The Haunting of Bai Family Town

After begging for mercy, the two elderly people gradually calmed down.

They were dead.

Their eyes were wide open, the corners of their eyes split, staring straight at the ceiling;

The veins on their necks bulged, and the blood vessels under their skin appeared black;

Their hands and feet were curled beneath them, as if bound by invisible ropes. Their dying cries resembled the wails before execution.

Doctors and nurses rushed in. They arrived quickly but left them with no time.

Given the terrifying amount of bleeding and the current physical condition of the two elderly people, there was no point in attempting further resuscitation measures.

Next, they needed to disperse the crowd of onlookers outside the ward and have the orderlies come quickly to clean the room.

Relatives were called to the office for follow-up procedures.

Li Sanjiang saw his great-grandson and, with a puzzled look, pulled Li Zhuiyuan aside. "Weren't you supposed to go with your grandfather to dredge the river? How did you end up here?"

Xue Liangliang then took out his student ID and handed it over. "Uncle, I'm a student at Haihe University. I was originally at the river works to take a sick classmate to the hospital. Xiao Yuan knows the way, so I let him lead me. I've already spoken with his grandfather and the others."

"He knows the way?" Li Sanjiang pointed at Li Zhuiyuan and then looked at Xue Liangliang. "He hasn't been back to his hometown for long and hasn't even been to the city. What way does he know?"

Xue Liangliang replied, "Actually, I really like this kid, so I thought I'd take him out to play on the way."

Li Sanjiang took Xue Liangliang's student ID, examined it carefully, and then returned it to him. He accepted this reason, as university students still carried considerable weight at the time.

Just then, the middle-aged couple who had been in the ward earlier emerged from the doctor's office and walked directly towards Li Sanjiang.

Li Sanjiang sighed at them and said, "My condolences."

Li Zhuiyuan guessed that they must be Yingzi Jie's aunt and uncle.

However, the couple seemed unfazed by their grief, or perhaps, more pressing matters weighed on them. Each of them grabbed one of Li Sanjiang's hands and said in hushed, agitated voices:

"Uncle Sanjiang, please, save me, save me."

"Yes, Uncle, help us, it's truly terrifying."

Li Sanjiang glanced at Li Zhuiyuan beside him, signaling for them to follow him to the balcony on each floor to talk.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't insist on following. His third aunt was still going through procedures in the doctor's office, and Yingzi Jie sat alone on a bench, lost in thought.

Having just witnessed such a frightening scene and experienced the death of two relatives, the shock was naturally immense.

Li Zhuiyuan sat down next to her and began to comfort her. During this conversation, he also managed to elicit the story.

Yingzi's maternal grandparents worked at a private aquaculture farm. Half a month ago, while clearing silt from the enclosure, they dug up a small coffin.

The coffin was entirely red. It was unclear how long it had been submerged, but it hadn't rotted at all; instead, it had become even more vibrant red from soaking.

The elderly couple called the boss over and said that according to local custom, the small coffin should be offered incense and burned before being pushed into the river.

But the boss was from out of town and didn't believe in such things. He called over two workers with tools and together they pried open the coffin.

Inside the coffin was the body of a young girl, about eight years old, wearing a black cotton jacket and embroidered shoes. She must have been buried in winter. When it was first opened, she looked surprisingly lifelike, not rotten at all.

It almost made everyone think it was someone's newly buried child!

But after only a few puffs of smoke, the once lifelike body suddenly began to decay. The flesh rapidly dissolved, leaving only a skeleton wrapped in a black cotton jacket.

The female corpse had a set of jewelry: a jade hairpin in her hair, rings on her fingers, and a gold ring around her neck.

In addition to these, inside the coffin, there was a porcelain bottle covered with talisman papers and a black wooden carving.

The carving first bore a large inscription:

"The corpse suppresses malevolent spirits; merit aids ascension."

Below it was a smaller inscription and a signature:

"Whoever reads this, do not desecrate the remains, do not touch its belongings. Quickly seal the coffin and cast it into the river to avoid great misfortune.

