Chapter 578
Chapter 578
Chapter 578
Li Sanjiang lowered his head, put the last piece of walnut pastry into his mouth, and then tilted his head back to suck in the crumbs in his hand.
He wasn't particularly hungry, but he'd been exposed to the sun all the way through the car window and really wanted a cigarette.
The long-distance bus only made brief stops to pick up passengers along the way, and it didn't really stop at any rest area, which made Li Sanjiang so frustrated that tears welled up in his eyes.
Grandpa Shan rested his head on Li Sanjiang's arm, closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and snored rhythmically.
When there's a profitable business, the two old men and Liu Jinxia will help each other find work. Of course, Uncle Shan is usually the one being helped.
The three met at the long-distance bus station. When Li Sanjiang asked Grandpa Shan for the receipt for the rural bus he had taken, Grandpa Shan said he had forgotten to ask for it, and Li Sanjiang scolded him for it.
Yayoi sat in front of Li Sanjiang, and next to her sat the ticket seller, who was almost forty years old, had a mole on the corner of her mouth, and a very loud voice. When she opened her mouth, it made Li Sanjiang's head buzz, but only Shanpao was unaffected.
Aside from collecting money, the ticket seller would sit next to Yayoi the rest of the time, chatting away whether she was wet or dry.
After that age, men and women are the same; when they see someone young and good-looking, they all like to get closer and shower them with greasy, fishy words.
Yayoi's company did bring some convenience. She told them where she wanted to go beforehand, and the ticket seller chose an intersection for them to get off early, saving them the trouble of getting into the station.
Standing by the roadside, a cool breeze blew, and amidst the exhaust fumes of the departing long-distance bus, Li Sanjiang lit a cigarette with relish, took a deep drag, then gagged and spat into the nearby bushes, finally feeling better.
"Hey, you hillbilly, look at your clothes, all wrinkled from sleeping in them! Tidy them up, what kind of mess do you make of yourself!"
During the Spring Festival, Li Sanjiang specially made a new set of clothes for Grandpa Shan: a black shirt and blue pants, plus a hat. He also pinned a pen cap to Grandpa Shan's chest pocket, which barely managed to give him the air of a half-village party secretary.
Li Sanjiang's theory is that since people spend so much money to invite you and others, you should at least make it seem like the money was well spent, instead of making it look like you've invited some nobody from the village to come and do your bidding.
After training the mountain gunner, Li Sanjiang looked at Yayoi again. Seeing that Yayoi's robe was neatly fitted, he felt a pang of sympathy and said:
"Why are you sitting so upright in the car? Aren't you tired? You should get some sleep."
Grandpa Shan said with dissatisfaction, "Hey, hey, hey."
Li Sanjiang: "Hey you, I don't know who got this job. In the past, we could only get jobs this expensive."
Grandpa Shan muttered, "It's just a showy but useless charade. If anything really happens, won't we still have to rely on me?"
Li Sanjiang: "Pah, pah, pah! Shut your mouth, you jinx!"
Grandpa Shan took the cigarette from Li Sanjiang, lit it, and said to Yayoi:
“Lord Mi, things are different outside than at home. When you travel far in the martial world, you're bound to run into trouble. Just remember, if anything happens, just like this Marquis of Sanjiang, hide behind me!”
Yayoi: "This humble monk thanks Senior Lu for his protection."
Grandpa Shan grinned at Li Sanjiang and said, "These little words are quite elegant, Marquis Sanjiang, indeed, there's a reason why you're so expensive."
The family's van arrived to pick them up. The driver was a middle-aged man, and his wife was in the passenger seat.
As soon as the car stopped, the man prepared to get out and smoke.
Li Sanjiang threw the unburnt cigarette on the ground, kicked the old man who was reluctant to throw it away, pushed away the cigarette offered by the man, and said seriously:
"Let's not delay, let's go see the child first."
Yayoi was behind, watching and learning attentively.
After getting into the car, the man's wife talked to Li Sanjiang in detail about their child.
Grandpa Shan would occasionally chime in with questions.
However, Grandpa Shan's Nantong dialect is not widely spoken even within Nantong, let alone outside the city.
