Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Li Zhuiyuan sat on the ground, gently kneading his temples with both hands.

It was the first time he had manipulated a jīangshī, and he was somewhat tired. He needed to relax as soon as possible because he still had many things to do next.

If there were no accidents, he would be undergoing his biggest strain yet.

This kind of strain would very likely cause relatively serious damage to his body.

He knew this clearly, but he still decided to do it.

Because he was angry.

A very precious emotion to him.

At this time, the girl and the woman came to him together and knelt down.

Seeing the situation, Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand, but it had no effect.

He had already lifted his control over them. Logically, they should be standing still or returning to their rice jar and bed.

Li Zhuiyuan helplessly stood up. The mother and daughter also stood up.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the table and sat down in his original position.

The girl and the woman also stood up, followed him, and then both sat down on Li Zhuiyuan's right side.

Originally, Tan Wenbin was just in a coma there.

Now, he was effectively squeezed tightly in the middle, one on his left, one on his right.

Li Zhuiyuan was too lazy to adjust this. At least this way he could ensure that Binbin, who was in a deep sleep, wouldn't fall.

However, after sitting down, their facial expressions and actions began to slightly distort, which seemed to foreshadow some kind of loss of control.

Although Li Zhuiyuan didn't understand the principle behind it, he roughly knew how to cope:

"Rest assured, I will definitely do everything I promised you.

Now, please bear with it again. Zhōu Yǒng was just a pawn instigated by someone. You don't want to let go of the real culprit who caused you this torment, do you?"

When the girl and the woman heard these words, they both quieted down again.

"Rùnshēng bro, first control and pack Zhōu Yǒng. Call me when you're done, I'll nap for a while first."

"Okay, okay, don't worry, Xiǎo Yuán."

At this time, Zhōu Yǒng was cornered by Rùnshēng, with the Huáng Hé shovel held against his neck, physically trapping him.

He was already very weak now. Although he still tried to push the shovel away with his hand, his strength was too small and he was powerless to resist.

Rùnshēng walked to the sack, took out the sōuhún lán and huíjiā wǎng, and placed them on the ground.

He took out his box of red mud, sequentially pressed it with his ten fingers, and then performed gestures according to specific steps, sequentially grabbing each position of the huíjiā wǎng. Finally, he tightly buckled the net rope with his ten fingers, brought both hands together, and suddenly clapped. In this way, the huíjiā wǎng was evenly and symmetrically smeared with red marks, ensuring its efficacy could be fully utilized.

The whole process was very smooth, full of ritualistic sense, and very appreciative, only lacking in practicality.

After all, not every jīangshī could stand there without moving, giving you enough time to prepare your tools.

Of course, Rùnshēng also wanted to be able to do it like Xiǎo Yuán, just smearing red mud with a fingertip and applying it casually, and the tools would be "consecrated."

He had tried, but he didn't succeed. Xiǎo Yuán's simplicity and casualness were built on calculation. Xiǎo Yuán knew where to smear how much. Xiǎo Yuán had also taught him, but he couldn't calculate it.

After completing the preparation work on the sōuhún lán and huíjiā wǎng sequentially, Rùnshēng put the sōuhún lán over Zhōu Yǒng's head and pulled it down, completely covering him. Then he used the huíjiā wǎng to wrap him around, simply packing Zhōu Yǒng into a zòngzi.

Finally, Rùnshēng also took out the fúzhòu paper that Xiǎo Yuán had personally drawn and stuck it on Zhōu Yǒng's skull.

One sticker would change color. He would tear it off and re-stick a new one, which would continue to change color. After continuously tearing and sticking seven sheets, Rùnshēng stopped, considering the final step of the ritual complete.

For this action, even in Zhōu Yǒng's cloudy eyes, there seemed to be some bewilderment and doubt.

Li Zhuiyuan had told Rùnshēng that the fúzhòu paper he drew was useless, but Rùnshēng didn't believe him. He thought Xiǎo Yuán was being humble.

After packing him up, Rùnshēng turned back and carried Zhōu Yǒng up using a technique to carry corpses.

At this time, Tan Wenbin woke up.

He felt very tired, as if his body had been hollowed out.

He groggily lifted his head, opened his eyes, looked at the girl stuck to his left, then turned his head and looked at the woman stuck to his right.

He felt that he was still not awake, still in a dream, so he closed his eyes and lay back down.

Soon, he opened his eyes again, looked to the left, then looked to the right again.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He suddenly sat up, just about to scream, when his mouth was covered by Rùnshēng's hand.

"Wū wū wū..."

"Shhh."

Tan Wenbin nodded his head.

Rùnshēng took his hand away.

Tan Wenbin turned his head to look. Just at this moment, Rùnshēng lightly pushed Li Zhuiyuan sideways. The Zhōu Yǒng on his back was then pressed against Tan Wenbin's face.

Li Zhuiyuan woke up. Seeing that Rùnshēng was already prepared, he also stood up. However, he still asked with concern:

"Binbin bro, are you alright?"

"I... what about me? Oh, I'm fine, just a bit tired."

"You should go back to Shān Yé's house and sleep."

