Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“So, Brother Liangliang, does this mean the idol dug up during the river construction and the coffin pried open on the farm both have at least three hundred years of history?”

“Correct, that's one way to understand it. But what's strange is, three hundred years is indeed a very long time, but not so long that your local area couldn’t preserve any sacrificial customs related to the ‘Lady of the Bai family.’ Even the elderly have no impression of her.

But the local gazetteer records are clear. We also dug up her temple. We have both textual records and physical artifacts, so it's impossible for there to be absolutely no preservation in folklore. This is too strange.”

Li Zhuoyuan shook his head and said, “Brother Liangliang, a retired old professor once told me that existence is not necessarily reasonable, but existence must have a reason.”

“Xiao Yuan, are you saying non-existence must also have a reason?”

“Yes, I think it’s possible that the Lady of the Bai family was not suitable for sacrifice, nor suitable to evolve into a custom. Her image, or rather, the image of the Bai family or Bai family town, perhaps had a big difference from what we imagined.

I just looked at the local gazetteer records you brought back, Brother Liangliang. It indeed records quite a bit about the Lady of the Bai family's deeds. They did many things during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The style of the records is very similar to some strange stories, but it generally lacks something...

The endings of those strange stories usually add a description like, ‘The local people were grateful for her kindness, built a temple, made a statue, and the incense fire continued.’

But the records about the Lady of the Bai family in the local gazetteer are just records. If it was omitted or not written once or twice, that might be understandable, but it's not written in all related records.

However, there are quite a few other related temples locally. Real-life heroes, Daoist priests and monks from strange stories, and even the Dragon King Prince from the East Sea all have the kind of records I mentioned above.

Even now, whether the incense fire is good or bad, you can at least find a sacrificial temple.

Therefore, I think the isolation of the Lady of the Bai family from local folk customs has an inevitable reason.

Their deeds were in ‘slaying demons and eliminating evil,’ but their purpose of action might not have been to ‘protect one side.’”

Xue Liangliang once again looked at Li Zhuoyuan in surprise. He had already forgotten how many times he had looked at this elementary school student with such a gaze today.

“Brother Liangliang, do you still remember the exterior of the temple dug up during the river construction?”

“I remember, it was very small and cramped. If the idol hadn't been placed at that height, I would even suspect the people who built the temple would have built it according to the specifications of the earth temples by the village roads.”

“And the chains…”

“Right, chains. That idol was bound with chains. The other ends of the chains were connected to the temple's surroundings. Without smashing the chains, it would have been very difficult to push down the temple by hand.”

“Then it shouldn't have been for sacrificial use, but more like for suppression use.”

“Suppression?” Xue Liangliang immediately showed a look of sudden realization. “Right! It's probably like that. Who would use this kind of image to accept incense and sacrifice!”

Immediately afterward, Xue Liangliang excitedly paced:

“The layout inside the coffin on the farm side and the text on the wood carving also clearly state it was for suppression. Don't the behavioral logic of the Lady of the Bai family in these two places match?

But with this kind of self-sacrificing method, why don't the people appreciate it?”

“What if the Bai family town only pursued the process and not the result?”

“Xiao Yuan, are you saying that the Lady of the Bai family only wanted to suppress evil in their own way, and as for exactly what evil was suppressed, and how this evil came about, that’s worth pondering?

Ah… If this evil was originally released by them, raised by them, and then suppressed by themselves, then people indeed wouldn't remember their good deeds. Instead, they would avoid them like the plague.

That way, it makes complete sense.”

“Yes.”

Li Zhuoyuan nodded. There were quite a few records of the downfall of evil cultivators of the Xuanmen in the *Jianghu Qitan*. There were quite a few records of this group pursuing raising corpses to ascend. This group of people could be said to resort to any means.

There was a relatively large common understanding within this group, which was:

Lakes are places for raising corpses, rivers are ladders to heaven, and rivers entering the sea are the gates to ascend.

Nantong is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River entering the sea, and Chongming Island is even more so the gateway of the Yangtze River. From the perspective of that group of people's strange thinking, isn't it equivalent to the mouth of the heavenly gate?

The evil Dao Xuanmen people from the upstream mountain cities would either spend effort to raise their own corpses or usurp others' coffins. After the time was ripe, they would go down along the river, straight to the sea, the end they had planned with great time and energy.

