Corpse Retriever

“If he had been the one back then… he wouldn’t have done this…”

Li Zhuiyuan knew who the “he” it was referring to was, and he also knew why that person would never have done such a thing.

In fact, at the very beginning, the boy himself had not wanted to take this money either.

Having come this far, his understanding of karma had already grown quite deep. Even out of simple self-preservation, he should not have casually accepted causality that had fallen into his lap for no reason.

But Taigong had told him to take it.

“He is he. I am me.”

Li Zhuiyuan had never denied how much he admired Wei Zhengdao. There was even a trace of reverence in it. But he had never once imagined becoming a second Wei Zhengdao.

Through the scenes Wei Zhengdao had painted in writing, he could glimpse the landscape of another path.

But in the end, the road he walked and the road Wei Zhengdao walked were two entirely different paths.

True, his own path was not as free, easy, and unrestrained as Wei Zhengdao’s. But Li Zhuiyuan did not think his road was any worse.

He would not have done this back then, but Li Zhuiyuan had.

Didn’t that prove that, at least within these two severed-off “periods of time,” his own illness was recovering faster and more clearly than Wei Zhengdao’s had?

The wind beneath the peach tree kept blowing, carrying its will with it.

“Merit… is this really how you use it…”

“My Taigong taught me that once money is in your hand, you spend it when it should be spent and use it when it should be used.”

“Some things… once you start like this… you won’t be able to stop…”

“I’ve got plenty of merit. I can’t use it all up. I really can’t.”

When he said that, even Li Zhuiyuan laughed.

As if it had been infected by something, peach blossoms swirled in the air, and the petals around the boy grew especially dense.

If he pushed the ghost fetus into taking shape, then once it formed, its resentment would drive it to seek revenge on those truly responsible. That debt, after looping around and around, would still end up hanging on the boy’s shoulders.

But for the current Li Zhuiyuan, this little bit of merit loss truly amounted to nothing.

Some things are not suited to being priced, because the moment you weigh them on a scale, their nature changes.

But if one really insisted on getting serious about it, lifting them up and comparing their weight, one could still estimate things well enough.

Not even talking about the distant past, just the merit he had gained from dissolving the curse beneath the general’s tomb and from stopping Old Hag Bian’s blood sacrifice before it fully began—those two averted disasters alone were already far more than enough. In comparison, using empty-handed means to help those three ghosts take shape was hardly worth mentioning.

The one beneath the peach tree naturally knew this too, and so what it meant was: yes, you can afford to spend it, but not like this.

It asked, “Have you thought it through…”

Li Zhuiyuan lifted a finger and flicked the banknote in his hand twice, making two crisp snapping sounds.

“If this little bit of money gets wasted, then so be it.”

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and began preparing himself for the pain.

Whenever he made what he called a “stupid” choice, that symptom would appear. By now, he was already used to it.

And yet—

After waiting a long while, the pain never came.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes.

The fingers holding the money tightened, gradually turning pale.

No pain meant that, deep down, he approved of this choice.

But it was not out of morality, justice, compassion, or responsibility. Rather, from the perspective of cold rational thought alone, this decision was greatly to his own benefit.

Along with the pain that came after each “stupid” choice, Li Zhuiyuan had also developed the habit of finding some self-consistent explanation for himself.

Taigong’s tricycle moved very slowly, giving the boy ample time sitting on it to come up with a justification for what he had done.

Most of the time, those justifications were forced and clumsy, created only to ease the pain.

But now, he had no choice except to drag that whole line of reasoning back out of his mind and air it out in the sun again:

He had actually long suspected—no, nearly confirmed—that the special treatment he received from the Heavenly Dao had a great deal to do with Wei Zhengdao.

Too much rationality, no emotion, no attachments—not even to one’s own family—that also meant having no weaknesses at all.

Maybe,

if he occasionally did something foolish, showed a little manageable softness of heart now and then, the Heavenly Dao might actually be more pleased by that.

On the surface, what should be deducted would still be deducted. But in places no one could see behind the scenes, if it quietly lent him a hand, who would ever know?

The Heavenly Dao did not like a soul like Wei Zhengdao’s, but that did not mean it disliked having someone like Wei Zhengdao out there riding the waves and settling trouble for it.

