Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Li Sanjiang carried Li Zhuiyuan back home just as the sky began to show the white of dawn.

Cui Guiying took the child, and after Li Sanjiang chatted with Li Weihan for a while, he left.

Li Zhuiyuan was placed on a reed mat bed. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again.

He couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he seemed to see the little yellow oriole dancing in the fish pond again.

Cui Guiying and Li Weihan didn’t go into the room to rest but sat in the kitchen.

The woman constantly rubbed her fingers until they were red; the man smoked his water pipe non-stop, one bowl after another.

Looking at the already brightening sky, Cui Guiying stood up and said, "I'll make breakfast for the children first."

Li Weihan exhaled a mouthful of smoke and said, "Dawn came a bit early."

Cui Guiying had no choice but to sit down again, looking at her husband: "Then how long do we wait?"

"Wait for someone to notify us."

"Who will come to notify us?"

Li Weihan didn’t answer, just continued to suck on the mouthpiece of his water pipe.

After sitting for another while, a knock came from the door:

"Guiying sister-in-law, Guiying sister-in-law."

It was the next-door neighbor, Zhao Simel.

Li Weihan tapped his water pipe and said, "The notification has arrived."

Cui Guiying stood up, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she opened the door, asking doubtfully, "What is it, Simel sister-in-law?"

Zhao Simel reached out and grabbed Cui Guiying's arm, shaking it with force:

"Someone died at Dabian's house!"

"What?"

"Two people died, Dabian and his younger son. They were just seen floating in the fish pond at their house. Everyone has gone to see. Let's go, let's go see together!"

"Let's go!"

Before going out, Cui Guiying shouted into the room: "Ying-ge, wash the rice. You can make some breakfast later."

"Understood, Naixin."

After getting a response, Cui Guiying went out with Zhao Simel.

Li Weihan waited a moment, felt the open pack of cigarettes in his pocket, put the water pipe on the table, and also went out the door.

Zhao Simel's earlier knock had actually woken up the children. Knowing that something big had happened, the children also rushed out to watch the excitement.

Even Yingzi’s shouts of “brush your teeth and wash your face” from behind couldn’t call them back.

By this time, the area around Dabian's fish pond was full of people. Villagers were still constantly rushing towards here along the village road, men, women, old and young, bringing their families.

Two corpses floated on the fish pond, and no one went to handle them, even though there was a small boat moored at the edge of the pond.

Although Dabian's family had a very bad reputation in the village, the villagers weren't that heartless;

The reason they didn’t help pull the corpses ashore was because the two corpses were like biscuits that had been soaked in a bowl for a long time, so swollen that they were unrecognizable, and their surface had a translucent, meaty, crystal color, looking like two large pieces of human-shaped pork jelly.

Many people knew that drowned corpses would swell this much after soaking for a long time, but how could two people who were alive yesterday afternoon look like soaked wood ear mushrooms after just one night?

This was truly too sinister, leading to no one daring to go down and touch the corpses.

Dabian's wife knelt and wailed loudly at the edge of the pond, but she only knew how to cry and didn't understand what exactly to do. People around came to comfort her, but she didn't listen, just kept howling about how bitter her life was.

Finally, Dabian's eldest son rushed back from town. At last, there was someone in charge.

However, even though this eldest son looked at the appearance of his father and younger brother on the surface of the pond, he was so scared that his facial muscles twitched. He also didn't dare to go down and fish for them, so he had to beg people to go and ask Li Sanjiang to come.

Li Sanjiang came pushing a cart, loaded with his tools.

After arriving, Li Sanjiang took one look at the situation on the surface of the pond and immediately waved his hands back in fear:

"I dare not fish for this damn thing, it will shorten my life, shorten my life! Find others, quickly find others!"

His bluff caused even more commotion among the surrounding villagers, who began to whisper about what kind of sin Dabian's family had committed and what kind of evil filth they had attracted.

Soon, some villagers brought up the matter of the little yellow oriole from yesterday. After all, the Baiwu team almost got into a fight at Dabian's house. In the village, it was originally very difficult to hide any secrets.

Li Weihan also spoke up at this point, telling the people around him about the encounter he and his grandsons had while polling the boat down the river yesterday. He said his grandson fell into the water, had a nightmare saying he saw a woman walking in the water, and was scared to the point of hysteria and wouldn't wake up. Zheng Datong came to see him but it was useless. Thankfully, Liu Xiazi came and performed a ritual.

