Chapter 94: (Continued)

Chapter 92 (Continued!)

Although the initiation ceremony was scheduled for noon, Li Zhuoyuan arrived early in the morning, followed by Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, and Yin Meng.

They initially thought they could help with the move, but upon arrival, they found the building already empty.

Grandma Liu's move truly meant simply changing houses; her furniture and belongings were left behind, as this building also belonged to her family.

Li Zhuoyuan and the others had to return to the school and go to the old professors' residential area. Here, there were row houses, but the rooms and courtyards were relatively small.

Tan Wenbin went to inquire about Worker Luo's original residence. When they arrived, they saw a man in the small courtyard reinforcing a flower stand with a hammer.

Li Zhuoyuan called out, "Uncle Qin, the soy sauce bottle in the kitchen fell over."

"Is that so? Then I must go quickly prop it up."

Uncle Qin finished hammering in the nail, then turned his head to look at Li Zhuoyuan. The two smiled at each other.

Li Zhuoyuan still clearly remembered sitting on Uncle Qin's twenty-eight inch bicycle a year ago. At that time, he was incredibly strong.

Entering the courtyard, one could see Worker Luo's meticulous design. Although the place wasn't as large as the previous building, its charm lay in its exquisite layout.

Liu Yumei could get used to living in Great Grandpa's small east room, so she could certainly settle down here.

Most importantly, this place was within the school campus and very close to his dormitory area, making it more convenient for him to visit later.

Upon entering the house, they discovered A Li's room had been arranged in a sunny spot on the first floor, with a floor-to-ceiling window directly facing the courtyard.

To enter or exit A Li's room, one didn't even need to use the main door. They could step over the small courtyard fence, cross the lawn, open the window door, and come in.

For ordinary people, this might be a bit unsafe, but for this family, the least of their worries was safety.

However, the rooms in this house were small, only able to fit one bed. So, A Li's painting desk and book desk were placed in the second room on the first floor.

As for Liu Yumei and Aunt Liu, their bedrooms had to be upstairs.

Seeing Runsheng and Binbin both arrive, Aunt Liu just patted her forehead, "Oh, really, we just moved, and now we have to make you work."

A large pot of rice was cooked.

Li Zhuoyuan finally tasted that flavor again, the kind he had at Great Grandpa's house.

During the meal, Tan Wenbin asked, "Grandma Liu, which restaurant are we eating at for lunch?"

Liu Yumei used her chopsticks to point at the table in front of them, "Still at home."

Tan Wenbin looked up doubtfully, "Can we sit down?"

"Aren't we sitting down now?"

Tan Wenbin understood, "No guests?"

"What guests do we need? Isn't our own family all here?"

"Hehe, I still thought you'd invite some old friends or something to show support. You're truly used to simplicity now, your realm is high."

"In the past, the initiation ritual didn't invite outside guests either, and it wasn't grandly handled." Liu Yumei gazed at Li Zhuoyuan, while also picking up a handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth, "After initiation, if one can successfully navigate the rivers, those who should know will know; if not, inviting outside people to watch the ritual is only inviting ridicule."

Uncle Qin, sitting at the table eating, put down his chopsticks and lowered his head.

Li Zhuoyuan knew that Uncle Qin had failed in navigating the rivers. Grandma Liu blamed herself for rushing him. However, Li Zhuoyuan was very curious about what could have obstructed Uncle Qin given his strength.

At the same time, when passing by Uncle Qin on his way into the courtyard earlier, Li Zhuoyuan had smelled the scent of herbal medicine emanating from him. This meant Uncle Qin had returned with injuries, and serious ones at that.

Liu Yumei glanced at Uncle Qin from the corner of her eye and said softly, "A Li, eat your meal."

"Hmm." Uncle Qin picked up his chopsticks again, "Little Yuan won't disappoint you."

