Chapter 54

Chapter 54

The woman pounced on the table like a mad demon general. Because her arms were bound by her clothes and she couldn't stretch them out, her body was like a tense snake, twisting and curling intensely.

Her eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood, and her expression was fierce as if she wanted to choose someone to devour.

Among the crowd outside the visiting room, except for Li Zhuiyuan, everyone couldn't help but feel a shock in their hearts. Even Tan Yunlong couldn't escape this common reaction, because normal people seeing this scene would all feel an extremely strong sense of unease.

After all, the other person was a human, one of their own kind. Having been soaked in a long-term peaceful environment, everyone's heart generally couldn't accept this kind of hysterical release of animal nature.

Li Zhuiyuan had different feelings. Through the glass, he could see a kind of release in the woman's screams and wild body movements.

What was terrifying in the eyes of ordinary people was, to him, a sign that a benign stage in the cyclical process was about to begin.

This empathy was difficult to explain. To make a vulgar analogy, it was like an addict walking through city alleys could tell where to buy drugs, or an old whoremonger sweeping a glance at a shop door could tell if there was "big business" inside.

People from a special group were like equipped with a radar, able to sense each other's existence and also drawn to each other by a different kind of "like smells attracting."

But very obviously, Xu Ayi didn't understand, because she started packing up the photos on the table, thinking that this inquiry was over and that asking again wouldn't yield anything.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that the reason Li Lan kept her by her side as a secretary wasn't because of how strong her abilities were, but because she was from her hometown and could speak the Nantong dialect, making her useful for future phone calls with her parents.

Even if that call was only made once every few years, this was indeed something Li Lan would do.

"Binbin brother, I know the aunt inside, and I don't want her to know I'm here."

These words might not have been just for Tan Wenbin.

After saying that, Li Zhuiyuan turned and ran into the toilet on the side of the corridor.

The man next to Xu Wen helped her push open the door. As she walked out, she saw the three people standing at the door.

Xu Wen asked, "Who are you all?"

Tan Yunlong replied, "I'm the police officer from the household registration location of the person inside. I brought them to have a look."

Saying that, Tan Yunlong reached out and patted Tan Wenbin's shoulder.

Tan Wenbin, for better or worse, had eaten at the same table as the dead person.

At this moment, he first lowered his head to avoid letting the other party discover the similarity between his eyebrows and those of the "police officer" behind him, then lightly shrugged his shoulders.

A hint of guilt appeared in Xu Wen's eyes. After all, the woman's madness inside was caused by her, so she just nodded once and turned to walk out. The accompanying man always followed her.

When they walked to the front of the toilet door, Xu Wen stopped to wash her hands.

The man said in a low voice, "Didn't get any results."

Xu Wen didn't have any awareness in this regard and said in a very normal volume, "She shouldn't have gone down before. It's just that her husband's matter stimulated her severely. Where is the next crew resettlement location?"

"Li Yun Port."

"Then let's hurry up and go."

"Do you want to visit all of them?"

"Otherwise what? For him, if I want to see a living person, I want to see them alive; if I want to see a dead person, I want to see their corpse."

"This is your hometown. Aren't you going back to see it?"

"My mother has already been moved to Beijing by me. I don't have any relatives worth seeing in my hometown."

"I heard..."

"Director's relatives, I may not dare to contact, otherwise wait for Director to come back..."

They left the toilet and walked outside. The conversation behind them couldn't be heard anymore.

Li Zhuiyuan came out of the toilet and turned on the water tap to wash his hands.

Benefiting from having been blind for a month before, his hearing had developed further, and he had heard the previous conversation.

Xu Ayi was looking for someone, but that person wasn't Li Lan, because Xu Wen wouldn't describe Li Lan with "if I want to see a living person, I want to see them alive; if I want to see a dead person, I want to see their corpse."

So, the task Li Lan went on wasn't to get Zheng Haiyang's parents out of the accident area, but Li Lan indeed still hadn't returned.

Exactly what kind of task would take so long, it had been two months already.

Li Zhuiyuan walked back while shaking his hands. In the past, he would have actively greeted Xu Wen and affectionately called her "Xu Ayi," but now, he was very repelled by contact with Li Lan and the people around her.