— Bai Family Empress"

Yingzi's maternal grandparents then pleaded with the boss to quickly re-seal the coffin as instructed and push it back into the river. But the boss was adamant, thinking the jewelry inside the coffin was valuable, and the porcelain bottle was likely a treasure. He took all the items. As for the coffin and the skeletal remains, they dug a pit by the riverbank nearby and buried them.

Then, the terrifying events began to unfold.

First, the boss disappeared mysteriously. Then, Yingzi's maternal grandparents started having constant nightmares, dreaming of the little girl seeking revenge. Shortly after, both of them fell ill and were admitted to the town clinic. The situation even escalated to self-harm tendencies.

That day, while Yingzi's third aunt went home to get food, the two elderly people told Yingzi they wanted to drink orange jelly in water and asked Yingzi to send her away. They then secretly ran towards the rooftop intending to jump, but fortunately, Great Grandfather happened to arrive and stopped them.

However, after this incident, the town clinic was unwilling to let them stay any longer. If the two elderly people were to commit suicide at the clinic, it would cause significant trouble for the institution. Therefore, they had to be transferred to the Municipal People's Hospital.

Yet, the elderly couple's symptoms worsened. With the sedatives administered by the doctors and the close supervision of their family, they were prevented from continuing their attempts at self-harm.

But who could have imagined that they would end their lives simultaneously in such an inexplicably terrifying manner?

After listening to Yingzi's account, Li Zhuiyuan asked:

"What about the two workers who helped the boss open the coffin?"

"That... I don't know. I haven't heard them mention it."

"Sister, your maternal grandfather and grandmother were still quite clear-headed at first, right?"

"They were normal, except when they had their episodes. Just fifteen minutes before they started vomiting blood, they were still chatting with me about finding a partner after I got into university."

At that moment, Third Aunt poked her head out of the doctor's office and beckoned to them.

"Yinghou, come help Mom fill out this form."

"Coming, Mom."

After Yingzi left, Li Zhuiyuan realized that Xue Liangliang had somehow moved to sit incredibly close, clearly eavesdropping.

Instead of blushing under Li Zhuiyuan's gaze, Xue Liangliang said with some excitement, "I heard it. You were deliberately trying to trick her."

"I was comforting my sister."

"Phew... You scared me. You have no idea, when I heard those two old people shouting 'Bai Family Empress' at the hospital room door just now, my heart leaped into my throat. I thought it was because I smashed the idol again and hurt someone, or that I had brought the still-suffering Zhao Hequan to this hospital today, triggering something that harmed them. Sigh."

Li Zhuiyuan realized that Xue Liangliang had also noticed the inscription on the base of the idol.

"Brother Liangliang, don't worry. The timing doesn't match, and the ages don't match either."

The coffin was dug up at the aquatic farm half a month ago. Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan smashed the idol yesterday. The two events weren't connected.

"The ages don't match, are you sure about that?" Xue Liangliang asked doubtfully. "Transportation and communication weren't convenient back then. When they were making statues, they might not have been so precise. Maybe the idol we dug up at the river project was actually a young girl?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "It's not the same one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Because he had seen the woman. Although her physique and condition were similar to the idol, perhaps amplified, there was no way she could have been an eight-year-old girl.

"But they both called her Bai Family Empress," Xue Liangliang mused. "Could 'Bai Family Empress' be a collective term, like for a professional group? Like how people from a Taoist sect are all uniformly called Heavenly Masters of a certain mountain?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded and added, "It could also be a surname."

For some reason, Li Zhuiyuan's mind flashed to the ancestral hall in Liu Yumei's east room, filled with the memorial tablets of the Qin and Liu families.

"They're all surnamed Bai?" Xue Liangliang interlaced his fingers. "That's very possible. 'Bai Family Empress,' in the local dialect, could indeed be understood as 'the woman from the Bai family,' a respectful and awe-inspiring title for someone capable."

Li Zhuiyuan responded with a sound and looked towards the balcony. Great Grandfather and Yingzi's uncle and aunt hadn't finished their conversation yet.

Xue Liangliang reached out and gently nudged Li Zhuiyuan's arm, asking cautiously, "That... about what your sister said, do you have any other thoughts?"

"Quite a bit of concealment and fabrication."

