Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The woman from before was now standing inside the paifang, the umbrella in her hand was gone, both hands hugging the porcelain vase.

At this moment, Xue Liangliang was surprised to discover that after coming under this paifang, not only did the pulling force of the water flow disappear, even the terrifying feeling of suffocation from earlier also vanished.

He immediately took large gulps of air, however, he only continued this action without being able to achieve the desired effect.

His mouth and nose felt blocked, with absolutely no fresh air coming in.

He suddenly realized that what had changed was only his own feeling; what had not changed was the reality before him.

He was still at the bottom of the river.

But how was this possible?

He was good at swimming, often playing and swimming with little friends in his hometown in Anhui when he was a child. After going to university, he also occasionally went to the swimming pool with classmates to happily swim several laps.

But he didn't think his swimming skills were so good to such an outrageous extent. He had been in the water for so long, and his breath-holding limit had long passed.

He touched under his ear; it was still his original skin, and he hadn't grown gills.

He even turned back to look behind and further away, suspecting that he had already drowned and that he himself was just...

Xue Liangliang hugged his head forcefully, trying to force himself to calm down. The methods that were very effective when taking exams and reviewing design plans had lost their effect at this moment.

His heart was still pounding, his body still trembling, his teeth even chattering continuously.

He was very afraid, afraid of this river bottom environment, afraid of this paifang, and also afraid of the woman holding the porcelain vase standing inside the paifang. He urgently wanted to escape from here, if possible.

At this time, the woman moved; she started walking inside.

Xue Liangliang didn't move; he didn't dare to walk into this paifang, didn't dare to actively explore this town.

However, after the woman pulled away some distance from him, that terrifying feeling of suffocation appeared again.

Xue Liangliang had to quickly stagger forward a few steps, and the feeling of suffocation disappeared again.

He understood that as long as the distance between himself and that woman was too great, that feeling would appear.

The woman continued walking ahead, and Xue Liangliang could only follow, walking into the paifang.

He had no choice. For someone who had just experienced desperate suffocation, going back to taste it again was several times, or even dozens of times, more tormenting.

There was clearly no connection between the woman and him, but in the darkness, there seemed to be a chain, one end held in the woman's hand, the other looped around his own neck.

After the paifang, there were continuous thirty-something layers of downward steps.

Xue Liangliang involuntarily felt somewhat doubtful. Logically speaking, unless a specific terrain environment made it necessary, most ancient villages with paifang would not choose this kind of pattern where one entered the main gate and immediately went down.

Ancient people preferred to raise the terrain slightly, with the paifang in front and the terrain behind raised a bit. This way, it could better set off the momentum.

And here, not only was the terrain not raised, it was even artificially built to be concave downwards, and concave so much.

No wonder when looking from outside towards here earlier, the buildings inside the town had a very hazy feeling, because half of them were actually obscured, with only the upper half visible.

In addition, the shape of the steps was also very strange. Generally, the edge positions at both ends were designed with a smooth flat surface, and the middle most area was for people to walk up and down the steps. But here, the central position was a huge smooth surface, and the steps for people to walk were on both sides, very narrow and small, not to mention, still very steep.

When walking down, Xue Liangliang sometimes had to turn his body sideways. It seemed that the people who came here had small feet.

Down the steps, they came to flat ground, and what met the eye was a stone brick road that was not very spacious and even appeared somewhat cramped.

Moreover, these stone bricks were not laid flat; they were all bricks standing on end, with the small end facing up. Doing this would not only consume more bricks but also increase the amount of construction.

At the same time, due to the erosion of years, even good ancient road surfaces would be uneven. And here, because of this strange brick-laying design, it was impossible to find a place for the sole to land steadily.

Every step he took, only a small part of the foot surface could step firmly, and the remaining part was empty. He had to walk extra carefully, one misstep could easily sprain his ankle and fall.

Fortunately, the woman in front was hugging the porcelain vase, and she didn't walk too fast, so Xue Liangliang could still keep up.

After slightly adapting to this road condition, Xue Liangliang began to examine the residences on both sides.