If he could choose, he would rather not have any intersection with Li Lan for the rest of his life. He believed Li Lan had the same idea.

Because after they, mother and son, met, no matter what they did or said, they were always peeling away each other's skin.

The doctor came out and was exchanging with Tan Yunlong.

"The patient's emotions are really unstable now, it's not suitable to visit again."

Tan Yunlong pointed at the returning Li Zhuiyuan and said, "Just let the child go in and see. The child is very pitiful."

The doctor looked down at Li Zhuiyuan, hesitated for a moment, and still nodded: "Okay, just let him go in alone. You all wait outside and are not allowed to come in."

Tan Yunlong bent down, seemingly lightly admonishing at Li Zhuiyuan's ear: "That man was a soldier and went to the battlefield."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "Thank you, Uncle Tan."

Tan Yunlong smiled and sat back on the corridor long chair.

Li Zhuiyuan was then led into the visiting room.

He sat across from the woman. At this time, the woman was no longer excited and mad like before, but she was still gasping roughly, and the redness in her eyes was still scary.

Li Zhuiyuan just sat there without speaking.

He originally came here just because of "interest," and it had nothing to do with classmate friendship, so he didn't want to mention Zheng Haiyang as a starting point for the conversation.

He didn't even want to use his mind and methods to guide the unfolding of the topic, even though he was very skilled at this.

Xu Wen's actions earlier made him feel that doing so was meaningless. He didn't want to build his own pleasure on the basis of destroying and playing with the innocence of others.

It was very interesting that after deciding to set himself against Li Lan's style, he really was just maintaining his humanity.

Outside, through the glass, Tan Wenbin, somewhat puzzled, asked Runsheng, "Why isn't Little Yuan brother speaking?"

Runsheng shook his head: "Little Yuan not speaking just means there's no need to speak."

After carefully chewing on it, Tan Wenbin said, "What you're saying is nonsense."

But soon, he changed his mind.

The woman calmed down and began to speak actively. There were no screams, no frenzy, she just sat there, narrating normally.

It was a pity that the volume was too normal, so it couldn't be heard outside.

This probably made Tan Wenbin anxious to the point of scratching his ears and cheeks, wishing he could rush in and listen together.

Runsheng didn't understand: "What are you anxious about?"

"How can I not be anxious? If I go in now, I can listen firsthand. When Little Yuan brother comes out and tells us, it will be after he has concentrated and summarized it."

"Is this good?"

"My mistake, why am I discussing this with you."

Inside the visiting room, the woman looked recovered to normal.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that his "common emotion" was not wrong, and he had picked a ripe peach.

Xu Wen had successfully stimulated the woman, causing her emotions to go out of control, and then she just left, leaving a better situation for herself.

If Li Lan were here, she would never have made this low-level mistake.

"I once advised him not to go down with them, but he didn't listen. Moreover, he persuaded me to go down with him."

"You went down?"

"Yes, I went down, I shouldn't have gone down."

"I'm very curious, what was down there?"

"A, a very very big place, inside, there is sun, there is moon and there are stars."

"You mean, at the seabed?"

"You don't believe?"

"I believe."

"Outside there, there are many sunken ships."

"Then there should be many treasures."

"There are, but it's very hard to find, because these ships are all broken, except for a minority of special ones."

"How special?"

"Most are made of wood, and a minority are not. They are all buried under the sea sand, only exposing a little bit. That place is in a turbulent current area, and it's fundamentally impossible to dig. So many years have passed, and even some things that were originally on top have all been blown away or deeply buried."

"That's really a pity. So you all went in?"

"Yes, we went in. After going in, we could take off our oxygen masks. There is a piece of dry land there, which can float out of the water surface and see the sun and stars."

Sun and stars...

Li Zhuiyuan knew that the woman was very sober now. The unusual juxtaposition of sun and stars could only bring special meaning.

Limited by the lack of relevant professional knowledge, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't judge from a scientific perspective whether this place at the seabed could really exist, but he felt that the woman wasn't lying.

Still need to go to university ah.

"You all didn't go in for the first time, did you?"

"I am the first time, but my husband is not, he is the second time he went in."

