Chapter 8

Grandma Liu said her granddaughter’s autism wasn’t ordinary, and now, Li Zhuiyuan believed her.

“Uncle Sanjiang, Uncle Sanjiang!”

Behind him, the sound of Niu Fu’s voice and footsteps grew closer. The girl’s gaze remained fixed on him as he moved.

I really shouldn’t keep staring at her like that…

Li Zhuiyuan walked toward the girl, stopped four meters from the threshold, and then sidestepped twice, using his own body to block her line of sight to Niu Fu.

Actually, it would have been simpler to walk up to her and cover her eyes with his hands, but he didn’t dare.

Grandma Liu’s earlier warning was certainly not without cause, and that was to say nothing of the bloody lesson Li Sanjiang had learned.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the girl’s eyelashes were trembling slightly.

He just couldn’t tell if it was because of his approach as a stranger, or because of what she was “seeing.”

However, the girl didn’t turn her head to try and bypass his obstruction; instead, she returned her neck to its previous position, her gaze fixed straight ahead.

She had frozen once more.

Li Zhuiyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He had been genuinely afraid that she might suddenly lash out and bite him.

Still, this was the first time he had been this close to her.

Her vintage attire suited her perfectly; one could say they complemented each other beautifully.

Sitting there, she made it seem as if he were the outsider, intruding upon her era, her private courtyard.

Liu Yumei walked over at this moment, resting a hand lightly on Li Zhuiyuan’s shoulder, and said softly, “Little Yuan, Grandma warned you—don’t get too close to Ah Li.”

“I remember, Grandma.” Li Zhuiyuan pointed to the threshold ahead. “I won’t get any closer.”

Perhaps because of their earlier interaction, Liu Yumei had a good impression of the boy, and she couldn’t help but tease, “So, how is it? Is my Ah Li pretty?”

“Mm, she is. She takes after you.”

“Hehehe…”

Liu Yumei was amused and laughed. She walked into the house and glanced at the six-tiered wooden shelf in the inner room, which was filled with spirit tablets. Those on the left bore the surname Liu, and those on the right, Qin.

She picked up an empty small dish, selected a few pastries from the offering plate below, turned, and walked back out, handing the dish to Li Zhuiyuan.

“Here, Grandma is treating you to some snacks.”

“Thank you, Grandma.” Li Zhuiyuan reached out and took it.

“They’re from the offering plate; they’re clean.”

“Mm.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t mind. He picked up a piece of flaky pastry and took a bite; it was soft, delicate, and had a rich aftertaste.

Liu Yumei asked, “Is it sweet?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. “It’s delicious, not too sweet.”

Liu Yumei sat down on the threshold and looked at Li Zhuiyuan. “When is your mother coming to pick you up to go back to the capital?”

“Whenever Mom has time.”

“Do you miss your mom?”

“I do.”

“You do? I couldn’t tell.”

“I miss her in my heart.”

“You’re a steady-natured one. Do you have any siblings?”

“My parents only have me.”

“Our Ah Li is an only child, too,” Liu Yumei said, looking at the girl with eyes full of tenderness.

She made a gesture as if to stroke her granddaughter’s hair, but pulled her hand back.

“Grandma Liu, where is your family from?”

“My ancestors were boat people on the river; we don’t have a ancestral home. But if you really want to talk about it, this Yangtze River is the ancestral home for me and her grandfather.”

At the mention of Qin Li’s grandfather, a look of longing appeared on Liu Yumei’s face.

Immediately, she turned that expression toward Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan understood and asked

“Grandma and Grandfather had a very good relationship, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t good at first. Our families were sworn enemies. Later, that shameless thing took a fancy to me and insisted on marrying me. He made my father and brothers so angry they nearly tied him up and sank him in the river. Our families almost had another blood feud.”

Seeing that Liu Yumei still had more to say, Li Zhuiyuan asked, “And then?”

“Then? Well, he tricked me into it, didn’t he? I married him and bore him a child.”

“Did your family accept Grandfather?”

“Mm, they accepted him. They even sank into the river together.”

At this point, Liu Yumei suddenly snapped back to reality. Why had she said that?

