Chapter 21

“So, Brother Liangliang, does this mean that the divine statue excavated from the river works and the coffin pried open at the farm both date back at least three hundred years?”

“That’s right, you can understand it that way. But what’s strange is that while three hundred years is indeed a long time, it shouldn't be enough for the local customs regarding the worship of the 'Lady of the Bai Family' to vanish entirely. Even the elderly have no memory of her.

Yet, the local chronicles record her clearly. We even excavated her temple; there are both written records and physical ruins. It’s impossible for the folk customs to have been lost without a trace. It’s too strange.”

Li Zhuyuan shook his head and said, “Brother Liangliang, a retired old professor once told me: existence may not necessarily be rational, but existence must have a reason.”

“Xiao Yuan, do you mean that even non-existence must have a reason?”

“Yes. I think perhaps the Lady of the Bai Family was not meant for worship, nor was she meant to evolve into a folk custom. Her image—or rather, the image of the Bai Family and Bai Family Town—might be vastly different from what we imagine.

I just looked at the local chronicles you brought back. They do indeed record many deeds of the Lady of the Bai Family. They certainly did many things during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the style of the records is similar to many tales of the supernatural. However, they generally lack one thing...

Most supernatural tales end with descriptions like, 'The local people, moved by her grace, built a temple and erected a statue, and the incense has never ceased.'

But the records of the Lady of the Bai Family in these chronicles are truly just records. If it were missed once or twice, it would be one thing, but it is absent from every single relevant entry.

Yet, there are many other related temples in the area—real-life heroes, Taoists and monks from supernatural tales, even the Dragon Prince of the East Sea have the kind of endings I mentioned above.

Even if the level of devotion varies now, at least a place of worship can be found.

Therefore, I believe there is a necessary reason for the isolation between the Lady of the Bai Family and local folk customs.

Their deeds involved 'slaying demons and exorcising evil,' but the purpose of their actions might not have been to 'protect the land.'”

Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuyuan in shock once again. He had already lost count of how many times today he had looked at this elementary school student with such an expression.

“Brother Liangliang, do you remember the appearance of that temple excavated from the river works?”

“I remember. It was very small and cramped. If it weren't for the height of the statue, I would have suspected the builders modeled it after the small Earth God temples by the village roads.”

“And the chains...”

“Right, the chains. That statue was bound by chains, and the other end of the chains was connected to the surroundings of the temple. Unless the chains were broken, it would be difficult to push the temple down with mere human strength.”

“Then it shouldn't be for worship; it looks more like it was for suppression.”

“Suppression?” Xue Liangliang’s expression instantly turned to realization. “That’s it! Isn't that exactly what it is? Who would accept incense and worship with an image like that!”

Immediately after, Xue Liangliang began to pace agitatedly

“The layout of the coffin at the farm and the inscriptions on the wood carvings also clearly state suppression. Don't the logic of these two instances regarding the Lady of the Bai Family match up perfectly?

But with such a self-sacrificing way of doing things, why wouldn't the people appreciate it?”

“What if Bai Family Town only pursued the process and not the result?”

“Xiao Yuan, do you mean that the Ladies of the Bai Family only wanted to suppress evil in their own way, and as for whether what was being suppressed was actually evil, or where that evil came from... that is where it gets interesting?

Ah... if that evil was actually released by them, raised by them, and then suppressed by them, then the people wouldn't just fail to appreciate them—they would avoid them at all costs.

That would make perfect sense.”

“Mhm.”

Li Zhuyuan nodded. In the *Chronicles of the Jianghu Supernatural*, there are many records of 'corpse-cultivating' evil practitioners of the occult. These people, who pursue immortality by nourishing corpses, will stop at nothing.

Within their group, there is a common shared perception

Lakes are lands for nourishing corpses, rivers are ladders to heaven; once the rivers reach the sea, one ascends through the Heavenly Gate to achieve immortality.

Nantong is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and Chongming Island is the gateway to the Yangtze. If you apply the peculiar logic of those people, wouldn't it be equivalent to the Heavenly Gate?

Occult practitioners from the mountain cities upstream would either spend the effort to nourish their own corpses or occupy the coffins of others. Once the time was ripe, they would follow the river down to the sea, which required immense time and energy to plan.