The Bai family people were simpler and more direct. They forcibly ‘suppressed evil’ at the mouth of the heavenly gate, using the method of stepping on their left foot with their right foot, rushing to ascend.

Thinking of this, Li Zhuoyuan involuntarily reached out to rub his temples. The ideas of this group of people were surprising, but they indeed had a set of worldview that could be substituted into, as he had just done.

“Xiao Yuan, this is also why your sister's maternal grandfather and grandmother died miserably. Although the farm boss hasn't been found yet, it's possible he has also met with harm.

According to reason, that shouldn't be the case.

If the Lady of the Bai family was on the side of justice, and the porcelain bottle sealed was evil, why would that evil impatiently harm the benefactor who released it, and strike so ruthlessly, leaving no room for maneuver?

So, the one who was truly annoyed, ashamed, and became angry enough to start killing was that Lady of the Bai family, who at first glance represented justice!”

Li Zhuoyuan similarly looked at Xue Liangliang with a surprised gaze.

You know, Xue Liangliang might not have seen *Jianghu Qitan*, but he could analyze very in-depth things through regular clues.

“Then Zhao Hequan…” Xue Liangliang was still concerned about his classmate, “Hasn't he been targeted by the Lady of the Bai family from the river construction, and all the revenge is concentrated on him?”

If you just offended, apologizing and saying nice words would have been enough. But if you have already ruined someone's good deeds, you will surely incur their relentless revenge!

Xue Liangliang said puzzledly, “But why did that Lady of the Bai family forgive you and me? No, this was originally unrelated to you. It should be letting me go?”

“Perhaps she could only choose one person.”

The scene in the dream that night was very clear. The woman could only take one person away. For this, she even hesitated many times between me and Zhao Hequan. It seemed she detected something special about me, which made her very conflicted at one point.

“Ah?”

“The book said so.”

“Oh, there's still this rule. Then isn't Zhao Hequan doomed?”

“Feels like it.”

“Then we…” Xue Liangliang waved his hand at Li Zhuoyuan, “Quickly set up the offering table. Hurry up and completely sever ties with her!”

Thinking that the other party didn't intentionally generously forgive him, but temporarily had no way to free her hands to deal with him, Xue Liangliang felt a sense of urgency.

“Okay.” Li Zhuoyuan felt Xue Liangliang's words were very reasonable. He pointed to his cabinet, “Brother Liangliang, the snacks are inside. There are stools outside. You tidy them up and set up two tables. Note that it's an even number... Just set four portions on each table. I'll go downstairs to get incense, candles, and paper money.”

After allocating the tasks, Li Zhuoyuan went downstairs, brought back the candles and paper money. When he came up, Xue Liangliang had already set up two small offering tables in the bedroom.

The two immediately began the sacrifice.

…

In the east room, Qin Li, who was originally sleeping, suddenly opened her eyes.

Liu Yumei, who was resting with her eyes closed while holding a palm-leaf fan and lightly fanning, also woke up subsequently. She lightly covered her granddaughter's face with the palm-leaf fan, blocking her line of sight, and said softly:

“Good child, it's okay. They are just breaking the last bit of karma. You rest well. You still have to go find Xiao Yuan to play tomorrow morning.”

Qin Li slowly closed her eyes.

Liu Yumei then looked at the screen window. Through there, she could see the night sky outside.

After a long time, she said to herself with a somewhat mocking tone:

“What era is it now, still dreaming that kind of beautiful dream?”

Just, just when she had closed her eyes and planned to sleep again.

The next moment,

Liu Yumei and Qin Li opened their eyes together.

This time, Qin Li's eyes were deep, and rarely when not looking at Li Zhuoyuan, a clear focus appeared in her pupils.

Liu Yumei's expression was also a bit more serious than before, but she was still holding the palm-leaf fan, swinging it back and forth above Qin Li, as if making cuts.

Qin Li looked at her grandmother beside her.

Liu Yumei said, “Good child, this one isn't looking for Xiao Yuan. Sleep. You can't play greedily tonight, otherwise your spirit won't be good, and you don't want to see Xiao Yuan with two black eye circles?”

Qin Li closed her eyes once again.

Liu Yumei was a little disappointed. She had gradually gotten used to communicating with her own granddaughter by borrowing Li Zhuoyuan's name. It was heartbreaking, yet very useful.

Standing up, she got out of bed. Liu Yumei pulled open the screen window and then closed the outer window, completely isolating the outside.

“Out of sight, out of mind. Sleep.”

