"What book is this from?"
Li Zhiyuan asked, "Do you really want me to answer?"
"Forget it, no need to answer." Liu Yumei released her hand; the three slips of paper slowly fell. She picked up the teapot, disregarding the heat, and washed her hands with the hot tea.
Li Zhiyuan curiously asked, "Grandma, from which era are these three pieces of paper?"
"Heh, this isn’t paper."
Li Zhiyuan blinked, "Human skin?"
"The human skin papermaking skill, have you heard of it?"
"Well, that’s right. There are many ways to preserve books for a long time if one is willing to pay the price. Using human skin as raw material is the most time-consuming and effortful, and least gratifying. Only some special practitioners would use human skin paper to write things."
"Do you really understand? Then do you know, from which era are these three pieces of human skin paper?"
"Post-Eastern Han, pre-Sui and Tang?"
"I can give you a very specific era."
"Grandma, could you be more specific."
"Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, once made paper from the skin of three thousand people to transcribe Buddhist scriptures in hopes of truly worshipping the Buddha.
However, before much of this batch of paper was used, Hou Jing rebelled, and this paper made its way out of the palace, known as Buddha Skin Paper.
Your three books are written on this Buddha Skin Paper."
"Making paper from human skin, wasn’t he famous for his devotion to Buddhism?"
"What’s so surprising? Emperors worship Buddha and seek the Dao, not out of compassion and the desire to save all beings, but to seek immortality and continue to enjoy wealth and honor.
The Ming Dynasty’s emperor who practiced Daoism was the same.
Such emperors, not loving their empire or beauties, only love themselves, extremely selfish at heart.
So, how could they truly care about human lives?"
"I’ve learned something."
"These books, this paper, if well-preserved, would be true antiques. Seems like your grandmaster’s basement really had a lot of treasures hidden."
"Did you know there were books in Grandmaster’s basement early on?"
"He mentioned it himself; during the Cultural Revolution, several people left things in his care, saying someone would come to retrieve them later, but to date, no one has."
"What kind of people stored them?"
"How would I know, having never seen the books myself, not to mention, I’m long-sighted now and not suited for reading."
"That’s a pity, I think some of the books are quite interesting."
"Once Alli gets better, you can read them to me, Grandma."
"If they can’t be read, you’ll have to see for yourself."
"Do you have anything else to discuss?"
"Yes." Li Zhiyuan opened the black plastic bag, took out the gold ingot, and placed it in front of Liu Yumei.
"What’s this, lad, did you dive for treasures?"
"This is Netherworld Gold, used for burial."
"What, you want to exchange it for money here?"
"Hahaha." Liu Yumei covered her mouth and chuckled, "You boy, you think of your grandma’s place as a pawnshop?"
"A fair trade, not involving anything else."
Mainly because there was only one piece of gold ingot left, and the money was meant for renting land and planting trees. Giving it directly to Grandmaster would be hard to explain, and it would be troublesome to exchange for money elsewhere.
After all, Grandmaster only needed to go to the village to pay and sign, while Li Zhiyuan had much more to consider.
"Alright, how much does it weigh?"
Liu Yumei picked up the gold ingot, weighed it in her hand, and asked, "Shall I convert it to the current price of gold for you?"
"Sure. But it’s a complete ingot."
"Heh, you crafty boy, Grandma will add ten percent for you."
"Thank you, Grandma."
That was the advantage of exchanging it with Liu Yumei; taking it out to a store would cut it up and damage its value.
"Coming." Aunt Liu came out of the kitchen, leaned over to listen to Liu Yumei’s instructions, nodded, "Alright, I’ll go to the bank right away."
Liu Yumei looked at Li Zhiyuan and said, "You’ll have it by tonight."
"You still haven’t clarified last night’s incident."
"It’s not easy to explain clearly, but it’s been dealt with."
"That’s good then." Liu Yumei tilted her body slightly, looking at the boy, "You don’t look well."
"Maybe it’s because I didn’t rest well."
"No, it’s like you overslept, be careful, oversleeping is not good for people, it can muddle you and make it hard to distinguish reality from dreams."
At that moment, the door of the east room opened, and Alli stood at the doorway.
Some ancient phrases always seem exaggerated, but you realize they describe reality so fittingly when you actually see it; like the phrase ’natural beauty without adornment.’
Used to seeing Alli dressed up, her fresh and exquisite appearance after just having bathed was particularly striking.
Li Zhiyuan showed a smile on his face; with her around, how could he not distinguish dreams from reality?
Suddenly, Liu Yumei said, "I was as pretty as Alli when I was young."
Li Zhiyuan replied, "Grandpa noticed you when you were ten years old?"
"You cheeky brat, asking for a smack." Liu Yumei reached out to hit Li Zhiyuan, but he dodged.
Alli came over, and Liu Yumei stood up, ready to help her granddaughter get dressed.
Unexpectedly, her granddaughter directly followed the boy into the main house and upstairs.
For a moment, Liu Yumei felt a bit awkward, but since she had already stood up, she simply stretched.
"Oh, working out late at night?"
Li Sanjiang and Tan Wenbin returned pushing an empty cart; they had just gone to deliver tables, chairs, and dishes together.
Liu Yumei: "Old arms and legs need more exercise."
"We do need to exercise more; the family mule is sick, and I felt really tired after one delivery." Li Sanjiang sat down on a chair and lit a cigarette; he needed to catch his breath.
Tan Wenbin asked, "Has Xiao Yuan come back?"