Chapter 19

The woman rose slowly, while Zhao Hequan was lifted up by his neck in her grasp.

She leaned her face close, seemingly scrutinizing him.

Gradually, black spots began to sprout continuously from Zhao Hequan's neck—the very place where the woman's hand gripped him—and soon spread across his entire body.

Then, these spots began to expand step by step, merging into one another to form successive patches of black abscesses. The center of each patch bulged, and pus continuously overflowed, sliding down his body and eventually gathering at his feet, forming a liquid stream that dripped onto the ground.

However, Zhao Hequan showed neither pain nor struggle; he seemed to still be in a deep sleep.

On the contrary, an ominous premonition suddenly surged in Li Zhuyuan's heart. If touching this woman meant being infected and rotting, then those two pieces of flesh that had fallen onto his face earlier...

His face began to itch.

Feeling it carefully, it was a genuine itch, not psychological.

But now, no matter how much it itched, Li Zhuyuan did not dare reach out to scratch.

Immediately after, the woman used only her left hand to lift Zhao Hequan, holding him horizontally at her side. This created a stark contrast; the woman's physique was indeed unnervingly massive.

Previously, Li Zhuyuan had been shocked by the woman's appearance and her gaze, thus overlooking this point. Now, he realized her stature was very much like a divine statue in a temple.

Having likely caught the person she was looking for, the woman carried Zhao Hequan toward the bottom of the dam.

She walked steadily, eyes fixed forward.

Then, halfway through her progress, while her body continued moving forward, her head suddenly rotated ninety degrees to look back.

Li Zhuyuan's heart trembled.

She...

Was actually still observing him!

While watching him, the woman continued forward until she finally left his field of vision and descended the dam.

The itching on his face persisted.

Li Zhuyuan lay motionless, his eyelids remaining slightly open.

The sense of time passing felt distorted at this moment; he didn't know how much time had actually elapsed, but he continued to persist in staying still.

Suddenly,

In the lower-left corner of his vision, the woman's face—with its churning flesh—suddenly poked out.

Like someone who had already stepped out the door but remembered something, her body remained outside, yet she craned her neck back to peer in at him.

Those two rows of white teeth were the only part of her face capable of conveying expression.

With a slight gap between the upper and lower teeth, one could imagine, through mental projection, that she was smiling.

As if saying,

*Heh,*

*I'm just checking to see if you're truly asleep.*

Only this time, Li Zhuyuan was not frightened again; he had long anticipated this.

Because the surrounding chill had not dissipated, it meant the woman had not gone far and was still nearby.

He could almost imagine her standing motionless at the bottom of the dam.

Liu Jinxia had said that those "dirty things" develop an abnormally intense interest in those who can see them. Therefore, even if one "saw" it, one had to pretend not to.

Finally, the oppressive atmosphere vanished, the chill dissipated, and the summer night's heat surged back, with the evening breeze bringing fresh air.

It felt as if he had stepped out of a freezer; from his body to his soul, there was a sensation of thawing.

This only made the itching on his face even more intense.

It felt as though if he could just reach out and scratch a few times, it would be the most refreshing and pleasant thing in the world.

But Li Zhuyuan remained still.

His willpower had slackened and his self-control was nearly broken, yet he forced himself to rely on inertia, maintaining his previous sleeping posture and the slight opening of his eyes.

Abruptly, the cold returned, arriving this time with sudden, violent intensity.

It wasn't that he was being dragged back into a freezer, but rather that the freezer had opened its doors, grown legs, and swallowed him whole.

Two thuds echoed near his ear, accompanied by the crisp friction of iron chains.

In his field of vision, a pair of legs appeared just ahead of him; at the very bottom were feet still dripping with pus.

These were Zhao Hequan's feet; he was currently being carried by the woman.

Thus, the woman was now standing behind him, very close to his head.

She was still watching him.

At this moment, Li Zhuyuan found it difficult to comprehend the woman's relentless persistence.

Since you are testing me over and over again, why not just lift me up like you did with Zhao Hequan?

Don't you still have one hand free?

Then, Li Zhuyuan suddenly remembered the message he heard during the day: two students from Haihe University had used hammers to break the iron chains on the "Female Bodhisattva."

It must have been Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan.

But the woman had only lifted Zhao Hequan, not Xue Liangliang.

So, does this prove that when she comes out, she can only take one person?

Suddenly, Li Zhuyuan's mind cleared.

