Corpse Recovery Diver
Chapter 71 - 14_3

Chapter 71: Chapter 14_3

"No, let’s go to where Grandmaster and the others are first."

"Okay."

They passed through the town, descended into the village, and the road narrowed.

Before long, they saw a funeral being held in the distance ahead.

"Uncle, you can stop here."

"We’re almost there."

"I’m tired."

"Rest when we get there, you can also have a drink of water."

"I need to pee, I can’t hold it anymore."

"Alright."

Uncle Qin stopped the car, Li Zhiyuan jumped off, found a secluded spot under a willow tree to relieve himself, and then squatted beside the ditch to wash his hands.

Qin Li originally thought that the boy would get back in the car after he finished, but the boy sat down on a smooth stone beside the ridge instead, pulling out a bottle of drink, several packs of biscuits, and two books from his chest.

Qin Li remembered that gourd-shaped bottle; it was what he’d bought for the boy following Li Sanjiang’s instructions.

No wonder when the boy got in the car, his clothes looked bulky. It turns out he’d sneaked so many things with him. Clearly, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere but was prepared to have a wild picnic and read.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m tired, just taking a break, Uncle Qin, have a seat too."

"Aren’t you supposed to deliver the sword to your Grandmaster? It’s just ahead. Hurry up and deliver it, so I can go back to work. Aunt Liu can’t finish everything by herself, the work schedule is already very tight. If we can’t complete it on time, we can’t deliver the goods, and your Grandmaster will get angry and scold people."

"He won’t, Grandmaster said he would write his inheritance in my name. If something happens to Grandmaster, I’ll be the young owner, I won’t get angry and scold people."

"You little..."

"Uncle, have a seat. See how tired you are from working every day. Let’s take a day off, combining work with rest."

Qin Li walked up to the boy, realized that it was deliberate. As long as he didn’t deliver the sword to Li Sanjiang, he has not yet completed the task and still had to accompany the boy.

What shocked Qin Li even more was that the boy seemed to have anticipated that he "wouldn’t bother to pick up a soy sauce bottle even if it fell over."

Is this still a child? This is clearly a demon in a child’s skin!

Suddenly, Qin Li felt at ease, yes, no wonder Alii was cold to everyone else but showed closeness to him.

Qin Li bent forward, preparing to carry the boy over forcibly and complete the task.

"Uncle, it’s really cozy living together with our two families, Grandma Liu is very nice, and Aunt Liu is also very gentle."

Qin Li narrowed his eyes slightly.

"The book says that harmonious relationships between people are built on the most basic foundation of respect."

Qin Li: "Hehe, aren’t we like that?"

Li Zhiyuan turned his head back, looked at Qin Li who was unexpectedly close, and smiled: "Are we? We are."

Qin Li closed his eyes, straightened up his body, feeling that he was being played, by a child.

After a while, Qin Li said: "Xiao Yuan, if I didn’t agree to bring you here, would you have come by yourself?"

Li Zhiyuan shook his head: "I’m just a child, I can’t help with anything, I wouldn’t come on my own, because coming here would only add to the chaos."

"Alright, go find your Grandmaster. I won’t go back, but remember, even if the soy sauce bottle falls over, I still can’t help."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle."

Li Zhiyuan quickly packed up his stuff, walked to the bicycle, and urged:

"Uncle, get on the bike, we’re almost there, yeah."

...

"What’s wrong?" Li Sanjiang first looked at Li Zhiyuan, then turned to Qin Li, "Why did you bring the kid here?"

"Grandmaster, I missed you, so I begged Uncle Qin to come to find you, and Uncle Qin just couldn’t say no to me."

"Little Yuanhou, is this a place for you? Go away, let Li Hou take you back."

"No, I don’t want to leave, I want to stay here."

Li Zhiyuan clung tightly to Li Sanjiang’s clothes, a look of grievance on his face.

Li Sanjiang intended to say something harsher to drive him away, but seeing the boy like this, his heart, as an old man who had never married or had children, was fiercely clutched at its softest spot.

So, when old people dote on children, sometimes... they really don’t adhere to principles, especially when it comes to kinship across generations.

"Alright, Li Hou, keep an eye on the child, don’t let him run around."

Qin Li nodded: "Mhm, I will."

Li Zhiyuan successfully stayed, and he began to observe the religious rites.

The ritual was held on an empty plateau in the village, which used to be a communal threshing ground, and a relatively small white-attired group was busily preparing.

Eight actors, dressed in Daoist robes, carried out the ceremony, each holding a Magic Artifact in hand, mumbling words as they circled around the offering table.

On the offering table were laid out ritual items, with a black-and-white photo of Old Mrs. Niu at the center.

The plank bore the Niu surname.

Because the old lady had been brought to the husband’s family as a child bride, she had no family of her own and no given name. Later, when a census was taken in the village, she simply registered with her husband’s surname.

The filial sons and daughters knelt on the mats, their heads wrapped in white ropes, dressed in hemp clothes, arms wrapped with black mourning bands, while they wept and threw paper money into the fire pit in front of them.

Niu Fu and Niu Rui were just making a show of loud crying, wiping away tears now and then; they had the actions but no real emotion.

The little sister Niu Lian, however, not only had good expression and movements but also had tears flowing unstoppably like a frozen faucet, and she lamented with lengthy verses.

"Mom, oh, you raised us three laboriously by yourself after dad left us too soon, oh my!

"Mom, oh, in those early hard times, you never indulged in eating more, and you fed everything to us, oh my!

"Mom, oh, the three of us just grew up, and you didn’t get to enjoy life, how could you leave so soon, oh my!"

Each "oh my" at the end of her sentences served as a conclusion to the previous line, a build-up for the emotional delivery of the next, and also functioned to catch her breath.