"No, I still can, I can still help." Tan Wenbin tremblingly stood up, finally free from restraint, then bent down and began to breathe heavily.

"Binbin bro, eat more good things recently, supplement yourself."

"Okay, I will. I didn't think my body was so weak before."

"Rùnshēng bro, let's go."

The three people left the house and walked down the small embankment.

Subsequently, the sound of locking the door came from inside the house, and immediately after, the lights went out. Under the moonlight, two human figures flashed over in the kitchen and the bedroom respectively.

Because Zhōu Yǒng had left the range of his home, the girl and the woman could only return to their previous positions and wait for Zhōu Yǒng's return home.

This was just Zhōu Yǒng's attempt to maintain their lives.

Li Zhuiyuan turned back and stared at the well on the embankment.

"Rùnshēng bro, you stay here."

"Okay."

"Binbin bro, do you still have the strength?"

Tan Wenbin nodded forcefully: "Still can."

"It's hard on you."

"Xiǎo Yuán bro, it's fine, believe me."

Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin walked back up the small embankment. Because Rùnshēng was carrying Zhōu Yǒng and hadn't come in yet, the girl and the woman inside the house were not led to move again.

He lifted the bamboo hat on the well cover, picked up the rope on the bucket beside it, and tied it to himself. Then Li Zhuiyuan threw the other end of the rope to Tan Wenbin.

"Hold it tight."

"Okay." For safety, Tan Wenbin also wound the rope around himself twice and made an "okay" gesture.

Li Zhuiyuan held a flashlight in his left hand and his small Huáng Hé shovel in his right, went down the well, and slowly lowered himself. He only stopped when he was half a meter away from the water surface.

At the edge of the well opening, Tan Wenbin lay there wedged in. His arms were powerless now, so he could only use his body as a slot.

Under the flashlight's beam, Li Zhuiyuan saw the patterns carved on the well wall.

Sounds came from the water surface below his feet. When the flashlight shone downwards, he could see a thick water snake swimming below the water surface.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't worried about this snake because it was trapped in the water and couldn't leave the surface.

Picking up the Huáng Hé shovel, Li Zhuiyuan began to modify the patterns here.

It was very cold below the well, but he was sweating from the heat.

Modifying patterns left by others was much more difficult than arranging them himself, and the amount of deduction was also larger.

But there was no other way. One was that time didn't allow it, and two was that Li Zhuiyuan would have a hard time gathering and arranging these materials for a while.

The most important thing was that by retaining the original layout, it would be easier to trap and kill the opponent.

One hour later, Li Zhuiyuan pulled the rope.

Above, Tan Wenbin, whose body was aching from being strangled but who had also had a rest, began to exert force and slowly pull the rope out.

As Li Zhuiyuan gradually rose, he lowered his head to look at the water surface below his feet.

The water snake was still there, but it wasn't as lively as before. Moreover, under the flashlight's beam, the snake's body below the water surface displayed bright, various colors.

A hint of a smile floated across Li Zhuiyuan's face. This was just right. The kind of thing like "mirror flower water moon" was still too low level.

Coming out of the well, breathing in the fresh air, Li Zhuiyuan wiped the sweat from his face. He felt a sticky substance on his hand. He shone the flashlight down, and it was red.

"Xiǎo Yuán, you're having a nosebleed."

"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan lifted his head, took the paper ball and stuffed it into his nose. Then he untied the rope from his body.

"Xiǎo Yuán, are you too tired?"

"It's okay, it doesn't matter." Li Zhuiyuan didn't mind. This was just the beginning.

After carefully checking the ground below to ensure there were no bloodstains, he put the bamboo hat back over the well opening, restoring everything to its original state.

Walking down the small embankment, Li Zhuiyuan signaled Rùnshēng that they could go.

Coming to the side of the small river, Li Zhuiyuan walked in front holding a compass, reciting "Liǔ Family Qi Observation Art" silently while pointing out the points that needed to be dug and raised to Rùnshēng.

When they reached the bridge, Li Zhuiyuan slumped to the ground, tilted his neck, and asked: "Rùnshēng bro, did you remember everything just now?"

"Don't worry, Xiǎo Yuán, I remembered everything."

"Hurry up and build it."

"Okay!"

Rùnshēng put the Zhōu Yǒng on his back down, picked up the Huáng Hé shovel, and began to dig and raise.

"Xiǎo Yuán bro, shall I go help?"

"No need, Binbin bro. You stay here and help me with the nosebleed below. It's hard to stop."

"Oh. Okay."

Rùnshēng was strong, and the Huáng Hé shovel was suitable for this environment. With him doing it alone, the efficiency would be higher, and it wouldn't be easy to make mistakes.

On this side, Tan Wenbin had finally managed to stop Xiǎo Yuán's nosebleed with great difficulty and asked with concern:

"Xiǎo Yuán, are you really alright?"

"It's fine."

"So, what exactly are we doing here?"

"Someone played a trick on us and almost trapped us all to death. Now I'm arranging a counterattack."

"Okay, I understand."

On the ground behind them, Zhōu Yǒng was still wriggling.

