Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 74

Li Lan hoped to form her own emotional anchor by having a normal son, but unfortunately, the son she gave birth to had the same disease as her.

She was desperate.

But Li Zhuiyuan didn't think he had done anything wrong.

No matter how powerful a church is, it cannot sell indulgences to someone who has not yet been born.

When the boy changed the name "Mom" to "Li Lan" in his heart, it meant that he had cut off this relationship.

You continue to struggle in pain, I'm too lazy to watch.

Instead of consuming yourself internally, it is better to consume others externally.

Li Zhuiyuan put down the cup and prepared to leave.

"Snapped!"

It was as if the light cord in Grandpa's house was suddenly pulled down, and Li Lan's whole body went out.

She became very cold and indifferent, and deep in her eyes, something seemed to be peeling off rapidly.

She raised her head again and looked at the boy standing in front of her.

The moment their eyes met, Li Zhuiyuan felt his heart beating violently. It hurt so much, as if it would jump out of his throat at any time.

The scene of myself looking in the mirror quickly emerged in my mind.

It's her, and it's him.

He recognized the "person" in front of him, because there was also one living inside him, and after the luck-changing ceremony, he seemed to have appeared before, changing the name of "Wei Zhengdao" to "Wei Zhengdao".

In fact, Li Lan had already lost.

Whoever speaks first loses.

The phone call to Aunt Zhang's grocery store half a year ago was Li Lan's last hysteria.

She went from being a normal person who might occasionally have an attack to a patient who might occasionally be normal.

This is the destination she fears the most, and it is also very likely to be her own destination.

"Strangeness and excitement can easily raise your threshold. When your threshold is raised and can no longer be satisfied, you will actively choose to become like her."

It was still Li Lan's voice, and her tone was a little softer, but it sounded like she was evaluating a machine with a flawed design.

She even treated herself as a machine.

Li Zhuiyuan gritted his teeth, supported himself on the table with both hands, his expression kept changing, and his body began to tremble.

“You should have chosen an anchor point, too.

She is a sustenance,

what do you?
Support, symbiosis? "

Li Lan put her face close to Li Zhuiyuan and stared at the boy's face carefully: "You should be able to last longer than her."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't say anything, but his fingernails had already scratched off the red paint on the table.

Li Lan reached out and gently stroked the boy's head:

"Just keep playing. When you get tired and can't play anymore, my real son will come to me."

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the table hard with both hands, staggered back several steps, and leaned his back against the cupboard to avoid falling.

He stared at the woman in front of him in horror.

Li Lan did not look at the boy again. Instead, she stood up, walked to the sink, and washed her hands carefully:

"You two are really a pair of mother and son. You are just like her before, always wanting to keep some dirt on your body. Isn't it better to be clean? How dirty it is to be a human being."

After washing her hands, she sorted the documents and report papers on the desk and put them into her briefcase.

Then, she left.

There were two consecutive "click" sounds, which were the door opening and closing.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned against the cupboard and slowly sat down on the ground, holding his head in his hands.

Just now, Li Lan showed him what the disease looked like after it broke out completely.

An intense feeling of suffocation came over him, and he felt as if he was thrown into a sealed glass bottle. No matter how hard he hit it, it was silent.

He felt like he was going crazy, and the oppressive feeling was almost crushing him.

The boy's eyes fell on the kettle on the dining table. He stood up, walked to the table, grabbed the kettle with his left hand, tilted the mouth of the kettle downward, and spread his right palm underneath to prepare to take it.

Inside, there is freshly boiled water.

The mouth of the pot continued to tilt, and white smoke fell with boiling hot water.

"Da da da……"

The boiling water fell to the ground.

The boy withdrew his hand in time.

"You can't do this, Ari will be angry."

"Huh...huh...huh..."

For a moment, some fresh air seeped into the almost suffocating space, and the boy breathed in greedily.

Walk out of the house and close the door.

"Crack!"

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hands and touched his face. The sound of the door closing just now was like a stapler, stapled the human skin back on his face.