Seeing that people couldn't understand him, Grandpa Shan slowed down his speech and spoke slowly, word by word, in an attempt to convert Nantong dialect into Mandarin.
Finally, seeing that communication was proving too difficult, Li Sanjiang simply became the translator.
After learning what had happened, Li Sanjiang scolded Grandpa Shan in Nantong dialect:
"I told you to listen to the radio more often and practice your Mandarin. Many of those bosses aren't locals these days. How are you going to get business if you can't communicate properly?"
Grandpa Shan, huddled in his chair, replied:
"Lord Sanjiang, it seems there really is something unclean about you."
Li Sanjiang's expression changed slightly; he trusted his old friend's judgment.
Grandpa Shan continued, "We should call Blind Liu over."
Li Sanjiang: "Blind Liu already had a job lined up, so he couldn't take this one."
Grandpa Shan is good at getting the tangible stuff, while Blind Liu is good at getting the abstract stuff.
The host family is from the same clan as Uncle Shan, and they also share the surname Lu, but they are doing much better than Uncle Shan.
The family not only owned a furniture factory but also a food workshop. They had only one daughter, so they recruited a son-in-law who moved in with them.
His house was huge, many times larger than Li Sanjiang's. The first floor was a food processing plant, and the second floor was where his family lived. It was quite impressive.
Mr. Lu and his wife greeted him at the door. He had met Li Sanjiang a while ago at the funeral of a business partner's mother in Nantong, and that's how they arranged this meeting.
Grandpa Shan followed behind, pursing his lips and remarking that ever since the Marquis of Sanjiang acquired Tang Sanzang, he had been hosting more vegetarian feasts for wealthy families, and his clientele had completely changed.
"Master Li, you've worked hard; young master, you've worked hard; and this master has also worked hard. Sigh, I should have had my son-in-law drive to Nantong to pick you up. I'm sorry you've had to go through all this trouble. Let's eat first; the food is all set..."
"Take care of the child first."
"Then... let's do it."
Grandpa Lu grabbed Li Sanjiang's hand and led everyone upstairs to the second floor.
“Master Li, my child’s condition is worse than before, and I’m really worried about him.”
"Have you gone to the hospital for a checkup?"
“I went to the People’s Hospital in Huaiyin, Xuzhou, and Nanjing. The condition improved while I was in the hospital, but it went back to the way it was when I got home.”
Upon hearing this, Grandpa Shan immediately became alert and scanned his surroundings, indicating that if there was anything unclean, it might be in his home.
Yayoi looked outwards, sometimes at the ground, sometimes at the sky.
Pushing open the door, I entered the room of Grandpa Lu's grandson.
The room was large, with a TV and a sofa. The child was not young anymore, sixteen or seventeen years old, named Lu Xiaozhi.
Right now, the child is lying in bed, looking like he's sick, but his mind is still clear, and he can get up and sit up against the headboard.
Li Sanjiang took a closer look and exclaimed, "Wow!" The child's eyes were sunken, and his face and arms were covered in silver flakes. He looked like a salted fish that had been half-dried in the sun.
"Master Li, you and my young master should take a look at my grandson right away."
"Ah."
Li Sanjiang took out a purple talisman.
When Yayoi saw the color of the talisman, her gaze narrowed slightly, and she almost thought it was the highest quality purple talisman.
After all, Grandpa Li is family. Little Yuan recently made a fortune, so Grandpa Li might just have picked up one of the lost cards at home.
But upon closer inspection, Yayoi realized she had been overthinking it; the reason Grandpa Li's talisman was purple... was because it was dyed on.
While drawing talismans, the ink on the table was accidentally spilled, staining a set of newly acquired yellow paper. Li Sanjiang couldn't bear to throw it away, so he continued to use it as is.
He used a talisman to wipe Lu Xiaozhi's face, removing some silver flakes.
Li Sanjiang: "Not psoriasis?"
Grandpa Lu: "The doctor examined me and said it wasn't that. He said I just needed to get an IV drip at the hospital and it would get better. It would start coming back soon after I got home."
