Chapter 20

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

They died.

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

The veins on their necks bulged, and the blood vessels beneath their skin had turned black;

Their hands and feet were curled beneath them, as though bound by invisible ropes. Their cries before death had been like wails before execution.

The doctors and nurses came in quickly, but there was no time left for them.

Whether it was the horrifying amount of blood loss or the elderly couple's vital signs, there was no longer any point in attempting resuscitation.

Next came clearing the onlookers from outside the ward and calling the orderlies over to clean the room.

The relatives were called to the office to handle the aftermath.

Li Sanjiang spotted his great grandson and pulled Li Zhuiyuan aside in confusion. "Weren't you supposed to be choosing a river crossing with your grandfather? How did you get here?"

Xue Liangliang took out his student ID and handed it over. "Sir, I'm a student at Haihe University. I was originally at the river works, but I brought a sick classmate to the hospital. Little Yuan knows the way, so I had him lead me. I already told Little Yuan's grandfather and the others."

"He knows the way?" Li Sanjiang pointed at Li Zhuiyuan while looking at Xue Liangliang. "He only came back to his hometown recently and has never even been to the city. What road could he possibly know?"

Xue Liangliang said, "Actually, I just like this kid a lot, so I thought I'd take him out for a little fun while we were on the way."

Li Sanjiang took Xue Liangliang's student ID, examined it carefully, then handed it back. He accepted the explanation. After all, college students still carried a great deal of prestige these days.

Just then, the middle-aged man and woman from the ward came out of the doctor's office and walked straight over to Li Sanjiang.

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

Li Zhuiyuan guessed that they were probably Yingzi Jie's uncle and aunt.

Yet the couple seemed to show little grief over the deaths in the family. Or rather, something more urgent seemed to be weighing on them. Each grabbed one of Li Sanjiang's hands and whispered excitedly:

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

"Yes, sir, please help us. It's truly too terrifying."

Li Sanjiang glanced at Li Zhuiyuan, signaling for them to go speak on the terrace on this floor.

Li Zhuiyuan did not insist on following. Third Aunt was still going through the procedures in the doctor's office, while Yingzi Jie sat alone on a bench, looking utterly distracted.

Having just witnessed something so horrifying and then lost two relatives, she had naturally suffered a tremendous blow.

Li Zhuiyuan went over and began comforting her. In the process, he also managed to ask what had happened.

Yingzi's grandfather and grandmother had worked at a private aquaculture farm. Half a month ago, while dredging silt around the enclosure, they had dug up a small coffin.

The coffin was entirely red. No one knew how long it had soaked underground, yet it had not rotted at all. Instead, it had been steeped into an even brighter crimson.

The elderly couple called their boss over and said that according to local custom, they needed to burn incense and make offerings before sending the little coffin into the river.

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

Inside lay the corpse of a little girl, around eight years old. She wore a black cotton jacket and embroidered shoes. She must have been buried in winter. When the coffin was first opened, she even looked somewhat fresh and moist, without the slightest sign of decay.

Everyone nearly thought she had just been buried by some family!

But within the time it took to smoke a few cigarettes, the once-plump corpse suddenly began to wither. Her flesh rapidly dissolved, until only a skeleton wrapped in the black cotton jacket remained.

The girl's body wore a set of jewelry. There was a jade hairpin in her hair, rings on her fingers, and a gold circlet around her neck.

Besides that, there was a porcelain bottle covered in talisman papers inside the coffin, along with a piece of black wood carving.

The carving first bore a line of large characters:

"Corpse suppresses Haunting, merit aids ascension."

Below that was a line of smaller characters and a signature:

"Whoever reads these words must not desecrate the remains or touch her belongings. Seal the coffin at once and cast it into river waters, only then may great disaster be avoided.

—Bai Family Empress"

Yingzi's grandfather and grandmother begged the boss to quickly reseal the coffin as instructed and push it back into the river. But the boss stubbornly insisted on his way. He believed the jewelry in the coffin must be valuable, and that the porcelain bottle might be a treasure as well, so he took everything away. As for the coffin and the bones inside, he dug a pit by the nearby riverbank and buried them there.

