhuiyuan always felt strange in his heart.

Putting the copper coin sword back, Li Zhuiyuan continued to look downward.

He saw two very large flags; no, looking at their long strip shape, it should be called a banner.

These two banners occupied a large amount of table space; one was entirely black, the other was purple.

On the black one, many skulls and flood dragons were embroidered, looking evil;

On the purple one, many flowers, birds, and golden dragons were embroidered, looking righteous.

Li Zhuiyuan tried to take down one of them, but discovered he couldn't move it with one hand at all, could only lean his body closer to the table, flashlight close, and continue to rummage through it.

He didn't know what he was looking for, but he felt he should be able to find it.

Sure enough, on the wooden handle of the black banner, Li Zhuiyuan found a line of crooked brush calligraphy: Li's Funeral Team.

It wasn't even traditional characters, but simplified characters.

Li Zhuiyuan recalled that when the funeral was held at the bearded man's house, the funeral troupe Xiao Huang Ying belonged to also brought out many ritual tools; those things were counted by the bundle, and after they were done, they were all packed and thrown onto a truck.

Soon, Li Zhuiyuan also found words on the purple banner, but this time they were traditional characters, but there was an extra sentence:

"Xue's Funeral Troupe, taking the wrong one means your son will have no anus."

"Sigh."

Li Zhuiyuan sighed and pulled the banner cloth back.

The expectation and excitement from when he first came in had gradually faded; now, his heart was increasingly peaceful.

Great-grandfather hadn't lied to him; it was indeed a group of... junk.

When he was young, he was often taken by his mother to her workplace; at that time, cultural relic protection wasn't as strict as it is now; many cultural relics didn't even have a glass cover, and could even be touched at close range.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan had once observed many ritual tools at close range; the solemnity of Buddhism, the ancient simplicity of Daoism, the mystery of Lamaism.

Looking at them before, because the quantity was too large, he even felt a bit tired of them, but no matter what, they weren't things that could be compared to what was in front of him; at least... they didn't have labels.

Yes, Li Zhuiyuan saw labels on the next few Daoist robes, and even sizes were marked.

On the back of that bright yellow Daoist robe, there was a tag that hadn't been torn off, which read: Film Crew Use Only.

Li Zhuiyuan also discovered three large baskets of talisman paper; he first picked them up and looked at them carefully; the texture was smooth, he couldn't understand the patterns, but he could see they were done in one go and were written very beautifully.

This couldn't help but make him feel interested, and he rummaged through other talismans, discovering that there were really many types inside.

But soon, Li Zhuiyuan discovered something wrong; when he placed two talismans of the same type in front of him, he actually couldn't distinguish the difference; even the notches at the very bottom corners were exactly the same.

So... were these printed?

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes; his eyes were a bit sore from looking; he even suspected that Great-grandfather had hoarded so many things here, possibly intending to build a funeral troupe, and adding the tables, chairs, bowls, basins, and paper figures above, it just happened to make up a full funeral industry chain.

No longer looking at those objects, Li Zhuiyuan walked to the very inside, where there were more than a dozen boxes placed here.

Remembered Great-grandfather saying that these were stored here by others, and inside were books.

"Hmm?"

Li Zhuiyuan bent down, shone the flashlight on the box to examine it carefully; this material... was almost exactly the same as the one in the home of Grandpa Zhou, who loved collecting in the family compound.

That time, because Grandpa Zhou had received a box, he was so excited that he immediately called his old friends over to show off, and he was also called over to make tea.

In front of him, there were three boxes like this.

Although the other boxes had different materials and colors, Li Zhuiyuan observed them, and the texture wasn't bad.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but feel a hint of expectation rising in his heart; what was inside such precious boxes shouldn't be books from a publishing house, right?

Furthermore, in the past, state-run publishing houses couldn't have published books like "Jin Sha Luo Wen Sutra," after all, it was feudal superstition.