"Does the work of a seaman also include these?"

"It depends on how you understand it. This is just a job, and a job is not everything in life. Actually, our salary is quite high, but we don't get much from smuggling income. My husband was jealous and wanted to earn a large sum of money quickly so that he would never have to go to sea again. I felt the same way."

"Understood. How many people went down in total?"

"Can't remember clearly, should be more than ten."

"So many?"

"Because we are just guides."

"Who hired you to be guides?"

"Should be two waves of people, all using the name of an ocean ecological protection organization. One wave's leader is called Honda, and the other wave's leader is called Ashley, the latter is British."

"Should?"

"There's also a new seaman called Zhu Changyong, who had a very good relationship with my husband, but my husband said that he should also have come for this place."

"So it's three groups of people who hired you to be guides. How was the income distributed?"

"The guiding fee was very high, and there was a share afterwards."

"Continue talking about what happened after going in. I want to hear exactly what's inside."

"Inside there is a wall, and on the wall there is a very very big door, but this door cannot be opened. Honda said it was just for decoration, and the inside was solid and closed. From the time it was built, there was fundamentally no plan to open it again to let outsiders in."

"Then how did you all get in?"

"There is a gap between the uppermost end of the wall and the cave. It's possible that it was a tight fit at the beginning, but over time, it separated from the wall. We climbed up and then crawled in.

After going in, I just saw..."

Pain and struggle flowed across the woman's face.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped asking and waited patiently.

After a while, the woman calmed down and continued to speak with a tremor in her voice, "After going in, we discovered that this was the position where we came from."

Li Zhuiyuan slightly frowned and asked, "How long was the process of crawling in?"

"Ten minutes, because it's very narrow, and with equipment, you can only crawl forward."

"That's really long. Then what are you afraid of? Even if you crawl in and then crawl back out."

"That's the position we came from."

"Um, you said that."

The woman looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said word by word: "At the position where we came from, there were still us who came from."

Li Zhuiyuan subconsciously sat up straight.

He understood why she was afraid.

"Then...?"

"They started fighting."

"They?"

"I was the last one to crawl out. According to Honda and Ashley's requirements, my husband and I had to be one in front and one in the back.

When I crawled out, they had already gone down, along the rope ladder."

"You said rope ladder?"

Li Zhuiyuan began to try to sketch the scene in his mind as much as possible from the woman's simple description, trying not to miss any details.

"It was the ladder hung by Zhu Changyong."

"Then was there also a Zhu Changyong opposite?"

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that the person Xu Wen was looking for was definitely not those two waves of people, Honda and Ashley. Most likely, it was this Zhu Changyong.

"Yes, when I crawled out, they had already gone down along the rope ladder. They were exchanging. My husband was also inside, two husbands.

When the two of them stood together, I, as his wife, couldn't tell which one was real."

"Then what about yourself? Did you see another you?"

A smile appeared at the corner of the woman's mouth, and the amplitude of this smile gradually expanded. A dense profundity flowed out from her pupils.

She didn't directly answer the boy's question, but used a rhetorical question:

"What do you think?"

Li Zhuiyuan slightly turned his body and continued to ask, "You said they started fighting behind you?"

"Yes, they started fighting, many people died, lying on the ground, flesh and blood blurred."

"Who all died?"

"Can't remember clearly, anyway, the ones who were still standing alive in the end were all only one."

"Then among those lying on the ground, was there also you?"

"What do you think?"

Li Zhuiyuan sat up straight again, lowered his head, looked at his fingers, and asked, "Did Zhu Changyong also remain one?"

"Um."

"Then what?"

"Then, we went in again."

"Still that cave?"

"No, this time we walked through the door, because the remaining Honda discovered that this big door could be opened. It couldn't be fully opened, but it could be pried open enough of a gap for one person to squeeze in sideways."

"Did you all continue to form a team?"

"Um."

Li Zhuiyuan really wanted to ask, how did you all distinguish who among the people who survived was from the batch that came in with you, and who was from the batch you met?

And the door that couldn't be entered from the outside could now be entered again.

So, did you all go in, or come out?

But the boy didn't dare to ask too detailed questions. He had already perceived that the woman's state was fluctuating again.