He had come beneath this peach grove and asked it to open a gap. It had deep ties and entanglements with Wei Zhengdao, and then it had personally said, “He wouldn’t have done this back then.”

Wasn’t that practically a deliberate attempt to draw a moral line between him and Wei Zhengdao?

The opportunity had been accidental, but the stage and the actors had all been arranged by Li Zhuiyuan himself.

Taking ten thousand steps back, was the oppressive force surrounding this peach grove really something he couldn’t deal with himself?

Would it really have been that hard for him to set up an array at Old Wu’s house and help shield those three little ones from the suppression?

At worst, it would have meant deeper karmic entanglement and greater backlash—but that was only the difference between losing fifty and losing a hundred. For someone like him, already a man of ten thousand, what real difference did that make?

There was no one else around.

The play being performed on this stage was for Heaven to watch.

He gathered his thoughts back in.

Li Zhuiyuan looked again at the money in his hand.

The matter was still the same matter, but the nature of it had changed.

Only he himself knew that he had made the choice first and only afterward hurriedly come up with a reason for it.

But his mind worked too quickly. He had forcibly turned what was originally just a stupid act of wasting money in a moment of foolishness into a calculated move made after deep scheming and careful forethought.

It felt strange.

Then something even stranger happened.

A voice came from beneath the peach tree:

“You… are much better than he was back then…”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Li Zhuiyuan felt unworthy of accepting it. If Taigong had been riding not a tricycle but a three-wheeled motorbike, he could probably have taken the praise calmly and even put on a show of indifference.

But now, he could not make those gestures. If he did, it would just be pure acting.

“You are still very young… walking the rivers is not easy… no matter how much you earn… you should still spend a little more carefully…”

As soon as the words fell, a gust of wind rolled in peach petals, covering back up the marked-out location of Sanxin Village that Li Zhuiyuan had earlier revealed with his peachwood branch.

Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, this patch of peach blossoms began to rot, turning into “spring mud,” completely covering and filling the map the boy had drawn on the ground.

Even if one swept it aside again, not the slightest trace would remain visible.

Li Zhuiyuan guessed what it intended to do.

Things were developing step by step in the direction of his own “careful scheming.”

If his mind had not worked this quickly, if he had not been so clever, then right now he ought to have asked in confusion:

“What are you doing?”

Clearly, it was waiting for him to ask, as if offering him a ladder.

But the boy simply stood there quietly without speaking.

It seemed somewhat helpless.

There was relief, approval, gloom, and even disappointment in it.

It said:

“You are right… you are you, and he is he… you truly are not him… you… are not as clever as he was…”

Li Zhuiyuan blinked.

“I’ve been pinned underneath for quite some time… I’m tired… my back itches… I want to turn over… take a little nap… inevitably there are some places… I won’t be able to watch over properly…”

What that meant was that the gap was not something Li Zhuiyuan had asked it to open.

It was choosing to open it itself.

Whatever happened afterward because of that would have nothing to do with the boy.

That debt would be transferred off the boy and onto it instead.

For the boy, walking the rivers was hard.

But for it, it was already in the final stage of suppressing itself and waiting for extinction. Once you already have enough lice, a few more bites mean nothing.

Li Zhuiyuan let out a sigh and said, “Thank you.”

This had originally been an impulsive, carefree act, even one that could help reinforce the human skin on his face.

Yet somehow, it had instead left him feeling filthier than Wei Zhengdao.

But that sigh made it misunderstand him yet again.

“No need to sigh for me… for me… adding this little bit more… is utterly insignificant…”

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his lips together.

“You truly are no longer like him… instead, you are more like what I once was…”

Li Zhuiyuan drew in a deep breath.

Since he was already “dirty,” there was no point in trying to wash himself clean.

He might as well get a little dirtier while he was at it.

Since things had already developed to this point, he might as well seek the best possible outcome.

The boy said:

“May I ask when exactly you plan to take this nap?”

“Why do you ask…”

Li Zhuiyuan calculated in his head:

Tan Wenbin would recover in less than two days.

