Chapter 4

When Li Sanjiang carried Li Zhuiyuan back home, the horizon was just beginning to show a hint of white.

Cui Guiying took the child, and after Li Sanjiang spoke with Li Weihan for a while, he left.

Li Zhuiyuan was laid out on the mat bed; he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

He couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he seemed to see the little yellow oriole dancing in the fishpond again.

Cui Guiying and Li Weihan did not go into the inner room to rest, but sat in the kitchen instead.

The woman kept rubbing her fingers until they turned red; the man kept puffing on his water pipe, bowl after bowl.

Looking at the brightening sky, Cui Guiying stood up and said, "I'll go make breakfast for the children first."

Li Weihan exhaled a cloud of smoke and said, "It's a bit early to start the fire."

Cui Guiying had no choice but to sit back down, looking at her husband: "Then how long do we have to wait?"

"Wait for someone to notify us."

"Who will notify us?"

Li Weihan didn't answer, just continued to puff on the mouthpiece.

After sitting for a while longer, a knock came at the door

"Guiying Hou, Guiying Hou."

It was the neighbor next door, Zhao Simei.

Li Weihan tapped his water pipe and said, "The notification is here."

Cui Guiying stood up, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she opened the door, asking in confusion, "What is it, Simei Hou?"

Zhao Simei reached out and grabbed Cui Guiying’s arm, shaking it hard

"Big Beard’s family has dead people!"

"What?"

"Two of them died, Big Beard and his youngest son. Someone just saw them floating in their fishpond. Everyone is going to look, let’s go together!"

"Let's go!"

Before leaving, Cui Guiying shouted into the inner room: "Ying Hou, the rice is washed, you make breakfast in a bit."

"Got it, Grandma."

After receiving the reply, Cui Guiying went out with Zhao Simei.

Li Weihan waited for a moment, felt the opened pack of cigarettes in his pocket, set his water pipe on the table, and also went out.

Zhao Simei’s earlier knocking had actually woken the children. Knowing something extraordinary had happened, the children also scrambled up and ran out to watch the excitement.

No matter how much Yingzi shouted at them from behind to "brush your teeth and wash your face," she couldn't call them back.

By now, the fishpond at Big Beard’s house was surrounded by people. Villagers were still rushing toward the scene along the village road—men, women, old, and young, dragging their families along.

Two corpses were floating on the fishpond. No one went to deal with them, even though a small boat was moored right by the bank.

Although Big Beard’s family didn't have a good reputation in the village, the villagers weren't so cold-hearted as to be indifferent.

The reason no one helped pull the bodies ashore was that the two corpses looked like biscuits that had been soaked in a bowl for too long—bloated out of shape, and their skin had a translucent, meat-crystal color, looking like two large, human-shaped blocks of pork jelly.

Most people know that drowned bodies bloat after being soaked for a long time, but how could two people who were alive and well yesterday turn into something like soaked wood-ear mushrooms after just one night?

It was too eerie, and as a result, no one dared to go down and touch the bodies.

Big Beard’s wife knelt by the pond, wailing loudly, but she only knew how to cry and didn't know what to do. People around tried to persuade her, but she ignored them, only howling about her bitter fate.

Finally, Big Beard’s eldest son rushed back from town, and there was finally someone in charge.

However, when this eldest son saw his father and younger brother floating on the pond in that state, his face twitched in terror. He didn't dare go down to retrieve them either, so he had to beg someone to fetch Li Sanjiang.

Li Sanjiang arrived pushing a flatbed cart, loaded with his tools.

Upon arriving, Li Sanjiang first took a look at the situation on the pond, then immediately waved his hands and backed away in fear

"Damn it, I don't dare fish these out. It’ll shorten my life, it’ll shorten my life! Find someone else, hurry and find someone else!"

His panic caused an uproar among the surrounding villagers, who began whispering about what kind of sin Big Beard’s family had committed to attract such evil.

Soon, some villagers brought up the matter of the little yellow oriole from yesterday. After all, the funeral troupe had almost come to blows at Big Beard’s house; secrets were hard to keep in the village.

Li Weihan also spoke up at this moment, recounting to those around him his experience taking his grandchildren out on the river in a boat yesterday. He told them how his grandson had fallen into the water, had a nightmare about seeing a woman walking in the water, and was so terrified he fell into a delirious state. Even Zheng Datong couldn't help, and it was only thanks to Blind Liu that he was treated.

Immediately, many people crowded around to listen to Li Weihan’s account, constantly offering their own opinions.

Cui Guiying stood beside Li Weihan, looking very nervous. On a normal day, if she didn't have to cook or wash clothes, she could sit on the embankment and gossip with the village women for three days and three nights, but today, she was uncharacteristically mute and didn't dare speak.