Tan Wenbin looked at him with some lingering fear. Even though they had been sitting at the same table earlier, he still felt afraid of jīangshī.

"Binbin bro, after we go back this time, I'll teach you some methods to deal with jīangshī."

"Really? That's great!"

Then, the two of them said in unison:

"Keep it a secret from your dad."

"Keep it a secret from my dad!"

After saying that, both of them laughed.

Rùnshēng alone couldn't act as two people. They really needed a helper. The situation earlier was very much like the game of crossing the river with a sheep and a wolf. Either he or Rùnshēng had to stay at the original spot to watch Zhōu Yǒng to prevent accidents.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and began to rest. He was very sleepy.

Just when he was sleeping soundly, he was shaken awake: "Xiǎo Yuán, Xiǎo Yuán."

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes. His eyes were full of bloodshot veins.

Rùnshēng felt some heartache, but he didn't open his mouth to persuade him. Instead, he asked: "I've arranged everything exactly as you said just now. What do we do next?"

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, held the compass, and walked under the bridge.

Rùnshēng protected him as they went down together, afraid that the boy might fall into the river and be washed away if he wasn't careful.

Li Zhuiyuan began to describe the places under the bridge that needed to be modified. There was no need for a large project. It was still a small modification on the original foundation, which Rùnshēng could handle with the tools alone.

In addition, Li Zhuiyuan also discovered that although Rùnshēng bro wasn't good at calculating, his memory was very good. Every time he spoke, Rùnshēng could remember it very clearly and do it flawlessly.

"Remember it clearly, Rùnshēng bro?"

"Remembered clearly."

"Okay."

After Li Zhuiyuan responded, his body fell forward.

Rùnshēng was quick with his eyes and hands, held him up and brought him back to the shore. After instructing Tan Wenbin to take good care of Xiǎo Yuán, he took the tools and climbed up the bridge from the side.

Tan Wenbin had already prepared clean water and paper balls here, but this time, Li Zhuiyuan, who was in a semi-coma, didn't have another nosebleed. However, fresh blood was overflowing from the corners of his eyes.

"This..."

He first used water to help clean it, but found that after wiping it clean, fresh blood soon flowed out from the corners of his eyes again. But these were eyes, not a nose, and he didn't know how to stop the bleeding.

He could only put Li Zhuiyuan's head on his lap and use both hands to massage the boy's temples, hoping to ease his fatigue a little.

"Xiǎo Yuán, Xiǎo Yuán..."

Li Zhuiyuan was woken up again by a shout. After opening his eyes, he asked:

"Rùnshēng bro, why are you covered in blood..."

"Xiǎo Yuán, I'm fine. It's your eyes that are bleeding."

"Oh." Li Zhuiyuan only then realized that his vision was completely bloody red.

He stood up with difficulty, squatted by the river, and scooped up water to wash his eyes.

Although he could still see fresh blood dripping, his vision was at least a lot clearer.

Turning his head back, he looked towards Rùnshēng and found that Rùnshēng was covered in mud and lime. His hands and feet also had many places where the skin was broken and bleeding.

"Xiǎo Yuán, you check below."

"Okay."

"Come, I'll carry you down to the river."

Rùnshēng carried Li Zhuiyuan up and walked to the middle of the river. Li Zhuiyuan lifted his head. He didn't go to check the "construction details," but directly viewed the fēngshuǐ pattern.

After continuously wiping his eyes three times to wipe away the blood and dirt, he confirmed that the fēngshuǐ formation here had been changed by him.

"Rùnshēng bro, you did very well."

"What do I need to do next?"

"Rùnshēng bro, you can rest."

"Then let's go back to my Grandpa's house and sleep. I feel like you really can't hold on."

"No, I still have one last and most important thing to do."

"I'll do it."

Li Zhuiyuan was silent.

Rùnshēng understood.

"Then you, can you hold on?"

"Even if I can't, I have to. We don't have much time. They will come at the earliest tomorrow night."

Fēngshuǐ patterns are divided into two kinds: natural phenomena and man-made formations.

Natural phenomena are long-lasting. Unless large-scale terrain changes suddenly occur, the only thing that can change this natural phenomenon is the vicissitudes of life.

Therefore, ancient people usually chose tombs here, borrowing from the longevity of this natural phenomenon.

A man-made formation is like setting a net in the middle of a river to raise fish. If it is not regularly maintained and repaired, after a period of time, the fishing net will inevitably be washed away and broken, and the fish inside will re-enter the flow.

This kind of small river domain layout was very simple and very fragile. When he observed it during the day, Li Zhuiyuan had just discovered that deviations had already appeared, and it was probably time for the opponent to come and repair it.

Of course, the opponent might not come to repair it, but at least they had to come and view the results of the "practice question."

So, Zhōu Yǒng was actually thoroughly deceived. What he thought was long-lasting actually always had a limited quality guarantee period. If the opponent didn't come to maintain it, he would quickly rot in the river or at home, along with his wife and daughter.

In short, this matter couldn't be delayed. Before dawn, he had to complete all arrangements and then rest properly... and nurse his injuries.

