Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The woman slowly rose up, then grabbed Zhao Hequan by the neck and lifted him.

She brought her face closer, seemingly examining him carefully.

Gradually, from the area of Zhao Hequan's neck where the woman was holding him, black spots began to continuously grow. They quickly spread throughout his entire body.

Then, these spots began to expand step by step, merging with each other to form one black abscess after another. The center of each one bulged, and pus continuously overflowed, sliding down his body and finally pooling at his feet on the ground, forming a liquid flow that dripped.

However, Zhao Hequan showed no pain and did not struggle, appearing to still be in a deep sleep.

In contrast, a sudden ominous premonition arose in Li Zhuoyuan's heart. If contact with this woman would cause him to rot, then the two pieces of minced meat that the woman had dropped on his face earlier...

His face began to itch.

He carefully felt it; it was truly itching, not just a psychological effect.

But now, no matter how much it itched, Li Zhuoyuan dared not reach out to scratch.

Subsequently, the woman used her left hand to lift Zhao Hequan alone, holding him horizontally at her side. This formed a stark contrast; the woman's physique was indeed absurdly tall and large.

Earlier, Li Zhuoyuan had been shocked by the woman's appearance and eye contact, so he had overlooked this point. Now, he realized the woman's figure was very much like an idol in a temple.

Having caught the person she wanted to find, the woman simply held Zhao Hequan like this and walked down the dam.

She walked steadily, her eyes looking forward.

Then, when she reached halfway, her body continued forward, but her head suddenly rotated ninety degrees and looked back.

Li Zhuoyuan's heart trembled.

She,

Was actually still observing him!

The woman continued to advance while looking back at him. Finally, she left his line of sight and went down the dam.

The itching on his face continued.

Li Zhuoyuan lay still, his eyelids still slightly open.

The feeling of time passing was somewhat distorted at this moment. He didn't know exactly how long had passed, but he was still persistently lying motionless.

Suddenly,

In the lower left corner of his line of sight, the woman's face with the rolling flesh suddenly peered out.

It was like someone who had gone out the door and suddenly remembered something, their body still outside, yet leaning back and craning their neck to look back at you.

Those two rows of white teeth were the only feature that could express her facial expression.

The white teeth were kept a certain distance apart. Imagining her skin and flesh features, she should be smiling.

As if saying,

Hehe,

I'm just checking again to see if you're really asleep.

However, this time Li Zhuoyuan was not startled again; he had anticipated this action.

Because the chill throughout his body had not dissipated, it meant that the woman had not gone far and was still nearby.

In his mind, he could picture her standing still at the bottom of the dam.

Liu Jinxia had said that those 'dirty things' would develop an unusually strong interest in people who could see them. Therefore, even if you "saw" it, you had to pretend not to see it.

Finally, the oppressive atmosphere disappeared, the cold dissipated, the summer night heat returned, and the evening wind also brought fresh air.

It felt like walking out of a freezer; his body and soul both had a sense of thawing.

This also made his face itch even more.

It seemed that if he could reach out and scratch a few times now, it would be the most refreshing and comfortable thing in the world.

However, Li Zhuoyuan still didn't move.

His willpower was already relaxed, and his self-control was almost at its breaking point, but he still strongly supported himself using inertia, maintaining his previous sleeping posture and the angle of his eyes.

Suddenly, the cold appeared again. This time, it came very quickly, very urgently, and very fiercely.

It wasn't that he was being dragged back into the freezer, but that the freezer had opened its door, grown legs, and was swallowing him whole.

Two sounds of landing reached his ears, one of which was accompanied by the crisp friction of an iron chain.

A pair of legs appeared a little ahead in his line of sight. At the very bottom were a pair of feet that were still dripping pus.

These were Zhao Hequan's feet; he was currently being held by the woman.

So, the woman was now standing behind him, very close to his head.

She was still looking at him.

At this moment, Li Zhuoyuan even felt it hard to understand the woman's relentless persistence.

