"It’s fine for him to go, Little Yuanhou, go and take it down."
Li Zhiyuan wanted to refuse, but Ding Dalin, who had just gotten up, sat back down again, so resisting now would seem unreasonable.
"Alright, Grandmaster."
Li Zhiyuan ran up the stairs. Tan Wenbin wanted to follow but was stopped by Li Sanjiang,
"Mr. Li, my name is Binbin."
"Go to the kitchen and help serve the bowls, the secretary might be overwhelmed doing it alone."
Tan Wenbin didn’t want to be left alone with that water monkey either, but he faced the same dilemma that Li Zhiyuan had earlier. He could only nod with a smile and head to the kitchen.
Li Zhiyuan arrived on the second floor and found it tidied up, the balcony hallway was very clean.
He didn’t rush into the room but went to the small courtyard cover below. The ladder was leaning against the wall beside him.
His array flag and Run Sheng’s set of Corpse Recovery tools should still be on the rooftop.
The problem was, even if he moved the ladder to climb up and get those things, he couldn’t take them with him—they were too heavy.
Even if he threw them behind the house, it wouldn’t be safe. The noise would easily attract attention.
Ultimately, Li Zhiyuan turned around, pushed open the door, and walked into the bedroom.
The room was richly furnished. Ding Dalin, when buying the house, probably purchased it with the furniture to save time.
He walked to the bedside table and opened the drawer.
Inside was indeed a box of ink paste, along with something else Li Zhiyuan hadn’t expected... a compass.
A purple compass, with five small sub-rings around the main circle.
Li Zhiyuan picked up the compass, gently spinning it. He quickly figured out what those five sub-rings represented.
Similar compasses were actually recorded in the "Righteous Demon Extermination Records," but because the making process was extremely complex and required many special materials, it had never been on Li Zhiyuan’s radar.
*Holding it now, Li Zhiyuan genuinely liked it.*
With it, examining Feng Shui formations was like being allowed to bring a calculator into a math exam.
*He was increasingly realizing that he couldn’t over-rely on mental calculations as he had in the past, as it was taking a toll on his body.*
With this thing, coupled with "Liu’s Qi Observation Technique," he wouldn’t overstrain himself to the point of nosebleeds like last time when examining the fish pond’s Feng Shui.
*The real Ding Dalin had already died, so it was ownerless. Taking it didn’t count as stealing.*
But... it was still too risky.
Everything else from those water monkeys had been packed up and taken away, but this item had been left behind, indicating it was still valued.
*It probably knew who had entered the area. If the item went missing, it would definitely pinpoint him.*
*Forget it, he couldn’t take it.*
Even though the item was good, his life was more important. Just as Li Zhiyuan was about to put the compass back in the drawer,
From the bedroom doorway came Secretary Jin’s voice.
Li Zhiyuan jumped again but his resilience took hold. Holding the compass in his left hand, he picked up the ink paste box with his right,
"I thought you couldn’t find it, so I came up to check."
"What is this, Aunt Jin?" Li Zhiyuan asked, holding up the compass, "It looks nice."
"A toy. If you like it, you can have it."
*Li Zhiyuan’s first reaction wasn’t delight but wondering if it was a test.*
"Hold onto the items and come down."
Secretary Jin turned and left after speaking.
Li Zhiyuan hesitated for a moment but still took the compass and ink paste downstairs.
After handing the ink paste to the village chief, the chief gestured for everyone to press their handprints.
Li Sanjiang saw the compass and asked, "Little Yuanhou, what’s this?"
Ding Dalin replied, "Just a little thing from home. The kid likes it, so give it to him as a toy."
Li Sanjiang took it, looked it over with curiosity, and said doubtfully, "Why are there so many circles, what a strange thing."
After belittling it, he casually tossed the compass back to Li Zhiyuan.
*Li Zhiyuan wanted to tell his grandmaster that this was a professional tool and that what he usually used was just a compass.*
"Little Yuanhou, say thank you to your Grandpa Ding."
"Thank you, Grandpa Ding."
"Haha, good kid." Ding Dalin reached out and patted Li Zhiyuan on the head.
*Li Zhiyuan felt his hair stand on end, yet he had to endure it without flinching.*
The will was finalized in duplicate. One copy was kept by the village chief, stored in the village office, and the other was carefully folded by Li Sanjiang, solemnly placed in his breast pocket, which he then patted.
Lunch was ready, and everyone took their seats.
The dishes were plentiful, and in front of Li Zhiyuan was a large plate of boiled shrimp.
*Seeing the shrimp, Li Zhiyuan felt a little queasy.*
"Everyone, help yourselves, it’s nothing special," Ding Dalin said, raising his chopsticks to invite everyone.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks.
"Come, Zhuangzhuang, eat some shrimp. It’s what you loved most yesterday."
Li Sanjiang used chopsticks to move a third of the shrimp from the plate in front of Li Zhiyuan and Tan Wenbin, then reached out to turn the table.
Tan Wenbin was unperturbed, grabbing a shrimp, removing the head, peeling it, dipping it in vinegar, and sucking on the shrimp head before skillfully peeling off the shell to reveal the whole piece of shrimp meat.
After removing the shrimp vein, Tan Wenbin dipped it in vinegar and placed it in Li Zhiyuan’s bowl.
Li Zhiyuan picked up the shrimp meat with his chopsticks, the flesh a tender red.
Putting the shrimp in his mouth, as he chewed, images from the previous night kept flashing through his mind.
*This was the first time Li Zhiyuan had tasted something so delicious yet so hard to swallow.*
Ultimately, he forced it down, feeling it was even more torturous than eating the "delicacies" at the cat-faced old lady’s birthday feast.