Chapter 1

“Alright, Kangzi, eat up! Woo lei woo lei woo lei~”

Cui Guiying, tying her apron, held a bowl in her left hand and a spoon in her right, shouting and knocking the edge of the porridge pot.

Li Weihan, sitting nearby and tamping tobacco leaves into his water pipe, kicked the woman's large buttocks with one foot and grumbled in a bad mood:

“What's wrong with your brain? Calling piglets?”

Cui Guiying glared at her husband, placed a stack of bowls heavily in front of him, and spat:

“Bah! Pigs aren't as noisy as them, and they can't eat as much!”

At her call, a group of children ran in from outside the door. Among them were seven boys and four girls, the oldest being sixteen and the youngest only three years old.

Li Weihan and Cui Guiying had four sons and one daughter. After the children grew up, they moved out and lived separately. Normally, only the family of the eldest son, who lived nearby, would leave their three-year-old twins here to be raised.

But when summer vacation arrived, whether for convenience or feeling that if their parents' cheapness wasn't taken advantage of it was a loss, in short, everyone sent their children over.

If you took the eldest son's children, the other families couldn't very well not send theirs. This time, having them all at home was like opening a school.

The sweetness of having a house full of grandchildren hadn't fully registered with the couple, but the bottom of their rice pot was already in sight.

As the saying goes, a half-grown boy can eat his father bankrupt. Including the girls, they were all at a stage of rapid growth and incredibly good eaters. Their bellies were each like a bottomless pit. Cui Guiying's family had to serve staple food in pots when they ate, and one pot wasn't enough; there was always another pot warming on the stove.

Although the couple already had many grandchildren, they weren't considered old. According to the current rural rules, unless you were sick in bed and unable to work, as long as you still had strength to go to the fields, no matter how old you were, you weren't qualified to enjoy food provided by your children.

“Don't snatch, don't snatch! You're all reincarnated hungry ghosts! Line up!”

The children came with their bowls to receive their portions, and Cui Guiying was in charge of serving the porridge.

The last one to come was a ten-year-old boy. He wore denim overalls, fashionable sandals, had fair skin, and a shy face.

Compared to his brothers and sisters who were playing with dirty noses and sniffling, he seemed a bit out of place.

“Xiao Yuan Hou, come, have your portion here.”

“Thank you, Grandma.”

Cui Guiying smiled and touched the child's head. He was the only maternal grandson among this large group of grandchildren, though now he wasn't just that.

The child's name was Li Zhuiyuan. His mother was Cui Guiying's youngest daughter, and she was the first university student in Siyuan Village.

Their youngest daughter went to Beijing University, stayed in Beijing to work after graduating, and even found a boyfriend herself. Before getting married, she brought him home once. He was a fair-skinned, refined city person.

His exact appearance wasn't remembered clearly because that day, Cui Guiying and her husband were very reserved in front of their son-in-law and didn't get a good look at him.

Later, their daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Because the distance was far and her work was busy, she never came back home. However, ever since their daughter graduated and started working, she sent money to her parents every month without fail.

Before the marriage, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying saved all the money their daughter sent. When their four sons got married, they had to grit their teeth and barely managed. When their daughter brought her son-in-law home, Li Weihan pushed back the betrothal money the son-in-law handed over and added the money their daughter had sent back to them.

Originally, they wanted to try harder and give a little extra, but with their four sons married before, no matter how hard the couple tried and how tightly they squeezed, they couldn't scrape together any more.

This matter always made the couple feel guilty. The money given by their daughter was returned to their daughter. It was as if they, as parents, hadn't given anything when their daughter got married, which was truly embarrassing.

As for the money their daughter sent every month after marriage, the couple saved it all. Their sons, instigated by their wives, came up with various reasons to try and get this money, but Li Weihan pointed at their noses and scolded them back.

Half a month ago, their daughter entrusted a person in a military uniform to send her son over, bringing a letter and a sum of money. The letter said she had divorced, her work had recently changed, and she could only temporarily entrust her son to her parents for a period of time.