Immediately, many people specifically came over to listen to Li Weihan’s narration and also expressed their opinions non-stop.

Cui Guiying stood beside Li Weihan with a very nervous expression. Ordinarily, if she didn't need to cook or wash clothes, she could sit on the dike with those women in the village and chat for three days and three nights about gossip, but today, she was instead silent and dared not speak.

In her heart, she felt guilty and panicked, like a thief shouting "catch the thief," or a cat specifically coming to cry for a mouse.

Panzi, Leizi, Huzi, and Shitou also started speaking up, saying that they saw a female water ghost yesterday who almost pulled their Xiao Yuan ge down as a substitute, and that it had come for revenge!

For a time, the area was like a large outdoor tea talk meeting. When the matter of the little yellow oriole had been chatted about dry and through, the villagers who weren't satisfied dug out those old sesame rotten grains of Dabian's family's past and continued to stir-fry them.

Not long after, Dabian's second son, bringing his wife, and his two daughters, bringing their sons-in-law, also rushed back home. The two daughters hugged their mother and cried together, while the two sons and two sons-in-law stood together and haggled with Li Sanjiang.

Li Sanjiang fiercely took a large cut, excusing himself by saying that fishing up double corpses was so evil that he directly asked for ten times the usual price for fishing one person ashore each day.

After negotiating the price, Li Sanjiang set up an altar, offered sacrifices, lit candles, and burned paper money. He even spent an extra half an hour performing chants to "call friends and bring companions," attracting the gaze of the entire crowd.

Although this performance wasn't as flashy as the Baiwu team's, everyone knew that the Baiwu team was all for show, while this one was a true professional.

During this period, two Santana cars drove over, both with flashing police lights. These were people from the town police station.

Ordinarily, if someone drowned in a family, it wasn't considered a big deal; but this time, two people drowned, a father and son pair, and at their home. The nature of the matter was different.

The police came to look at the situation and couldn't help but be stunned for a while. They had seen soaked corpses before, but they really hadn't seen ones soaked so exquisitely.

Seeing the situation, they also had to wait until the corpses were fished up before saying anything. They didn't interrupt Li Sanjiang's ritual, nor did they go to crowd around. Instead, they returned to the car by the roadside and smoked slowly as they waited.

Finally, Li Sanjiang finished his work, killed a rooster, and sprinkled a bowl of something that might have been real black dog blood. Then he went down to the pond and rowed the small boat to the center.

First, he used a 'lead way hook' to hook the corpses to the side of the boat, then used a 'recall soul basket' to fix the corpses and lift them into the boat. Next, he covered the corpses with a 'return home net'. After rowing the boat to the edge of the pond, he bent down, lowered his head, and used a specific method to put the corpses on his back, and then went ashore.

This was a very important rule within the line of work for those who fish for corpses. The person who fished the corpses had to get their own feet ashore first before putting the corpses down, because this was "sending" or "carrying" them back home.

Finally, under the invitation and shouts of the main family members, he could put the corpses down. This was considered coming and returning, settling the difference, letting the deceased know they had truly returned home and wouldn't become a lonely ghost following him.

After following the routine a few times, the two of Dabian's father and son finally stopped floating and were placed on two straw mats.

With everything finished, Li Sanjiang looked towards the center of the fish pond with some lingering fear. He had just followed the rules to fish the corpses earlier, not daring to really investigate deeply.

Heaven knew if she was still in there.

The police came over to examine the corpses separately, but the villagers didn't necessarily care, still standing far away and craning their necks to continue looking. During this time, screams of fear from small children came non-stop.

After settling the money and packing his tools, Li Sanjiang returned, pushing his cart with a cigarette in his mouth. The surrounding villagers all avoided him and made way. Having just fished up corpses, everyone avoided it.

The police began a formal investigation. The temporary office was at Dabian's house. The village secretary also came to assist, helping to call people and make tea.

Dabian's wife couldn't say anything specific. She had simply woken up and not seen her sleeping partner next to her. It was an outsider passing by the fish pond who discovered the grandfather and grandson floating in the water and shouted to her.

The deputy director leading the team asked the village secretary who in the village had a grudge against Dabian's family. The village secretary picked his ear and replied indifferently:

"Oh, that might be quite a few."

Next, those with grudges lined up in a long line to give statements.

Including Li Weihan, who told the story of the "little yellow oriole," as well as Panzi, Leizi, and the others, they were also called over and questioned.

