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If people and rivers could live in harmony, each guarding the other, then perhaps for this world as it was now, it would be a small yet beautiful change.

Though all things were silent, they could not be deceived.

"You look much more spirited than before." He Qinglan nodded. "You are far too bedraggled as well. You have been through a lot. Go back and sleep, then come again tomorrow."

"As long as you firmly believe in my power, no filthy evil spirit will be able to come near you tonight."

Xia Youyu's eyes lit up at those words. "Of course I believe in your power! I'll go back and make preparations right away, then bring over some necessities."

As he spoke, he pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses and said with rare pride, "My primary professions are financial investor and career planner. I also studied professional butlering and entertainment management as elective side jobs."

"You definitely will not lose out by taking me in. I'll be your best little assistant on the road of picking up trash!"

"I'll write a Qinglan River Management Plan and a River God Faith Plan tonight. I will devote myself to making the Qinglan River God the most famous great god in all of Huazhou!"

By the end, Xia Youyu seemed to radiate a frenzied aura, then he left brimming with fervor.

After he left, Shui Wuyuan finally said faintly, "That guy would have been suited to be a River God's priest in ancient times."

He Qinglan blinked. "And now?"

Boss Water's tone was cool. "Depends on the amount of money involved and the number of victims. Anywhere from five to twenty years, I suppose?"

He Qinglan: "???"

At that moment, Black Carp secretly blew a bubble and poked his head out with two little whimpers.

[It means he's like the head of a pyramid scheme.]

Then Little Black was smashed to the bottom of the fish tank by ice particles.

He Qinglan thought that once he got a phone, he really needed to quickly learn about the modern world and the humans in it.

At that moment, Xia Youyu was walking steadily home. Even though the night was deep and the surroundings were silent, he did not feel afraid or endangered. As he neared his family's villa—the place where his mother had died—he heard that familiar, hoarse, grating bird cry that had once made him feel as though he faced a formidable enemy.

Xia Youyu's steps paused, then he continued forward.

He did not look up to search the sky for the source of that cry. He even deliberately lowered his eyes.

Yet within those lowered eyes, an angry, razor-sharp light flashed.

"Caw—owl!!"

A gale carrying razor-edged wind swooped down from overhead, lunging straight at his chest.

But this time, the Monster Bird that he had never been able to defend against before suddenly screeched before it could even approach him, then flapped its wings and flew away again.

The departing wind carried not only shock and fury, but seemingly some fear as well—the feeling of fleeing in utter disarray.

Standing before the gates of his villa, Xia Youyu truly laughed this time.

"...The River God blesses me."

So he would stay up through the night and send his god onto the highest divine throne!!

Let the god he believed in rule over and cleanse this filthy world!!!

He Qinglan suddenly leaned back a little.

Shui Wuyuan looked at him questioningly.

The River God twitched the corner of his mouth before saying after a moment, "It's nothing. It's just that my second believer seems a little too radical."

Only after the River God later crammed modern human terminology and knowledge did he understand that his Second Potato was not overly radical. The right adjective was "chuunibyou"—the bizarre sort who looked like an elite on the surface but had an inner chuunibyou spirit bursting at the seams.

Six thirty the next morning.

The River God's first believer came energetically bearing breakfast as an offering.

He also brought good news: his grandfather was recovering well, his second uncle and aunt had been convicted, and his grandfather had returned to the company and restarted the Qinglan River Restoration plan.

"However, my second uncle ran the company into the ground these past two years, and there are still many bad debts that need to be dealt with again. It may take several months before the restoration plan can truly begin. For now, our company can only hire people to clean up designated areas."

"Grandfather has also made recommendations to the city government. The Bicheng Government should be taking some action soon as well."

Qi Xiaoyuan said everything he could say and received an approving look from the River God.

"I'll pick up trash with you for one more day today. Tomorrow, I need to return to the company and learn from my grandfather."

"But don't worry. From now on, I'll come here every night and work for one fixed hour!"

He Qinglan smiled. "You do not necessarily have to come here. As long as your heart is in it, anywhere will do."

Seven in the morning.

The seven Liu brothers arrived in their two secondhand cars.

The first thing they did was make their daily kowtow to the River God and Rain God.

Then Liu Dalong began his report. "Good morning, boss. Yesterday, us seven brothers moved out of our rented place as quickly as possible. Now we live beside Bicheng College of Arts, so we have more time to pick up trash!"

"Yesterday, we transported six truckloads of household miscellaneous garbage to the waste transfer station, and sold one truckload of plastic bottles and one truckload of waste paper. Dumping the garbage cost nothing, and the plastic bottles and waste paper sold for two hundred yuan in total."

As Liu Dalong spoke, he took out two red bills from his pocket and offered the money up with both hands. "Please inspect it, boss!"

He Qinglan looked at the two red bills but did not accept them. "No need to give them to me. Consider it payment for your hard work and fuel costs."

"Since you have chosen garbage picking as your profession, you must at least be able to eat and drink."

"I do not know much about how to make money from picking up trash, but later, I will find professionals to make plans for you."

Looking at this area, where much of the garbage had already been cleared away, He Qinglan understood that even if it was clean now, without a long-term method for managing and maintaining it, without rules to restrain people, it might become a dumping ground again after he left.

If possible, he would later seek better, more natural ways to dispose of garbage.

Seven thirty in the morning.

Xia Youyu, fired up and brimming with energy despite the dark circles under his eyes, drove his four-ringed car over in a blaze of activity with a small convoy in tow.