This kind of short-lived calm after venting was actually similar to drinking poison to quench thirst. It was also because the matter she had just come out of hadn't been long. If there were no accidents, her next mental problems would become more and more serious.

Finally, this segment of calm reason that still occasionally appeared would be completely submerged.

That is to say, it was very possible that he was the last person to know this information from her.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but complain about Xu Wen in his heart again. If he hadn't rushed over today, this piece of information chain would have been buried forever. No wonder Li Lan didn't bring you, this secretary, when she went to carry out that project.

"After going in through the door again, did the environment change?"

"Yes, the inside is very spacious and very bright. Sun, moon, and stars are all at the top."

"Specifically what, I mean, underfoot."

"Underfoot, there is one pit after another. Beside each pit, there is a stone carving. There is water in the pits, and a bronze chain is tied to the stone carving, extending into the pit beside it."

"How many?"

"Can't count clearly, all the way forward, to that... house."

"House? Is there still a house there? How big is the house?"

"Very big, extremely big."

"Then it shouldn't be a palace?"

"No, it's a house, it has two horns, long long whiskers, and a terrible big mouth."

"Animal? A huge animal?"

"No, it's a house."

Li Zhuiyuan sighed in his heart. The woman's condition was bad, and when she spoke, she gradually became stuttering. He could no longer specifically depict the environment in his mind.

"Did you all go into this house?"

"I didn't, I was left in the original place. My husband and they went in, went into that house."

"Who specifically does 'your husband and they' refer to?"

"Honda, Ashley, Zhu Changyong."

"And who were you left in the original place with?"

"Four or five people."

"Why separate?"

"Because we were responsible for tying the ropes."

Her descriptions already lacked progressive logic.

"Tying ropes? What about the road ahead? I mean, the road leading to that house."

"It rose with water."

"Isn't it dry? Where did the water come from?"

"The water in the pits gradually overflowed. They tied ropes to their bodies and walked forward."

As the woman spoke, she stood up, and her body began to tremble.

"Then what?"

Li Zhuiyuan felt that he couldn't wait any longer and had to clarify the result.

"Then it turned black, black, everything turned black. The thing inside that house woke up, and the sun, moon, and stars above all disappeared. I only saw a red circle, like eyes, very big eyes.

It woke up, it was angry, they all climbed out of the pits, so many, so many, can't count clearly..."

"What are they?"

"So many, so many, all of them, the rope broke, the rope tied to my husband broke, they were swallowed by the house, ah ah ah!"

Li Zhuiyuan stood up: "Then what about you? What about you people who were left in the original place?"

The woman hugged her head: "I was running, we were all running, we crawled out from the door. That gap was only enough for one person to crawl out. They were still squeezing. Among them, one person used a pickaxe to kill two people. After he squeezed in first, I went in afterwards.

I abandoned my husband, I abandoned him."

"You didn't save him, that's not your fault."

"Is it?..." The woman's emotions stabilized slightly after receiving this sentence.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't really deliberately comforting her. In that strange environment, it had already departed from the category of traditional danger situations. It was very difficult for people at that time to have any reason.

"How many of you were the last to get out?"

"Two, me and him."

"Did he also come out? I mean, back to the ship."

"No, at the place where we came in, I saw the diving equipment we had left before. His equipment was still there."

"Other people's equipment?"

"They were all there. I was the only one who took the equipment back in the end."

"Was it you... who killed him." The woman's gaze froze, her expression solemn, but soon, the left corner of her mouth revealed a smile.

This seemed to be a kind of default.

"Why did you kill him?"

"Because I suspected that he and we were not from the same batch of people."

"So, in the end, only you came back."

"Right."

"After you came back, what about the ship?"

"During the return voyage, they all started to become very strange."

"How strange?"

"Like mad."

"Same as you now?"

"Right."

Li Zhuiyuan exhaled. He had finished asking.

And the woman also seemed to have finally mustered the strength to finish speaking.

Although it was fragmented, with large details missing and quite a few contradictions before and after, the context of the matter at least had a beginning and an end.

What was hidden the deepest and most difficult to explain was how the surviving people formed a team after the two teams of identical people killed each other, and how they schemed and guarded against each other.