"The times are different now. I've long since let go." After saying this, Liu Yumei, who had just wiped the corner of her mouth, picked up her spoon again and drank a mouthful of snow pear soup.

Some things are just said out loud; deceiving others is one thing, but one cannot deceive oneself.

The foundation of the Qin and Liu families' inheritance all fell on her shoulders.

Saying she didn't want to see past glory again was naturally false.

But years had taught her tolerance and patience. She wouldn't pressure the young man the way she initially did Qin Li.

On the contrary, she now worried more about the young man's own steps, whether they would be too fast. She might even have to urge him to slow down the time for opening the altar and navigating the rivers, to avoid being too rigid and easily breaking.

After the meal, there was a period of leisure time. This feeling was a bit like the New Year, with everyone putting aside their tasks and gathering at home.

In the courtyard, Uncle Qin was patting Runsheng's muscles.

"Runsheng, you have too much dead flesh, and the dead energy in your body is too heavy."

Too much dead flesh referred to knowing only how to accumulate brute force. Dead energy was Runsheng's body characteristic.

Li Sanjiang said that Mountain Great Grandpa discovered when he picked up Runsheng that the child had survived by eating contaminated meat.

Therefore, the details of Mountain Great Grandpa picking up Runsheng from the river and bringing him home were very much worth discussing. Mountain Great Grandpa was a corpse salvager; what was he doing by the river?

However, Mountain Great Grandpa genuinely treated Runsheng as his own grandson. He was unwilling to mention past events and in his heart, he hoped Runsheng could live like a normal person, without seeing himself as different.

Uncle Qin's evaluation made Runsheng somewhat ashamed.

He looked nervously towards the young man sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with A Li by the floor-to-ceiling window, playing chess.

Runsheng knew how much the young man expected of him.

Perhaps seeing Uncle Qin's strength, the young man always hoped he could become like Uncle Qin, or even surpass him, in the future.

But looking at it now, he seemed not to have this talent.

While playing chess, he could still multitask, after all, he had just simultaneously played three sets of blind chess.

Therefore, Li Zhuoyuan heard Uncle Qin's words, but he wasn't worried in the least.

If Runsheng truly had no talent, Uncle Qin would probably be too lazy to scold him. The more he criticized him now, the higher his true inner evaluation was, believing this excellent seedling should receive better development.

Uncle Qin began to meticulously adjust Runsheng's muscle exertion step by step and taught him a tailor-made breathing method.

From this, one could see the importance of people in the inheritance system.

People were the key link in inheritance; written records could only play an auxiliary role.

In the kitchen, Aunt Liu was helping Yin Meng make desserts.

Aunt Liu taught very carefully, and the only sounds coming from the kitchen were soft voices. Yin Meng also learned very seriously.

Until the first batch of desserts came out of the oven, Li Zhuoyuan smelled a pungent odor. If he didn't know better, he would have thought someone had lit mosquito coils.

Soon, the sound of brushing teeth came from the first-floor bathroom.

It should be Aunt Liu; even for insect repellent tablets, she had to taste them. Being a master was truly not easy.

Yin Meng stood at the kitchen doorway, shrinking her shoulders, her hands clenched tightly, like a child who had done something wrong.

This was very normal. Anyone who almost poisoned their master on their first day of initiation learning to cook would feel panic and fear.

Li Zhuoyuan, Runsheng, and Tan Wenbin had long since figured out Yin Meng's cooking level. The more complex the dish in her hands, the more potential it had to turn into poison.

It was no wonder that when she was guarding the coffin shop alone, she only ate plain boiled noodles, at most adding a bit of soy sauce; even when stewing pig trotters, she wouldn't scrape off the hair, only knowing how to boil them until they were mushy.

As an authentic person from Sichuan and Chongqing, having to cook plain-flavored food for herself at home every day was absolutely not because she had a light palate.

However, Aunt Liu was more loving than Uncle Qin:

"Mengmeng, you have a talent for making poison."