Returning to the edge of the shore, Li Zhuiyuan sat down in front of Zhōu Yǒng.

Entering the Yīn.

Rùnshēng and Tan Wenbin on the side couldn't see it. Only Zhōu Yǒng was left. He was very weak now, like a fish that had been out of water for a long time.

This was very good because Li Zhuiyuan was also very tired now.

The weak frequencies of both sides matched perfectly now, and soon, they would reach the same frequency.

This also gave Li Zhuiyuan a new discovery, which was that when a jīangshī was beaten to near death, it was easier to complete the steps in the black skin book and thus manipulate it.

But there was a paradox here: if you could easily deal with a jīangshī through other means, would you still bother to manipulate it?

Currently, it seemed that maintaining a jīangshī was very difficult. You had to create a suitable environment for its existence and maintain it regularly, and you also had to constantly guard against its betrayal.

The state of existence of a jīangshī was destined for it to necessarily resist.

Earlier, the mother and daughter had quickly shown signs of losing control when he didn't directly suppress and kill Zhōu Yǒng.

The only exception now was the little yellow oriole.

But the little yellow oriole was able to gain a more long-lasting existence because of the "it" in the fish pond. Moreover, currently, Li Zhuiyuan wasn't sure where the little yellow oriole had gone, perhaps... it had already been taken underground by that "it."

Wèi Zhèngdào himself said in the black skin book that this was a kind of strong means to deal with jīangshī, not a "Taming Manual."

Because you couldn't expect something that was always in torment to have long-lasting loyalty to you.

Wèi Zhèngdào saw this very clearly, but Wèi Zhèngdào's friend didn't see it clearly. He did succeed in taming, but the price was to turn himself into a jīangshī.

So Li Zhuiyuan just felt that guy was stupid to the extreme. What animal tamer tames animals for the purpose of locking himself in a cage?

"Come, Zhōu Yǒng, let me see your memory."

Li Zhuiyuan placed his hand on Zhōu Yǒng's forehead.

He was very tired now, so he didn't intend to savor Zhōu Yǒng's miserable and sad scene after his wife fell ill and died. He quickly skipped these and only stayed at several key nodes.

The first one was when Zhōu Yǒng was lying by the bed crying over his dead wife, and words came from outside the window.

Zhōu Yǒng ran out, but didn't find anyone. That person only left a letter.

The letter said that he could help him keep his wife and daughter by his side.

After his daughter died, that voice appeared again. Zhōu Yǒng went out again, still didn't find anyone, and another letter had the same content.

One night after both his wife and daughter had died, Zhōu Yǒng sat dryly in the house drinking sulking wine. The voice appeared again. He still didn't see anyone. After picking up the letter outside the house and opening it, he found that the letter described the specific method.

Li Zhuiyuan sighed. He had to say, the opponent was very clean with their actions.

Clearly doing bad things, yet leaving no trace or lead. This kind of behavioral logic was very similar to Liǔ Grandma and them.

This wasn't to say that Liǔ Yùméi was also bad, but these two groups of people were always taboo about certain things, afraid of getting involved.

Just like this group of people, clearly doing extremely disgusting bad things, yet not truly dirtying their hands.

Even, it was very possible that they killed the girl and the woman with their own hands, but for them who had been bedridden for a long time, death at that time was instead a kind of relief, similar to Western euthanasia.

When they were killed, they wouldn't produce resentment, but instead would feel grateful.

Of course, this was because they didn't know what awaited them after death... Actually, if he hadn't told them, their hatred would only have been focused on Zhōu Yǒng.

Their actions were too clean.

Was this the awe of that kind of taboo?

This was also why, when he proposed the plan to the black cat, the black cat was very surprised: Can you righteous people really do this?

Originally, there really was this rule of righteousness.

However, Li Zhuiyuan didn't develop any thoughts of retreat because of this.

To him, after finishing the important matter, he would go home and hug his Great Grandpa more.

This Zhōu Yǒng was also really interesting enough. He actually took out all his family's savings and went to repair the bridge and make arrangements just based on three letters.

But linking it to the portrait of Jesus hanging in his house, it could instead be understood that this person was originally just superstitious about these things, belonging to the kind of fool who was easily deceived.

He would rather live a poor life at home than give money to those who pretended to be spiritual masters and swindlers, and still think he was very smart and wise, feeling that everyone else in the world was drunk and he was the only one awake.

Li Zhuiyuan forcefully cheered up his spirit and said from Zhōu Yǒng's perspective:

"Now, I will speak, and you will see. I will tell you... the truth."

Wèi Zhèngdào's black skin book, third step: Deceive!

Zhōu Yǒng's perspective was re-dialed back to before Zhōu Yǒng saw his wife die after returning home. Just as Zhōu Yǒng was nearing his embankment, he heard sounds of conversation coming from behind the house:

"It's done. I've messed his wife to death."

"Messing her to death is good. She hasn't died all this time, which is really delaying things."

"This way, when he comes back and sees it, he'll be heartbroken, and it will be convenient for us to carry out the next step of the plan."

"Is the letter ready?"

"It is, but are we not leaving concrete instructions now?"