“Right, Little Yuan, why did your parents get a divorce?”

After asking, Liu Yumei felt a pang of regret. How could she ask a child that?

“Because they couldn’t live together anymore.”

“Was it your father’s fault?”

“Dad loves Mom very much.”

Just then, Niu Fu’s voice drifted from the distance behind them: “Alright, Uncle Sanjiang, it’s settled then. I’m off, I’ll be waiting for you at home.”

Li Zhuiyuan was surprised. That fast?

He snuck a look back and saw that Niu Fu, who had reached the edge of the embankment, was still severely hunched over. Li Zhuiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but he immediately went to find Li Sanjiang.

“Great-Grandpa, Great-Grandpa.”

“What is it?”

Li Sanjiang didn’t stop when he heard the call; he walked straight to the toilet, unzipped his pants, and sat on the ‘dragon throne.’

Li Zhuiyuan, being short, stood below him; all he was missing was a horsetail whisk.

Actually, Li Sanjiang’s toilet was built quite meticulously, located behind the new house to keep it out of sight.

Many other toilets in the village were attached to the main house, facing the village road. Sitting on one during the day, with people coming and going, was like receiving an audience from court officials.

If they met someone they knew, they would even greet them and stop for a chat.

“Great-Grandpa, did you agree to him?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Doesn’t he have… have that thing on his back…”

“I know, I know. I wasn’t planning on going, but he doubled the sealing fee, and all three siblings chipped in. I had to go—hehe, they really paid too much.”

“But it’s dangerous…”

“Little Yuan Hou, money makes the devil turn the millstone. Danger is only relative to not having enough money. Just watch, Blind Liu will definitely go too.”

“Great-Grandpa…”

“Little Yuan Hou, this is how your Great-Grandpa makes a living. Besides, it’s fine. I’ve seen plenty of storms in my time; I’ve never capsized yet.”

“When are you going?”

“That depends on when Blind Liu sets the date, but it should be soon. It has to be early. When your grandfather Han Hou came to bring you clothes, he said they’re about to organize everyone to dredge the river.”

“Dredge the river?”

“Mm, digging the river. It’s a tradition decades old. All the strong laborers from the surrounding villages… no, from the entire Jiangsu countryside, basically have to go.

So, we have to get the spirit birthday ceremony done before the dredging.”

……

“Have to get the spirit birthday done before the dredging, otherwise the house won’t have any peace.”

Niu Fu hadn’t walked far from Li Sanjiang’s house when he stopped under a tree by the small river, one hand bracing against the tree while the other unbuckled his belt to relieve himself.

When he finished and buckled his belt, he felt inexplicably that his back had straightened a bit, and he even did a little hop in place.

Looking back at Li Sanjiang’s house not far away, Niu Fu couldn’t help but sigh

“Looks like this Uncle Sanjiang is just as spiritual as Grandma Liu!”

……

Li Zhuiyuan walked into the house and saw Auntie Liu coloring a paper figure. She smiled and waved at him

“Little Yuan, want to come play?”

“No thanks, Auntie Liu, I have things to do.”

“Alright, you go ahead with your business.” Auntie Liu smiled; she thought the boy’s serious demeanor was truly adorable.

Li Zhuiyuan carefully moved a paper house blocking the stairwell and headed down, where he saw a rusty iron door.

There was a pair of cloth shoes on the floor in front of the door. Li Zhuiyuan bent down, found a key inside, inserted it into the lock, and pushed the door open. A musty, dust-laden smell immediately rushed out.

It was pitch black inside. Li Zhuiyuan reached out to grope along the wall near the door and finally found a string, which he pulled downward.

“Click.”

No response.

He pulled it twice more.

“Snap!”

The light didn’t turn on; the string had broken.

With no other choice, Li Zhuiyuan had to run back upstairs and find a flashlight in the drawer of the cabinet by the door.

He twisted off the back cover; it was empty. Fortunately, the batteries were also in the drawer. He popped in two large D-cell batteries, screwed the cover back on, and tested it—it worked.

Returning to the basement, he shone the light around. The space wasn’t large—it wasn’t the full footprint of the first floor—but there were plenty of items, all categorized and neatly arranged.