In her letter, their daughter also said that after the divorce, she had changed the child's surname to hers, so this maternal grandson had become their own grandson.

After coming to the countryside, Li Zhuiyuan not only didn't find it hard to adapt, but he quickly integrated. Every day, he followed several of his cousins around the village, playing very happily.

The staple food for this meal was sweet potato porridge. It tasted sweet when eaten, but it wasn't filling and was digested quickly. Even after several large bowls, their bellies were round, but after playing for a while, they immediately felt hungry again.

And sweet potato porridge and sweet potato strips, when eaten a lot for a long time, would really hurt your stomach. When you weren't hungry, just seeing them would make your stomach produce sour water.

Li Zhuiyuan, however, didn't get tired of eating it. He quite enjoyed the feeling of a 'big canteen', and the various pickled vegetables and sauces made by Cui Guiying were also deeply to his liking.

“Grandma, why didn't we go to Big Beard Grandpa's house to eat the feast today?”

The one who spoke was the son of the second uncle's family, whose nickname was Tiger. He was nine years old this year.

Cui Guiying picked up her chopsticks and tapped Tiger on the head, scolding: “You little brat, that's because someone's old mother passed away and they're handling the funeral. You want people to have a feast every day?”

Tiger covered his head and said: “Why can't they? How good it would be to have one every day.”

“What nonsense are you talking, you little brat? Even if his family wanted to have one, where would they find enough people to die every day?”

“Pa!” Li Weihan hit the table hard with his chopsticks and scolded: “What are you talking about nonsense with the children?”

Cui Guiying also realized she had a slip of the tongue. Instead of retorting to her husband, she used her spoon to scoop out a piece of pickled sauce and put it into Li Zhuiyuan's porridge bowl next to her. The sauce had some chopped peanuts and a little bit of diced meat in it, and she happened to get some in that spoonful.

Li Zhuiyuan stirred it a few times with his chopsticks. The sauce faded, and white, tender diced meat floated on the porridge.

Children had sharp eyes, and most were bothered not by scarcity but by inequality. Tiger immediately said: “Grandma, I want meat too, the kind in Yuanzi Brother's bowl!”

“Grandma, I want some too.”

“I want some too.”

The other children also joined in the noise.

“Go away, go away!” Cui Guiying snapped at them in a bad mood, “It's understandable for the younger brothers and sisters to make noise, but Pan Hou, Lei Hou, and Ying Hou, you're all older brothers and sisters, what are you making noise about? All of you, be sensible. What you're eating here today is all bought with the money given by Xiao Yuan Hou's mother. Your fathers and mothers haven't given even a grain of rice to Grandma here, and you still have the nerve to snatch food from others!”

Pan Zi, Lei Zi, and Ying Zi lowered their heads in embarrassment. The younger ones just looked at each other and smiled, and this episode passed.

Their grandma hadn't directly hinted at it, but they had conveyed it back home. However, their fathers and mothers had all instructed them to play dumb.

At this time, Shitou, the eight-year-old son of the third uncle's family, asked: “Is that Xiao Huangying still there?”

Cui Guiying asked: “Who is Xiao Huangying?”

Tiger answered: “Grandma, Xiao Huangying is the one who danced and sang at Big Beard's house yesterday. That song was very good to listen to, and that dance was also very good.”

“Is that so?” Cui Guiying had been helping wash dishes in the back kitchen of their house yesterday, busy with her feet not touching the ground, and had no time to go to the front to watch the funeral troupe perform after the meal.

Her husband, Li Weihan, also didn't go, claiming he was going out on the boat, but in fact, he was at home. The reason he didn't go was that it wasn't appropriate. After all, he had already let Pan Zi and Lei Zi take Yuan Zi, Tiger, and Shitou, five children, to eat the feast. It would be ugly for him, an adult, to go and eat again.

