Chapter 39

Lunch was lavish.

It had originally been prepared to entertain guests, but the guests had left.

Still, most people's small tables merely had more dishes, with no real change in portions. Only Run Sheng's serving had gone from one huge basin to two.

Li Sanjiang saw it and could not help cursing, "Damn it, why don't you just eat out of a bathtub?"

Run Sheng asked happily, "Can I?"

Li Sanjiang rolled his eyes, completely speechless.

Only then did Run Sheng realize he had misunderstood. He smiled sheepishly, then held incense in his left hand and a spoon in his right, eating with both in turns.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the drunken shrimp before him. The shrimp had been soaked in baijiu, with scallions, ginger, and garlic added to remove the fishiness.

He picked one up and put it in his mouth. With a light suck, the shrimp meat came free, fresh and delicious.

He picked up another drunken mud snail, bit down on its front end, and slowly pushed outward, separating the meat from the shell. The snail meat was tiny and crunchy.

You had to be careful eating these and could not rush. If you got even a little impatient, you might swallow the sand inside the mud snail too.

Coastal regions generally had a tradition of eating raw marinated seafood. For those accustomed to it, it was an irresistible delicacy.

But for most inland people, dishes like this were simply terrifying.

And rightly so. Raw marinated food did carry a considerable risk of parasites.

After only tasting a little, Li Zhuiyuan saw that Qin Li was uninterested in the two dishes as well and had not touched them with her chopsticks. He stood up, picked up both plates, and intended to bring them to Li Sanjiang as drinking snacks.

"Give them to me."

Liu Yumei spoke up.

Li Zhuiyuan brought the drunken shrimp and drunken mud snails to Liu Yumei and Aunt Liu's table.

"Can't get used to them?"

"Mm."

"Good stuff, and you don't know how to appreciate it."

Liu Yumei ate two drunken mud snails in a row, then took a sip of the Yellow Wine in her cup.

Aunt Liu said with a smile, "Qin Li doesn't like these things either."

Liu Yumei shook her head. "Qin Li just thinks they're too much trouble."

Then Liu Yumei asked Li Zhuiyuan, "What did the people who came this morning want to do?"

"They wanted to buy a house. They had their eye on Big Beard's house."

"Oh, how is that house?"

"It's very spacious, and the Fish Pond is quite large too. They're in a hurry to sell it, so it's cheap. Grandma, are you interested in taking a look?"

"What would I go look for? I don't have the money to buy it."

"You don't have to buy it. You can still go take a look."

"If I can't afford it, looking at it will only make me more upset when I lie in bed tonight. Better not to go. Besides, I'm not from this village, so by the rules, I can't buy it anyway.

"In any case, everything still has to be handled according to public rules."

Li Zhuiyuan knew Liu Yumei was deliberately reminding him to call the police instead of messing around on his own.

"The police officers are busy too. Besides, doesn't the Police Station have a slogan painted on its outer wall about police-civilian cooperation?"

Liu Yumei gave the boy a deep look, lifted her Yellow Wine, took another sip, and said lightly, "Even among a troop of monkeys, there's a monkey king."

That meant there really was a tough one among those Water Monkeys.

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Or maybe it's just the best of a bad bunch."

"Heh." Liu Yumei smiled and waved her chopsticks. "Go eat, child."

Li Zhuiyuan returned to his small table.

Aunt Liu lowered her voice and asked, "Should I go see exactly what books Little Yuan has been reading?"

What the boy had said earlier had actually hinted at the Fish Pond at Sihai's house. He had implied that if they could mistake a bait point and stumble into trouble, then no matter how skilled they were, that was all there was to them.

That level of understanding already alarmed Aunt Liu more than when the boy had asked whether she had poison that morning.

The latter showed childishness. The former meant that this child seemed to have truly entered the field, and entered it deeply.

Liu Yumei shook her head. "Before, when that child hadn't come, there would still have been some justification for checking the books in Li Sanjiang's basement. But now that the child has already seen through the trick, going to look would make it easy to drag yourself in. Are you in such a hurry to go see A Li?"

"How could I be? You need someone by your side to look after you."

"I may be old, but I can't cook."

Aunt Liu said, "Then it seems the books in Uncle Sanjiang's basement really are something extraordinary."

"They truly are extraordinary. Didn't he say that during the campaign against the Four Olds, several groups of people had deliberately stored their books with him?"

"Then it seems those groups of people were not ordinary either."

"There's no such logic in this world that only our eyes are sharp while everyone else is blind."

"You're right."

Liu Yumei still had a few thoughts she kept to herself.

