Moreover, since last night, aside from a few "hm hm" sounds this morning to remind itself that its bowl was out of water, it hadn’t made any noise.
Li Zhiyuan even suspected that even if he did not administer that medication to it, once it grew up a bit and gained that ability, it might still not go out and mingle due to its laziness.
Originally, Li Zhiyuan just wanted Ali to help with some simple tasks. But after discovering how quickly Ali learned and the finesse with which she worked, he started treating her as his official co-worker.
To some extent, Li Zhiyuan had to admit that Ali’s craft skills were even superior to his own.
The two spent the whole day in this atmosphere, having a stronger interactive feeling than when they read books together, but it resulted in Ali getting all grubby.
Before dinner, Li Zhiyuan fetched a towel to help Ali wipe her hands and face. The dirt on her clothes, however, was tougher to deal with.
Liu Yumei had just picked up her chopsticks to eat when she saw the boy, dirty from head to toe, leading her equally dirty granddaughter downstairs, startling her almost enough to break her chopsticks.
Her granddaughter was usually fastidious about cleanliness, always needing to stay clean, but now she didn’t seem to mind at all after being with this boy.
Though rationally she knew all this meant things were progressing well, emotionally, as a grandmother, she still found it hard to accept.
Wasn’t this scene just like her well-pampered daughter suddenly one day deciding to endure hardships with a poor boy by working outside?
And it wasn’t just talk.
Liu Yumei quickly composed herself. At dinner, she noticed that her granddaughter was not merely eating silently; she would take a few bites, then look up at the boy across from her, and a slight sway of her body would follow.
This stirred Liu Yumei’s emotions again... Damn, working actually had its effects.
After dinner, Li Zhiyuan didn’t plan to continue working late into the night, worried it would tire Ali. He decided to just draw new blueprints by himself.
After sending Ali back to the east room, he went upstairs, squatted in a horse stance on the terrace, then returned to his room to start drafting.
It was late at night when Li Zhiyuan stepped out to wash his face and, noting that Grandmaster’s bedroom was empty and hearing the TV downstairs, he went down the stairs and saw Run Sheng nibbling on something while watching TV.
"Brother Runsheng, where’s Grandmaster?"
"Probably still drinking at the feast."
Run Sheng, unable to join the main table, ate his separately packed meal in a corner by himself. After eating, he came back early to watch TV.
"Xiao Yuan, wanna watch TV?"
"No, you go ahead, Brother Runsheng, I’m heading up."
Back in his second-floor bedroom, Li Zhiyuan drew a few more diagrams, feeling he had reached his limit. Seeing it was past midnight, he prepared to wash and go to sleep.
Grabbing his washbasin to head for the shower, he glanced again at Grandmaster’s bedroom, noting that Grandmaster still hadn’t returned.
Going downstairs, he found Run Sheng adjusting the TV antenna.
"Brother Runsheng, Grandmaster hasn’t returned yet; he might be drunk at someone’s house."
Li Zhiyuan knew that Grandmaster loved to drink and always took the opportunity at feasts.
"Brother Runsheng, come with me to check; if Grandmaster is drunk, we’ll carry him back."
Li Zhiyuan took out a flashlight, put fresh batteries in, and set out for the Old Zhao Family’s home, not far but tricky to navigate at night.
Approaching the Old Zhao Family’s, they saw the tent, though mostly dark, indicating the feast had ended.
However, just as they reached the dam, they noticed a light still on under the tent where three people, including Li Sanjiang, were still drinking.
At that moment, Run Sheng, unable to get closer quickly, waved his arms and shouted from a distance, "Grandpa, everyone else has wrapped up, let’s go home!"
Li Sanjiang, hearing Run Sheng’s call and looking tipsy, waved back and replied, "It’s fine, I told the main family I feared their child wouldn’t find his way home at night, so they let me stay longer, and even added cold dishes and extra wine for me."
Then, pointing to his two drinking companions, Li Sanjiang introduced, "See there? That’s my great-grandson, handsome and bright, very likeable. Don’t mistake him for the tall dope—that’s Shan Pao from their family."
Li Zhiyuan approached the table intending to apologize to Grandmaster’s drinking friends and then take the visibly intoxicated Grandmaster home to rest.
Earlier, due to the dim lighting, he had thought the upper bodies, particularly the faces of the drinking friends, were obscured by darkness.
But now, even up close, he still couldn’t see their faces clearly; he just felt they appeared rather young for Grandmaster to be making friends with such a significant age gap.
Lifting his flashlight casually, Li Zhiyuan swept it across their faces.
Li Zhiyuan shuddered.
Because one of the people at the table, drinking, was Brother Leopard!
The other person looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him, just that he was overly young, only slightly older than Run Sheng.
But soon, the answer was revealed because as the flashlight’s beam lingered on the faces of the two men, it stopped at the central black-and-white photo in the memorial hall.
Today’s mourning was for him.
And now he was sitting at the table,
taking part in his own feast.