There were traces of seals remaining on the boxes, which should have been torn off long ago; there were originally locks, but they had also been pried off.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that it should have been done by Great-grandfather, so, were they really stored here by others?

Even without a lock, it took a lot of effort for Li Zhuiyuan to push open the box lid; after opening it and shining the flashlight inside, Li Zhuiyuan immediately took a deep breath.

Books, books, books, all books!

And they weren't printed; one could tell from the cover that they were handwritten.

When he was in school, every semester the class would iterate through several sets of textbooks, but he only found them interesting when reading through them the first time.

Now, he finally experienced a sense of happiness being wrapped in books.

He picked up several books in a row, looked at the cover, and discovered they were all "Jianghu Records of Strange Tales," divided into many volumes.

The "Jianghu" here wasn't martial arts, but the real rivers and lakes.

Li Zhuiyuan held the flashlight and opened the first volume, discovering that inside there were not only words but also illustrations, one of which depicted a person walking in flowing water.

In this book, there was actually a description of the dead?

This wasn't a place to read; after closing the book, Li Zhuiyuan rummaged through this box for quite a while, and finally found this set of books complete.

"Jianghu Records of Strange Tales," totaling forty-two volumes.

The number of volumes was a bit high, but that was no wonder, after all, they were handwritten with a brush, and the font was relatively large.

Li Zhuiyuan decided to finish this set first; this should be similar to an encyclopedia specifically describing the eerie existences in rivers and lakes, which could be considered introductory reading.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't open the other boxes; he wanted to keep a bit of expectation.

Next, Li Zhuiyuan began to act as a book mover, taking three trips before finally moving the complete set of "Jianghu Records of Strange Tales" to his room on the second floor.

The basement door was also locked by him again; the key wasn't left in the cloth shoe, but was carried on his own person.

"Little Yuan Hou." Li Sanjiang's voice came from outside, "Little Yuan Hou, come out quickly."

Li Zhuiyuan opened the door and walked out.

"Whoa... did you brat just go roll in the mud?"

"Great-grandfather, I'll go take a bath and change clothes right now."

"Don't rush, look at this first, hehe. Come, Li Hou, put it here, side by side for the two of us."

"Alright." Qin Shu carried a rattan chair up.

Li Zhuiyuan felt a warmth in his heart; he had only expressed to Great-grandfather yesterday that he wanted a rattan chair, and Great-grandfather had really bought it for him today.

"Great-grandfather, I also want a desk lamp."

The brightness of the light bulb in the room wasn't enough; it was fine for lighting at night, but reading books was a bit difficult; Li Zhuiyuan saw that there were kerosene lamps in the house, but there was no need to suffer unnecessarily.

"Want a desk lamp, to read books?"

"Hmm."

"Alright, Li Hou, you go to the town again, buy the child's desk lamp back, and buy more pens and notebooks; I see the other children also have that stationery box thing... forget it, buy back whatever you think is about right."

"Alright, I'll go after the meal."

"Don't wait until the afternoon; there's still some time before lunch, you go now."

"Alright."

Li Sanjiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan again and said seriously: "When your grandfather came earlier, I gave him instructions; I told him to have Ying Hou come over this afternoon to tutor you."

After saying this, a playful expression of "Ha, you didn't expect that, did you?" actually appeared on Li Sanjiang's old face.

"Ah?"

Disappointment appeared on Li Zhuiyuan's face; he intended to focus on reading books, not to help his sister with tutoring.

Before, when his sister was doing her first-year high school summer homework, there weren't actually too many problems she didn't understand; now his sister was already previewing second-year high school courses in advance, and there weren't too many problems she understood.

Li Sanjiang reached out and rubbed Li Zhuiyuan's head, saying earnestly: "You child, you're just like your mother; with such a smart brain, wouldn't it be a pity not to use it for learning?"

"But, Great-grandfather..."

"There's no 'but'; study hard, and in the future, get into a good university just like your mother; that is the right path, understand?"