Her heart felt hollow and panicked, like a thief crying "stop thief," or a cat pretending to mourn a mouse.

Panzi, Leizi, Huzi, and Shitou also began to talk, saying they had seen a female water ghost yesterday who almost dragged their little Yuan Hou down to be a substitute ghost—she was there for revenge!

For a time, the surroundings felt like a large open-air tea party. Once the matter of the little yellow oriole had been discussed thoroughly, the villagers, still feeling unsatisfied, dug up all the old, dusty scandals of Big Beard’s family to stir up again.

Not long after, Big Beard’s second son, his wife, and his two daughters with their husbands also rushed home. The two daughters began to cry while hugging their mother, while the two sons and two husbands stood together negotiating the price with Li Sanjiang.

Li Sanjiang put on a heavy act, using the excuse that it was a double retrieval and the bodies were so "evil," and demanded ten times the usual price for pulling one person ashore.

Once the price was settled, Li Sanjiang set up an altar, offered incense, lit candles, and burned paper. He added an extra half-hour of chanting "calling the friends and companions," attracting the attention of the entire crowd.

Although this performance wasn't as flashy as the funeral troupe’s, everyone knew the funeral troupe was just for show, while this man was the real professional.

During this time, two Santana cars drove up with police lights on their roofs; the town police station had arrived.

Usually, if someone drowned, it was just a drowning—not a big deal. But this time, two people, a father and son, had drowned right at their own doorstep, so the nature of the matter was different.

The police came over to look at the situation and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. It wasn't that they hadn't seen bloated corpses before, but they had never seen them bloated so "exquisitely."

Seeing this, they had no choice but to wait for the bodies to be retrieved before doing anything else. They didn't interrupt Li Sanjiang’s ritual, but they didn't crowd around either, instead returning to their cars by the roadside to smoke and wait slowly.

Finally, Li Sanjiang finished his work. He slaughtered a rooster and sprinkled a bowl of what might or might not have been real black dog blood, then finally went down to the pond and poled the boat to the center.

He first used a "guide hook" to pull the bodies to the side of the boat, then used a "soul-returning basket" to secure and lift the bodies onto the boat, and finally covered them with a "homecoming net." After poling the boat to the bank, he bent his waist, lowered his head, and used a specific technique to hoist the bodies onto his back before stepping ashore.

This was a very important rule in the trade of corpse-retrievers: the retriever’s own feet must touch the shore first before setting the body down, because this was the only way to "send" and "carry" them home.

Finally, only after the family members called out to them could the bodies be set down. This was considered a completed transaction, ensuring the dead knew they had truly returned home and wouldn't become wandering ghosts following the retriever.

After repeating the process twice, the father and son were finally finished with their drifting and were laid out on two straw mats.

Once everything was done, Li Sanjiang looked toward the center of the fishpond with lingering fear. He had only dutifully retrieved the bodies and hadn't dared to truly investigate further.

Heaven knows if she was still in there.

The police came over to cordon off the bodies, but the villagers didn't care; they still stood in the distance, craning their necks to watch, with the occasional terrified scream of a child echoing through the air.

Li Sanjiang collected his money, packed up his tools, and walked back with a cigarette in his mouth, pushing his cart. The surrounding villagers all avoided him and made way; everyone was eager to stay away from someone who had just retrieved corpses.

The police began their formal investigation, using Big Beard’s house as a temporary office. The village secretary also came to assist, helping to call people, boil water, and serve tea.

Big Beard’s wife couldn't explain anything. She had simply woken up to find her husband missing from her side, and it was only when outsiders passed by their fishpond and saw the two of them floating on the water that they called out to her.

The deputy chief leading the team asked the village secretary who in the village had a grudge against Big Beard’s family. The village secretary picked at his ear and replied indifferently

"Oh, that’s quite a long list."

Next, those with grudges lined up to give statements.

This included Li Weihan, who told the story of the "little yellow oriole," as well as Panzi, Leizi, and the others, who were all called in for questioning.

At first, the police thought another body had been discovered and even sent officers to follow Li Weihan to that section of the river to search, but they found nothing. Coupled with the fact that Li Weihan’s account was a bit too bizarre, they could only treat it as the superstitious story of a rural old man blowing smoke to his grandchildren.

They didn't even know if they should record it. Seeing that everyone didn't believe him, Li Weihan became anxious, repeatedly insisting that what he encountered was real, pestering the police and those around him to believe him. In the end, he was "coaxed" away by the village secretary.

The funeral troupe that had caused trouble yesterday was also summoned for investigation, but they had gone to a neighboring township to work the day before the incident, and the entire troupe had an alibi.