At this time, the woman was no longer excited, and her pupils showed a blankness.

This meant that her condition was even more serious than Li Zhuiyuan had thought before. Sometimes intense emotional excitement and reaction, to a certain extent, proved the strength of self-consciousness.

The woman began to shake her head and hum a nursery rhyme.

She chose to escape, to destroy that segment of memory, to destroy her own life.

From beginning to end, she didn't ask about her own child.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Thank you for your story, please take care of yourself."

The woman continued to hum the song for no reason.

Perhaps soon, she would no longer need to be bound and could change into loose patient clothes.

Li Zhuiyuan walked a few steps towards the outside, then suddenly stopped again, turned back, looked at her, and asked, "Is the one who came out the original you who went in?"

The woman obviously paused for a moment, then continued to hum the song and shake her head.

Li Zhuiyuan took out the symbol he had drawn from his pocket, quickly walked around the table to the woman's side, and stuck the symbol paper on the woman's forehead.

"Pa!"

The bright yellow symbol paper just stuck up and immediately separated, floating and falling to the ground.

The woman continued to hum the song, without any reaction.

Li Zhuiyuan bent down and picked up the symbol paper.

The symbol paper had already turned pitch black.

After Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the visiting room, the doctor behind the door of another room walked in and took the woman out.

Tan Yunlong put down his crossed legs and asked, "Finished asking?"

"Um."

"How is it, satisfied your curiosity?"

"No, it became more curious."

If there was an opportunity, he really wanted to go and see now, to see what kind of strange place that was.

Maybe he could also see another identical self.

Would that self fight with "himself"?

Li Zhuiyuan could understand that making the choice to "kill the other party" in that kind of environment was the most normal thing.

But for himself, if that "self" was really exactly the same as himself, then why not join hands and explore the secrets inside together?

He often felt distressed because his brain power was exhausted. If he could have one more brain on standby, how good would that be.

It was a pity that currently, he could only think about it. He didn't have the external or internal conditions to go now.

External conditions at least had to wait until he went to university or even graduated, only then would he have the corresponding opportunity. Internal conditions were... he had to grow up at least.

On the way back in the market's seafood truck, Li Zhuiyuan told the story the woman had told, without avoiding Tan Yunlong.

After all, this time's storytelling meeting was promoted by someone, so it was reasonable to share it. Moreover, like father, like son...

Looking at Tan Wenbin, Tan Yunlong probably also had similar hobbies deep down.

After listening, Tan Yunlong said while driving, "This world indeed has too many mysteries, very good. Wait until you all grow up and explore, then you won't feel bored."

Tan Wenbin scoffed, "Dad, why are you suddenly starting to talk about values?"

"Just having feelings and expressing them. When you reach my age, your dad, sometimes you will feel that even if you earn more money and climb to a higher position, what you see and live is still the same.

Those scientific researchers, a sweep under the microscope, are new worlds that the most ordinary people can't touch in their lifetime."

"Dad, your money? Your position?"

"Little animal!"

Li Zhuiyuan, instead, could resonate with Tan Yunlong's words. What he was in contact with and learning now was not just a new field?

To a certain extent, Li Lan also seemed to have chosen this path. Since Xu Wen came to investigate this matter, it proved that Li Lan was not the traditional archaeology worker he had imagined.

Only the unknown and mysterious field could make them, mother and child, feel like they were one person.

"Little Yuan, who is that woman to you?"

"Uncle Tan, I'm not deliberately trying to hide it from you, I just don't want to say it."

"Um, never mind, Uncle I understand. Then are you all going home now, or going to school?"

"Go to school, we still have class at noon."

"Binbin, look at Little Yuan, and then look at yourself. His grades are so good, and he still wants to go to class."

"Dad, I am going to class, he is going to teach class."

Tan Yunlong understood: "Who is Little Yuan teaching?"

"The school's organized math Olympiad class." Tan Wenbin answered.

"Then you can go in? I heard this is very helpful for the college entrance examination if you win an award."

"Dad."

"Um?"

"My genes are not good."

"Buzz!"

The pickup truck suddenly accelerated.