Though Yin Meng had been poisoned, the induced vomiting had already shown results. Increase the antidote dosage, and she would wake up tonight and be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Besides, her skill with poisons did not place especially high demands on her body’s condition to begin with.

Lin Shuyou had been sent to the clinic early that morning. By now, his appendix must already have been removed, and he was lying in a hospital bed waiting to pass gas.

An appendectomy was such a simple procedure it hardly needed mentioning. The incision had been stitched closed as well. Give him another two days of rest, and with a martial artist’s physical condition, that would be more than enough.

As for the three clumps of shadow on the beam in the woman’s room, if they still did not fully take shape soon, they would not last much longer before dispersing. He had personally observed them and estimated they could hold on for four more days.

To be safe, he chose three days.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “My people still need three days to recover.”

It said nothing, quietly waiting for him to continue.

“Three days from now, you can turn over and take your nap, shutting off all oppressive force. By then, I will have enough people on hand to deal with the chaos of malevolent spirits that will break out all across Nantong once your pressure disappears.”

This time, it was not merely silent.

It had fallen into silence.

Its earlier meaning had been that it could find an excuse to deliberately loosen the pressure only around Sanxin Village so that the ghosts there could take shape.

But the boy was asking it to withdraw all its majesty entirely.

When that happened, the evil things that had been unable to form over the past year and a half because of its pressure would likely seize the opportunity to take shape, and because this region had been kept too clean, outside malevolent spirits would also naturally drift in to fill the void.

With the current strength of the boy and his people, handling that first wave in time would not be difficult.

After all, the things born and entering first would not be truly great fiends.

They would only need to wait at ease, strike fixed targets, and cut them down before they could harm anyone.

During that time, they could deliberately leave the gap at Sanxin Village unresolved a little longer, allowing those three to fully form and take their revenge.

That way, the three resentful ghosts in Sanxin Village would no longer count as the boy’s “sin.” Even if those three did kill people, as long as he went afterward to clean things up, not only would he be free of blame, he would even gain merit.

Pull the perspective back farther and look at the whole affair: the boy and his team would be eliminating a large number of malevolent spirits throughout Nantong in one stroke. That was protecting the land and people, safeguarding the local community.

I may already have enough lice that I don’t care about more bites…

but you are actually using me to farm merit?

And the worst part was, it was the one that had opened this topic itself, and this method had been proposed by it as well!

The wind in the peach grove howled up, turning cold and sharp.

It whipped at the boy’s clothes and struck his face so hard it hurt.

Li Zhuiyuan knew it was angry.

Because he was pushing his luck.

The boy bent down and picked up the child inside the little fence, cradling him protectively in his arms.

There was no need to let this child suffer because of him, to be hurt by this cold wind somehow. After all, Xiong Shan and his wife worked diligently at Taigong’s house.

But the moment he made that move, Li Zhuiyuan immediately realized that he had become dirtier again.

Would it think he was using the child in his arms to manipulate it?

After all, it was the one that had given this child his formal name. For such a long time, the child had been placed here in the peach grove every day. Even if it had not personally watched over him, that thick, fresh bed of petals on the ground could not possibly have appeared out of nowhere. The few peach trees nearby could never have dropped so many blossoms.

The wind blew even harder, almost sweeping through the grove like a storm.

Even Li Zhuiyuan himself had trouble keeping his footing. Though he had lowered his head, several fine cuts were still opened on his cheeks by the force of the wind.

But now, he could not put the child down.

Because if he did, that would be even more manipulative than holding him.

On the open ground at Big Beard’s house, Xiao Yingying, who had been making paper effigies, stood up in confusion. Where she was, the weather was bright and calm, and the rows of paper figures were perfectly undisturbed.

But inside that peach grove, there was the sound of wind raging.

Had they started fighting?

At last, the wind stopped.

Li Zhuiyuan bent down and gathered the scattered petals back into a pile, preparing to place the child back into the petal cradle.

“Hold him…”

Li Zhuiyuan heard it.

But the boy did not stop placing the child back in the cradle. After setting him down, he even straightened the little fence that the wind had knocked crooked.

Once that was done, Li Zhuiyuan stood upright and said toward the depths of the peach grove:

“This time, I’ll carry Benben with me while I go slay demons and monsters.”