"But Great-grandfather, I'm already taking classes at the university."

"Heh, you dare to fool your Great-grandfather here; your Great-grandfather hasn't eaten pork, but can't I have seen pigs run? Listen, that's how it's going to be!

Oh, right, Li Hou, when you go to town later, buy some snacks for the child; buy whatever you see, and buy a portion for your daughter too."

"Alright, Uncle."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Qin Shu, pointed his finger to the southeast corner of the terrace, and said: "Uncle, can you help me move the rattan chair over there?"

Qin Shu: "I can."

"What are you putting it there for?" Li Sanjiang saw that Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to be side-by-side with his rattan chair, and curiously walked to the southeast corner; good fellow, looking down, he happened to see the little girl sitting inside the threshold of the east room.

"Hey, Little Yuan Hou, what are you putting it there for?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Great-grandfather, I think the feng shui is good here."

"Pah!" Li Sanjiang scolded with a smile, "You think I don't know what you're thinking; you just want to look at that pretty girl."

Qin Li, that girl, was indeed pretty; otherwise, Li Sanjiang wouldn't have taken the initiative to hand her candy, but that girl was truly fierce.

Qin Shu moved the rattan chair over, then greeted Li Sanjiang; he was going to town to buy things next.

After Qin Shu left, Li Sanjiang pulled Li Zhuiyuan and warned him by pointing his finger:

"I'm telling you, Little Yuan Hou, just look at that girl; don't think about getting close to her and playing with her, otherwise she'll scratch your face; look at this face of yours, so fair and tender; wouldn't it be a pity if it were scratched and disfigured? How would you find a wife in the future?"

"Alright, Great-grandfather, I know."

"Besides, you can like any girl, why like one who has something wrong with her brain? Even if she's pretty, it's no use; do you really want to take care of her for a lifetime?"

These words, when Qin Li was there earlier, Li Sanjiang hadn't found it convenient to say.

"I understand, Great-grandfather."

"Forget it, you're still young; why am I telling you this? It's still a long way from the age of marrying a wife. Alright, your Great-grandfather is going out; I won't be back for lunch; you eat by yourself."

"Hmm."

Li Sanjiang walked downstairs with his hands behind his back, humming a little tune; walking to the dam, he turned back and looked at the terrace above, a smile appearing on his face.

Little Yuan Hou asked him for things, and he didn't feel bad about the money; he had money!

He suddenly felt that spending the money he earned on his children was also a kind of happiness.

In the past, he felt that Han Hou being a child-slave was very useless, especially since those children weren't very filial, but now, he suddenly figured some things out.

What if raising children wasn't for the sake of providing for his old age, but simply feeling that it would be interesting and could make his own life more fulfilling?

We raised you, and we don't ask you to be grateful to me; anyway, the old man is doing it for his own life to be complete.

Heh, that feels pretty good too.

Li Sanjiang shook his head; forget it, what's the use of thinking about this now; he was at an age where he was about to be buried, and he was destined to have no children in this life.

After Great-grandfather left, Li Zhuiyuan took a bath and changed his clothes, then couldn't wait to pick up the first volume of "Jianghu Records of Strange Tales," sat on the rattan chair, opened the book pages, and began to read.

The words in this book used the slender gold script, which was much more comfortable to read; in comparison, the words in that "Jin Sha Luo Wen Sutra" were like a dog's scrawl.

Silently made a wish in his heart: hope the other books in the box are all good calligraphy.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly immersed himself in the reading atmosphere, but every time he turned a page, he would glance downward at the girl sitting there with her feet on the threshold.

He had no distracting thoughts in his heart; he just simply felt that pretty things, looking at them, could be pleasing to the eye and could make one's mood more pleasant.

It's just that, other than turning her gaze to look at Niu Fu's back in the morning, the girl had no other movements.

Reading time passed very quickly; halfway through, Qin Shu returned, delivering the desk lamp and a set of stationery, as well as many snacks.