At first, the police thought another corpse had been discovered and even specifically sent a police officer to follow Li Weihan to that section of the river to search, but they found nothing. Coupled with the fact that Li Weihan's story was too bizarre, they could only regard it as a superstitious story told by a rural old man to his grandsons.

This statement, whether it was considered or not, was unknown. Li Weihan saw that everyone didn't believe him and became anxious, non-stop reaffirming that his encounter was real and insisting that the police and the people around him believe him. He was finally 'persuaded' by the village secretary.

The Baiwu team that came to cause trouble yesterday was also summoned for investigation later, but they had gone to do things in the next village the day before, and the entire team had alibis.

As for the disappearance of the little yellow oriole and the entanglement within, one reason was that the person or corpse hadn't been found, and the other was that the responsible parties, Dabian and his son, were already dead. They could only first report a missing person.

The drowning of the father and son was ultimately handled as an accident. The likely explanation was that Dabian and his son had drunk wine in the evening, got drunk and went to play in the fish pond, and then both drowned.

Dabian's family also didn't pursue the investigation because after the funeral, the two sons and two daughters immediately started arguing and splitting the family, having a very ugly fight. This added another topic of conversation for the village.

That day, it was already dusk when they finished giving statements. Li Weihan and Cui Guiying walked towards home with the children, the children walking in front, and the old couple walking behind.

Cui Guiying patted her chest and asked fearfully, "Why did you take the initiative to join in and say things? And you were even called by the police to be questioned. You scared me to death."

Li Weihan casually threw the empty cigarette pack from his pocket to the side of the road, pursed his lips, and said:

"Uncle told me I had to say it out, I couldn't hold back. Zheng Datong and Liu Jinxia also know something about Xiao Yuan ge's matter."

Cui Guiying complained, "Just inform them, and keep it a secret."

Li Weihan shook his head: "Even if adults can keep secrets, can children keep secrets and not leak anything?"

"This..."

Li Weihan sighed deeply,

And said:

"Uncle said, the best way to keep a secret is to say it out in public."

...

Almost everyone in the village went to Dabian's fish pond to watch the excitement. Li Zhuiyuan didn't go. He lay on the bed but couldn't sleep. He just moved a small stool and sat on the outer dike, looking at the distant farmland.

After a while, his older sister Yingzi, who had finished washing the dishes, also came out. She first moved out a square stool, put stationery and books on it, and then sat on a small stool. A simple desk was formed, and the desk lamp was the bright sun that day.

Yingzi's parents didn't really care about her studies, but they also never said things like "girls going to school is useless," "it's better to get married early," or "find connections to enter a textile factory and earn money."

When school fees were due before the semester, they paid them. Usually, for material fees and such, she didn't need to be shy or feel guilty. She could ask for them normally.

But everything was only in comparison. Compared to other girls' families in the village, Yingzi's parents' pure laissez-faire approach surprisingly became a model of valuing daughters' education.

Yingzi knew that this was influenced by her younger aunt, Li Lan.

At that time, her younger aunt relied on studying to change her fate, becoming the pride of her grandparents. Even her own father and uncles would unconsciously straighten their chests and feel honored every time they mentioned her younger aunt to outsiders.

However, Yingzi's academic results were only average, even though she was indeed very hardworking and diligent;

Her grandparents back then certainly wouldn't have deliberately sacrificed their sons to only support their daughter. It was really that her own father and uncles' brains simply weren't suited for books.

This couldn't help but make her wonder if the brains of the old Li family had all gone to her younger aunt?

At first, this idea was just a fleeting thought and not strong. It wasn't until her Xiao Yuan ge was sent here. The second day he arrived, he sat slightly restrained beside her. When she was struggling with a math problem for a long time without any clues, a soft voice whispered in her ear:

"Square root of 3."

Later, when Yingzi had problems she couldn't solve, she would all come to Li Zhuiyuan. Yingzi also discovered that Xiao Yuan ge almost didn't need to think. He could just scan a problem with his eyes and say the answer.

Perhaps the biggest trouble for him came from still having to write out the solution process, otherwise his stupid sister wouldn't understand!

One should know that she was already in high school.

Yingzi asked him what school he attended in Beijing. Li Zhuiyuan answered: youth class.

Yingzi subconsciously understood "youth class" as elementary school,

And sighed in her heart: As expected of a capital elementary school student, the curriculum outline is actually so advanced.

Li Zhuiyuan just sat there in a daze, occasionally coming back to help his sister with a problem, and then continuing to daze.