The residences were laid out very compactly, and the overall style was that of Jiangnan water towns, with white walls and gray tiles.

Between the doorway of each residence and the road, there was a groove less than half a meter wide, covered with stone slabs. This should be a drainage ditch.

Xue Liangliang couldn't understand the meaning of building a drainage ditch at the bottom of the river... unless this town was later submerged in the river.

On the left side of the doorway of each residence, there was a niche with a burning candle inside, emitting a green, dim light.

Initially, when he first came in, the doors of these residences that met his eye were closed, but soon, Xue Liangliang saw some open ones. Inside was pitch black, and he couldn't see clearly.

An uncomfortable feeling also floated up in Xue Liangliang's mind. This feeling didn't come from inner fear and oppression, but from a kind of unreasonableness, especially after seeing the doors of these residences.

Thinking for a moment, he finally understood. It was because there were no thresholds below these doors.

Modern architecture had naturally abandoned thresholds, and people were also used to seeing and using them, but the problem was that in traditional style architecture, because doors were often designed to be very high and very long, once there was no threshold, it would give people a very uncoordinated feeling.

Too direct, also too gloomy, like a monster opening its mouth, making you look and feel afraid.

"Ah!"

While walking, suddenly, Xue Liangliang saw a person sitting inside an open door residence on the right side.

He was scared and retreated two steps. This damned uneven ground made him unstable, and he slipped and fell to the ground, and the direction he slumped was just facing that door.

In the doorway sat an old woman. He didn't know if her skin was very pale and slightly swollen because she had been soaked in water for a long time.

She was wearing a blue gown, the color was as bright as mourning clothes, but the design was heavier.

On her head, neck, and hands, she was full of various pieces of jewelry.

She was just sitting there, as if she had been sitting for a very long time. Fortunately, her eyes were closed.

"Huff... huff..."

If her eyes were open, Xue Liangliang felt that he would probably be directly scared unconscious in this unexpected way.

Although the environment he was in and the woman leading the way were very strange, the unique design of the residences combined with the person sitting inside could create another more impactful terror in the already strange atmosphere.

Xue Liangliang crawled up. The feeling of suffocation faintly showed signs of appearing again. He immediately trotted forward a bit, narrowing the distance with the woman.

In his mind, the old woman sitting in the doorway was still there. Behind her was pitch black, and he couldn't see the furniture arrangement.

This also made this compact, two-story residence seem very much like a tomb belonging only to her.

An open-style tomb.

So, this was not an empty submerged town.

Then, were there also people inside those closed-door residences that he saw when he came in?

For those residences with open doors but no people inside, their owners... would they be on the second floor?

Thinking here, Xue Liangliang subconsciously narrowed the distance with that woman a bit.

Although he was also afraid of this woman, but thinking that the residences on both sides were graves and he was walking in the middle of a grave path, it seemed that the woman in front could still make him feel more at ease. At least, she would move.

Walking, Xue Liangliang saw the second open door and the residence with a person sitting inside.

This was a young girl, wearing embroidered clothes, her hair bun high up, appearing very solemn. She was sitting there, both hands stacked on her knees, eyes closed, her lips especially bright red.

After glancing at her, Xue Liangliang immediately shuddered and looked away.

Then, he saw a woman sitting in the doorway wearing a qipao. Her waist was very slim, her sitting posture was very charming, both hands placed at her sides, and the corners of her mouth seemed to hold a smile.

As if silently beckoning you to walk inside and chat with her.

Xue Liangliang discovered that the deeper he walked, the more open-door residences there were, and the proportion of women sitting inside was also larger.

From seeing the first old woman until now, he had already seen more than ten women sitting in the doorways.

They were of different age groups and wore different styles of clothing, but they were all dressed very formally, very much like the kind of rural elders who prepared mourning clothes and materials before they died, leaving their most presentable side for the funeral.

This was their carefully designed... appearance after death.

Due to being soaked in water, their skin was all very white, excessively white.

But unlike the giant views formed after being soaked in water for a long time, they were generally not deformed, at least, they largely retained their original state before life.

What was even more difficult to understand was that dead people were either sick before life, injured, or died of old age naturally. In short, the basic state was not too good.

