You should know, Xue Liangliang hadn’t seen the "Jianghu Chronicles", yet he managed to deduce very deeply through conventional clues.
"That Zhao Hequan..." Xue Liangliang was still concerned about his classmate, "Isn’t he being targeted by that Bai Family’s Lady from the river works, and all the retaliation is concentrated on him?"
If it’s just a matter of offending, then apologizing and saying some good words would do. But if you’ve ruined their plans, you’ve got to brace for relentless retaliation!
Xue Liangliang pondered, "But why would the Bai Family’s Lady spare you and me? No, this has nothing to do with you in the first place, should it be that she has let go of me?"
"Maybe, she could only choose one person."
That night, the scene in the dream became clear; the woman could only take one away, and for this, she hesitated many times between Zhao Hequan and himself, seemingly perceiving something special about him, which made her struggle greatly.
"It’s written in the book."
"Oh, there’s such a rule. So, Zhao Hequan is doomed?"
"Then we..." Xue Liangliang waved to Li Zhiyuan, "Quickly set up the offering table, and hurry up and completely sever ties with her!"
Thinking that the other party hadn’t sincerely forgiven him but was temporarily unable to make a move against him, Xue Liangliang felt the urgency.
"Alright." Li Zhiyuan felt Xue Liangliang made a lot of sense, he pointed at his cabinet, "Brother Liang, snacks are inside, there are stools outside too. Clean them up, two tables should do, make sure they’re an even number... four offerings on each table. I’m going down to fetch incense and paper money."
After assigning tasks, Li Zhiyuan went downstairs to get candles and paper money. When he came back up, Xue Liangliang had already set up two small offering tables in the bedroom.
Both of them immediately started the ritual offerings.
In the eastern room, where Qin Li had been sleeping, she suddenly opened her eyes.
Next to her, Liu Yumei was holding a fan, fanning lightly and resting with her eyes closed. She too woke up and covered her granddaughter’s face with the fan, obscuring her vision, and said softly:
"Dear, it’s okay, they are severing the last bit of cause and effect. Rest well; you’re going to meet Little Yuan tomorrow."
Qin Li slowly closed her eyes.
Liu Yumei looked towards the gauze window, through which she could see the night sky outside.
For a long time, she murmured with a hint of mockery:
"What era are we in, and still having such beautiful dreams?"
However, just as she was about to close her eyes and fall back asleep.
Liu Yumei and Qin Li opened their eyes again.
This time, Qin Li’s gaze was deep, and her pupils showed clear focus, a rare sight when she wasn’t looking at Li Zhiyuan.
Liu Yumei’s expression was graver than before, but she still fanned above Qin Li, as if making cuts.
Qin Li looked at her grandma next to her.
Liu Yumei said, "Dear, this is not about going to find Yuanhou, sleep now. You can’t afford to play all night. Otherwise, you’ll be tired, and you wouldn’t want to meet Yuanhou with dark circles under your eyes, right?"
Qin Li closed her eyes again.
Liu Yumei felt somewhat wistful; she had gradually gotten used to interacting with her granddaughter using Li Zhiyuan’s name—an approach that was sad yet effective.
Getting up from the bed, Liu Yumei opened the gauze window and then closed the outer window, completely isolating the outside.
"Out of sight, out of mind, sleep."
After the ritual offerings, Xue Liangliang was responsible for cleaning up the burnt paper ashes; he was always very meticulous.
When he returned, he saw Li Zhiyuan staring at him: "Brother Liang, take a look at your arm."
Hearing this, Xue Liangliang immediately rolled up his sleeves and checked, discovering not a single trace left. He excitedly asked:
"Not a single trace, Xiao Yuan, what about you?"
"I don’t have any either."
"Phew..." Xue Liangliang breathed a sigh of relief, "Then are we all set now?"
"Uh, it should be, it’s just your classmate..."
Now that the two of us have severed ties, that deity, the Bai Family’s Lady, can focus all her attention on retaliating against him.
Xue Liangliang wasn’t particularly saddened; instead, he touched his forehead and shoulders in succession, saying:
"The Lord will protect him."
Li Zhiyuan’s mouth twitched, as he struggled not to laugh.
He could feel that Xue Liangliang genuinely wanted to help his classmate earlier, but that didn’t stop him from dropping the altruistic act upon realizing the terrifying severity of the situation.
Xue Liangliang reached out and touched Li Zhiyuan’s nose tip, saying:
"One must be open-minded in life, to live happily, one has to learn to refuse emotional self-consumption."
Saying so, Xue Liangliang turned around and asked, "The shower’s in the back, right? I’ll go for a shower first."
Watching his departing figure, Li Zhiyuan slowly sank into deep thought.
Xue Liangliang’s words had struck a chord with him.
Perhaps it was precisely because he was always focused on performing well that he was becoming less like himself.
Li Sanjiang’s bedroom walls were plastered with deities’ images.
All these were bought in a frenzy during the temple fair the year before last, then stored in his cabinet and never used, until today they came in handy.
Among them was a portrait, the old man’s face was kind, and he exuded an air of a sage; Li Sanjiang placed it in the center.
He thought it was Laozi, but in fact... it was Confucius.
After a day of hard work, he was indeed tired, and after arranging everything, he went to sleep early.
Then, he had a dream.
Strangely enough, it seemed that ever since he performed the fortune-changing ritual with Little Yuanhou, his dreams had become all the more frequent.
Only this time, the dreamscape wasn’t on the roof of the town health clinic, but on a road.