"No need for now, his daughter isn't dead yet."

Li Zhuiyuan forcibly supported his spirit and continued to dial the perspective scene to before Zhōu Yǒng discovered his daughter's death.

The same scene, the same eavesdropping, even, just changing a few small details in the dialogue.

It wasn't that Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to make the work more detailed, but he was already almost unable to hold on. The state of traveling through the Yīn was difficult to maintain, and the perspective scene also appeared turbulent and broken.

However, it should be enough.

Li Zhuiyuan released all his strength and closed his eyes.

When he thought of opening his eyes again, he found that he simply couldn't open them. His eyes felt like they were blocked.

He knew that his journey through the Yīn had ended because he heard Rùnshēng and Tan Wenbin's voices next to his ears. "Rùnshēng, why can't this blood be stopped? It's too scary."

"You wipe it again. I'll go get some more clean water."

"Binbin bro."

"Xiǎo Yuán, you're awake. Don't worry, we're trying to find a way to stop the bleeding for you."

"Binbin bro, look at Zhōu Yǒng below and tell me how he is now."

"He... he's shaking his head nonstop, like he has epilepsy, but don't worry, he can't break free from the basket and net."

"You keep staring at him and tell me his changes. I can't see now."

Rùnshēng walked back. Soon, Li Zhuiyuan felt a cool sensation flowing at the location of his eyes.

Now, he could open his eyes, but his vision was completely black. He couldn't see anything.

"Xiǎo Yuán, why do your eyes have no spirit at all? Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

Now, he was afraid that even Liǔ Jīnxià, who suffered from cataracts, would be able to praise his eyesight as good in front of him.

He was now indistinguishable from a blind person.

"Xiǎo Yuán, your eyes won't have any problems, will they?"

"Xiǎo Yuán bro, don't scare me!"

"No need to worry. I just overexerted myself excessively. I can't see now, but I'm not truly blind. After resting and recuperating well, I will slowly recover."

In the "Righteous Path Subduing Demons Record," there was a similar record: Losing sight in both eyes will recover in ten days to a month. Just know moderation.

Wèi Zhèngdào had also overexerted himself like this before, but he was fine in the end.

However, the phrase "ten days to a month" here wasn't very easy to interpret. It could refer to one month, or it could refer to ten months, or it could refer to ten days to a month.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that the third interpretation was the most suitable. If he were truly blind for a full ten months, Wèi Zhèngdào would have used a more heavy and fearful tone when writing this sentence, not just "just know moderation," but "shocked to the extreme" or "like gaining a new life."

"Xiǎo Yuán, the mucus in Zhōu Yǒng's eyes has receded, and his eyes have turned red again. He looks very angry."

"Is he staring at the three of us?"

"No, no, he's not looking at us."

"Okay, good, it's successful."

The hatred had already been transferred.

"Rùnshēng bro, take down the net and basket and put Zhōu Yǒng into the water."

"Okay!"

Although this request was very unreasonable, Rùnshēng never asked why.

He carried Zhōu Yǒng to the edge of the river, took away the net and basket, then looked at the man still flopping on the shore like a dead fish, lifted his foot, and kicked him back into the river.

As soon as he entered the water, the half-dead Zhōu Yǒng suddenly became active and fiercely dived to the bottom of the water.

"Xiǎo Yuán, let's go to the hospital." Tan Wenbin said.

"Binbin bro, bear with it a little longer. Ride the tricycle and take me home.

Rùnshēng bro, you stay here and take care of Shān Yé and my Great Grandpa.

Starting tomorrow, go to Zhōu Yǒng's home embankment once in the morning and once in the evening to check the situation. If you don't see that pair of mother and daughter sitting on the embankment waving to you, you can search here by the river. You should be able to fish out a dead fish."

"Xiǎo Yuán, is there anything else I need to note?"

"Remember to recalculate the money with the village chief."

"Okay." Rùnshēng promised and turned to look at Tan Wenbin, "Can you still ride the car?"

"No problem."

Rùnshēng asked with very sincere concern: "You look very tired now. Do you want me to slap you to refresh you?"

"No, no need. I'll slap myself when I ride the car."

"Be careful and don't let Xiǎo Yuán have any accidents."

"Of course, don't worry."

Rùnshēng packed his things, then personally carried Li Zhuiyuan into the house.

Inside the house, the two drunk old men were snoring loudly.

This time, he had again helped his Great Grandpa solve a problem.

However, the boy originally didn't mind helping his Great Grandpa resolve these disasters. Because by staying with Great Grandpa, he could also do things more arbitrarily. Great Grandpa's consistent behavior logic was originally not in line with the so-called righteous path.

Of course, it was also possible that this righteous path now was originally just fake and wrong, and Great Grandpa's way of doing things was the true way to guard the righteous path.

But thinking from another angle, if he hadn't come, Great Grandpa might not have touched this matter either.

Because, without him, Great Grandpa holding that compass wouldn't have been able to find Zhōu Yǒng's house at all.

Dawn was just breaking.

Li Zhuiyuan, who was completely exhausted and sitting on the tricycle, felt a cool morning breeze, but instead of feeling sleepy, he was wide awake.

