Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 21

"So, Brother Liangliang, does this mean that the statues dug out from the river and the coffins pried open at the farm are at least three hundred years old?"

"Yes, that's understandable, but the strange thing is, three hundred years is indeed a long time, but it shouldn't be so long that your local customs of worshipping 'Bai Family Goddess' have not been preserved at all, and even the elderly don't have any impression of her.

But the local chronicles clearly record it, and we have also dug up her temple, with both written records and physical remains. It is impossible that there is no trace of it in folklore, this is too strange. "

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head and said, "Brother Liangliang, a retired professor once told me that existence is not necessarily reasonable, but it must have a reason."

"Xiao Yuan, what you mean is that there must be a reason for non-existence?"

"Well, I think that maybe the Bai family's queen is not suitable for worship, nor is she suitable for evolving into a custom. Her image, or the image of the Bai family and Baijia Town, may be very different from what we imagine.

I just read the local chronicles you brought back, and they do record a lot about the deeds of the Bai family's mother. They did do a lot of things during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The style of the records is very similar to some strange stories, but there is one thing missing...

At the end of those strange stories, there is usually a description like "the local people, grateful for her kindness, built temples and statues, and worshipped her constantly."

But the records about Lady Bai in the local chronicles here are really just records. It would be fine if it was overlooked once or twice, but it is not mentioned in any relevant records.

However, there are many other related temples in the local area. Real-life heroes, Taoists and monks in strange stories, and even the Dragon King and Prince in the East China Sea all have records like the one I mentioned at the end.

Even though the incense offerings now vary in quality, at least you can find a temple to worship.

Therefore, I believe that there must be a reason why Lady Bai was isolated from local folk customs.

Their deeds are about 'slaying demons and eliminating evil', but the purpose of their actions may not be to 'protect someone'."

Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuiyuan in surprise again. He had forgotten how many times he had looked at this elementary school student in this way today.

"Brother Liangliang, do you still remember the appearance of the temple that was dug out on the river?"

"I remember it was very small and cramped. If it weren't for the height of the statue, I would even suspect that the people who built the temple would have built it according to the specifications of the land temples along the village road."

"And the chains..."

"Yes, chains. The statue was tied up with chains, and the other ends of the chains were connected to the temple. It would be difficult to push down the temple with human power without breaking the chains."

"Then it shouldn't be used for sacrifice, it's more like it's used for suppression."

"Suppress?" Xue Liangliang immediately revealed a look of realization, "Yes, that's right, isn't it? How can we accept incense and sacrifices with this image!"

Then, Xue Liangliang paced back and forth a little excitedly:

“The layout of the coffins at the farm and the words on the wood carvings also clearly indicate that they are suppressing the people. Don’t the logic of Lady Bai’s behavior match up with these two points?
But why don’t the people appreciate this kind of self-sacrifice?”

"What if Baijia Town only pursues the process and not the result?"

"Xiao Yuan, what you mean is that the ladies of the Bai family just want to suppress the evil spirits in their own way. As for whether the evil spirits are suppressed or not, and how the evil spirits came from, it is worth pondering, right?
Ah...if this evil spirit was released by them themselves, raised by them, and then suppressed by them, then the people would not only not remember their kindness, but would avoid them instead.

That makes perfect sense.”

"Ah."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. There were many records of the death of evil cultivators in Jianghu Zhiguai Lu. These guys who were trying to raise corpses to ascend to heaven would do anything to achieve their goals.

There is a relatively large common understanding among this group of people, which is:
The lake is a place for corpses, the river is a ladder to heaven, and when the rivers flow into the sea, they lead to the gate of heaven and ascend to heaven.

Nantong is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and Chongming Island is the gateway to the Yangtze River. If we put ourselves in the shoes of those people’s peculiar way of thinking, isn’t it equivalent to Tianmenkou?
The evil and mysterious people in the mountain city upstream either spend time preserving their own corpses or occupy other people's coffins. When the time is right, they go down the river and head straight into the sea. It takes a lot of time and energy to plan.

The Bai family was simple and straightforward. They just "suppressed the evil spirits" at the gate of heaven, and then stepped on their left foot with their right foot to ascend to heaven.