Since you kept probing him repeatedly, why didn't you simply lift him up like you did with Zhao Hequan?

You still had one hand free, didn't you?

At this time, Li Zhuoyuan suddenly remembered what he had heard on the transmission during the daytime: two students from Haihe University had used a hammer to smash the iron chain on the body of the female Bodhisattva.

It should have been Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan.

But the woman had only lifted Zhao Hequan and had not lifted Xue Liangliang.

So, did this prove that the woman could only take away one person this time?

In an instant, Li Zhuoyuan's mind cleared up.

This was a kind of reverse competition. The two sides of the competition were himself and Zhao Hequan. If he showed a flaw, the woman would likely let go of Zhao Hequan and turn to catch him instead.

Her continuous probing was actually a form of weighing.

Li Zhuoyuan would never be willing to sacrifice himself to allow Zhao Hequan to escape. If it had to be a choice between the two, he would definitely choose Zhao Hequan to go down with the woman.

Anyway, Zhao Hequan's ideal country was America, where visas were hard to get and the vast ocean was difficult to cross. Reincarnating there wouldn't be a loss as a shortcut.

Pure endurance was uncomfortable, but once the problem was simplified to a competition, it was pulled back onto the track he was best at.

The fierce cold came quickly and went quickly. The woman should be leaving again.

But Li Zhuoyuan remained still, just like that.

He no longer cared whether this dream had already ended, nor did he care whether the woman would come back. He just continued to maintain this posture and the degree to which his eyes were half-closed.

His face was still very itchy, which forced him to seek another method to divert his attention.

He began to think about the algorithms in the eighth volume of "Yin Yang Xiang Xue Jing Jie." Anyway, he was idle. There was nothing he could do now, and even less that he dared to do. So, he might as well simply continue to study.

In his mind, rows of human faces continuously appeared and then gradually overlapped.

Li Zhuoyuan could now project a human face in his mind at will. It could be male or female, old or young.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that from the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth to the ears, everything was constantly changing.

A kind of sticker game was popular among girls in the capital city recently. It was a sheet of paper printed with a model's body and came with a large pile of stickers ranging from hairstyles to various clothes. You could choose and tear off the desired hairstyle and clothing. Because the back had glue, it could be stuck onto the model's body, like a simple version of a paper doll dress-up game.

Li Zhuoyuan felt that he was now playing this game, but the accessories in his makeup library were much richer than those in a sticker toy box.

As he played, a thought gradually arose in Li Zhuoyuan's heart:

Could he try to make this face move and speak?

The first seven volumes of "Yin Yang Xiang Xue Jing Jie" involved a large amount of rote memorization and calculations. The eighth volume represented a transformation from science to metaphysics. Here, metaphysics referred to a kind of threshold.

Benefiting from his mother often taking him to see a psychologist since childhood, he had naively catered to his mother's needs at that time and actively created a personality split according to the doctor's treatment guidance.

Then, could the same method be applied here?

This thought made him feel a shock in his heart, because he felt that he seemed to have found the key idea to unlock the eighth volume!

But at the same time, Li Zhuoyuan also felt danger. The personalities he had created separately before were completely controllable by him, but if he created a personality in his mind based on someone else's template, would that still be safe?

"Xiao Yuan Hou, wake up, hehe, still sleeping? We have to go to work."

Li Weihan's voice sounded in his ear, followed by a rough yet warm hand stroking his face.

Li Zhuoyuan knew that this was truly waking up.

He didn't know if the woman had come back again after that time to continue probing him.

However, that was no longer important. Immersed in the atmosphere of study, he had indeed ignored the external changes. He wasn't asleep, yet he was even more "dead" than being asleep.

"How is it, Xiao Yuan Hou? Wasn't sleeping outside comfortable?" Li Weihan asked caringly.

"No, no, Grandpa, I slept very well."

Li Zhuoyuan turned his head and looked towards the house. He saw that the university students were also up and washing. Zhao Hequan was also there, not dead, still chatting and laughing with his classmates.