Li Sanjiang asked Grandpa Shan to come closer and take a look. Grandpa Shan responded and went over to examine Lu Xiaozhi thoroughly. His manner looked like that of an old Chinese medicine doctor, but it was actually the method used to examine a scoundrel.
Finally, Grandpa Shan put his nose close to it and smelled it, and smelled a seafood aroma.
After the two old men finished their examination, Yayoi walked to the bedside, glanced at Lu Xiaozhi, and then looked down at the underside of the bed.
After seeing the child, Grandpa Lu invited everyone to dinner.
The dishes were plentiful, and wine was also prepared. Grandpa Shan glanced at the thatched cottage several times.
Luckily, Li Sanjiang kicked his foot hard under the table, which stopped Grandpa Shan from retaliating.
After the meal, Li Sanjiang set up an offering table on the roof of Lu Xiaozhi's room, lit candles and burned paper money, and took out a peach wood sword, beginning various chants of "Taishang Laojun, hurry as the law commands."
Grandpa Shan stood to the side, barely moving except for smoking.
Yayoi sat on a futon and chanted sutras.
In the evening, Li Sanjiang asked the host to bring out the food. The three of them ate quickly, and then the ceremony continued.
As night deepened, the Lu family members grew tired and left the son-in-law behind while the rest of them went back to their rooms to sleep.
In the room below, Lu Xiaozhi, who had been fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a glint of shrewdness that had not been seen during the day. Like a greedy addict, he leaned out of bed and reached into the bed frame to take out a tattered book without a cover.
It's not an ancient book; it's a pirated copy with many typos.
Downstairs was a food workshop with a public toilet for the workers. Once, Lu Xiaozhi went to the toilet there and found this tattered book in front of the squatting toilet.
Out of boredom, I picked it up and immediately blushed. It contained stories of love and sex.
That night, Lu Xiaozhi had an epiphany, and from then on, he was unstoppable, firing at least seventy, eighty, or ninety rounds.
Just like now, he placed the book in front of him, and without even turning on the light, he could clearly see the contents by the little moonlight coming from the window.
Even though he had read the stories in this book countless times and could even recite them by heart, he would still feel incredibly excited every time he read it—no, just holding the book.
Lu Xiaozhi held a book in his left hand and reached his right hand under the covers.
After a period of rapid breathing, flushed face, and extreme excitement, one finally lets out a long sigh of relief and relaxes completely. However, this period of depression is very short-lived, and one immediately begins to relax again.
Under the bed, a shadow lay prostrate. The shadow was human-shaped, very short, like a dwarf. If you looked closely, you could see that it had sores on its head and festering sores on its body. It was so ugly that it was an evil spirit, or in the folk sense, a hungry ghost of lust.
Unlike the common use of the term "lecher" in everyday conversation to refer specifically to men with questionable conduct, a true lecher often targets young men.
Firstly, young people have abundant energy and can withstand a lot of strain, making them suitable for frequent and intense stimulation in a short period of time; secondly, they need to replenish their Yang energy to neutralize the pain in their bodies and allow themselves to progress further.
So, sometimes when you can't help yourself late at night, it's not because you lack self-control, but because there's a ghost hiding in your room, tempting you to continue.
Every time Lu Xiaozhi on the bed let out a long sigh, the lecherous ghost under the bed would take a deep breath.
It is in a critical stage of transformation and cannot change its sacrificial body at this time. Lu Xiaozhi is also the target it has carefully selected.
She was still a virgin, possessed abundant Yang energy, and had good family conditions with regular supplements, which was enough to support her successfully passing through this stage.
Tonight is a bit special. It originally intended to hold back, because if it encountered a truly capable person from the Xuanmen sect, its meager strength wouldn't be enough for them to handle.
I've been listening to this since the afternoon, and it hasn't stopped on the roof, but it hasn't done anything.
Well, all we've brought are three mere showpieces.
Once safety was confirmed, the lecherous man made his move.
But after only three puffs, the lecherous ghost suddenly felt a sharp pain in its ears and a burning sensation all over its body. Confused, it turned its head to look at the ceiling.