Thinking of this, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but rub his temples. Although these people had amazing ideas, there was indeed a worldview that they could identify with, so he did it himself.

"Xiao Yuan, this is why your sister's grandparents died tragically. Although the owner of the breeding farm has not been found yet, he may have been killed.

It shouldn't be like that.

If the Lady of the Bai family is on the side of justice, and the evil spirit is sealed in the porcelain bottle, then why would the evil spirit be so eager to harm the benefactor who released it, and why would it be so cruel and ruthless, leaving no room for mercy?

Therefore, the one who was really angry and started killing people was the one who seemed to represent justice at first glance, the Lady of the Bai Family! "

Li Zhuiyuan also looked at Xue Liangliang with a look of surprise.

You know, Xue Liangliang has never read "Jianghu Zhiguai Lu", but he was able to analyze very in-depth things through conventional clues.

"What about Zhao Hequan..." Xue Liangliang was still concerned about his classmate, "Could it be that the lady from the Bai family in Hegong has targeted him, and all the revenge is directed at him?"

If it's just an offense, then an apology and some nice words will be enough. But if you have ruined someone's good fortune, then you will invite revenge from them until the end!
Xue Liangliang asked in confusion: "But why did the Lady of the Bai Family forgive you and me? No, this has nothing to do with you. She should have let me go."

"Maybe, she can only choose one person."

The scene in the dream that night was very clear. The woman could only take one away. For this reason, she hesitated many times between herself and Zhao Hequan. It seemed that she realized something special about herself, which made her very conflicted for a while.

"what?"

"It says so in the book."

"Oh, there is such a rule. Doesn't that mean Zhao Hequan is doomed?"

"It feels like it is."

"Then let's..." Xue Liangliang waved at Li Zhuiyuan, "Hurry up and set up the altar, and hurry up to sever ties with her completely!"

Xue Liangliang felt a sense of urgency when he thought that the other party did not forgive him generously but was temporarily unable to deal with him.

"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan felt that what Xue Liangliang said made sense. He pointed to his cabinet and said, "Brother Liangliang, the snacks are inside. There are wooden stools outside. Pick them up and put them on two tables. Note that it should be an even number... Put four portions on each table. I'll go downstairs to get the incense, candles and paper money."

After assigning the tasks, Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs and brought back candles and paper money. When he came upstairs, Xue Liangliang had already set up two small altars in the bedroom.

The two men immediately began to offer sacrifices.

……

In the east room, Qin Li, who was originally sleeping, suddenly opened his eyes.

Liu Yumei, who was fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan and resting with her eyes closed, also woke up. She gently covered her granddaughter's face with the fan, blocking her sight, and said softly:
"Be good, it's okay. They are the ones who are trying to break the last link of cause and effect. Have a good rest. We still have to go play with Xiaoyuan tomorrow morning."

Qin Li slowly closed his eyes.

Liu Yumei looked at the screen window, through which she could see the night sky outside.

After a long while, she said to herself with a slightly sarcastic tone:
"What era is it now? Are you still dreaming about that kind of beautiful dream?"

However, just as she closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep again.

next moment,
Liu Yumei and Qin Li opened their eyes at the same time.

This time, Qin Li's eyes were deep, and rarely, when he was not looking at Li Zhuiyuan, there was a clear focus in his pupils.

Liu Yumei's expression was a little more serious than last time, but she was still holding the cattail leaf fan, waving it back and forth above Qin Li, as if she was cutting it.

Qin Li looked at his grandmother beside him.

Liu Yumei said, "Be good, this isn't for Xiaoyuan. Go to sleep. Don't play around tonight, or you'll be exhausted. You don't want to go see Xiaoyuan with dark circles under your eyes, do you?"

Qin Li closed his eyes again.

Liu Yumei felt a little lost. She had gradually gotten used to it now. It was sad but very useful to use Li Zhuiyuan's name to communicate with her granddaughter.

Liu Yumei stood up and got out of bed, then opened the screen window and closed the outer window, completely isolating herself from the outside.

"Out of sight, out of mind. Sleep."

……

After the sacrifice, Xue Liangliang was responsible for cleaning up the burnt paper ashes. He was always very careful in his work.