…

The sacrifice ended. Xue Liangliang was responsible for cleaning up the burned paper ashes. He always did things very carefully.

When he came back, he saw Li Zhuoyuan looking at him and said, “Brother Liangliang, look at your arm.”

Xue Liangliang heard this and immediately rolled up his sleeve to look. He found that there was no trace at all. He immediately excitedly asked, “There's no trace at all. Xiao Yuan, how about you?”

“I don't have any either.”

“Hoo…” Xue Liangliang exhaled a long breath. “Then we have succeeded?”

“Yes, probably. It's just that classmate of yours, Brother Liangliang…”

If we sever ties on our side, the idol Lady of the Bai family can concentrate all her attention and revenge on that one person.

Xue Liangliang wasn't how sad. Instead, he successively pointed to his forehead and two shoulders with his hand and said, “Lord will bless him.”

Li Zhuoyuan's mouth curved up. He wanted to laugh a little.

He could feel that Xue Liangliang's earlier desire to rescue his classmate was sincere, but this didn't prevent him from abandoning the plan to help others after discovering the terrible seriousness of the matter.

Xue Liangliang reached out and rubbed Li Zhuoyuan's nose tip once, saying, “Everything, you have to be open-minded. If you want to live happily, you have to learn to refuse emotional consumption.”

Saying that, Xue Liangliang turned around and asked, “The shower room is in the back, right? I'll go take a shower first.”

Looking at his back as he went out the door, Li Zhuoyuan slowly fell into contemplation.

Xue Liangliang's sentence had touched him.

Perhaps, it was precisely because he was always thinking about how to act well that he would dislike himself more and more.

…

Li Sanjiang's bedroom wall was covered with idols.

These were all bought in one go when he rushed to the temple fair last year, and then thrown into the cabinet and never used. Today, they were all put to use.

Among them was a painting, on which the old man had a kind face and an immortal air. Li Sanjiang placed him in the center.

He thought this was Laozi, but actually… it was Confucius.

He was indeed tired after a day of hard work. After finishing the arrangements, he went to bed very early.

Then, he dreamed.

It was very strange. It seemed that since he had done the transfer ceremony with Xiao Yuan, his dreams had become especially numerous.

But this time, the dream scene was not on the roof of the town health center, but on the road.

Turning his head to look to the right, it was the familiar gate. Beside the gate, his signboard, which he had intimately touched many times during the day, was still hanging.

Behind him, the sound of footsteps was transmitted.

Li Sanjiang turned his head to look back and saw a petite figure slowly walking out of the shadow, with extremely great resentment.

Without hesitation, Li Sanjiang directly ran into the police station.

The girl stood outside the police station, with a resentful expression, her mouth opening and closing.

The threatening sound from the dream the first night was clear. She wanted him dead. When he dozed off on the tractor, her voice was blurred.

And now,

He could only watch her small mouth constantly open and close. Although he couldn't hear anything at all, she must be cursing very foully.

“Hey, hey.”

Li Sanjiang laughed, then self-righteously lay down.

If he encountered someone he could reason with, he wouldn't mind lowering his old face, begging a little, saying some soft words, or even kneeling down and kowtowing. That would be no problem.

But after all, evil spirits were transformed from people. Some people could be communicated with, but some people just couldn't be reasoned with.

Encountering this kind, caring about her even a little was a waste of energy.

At least in his dream, Li Sanjiang had seen the world. How could he not be the leader who led a group of zombies to jump square dancing in the Forbidden City in his dream?

Therefore, Li Sanjiang directly lay down, stacked his hands, and put them on his navel.

He was tired and fell asleep.

Outside the room in reality, Xue Liangliang walked out of the shower room while wiping his hair. He looked at the willow tree diagonally opposite the room with some curiosity.

The branches of the willow tree were swinging constantly, as if being blown by the wind, but what was strange was that he didn't feel any wind here at all.

“Strange, why isn't the wind blowing in?”

He didn't think too much about it. Mainly because his encounters today were too bizarre, he had no mind to research the wind direction.

When he returned to the bedroom, he saw Li Zhuoyuan sitting in front of the desk with the desk lamp on, looking at a book.

He approached to look and found that the words on it were dense and extremely small. He involuntarily said worriedly:

“Looking at such small words in the evening, it's easy to become nearsighted.”

“No, Brother Liangliang, I'm used to it. I can recognize the content by just scanning it by feel.”