As for the disappearance of the little yellow oriole and the entanglements involved, firstly, neither the person nor the body could be found, and secondly, the responsible parties—Big Beard and his son—were already dead, so it could only be filed as a missing person case for now.

In the end, this father-son drowning incident was handled as an accidental death. The general idea was that Big Beard and his son had been drinking at night, got carried away, went to the fishpond to act out their drunken madness, and then drowned.

Big Beard’s family didn't make a fuss about continuing the investigation, because after the funeral, the two sons and two daughters started arguing over the division of the estate, tearing their faces off in a very ugly scene, which added another topic of gossip for the village.

That day, it was already dusk by the time the statements were finished. Li Weihan and Cui Guiying walked home with the children, the children walking in front and the old couple behind.

Cui Guiying patted her chest, asking with lingering fear: "Why did you take the initiative to go up and talk about it, and even get called in by the police for questioning? You scared me to death."

Li Weihan threw the empty cigarette pack in his pocket to the side of the road, pursed his lips, and said

"Uncle taught me that it has to be said, it can't be bottled up. Zheng Datong and Liu Jinxia also know something about Xiao Yuan Hou’s matter."

Cui Guiying complained: "Just let them know to keep it a secret, that would have been enough."

Li Weihan shook his head: "Even if the adults can keep a secret, can the children keep it without letting it slip?"

"This..."

Li Weihan let out a long sigh,

and said

"Uncle said, the best way to keep a secret is to say it out loud in public."

...

Almost everyone in the village had gone to Big Beard’s fishpond to watch the excitement. Li Zhuiyuan didn't go. He lay on the bed, unable to sleep, so he moved a small stool and sat on the embankment outside the house, looking at the distant farmland.

After a while, his sister Yingzi, who had finished washing the dishes, also came out. She first moved out a square stool, placed her stationery and homework on it, and sat on a small stool herself. A simple desk was thus formed, with the bright sun of the day serving as her desk lamp.

Yingzi’s parents didn't pay much attention to her studies, but they had never said things like "it's useless for a girl to go to school," "better to get married early," or "find connections to get into a textile factory to earn money."

When tuition was due at the start of the semester, they paid it. For usual material fees and the like, she didn't need to be shy or feel guilty; she could just ask for it normally.

But everything is relative. Compared to other girls in the village, the "pure free-range" indifference of Yingzi’s parents had instead become a model for valuing a daughter’s education.

Yingzi knew this was influenced by her aunt, Li Lan.

Her aunt had changed her own destiny through education and became the pride of her grandparents. Even her father and uncles would unconsciously puff out their chests with pride whenever they mentioned her to outsiders.

However, Yingzi’s grades were only average, even though she worked very hard and didn't slack off.

Her grandparents certainly couldn't have deliberately sacrificed their sons to support their daughter; it was just that her father and uncles really couldn't absorb book knowledge.

This made her wonder: did the Li family’s brains all go to her aunt?

At first, this thought was just a passing one, not strong, until the second day after Xiao Yuan Hou was sent here. As he sat next to her, looking slightly reserved, when she was stuck on a math problem for a long time, a quiet voice came from her ear

"Square root of 3."

Later, whenever Yingzi had a problem she couldn't solve, she would let Li Zhuiyuan do it. Yingzi also discovered that Xiao Yuan Hou almost didn't need to think; he could give the answer just by glancing at the problem.

Perhaps for him, the biggest trouble was having to write out the solution process, otherwise his foolish sister wouldn't understand!

You have to know, she was already in her first year of high school.

Yingzi asked him what kind of school he attended in Beijing, and Li Zhuiyuan replied: "The Juvenile Class."

Yingzi subconsciously understood "Juvenile Class" as elementary school,

and sighed in her heart: "As expected of a primary school student in the capital, the curriculum is so advanced."

Li Zhuiyuan just sat there in a daze, occasionally coming back to his senses to help his sister with a problem, then returning to his daze.

Sensing a pen cap lightly poking her, Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at the problem, but saw his sister pointing to the west side of the embankment. There was a step, and standing below the step was a little girl in a floral dress.

It was Cuicui, Liu Jinxia’s granddaughter. She stood there timidly, not daring to come up.

Yingzi frowned at Li Zhuiyuan, signaling him not to pay attention to her.

In the past, she would have spoken up directly, as the village children had a consensus not to play with her. But since Liu Jinxia and her daughter had come to the house to "treat" her brother yesterday, she felt embarrassed to say it out loud now.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up, took the initiative to walk to the edge of the embankment, came to Cuicui, and asked with a smile

"You're here, is something the matter?"

Cuicui looked in another direction, her fingers pinching the hem of her dress, and said: "Come to play with you."

"Alright." Li Zhuiyuan turned and waved to his sister Yingzi, "Sister, I'm going to play with Cuicui."