After being dropped off at the school gate, Li Zhuiyuan looked at Tan Wenbin: "Brother Binbin, aren't you afraid of being beaten by uncle after going home if you say that?"

"What does his beating Binbin have to do with me Zhuangzhuang?"

"I'm hungry, let's go to the cafeteria to eat."

"You know? Little Yuan, ever since my grades improved, I just feel that I am especially powerful now.

In the past, I knew clearly in my heart that if my college entrance examination wasn't good, the rest of my days would still depend on my dad and mom. Including getting married and having children, I would have to live under the shadow of my dad and mom my whole life.

Eating their food, using their things, occupying their resources, I would have to continue to endure their interference in my life.

Now, I feel my wings are starting to harden."

"Brother Binbin, this doesn't count as a shadow."

"It's an exaggeration, which family's parents will truly deliberately cast a big shadow over their children."

"Um, you're right."

The fourth period hadn't ended yet, and the cafeteria was empty with not many people. Tan Wenbin went to get rice and dishes, while Li Zhuiyuan went to get the free soup.

This soup could be taken casually. Not a few students relied on their own dry food and this soup to eat.

After eating, the class bell rang.

Tan Wenbin lazily walked to the classroom, while Li Zhuiyuan walked into the small classroom alone.

What surprised him was that there were already quite a few people sitting inside. Some students were gnawing on steamed buns, while others had basically not eaten after class and just rushed in with books.

They all cherished the opportunity of the competition very much. This was also their opportunity to change their lives.

Li Zhuiyuan was a little in a trance. This was probably it: what was within his reach was what others dreamed of.

Conversely, it was also the same. He also envied their health.

Upon Li Zhuiyuan's arrival, everyone successively showed grateful smiles. They had received word that the genius had taken leave and didn't come to class in the morning.

Some people ran over with steamed buns in their mouths and helped him get a stool, while others stood by ready to help.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, picked up the chalk, and began to write down the solution process for the unticked question on the blackboard.

The people below watched and discussed quickly, everyone showing great urgency. The weekend was the city competition day, and according to reason, several people would still be eliminated.

After writing the solution process, the tall student helped erase the blackboard, and Li Zhuiyuan continued to give questions.

After giving the questions, he clapped his hands, and a student handed him a wet handkerchief.

Teacher Yan and several other math teachers were also sitting below at this time. When Li Zhuiyuan walked down, Teacher Yan stood up and handed down the test papers in his hand:

"After copying the questions on the blackboard, do this set of test papers. The time is two hours. You can hand it in early, no need to worry about the afternoon class."

This was to determine the final participating team based on rankings.

Li Zhuiyuan saw that he wasn't given a test paper, so he said goodbye to the teachers, stood up and left the small classroom, and walked to the principal's office.

Zheng Haiyang was eating in the principal's office. Wu Xinhan sat opposite the office desk and ate with him. The dishes were stir-fries from the cafeteria.

As soon as the funeral was over, he came back to school. After all, the body wasn't transported back, and there weren't any troublesome matters.

"Little Yuan ah, have you eaten?" Wu Xinhan asked with a smile.

"Grandpa Principal, I've eaten."

Zheng Haiyang stood up somewhat uneasily, not knowing what to say.

He was very grateful that the principal had specially found him in the morning and invited him to eat and chat at noon, but he still couldn't adapt to this atmosphere. Most students should be very uneasy.

But from another perspective, it was already very good for the principal to do this.

"Brother Binbin has also returned." Li Zhuiyuan said to Zheng Haiyang with a smile, then walked into the partitioned curtain, lay on the spring bed, closed his eyes, and began to take a nap.

He quickly fell asleep and even had a dream.

In the dream, he was standing on the deck, and he seemed to have grown taller, the same height as Brother Binbin now.

In his hand, he was leading A Li, and Cui Cui was standing beside him;

Further away, there were still Runsheng and Tan Wenbin, and behind them, there were still quite a few shadows, but he couldn't see their faces clearly.

The ship dropped anchor and stopped in an area.

In the dream, he stepped onto the side of the ship and pointed down: "This is the position. Get ready, we're going down!"

Behind him, a crowd of responses came, and then everyone began to put on their diving equipment.