"Yes, exactly," Xue Liangliang's spirits lifted again. "You heard it too! The boss is missing, and her maternal grandparents are having nightmares and experiencing physical abnormalities. But what about the two workers who helped the boss pry open the coffin? Why don't they know? Unless..."

"Unless those two workers who helped the boss pry open the coffin are these two old men."

"Your sister is just obedient. What she heard and what she told you were just the words of the adults in her family. Those two old men who just left have beautified and covered up too much about themselves in their story. After all, if it was really as they said, why would they be begging for mercy as they died? This clearly shows they knew they had done wrong. Otherwise, they would have claimed innocence. So, let's rephrase the account. It's probably that the two old men found the coffin and then called the boss over to open it together. Or perhaps the boss found the coffin and didn't intend to open it, but was instigated by these two old men to open it. At the very least, they were definitely deeply involved and not as innocent and clueless as they seemed."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang and blinked.

Xue Liangliang waved his hand somewhat shamefacedly. "I'm not saying I'm innocent either, but regardless, I smashed the idol for the sake of the project's progress, not for personal gain. Engineer Luo already explained it clearly to my Bai Family Empress."

"Brother Liangliang, actually, there's one more crucial point."

"Xiao Yuan, tell me quickly, what point?"

"If Sister Yingzi could recite the words carved on that tablet, then at least she must have seen a handwritten copy. But how could the two old men, in the short time after opening the coffin, not only understand the words but also memorize them verbatim and have someone transcribe them onto paper?"

"You mean..."

"Yes, the two old men must have received something. At least, that wooden carving is in their home."

Xue Liangliang nodded heavily after hearing this, then carefully examined Li Zhuiyuan and asked, "Xiao Yuan, are you really an elementary school student?"

"Actually, I'm a university student from by Weiming Lake."

"Hehehehe... cough cough!" Xue Liangliang laughed so hard he coughed. He reached out and patted Li Zhuiyuan's back, encouraging him, "Good! Having such ambition is already amazing!"

Li Zhuiyuan could only smile.

"However, Xiao Yuan, have you ever heard of the Bai Family Empress?"

"Brother Liangliang, I've probably spent much less time in Nantong than you have."

"Oh, that's right. Then I'll go to the city's cultural and historical museum to check some records and see if there's any mention in the local chronicles."

"Brother Liangliang, you're fine now. Why are you so invested in this matter? Is it for a classmate?"

"Uh, shouldn't it be?"

"I thought you didn't like him very much."

"This has nothing to do with whether I like him or not. Everyone has their own path in life. I can only follow my own judgment and walk the path I've chosen. In the end, history will prove who was right and who was wrong. Alright, the doctors should be on duty now. I'm going to get the reports. If the reports are fine, I won't come looking for you and will go to the cultural and historical museum to check the records. You live in Shinan Siyuan Village, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Where do you want to get off? Since your Great Grandfather is here, I won't take you back. I'll come find you tonight."

"After Shijia Bridge, get off at the second turn, walk in, and then ask for Li Sanjiang's place."

"Are you sure you can find it?"

"Mm-hmm, Great Grandfather is well-known in the village."

"Alright, if there are no cars later, I'll take a taxi."

Li Zhuiyuan asked curiously, "Brother Liangliang?"

"What is it? Something else?"

"You seem... quite well-off."

He said he came from a rural village in Anhui, but his clothes and some of his habits showed no sign of being out of place.

"Oh, I've taken over two convenience stores and a stationery shop at school. Also, I've gathered a group of classmates to form a team. We take on design projects from professors or outside the school.

Big cities and universities really offer more opportunities, and it's easier to make money. Back home, it was really tough; there weren't these objective conditions. Now, I send money to my parents back home every month.

Actually, by rights, I could skip this kind of internship class, but I don't want to miss out on this frontline experience."

"Brother Liangliang, you're amazing."

"You are too, smart kid." Xue Liangliang gently bumped his forehead against Li Zhuiyuan's. Seeing Li Sanjiang and the others return, he stood up and left.

"Great Grandfather."

"That college student, is he gone?"

"He went to see his classmate."

"Mm." Li Sanjiang nodded. "Let's go."