The five children not only ate themselves, but they also brought back quite a lot, especially the hard dishes that were divided among each person on the table. Li Zhuiyuan learned from his cousins and tore off a piece of the red plastic paper that was laid on the front table to wrap the food.

When they got back home, they divided it among their younger brothers and sisters who couldn't go to the feast. Watching their younger brothers and sisters eat, they felt like generals who had returned victorious from battle.

Lei Zi said: “The singing was really good to listen to, and she was beautiful too. She told everyone to call her Xiao Huangying.”

Pan Zi nodded: “She's very good, she looks good, and her clothes look good too. I'll want to marry someone like her in the future.”

Cui Guiying lowered her head and asked Li Zhuiyuan next to her: “Xiao Yuan Hou, is that right?”

“Ang.” Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and nodded, “Good-looking.”

In a rural funeral troupe, the focus was on the front hall and the back kitchen.

When performing ceremonies, they would wear robes and cassocks, chant scriptures, and perform rituals with an air of immortality and a dignified manner.

After the big feast at noon, they still needed to organize a literary performance, including singing, dancing, acrobatics, and magic – whatever they could do, they had to do it all.

If the family was wealthy and liked to show off, they would even invite those specific funeral troupes to perform for an entire evening, but before such performances began, the adults would all send the children home to sleep.

Xiao Huangying's surname was Xiao, her original name was Xiao Huangying, and her stage name was Xiao Huangying. Her age wasn't actually small; she was over thirty and had been divorced before.

Talking about her singing and dancing skills, they were actually all just half-baked, but she knew how to dress up. Her clothes were also bold and fashionable, like a tight black cheongsam with a high slit, revealing a large expanse of white legs, plus her cordial and enthusiastic stage presence…

Using the most vicious scolding among the village women, which at the same time was the highest praise, to describe her was – saucy.

At that time, there were few families in the village with televisions, and often, people would take stools to crowd around and watch, but still couldn't get a good view. Therefore, in the era when popular trends had not yet extensively spread into the rural areas, Xiao Huangying's 'saucy' was a dimension-reducing strike for the surrounding rural girls and wives.

Not only did she lead the souls of the old men astray, but even the half-grown boys were captivated and bewildered.

At this moment, a figure appeared at the door of the hall. It was their neighbor, Zhao Si Mei, and Cui Guiying considered her a 'sister' for many years. When the children were few at home, the two of them would often sit on the embankment and gossip.

“Have you eaten?” Cui Guiying asked, “Come, add a pair of chopsticks.”

Zhao Si Mei quickly waved her hand and smiled: “Oh, I wouldn't have the nerve to come and freeload at your place, no matter whose house it is. Look, all you have here is thin gruel.”

“This porridge is comfortable to drink in the stomach, I just like this taste. Come on, I'll serve you a bowl. No matter how much you scrape the rice pot, how can it be short for you to eat?”

“Good, good, but I've already eaten. Hey, you might not know, but the funeral troupe leader just took people to Big Beard's house to cause trouble. They say they almost got into a fight and smashed things.”

Cui Guiying heard this and immediately picked up her bowl and chopsticks and stood up, shoveling porridge into her mouth while moving towards the door: “What happened? Big Beard's family didn't settle the money?”

“It wasn't about the performance fee, it was because someone from the troupe was missing.”

“What, someone's missing?” Cui Guiying slurped her chopsticks, “Who's missing?”

“A woman, the one who was so saucy she was practically farting, twisted her butt yesterday, hated not to have her butt eyes leak out.”

“Was it Xiao Huangying?” Pan Zi asked.

The other children also pricked up their ears.

“Looks like it was her, that saucy slut.” Zhao Si Mei was very gleeful.

“How exactly was the person lost, did they find her?” Cui Guiying asked.

“They say someone saw that saucy slut from the troupe follow Big Beard's youngest son into the small woods by the river last night. Later, she didn't come back to the troupe, so the troupe went to the house to ask for her.”

“That boy from Big Beard's family?”