No matter how extraordinary the books were, they were still only books.

And the more extraordinary the book, the harder it was to understand.

How many people in the mystic arts had spent their entire lives without truly understanding even a single book?

She liked sitting in the courtyard drinking tea, while the boy sat above her reading. She only remembered that the child read books like he was flipping through comic books, one after another.

If they truly were extraordinary treasured texts of the mystic arts, and he could understand and learn them by reading like that, then it would really be outrageously unfair.

Yet the facts seemed to be right there.

When he had first moved in, he had only been a child frightened by his first encounter with a Death Collapse. Now, not only could he distinguish between bait points and the main point, he could even personally guide in a Death Collapse.

A child like that, before Liberation, would probably have had every family fighting to take him in as the heir to their own lineage.

Heh...

If the Spirit Tablets her family worshipped were not dead Spirit Tablets, and had even a trace of spiritual presence, they would probably be making a racket at night, asking her to accept him as a disciple on their behalf.

They might even fight another round over whether he should follow the Qin family or the Liu family.

Just wait and see.

Liu Yumei lifted the wine pot and poured herself another cup.

Once Qin Li's illness was cured, perhaps, as thanks, she could pass Liu Clan's Qi Gazing Art on to him.

After returning to his seat, Li Zhuiyuan ate lunch at ease. There were some things he had to make clear to Grandma Liu, and he also had to make his stance known.

After all, he still needed Aunt Liu as his safety net.

Though the matter would happen at Big Beard's house, if he failed to contain it and things got out of hand, it might affect their home as well. When that happened, he would have to ask Aunt Liu to return to her hometown and care for his eldest uncle together with Uncle Qin.

After lunch, Run Sheng patted his bulging belly and, without planning to rest, prepared to continue working in the workshop.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped him and handed him several drawings. "Brother Run Sheng, help me make these things first. I need them urgently."

Run Sheng took the drawings without even looking at them and said directly, "Okay."

He believed Little Yuan would not give him drawings he could not understand or make.

Li Zhuiyuan and Qin Li then went to the room.

He continued selecting among the ten taboos, while Qin Li kept carving with her knife.

The desk was large enough for the boy and girl to work on their own things without disturbing each other.

In the end, Li Zhuiyuan selected two taboos.

In truth, there were many kinds of taboos in the books he had read, but many lacked the conditions needed to carry them out. Even among the ten he had carefully selected, at least half had been discarded because their success conditions were too complicated.

There were necessary materials whose names he could understand, but he did not know what they actually were in reality, and their descriptions often began with requirements of one hundred or one thousand years.

There were also special triggering tools that had to be made like evil artifacts. Human Skin drums had even appeared, with notes specifying boys and girls under a certain age.

Others required him to build an underground palace in a special environment, gather yin-yang Feng Shui Meteorology, and then put Little Yellow Oriole inside.

Honestly, if he had the means to do all that, would he still need to rack his brains to deal with those Water Monkeys?

The final two he chose were these.

One involved making preliminary changes to the Feng Shui and temporarily turning a Corpse Raising ground into a place of clashing malevolent energy. It was a little like sprinkling water into a pot of boiling oil.

The other involved wrapping Little Yellow Oriole in a scripture banner to trigger the resentment within her into boiling over. He had to pay attention to the effect of the scripture banner. It was like how a strong wind could extinguish fire, while a suitable breeze could make it burn even hotter.

However, at his current level, he only needed to worry about whether he could raise a wind at all, not whether the wind would be too strong.

From a practical standpoint, these two were the easiest to accomplish.

Moreover, their effects were similar to stimulants. After using them on Little Yellow Oriole, she would immediately fall into a deep state of weakness, so there would not be any later loss of control.

Li Zhuiyuan had already asked Run Sheng to hand-make the materials for the Formation Flags. As for their specific usage, he still needed to redesign and plan it, at the very least determining which points' Feng Shui needed to be changed. That required extensive deduction and calculation.

He opened the drawer, pulled out a roll of large white paper, and cut off a section according to his needs.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a pen and ruler and began following his memories of that night to draw Big Beard's pond and the surrounding terrain.

He had received this sort of family education from his parents since childhood, and his memory was good, so he finished the drawing in about half an hour.

It was far more detailed than a sketch, while omitting much unnecessary clutter. Holding it up by the edges with both hands, it even had a bit of the feel of a photograph.

Li Zhuiyuan used double-sided tape to stick it to the wall, then stood there staring at it.

But as he watched, his brow gradually furrowed.

