Chapter 74

Li Lan hoped to find an emotional anchor by having a normal son. Unfortunately, the son she gave birth to suffered from the same illness as her.

She was desperate.

Yet, Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel he had done anything wrong.

Not even the most powerful church could sell indulgences to those yet unborn.

When the boy inwardly changed the address "Mom" to "Li Lan," it signified that he had severed their relationship.

"Keep suffering and struggling; I'm tired of watching."

Instead of consuming oneself, it's better to consume others.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his cup, intending to leave.

"Snap!"

As if the light cord in Grandfather's house had been suddenly pulled, Li Lan's entire being extinguished.

She became cold and indifferent, and something seemed to be rapidly peeling away in the depths of her eyes.

She looked up again, at the boy standing before her.

The moment their gazes met, Li Zhuiyuan felt his heart pounding violently, a sharp pain, as if it might leap from his throat at any moment.

The scene of him looking in a mirror quickly flashed through his mind.

It was her, and it was him.

He recognized this "person" before him because one also resided within his own body. Moreover, after the fortune-transferring ritual, it seemed to have appeared once, changing "Wei Zhengdao" to "Pseudo Zhengdao."

In truth, Li Lan had already lost.

Whoever spoke first, lost.

The phone call made to Aunt Zhang's convenience store half a year ago was Li Lan's final hysteria.

She had transformed from a normal person who might occasionally fall ill into a sick person who might occasionally be normal.

This was her most feared fate, and quite possibly, his own.

"The bizarre and the stimulating easily raise one's threshold. When your threshold is too high to be satisfied, you will actively choose to become like her."

It was still Li Lan's voice, even softer in tone, yet it sounded as if she were evaluating a machine with a flawed design.

She even regarded herself as a machine.

Li Zhuiyuan gritted his teeth, his hands pressed against the tabletop, his expression continuously shifting, and his body began to tremble.

"You must have chosen an anchor point too.

She is a reliance,What are you?Support, symbiosis?"

Li Lan leaned her face close to Li Zhuiyuan's, staring intently at the boy's face: "You, should be able to last longer than her."

Li Zhuiyuan remained silent, having already scratched red paint from the tabletop with his fingernails.

Li Lan extended a hand and gently stroked the boy's head:

"Go on and play. When you're tired of playing, when you can't play anymore, my real son will come find me."

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the table forcefully with both hands, stumbling back several steps, only managing to avoid falling by leaning against the cabinet.

He stared in horror at the woman before him.

Li Lan no longer looked at the boy; instead, she stood up, walked to the sink, and meticulously washed her hands:

"You two are truly mother and son. Like her before, you always want to keep some grime on you. Isn't it better to be clean? Being human is so dirty."

After washing her hands, she neatly gathered the documents and report papers from the table and placed them into her briefcase.

Then, she left.

Two successive "click-clacks" marked the opening and closing of the door.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned against the cabinet, slowly sitting onto the floor, his hands cradling his head.

Just now, Li Lan had shown him what a full-blown relapse looked like.

A strong sense of suffocation assailed him; he felt as though he had been cast into a sealed glass bottle, muted and silent no matter how he pounded.

He felt like he was losing his mind, the oppressive feeling almost crushing him to dust.

The boy's gaze fell upon the hot water kettle on the dining table. He stood up, walked to the table, grabbed the kettle with his left hand, and, as he tilted the spout downwards, opened his right palm below, ready to catch the water.

Inside was freshly boiled water.

The kettle continued to tilt, and white steam accompanied by scalding hot water poured out.

"Drip, drip, drip..."

The boiling water fell to the floor.

The boy quickly pulled his hand back.

"Can't do this; A-Li will be angry."

"Gasp... gasp... gasp..."

All at once, a little fresh air permeated the nearly suffocating space, and the boy greedily inhaled.

He walked out of the room and closed the door.

"Click!"