The Bai family members were much simpler and more direct. They forcibly 'suppressed evil' right at the Heavenly Gate, essentially using a 'stepping on one's own foot' method to rush toward immortality.

Thinking of this, Li Zhuyuan couldn't help but rub his temples. Their way of thinking was bizarre, but it did have a worldview that one could step into—and he had just stepped into it.

“Xiao Yuan, this is also why your sister's grandparents died so tragically. Although the farm owner hasn't been found, he has likely met his end as well.

Logically, it shouldn't be this way.

If the Lady of the Bai Family was on the side of justice, and the porcelain vase sealed an evil spirit, why would that spirit be so desperate to harm the benefactor who released it, and why would it act so ruthlessly, leaving no room for survival?

Therefore, the one who truly became enraged and began killing out of sheer fury was the Lady of the Bai Family, who at first glance appeared to represent justice!”

Li Zhuyuan looked at Xue Liangliang with the same shocked gaze.

One must realize that Xue Liangliang had never read the *Chronicles of the Jianghu Supernatural*, yet he was able to analyze things quite deeply through conventional clues.

“Then Zhao Hequan...” Xue Liangliang was still concerned about his classmate, “doesn't that mean he has been targeted by that Lady of the Bai Family from the river works, and all the retaliation is concentrated on him?”

If it were just an offense, an apology and some kind words would suffice. But if you have already ruined someone's plans, you will face a relentless, life-and-death retaliation!

Xue Liangliang asked in confusion, “But why did that Lady of the Bai Family spare you and me? No, it had nothing to do with you; she must have just let me go?”

“Perhaps she could only choose one person.”

The scene from the dream that night was very clear. The woman could only take one away. To that end, she had hesitated many times between him and Zhao Hequan, as if sensing something special about him, which made her very conflicted.

“Huh?”

“It's in the book.”

“Oh, there's that rule. Then isn't Zhao Hequan doomed?”

“It feels like it.”

“Then we...” Xue Liangliang waved his hand at Li Zhuyuan, “Let's quickly set up the offering table and hurry to sever our connection with her completely!”

The thought that the opponent hadn't generously forgiven him out of kindness, but simply couldn't spare the hands to deal with him yet, gave Xue Liangliang a sense of urgency.

“Okay.” Li Zhuyuan thought Xue Liangliang made a lot of sense. He pointed to his cabinet. “Brother Liangliang, the snacks are inside. There are wooden stools outside. Pack them up and set up two tables. Note that it must be an even number... let's put four portions on each table. I'll go downstairs to get incense and paper money.”

After assigning the tasks, Li Zhuyuan went downstairs to fetch the candles and paper money. When he came back up, Xue Liangliang had already set up two small offering tables in the bedroom.

The two immediately began the ritual.

...

In the east room, Qin Li, who had been sleeping, suddenly opened her eyes.

Liu Yumei, who was resting beside her while lightly fanning herself with a palm leaf fan, also woke up. She gently covered her granddaughter's face with the fan to block her vision and said softly

“Be good, it's nothing. They are just severing the last bit of karma. Get some rest; you have to go play with Xiao Yuan tomorrow morning.”

Qin Li slowly closed her eyes.

Liu Yumei looked toward the gauze window. Through it, the night sky could be seen.

After a long while, she muttered to herself with a hint of mockery

“What era is this? Still dreaming such beautiful dreams?”

However, just as she closed her eyes intending to sleep again...

The next moment,

Liu Yumei and Qin Li both opened their eyes.

This time, Qin Li's eyes were deep. For the first time when she wasn't looking at Li Zhuyuan, her pupils showed a clear focus.

Liu Yumei's expression was also slightly more solemn than before, but she continued to wave the fan back and forth above Qin Li, as if performing a cutting motion.

Qin Li looked at her grandmother beside her.

Liu Yumei said, “Be good, this isn't for finding Xiao Yuan. Sleep. You can't be too playful tonight, otherwise, you'll be exhausted. You wouldn't want to meet Xiao Yuan with dark circles under your eyes, would you?”

Qin Li closed her eyes once more.

Liu Yumei felt a sense of loss. She had gradually become accustomed to using Li Zhuyuan's name to communicate with her granddaughter. It was heartbreaking, yet very effective.

Rising from the bed, Liu Yumei pulled open the gauze window and then closed the outer window, completely isolating the outside.

“Out of sight, out of mind. Sleep.”

...