"Where are we going, Great Grandfather?"

"To get something."

Yingzi and Third Aunt stayed at the hospital to handle the follow-up matters. Her uncle Zhou Hai and aunt Chen Xiaoling took Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan home. To save time, they hailed a motorcycle taxi waiting for fares at the hospital entrance.

The house was a spacious, single-story rural home. The courtyard faced an artificial river, and a short distance further south, one could see the river's surface.

After entering the house, Chen Xiaoling went to pour water, while Zhou Hai took out a cloth bundle. He opened it to reveal a hairpin and a wooden carving.

Li Sanjiang picked up the wooden carving and frowned slightly as he looked at the inscription.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned in and read it aloud.

It was exactly as Yingzi had described.

"Foolish... truly foolish..." Li Sanjiang put down the wooden carving and patted his thigh. "Life isn't that hard now, is it? They have enough to eat and drink, so why would they suddenly be so blinded by greed?"

"Plop!" "Plop!"

Without the reservations they had at the hospital, Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling knelt directly before Li Sanjiang, almost bowing their heads, begging him to save them.

It turned out they had also started having that dream.

After witnessing the fate of the old couple today, they were terrified to the point of near collapse.

"Let's go, we'll check the farm first. Do you remember where the remains were buried?"

"Remember, remember." Zhou Hai immediately nodded. "We dug the hole and buried them ourselves."

"Heh." Li Sanjiang sneered.

The farm wasn't far from the Zhou family's house. They left the village and walked along the river for about fifteen minutes to get there.

The farm was very small, with only the boss and two employees, who were Zhou Hai's parents.

Therefore, in the initial account, they not only covered up the truth for Third Aunt and Yingzi but also didn't tell Li Sanjiang the whole story.

"Dig," Li Sanjiang said.

"Aren't we waiting until tonight?" Zhou Hai asked.

It was daytime, and although few people passed by here, they still risked being seen.

Li Sanjiang nodded. "Then I'll go back to the village to sleep first. I'll come back tomorrow. You secretly dig out the remains tonight."

"No, no, no, Great Grandfather, I'm scared. I don't dare."

"You know fear too!" Li Sanjiang almost yelled. "If you don't dig in broad daylight, when will you dig? You just want to find trouble when it gets dark, right?"

"Okay, okay, we'll dig, we'll dig."

Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling each took a shovel and began to dig.

During this time, Li Sanjiang asked, "The boss disappeared, did you report it to the police?"

"No," Zhou Hai replied after lifting a shovelful of dirt. "We didn't dare to report it. We were greedy then, afraid that if we reported it, the matter wouldn't be kept secret, and the items would have to be handed over."

"What about the boss's family?"

"His hometown is in the south. He came here alone to lease the farm and didn't bring his family."

Li Sanjiang suddenly spoke softly, "Don't tell me you guys killed the boss and took his share?"

Zhou Hai immediately cried, "Sir, I don't have the guts to do something like that!"

Chen Xiaoling quickly nodded in agreement, "We wouldn't dare to kill anyone, not at all."

"Mhm," Li Sanjiang didn't ask further. He believed these two wouldn't go that far. He then got up and quietly began preparing his offering table.

Li Zhuiyuan helped him from the side.

Soon, the coffin was dug out.

Li Sanjiang glanced at it and felt a sense of relief. The coffin had been buried closed. Upon opening it, the remains inside were intact, undisturbed or damaged.

This was considered... a blessing in disguise.

Li Zhuiyuan moved closer to the coffin and looked at the remains. It was indeed a little girl.

Li Sanjiang began the ritual and then burned paper money.

After the entire process was completed, Li Sanjiang asked, "Where are the other items, especially that bottle?"

"The boss took them."

"Where does he live?"

"He lives on the premises, in that house. After he disappeared, we looked for him. Later, our parents got sick, and we realized it was the things in the coffin causing trouble. We searched his room, but we couldn't find those items, nor did we see that bottle."

Li Sanjiang frowned. His original plan was to return everything, perform a ritual, and then, after the coffin was closed and sealed, push it into the river. That would have been the end of it.