This was a form of reverse competition. The competitors were himself and Zhao Hequan. If he showed a flaw, the woman would likely drop Zhao Hequan and grab him instead.

Her continuous testing was actually a way of weighing her options.

Li Zhuyuan was in no position to sacrifice himself to save Zhao Hequan; if forced to choose one, he would definitely choose to let Zhao Hequan go with the woman.

After all, his utopia was America. Visas were hard to get and the ocean was vast and difficult to cross; reincarnating there was a viable shortcut.

Enduring the hardship was difficult, but once the problem was simplified into a race, it fell back into the track he was most skilled at.

The fierce chill came quickly and left just as fast; the woman had likely left again.

But Li Zhuyuan remained fixed in place.

He no longer cared whether he had woken from the dream, nor did he care if the woman would return; he simply maintained that posture and that half-closed gaze.

The face was still very itchy, forcing him to find another way to divert his attention.

He began to contemplate the algorithms in the eighth volume of *The Essential Explanations of Yin-Yang Physiognomy*. Since he was idle and had nothing else to do—and dared not do anything else—he might as well continue his studies.

Rows of human faces continuously surfaced in his mind, gradually overlapping.

Li Zhuyuan could now achieve a state where, when a face surfaced in his mind, it could be male or female, old or young.

Upon closer inspection, the eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were all constantly changing.

Currently, among girls in Beijing, a sticker game was popular: a sheet printed with a model's body accompanied by a large set of stickers ranging from hairstyles to various outfits. You could choose which hair or clothes to peel off and stick onto the model, acting as a simplified version of a doll dress-up game.

Li Zhuyuan felt that he was playing this game now, but the accessories in his "makeup library" were far, far more abundant than those in a sticker toy box.

As he played, a thought gradually rose in his mind

*Could I try to make this face move, to speak?*

The first seven volumes of *The Essential Explanations of Yin-Yang Physiognomy* consisted of massive amounts of rote memorization and calculation. It was in the eighth volume that the transition from science to metaphysics occurred. The "meta" here referred to a certain threshold.

Thanks to his mother frequently taking him to see psychologists when he was a child, his younger self, in a naive attempt to cater to his mother's needs and following the doctor's therapeutic guidance, had even actively induced a split personality.

So, could that same method be applied here?

The thought terrified him, because he felt as though he had found the key to unlocking the eighth volume!

Yet, at the same time, Li Zhuyuan sensed danger. The personalities he had created alone in the past were entirely under his control, but if he manufactured a personality in his mind based on someone else's template, would it still be safe?

"Xiao Yuanhou, wake up! Hehe, still sleeping? We have to get to work."

Li Weihan's voice rang in his ear, followed by a rough but warm hand stroking his face.

Li Zhuyuan knew he was truly awake.

He didn't know if the woman had returned to continue testing him after that incident.

However, that no longer mattered. Immersed in his studies, he had truly ignored the changes in the outside world; he hadn't been asleep, yet he was "deader" than if he had been.

"What's wrong, Xiao Yuanhou? Did you sleep uncomfortably outside?" Li Weihan asked with concern.

"No, no, Grandpa. I slept very well."

Li Zhuyuan turned toward the house and saw that the university students had also risen and were washing up. Zhao Hequan was there too—he wasn't dead and was chatting and laughing with his classmates.

"That's good. Your uncle has brought water; let's wash our faces."

After a simple cleaning and receiving breakfast, everyone headed to the construction site early. Today's task was organized by village; as long as they finished early, they could return home and wouldn't have to sleep here another night.

Li Zhuyuan also arrived at the riverbank. This time, he slacked off, finding a stone to sit on while resting his chin in his hand.

He was conflicted. He felt he had found the key to the eighth volume, yet he dared not try.

He had a vague feeling that this was just like the time he had performed a divination on himself.

This profession had many taboos. No, that wasn't right—this profession was composed of various taboos.

The bustling atmosphere of the construction site gradually dispelled the gloom in Li Zhuyuan's heart.

He had come to terms with it; the first seven volumes were enough for him to pass the time observing others' physiognomy. As for the eighth volume, it was not to be used except in special circumstances.

*Alright, time to help Grandpa and the others transport mud.*

Just as Li Zhuyuan was about to stand up, his gaze shifted downward, and he suddenly discovered a patch of gray spots on the inner side of his left forearm. Looking at his right forearm, there was an identical patch in the corresponding position.

