Corpse Retriever

By the time the chaos finally subsided, it was already past four in the morning.

Runsheng pushed out the flatbed cart. Li Sanjiang, Grandpa Shan, and Liu Jinxia sat in turn. Li Zhuiyuan was about to climb aboard too when he heard a bicycle bell behind him.

He turned to look—it was Uncle Qin.

“Great-Grandpa, I’m going with Uncle Qin.”

“Go on, go on. Get some rest soon.”

Li Zhuiyuan approached the old Twenty-Eight Bicycle. Uncle Qin scooped him up and placed him on the crossbar, then pushed forward a few steps before pedaling and swinging himself onto the seat.

Feeling drowsy, Li Zhuiyuan leaned against Uncle Qin’s chest and dozed off.

Uncle Qin looked down at the boy in his arms, a little surprised. The boy hadn’t even asked whether he’d been there the whole time.

Which meant all the explanations he’d prepared were completely useless.

By the time they returned from Shigang Town to Siyuan Village, the sky had already turned a fish-belly white.“Uncle, you should rest early.”

“Mm, you too. Get some sleep.”

Li Zhuiyuan ran inside, went up to the second floor, and headed straight for a bath.

In the east bedroom, Qin Li had been sleeping, but stirred at the sounds coming from the yard and sat up.

“Lie back down. Don’t go see him right now. He just got back and he’s exhausted. Let him rest. If you go now, he’ll have to split his attention for you.

Once or twice is fine, but too many times and anyone would get annoyed.”

Qin Li looked at Liu Yumei, puzzled.

“Be good, child. Grandma wouldn’t lie to you. If you want to stay playmates for a long time, then both of you need to feel happy and comfortable when you’re together. Understand?”

Qin Li lay back down.

“Oh, and don’t rush into his room tomorrow morning. Wait until he wakes up. Better yet, let him come get you.”

Qin Li’s lashes began to flutter on the pillow.

“Alright, alright. Wait till he opens the door, then you go.”

She closed her eyes and drifted off.

Liu Yumei tucked her granddaughter in and went to the central room. Opening the door, she found Qin Li’s father, Qin Li, standing outside.

Once inside, Qin Li quietly recounted everything that had happened that day. Liu Yumei nodded, and he left.

“Sigh…”

Liu Yumei turned to look at the altar. She usually chatted with the memorial tablets every day, but tonight, just as she was preparing to speak, a smell interrupted her.

It was the duck egg on the Spirit Hall altar, the one with its top cracked open. In this weather… it had started to rot.

…

When Li Zhuiyuan finished his bath, Great-Grandpa and the others hadn’t come back yet. He went to the bedroom and fell asleep on his own.

When he woke up, it was nearly noon.

He glanced at the chair in his room, but the figure he hoped to see wasn’t there. A twinge of disappointment hit him.

He wondered what she was wearing today.

He got up with his washbasin and opened the door. No one stood outside. Even the reading bench in the northeast corner was empty.

Li Zhuiyuan stepped onto the terrace and looked down.

Today, the girl wore a chest-high ruqun with a red top and a pale yellow skirt. Her hair hung softly over her shoulders, giving her a livelier, more playful air than usual.

She sat inside the threshold again, embroidered shoes perched on the sill.

Sensing something, the girl looked up at the second floor.

“Hold it together, A’Li!”

Qin Li stood up and walked into the house, leaving Liu Yumei behind with a sigh and a palm to her forehead.

Qin Li climbed to the second floor and stood before Li Zhuiyuan, eyes fixed on him.

“I got in late last night and overslept.”

After explaining, Li Zhuiyuan began washing up, then took Qin Li’s hand and went downstairs—it was mealtime, and he was hungry.

The downstairs room bustled. Li Sanjiang, Grandpa Shan, and Liu Jinxia were already drinking over a plate of peanuts and a bowl of jellied fish.

Both Liu Jinxia and Grandpa Shan had their wounds dressed and their faces smeared with ointment.

