There are quite a few characters on the page, and Li Zhiyuan even needs to piece together the context to guess what they might mean.
After quickly flipping through more than a dozen pages, he realized that the layout of the text on each page was inconsistent, and the titles of the volumes and Chapters were not at the beginning of the right pages, but mixed into the content.
An image emerged in Li Zhiyuan’s mind: a person, with their left hand turning the pages of a set of exquisite books while the other hand rapidly copied onto a blank book in front of them.
As they wrote, they also kept looking around vigilantly, fearing someone might come.
Thus, this must be a pirated copy of a book.
Li Zhiyuan then flipped through "Qin’s Jiao Observation Method" and skimmed through it—indeed, it was also pirated, just as its counterpart.
This almost certainly confirmed that these two sets of books had nothing to do with Liu Yumei.
Li Zhiyuan remembered that Liu Yumei had told him that she knew what kind of books she was looking at, but analyzing her tone, it probably only went as far as thinking he was reading some Xuanmen books and did not realize that these were precious handwritten unique editions.
Moreover, Liu Yumei probably had never entered the basement; both Liu Yumei and Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu were very mindful not to delve deeply or touch the Grandmaster’s matters and possessions.
If Liu Yumei had been to the basement and looked through these boxes, she wouldn’t have left these two sets of books here, as it would be tantamount to stealing the inheritance of the two families, a grave taboo.
"Alright, just these two sets."
Even Li Zhiyuan himself did not know whether he was more curious about the content of the books or about the affairs of the Qin and Liu families.
After securing the box, Li Zhiyuan carried the two sets of books out of the basement. After going upstairs, he placed the books on the desk, tore off each book’s cover, rolled them up, lit them, and then one by one, dropped them into his water cup.
Still, some concealment was necessary.
These two sets totaled seven books, the best and clearest words being the titles on the covers.
Li Zhiyuan liked to sit on the second-floor balcony to read, and he sure didn’t want Liu Yumei to accidentally look up and see the titles.
As for Alii, who likes to sit next to him and accompany him while he reads, there’s no need to hide it from her, as Alii wouldn’t snitch anyway.
Aunt Liu’s voice came from the dam:
Li Zhiyuan went downstairs and sat at his little table, where Alii was already seated waiting for him.
A smile once again appeared on Li Zhiyuan’s face; he felt that if this improvement continued, it wouldn’t be long before the girl could start talking.
But if it continued...
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"
Li Sanjiang sneezed three times in a row; he had washed his hair before dawn, and now it seemed like he had caught a cold.
"Grandmaster, after we eat, I’ll accompany you to Doctor Zheng to get some medicine or perhaps an injection."
"No need, this small ailment will pass after a sleep."
Aunt Liu brought over the soup and set it down, laughing, "There’s a kind of person in this world who often urges others to see the doctor, but when they themselves are sick, they stubbornly refuse to go."
Li Zhiyuan spoke again: "Grandmaster, as we agreed, I’ll go with you later."
This time, he emphasized his tone because he was worried about the Grandmaster’s current condition, which might not withstand an illness.
"Alright, alright, let’s go, let’s!"
Li Sanjiang waved his hand and began eating.
Aunt Liu laughed again: "In the end, the great-grandson’s word carries weight, haha."
Just as Li Zhiyuan finished preparing Alii’s small plate, he heard Aunt Zhang shouting from the village path across a rice field:
"Little Yuanhou, Little Yuanhou, a call, from Beijing!"
Li Sanjiang quickly urged, "Go quickly, Little Yuanhou, it must be your mother calling."
"Grandmaster, I’m heading out. Brother Runsheng, come with me."
Runsheng was just about to begin his meal and light incense, but upon Xiao Yuan’s request, he nodded, got up immediately, and followed Li Zhiyuan out.
From afar, Li Zhiyuan already saw Li Weihan and Cui Guiying standing outside the small store.
That’s right, since Aunt Zhang had informed him, how could she not inform the grandparents? Besides, from his mother’s perspective, he was supposed to be living at his grandparents’ house, not at the Grandmaster’s house.