Then the frightening things began to happen.

First, the boss mysteriously vanished. Then Yingzi's grandfather and grandmother began having nightmares constantly, seeing the little girl coming for revenge. Soon after, both began suffering physical symptoms and were admitted to the town Health Center. Eventually, they even developed tendencies toward self-harm.

That day, while Third Aunt had gone home to get food, the old couple claimed they wanted orange drink and made a fuss until Yingzi went to fetch it. Then they secretly ran to the rooftop intending to jump. Fortunately, Great Grandfather happened to arrive just then and stopped them.

But after that incident, the town Health Center refused to keep them any longer. If the elderly couple had actually killed themselves there, the hospital would have been in serious trouble. They could only be transferred to the city people's hospital.

However, the old couple's symptoms grew increasingly severe. Only with the sedatives given by the doctors and the family's strict supervision had they been kept from harming themselves again.

Yet who could have imagined that they would end their lives together in such an unimaginable, horrifying manner?

After listening to Yingzi, Li Zhuiyuan asked:

"What happened to the two workers who opened the coffin with the boss?"

"Um... I don't know. I never heard them mention it."

"Sis, your Grandpa Nan and Grandma Nan were still fairly clear-headed at first, weren't they?"

"Other than when they had an episode, they were normal. Even fifteen minutes before they vomited blood, they were chatting with me about finding a boyfriend after I got into college."

Just then, Third Aunt poked her head out from the doctor's office and waved over.

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

"Coming, Mom."

Only after Yingzi left did Li Zhuiyuan realize that Xue Liangliang had somehow sat so close beside him. He had been deliberately eavesdropping.

Faced with Li Zhuiyuan's gaze, Xue Liangliang did not blush. Instead, he said excitedly, "I could tell. You were deliberately fishing for information."

"I was comforting my sister."

"Whew... You scared me. You have no idea—when I heard those two old people shouting 'Bai Family Empress' outside the ward just now, my heart jumped into my throat. I thought maybe I had gotten someone killed again because I smashed that statue, or maybe bringing Zhao Hequan, who was still being harmed, to this hospital today had triggered something that hurt them. Sigh."

Li Zhuiyuan realized that Xue Liangliang had also noticed the inscription on the statue's base.

"Brother Liangliang, don't worry. The timing doesn't match, and neither does the age."

The aquaculture farm had unearthed the coffin half a month ago, while Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan had smashed the statue yesterday. The two incidents were unrelated.

"The age might not be certain, though, right?" Xue Liangliang asked doubtfully. "Transportation and communication used to be inconvenient. When statues were made, the details might not have been precise. Maybe the statue we dug up at the river works was originally a little girl?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "They weren't the same one."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

Because he had seen that woman. Though her build and condition were very similar to the statue's, perhaps enlarged and amplified somewhat, there was no way she could have been an eight-year-old girl.

"But they were both called Bai Family Empress." Xue Liangliang pondered. "Could Bai Family Empress be a collective title? Like some professional group? The way people from a Taoist sect might all be called Heavenly Masters of some mountain?"

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

For some reason, Li Zhuiyuan thought of the mourning hall in the east room where Liu Yumei lived, filled with spirit tablets from the Qin Liu Families.

"All surnamed Bai?" Xue Liangliang interlaced his fingers. "That's very possible. Bai Family Empress, in the local dialect, could indeed mean a woman from the Bai family—a respectful title for someone capable."

Li Zhuiyuan gave a sound of agreement and looked toward the terrace. Great Grandfather and Yingzi's uncle and aunt still had not finished talking.

Xue Liangliang reached out and gently nudged Li Zhuiyuan's arm. "So... after hearing what your sister said, did you have any other thoughts?"

"There were a lot of omissions and fabrications."