He had chosen to draw it out as if using scratch paper, to reduce the burden on his brain. Yet this drawing... had failed to achieve any effect.

Because Feng Shui Meteorology could not be drawn with clear lines in the first place. When calculating, he still had to first form a realistic image in his mind, add the Feng Shui Meteorology to it, and only then conduct deductions and calculations.

This drawing had truly been a little... like taking off his pants to fart.

He could not use this style of drawing. He needed to use the style of ink wash painting.

Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs. Since the family ran a Paper Crafting business, the first floor lacked neither paints, palettes, nor brushes. He selected a set and hurried back upstairs.

He cut a new sheet of paper, placed it on the desk, picked up a brush, and began drawing.

But as he drew, he felt something was wrong again.

It was not that the method was wrong. The method was definitely correct. The problem was... he did not know how to paint.

He had seen plenty of geniuses among his classmates, but they merely learned quickly. No one was born knowing everything.

On a professional track, skipping the learning process meant a genius was no different from an idiot.

That was also why he had never been able to beat Qin Li at Go. Qin Li had clearly learned it before, while he had not.

Although the most direct way was to go to the site and inspect the location, now that the Water Monkeys had set their sights on Big Beard's house, it was impossible for him to wander over there without drawing attention.

The key was that he could not get results from just one glance. He had to make deductions and calculations for a long time, so he could not go to the site. The risk was too great.

Aunt Liu could definitely paint. He had watched her color Paper Persons, and she clearly possessed deep artistic skill.

Grandma Liu could paint too. She usually liked spreading out a table and personally designing clothes for Qin Li with a paintbrush.

But neither of those two people would definitely help him paint this.

Li Zhuiyuan sighed, left the room, and went downstairs to the workshop.

When he pushed open the door, Run Sheng was inside vigorously hand-carving patterns into iron awls. These iron awls would serve as flagpoles afterward.

"Little Yuan, you're here."

Run Sheng handed Li Zhuiyuan a large porcelain cup.

The cup was a little dirty, and it contained steeped patchouli leaves.

Li Zhuiyuan accepted it and took two large gulps.

After handing it back, Run Sheng gulped down the rest in one go, then picked up the kettle from the small stove and refilled the porcelain cup with hot water.

"No wonder it's so hot. Brother Run Sheng, why did you put the stove inside?"

"Hehe, sometimes heating things up a little makes them easier to work with. It's a bit hot, but I can just drink more water. It's fine."

"You need to take better care of your health."

"My body's in great shape. Don't worry, I've eaten my fill."

Li Zhuiyuan knew that from Run Sheng's perspective, as long as he had eaten his fill, it was as if no problem in the world mattered.

The workshop conditions really were crude, though, and the space was too small. It would be nice if they could have a professional studio in the future, with their own electric furnace, machine tools, and cutting machine.

That way, making anything would be convenient.

But for now, he could only think about it.

"Brother, I need to tell you something."

"Okay, Little Yuan, go ahead." Run Sheng did not stop working and continued with what he was doing.

Li Zhuiyuan told him about the Water Monkeys.

Run Sheng asked in surprise, "Little Yuan, when they came this morning, you didn't tell me because you were afraid I'd give myself away?"

"Mm."

"What a pity. I've seen similar scenes on television. I think I could have acted it out."

"No rush. You can polish your acting skills some more. There'll be chances later."

"Mm!"

Run Sheng picked up a black-and-white towel and wiped away his sweat.

"So, Little Yuan, when they start digging up that grave, are we going to stab them in the ass?"

As he spoke, Run Sheng raised the iron awl he had just polished and made a stabbing motion.

"Maybe Little Yellow Oriole can make them all attend their own funeral feast without us lifting a hand."

"That'd be such a shame. Watching others fight while not being able to join in always feels unsatisfying.

"That's how it usually goes in movies. Little Yellow Oriole kills a bunch of them first, then some tough guy among them subdues Little Yellow Oriole, and finally, at the crucial moment, we make our entrance."

"You've already planned it all out?"

"I have to imagine it a little. That gives me more energy to work."

"Brother Run Sheng, keep busy. I'm heading upstairs first."

"Alright. Don't worry. Go think about your things. Leave this place to me."

Affected by Run Sheng's mood, Li Zhuiyuan pulled himself together as well. He planned to go upstairs and tackle that difficult problem. Even if he could not draw it out on paper, he could calculate it by force. At worst, he would get another nosebleed.

However, Li Zhuiyuan did not go upstairs right away. Instead, he went to the kitchen. At this hour, Aunt Liu would be decocting medicine for him.