He immediately touched his face. There was no sensation on his face, and there had been no itching when he woke up; he had almost forgotten about it.

It seemed he had indeed been affected.

It was understandable why it hadn't appeared on his face; the effects of certain things in last night's dream didn't necessarily manifest on the face, as his body at that time was not his true physical body.

Li Zhuyuan raised both arms to look closely. Although the two patches were only the size of a coin, this thing... was very likely to spread.

At that moment, two people walked toward him. To be precise, Xue Liangliang was supporting Zhao Hequan as they approached.

The two of them were a surveying team; regardless of whatever conflict had occurred last night, they still had to complete their tasks together today.

"Brother, what's wrong with him?" Li Zhuyuan asked.

Xue Liangliang said, "He's not feeling well. I'm taking him to see a doctor."

Li Zhuyuan noticed that Zhao Hequan's neck had turned completely bluish-black.

Of course; Li Zhuyuan had only been hit by pieces of flesh from the woman's face, but Zhao Hequan had been carried away by her gripping his neck. His condition was bound to be the most severe.

After greeting Li Weihan, Li Zhuyuan followed Xue Liangliang and the others back to the dam where they had slept last night; a barefoot doctor was stationed there.

The doctor unbuttoned Zhao Hequan's shirt to examine his symptoms, and his expression turned grim.

"Doctor, is he poisoned? Or was he bitten by a venomous insect?" Xue Liangliang asked anxiously.

"Where would we get such powerful venomous insects around here? It doesn't look like poisoning either; it wouldn't happen this fast. Didn't you say he was fine this morning?"

"Yes, he was completely normal this morning."

"Sigh." The doctor said somewhat helplessly, "Take him to the health center in the nearby town for a look. Get him checked there. All I can handle here are minor headaches and fevers."

"Doctor, I have it too." Xue Liangliang rolled up both sleeves.

Standing nearby, Li Zhuyuan saw that gray circular spots had appeared on Xue Liangliang's arms, just like his own.

It made sense; that woman had crouched in front of him last night and had almost grabbed him instead of Zhao Hequan. It was only natural that some flesh had hit him.

"Hurry to the hospital. You should get checked too, just in case it's some kind of infectious disease."

"Alright. I'll leave my friend here for a moment while I go find a vehicle."

The doctor frowned but could only nod, then pulled an old mask from his pocket and put it on.

After Xue Liangliang left, the doctor looked at Zhao Hequan again. By now, Zhao Hequan's consciousness was becoming blurred.

The doctor muttered, "It doesn't really look like an illness. It looks more like he's been invaded by something dirty."

A "barefoot doctor" was someone trained or designated by the state after the founding of New China to possess basic medical knowledge. They had no official permanent posts and were both farmers and medics. Although their professional medical level generally could not compare to doctors in formal hospitals, they had made outstanding contributions to improving and ensuring rural medical conditions during specific historical periods.

At the same time, due to this professional characteristic, they often had their own understandings of certain special and difficult diseases and were not as dismissive of them.

"What did you say?" Li Zhuyuan heard him and asked curiously.

The doctor said nothing; he wasn't about to scare a child with superstitions.

"Did he encounter something dirty? Was he invaded?" Li Zhuyuan pressed. "How can it be solved?"

The doctor said with a hint of amusement, "Kid, how would I know how to solve it? I'm a doctor, not a fortune teller."

Li Zhuyuan felt a bit disappointed. It seemed he would have to wait until his Great-Grandfather returned.

He roughly knew that Liu Jinxia and Auntie Li Juxiang seemed to have solutions for such problems, but he was truly too embarrassed to go to them, because the way those mother and daughter solved problems was far too simple and crude.

Just then, Xue Liangliang, who had only just left, returned, accompanied by a middle-aged man with half-white hair wearing work clothes.

The man had thick, steady eyebrows and a square face, exuding an aura of upright authority.

"Engineer Luo." Seeing him, the doctor stood up to greet him.

The man was the deputy project commander and also a department head at Haihe University; over the years, he had been primarily responsible for organizing the water conservancy construction projects in this area.

"Mhm." Luo Tingrui raised a hand in response, then walked straight to Zhao Hequan. After checking the situation, he scolded Xue Liangliang beside him in a low voice, "Do you have a brain? Who told you two to be so impulsive yesterday?"

"Director, it was my fault."