"That's good. Your big uncle has brought water. Let's wash our faces."

After a simple wash and an early meal, everyone went to the work site early. Today's task was based on the village unit. As long as they could complete it early, they could go home early and wouldn't have to sleep here another night.

Li Zhuoyuan also came to the river bank. This time, he was lazy and found a rock to sit on, supporting his cheek with his hand.

He was very conflicted. He felt he had found the key to the eighth volume, but he didn't dare try it.

He vaguely felt that this was just like the last time he had told his own fortune.

This path had quite a few taboos. No, this path was originally composed of various taboos.

The lively atmosphere at the work site gradually drove away the haze in Li Zhuoyuan's heart.

He felt somewhat enlightened. The first seven volumes were already enough for him to look at other people's faces when he had nothing to do. As for the eighth volume, it was not to be used at non-special moments.

Alright, let's go help Grandpa and them transport mud.

Just as Li Zhuoyuan was about to get up, his gaze shifted downwards, and he suddenly discovered a cluster of gray spots on the inside of his left forearm. Looking at his right forearm, in the corresponding position, there was also the same spot.

He immediately touched his face. His face had no feeling, and it hadn't been itchy when he woke up. He had almost forgotten about this matter.

Looking now, he had eventually been affected.

Why it didn't appear on his face was also easy to understand. The time in the dream last night played a certain role. It wasn't necessarily the case that it had to manifest on his face. He wasn't in his true body at that time.

Li Zhuoyuan lifted both arms and looked carefully. Although the area of the two spots was only the size of a coin, this thing... was very likely to spread.

At this moment, two people walked towards him. To be precise, it was Xue Liangliang supporting Zhao Hequan who walked over.

The two of them were a surveying team. Regardless of whether they had conflicts last night, they still had to complete the task together today.

"Brother, how is he?" Li Zhuoyuan asked.

Xue Liangliang said, "He's not feeling well. I'm taking him to see a doctor."

Li Zhuoyuan noticed that Zhao Hequan's neck area was already completely blue-black.

Yes, he himself had only been hit in the face by the minced meat from the woman's face. Zhao Hequan, however, had been taken away by the woman pinching his neck. He was definitely the most serious.

After greeting Li Weihan, Li Zhuoyuan followed Xue Liangliang back to the dam where they had slept last night. A barefoot doctor was sitting there.

The doctor untied Zhao Hequan's shirt and examined his symptoms, then his face became very grim.

"Doctor, is he poisoned, or was he bitten by a poisonous insect?" Xue Liangliang asked anxiously.

"Where do we have such fierce poisonous mosquitoes and insects here? It doesn't look like poisoning either, not this fast. Didn't you say he was fine this morning?"

"Yes, he was completely normal this morning."

"Ai." The doctor said with some difficulty, "Send him to the nearby town health center to have a look. Go there for a check-up. All I can do here is treat headaches and fevers."

"Doctor, I also have something here." Xue Liangliang rolled up his sleeves.

Li Zhuoyuan, standing at the side, saw that his arms, like his own, also had gray round spots.

And, the woman last night had also squatted in front of him. She had almost grabbed him instead of Zhao Hequan. So, it was also very normal for his body to be hit by some minced meat.

"Hurry to the hospital. You also go for a check-up together. Don't let it be some infectious disease or something."

"Alright, I'll leave my friend here first, and I'll go find a car."

The doctor frowned but only nodded. Then, he took out an old mask from his pocket and put it on.

After Xue Liangliang left, the doctor looked at Zhao Hequan again. At this time, Zhao Hequan's consciousness was already somewhat blurry.

The doctor muttered, "It really doesn't look like a sickness. Instead, it looks like he's been invaded by something 'dirty'."

Barefoot doctors were people with basic medical knowledge trained or designated by the state after the establishment of New China. They had no fixed positions and were both farmers and doctors. Although their medical professional level was generally not comparable to that of doctors in regular hospitals, they played a huge role and made outstanding contributions in improving and guaranteeing rural medical conditions during specific historical periods.