After reading for a while longer, Liu Yi's shouting voice came from below: "Little Yuan Hou, time to eat!"

"Alright, I'm coming down."

Putting down the book, Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs; lunch was still eaten on the dam, but he was at a separate table.

On the square wooden stool were placed a plate of chicken chunks with edamame, a plate of scrambled eggs with chives, and a bowl of crucian carp soup.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but sigh; the living conditions at Great-grandfather's house were indeed good.

At Grandfather's house, Pan Zi and Lei Zi and the others should still be drinking porridge now.

However, he didn't think about bringing the food back to share; he knew it wasn't appropriate.

On the dam, Grandma Liu was squatting beside Qin Li, persuading her in a soft and gentle voice.

Finally, Qin Li lowered her head and began to eat.

It was still the breakfast eating method; the vegetables and rice were very rhythmic, and the tempo was absolutely not chaotic.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished eating, he grabbed the bowl and chopsticks before Liu Yi appeared, sent them to the kitchen, then washed his hands, returned to the second floor, and continued to read.

The first volume of this book started by talking about the dead; there were really many types of dead; like the one Xiao Huang Ying belonged to that could walk upright, in this book, it could only be considered mid-level dangerous, and even slightly lower.

But the fiercer the dead, the more blurred the recorded time and location, and the more abstract the drawings, gradually feeling a bit like reading the "Classic of Mountains and Seas."

Li Zhuiyuan felt this was normal; for such fierce dead, not many people who saw them could return alive, so naturally, the records were blurred.

"Yuan Zi."

Ying Zi walked over carrying a wooden stool and a small bench.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up at Ying Zi: "Sister."

"I'm here, hehe, come, eat some candy." Ying Zi took candy out of her pocket and handed it over.

"Thank you, Sister." Li Zhuiyuan peeled a piece of candy, put it into his mouth, and then walked into his bedroom.

Ying Zi opened the cloth bag and laid out the books and problems; she curiously reached out and flipped through the book Li Zhuiyuan had left on the rattan chair, frowning slightly; she couldn't understand these words.

At this time, Li Zhuiyuan came out holding snacks and placed them beside Ying Zi: "Sister, eat."

"This is too much; how can I eat so much."

"Take them back and share them with everyone; don't let Grandfather and Grandmother see."

Li Zhuiyuan took out the snacks Li Weihan had sent in the morning; Great-grandfather had bought them, and he hadn't touched them.

"You're the younger brother; eating your things makes me feel embarrassed."

Seeing that Li Zhuiyuan had already picked up the book and continued to read, Ying Zi had to continue:

"Yuan Zi, when Sister starts working and earns money in the future, I'll buy more delicious things for you to eat."

Li Zhuiyuan looked up and responded with a smile: "Alright, Sister."

Then he lowered his head and continued to read.

Ying Zi saw that he was absorbed in reading, so she also lowered her head to preview her own homework, but this time she didn't ask Li Zhuiyuan when she encountered something she didn't understand like before, but recorded it, waiting to ask everything at the end, so as not to disturb him first.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished reading the first volume, he stood up, walked to the open space in front, and seriously did a set of national middle school student radio gymnastics.

Many contents in this book were written in an obscure, rare, and blurred way; he had to ponder while reading; this was his first time reading a book so tiredly.

However, it was really fulfilling; he had a sense of harvest.

Li Zhuiyuan was very happy, because he could finally empathize with those poor students in the class; it turned out they had always been living so happily and fulfilling.

After doing the gymnastics, Li Zhuiyuan went to the restroom; he didn't need the chamber pot during the day; he went downstairs and ran to the back of the house, and on the way, he saw the girl sitting behind the threshold and even stopped to greet her:

"Good afternoon."

Of course, the girl didn't respond; she didn't even give him a glance with her peripheral vision.

After returning to the second floor, he put the first volume back, took out the second volume, and continued to read.