But among them, even that oldest old woman still retained a kind of composure.

As if they did not walk towards death at the time when their oil was exhausted and their lamp was dry, but actively chose to die when they still had the ability to live composedly.

Frankly speaking, if it were really various tragic death poses, Xue Liangliang would not be so afraid.

But it was precisely this atmosphere of "I just deliberately dressed well, sitting here for you to see, or watching you" that put him under immense mental pressure.

In a trance, he would experience a kind of consciousness loss. Was he observing them, or were they sitting in the house, observing him?

Confused, Xue Liangliang bumped into the woman's back.

The woman had stopped at some point.

With this bump, the woman didn't move, and Xue Liangliang fell backward to the ground.

The woman didn't turn back to look, but turned right and walked in a different direction.

Here, a crossroads appeared, with two small land bridges on both sides. There was no flowing water below, just pure decoration and Fengshui purposes.

Xue Liangliang crawled up and could only follow the woman's turn.

Next... the doors of the residences on both sides were all open, and inside every residence, a woman was sitting.

"Ah..."

Xue Liangliang felt his spirit was about to collapse. Although they were all closing their eyes, this still existing dense "gazing sense" made him extremely painful and lost.

He could only choose the most ostrich way, following behind the woman, head half lowered, not looking at both sides.

Although the peripheral vision in the corner of his eye would still inevitably sweep past some, although his heart was beating faster and faster, he finally persevered.

Normal people, coming here, would probably go crazy.

If Xiao Yuan were here, would he behave differently from ordinary people?

Forget it, Xiao Yuan should not come here. Whether he himself could get out alive was still unknown. No, he wasn't even sure if he was still considered alive now.

Finally, the civilian houses on both sides disappeared.

Xue Liangliang rubbed his forehead, taking deep breaths. Even if it was just a pure action, he still needed to relieve his inner pressure now.

Then, he immediately caught up with the woman.

At this time, without the terrible gaze from both sides, he could finally raise his head and look forward.

In front was a small open space, and an ancient, simple building different from other residences stood there.

It should be the Bai family town's ancestral hall.

Xue Liangliang involuntarily stopped. Was he going in?

Immediately, he walked forward. What was he hesitating about? As if he had a choice.

"Squeak..."

The large black, dark door of the ancestral hall slowly opened on its own when the woman approached.

This ancestral hall still had no threshold, and after going in, there were still downward steps, with a large smooth area in the middle, and only a small space on both sides for walking down.

Passing through a not very spacious square courtyard, the woman continued to walk inside.

Xue Liangliang followed her, his gaze attracted by the old well in the middle. The mouth of the well was not facing upwards, but concave downwards. Along with a nearby area, it was all sunken downwards.

This was not formed later, but was designed this way from the beginning.

Around the well wall were strips of rusted chains.

This couldn't help but make Xue Liangliang suspect whether it was convenient for people above to go down to fetch water, or convenient for people below... to climb up.

They had reached the core position of the ancestral hall.

The woman, hugging the bottle, knelt down and didn't continue forward.

Xue Liangliang approached her, came to her side, and re-examined the woman.

This young woman with obviously modern attire and worldly air, why would she appear here, and be so familiar with this place... as if she was just coming home?

Then, should he stay here with her, or should he walk inside and see more?

With her as the center, he was able to have a certain range of activity, but he had always followed behind her and didn't dare to walk in front.

But he still chose to continue standing beside the woman, going nowhere.

Just, gradually, the feeling of suffocation floated up again.

He began to feel uncomfortable and painful, and his hands subconsciously grasped his own neck.

However, the woman was right here, just kneeling in front of him diagonally. Why did this feeling come again?

Xue Liangliang moved closer to the woman again, but the feeling of suffocation didn't disappear.

Was it used up?

He couldn't imagine having to continue enduring the endless torment of suffocation in such a gloomy and oppressive place. What kind of bottomless torture was this?

"Um... ah..."

Xue Liangliang also knelt down, wailing in pain.

His consciousness at this time blurred repeatedly, and then returned to sobriety repeatedly. He hated this clear mind now, because it made his spirit repeatedly whipped and tormented.