After all, the demands on the wooden carving were clearly stated. Since at least two lives, possibly three, had already been lost here, and blood had been shed, any resentment the object held should have been released.

But the prerequisite was that everything had to be returned. Or, if small items like jewelry were lost, it would be fine. However, that bottle, with the talisman papers attached, absolutely could not be missing.

The inscription on the person's body clearly stated that it was used to suppress the Malevolent Spirit!

Li Zhuiyuan spoke up at this point, "Uncle, Auntie, does the boss have any other connections here?"

Li Sanjiang immediately realized and pressed, "Right, right, does he know anyone else? I heard those bosses from the south like to keep mistresses."

Chen Xiaoling shook her head, "We haven't heard of anything like that."

Zhou Hai scratched his head, "There might be. There were two. One is a widow who lives in Jiuxu Port Town, and the other is a woman who sings at a club in the city."

"Can we find them?" Li Sanjiang asked.

Zhou Hai shook his head, "I only heard my parents mention it during meals, but I don't know where those two specifically live, and I can't find them."

Li Sanjiang took out his cigarette case, pulled out two, and flicked one to Zhou Hai, saying:

"Call the police. Let them find them."

"What?"

"What?"

Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling were both stunned.

"I said call the police. Report a disappearance and report this matter," Li Sanjiang pointed at the coffin. "Let the police look for them, ask if the items are with them. I suspect that boss is probably gone too."

"But if we..."

"Sir, if we call the police..."

"You didn't kill anyone, what are you afraid of! Heh, even if everything in this coffin is accounted for, and I successfully send the coffin back into the river today, I'll still tell you to call the police.

It's much better and safer for you if the authorities handle this.

If you don't want to call the police, that's up to you, as long as you're not afraid of ending up like your parents today."

"We'll call, we'll call the police!" Zhou Hai made up his mind.

"Mhm, alright. Move the coffin and the offering table into the house first. Don't extinguish the candles or put out the ashes until the authorities take over. Try to make amends as much as you can.

Assign tasks among yourselves."

"Understood, sir. Xiaoling, you go call the police. I'll stay here and watch the offering table."

"Mhm, okay."

Afterward, Li Sanjiang, with Li Zhuiyuan, sat on the steps by the entrance. He continuously smoked.

"Great Grandfather, aren't we going home?" Li Zhuiyuan asked.

Li Sanjiang pointed to the house behind them, "If I leave now, Zhou Hai will be alone with that coffin. I'm afraid he'll wet himself from fear."

After a pause, Li Sanjiang continued, "Last night, your Great Grandfather also had a dream."

"Mhm?" Li Zhuiyuan finally realized the seriousness of the situation. "Great Grandfather, you had a dream too?"

"I dreamt I was on the rooftop of the town's clinic. That little girl stood in front of me and asked why I was helping them, and on what grounds. She also told me that since I'd interfered, I should die with them."

Li Sanjiang took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled slowly through his nose:

"Damn it, I was also scared by the scene today."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded in understanding. The scene today was indeed terrifying.

Moreover, he felt that the Bai Family Empress dug out from the river workers, and this little girl Bai Family Empress, although possibly from the same family, clearly had different temperaments.

The Bai Family Empress by the river was reasonable enough to accept my apologies and offerings, and even listened to Engineer Luo's ramblings.

You could say she was quite understanding.

But this Bai Family Empress here was far more ruthless, killing people as easily as drinking water.

"Honestly, what does this have to do with me? She's mad because I saved those two old folks at the clinic that day, but I couldn't just leave them to die, could I?

Oh well, I wasn't too deeply involved. Once the police get here, I'll give my statement, soak up some of their official aura, and she probably won't bother me anymore."

Li Zhuiyuan finally understood. So that was Great Grandfather's plan all along.

It made sense. The Little Yellow Oriole and the Cat-faced Old Woman he'd encountered before were all within a controllable range. But they were nowhere near as fierce as this Bai Family Empress, and Great Grandfather couldn't handle her.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly frowned. He remembered something from the Records of Strange Tales from the Jianghu that bore a striking resemblance to this Bai Family Empress.

It described how some Xuanmen practitioners would use themselves as vessels to cultivate their own spiritual power, seeking an alternative path to immortality through a form of 'soldier's decomposition'.

