Chapter 179.2

Li Zhuiyuan walked over to the coffin where Tan Wenbin was lying.

The flames of the Seven-Star Return Soul lamps on the coffin lid had grown much gentler than they were that morning, which meant Tan Wenbin’s recovery was proceeding steadily and effectively.

Li Zhuiyuan sat down on the small stool in front of the coffin. A brazier sat before him, with a layer of ash already built up inside it.

He picked up a stack of spirit money from beside him. With a flick of his wrist, the notes scattered and burst into flame on their own.

The instant he tossed them into the brazier, the flames of the seven candles on the coffin lid suddenly surged upward, turning thick and tall.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up another stack of spirit money, hesitated, then took only half and threw that into the brazier.

The candle flames shot up like the blue blaze from the high-pressure burners cooks use at country banquets.

When the paper in the brazier had finished burning, Li Zhuiyuan clapped the dust from his hands.

Even with the relationship between Tan Wenbin and himself, and with Tan Wenbin’s current strength, this was as far as he could burn offerings for him. If he kept going, there would be trouble.

He stood up, walked to the basement, opened the rusted door, reached for the pull-cord behind it, and gave it a light tug.

Click.

Darkness remained.

He pulled it several more times in a row. Still nothing changed.

The bulb had been replaced before, but he had not come to the basement in far too long. It had gone unused for so long that even the “new” bulb had broken.

He could not be bothered to go back for a flashlight.

Li Zhuiyuan stood in the doorway and snapped his fingers.

Pop.

As he walked the shade out of his body, he separated from it, opened his right palm, and a ball of karmic fire rose there.

He lifted his hand. The karmic fire became a floating fireball and drifted upward, casting light.

Li Zhuiyuan walked among the shelves, searching for the books he needed.

Taigong’s basement held an abundant collection, but when he used to read here, he had been a bit too driven by practical gain.

He had never bothered with the books on preserving health, strengthening the foundation, and nurturing vitality. He had felt he was too young for them.

Now he still was not old enough, but his companions were already starting to run out of patience.

Even with his ability to remember something after seeing it just twice, he still ran into the problem of regretting not having read enough when the need finally arose.

Li Zhuiyuan decided to find some health-preservation books and study them.

That way, he could not only help them regulate their bodies in daily life, but also give them some broader guidance for future development.

In truth, judged purely by value, these books on preserving health were no less valuable than the others, perhaps even faintly more so.

Value always depends on the audience.

Ordinary people spend their lives rushing around for a few scraps of silver, which turns “get some rest” and “take care of your health” into blessings.

As for the very rich and powerful, they naturally understand even better how precious the body is. They crave long life even more, and even that vague fantasy of immortality.

They would be willing to pay an enormous price for these “rare health-preservation treasures” from Taigong’s basement.

After making his selections, Li Zhuiyuan snapped his fingers again.

Pop.

The boy standing at the basement door opened his eyes, then stepped into the darkness before him, opened several chests in succession, and quickly took out the books he had chosen earlier.

Then, carrying a stack taller than he was, he came out of the basement and climbed the stairs.

Li Sanjiang was lying in a wicker recliner on the terrace, smoking in silence. Even the radio was off.

Taigong was in a very bad mood, and not just because all that work had failed to earn him the pay he deserved.

When people see something filthy and disgusting, they feel sick on instinct.

“Little Yuanhou, Taigong will help you carry them.”

“Alright, Taigong.”

Even though Li Zhuiyuan could carry them himself, he still accepted Taigong’s help.

After setting the books on the desk in his room, Taigong came back out and sat down in the wicker chair again.

Ah Li was not in the room. The door to the east room was closed, so she was probably taking a bath.

Li Zhuiyuan chose a book called The Tianyi Foundation-Nurturing Formula. It was a book from Old Heaven Gate on resting and nourishing the body, in hopes of harmonizing with nature, with ascension as the final goal.

The first half was very useful. As for the second half, it could be ignored.

Li Zhuiyuan did not believe in ascending to immortality, much less in eternal life.

He had already lost his childhood. He had no desire to lose his old age too.

Book in hand, he walked over and sat beside Taigong.

Taigong was in a bad mood, so he needed someone to chat with.

Grandfather and grandson sat together, and the conversation opened naturally.

All of Taigong’s old sayings and sighs came one after another:

“Once there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather too.”

“These days there are more only children, so when you’re looking for a partner, try not to pick someone with brothers and sisters at home.”

“Family is family, but family is still people. Don’t think too highly of them.”

“The money you earn yourself has to stay in your own hand. Money you give away, no matter who you give it to, is hard to get back.”