Then the boy opened the door and closed it, then opened it and closed it again.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Well, nail it a few more times.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan coming out, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan said goodbye to the old professors. They left their contact information with each other, hoping that they could be invited to give lectures at the school in the future.

Next, we eat roast duck.

We originally only ordered a set of duck and two dishes, which should be enough.

But when Li Zhuiyuan remembered what Li Lan said, "Being a human being is so dirty," he couldn't help but stuff the dough wrapped in duck meat into his mouth.

This made Wu Xinhan order another half set of ducks.

The next morning, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan got up early. They originally thought that they would not disturb Xiaoyuan and let the boy sleep a little longer. However, as soon as they opened the door, Xiaoyuan next door also opened the door.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan was taken by them to eat braised pork and bought some local specialties.

After arriving at the airport and getting on the plane, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan both fell asleep.

Li Zhuiyuan looked through the porthole at the blue sky outside the window and the thick white clouds below.

He didn't sleep all night last night.

After the plane landed, a school car came to pick him up, and before dark, Li Zhuiyuan returned to his great-grandfather's house.

There was a happy event in the west of the village, so the grandfather took Runsheng and Yin Meng to the banquet, while Tan Wenbin returned home.

He went straight to the second floor and walked into his room. Ah Li was planing a tablet with a small clipper.

There was a whip lying on the ground next to it, half of which had been wrapped with the skin of the tablet.

When the boy is not at home, the girl either draws or helps the boy with these handicrafts.

When Li Zhuiyuan appeared at the door, the girl raised her head, a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes lit up.

But soon, the girl seemed to realize something and her expression became depressed.

"Look, there isn't."

Li Zhuiyuan opened his hands to the girl, and there were no wounds on his palms.

"I didn't have any, I held it back, really, I did it."

The boy tried hard to prove himself, as if he was boasting about his "test results".

In comparison, the so-called Mathematical Olympiad examination is not worth mentioning at this time.

The curve of the girl's mouth that had disappeared reappeared.

After seeing the girl, the tension in Li Zhuiyuan's body finally relaxed.

He walked to the bed, lay down, blinked twice, and fell asleep.

During this sleep, he had many dreams. In the dreams, sometimes he was himself, sometimes he was Li Lan. Sometimes he was being led by Li Lan, and sometimes he and Li Lan were standing side by side, looking at a mother and son walking hand in hand in the distance.

It was daybreak and the boy woke up.

The girl sat on the edge of the bed, looking at herself.

Just like the last time when she was exhausted, she kept vigil for herself again last night.

Liu Yumei felt that it was A'li's fortune to meet the boy at Li Sanjiang's house.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that it was his fortune to meet A'li at his great-grandfather's house.

The two doors that were supposed to close slowly, were stuck to each other after meeting each other, and were also trying hard to hold each other up.

Aunt Liu's voice came from downstairs, like the sound of a bell from a temple, cleansing my soul and putting a full stop to my trip back to Beijing:
"Breakfast!"

……

Students are on winter vacation, which means the Chinese New Year is coming soon.

Aunt Zhang’s store has received a lot of new snacks, and a variety of small firecrackers are placed at the door of the store.

It is at this time of year that children have the strongest spending power. From morning to night, groups of three or five keep coming to buy things.

Li Zhuiyuan also came over to buy things.

"Brother Yuanzi!"

"Brother Yuanzi!"

Hu Zi, Shi Tou and others waved to Li Zhuiyuan enthusiastically.

In fact, they both received New Year's money, but they were short of money on weekdays, so once they got the money, it would go away quickly and was all spent long ago.

At this moment, the two of them came with children who still had money in their pockets, and took the initiative to introduce to them which kind of firecrackers were fun, hoping that after they bought them, they could also play with a few to satisfy their addiction.

Seeing that Brother Yuanzi was also here to buy cannons, the two of them immediately stood enthusiastically beside Li Zhuiyuan and acted as advisers.

Li Zhuiyuan took a few boxes of firecrackers and fireflies, and then asked, "What do you want? Take it yourself."

Their eyes lit up immediately, but they each only took the cheapest box.

"Pick a few more boxes."

