Corpse Retriever

She was pregnant.

On the way back to his hometown, Li Zhuiyuan had actually already considered this possibility.

Because that was the whole purpose behind Baijia Town taking in a live-in son-in-law.

According to the traditions of Baijia Town, once a man married into the family, the moment the Bai Family Matron he had wed successfully conceived, his life had reached its end.

If the child born was a boy, the boy would also be disposed of. Only a girl born into the family could become a member of Baijia Town.

So under normal circumstances, Xue Liangliang should already be dead by now.

The reason he could still keep jumping into the river again and again, merely unable to enter the place but never truly facing danger...

First, because Uncle Qin had once fought his way into Baijia Town and had come within a hair of smashing straight through the entire town;

Second, because this Bai Family Matron had most likely already sensed who he was and was deeply wary of it.

Among all the live-in sons-in-law Baijia Town had ever taken, Xue Liangliang’s status in his wife’s family was already the highest. That was because his natal family was exceptionally powerful.Li Zhuiyuan asked, “So?”

The bride said, “Please forgive us. Baijia Town has its own traditions.”

Li Zhuiyuan shot back, “Oh? So you still plan to kill him?”

The bride replied, “We have not, nor would we dare.”

Li Zhuiyuan pressed again, “Then where exactly have your traditions gone now?”

The bride said, “In extraordinary times, one must act as circumstances require.”

Li Zhuiyuan continued, “So that tradition doesn’t actually exist at all.”

The bride fell silent.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Answer me.”

The bride replied, “My Bai family has already shown sufficient respect and courtesy.”

“Not enough!”

The bride went silent again. Through the curtain of water, her cold eyes looked toward the boy standing on the bank.

Xiong Shan immediately stepped forward and barked, “Insolence.”

At once, twelve straw men surfaced on the river, all lifting their heads and surrounding the bride.

The bride closed her eyes, her tone carrying a trace of helplessness. “What do you want?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. “I can’t be bothered to think about it.”

The bride said, “You are making things impossible for us.”

Li Zhuiyuan smiled. “Back then, I didn’t see you being all that reasonable either.”

The bride said, “We had an agreement.”

Li Zhuiyuan replied, “Was that agreement signed with me?”

The bride said, “If you act like this, my Bai family will not know how to proceed.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “That’s because you still haven’t properly placed yourselves where you belong.”

The bride said, “Please enlighten us.”

Li Zhuiyuan bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it toward the river.

With a smack, the stone hit the water and sent up a splash.

“From the very beginning, I never liked your lot. In fact, I don’t even want you existing within Nantong’s borders.

There are two fences standing in front of me.

One fence is that the Bai family once said that no Bai Family Matron would ever be allowed to come ashore again.

The other fence is my friend who likes to come back to Nantong and jump into the river whenever he has free time.

The first fence is rotten and full of holes. It can’t stop me, because I don’t like promises made by the living. In my eyes, only the dead keep their word forever.

The second fence really is a bit troublesome for me.

If you’re willing to help me move that second fence away, I’d be very grateful.”

Li Zhuiyuan had never forgotten why he had come here.

He was here to mediate a marital dispute.

Conflicts between people had to be resolved through reason, but only if both sides were the sort who could be reasoned with.

The Bai family clearly was not.

Since childhood, Li Zhuiyuan had liked observing people, dissecting the logic behind their behavior so he could understand and imitate them.

He had discovered that in real life, people who disliked reasoning often didn’t display much intelligence.

But that type of person was usually extremely sensitive to one thing: threats to survival.

The moment they encountered a survival crisis, they immediately became sharp and cautious, then relied on instinct to make the most correct choice.

Put simply, there were some people whom, if you really treated them like human beings, not only would you feel uncomfortable, they themselves would feel even more uncomfortable.

Just like Liu Yumei’s term for the Bai family: a bunch of white rats hiding at the bottom of the river, dreaming of becoming immortals.

The bride digested the boy’s words, then gave him a soft curtsy.

“This servant understands.”

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that she had referred to herself as “this servant” twice.