When he came back, he saw Li Zhuiyuan looking at him: "Brother Liangliang, look at your arm."

Xue Liangliang heard this and immediately rolled up his sleeves to look. He found that there was no trace at all. He immediately asked excitedly:

"There's no trace left. Xiaoyuan, how about you?"

"Me neither."

"Huh..." Xue Liangliang let out a long sigh, "So we're done now?"

"Well, it should be your classmate, Brother Liangliang..."

Once the two of them are disconnected, the goddess Bai can focus all her attention on taking revenge on that person.

Xue Liangliang was not sad at all. Instead, he touched his forehead and shoulders with his hands and said:
"The Lord will bless him."

Li Zhuiyuan's mouth corners were tightened, and he felt like laughing.

He could feel that Xue Liangliang had meant what he said about helping his classmates, but this did not stop him from giving up his desire to help others after he realized the terrible seriousness of the situation.

Xue Liangliang stretched out his hand and rubbed the tip of Li Zhuiyuan's nose, saying:

"You have to be open-minded about everything. If you want to live a happy life, you have to learn to stop wasting your emotions."

Xue Liangliang turned around and asked, "The shower room is in the back, right? I'll go take a shower first."

Looking at his back as he walked out, Li Zhuiyuan slowly fell into deep thought.

Xue Liangliang's words touched him.

Perhaps, it is because I have been thinking about how to play myself well that I become less and less like myself.

……

The walls of Li Sanjiang's bedroom are covered with statues of gods.

He bought all these in one go at the temple fair the year before last, and then left them in the cupboard unused. Today, they were all put to use.

In one of the paintings, an old man with a kind face and an immortal look was depicted. Li Sanjiang placed him in the center.

He thought it was Lao Tzu, but actually... it was Confucius.

He was indeed tired after a hard day's work, and after finishing the arrangements, he went to bed early.

Then, he dreamed.

It was very strange, it seemed that he had been having unusually frequent dreams since he had performed the luck-changing ritual with Xiao Yuanhou.

Only this time, the dream did not take place on the rooftop of the town clinic, but on the street.

Turning his head to the right, he saw a familiar gate. On one side of the gate, there was a sign that he had kissed many times during the day.

Behind him, there was the sound of footsteps.

Li Sanjiang looked back and saw a petite figure slowly walking out of the shadows with great resentment.

Without hesitation, Li Sanjiang ran straight into the police station.

The girl stood outside the police station with a resentful look on her face and her mouth opening and closing.

The first night, she could clearly hear the threatening voice in her dream, saying that she wanted to die; when she dozed off on the tractor, her voice became blurred.

And now,
I could only watch her little mouth opening and closing. Although I couldn't hear anything at all, she must have been swearing very badly.

"hey-hey."

Li Sanjiang smiled and then lay down.

When he meets someone who can be reasonable, he doesn't mind losing face, begging and speaking softly, even kneeling down and kowtow.

But evil spirits are transformed from humans after all. Some people can communicate with them, but some people cannot.

When you meet someone like this, it's a waste of energy to pay any more attention to her.

At least in his dreams, Li Sanjiang had seen the world. After all, he was the leader of a group of zombies dancing in the Forbidden City in his dreams.

Therefore, Li Sanjiang just lay down, folded his hands and placed them on his belly button.

I was tired and went to sleep.

Outside the house in reality, Xue Liangliang walked out of the shower room while drying his hair. He looked at the willow tree diagonally opposite the house with some curiosity.

The willow branches kept swaying as if blown by the wind, but strangely, he didn't feel any wind at all.

"It's strange, why can't the wind blow in?"

He didn't think much about it, mainly because what happened today was too bizarre and he didn't have the energy to study the wind direction anymore.

When I returned to the bedroom, I saw Li Zhuiyuan sitting at the desk, turning on the desk lamp and reading a book.

When I took a closer look, I found that the words on it were densely packed and ridiculously small, and I couldn't help but worry:

"It's easy to become nearsighted if you read such small words at night."

"No, Brother Liangliang, I'm used to it. I can recognize the content just by scanning it."