Li Zhuiyuan also put on a set. After putting on the mask, his vision became a little blurred.

Some people went down along the ship ladder, while others simply jumped down.

Li Zhuiyuan chose the latter and took a jump.

"Pa!"

The instant he fell into the water, he sat up and woke up.

The curtain was lifted open, and Wu Xinhan asked kindly with a smile: "Did you have a dream?"

"Um."

"If you're tired, rest more. It's hard on you, the school is putting too much burden on you."

"It's not..."

Li Zhuiyuan was really too embarrassed to say he was tired, after all, during class, he was either sleeping or reading extracurricular books.

"Little Yuan, this is the scholarship and subsidy given to you by the school. The detailed list is inside, and the money is also inside. After you take it back, give it to your parents."

"Thank you, Grandpa Principal."

"That, this is..." Wu Xinhan took out a piece of money from his pocket, "This is pocket money I'm giving you privately in the identity of a grandpa."

"I can't take this."

"Take it. The competition is on the weekend, come on, I've already ordered people to make a banner for enthusiastic celebration. That, don't blame Grandpa for putting pressure on you."

"Thank you, Grandpa."

Li Zhuiyuan took the money. He didn't have any pressure. Even if students from other schools also participated, he wasn't worried, after all, the whole class before was full of geniuses.

"It's Grandpa who should thank you."

Wu Xinhan exhaled a long breath. This money was just what he was willing to give. What he wanted was to be able to heartily use sarcastic language during the meeting.

"Grandpa Principal, I'm going to class."

"Well, I don't think you need to, the fourth period bell is about to ring."

Li Zhuiyuan was surprised for a moment. He had actually slept the whole afternoon?

The consequence of sleeping the whole afternoon was that he couldn't sleep at night after going home, so he and A Li drew until late at night.

A Li sat there as his model, and he drew her.

But no matter how much he drew, he was never satisfied and tore up many pieces of paper.

This made A Li, who was sitting there, feel a little guilty and uneasy. The gaze she threw at Li Zhuiyuan brought an inquiry: where had she done wrong?

"A Li, it's just your fault, you're too beautiful and too temperamental, my level is too bad, I really can't draw you out."

The girl frowned and pouted slightly, as if glaring at the boy.

"Hehehe..." Li Zhuiyuan laughed. Now, A Li could understand positive and negative words.

Actually, it was indeed like this. Things that looked good were actually relatively easy to draw. The main thing was the temperament.

A Li's temperament was partly born, and partly cultivated by Liu Yumei after birth.

In this era, people from living habits to clothing style, didn't even care whether it was suitable for themselves, anyway, they all followed and learned Western aesthetics. Those who wore traditional ancient clothes were a minority within a minority, and could only be seen on stage.

Li Zhuiyuan sighed helplessly. It was indeed too difficult to draw A Li now, but even if his drawing skills continued to improve, A Li would also grow up. By then, she would have another kind of temperament and style, and in all likelihood, it would become more difficult to draw.

Should he find another subject to practice his hand first?

After taking A Li back to the east room downstairs, Liu Yumei, wearing white pajamas, opened the door and asked, "Did you draw?"

"Didn't draw it out."

"It's our A Li who is too beautiful."

"Yes."

After returning to his room, Li Zhuiyuan wasn't in a hurry to go to bed and rest. Instead, he spread out the paper again, adjusted the paint, picked up the pen, and started drawing.

This time, he drew - a little yellow bird.

After drawing for half an hour, Li Zhuiyuan finally felt sleepy. He then put down the pen and went to bed to sleep.

The evening wind blew in through the screen door, shaking the painting paper, gently rolling up a corner.

It was as if someone was standing in front of the drawing table, carefully appreciating it.

...

The day of the city math Olympiad competition arrived.

Unlike the previous hurried trips back and forth, with a low-key and modest style, this time Shigan Middle School arranged a large bus. Banners were hung on both sides of the car body, and even on the front of the car, red flowers were hung.

In short, it was very rustic and very arrogant.

In addition to the accompanying teachers, Principal Wu personally led the team this time. After getting on the bus, he first boosted morale, then distributed fruit, bread, and drinks.

The exam point was at Pingchao Middle School. The school was very large and very grand.