"Yes, exactly." Xue Liangliang perked up again. "You noticed too. The boss disappeared, and her grandfather and grandmother had nightmares and physical problems. But what happened to the two workers who helped the boss pry open the coffin? Why would she not know? Unless..."

"Unless the two people who helped the boss pry it open were those two old people."

"Your sister is just obedient. What she heard and what she just told you were both things the adults in her family said. Those two old people who just died had embellished and covered up far too much in their account.

After all, if things really happened as they said, why were they begging for mercy before they died? They clearly knew they had done something wrong. Otherwise, they would have shouted that they were innocent.

So if we revise the account, those two old people probably found the coffin and then called the boss over to open it.

It might even have been the boss who found the coffin. Maybe he did not plan to pry it open, but the two old people egged him on until he did.

At the very least, they were deeply involved. They weren't nearly as obedient and innocent as they claimed."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang and blinked.

Xue Liangliang waved his hand somewhat shamefully. "I never said I was innocent either. But no matter what, I smashed the statue for the sake of the project's progress, not for personal gain. Engineer Luo explained that clearly to my Bai Family Empress."

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

"Little Yuan, tell me. What point?"

"Yingzi Jie was able to recite the words carved on that plaque. That means she must at least have seen a handwritten copy.

But how could the two old people, in the brief time after opening the coffin, not only understand the words on it but also memorize them word for word, then recite them for someone to copy down?"

"You mean..."

"Yes. The two old people must have gotten some of the things. At the very least, that wood carving was in their home."

After hearing that, Xue Liangliang nodded heavily. Then he carefully studied Li Zhuiyuan and asked, "Little Yuan, are you really an elementary school student?"

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

"Hehehehe... Cough, cough!" Xue Liangliang laughed so hard that he began coughing. He rubbed Li Zhuiyuan's back and encouraged him, "Good. Having such ambition is already remarkable!"

Li Zhuiyuan could only smile.

"But, Little Yuan, have you ever heard of Bai Family Empress?"

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

"Oh, right. Then I'll go look up some records at the city's historical archives and see whether the local gazetteers mention anything."

"Brother Liangliang, you're already fine. Why are you so concerned about this? Is it because of your classmate?"

"Uh, shouldn't I be?"

"I thought you disliked him."

"What does this have to do with liking or disliking him? Everyone has their own path in life to choose. I can only follow the path I choose according to my own judgment. In the end, who is right and who is wrong can only be proven by history.

All right, the doctors should be at work now. I'll go get the report. If the report is fine, I won't come looking for you. I'll head to the historical archives first.

You live in Shinan Siyuan Village, right?"

"Yes."

"Where should I get off the bus? Since your Great Grandfather is here, I won't take you home. I'll come find you again tonight."

"Pass Shi Family Bridge, get off at the second turn, then walk inward and ask for Li Sanjiang's Home."

"Can people really tell me where that is?"

"Yes. Great Grandfather is famous in the village."

"Okay. If there are no buses tonight, I'll take a taxi."

Li Zhuiyuan asked curiously, "Brother Liangliang?"

"What is it? Is there something else?"

"You seem... pretty rich."

He said he came from the countryside in Anhui, but neither his clothes nor his habits showed the slightest trace of constraint.

"Oh, I contracted two convenience stores and a stationery shop at school. Also, I gathered some classmates into a team. We take on design projects from professors or outside the school.

There are more opportunities in big cities and universities. It's easier to make money. It really wasn't possible back in my hometown—there weren't those conditions. Now I even send money home to my parents every month.

Actually, I could have skipped this internship course, but I didn't want to give up this kind of frontline training opportunity."

"Brother Liangliang, you're amazing."

"You too, smart little kid." Xue Liangliang gently touched his forehead to Li Zhuiyuan's. When he saw Li Sanjiang and the others returning, he got up and left.

"Great Grandfather."

"That college student left?"

"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 remaining matters. Her uncle Zhou Hai and aunt Chen Xiaoling led Li Sanjiang and Li Zhuiyuan back home. To save time, they hired motorcycles waiting for fares outside the hospital.