The ritual ended. Xue Liangliang was responsible for cleaning up the burnt paper ash; he had always been a meticulous worker.

When he returned, he saw Li Zhuyuan staring at him. “Brother Liangliang, look at your arm.”

Hearing this, Xue Liangliang immediately rolled up his sleeve and found that there wasn't a single trace left. He asked excitedly

“There's no trace at all! Xiao Yuan, what about you?”

“I don't have any either.”

“Phew...” Xue Liangliang let out a long sigh of relief. “So, does that mean we're done?”

“Mhm, it should be. It's just your classmate, Brother Liangliang...”

Since the two of them had severed the connection, that Lady of the Bai Family from the statue would be able to focus all her attention on retaliating against him.

Xue Liangliang wasn't particularly sad. Instead, he tapped his forehead and both shoulders in turn and said

“The Lord will protect him.”

The corners of Li Zhuyuan's mouth twitched; he felt like laughing.

He could sense that when Xue Liangliang said he wanted to help his classmate, he was sincere. But that didn't stop him from abandoning his altruistic intentions once he realized the terrifying severity of the situation.

Xue Liangliang reached out and brushed Li Zhuyuan's nose, saying

“In everything, you have to be open-minded. If you want to live a happy life, you have to learn to reject emotional internal friction.”

With that, Xue Liangliang turned and asked, “The shower is in the back, right? I'm going to take a shower first.”

Watching his retreating back, Li Zhuyuan fell into deep thought.

Xue Liangliang's words had touched him.

Perhaps, because he was always thinking about how to play his role well, he was becoming less and less like himself.

...

On the walls of Li Sanjiang's bedroom, divine statues were pasted everywhere.

These were all bought in one go during the temple fair the year before last. He had thrown them in a cabinet and hadn't used them until today.

Among them was a painting of an old man with a kind face and an immortal aura. Li Sanjiang had placed him in the center.

He believed it was Laozi, but in reality... it was Confucius.

After a day of hard work, he was indeed tired. After setting everything up, he went to sleep very early.

Then, he dreamed.

It was strange; it seemed that ever since he performed the luck-changing ritual with Xiao Yuan, his dreams had become exceptionally frequent.

Only this time, the dream wasn't on the roof of the town health center, but on a road.

Turning to look to the right, he saw the familiar gate. On one side of the gate hung the sign he had kissed many times during the day.

Footsteps came from behind.

Li Sanjiang turned around and saw a small figure slowly emerging from the shadows, carrying immense resentment.

Without hesitation, Li Sanjiang ran straight into the police station.

The young girl stood outside the police station, her expression venomous, her mouth moving incessantly.

The threats heard during the first night of dreaming were crystal clear—she wanted him dead. While dozing off on the tractor, her voice had become blurred.

But now,

He could only watch her small mouth moving non-stop. Although he couldn't hear anything at all, she was likely cursing very filthily.

“Hehe.”

Li Sanjiang chuckled, then lay down on his own.

When encountering someone who could be reasoned with, he didn't mind swallowing his pride to plead or even kneeling to kowtow.

But evil spirits were ultimately transformed from humans. Some could be communicated with, but others were simply impossible to talk to.

When encountering such a person, even paying her any attention was a waste of energy.

At least in his dreams, Li Sanjiang had seen the world; after all, he was a leader who had once led a group of zombies in a drill in the Forbidden City within a dream.

Therefore, Li Sanjiang simply lay down, folded his hands, and placed them over his navel.

Tired, he went to sleep.

In reality, outside the house, Xue Liangliang walked out of the shower while drying his hair. He looked curiously at the willow tree diagonally across from the house.

The willow branches were swaying continuously as if blown by the wind, but strangely, he didn't feel even a hint of a breeze.

“How strange. Why won't the wind blow in?”

He didn't think much of it. The main thing was that today's experiences had been too bizarre, and he had no heart to study wind directions.

When he returned to the bedroom, he saw Li Zhuyuan sitting at the desk with a lamp on, reading a book.

Leaning closer, he saw that the characters on the page were dense and ridiculously small. He couldn't help but worry

“Reading such small text at night will make you nearsighted.”

“It won't, Brother Liangliang. I'm used to it. I can recognize the content just by scanning it by feel.”

“That magical?” Xue Liangliang didn't think Li Zhuyuan was lying, so he got into bed first.