“So magical?” Xue Liangliang didn't think Li Zhuoyuan was lying and went to bed first.

The characteristic of old-style wooden beds was that they were spacious enough.

“Xiao Yuan, are you sleeping on the outside or inside?”

“I can.”

“Then I'll still sleep on the outside. Children feel safer sleeping on the inside.”

“Yes.”

“What time are you planning to sleep?”

“I'll read a bit more, then I'll go take a shower and sleep.”

“I think it's fine to treat these as interests and hobbies, but you still have to put more effort into your studies.”

“Yes, I know.”

In the past, Xue Liangliang would definitely have advised him a few more times, but today, he couldn't bring himself to advise him. He thought carefully for a moment and realized that he had indeed relied on Li Zhuoyuan reading these useless books today for a great favor.

Therefore, he involuntarily changed his tone and said, “Xiao Yuan, I think it's quite interesting. Before yesterday, I really didn't expect this world to actually have these things. But I don't know why, I don't seem to be very scared. It's not that I'm not afraid, but I'm not panicking that much.”

“Fear comes from the unknown. Brother Liangliang, you have already explored the hometown of the Lady of the Bai family. What is there to be afraid of?”

“Indeed. However, you say, do I want to read some books in this area? Do you have any recommendations?”

Li Zhuoyuan hesitated a bit and said, “These books are my great-grandfather's. I can't decide to lend them to you. You have to ask my great-grandfather first.”

“Then forget it. Your great-grandfather specializes in this line of work. These books should all be his treasures. He definitely won't easily lend them to outsiders.”

On this point, Xue Liangliang was indeed mistaken.

For so many years, Li Sanjiang had just left so many boxes of books to gather dust in the basement.

“Xiao Yuan, what's the phone number of your entire village? Should we exchange contact information?”

Li Zhuoyuan reported the phone number of the village committee, as well as the phone number of the small store in the village.

Generally, people in the village who wanted to make a phone call would go to these two places. If there was a call from outside, it would also come here. After saying who they wanted to find, they would hang up, shout for the person, and call back after more than fifteen minutes.

Li Zhuoyuan remembered this phone number, hoping his mother could call him, and his mother indeed didn't disappoint him, never calling over.

“Forget it, I'll write it down.” Xue Liangliang got out of bed, walked to the desk, took paper and pen to write down the number, then sighed.

Although Li Zhuoyuan was always looking at the book without raising his head, he could still do two things at once. He said, “Brother Liangliang, are you saying that one day in the future, every household will have a telephone?”

“There will be this day, do you believe it?” “I believe it, but now it seems that pagers are popular.”

In previous years, pagers began to enter the domestic market and quickly became widely popular. Young people in the city considered wearing a pager on their waist an honor.

“I'm also planning to get one. Then I'll get one together and give you one. How about it, Xiao Yuan?”

Li Zhuoyuan shook his head: “I won't use it.”

“Oh, right.” Xue Liangliang patted his forehead. “I said I wanted to buy you snacks and toys, but I forgot. I'll mail them to you after I go back to school.”

“Thank you, Brother Liangliang.”

“Then I'll sleep first.” Xue Liangliang got back into bed, and very quickly, he fell asleep.

Li Zhuoyuan finished reading the volume in his hand, went to the shower room to take a shower. When he passed by his great-grandfather's bedroom, he could clearly hear his great-grandfather's snoring through the door.

It seemed his great-grandfather was sleeping very soundly.

Back in his bedroom, he put a new toothbrush in the basin, then climbed into the inner side of the bed, lay down, and slept.

The next day, Xue Liangliang woke up very early.

He had a characteristic, which was that his sleep quality was high and his sleep time was relatively short. He only needed half the sleep time of others to recover better than others.

Opening his eyes, he looked at Li Zhuoyuan, who was still asleep beside him. Xue Liangliang couldn't help but think, how interesting it would be if this child really got into Haihe University in the future and became his alumni.

He lightly got out of bed and saw the new toothbrush in the basin. He picked up the basin and was about to go wash up when he just opened the door.

“Mom!”

Xue Liangliang was so scared that he dropped the basin in his hand onto the ground. The wash cup, towel, and toothbrush scattered all over the floor.

Anyone who opened the door early in the morning and saw a little girl standing silently at the door would be startled.