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hands to touch his face. The sound of the door closing earlier felt like a stapler, re-fastening the human skin on his face.

Immediately after, the boy opened and closed the door, then opened and closed it again.

"Click! Click! Click!"

He made sure to staple it a few more times.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan emerge, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan bid farewell to the old professors. They exchanged contact information, thinking they might invite them for lectures at the school in the future.

Next, it was time to eat Peking duck.

Originally, they had only ordered one set of duck and two other dishes, which should have been enough.

But as soon as Li Zhuiyuan remembered Li Lan's words, "Being human is so dirty," he couldn't help but vigorously stuff duck-wrapped pancakes into his mouth.

This led Wu Xinhan to order half a set of duck more.

Early the next morning, Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan woke up. They had intended not to disturb Xiaoyuan, letting the boy sleep in, but as soon as they opened their door, Xiaoyuan's door opposite also opened.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan was taken by them to eat stewed offal and buy some local specialties.

Arriving at the airport, they boarded the plane, and both Wu Xinhan and Teacher Yan fell asleep.

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

He hadn't slept at all last night.

The plane landed, and a school car picked them up. Before dark, Li Zhuiyuan returned to Grandfather's house.

There was a happy occasion in the west of the village, so Grandfather had taken Runsheng and Yin Meng to a feast, while Tan Wenbin had gone home.

Going straight to the second floor, he entered his room, where A-Li was using a small plane to shave a memorial tablet.

A leather whip lay on the floor nearby, half of it already wrapped with the shaved surface of the memorial tablet.

When the boy wasn't home, the girl would either draw or help him with these crafts.

When Li Zhuiyuan appeared at the doorway, the girl looked up, a smile curving her lips, and her eyes lit up.

But soon, the girl seemed to sense something, and her expression fell.

"Look, there's nothing."

Li Zhuiyuan spread his hands open for the girl, his palms free of wounds.

"There's nothing on me either. I held back, truly, I did it."

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

In comparison, the so-called Olympiad math competition exam was insignificant at this moment.

The girl's lost smile returned.

After seeing the girl, the tightly wound string within Li Zhuiyuan finally loosened.

He walked to the bed, lay down, blinked twice, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

In that sleep, he had many dreams: sometimes he was himself, sometimes Li Lan; sometimes he was being led by Li Lan, sometimes he and Li Lan stood side by side, watching a mother and child walking hand in hand in the distance.

Day broke, and the boy woke up.

The girl was sitting by the bed, watching him.

Just like the last time he had collapsed from exhaustion, she had kept vigil for him last night.

Liu Yumei felt that A-Li's good fortune was to have met the boy at Li Sanjiang's house.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that his own good fortune was to have met A-Li at Grandfather's house.

Two doors that were meant to slowly close, upon meeting, jammed against each other and were now striving to hold each other open.

Aunt Liu's voice drifted up from downstairs, like the purifying chime of a temple bell, bringing his trip back to the capital to a definitive close:

"Breakfast is ready!"

Students were on winter break, which meant Chinese New Year was approaching.

Aunt Zhang's convenience store had stocked up on many new snacks, and various small firecrackers were displayed at the shop's entrance.

This was the only time of year when children's purchasing power was relatively strong. From morning till night, children came in groups of three to five to buy things.

Li Zhuiyuan also came over to buy things.

"Brother Yuanzi!"

"Brother Yuanzi!"

Huzi and Shitout waved enthusiastically at Li Zhuiyuan.

They had actually received their New Year's money too, but they were usually short on cash, and the money came and went quickly, so it was long spent.

At this moment, the two were accompanying children who still had money, eagerly suggesting which firecrackers were fun, hoping to grab a few for themselves to play with after the purchases.

Seeing that Brother Yuanzi was also there to buy firecrackers, the two immediately stood enthusiastically beside Li Zhuiyuan, acting as advisors.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a few boxes of firecrackers and sparklers, then asked, "What do you want? Take whatever you like."