Behind the grandparents stood a group of children from the Li family, happily sharing snacks. Seeing Li Zhiyuan approaching, Shitou and Hu Zi quickly handed him snacks:
"Yuanzi, here, eat, grandma bought these for us, hehe."
Li Zhiyuan knew Cui Guiying was usually reluctant to buy snacks for the kids at home, considering there were many children and such snacks had to be budgeted for.
Today, she was willing to buy them because she was too happy; her daughter had finally called.
You see, the last time her daughter visited, she brought her former son-in-law, and they weren’t married yet, nor was there a Xiao Yuan yet. Since then, many years passed without her daughter returning.
In earlier years, his daughter had occasionally sent telegrams or letters to check in, but later, even those stopped.
Although gifts during the holidays were always mailed punctually, and the quarterly maintenance money was also sent without fail;
In theory, the daughter has done far better than other children in the village, but sometimes, the parents just wanted to hear their daughter’s voice and chat with her.
This wish had been suppressed for too long and gradually became a luxury.
"Little Yuanhou, quickly, it was your mom who called, and grandma just finished talking to her." Cui Guiying’s face beamed with a smile, then she patted Li Weihan’s back, "Hurry, Little Yuanhou is here, give him the phone."
Li Weihan, though reluctant, still shouted into the phone: "Alright, alright, Lanhou, I’m letting Little Yuanhou speak to you first, don’t hang up, I’ll continue chatting with you afterward."
Li Zhiyuan was puzzled; his mother actually initiated the call, and even more incredulously, had a long chat with his grandparents.
Li Weihan solemnly handed him the receiver: "Quick, your mom misses you, Lanhou, I’m letting your son take the call."
Still in disbelief that this was real, while Li Zhiyuan very much hoped his mom would truly call, he knew hope wasn’t a wish.
Holding the receiver to his ear, Li Zhiyuan heard a woman’s voice from inside: "Hello, is this Xiao Yuan?"
Li Zhiyuan’s lips twitched; on the other end of the phone, it wasn’t his mom but her secretary, Aunt Xu, who he remembered was also from Nantong.
So, the one who had been talking to his grandparents earlier wasn’t his mother Li Lan, but Aunt Xu.
The grandparents, having not seen their daughter for so many years and not having a phone conversation with her, had already forgotten what their daughter’s voice sounded like. Plus, Aunt Xu could understand the Nantong dialect, so obviously they couldn’t tell it wasn’t their daughter.
Now, seeing his grandparents happier than even during New Year’s, Li Zhiyuan felt a strong disapproval of his mother’s actions.
Li Weihan: "Little Yuanhou, quickly call out to your mom, quickly say it, your mom said she misses you a lot, hurry and tell your mom you miss her too."
Cui Guiying: "Little Yuanhou might be too shy, better not start crying at the sound of mom’s voice, ending up crying at night asking for mom and giving Uncle Sanjiang a headache, hehe."
It was clear that the grandparents eagerly anticipated him calling out ’mom’ to the phone, as they hadn’t yet witnessed an interaction between their daughter and grandson; his siblings also cheered and laughed around them.
Even though he knew it was Aunt Xu on the line, a shy smile still formed on Li Zhiyuan’s face; he gripped the receiver tightly, his voice brimming with longing as he excitedly shouted:
"Mom, I miss you so much!"
The call seemed to be on speaker, and footsteps, both approaching and receding, were audible on the other end.
Li Zhiyuan could imagine the owner of the footsteps finding the conversation noisy and intentionally walking away to a distance where they couldn’t be heard.
Now, the person from afar was walking back, while Aunt Xu had stepped away.
So, the next to speak would be his own mother.
A surge of anticipation arose within Li Zhiyuan’s heart, though he knew it was inappropriate and incorrect to think so, he couldn’t help but feel: it seemed there was indeed a difference in how his mother treated him and his grandparents.
Finally, Li Lan’s voice came from the phone:
"Li Zhiyuan, you’ve become even more disgusting now."