At the same time, due to the characteristics of their profession, they often had their own understanding of some special difficult and miscellaneous diseases and were not so dismissive of them.

"What did you say?" Li Zhuoyuan heard and asked curiously.

The doctor didn't speak. He still wasn't going to scare a child with superstitious talk.

"Did he encounter something 'dirty' and get invaded?" Li Zhuoyuan then proactively asked, "How to solve it?"

The doctor said with some amusement, "Little kid, how would I know how to solve it? I'm a doctor, not a fortune teller."

Li Zhuoyuan was somewhat disappointed. It seemed he could only wait until he got back and his great-grandfather returned.

He actually knew roughly that Liu Jinxia and Aunt Li Juxiang also seemed to have solutions for this kind of problem, but he really didn't have the nerve to ask them, because their mother and daughter's methods of solving problems were too simple and rough.

At this moment, Xue Liangliang, who had just walked out for a short while, came back again, followed by a middle-aged man in work clothes with half-white hair.

This man had thick and steady eyebrows, a square face shape, and exuded an upright and imposing aura.

"Engineer Luo." The doctor saw him and proactively got up to greet him.

The person opposite was the deputy commander of the engineering project, also a department director at Haihe University. He had basically been responsible for organizing the water conservancy construction project in this area for these years.

"Um." Luo Tingrui raised his hand in response, then walked directly to Zhao Hequan. After checking the situation, he spoke in a low voice to Xue Liangliang next to him, scolding him, "Don't you have any sense? Who told you two to be so impulsive yesterday?"

"Director, it was my fault."

Luo Tingrui's face sank, "Didn't I teach you that when encountering graves or temples during engineering construction, you must deal with them? Even if there are no conditions for relocation and resettlement, before demolishing these things, you must burn some incense and worship, and say some good words. But you two, you just smashed it with a hammer!"

"Director, what should we do now?"

Actually, Xue Liangliang had planned to burn incense and worship first and then demolish the temple yesterday, but Zhao Hequan had coldly snorted, saying that this was the inferior root of the Chinese people, and had directly started smashing with a hammer. He himself had only followed along with a forced hand.

Who knew that such a problem would arise the very next day? But now was obviously not the time to shirk responsibility and explain.

"Where was that idol moved to?"

"It was dragged to the ditch on the west side, with the engineering waste."

"Alright, you take him there first now. I'll go to my temporary office to find some incense. Let's apologize first, then send him to the hospital in the city. This kind of symptom, the town health center probably can't handle it. Anyway, finding a car also takes some time."

"Alright, Director, I understand."

Xue Liangliang carried Zhao Hequan on his back and ran down the dam.

As he walked, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Li Zhuoyuan who was following him.

"You..."

Li Zhuoyuan didn't talk nonsense and exposed his forearm for the other person to see.

Xue Liangliang was very surprised, "Little friend, did you also go and smash it?"

"I don't know."

Actually, Li Zhuoyuan was the most innocent. He now had the ability to passively walk through the Yin, but the whole thing was truly unrelated to him. "Then just come with me to burn incense. After burning the incense, tell your family, and I'll take you to the city hospital together."

"Alright, Brother."

Two people, to be precise, three people, came to the ditch on the west side where the waste was piled. The female Bodhisattva statue was placed there alone.

The villagers working on the construction still had basic taboos and didn't let it lie there. There was still a rock holding it up on the side to ensure it could stand.

After putting Zhao Hequan down, Xue Liangliang walked to the front of the idol and first worshipped it:

"Yesterday was my fault, please forgive me..." He paused and looked at Li Zhuoyuan next to him, "At least, you must forgive this child."

Last night, Xue Liangliang had still thrown the ground with a voice: This world is materialistic.

However, this didn't seem wrong either. In the eyes of a true materialist, as long as there was a set of ready-made rules that could be explored and solved, then even if it was a ghost, it was also a materialistic ghost.