It seemed his Great-Grandpa had indeed organized it carefully, but he hadn’t been down here in years; the dust on everything was thick.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to a shelf, his eyes first drawn to a peach wood sword. He picked it up and blew on it, sending dust flying.

“Cough… cough cough…”

After coughing, Li Zhuiyuan used the flashlight to examine the sword closely.

It was carved with various patterns he couldn’t understand and had some reflective metal foil stuck to it, along with some seal script characters.

In short, the design was very archaic, and the content was very rich.

Li Zhuiyuan admired it carefully and intently, until he shone the flashlight on the bottom of the sword’s hilt and read the characters there

“Linyi Furniture Factory, Shandong.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “…”

He put the peach wood sword down and picked up a copper coin sword next to it.

This time he learned his lesson: he checked the hilt first, then the side of the sword, and after confirming there was no factory statement, he carefully observed the blade.

“Kangxi Tongbao, Qianlong Tongbao, Jiaqing Tongbao…”

Although the coins weren’t ancient, they appeared to be genuine.

However, as Li Zhuiyuan continued to shine the flashlight, he suddenly discovered other things mixed in, varying greatly in size from the copper coins.

He tried to pick at them with his finger but couldn’t get them out. He kept looking at other parts of the blade and soon found more of the same size. This time he saw clearly…

They were actually many 1-cent and 5-cent coins!

The sword used copper coins on the outside, but the inside was all small change, and he couldn’t even find a 1-jiao coin.

Although small change was still money… it couldn’t be called fake, but with them mixed in like that, Li Zhuiyuan felt a bit strange.

He put the copper coin sword back and continued searching.

He saw two large flags—no, looking at their long, narrow shape, ‘banners’ was more appropriate.

These two banners took up a lot of table space; one was entirely black, the other purple.

The black one was embroidered with many skulls and flood dragons, looking quite sinister;

The purple one was embroidered with many flowers, birds, and golden dragons, looking quite righteous.

Li Zhuiyuan tried to take one down but found he couldn’t move it with one hand. He had to lean his body closer to the table, bring the flashlight near, and continue his detailed search.

He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he felt he should be able to find it.

Sure enough, on the wooden handle of the black banner, Li Zhuiyuan found a line of crooked brush calligraphy: Li’s Funeral Team.

It wasn’t even in traditional characters, but simplified ones.

Li Zhuiyuan recalled that when the funeral was held at the bearded man’s house earlier, the funeral troupe Little Huangying belonged to had also brought out many ritual tools. Those things were counted by the bundle and tossed onto a truck after the job was done.

Soon, Li Zhuiyuan found writing on the purple banner too. This time it was in traditional characters, but it added a line

“Xue’s Funeral Troupe: Taking this by mistake means your son will be born without an anus.”

“Sigh.”

Li Zhuiyuan sighed and pulled the banner cloth back.

The anticipation and excitement he felt when he first walked in had gradually faded; he felt more and more at peace now.

His Great-Grandpa hadn’t lied to him; he really had collected a bunch of… junk.

When he was a child, his mother often took him to her workplace. Back then, cultural relic protection wasn’t as strict as it was now; many relics didn’t even have glass cases and could be touched up close.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan had observed many ritual objects at close range: the solemnity of Buddhism, the archaic nature of Taoism, and the mystery of Lamaism.

He used to find them overwhelming because there were so many, even getting a bit tired of them, but regardless, none of these could compare to what was in front of him. At least… they didn’t have tags.

Yes, Li Zhuiyuan saw tags on the next few Taoist robes, even marked with sizes.

On the back of that bright yellow robe, there was a sticker that hadn’t been torn off, which read: “For Film Crew Use Only.”

Li Zhuiyuan also discovered three large baskets of talisman paper. He picked them up to look closely; the texture was smooth. He couldn’t understand the patterns, but he could tell they were written in one go and were quite beautiful.

This made him feel interested, and he flipped through other talismans, finding a wide variety.

But soon, Li Zhuiyuan noticed something wrong. When he placed two talismans of the same type in front of him, he couldn’t tell the difference; even the tiny gaps in the brush strokes at the bottom corners were identical.