These 'dead floats' retained some of the supernatural abilities they possessed in life. While not as overwhelmingly terrifying as the 'general's decomposition', they were the most difficult to deal with because they understood the methods living people used against them.

Coupled with the inscription on the carving: "Corpse suppresses malevolent spirits, merit aids ascension."

It all clicked into place. Even without a physical form, she was still a 'dead float', and one without a form... that was even harder to deal with.

Li Zhuiyuan felt Great Grandfather was doing the right thing by calling the police.

The police arrived, and in large numbers too. This incident had officially resulted in two deaths and one disappearance. Although the cause of death for the two elderly people wasn't murder, the situation had escalated.

The police secured the scene, and Zhou Hai was temporarily detained as a suspect.

Li Zhuiyuan accompanied Great Grandfather to the police station to give his statement. By the time they came out, it was dusk.

Li Sanjiang even went so far as to hug the police station's main gate, as if worried he hadn't absorbed enough of the official aura. He even kissed the police station's sign.

His actions astonished the people in the guardhouse.

But seeing that the old man wasn't there to cause trouble, they could only open the window and ask:

"Old comrade, what are you doing?"

Li Sanjiang, still kissing the sign, shouted back:

"Expressing my reverence."

After that, Li Sanjiang couldn't be bothered to return to the hospital to find Yingzi and her mother. He also declined Chen Xiaoling's invitation to stay at her place for the night.

He, Li Sanjiang, just wanted to go home.

Taking a taxi back would be too expensive. At this hour, taxi drivers were reluctant to drive to the countryside unless they were paid more.

So, Li Sanjiang started flagging down tractors on the road, asking where they were headed.

Li Zhuiyuan initially thought this hit-or-miss approach was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Just as he was about to sit down and wait patiently, Great Grandfather stopped the second tractor they encountered, and it was heading to Shigang Town to deliver stone piers.

Talk about convenient! It was a perfectly direct route.

Great Grandfather handed out cigarettes to the driver and then beckoned Little Yuanhou to get on.

The tractor rumbled along, Li Zhuiyuan and Great Grandfather sitting in the back, enjoying the evening breeze.

As they passed through the city, they witnessed its bustling activity.

Midway, Li Sanjiang dozed off for a short while. When he woke up, he was quite pleased and said to Li Zhuiyuan:

"Little Yuanhou, your Great Grandfather just had another dream while I was dozing. I saw that girl again in my dream, but I couldn't see her clearly, she was very blurry. She was talking too, but I couldn't hear her.

It seems she's moving further away from me. Your Great Grandfather is almost out of danger. I'll burn some incense again tonight and pray to all the deities at home to completely sever ties with her."

"Great Grandfather, you're amazing."

Li Zhuiyuan had doubted Li Sanjiang's abilities before, but after the Cat-faced Old Woman said, "Your Great Grandfather already lent a hand," those doubts were dispelled.

Moreover, it seemed Great Grandfather had a solution for every problem, and his methods always worked.

"Amazing? If it weren't for your grandfather Hanhou's sake, I wouldn't have come here. I wouldn't even dare to take this money, and I even put myself in danger.

A loss, a complete loss."

"Next time, don't ask Grandpa to..."

"No, it's not like every time we'll encounter such unlucky and dangerous things. Your Great Grandfather does this for a living. I can't eat meat every meal; sometimes I have to bite down on a pebble in my rice.

Sigh, I was planning to help you turn your luck around when we got back, but now I don't dare. She hasn't completely left yet, and your Great Grandfather doesn't want to drag you down with him."

As he spoke, Li Sanjiang knocked on the metal sheet behind them and called out to the tractor driver:

"Young man, find a small restaurant up ahead. Brother here will treat you to a drink?"

"Oh, you shouldn't have!"

"Bah, what's there to be polite about? Find a place to stop up ahead, and we'll eat before we go."

"Alright!"

The tractor stopped in front of a small restaurant. After getting out and going inside, Li Sanjiang first ordered a pound of yellow wine and two cold and two hot dishes. He also ordered a portion of egg-fried rice specifically for Li Zhuiyuan.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished his meal, he sat nearby and waited while Great Grandfather and the driver chatted.