Although his eyes were black and he couldn't see anything, his mood was very happy, and he even hummed a children's song, "Let Us Swing Double Oars."

Everything he had achieved before had been obtained too easily. In the subject of "fish corpse," he was experiencing the feeling of being a poor student for the first time.

He was studying hard and looking forward to a little progress, but at the same time, you dared to slander him, and he still dared to cheat!

Why?

Then just kill you.

Tan Wenbin was riding the car while slapping his own mouth, however, when he heard the sound of the song coming from behind, he couldn't help but laugh.

The boy sitting behind him seemed to have a terrifying maturity that exceeded his apparent age since they first met. Many times, he felt that even his father felt a kind of suppression in front of the boy.

Therefore, his calling out "bro" was not flattery. He was simply smarter and more mature than himself.

Now, hearing the boy sing, his heart was happy for him. This was really like a child.

"Are you very happy, Xiǎo Yuán?"

"Okay, very happy."

...

The tricycle safely drove up the home embankment. Tan Wenbin, who was riding the car, had a face that was almost swollen from slapping.

After arriving, he was so dizzy that he could barely pull the brake, then fell to the ground and fell asleep.

He had been busy nonstop this day and night, not only was he frequently scared, but he was also drained of his yang energy by the jīangshī. To be able to hold on until now was a miracle for a normal person.

Liǔ Yùméi and Liǔ Ànt were eating breakfast and saw the situation. They both dropped their chopsticks and ran over.

Li Zhuiyuan was grabbed up by Liǔ Yùméi on his left and Liǔ Tíng on his right. Subsequently, the two of them looked at each other.

Liǔ Ànt let go of her hand, dragged Tan Wenbin back to the bunk at the dining table on the first floor, then went back to the room to get medicine.

Liǔ Yùméi then sank her face and stared at Li Zhuiyuan, sighing.

Li Zhuiyuan liked this quiet atmosphere very much. There was no unnecessary concern or questioning. Everyone could see it clearly.

Even, because he couldn't see now, everyone didn't need to redo their expression management.

This world suddenly became much simpler.

Until, his hand was held by a pair of soft, warm hands.

The monotonous world immediately became rich and full again.

"Ā Lí, come over. I have something to tell you quietly."

Ā Lí approached and pressed herself against the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that his lips touched the girl's hair. She was putting her ear close.

"Let me tell you, there's a group of people who want to plot against me. I'm very angry. I've already made arrangements and can definitely deal with them."

Liǔ Yùméi, of course, heard this whisper.

She had originally thought that her granddaughter would be angry with the boy for messing himself up into this state, but who would have thought that after the boy finished speaking, her granddaughter's face actually revealed two clear dimples.

"Ā Lí, I can't see now. Take me back to the room."

Li Zhuiyuan felt the girl leading him forward with one hand, and supporting his arm with the other.

Earlier, it was always him leading the girl forward.

Entering the room, step by step up the stairs, back to his room, he sat on the bed.

Li Zhuiyuan lay down and reached out to touch the quilt, but touched nothing.

But soon, the quilt was covered on his belly, and even the way it was folded was according to his habit.

The girl left. Li Zhuiyuan heard the sound of the door opening.

After a while, the sound of the door opening rang again. The girl walked back and then Li Zhuiyuan felt a wet towel wiping his face.

After wiping for a while, she folded it and continued to wipe, just like when he used to wipe her.

Originally, she had always been learning.

The door of the room opened again. It was adult footsteps.

"Xiǎo Yuán, lie still. Auntie is here to apply medicine for you."

"Thank you, Liǔ Ànt."

The medicine ointment was applied to his eyes, then tied around the back of his head with a cloth strip.

A comfortable feeling rippled in his eye sockets, followed by deep fatigue.

Forcibly staying awake for a while, Li Zhuiyuan asked: "Liǔ Ànt, how long until my eyes are better?"

"Ten days to a month."

Li Zhuiyuan: "..."

Liǔ Ànt let out a laugh: "Hehe, one month, you can also quiet down."

Li Zhuiyuan's face also showed a smile.

"Stinky boy, why can you still laugh?"

"One month, just the summer vacation, it won't delay the start of school."

...

During the day, Li Sānjiāng woke up. After knowing that Xiǎo Yuán and Zhuāngzhuāng had already gone back, he didn't take it seriously, but picked up his stuff and led Rùnshēng to walk around the river again.

Rùnshēng originally thought he was just going to accompany Li Sānjiāng to kill time and go through the motions.

Then, he saw Li Sānjiāng take out that compass.

The compass pointed due south. He followed Li Sānjiāng to under the bridge.

Under the bridge, Li Sānjiāng untied his pants belt and peed.

When men pee, they often don't stare downwards, but look around with a lofty spirit.

He saw the stele under the bridge and sighed, saying:

"Rùnshēng Hou, is this person named Zhōu Yǒng from your village?"

"Yes, Grandpa."

"Tsk tsk, he must be very rich, building a bridge alone."

"Um... I'm not too familiar with the people in the village."