If you are so capable, why didn't you make a move during the day? Why did you have to wait until now?
on the roof.
They take people's money and then put on a show for them.
For the sake of money, Li Sanjiang worked very hard.
Fearing he wouldn't have enough manuscripts, Li Sanjiang brought a stack of books from home this time.
Besides Li Zhuiyuan, Li Sanjiang would also access the books in the basement, since Li Sanjiang was the true owner of those books.
But Li Zhuiyuan knew that his great-grandfather didn't like reading books with a lot of text; it made him dizzy. His great-grandfather preferred books on health and wellness.
Nothing more... just lots of pictures.
Li Sanjiang can place the book on the altar and pose with a peach wood sword according to the picture.
Page after page, book after book, finally we came to this one.
This book is called "The Pure Yang Boy's Classic of Strengthening the Origin".
As the name suggests, it is for training virgins to strengthen their foundation and cultivate their vitality.
There are many similar health preservation methods, but Li Sanjiang's basement only houses a collection of the finest ones.
Li Zhuiyuan had sorted them out; these secret manuals were useless to him when traveling the river, but they would be priceless treasures in the martial arts world.
Li Sanjiang is currently mimicking the movements depicted in the book, and coincidentally, the person in the book is also practicing swordplay.
As Li Sanjiang continued to imitate in slow motion, Yayoi, who was chanting sutras, saw a radiance emanating from Grandpa Li that was imperceptible to the naked eye.
Li Sanjiang also valued interaction. With Master Lu's children and son-in-law sitting there with him, he couldn't just dawdle. So, while practicing his swordplay, he would spar with Uncle Shan, Yayoi, and the son-in-law, rubbing his peach wood sword against them.
The wind he stirred up set off a rhythm.
Yayoi noticed that Grandpa Shan's body was also glowing. Then, after she deliberately suppressed her own light, her body was also "ignited." The only one who didn't glow was her son-in-law.
Well, if he also started shining, then being a live-in son-in-law would be... truly too stifling.
The lecherous ghost downstairs felt a burning pain because above its head, there was a young virgin and two old virgins who were collectively exerting their powers!
From the lecher's perspective, it looked like three fireballs were baking his forehead.
"Damn it...damn it...damn it..."
After being affected by the lecherous ghost, Lu Xiaozhi on the bed also stopped moving and fell into a deep sleep.
"Buzz!"
The window trembled, and the lecherous ghost transformed into a wisp of smoke, drifting upwards to the rooftop.
Yayoi saw it out of the corner of her eye.
But the monk neither uttered a sound nor made a move.
When Yayoi accompanied Grandpa Li on his first long trip and encountered something unclean during her first vegetarian retreat, she took the matter very seriously.
He always felt that this matter was not so simple. This little pervert might just be a pawn to test the waters. Perhaps one side was truly terrifying and wanted to use him to lure Grandpa Li out of Nantong so that they could plot something sinister.
After all, Grandpa Li is blessed with good fortune, and in the eyes of both the righteous and the wicked, he is like a tempting ginseng fruit, easily attracting covetous eyes.
Yayoi had shared her concerns with that person, and that person's response was: Don't be nervous, relax.
But Li Sanjiang holds a very important place in Yayoi's heart. From the earliest senior who cared for and protected her, to the elder who guided her in life, to now her "mentor".
Yayoi had a request she had been hesitant to make, but she hadn't dared to bring it up with him for fear of overstepping her bounds.
That is, he actually wanted to put Li Sanjiang's name first on the inscription of the new Qinglong Temple, that is, to make his "master" the true founder of the new Qinglong Temple.
The lecherous ghost is getting closer and closer.
Yayoi raised her head, extending her senses outward, trying to find the mastermind hidden behind the scenes. Once she found out its location, she would take swift and decisive action!
The lecherous ghost drifted toward Li Sanjiang.
Grandpa Shan yawned: "Lord Sanjiang, I'm out of cigarettes."
Li Sanjiang continued, saying, "I have some in my pocket, take it yourself."
Seeing this, the son-in-law hurriedly said, "Masters, please wait here. I'll go down and get it."