Feeling a pen cap lightly poke him, Li Zhuiyuan turned his head wanting to look at the problem, but he saw his sister again pointing to the west side of the dike, where there was a step. A little girl in a floral skirt stood below the step.

It was Cuicui, Liu Jinxia's granddaughter. She stood there timidly, not daring to come up.

Yingzi wrinkled her brow at Li Zhuiyuan, indicating not to pay attention to her.

In the past, she would have just directly spoken up. After all, the children in the village had a consensus not to play with her; but yesterday, Liu Jinxia and her mother had come home to "see a doctor" for her little brother. She now felt不好意思 to say anything.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and walked towards the edge of the dike. He came in front of Cuicui and asked with a smile:

"You came, do you need something?"

Cuicui looked in another direction, pinching the hem of her skirt, and said, "Come to find you to play."

"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan turned around and waved at his sister Yingzi, "Sister, I'm going to play with Cuicui."

Yingzi didn't say anything, sighed, and lowered her head to continue writing homework.

Actually, playing wasn't much of anything. Many times, it was just that they simply didn't want to stay home, so they would run to a friend's house, call their friend out, and then everyone would wander aimlessly together.

Cuicui looked at Li Zhuiyuan walking out with her, her eyes full of smiles. This was the first time she had learned from the other children in the village and gone to someone else's house to call them out.

However, she still didn't dare to walk up to others' dikes casually. Children of this age might not understand many things, but they were more sensitive. She didn't want to receive those adults' cold stares.

"Yuan ge, Mama said you were sick yesterday?"

"En." Li Zhuiyuan was reminded of this, and the little yellow oriole emerged in his mind again. The smile gradually disappeared.

"Ah?" Cuicui immediately apologized, "I won't say it, won't say it. It's indeed not good to be sick."

Li Zhuiyuan touched his pocket and said apologetically, "Uh, I forgot to bring you snacks."

Actually, he didn't forget. When his grandparents weren't home, the snack cabinet was locked, and he couldn't open it; his sister Yingzi seemed to know where the key was hidden, but Li Zhuiyuan knew that if he went to ask her for help, she would say bad things about Cuicui to him in the room.

"Snacks? I have them at home, lots of them. Let's go to my house to eat."

"Go to your house?"

"En, go to my house to play."

"Okay."

Having been agreed to, Cuicui gathered her courage and took the initiative to hold Li Zhuiyuan's hand. The two of them walked together on the field ridge road.

At this moment, she really hoped that the adults on the house dikes along the road could see her and ask her: "Yo, little Cuicui, who are you playing with?"

She also hoped to meet people her age on the road so they could see that she also had a playmate.

It was just a pity that most people in the village had gone to Dabian's fish pond to see the pork skin jelly.

However, she was still very happy, and the corners of her mouth couldn't be suppressed. If she wasn't still holding hands, she felt like she would happily spin around.

"Yuan ge, you don't really understand what we say, do you?"

"At first, I didn't understand at all. Then, if you spoke slowly and used short sentences, I could understand. Now, not only do I understand everything, but I can also say some myself, just not standard."

When he was first sent to this home, the elders spoke to him, and he truly didn't understand at all. It was only when his brothers and sisters went to school that they could communicate with him in Mandarin.

He remembered that every time he called Li Weihan and Cui Guiying "Waigong Waipo," they would obviously be a little unhappy and then repeatedly correct him, wanting him to call them "Yeye Nainai."

Indeed, there was no "Waigong Waipo" way of addressing people locally. Many times, to distinguish between Nainai and Waipo, they used directions, for example, calling the one living in the south "Nan Nainai" and the one living in the north "Bei Nainai."

"Right, Yuan ge, have you been to the Forbidden City?"

"En, I've been."

"I want to go later too."

"Okay, you call me, I'll take you."

"Really? You won't deceive me?"

"I won't deceive you. I'm very familiar with the Forbidden City."

In Li Zhuiyuan's memory, there was a period when Li Lan worked in the Forbidden City, and he would just play by himself inside the Forbidden City. Sometimes, he would sit on the steps of a side door, hugging an orange cat, and watch the tourists continuously entering through the main gate, one afternoon at a time.

"Right, Yuan ge, have you had soybean milk?"

"Uh..."

"Have you had it?" Cuicui blinked her big eyes and looked over curiously.

"I've had it."

"Is it good? What does soybean milk taste like?"

What taste?