Seeing that Brother Yuanzi was so generous, the two of them stopped being shy and chose a few boxes of their favorites.

Li Zhuiyuan paid the bill and left.

Hu Zi and Shi Tou held the guns and ran in front of the kids, showing off proudly.

After returning home, Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Runsheng who was making a paper figure:
"Brother Runsheng, give me two cigarettes."

"it is good."

Runsheng lit two thin incense sticks and handed them to the boy.

The boy took the incense, walked up to Ah Li, and handed a burning incense stick to Ah Li.

Then, the boy and the girl started placing firecrackers in various places and lit them together with incense.

From time to time, the sound of artillery fire could be heard from the dam and the vegetable fields below.

Yin Meng walked out of the house with an inkstone in his hand. He turned his neck slightly and looked at the two people playing below. He was a little dazed for a moment:
"They are so funny."

Runsheng responded and asked, "Do you want to set off a firecracker too?"

Yin Meng nodded: "Okay, it's New Year's Day."

"You wait."

Runsheng put down the cane in his hand, went into the inner room, and then came out holding eight firecrackers:
"Come on, let it go."

"Put this?"

"Yeah, if you don't put it in, it will expire. It should still be able to make some noise now."

"My dad is calling me, my dad is calling me!"

Tan Wenbin had a pager tied around his waist, pointing his finger there while thrusting his hips as he walked out, his posture looked like his pelvis was dislocated. Because he did well in the final exam, Tan Yunlong bought him a pager, and he has been wearing it around his waist ever since. To match it, he even went to town to pick out a pair of jeans and a belt.

Runsheng: "Did your dad hit you in the face?"

"Oh, I know you are jealous."

Tan Wenbin continued to stick out his hips and walked down the dam like a crab.

This action made Yin Meng, who was standing behind, and Liu Yumei, who was sitting on the dam drinking tea, both smile.

Tan Wenbin trotted to Aunt Zhang's store to answer the phone, then he ran back and shouted to Li Zhuiyuan, who was still playing with A-Li in the field:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, my dad said that the police station will send someone to pick you and Uncle Li up later. They said that a strange corpse has been sent to them and they want you to go and take a look."

"Okay." Li Zhuiyuan nodded, left the field with A'li, and came to the well on the dam to wash their hands.

Tan Wenbin asked, "Do you want me to go and call Uncle Li back?"

Liu Jinxia took a job and asked Li Sanjiang to go over to discuss it, but he hasn't come back yet.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "No need, we can just go."

"Okay." Tan Wenbin also thought so. It didn't matter whether the grandfather went or not.

Runsheng asked: "Xiaoyuan, are we going?"

"Brother Runsheng, I'll call you if I need you."

"Yeah." Runsheng walked to the bottom of the dam, tore open the wrapping paper of the firecrackers, and pulled out the fuse inside.

After a while, a police three-wheeled motorcycle drove over, and Tan Wenbin led Li Zhuiyuan onto the motorcycle while shouting "Uncle Liu".

After they left, Yin Meng took a stick of incense and lit a firecracker:

“Bang… bang!”

After releasing one, Yin Meng looked at Run Sheng and said:

"I say, why is it so peaceful here?"

Runsheng pointed in the direction of the bearded man's house in the distance: "Xiaoyuan said that there was a big guy lying there, and he's not dead yet."

"When did he die?"

"I don't know, and it doesn't matter. Xiaoyuan will go to college in another semester. Just bear with it."

At the same time, Tan Wenbin, who was sitting on the motorcycle, was rubbing his fingers constantly. After experiencing such a great stimulation, the long-term dull life seemed a little difficult to endure.

When we arrived at the station, Tan Yunlong came out in person to greet us.

Tan Wenbin took out two cigarettes and handed them to Uncle Liu who was driving the motorcycle, and then to Tan Yunlong:
"Come on, Captain Tan, have a cigarette."

Tan Yunlong took the cigarette and asked, "Are you smoking again?"

Tan Wenbin stuffed the cigarette box back into his pocket and said with a smile, "How can that be possible? It's almost Chinese New Year. Uncle Li gave it to me."