The characteristic of an old-fashioned wooden bed was that it was sufficiently spacious.

“Xiao Yuan, are you sleeping on the outside or the inside?”

“Either is fine with me.”

“Then I'll sleep on the outside. Children feel safer sleeping on the inside.”

“Mhm.”

“When do you plan to sleep?”

“I'll go wash up and sleep after reading a bit more.”

“I think you should just treat these as a hobby. You still need to put more effort into your studies.”

“Mhm, I know.”

In the past, Xue Liangliang would definitely have advised him more, but today, he couldn't persuade him. Thinking carefully, he had indeed relied on these "useless" books read by Li Zhuyuan to help him immensely today.

Therefore, he changed his tone: “Xiao Yuan, thinking about it, it really is quite interesting. Before the day before yesterday, I never expected such things to actually exist in this world. But somehow, I don't seem to be very afraid. Not that I'm not afraid, but I'm not as panicked.”

“Fear stems from the unknown. Now that you've tracked down the Lady of the Bai Family's hometown, Brother Liangliang, what is there to be afraid of?”

“True. But tell me, should I also read some books on this subject? Do you have any recommendations?”

Li Zhuyuan hesitated and said, “These books belong to my great-grandfather. I can't decide to lend them to you; you have to ask him first.”

“Then forget it. Your great-grandfather specializes in this field; these books must be his treasures. He certainly won't lend them to outsiders easily.”

On this point, Xue Liangliang was wrong.

For all these years, Li Sanjiang had simply let these many boxes of books gather dust in the basement.

“Xiao Yuan, what is the phone number for your village? Let's exchange contact information.”

Li Zhuyuan gave the number for the village committee, and also the number for the village grocery store.

Generally, when people in the village wanted to make a call, they went to one of these two places. Incoming calls from outside also went here; after stating who they were looking for, they would hang up to give time for someone to be called, and then call back fifteen minutes later.

Li Zhuyuan had memorized this number in the hope that his mother would call him, and his mother indeed did not disappoint his expectations—she never called once.

“Forget it, I'll write it down.” Xue Liangliang got out of bed, walked to the desk, took paper and a pen to write down the number, and then sighed.

Although Li Zhuyuan kept his head down reading, he was still able to multitask, saying

“Brother Liangliang, are you going to say that one day, every household will have a telephone?”

“There will be such a day, do you believe it?”

“I believe it. But it seems pagers are popular right now.”

A few years ago, pagers began to enter the country and quickly became widely popular. Young people in the cities even took pride in having a pager clipped to their waist.

“I was just planning to get one myself. I'll get them both at once then. I'll get you one, how about it, Xiao Yuan?”

Li Zhuyuan shook his head. “I have no use for one.”

“Oh, right.” Xue Liangliang slapped his forehead. “I said I would buy snacks and toys for you, but I completely forgot. I'll mail them to you once I return to school.”

“Thank you, Brother Liangliang.”

“Then I'll sleep first.” Xue Liangliang got back into bed and soon fell asleep.

After Li Zhuyuan finished reading the scroll in his hand, he went to the shower. As he passed in front of his great-grandfather's bedroom, he could clearly hear the sound of his great-grandfather's snoring through the door.

It seemed his great-grandfather was sleeping soundly.

Returning to his own bedroom, he placed a new toothbrush in the washbasin, then climbed into the inner side of the bed, lay down, and went to sleep.

The next day, Xue Liangliang woke up very early.

He had a characteristic: while his sleep quality was high, his sleep duration was relatively short. He only needed half the sleep time of others to achieve better energy recovery.

Opening his eyes, he glanced at the still-sleeping Li Zhuyuan beside him. Xue Liangliang couldn't help but think how fun it would be if this child actually got into Haihe University and became his schoolmate in the future.

He got out of bed quietly and saw the new toothbrush in the washbasin. He picked up the basin, preparing to wash up, and had just pulled the door open.

“MOMMY!!!”

Xue Liangliang was so startled that he dropped the basin on the floor, and his wash cup, towel, and toothbrush scattered everywhere.

Anyone opening a door in the early morning to find a little girl standing silently there would be terrified.

Li Zhuyuan was awakened by the noise. He hurried out of bed, rubbing his eyes as he ran over, using his other hand to grab Qin Li's hand and urging

“Brother Liangliang, hurry up and wash up.”