"So magical?" Xue Liangliang didn't think Li Zhuiyuan was lying and went to bed first.

The characteristic of an old-fashioned wooden bed is that it is spacious enough.

"Xiaoyuan, do you sleep outside or inside?"

"I also can."

"Then I'll sleep outside. The children will feel safer sleeping inside."

"Ah."

"When are you going to sleep?"

"I'll take a shower and go to bed after watching it for a while."

"I think you can just treat these as hobbies, but you still need to put more effort into studying."

"Well, I know."

In the past, Xue Liangliang would have certainly tried to persuade him more, but today, he couldn't do it. Thinking about it carefully, he really relied on those useless books that Li Zhuiyuan read to help him a lot today.

Therefore, he couldn't help but change his tone and said, "Xiaoyuan, it's really interesting to think about it. Before the day before yesterday, I really didn't expect that there would be such things in the world, but somehow, I didn't seem to be that scared. It's not that I'm not afraid, but I'm not that panicked."

"Fear comes from the unknown. Brother Liangliang, you have already found out where the Bai family's mother's hometown is. What else is there to be afraid of?"

"Indeed. But, do you think I should read some books on this subject? Do you have any recommendations?"

Li Zhuiyuan hesitated for a moment and said, "These books belong to my great grandfather. I can't lend them to you. You have to ask my great grandfather first."

"Forget it. Your great grandfather is a professional in this business. These books must be his treasures. He will definitely not lend them to outsiders easily."

Xue Liangliang was wrong about this.

For so many years, Li Sanjiang just kept so many boxes of books in the basement gathering dust.

"Xiaoyuan, what's your village's phone number? Can we exchange contact information?"

Li Zhuiyuan gave the phone number of the village committee and also the phone number of the village store.

Generally, people in the village go to these two places when they want to make a phone call. If there is a call coming in from outside, they also call here. After saying who they want to call, they hang up, leaving time to call the person, and then call back after a quarter of an hour.

Li Zhuiyuan memorized the phone number in the hope that his mother would call him, and his mother lived up to his expectations and never called him once.

"Forget it, I'll write it down." Xue Liangliang got out of bed, walked to the desk, took a pen and paper to write down the number, then sighed.

Although Li Zhuiyuan was reading without raising his head, he was still able to do two things at once. He said:

"Brother Liangliang, are you saying that one day every household will have a telephone?"

"Do you believe this day will come?" "I do, but pagers seem to be the new trend now."

In the past few years, pagers began to enter the country and quickly became popular on a large scale. Young people in the city were proud to wear a pager tied around their waists.

"I'm planning to get one too, so I'll get one for you, how about that, Xiaoyuan?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "I don't need it."

"Oh, right." Xue Liangliang slapped his forehead, "I said I would buy you snacks and toys, but I forgot. I'll send them to you when I return to school."

"Thank you, Brother Liangliang."

"Then I'll go to sleep first." Xue Liangliang went back to bed and soon fell asleep.

After Li Zhuiyuan finished reading the volume in his hand, he went to the shower room to take a bath. When he passed by his great-grandfather's bedroom, he could clearly hear his great-grandfather's snoring through the door.

It seems that the grandfather is sleeping soundly.

I went back to my bedroom, put a new toothbrush in the washbasin, then climbed into the bed, lay down and went to sleep.

The next day, Xue Liangliang woke up very early.

He has a characteristic that his sleep quality is high but his sleep duration is often relatively short. He only needs half the sleep time of others to recover his energy better than others.

After opening his eyes and glancing at Li Zhuiyuan who was still asleep beside him, Xue Liangliang couldn't help but think that it would be fun if this child really got into Haihe University and became his alumnus.

He got out of bed quietly and saw a new toothbrush in the basin. He picked up the basin, prepared to wash up, and just opened the door.

"OMG!!!"

Xue Liangliang was so scared that he dropped the washbasin in his hand to the ground, and the wash cup, towel and toothbrush were scattered all over the floor.

Anyone who opens the door early in the morning and sees a little girl standing quietly at the door would probably be shocked.

Li Zhuiyuan was woken up and quickly got out of bed. He ran over while rubbing his eyes, holding Qin Li's hand with his other hand, and urged:
"Brother Liangliang, go wash up quickly."