"Xiaoyuan, come with me."

"Okay, Uncle Tan."

Tan Yunlong took Li Zhuiyuan to the forensic laboratory, and Tan Wenbin naturally followed.

"Captain Tan, this is..." A young female forensic doctor was a little surprised to see that the two people coming were two young people.

She still remembered the last time she talked with an old folk corpse retriever, who provided her with a lot of ideas and insights.

Shouldn’t we invite the old man over this time? Why didn’t he come?
"Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang, let's start." Tan Yunlong did not give any unnecessary explanations.

Doctor Xiao Wang led everyone to a stretcher. After reaching out and grabbing the edge of the white cloth, she asked with some concern,

"Captain Tan, is this really possible? I'm afraid of scaring them."

Tan Wenbin shrugged: "Don't worry, it's just the Giant View, it's not a big deal."

Although the body was covered with white cloth, the exposed feet were severely swollen, proving that it had been soaked for a long time.

"It's not just a gigantism." Forensic doctor Xiao Wang lifted the white cloth, revealing a swollen corpse with an empty chest, as if a spoonful of pig skin jelly had been scooped out.

Originally, forensic doctor Xiao Wang thought that the two boys would be scared, but unexpectedly, the two boys just looked at him from the left and right with great interest.

"Hey, this is interesting, Brother Yuanzi."

"Ah."

"What's wrong with this piece in the middle? It's arc-shaped. What happened? Could it be that?"

"No."

"Is that the one?"

"Not at all."

Forensic doctor Xiao Wang was standing nearby and was completely confused.

Tan Yunlong couldn't help but glare at his son: "Speak human language."

Tan Wenbin said dissatisfiedly: "I told you not to read properly."

Tan Yunlong: “…”

Seeing that his father seemed to be really angry, Tan Wenbin hurriedly explained: "Dad, this is the professional terminology I learned from Uncle Li."

He had read "Records of Strange Tales from the Jianghu", and the two things he remembered just now were "the death of mother and child" and "the death of parasite", but Xiaoyuan denied them both.

Li Zhuiyuan stretched out his hand and pointed at a green needle in the hollow of the corpse.

Doctor Xiao Wang said, "Is it waterweed?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "It's not water plants, it's animal hair."

Tan Yunlong: "Xiao Wang, haven't you done any tests?"

"I..." Xiao Wang, the forensic doctor, said with some embarrassment, "I was negligent in my work. I didn't notice it."

"Uncle Tan, where was the body found?"

"In the Tongxing River, we have sent people upstream to search for the middle-aged man who went missing recently."

“Is it closer to us upstream or downstream?”

"What does this mean?" Tan Yunlong didn't quite understand.

Tan Wenbin said, "Xiaoyuan, I know this river. It passes by us first and then goes to the next town."

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Uncle Tan, let's investigate downstream instead of upstream."

"Can a corpse float upstream?"

"Well, what if he was taken along on the ship? That's a possibility."

"Okay, I understand." Although Tan Yunlong still didn't understand, he planned to try it according to the suggestion.

Regardless of whether it was a deliberate attempt to confuse the two or the atmosphere, forensic doctor Xiao Wang now somewhat recognized the two. She pointed at the corpse and said, "Also, the amount of water seepage from this corpse is a bit strange."

Tan Wenbin immediately became excited when he heard this: "That's great, I'll bring some stuff when I get back later."

Li Zhuiyuan said: "It's okay, this is normal."

Doctor Xiao Wang asked again with some doubt: "Is this normal?"

"Well, don't worry."

After leaving the forensic room, Tan Yunlong called Xiao Liu again to send the two back.

After getting off the car at the village road in front of his home, Tan Wenbin finally couldn't help asking, "Xiaoyuan, what on earth is that thing?"

"Corpse."

Similar to the cat-faced old lady, the corpse of an animal filled with resentment meets and merges with the corpse of a human.

"Oh?" Tan Wenbin made a circle with his hands, "The missing part is the monster's body?"

"Ah."

"The body is here, so where did it go?"