“A real man ought to act like one. He can be rough, but he can’t be spineless.”

Li Zhuiyuan read while he listened, chiming in at just the right moments.

Old sayings tend to be extreme. They usually cut with one blade, because everything always has exceptions.

But looked at another way, any truth that can be condensed into a single sentence is bound to sound absolute and extreme.

Still, once you have enough life experience, you can usually taste the sense inside those old sayings. They may not always be right, but they can at least hold up the lower limit of an ordinary person’s life.

As for those who are not ordinary, the ones who already move through the secular world with ease, whether they listen or not hardly matters anymore. But in this world, there are still far more ordinary people who think they are special.

What Li Sanjiang disliked most was Wu Youhou, the eldest son. He had almost no opinion at all on Luo Jinhua and Wu Changshun, because he had seen plenty of people like them.

The more cowardly and foolish you are, the more chances you hand such people to ride on your head, drink your blood, and eat your flesh.

After cursing enough and sighing enough, Li Sanjiang’s anger finally eased.

At the end of the day, it was someone else’s family matter. He was an outsider, and there was no need to get too invested.

After having Little Yuanhou turn on the radio for him, Li Sanjiang followed the storyteller’s voice from the radio, patting his knee in rhythm and chanting along with the dramatic lines.

Ah Li came out after her bath and stood in the doorway of the east room, looking up at the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his book, waved to her, and headed downstairs.

The boy pushed out the tricycle and set the little stool on it.

Once Ah Li sat down, he pedaled the tricycle down from the terrace yard.

He was going to the clinic to visit Lin Shuyou.

Uncle Qin stood in the field leaning on his hoe, watching the young boy and girl riding down the village road into the sunset.

He truly was not on the same level. Compared to the tension and unease he had felt when he walked the river, this boy was the one who truly knew how to hold and release at will.

It even gave the sense that, compared with river walk, he cared more about life itself.

There were street vendors outside the clinic. Li Zhuiyuan found a stall that looked fairly clean and bought some fried skewers and fried tofu with sweet chili sauce.

After locking up the tricycle, the boy and the girl sat on it together and ate.

There was no helping it. Bringing that smell into a hospital room would not be appropriate, so they could only finish it outside.

When they were done, Li Zhuiyuan took a paper napkin from the stall. He first wiped the corners of Ah Li’s mouth and her hands, then folded it and wiped himself.

Ah Li watched him toss the napkin into the trash can, puffed her cheeks ever so slightly, then followed him into the hospital.

Lin Shuyou’s surgery had long since been completed. He was lying in bed now.

Having already passed gas, he was currently holding an apple Xiong Shan had peeled for him, taking bite after bite.

For someone who often got himself badly injured, having his appendix removed was no more serious than nicking a finger while sharpening a pencil.

“Brother Yuan!”

Lin Shuyou was delighted. Brother Yuan had come to visit him.

And he had even brought Ah Li with him.

Xiong Shan stood up and said earnestly, “The doctor said the surgery was very successful.”

“Mm. You’ve worked hard.”

“It’s nothing, really, nothing.”

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and lifted the blanket. Lin Shuyou understood and undid the elastic band around his waist.

The boy peeled back the gauze bandage inside. The wound had been stitched up very well.

“Brother Yuan, I’m fine now.”

“For the next two days, rest well. You’ll be discharged the night after tomorrow. We’ve got something to do.”

“Understood!”

Li Zhuiyuan stood at the bedside, picked up an orange from the nightstand, peeled it, and set it down.

Once he had confirmed the progress of Ah You’s recovery and gone through the proper motions, Li Zhuiyuan left, holding Ah Li’s hand.

“Um, Ah You, have some orange.” Xiong Shan reached out, wanting to hand it to him.

“Don’t touch it!” Lin Shuyou shouted, then asked, “How do you preserve a peeled orange?”

After leaving the hospital, Li Zhuiyuan rode the tricycle with Ah Li to browse a stationery shop and a little accessories shop.

After buying a few things they did not really need, the two left.

On the way back, they came across a little roadside stall selling those zodiac stones and surname jades.

They were all cheap trinkets, and there was a sign beside them saying the price was fixed across the board, no bargaining.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped and picked out their respective surnames with Ah Li, and also chose jade pieces with “Li” and “Qin” on them.

By then, it was dark, and it was no longer convenient to linger. Li Zhuiyuan focused on riding home.

Sitting in the back, Ah Li played with the two pieces of jade in her hands.

Any random accessory she wore was worth far, far more than these, enough even to buy the factory that made them, but she still played with them as if she could not put them down.

