Chapter 128

Only after Li Sanjiang shouted did he notice that behind Runsheng, Zhuangzhuang, and Yin Meng, there was also an unfamiliar face.

The kid was fair and tender-looking, with a shy, introverted manner. At a glance, he looked like exactly the type suited for turning a millstone.

“Hey, not bad. You even brought back a new mule.”

Lin Shuyou was carrying a salted duck in his hand. He had specifically helped carry it off the truck earlier, but he had been so busy worrying about whether Little Yuanhou and the others would take him along that he had completely forgotten about the whole business of bringing a gift.

If he had known, when they passed through Shinan Town earlier, he should have asked Binbin to stop the truck so he could buy some milk and biscuits or something.

Back in his hometown, they cared a lot about etiquette. If his grandfather and masters found out he had shown up brazenly empty-handed like this, they would spray enough spit on his face to paste over it three layers thick.

Li Sanjiang warmly ushered everyone inside. Li Zhuiyuan climbed down from Taigong and took his hand, walking in front.

“Zhuangzhuang, you drove back?”

“Yeah. I got my license, and Mengmeng got hers too.”

“Good, good. Then when you graduate college and buy a car, I’ll chip in for you too.”

“Hahaha, absolutely. Even if you didn’t, I’d shamelessly come ask you for it.”

“You brat. Your family’s doing well. At most, your Taigong can afford one wheel for you.”

“With one wheel missing from you, my car wouldn’t run anyway.”

Li Sanjiang instinctively assumed the yellow pickup had been borrowed or rented by the kids.

These days, even a two-wheeled motorcycle counted as a rare and valuable thing in a household. Anyone who could ride one around the village and town looked impressively stylish.

As for a four-wheeled vehicle, that was even more unthinkable. Most families in the village did not dare dream that one day they might have a car parked at home.

“This kid your classmate?”

“Yes, our classmate.” Tan Wenbin nudged Lin Shuyou.

Lin Shuyou said, “Uncle Li, my name is Lin Shuyou.”

“That accent... you’re from the south?”

“Mm, I’m from Fujian.”

“Good, good. Fine-looking young man. Strong bones too.”

The moment he stepped onto the yard, Li Zhuiyuan’s expression turned grave.

Behind him, the instant Lin Shuyou set foot on the steps leading up to the yard, his whole body stopped short and his vertical pupils opened.

Li Sanjiang said, “Eh? How come this young fellow’s a little cross-eyed?”

Runsheng rushed forward in front of Li Zhuiyuan, pulling the Yellow River Spade from his bag at the same time. With a hard flick, the newly made big Yellow River Spade snapped open at once and was held across his chest.

Yin Meng drew out her new Demon-Suppressing Whip from her waist. The whip’s seven-colored sheen meant it held seven different toxins. She braced it up and stood at Li Zhuiyuan’s flank.

Tan Wenbin leaped several big steps, spun around in midair, and came to a stop behind Little Yuan, facing the rear.

After opening his vertical pupils, Lin Shuyou flattened his left hand, clenched his right into a fist, bent his knees, and prepared to enter trance.

As a result, Li Sanjiang got squeezed out to the edge instead. Completely confused, he asked, “What kind of pose is this?”

Li Zhuiyuan’s expression returned to normal.

Where evil things lurked, the feng shui was never good.

Li Zhuiyuan had first learned feng shui by reading books on the second floor of Taigong’s house, so he was naturally very familiar with its layout.

Now, the feng shui here was clearly off, though the effect was not severe. It was like a bright, spacious farmhouse had turned into the gloomy ward wing of an old hospital.

People sensitive to such things could sense that something was slightly wrong, but as for how much it would really affect a person’s health or fortune, it would not amount to much.

Especially not for his own Taigong. Taigong’s blessings had long since risen beyond the influence of an ordinary environment. If anything, he could change the surrounding environment instead.

And this feeling was gradually fading, which meant there had originally been something unclean here, but that unclean thing was gone now.

Li Zhuiyuan raised a hand, signaling everyone to stand down, then said to Li Sanjiang:

“Taigong, we’re planning to take a picture. Binbin brought a camera back.”

Ever since making rubbings of the stone stele in Zhengmen Village, Tan Wenbin had been thinking about getting himself a camera.

Some time ago, Lu An’an and Liu Tao, those upperclassmen from the Physiognomy Society, had invited him to a multi-school exchange meeting for physiognomy clubs. He had gone expecting to learn something and broaden his horizons, but instead the whole thing had been soaked in bureaucracy.

The speech by the event organizers made him sleepy and bored out of his mind. But before the conference ended, there was a raffle, and first prize was a camera. His luck was good. He won it.

He was pretty pleased. At least the trip had not been for nothing.