The rural single-story house was spacious. Its yard faced an artificial river, and a little farther south, the surface of the main river could be seen.

After they entered, Chen Xiaoling went to pour water while Zhou Hai took out a cloth bundle. When he opened it, there was a hairpin and a wood carving inside.

Li Sanjiang picked up the wood carving and frowned slightly at the words on it.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned over and read it through.

It was exactly the same as Yingzi's account, word for word.

"Foolish... truly foolish..." Li Sanjiang set down the wood carving and slapped his thigh. "Life isn't even that hard anymore. You can eat and drink without worry. How did they suddenly let greed cloud their minds?"

Thud! Thud!

Freed from the restraints of the hospital, Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling directly dropped to their knees before Li Sanjiang. They nearly kowtowed as they begged him to save them.

It turned out that they had begun having the same dream too.

After witnessing the old couple's fate today, they were so frightened they were nearly breaking down.

"Let's go. First, we'll take a look at the aquaculture farm. Do you remember where the bones were buried?"

"We remember, we remember." Zhou Hai nodded at once. "The two of us dug the hole and buried them ourselves."

"Heh." Li Sanjiang sneered.

The aquaculture farm was not far from the Zhou home. Once they left the village, it took only a quarter of an hour walking along the riverbank to reach it.

The farm was very small. Apart from the boss, it had only two employees—Zhou Hai's parents.

So in their initial account, they had not only embellished and concealed the truth from Third Aunt and Yingzi, but also failed to tell Li Sanjiang what really happened.

"Dig," Li Sanjiang said.

"Shouldn't we wait until tonight?" Zhou Hai asked.

It was daytime. Although few people passed through here, there was still the risk of being seen.

Li Sanjiang nodded. "Then I'll go back to the village and sleep first. We'll come tomorrow. You can secretly dig up the bones tonight."

"No, no, that won't do, sir. I'm scared. I don't dare."

"You know how to be scared too!" Li Sanjiang nearly roared. "If you won't dig in broad daylight, when will you dig? Are you determined to find trouble after dark?"

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

Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling each picked up a shovel and began digging.

During that time, Li Sanjiang asked, "The boss disappeared. Did you report it to the police?"

"No." After lifting a shovel of earth, Zhou Hai answered, "We didn't dare report it. Back then, we were greedy. We were afraid that if we called the police, the truth would come out and the things would have to be handed over."

"What about the boss's family?"

"His hometown was down south. He came here alone to run the farm and didn't bring any family."

Li Sanjiang suddenly asked in a ghostly tone, "Don't tell me you killed the boss and swallowed his share too?"

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

Chen Xiaoling hurriedly nodded along. "We wouldn't dare kill anyone. We really wouldn't."

"Mm." Li Sanjiang asked no more. He believed the two of them weren't that outrageous. He got to his feet and silently began preparing his offering table.

Li Zhuiyuan helped him from the side.

Before long, they dug up the coffin.

Li Sanjiang took a look and breathed a sigh of relief. The coffin had been buried shut. Once opened, the bones inside were still intact, neither disturbed nor desecrated.

This counted as... a blessing amid misfortune.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned close to the coffin and examined the bones inside. It truly was a little girl.

Li Sanjiang performed the ritual, then burned the paper offerings.

Once the whole process was complete, Li Sanjiang asked, "Where are the other things, especially that bottle?"

"The boss took them."

"Where did he live?"

"He lived right at the worksite, in that room. After he disappeared, we went looking for him. Later, when our parents' health started going wrong, we realized it was the things in the coffin causing trouble. We searched his room too, but couldn't find those things, and we never saw that bottle either."

Li Sanjiang frowned. His original plan had been to put everything back, hold a ritual, then seal the coffin and push it into the river. That would have settled the matter.

After all, the demands carved into the wooden figure had been perfectly clear. Since at least two lives, perhaps even three, had been paid for, blood had been spilled. No matter how resentful that thing was, it should have vented enough of its hatred.