Luo Tingrui's face darkened. "Didn't I teach you? When encountering a grave or a temple during construction, you indeed must handle it properly. Even if there are no conditions for relocation or resettlement, you must burn some incense and say a few kind words before tearing them down. But you two—you just went straight in with hammers!"

"Director, what should we do now?"

In truth, Xue Liangliang had intended to burn incense and pay respects before demolishing the temple yesterday, but Zhao Hequan had snorted, saying it was just the "inferior nature of Chinese people," and had swung the hammer directly. Xue Liangliang had only been able to follow suit out of necessity.

Who knew such a problem would arise the next day? But clearly, now was not the time to divide responsibility or explain.

"Where was that statue moved to?"

"It was dragged to the western ditch, piled with the construction waste."

"Fine. Take him there first. I'll go to my temporary office to find some incense. Apologize first, then send him to the city hospital. The town health center likely won't be able to handle these symptoms. Anyway, finding a vehicle will take some time."

"Understood, Director."

Xue Liangliang hoisted Zhao Hequan onto his back and jogged down the dam.

As he walked, he suddenly turned his head to look at the following Li Zhuyuan.

"You..."

Li Zhuyuan didn't waste words; he exposed his forearm to him.

Xue Liangliang was greatly surprised. "Little kid, did you go hit it too?"

"I didn't know."

In truth, Li Zhuyuan was the most innocent. He currently possessed the passive ability to walk between the worlds of the living and the dead, yet the whole matter truly had nothing to do with him.

"Then come with me to burn incense. After we're done, tell your family, and I'll take you to the city hospital with us."

"Okay, brother."

The two—or more accurately, the three of them—arrived at the western ditch where the waste was piled. The statue of the Female Bodhisattva sat there, lonely and isolated.

The construction villagers still maintained basic taboos; they hadn't just left it lying there; a stone had been wedged beside it to ensure it remained upright.

After setting Zhao Hequan down, Xue Liangliang walked to the statue and bowed first

"It was my fault yesterday. Please forgive us..." He paused, glancing at Li Zhuyuan beside him. "At the very least, please forgive this child."

Last night, Xue Liangliang had declared with conviction: *This world is materialistic.*

However, that didn't seem wrong. In the eyes of a true materialist, as long as there was a set of existing laws to explore and solve, then even if it were a ghost, it would be a materialistic ghost.

Li Zhuyuan, meanwhile, carefully observed the statue. Having spent a long time underwater or in the mud, its painted surface had long since peeled and corroded. What met his eyes were large patches of a surface that looked like red rust, likely the material of the clay used to mold the statue.

But this matched the state of the woman when she appeared last night—churning, scorched, and bloody.

Most importantly, while the other parts of the statue's face were no longer visible, a fragment of white tooth-colored paint remained at the corners of the mouth. This was likely due to the pigment being more durable, and judging by the shape of the painted face, the jawline receded inward, leaving a gap at the mouth. This might have prevented it from being completely filled in by mud while submerged.

Li Zhuyuan also bowed. Then, the nursery rhyme his Great-Grandfather had used when leading him to deliver the little oriole surfaced in his mind. He had a good memory and had memorized it word for word, so he recited it naturally

*"Offer it to you today, send it as a sacrifice next year. If the favor is done this way, are you satisfied? Regardless of Yin or Yang, there must be reason. Seek justice for grievances, seek revenge for wrongs. All people suffer; do not go against the natural order."*

Beside him, Xue Liangliang stared at the child, his eyes wide, because in this child, he saw... professionalism.

After finishing, Li Zhuyuan added, "When the incense is brought over, I'll set up a small offering table at my house after I get back. I'll offer all my snacks to you to make up for it."

Xue Liangliang asked in suspicion, "Would that actually work?"

Li Zhuyuan shook his head and spoke truthfully, "I don't know."

He was simply following the template provided by his Great-Grandfather and copying the answer.

Immediately after, Li Zhuyuan raised his arm again.

"Huh?"

The originally coin-sized gray spot had actually shrunk to the size of a soybean, and its color had also faded.

Li Zhuyuan blinked. Even he hadn't expected that his Great-Grandfather's answer would be so effective!

"Let me see yours." Li Zhuyuan looked at Xue Liangliang; he needed a comparison.

Xue Liangliang immediately spread his arms. His gray spot had not shrunk; instead, it had grown larger.

He immediately said, "Little brother, hurry and teach me how to recite it."

"Okay."