Li Zhuoyuan was woken up by the noise and quickly got out of bed. While rubbing his eyes, he ran over, held Qin Li's hand with the other hand, and urged:

“Brother Liangliang, go wash up quickly.”

“Oh, okay.”

Xue Liangliang immediately picked up his things and went out. He didn't know that if Li Zhuoyuan had gotten out of bed a moment later, he might have fallen and suffered a full body of injuries.

Because when Li Zhuoyuan held A Li's hand, A Li's body was already trembling. This was a sign that she was about to become violent.

Originally, according to his past habit, Li Zhuoyuan could sleep late. Even if A Li came, he wouldn't wake up, and she would quietly come in and sit and wait for him to wake up.

But Xue Liangliang sleeping here last night interrupted this habit.

And, because of his shout, he advanced the breakfast time for everyone in the whole house.

After washing up and just eating breakfast, Aunt Zhang from the small store in the village shouted across the wheat field: “Grandpa Sanjiang, telephone!”

“Oh, coming!”

Li Sanjiang picked up some pickled vegetables, then held the bowl with chopsticks and ate porridge while walking out.

When he came to the small store, after the time it took to smoke a cigarette, the telephone rang again. He picked it up, and it was Aunt Yingzi's sister-in-law, Chen Xiaoling, who called.

She said on the phone that the farm boss had been found dead at a widow's house in town. That widow was quite affectionate and was just about to hold a funeral for him.

As a result, things were not found. It was said that that Miss Song also came over. The three of them were often together.

That Miss Song was not a local person. They also inquired at her workplace, and they said that she hadn't shown up for work last week without saying hello. Her registered identity information was also fake.

Currently, they suspected that the lost jewelry and the porcelain bottle were in that woman's hands, but it was very difficult to find her now.

Zhou Hai should be cleared of suspicion and would be released at noon.

Chen Xiaoling anxiously asked what she and her husband should do, because she had another nightmare last night.

Li Sanjiang patiently comforted her a few sentences and instructed her to go burn incense under Zhi Yun Tower on Wolf Mountain with Zhou Hai after he came out.

Chen Xiaoling asked somewhat uneasily if this was enough.

Li Sanjiang then suggested that they burn incense on the other four mountains today, which were Jun Mountain, Huangni Mountain, Maanshan Mountain, and Jian Mountain.

Actually, whether it would be useful or not, Li Sanjiang had no idea in his heart. He mainly didn't want to continue getting involved in this matter.

He had already broken ties with that Lady of the Bai family yesterday, even if it was a bad break, it was still a break.

He just didn't need to continue stepping into this muddy water for that Zhou Hai couple. He wasn't getting paid, nor were they close relatives, and that thing was so fierce, why bother?

Besides, it was originally they themselves who were greedy and caused the incident. He had already been benevolent to the utmost.

Thinking of going to burn incense on the five mountains, Chen Xiaoling's confidence involuntarily grew. She thanked Li Sanjiang repeatedly on the phone, then hung up the phone at exactly 60 seconds.

Aunt Zhang smiled and said, “Grandpa Sanjiang is really busy now. I even heard someone discussing your matters when I went to the Shigan wholesale department to stock up.”

“Not all good things. Just making a living. Come, give me a pack of Daqianmen.”

“Okay.”

This was considered a kind of tacit understanding in the village. You couldn't always let people do things for you for free. You had to buy something when you picked up the phone, even if it was just buying two candies for the children.

He put the cigarette in his pocket and walked home. When he was almost at the turn in the road, he saw Xue Liangliang just walking out.

“Grandpa, I'm going back to school.”

“What? You're leaving already?”

“Yes, I only asked for one day off.”

“Then be careful on the road.”

“Okay, Grandpa, I'll come see you again later.”

“Hehe.”

Li Sanjiang gave two dry laughs and waved his hand. This university student came to his house to sleep for a while and eat breakfast and was already leaving, not even tutoring his great-grandson. He was really smart.

Just as he was about to walk in, he saw someone riding a bicycle rushing towards him from a distance. It was a bit familiar. After thinking carefully, he remembered, this seemed to be from the Niu family, Niu Fu's youngest son.

That person quickly got off his bicycle and pushed it to Li Sanjiang. He anxiously opened his mouth: “Grandpa Sanjiang, please go see my dad again. Something has happened to my dad.”

Li Sanjiang's eyebrows furrowed, and he directly opened his mouth: “Ah, something still happened, but that may not be related to my matter. That's fate.”