Grandpa Shan walked up to Li Sanjiang and reached into his pocket.
Li Sanjiang scolded, "Can't you speak a little quieter? People will misunderstand!"
Grandpa Shan: "What's the big deal? It's just a matter of a pack of cigarettes at most."
In the past, when people sat in meditation, they would be given two packs of cigarettes. In the eyes of the old man, even if it was misunderstood as an implication of asking for more, it was nothing.
Li Sanjiang: "Rich people dislike scheming and begging the most. If you don't ask, they will be more willing to give you more."
Grandpa Shan: "You always have so many reasons."
The son-in-law came up again, holding two unopened packs of cigarettes.
Grandpa Shan hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, saying, "I can't smoke this, I smoke Hua Zi and I cough!"
As they went back and forth, the old man's movement route ended up overlapping with that of the lecherous ghost who was drifting over.
Grandpa Shan suddenly felt a chill: Oh no!
"Bang!" The son-in-law thought that Grandpa Shan was just being polite, and smiled as he handed him a cigarette. But Grandpa Shan suddenly performed a backflip in front of him, then slapped his back straight on the ground, and quickly followed with a somersault.
"This……"
When the old man hinted that he wanted a cigarette, the son-in-law was somewhat tempted. As soon as he brought the cigarette over, the old man immediately put on a show, making the son-in-law feel that his father-in-law had hired a group of actors from Nantong.
After Grandpa Shan got up, he slapped himself hard with his right hand, and the other man could only use his left hand to grab his right hand to stop him.
"Clap clap clap!"
Son-in-law: "Master, it can't be that bad, it's just two packs of cigarettes..."
Li Sanjiang: "Get out of the way!"
Grandpa Shan bumped into his son-in-law, and the two rolled together.
The son-in-law sensed a coldness emanating from the old man that far surpassed that of the freezer downstairs.
He finally realized that this wasn't a performance; there really was something dirty inside!
With a single flick of his hand, Grandpa Shan shielded his son-in-law from falling off the roof, while he himself rolled out of the roof's vicinity.
Li Sanjiang promptly handed over the peach wood sword, which Grandpa Shan caught with one hand.
"Push harder, don't let go!"
"I……"
"Snap! Bang! Thud!"
With his usable hand, the old man held onto the peach wood sword to prevent it from falling, while his other, uncontrollable hand lashed and punched himself repeatedly, leaving him bruised and swollen.
Yayoi stood up, her gaze still scanning the surrounding darkness. Now that the bait had been revealed, why hadn't the mastermind reached out?
At this moment, the monk finally began to wonder: Was he overthinking things?
As Li Sanjiang struggled to pull Grandpa Shan up, he shouted:
"Don't come any closer, stay away, Lord Mi!"
Grandpa Shan was pulled up, let out a low growl, darted out, and fell to the ground again. Then, Grandpa Shan locked his right hand with his left hand, twisted his left leg around his right leg, and twisted his old waist to the side, "tying" himself up.
"Marquis of Sanjiang, hurry!"
Li Sanjiang understood, ran to the offering table, grabbed a handful of ashes from the brazier and threw them at Grandpa Shan, then picked up a large bowl of black dog blood and sprinkled it on him.
Immediately, wisps of black smoke rose from Grandpa Shan's body.
This was black dog blood prepared by the Lu family; for their only grandson, they certainly wouldn't use pig's blood.
"Lord Sanjiang, hurry, it's about to leave!"
Li Sanjiang raised the peach wood sword, pressed his entire weight down on it, and stabbed it into Grandpa Shan's chest.
"Oh!"
Grandpa Shan let out a muffled groan. The peach wood sword wasn't a butcher's knife and couldn't pierce the skin, but being stabbed in the chest with a wooden stick like that really made him spasm with pain.
The mixture of black dog blood and paper ash on his body made Grandpa Shan slippery. With the peach wood sword tilting, Li Sanjiang and Grandpa Shan ended up embracing each other.
The effects of the "Pure Yang Boy's Essence-Strengthening Scripture" have not yet dissipated, which is equivalent to two pure yang bodies combining together, inflicting a stronger burning effect on the lustful ghost.