"okay."

Xue Liangliang immediately picked up his things and went out. He didn't know that if Li Zhuiyuan had gotten out of bed a little later, he might have been covered in bruises.

Because when Li Zhuiyuan held A'li's hand, A'li's body was already shaking, which was a sign that she was about to explode.

Originally, according to her previous habits, Li Zhuiyuan could sleep in. Even if she was not awake when A-li came, she would come in quietly and sit and wait for her to wake up.

But Xue Liangliang slept here last night, interrupting this habit.

Moreover, because of his shout, the breakfast time for everyone in the house was advanced.

After washing up and eating breakfast, Aunt Zhang from the village store shouted across the wheat field: "Uncle Sanjiang, the phone is on the phone!"

"Oh, come on!"

Li Sanjiang put some pickles in, then picked up the bowl of porridge with chopsticks and walked out while eating the porridge.

I arrived at the store and waited for a cigarette before the phone rang again. I picked it up and it was Yingzi's aunt Chen Xiaoling calling.

The person on the phone said that the owner of the farm had been found dead in the home of a widow in the town. The widow was very affectionate and was preparing to hold a funeral for him.

In the end, the thing was not found, but it was said that the singer had also been there, and the three of them were often together.

The singer was not a local. Our workplace had made inquiries and they said she had not come to work without prior notice last week and that her registered identity information was also false.

It is currently suspected that the lost jewelry and porcelain bottles are in the hands of the woman, but it is very difficult to find her now.

However, Zhou Hai should be cleared of suspicion and will be released at noon.

Chen Xiaoling anxiously asked the couple what they should do because she had a nightmare again last night.

Li Sanjiang patiently comforted her and told her to wait for Zhou Hai to come out, and then they could go to the Zhiyun Pagoda on Langshan Mountain to burn incense together.

Chen Xiaoling asked anxiously, "Is that all?"

Li Sanjiang also suggested that they burn the other four mountains today, namely Junshan, Huangnishan, Ma'anshan and Jianshan.

In fact, Li Sanjiang had no idea whether it was useful or not. He just didn't want to continue to get involved in this matter.

Yesterday, I broke up with the lady from the Bai family. It was a bad break anyway.

There was no need for him to continue getting involved in this mess for the Zhou Hai couple. They didn't charge any money, they were not close relatives, and they were so vicious. Why bother?

Besides, it was their own greed and humiliation that caused this, and I have already done my best.

Thinking about going to burn incense at the Five Mountains, Chen Xiaoling couldn't help but feel confident. She kept thanking Li Sanjiang on the phone, and then hung up when the seconds reached 60.

Aunt Zhang said with a smile, "Uncle Sanjiang has a lot of work now. When I went to Shigang Wholesale Department to buy goods, I heard people talking about you."

"It's not all good, but we'll just have to make do with it. Come on, pack up the front door for me."

"okay."

This is a tacit understanding in the village. You can't let people run for you in vain. You have to buy something after answering the phone, even if it's just two candies for the children.

I was walking home with a cigarette in my pocket. When I was about to turn into the road, I saw Xue Liangliang walking out.

"Uncle, I'm going back to school."

"What, you're leaving now?"

"Well, I just took a day off."

"Then be careful on the road."

"Oh, okay, sir, I'll come see you later."

"hehe."

Li Sanjiang laughed dryly and waved his hands. He came to his home to take a nap, have breakfast and was about to leave. He didn't even give his great-grandson extra lessons. This college student is really smart.

Just as I was about to walk in, I saw someone riding a bicycle running towards me in the distance. He looked familiar. After thinking carefully, I remembered that he seemed to be a member of the Niu family, Niu Fu's youngest son.

The man quickly got off the bicycle, trotted over to Li Sanjiang, and said anxiously:

"Uncle Sanjiang, please go and see my dad again. Something happened to him."

Li Sanjiang frowned and said directly: "Alas, it still happened, but it is none of my business. It is fate."

What a joke! Li Sanjiang doesn't sell televisions in a shopping mall, so how can he provide you with after-sales service?
"No, uncle, it's true. Not only did my dad get into trouble, but my second uncle and my aunt also got into trouble. Everyone is very panicked, so they asked me to come over and ask you to go and have another look."