Li Zhuoyuan then carefully observed this idol. The idol had been in water or mud for a long time, and the paint on its body had peeled and corroded early on. What he saw was a large area of surface that looked like red rust, which should be some kind of mud material that shaped the idol.

But this also echoed the state in which the woman appeared last night, vaguely with rolling scorched flesh.

Most importantly, the other parts of the idol's face were not visible, but only the corner of the mouth still had a segment of white teeth paint material. The paint should be particularly durable, and from the shape of the painted face, the jaw position was indented, instead leaving a gap for the mouth. It was possible that in the mud below, it wasn't completely filled.

Li Zhuoyuan also worshipped it, then the rhyme that his great-grandfather had initially led him to recite when sending off the little yellow warbler floated in his mind. He had a good memory and remembered it exactly, word for word. He also smoothly recited it:

"Today I give you an offering, next year I will send you a sacrifice. I have done human favor to this extent, are you still satisfied?

Regardless of Yin or Yang, all must make sense.

Report grievances if you have grievances, report enmities if you have enmities. People in the world all have bitter lives, you must not pull people backward."

On the side, Xue Liangliang looked at this child, his eyes wide with surprise, because he saw... professionalism in this child's body.

After Li Zhuoyuan finished reciting, he added, "The incense will be brought over later. After I go home, I will set up a small offering table for you and put all my snacks on it to compensate you."

Xue Liangliang said in surprise, "Will this be useful?"

Li Zhuoyuan shook his head and truthfully said, "I don't know."

He was just copying the answer based on his great-grandfather's model.

Subsequently, Li Zhuoyuan lifted his arm again:

"Yi?"

The gray spot, which was originally the size of a coin, had actually shrunk to the size of a soybean at this time, and the color had also become lighter.

Li Zhuoyuan blinked. He himself didn't expect his great-grandfather's answer to be so useful!

"Look at yours." Li Zhuoyuan looked at Xue Liangliang. He needed a comparison now.

Xue Liangliang immediately pulled open his sleeves. His gray spot had not only not become smaller, but had even become larger.

He immediately said, "Little brother, quickly teach me to recite."

"Alright."

Next, Xue Liangliang learned from Li Zhuoyuan and recited the words he had just spoken. Only, he changed Li Zhuoyuan's last sentence, "put all my snacks on it to compensate you," to "go to the school cafeteria to get food and set up an offering table for you in the dormitory."

After reciting, he waited for a while.

Xue Liangliang, like scratching a lottery ticket, pulled up his sleeves and also let out a surprised sound.

The spot had shrunk, but it hadn't shrunk back to a soybean size. It had become the same size as before.

"This..." Xue Liangliang frowned, "Could it be that the Bodhisattva also knows that the dishes in our school cafeteria are very unappetizing?"

Li Zhuoyuan felt it was possible because he had actually smashed the idol yesterday.

"How come there's another child now?" Luo Tingrui came over holding the incense.

"This child also encountered the same problem."

Luo Tingrui was somewhat doubtful, but he didn't ask anything else. Instead, he handed Li Zhuoyuan one stick of incense, then took one himself, and gave one to Xue Liangliang.

As for Zhao Hequan, who was already semi-conscious, he stuffed a large handful into his hand.

Next, Luo Tingrui stood at the very front, first very seriously worshipped with the incense, then untied his collar button, and sat down in front of the idol without caring about the dirt. With one hand constantly patting the ground and the other clutching his chest, he began to complain bitterly.

He started recounting the difficult days before liberation, then the purpose and meaning of building roads, bridges, and water conservancy projects, and finally the future prospects.

He spoke very invested and emotionally, completely devoid of the rigorous temperament of an engineer. If you didn't know, you would think he was holding a small symposium.

Moreover, as if afraid that the local temple couldn't understand Mandarin, he even specially used quite a bit of Nantong dialect, although it was very awkward and not standard.