In Li Zhuiyuan's mind, the image of Cui Guiying rinsing the pickled bad vegetable jar at home last week emerged.

"Some people like to drink it, some don't."

"Is that so? Then I must try it when I go to Beijing later."

"En."

"Yuan ge, look, that's my house."

Following Cuicui's finger, Li Zhuiyuan saw a two-story building behind a piece of farmland.

"Your house is a building."

There were all styles of houses in the village. Most were brick and tile single-story houses. A few families were very poor and still lived in mud houses. Similarly, a few families had very good conditions and had already taken the lead in building two-story buildings.

Walking up to Cuicui's house dike, in the living room on the first floor, Liu Jinxia was playing mahjong with a cigarette in her mouth.

Her mahjong partners were two old ladies and one old man. Coming to play mahjong with Liu Jinxia meant they could get a free meal at her house, and the food was not bad, with meat and wine. So Liu Jinxia never lacked mahjong partners. She was also willing to spend a little to 'buy' people to accompany her for leisure.

The mahjong table was indeed a magical place. Liu Jinxia clearly had cataracts and poor eyesight, but it didn't affect her speed at all.

"Grandma, I brought Yuan ge home to play."

"Liu Nainai." Li Zhuiyuan called out.

"En, play." Liu Jinxia responded, then focused back on the cards in her hand, "Peng!"

Just now, the people playing mahjong were still talking about what happened at Dabian's place. Liu Jinxia blew smoke rings and responded casually. Hearing her granddaughter bring Li Zhuiyuan in, she couldn't help but be slightly stunned, her eyes narrowing through the smoke.

This child was haunted yesterday, and early this morning, Dabian and his son were floating in the fish pond.

If there wasn't something fishy here, Liu Jinxia wouldn't believe it even if she were beaten to death.

However, she also didn't speak to stop her granddaughter from playing with Li Zhuiyuan. What a joke, they were all unlucky stars, pulling someone else down was nothing to dislike.

Cuicui brought Li Zhuiyuan through the hall to the inner room. Inside, Li Juxiang was sitting on a stool picking vegetables. Seeing her daughter bring someone back, she was a little surprised. When she saw it was Li Zhuiyuan, an uncontrollable smile appeared on her face.

This was thinking back to her childhood, the scenes of playing with Li Lan.

Li Juxiang immediately stood up, wiping her hands on her apron: "Sit down, Xiao Yuan ge."

Immediately, she went to the room and took out a lot of food to entertain. Liu Jinxia's family conditions were indeed good, and there was only one child, Cuicui, so she had the envious snack treatment of other children in the village.

Li Juxiang also opened two bottles of lemon acidic soda, giving Li Zhuiyuan and Cuicui one bottle each.

This kind of carbonated drink, shaped like a beer bottle, was cheap and very popular. Children were too lazy to pour it into bowls and just picked it up to drink from the bottle, imitating the heroic way adults drank.

"Xiao Yuan ge, is your mom still good?"

"Good, Ayi."

"I heard, your mom, she left..." Li Juxiang suddenly realized it wasn't appropriate to ask a child this and immediately changed her words, "Your mom and I often played together in childhood. We had a very good relationship."

"Ang, Mama mentioned you, Xiang-ge, Xiang-ge Ayi."

Generally, adding "ge" at the end was only used between elders and peers. Younger generations couldn't use it.

But Li Juxiang certainly wasn't angry about this. Instead, she was very happy. She could imagine the scene when Li Lan mentioned her to her son, using the address "Xiang-ge." This proved that she hadn't forgotten her. "Your mom was very smart back then, and her grades were good, unlike me, who gets a headache just looking at books." Li Juxiang casually tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "When will your mom come home to see us?"

"My mom is busy with work. She said she'll come pick me up after she finishes being busy."

Cuicui opened her mouth: "Mom, I'm taking Yuan ge upstairs to play."

"En, go. Take good care of Xiao Yuan ge."

Cuicui pulled Li Zhuiyuan and walked to the stairs. When they reached the landing, she skillfully took off her shoes and changed into a pair of slippers. Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan also went to take off his shoes.

"No, Yuan ge, don't take them off. Just go up."

Li Zhuiyuan still took off his shoes, planning to walk up barefoot. Cuicui had no choice but to hand her mom's slippers to him to wear.

Wearing the big slippers, Li Zhuiyuan followed Cuicui to the second floor and into her room. A black and white TV was placed in the room.