So… these were printed?

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes; they were feeling a bit sore. He even suspected that his Great-Grandpa had hoarded so many things here because he originally intended to set up a funeral troupe. With the tables, chairs, bowls, basins, and paper figures upstairs, it would make a complete funeral industry chain.

He stopped looking at those objects and walked to the very back, where a dozen or so trunks were placed.

He remembered his Great-Grandpa saying these were things others had left here for safekeeping, and they were all full of books.

“Hm?”

Li Zhuiyuan bent down and shone his flashlight on the trunks to examine them carefully. This material… it was almost identical to the one in the home of Grandpa Zhou, who loved collecting things in the family compound.

That time, Grandpa Zhou had been so excited about acquiring a trunk that he immediately called his old friends over to show it off, and he had been called over to brew tea as well.

In front of him, there were three such trunks.

Although the other trunks were of different materials and colors, Li Zhuiyuan observed that the quality was not bad at all.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation again. Books in such precious trunks couldn’t be from a publishing house, right?

Furthermore, state-run publishing houses in the past wouldn’t have published books like the *Jinsha Luowen Jing*, given the feudal superstition.

There were traces of seals left on the trunks, which must have been torn off long ago. There had originally been locks, but they had been pried off.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that his Great-Grandpa must have done it, so were they really left here by others?

Even without locks, it took a lot of effort for Li Zhuiyuan to push the lid open. When he shone his flashlight inside, he immediately took a deep breath.

Books, books, books—all books!

And they weren’t printed; he could tell from the covers that they were handwritten.

When he was in school, his class would cycle through several sets of textbooks each semester, but he only found them interesting the first time he flipped through them.

Now, he finally experienced the happiness of being surrounded by books.

He picked up several in a row and looked at the covers, finding they were all *Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena*, divided into many volumes.

The “Jianghu” here didn’t refer to martial arts, but to actual rivers and lakes.

Li Zhuiyuan tucked the flashlight under his arm and opened the first volume, finding that it contained not only text but also illustrations. One of the pictures showed a person standing and walking in the water.

Did this book actually describe a ‘dead-walker’?

This wasn’t the place to read. After closing the book, Li Zhuiyuan searched through the trunk for a good while and finally managed to collect the full set.

*Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena*, forty-two volumes in total.

It was a lot of volumes, but that was no surprise; after all, they were handwritten with a brush, and the characters were quite large.

Li Zhuiyuan decided to finish this set first. It should be like an encyclopedia specifically describing strange existences in rivers and lakes—a good introductory read.

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t open the other trunks; he wanted to keep some sense of anticipation.

Next, Li Zhuiyuan began his work as a book porter. It took three trips before he finally moved the entire set of *Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena* to his room on the second floor.

He locked the basement door again, but he didn’t put the key back in the cloth shoe; he kept it on himself.

“Little Yuan Hou.” Li Sanjiang’s voice came from outside. “Little Yuan Hou, come out quickly.”

Li Zhuiyuan opened the door and walked out.

“Whoa… did you go roll in the mud, kid?”

“Great-Grandpa, I’m going to wash up and change clothes now.”

“Don’t rush, look at this first, hehe. Come, Li Hou, put it here, side by side for us grandfather and grandson.”

“Coming.”

Uncle Qin carried a rattan chair up.

Li Zhuiyuan felt a warmth in his heart. He had only mentioned to his Great-Grandpa yesterday that he wanted a rattan chair, and his Great-Grandpa had actually bought it for him today.

“Great-Grandpa, I also want a desk lamp.”

The lightbulb in the room wasn’t bright enough; it was fine for lighting at night, but difficult for reading. Li Zhuiyuan had seen that there were kerosene lamps in the house, but there was no need to suffer if he didn’t have to.

“You want a desk lamp? For reading?”

“Mm.”

“Alright. Li Hou, go to town again and buy the kid a desk lamp. Buy more pens and notebooks, too. I think the other kids have those… what do you call them… stationery boxes? Forget it, just buy whatever you think is needed.”

“Alright, I’ll go after lunch.”