"what!!!"
The lecherous demon let out a miserable scream. It had held back when it attacked before, not wanting to destroy the accumulation of this transformation. Now, its ferocity was fully unleashed.
Dark spots appeared on Grandpa Shan's face, but because it was dark and there was too much black substance, Li Sanjiang thought it was dirt smeared on his old friend's face.
Grandpa Shan opened his mouth and spewed out black gas.
"vomit!"
Li Sanjiang was so nauseated by the stench that he couldn't open his eyes and nose, and had no choice but to roll off Grandpa Shan.
The old man continued to exhale black smoke, which soon formed a ghostly miasma on the roof.
The lecherous ghost's figure flew out from the old man's body and floated above. Its figure was fading rapidly. This method was extremely taxing on it, but it just wanted these people to die!
Grandpa Shan got up from the ground and saw Li Sanjiang in front of him putting a peach wood sword into his mouth, intending to commit suicide.
"Marquis of Sanjiang!"
Grandpa Shan rushed over to stop him.
Yayoi reached out, grabbed Grandpa Shan's shoulder, and lifted him up. Grandpa Shan's legs were still dangling in the air as he rushed to save his brother.
Li Sanjiang lowered his hand, blinking his eyes which were stinging and watery. Before he could even examine the illusion in front of him closely, Yayoi covered his eyes with her hand.
"Wife, wife, wife!"
The son-in-law was also affected by the miasma; he spread his arms and ran toward the edge of the roof.
As Yayoi passed by, she lifted her leg, tripping her son-in-law, and then lifted her foot again, stepping on his back. Her son-in-law's limbs were still moving, as if he were swimming.
For the first time, the lecherous demon above fixed its ghostly gaze on the monk, whom it had seen during the day as the most pretentious of all.
Yayoi also raised her head and looked at the demon.
Now, Yayoi no longer cares whether she is overthinking things. When the pervert has forced her to take action, there is no point in her continuing to hide.
Yayoi: "Om Mani Padme Hum!"
After uttering the mantra, Yayoi lowered her head.
The lecherous monk: "You stinking monk, scared now? Hehehe, go die, go..."
The lecherous ghost stopped halfway through chanting the incantation. It, which had been in a high position, sensed a terrifying aura that made it tremble, and looked up in astonishment.
In the sky, there was a half-massive, pitch-black Buddha statue, whose appearance was exactly the same as the young monk below. The giant Buddha lowered its majestic head and looked down at the lecherous ghost, who was as insignificant as dust.
The lecher: "What have I done to deserve this..."
……
The following day, the workers in the first-floor food workshop had more topics to talk about during their breaks after starting work.
Some say that after vomiting a lot of foul-smelling black water in the morning, Grandpa Lu's grandson complained of being hungry and had a huge appetite. Since there wasn't enough time to cook on the second floor, he simply came down to the first floor to get some food to eat for now.
Some people say the small business owner bumped into something dirty last night, and this morning when they saw him, he was wearing three layers of cotton clothes and still shivering.
Some people said that the roof was filthy and messy, and it was obvious that it had been vandalized at night.
In the end, everyone concluded that the three masters from Nantong that the big boss invited were truly effective.
Ordinary people cannot see the details and the truth, but as long as there is movement or change, they believe it is effective and that the person has spiritual power.
Lu Xiaozhi's condition has visibly improved; the silvery scales on his body have stopped appearing, and his face has regained its color.
A guest room was set up on the second floor, and after Grandpa Shan received treatment for his injuries at the health center, he moved in to recuperate.
Fortunately, he was provided with good food every day, and Li Sanjiang was there to help him by handing him cigarettes and emptying his latrine, so his injury healed quite well.
The Lu family hoped that Li Sanjiang and his two companions could stay for a few more days to ensure the matter was properly handled.
Li Sanjiang only remembered that night when he stabbed the mountain master with a peach wood sword. After the mountain master spewed black gas, he opened his eyes again and saw Yayoi pulling him up.
Therefore, Li Sanjiang cherished his peach wood sword, which was made by a Shandong furniture factory, even more, and carefully wiped and cared for it.