Liu Jinxia's family had bought a TV early, but they didn't publicize it. The people in the village were cold towards her, and she was too lazy to entertain people at home to watch TV.

Cuicui turned on the standing electric fan, but the fan blades didn't move: "Yi, is there a power cut?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "The plug isn't inserted."

"Hey, yeah." Cuicui bent down, picked up the plug, and inserted it into the wall socket:

"Buzz... buzz... buzz buzz... buzz buzz buzz--"

The coarse fan blades slowly started to turn, sending out the heavenly music that could blow away the midsummer heat.

"Yuan ge, do you want to watch TV?"

"Okay."

Cuicui turned on the TV and then twisted the dial. After twisting a full circle, there were only these few channels, half of which were just static.

"Jing ge, are you okay?"

"Rong'er, I'm okay."

"Humph, Ouyang Feng, you are..."

Every winter and summer vacation, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" would be broadcast on TV.

The two of them sat on the edge of the bed and watched TV for a while. Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt sleepy.

He hadn't rested from yesterday until now. Before, he was overly emotional and tense. Now that the emotion had retreated, the feeling of tiredness quickly attacked him.

Cuicui mistakenly thought that Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to watch TV, so she got off the bed and began to introduce the cloth dolls, toys, and picture books in her room to Li Zhuiyuan.

Although very sleepy, Li Zhuiyuan still looked at her, making an effort to respond to her every introduction.

The little girl was immersed in her own happiness, but she soon discovered that she wasn't hearing any response. She turned her head and looked towards the edge of the bed, discovering that Li Zhuiyuan had already leaned against the bed edge and fallen asleep.

Cuicui immediately stopped talking, tiptoed over, and carefully helped Li Zhuiyuan lie down flat. She folded the thin summer blanket and covered it over Li Zhuiyuan's belly.

Immediately, she pushed the electric fan towards this side, pressed down the small button on the back of the fan, and the fan began to oscillate.

After doing all this, she moved a chair, sat by the edge of the bed, supported her face with her hand, and looked at the sleeping Li Zhuiyuan.

After watching for a while, she secretly smiled to herself, her ears turned red, and she turned her face away. After a while, she couldn't help but continue looking at him.

Time, just like this, passed unknowingly.

"Little Cuicui, little Cuicui, bring Xiao Yuan ge down to eat." Li Juxiang's shouting came from downstairs.

Cuicui immediately went downstairs and said to Li Juxiang: "Mom, Yuan ge is asleep."

"Then you go down and eat first. We'll leave some food for him."

"No, I'm not hungry. I want to wait for Yuan ge to wake up and eat with him."

Most parents in the village who had some self-awareness would stop their children from going out to find friends to play at mealtime, afraid they would be invited to the table to eat and seem like they were specifically going to take advantage.

However, sometimes it was unavoidable, and they would naturally join the table.

Cuicui had never experienced that. She was willing to wait for Li Zhuiyuan to wake up and eat with him.

Li Juxiang smiled, nodded, and went to the living room to greet her mother and mahjong partners to eat lunch.

Cuicui ran back upstairs, sat back in that position, and continued to look at Li Zhuiyuan:

"Yi?"

Cuicui leaned in a little doubtfully, because she discovered that Yuan ge's brows were furrowed.

"Is he dreaming?"

...

"Grandma, I brought Yuan ge home to play."

"En, play. Peng!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Cuicui standing in front of him, then at Liu Jinxia playing mahjong with three partners in the living room. He knew he was dreaming.

Because the scene around him was truly too detached from reality, the vision was all black and white. All the people and things seemed to have been copied with charcoal.

Although they could represent the corresponding people and things, they were somewhat blurry and distorted. Within the rough lines, there was a strange casualness.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head to look at himself. He discovered that he was still normal. What was not normal were the other people and things in the dream.

This couldn't help but make him think of the pictures in his mother's study, which were copied one by one, also white background with charcoal marks.

He dreamt of the scene when he and Cuicui had just arrived at her home to greet Liu Jinxia. Next, Cuicui in front of him held his hand and walked inside.

The originally delicate hand of the little girl, now held in his hand, was very rough, with a bit of pain, like sandpaper.

He couldn't help but struggle to pull away and stop his feet, but Cuicui continued to walk inside by herself, her arm still maintaining the posture of holding someone.

And behind him, the four people playing mahjong in the living room suddenly fell silent.

Li Zhuiyuan turned back to look and discovered that these four people were all still, not moving.

Even the smoke rings Liu Jinxia exhaled were fixed there, not continuing to disperse.