High-end poison only required simple ingredients.

This was a talent others couldn't learn, because if Yin Changsheng was truly the legendary Fengdu Great Emperor, then her family genuinely had connections in the underworld.

Fengdu ah, Fengdu...

Brother Ming told him to go to Fengdu again, and to do it sooner rather than later.

Last time in Fengdu was just a brief visit. Next time, Li Zhuoyuan planned to explore its true secrets.

Just the scene of Yin Fuhai being carried away by four ghosts after his death was enough to pique his curiosity.

Perhaps he could customize a larger coffin, let Yin Meng and himself lie inside together, and then arrange an illusion beforehand, simulating death. This way, he might be able to go to the afterlife place of the Yin family.

Perhaps there, he could see the Fengdu Great Emperor.

But the problem was, going in was easy, how could he guarantee he could come out alive?

Tan Wenbin was chatting with Liu Yumei. What surprised Liu Yumei was that chatting with this child was quite enjoyable, unconsciously making her talk more.

Although Tan Wenbin had lived at Li Sanjiang's house before, they didn't interact much. One reason was Liu Yumei looked down on him, and the other was that Tan Wenbin himself was in school early and late and also practiced, so he simply didn't have extra time.

Now, Liu Yumei somewhat understood why Li Sanjiang liked this child so much.

People were just like this. After getting used to high-end things, they wanted something more grounded. Having a child like Little Yuan around could highlight Zhuangzhuang's value even more.

The clock struck eleven.

"Rumble!"

The originally clear sky suddenly became covered with dense dark clouds. A sudden summer thunderstorm was a normal occurrence.

Tan Wenbin slapped his thigh, "Tsk tsk, Old Lady, look, the heavens are really showing face."

Liu Yumei glanced at Tan Wenbin with a smile and didn't speak.

At this moment, Li Zhuoyuan walked over and said to Liu Yumei:

"Grandma, the ancestors of both families are reminding us of the auspicious time."

Liu Yumei pointed her finger at Li Zhuoyuan and said to Tan Wenbin, "Did you hear that? These are the words our new Dragon King should say."

Tan Wenbin smiled bitterly, "Old Lady, you're not making things difficult, are you? If I had Little Yuan brother's brain, I would also..."

For a moment, Tan Wenbin couldn't even imagine what he would be like if he had Little Yuan's brain.

Liu Yumei reached out and poked Tan Wenbin's forehead, "What's difficult about this? When you're in a small boat, naturally you have to speak softly everywhere. But when the Dragon King is on your boat and you're standing at the bow shouting, you only need to remember one thing."

"Old Lady, quickly teach me."

"Pretending to be fearless is fine."

After speaking, Liu Yumei turned her body and beckoned to A Li, who had come in with Little Yuan, "Come, we should prepare for the main event."

No guests, no lanterns, no feast, even the room for the ceremony was small. One-third of the area was filled with ancestral tablets, with two chairs below and a meditation mat in the middle.

On the ground in front of the meditation mat were three lamps.

One lamp had a deep python opening its eyes, one had a golden dragon raising its head, and one had a phoenix perching on a tree.

They corresponded to initiation, navigating the rivers, and returning to the nest, respectively.

Only the Dragon King's family dared to have the confidence to place these three lamps representing these phases. Other families couldn't necessarily not place them, but they were afraid they couldn't handle it.

Just like how disciples of other families went out on cloud tours but couldn't navigate the rivers, the heavenly way had eyes, and the Jianghu had spirit. However big a boast one dared to make, it dared to give you that much pressure.

Today, Li Zhuoyuan only needed to light the first lamp, signifying his initiation.

When it was time to navigate the rivers, he would open the altar and light the second lamp.

With the second lamp lit, it meant the navigation of the rivers had begun, and fate and destiny would change. Some things, even if you didn't go looking for them and just hid at home, would be arranged to come rushing towards you.