Next, Xue Liangliang followed Li Zhuyuan's lead and recited the words, though he changed the last line from "offering snacks" to "I'll get food from the school canteen and set up an offering table in your dormitory."

After reciting it, they waited for a moment.

Like someone checking a lottery ticket, Xue Liangliang pulled up his sleeve and let out a cry of surprise.

The spot had shrunk, but not back to a soybean; it had returned to its previous size.

"This..." Xue Liangliang frowned. "Could it be that the Bodhisattva also knows the food in our school canteen is terrible?"

Li Zhuyuan felt it might be because he had actually hit the statue yesterday.

"Why is there a child here too?" Luo Tingrui approached, carrying incense.

"This child has encountered the same problem."

Luo Tingrui was somewhat puzzled but didn't ask further. Instead, he handed a stick of incense to Li Zhuyuan, one to himself, and one to Xue Liangliang.

As for the semi-conscious Zhao Hequan, he was given a large handful.

Next, Luo Tingrui stood at the front and performed a very solemn bow with his incense. Then, he unbuttoned his collar and, ignoring the dirt, sat down before the statue. With one hand constantly patting the ground and the other clutching his chest, he began to pour out his grievances.

He recounted everything from the hard days before the liberation to the purpose and significance of building roads, bridges, and water conservancy projects, finally ending with a vision for the future.

He spoke with great passion and emotion, completely losing the rigorous temperament of an engineer. To an outsider, it would look as if he were holding a small symposium.

Furthermore, as if fearing the local temple wouldn't understand Mandarin, he specifically used a lot of Nantong dialect, even though it was clumsy and non-standard.

After finishing, he stood up, placed both hands on the heads of Li Zhuyuan and Xue Liangliang, and had them bow again while holding their incense.

Finally, he dragged the unconscious Zhao Hequan over and forced his head to kowtow.

Having finished all this, Luo Tingrui buttoned his collar, and his entire demeanor stabilized.

Seeing the curious gaze from Xue Liangliang, he said irritably, "Learn from this. I learned this from my seniors. These kinds of things aren't common in the Nantong area, but when opening roads or building bridges in the inland, encountering this is extremely common. Everyone has eventually figured out this process, and it's quite useful."

Li Zhuyuan nodded convincingly, because he discovered that after this ritual, the soybean-sized gray spot on his forearm had actually disappeared, leaving only a tiny, almost imperceptible trace. It was practically cured.

This was truly miraculous. If he went back to ask Liu Jinxia to treat him, Auntie Xianghou would probably end up rolling on the ground in pain again.

Li Zhuyuan began to ponder: *Could this be considered another form of development for the occult arts?*

It focused on appealing to emotion and reason; however, the key seemed to be a higher form of "righteousness" that even those "dirty things" could only retreat from.

The spot on Xue Liangliang's arm had receded to the size of a soybean, but it had also faded significantly. It likely wouldn't be a major problem; even if a small trace remained permanently, it wouldn't matter much for a water conservancy student.

As for Zhao Hequan, he seemed to have eased up significantly and began to murmur, regaining some consciousness. But since his condition was the most severe, even if he had recovered half... it felt like the difference between a disease so severe it could kill you ten times versus one that only kills you once.

After all, Li Zhuyuan had seen with his own eyes that "Zhao Hequan" had been carried away by that woman.

Where had she taken him?

Li Zhuyuan looked around the base of the statue, but there didn't seem to be a suitable place to hide anything. However, on the base of the statue, right between the two feet, he saw a line of carved words

*"Lady of the Bai Family."*

Was it the woman's title?

It was very consistent with local naming customs; for example, in the way guests addressed Liu Jinxia, she was called "Matriarch Liu."

So, this wasn't a "Female Bodhisattva" statue, but it wasn't exactly wrong either, because in the shallow and broad religious understanding of ordinary people, female deities could all be addressed as "Female Bodhisattvas."

"Send him to the city hospital," Luo Tingrui sighed, then said to Xue Liangliang, "You should also go to the hospital for a check-up to ensure no lingering issues."

Xue Liangliang pointed at Li Zhuyuan. "This kid needs a check-up too."

"Mhm. Kid, which village and team are your elders from?"

"Siyuan Village, Fourth Team, Shinan Town."

Luo Tingrui looked at Xue Liangliang. "I'll go tell his elders. Just say you students took him to have a little tour of the city, and we'll use a vehicle to send him home in the evening. I can't leave the site, so you take them. The vehicle should be waiting at the entrance now."