“He's at home, but he says he doesn't know, no matter; but not a few people in the village saw him and that flirtatious bitch go into the woods.”

“What about the person?”

“Who knows, they just aren't there. The troupe leader came to ask for the person this time, but Old Beard's family insisted they didn't see her, and even said that saucy slut ran away by herself.”

“Then what happened?”

“Old Beard's family compensated the troupe leader with a sum of money, not a small amount.”

Cui Guiying immediately patted Zhao Si Mei's arm and raised an eyebrow: “Something's up!”

Zhao Si Mei also immediately patted Cui Guiying's arm back and lifted her chin: “Certainly!”

Old Beard was formerly the deputy director of the grain station in town, which was a lucrative position. Even though he was retired now, except for his youngest son who was idle, his other sons all had jobs in town. In this village, even the village head's family didn't have as much prestige as his family.

So, for Old Beard to be willing to take out money to settle this matter, there must be something fishy going on!

“After giving the money, the troupe leader left?”

“Left.”

“Then the person, didn't they find her?”

“Find her ass, the troupe has already packed up their tools and things and taken the truck to the next house to rush to the performance.”

“Ai yo.” Cui Guiying shook her head, “Hope nothing happened.”

“Who knows.”

“The person, maybe truly is missing.”

“Maybe not.”

Hearing this, Tiger and Shitou suddenly started crying:

“Woo woo woo! Xiao Huangying, Xiao Huangying!”

“My Xiao Huangying, Xiao Huangying is gone, woo woo!”

Seeing this, Zhao Si Mei almost burst out laughing, and pointed and said: “See? Those two grandsons of yours, they're both sentimental and stubborn.”

Cui Guiying rolled her eyes at her and said: “Don't you have a granddaughter? How about matching one?”

“Heh.” Zhao Si Mei snorted and pointed at Li Zhuiyuan, saying: “If you want to match, it's not impossible, but you must match with your Xiao Yuan Hou, so my Xiao Juan Hou can follow him to Beijing and enjoy life.”

“Go away, go away, don't just dream beautiful dreams.”

Li Weihan had already finished eating. He wasn't interested in listening to the old women gossip, nor was it convenient to interrupt. He just silently picked up his water pipe and opened the matchbox inside. It was still empty.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and ran to the trough behind the stove platform to get a box of matches for Li Weihan.

Li Weihan didn't take it, but moved his pipe closer to Li Zhuiyuan. Li Zhuiyuan smiled, took out a match, and struck it repeatedly. He finally managed to get a flame with great difficulty, then quickly and carefully protected it with his other hand and moved the match to the pipe.

Li Weihan took several puffs, letting out smoke, feeling content and with a smile on his face.

Originally, his own daughter also liked to light his cigarettes for him, and she even said that after she grew up, she wanted to buy him paper cigarettes to smoke.

“Hu.”

Li Zhuiyuan blew out the match, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it several times with his shoe sole.

Pan Zi opened his mouth and said: “Grandpa, should we take the boat to pick lotus pods in the afternoon?”

Li Weihan glanced at the plain meal table and nodded, saying: “Lei Zi can come too, bring the net. Let's see if we can catch a few fish for your grandma to make soup.”

Tiger and Shitou heard this and quickly forgot about Xiao Huangying, shouting: “Grandpa, I want to go too, I want to go too!”

The other little ones also joined in the shouting, afraid of missing out on something fun.

Li Weihan looked around seriously and scolded: “Grandpa tells you, there are water monkeys in this river, they specially pull people down to drown them and make them their substitute ghosts, so they can reincarnate themselves.”

Immediately, the children were scared and dared not speak.

Shitou asked with some disbelief: “Why can the brothers go?”

Pan Zi and Lei Zi were older children after all and understood. They would help Grandpa scare the younger ones:

“Brother, I'm strong, the water monkey can't pull me down.”

“I swim well, the water monkey can't catch up to me.”

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't scared. He also wanted to go, but he didn't want to ask, so he just lowered his head and rubbed his little hands, occasionally stealing a glance at Grandpa.