Now, seeing that Little Yuan had already lifted the alert, he immediately pulled out the camera and raised it.

“That’s right, come on, picture time. Everyone pose properly. Look over here. Give me peace signs. Yeah!”

Click.

The first picture was taken. Tan Wenbin was not in it. Yin Meng and Runsheng stood guarding Little Yuan’s sides, and off to one side stood a cross-eyed fellow.

For the second photo, Tan Wenbin asked Li Sanjiang to press the shutter for him while he hurried back into position.

Lin Shuyou closed his vertical pupils. For a moment he could not figure out where to stand, and in the end Tan Wenbin waved him over and had him squat in front.

After the two photos were taken, the people inside the house heard the commotion and came out.

The first person out of the kitchen was Cui Guiying, still wearing an apron. She wiped her hands on it and cried out happily,

“Little Yuanhou, my grandson!”

“Grandma.”

Cui Guiying pulled Li Zhuiyuan into her arms and looked him over carefully.

“Little Yuanhou and the others are back, right?” Li Weihan’s voice came from the path. He was pushing a little cart with two jars of wine on it.

“Grandpa.”

“Ai, Little Yuanhou, haha!”

When Li Sanjiang saw Li Weihan set the wine jars down, he grew irritated and could not help cursing, “It’s all that Shanpao’s fault, picking this exact time to go fire off foreign gas!”

“Old bastard, talking behind my back while I’m on the pot!”

Grandpa Shan came walking out from behind the house, tying his trouser cord as he did.

Li Sanjiang said, “What, am I wrong?”

Grandpa Shan replied, “The two wine jars at your place had cracks in them, so a lot of the wine’s killing force leaked out. That’s why I said the flavor wasn’t pure!”

Li Sanjiang snorted. “When you were so broke you had to gnaw sweet potatoes just to keep from starving, I didn’t see you being this picky.”

Grandpa Shan said, “You...”

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Taigong, is there anyone else at home?”

“Anyone else? No, that’s all of us here. Oh, though I did hire a helper. Her paper-effigy craftsmanship is excellent, and she’s hardworking too. She’s also the one who helped me read letters and write replies.

“Her surname is Xiao. Her name is Yinghou.”

“Then where is she?”

“She asked for leave last night, said there was something at home. She went back this morning. She’ll come back in a few days after taking care of it.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded and did not ask any more. He could already more or less guess who this Yinghou was.

If the one beneath the peach grove had not died, then even a drowned dead thing drifting downstream would be frightened into turning around and swimming back upstream before entering this area.

Who else could it be, if an evil thing could act under that one’s very nose and yet cause no harm at all to Taigong?

Cui Guiying smiled and said, “Come, everyone sit. Eat, eat.”

A round table was set up in the yard, and a whole crowd sat around it, eating and drinking in high spirits.

Li Sanjiang and Grandpa Shan were so happy that they both drank too much. Cursing back and forth at each other, the two of them eventually lay down inside the two coffins in the living room that had already been prepared for them and fell into a loud sleep.

Li Weihan drank a fair amount too. He leaned against the door, face red, basking in the sun, half asleep and half awake.

While scolding them, Cui Guiying went into the kitchen to make hangover soup for them.

After saying a word to his grandmother, Li Zhuiyuan took Runsheng and the others to Big Beard’s house.

By now, this stretch of peach grove had become one of the prettier sights in the village.

Li Zhuiyuan stood in Big Beard’s yard and looked into the distance.

Lin Shuyou copied Little Yuan’s posture and leaned forward to take a look himself. The moment he fixed his gaze ahead, his vertical pupils snapped open and then shut again just as fast.

“Hiss!”

Clutching his eyes, Lin Shuyou crouched down in pain.

Tan Wenbin stepped forward, grabbed his shoulder, and turned him to face another direction.

The peach grove was utterly still. Not even a breeze stirred.

“Runsheng-ge, set up the offering table.”

“Got it.”

There were tables and chairs already in the house, and the offerings were very simple: biscuits, meat floss, and the like. It all looked a bit rough and casual, but presumably the other party would not mind.

One red candle and one white candle were set upright, their flames flickering.

Li Zhuiyuan pinched a sheet of yellow paper between his fingers, ignited it, waved it three times, then tossed it into the brazier.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin circled the brazier and began burning spirit money.

There was no special meaning to it. They had just come to say hello.

Li Zhuiyuan knew very well that, for now, he still did not have the standing to speak directly with the one beneath the peach grove.

But the other party had indeed been quite generous, watching over Taigong’s home.

Though that kind of protection would be too much for ordinary people to bear, his Taigong was clearly not among them.

When the paper had all burned out, Runsheng lifted the brazier with tongs and dumped the ashes below the yard.

At this point, the simple ritual should have ended. Tan Wenbin had already blown out the two candles.