But that depended on returning every item. Lost jewelry was one thing, but that bottle with the Talisman Papers attached absolutely could not be left out.

The words on it had been written plainly. It was using its own corpse to suppress that Haunting!

Li Zhuiyuan spoke up then. "Uncle, Auntie, did the boss have any other connections around here?"

Li Sanjiang immediately caught on and pressed, "Right, right. Did he know anyone else? I heard those bosses from the south loved keeping mistresses."

Chen Xiaoling shook her head. "Never heard of any."

Zhou Hai scratched his head. "I think he did. Two of them. One was a widow living in Jiuweigang Town, and the other was a woman from a singing parlor in the city."

"Can you find them?" Li Sanjiang asked.

Zhou Hai shook his head. "I only heard my parents talking about them over meals. I don't know where either of them lived, so I can't find them."

Li Sanjiang took out his cigarette pack, pulled out two cigarettes, flicked one to Zhou Hai, and said:

"Call the police. Let the police find them."

"What?"

"What?"

Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling both froze.

"I said call the police. Report the disappearance and report this matter." Li Sanjiang pointed at the coffin. "Let the police investigate. Ask whether the things are with those women. I reckon the boss is probably dead too."

"But we..."

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

"You didn't kill anyone, so what the hell are you afraid of? Heh. Even if every single thing from this coffin had been returned and I successfully sent it back into the river today, I'd still have made you report this to the police.

"It'll be much better if the authorities handle something like this. You'll be much safer too.

"If you don't want to call them, that's up to you. As long as you aren't afraid of ending up like your parents did today."

"We'll report it. We'll call the police!" Zhou Hai made up his mind.

"Mm. All right, move the coffin and offering table into the house first. Until the authorities take over, don't let the candles go out, and don't put out the paper ash. Make up for as much as you can.

"Divide up the tasks yourselves."

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

"Mm, okay."

After that, Li Sanjiang took Li Zhuiyuan to sit on the steps by the doorway. He kept smoking without pause.

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

Li Sanjiang pointed at the house behind them. "If I leave now and Zhou Hai is alone in there with that coffin, I'm afraid he'll piss himself from terror."

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

"Hm?" Li Zhuiyuan finally realized how serious this was. "Great Grandfather, you had a dream too?"

"I dreamed I was on the roof of the town Health Center. That little girl stood in front of me and asked why I was helping them, what right I had to help them. She also told me that since I'd interfered, I could die with them."

Li Sanjiang took a savage drag on his cigarette, then slowly exhaled through his nose.

"Damn it, I got scared shitless by what happened today too."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded in understanding. What he had seen today truly was terrifying.

And he felt that although the Bai Family Empress dug out at the river works and this little girl Bai Family Empress might both have come from the same family, their temperaments were clearly different.

The Bai Family Empress at the river works had listened to his apology, accepted his offering, and even listened to Engineer Luo's muttering.

She could be said to have been quite reasonable.

But this Bai Family Empress was far more vicious. She killed people as easily as drinking water.

"What does it even have to do with me? She blamed me for going to the Health Center that day and saving those two old folks, but I couldn't just stand by and watch them die, could I?

"Forget it. I haven't been tainted too deeply. Once the police arrive, I'll make a statement and soak up some of the authorities' aura. I reckon she won't come after me again."

Li Zhuiyuan understood. So that had been Great Grandfather's plan.

It was no wonder. Whether it had been Little Yellow Oriole or the Cat-faced Old Woman, everything before had remained within manageable limits. But neither came close to being as ferocious as this Bai Family Empress. Even Great Grandfather could no longer get a handle on her.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly furrowed his brow. He recalled something from Records of Strange Tales from the Jianghu and realized there was a case very similar to this Bai Family Empress.

It involved practitioners of the mysterious arts using their own bodies as vessels, sealing and nurturing themselves in pursuit of another method of ascending as immortals.