When Aunt Liu introduced this to him, Li Zhuoyuan felt it was strangely familiar.

Li Zhuoyuan also asked if his family would be involved during the navigation of the rivers.

Aunt Liu's answer was that since the family name had to be displayed during the navigation of the rivers, the family would necessarily be involved. Regardless of the family, when disciples navigated the rivers, they would first support them for a while. After all, the family foundation was solid and could withstand it.

But after sending them off on this road, the following journey was still for that person to walk alone.

One reason was that whether one could ultimately shed the dragon and become a dragon still depended on oneself. The other was that as the involvement grew bigger later on, even a large family business couldn't sustain it.

To put it plainly, navigating the rivers was just a gamble between the individual and the family behind them. The essence was to bet small to win big. If they bet all their family assets, it would be meaningless.

When Aunt Liu introduced the phrase "large family business," Li Zhuoyuan subconsciously looked at the tablets filling the offering table in the house.

If Runsheng, Binbin, and Yin Meng hadn't come today, a true "own family" breakfast might only require one wooden stool. This truly was... a large family business.

However, with Uncle Qin, Aunt Liu, and Liu Yumei present, the early stages of his river navigation could still be supported. But after the early stages... he was afraid his relationship with Liu Yumei and the others would become the same as when they were initially at Great Grandpa's house.

They could eat meals together and live together, but they couldn't intervene in normal secular matters outside of their circle.

As for the third lamp, the phoenix perching on a tree, successful navigators of the rivers didn't need to light it. If they temporarily withdrew or interrupted, they needed to light it up. Uncle Qin had just lit it.

Lighting this lamp was equivalent to giving up this opportunity.

Liu Yumei sat on the left wearing a green splendid robe. To her right sat A Li, wearing a red splendid robe.

On an occasion like this, Liu Yumei represented the Liu family, and A Li, whose surname was Qin, represented the Qin family. Even though they were of different generations, at this time, they still had to sit side by side. This represented the ancestors accepting disciples.

Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu wore red and green python training clothes, respectively, and stood on either side.

Aunt Liu's surname should be Liu. Only when she was at Li Sanjiang's house did she have to change her Liu surname to pretend to be the ancestors for three generations.

In fact, from the dragons and phoenixes on the lamps and the pythons they wore, one could see how powerful such families were in ancient times.

The Iron Transport Gang, the Flowing Court, from ancient times to the present, in how many turbulent times has the figure of the Transport Gang not been seen?

Moreover, families like theirs often paid attention to destiny and Feng Shui and didn't appear in front of people. This also allowed them to inherit for a very long time in the shadows.

Li Zhuoyuan stood in front of the meditation mat.

Behind him, Yin Meng, Runsheng, and Tan Wenbin all held burning incense.

Due to limited space, the three could only stand against the wall.

Liu Yumei opened her mouth and said, "Conditions are simple, forgive the oversight."

Li Zhuoyuan said, "Water does not have to be deep; with a dragon, it is spiritual."

Liu Yumei smiled and nodded. She had the means to handle things grandly, and she also had an old house in Jinling. But she deliberately chose this one, picked this cramped place.

The smaller the place, the thicker the human touch.

"Rumble."

The thunder outside the window was getting stronger, and lightning flashed one after another.

Liu Yumei involuntarily looked out the window. On the contrary, the scenery today was beautiful.

The offerings on the offering table were just some expensive wood. So, were all of you watching the ritual outside the window?

Liu Yumei looked at Aunt Liu, who opened her mouth and said, "Perform the ritual."

Li Zhuoyuan first performed the Liu family's door ritual towards Liu Yumei. Liu Yumei immediately stood up and performed the return ritual.

Immediately after, Li Zhuoyuan performed the Qin family's door ritual towards A Li.

Uncle Qin stepped forward, stood in front of A Li, and prepared to perform the return ritual on her behalf.