Yingzi didn't say anything, sighed, and lowered her head to continue her homework.

Actually, there wasn't much to play. Many times, it was just that they didn't want to stay at home, so they ran to a friend’s house, called them out, and then everyone wandered around aimlessly.

Cuicui looked at Li Zhuiyuan, who had walked out with her, her eyes filled with joy. This was the first time she had learned to go to someone else’s house to call them out, just like the other children in the village.

However, she still didn't dare to walk onto their embankment without permission. Children of this age might not understand many things, but they were more sensitive; she didn't want to face the eye-rolls of the adults.

"Brother Yuan Hou, my mom said you were sick yesterday?"

"Yeah." Reminded of this, the little yellow oriole appeared in Li Zhuiyuan’s mind again, and his smile gradually faded.

"Ah?" Cuicui immediately apologized, "I won't say it, I won't say it. Being sick is really not fun."

Li Zhuiyuan felt his pocket and said apologetically: "Uh, I forgot to bring you snacks."

Actually, it wasn't that he forgot. With his grandparents not at home, the cabinet where the snacks were kept was locked and couldn't be opened. Yingzi seemed to know where the key was hidden, but Li Zhuiyuan knew that if he asked her for help, she would badmouth Cuicui to him in the room.

"Snacks? I have them at home, lots of them. Let's go to my house to eat."

"Go to your house?"

"Yeah, go to my house to play."

"Alright."

Having been agreed to, Cuicui gathered her courage and took the initiative to hold Li Zhuiyuan’s hand, and the two walked along the field path together.

At this moment, she really hoped that the adults on the embankments of the houses along the road would see her and ask her: "Oh, little Cui Hou, who are you playing with?"

She also hoped to meet peers on the road so they could see that she had a playmate too.

Unfortunately, most of the people in the village had gone to Big Beard’s fishpond to watch the "pork jelly."

However, she was still very happy, and the corners of her mouth never went down. If she weren't holding hands, she felt she would be happy enough to spin around.

"Brother Yuan Hou, do you not understand us very well?"

"At first I couldn't understand at all, then I could understand if people spoke slowly and used short sentences. Now, not only do I understand everything, I can even speak some myself, it's just that I don't speak it standardly."

When he was first sent to this home, he really couldn't understand what the elders were saying to him at all. Only the brothers and sisters who had been to school could communicate with him in Mandarin.

He remembered that every time he called Li Weihan and Cui Guiying "Grandpa and Grandma" (using the maternal terms), they would be visibly unhappy and repeatedly correct him, telling him to call them "Grandpa and Grandma" (using the paternal terms).

The local area indeed didn't use the maternal terms for grandparents; often, they distinguished between grandmothers by direction, such as "South Grandma" for the one living in the south and "North Grandma" for the one in the north.

"By the way, Brother Yuan Hou, have you been to the Forbidden City?"

"Yeah, I have."

"I want to go there in the future too."

"Alright, call me, and I'll take you."

"Really? You can't lie to me?"

"I won't lie to you, I'm very familiar with the Forbidden City."

In Li Zhuiyuan’s memory, there was a period when Li Lan worked at the Forbidden City, and he was left there to play by himself. Sometimes he would sit on the steps of the side gate, holding an orange cat in his arms, watching the endless stream of tourists entering from the main gate, watching for an entire afternoon.

"By the way, Brother Yuan Hou, have you ever drunk douzhi?"

"Uh..."

"Have you?" Cuicui looked over curiously with her big eyes.

"I have."

"Is it good? What does douzhi taste like?"

What does it taste like?

In Li Zhuiyuan’s mind, an image appeared of Cui Guiying washing out the pickled vegetable jar that had gone bad at home last week.

"Some people like it, some people don't."

"Is that so? Then I must try it when I go to Beijing in the future."

"Yeah."

"Brother Yuan Hou, look, that’s my house."

Following the direction of Cuicui’s finger, Li Zhuiyuan saw a two-story building behind a field.

"You live in a two-story house."

There were all kinds of houses in the village. Most were brick-and-tile bungalows, a few families in very difficult conditions still lived in mud houses, and similarly, a few families in very good conditions had taken the lead in building two-story houses.

Walking onto the embankment of Cuicui’s house, in the first-floor living room, Liu Jinxia was smoking a cigarette while playing bridge.

Her card partners were two old ladies and an old man. Coming to play cards with Liu Jinxia meant they could mooch a meal at her house, and the food was quite good—there was meat and wine. So Liu Jinxia never lacked card partners, and she was happy to spend a little to "buy" people to keep her company.

The card table was indeed a magical place. Even though Liu Jinxia suffered from cataracts and had poor eyesight, it didn't affect her speed of playing cards at all.