With the adaptation of the first volume as a foundation, Li Zhuiyuan could gradually understand the author's writing habits, and could even resonate with some of the other party's mindsets, so the second volume only took half the time of the first volume to finish reading.

He immediately went to change to the third volume, and by the time he finished the third volume, it was already close to dusk.

Li Zhuiyuan put down the book and looked at Ying Zi beside him.

"Sister, is there anything you don't understand?"

"There is, this, this, this, this, this, and these..."

Li Zhuiyuan took the pen from his sister and began to write the problem-solving process; he tried to write it as detailed as possible so that his sister could read it slowly by herself; at least, it was much more efficient than his oral explanation.

Watching his younger brother writing quickly on the notebook with a "swish, swish," Ying Zi only felt envy.

Sure enough, if the Li family excluded the younger aunt and the younger brother, all the many people in the whole family might not be able to scrape together one brain.

She also truly felt that she was very lucky; although her parents would give her money to buy teaching aids, the supplementary books of this era were very rough, and many real questions and explanations only stayed within some key famous schools; even if she was willing to spend money, it was very difficult to get them.

Not to mention the role of this younger brother of hers, which had long exceeded that of supplementary books; he was simply her private tutor; even if her parents were more open-minded, it was impossible for them to hire a school teacher to tutor her alone, and they couldn't afford it either.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished writing, he let out a long sigh of relief, rubbed his sore wrist, and said: "Sister, I suggest you still need to thoroughly understand the concepts first, and then cooperate with simple problems to deepen your cognition; this way, your learning efficiency can be improved."

Ying Zi: But, isn't that what I'm doing?

Ying Zi lowered her head and began to look at the problem-solving process given by her younger brother; she could feel it was very detailed, but when she looked at it step by step, she still felt it was somewhat difficult.

It was as if her brain was being forcibly pried open with effort, and knowledge points were being poured in with great difficulty little by little, and for every bit poured in, half was spilled.

At this time, Li Sanjiang returned; he walked to the dam, looked up, and saw Li Zhuiyuan and Ying Zi sitting in the southeast corner of the second floor.

He saw Li Zhuiyuan with a smile on his face and a relaxed expression, and then saw Ying Zi with a worried face and a look of life being meaningless.

"Hmph, this brat, not studying seriously, making his sister have a headache!"

For dinner, Ying Zi didn't stay to eat here; Li Weihan had already given instructions when she came.

Li Sanjiang really opened his mouth to keep her this time; seeing her insist on refusing, he gave up.

In the past, Li Sanjiang had always looked down on those four sons of Li Weihan, and consequently didn't pay much attention to their children either, but who told him to call Ying Zi over to tutor Little Yuan Hou today.

"Little Yuan Hou, share some snacks with your sister tomorrow."

Li Zhuiyuan, who was eating, responded: "Great-grandfather, I shared them."

"Hmm."

Only then did Li Sanjiang feel that he could justify it in his heart; he couldn't anger the girl, so she wouldn't come to tutor tomorrow.

After the meal, it was customary for Li Zhuiyuan to take a bath first; when he came out after bathing, he saw Li Sanjiang standing at the edge of the north side of the terrace, holding a cigarette in his left hand, holding his thing with his right hand, and in front of him, under the moonlight, a parabolic water column appeared.

"Little Yuan Hou, are you washed?"

"I'm washed, Great-grandfather, you go wash."

"Hmm, go to the room and wait for me."

Li Sanjiang shook his shoulders, puffed out his chest, and then shook his thighs back and forth.

Li Zhuiyuan understood that he actually didn't need a chamber pot at night.

Walking into Great-grandfather's bedroom, that formation was still there, but it was newly drawn.

After examining the formation, Li Zhuiyuan blinked with some confusion; it could be seen that tonight's and last night's were the same formation, but there were still discrepancies with what was drawn in the "Jin Sha Luo Wen Sutra."

It was understandable that there were discrepancies with the book, after all, it was the same last night.