"Little Yuan, you're here. Hehe, this bowl is for you, and this bowl is for the dog."

"Thank you, Aunt Liu. This bowl is mine, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan confirmed it again. He did not want to drink the wrong one.

"Yes, that's right. Drink it."

The medicine was bitter. Li Zhuiyuan drank it at an even pace, finally finishing it with difficulty.

"Aunt Liu, this medicine must be expensive, right?"

"It isn't worth much. They're all common tonics. You just need to put some care into simmering them to bring out the medicinal properties and balance them together, and then the effects will show. But Little Yuan, you said you often got nosebleeds and felt dizzy. You need to take care of yourself. Don't let yourself become depleted and damage your vitality early."

"I understand, Aunt Liu."

"Also, it's best to drink this medicine in the morning, preferably right after you wake up. Follow the morning air as your body revives, then supplement it with the medicinal broth—the effect will be best.

How about this? From now on, I'll have A Li bring it to you every morning. A Li has to go to your room in the morning anyway."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. "All right."

He did not refuse, because he knew Grandma Liu and the others wanted to speed things up and were using his name to assign A Li extra homework.

Though the image that brought to mind was rather strange.

Every morning, the moment he opened his eyes, the girl would walk to his bedside with a bowl of medicine.

But for his own health, and for the girl's condition to keep improving, he still had to drink it.

There really had been classmates in his old class who were frail and often sick. Li Zhuiyuan had originally thought he did not have that problem, because Li Lan had the same illness as him, yet Li Lan had always been healthy enough to rough it out in the field.

But now that he had come into contact with these things, calculating them was far more complicated and exhausting than working through math problems.

The Little Black Dog was sleeping in its kennel. When Li Zhuiyuan carried over the medicine bowl, it opened its eyes, yawned, came over by itself, drank all the medicine, then flopped onto its back with its belly full of liquid and went back to sleep.

After being fed well these past days—with good food, good drink, and good medicine—the Little Black Dog's fur had become even glossier and darker. Li Zhuiyuan had also discovered that its tongue was black. The only white thing on its entire body was its teeth.

Aunt Liu had picked out and bought this dog for him. Its pedigree was probably far from ordinary.

He went upstairs and entered his room. Li Zhuiyuan had planned to roll up his paper balls before forcing himself to calculate again, but he saw that A Li, though still seated at the desk, had moved into his old spot.

The girl was no longer holding a carving knife, but a brush.

Only when he came closer did he confirm that the girl was indeed painting. She was already nearly done and was putting on the finishing touches.

After looking carefully, Li Zhuiyuan's eyes widened. She had copied the Fish Pond picture he had posted on the wall, and she had even painted in the atmospheric conditions.

The difficult problem that had plagued him, along with the price of nosebleeds, had been solved by the girl.

With the final stroke complete, A Li put down her brush. She dipped her fingers into a cup, wet them, then lightly and evenly flicked water across the paper, letting the ink spread further and making the atmospheric conditions even clearer.

Finished.

The girl turned around and looked at the boy.

"A Li, you really are a genius."

At the praise, the girl's eyes and brows seemed to curve slightly.

Then she stood up, stretched out her arms, and wrapped them around the boy's neck.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that perhaps next time, in front of A Li, he should use a more suitable way of acting cute with Great Grandfather—or secretly tell Great Grandfather to change his response.

Otherwise, it ruined the mood every time.

But for now, he could only gently pat the girl's head and say:

"I'll buy A Li anything she wants. I have money—loads of money."

The ceremony was complete.

A Li released him in satisfaction and returned to her seat.

Li Zhuiyuan sat down, stared at the painting, and began calculating.

Every twenty minutes, he picked up his pen and marked a spot on the painting. Those were the locations where the flags needed to be planted.

In the end, he marked a total of twelve spots.

Even with Formation Flags planted at all twelve spots, the formation would still lack a formation eye. But there was no need to worry about that. Little Yellow Oriole herself would be the formation eye.

Next came the materials for the Formation Flags. Run Sheng would make the poles, but the troublesome and complicated part was the flag faces. Ordinary cloth would flutter in the wind, making the effect hard to present, so they needed fixed surfaces. The best choice would be high-quality yin wood sheets; only then could the patterns be carved into them to maximize the effect in a short time.

Originally, Li Zhuiyuan had planned to go to the graveyard with Run Sheng that night. They would not need to dig up any graves, since broken coffin boards were often exposed there.

But now...

Li Zhuiyuan turned to look at the Wood Flower Rolls in front of A Li, as well as the Spirit Tablets at her feet that had been split in half.