“Don’t wait for the afternoon. There’s still some time before lunch; go now.”

“Alright.”

Li Sanjiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan again and said sternly, “When your grandfather came earlier, I gave him orders to have Ying Hou come over this afternoon to tutor you.”

After saying this, a playful look of “Ha, you didn’t expect that, did you?” appeared on Li Sanjiang’s old face.

“Ah?”

Disappointment appeared on Li Zhuiyuan’s face. He had planned to focus on reading and didn’t want to help his sister with tutoring.

When his sister was doing her summer homework for the first year of high school, there weren’t many problems she didn’t understand. Now that she was previewing her second-year courses, there weren’t many problems she understood at all.

Li Sanjiang reached out and ruffled Li Zhuiyuan’s hair, saying earnestly, “You child, you take after your mother. With such a smart brain, wouldn’t it be a waste not to use it for studying?”

“But, Great-Grandpa…”

“No ‘buts.’ Study hard and get into a good university like your mother in the future; that’s the right path, understand?”

“But Great-Grandpa, I’m already taking classes at university.”

“Hey, you dare to fool your Great-Grandpa? I may not have eaten pork, but haven’t I seen a pig run? Be obedient, that’s how it’s going to be!

Oh, right, Li Hou, when you go to town later, buy the kid some snacks. Buy whatever you see, and buy some for your daughter too.”

“Alright, Uncle.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Uncle Qin and pointed to the southeast corner of the terrace. “Uncle, can you help me move the rattan chair over there?”

Uncle Qin: “Sure.”

“Why put it there?” Seeing that Li Zhuiyuan didn’t want to sit side-by-side with his chair, Li Sanjiang curiously walked to the southeast corner. Good heavens, looking down, he saw the little girl sitting inside the threshold of the east room.

“Hey, Little Yuan Hou, why are you putting it there?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Great-Grandpa, I think the feng shui is good here.”

“Pah!” Li Sanjiang laughed and scolded, “You think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You just want to look at that pretty girl.”

That girl, Qin Li, was indeed pretty—otherwise, Li Sanjiang wouldn’t have offered her candy in the first place—but that girl was truly fierce.

Uncle Qin moved the rattan chair over and then greeted Li Sanjiang; he was off to town to buy things.

After Uncle Qin left, Li Sanjiang pulled Li Zhuiyuan aside and warned him, pointing a finger

“I’m telling you, Little Yuan Hou, just look at that girl, but don’t think about getting close to her or playing with her. Otherwise, she’ll scratch your face up. Look at your face, so fair and tender—wouldn’t it be a pity if it got scarred? How would you find a wife in the future?”

“Alright, Great-Grandpa, I understand.”

“Besides, why like that girl? It’s no use liking someone with a broken brain, no matter how pretty she is. Do you really want to take care of her for the rest of your life?”

Li Sanjiang hadn’t found it convenient to say these things while Qin Li was there.

“I understand, Great-Grandpa.”

“Forget it, you’re still young. Why am I telling you this? It’s still a long way off before you’re old enough to take a wife. Alright, I’m going out. I won’t be back for lunch; you eat by yourself.”

“Mm.”

Li Sanjiang walked downstairs with his hands behind his back, humming a little tune. When he reached the embankment, he looked back at the terrace above, a smile appearing on his face.

Little Yuan Hou asked him for things, and he didn’t feel the pinch of money—he had money!

He suddenly felt that spending the money he earned on his children was also a kind of happiness.

He used to think that Han Hou was a pathetic slave to his children, especially since those children weren’t particularly filial, but now, he had suddenly figured some things out.

What if raising children wasn’t about having someone to support you in your old age, but simply feeling that it was interesting and made your own life more fulfilling?

I raised you, and I don’t ask for your gratitude; after all, I did it for my own life to be complete.

Hey, that feels pretty good too.

Li Sanjiang shook his head. Forget it, what’s the use of thinking about this now? He was at an age where he was almost ready to be buried; he was destined to have no children in this life.

After his Great-Grandpa left, Li Zhuiyuan took a shower, changed his clothes, and couldn’t wait to pick up the first volume of *Jianghu Records of Strange Phenomena*. He sat in the rattan chair, opened the pages, and started reading.