Such Death Collapses retained some of the mystical arts and supernatural abilities they had possessed in life. Though they were not as tyrannical and terrifying as a General Death Collapse, they were the hardest to deal with, because they understood what methods the living would use against them.

Then he thought of the line carved into the figure: Corpse suppresses Haunting, merit aids ascension.

Now it all matched. Even without a physical form, she was still a Death Collapse. And one without a physical form... was even harder to know how to deal with.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that Great Grandfather had made the right call. Calling the police was better.

The police arrived, and many of them came. On the surface, this case had already caused two deaths and one disappearance. Although the two elderly people had not been murdered, the situation was no longer the same.

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

Li Zhuiyuan followed Great Grandfather to the Police Station to give a statement. By the time they came out, dusk had fallen.

Li Sanjiang even made a point of hugging the Police Station's main gate, as though he feared that was not enough and wanted to absorb a little more of the authorities' aura. He even started kissing the Police Station sign.

The people in the guardroom were stunned by this display.

But seeing that the old man was not there to cause trouble, they could only push open the window and ask:

"Comrade, what are you doing?"

Li Sanjiang kept kissing it as he shouted back:

"Showing my respect."

After doing all that, Li Sanjiang could not be bothered to return to the hospital to find Yingzi and her mother. He also turned down Chen Xiaoling's invitation to stay at her home that night.

Li Sanjiang only wanted to go home now.

Taking a taxi back would have been too expensive. At this hour, taxi drivers were unwilling to drive people out to the countryside unless they paid a lot extra.

So Li Sanjiang flagged down tractors on the road and asked where they were heading.

Li Zhuiyuan had thought this kind of luck-based approach was like searching for a needle in the ocean. He was just about to sit down and wait when the second tractor Great Grandfather flagged down turned out to be delivering stone piers to Shigang Town.

That was perfect. It could not have been more conveniently along the way.

Great Grandfather gave the driver a cigarette, then waved Little Yuanhou over to get on.

The tractor chugged along. Li Zhuiyuan and Great Grandfather sat in the back, the evening breeze blowing over them.

As they passed through the city, they also witnessed its bustle and clamor.

Partway through, Li Sanjiang took a brief nap. When he woke, he was delighted and took the initiative to say to Li Zhuiyuan:

"Little Yuanhou, your Great Grandfather just dozed off and had another dream. I saw that little girl again, but she was blurry and I couldn't make her out clearly. She was talking too, but I couldn't hear what she said.

"Looks like she's farther away from me now. Your Great Grandfather is nearly all right. Once we get back tonight, I'll burn incense properly and worship all the household deities, then cut things off with her completely."

"Great Grandfather, you're amazing."

Li Zhuiyuan had once doubted Li Sanjiang's abilities, but after the Cat-faced Old Woman said, "Your Great Grandfather has already raised a hand," those doubts had faded.

And Great Grandfather seemed to have a solution no matter what he encountered, and every solution somehow worked.

"Amazing my ass. If it weren't for your grandfather Hanhou's sake, I never would have come all the way here. I'm too embarrassed to take this money now, and I even put myself in danger for nothing.

"What a damn loss. A loss clear to my grandmother's house."

"Next time, I'll tell my grandpa not to—"

"Don't. It's not like every job is this unlucky and dangerous. Your Great Grandfather makes his living from this bowl of rice. I can't eat rich meat with every meal. Sometimes I have to chip a tooth on a stone in the rice.

"Sigh. I'd originally planned to keep improving your luck after we got back this time, but I don't dare now. She hasn't left completely, and your Great Grandfather doesn't want to drag you into this."

As he spoke, Li Sanjiang knocked on the metal panel behind them and shouted to the tractor driver:

"Brother, find us a little restaurant up ahead. This big brother will treat you to a couple drinks?"

"How could I let you do that?"

"Ah, no need to be polite. Find somewhere up ahead to stop. We'll eat before we go."

"Sure."