After speaking, he stood up and pressed down on Li Zhuoyuan and Xue Liangliang's heads with both hands, making them hold the incense and worship again.

Finally, he dragged the unconscious Zhao Hequan over, grabbed his head, and made him kowtow.

After doing all this, Luo Tingrui buttoned up his collar, and his whole person became steady again.

Seeing the curious gaze from Xue Liangliang, he said grumpily, "Learn a little. I also learned this from my predecessors. There are not many such things in the Nantong area. It's simply too common to encounter this when building roads and bridges inland. Everyone has figured out this process, and it's quite useful."

Li Zhuoyuan nodded convincingly, because he discovered that after this worship, the gray spot on his forearm, which was originally the size of a soybean, had actually disappeared, leaving only a faint, almost imperceptible color mark. This could almost be said to be completely healed.

This was truly too magical. If he went back and asked Liu Jinxia to come and treat him, he was afraid that Aunt Xiang Hou would get a stomach ache and roll on the ground non-stop again.

Li Zhuoyuan began to think: Does this count as another kind of Xuanmen development?

The main approach is to move with emotion and enlighten with reason. However, the key here seems to be a higher level of righteousness. Even those 'dirty things' can only avoid it and retreat.

The spot on Xue Liangliang's arm had shrunk back to the size of a soybean, but it had also become much lighter. It should also not be a big problem. Even if this trace remains permanently, for a water conservancy boy, it is not a big deal.

As for Zhao Hequan, he seemed to have improved a lot. He started to groan and regain some consciousness, but he was originally the most serious. Now, even if he recovers by half... he feels that the difference is like this illness being so severe that it can kill you ten times, but only letting you die once.

After all, Li Zhuoyuan had personally seen "Zhao Hequan" being lifted away by that woman.

Where would he be taken?

Li Zhuoyuan looked around at the base of the idol, thinking there was no suitable place to hide things here. But he saw a row of carved words on the base of the idol, between its two feet:

"Bai Family Lady."

Was it the woman's title?

It was quite consistent with the local way of addressing people. For example, Liu Jinxia was referred to as "Liu Family Granny" by guests.

So, this wasn't a statue of a female Bodhisattva, but it wasn't wrong to call it that either, because in the rough and broad sense of ordinary people's understanding of the divine system, female deities seemed to all be able to be called "female Bodhisattva."

"Send him to the city hospital." Luo Tingrui sighed and said to Xue Liangliang again, "You also go to the hospital for a check-up together. Don't leave any problems behind."

Xue Liangliang pointed at Li Zhuoyuan and said, "This little friend also needs to go for a check-up."

"Um, little friend, which village and team are your family adults from?"

"Shi'nan Town, Siyuan Village, Four Big Team."

Luo Tingrui looked at Xue Liangliang, "I'll go and tell his family adults. Just say that you students took him to the city to wander and play together, and you'll use a car to send him home in the evening. I can't leave the work site. You take them. The car should be waiting at the entrance now."

"Alright, Director."

Xue Liangliang supported Zhao Hequan again, then motioned for Li Zhuoyuan to follow. A car was indeed parked at the western entrance of the work site. The driver was also inside. Seeing them coming, he immediately drove to the city.

On the way, Li Zhuoyuan thought that if Engineer Luo went and told his grandfather and them, they would definitely be relieved. After all, Engineer Luo's identity as deputy commander was even higher than the town mayor's.

They arrived at Nantong People's Hospital at exactly ten o'clock in the morning.

Li Zhuoyuan checked his arm. The color mark was also gone. It was completely healed. However, after going back, Li Zhuoyuan would still set up a small offering table to fulfill his promise.

Xue Liangliang was also almost healed. His soybean-sized spot had also shrunk to a faint mark.

However, unlike the situation where both of them had basically recovered, it seemed that all the pain and suffering had been borne by Zhao Hequan alone.

When they set off, he had still regained some consciousness and seemed to be much better, but on the way, his condition started to worsen again. Not only did he vomit in the car, but he also vomited out foul-smelling water.