"But, how is it a bit different from what was drawn last night?"

Li Zhuiyuan could only suspect that this was Great-grandfather making fine adjustments based on the formation's efficacy last night.

One was because he was still reading introductory books and hadn't seen the formation diagrams;

The second was because his world was filled with rigor, and for the time being, he couldn't jump out of the inertia of rigorous thinking to consider another possibility.

Li Zhuiyuan sat in his position.

Before long, Li Sanjiang walked in after bathing; he was wearing a pair of white briefs today, and there was even a hole in them.

Just like yesterday, he first tied himself and Li Zhuiyuan together with a black rope, still in the old position, then lit a candle, and finally he also sat into the circle.

This time, Li Zhuiyuan looked carefully and discovered that Great-grandfather's talisman paper was taken out from his briefs, and the briefs didn't have pockets.

Lit it, chanted the sutra, and then before it burned to his hand,

"Slap!"

Patted it on the ground.

The candle didn't go out, and the light bulb didn't flicker.

"Is it done, Great-grandfather?"

"No, wait a moment."

After saying this, Li Sanjiang took out another talisman, lit it, and repeated the action, but this time he used greater force to pat the talisman on the ground.

"Slap!!!"

With this crisp sound, Li Sanjiang's mouth twitched in pain.

But great force produced results.

With a "swish," all the candles went out, and the light bulb overhead also gave face by flickering twice.

"It's done!"

Li Sanjiang let out a sigh of relief and said indifferently: "Little Yuan Hou, go to sleep; remember, don't untie the rope."

"I know, Great-grandfather."

After Li Zhuiyuan went out, Li Sanjiang immediately blew on his palm:

"Hoo hoo... hiss hiss... so painful."

After blowing, he looked toward the bed, and his face immediately revealed a bitter look:

"Damn it, won't it be a zombie meeting tonight?"

After Li Zhuiyuan returned to the bedroom, he didn't get on the bed, but turned on the desk lamp, took out the fourth volume, and continued to read.

After finishing the fourth volume, he took out the fifth volume, but before he had read a few pages of the fifth volume, he fell asleep with his forehead against the desk.

In the rice paddy, a figure of an old lady appeared; if Li Zhuiyuan saw her at this time, he would be able to recognize that it was the one carried on Niu Fu's hunchback.

She hunched her body, green light flashing in her eyes, and on her face, which was originally crisscrossed with gullies, tufts of fine, dense fur were slowly growing out.

Her figure disappeared from where she was, and the next moment, she appeared on the dam, then disappeared again; this time, she appeared in the house on the first floor.

She stopped among the pile of paper figures, looking at so many paper people, paper horses, paper houses... she tilted her head, and a weird smile appeared on her face.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes and raised his head; he had actually fallen asleep reading a book.

He intended to go relieve himself before getting on the bed to sleep, just as Great-grandfather had demonstrated.

Got up, walked to the bedroom door, pushed it open, and Li Zhuiyuan, who walked out, didn't notice that he, behind the small desk, was still sleeping sweetly with his head on the desk.

Arriving outside the house, when the cool night breeze blew, Li Zhuiyuan only felt a sense of comfort.

But soon, he heard the noisy and clamorous sounds coming from downstairs.

It's so late, who is making a racket?

No... Great-grandfather's house, even during the day, is very quiet.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the edge of the terrace and tilted his ear to listen downward.

He heard men and women talking and singing, heard the neighing of horses, the barking of cats and dogs, all kinds of sounds; the first floor seemed to be holding a carnival party.

But there was only a large pile of paper figures on the first floor, could it be?

Li Zhuiyuan was first startled in his heart, then realized: Oh, he must be dreaming.

Just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan's gaze swept downward; he was stunned to see a figure wearing a purple cheongsam standing on the dam, Qin Li!

Hey, how did you walk out of the threshold by yourself?

No,

it's not,

why would you appear in my dream!

(End of Chapter)