Grandpa Lu made a copy of the blueprints and had his furniture factory make a whole box of them. One of them was hung in every room and workshop.
Since it wasn't appropriate to just stay there, Li Sanjiang had Yasheng set up a prayer mat in the open space outside the factory on the first floor and recite scriptures.
Yayoi chanted very seriously. The mastermind did not appear that night, and the monk was worried that the other party was using bait to lull him into a false sense of security.
After several days, Lu Xiaozhi had almost fully recovered, and his son-in-law no longer felt cold. Li Sanjiang then bid farewell to Old Master Lu.
The envelope was thick and bulging, as if it were about to burst open; the price was double what had been agreed upon.
The other party was so polite and considerate that Li Sanjiang felt embarrassed to take out the receipt for the fare and ask for reimbursement.
Before leaving, Old Master Lu held Li Sanjiang's hand, hoping to spend some more money to bring back some kind of object from Li Sanjiang's house to ward off evil spirits.
"Brother, it's not very useful to bring any kind of talisman. Who knows when it will rain and your shoes will get dirty on the road?"
Old Master Lu suspected there was some hidden meaning in those words, so he quickly asked, "Then how can one avoid getting dirty?"
Li Sanjiang: "To build cement roads."
Old Master Lu: "..."
Li Sanjiang: "If the village is repaired, then the town will repair it; if the town is repaired, then the city will repair it; if the city is repaired, then..."
Grandpa Lu: "Then we really can't afford to repair it."
Li Sanjiang chuckled awkwardly: "Brother, you're not short of money. Using your money to buy good karma is a worthwhile investment."
On their return journey, the Lu family arranged a car so that Li Sanjiang and his two companions could return to Nantong comfortably.
Li Sanjiang did not tell the driver to go straight, but instead told him to drive to Wu Cheng'en's former residence in Huaiyin.
There was a poster for the TV series "Journey to the West" inside. Li Sanjiang specially asked Yayoi to stand over there and block Tang Sanzang so they could take a picture.
Chen Xiyuan attended two music lessons in the city, then took a taxi back to the village and called out to Aunt Liu in the kitchen that she was hungry.
Uncle Sanjiang and Xiaoyuan weren't home, so the mealtimes at this house were adjusted according to Chen Xiyuan's needs.
Chen Xiyuan: "Sister, are there many taxi drivers in this world?"
Aunt Liu: "It's not much, is it? What's wrong?"
Chen Xiyuan: "It's nothing. I feel that it's very convenient to take a taxi no matter where I am."
The sound of a car came from outside the dam. Chen Xiyuan came out of the kitchen, saw the people getting out of the car, and called out to the inside:
"Sister, Grandpa Li and the others are back. Give them extra rice, give them extra rice."
"No need to add more, just eat until you're about 90% full."
“Little yellow pickup truck, sister, what a coincidence, my little brother and the others are back too!” Then, Chen Xiyuan pleaded, “Sister, please have more rice, I can’t sleep in bed tonight if I only eat half a full meal.”
After Runsheng got out of the car, he ran to the front and helped Grandpa Li escort his grandfather to the bedroom on the second floor to settle him in.
Yayoi then walked up to Li Zhuiyuan.
Li Zhuiyuan: "After so many days, did something unexpected happen?"
Yayoi: "The biggest surprise was that nothing unexpected happened."
Li Zhuiyuan: "Being careful is necessary, but the good fortune that the great-grandfather has is far greater than you can imagine."
Yayoi: "But, I can't see any other clues in you, senior. Logically, this shouldn't be the case..."
Li Zhuiyuan: "I know some clues. If it's true, then it's perfectly reasonable."
Yayoi: "Did Xiaoyuan's trip go smoothly?"
Li Zhuiyuan: "It went much more smoothly than expected, but it was also much more serious."
The boy went up to the dam to report to Grandma Liu about his visit to the Liu family's ancestral home.
Tan Wenbin said to Benben, "You can put those four things away yourself; you don't need to tell us."
Benben nodded, carrying a fake black dog and leading a real black dog, and walked home.