“Oh, okay.”

Xue Liangliang immediately picked up his things and went out. What he didn't know was that if Li Zhuyuan had been even a moment later in getting out of bed, he might have ended up covered in bruises.

Because when Li Zhuyuan held A-Li's hand, her body was already trembling—a sign that she was about to lash out.

Originally, according to habit, Li Zhuyuan could sleep in. Even if A-Li came and he didn't wake up, she would sit quietly and wait for him to wake.

However, Xue Liangliang sleeping here last night had broken this habit.

And because of his shout, the breakfast time for everyone in the house was moved forward.

After washing up and while eating breakfast, Auntie Zhang from the village grocery store shouted toward the house from across the wheat fields: “Grandpa Sanjiang, a phone call!”

“Oh, coming!”

Li Sanjiang stuffed some pickles into his mouth, then took his chopsticks and the porridge bowl and walked outside while eating.

Arriving at the grocery store, after waiting for the duration of a cigarette, the phone rang again. He answered; it was Yingzi's aunt, Chen Xiaoling.

On the phone, she said the farm owner had been found, dead in the house of a widow in town. That widow was quite devoted and was preparing to hold a funeral for him.

However, the items were not found. They said the songstress had also been there; the three of them were often together.

The songstress was not a local, and her workplace had been questioned; they said she hadn't shown up for work last week without saying anything, and the identity information she registered was fake.

Currently, it was suspected that the missing jewelry and the porcelain vase were in that woman's hands, but finding her now would be very difficult.

On the other hand, Zhou Hai should be cleared of suspicion and would be released at noon.

Chen Xiaoling anxiously asked the couple what they should do, because she had had another nightmare last night.

Li Sanjiang patiently comforted her for a few words, instructing her that once Zhou Hai was released, the two of them should go to the foot of Ziyun Tower at Langshan to burn some incense.

Chen Xiaoling asked nervously if that would be enough.

Li Sanjiang then suggested they burn incense at the other four mountains today as well—Junshan, Huangni Mountain, Ma'an Mountain, and Jianshan.

In truth, Li Sanjiang wasn't sure if it would be useful; he mainly just didn't want to continue being involved in this matter.

Yesterday, he had essentially severed his connection with that Lady of the Bai Family; even an abrupt severance was a severance.

He had no reason to continue wading through this muddy water for the Zhou Hai couple. He wasn't getting paid, they weren't close relatives, and that thing was so fierce—why bother?

Besides, this was something they had brought upon themselves through their own greed; he had already done more than his duty.

Thinking about having to burn incense on five mountains, Chen Xiaoling lost her confidence. She thanked Li Sanjiang repeatedly on the phone and hung up just as the timer reached 60 seconds.

Auntie Zhang said with a smile, “Grandpa Sanjiang, you really have a lot of work now. I even heard people discussing your business when I went to the Shigang Wholesale Department to restock.”

“It's not all good things. Just getting by. Here, give me a pack of Daqianmen.”

“Coming right up.”

This was a sort of unspoken understanding in the village; you couldn't let someone run errands for you for nothing. After taking a call, you had to buy something, even if it was just two candies for a child.

Carrying the cigarettes home, as he approached the turn in the road, he saw Xue Liangliang walking out.

“Grandpa, I'm heading back to school.”

“What, you're leaving already?”

“Mhm, I only took one day off.”

“Then be careful on the road.”

“Yes, okay. Grandpa, I'll come see you again later.”

“Hehe.”

Li Sanjiang gave a dry laugh and waved his hand. He came to stay the night and eat breakfast and was already leaving without even giving his great-grandson a tutoring session. This college student was truly sharp.

Just as he was about to walk in, he saw someone in the distance riding a bicycle toward him. He looked somewhat familiar; after thinking carefully, he remembered that this was likely a member of the Niu family, Niu Fu's youngest son.

The man quickly dismounted the bicycle, pushed it, and ran up to Li Sanjiang, saying anxiously

“Grandpa Sanjiang, please, go see my father again. Something has happened to my father.”

Li Sanjiang frowned and said directly, “Sigh, it happened after all. But that has nothing to do with me; that is heaven's will and fate.”

What a joke; he, Li Sanjiang, wasn't a TV salesman in a mall; how could he provide after-sales service?