With a "thud," Xue Liangliang's body tilted forward and fell sideways.

Because there was no threshold, in a strict sense, half of his body had entered the core of the ancestral hall.

And at this moment, he suddenly discovered that the feeling of suffocation had weakened.

After a short hesitation, he immediately moved his body further inside, and the feeling of suffocation subsided again.

He understood. Regardless of the woman hugging the flower vase, the chain she was pulling on him had broken, and the new chain was in here!

He continued to crawl inside a bit until the feeling of suffocation completely disappeared. He could finally stand up.

Looking back behind, the outside of the large door was pitch black, only the woman hugging the flower vase at the door could be vaguely seen.

Looking ahead, there was a huge red coffin.

There was a rack below the coffin, lifting it up, so Xue Liangliang tip-toed, and could only vaguely see some yellow lining inside the coffin. He couldn't see further inside unless he climbed onto the coffin.

With a feeling of trepidation, he slowly moved around the coffin, his heart prepared for something to pop out at any time.

However, until he walked a circle around the coffin, no terrible thing appeared.

The position directly facing the head of the coffin should have been the offering table and spirit tablet rack, but here, there was none, only a Taishi chair.

And on both sides of the coffin were green brick walls.

The ancestral hall in the center of Bai family town appeared too simple and deserted, like a room built and decorated, but no one had come to live in it.

Just, was it really like this?

Xue Liangliang's mind floated with the women sitting inside the residences he had passed along the way. If everyone died at home, then it seemed there was indeed no need to place spirit tablets in the ancestral hall.

Then, would there be an exit here?

Xue Liangliang didn't give up on self-rescue. He vaguely felt that the way out seemed to be in this ancestral hall.

Next, he boldly, no longer continued to just walk around the coffin, but started a larger range, sticking to the three walls, walking and groping. He went around a whole big circle.

He even used his hand to knock on these bricks to see if he could find a hollow secret door. At the same time, while walking, he also stamped his feet extra forcefully on the ground to probe if there was a tunnel.

Unfortunately, he didn't find anything.

The area here was actually not too big, and also too empty, so empty that it was very difficult to hide something.

Then, the top?

Xue Liangliang raised his head to look up. It was a very ordinary old-style house beam top design. He couldn't go up to grope unless he found some tools.

But, go into those residences to find tools?

As soon as he thought of the women sitting behind the doors of the residences, Xue Liangliang felt a chill down his spine. Forcing himself to bypass them and search inside their houses... he would rather stay here.

"Um?"

However, after going around a big circle and coming to the entrance, Xue Liangliang was surprisingly discovered that the woman who was originally hugging the porcelain vase and kneeling there had disappeared.

The porcelain vase also disappeared.

This sudden change made Xue Liangliang feel terror again. The woman he had followed all the way was actually the most familiar "thing" to him here.

Her disappearance was equivalent to putting him back in bewilderment and loneliness.

He wanted to find that woman, to see if she had changed her kneeling position or gone elsewhere, but when he was just preparing to walk towards the room door, he was clearly still some distance from the door, but that feeling of suffocation actually appeared again!

But earlier, when he first entered the door, he didn't have this feeling.

Xue Liangliang took a deep, non-existent breath, then gathered his strength and rushed to the door. The feeling of suffocation attacked strongly again. Enduring this pain, he came outside. He looked around, but didn't see the woman's figure. She really disappeared, she really wasn't here.

At the same time, the outermost large door of the ancestral hall, which he had come through earlier, had also closed at some point.

And now, he had reached his limit. He didn't even have the ability to run to the courtyard.

He could only quickly run back, his feet started to float, and he fell to the ground, his body like a shrimp being continuously squeezed dry of water.

Finally, he crawled back to the coffin side. The feeling of suffocation receded, and he regained salvation.

But raising his head, looking at the bottom of the coffin above, he couldn't help but suspect: Was this really salvation?

After recovering for a while, he crawled up and tentatively began to walk to the side.

He was horrified to discover that as long as he left the coffin a certain distance, the feeling of suffocation would appear, and more rapidly.