The tractor stopped in front of a small restaurant. After they got down and went inside, Li Sanjiang first ordered a pound of Yellow Wine, then two cold dishes and two hot dishes. He also ordered a separate plate of egg fried rice for Li Zhuiyuan.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished eating, he sat beside them and waited while Great Grandfather and the driver got into an animated conversation.

Li Sanjiang ordered the owner to warm another pound of wine, and at the same time got Li Zhuiyuan a can of Jianlibao.

Pop!

The can opened with a hiss of escaping gas.

Li Zhuiyuan took a sip. Li Sanjiang asked, "Good?"

"Mm, it's good."

"Then shall we buy a case to take home later?"

The driver laughed. "Big brother, you really are generous with the kid."

These days, bottled citric-acid drinks came in beer bottles that had to be returned. Ordinary people could afford those, but canned drinks were still far too expensive in most parents' eyes.

"Heh." Li Sanjiang rubbed Li Zhuiyuan's head. "What else is money for if not to spend on kids? Am I supposed to take it into the coffin with me later?"

He did not tell the driver that this was his clan great-grandson.

"That's true. My grandson is in high school now. I still have to keep driving, earn his university tuition. As long as he can get in, I'll grit my teeth and support him no matter what."

"Ai." Li Sanjiang sighed helplessly and rubbed the back of Li Zhuiyuan's head. "What a pity. My grandson is a clever kid, but he just doesn't like putting his mind into studying."

Li Zhuiyuan silently took another sip of soda.

It was nearly eight at night by the time dinner finally broke up. There were no drunk-driving checks in those days. With a flushed red face, the driver took out the crank, inserted it into the tractor engine, and spun it rapidly. The tractor started again.

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

Once they were back on the tractor heading home, Li Zhuiyuan looked at the starry sky overhead and began wondering whether Xue Liangliang had reached Siyuan Village yet.

He felt he should ask more carefully about the statue at the river works. Since the coffin at Jiuweigang contained a Death Collapse, perhaps that statue... was one too.

After all, although that river channel was being excavated now, it seemed to have been a waterway in the past as well.

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

While Li Zhuiyuan was away from home, Qin Li returned to her usual spot. She sat on the bench inside the doorway, her feet planted on the threshold, looking straight ahead.

Beside her, Liu Yumei had spread out a sheet of paper and was drawing clothing patterns with a brush.

She drew very well, vividly and with spirit. Though it looked highly unprofessional by modern garment-making standards, the old tailors in those small clothing workshops could understand it.

Her granddaughter was still growing, so new clothes had to be made every season. Liu Yumei's happiest moment each day was dressing her granddaughter beautifully in the early morning. It made her happy for the entire day as well.

At that moment, Liu Yumei noticed Qin Li move her head and look toward the small path through the wheat fields.

Liu Yumei put down her brush and stood up straight.

A young man in a blue shirt was walking onto the yard, holding a stack of books in his arms.

After watching him for a while, Qin Li withdrew her gaze and went back to looking straight ahead.

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

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

"Yes, it is. He isn't home right now, and I don't know whether he'll come back tonight. Are you looking for him?"

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

At the mention of Li Zhuiyuan's name, Qin Li looked at him again.

"He isn't home either," Liu Yumei replied.

"He should be coming back tonight. I'll wait for him. Um, excuse me, where's the restroom? I need to relieve myself."

"Behind the house."

"Okay, thank you."

Xue Liangliang set the books in his arms on the table, then jogged off to the restroom.

He had borrowed all these books from the cultural and historical archives. At present, such materials were not kept under strict control.

Liu Yumei casually opened one of the volumes. When she saw the passage marked with a paper bookmark, she frowned, her eyes narrowing slightly as she murmured:

"The Bai family?"

Then she closed the volume again, picked up her brush, and resumed drawing clothing patterns. But as she drew, she grew somewhat distracted. She stopped again, recalling that the young man had said he was looking for Little Yuan, and muttered to herself:

"How did Little Yuan get involved with the Bai family?"

As it happened, the sound of a tractor came from afar.