Their eyes instantly lit up, yet each only took one box of the cheapest kind.

"Choose a few more boxes."

Seeing Brother Yuanzi's generosity, the two stopped being reserved and chose a few boxes they liked.

Li Zhuiyuan paid and left.

Huzi and Shitout, with their firecrackers in hand, ran to the other children and proudly showed them off.

Back home, Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Runsheng, who was weaving paper figures:

"Brother Runsheng, give me two cigarettes."

"Okay."

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

The boy took the incense, walked to A-Li, and handed one lit stick to her.

Then, the boy and girl began placing firecrackers in various spots, and together they lit them with the incense.

From the courtyard and the vegetable patch below, the sound of firecrackers occasionally echoed.

Yin Meng walked out of the house with an ink marker in her hand. As she gently stretched her neck, she looked at the two playing below, momentarily lost in thought:

"They're really interesting."

Runsheng responded and asked, "You want to set off firecrackers too?"

Yin Meng nodded: "Yes, it's almost New Year's."

"Wait here."

Runsheng put down the rattan in his hand, went into the inner room, and then came out carrying eight large firecrackers:

"Here, set them off."

"These ones?"

"Yes, they'll expire if we don't set them off soon. They should still make a sound now."

"My dad's paged me, my dad's paged me!"

Tan Wenbin had a pager clipped to his waist. He walked out with a thrust of his hips, pointing at the device, a posture that looked like a dislocated pelvis.

Because of his good final exam results, Tan Yunlong had bought him a pager. Since then, he had always clipped it to his waist, and to match it, he had even gone to town specifically to pick out a pair of jeans and a belt.

Runsheng: "Did your dad page you right on your face?"

"Heh, I know you're just jealous."

Tan Wenbin continued to thrust his hips, walking down the courtyard like a crab.

This movement brought smiles to Yin Meng, who was behind him, and Liu Yumei, who was sitting in the courtyard drinking tea.

Tan Wenbin jogged to Aunt Zhang's convenience store to return the call. Then, he ran back and shouted to Li Zhuiyuan, who was still in the field playing with firecrackers with A-Li:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, my dad said the police station will send someone to pick up you and Grandfather Li later. They said a strange body was brought to the station, and they want you to take a look."

"Okay," Li Zhuiyuan nodded. He and A-Li left the field and went to the well by the courtyard to wash their hands.

Tan Wenbin asked, "Should I go call Grandfather Li back?"

Liu Jinxia had a job for Li Sanjiang to discuss, and he hadn't returned yet.

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

"Okay." Tan Wenbin agreed, thinking it made no difference whether Grandfather went or not.

Runsheng asked, "Xiaoyuan, should we go?"

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

"Okay." Runsheng walked to the bottom of the courtyard, tore open the packaging of the large firecrackers, and pulled out the fuse.

Soon after, a police three-wheeled motorcycle arrived. Tan Wenbin, calling out "Uncle Liu," led Li Zhuiyuan to sit on the motorcycle.

After they left, Yin Meng took an incense stick and lit one of the large firecrackers:

"Bang... Pop!"

After setting one off, Yin Meng looked at Runsheng and said:

"Tell me, why is it so peaceful here?"

Runsheng pointed towards the direction of Big Beard's house in the distance: "Xiaoyuan says it's because there's a big fellow lying there, and it's not dead yet."

"When will it die?"

"I don't know, and it doesn't matter anymore. Xiaoyuan will be going to university in another semester, so you just have to bear with it a little longer."

At the same moment, Tan Wenbin, sitting on the motorcycle, was constantly rubbing his fingers. After experiencing such a major thrill, long periods of ordinary life felt somewhat difficult to endure.

Arriving at the station, Tan Yunlong personally came out to meet them.

Tan Wenbin pulled out two cigarettes, first handing one to Uncle Liu, who was driving the motorcycle, and then to Tan Yunlong:

"Here, Captain Tan, have a cigarette."