But earlier, he could stick to the wall and walk, and even use his hand to touch those bricks.

This meant that his activity range was being narrowed again.

He came to the head of the coffin. Suddenly, his eyes blurred. He seemed to see someone sitting on the Taishi chair directly facing the head of the coffin.

But when he looked again, that person had disappeared.

No, he wasn't mistaken in his vision. Maybe in other places, but here, absolutely not!

Xue Liangliang walked around the coffin again, then rushed back to the head of the coffin in an arrow step.

This time, he saw that there was indeed a person sitting on the Taishi chair. That person... was himself!

Xue Liangliang clenched his fists. He felt he was simply going crazy. He couldn't understand why that guy who looked exactly like himself would sit there?

If he was Xue Liangliang, then who was he?

He reached out and touched his own face, discovering that the touch was the same as usual. After confirming that he was still himself, he raised his head again and discovered that the Taishi chair was empty again.

Although running another circle around the coffin would probably still reveal the person on the Taishi chair, Xue Liangliang no longer had the courage to do so again.

At the same time, he also couldn't do it again.

Because the feeling of suffocation appeared again, even though he was now supporting the coffin with one hand, that feeling of suffocation still attacked.

It was shrinking. He was like always standing in an invisible underwater bubble. This bubble was moving earlier, but now, it was shrinking.

Once he lost its protection, he would no longer find a gap to breathe.

Xue Liangliang began to stick tightly to the coffin. He discovered that when his face was closer to the coffin, the feeling of suffocation was weaker.

But gradually, he noticed that it wasn't enough. The feeling of suffocation was still continuously intensifying.

No, he couldn't, he couldn't be like this...

Xue Liangliang's feet began to step on the rack below, his hands grabbing the edge of the coffin, and he began to climb up.

After going up, he relaxed again. He had once again successfully escaped the pursuit of suffocation.

But when he lowered his head to look down, his gaze instantly froze, his mouth opened wide, and his arms lost strength, and he fell down.

He saw that there was a person lying inside the coffin!

A woman wearing red clothes, a red veil covering her head, her hands placed on her lower abdomen!

The pain after falling down was secondary. The most terrifying thing was being rewrapped by the feeling of suffocation.

Earlier, Xue Liangliang could still run outside to check for the woman's trace, but now, it seemed as long as he left the safe range, he couldn't bear it at all.

Originally, it was just suffocation, but now, it was as if there was a pair of invisible and terrifying big hands vigorously pinching his neck.

He was enduring not only the torment of suffocation, but also the direct pain of his neck being continuously pinched and twisted broken.

Xue Liangliang immediately crawled up, his feet again stepped on the rack, his hands grabbing the edge of the coffin, and he pulled himself up.

Under the stimulation of immense pain and torment, he overcame his inner fear, just to find that moment of comfort.

Although, this comfort would probably not last too long.

He tried as much as possible not to look at the woman lying in the coffin. He looked away, from top to bottom, towards the direction facing the head of the coffin. He saw it again. On the Taishi chair, himself had appeared again.

Just, the himself on the chair was dressed differently from the himself now. The other person's body was wearing a black gown flowing with luster, purple long pants on the lower body, a hat on his head, and a red flower hanging on his chest.

Very much like... the groom's attire before.

Especially that face that looked exactly like himself made Xue Liangliang so scared that tears almost fell out.

At this moment, he felt that the himself on the chair was more terrible than the woman in the coffin.

So, he lowered his head and looked at the woman.

Earlier, when entering the town, the women behind the doors of those residences were all in a sitting posture without exception, this woman was lying down, and she was lying in the most core and central position of the ancestral hall.

At this time, the feeling of suffocation floated up again.

Xue Liangliang felt like livestock being driven by a whip.

Although he already had some guesses in his heart, he still tentatively poked his head out, feeling the strength changes of the suffocation feeling by moving left and right.

Finally, he discovered that his guess was not wrong. Only towards the inside of the coffin could he be safe.

His hands tightly gripped the edge of the coffin, in the last inner struggle.

However, the continuously approaching and increasingly strong feeling of suffocation greatly shortened his hesitation time.