But just then, though there was still no wind, the ashes suddenly swirled up in spinning eddies. After drifting outward, they abruptly floated back toward where the group stood.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on the strange ashes as they swept past them.

The two candles that had already gone out reignited by themselves.

A certain emotion gradually spread through the hearts of everyone present: remembrance, melancholy, wistfulness, and sighing reflection.

It was seeing the new and thinking of the old, searching again for who one had once been, and for the people who had once stood beside one.

He was the one who had lived on. Having lived this long, he was also the one left behind by time, shut away until now.

Soon, the ashes settled, and the candles went out again.

Aside from Li Zhuiyuan, everyone else was affected by the mood and sank into gloom.

While the others stood there in a daze, Li Zhuiyuan picked up a broom and began sweeping the ashes off the ground.

One by one they came back to themselves, some with a start, some like they were waking from a dream, and all of them joined in cleaning up.

Once everything was tidied, the group left Big Beard’s house.

Tan Wenbin was going back to Shigang Town to see his grandparents on both sides of the family.

Lin Shuyou was going with him.

There were not many shops in Shinan Town, but Shigang Town was livelier and more crowded, so he planned to go buy some gifts there.

Runsheng was heading back to Xiting Town to clean the house and restock the rice, flour, grain, and oil.

At the lunch table, he had asked his grandfather when he had come to Uncle Li’s house. Grandpa Shan had said he was worried they might come back early today and miss seeing them first thing, so he had arrived last night.

Runsheng immediately understood that the food at home had probably run out again. His grandfather had come a day early to freeload a meal.

Yin Meng had nothing better to do, so she planned to go with Runsheng and help clean.

Li Zhuiyuan was not going with either side. He wanted to stay at home.

With this peach grove here, there would not be any danger in the village, so everyone really could split up and go about separately for the time being.

And so Tan Wenbin drove off in the little pickup with Lin Shuyou, while Runsheng rode off on the family tricycle with Yin Meng.

Li Zhuiyuan watched them leave. He had been about to turn back and head home, planning to sit on the second-floor terrace of Taigong’s house while the afternoon sun was still good.

But at that moment, a delighted voice rang out behind him.

“Brother Yuanhou!”

Li Zhuiyuan turned and saw Cuicui, her face bright with excitement.

Girls usually developed earlier than boys, and Cuicui had grown a bit taller. Her chin had already started to taper. She had inherited Xianghou’s looks, and in a few more years she would be a graceful young lady.

“Cuicui.”

“Brother Yuanhou, you’re back! Where’s Sister Ah Li?”

“She didn’t come back.”

“Hehe.” After that simple greeting, Cuicui began to giggle.

She was genuinely happy. For more than a year in the past, she had often come here to play with Brother Yuanhou and Sister Ah Li, because only they never looked down on her.

Li Zhuiyuan had gone to Jinling for college, and Ah Li had left too, so Cuicui was friendless again.

But she had not become lonely or sad because of it, because once, she had had that happiness.

Whenever she saw other children in little groups again, all she had to do was remember that she too had once been with Brother Yuanhou and Sister Ah Li, and she could lift her chin proudly and walk past them.

“Brother Yuanhou, come play at my house. My mom and grandma are both home.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “All right.”

He had lived in the village a long time, but there were not many people worth visiting when he came back.

His grandparents were now working at Taigong’s house and they had already eaten lunch together. As for those uncles, there was no need to specially call on them. If he did, Taigong would not be pleased.

Liu Jinxia and Li Juxiang had once helped him break a baleful influence and had truly helped him, so he should go.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan agree, Cuicui tentatively stretched out her hand.

Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative and held it.

The little girl was instantly so happy she looked like she could hardly wait to turn into a butterfly.

She still remembered that when Li Zhuiyuan had first come here, they had walked together by the stream, and he had even treated her to chocolate.

Later, her mother had bought her many different kinds of chocolate, and even when the brand and wrapper were exactly the same, she could never taste that same sweetness again.

Li Zhuiyuan knew she was very happy.

He had been sensible from a very young age, and from a very young age he had learned to read people’s moods. Through imitation and observation, through deduction and analysis, he could make almost everyone around him feel satisfied and happy with his “role,” except for Li Lan.

It was a habit, not something he had brought out from the womb, though in terms of timing the difference was actually not that great.

Even now, though he deliberately tried not to perform, that ingrained momentum still remained.

For example, he wanted to see Binbin become class monitor, and he wanted to see Binbin and Zhou Yunyun get together.

For example, when Runsheng showed how much he missed Grandpa Shan, he said he would go home at the end of the month.

For example, he also knew that if he went back, Taigong would be very happy to see him.

Li Zhuiyuan felt he was a rather dull person.