Li Weihan said: “Xiao Yuan Hou can go too.”

Tiger immediately said discontentedly: “That's not fair, Yuanzi Brother is only one year older than me.”

Shitou also helped by saying: “That's right, Yuan Brother isn't even as strong as me, how can he fight with the water monkey!”

Li Weihan slowly exhaled a smoke ring and gave a very reasonable reason that even the little children were convinced by:

“Xiao Yuan Hou is from outside, our local water monkeys don't recognize him.”

……

The houses in the village were basically built by the water. The front doors faced the road, and the back doors faced the river.

When washing vegetables or clothes, you just needed to carry the things out the back door and walk down a few blue brick steps to reach the riverbank.

To make a living, people would often set up a net near their section of the riverbank to raise ducks and geese within the netted area.

Old Li's boat was tied to the persimmon tree at the back door. After untying the rope, Li Weihan got on the boat first and steadied the boat body with a bamboo pole.

Pan Zi hugged the fishing rod, and Lei Zi held the fishing net, getting on the boat one after another.

Li Zhuiyuan was carrying a small bamboo basket on his back, which Li Weihan reached out and took onto the boat.

“All sit properly, we're setting off!”

Accompanied by the bamboo pole repeatedly lengthening and shortening on the water surface, the boat also began to move.

Pan Zi and Lei Zi were already used to it. They both leaned casually on the boat, looking very relaxed. Li Zhuiyuan sat up straight, watching the water grass floating by on the river surface and the dragonflies skimming the water.

“Here, Yuanzi.” Pan Zi handed over a small handful of fried beans.

He was from the eldest son's family and lived nearby. He would usually find time to go back home and take some snacks, but his mother had instructed him to hide these things and eat them himself, and not to share them.

In contrast, Li Zhuiyuan's mother had brought a large bag of snacks when she entrusted Li Zhuiyuan to the person in military uniform, including biscuits, meat floss, and canned fruit. The day before, she had mailed another big bag. Cui Guiying locked them all in a cabinet and distributed a fixed amount to all the children every day.

“Thank you, Pan Zi Brother.”

Li Zhuiyuan took them and put one in his mouth. These beans were called 'fist beans' locally, but they were actually broad beans. After being stir-fried with their shells, some seasoning, and a little salt, they were very fragrant when chewed.

However, Li Zhuiyuan didn't like to eat them. They were too hard, difficult to bite, and easily chipped his teeth.

So, while the two brothers were continuously chewing with a “ga crunch ga crunch” sound, Li Zhuiyuan just held one in his mouth and sucked on it like candy.

“Come one string, a thousand thousand Yao bro, floating on the road; Come one string, a thousand thousand Yao bro, bright bright tonight will be bright.”

Pan Zi started singing.

“You're singing it wrong.” Lei Zi said with a smile, “It's not how you're singing it.”

Pan Zi said disdainfully: “Humph, you can sing, you sing it then!”

Lei Zi mumbled a few times, scratched his head: “I just remember the tune.”

Li Weihan, who was poling the boat, asked: “What are you singing? I don't understand.”

Pan Zi answered: “Grandpa, it's what Xiao Huangying sang yesterday, called Yueju.”

“Yueju?” Li Weihan was a little surprised, “Was that singing Yueju?”

Lei Zi: “No, Grandpa, it's Cantonese opera, from the Guangdong and Hong Kong area.”

“Oh, I see. You sing it well for Grandpa to listen to.”

Lei Zi: “Pan Zi can't sing it well, Grandpa. He doesn't even remember the lyrics, and it's a far cry from Xiao Huangying yesterday.”

Actually, Xiao Huangying's singing was also not very standard, but for people in the mainland at that time, there wasn't much difference between standard and non-standard. Anyway, they didn't understand it, they just wanted that confident tone.

Pan Zi pointed at Li Zhuiyuan and said: “Yesterday when Xiao Huangying was singing, I saw Yuanzi singing along. He knows how to sing.”