“No, Grandpa, really. Not only has my father had something happen, but my second uncle and my aunt have also had something happen. Everyone is very panicked, so they sent me to ask you to go see again.”

“That won't do, that won't do. Breaking the rules once is already too much for me to handle. If I keep breaking them, how am I supposed to live? My coffin hasn't even been lacquered yet.”

“Grandpa, really, please. Right now, the family can only rely on you.” As he spoke, he pulled a red envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Li Sanjiang's hand.

Li Sanjiang's attitude was softened by the thickness of the red envelope.

“Then... I can only go take a look. Actually, if something truly happens, I'm afraid it will be hard for me to do much. All I can do is pray for blessings for you youngsters, provide some protection, and cleanse the feng shui.”

“That's wonderful! That's it, just doing that is enough. Really, we are very grateful.”

In truth, they youngsters weren't particularly concerned about those three elders; they were worried that after those three had successive accidents, the next batch would be them.

“Go back first. I need to tidy up and prepare here. I'll go this afternoon.”

“Okay, okay, okay, Grandpa. We'll wait for you at home.”

After the man rode away, Li Sanjiang walked along the path through the rice fields while opening the red envelope. After confirming every bill was a large denomination, a smile appeared on his face.

Hey, the feeling of making money early in the morning is truly great.

Indeed, how could he always be assigned bad jobs?

In fact, as Liu Jinxia had said, this profession inherently involves deception; many times, it is just a performance.

But it depends on the person. Some people are just inherently troublesome; if you coax them and earn their money, you might as well consider it as helping them resolve their misfortune through financial loss.

Returning home, Li Sanjiang didn't do much preparation. He lay down on a rattan chair on the second-floor terrace, turned on the radio, and prepared to nap until the afternoon.

As he was adjusting his position, Li Sanjiang saw two children in the northeast corner, each lying on a small lounge chair, side by side.

Moreover, the chairs were made such that one was missing the right armrest and the other was missing the left; when placed together, they formed a perfect pair with no gap in between.

“You little brat, you certainly know how to enjoy life.”

Near noon, a shirtless youth pushed a cart up onto the courtyard; it was Runsheng.

He had helped Grandpa Shan with his dentures and looked after his injuries for two days. After using the money earned from the Niu family last time to buy a batch of rice, flour, oil, and grain, he had been kicked out of Grandpa Shan's house.

Auntie Liu greeted him politely: “Runsheng is here. Are you hungry? I'll be cooking soon, hehe.”

Runsheng nodded. “I'm starving. My grandpa wouldn't let me eat the day before yesterday, telling me to save my stomach to come and eat here.”

“That's good. I've made a new batch of incense here. When the food is ready, you can taste it and see if it's authentic.”

“Okay, I'll be waiting.”

As Runsheng spoke, he wiped the corner of his mouth.

Hearing the conversation from the second floor, Li Sanjiang was itching with anger. He thought that old fellow had forgotten about this, but it turned out he had still driven his mule to come and eat his fodder.

However, the timing was indeed good; he could have the boy push the cart to take him there this afternoon.

Although this kid could eat a lot, as long as he was full, he would be more useful than an ox.

“Runsheng Hou, you've come.”

Runsheng looked up at Li Sanjiang and nodded vigorously. “Mhm, I'm here. Grandpa, I missed you.”

“I missed you too, good boy. In the afternoon, take Grandpa to the Niu family to do a job.”

“You got it, Grandpa.”

Hearing the commotion and his great-grandfather's words, Li Zhuyuan knew that the cat-faced old woman had already finished the initial work.

“Brother Runsheng.”

“Hey, Xiao Yuan.”

Runsheng gave Li Zhuyuan a brief greeting and then went to squat in front of the batch of new incense Auntie Liu was drying. He was simply too hungry to care about anything else.

Li Zhuyuan then walked up to Li Sanjiang and gave a well-behaved smile. “Great-grandfather.”

“Mhm, what is it?”

“I want to go to Shigang Town this afternoon to buy some stationery.”

“Fine, then go with Great-grandfather this afternoon.”

Li Sanjiang agreed readily. He felt there was no danger at the Niu house, since that corpse-cultivator had already been slain by his peach wood sword.

“Thank you, Great-grandfather.”

Li Zhuyuan stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Li Sanjiang's neck, pressed his face against his chest, and gave him a hug.