Perhaps the driver felt distressed, as the sound of him honking the horn became much louder.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Xue Liangliang first arranged for Zhao Hequan to be sent to the emergency room, then led Li Zhuoyuan by the hand to do a blood test and a series of check-ups together.

By the time they waited for the results, it was almost lunchtime. Xue Liangliang went to the hospital cafeteria and bought some steamed buns, then brought them over to eat with Li Zhuoyuan.

"Look, we have to wait until after work in the afternoon to get the report." Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuoyuan, "After we get the report in the afternoon, I'll go to the small store at the entrance and buy you some milk and small toys. You can take them back with you."

"Thank you, Brother."

"Thank you for what? To be honest, I'm the one who involved you."

This matter was caused by him and Zhao Hequan smashing the idol with a hammer. How could this child have also swung a big hammer?

Li Zhuoyuan lowered his head and took a bite of the steamed bun. It was indeed because of him, but he didn't blame him in his heart.

This kind of sunny, cheerful, and careful person made it very difficult for people to feel disgusted. He himself also liked to play this role...

Hiss!

Li Zhuoyuan grasped the steamed bun with his left hand and clutched his head with his right, his expression pained.

Damn, this feeling was coming back again.

This time, Li Zhuoyuan felt his vision beginning to blur. There was a feeling of dislocation between himself and his body. In fact, this was a concrete manifestation of the detachment of self-cognition and identity relationship.

In his mind, his mother's recent frequent coldness and sarcasm once again appeared.

He was very clear that once he let this symptom detach from control and completely peel away, he would forever lose the identity of "Xiao Yuan Hou." When facing family and social relationships, he would resist coldly, and even act... unable to continue acting.

But he truly liked this life and was unwilling to let go.

If his mother wasn't in front of him, he might not have resisted so much, and he might even have had the idea of wanting to try what it felt like. But now, precisely because his mother's figure was there, he was afraid.

Perhaps, even Li Lan herself hadn't thought that the timely intervention and treatment she had arranged for her son by finding a psychologist and various methods...

Its effect was far, far less than her own negative example.

"Xiao Yuan, what's wrong? Xiao Yuan, are you feeling unwell?" Xue Liangliang was startled. He was afraid that this child would have a big problem because of him.

Li Zhuoyuan kept quickly reciting his family relationship network silently in his heart. This time, he even brought out his Grandpa Bei and Grandma Bei. At the same time, the frequency of reciting Qin Li's name was also higher.

He truly didn't want to return and face the gaze of that girl who only had him in her eyes and respond with coldness.

At the same time, Li Zhuoyuan was still reciting: I have only found the method to solve the eighth volume of "Xiang Xue," and I still haven't dared to experiment! This doesn't count as learning it successfully! I still haven't completely supplemented the algorithm for deducing the Bagua of my life chart! Although the progress is very fast, what if I get stuck later?

No, even if I learn both of these volumes well, my great-grandfather's basement still has so many books! It's definitely impossible for me to read and learn them all. I will definitely fail, definitely not understand, definitely be frustrated and powerless and dislike studying!

"Pa!"

A silent, crisp sound, like consciousness, thoughts, and identity cognition returning to their places.

Li Zhuoyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back against the chair, his face covered in cold sweat.

Sure enough, the feeling of academic frustration was still the most useful.

The sudden appearance of this situation was very likely related to breaking through to the eighth volume last night, causing him to lose his self-awareness as a poor student.

"Xiao Yuan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Brother Liangliang."

Li Zhuoyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead. To comfort his heart, he deliberately said, "It's nothing. I have epilepsy."

"Oh, I see. You sit still and don't move. I'll go get you a hot towel to wipe yourself."

"Um, thank you, Brother Liangliang."

After Xue Liangliang left, Li Zhuoyuan saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. It was Sister Yingzi.

Was she also in this hospital? Were her grandfather and grandmother transferred here from the town health center?