"Your whole village, you're not familiar?"

"Grandpa, you know, my grandpa and I work in this line. We have very little contact with the villagers every day."

"That shouldn't be. Aren't you all popular among the villagers? Who doesn't like a bumpkin who loses money playing cards?"

"Most of the time, my grandpa doesn't even have money in his pocket to play cards."

"Oh, that's true."

Rùnshēng let out a breath. He felt that he had squeezed out all his wisdom just to manage to muddle through this matter.

But then, a scene that made Rùnshēng dumbfounded appeared.

Li Sānjiāng held the compass and walked south to under the bridge. In front was a bend in the river, with no road. So he followed the direction pointed by the compass in reverse, heading north.

And Zhōu Yǒng's house was located in the northern corner of the village.

Rùnshēng followed Li Sānjiāng just like that and walked to the front of Zhōu Yǒng's house, with a completely ghost-like expression.

His grandpa always said that Sanjiang Grandpa had no ability. Was this called no ability?

Last night, Xiǎo Yuán spent quite some effort just to find Zhōu Yǒng's house. Sanjiang Grandpa found it just by peeing!

"Hahahaha, you all are good!"

Li Sānjiāng raised his hand and waved greetings to the pair of mother and daughter sitting on the embankment.

Because Rùnshēng, a local, was standing beside him, he could see that pair of mother and daughter.

"Grandpa, let's not go forward."

Rùnshēng decided that if Li Sānjiāng continued forward, he would carry him away even if he had to.

"Not going, not going. They are just mother and daughter at home. What's the point of going? It's meaningless."

With the women of the family at home, it wasn't appropriate for him, a big man, to go close.

But these words in Rùnshēng's ears had another kind of interpretation. Sanjiang Grandpa knew at a glance that Zhōu Yǒng wasn't at home.

Wandering until the afternoon, Li Sānjiāng finally returned to Shān Yé's house.

The village chief was also in the yard, asking about the progress. Li Sānjiāng patted his chest and said not to worry, that they would find it soon.

After the village chief left, there was still a lot of the high-alcohol white wine left from last night, and the village chief had also sent some small braised dishes in advance.

The two old heads just sat down and continued drinking.

Drinking and drinking, they just got excited again.

When it was almost dark, Li Sānjiāng finally remembered what he had come here to do, and was just about to stand up and say to take advantage of the light while it wasn't completely dark to go wander around again.

Shān Yé pulled him back, telling him to continue drinking with him, then urged Rùnshēng to go out and wander around again.

Rùnshēng responded, picked up his things, and went out. Xiǎo Yuán had originally instructed him to go check once in the morning and once in the evening.

He ran to the front of Zhōu Yǒng's home embankment.

This time,

The mother and daughter on the embankment did not appear again.

...

Night.

An adult with a boy sitting on his shoulder walked along the river.

At first glance, they looked like a father and son out for a walk at night.

But the dialogue between them was shocking, because the adult man called the boy on his neck... dad.

"Dad, Liǔ Blind's house, they entrusted someone to return the money to us. What should we do?"

"Go again another day, double the price. I just don't believe she won't be tempted."

"Okay. Is their house really that important?"

"Very important. Their family's life is truly hard, especially that little granddaughter named Cuī Cuī."

"Dad, are you eyeing her?"

The dwarf forcefully patted the man's head. The man let out a cry of pain.

"Are you stupid or not? That life is so hard marrying her home. You're hoping your dad dies early, aren't you?"

"Dad, that's not what you meant. Why are you targeting people?"

"Targeting? It's useful. If we can get involved with their house, some things later can be left for them to carry. Their life is hard. If they can carry things, one family of three, if one dies carrying, replace with another. How good."

"Then why don't we just forcefully..."

"Forcefully my foot. Have you forgotten how I, your dad, taught you? In our line, the most taboo thing is to commit white matters. Even if you want to have some personal plans, you must pay attention to the method and clean up your hands and feet well.

Otherwise, heaven knows when a calamity will descend, and you won't even know how you died.

We father and son, one with dwarfism, one with gigantism, originally live not easy. Not only does heaven look at us unfavorably, but even people in the world look at us with different eyes. So we must be even more careful when doing things, understand?"

"Understood."

"Right, remember next time you go to Liǔ Blind's house, remind me to ask about that boy's situation."

"Dad, you still remember that boy? Isn't he just a child?"

"I always feel like that child saw through me."

"How is that possible, Dad? When you're outside, everyone thinks you're my son."

"I won't be wrong. That boy just saw through me. He seemed to see my inner thoughts at a glance. You were inside at the time, you don't know, that boy's gaze was too scary."

"Could it be that boy has the same disease as you, Dad?"

"I don't know. So next time we go to Sìyuán Village, we must check again. It's best if we can go into that boy's house to take a look. Oh, right, instead, that quiet girl next to that boy is really good-looking. She's like someone from TV."

"I also saw her. Her life isn't hard, is it?"

"Can't tell. Should not be hard."

"Then later, give her to me as a wife?"

"Hehe, you're a son. Do you understand the rules? How can it be your turn first?"