For some kinds of happiness, some kinds of feelings, he was still a clumsy beginner. So he hoped there could be more examples around him, because then he could observe, understand, and imitate them.

Not just in form, but from the heart.

There was no problem when he was with Ah Li, but as Ah Li’s balcony window, he had to step out earlier than her and more boldly than her, so that he could hold her hand and keep leading her farther outside.

However, as they passed Aunt Zhang’s little shop and Aunt Zhang warmly greeted him, the polite smile Li Zhuiyuan returned unconsciously faded when his eyes fell on the telephone.

Cuicui tugged him onward. Before they even reached the house, she was already calling out from a distance,

“Mom, Mom, Brother Yuanhou is here! Brother Yuanhou is here!”

Li Juxiang was washing clothes. The moment she heard the shout, she was so happy she stopped washing at once and went back inside to get snacks.

The weather had turned cooler, so lemon soda was no longer suitable. Instead, she opened two bottles of milk drink.

Li Zhuiyuan took one and drank a sip through the straw. It was full of saccharin flavor, with only the faintest trace of milk.

He still did not like sweet drinks. Usually he either went to Liu Yumei’s place to drink tea, or just drank boiled water in the dorm.

After Tan Wenbin had gotten used to drinking tea at Granny Liu’s place, he could not stand the tea his father gave him either.

Li Zhuiyuan only treated drinks as quick replenishment after physical exertion.

Still, when Xianghou asked yet again, “Is it good? Want to try another flavor?” he lowered his head and took two more swallows in a row.

“It’s good.”

Liu Jinxia was not playing mahjong this afternoon. She had taken on a job and was now holding a writing brush, comparing with a book as she tried to write mourning couplets.

This was a fairly traditional folk custom. Such couplets could be hung in temples, used at funerals, or placed on top of offerings and burned together with them.

Since Liu Jinxia was now able to take on this kind of work, it showed that her standing and status had risen again from before.

That made sense. In their line of work, status usually rose with age. The older one was, the more sought after one became, and the more outsiders believed in one’s ability.

But Liu Jinxia still could not bring herself to put brush to the white cloth. Instead, she kept practicing over and over on yellow paper.

Her handwriting was decent enough, and she had clearly put effort into practicing it.

Half a year ago, she had secretly gone into the city for cataract surgery, and her eyesight was much better than before. But in front of other people, she still habitually pretended to be blind.

Li Zhuiyuan walked over to the table.

Blind Liu smiled and said, “Little Yuanhou, you’re here.”

“Mm, Granny Liu.” Li Zhuiyuan did not stand on ceremony. “Granny Liu, let me write them for you.”

“You can write?” Her tone carried a little surprise, though she was inclined to believe it. After all, the child had gotten into college at such a young age.

“I can.”

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the brush and began writing directly on the white cloth.

At first, Liu Jinxia was a little worried, but the moment she saw the words written by the boy, her heart settled completely back into place.

The couplets he wrote did not seem to be in the book she had on hand, but that did not matter. The handwriting was handsome, dignified, and solemn. The family who hired her would be satisfied.

Li Zhuiyuan finished writing all the couplets on the table, put down the brush, and rubbed his wrist.

Liu Jinxia smilingly spread them out to dry and said, “Stay and have dinner.”

“No, I still have friends and classmates. I need to go back to Taigong’s house for dinner tonight.”

“Oh, I see. Is your school on break? How many days are you staying home?”

“Three days.”

“Mm.” Liu Jinxia looked at her granddaughter Cuicui. “Study hard. Later on, do your best to go to Jinling for college together with your Brother Yuanhou.”

Cuicui stuck out her tongue. By the time she went to college, Brother Yuanhou would have graduated long ago.

“Brother Yuanhou, come play in my room.”

Just like the first time he had come to Cuicui’s house, Li Zhuiyuan was led upstairs by Cuicui, and as before, he took off his shoes at the stair landing.

The layout of Cuicui’s room had not changed. There were just a lot more dolls now. She had also collected many picture books, posters, and storybooks, and brought them out like treasures to share with Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan, on the other hand, paid more attention to the furniture in the room.

At first, he noticed a thin horizontal crack on the mirror of the dressing table.

Then he saw similar cracks on the wardrobe, the chair, and the edge of the bed.

To ordinary people, furniture developing cracks after years of use would be perfectly normal.

But Li Zhuiyuan could see that this was the girl’s own fate structure affecting the environment around her.

People were part of the environment, and naturally they could produce specific changes in that environment.

Cuicui’s fate structure had grown harder again.

From Liu Jinxia, to Li Juxiang, to Cuicui, three generations, each more extreme than the last.

Although Li Zhuiyuan was skilled in physiognomy and the study of fate, he was not superstitious about it. But even by the logic of probability alone, Cuicui’s problem had already become very serious.