This stillness also gave Li Zhuiyuan an opportunity to observe. The charcoal marks on the bodies of the three mahjong partners were very soft and relatively shallow, while Liu Jinxia's image had very thick, very deep, and very hard lines.

Standing in the same place for a long time, Li Zhuiyuan was very doubtful. Every time he had a dream before, he would immediately wake up after realizing it was a dream. But this time, he was still in the dream.

Finally, Li Zhuiyuan still chose to walk inside. He saw Li Juxiang sitting there picking vegetables. Li Juxiang's body lines were also very hard, looking very out of place compared to the fine, faint lines describing the surroundings.

Li Zhuiyuan walked in front of Li Juxiang. The deep charcoal marks outlined the details of her expression. She was smiling, her eyes filled with recollection.

"Juxiang Ayi, Juxiang Ayi?"

Li Zhuiyuan tried calling several times, and even waved his hand in front of her, but Li Juxiang still didn't move, and her eyes didn't even blink once.

After leaving here, Li Zhuiyuan came to the stairs. Before going up, he took off the shoes on his feet and walked up barefoot.

He came to that bedroom. The standing electric fan was stopped and not turning, and only fuzzy sketches remained of Guo Jing and Huang Rong on the TV.

Cuicui was just pointing at a doll, her mouth open, as if talking, and she also didn't move.

Cuicui's body lines, compared to those of her grandmother and mother, were clearer and harder, almost becoming black, hard lines.

As if other people and things were all copied, and she, on the other hand, was carved.

Li Zhuiyuan looked towards the bed. He wasn't on the bed; it was empty.

Not only things were still, but also sound. Li Zhuiyuan suddenly realized that his ears hadn't heard any sound for a long time. The whole world was terribly quiet.

He began to panic a little, because he didn't know how long he would have to stay in this dream.

He opened the door from the bedroom to the balcony. The balcony on the second floor of this building was connected, and red and white tiles were pasted on it.

Looking into the distance, except for some sloppy graffiti near the house that could barely be seen as farmland, most of the area in his vision was a bleak blank.

He raised his head. Only a white halo of light remained in the original position of the sun, very much like an eraser that would fall down and erase everything here at any moment.

"Hey, excuse me, is this Nanny Liu's home?"

A sound came from the dike below. At this time, it seemed so abrupt, even harsh.

Li Zhuiyuan, standing on the second floor, lowered his head and looked down. It was a man who looked about fifty years old. He was still carrying an old lady.

The old lady was very thin. Only dry, shriveled skin wrapped around a little bit of bone was exposed from her sleeves. Her hair was very long and messy, scattered on her back.

"Hey, excuse me, is this Nanny Liu's home?"

The man asked again, a little anxiously turning the old mother he was carrying on his back in place.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know if he should answer.

Just at this moment,

The old lady who was originally lying on the man's back suddenly lifted her head. Her face was just facing Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing on the second floor.

Clearly, they were all images described with charcoal pens, but the old lady's pair of eyes showed a kind of refinement that surpassed the bearing limit of the picture style.

That was anger, it was sinister, it was resentment!

The next moment, Li Zhuiyuan discovered that everything beside him began to rotate and distort, like a suddenly appearing vortex, tearing and rolling everything around it, including himself.

...

"Yuan ge?"

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes and saw Cuicui's concerned face.

"Yuan ge, were you dreaming?"

"En." Li Zhuiyuan sat up and responded, "How long did I sleep?"

"Not long, maybe two hours. Yuan ge, let's go down and eat."

"No, I'll go home to eat."

"Oh dear, don't be polite, Yuan ge." Cuicui pulled Li Zhuiyuan's hand and led him downstairs, "Mom, Yuan ge is awake."

By this time, Liu Jinxia and her three mahjong partners had finished their lunch and started their afternoon session.

Li Juxiang smiled and lifted the red cover on the kitchen dining table. Inside was the meal specially left: "Xiao Yuan ge, come eat. I'll heat up some soup for you."

"Ayi, I'll go home to eat."

"Okay, be good and listen. Don't be polite with Ayi. Ayi wasn't polite with your mom either before. Besides, Cuicui specifically waited for you to wake up to eat together."

"Thank you, Ayi."

"Yuan ge, sit here." Cuicui sat down first, and Li Zhuiyuan went to the other side of the table to get a bowl and chopsticks.

"Go, go, you sit. Ayi will get them."

"Okay, Ayi."