Li Sanjiang ordered another pound of wine to be heated and also got Li Zhuiyuan a can of Jianlibao.

"Pop!"

The sound of opening and steaming.

Li Zhuiyuan took a sip and Li Sanjiang asked, "Is it good?"

"Mmm, it's good."

"Then let's buy a case to take back later?"

The master chuckled, "Brother, you're really generous with the kid."

Nowadays, drinks like citric acid in beer bottles are collected for recycling. Ordinary people can afford them, but canned drinks are still too expensive in the eyes of most parents.

"Heh." Li Sanjiang patted Li Zhuiyuan's head, "What's the point of earning money if not for the kids? Am I supposed to take it with me to the grave?"

He didn't tell the master that this was his great-grandson.

"That makes sense. My grandson is in high school. I still have to keep driving to earn his university tuition. As long as he can get in, we'll grit our teeth and support him."

"Sigh." Li Sanjiang sighed helplessly, patting the back of Li Zhuiyuan's head, "It's a shame. My grandson is smart, he just doesn't like to focus on his studies."

Li Zhuiyuan quietly took another sip of soda.

By eight o'clock in the evening, dinner was over. There were no drunk driving checks back then. The master, with a flushed face, inserted the crank into the tractor engine and turned it quickly. The tractor started again.

"Come on, get in. Let's go home!"

Back in the car heading home, Li Zhuiyuan looked up at the starry sky, starting to wonder if Xue Liangliang had already arrived at Siyuan Village.

He felt he should ask more about the statue on the river construction. Since the coffin in Jiuweigang contained a "dead float," maybe that statue... was also one.

After all, although the river channel was dug recently, it seemed to have been a waterway before.

Li Zhuiyuan vaguely felt that the Bai family seemed to specialize in this kind of thing.

When Li Zhuiyuan was not home, Qin Li returned to her usual spot, sitting on a stool inside the door, her feet on the threshold, looking straight ahead.

Beside her, Liu Yumei was spreading out a piece of paper, drawing a clothing pattern with a pen.

She drew very well and vividly. Although it seemed unprofessional by the current clothing production standards, the old tailors in the small garment workshops could understand it.

Her granddaughter was still growing, so her clothes needed to be replaced every season. Liu Yumei's greatest joy was dressing her granddaughter beautifully every morning, which made her feel happy all day.

At this moment, Liu Yumei noticed Qin Li behind her move her head and look towards the small path in the wheat field.

Liu Yumei put down her brush and stood up straight.

A young man in a blue shirt, holding a stack of books, walked onto the dam.

After watching him for a while, Qin Li looked away and continued to look straight ahead.

It seemed this young man was dirty, but not obviously so.

"Excuse me, is this Li Sanjiang's house?" Xue Liangliang asked.

"Yes, it is. He's not home right now, and I don't know if he'll be back tonight. Are you looking for him?"

"I'm looking for Xiao Yuan, Li Zhuiyuan. Does he live here too?"

Hearing Li Zhuiyuan's name, Qin Li's gaze shifted to him again.

"He's not home either," Liu Yumei replied.

"He should be back tonight. I'll wait for him. Um, excuse me, where is the restroom? I need to use it."

"Behind the house."

"Okay, thank you."

Xue Liangliang placed the stack of books on the table and then jogged to the restroom.

These books were borrowed from the cultural and historical archives. Currently, these materials were not kept very strictly.

Liu Yumei casually opened one of the scrolls and saw the marked passages indicated by a bookmark. Her brow furrowed, her gaze sharpened, and she murmured:

"The Bai family?"

Then, she closed the scroll again and picked up her brush to continue drawing the clothing pattern. However, as she drew, she became somewhat uneasy, stopped her brush, and recalled the young man saying he was looking for Xiao Yuan. She muttered to herself:

"How did this Xiao Yuan get involved with the Bai family?"

It was by chance that the sound of a tractor came from a distance.

The master didn't drop them off at the entrance of Malu Village but drove directly to their doorstep.

After saying goodbye, Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan walked onto the dam.