Li Sanjiang laughed and patted Li Zhuyuan's head

“Yo yo yo, hahaha, it's a small matter, a small matter. Whatever you want to buy, Great-grandfather will buy it for you. Great-grandfather has money, plenty of money!”

This kind of affection from a junior was very pleasing to Li Sanjiang.

However, he had also reflected on it himself; it seemed he didn't just like juniors, he just liked Xiao Yuan.

Even though the child didn't focus on his studies, he was truly lovable.

After settling things with his great-grandfather, Li Zhuyuan sat back in his chair and continued reading.

As he was reading, he suddenly felt two hands press against him. The movements were slow and awkward, but they gradually wrapped around his neck, and then a face pressed against his chest.

Li Zhuyuan understood immediately; A-Li was imitating his previous actions to make his great-grandfather happy.

Then, he noticed a look of confusion in the girl's eyes.

Li Zhuyuan understood. He could only reach out and gently pat the girl's head

“Whatever you want to buy, I'll buy it for you. I have money, plenty of money!”

The girl was satisfied. She let go and returned to her normal posture, her eyes bright—at least in this corner, they outshone the midday sun.

Downstairs, Liu Yumei, who was drinking tea by herself, felt her hand trembling slightly as she held the cup. She cursed inwardly

“You have money? What money does a little brat like you have!”

Yet, amidst the bitterness, there was a profound sense of relief, and tears welled in the corners of her eyes.

Since her granddaughter had fallen ill, when had she ever made such a gesture?

Sometimes, the hardest thing is the breakthrough from zero to one. She was already imagining a day in the future when her granddaughter would also hug her neck like this and let her gently pat her head.

She lowered her head and continued drinking her tea, then frowned slightly.

Had the tea gone bad? Why was it both sour and sweet?

...

After leaving Siyuan Village, Xue Liangliang first took a bus to the City People's Hospital to visit the hospitalized Zhao Hequan.

Zhao Hequan's condition was very poor. Since being admitted, his symptoms had been continuously worsening. Now, his entire body from head to toe looked as if it had been dyed, presenting a bluish-purple hue.

Coincidentally, Luo Tingrui was also there to visit. After a perfunctory glance at Zhao Hequan, he signaled for Xue Liangliang to come out with him.

He truly did not like Zhao Hequan. As the department head, he often took them on field internships outside the school, and Zhao Hequan was quite talkative and prone to showing off. Even if he saw a dog peeing on a utility pole while on the bus, he would have to make some sarcastic comment.

Luo Tingrui was a man of action. Although he had also come from a student background and understood the current social trends, he still looked down on the idle whining of such people, because all they did was whine and moan.

On the contrary, Xue Liangliang had always been in his good graces. If it weren't for the fact that this kid seemed determined to go to the Southwest after graduation, he would have planned to introduce his daughter to him.

“Liangliang, you're heading back to school, right?”

“Yes, Director. I'll head to the station in a bit.”

“Come with me. Some comrades from the higher authorities are coming down, along with some local comrades. We are going to the riverbank for an inspection. Once the inspection is over, we will return to school together.”

“Understood, Director.”

Although the inspection team was assembled on short notice, there were quite a few people.

Three small cars and one bus were all full. After leaving the city area, they headed south to the Yangtze River, which belonged to a county under Nantong.

After getting off the bus, there was a round of pleasantries, mostly consisting of introductions by the local comrades, after which everyone would occasionally ask for Luo Tingrui's opinion.

Following behind, Xue Liangliang understood: this was for the planning and conceptualization of a future cross-river bridge. The authorities intended to build a bridge here to connect Nantong and Shanghai.

However, it was currently only in the planning and conceptualization stage and did not yet meet the conditions for construction.

But this was enough to make Xue Liangliang feel excited. After all, any grand project begins with this step.

A pre-arranged boat arrived to take everyone on board. As the boat moved onto the river, everyone could experience the scenery more directly.

“Although ferry boats can currently solve transportation issues, the lack of a true bridge still seriously hinders local economic development...”

While the local comrades were describing the actual situation, Xue Liangliang listened while leaning against the railing, his gaze fixed on the river, marveling at the vast, continuous scenery where the river met the sky.

Then, he frowned and lowered his head to look at the river below

“According to the incorrect orientation in the local chronicles, it seems Bai Family Town...

At this moment...

Is right beneath my feet.”