Joke, he, Li Sanjiang, wasn't selling TVs in a shopping mall. How could he provide after-sales service?

“No, Grandpa, really. Not only did something happen to my dad, but my second uncle and my aunt also had problems. Everyone is panicking. They asked me to come over and beg you to go see again.”

“This won't do, this won't do. Breaking the rule once made me very uncomfortable. If I continue to break the rule, do I still want to live? My coffin isn't painted yet.”

“Grandpa, really, please. Now the family can only rely on you.” As he said this, he took out a red envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Li Sanjiang's hand.

Li Sanjiang's attitude was softened by the thickness of the red envelope.

“Well… I can only go see. Actually, if something really happened, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to do anything. What I can do is just pray for blessings for you younger generation, protect you, and cleanse the geomancy.”

“That's great, just like that. It's enough that you can do this. Really, we are very grateful.”

Actually, these younger generations didn't care much about the three elders. They were worried that after the three elders successively had problems, it would be their turn next.

“You go back first. I have to tidy up and prepare a bit here. I'll go over this afternoon.”

“Good, good, good, Grandpa. We'll wait for you at home.”

After the other party rode far away, Li Sanjiang walked along the small road beside the rice field while opening the red envelope. After confirming that each was a large unity, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

Hey, the feeling of getting rich so early in the morning is really good.

Indeed, how could he always receive troublesome jobs?

Actually, just as Liu Jinxia said, this line of work was originally unavoidable with cheating and deceiving. Many times it was just putting on a show.

But it also depended on the person. Some guys were originally just a pile of shit. Coaxing them and earning their money was also earning money. As for breaking their wealth and eliminating disaster, it also counted as a help.

Back home, Li Sanjiang didn't do any preparations. He lay down on the rattan chair on the second-floor terrace, turned on the radio, and prepared to nap until the afternoon before going out.

Just as he was adjusting his posture, Li Sanjiang saw that in the northeast corner, the two children were lying on small lounge chairs, side by side.

And the lounge chairs they were using, one lacked the right armrest and the other lacked the left armrest. When stuck together, they just made a pair, and there was no barrier in the middle.

“Stinky boy, quite knows how to enjoy life.”

Near noon, a bare-chested teenager pushed a cart up the embankment. It was Runsheng.

He had accompanied Grandpa Shan to fix his dentures and served for two days of injuries. After using the money earned from the Niu family last time to buy a batch of rice, flour, grain, and oil, he was driven out of the house by Grandpa Shan.

Aunt Liu greeted him politely: “Runsheng, you're here. Are you hungry? The meal will be ready soon, hehe.”

Runsheng nodded: “I'm starving. My grandpa didn't let me eat the other day. I saved my stomach to eat here.”

“That's good. I just made a batch of new sausages here. You can taste them at mealtime and see if they're good.”

“Okay, I'm waiting.”

As Runsheng spoke, he even wiped the corners of his mouth once.

Li Sanjiang on the second floor heard the dialogue below and was so angry that his teeth itched. He still thought that old thing had forgotten this matter. He didn't expect that his own mule was coming to his house to eat fodder.

However, he also came at a timely manner. In the afternoon, he could let him push the cart to send him there.

Although this kid could eat, as long as he was full, he was more useful than a cow.

“Runsheng, you're here.”

Runsheng looked up at Li Sanjiang above and nodded vigorously: “Yes, I'm here, Grandpa. I miss you.”

“Grandpa misses you too. Good child, send Grandpa to the Niu family to do a job this afternoon.”

“Okay, Grandpa.”

Li Zhuoyuan heard the sound and heard his great-grandfather's words, knowing that the cat-faced old lady had already done the initial work.

“Brother Runsheng.”

“Okay, Xiao Yuan.”

Runsheng and Li Zhuoyuan simply greeted each other, then went to squat in front of the batch of new sausages Aunt Liu was drying. He was really too hungry and couldn't care about anything else for the time being.

Li Zhuoyuan then walked to Li Sanjiang and showed an obedient smile: “Great-grandfather.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I want to go to Shigan town to buy some stationery this afternoon.”

“Okay, then go with great-grandfather this afternoon.”

Li Sanjiang agreed readily. He felt that the Niu family's side was not dangerous. After all, that dead body had already been killed by him with a peach wood sword.

“Thank you, Great-grandfather.”

Li Zhuoyuan stepped forward, hugged Li Sanjiang's neck, and pressed his face against his chest, hugging him.

