Corpse Recovery Diver
Chapter 396 - 71_2

Chapter 396: Chapter 71_2

Entering the kitchen, Aunt Liu hummed softly while pouring oil into the pot.

"The old lady, I wonder how long you can keep this up."

Thinking about a future day when the noble mistress must put aside her pride and negotiate who the children will take their last names from,

Liu Ting’s lips couldn’t help but twitch, and she was quite looking forward to it.

With the weather getting colder, the screen door had already been taken down.

Li Zhiyuan pushed open the door and saw Alii standing inside.

Earlier, not seeing anyone at the threshold downstairs, he knew the girl was in his room.

On the drawing desk, there were several completed paintings, with door frames around and thresholds at the bottom. What was depicted in the center of each was something so horrifying it could make one’s scalp tingle.

Li Zhiyuan admired each painting in turn, finding the eerie scrolls increasingly delightful.

This meant that Alii was beginning to confront those fears she’d always avoided.

Her condition had taken another significant step toward recovery.

"Hmm, why is there one still under here?"

Li Zhiyuan lifted the top painting and revealed the true nature of the one underneath.

The painting was drawn from a low angle looking upwards; a boy sits on the second-floor balcony engrossed in an ancient tome.

Alii had actually drawn himself.

"Why didn’t you put yourself in it?"

Alii moved that painting aside, and beneath it was one with an even angle, showing the boy’s side profile as he sat reading in a wicker chair.

Following those were two more paintings, one of the boy standing on the home’s courtyard at night, with the shadow of a woman in a black cheongsam loomed behind him.

The last painting was in front of the Ding family’s spirit hall in Mountain City, with Ding Laoer kneeling while the boy conducted a ceremony of an internal family senior salute.

The girl’s eyes were filled with his own image.

An ordinary balcony doesn’t move, but he is alive, so the girl’s gaze followed him.

He lifted his right hand, where the burn had disappeared thanks to Aunt Liu’s ointment, but the lesson remained.

The girl’s health was getting better, but if he encountered any problems one day, it would inevitably lead to her collapse as well.

However, the boy didn’t see it as a burdensome responsibility but rather like a counterbalance that steadied him in strong winds.

Holding the girl’s hand, they sat back on the second-floor wicker chairs, and the two naturally started three rounds of Go while Li Zhiyuan recounted the interesting experiences he had since leaving Mountain City.

As he spoke, he focused on Yin Changsheng, saying with conviction that when he grew up, he would definitely visit Fengdu again, hoping to meet the Emperor Fengdu, regardless of whether he was an immortal or a corpse.

The girl propped her chin with her hand, a smile in her eyes. The boy’s anticipation was her anticipation. If he saw the future as exciting, then she too looked forward to it.

"Who is that girl? Goodness, she’s so pretty."

Although there are plenty who were pretty as children but became less so when grown, Yin Meng believed the girl upstairs would definitely not be one of them; her current appearance allowed little room for error, and besides, while looks can change, temperament is much harder to alter.

Run Sheng: "Alii, with the surname Qin. But do not get close to her, she doesn’t like strangers."

Yin Meng: "Really?"

Run Sheng: "Really."

After the meal, the two sat on the courtyard making paper person frames. Yin Meng, who used to make small coffins, found this job even simpler.

She even asked Mr. Li, who was sitting there smoking, with interest:

"Mr. Li, haven’t you considered opening a coffin shop again? I can make them."

Mr. Li tossed a burnt-out cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his shoe:

"Nope, this business doesn’t last around here."

After a pause, Mr. Li added: "Though custom orders are possible."

Yin Meng boldly said: "Alright, I’ll make one for you to keep on hand."

Mr. Li clapped his hands: "Not bad, that’s doable."

Just then, Aunt Liu walked by, and Mr. Li greeted her, asking: "Do you want to pre-order one for your grandma?"

"To order what, a coffin?"

"Yeah, you buy the materials, and our own people make it, cheap and economical."

"No need, our people don’t have earth burials."

Yin Meng suddenly lifted her head and looked at Aunt Liu.

Aunt Liu continued: "We align with the times, planning to be cremated."

Yin Meng lowered her head and went back to her work.

"Alright then, I’ll think of who else could use one. Maybe one for Shan Pao?"

Run Sheng looked happily at Mr. Li.

"That won’t do, Shan Pao can barely afford to eat, he doesn’t have the money for a fancy coffin."

"Grandpa, deduct it from my wages."

"Heh, I’m just teasing you, kid. Even if he has no money, we can still afford to give him a coffin if necessary. After all, like him, I’m an orphan with no parental graves. When the time comes, I’ll be buried next to him, so we can chat when I’m bored.

Marquis Runsheng, what do you think?"

Run Sheng fell silent; his grandfather often scolded Mr. Li behind his back.

He said that every time he followed Mr. Li to work, it was he who suffered, but it was Mr. Li who received the glory.

His grandfather said the biggest mistake of his life was getting to know Mr. Li, and in the next life, he’d surely stay far away from him.

If they ended up buried next to each other, Run Sheng really feared that his grandfather might rise from the grave in anger.

"Marquis Runsheng, I’m talking to you!"

Even faced with Mr. Li’s urging, Run Sheng couldn’t dare to lightly respond with an "okay," since although Mr. Li was much older than his grandfather, he always felt that his grandfather would most likely pass before Mr. Li.

If he agreed now, once his grandfather "kicked the bucket," it would be too late to change.