He exerted force on his waist, one foot reached the edge of the coffin, both hands probed downwards, and he hugged the inner wall of the coffin.

His original intention was only to let his upper body probe in, keeping as much distance as possible from the woman inside.

But he overestimated his current physical strength. His body flipped up with difficulty, and he no longer had the strength to continue maintaining balance for the next action. Instead, he lost control and the whole person fell into the coffin.

He hugged the woman's body. The woman's body was very cold, and also very slippery.

But this slipperiness was not in the conventional sense. It was more like jellyfish or some secretion. In short, it made people physiologically extremely uncomfortable.

At this time,

Xue Liangliang was horrified to discover that the woman in front of him actually slowly lifted her head.

Accompanying her action,

The red veil that was originally covering her face,

Also slowly slid off.

"Buzz!" "Buzz!" "Buzz!"

On the paifang of Bai family town, the white lantern on that side suddenly turned red.

Starting from it, throughout the town, the candles inside the door niches of all residences also turned from a green, dim color to red, overflowing with a kind of both gloomy and seeping festivity.

"Squeak..."

"Squeak..."

Those tightly closed residence doors were being slowly pushed open from inside at this moment.

And the women who were originally open and sitting inside slowly stood up.

Soon,

Women of different age groups and different eras' attire, walked out of the doors one after another, stepping on the green stone slabs of the water trough, and came to the roadside.

They appeared from residences in various positions of the town, then lined up, moving slowly at the same speed.

The direction of gathering was precisely the ancestral hall in the center of the town.

Although they were still all closing their eyes, and no one opened their mouths, rustling sounds continuously floated in the town.

Initially, the sound was very weak and messy, gradually, the sound became bigger and gradually neat.

In the end, it converged into a neat voice, like a crowd chanting, resounding in the sky of Bai family town:

"Heaven official grants blessing, Bai family recruits son-in-law!"

...

"Hello, how are you, I am Li Zhuiyuan."

"How are you, please, do you know Xue Liangliang?"

"Yes, I know him."

"I think I've heard your voice. My surname is Luo. Where have we met?"

"Are you Director Luo? I am the little friend who was with Liangliang bro yesterday."

"Oh, so it's you."

"Director Luo, what happened?"

"Something has happened to Liangliang. When he was in a coma, he kept muttering 'Xiao Yuan' and also said this phone number."

"Liangliang bro, how is he?"

"He fell into the water from the boat. He is currently being rescued in the hospital. The doctor said his condition is very bad."

"Can I go see him?"

"Yes, I will immediately send a car to pick you up. Give me a specific location."

"Shinan Town, Shi family bridge. We will wait for the car there."

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Li Zhuiyuan immediately raised his arm and discovered that the mark had completely disappeared and did not reappear.

So, what happened to Liangliang bro?

Could it be that the Bai family lady still held a grudge and came to take revenge on him again?

But this shouldn't be. Wasn't everything already resolved?

Li Zhuiyuan took out his pocket money and said to Aunt Zhang: "Aunt Zhang, I'll help my great-grandfather buy a pack of cigarettes and also get some candy."

"Okay, I'll give it to you now... Here, just right."

"Thank you, Aunt Zhang."

Li Zhuiyuan put the cigarettes and candy in his pocket and walked home with a heavy expression.

He vaguely detected that this matter should be related to the Bai family lady and was absolutely not a simple case of falling into the water and going into a coma.

Otherwise, Liangliang bro wouldn't be muttering his name and phone number when he was in a coma and unconscious.

The most crucial point was that if things weren't strange enough, Engineer Luo wouldn't send a car late at night to pick up him, this little friend. He should also be very anxious.

Back at the dam, Aunt Liu was packing bowls and chopsticks and cleaning up, while Uncle Qin was chopping wood. These were delayed work because they had been watching a movie.

The light in the east room was on, but the door was closed. Liu Yumei and A Li should be in the room. After watching the movie tonight, Liu Yumei's mental state was not very good.

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Uncle Qin and asked: "Uncle Qin."

"Xiao Yuan, what is it?"