Li Zhuiyuan understood what it meant by “hold him.” It wanted him to bring the child along so the child could share in some merit.

It was destined to vanish in the end. It could not protect the child for life.

The best thing—and the most practical lifelong benefit—it could give this child was merit to stand at his side.

As long as the child did not grow up overly ambitious, then even by simply stepping back from greatness, he could still enjoy wealth, a harmonious family, and many descendants.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Thank you.”

After offering his thanks, Li Zhuiyuan turned and left.

From deep within the peach grove came a long, faint sigh:

“You are right… you are you, and he is he… even if it were he… back then, he still would never have gone this far…”

…

Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the peach grove.

If he had a choice, he would rather have solved this by calling the police.

But the first two miscarried children had been caused by medicine given by Luo Mingzhu and the others. He had heard them say it with his own ears, yet there could no longer be any evidence.

As for the three-year-old child who had just died, first there were congenital defects, and then afterward deliberate neglect in care, but again there was no hard proof.

The woman had drunk pesticide herself out of overwhelming grief.

Even if Luo Mingzhu and the others were investigated, they would deny everything to the death. Even if Tan Yunlong personally handled the case, there would be little he could do.

When he passed the open yard, Xiao Yingying came down. She raised a hand and touched her own face.

Li Zhuiyuan understood. He walked up onto the yard and sat down on a bench.

Xiao Yingying came over and began tending to his wounds.

The cuts left by the wind were not deep, so they were not hard to deal with.

With a little powder on her fingertips, Xiao Yingying gently stroked the boy’s face.

Once she had completely covered the cuts, a smile appeared on her face.

When she had first seen this child at Big Beard’s funeral, she had thought he was very good-looking.

Now, after all this time, the child had grown a little older and taller, and the outline of a handsome young man was beginning to show.

“When you come of age, I’m afraid you’ll charm quite a lot of women.”

Liu had said something similar to the boy before.

Li Zhuiyuan was not surprised by that at all. After all, his father had been a carefully chosen pick from Li Lan’s standards.

The boy asked, “Want to dream?”

Xiao Yingying said, “That night was satisfying enough already. I can still savor it even now.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Next time you want to dream, just say so.”

Xiao Yingying said, “Mm, next time I want one, I’ll come find you.”

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at her. He knew she was saying it like that on purpose.

Time changed many people, except the dead.

She simply found it amusing, interesting even, to tease him—the young boy—in this way.

She was still just as flirtatious as ever.

Li Zhuiyuan got up and left, returning home.

He first went into Yin Meng’s room to check on her and found that she was actually already awake.

She lay on the bed with her eyes open, staring blankly.

Her body had woken up, but her mind was still numb.

Runsheng came in holding a small bowl in his hands.

“Little Yuan.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked over and saw that the bowl contained rice broth.

Rice broth was the thick layer of liquid that floated on top when porridge was cooked.

Runsheng said, “Aunt Liu told me to drink it.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Then that meant it was for Yin Meng to drink. It should help with detoxifying her, though Aunt Liu had not said so directly.

Still, if you were giving Runsheng something to eat, even if it was only an afternoon snack, you should not be using a small bowl. You should be using a basin.

Runsheng understood that too.

“You feed her.”

“Alright!”

Runsheng sat down by the bed and used a spoon to feed Yin Meng the rice broth.

“Little Yuan, she’s awake.”

“I can see that.”

“Will her brain be damaged because of this?”

“It’s fine. Even if it is damaged, it won’t matter much.”

The moment Li Zhuiyuan finished saying that, Yin Meng suddenly blinked twice in quick succession.

So being irritated could help her recover her awareness?

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Brother Runsheng.”

“Yeah?”

“Talk to her more. Say things that are good at annoying people and making them choke on their anger.”

“Uh…”

“It’ll help speed up the detox and recovery.”

“Got it!”

Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the west room.

As Runsheng continued feeding Yin Meng rice broth, he said:

“It’s okay. Little Yuan was just saying that casually. Rest easy and recover slowly. No need to rush. Even if the poison really damaged your brain, it’s fine. The team never counted on your brains anyway.”