Once at the beginning, when she said she was pregnant.

And once here, when she said she understood.

Those two statements had been spoken in her personal capacity. As for the dialogue in between, that had represented the whole of Baijia Town.

That made Li Zhuiyuan somewhat suspicious that she might have done it on purpose.

She was the highest-ranking Bai Family Matron in Baijia Town. Liangliang had mentioned before that when he found her, her coffin had been placed in the ancestral hall of Baijia Town.

The other Bai Family Matrons, meanwhile, all sat inside the town’s residences.

And she had the authority to order that no Bai Family Matron be allowed ashore.

But sometimes, even the one at the very top had no choice in the matter.

The legal basis of her power and status came from Bai family tradition, so she had no way to take the lead in destroying that very tradition.

Unless a massive outside force intervened and made everyone above and below accept that compromise was now an unavoidable reality.

She could have explained everything to Xue Liangliang beforehand, but instead she chose to say nothing, not even to meet him.

Wasn’t that practically forcing Xue Liangliang to go seek outside help?

Heh.

If that was really the case, didn’t it mean Liangliang had actually managed to develop real feelings with this Bai Family Matron?

If something like that happened to someone else, people would find it unbelievable. But if it happened to Xue Liangliang, somehow it felt perfectly natural.

Because Li Zhuiyuan himself was absolutely one of the hardest kinds of people in the world to get along with.

And yet even so, when they had spent the night at the river embankment construction site, Xue Liangliang’s line during his speech—“My future lies in the southwest of the motherland”—had stirred both goodwill and curiosity in him.

At breakfast that morning, when the old lady heard he was coming to mediate a marital dispute, the look in her eyes had been one of sheer astonishment.

Yes.

If it had been anyone else, how could he possibly have been willing to come all this way just to deal with something like this?

It could only be said that some people carried this quality with them—wherever they went, they radiated a kind of light that drew others in.

At that thought, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt listless.

Because he had very likely been used.

And the worst kind of use at that—the kind where you only realized it at the very end, the kind you couldn’t possibly detect beforehand, and even if you did detect it, you would still have no choice but to cooperate.

What was more, you could never get a definite answer.

Because whatever “gentle affection” this Bai Family Matron did for Xue Liangliang from here on out could always be explained as her yielding under the Dragon King’s clan’s oppressive might.

Even if she admitted outright that she had done it deliberately, it still wouldn’t prove anything.

Li Zhuiyuan disliked that feeling, but there was nothing he could do about it.

At that moment, the bride stepped back three paces, and the watery curtain around her moved with her.

She knelt down, her upper body held straight, her hands curved together and first raised before her forehead, right hand outside and left hand inside, before bowing them down to her abdomen. This was a solemn formal bow.

In ancient times, women wore many ornaments, and this was the sort of salute used toward elders or those of high status.

Li Zhuiyuan waved a hand at her.

The bride slowly sank down until she finally disappeared beneath the river’s surface, and the water became calm and still.

“Let’s go.”

Li Zhuiyuan turned and left. Xiong Shan and Lihua exchanged a glance, then followed.

After they got into the car, Liu Changping drove everyone back to Li Sanjiang’s house.

Liu Changping was told to drive into Shigang Town for fuel, and while he was there, find an inn to stay at.

As for Xiong Shan and Lihua, Li Zhuiyuan arranged for them to stay in the west room.

The east room was where Ah Li and Liu Yumei had once stayed. It had remained locked ever since.

Taigong had said that east room had to stay locked until it was certain that that calculating old lady wouldn’t marry her granddaughter off to Little Yuanhou of their family.

In his younger years, Li Sanjiang had not only roamed old Shanghai, he had also fought in the three great campaigns.

If you said he really couldn’t tell what Liu Yumei’s little mannerisms meant beneath the surface, that would be hard to believe.

In Li Sanjiang’s philosophy of dealing with people, there was no point talking money with rich people. What you had to talk about instead were hopes and feelings.

As for Xiao Yingying, Li Zhuiyuan had originally assumed she would sleep in the west room. In fact, she didn’t. At night, she slept in the coffin downstairs.