The characters in this book were written in the Slender Gold script, which was much more comfortable to read. In comparison, the characters in that *Jinsha Luowen Jing* looked like a dog’s scratchings.

He made a silent wish: I hope the other books in the trunk are written in good calligraphy.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly immersed himself in the reading atmosphere. However, every time he turned a page, he would glance down at the girl sitting there with her feet on the threshold.

He had no impure thoughts; he simply felt that looking at beautiful things was pleasing to the eye and could make one’s mood more pleasant.

However, other than turning her gaze to look at Niu Fu’s back in the morning, the girl made no other movements.

Reading time passed quickly. Halfway through, Uncle Qin returned, bringing him the desk lamp, a set of stationery, and many snacks.

After reading for a while longer, Auntie Liu’s voice came from below: “Little Yuan Hou, time to eat!”

“Alright, I’m coming down.”

Putting down the book, Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs. Lunch was still eaten on the embankment, but he had his own table.

On the square wooden stool sat a plate of chicken braised with edamame, a plate of scrambled eggs with chives, and a bowl of crucian carp soup.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t help but sigh; his Great-Grandpa’s living conditions were indeed good.

At his grandfather’s house, Brother Panzi and Brother Leizi were probably still drinking porridge right now.

However, he didn’t think about bringing the food back to share; he knew that wouldn’t be appropriate.

On the embankment, Grandma Liu was squatting beside Qin Li, speaking in soft, gentle tones.

Finally, Qin Li lowered her head and began to eat.

It was the same way she ate breakfast; the vegetables and rice were eaten with a steady frequency, the rhythm absolutely unbroken.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished eating, he grabbed the bowl and chopsticks and took them to the kitchen before Auntie Liu could appear. Then he washed his hands, returned to the second floor, and continued reading.

The first volume of this book started with the subject of ‘dead-walkers.’ There were truly many types of them. The kind like Little Huangying, who could walk upright, only counted as mid-level danger in this book, or perhaps even slightly lower.

But the more dangerous the dead-walker, the more vague the records of its time and location, and the more abstract the drawings, gradually feeling a bit like reading the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*.

Li Zhuiyuan thought this was normal. Not many people who encountered such dangerous dead-walkers would return alive, so the records were naturally vague.

“Yuanzi.”

Yingzi came over carrying a wooden stool and a small bench.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up at Yingzi: “Sister.”

“I’m here, hehe. Come, have some candy.” Yingzi took some candy out of her pocket and handed it over.

“Thank you, Sister.” Li Zhuiyuan unwrapped a piece of candy, put it in his mouth, and walked into his bedroom.

Yingzi opened her cloth bag and laid out her books and problems. She curiously reached out and flipped through the book Li Zhuiyuan had left on the rattan chair, frowning slightly—she couldn’t understand these characters.

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan came out with the snacks and placed them beside Yingzi: “Sister, have some.”

“This is too much, how can I eat all this?”

“Take them back to everyone, but don’t let Grandpa and Grandma see.”

Li Zhuiyuan had taken out the snacks Li Weihan had brought in the morning; his Great-Grandpa had bought them, and he hadn’t touched them.

“You’re my younger brother; I feel bad eating your things.”

Seeing that Li Zhuiyuan had already picked up his book and continued reading, Yingzi had no choice but to continue

“Yuanzi, when I start working and earning money in the future, I’ll buy you even more delicious things.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked up and responded with a smile: “Alright, Sister.”

Then he lowered his head and continued reading.

Seeing him so engrossed, Yingzi also lowered her head to preview her own homework. However, this time she didn’t ask Li Zhuiyuan whenever she encountered something she didn’t understand like she used to; instead, she recorded it, waiting to ask everything at the end, so as not to disturb him.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished the first volume, he stood up, walked to the open space, and seriously performed a set of national middle school broadcast gymnastics.

Much of the content in this book was obscure, rare, and vague. He had to ponder as he read; this was the first time he had ever felt so tired from reading.

But it was truly fulfilling; he felt a sense of accomplishment.