Li Zhuiyuan walked back and sat down. Soon, Li Juxiang put the chopsticks and a bowl of served rice in front of him.

Although the dishes on the table were all served in small plain bowls, the portions were not large, but they were already more than enough for two children. There were two meat and two vegetable dishes. Especially the bowl of potato braised pork, the potatoes were only two pieces as decoration, and the rest was all meat. It was obviously specially screened and left.

Li Juxiang brought over a bowl of stewed fish soup, with sesame oil drizzled on top and some vinegar added. The taste was fragrant, fresh, and tempting.

Besides, she also opened a canned fruit medley and poured a bowl for each of the two children in front of them.

It could be said that in the village, it was truly considered very rich.

"Xiao Yuan ge, stay and eat at home tonight. I'll make you some good food." Li Juxiang said with a smile.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and faced Li Juxiang: "There's already a lot. Thank you, Ayi."

"Hehe, don't put down your chopsticks. Eat."

Li Juxiang touched Li Zhuiyuan's head, secretly envying how Li Lan taught her son. A sensible and polite child is liked everywhere.

"Xiao Yuan ge, does your mom cook for you at home?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head, put his chopsticks on the bowl, and answered: "Mom doesn't."

"Is that because your mom is busy with work?"

"En, she's very busy."

"What about your grandparents' house over there? Don't they cook for you?"

"I don't go often."

"Where do you usually eat?"

"Neighbor's house."

Generally, after school, in the school's family courtyard, those grandparents who had finished work or retired would take the initiative to lead him to their homes to eat.

"Alas, poor child." Li Juxiang didn't ask further. After telling the children to eat, she took the thermos bottle to the mahjong table to add water.

Just at this moment, a shout came from outside:

"Hey, excuse me, is this Nanny Liu's home?"

Hearing this sound, Li Zhuiyuan, who had just picked up his chopsticks, dropped them, and they fell to the ground.

"Pa da!"

...

In the living room, Liu Jinxia threw the mahjong tiles towards the table and clapped her hands: "Scatter."

The three mahjong partners nodded, stood up, and ended the mahjong game. Obviously, they were used to this situation.

However, before walking out of the living room, they walked one by one to the basin in the corner to wash their hands.

Banana leaves were soaked in the basin. When washing hands, they would wipe their hands on the leaves, then shake their hands, and finally dry them with the towel on the rack.

The purpose of doing this was to get rid of bad luck. This was Liu Jinxia's own arrangement. She not only didn't care about the attitude of the people in the village towards her anymore, but also specially set up some rituals to add to her mystique.

Li Zhuiyuan and Cuicui walked into the living room. Liu Jinxia had also just stood up from the chair and asked: "Have you eaten?"

"We were eating, and came out to take a look." Cuicui said.

"What's there to see? Forget it, little Cuicui, help Grandma collect the mahjong tiles."

"Okay, Grandma."

After giving instructions, Liu Jinxia walked in herself. There was a shady room inside, which was her office.

"Go slow, there's a threshold here." Li Juxiang's voice came from outside. She had gone out to welcome them after hearing the shouting.

"Okay, it's alright, it's alright."

Li Zhuiyuan looked towards the big door of the living room and saw Li Juxiang supporting an old man across the threshold.

The old man was bent forward, hunched, with his hands behind his lower back. He was a hunchback.

He also seemed to be... carrying a non-existent person.

"Is this your family's little child?" The old man looked at the two children and asked with a smile.

"The girl is mine, and the boy is my sister's. My mom is waiting for you. Go through the front door, turn right, and walk to the end."

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away. Can't let Nanny Liu wait." The old man continued to walk inside.

Li Zhuiyuan, standing behind, his gaze always fixed on the opposite hunchback.

The old man walked into the inner door of the living room, turned right, and was originally supposed to continue walking inside, but suddenly stopped.

Because he was a hunchback bent forward, his shoulders at this point were already blocked by the wall, leaving only the hunchback still in the line of sight.

Immediately,

His hands, which were behind his lower back at the level of his eyes, unconsciously lifted slightly. His left arm pressed down, his right arm lifted up, his butt moved inward a little, his shoulders turned outward a little, and his side face was already pressed against the wall.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at his empty back. At this moment, he felt as if there was a person there, supporting their body on his back, "looking" at him.

Li Juxiang asked: "What's wrong?"

The old man's originally rough voice suddenly mixed with some sharp hoarseness and said:

"This little child... has grown really well."

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