"Grandma, I brought Brother Yuan Hou home to play."

"Grandma Liu." Li Zhuiyuan called out.

"Yeah, go play." Liu Jinxia responded, then turned her attention back to the cards in her hand, "Pong!"

Just a moment ago, the people playing cards were talking about what was happening at Big Beard’s house. Liu Jinxia responded casually while exhaling smoke rings. Hearing that her granddaughter had brought Li Zhuiyuan in, she couldn't help but pause slightly, her eyes narrowing through the smoke.

This child was possessed by something yesterday, and this morning Big Beard and his son were floating in the fishpond.

If there wasn't something fishy about this, Liu Jinxia would be damned.

However, she didn't stop her granddaughter from playing with Li Zhuiyuan. Don't make me laugh—they were all cursed stars, who was there to look down on whom?

Cuicui took Li Zhuiyuan through the hall to the inner room. Inside, Li Juxiang was sitting on a stool picking vegetables. Seeing her daughter bring someone back, she was surprised, but upon seeing it was Li Zhuiyuan, a smile couldn't help but appear on her face.

This reminded her of the scenes of Li Lan and herself playing when they were young.

Li Juxiang immediately stood up and wiped her hands on her apron: "Sit, Xiao Yuan Hou."

Immediately after, she went into the room and brought out quite a few snacks to treat him. Liu Jinxia’s family conditions were indeed good, and since Cuicui was the only child in the family, she had snack privileges that other children in the village envied.

Li Juxiang also opened two bottles of lemon-flavored soda and gave one to Li Zhuiyuan and one to Cuicui.

This kind of carbonated drink, shaped like a beer bottle, was cheap and very popular. The children were too lazy to pour it into bowls and would just pick it up and drink directly from the bottle, imitating the boldness of adults drinking alcohol.

"Xiao Yuan Hou, is your mother doing well?"

"She's doing well, Auntie."

"I heard, your mom, she..." Li Juxiang suddenly realized it wasn't appropriate to ask a child this, and immediately changed her words, "Your mom and I used to play together a lot when we were young. We were very close."

"Yeah, Mom has told me about you, Xiang Hou, Auntie Xiang Hou."

Generally, adding "Hou" at the end was only used between elders and peers; juniors couldn't use it.

But Li Juxiang certainly wouldn't be angry because of this. On the contrary, she was very happy. She could imagine the scene of Li Lan talking about her to her son using the title "Xiang Hou," which proved she hadn't forgotten her.

"Your mom was very smart back then, and her grades were good, unlike me, who got a headache just seeing a book." Li Juxiang tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "When is your mom coming home to visit?"

"My mom is busy with work. She said when she's done, she'll come to pick me up."

Cuicui spoke up: "Mom, I'm taking Brother Yuan Hou upstairs to play."

"Yeah, go ahead, take good care of Xiao Yuan Hou."

Cuicui pulled Li Zhuiyuan up. When they reached the stairs, she skillfully took off her shoes and changed into a pair of slippers. Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan also went to take off his shoes.

"No, Brother Yuan Hou, don't take them off, just come up."

Li Zhuiyuan still took off his shoes, intending to walk up barefoot. Cuicui had no choice but to hand him her mother’s slippers to wear.

Wearing the oversized slippers, Li Zhuiyuan followed Cuicui to the second floor and into her room, where a black-and-white television was placed.

Liu Jinxia’s family had bought a TV long ago, but they hadn't made a fuss about it. Since the villagers were cold to her family, she couldn't be bothered to host people to watch TV at home.

Cuicui turned on the standing electric fan, but the blades didn't move: "Huh, is there a power outage?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "The plug isn't plugged in."

"Hey, that's right." Cuicui bent down, picked up the plug, and inserted it into the socket on the wall

"Hum... hum... hum-hum... hum-hum-hum—"

The heavy fan blades slowly turned, emitting a heavenly sound that could blow away the midsummer heat.

"Brother Yuan Hou, do you want to watch TV?"

"Either is fine."

Cuicui turned on the TV and twisted the dial. After one full turn, there were only a few channels, half of which were just static.

"Brother Jing, are you okay?"

"Rong'er, I'm fine."

"Hmph, Ouyang Feng, you person..."

Every winter and summer vacation, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" would be played on TV.

The two sat on the edge of the bed watching TV for a while, and Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt sleepy.

He hadn't rested since last night. Before, it was excessive emotional tension; now that the emotions had subsided, exhaustion hit him rapidly.

Cuicui mistakenly thought Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to watch TV, so she got off the bed and began to introduce the dolls, toys, and picture books in her room to Li Zhuiyuan.

Although he was very sleepy, Li Zhuiyuan still looked at her and tried his best to respond to every introduction.