Li Sanjiang smiled and lightly patted Li Zhuoyuan's head:

“Oh, oh, oh, haha, it's a small matter, a small matter. What you want to buy, Great-grandfather will buy for you. Great-grandfather has money, he has a lot of money.”

This kind of intimacy from the younger generation made Li Sanjiang very enjoyable.

However, he also tasted it carefully. It seemed he didn't like the younger generation, just like Xiao Yuan.

Although this child didn't study hard, he was really likable.

And after his great-grandfather agreed, Li Zhuoyuan sat back on the lounge chair and continued to read.

As he was reading, he suddenly felt two hands reaching over. The actions were very slow and unfamiliar, but they gradually hugged his neck, and then his face was also pressed against his chest.

Li Zhuoyuan immediately understood that A Li was imitating his earlier actions to please his great-grandfather.

Immediately after, he detected doubt in the girl's gaze.

Li Zhuoyuan understood and could only also stretch out his hand, lightly patting the girl's head: “What you want to buy, I'll buy for you. I have money, I have a lot of money.”

The girl was satisfied, let go of her hand, and returned to her earlier normal posture. Her eyes were bright, at least in this corner, covering the scorching sun.

Downstairs, Liu Yumei, who was drinking tea by herself, held the teacup, her hand trembling slightly. She muttered sourly in her heart: “You have money, you little kid, what money do you have!”

But within the sourness, there was also extremely great delight, and tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.

Since her granddaughter had been sick, when had she done this kind of action?

Sometimes, the most difficult thing is often the breakthrough from zero to one. She was already fantasizing about the day when her granddaughter would also hug her neck like this and let her lightly pat her head.

She lowered her head and continued to drink tea, then slightly frowned.

Are these tea leaves spoiled? Why are they both sour and sweet?

…

After Xue Liangliang left Siyuan Village, he first took a bus to the city People's Hospital to visit the hospitalized Zhao Hequan.

Zhao Hequan's situation was very bad. After being sent in, his symptoms continued to worsen. Now his whole body from head to toe was dyed a stock of cyan and purple.

Just at this time, Luo Tingrui also came to visit. After routinely sweeping over Zhao Hequan, he motioned for Xue Liangliang to come out with him.

He really didn't like Zhao Hequan. As a department director, he would often take them out of school for field internships. Zhao Hequan was relatively fond of talking and performing. Even if he saw a dog peeing on a telephone pole by the roadside while sitting in the car, he would still want to publish some yin-yang strange remarks.

Luo Tingrui was a doer. Although he had also come from his student days and understood that the current social trend was like this, he still looked down on this kind of unemployed moaning, because besides moaning, they just moaned.

Instead, Xue Liangliang had always been in his good graces. If this kid hadn't seemed determined to go to the great Southwest after graduation, he would have even planned to introduce his daughter to him.

“Liangliang, do you want to go back to school?”

“Yes, Director, I'll go to the station in a while.”

“You and I will go together. Some comrades from above have just come down, plus some local comrades. We want to go to the river edge to examine a bit. After the examination is completed, we will go back to school together.”

“Okay, Director.”

Although the examination team was temporarily assembled, there were quite a few people.

Three small cars and one large bus were all full. After leaving the urban area, they headed south to the edge of the Yangtze River. This area belonged to a county below Nantong.

After everyone got off, there was a lot of greeting, basically introducing the local comrades. Then everyone would from time to time ask for Luo Tingrui's opinion.

Xue Liangliang followed behind and understood that this was for the planning concept of a future cross-river bridge. The plan from above was to build a bridge here to connect Nantong and Shanghai.

However, it was currently only in the planning concept stage and did not temporarily have the conditions to start construction.

But this was enough to make Xue Liangliang excited. After all, any grand project was inseparable from this step.

A boat was arranged to come over and pick everyone up. The boat rowed to the river surface so everyone could feel it more intuitively.

“Although steam ferries can solve the traffic problem now, without a real large bridge, it still seriously hinders the local economic development…”

While the local comrades were narrating the actual situation, Xue Liangliang listened and leaned on the boat rail, gazing at the river surface, praising the vast scenery of the river and sky connecting here in his heart.

Immediately, he frowned again, lowered his head, and looked at the river surface below:

“According to the incorrect position marked in the local gazetteer, it seems that Bai family town is…

Right now…

Just under my feet.”

()