She untied the jade at her waist and hung on the jade carved with the character “Li.”

Then she tied the “Qin” jade onto the waist of the boy currently pedaling the tricycle.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced back at her and saw how seriously and intently she was fastening it.

The sun had set, and the sky was dark, but the boy’s tricycle still carried a whole sunset with it.

…

Three days passed very quickly.

During these days, Li Zhuiyuan returned to the old routine he used to keep here, sitting on the second-floor terrace reading every day, with Ah Li beside him.

With Lihua and Xiao Yingying doing the work, Aunt Liu did not have much to do besides cooking and making incense.

The old lady liked sitting in the terrace yard, drinking tea as she watched. Aunt Liu liked leaning by the kitchen door, cracking sunflower seeds as she watched.

That was right. Even though the last time she had cracked seeds until her mouth bled, she still could not resist watching again.

These blood-stained sunflower seeds somehow seemed even tastier.

These past few days, aside from the essential nightly basic training, Li Zhuiyuan also practiced a set of loose boxing every morning, something he had learned from the health-preservation books.

He did not practice it for fighting, but to activate his qi and blood. After each session, once he had worked up a light sweat, he felt distinctly more energized.

The only downside was that he had to take another shower and change clothes every morning.

Tan Wenbin woke up, and the first thing he did was shout that he was hungry.

At that meal, Runsheng was too embarrassed to eat and gave Tan Wenbin his basin instead.

Tan Wenbin did not stand on ceremony. He stuffed himself until his stomach was round, then lay in the terrace yard and basked in the sun all afternoon.

That evening Aunt Liu made extra food, and Tan Wenbin devoured another huge meal.

It surprised even Li Sanjiang, who asked,

“Zhuangzhuang, did your northern grandparents not feed you enough these past few days?”

Yin Meng had recovered her mind and could move around freely again.

The first thing she did after regaining consciousness was check whether her Gu poison was still alive.

It did not move at all. It looked dead.

Yin Meng tested it with a simple poison. It did not react.

For a normal person, that would have been the time to dig a hole and bury the pet.

But Yin Meng was not normal. She switched to a stronger poison. She had only just finished mixing it, and before it even came close, the Gu poison sprang to life and ran three quick circles on the spot to prove just how healthy it was.

Yin Meng could not help wondering whether she had chosen wrong.

She had originally wanted a Gu poison that could not be poisoned to death. This thing had indeed not died back then, but maybe the reason it had survived was not because it was more poison-resistant than the others.

Maybe it was simply very good at playing dead.

Lin Shuyou spent three days in the hospital, then came back.

His problem had been the smallest of all. Everyone else had issues in the metaphysical sense; his was scientific.

…

The next morning, Liu Yumei sat as usual at the east-room doorway, drinking tea early.

On the second-floor terrace, the boy was practicing slow boxing.

She had long since seen that this was a set of boxing meant for preserving health and nurturing qi and blood.

This child, at such a young age, already understood how to preserve his health.

Liu Yumei was very pleased by that.

But early that morning, Lihua came upstairs smiling all over, carrying her precious son in her arms.

Li Zhuiyuan was practicing boxing, and Benben was placed on a wicker chair.

Ah Li sat in the wicker chair beside him, watching the boy practice boxing, not even glancing at the child next to her.

Grandmother Liu could not help sighing inwardly:

These two really did not seem to like children.

In the workshop, Runsheng was grinding a shovel.

That made Li Sanjiang curse at full volume: “So early in the morning, what are you doing, Marquis of Runsheng? Are you going to let anyone sleep or not!”

Inside, Yin Meng was packing one poison jar after another into her bag.

The unlabeled ones went in first, since there were not many labeled ones and they did not take up much space.

Tan Wenbin sat in a corner of the terrace yard, holding a children’s storybook and reading aloud from it.

After devouring the resentment in the mural last time, the two resentful infants had clearly grown stronger. The whispering voices at his shoulders had turned into little babbling cries.

Maybe after two or three more waves, the two resentful infants would reach the standard required for reincarnation.

Other people only start prenatal education once the belly has grown large.

Tan Wenbin was starting before the children were even reincarnated, thinking that if he did this now, they might carry some lingering instinct and familiarity into their next life and do better in school.

Once he finished this storybook, Tan Wenbin planned to teach them addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Liu Yumei took it all in.

What ordinary people call being socially adept is often just slick street-level chatter.

But how could that level of performance fool someone with truly sharp eyes? It could not fool ghosts either.

Real skill in dealing with people is exchanging feeling for feeling.

Compared with Brother Yuanzige’s emotional wasteland, Tan Wenbin had emotional abundance to spare.