Back when Runsheng and Tan Wenbin had liked sleeping in coffins because they were warm in winter and cool in summer, Li Sanjiang had never thought much of it, so he treated this the same way.

There was just one tiny hiccup in the middle of it all: Lihua’s child was carried into the coffin by Xiao Yingying too.

Lihua pushed open the coffin lid and saw her son sleeping soundly inside, sprawled on top of the Dead Sinker.

This child had been taken around the jianghu by his parents practically from the day he was born. He really had seen the world.

When Lihua reached in to carry her son out, Xiao Yingying suddenly opened her eyes.

Still, she made no move to stop her.

Lihua lifted her son, rocked him, and kissed him.

After playing with him for a while, Lihua put her son right back into the coffin.

There seemed to be a trace of confusion in Xiao Yingying’s eyes.

Lihua smiled, then helped them close the coffin lid.

Once you took the first step and accepted something new, your tolerance for it could rise at a terrifying speed.

During the day, Lihua had still found it absurd beyond belief that a Dead Sinker was helping her look after her child. By nightfall, she thought it was actually pretty great.

If someone else was helping you watch the child, then you could just go to the west room with your husband and enjoy some time alone together.

Li Zhuiyuan went up to the second floor. As he passed Taigong’s door, he heard Taigong snoring.

By the sound of it, Taigong would sleep until dawn before waking.

But there was no snoring coming from his own room.

He pushed the door open and saw Xue Liangliang sitting at the edge of the bed, holding a cup of steaming tea in both hands and sipping from it bit by bit.

“Xiaoyuan? Xiaoyuan! Xiaoyuan…”

From confusion to delight, and then to sorrow.

When Xue Liangliang put down the teacup and tried to rush over, Li Zhuiyuan lifted a hand and made a stop gesture.

“You reek of alcohol. It stinks.”

Xue Liangliang gave an embarrassed smile, then opened the windows and door to air out the room.

Li Zhuiyuan walked out and sat down in a rattan chair on the terrace.

Xue Liangliang came out carrying a washbasin, humming as he went off to bathe.

Communication between smart people was simple. Xiaoyuan had only gotten back late at night, and the moment he returned he complained about the smell of alcohol on him, which meant the matter had been settled.

After washing up, Xue Liangliang changed into clean clothes and came out looking much fresher, though he was a little scruffy with stubble.

And taking a closer look, over the past half year he had been following Luo Gong from one construction site to another, exposed to wind and rain. The youthful scholarly air he once had had been worn away and replaced by hardship and sharp edges.

The only thing unchanged was that there was still light in his eyes.

“Brother Liangliang, you can really hold your liquor.”

“Hah, I built that up on construction sites. I used to hear people say drinking could ease fatigue, and I didn’t get it. Now I do. Even I have it pretty easy compared to the frontline workers. They’ve got it much harder.”

“It hasn’t been easy.”

“There’s no need to rush to pity me. You’ll be joining in soon enough, kid. After the New Year, a major project is officially starting. The relocation work is already being prepared.”

“Are a lot of people going to be moved?”

“Yeah, a lot of people will be forced to leave their homes. Their hometowns will be submerged underwater, never to see daylight again.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked up at the bright moon in the sky.

Xue Liangliang pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket, took one out, lit it, drew deeply, then slowly exhaled.

“That’s why our responsibility is so heavy. If we don’t do this project right, we’ll have failed everyone above and below who has given so much and sacrificed so much.

Those planning blueprints are a burden resting right on our shoulders. It’s a sense of mission you can actually feel.”

Xue Liangliang flicked the ash and sank into his emotions.

When he spoke about this, he seemed to have forgotten his original reason for coming here. Or maybe he just felt too embarrassed to abruptly bring up his own private affairs in the middle of such a serious topic.

“After next semester starts, you won’t be spending much time at school. Luo Gong will definitely press you into service.”

“Oh.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. He had expected this long ago. Otherwise, why would he have enrolled at that university?

Xue Liangliang smoked three cigarettes in a row. By the time he stubbed out the third one, the mood hanging in the air had finally faded.