It seemed they already had better boards to choose from.

For example,

these ancestral boards.

While they were eating dinner, the Village Chief arrived.

The Village Chief was all smiles, repeatedly saying, "Uncle Sanjiang, you've come into some good fortune."

He then took out several handwritten documents, already stamped with the village committee seal and bearing the signatures and fingerprints of Big Beard's wife and eldest son.

Li Sanjiang marveled at Ding Dalin's speed. He had already bought a retirement home?

But when he lowered his head and read the documents, his expression stiffened. "Why did he buy Big Beard's house?"

The Village Chief had apparently received a red envelope as the middleman and said with a smile:

"A free house and Fish Pond. Just tell me, do you want them or not? He's already paid the money. Sign this, and if you're black-hearted enough, you can turn around and drive them out. Even if he tries to sue you, he won't win."

"But I warned him not to buy Big Beard's house."

"It was cheap. From what I can see, although he's an overseas Chinese returning home, he probably didn't make much of a fortune. If he had made a real fortune, then came back to invest, the town could have directly approved a new homestead for him."

"That makes sense."

Although Big Beard's house felt unlucky, Li Sanjiang still signed and pressed his fingerprint, following the principle that there was no reason to refuse something free.

At worst, after Ding Dalin left, he could have Little Yuanhou sell the house on.

"Then it's settled. They're probably eager to move back home. They said they'll hire people to clean it tomorrow and officially move in the day after tomorrow. They'll invite an opera troupe to play all day and ask the entire village to come celebrate and feast."

"That'll certainly be lively. There hasn't been a break in the feasting at Big Beard's place lately."

"Hehe, we can say that here, but when we go over there to give gifts and join the festivities the day after tomorrow, keep your mouth shut tight. I'll remind the others in the village too."

"I know."

"Oh, right. He said there would be no gift money when he invited the villagers to the feast."

"I'll still give some."

"Right, you should. Consider it your contribution toward your own house."

Li Sanjiang nodded and pulled out two cigarettes for the Village Chief. The Village Chief accepted the one from inside the pack.

"All right, that's it, Uncle Sanjiang. I'll head back first. You all keep eating."

Li Sanjiang lit a cigarette and said to Li Zhuiyuan, "Little Yuanhou, Great Grandfather earned you a house."

"Thank you, Great Grandfather."

"This is nothing. Just wait. Great Grandfather will save up some more money here, and before I close my eyes, I'll definitely get you a place in the city too, for when you get married."

As he spoke, Li Sanjiang deliberately glanced out of the corner of his eye at old Madam Liu, who was eating at a table some distance away.

As if afraid she had not heard him, he deliberately raised his voice:

"Once our Little Yuanhou gets married, he'll have to live in the city no matter what!"

Hmph. Let that snobbish old woman keep looking down on people.

Liu Yumei raised her wine cup and took a sip. She could not be bothered to get angry with the old man showing off.

The Qin Liu Families had old residences in places like Su, Huai, and Yang. Back in the day, they had even donated several residences to the state as protected cultural relics.

Besides, the two children getting along well now did not mean they would necessarily follow the childhood-sweethearts path all the way to marriage.

What Liu Yumei really wanted was to cure her granddaughter's illness. She had never seriously considered turning that boy from the Li family into her future grandson-in-law.

Since ancient times, wealthy families seeking a live-in son-in-law did not choose the virtuous ones, but the honest and well-behaved ones.

If they picked someone clever and capable, they would not be able to keep him in check. Then the family business would all become his. He would swallow everything whole and not even leave them their surname.

After dinner, Li Zhuiyuan drew the pattern designs for the Formation Flags.

Then he went downstairs to the kitchen and personally cooked ten packets of Three Delicacies Noodles, delivering them to Run Sheng in a washbasin.

Run Sheng was still staying up late twisting iron. When he saw the huge basin of noodles and the two thick sticks of incense laid over the top, his grin nearly reached his ears.

After reminding him once more to rest early, Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs to bathe and sleep.

When Li Zhuiyuan woke, he first stretched, then turned his head.

He saw the girl sitting in a chair by the door, holding a bowl of medicine in her hands.

The sight unexpectedly made her look adorably guileless.

A Li stood up, carried the medicine to Li Zhuiyuan's bedside, sat down, and slowly moved the rim of the bowl toward the boy's mouth.

The boy knew that she was trying to imitate how the elders in her family had treated her before, feeding him medicine.

Li Zhuiyuan gladly accepted.

Then,

early that morning, Li Zhuiyuan went to wash his hair.