"Dad, you're not being a good dad."

"Okay, stop talking nonsense. We're there. Go down to the river and call out that fool. See how the result of your own hands last time is. Let Dad also inspect your score."

"Don't worry, Dad, no problem."

The man carried the dwarf on his shoulder and walked down to the river. Just as he was about to take out his things to summon, who knew that bubbles suddenly floated up in front.

A back was exposed, then slowly flipped, and finally, the figure of Zhōu Yǒng was revealed.

"Dad, look, how smart is the jīangshī I raised? It came out by itself without even needing to be summoned."

"Indeed, not bad, son. I've said it before, in this line, I truly haven't seen anyone more talented than you."

"That's right."

"Roar!"

Suddenly, the mucus in Zhōu Yǒng's eyes receded and turned red. He directly pounced towards the man.

"Dad!" The man screamed.

The dwarf on his head took out a fúzhòu paper and smoothly stuck it on Zhōu Yǒng's forehead. Zhōu Yǒng suddenly stopped his actions.

"Dad, it was so scary. What exactly happened just now?"

"Loss of control of a jīangshī is also a common thing. No need to..."

At the bridgehead, a gust of Yīn wind arose. The evil energy in the river instantly boiled.

The fúzhòu paper on Zhōu Yǒng's forehead instantly burned.

"Roar!"

Zhōu Yǒng suddenly stretched out both arms and stabbed into and penetrated the man's chest. Then he opened his mouth and bit down on the man's neck.

"Kā chā! Kā chā! Kā chā!"

The sound of bone fracture was so high-frequency and crisp.

The man was suddenly pounced down and fell into the middle of the river.

"How can it be like this, how can it be like this, no, this is impossible!"

The dwarf flopped in the water. He couldn't believe everything in front of him. Why did things develop like this?

In the river, fresh blood and broken body parts floated. Zhōu Yǒng continued to pounce towards the dwarf.

"You should die, you should die, you return my son!"

The dwarf's face twisted, no longer resembling a child at all.

A rope with thorns appeared in his hand. His body moved like a fish in the water, agilely circling to Zhōu Yǒng's back. The rope was placed around Zhōu Yǒng's neck, and he tightened it with force.

"Ah ah ah!!!"

Zhōu Yǒng let out a howl. His neck was quickly melting.

However, just as Zhōu Yǒng let out that roar, the well cover on the embankment of his house just slid down.

The colorful water snake below the well also opened its snake mouth and hissed upwards silently, then its body collapsed and turned into pus and water.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The windows of the house's bedroom and kitchen were directly blown open. After two women, one large and one small, jumped out, they marched towards the river edge with very fast speed.

Rùnshēng was also running towards the river edge. He suddenly saw two figures sweep past him. He recognized who they were, but he didn't know why. When that pair of mother and daughter moved now, both their feet were sliding on the ground, just like two quickly sliding snakes.

Then, they jumped into the middle of the river together. Only two quickly rushing waves appeared on the water surface.

"You should die! You harmed my son! That was my son!!!"

The dwarf used the rope in his hand, almost cutting Zhōu Yǒng's neck in half. Zhōu Yǒng's body's energy was also rapidly withering, and the evil energy was quickly dissipating.

This kind of fēngshuǐ pattern that rushes to the evil position was originally short-lived in effect.

But just at this time, Zhōu Yǒng suddenly stretched out both arms and grabbed the dwarf's two feet.

The dwarf originally didn't care. He only knew that this jīangshī was about to be cut to death by him.

But just at this time, he turned his head to look at his side. Below the water, there seemed to be something.

Suddenly, two figures rushed out from below the water surface, one on the left and one on the right. They grabbed the dwarf respectively and began to tear and bite wildly.

Their eyes were like snake eyes. Every bite they took, the blood flowing from the dwarf's wounds was not red but black.

"Ah!!!"

The dwarf let out a miserable scream. He had the idea of throwing up, but the three jīangshī were closely clustered around him, not giving him any space to dodge even with his agile body.

Finally, his very unwilling face turned a grayish-green poisonous color, losing all life. He and the three jīangshī together slowly sank into the middle of the river.

After being tampered with in memory by Li Zhuiyuan, Zhōu Yǒng's resentment, which was originally his obsession with his wife and daughter being able to continue accompanying him, turned into wanting revenge for his broken family.

When the enemy died, his revenge was also completed, and his resentment also began to dissipate.

Even if there was an accident, there was still another layer of guarantee, which was that the fēngshuǐ of this river was changed by Li Zhuiyuan into mutually rushing evil energy. The effect of igniting the evil energy in this area and making it boil in a short time naturally also included the jīangshī's body.

In short, Zhōu Yǒng completely perished.

His end, because of him and his existing vengeful spirits, his wife and daughter, also finally found relief.

After all of them clustered together and sank below the water, they slowly scattered and floated up again. Only that pair of mother and daughter were still hugging each other.

When Rùnshēng ran to the edge of the river, he couldn't help but be startled by the scene in front of him. There were so many floating corpses on the river surface.

"Xiǎo Yuán, you were right. Fish, there are so many dead fish!"

()