Mr. Shan suddenly caught the key point and asked, "What’s up, Little Yuanhou can’t return to Beijing?"
Li Sanjiang’s face changed as he took a deep puff of his cigarette.
"What are you doing, how did you lose the kid’s Beijing household registration?"
"Don’t scold me, I’ll shut up, or I’ll have a good talk with you about the benefits of a household registration."
Li Zhiyuan walked over to Mr. Shan and asked, "Mr. Shan, is your leg not serious?"
"Not serious, not serious, just need some rest," Mr. Shan replied, somewhat embarrassed, as he waved his hand.
He didn’t know when he took the money last time, but later heard at the card table that the main player was the little kid, not the big one. His own Run Sheng was just running errands, the capital was still Little Yuanhou’s, yet he had taken half the money.
Only the money was already lost, couldn’t be repaid, *thinking about what he did was truly shameful to him.*
"Marquis Runsheng," Mr. Shan looked at Run Sheng, "in the future, you need to listen to Little Yuanhou."
Having no money to repay, he could only make it up in person.
Run Sheng nodded and said, "Grandpa, I understand."
"Is it here, I asked, is it here?" The local village chief’s voice could be heard outside. He was the one who had called earlier.
Mr. Shan was unclear about what was going on, so he asked, "What’s up?"
Li Sanjiang replied irritably, "If it weren’t for the corpse found here, we wouldn’t have known your leg was broken."
"Then you should hurry and get to work, get the job done."
Just as Li Sanjiang was about to get up, his great-grandson said, "Grandmaster, you stay here and chat with Mr. Shan. Brother Runsheng can go."
Mr. Shan expressed concern, "Isn’t Runsheng still not dependable?"
Li Zhiyuan said, "Mr. Shan, Brother Runsheng was not dependable before, but since he’s been with my Grandmaster, he’s different. Just wait and see."
Mr. Shan curled his lips, "You Little Yuanhou."
Li Sanjiang was happy to hear this and patted his knee,
"Fine, let Marquis Runsheng go look for that corpse first. If there’s any problem, come back and call me immediately."
Successfully keeping his Grandmaster at home, Li Zhiyuan quickly beckoned Runsheng.
Run Sheng understood, picked up a set of corpse recovery tools, and then tossed Xiao Yuan’s set to Tan Wenbin.
Then the three of them followed the village chief to a section of the river. The river wasn’t very wide, but both sides were wooded, with reeds growing thickly along the banks, severely obstructing the view.
"This is the section. Over the past few days, many people have come to tell me they’ve seen a dead body floating here. I brought people over a few times, but we never found it. Really strange, isn’t it.
Why don’t you all search first, and if you find it and need help, call me from the village? I have some urgent matters to attend to."
Run Sheng nodded, "Alright, village chief, you go attend to your affairs."
The village chief took out a cigarette and offered it to Run Sheng. Run Sheng declined, Xiao Yuan was too young, so finally Tan Wenbin took one and tucked it behind his ear.
After the village chief left, Li Zhiyuan stood by the river with the compass.
The reason the village chief left was probably because he didn’t really expect to find the floating corpse today. He had likely organized people to search this river section before, but it was all in vain. Calling the corpse recovery divers was like clutching at straws, at least giving the villagers an explanation.
Tan Wenbin was already fully focused, asking seriously, "Brother Xiao Yuan, should Runsheng and I head separately along the riverbank to have a look around?"
"Brother Binbin, you go ahead, Brother Runsheng will stay with me."
"Is it because my observation skills are better than his?"
"It’s because if Brother Runsheng isn’t with me, I’m afraid something will happen to me alone."
"Then... then I’ll stay by your side to protect you."
Li Zhiyuan *knew he was being a bit paranoid. Nothing strange had happened in the village, and the villagers who saw the corpse were able to leave safely, proving that the corpse was very likely just a regular floating body.*
*But since Si Yuan Village could have water burials from the Southern Liang period, he really couldn’t be overly confident now. It was better to be cautious.*
Holding the compass, he slowly walked along the riverbank. After walking quite a long distance, he didn’t find anything unusual with the Feng Shui, and of course, didn’t find the corpse either.
Tan Wenbin asked, "Could it have floated to another part of the river?"
"It’s possible." Li Zhiyuan pointed to the water, "It’s also possible that somewhere below the river there is a leak, pulling the body under."
"Can that really happen?"
"Just like the plug at the bottom of a bathtub at home."
"Doesn’t that mean we’d need to dive to find it? I mean, you guys brought so much stuff, why not think of getting an oxygen tank?"
Run Sheng said, "These tools are specifically for dealing with that kind of moving corpse."
"Oh, good stuff." Tan Wenbin patted the sack on his back.
Before they knew it, they had reached a turning point in the river, with a newly built bridge ahead.
Li Zhiyuan stopped. They had already walked through the area described by the village chief but still found nothing.
Tan Wenbin nudged Run Sheng’s arm and asked, "Hey, have you ever encountered a situation where you went to recover a corpse but couldn’t find it?"
"I have. I remember at that time my grandpa and Grandmaster would set up a table and perform a ritual to ’call the person’ so it could float up by itself."
Upon hearing this, Tan Wenbin moved closer to Li Zhiyuan and asked, "Brother Xiao Yuan, do you know how to do that?"
Li Zhiyuan slightly frowned.
Tan Wenbin quickly said, "It’s alright, even if you don’t know, in my heart you’re still the best, brother."
Li Zhiyuan shook his head, he did know how.
Books from both Wei Zhengdao and Qin Liu’s families actually recorded many methods of "calling the person."
The problem was that his own Grandmaster and Mr. Shan might have just learned the form. If they succeeded, they were highly skilled, but if they failed, it wasn’t an ordinary corpse, mainly relying on luck.