The little girl was immersed in the joy of sharing, but she soon realized she couldn't hear any response. She turned her head to look at the bedside and found that Li Zhuiyuan had leaned against the side of the bed and fallen asleep.

Cuicui immediately stopped talking, leaned over on tiptoe, and carefully helped Li Zhuiyuan lie flat. She folded the thin summer quilt and covered his stomach with it.

Immediately after, she pushed the electric fan toward him and pressed the small button on the back of the fan, and the fan began to oscillate.

After doing all this, she moved a chair over, sat by the bed, rested her chin on her hand, and watched the sleeping Li Zhuiyuan.

After watching for a while, she would secretly smile, her earlobes turning red, and she would turn her face away. After a while, she couldn't help but continue looking at him.

Time passed by, just like that, without her noticing.

"Little Cui Hou, Little Cui Hou, bring Little Yuan Hou down to eat." Li Juxiang’s voice came from downstairs.

Cuicui immediately went downstairs and said to Li Juxiang: "Mom, Brother Yuan Hou is asleep."

"Then you come down and eat first, we'll save him some food."

"No, I'm not hungry, I want to wait for Brother Yuan Hou to wake up and eat with him."

Most parents in the village with a bit of self-awareness would stop their children from going out to find playmates near mealtime, fearing they would be invited to the table and appear to be taking advantage.

However, sometimes it was unavoidable, and naturally, they would end up at the table.

Cuicui had never experienced this; she was willing to wait for Li Zhuiyuan to wake up and eat with him.

Li Juxiang smiled, nodded, and went to the living room to invite her mother and the card players to have lunch.

Cuicui ran back to the second floor, sat back in that position, and continued to watch Li Zhuiyuan

"Huh?"

Cuicui leaned in a little closer, puzzled, because she noticed Brother Yuan Hou’s brows were furrowed.

"Is he having a dream?"

...

"Grandma, I brought Brother Yuan Hou home to play."

"Yeah, go play. Pong!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Cuicui standing in front of him, then looked at Liu Jinxia playing cards with three partners in the living room. He knew he was dreaming.

Because the scene around him was too detached from reality. His field of vision was entirely black and white; all the people and objects seemed to have been traced with charcoal.

Although they could present the corresponding people and objects, they were somewhat blurry and distorted. Within the rough lines, there was a sense of eerie randomness.

Li Zhuiyuan looked down at himself and found that he was normal; what was abnormal were the other people and objects in the dream.

This couldn't help but remind him of the tracing papers in his mother’s study—the same white background with charcoal marks.

He dreamed of the scene when he had just arrived at Cuicui’s house and greeted Liu Jinxia. Next, Cuicui in front of him took his hand and walked inside.

The little girl’s delicate hand, now held in his, was very rough and a bit painful, like sandpaper.

He couldn't help but break free and stop, but Cuicui continued to walk inside alone, yet her arm remained in the posture of holding someone.

And behind him, the four people playing cards in the living room suddenly went silent.

Li Zhuiyuan looked back and found that all four of them had frozen, motionless.

Even the smoke ring exhaled by Liu Jinxia was fixed there, not dispersing.

This stillness gave Li Zhuiyuan a chance to observe. The charcoal marks on the three card players were soft and relatively light, while Liu Jinxia’s image had very thick, deep, and hard lines.

Standing in place for a long time, Li Zhuiyuan was very puzzled. Every time he dreamed before, he would wake up immediately after realizing it was a dream, but this time, he was still in the dream.

In the end, Li Zhuiyuan chose to walk inside and saw Li Juxiang sitting there picking vegetables. The lines on Li Juxiang were also very hard, which was very discordant compared to the fine, light tracing patterns around her.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to Li Juxiang. The deep charcoal marks outlined the details of her expression. She was smiling, her eyes filled with reminiscence.

"Auntie Juxiang, Auntie Juxiang?"

Li Zhuiyuan tried calling a few times and even waved his hand in front of her, but Li Juxiang remained motionless, not even blinking.

After leaving here, Li Zhuiyuan came to the stairs. Before going up, he took off his shoes and walked up barefoot.

Coming to that bedroom, the standing electric fan stopped there and no longer turned, and the Guo Jing and Huang Rong on the TV were reduced to blurry sketches.

Cuicui was pointing at one of her dolls, her mouth open as if she were telling a story, also motionless.

The lines on Cuicui were clearer and harder than those on her grandmother and mother, almost becoming black, hard lines.

It was as if everyone and everything else had been drawn, while she had been carved.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the bed; he wasn't on it, it was empty.

It wasn't just things that were still; sound was too. Li Zhuiyuan suddenly realized that his ears hadn't heard any movement for a long time, and the whole world was terrifyingly quiet.