"That won't do. That won't do. I can't bear to make one exception. If you keep making exceptions, I'm not going to be able to live anymore. My coffin hasn't even been painted yet."

"Uncle, really, please, my family can only rely on you now." As he said this, he took out a red envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Li Sanjiang's hand.

Li Sanjiang's attitude was softened by the thickness of the red envelope.

"Then... I can only go and take a look. In fact, if something really happens, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to do anything. All I can do is pray for you youngsters, protect you, and purify your feng shui."

"That's great, that's it, you can do this, really, we are grateful."

In fact, these young people didn’t care much about the three old men. They were worried that after the three old men got into trouble one after another, they would be the next to be affected.

"You go back first. I need to clean up and prepare. I'll be there this afternoon."

"Okay, okay, sir, we'll wait for you at home."

After the other party rode away, Li Sanjiang walked along the rice field path while opening the red envelopes. After confirming that each one was a Great Unity note, a smile appeared on his face.

Hey, it feels good to have money so early in the morning.

Indeed, how could I keep getting bad jobs?

In fact, as Liu Jinxia said, this line of work itself is inherently full of deception and fraud, and most of the time it is just a show.

But you have to distinguish between people. Some guys are already in a mess. If you coax them and make money from them, it's fine. Just think of it as helping them to spend money and avoid disaster, which is also a help.

After returning home, Li Sanjiang did not make any preparations. He lay down on the rattan chair on the second-floor terrace, turned on the radio, and planned to take a nap until the afternoon before going out.

While adjusting his posture, Li Sanjiang saw two children lying side by side on a small recliner in the northeast corner.

What's more, the recliners were made so that one was missing the right armrest and the other was missing the left armrest. When they were put together, they formed a perfect pair with no gap in between.

"You little brat, you really know how to enjoy life."

Near noon, a shirtless young man pushed a cart onto the dam. It was Runsheng.

He accompanied Uncle Shan to get his dentures installed and took care of his injuries for two days. After using the money he earned from the Niu family last time to buy a batch of rice, flour, grain and oil, he was kicked out of the house by Uncle Shan.

Aunt Liu greeted him politely: "Runsheng is here, are you hungry? I'll cook dinner later, hehe."

Runsheng nodded: "I'm really hungry. My grandfather didn't allow me to eat the day before yesterday. I saved my stomach to eat here."

"That's great. I've just made a batch of incense. You can try it when dinner is ready to eat to see if it's the right flavor."

"Okay, I'll wait."

Runsheng said this while wiping the corner of his mouth.

Li Sanjiang on the second floor was so angry when he heard the conversation below. He thought the old man had forgotten about it, but he didn't expect that he still drove his mule to his house to eat grass.

But he came at the right time. He could push the cart and take him there in the afternoon.

Although this kid can eat a lot, as long as he is full, he is more useful than a cow.

"Marquis Runsheng, you are here."

Runsheng looked up at Li Sanjiang above him and nodded vigorously: "Yes, I'm here, uncle, I missed you so much."

"I miss you too, dear boy. Take me to Niu's house to do some work this afternoon."

"Okay, uncle."

Li Zhuiyuan heard the noise and what his grandfather said, and realized that the old lady with the cat face had already done the initial work.

"Brother Runsheng."

"Hey, Xiaoyuan."

Runsheng briefly greeted Li Zhuiyuan and went to squat in front of the batch of new incense that Aunt Liu was hanging to dry. He was so hungry that he couldn't care about anything else for the time being.

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Li Sanjiang and smiled obediently, "Grandpa."

"Well, what's wrong?"

"I want to go to Stone Harbor Town to buy some stationery this afternoon."

"Okay, let's go with Grandpa this afternoon."

Li Sanjiang agreed readily. He felt that there was no danger at the Niu family. After all, the dead man had been killed by him with a peach wood sword.

"Thank you, Grandpa."

Li Zhuiyuan stepped forward, put his arms around Li Sanjiang's neck, pressed his face against his chest, and hugged him.