"My family's soy sauce bottle fell. Will you reach out to support it?"

Uncle Qin: "..."

"That university student who stayed at our place last night, something has happened to him. He is currently being rescued in the hospital.

I won't say anything about this matter, and I definitely won't tell my great-grandfather. So, Uncle Qin, can you support me?"

Uncle Qin touched his pocket and took out some money: "Xiao Yuan, are you going to help him pay for medical expenses? Uncle has a little here. I'll ask your aunt for some more in a while, and then I'll give it all to you to send to your friend."

"Okay... Thank you, Uncle Qin."

Li Zhuiyuan could only nod. It seemed that he could only go wake up great-grandfather and ask for his opinion.

However, great-grandfather probably couldn't do anything either, because that day, great-grandfather also showed fear towards the Bai family lady and chose to avoid.

At this time, the door of the east room was opened from inside.

Liu Yumei, who had already changed into pajamas, walked out with her hair loose. Her eye sockets were still very red.

"A Li, you go with Xiao Yuan to the hospital to send money."

"Okay, I know."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Liu Yumei in surprise. He had only said it to try, and didn't expect Liu Yumei to agree so readily this time.

"Xiao Yuan, wait a moment, uncle will go push the bicycle out."

"No need, Uncle Qin. We will go to the south side bridge at the village entrance road and wait. A car will come to pick us up."

"Oh, then that's good. Let's go then. If you come back late, your great-grandfather wakes up, your Aunt Liu will help you explain to great-grandfather, no need to worry."

"Okay."

"Do you need to go get anything?"

"No need, we can go now."

Before leaving, Li Zhuiyuan bowed to Liu Yumei: "Thank you, Grandma."

Liu Yumei didn't respond, turned and entered the room.

After Li Zhuiyuan and Uncle Qin left, Aunt Liu carried a basin of hot water in. After putting the hot water on the rack, she picked up the comb and walked to Liu Yumei's side to help her tidy her hair.

The wheel of time would mercilessly roll over everyone. Last year, Liu Yumei's hair was still only silver-gray, but now, only the surface layer was this color. When combed open, the hair underneath was soft white.

Aunt Liu combed and combed, and couldn't help but feel a little choked up.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying."

"Heh." Liu Yumei wiped a spirit tablet clean and put it back.

"I want to know why you agreed this time.

Even if Uncle Sanjiang doesn't know and it is indeed unrelated to Uncle Sanjiang, Xiao Yuan, after all, also lives here. He and Uncle Sanjiang are still related. What if..."

"Of course I know what if." Liu Yumei looked at the row of spirit tablets in front of her. "But I'm not in a good mood today, and I temporarily don't want to care about what if."

Aunt Liu silently combed her hair and said nothing more.

Liu Yumei's voice suddenly raised: "What, am I, this old lady, already too old to even have the qualification to be a little willful?"

"No, you do, you do!"

Liu Yumei stood up, stretched out her finger pointing to those spirit tablets, and said excitedly:

"This group of guys, they themselves started the fleet in the first place, said they would go and just went, didn't inform me at all. The whole family, no, two families, all deliberately hid from me!

Good, one by one generous, died leaving none behind. When they left me a widow and orphans, did they ever think of me?

They weren't even willing to leave a bit of spirit behind. They all sacrificed it out, leaving me looking at these dead spirit tablets for decades, not even a single person to talk to!

Why are they the only ones who can be willful, and I have to always carefully stay here, afraid of a little mistake causing fortune backlash?

This is not fair..."

As she spoke, tears flowed from Liu Yumei's eyes. She supported the offering table with one hand and covered her face with the other.

Aunt Liu's heart ached terribly, but she didn't know how to comfort her.

After a while,

Liu Yumei put down her hand, raised her head again, looked at these spirit tablets, and smiled:

"Hehe, see, did you see? You're not here. How long has it been? That group of white rats at the bottom of the river dare to crawl ashore to disgust people."

Liu Yumei's expression became solemn, and her eyes also became stern:

"Then I'll just give them a slap, and slap them back.

Let them remember,

On this river surface,

Whose family has the final say!"

()