"Understood, Director."

Xue Liangliang once again helped Zhao Hequan up and signaled for Li Zhuyuan to follow. There was indeed a vehicle parked at the western entrance of the site, and the driver was inside. Seeing them approach, he immediately drove toward the city.

On the way, Li Zhuyuan mused that when Engineer Luo went to speak to his Grandpa and the others, they would surely be at ease; after all, Engineer Luo's status as deputy commander was higher than that of the town mayor.

By the time they arrived at Nantong People's Hospital, it was exactly ten in the morning.

Li Zhuyuan checked his arm; the trace was gone. He was completely cured, though he still intended to set up a small offering table to fulfill his promise once he returned.

Xue Liangliang was similar; his soybean-sized spot had also shrunk into a faint trace.

However, unlike the two who had mostly recovered, it seemed as though all the suffering had been borne by Zhao Hequan alone.

When they set off, he had regained some lucidity and seemed much better, but on the way, his condition began to worsen again. He vomited more than once in the car, and what he vomited was a sour, stinking liquid.

It made the driver so distressed that he honked his horn much more frequently.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Xue Liangliang first arranged for Zhao Hequan to be sent to the emergency room, then took Li Zhuyuan by the hand to undergo blood tests and a series of other examinations.

By the time they were waiting for the results, it was close to lunchtime. Xue Liangliang went to the hospital canteen to buy some buns and steamed bread, bringing them back to eat with Li Zhuyuan.

"It looks like we won't get the reports until after work starts this afternoon." Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuyuan. "After we get the reports this afternoon, I'll go to the small shop at the entrance to buy you some milk and small toys to take back with you."

"Thank you, brother."

"Don't thank me. Ultimately, I'm the one who dragged you into this."

This whole incident had started because he and Zhao Hequan had smashed the statue with hammers; how could a child like this have been involved in swinging a sledgehammer?

Li Zhuyuan took a bite of a bun. It *was* because of him, but he didn't blame him in his heart.

A person as bright, cheerful, and attentive as him made it difficult for anyone to feel resentment, and he himself enjoyed playing this persona...

*Hiss!*

Li Zhuyuan gripped the bun with his left hand and clutched his head with his right, his expression pained.

Damn it, that feeling was coming back.

At this moment, Li Zhuyuan felt his vision beginning to blur, a sensation of being misaligned with his own body. In truth, this was a physical manifestation of the detachment between self-perception and identity.

In his mind, the coldness and sarcasm his mother had frequently displayed in recent years surfaced again.

He knew very well that once he allowed this symptom to spiral out of control and complete the detachment, he would forever lose the identity of "Xiao Yuanhou." When facing familial and social relationships, he would become cold and resistant, unable to even... continue to act.

Yet, he truly loved this kind of life, and he was unwilling to let go.

If his mother hadn't been in the picture, he might not have been so resistant; he might even have felt the urge to see what that sensation was like. But now, because her shadow was there, he was afraid.

Perhaps even Li Lan herself had never realized that all the effort she had spent finding psychologists and various methods to intervene and treat her son...

The effect was far inferior to his own case as a negative example.

"Xiao Yuan, what's wrong? Xiao Yuan, are you feeling unwell somewhere?" Xue Liangliang was startled, fearing the child might have a serious problem because of him.

Li Zhuyuan continuously and rapidly recited his family network in his mind. This time, he even brought up Grandpa Bei and Grandma Bei, while the frequency of Qin Li's name in his thoughts increased.

That girl whose eyes held only him—he truly did not want to face her gaze with coldness when he returned.

At the same time, Li Zhuyuan was reciting: *My eighth volume of physiognomy has only found the method to solve the problem; I haven't even dared to test it yet, so I haven't mastered it! The Bagua algorithm for my destiny deduction isn't even fully complete; although the progress is fast, what if I get stuck later?*

*No, even if I have mastered these two volumes, there are so many books in Great-Grandfather's basement. I definitely won't be able to read and learn them all. I will definitely fail, definitely won't understand, and will definitely feel frustrated, powerless, and lose interest in studying!*

*Snap!*

A silent, crisp sound, as if his consciousness and identity had snapped back into place.

Li Zhuyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back against the chair, his face drenched in cold sweat.

As expected, the sense of academic failure was the most effective.