Li Sanjiang smiled and patted Li Zhuiyuan on the head:

"Oh my, hahaha, it's just a small matter. Grandpa will buy you whatever you want. Grandpa is rich, very rich."

Li Sanjiang really enjoyed this kind of intimacy from the younger generation.

However, he himself had also thought about it carefully, and it seemed that he did not like the younger generation, but only liked Xiao Yuanhou.

Although this child is not serious about studying, he is really likable.

After talking to his grandfather, Li Zhuiyuan sat back in the chair and continued reading.

As I was watching, I suddenly felt two hands coming towards me. The movements were very slow and unfamiliar, but they gradually hugged my neck, and then their faces pressed against my chest.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately understood that Ah Li was imitating his previous actions to please the grandfather.

Then, he noticed the confusion in the girl's eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan understood, so he also reached out his hand and patted the girl on the head:
"I'll buy you whatever you want. I'm rich. Very rich."

The girl was satisfied, loosened her hands, and returned to her previous normal posture. Her eyes were bright, at least in this corner, brighter than the scorching sun.

Downstairs, Liu Yumei, who was drinking tea by herself, held the cup with her hands trembling slightly, cursing in her heart:
"You have money, but you, a little kid, don't have any money!"

But amidst the sadness, there was also great relief, and tears appeared in the corners of my eyes.

When has her granddaughter ever made such a move since she fell ill?

Sometimes, the most difficult thing is often the breakthrough from zero to one. She has been fantasizing that one day in the future, her granddaughter will hug her neck like this and let her pat her head gently.

He lowered his head and continued drinking tea, then frowned slightly.

Has the tea gone bad? Why is it sour and sweet?
……

After leaving Siyuan Village, Xue Liangliang first took a bus to the Municipal People's Hospital to visit Zhao Hequan who was hospitalized.

Zhao Hequan's condition is very bad. After being sent in, his symptoms have been getting worse and worse. Now his whole body from head to toe looks like it has been dyed, showing a purple color.

It just so happened that Luo Tingrui also came to visit at this time. After taking a routine glance at Zhao Hequan, he motioned for Xue Liangliang and himself to come out.

He really didn't like Zhao Hequan. As the head of the department, he would often take them out of the school to arrange on-site internships. Zhao Hequan was a talkative person. Even if he saw a dog peeing on a telephone pole on the side of the road while riding in the car, he would make a sarcastic comment.

Luo Tingrui is a practical person. Although he also came from the student days and understands the current social trend, he still looks down on the whining of these people who have left the productive forces, because all they do is groan.

On the contrary, Xue Liangliang has always caught his eye. If this guy hadn't seemed determined to go to the southwest after graduation, he would have planned to introduce his daughter to him.

"Liangliang, are you going back to school?"

"Well, Director, I'll go to the station later."

"Come with me. There are comrades coming down from above. Together with some local comrades, we are going to the riverside to have a look and investigate. After the investigation, we will go back to school together."

"Okay, Director."

Although the inspection team was assembled at short notice, it had quite a few members.

Three cars and one bus were all full. After leaving the city, we headed south and arrived at the Yangtze River. This place belongs to a county under Nantong.

After getting off the bus, everyone exchanged pleasantries, mainly introducing local comrades, and then everyone would ask Luo Tingrui for his opinions from time to time.

Xue Liangliang, who was following behind, understood that this was a planning concept for the future cross-river bridge. The higher-ups planned to build a bridge here to connect Nantong and Shanghai.

However, it is still in the planning and conception stage and the conditions for starting construction are not yet in place.

But this is enough to make Xue Liangliang excited. After all, any grand project cannot be separated from this step.

A pre-arranged boat came over to pick everyone up, and the boat sailed on the river so that everyone could experience it more intuitively.

"Although there are ferries to solve the traffic problem, the lack of a real bridge still seriously hinders the local economic development..."

While local comrades were describing the actual situation, Xue Liangliang listened while leaning against the side of the boat, looking toward the river, admiring the vast scenery where the river and sky met.

Then, he frowned again, lowered his head, and looked at the river below:
"According to the wrong location in the local annals, it seems to be Baijia Town.

now……

It’s right under your feet.”

(End of this chapter)