Li Zhiyuan set aside all distractions and began to seriously study how to raise the black dog child properly.
In the morning, Li Zhiyuan woke up and turned his head to look at Alii, who was sitting on a chair. Today, she wasn’t wearing a dress; instead, she had on a tight-fitting outfit in white and green.
If you handed her a sword, she could act as a young heroine in a martial arts drama.
Li Zhiyuan smiled a bit. It seemed Grandma Liu had just changed her taste, and Alii had also changed her style.
Walking up to the girl, Li Zhiyuan greeted her, his eyes unconsciously falling on the girl’s belt. The belt shimmered with a silvery sheen and had intricate carvings on it.
Hmm, could it possibly be...
Li Zhiyuan reached out and touched it. The girl didn’t evade or show any embarrassment, just stood there calmly.
Feeling the tactile sensation at his fingertips, Li Zhiyuan was astonished. The girl’s belt was actually a Soft Sword!
*He couldn’t help but admire Grandma Liu’s obsessive pursuit of perfection.*
*Perhaps Alii’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies were partly inherited from Liu Yumei.*
Seeing Li Zhiyuan’s interest in her belt, Alii reached down as if to unbuckle it for him.
"No, no, no, you don’t need to take it off." Li Zhiyuan hurriedly grabbed her hand to stop the motion, then praised, "It’s really beautiful."
Alii’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, but this time it wasn’t an anger sign; it was a sign of happiness.
Li Zhiyuan was pleasantly surprised to realize this was the first time Alii had used such an obvious gesture to express her feelings aside from her usual outbursts.
*She was really changing.*
At breakfast, Uncle Qin, with a backpack on his shoulder, said his farewells to everyone and then walked down the dam.
Everyone’s emotions were quite stable, except Li Sanjiang’s.
He was probably the person most unwilling to see Qin Li leave. It wasn’t entirely because Qin Li was someone who earned little and did less work. It’s just that, after spending so much time together, you inevitably form attachments.
After breakfast, Li Zhiyuan approached Aunt Liu with a list and some money. "Aunt Liu, you’re going to the market in town to buy vegetables today, right? Could you help me buy these things?"
"Sure, it’s no trouble." Aunt Liu took the list. After a quick glance, she first looked surprised, then turned to curiosity. "Xiao Yuan, what are you buying these things for?"
"The school assigned us a summer project. These are the materials I need to complete it."
The reason was rather flimsy, but it didn’t matter because he only needed a reason.
"Alright, I’ll buy them for you when I go."
"Thank you, Aunt Liu."
He felt at ease letting Aunt Liu buy things for him. There was no need to give too much instruction since she was probably more professional than he was.
In the morning, Li Zhiyuan continued reading. The book was quite simple. The challenging part lay in the experimental operations. Without considering the practical portion, this upper volume was more like a manual for crafts.
At the same time, Li Zhiyuan also noticed that many things described in the book were actually available at the Grand Master’s House.
Whenever the Grandmaster went for Corpse Recovery or to hold a vigil, he would bring numerous items. Yet, upon a detailed comparison, the things he brought merely resembled or shared names with those in the book—they weren’t essentially the same.
*Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help but wonder if the Grandmaster relied on a set of counterfeit items to do Corpse Recovery up until now.*
But, the things here were indeed challenging to manage. Some objects had to be designed by himself based on descriptions in the book before asking a carpenter or blacksmith to craft them.
The village had a carpenter, but where could he find a blacksmith now?
This "ding-ding-dang" iron workshop described in the book wasn’t something he could find now. Or perhaps he could find a factory to ask a machinist to turn it out for him?
In the afternoon, Run Sheng had to deliver tables and dishes to the Old Zhao Family. He didn’t know the way, but Li Zhiyuan did, so he went with him.
The Old Zhao Family lived just east of Shijia Bridge, not far from where Li Zhiyuan waited for the bus last night.
Run Sheng pushed the cart onto the Old Zhao Family’s yard alone, helping the Zhao Family unload the goods.
The mourning hall was already set up. Li Zhiyuan saw that lying motionless on the bed in the center of the main room was the deceased, a rather young fellow, possibly about seventeen or eighteen, only a bit older than Panzi and the others.
Two elderly women were whispering softly nearby:
"Such a fine boy, how can he just be gone?"
"They say he was coming back from watching a show in town at night, tripped along the way and fell into the fields, and just passed away like that."
"Indeed, what did Zheng Datong say, a sudden heart attack?"
"It’s such a pity. Tsk tsk, the Old Zhao Family runs a small business and is quite well-off. But this was their only son."
Just then, someone began applying makeup to the body, lifting the white cloth covering it. Li Zhiyuan saw the true face of the deceased, with sunken eyes, slack eyebrows, a smooth philtrum, and a sharp lower lip...
In face reading, this is considered [a shallow pool of blessings with a leaking bucket].
This was one of the worst facial fortunes, meaning that one’s blessings were already thin, and the leaks continuously drained them away.
If one were to cherish their blessings, live a frugal and reserved life, they might barely live a stable life. But if they indulged too much, with excessive eating, drinking, and entertainment, enjoying too fast and too hard, they could easily drain themselves dry.
Considering what the two elderly women said and the Old Zhao Family’s well-to-do living conditions, exceeding the ordinary people around them, this lifestyle was unsuitable for someone with this kind of face reading.
After delivering the goods, Li Zhiyuan walked home with Run Sheng.
Along the road, they met Panzi and Leizi walking side by side. They had something slick applied to their hair, water or gel, slicking it all back with a distinct part in the middle, shiny and glossy in the sunlight.
"Hey, Yuanzi, we were just about to head to the Grand Master’s House to find you, and here we bump into you."
"Brother Panzi, Brother Lei."
Panzi came up and took Li Zhiyuan’s hand. "Come on, Yuanzi, we’ll take you to the video hall in town to watch a movie. They’re showing Brother Fa’s ’A Better Tomorrow’ this afternoon."
Beside him, Leizi mimed a shooting motion with his hands, continuously gesturing and adding sound effects with his mouth. "Bang bang bang!"
"Great, I want to go too!" Run Sheng shouted.
Li Zhiyuan didn’t want to go; he wanted to continue reading. So he said, "I’ll go back and get some money to treat you all to the movie, but I won’t go. I have homework to do."
He had already given Aunt Liu the money in his pocket this morning, and the rest was in his bedroom drawer.
"Come on, come on, it can’t be you paying all the time. We need to save face too, okay? We really didn’t have pocket money before; it wasn’t to take advantage of you, little brother."
"Exactly, exactly, the two of us now have money. Just yesterday we moved bricks all day at the kiln factory in West Village."
As they spoke, Panzi and Leizi took out the change from their pockets, counting the heads and including Run Sheng in their tally.
After calculating, Panzi laughed, "Just right, four tickets, and we can buy four bottles of soda!"
Run Sheng was overjoyed, "I’ll return the cart first."
Seeing their high spirits and that they earned money from moving bricks just to treat him, their little brother, to have fun, Li Zhiyuan felt embarrassed to refuse further. He could only agree to go with them.
However, when returning the cart home, Li Zhiyuan took the chance to drop by his bedroom, took some money to put in his pocket, and mentioned his outing to Alii before heading to town with them.
Finally, the four arrived at a video hall, with a small storefront and a simple sign hanging above:
"Sister Mei’s Video Hall."