Didn't that mean that his great-grandfather might also be here?

However, Li Zhuoyuan didn't leave his seat to follow. He was afraid that Xue Liangliang would come back and not find him and get anxious.

Xue Liangliang came back holding a new towel. He carefully wiped Li Zhuoyuan's face and even motioned for Li Zhuoyuan to lift his hands so he could stretch the towel inside his short sleeves to wipe his body and prevent him from catching a cold.

"Xiao Yuan, you're not from here, are you?" Xue Liangliang asked with a smile, "You said you were local when I asked yesterday, but when you had your blood drawn earlier, you communicated with that nurse in Nantong dialect. I heard it."

"Um, I spent my childhood in the capital city and just recently came back to my hometown."

"The capital city, ah. I've been there once for a study exchange activity between colleges. I went to Weiming Lake."

Li Zhuoyuan thought: That's not a coincidence, we didn't meet there.

"I really envy children from big cities," Xue Liangliang sighed.

"Where is Brother Liang's home?"

"Me? I'm from rural Anhui. My hometown house is quite beautiful, just a bit poor."

Li Zhuoyuan nodded. He also felt that many old houses in Siyuan Village were very beautiful, especially the design of the flat roofs and eaves. They were very beautiful.

"It's a pity that after many families in my hometown became better off, they just tore down the old houses and built buildings."

"That's also for a better life."

"I know, but I feel that after we ordinary people's lives get better, we'll be like people in developed countries and start to enjoy traveling. If the old houses aren't torn down, they might even become tourist attractions."

Li Zhuoyuan looked at Xue Liangliang. He felt that this older brother's thinking had a sharp depth that made him sigh.

He wasn't that kind of person who was born with knowledge, nor was he like those classmates in his class who had special skills. But he seemed extremely good at discovering objective rules, thereby grasping the essence of problems. That was foresight.

Perhaps, this was actually also a kind of genius.

"Haha, won't you feel like I'm talking nonsense? How could people possibly buy tickets and queue up to visit this kind of old house and old small town in the future?"

Li Zhuoyuan shook his head, "I feel that Brother Liangliang, what you said should be right."

"You're also very smart, truly. I feel it. How are your grades?"

"Quite good. There aren't many kids in the class who are better than me."

"That's because you're still young. You learn little in the lower grades, the gap isn't big, and the competition is small. Later, when you go to junior high, senior high, and then university, you'll understand. Don't be proud and complacent now."

"Um, I know."

Li Zhuoyuan then pointed towards the staircase entrance, "Brother Liangliang, I just saw my older cousin go upstairs. Her grandfather and grandmother are in the hospital here, and my older cousin and my aunt should be accompanying them. I want to go and see her."

"Alright, I'll go with you."

"No need to trouble you. I can go by myself."

"No, after we get the check-up report in the afternoon and confirm everything is fine, I still have to personally send you home."

"Alright, Brother Liangliang."

The fourth and fifth floors were hospital floors. Li Zhuoyuan didn't know the patient's name, so naturally he couldn't check the ward number. He could only scan ward by ward.

He didn't search for long before he heard a familiar and loud voice: "His mother, what's going on!"

It was his great-grandfather's voice.

Li Zhuoyuan immediately ran over, followed by Xue Liangliang behind him.

At the same time, some patients and family members also appeared in the corridor, attracted by the commotion and looking at the rare sight.

He came to the front of the ward door and pushed it open.

Li Zhuoyuan saw Li Sanjiang holding a peach wood sword, protecting Yingzi, the third aunt, and two other middle-aged men and women behind him. Two elderly people were lying on each of the two beds. They should be Yingzi's grandfather and grandmother.

At this time, the two elderly people's bodies were twitching madly, and fresh blood was overflowing from their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Especially from their mouths, fresh blood surged even more, not only staining the sickbed red but also quickly accumulating into two large pools on the ground.

But even so, they were still struggling to make intermittent sounds:

"Spare my life... spare my life... Bai Family Lady!"

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