“Um, Xiaoyuan…”

“You actually managed to hold it in that long.”

“It’s not contradictory. Personal happiness becomes part of the nation’s development and construction.”

“Once it’s daylight, you can go back to jumping into the river again.”

“Did something happen?”

“A good thing.”

“A good thing?”

“You’re going to be a father.”

Xue Liangliang froze in place for a long time. Then he suddenly covered his mouth. Afraid of waking anyone, he could only suppress his laughter as he started hopping around where he stood.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned his head back against the rattan chair. The night wind carried a chill as it stirred his hair.

Xue Liangliang grabbed Li Zhuiyuan’s arm and shook it. “Xiaoyuan, do you know that? I’m going to be a father!”

“Oh, really? Congratulations.”

“Hahaha!”

Xue Liangliang covered his mouth again, laughing so hard his shoulders shook.

It took him a good while to finally calm down and start breathing deeply.

“Xiaoyuan, then why—”

“There’s no need to worry about that anymore. The matter’s already been settled.”

“All right, I understand.” Xue Liangliang nodded.

The two of them sat there quietly in the rattan chairs, silently watching the moon together.

After quite a while, Xue Liangliang asked,

“Xiaoyuan, what do you think my child should be named?”

“Ask Brother Runsheng.”

“Let Runsheng name the kid? Well, what I mean is, help me come up with something first. You’ve memorized so many ancient books—give me meaningful names, one for a boy and one for a girl.

Oh, right. The first child will have the surname Xue.”

Xue Liangliang cared a lot about that, because it meant he wasn’t really a live-in son-in-law, even if the woman never came out and every time it was him taking the initiative to go to her.

“Brother, you should choose the name yourself. I’m not suited for that.”

“Oh. All right.” Xue Liangliang sighed. “It feels so unreal. I’m actually going to be a father. If my parents find out, do you think they’ll…”

“Be scared to death.”

Xue Liangliang smiled, then nodded helplessly.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up. “I’m going to bed.”

“Mm, go get some rest. I’ll sit here a little longer.”

Li Zhuiyuan walked back inside.

“Thank you, Xiaoyuan.”

…

The next morning, when Li Zhuiyuan got up, he didn’t see Brother Liangliang in the room.

He was sure that Brother Liangliang definitely wasn’t at home either.

Carrying a plastic basin and getting ready to wash up, he had just stepped out when he saw Li Sanjiang sitting in the rattan chair, smoking.

It was cool in the early morning. Li Zhuiyuan knew Taigong was aware he had come back, so he had deliberately sat there waiting for him to wake up and come out.

“Taigong.”

“Little Yuanhou.”

Li Sanjiang immediately pinched out the cigarette he had just lit.

When he lifted the boy into his arms, he bounced him with effort.

“Taigong can barely carry you anymore.”

“You can carry me on your back.”

“Heh-heh.” Li Sanjiang set Li Zhuiyuan down. “Go wash up.”

“Mm.”

After Li Zhuiyuan finished brushing his teeth and was just pouring hot water to wash his face, he saw Taigong come out wearing the formal outfit he had bought yesterday, with another set in his hand.

“It fits, it fits perfectly. Our Little Yuanhou really knows how to shop. Taigong likes it very much.”

Li Sanjiang turned around twice in front of Li Zhuiyuan and said, “How about I change into this other set and show you?”

“Sure.”

“Just wait.”

Li Sanjiang went back inside, changed into the other outfit, and came back out.

“This one has even more style. If I wore this out, anyone who didn’t know better would think the village chief had arrived!”

“Taigong, there’s a fountain pen on my desk. You can take one and clip it to your breast pocket. Then you’ll look even more like one.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to our Little Yuanhou.”

Li Sanjiang really did go into the boy’s room, pick out the cheapest-looking fountain pen, clip it to his chest pocket, then come swaggering back out with his hands clasped behind his back.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Hello, Village Chief Grandpa.”

“Hahaha!”

By ordinary logic, it should be a happy thing when a junior buys a gift for an elder.