He began to panic because he didn't know how long he would have to stay in this dream.

He opened the door from the bedroom to the balcony. The second-floor balcony of this building was connected, covered with red and white tiles.

Looking into the distance, except for the scribbles near the houses that could barely be identified as farmland, most of the field of vision was a bleak blankness.

Looking up, only a glowing white patch remained where the sun should have been, very much like an eraser that would fall at any moment to wipe everything here away.

"Excuse me, is this Grandma Liu’s house?"

A voice came from the embankment below. At this moment, it sounded so abrupt, even ear-piercing.

Li Zhuiyuan, standing on the second floor, looked down. It was a man who looked about fifty years old, and he was carrying an old woman on his back.

The old woman was very thin. What was exposed outside her sleeves were only bones wrapped in shriveled skin. Her hair was long and messy, draped over her back.

"Excuse me, is this Grandma Liu’s house?"

The man asked again, turning in a circle in place while anxiously carrying his old mother on his back.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know if he should answer.

Just then,

The old woman who had been lying on the man’s back suddenly raised her head. Her face was facing Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing on the second floor.

Even though they were all images drawn with charcoal, this pair of the old woman’s eyes presented a delicacy that transcended the limits of the drawing style.

It was anger, it was viciousness, it was resentment!

The next moment, Li Zhuiyuan found that everything around him began to rotate and distort, like a vortex appearing out of thin air, tearing and rolling everything around into it, including himself.

...

"Brother Yuan Hou?"

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes and saw Cuicui’s concerned face.

"Brother Yuan Hou, did you have a dream?"

"Yeah." Li Zhuiyuan sat up and responded, "How long did I sleep?"

"Not long, two hours maybe. Brother Yuan Hou, let’s go down and eat."

"No, I'll go home to eat."

"Oh, don't be so polite, Brother Yuan Hou." Cuicui took Li Zhuiyuan’s hand and led him downstairs, "Mom, Brother Yuan Hou is awake."

By now, Liu Jinxia and her three card partners had finished lunch and started the afternoon session.

Li Juxiang smiled and lifted the red lid on the kitchen table, revealing the meal specifically saved for him: "Xiao Yuan Hou, come eat. I'll heat up the soup for you."

"Auntie, I'll go home to eat."

"Be good, listen to me, don't be polite with Auntie. Auntie was never polite with your mom either. Besides, Cuicui was specifically waiting for you to wake up to eat together."

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Brother Yuan Hou, sit here." Cuicui sat down first, while Li Zhuiyuan went to the counter on the other side to help get the bowls and chopsticks.

"Go, go, go, you go sit, Auntie will get them."

"Alright, Auntie."

Li Zhuiyuan walked back and sat down. Soon, Li Juxiang placed the chopsticks and the bowl of rice in front of him.

Although the dishes on the table were all served in small bowls and the portions weren't large, it was more than enough for the two children to eat. There were two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, especially the bowl of braised pork with potatoes—there were only two pieces of potato for garnish, and the rest was all meat, clearly specifically saved for him.

Li Juxiang brought over a bowl of fish soup, drizzled with sesame oil and a little vinegar; the taste was fragrant and tempting.

In addition, she opened a can of mixed fruit, and poured a bowl for each of the two children.

It could be said that in the village, this was truly a very sumptuous meal.

"Xiao Yuan Hou, stay and eat at home tonight too. I'll make you something else delicious." Li Juxiang said with a smile.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and looked at Li Juxiang: "There's already so much, thank you for your trouble, Auntie."

"Hehe, don't put down your chopsticks, eat."

Li Juxiang patted Li Zhuiyuan’s head, secretly envying how Li Lan had taught her son; a sensible and polite child was easy to be liked everywhere.

"Xiao Yuan Hou, does your mom cook for you at home?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head, placed his chopsticks on the bowl, and replied: "Mom doesn't."

"Is that because your mom is busy with work?"

"Yeah, she's very busy."

"What about at your grandparents’ house? Don't they cook for you?"

"I don't go there often."

"Then where do you usually eat?"

"At the neighbors'."

Usually after school, the grandpas and grandmas in the school staff quarters who had finished work or retired would take the initiative to lead him to their homes to eat.

"Sigh, poor child." Li Juxiang didn't ask any further. After telling the children to eat, she took a thermos to add water to the card table.

Just then, a shout came from outside

"Excuse me, is this Grandma Liu’s house?"

Hearing this voice, the chopsticks Li Zhuiyuan had just picked up slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

"Clatter!"

...

In the hall, Liu Jinxia threw the bridge cards in her hand onto the table and clapped her hands: "Game over."

The three card partners nodded and stood up to end the game; clearly, they were already used to this situation.