Li Sanjiang came out of his room yawning. When he saw Li Zhuiyuan beside the Water Vat, he asked:

"Little Yuanhou, what's this? Did bird droppings land on your head too today?"

"Great Grandfather, I just thought my hair was a little greasy, so I washed it."

After breakfast, Li Zhuiyuan returned to his room and gave the design drawings to A Li, asking her to carve the boards.

He began painting the scripture banners himself. With his previous experience drawing Talisman Papers, this time was not difficult.

Moreover, the "power" of the Talisman Papers convinced Li Zhuiyuan that his scripture banners would definitely not be overly effective. They would only stimulate Little Yellow Oriole, not truly suppress her.

By noon, all the materials had been prepared, and Run Sheng had finished twisting the flagpoles.

The afternoon was spent assembling everything. The twelve Formation Flags were complete.

Li Zhuiyuan had deliberately added a long rope to the scripture banner so Run Sheng could throw it up from a distance when the time came.

Li Sanjiang had originally thought that, with the housewarming set for tomorrow, Ding Dalin would come over that night to talk and have another gathering. But Ding Dalin did not come. The one who arrived at night was Tan Yunlong.

Tan Yunlong rode a motorcycle, with Tan Wenbin sitting behind him.

The father and son brought quite a few gifts. A mattress and a bag containing toiletries were tied to the motorcycle's rear rack as well.

It turned out that the city Education Bureau was going to conduct an inspection, so the town high school had no choice but to suspend summer classes and give the students a week off until the inspection was dealt with.

Tan Yunlong said he was busy with work and that his wife would be away on a business trip soon, so he could only leave his son here to be looked after. It would also be a good chance for him to study properly with Little Yuan.

Li Sanjiang understood it as someone coming to tutor Little Yuanhou properly.

But aside from occasionally playing dumb over certain matters, Li Sanjiang was shrewd most of the time. He decisively pushed back the living expenses Tan Yunlong offered and patted his chest in promise that he would take good care of his son. After all, everyone knew how necessary it was to maintain a good relationship with the Police Station.

Tan Yunlong walked up to Li Zhuiyuan, bent down, patted his shoulder, and said quietly:

"The two unconscious ones are about to wake up."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. That meant the group of Water Monkeys would soon be dug up as well.

"Bin Bin, I'll trouble you with him for now. If he doesn't listen to you, call me. I'll beat him to death."

Li Zhuiyuan turned to look at Tan Wenbin standing behind him. Tan Wenbin gave Li Zhuiyuan an understanding smile.

Tan Yunlong left.

Holding his bedding, Tan Wenbin said, "Little Yuan, where's your room? Can I sleep with you?"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Run Sheng. Run Sheng immediately walked to Tan Wenbin's side, took his bedding, set up another round table beside his own, swiftly spread the bedding over it, and patted it.

"Come on. You can sleep here with me tonight."

Rather than being dissatisfied, Tan Wenbin nodded with a hint of excitement. "Okay!"

After night fell, Li Zhuiyuan went to sleep early. He would need to stay up tomorrow night, so he had to rest up today.

Run Sheng's work was done, and he could finally relax and continue watching television.

Tan Wenbin watched with him. Once the television had run through to its fixed black-and-white static screen, Tan Wenbin took out a game console and taught Run Sheng to play Tetris. The machine also came with another airplane game.

Run Sheng had a lot of fun, but the game console soon ran out of power.

"Oh no, I forgot to bring batteries."

"It's fine. Then let's sleep." Run Sheng turned off the light and climbed onto the table-bed.

Tan Wenbin lay down on the table across from him as well.

The first floor was pitch-black, and paper people stood in neat rows all across from them beneath the moonlight.

Tan Wenbin thought the atmosphere was perfect. He was a little scared, but also a little excited.

He turned onto his side toward Run Sheng, pulled the blanket over half his face, and asked in a muffled voice from inside it:

"Run Sheng, do you know about Death Collapse?"

"I do."

"It's the corpse of someone who died and fell into the water, right?"

"What else would it be?"

"It's the kind that can climb ashore and walk on its own after dying, right?"

"What else would it be?"

At that answer, excitement flashed in one of Tan Wenbin's eyes while he quietly pulled his exposed feet beneath the blanket.

"Run Sheng, have you ever scooped one up?"

"I have."

"You're really amazing."

"Little Yuan is even more amazing."

"Hehe, when I told my dad I wanted to come here to study this time, I actually just wanted to see if I might get a chance to see a Death Collapse."

The school's temporary break was real, but his mother going on a business trip was false. The moment he made the suggestion, both his parents agreed.