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

Tan Wenbin put the cigarette pack back in his pocket and chuckled, "How could I be? It's almost New Year's, Grandfather Li gave them to me."

"Xiaoyuan, come with me."

"Okay, Uncle Tan."

Tan Yunlong led Li Zhuiyuan to the forensic lab, and Tan Wenbin naturally followed along.

"Captain Tan, this is..." A young female forensic doctor was surprised to see two young people arrive.

She remembered talking with an old folk body salvager last time, who had provided many ideas and insights.

Shouldn't they have invited that elder this time? Why wasn't he here?

"Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang, please begin." Tan Yunlong offered no further explanation.

Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang led them to a stretcher bed. After reaching out and gripping the edge of the white sheet, she still asked with some concern,

"Captain Tan, is this really okay? I'm afraid it might scare them."

Tan Wenbin shrugged: "Don't worry, it's just corpse bloat. What's the big deal?"

Although the body was covered with a white sheet, its exposed feet were highly swollen, indicating it had been submerged for a long time.

"But it's not just corpse bloat," Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang said as she pulled back the white sheet, revealing a swollen body. The chest area of the corpse was hollow, as if a spoonful of aspic had been scooped out.

Originally, Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang thought she would scare the two, but to her surprise, the two boys immediately stood on either side, looking at it with keen interest.

"Hey, this is interesting, Brother Yuanzi."

"Mm."

"What happened to this part in the middle? It's still arc-shaped. How did that happen? It's not *that* thing, is it?"

"No."

"Then is it *that* other thing?"

"No, not that either."

Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang, standing nearby, was completely bewildered.

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

Tan Wenbin retorted in displeasure, "That's what you get for not reading properly."

Tan Yunlong: "..."

Seeing that his father seemed genuinely about to get angry, Tan Wenbin quickly explained: "Dad, these are technical terms I learned from Grandfather Li."

He had read *Jianghu Zhiguailu*. He had just thought of "mother-child corpse" and "parasitic corpse" but Xiaoyuan had dismissed both.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out, pointing to a green strand in the hollowed-out area of the corpse.

Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang said, "Is it water grass?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "Not water grass, it's animal hair."

Tan Yunlong: "Xiao Wang, haven't you analyzed it?"

"I..." Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang said, somewhat embarrassed, "It was my oversight. I didn't notice it."

"Uncle Tan, where was this body found?"

"In Tongxing River. We've already sent people upstream to investigate recently missing middle-aged men."

"Is the upstream closer to us, or the downstream?"

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

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

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Uncle Tan, then investigate downstream. Don't go upstream."

"A body can go against the current?"

"Mm, what if it was carried along by a boat? That's possible, right?"

"All right, I understand." Although Tan Yunlong still didn't comprehend, he decided to try the suggestion.

Whether it was deliberate mystification or simply the atmosphere, Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang now somewhat approved of the two. Pointing to the corpse, she said, "Also, the amount of water seeping from this body is a bit strange."

Tan Wenbin immediately got excited upon hearing this: "That's great! We'll go back and get our tools later."

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

Forensic Doctor Xiao Wang, somewhat confused, asked again, "This is normal?"

"Yes, no need to worry."

Leaving the forensic lab, Tan Yunlong again called for Xiao Liu to drive the two back.

After getting off on the village road in front of his house, Tan Wenbin finally couldn't resist asking, "Xiaoyuan, what exactly was that thing?"

"A corpse demon."

Similar to the Cat-Faced Old Woman, it's an entity formed when an animal corpse, accumulating resentment, encounters and merges with a human corpse.

"Oh?" Tan Wenbin gestured a circle with his hands. "So, that missing part was the demon's true form?"

"Mm."

"The body's here, so where did it go?"

"It got scared away."

"Scared away?" Tan Wenbin turned his head to look in the direction of Big Beard's house. "It reached our territory and got scared away? No wonder you told my dad to investigate downstream. That makes sense; if this corpse demon got scared and fled, then its original direction must have been towards us."