However, before walking out of the hall, they went one by one to wash their hands in a basin placed in the corner.

Banana leaves were soaked in the basin. When washing their hands, they would rub the leaves on their hands, shake them off, and finally dry them with a towel on the rack.

The purpose of doing this was to ward off bad luck. It was Liu Jinxia’s own arrangement. Not only did she no longer care about the village’s attitude toward her family, but she also deliberately set up some rituals to add to her mystery.

Li Zhuiyuan and Cuicui walked into the hall, and Liu Jinxia was also getting up from her chair, asking: "Have you eaten?"

"We're eating, just came out to look." Cuicui said.

"What’s there to look at? Forget it, Little Cui Hou, help Grandma clean up the cards."

"Alright, Grandma."

After giving the order, Liu Jinxia walked inside by herself. Inside, there was a shaded room that served as her office.

"Slow down, there’s a threshold here." Li Juxiang’s voice came from outside; she had gone out to greet them when she heard the calling.

"Alright, no problem, no problem."

Li Zhuiyuan looked toward the main door of the hall and saw Li Juxiang supporting an old man as he stepped over the threshold.

The old man was leaning forward, his waist hunched, his hands behind his back at his waist—he was a hunchback.

It also looked like... he was carrying someone who didn't exist.

"Is this the little child from your family?" The old man looked at the two children and asked with a smile.

"The girl is mine, the boy is my sister’s. My mom is waiting for you, go in through the front door, turn right, and walk to the end."

"Good, good, I'll go right away, can't keep Grandma Liu waiting." The old man continued to walk inside.

Li Zhuiyuan, standing behind, kept his eyes fixed on the man’s hunchback.

The old man walked into the inner door of the hall, turned right, and should have continued walking inside, but suddenly stopped.

Because he was a hunchback leaning forward, the part above his shoulders was already blocked by the wall, leaving only that hunchback remaining in his line of sight.

Immediately after,

His hands, which were behind his back at his waist, unconsciously lifted up. His left arm pressed down, his right arm swung up, his buttocks shifted inward, and his shoulders turned outward. His side face was already pressed against the wall.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at his empty back. At this moment, he felt as if there was someone there, supporting their body on his back, "looking" at him.

Li Juxiang asked: "What’s wrong with you?"

The old man’s originally rough voice suddenly mixed with a bit of shrill hoarseness, saying

"This little child..."

Li Zhuiyuan clenched his hands nervously. He suddenly remembered that when his mother had taken him to browse a wall of paintings, he asked her why a large area here was left blank without anything painted. His mother replied

"Little Yuan, this is 'leaving white,' letting you imagine it yourself. The effect is actually better that way."

He was a bit ignorant at the time, but now, he seemed to understand a little.

"Hurry up, my mom is waiting for you inside."

Li Juxiang urged him again. She really didn't know why this person stopped here. However, she didn't think his posture was strange; after all, the other party was a hunchback, and even if he stood still, it was quite strange.

"Yeah." The old man responded, but suddenly squatted down, while his body leaned slightly backward, his hands supporting him on the ground.

"Hey, what’s wrong with you?"

Li Juxiang reached out to help, but don't look at how hunched and thin he was, the force of him going down was really heavy. She couldn't pull him up at all. But fortunately, the other party maintained his balance with his hands, just squatting backward without falling over.

Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan staggered back two steps.

This posture was very much like the action of putting someone down from his back.

The sunlight from outside shone into the hall. The old-fashioned patterned tiles on the floor couldn't reflect much luster, at most showing some changes in light and shadow.

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze moved down. At the inner door, there seemed to be two areas the size of footprints that had darkened a little.

It was very slight, so slight that Li Zhuiyuan felt he was seeing things, that he was overthinking it.

But immediately, the color of two new areas darkened and then returned to normal, but the distance to him was getting closer and closer.

Finally, those two darkened areas appeared on the tiles in front of him and didn't dissipate.

A cold wind blew over. Li Zhuiyuan felt his face, chest, hands, and feet start to turn cold. But the problem was, he was facing the room—where could the wind be blowing from in this room?

The latter half of those two darkened areas disappeared, the front half deepened, and the chill in front of him intensified.

Li Zhuiyuan swallowed his saliva. His gaze began to flicker and shift. An instinct made him not dare to look directly, as if in front of him, in the invisible space, there was a shriveled old woman leaning forward, her face pressing toward him.

Li Zhuiyuan bit his lip tightly.

Suddenly, he felt the chill on his left cheek intensify, as if a piece of ice had been pressed against it, and his scalp began to tingle—the kind that comes in waves.

The old man squatting on the ground turned his head to look here, continuing what he hadn't finished saying

"This little child, he really looks so well-behaved."