Because in Tan Yunlong and his wife's eyes, Li Zhuiyuan was no longer someone else's child. He was a child from heaven!

Tan Yunlong was reliable in handling matters. He had specifically called the town high school to ask about transferring schools and skipping grades. When they asked where his child had previously studied and what grade he was in, Tan Yunlong had looked through Li Zhuiyuan's file folder before, so he gave them the name of that youth class.

At first, the person on the other end of the call politely said they understood before hanging up, seemingly just giving him face.

An hour later, they called back. Their tone was extremely excited, with several people talking over one another, shouting and asking Tan Yunlong whether he was sure it was that youth class.

They also said that, as long as everything checked out, he could immediately come to the school to complete the paperwork. The principal, directors, and others would accompany him through the entire process, and there would be a whole series of preferential conditions.

Tan Yunlong knew Li Zhuiyuan wanted to enjoy his summer break, so he did not tell them Li Zhuiyuan's name or address. He put them off by saying he would bring the child over before the new term began.

However, Tan Yunlong had confirmed one thing: this youth class was not the sort of elementary school affiliated with a university that he had imagined.

Run Sheng was ready to sleep. He felt that the guy at the opposite table seemed even more foolish than him.

Tan Wenbin chuckled to himself again.

"Hey, you know, when Little Yuan first told me he liked Scoop Death Collapse, I stupidly asked whether it was some kind of snack."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tan Wenbin saw Run Sheng's eyes seem to light up.

Then came a resounding voice, full of endless savoring:

"Delicious. Exquisite!"

That night, Tan Wenbin slept curled up beneath the covers, too scared to even get out of bed to pee.

The next morning, Tan Wenbin groggily saw a girl in a red dress carrying a bowl of medicine past him and up the stairs.

When he had arrived last night, A Li had already been coaxed to sleep by Li Zhuiyuan, so this was his first time seeing her.

"This little girl is so pretty. Even the stars on posters aren't as pretty as her."

Run Sheng sat up and loosened his neck. "Don't get close to her."

"Why not?"

"Other than Little Yuan, no one can get close to her."

"There's a rule like that?"

Now that it was daylight, Tan Wenbin felt that Run Sheng was not quite so terrifying after all.

"It's not a rule."

Run Sheng had always been sensitive about this sort of thing. He remembered the first time he had gone upstairs and tried to approach Little Yuan and A Li, when A Li's body had begun to tremble.

At the time, that little girl had felt even more terrifying than the most frightening Death Collapse he had ever seen.

"Breakfast!"

Aunt Liu's voice rang out with the punctuality of a daily alarm clock.

Li Zhuiyuan and A Li came downstairs. He had not made A Li feed him medicine today, so he had not washed his hair either.

Tan Wenbin grinned and tried to come over for breakfast with them.

"Bin Bin Ge..." Li Zhuiyuan hurriedly took A Li's hand, preparing to warn him.

"Come eat with me!"

Run Sheng grabbed Tan Wenbin by the neck and carried him off to his own dining corner as though he were lifting a chick.

Tan Wenbin could not remember how he had eaten breakfast. All he knew was that afterward, his eyes were red and aching slightly from the incense.

Early in the morning, Big Beard's house was already filled with the clamor of gongs and drums, while loudspeakers and sound systems blared away.

The Village Chief had informed everyone in the village yesterday that a former overseas Chinese villager had returned to settle down and was inviting everyone to a housewarming banquet.

It was also made clear that they only needed to come and enjoy the feast; no monetary gifts would be accepted.

That brought men, women, young, and old from the entire village over early to watch the excitement.

Li Zhuiyuan and Run Sheng came too, followed by a Tan Wenbin who had insisted on tagging along.

"What about him tonight? He's very curious." As Run Sheng spoke, he made a chopping motion with his hand before Li Zhuiyuan. "Knock him out?"

Li Zhuiyuan's eyelid twitched. He was afraid Brother Run Sheng would get too immersed in the act, fail to control his strength, and kill the man with a single chop.

"There's no need for that. Just tie him up."

"Okay."

Li Zhuiyuan began to observe the banquet arrangements for the day.

There were simply too many guests, so the open yard and the first floor of the house could not hold all the tables. They extended down into the fields, where tents had been set up.

Meanwhile, the troupe's stage had been built beside the Fish Pond, with the speakers, loudspeakers, and huge drums all arranged there.

Li Zhuiyuan knew this was to cover up the noise of grave robbing at night.