The sudden occurrence of this situation was likely related to him breaking into the eighth volume last night, causing him to lose his self-awareness as a struggling student.

"Xiao Yuan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Brother Liangliang." Li Zhuyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead. To reassure him, he even said intentionally, "It's not about this. I have epilepsy."

"Oh, I see. Just sit still and don't walk around. I'll go get a hot towel for you to wipe down."

"Okay, thanks, Brother Liangliang."

After Xue Liangliang left, Li Zhuyuan saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye—it was Sister Yingzi.

Was she at this hospital too? Had her grandparents been transferred here from the town health center?

Does that mean Great-Grandfather might be here as well?

However, Li Zhuyuan did not leave his seat to chase after her; he was afraid Xue Liangliang would be anxious if he couldn't find him upon returning.

Xue Liangliang returned with a fresh towel. He carefully wiped Li Zhuyuan's face and signaled for him to lift his arms, sliding the towel under his short sleeves to wipe his body to prevent him from catching a chill.

"Xiao Yuan, you're not a local, are you?" Xue Liangliang asked with a smile. "When I asked you yesterday, you said you were a local, but when you were getting blood drawn earlier, I heard you communicating with the nurse in Nantong dialect."

"Mhm. I lived in Beijing when I was little, and I just recently moved back to my hometown."

"Beijing, huh? I've been there once for an academic exchange between universities. I went to Weiming Lake."

Li Zhuyuan thought to himself: *What a shame we didn't run into each other.*

"I really envy children from big cities," Xue Liangliang remarked.

"Where is your family from, Brother Liang?"

"Me? I'm from the countryside in Anhui. My old house is very beautiful, it's just a bit poor."

Li Zhuyuan nodded. He also felt that many of the old houses here in Siyuan Village were beautiful, especially the roofs of the single-story houses and the design of the eaves.

"It's a pity. Once many families in my hometown became better off, they tore down the old houses to build apartments."

"That's also to live better lives."

"I know, but I feel that in the future, once we ordinary people live better, we'll be like people in developed countries and start to love traveling. If the old houses aren't torn down, maybe they could become tourist attractions."

Li Zhuyuan looked at Xue Liangliang. He felt that this older brother's way of thinking possessed a sharp depth that even he found impressive.

He wasn't someone born with innate knowledge, nor was he like the talented classmates in his class, but he seemed exceptionally skilled at discovering objective laws and grasping the essence of problems—in other words, he had foresight.

Perhaps, this was also a form of genius.

"Haha, do you think I'm talking nonsense? How could anyone ever pay for a ticket to go visit these old houses and old towns in the future?"

Li Zhuyuan shook his head. "I think what you're saying is probably right, Brother Liang."

"You're very smart, truly. I can feel it. How are your grades?"

"Pretty good. There aren't many kids in my class who are better than me."

"That's because you're still young. The things taught in lower grades are fewer, so the gap isn't large and the competition is low. Once you get to middle school, high school, and then university, you'll understand. Don't be arrogant now."

"Mhm, I know."

Li Zhuyuan then pointed toward the stairs. "Brother Liang, I just saw my cousin going upstairs. Her grandparents are hospitalized here, so she and my aunt should be looking after them. I want to go see her."

"Alright, I'll go with you."

"It's no trouble, I can go by myself."

"No, after we get the test reports this afternoon and confirm everything is fine, I still have to personally see you home."

"Okay, Brother Liang."

The fourth and fifth floors were the inpatient levels. Li Zhuyuan didn't know the patients' names, so he couldn't look up room numbers and could only scan through the wards one by one.

Before long, he heard a familiar, booming voice: "Damn it, what the hell is going on!"

It was Great-Grandfather's voice.

Li Zhuyuan immediately ran toward it, with Xue Liangliang following behind.

At the same time, several patients and family members appeared in the hallway, drawn out by the commotion to see the spectacle.

Arriving at the ward door, they pushed it open.

Li Zhuyuan saw Li Sanjiang holding a peach wood sword, shielding Yingzi, his third aunt, and two other middle-aged men and women behind him. On the two hospital beds lay two elderly people, presumably Yingzi's grandparents.

At this moment, the two elderly people were convulsing violently, with blood flowing from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Especially from their mouths, the blood was surging so much that it not only stained the beds red but also rapidly formed two large pools on the floor.

Yet even so, they were struggling to utter broken, intermittent sounds

"Spare us... spare us... Lady of the Bai Family!"