Meanwhile, Lin Shuyou stood in the terrace yard, copying Brother Yuan upstairs and practicing the same health-preserving boxing.

It was a noisy morning, yet also a peaceful one.

Liu Yumei raised her teacup, about to take a sip, when the tea inside suddenly rippled.

She looked up.

The sky above was still this sky, the clouds were still these clouds, but an invisible lid that had once covered everything overhead had been lifted.

Liu Yumei looked in the direction of Big Beard’s house.

Everything had been fine, so why had it suddenly reined in its temper?

This land had stayed clean for so long because of it. If it suddenly withdrew its hand, then would not all the unclean things seize the chance to come flooding back?

But Liu Yumei quickly connected it to the “scarcity of people” from the other day, then looked again at this morning’s scene, with everyone present, orderly, and full of life.

Clearly, Xiao Yuan had long known this would happen. Most likely, he had personally pushed this whole matter forward.

This child really did have bearing.

Last time it was The Great Emperor of Fengdu. This time it was the one beneath the peach grove.

Even if the latter was certainly not on the same level as the former, it was still absolutely not something easy to deal with.

Even if all that remained of it was the final lingering tail end of its existence in this world, and it had not stirred up trouble, that was only because its temper was good, not because it lacked the ability.

Liu Yumei suddenly realized that her Qin and Liu families were also part of what this child had “maneuvered,” were they not?

Good thing she had made her move early to seize him, with help from her own granddaughter as well. Otherwise, a child like this would never have lacked for a place to go.

In the end, the Qin and Liu families had simply ridden the favorable wind he brought.

Li Zhuiyuan finished his boxing and clapped his hands toward the courtyard below.

Below, everyone changed clothes at top speed, packed their equipment, shouldered their mountaineering bags, and came up to the second floor.

Li Sanjiang, cigarette in hand and just about to cough out his morning phlegm, was startled by the sight of such neat formation and asked,

“What’s all this for?”

Li Zhuiyuan smiled and said, “Taigong, we’re playing a game. Slaying demons and banishing evil.”

Pfft...

Li Sanjiang burst out laughing.

Seeing everyone gathered around Little Yuanhou while Little Yuanhou set Xiong Shan’s child in front of him and placed what looked like a toy compass on the baby’s swaddling cloth—

That absurd scene, combined with the deadly serious expressions on Marquis of Runsheng and Zhuangzhuang and the others—

No, no, he could not hold it in. He truly could not.

Li Sanjiang hurriedly covered his mouth and rushed downstairs.

The children were playing so seriously that he was afraid if he laughed out loud, he would ruin the fun of their game.

After going downstairs and stepping into the terrace yard, Li Sanjiang saw Liu Yumei standing there, looking upstairs with great seriousness.

He could not help laughing. “The little brats have watched too many movies. They’re just playing.”

Liu Yumei gave the old man a look that was half amused and half exasperated, then sat back down and lifted her teacup again.

…

On the second-floor terrace,

Li Zhuiyuan set the Bagua Compass on Benben’s belly.

Benben seemed to find it ticklish, and with so many people gathered around him, he found it all great fun, so he kept laughing in bright little bursts.

Beneath the peach grove, that thing turned over on schedule and went to sleep.

The unclean things would return.

Li Zhuiyuan kept his eyes on the compass, circling and marking spots on five maps.

Each time he finished one, he handed it to a person. Each person was assigned a broad direction.

Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, Yin Meng, and Lin Shuyou were assigned the four directions respectively, each holding a map marked with circles.

Naturally formed ghosts and specters were very rare, since those required the timing to be just right. It was the outside malevolent spirits that could not wait to rush in and seize an ecological niche.

In the past, each one of those evil things would have made him feel as though he were facing a great enemy. But now, something at this level no longer even required him to act personally.

Compared with the enormous fiends pushed up by the river, these things simply were not fit to appear on the stage.

“Get your positions straight and read the situation clearly. Be fast, but also be thorough. Don’t leave roots behind.”

The four of them stood up and answered in unison:

“Understood!”

Li Zhuiyuan put away the compass and picked up the child.

At that moment, he remembered the nickname he had once given himself... Li the Corpse Retriever of Nantong.

The one beneath the peach grove could not suppress things forever. One day, it would finally dissipate.

Just as The Great Emperor of Fengdu sat in Fengdu, while temples in every region kept watch over their own lands.

A person’s name casts a shadow like a tree. Near a ritual ground with real reputation and power to deter, evil things generally do not dare draw near.

Li Zhuiyuan cast his gaze toward the distant fields and said:

“It’s time they learned whose territory Nantong really is.”