But A Li took the initiative to stand up.

Uncle Qin could only step back.

A Li performed the return ritual towards Li Zhuoyuan.

She knew many things, but she just wasn't willing to do them, because it involved people.

Aunt Liu chuckled inwardly, but on this serious occasion under the rumbling thunder, she could only try her best to suppress the corners of her mouth.

She remembered when they were initially at the Ding family in Mountain City, the old lady just let Little Yuan perform the ritual on behalf of A Li and sit on behalf of A Li.

The old lady's words had only recently become less guarded, but her body language had been very honest for a long time.

Today, seeing the two children perform the ritual to each other, what followed should be looked forward to the next round.

This life was really full of anticipation.

Anyway, since the first time Li Zhuoyuan walked up to A Li and took her hand, she had been watching the scene of these two children together.

Every morning before getting up and making breakfast, she would lean against the kitchen doorway and appreciate the two children sitting on the balcony reading or playing chess for a while, watching until she felt sweetness in her mouth before going to make the meal.

After the main ritual was completed, the next step was to select the inheritance.

Liu Yumei had decided in her heart to let these two children bear the weight of both families, but the necessary process still had to be followed. She would let him pick one first, and then open her mouth to persuade him to take the other.

The thunder outside rumbled, and Liu Yumei involuntarily glared, "What are you all urging!"

Clearing her throat, Liu Yumei opened her mouth and asked:

"Li Zhuoyuan, with the Qin family and Liu family in front of you, which family do you choose to enter?"

Li Zhuoyuan looked at A Li and asked, "Is A Li entering the Qin family?"

Liu Yumei shook her head, "Our A Li is not yet initiated."

Not initiated, and already so fiercely entangled by those things. If she truly was initiated, she was afraid those things would become even more fiercely entangled.

It was precisely for this reason that Liu Yumei had always not held an initiation ritual for A Li.

"Then will A Li be initiated later?"

"When A Li's illness is better, she will naturally be."

"Then which family will A Li enter?"

"Whichever one you choose, A Li will enter the other one later."

Liu Yumei was both the young lady of the Liu family and the young grandmother of the Qin family. She had to be impartial.

Li Zhuoyuan could pick one and take it, and after taking that one, let A Li enter the other one. This way, no matter which of the two families, no fault could be found.

"Li Zhuoyuan, have you decided?"

"I've decided. I will enter the doors of both the Qin and Liu families."

Liu Yumei was taken aback. She hadn't expected this boy to be so cooperative. She had even prepared to mention taking the other one again and for this boy to bargain a bit.

However, combining this boy's previous words and thinking carefully, she immediately understood his idea.

For a moment, Liu Yumei herself almost couldn't hold back a laugh.

This brat had decided he wanted A Li to be his junior sister later!

What did he take the inheritance of the Qin and Liu families as? As a toy to coax a little girl?

Good thing the little girl being coaxed was her own granddaughter, otherwise, even if a great genius stood in front of her right now, Liu Yumei would have to stand up and kill him!

But precisely because her soft spot was poked like this, she couldn't get angry, and laughing felt extremely inappropriate.

"Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!"

Thunder exploded around them one after another. In this family district today, all the TVs, washing machines, and lights that were plugged in were probably damaged.

With a "whoosh" sound, the electricity switch was either damaged by the lightning or tripped. Each family in the darkness of the heavy clouds at noon became pitch black.

Only here, because candles were lit beforehand, they weren't affected much.

Liu Yumei rolled her eyes towards the window: Make noise, make noise! A bunch of old things, all they know is to stir things up blindly!

Since things had come to this, Liu Yumei flicked her fingertip, and the Liu family's door plaque flew into Li Zhuoyuan's hand.

When Liu Yumei was about to go take the Qin family's door plaque from A Li's side, she saw A Li do the same action as she had just done. With a light flick of her fingertip against the door plaque, the Qin family's door plaque also flew into Li Zhuoyuan's hand.