The driver did not drop them off by the roadside at the village entrance. He drove straight in and delivered them right to the house.

After they parted, Li Sanjiang led Li Zhuiyuan up onto the yard.

Just then, Xue Liangliang returned from relieving himself.

"Huh? Why did you come to my house?" Li Sanjiang asked in surprise.

"Grandpa, Brother Liangliang came to tutor me."

"Oh, good, that's good. Then let him sleep in your room tonight. Young man, have you eaten?"

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

"All right."

Li Zhuiyuan walked over to Qin Li. Qin Li stood up, reached out, and took Li Zhuiyuan's hand on her own initiative.

Her eyelashes immediately began to flutter, and her body started trembling slightly.

Li Zhuiyuan was surprised. Why was she still...

"A Li, let go!"

Liu Yumei's stern voice rang out. Seeing that A Li would not listen to her, she could only call out to Li Zhuiyuan:

"Little Yuan, let go!"

Li Zhuiyuan pulled his hand free.

A Li made to step forward again, wanting to grab Li Zhuiyuan's hand once more.

"Little Yuan, say goodnight to A Li. I'm taking A Li to rest."

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

Xue Liangliang picked up the files, took Li Zhuiyuan's hand, and said, "Come on, let's talk in your room. I found something incredible."

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

Liu Yumei sighed and coaxed her granddaughter:

"Be good. He's already fine now. He's even better off than that young man."

"Whoa, what kind of books are all over your desk?"

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

"It's my hobby."

"Seriously?" Xue Liangliang flipped through the pages. "Little Yuan, if you like this stuff, you could go into the liberal arts in the future. You could study archaeology."

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

He did not want to become alumni with his mother.

"Then what major do you want? Don't tell me you want to be like me—choose water conservancy engineering and apply to Haihe University?"

Li Zhuiyuan thought for a moment before saying, "That wouldn't be impossible."

It was related to water.

This university seemed rather suited to his field.

"Then you'd better study hard. Haihe University isn't easy to get into."

"Mm."

It really would not be easy. Those old professors probably would not be willing to let him transfer schools.

"Come on, look at what I found. You never know until you investigate, but once you do, it's shocking." Xue Liangliang spread out the files. "This Bai family really was a surname. Local gazetteers from the Ming-Qing period recorded many deeds of the Bai family, all involving vanquishing monsters and quelling unrest. But they only mentioned the Bai Family Empress, never a Bai Family Master."

Li Zhuiyuan asked, "Did they only pass it down through women?"

"That's what I think too. The family line probably only passed through daughters, and they took sons-in-law into the family. Though that kind of custom was pretty rare around here."

As Li Zhuiyuan read through the files, he said, "Brother Liangliang, keep going."

"The Bai family's sphere of activity probably extended beyond present-day Nantong. I suspect traces of them can be found throughout northern Jiangsu, but one thing is certain: the Bai family's ancestral home was in Nantong."

"Look at this passage. It records a place called Bai Family Town, which should have been where the Bai family's ancestral home was located. Its approximate location was west of Yingzhou in the East Sea."

"Yingzhou in the East Sea?"

"That's Chongming Island."

"Oh. Then was Bai Family Town in Shanghai or Nantong?"

Chongming Island lay at the mouth of the Yangtze River and could be considered the gateway to the Yangtze. Most of the island belonged to Shanghai, while part of it belonged to Nantong.

Xue Liangliang hesitated. "The location description here is very strange. It seemed someone had specifically researched it, but perhaps an error was made when it was written down."

"Following the directions it recorded, I actually checked some old maps and found... found that it should have been in the river."

"In the river?"

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

"This... the record must be wrong, right?"

"But this is the only record I've been able to find that gives an address for Bai Family Town.

"And then I discovered something very strange.

"After the Yongzheng era of the Qing dynasty, local gazetteers never again contained a single record of the Bai Family Empress.

"The Bai family,

"the Bai family members,

"Bai Family Town,

"in the historical records, all seemed to have vanished overnight...

"Gone."