Since it was an all-day banquet, they would have to play music and perform for an entire day and night. The daytime opera was for the living, while the nighttime opera was for the dead.

The point was to properly attend to both yin and yang, symbolizing that everything would go smoothly in the future.

However, all-day banquets were rare in the countryside nowadays. Nighttime performance fees were several times higher than daytime ones, and ordinary families were unwilling to spend that kind of money putting on a show for ghosts.

With drums, loudspeakers, and sound systems like these, no matter how much noise they made at night, the villagers would not find it strange.

Li Zhuiyuan could not help marveling inwardly. This was what true professionalism looked like. They were willing to spend money too, buying a house and treating the whole village to a feast.

The troupe's performance had begun long ago, and the area around it was packed with people. Pretending to be curious, Li Zhuiyuan led Run Sheng around the stage once, then deliberately went with him to relieve themselves in a less crowded spot across the Fish Pond.

This was actually to help Run Sheng determine the coordinates for planting the flags.

"Do you remember everything, Brother Run Sheng?"

"Don't worry. I remember it all."

"When the time comes, I'll carry two to plant. I'll leave the rest to you."

The Formation Flags were somewhat heavy, and Li Zhuiyuan could only run while carrying two of them right now.

"What about me? What about me?"

Tan Wenbin followed them over and undid his belt as well.

"How many should I carry?"

Li Zhuiyuan reassured him, "Don't worry. I'll leave all the rest to you."

"I guarantee I'll complete the mission." Though he had no idea what the mission was, he wanted to take part.

At noon, the banquet began.

Li Zhuiyuan brought Tan Wenbin to sit with Li Sanjiang on the first floor of the house.

Tan Wenbin asked curiously, "Where's Run Sheng? Why isn't he coming to eat?"

"Brother Run Sheng is eating at home. Also, don't talk."

"Got it."

Tan Wenbin gave an "OK" gesture.

Run Sheng needed incense with his meals, and that would draw far too much attention. When he attended banquets with Great Grandfather, Great Grandfather would also serve him food separately and have him find a corner to eat alone.

Given today's circumstances, they naturally could not arouse the Water Monkeys' suspicions.

The banquet food was of high quality, prepared by local cooks. Once Tan Wenbin stopped talking, he ate until his mouth was slick with grease.

After the feast, quite a few villagers felt bad about it and wanted to give monetary gifts, but they were refused. So they went home to fetch presents and brought them over instead.

For the rest of the afternoon, everyone watched the performances together. What would be performed at night was taboo for the living, and aside from the performers, no one would come to watch.

This troupe was highly skilled. There were singers, dancers, acrobats, contortionists, and even acts where they smashed boulders on performers' chests.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the later acts... were all genuine martial arts.

From the performers' habits and behavioral details, they all followed methods used to deal with Death Collapses.

That meant if the first two men who had contracted the Fish Pond had not been taken down by the sinister earth-red fiend in the bait pit, the police would have had a hard time catching them with their skills.

At the same time, it indirectly proved that Grandma Liu's assessment of these Water Monkeys had been correct.

This was absolutely not some ragtag group thrown together at the last minute. They were a highly professional group of Water Monkeys.

After all, those reckless fellows who only wanted to rob graves and get rich would not all deliberately train skills specifically for dealing with Death Collapses.

It seemed that if Little Yellow Oriole faced them, it would be hard to say who would win.

Still, looking at the lively, bustling scene before him, Li Zhuiyuan could not help feeling a little wistful.

The first time he had met Little Yellow Oriole had also been at an occasion like this, when she had been performing onstage.

She had given him, newly arrived in the countryside, a startling glimpse of the wild aesthetic of rural life.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze fell upon the surface of the Fish Pond. He wondered whether Little Yellow Oriole, in the pond now, was also watching the performance.

Deep down, she must have resented the White Cloth Band that had taken the money and then ignored what became of her.

Just then, Secretary Jin, who had changed into a black bodysuit and finished singing a song, walked to the edge of the stage with a microphone and asked the crowd below:

"What songs would everyone like to hear? You can tell me."

Country folk were generally shy, and after she asked the first time, no one dared to speak up and request a song.

Li Zhuiyuan was the first to raise his hand.

Secretary Jin knew Li Zhuiyuan. She smiled at him and beckoned him closer to the stage. "Come here, little friend. Tell me, what song would you like to hear?"

She crouched down and held the microphone to Li Zhuiyuan's mouth.

Li Zhuiyuan stood sideways to the stage, facing the Fish Pond's surface. In a clear voice, he said:

"Um...

I want to hear

'The Song of the Thousand Folds.'"