A normal corpse would certainly only drift downstream, but a corpse demon going against the current wouldn't be strange at all.

"So, that seeping corpse won't turn into an animated corpse either?"

"Mm, it won't."

Tan Wenbin laughed helplessly: "I really think Big Beard's house should be torn down and a temple built there instead. It really does protect the land and its people."

"Brother Binbin."

"Hm?"

"Study hard."

"What else can I do, sigh. Besides striving for progress, there doesn't seem to be anything else to do."

Back home, Li Zhuiyuan saw Li Weihan, who had brought a lot of things.

They were sent by Li Lan from the capital.

Li Lan always sent things back for holidays, including monthly remittances, which had never stopped.

This year's New Year's gifts were exceptionally numerous, mainly because there was an extra set "for her son."

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

Li Weihan smiled and said to Li Zhuiyuan, "Xiaoyuan Hou, look, your mother is always thinking of you."

Li Zhuiyuan could only respond with a similarly joyful expression, putting on a performance for his grandfather.

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

On New Year's Eve, at noon, Li Zhuiyuan followed Li Sanjiang to Li Weihan's place for a reunion meal first.

Originally, Li Sanjiang had planned to invite Li Weihan, Cui Guiying, and the others to his house for New Year's Eve dinner. However, with winter break, Li Zhuiyuan's uncles had dropped their children off at their parents' house, and the family had started running a small school again.

Li Weihan also felt awkward bringing all his family's children to Li Sanjiang's house for dinner, so they had to choose this compromise.

When leading Li Zhuiyuan out after the meal, Li Sanjiang kept cursing those ungrateful wretches.

Instead of going straight home, they turned towards Big Beard's house, as it was also under Li Sanjiang's name and, by tradition, needed to be cleaned before the New Year.

Runsheng and Yin Meng had already arrived earlier to clean for a while. Li Sanjiang picked up a broom and joined in, and even Li Zhuiyuan grabbed a rag to help wipe down tables, chairs, and benches.

By the time they finished, it was dusk.

Li Sanjiang put his hands on his hips and chuckled, complaining, "Oh, having a big family and property isn't always a good thing, is it? It's truly exhausting to clean, haha."

Finally, Li Sanjiang placed two pagoda incense sticks in the courtyard.

These were made by Aunt Liu herself. If he had to buy them, Li Sanjiang would genuinely be reluctant to light them.

Incense smoke curled around, and Runsheng took several deep breaths nearby.

Li Sanjiang waved his hand at him: "Go on, go on! These are for worshipping the Bodhisattva, so they can continue to bless you next year."

Hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng, and Yin Meng couldn't help but look together towards the peach grove ahead.

Indeed, it really had blessed them into collective idleness.

However, such unspoken complaints could only remain in their hearts; at most, they might voice a few mild grumbles. They couldn't elaborate excessively, as, no matter what, the absence of animated corpses was ultimately a good thing.

At the New Year's Eve dinner, Li Sanjiang handed out red envelopes to everyone except Liu Yumei, as they were either his younger relatives or his workers. As for Zhuangzhuang's share, it had already been given to him when he went home earlier that morning for the New Year.

Liu Yumei also gave out New Year's money.

Then, A-Li handed both red envelopes she received to Xiaoyuan.

The girl still remembered how the boy had been short on money back then.

Li Zhuiyuan took A-Li's hand, went into the east room, opened her collection box, and placed all four red envelopes inside.

That evening, everyone gathered around the television to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

As the midnight countdown ended, celebratory sounds came from the television, and outside, firecrackers began to explode on cue.

Locals generally didn't have the custom of calculating specific months for age; they broadly counted their age by "passing the New Year."

Li Zhuiyuan held A-Li's hand, standing by the edge of the courtyard, looking at the distant, faintly visible fireworks.

"A-Li, we're both a year older."