After sitting down in the classroom, Li Zhuiyuan looked out the window. There was a row of ginkgo trees, very beautiful.

After the papers were distributed, Li Zhuiyuan still didn't want to return to reality.

The invigilator walked over and lightly knocked on the table to remind him.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head, picked up his pen, wrote his name, quickly answered the questions, and then handed in the paper.

After leaving the classroom, he stood under the ginkgo tree for a long time.

But when he left the exam room, he was still the first one out, and his speed was still alarming.

The cars sent by each school were all parked on the playground, and the teachers from each school were also gathered together, smoking and chatting. They seemed polite to each other, but they were actually engaging in verbal sparring.

The exam room was the battlefield of the students, and even more so, the battlefield of the teachers. To a certain extent, young students often didn't understand the matter, while the teachers had a stronger sense of involvement in this field battle.

When Li Zhuiyuan came out, Teacher Yan hurried over with water and snacks.

Principal Wu was not here. He was staying in the principal's office of this school, accepting the other party's sarcastic remarks, and at the same time accumulating his own strange energy.

A crowd of accompanying teachers from other schools around saw such a small child come out and successively showed expressions of surprise. An ominous premonition rose in their hearts.

Either you felt that the teachers of Shigan Middle School had completely given up on themselves and brought the principal's grandson to experience the atmosphere of the exam room.

Or, this child came with a very large head and was very unusual.

Very obviously, no one would be silly enough to believe the former.

They were all from the education circle. Even if they hadn't eaten pork, had they never seen a pig run? Even if they hadn't taught a genius, how could they not have heard stories of geniuses?

At the same time, everyone also deeply doubted, how could a child like this fall to a township middle school?

Subsequently, everyone began to actively approach Teacher Yan to get close and inquire about the little boy's origin. The tone of their speech was truly polite and respectful, not pretentious.

It was a joke. People had already brought out their secret weapon, and now they were also bringing out a big one. Wasn't this actively sending their face over to be hit after the other party's exam results came out?

Teacher Yan was very happy, extremely joyful in his heart, and also glad that Principal Wu was not there, allowing him to enjoy the crowd surrounding him like stars surrounding the moon.

As a transparent existence who was heavily involved in participation and heavily accompanied, Principal Wu had even drafted a speech. How could old Yan not prepare a small essay? Math teachers also had literary talent.

"Ah, ah, ah, what you're saying is too much, really too much. This is nothing, isn't it just a city competition? It's not worth being happy about. Later, there will be provincial and national ones, that's when it's worth celebrating a little."

Li Zhuiyuan lay on the big bus for a while, and the exam end bell rang.

There were indeed those who handed in early, but very few. Most students handed in at the very end. For example, the students of this school were even jointly required by Teacher Yan and Principal Wu not to hand in early!

Of course, Little Yuan was not in this category because he was an assistant teacher.

On the way back, Teacher Yan and Principal Wu began to inquire about the exam situation of other students, and the feedback they received was relatively positive.

After all, these were sharp math students from this school, and they had also experienced targeted question type simulations. It was very normal for them to perform well in the exam.

Principal Wu was very happy and even led a song on the car:

"The sunset flies with red clouds over the western mountains, warriors shoot at targets and return to camp, return to camp..."

They were back at school in the afternoon. Principal Wu waved his hand, indicating that the examinees were dismissed early today.

Li Zhuiyuan still returned to the classroom, waited until dismissal, and walked out of the school gate with Tan Wenbin.

At the school gate, they saw Tan Yunlong sitting on a motorcycle.

Tan Wenbin panicked immediately and quickly protected Little Yuan in front of him.

Tan Yunlong got off the motorcycle, pointed at his son, and then pointed at the trash can in the distance.

Tan Wenbin saluted and immediately walked away.

"Uncle Tan, what's wrong?"

"Zheng Haiyang's mother died in the mental hospital. It was suicide."

"How could she?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe it. She was already mad and belonged to actively accepted madness. For her, the next goal should be to struggle to survive.

"Yesterday she had a visit record. In the story she repeated to you, this name appeared many times. According to the story, he should be at the seabed."

"Who?"

"Zhu Changyong."

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