Li Weihan: “Xiao Yuan Hou, sing for Grandpa to listen.”

Li Zhuiyuan said very shyly: “I only know how to sing that little bit.”

“Sing it, sing it.” Lei Zi urged, “Yuanzi doesn't just sing Cantonese opera, he even sings English songs.”

Li Zhuiyuan could only sing:

“Even if there are a thousand songs in the coming day, they float on my distant road; Even if there are a thousand evening stars in the coming day, they shine brighter than tonight's moon.

I only know this much. Mom likes this song and often plays it at home.”

Lei Zi provocatively looked at Pan Zi: “Hear that? The words you were singing were all wrong.”

Pan Zi rolled his eyes at Lei Zi.

The brothers chatted all the way, and the boat finally reached a wider part of the river channel.

Pan Zi went to help Grandpa hold the pole, and Li Weihan started looking for a spot while sorting the net. Lei Zi then set up the fishing rod.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't assigned a task and continued to sit there with his small bamboo basket on his back, sometimes watching Grandpa and the brothers busy, and sometimes looking at the water grass on the river surface and the frogs jumping on it.

As he watched, Li Zhuiyuan leaned forward slightly in doubt.

Li Weihan always paid attention to this 'maternal grandson'. Seeing him like this, he immediately reminded him: “Xiao Yuan Hou, sit back a bit, don't fall down!”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed to the river surface in front and asked: “Grandpa, Brother, there's a patch of black water grass there.”

“Where?” Lei Zi looked in the direction Li Zhuiyuan was pointing, “Yi, really, it's black.”

“Where is it, where is it?” Pan Zi was helping to pole the boat at the stern and couldn't see clearly, so he took the initiative to pole the boat in that direction.

Li Weihan initially didn't take it seriously. He was busy untangling the fishing net. When he heard Li Zhuiyuan and Lei Zi still chattering about it, he finally looked up in that direction. Just that one glance, and he immediately froze.

That patch of black, slender yet spread out, scattered yet not separate, was not water grass at all, it was clearly human hair!

Because Pan Zi kept poling the boat closer, the distance to that area narrowed, and the part underwater became vaguely visible. The black pattern, white buttons, and curved lines…

Because Li Zhuiyuan was sitting, the person who saw the underwater part first was Lei Zi, who was standing next to him. Lei Zi immediately shouted: “Grandpa, that's a person, someone fell into the water! Pan Zi, quickly pole over and save them!”

The story of the water monkey was no longer enough to scare older children like them. Their simple kindness made them subconsciously think that someone had fallen into the water, and their first reaction was to go and rescue them.

“Nonsense!”

Li Weihan suddenly roared angrily. This was a rare loss of composure for this grandpa, who was usually somewhat strict but kind to children. The blue veins under his rough, cracked skin stood out. He immediately threw the fishing net in his hand onto the boat and walked towards the stern while shouting at Pan Zi: “Change direction, change direction, give me the pole, don't go closer!”

They had been in this area for a while, and there had been no sound of anyone falling into the water. At this time, it was calm there with no waves. How could someone still need rescuing? That person must have died long ago!

But logically speaking, even encountering a drowned corpse would at most feel unlucky. Why such panic and loss of control?

But Li Weihan knew deeply that at this time, they must avoid it as far as possible and as fast as possible.

Because the local area was densely populated with waterways near the river and sea, it was not uncommon for someone to drown in the water. Basically, every village or nearby village would have a person specially working on salvaging drowned corpses.

It was generally not their main job, but the people chosen were very specific. One reason was the bad luck, and two was the many taboos. Without the inheritance of an old hand, people really weren't willing to touch this.

Siyuan Village had a person who salvaged corpses, named Li Sanjiang. By seniority, Li Weihan still had to call him uncle.

This Li Sanjiang had no sons or daughters. When the village divided the fields, he was too lazy to plant them and rented them out, only asking for some food grains in return.