“It was scared away.”

"Scared away?" Tan Wenbin turned his head to look in the direction of the bearded man's house. "It's in our territory. The corpse demons were scared away? No wonder you asked my dad to investigate downstream. That's right, since the corpse demon was scared away, it should have been heading towards us."

A normal corpse would definitely only float downstream, but it is not surprising at all that a corpse demon could float upstream.

"So, that waterlogged corpse can't be dead?"

"Well, it can't be changed."

Tan Wenbin smiled helplessly and said, "I think the big bearded man should really turn it down and build a temple. It will really protect the country and the people."

"Brother Binbin."

"Ok?"

"study hard."

"Otherwise, ah, besides Day Day Up, it seems there is nothing else to do."

When he returned home, Li Zhuiyuan saw Li Weihan coming and carrying a lot of things.

It was sent by Li Lan from Beijing.

Li Lan would send things back during every festival, including monthly remittances, which never stopped.

This year, there are a lot of New Year gifts sent, mainly one for "son".

New clothes, new shoes, new stationery and various snacks, filling two large sacks.

Li Weihan smiled and said to Li Zhuiyuan: Xiao Yuanhou, you see, your mother is always thinking about you.

Li Zhuiyuan could only respond with the same happy expression and perform in front of his grandfather.

Yes, he knew that she was using this method to remind herself that she still remembered herself.

On New Year's Eve, at noon, Li Zhuiyuan followed Li Sanjiang to Li Weihan's house to have a reunion dinner.

Originally, Li Sanjiang planned to invite Li Weihan, Cui Guiying and others to his home for New Year's Eve dinner, but when winter vacation came, Li Zhuiyuan's uncles sent their children to their parents' home and opened a school at home again.

Li Weihan was too embarrassed to bring all his children to Li Sanjiang's house for dinner, so he had no choice but to choose this compromise.

When Li Sanjiang led Li Zhuiyuan out after dinner, he kept cursing those ungrateful people.

Instead of going home directly, he turned to the bearded man's house, because the place was also under Li Sanjiang's name, and it should have been cleaned before the New Year.

Runsheng and Yin Meng had come early to clean up, and Li Sanjiang picked up the broom and joined in. Even Li Zhuiyuan picked up a rag to help wipe the tables, chairs and benches.

When I finished my work, it was already dusk.

Li Sanjiang put his hands on his hips and complained with a smile: "Alas, having a big business is not a good thing. It's really hard to clean up, haha."

Finally, Li Sanjiang placed two pagoda incense sticks on the dam.

This was made by Aunt Liu herself. If Li Sanjiang really had to go out and buy it, he would be reluctant to order it.

The incense smoke filled the air and Runsheng took several deep puffs.

Li Sanjiang waved his hand at him and said, "Go away, go away. This is for the Buddha, so that he can continue to bless you next year."

Hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng and Yin Meng couldn't help but look towards the peach forest in front of them.

That’s right. Thanks to it, we all have nothing to do.

But I can only keep this resentment in my heart, and at most I can just complain a few times verbally, but I can't express it excessively. After all, no matter what, it's a good thing that he's not dead and has been haunted.

At the New Year's Eve dinner, Li Sanjiang distributed red envelopes to everyone except Liu Yumei, after all, they were either his juniors or his workers. As for Zhuangzhuang's share, he had already given it before he went home for the New Year this morning.

Liu Yumei also gave out New Year’s money.

Then, A'li gave both red envelopes to Xiaoyuan.

The girl still remembers how the boy looked when he was short of money.

Li Zhuiyuan took Ah Li's hand and went into the east room, opened her collection box, and put all four red envelopes in it.

In the evening, everyone gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

When the countdown to midnight ended, sounds of celebration were heard from the TV and outside, timed cannon fire was heard.

Locals generally do not have the habit of calculating their age by specific months, and they simply calculate their age based on the "Chinese New Year".

Li Zhuiyuan held A'li's hand, stood by the dam, and looked at the fireworks that were only vaguely visible in the distance.

"Ari, we are both one year older."

(End of this chapter)