Li Zhuoyuan stacked the two sealed door plaques together, knelt on the meditation mat, and placed the door plaques on the head of the python on the first lamp.

The door plaques burned on their own, and the flame fell like mercury.

The python lamp was lit, and the python's eyes also opened, looking at the young man.

In the darkness, Li Zhuoyuan, who was skilled in calculation and divination, seemed to perceive that his fate was changing at this moment.

When the door plaques burned out, Li Zhuoyuan knelt straight up and kowtowed towards the tablets on the offering table.

With every kowtow, the thunder outside the window would emit a rumble, as if responding.

This scene made Runsheng, Binbin, and Yin Meng, who were standing against the wall at this moment, watch with wide eyes.

They could see that Little Yuan brother wasn't deliberately waiting for the lightning and thunder to match. He was just performing the ritual steadily according to his rhythm.

Even if Little Yuan brother was deliberately matching the thunder to create momentum, when had you ever seen nine consecutive times of thunder at the same rhythm?

The ritual was completed.

The thunder stopped.

Liu Yumei said, "Worship the Dragon King!"

Li Zhuoyuan turned around, facing Runsheng, Binbin, and Yin Meng.

Then the four knelt to each other and kowtowed three times mutually.

Since Liu Yumei said she didn't mind the empty ritual rules, Li Zhuoyuan followed the process of sworn brotherhood.

After worshipping the Dragon King, from now on, Runsheng and the other two would be considered registered disciples of both the Qin and Liu families.

So many families at the Mountain City Ding family banquet had inherited in this manner long before.

Li Zhuoyuan turned around and faced Liu Yumei again. There was still the last step of admonishment before the initiation ritual was considered perfectly completed.

Liu Yumei opened her mouth and said, "Li Zhuoyuan, having entered both the Qin and Liu families, you should strive for progress, not tarnish the family reputation. Afterwards, when navigating the rivers..."

The golden dragon on the second lamp suddenly slowly raised its head at this moment, opening its mouth and spitting out flames.

The golden dragon raised its head, the river navigation began!

Liu Yumei's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief.

Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu also showed shocked expressions. The lamp hadn't been lit, but the wick had burned on its own.

Li Zhuoyuan was also very surprised, but looking at the burning lamp fire, he felt somewhat relieved in his heart.

So, he had already started navigating the rivers.

But specifically, from when did it start?

Runsheng and the other two were also full of curiosity. They hadn't seen Little Yuan brother light the lamp just now.

Throughout the scene, the only one whose expression didn't change was A Li, because the young man had told her all the secrets.

Liu Yumei's expression was extremely solemn. Her original intention was to wait until the young man had fully grown up and was more prepared before opening the altar, lighting the lamp, and navigating the rivers. But now, the lamp was already lit, and the deed was done.

Unless she extinguished this lamp now and re-lit it, but this would directly mean admitting defeat and failing the river navigation.

Liu Yumei's hands were placed on the chair armrests. The solid wood chair shattered continuously in her palms like plastic foam.

Aunt Liu looked at Li Zhuoyuan with great worry. Navigating the rivers at such a young age, how difficult would this be?

Besides worry, Uncle Qin's eyes also held memories and anticipation. In a deeper place, there was also a sense of relief.

He had failed in the Qin family's river navigation, so he also hoped that someone behind him could succeed.

Li Zhuoyuan, on the contrary, adjusted his mindset first, pointed at the burning lamp fire of the golden dragon raising its head, and said calmly:

"That's really good, it saves the trouble of finding it slowly later."

Things had come to this.

Liu Yumei looked at the young man, "Little Yuan?"

Li Zhuoyuan nodded.

Liu Yumei slowly stood up,

And said:

"With utmost sincerity, I announce to the rivers, lakes, and seas:

"From today on, I, the Qin and Liu families, send another disciple to navigate the rivers!"

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