But he didn't live the life of a lazy person who didn't know where their next meal was coming from. He made paper offerings and salvaged corpses. Both of these jobs made quite a bit of money, perhaps much more than planting those few fields. Therefore, although he was alone, he had a little wine and meat every day, and lived a good, comfortable life.

In his early years, to help his four sons get married, Li Weihan had rented and planted Li Sanjiang's fields. This was truly taking advantage of someone. Therefore, during times when corpses needed to be salvaged, Li Weihan would also follow this clan uncle to help out.

Although Li Sanjiang never let him get on the boat to touch the corpse, he only let him arrange the offering table on the shore and prepare some chicken blood and dog blood each time. But over time, he also learned some methods of salvaging corpses from Li Sanjiang.

In the jargon of this line of work, a floating corpse was called a 'dead fall'.

Normally, drowned people would gradually rot after soaking in the water for a few days before floating up. Due to the structure of the pelvis, male corpses often floated face down and female corpses face up.

Most 'dead falls' would go through a fixed process before Li Sanjiang would salvage them and carry them back to the shore to hand over to the family.

But once when drinking, Li Sanjiang had very seriously mentioned two special cases that he dared not salvage.

One was a 'dead fall' with a whirlpool around it. This meant there was a leak hole or mud trap nearby, and one might not be able to save themselves, and even the boat and people would be sucked in.

As for the second, that was something that even Li Sanjiang would tremble and his scalp would go numb when he saw it…

It was that kind of 'dead fall' that only had hair floating on the water surface, standing straight at the bottom of the water!

This was a sign of great resentment, of dying with eyes wide open, wanting to pull someone down to keep them company!

Li Weihan still remembered that time at the wine table, Li Sanjiang stared at him with red eyes and said very seriously:

“Han Hou, remember, if you see this kind of 'dead fall' in the water, don't think about anything else, just slip away as fast as you can. If you're late, you'll be left behind by it!”

Therefore, after discovering that this was a 'dead fall' standing straight, how could Li Weihan not be shocked? Not to mention, he had three grandchildren on the boat right now!

And the very curious Pan Zi obviously couldn't grasp Grandpa's instructions. When Grandpa snatched the bamboo pole from him, he stumbled, causing the bamboo pole to also stab into the mud, leading to a serious tilt of the boat to the right.

This tilt was nothing for people who often traveled by boat, for example, Lei Zi, who was standing at the edge of the boat, quickly bent down and grabbed the edge of the boat to regain his balance. However, Li Zhuiyuan, who was sitting there, had no experience in this regard. After his upper body was pulled out by inertia, he fell into the water with a "pu tong" sound, right towards the side of the 'dead fall'.

The water in the river was very clear, and the sunlight was just right in the middle of the afternoon, so the light under the water was very good.

Li Zhuiyuan, who had just fallen into the water, still instinctively splashed, but was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him.

Just like Lei Zi Brother said, there was a person standing in the water, and this was none other than Xiao Huangying, whom the brothers had mentioned at the dinner table today!

She was still wearing the black cheongsam she wore for the performance, with white patterned buttons and slits up to her waist, and the pair of red high heels on her feet.

The water flowed steadily, and under this current, her two arms swung regularly back and forth, and her two legs also lightly shook back and forth.

It gave people the feeling that she was walking underwater.

She was swinging her arms, she was twisting her waist, she was revealing her legs, she was on tiptoe, she was singing a song…

Even underwater, she was still performing the saucy demeanor that made the village women both envious and hateful.

“Even if there are a thousand songs in the coming day, they float on my distant road…”

In his ears, he seemed to hear Xiao Huangying's not-so-standard Cantonese accent again.

Accompanied by the song,

Xiao Huangying slowly turned her body, gradually facing Li Zhuiyuan.

Her long hair floated diagonally upward, like supporting a black umbrella. The powder on her face was thicker than yesterday, and her lips were also brighter red.

Suddenly,

She smiled.