They hadn’t gone to the clinic. In their line of work, they avoided clinics unless absolutely necessary. Especially Liu Jinxia—many people still came to her to “treat” their ailments.

But Liu Jinxia always knew her limits. After giving people her rune water—hot water mixed with sugar and black sesame paste—she’d tell their families to take them to the health center for proper treatment. She always made clear her remedies were just folk complements.

Li Zhuiyuan guessed it was Aunt Liu who had treated their wounds. She had tended Great-Grandpa before, and her skills were good.

“Where’s Runsheng?”

“Runsheng?” Grandpa Shan hiccupped, about to speak—just as Runsheng and Uncle Qin returned from the fields.

Runsheng had gone farming.

Watching him come back barefoot and drenched in sweat, hoe slung over his shoulder, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt like a freeloader. Which, in truth, he was.

“Time to eat!”

Aunt Liu called everyone to the table.

Liu Yumei’s group sat at one table. Li Sanjiang’s group at another. Li Zhuiyuan and Qin Li had a small table to themselves. And… Runsheng sat alone.

His table was in the loneliest corner, in front of a large rice basin. The basin had been filled with dishes from the big table, and planted in the middle was a thick, arm-sized incense stick.

Runsheng grinned with contentment. Whether it was the food or the incense, who knew? Maybe to him, there was no difference.

So no one was isolating him—just that incense stick. Even getting close to it stung your eyes, making eating impossible.

Li Sanjiang joked with Grandpa Shan:

“Hey hey, look at that! Runsheng’s appetite keeps growing. Soon we’ll need to light a pagoda-sized incense stick for his meals!”

Grandpa Shan grunted twice and buried his face in his porridge.

He wanted dry food, but his teeth were gone.

After lunch, Li Zhuiyuan took Qin Li back upstairs to their usual reading spot.

A three-wheeled cart rolled into the yard. Li Juxiang was pedaling, with Cuicui sitting in the back.

“Mom.”

“Grandma.”

The moment they entered, mother and daughter ran straight to Liu Jinxia, clearly anxious after seeing her.

It seemed Liu Jinxia had returned earlier in the morning, patched herself up, and taken a nap—deliberately not going home so her family wouldn’t worry.

“Mom’s fine, really. Grandma’s just fine. Don’t cry.”

Liu Jinxia soothed her daughter and granddaughter.

Cuicui wiped her tears and stopped crying but kept glancing around the house.

“Go find your cousin Yuanhou upstairs. He’s up there,” Liu Jinxia said, pointing upward.

“Okay!”

“Don’t play too long. We’re taking Grandma home soon. You can come back to see Little Yuanhou in a couple days.”

“Got it, Mom.”

Cuicui climbed to the second-floor terrace and saw her cousin reading with a girl in beautiful clothes.

She rarely went out to play in the village. The Li Sanjiang household was a place most villagers avoided. And Qin Li never went out at all. So Cuicui had only ever heard from her grandmother that a hired hand lived there with his mother and daughter.

This was Cuicui’s first time seeing Qin Li.

“Cuicui, you’re here.”

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and greeted her.

Qin Li turned slightly but didn’t look at Cuicui, keeping her eyes on Li Zhuiyuan.

Cuicui saw her face, clapped a hand over her mouth, and still blurted out in awe:

“Wow, so pretty! So beautiful!”

At first, she had only thought the clothes were nice—like something from TV. But now, seeing the girl’s face, she was blown away.

Even after hearing such praise, Qin Li didn’t glance at her. Cuicui may have been hard-fated, but she wasn’t unclean.

Li Zhuiyuan walked over and said, “Cuicui, this is Qin Li, Granny Liu’s granddaughter.”

“Hi, I’m Cuicui—Li Cuicui.”

Qin Li followed behind Li Zhuiyuan. Seeing Cuicui move closer, her lashes began to flutter.

Li Zhuiyuan took her hand. She calmed down, but still didn’t respond to Cuicui’s friendliness.

Cuicui looked a bit awkward.

“Cuicui, A’Li’s just shy. It’s nothing personal—she’s like this with everyone.”

“She is?”

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