"Grandma, here's your tea."
"Mm." After taking a sip of tea, Liu Yumei spoke up, "From now on, you'll take over the tea-making duties, grandma here has plenty of snacks."
At this moment, there was a disturbance on the second-floor balcony. Soon, Li Sanjiang came down from the stairs, his face showing fatigue, his spirit wilted.
Liu Yumei glanced sideways with a smile and teased, "What's the matter, didn't sleep last night and went off to be a thief instead?"
Li Sanjiang sighed, feeling worse than a thief; in his dream last night, he was chased by a horde of Qing Dynasty zombies all night!
"Little Yuanhou, how did you sleep last night?"
"Grandmaster, I slept very well."
"That's good, that's good..."
Li Sanjiang let out a long sigh of relief, it seemed that the Array had indeed succeeded, and the hardship he endured was worth it.
Aunt Liu brought Li Sanjiang his breakfast. While he was eating, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying appeared in the distance, carrying clothes and snacks for Li Zhiyuan.
Back when they were at home, with all the children around, the snacks had to be divided among them. Now that Li Zhiyuan was living outside, they brought everything left to him.
"Little Yuanhou, you must listen to your Grandmaster while living here. Don't cause trouble for Grandmaster, understand?"
"Grandma will come to see you. Be a good boy. If you want to come back, just run home to visit, got it?"
Li Sanjiang angrily knocked his chopsticks on the wooden stool, scolding:
"Hanhou, you lad coming over to bring things so early in the morning, are you afraid that if you came later, your Uncle would keep you for a meal?
Heh, now you're so remarkable that you can't even sit with your Uncle for a drink, feeling distant, feeling estranged, not treating your Uncle as family anymore, eh?"
Li Weihan and Cui Guiying, seeing this, immediately came over to soothe and apologize.
After calming Li Sanjiang down, they finally left.
Li Sanjiang scraped the last bit of porridge from his bowl into his mouth, wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and said to Li Zhiyuan, who was standing beside him: "Your Grandpa is too squeamish, always acting like he can't sleep at night if he takes a slight advantage of others. It infuriates me."
The field was originally rented out to Li Weihan, who knew that the old guy would actually give up the lease later on.
"That's why you're willing to have Grandpa take care of you in old age."
Li Sanjiang smacked his lips a few times; those words truly struck a chord with him.
He knew that once he was really incapacitated, with a crooked mouth and a squinted eye, Li Weihan would not only take care of him, the most important thing was... he wouldn't show him any disdain.
Li Sanjiang had lived freely all his life, and he didn't want to suffer any grievances, even in the last leg of his life.
But in front of a child, Li Sanjiang still had to put on an air: "What, letting him care for me in old age is losing out? The land belongs to the village collective, but this house, this business, the things I've saved up, aren't they all eventually going to him? Hmph, he's not at a loss."
Then, Li Sanjiang patted Li Zhiyuan on the chin and continued: "However, I don't want my possessions ending up with those ungrateful uncles of yours; Little Yuanhou, be clever and keep your Grandmaster happy. What if Grandmaster writes a certificate, and all these properties will go directly to you later, is that good?"
"Great, when I grow up, I'll take care of Grandmaster."
"Hahaha, when you grow up, Grandmaster might not be here anymore."
But those words were truly heartwarming, carrying a sense of good fortune.
Li Zhiyuan recalled what Aunt Liu had said about the basement yesterday, and then remembered the "Golden Sand Luo Wen Scripture" he saw on the ground in Li Sanjiang's room last night, and asked:
"Grandmaster, what's in your basement?"
"All the valuable things are displayed on the first floor. There's nothing of value in the basement, just some old junk I picked up before, as well as a dozen boxes of discarded books that others left with me, all covered with talisman-like drawings, incomprehensible."
Li Zhiyuan's eyes lit up; those weren't discarded books, those were his study materials.
He was eager to improve his academic performance.
"Grandmaster, can I go in and take a look?"
"What?" Li Sanjiang was somewhat surprised, "What's there to look at with those things."
"You said that you would leave everything to me later. Aren't you going to stand by your words?"
"Alright, alright, if you want to rummage, then go ahead. The key is in the cloth shoes by the door. Look out for the dust; it's dirty inside, I haven't been in there for many years."
"Thank you, Grandmaster."
Just as Li Zhiyuan was about to explore the basement, down the path outside, another hunched figure appeared. It was Niu Fu.
"Uncle Sanjiang, Uncle Sanjiang, I've come to seek your help!"
Almost subconsciously, Li Zhiyuan's gaze immediately fell upon Niu Fu's hunched back, and then he quickly remembered Liu Jinxia's warning, and immediately turned his body and head away so as not to look at him.
However, it was precisely because of this that Li Zhiyuan saw Qin Li, who had been sitting motionless in the east room like a statue, suddenly move her neck and cast her gaze toward Niu Fu's back.