On the way home, I saw Xiong Shan's father and Li Hua's mother in the distance.
Xiong Shan: "My son is back."
Pear Blossom touched her belly: "I wonder if it will work..."
The couple has been putting in more effort than usual these past few days, trying to conceive while their son is away from home.
Benben returned to Big Beard's house and saw his mother sitting on the dam making paper offerings.
Xiao Yingying stood up excitedly, walked over quickly, first touched the child's face, then touched down from the arms to the legs, and after confirming that the child was alright, hugged the child tightly.
A smile appeared on Benben's face; he missed the warmth that this familiar chill brought.
Xiao Yingying knew that the boy must have returned as well, so she first told Benben to stay home and cook him something delicious for dinner. Then she rode her tricycle to the wine shop in town to buy wine.
Benben placed the fake black dog on the footrest under the bed in the bedroom, then stuck the snake scales on the dressing mirror, and then carried the bottle of water out of the room.
"Crash..."
The painting hanging on the bed fell down, drifted onto the dressing table, and stood upright.
Two vengeful infants, their bodies a deep black and purple, were visible through the lens covered in snake scales.
Now, after being cleansed by good deeds, the two brothers are no longer resentful infants.
The mirror reflects their past.
The two brothers looked at each other, and the scroll slowly rolled up, drifting back to the bed. Seeing the past, they couldn't help but feel uneasy about the future, and two soft sobs came from the scroll.
Little Black lay on the footrest gnawing on its finger bones. As it gnawed, it looked at the fake black dog in front of it and couldn't resist opening its mouth to bite it as well.
It couldn't bite through it, but it managed to bite off a few hairs from the fake black dog. Before the little black dog could spit them out, the hairs automatically burrowed deep into its mouth.
The little black dog rolled its eyes, lay on its side, and its limbs twitched.
Benben walked into the peach grove and came to the pond, where he saw Su Luo sitting there brewing tea.
Su Luo smiled and said, "You're back?"
Benben smiled and nodded at Su Luo, then waved towards the thatched hut:
"I'm...home..."
"Ha, you're just going out for a visit, do you really think you're going on a long journey?"
Benben put his hand down.
Su Luo mouthed to Benben: Ignore him.
Benben gave Su Luo a shy smile, then habitually reached out and tugged at the corner of his mouth to correct this bad habit.
Immediately afterwards, Benben uncorked the bottle and poured the river water into the deep pool in front of him.
After doing all that, Benben left the peach grove. Before his mother returned with the wine, he went back inside.
As soon as Benben entered the house, he heard his two older brothers crying in the painting and saw the little black dog foaming at the mouth.
Benben immediately ran out to look for someone. Just as he was about to run down the dam, Su Luo's figure emerged from the peach grove, blocking his way.
"This matter is not suitable for that person to handle; I'll take care of it."
Su Luo took Benben's hand and led him back into the house.
Benben looked down at Su Luo's hands; they were rough, like a layer of peach bark.
Inside the peach grove.
Qing'an walked out of the thatched hut, sat down at the tea table, and picked up the tea that Su Luo had brewed for him.
As Qing'an drank, a smile appeared on her lips.
Before Benben went into the woods, he was actually sitting here. He had deliberately avoided it. There would be many storms to weather when he grew up, and he didn't want his child to become arrogant too early.
Bubbling rose from the deep pool before them, releasing a wealth of vital essence that was absorbed by the peach grove, causing its branches and leaves to flourish and prolonging its lifespan.
This is the core of the long river; placing it in an external water source will cause it to spontaneously radiate precious vitality.
In a sense, this will bring its eventual demise much sooner, and it is deliberately doing so in order to avoid the karmic backlash that might fall on Benben.
It wasn't invited out of the ancestral home by the Liu family to help look after the children; the Liu family used this method to speed up the process of eliminating this "damned evil spirit"!
The head of the long river emerged from the pool and laughed loudly:
"Hahaha, from now on, I'll be the sole teacher and caregiver for this child. It has nothing to do with any of you. He's mine alone!"
At that moment, a cold voice rang out from behind Changhe's head:
"Oh, really?"
(End of this chapter)