Just then, Xue Liangliang returned after using the restroom.

"Huh? How did you get here?" Li Sanjiang asked in surprise.

"Grandpa, Brother Liangliang is here to tutor me."

"Oh, good, that's good. Then he can sleep in the same room as you tonight. Young man, have you eaten?"

"I have, I have," Xue Liangliang replied quickly.

"Alright."

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Qin Li. Qin Li stood up, extended her hand, and took Li Zhuiyuan's hand.

Immediately, her eyelashes began to flutter, and her body started to tremble slightly.

Li Zhuiyuan was surprised. Why was she still like this even after holding hands this time?

"A Li, let go!"

Liu Yumei's stern voice came. Seeing that A Li wasn't listening to her, she could only shout at Li Zhuiyuan:

"Xiao Yuan, let go!"

Li Zhuiyuan pulled his hand away.

A Li made a move as if to step forward, wanting to continue holding Li Zhuiyuan's hand.

"Xiao Yuan, say goodnight to A Li. I'm going to take A Li to rest now."

"Okay, Grandma Liu." Li Zhuiyuan looked at A Li. "It's too late, time to rest. We'll read together again tomorrow morning. Goodnight."

Xue Liangliang, meanwhile, picked up the case files and pulled Li Zhuiyuan's hand. "Come on, let's go back to your room to talk. I've found something incredible."

Watching Li Zhuiyuan's retreating figure, Qin Li slowly lowered the hand she had raised.

Liu Yumei sighed and coaxed her granddaughter.

"Good girl, he's fine now. He's even better than that young man."

"Whoa, what kind of books are these on your desk?"

As soon as he entered, Xue Liangliang saw several stacks of ancient books on Li Zhuiyuan's desk.

"These are my hobbies."

"Really?" Xue Liangliang flipped through the pages. "Xiao Yuan, if you have this hobby, you can study humanities later, or go into archaeology."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "I don't want to."

He didn't want to be an alumnus with his mother.

"Then what major do you want to study? Are you going to choose water conservancy like me and go to Haihe University?"

Li Zhuiyuan pondered for a moment and said, "It's not impossible."

Related to water.

This university seemed to align with his major.

"Then you'll have to study hard. Haihe University isn't easy to get into."

"Mhm."

It was indeed not easy. The old professors probably wouldn't be willing to let him transfer schools.

"Here, let me show you what I found. I didn't know until I looked, but I was shocked when I did." Xue Liangliang spread out the case files. "This Bai family, it's truly one surname. Local gazetteers from the Ming and Qing dynasties recorded many deeds of the Bai family, all related to eliminating monsters and quelling chaos, but they were all about the Bai Family Empress, never a Bai Family Grandfather."

Li Zhuiyuan asked, "Was it passed down only through women?"

"I guess so. It should be that the family only passed down through women and took in sons-in-law. However, this kind of custom is quite rare in this area."

Li Zhuiyuan said as he looked through the case files, "Brother Liangliang, please continue."

"The area where the Bai family was active should be more than just the current Nantong area. I suspect there are traces of them throughout northern Jiangsu. However, one thing is certain: the main branch of the Bai family is in Nantong.

Look at this passage in this document. It records a place called Bai Family Town, which should be the location of the Bai family's main branch. It's roughly west of Donghai Yingzhou."

"Donghai Yingzhou?"

"That's Chongming Island."

"Oh, so is Bai Family Town in Shanghai or Nantong?"

Chongming Island is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and can be considered the gateway to the Yangtze. Most of the island belongs to Shanghai, and a part belongs to Nantong.

Xue Liangliang hesitated. "The location description here is very strange, as if someone studied it carefully, but perhaps there was a problem when it was written down. I followed the direction it described and actually looked it up on an old map, and I found... I found it should be in the river."

"In the river?"

"That's right, it should be in the Yangtze River now."

"This... is the record wrong?"

"But this is the only place I can find that records the address of Bai Family Town so far.

Moreover, next, I discovered something very strange.

After the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, there were no more records about the Bai Family Empress in the local gazetteers.

The Bai family, The Bai family members, Bai Family Town, In historical records, it was as if overnight...

they disappeared."