Li Zhuiyuan was very happy because he could finally empathize with the students in his class who were poor at studying. So, they had always been living such happy and fulfilling lives.

After finishing his exercises, Li Zhuiyuan went to the toilet. He didn’t need the chamber pot during the day. He went downstairs and ran behind the house. On the way, he saw the girl sitting behind the threshold and stopped to greet her

“Good afternoon.”

Of course, the girl didn’t respond; she didn’t even give him a glance.

After returning to the second floor, he put the first volume back and took out the second volume to continue reading.

With the adaptation from the first volume as a foundation, Li Zhuiyuan could gradually understand the author’s writing habits and even resonate with some of the author’s mindsets. Therefore, he finished the second volume in only half the time it took for the first.

He immediately went to swap for the third volume. By the time he finished the third volume, it was almost dusk.

Li Zhuiyuan put down the book and looked at Sister Yingzi beside him.

“Sister, is there anything you don’t understand?”

“Yes, this, this, this, this, this, and these…”

Li Zhuiyuan took his sister’s pen and began to write out the problem-solving processes. He wrote as detailed as possible so that his sister could read them slowly by herself; at the very least, it was much more efficient than his oral explanations.

Watching his younger brother’s pen “swish-swish” quickly across the notebook, Yingzi felt nothing but envy.

Sure enough, if you excluded the aunt and the younger brother, the entire Li family, with so many people, probably couldn’t scrape together a single brain.

She also felt truly lucky. Although her parents would give her money to buy supplementary materials, the study guides of this era were very rough, and many real exam questions and explanations were only available within top-tier schools; even if she were willing to spend money, they were hard to get.

Not to mention that the role of her younger brother had long surpassed that of any study guide; he was practically her private tutor. Even if her parents were more open-minded, they couldn’t afford to hire a school teacher to tutor her one-on-one.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished writing, he let out a long sigh, rubbed his sore wrist, and said, “Sister, I suggest you first thoroughly understand the concepts and then combine them with simple problems to deepen your understanding. That way, your study efficiency will improve.”

Yingzi: But, isn’t that what I’m doing?

Yingzi lowered her head and began to look at the problem-solving process her brother had provided. She could feel that it was very detailed, but as she looked through it step by step, she still felt it was a bit difficult.

It was as if her brain was being forcibly pried open, and knowledge points were being painstakingly poured in, bit by bit—and for every bit poured in, half was spilled.

At this moment, Li Sanjiang returned. He walked onto the embankment and looked up, seeing Li Zhuiyuan and Yingzi sitting in the southeast corner of the second floor.

He saw Li Zhuiyuan, who had a smile on his face and a relaxed expression, and then saw Yingzi, who had a look of sorrow and hopelessness.

“Hmph, this brat, not studying seriously, making his sister have a headache!”

……

At dinner, Yingzi didn’t stay to eat; Li Weihan had already given orders when she came.

Li Sanjiang actually tried to keep her this time, but seeing her insist on refusing, he gave up.

In the past, Li Sanjiang had always looked down on Li Weihan’s four sons, and by extension, he didn’t pay much attention to their children. But who told him to have Yingzi come over to tutor Little Yuan Hou today?

“Little Yuan Hou, share some of your snacks with your sister tomorrow.”

Li Zhuiyuan, who was eating, replied: “Great-Grandpa, I already shared some.”

“Mm.”

Only then did Li Sanjiang feel at ease. He couldn’t upset the girl, or she wouldn’t come to tutor tomorrow.

After dinner, as usual, Li Zhuiyuan went to take a shower first. When he came out, he saw Li Sanjiang standing at the northern edge of the terrace, a cigarette in his left hand, holding his ‘handle’ with his right, and in front of him, under the moonlight, a parabolic column of water appeared.

“Little Yuan Hou, are you done washing?”

“Done, Great-Grandpa, you go wash.”

“Mm, go to the room and wait for me.”

Li Sanjiang shook his shoulders, puffed out his chest, and then swayed his thighs back and forth.

Li Zhuiyuan understood then that he didn’t actually need the chamber pot at night.

Walking into his Great-Grandpa’s bedroom, the formation was still there, but it was a new one.

After examining the formation, Li Zhuiyuan blinked in confusion. He could see that tonight’s and last night’s were the same formation, but it still differed from the one drawn in the *Jinsha Luowen Jing*.

It was understandable that it differed from the book, as it had been the same last night.

“But, why is it also a bit different from the one drawn last night?”

Li Zhuiyuan could only suspect that his Great-Grandpa had made fine adjustments based on the formation’s effects from last night.

One reason was that he was still reading introductory books and hadn’t reached the formation diagrams yet;

The other was that his world was filled with rigor, and he couldn’t jump out of his rigid way of thinking to consider other possibilities for the time being.

Li Zhuiyuan sat in his spot.

Before long, Li Sanjiang walked in after his shower. He was wearing a pair of white underpants today, which even had a hole in them.

Just like yesterday, he first tied himself and Li Zhuiyuan together with a black rope, still in the old position, then lit the candles, and finally sat inside the circle himself.

This time, Li Zhuiyuan watched carefully and discovered that his Great-Grandpa’s talisman paper was pulled out from his underpants, and the underpants had no pockets.

He lit it, chanted, and before it burned his hand,

“Snap!”

He slapped it onto the ground.

The candles didn’t go out, and the lightbulb didn’t flicker.

“Is it done, Great-Grandpa?”

“No, wait a moment.”

After saying this, Li Sanjiang took out another talisman, lit it, and repeated the action, but this time he used even more force to slap the talisman onto the ground.

“SNAP!!!”

The sound was so crisp that the corners of Li Sanjiang’s mouth twitched in pain.

But great force yielded results.

With a “whoosh,” all the candles went out, and the lightbulb overhead gave a flickering performance.

“It’s done!”

Li Sanjiang breathed a sigh of relief and said calmly: “Little Yuan Hou, go to sleep. Remember, don’t untie the rope.”

“I know, Great-Grandpa.”

After Li Zhuiyuan left, Li Sanjiang immediately blew on his palm

“Hoo hoo… hiss hiss… so painful.”

After blowing, he looked at the bed, and his face immediately showed a miserable expression

“Damn it, won’t it be a zombie meeting again tonight?”

……

After Li Zhuiyuan returned to his bedroom, he didn’t go to bed. Instead, he turned on the desk lamp, took out the fourth volume, and continued reading.

After finishing the fourth volume, he took out the fifth, but before he had read a few pages, his forehead rested on the desk, and he fell asleep.

……

In the rice field, the figure of an old woman appeared. If Li Zhuiyuan could see her now, he would recognize her as the one Niu Fu was carrying on his back.

She was hunched over, her eyes glowing with a green light. On her face, which was originally crisscrossed with gullies, fine tufts of fur were slowly growing.

Her figure disappeared from where she stood, and the next moment, she appeared on the embankment, then disappeared again. This time, she appeared in the house on the first floor.

She stopped among the pile of paper figures and looked at the many paper people, paper horses, and paper houses… She tilted her head, and a strange smile appeared on her face.

……

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes and lifted his head. He had actually fallen asleep while reading.

He planned to go pee before going to bed, just as his Great-Grandpa had demonstrated.

He got up, walked to the bedroom door, pushed it open, and walked out. Li Zhuiyuan didn’t notice that behind the small desk, he was still sleeping sweetly, pillowing his head on the desk.

Coming outside, the cool night breeze blew, and Li Zhuiyuan felt a sense of refreshment.

But soon, he heard the noise and clamor coming from downstairs.

It was so late, who was making a racket?

No… even during the day, his Great-Grandpa’s house was very quiet.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the edge of the terrace and tilted his head to listen downward.

He heard men and women talking and singing, heard the neighing of horses, the barking of dogs, and all kinds of sounds. The first floor seemed to be hosting a carnival party.

But there were only a bunch of paper figures on the first floor, could it be?

Li Zhuiyuan was startled at first, then realized: Oh, I must be dreaming.

Just then, Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze swept downward, and he was stunned to see a figure in a purple cheongsam standing on the embankment—Qin Li!

Eh, how did you walk out of the threshold by yourself?

No,

That’s not it,

Why are you appearing in my dream!