"Explain how you want to die."
"Dying isn’t hard. I’ll just make one last deal and let a custor kill ."
"Sounds simple enough."
"You don’t know, living is painful for right now. I want to be free."
"Well, hurry up, I won’t stay here much longer."
"Alright, rest assured, as long as you agree, I’ll arrange my own death imdiately."
"I can agree, but there’s one thing I must clarify first. I’m considered a disciple of the Liu family, but I haven’t formally joined yet, so my relationship with the Liu family isn’t what you might imagine.
You shouldn’t expect that I can definitely bring Yin ng into the Liu family."
"The abilities you showed yesterday, to , whether you’re from the Liu family or not, it doesn’t really matter anymore."
"Alright, I agree."
"Thank you."
"Didn’t you say yesterday that you didn’t want her to follow this path?"
"Yesterday, during the day, I had a mont of lucidity before death, although I didn’t actually die. It made see things more clearly. ng ng should choose her own path. If she truly doesn’t like this way, I believe you’ll arrange things for her because you’re the smartest person I’ve ever t."
So smart, almost inhuman.
"I’m going to sleep now."
"Rest well."
The next morning, after waking up, Li Zhiyuan sat up inside the coffin.
Yin ng was taking down the door panels with Run Sheng, getting ready to start a business that few custors would visit.
"You’re awake. I cooked so preserved egg and lean at porridge, want so?"
Li Zhiyuan’s gaze bypassed the enthusiastic Yin ng, looking at Run Sheng behind her.
Run Sheng shook his head solemnly.
This piqued Li Zhiyuan’s curiosity. How unusual must the food be to make even Run Sheng find it unappetizing?
But he still didn’t want to risk it, shaking his head, he said, "I want to eat buns."
Run Sheng imdiately responded and left the shop, "I’ll go get so."
Yin ng said disappointedly, "But there’s still a lot of porridge left in the pot, I made too much."
Li Zhiyuan comforted her, "No worries, when Binbin wakes up, leave it all for him. He loves porridge."
He got out of the coffin and washed up.
Li Zhiyuan returned to Yin ng and honestly said, "I want to see your family’s genealogy."
Yin ng didn’t hesitate, "Sure, I’ll get it for you."
She didn’t know how to navigate the underworld, so she never spoke with the old man. She simply felt that there was nothing wrong with showing the genealogy to a friend.
The genealogy was very thick and large, so for convenience, it had to be placed on the ground to read.
The Yin family indeed had a history, as the beginning of the genealogy seed like a myth. There were several pages describing the Yin family’s daughters-in-law or daughters either napping by the river or dreaming of strange sights, then becoming pregnant and giving birth to so noble figure.
In those tis, it seed the won of the Yin family were all busy with one thing: inexplicably getting pregnant.
The middle section was more like a historical account, detailed and in line with official history.
The later part was full of dense research and investigations into the Yin family’s ancestors.
This inevitably reminded Li Zhiyuan of the original owners of Road Bully Village, the ancestors of the Qi family.
They were all mad researchers, but while the Qi ancestors studied spatial layers, the Yin ancestors investigated their most famous forebears.
The content was so detailed, there were even lengthy travels and comntaries, almost turning it from a genealogy into a comprehensive summary of the family’s historical research.
Considering what he already had, the Qi ancestors’ notes, the bamboo slips on the masked man, and now the Yin Family Genealogy.
The Qi ancestors’ notes were always in his mind but, due to physical reasons, he hadn’t had ti to decipher them. The bamboo slips weren’t fully restored either.
But these three books were imnsely readable.
Only book lovers know the joy of feeling the weight of thick volus and the thrill of continuing when you’re engrossed in reading.
By noon, when Yin ng was changing her grandfather’s diaper, the old man opened his eyes again.
This ti, he spoke. The severe facial paralysis caused by a stroke had weakened his facial muscles, making it difficult to lift his lips, and his voice was extrely weak.
Li Zhiyuan heard the noise and ca in to translate.
There wasn’t much new information, mostly the usual exhortations and blessings from an elder to a younger generation, cliché yet sincerely heartfelt.
The old man seed very confident in Li Zhiyuan’s abilities. He didn’t even ntion the matter of his granddaughter following the young man, and Li Zhiyuan didn’t add anything himself.
Letting everything take its course was best.
Yin ng seed to have sensed sothing. After the conversation, she called Run Sheng to accompany her to the fabric store to buy white cloth and black gauze, as well as go to the mourning shop to buy funeral supplies.
The reason Tan Wenbin wasn’t called to go was that Binbin got food poisoning from the porridge that morning and was vomiting and having diarrhea.
This greatly surprised Li Zhiyuan, as Binbin had eaten at the Corpse Recovery Diver’s place several tis before and even eaten dirty cured at, yet he couldn’t handle Yin ng’s porridge.
When everything was ready, everyone remained calm and peaceful. The funeral was anticipated to be simple since neither the coffin shop nor the corpse recovery divers had many relatives or friends.
Perhaps Li Zhiyuan and the other three were the only guests at the upcoming funeral.
That night, Li Zhiyuan heard the sound of the wind around the coffin, but he remained lying down and did not attempt to navigate the underworld.
The next morning, everyone got up and had soy milk and dough sticks bought from outside for breakfast.
After eating, Yin ng, just as usual, did not look at the shrouds that were already prepared, but instead brought over the clean clothes and diapers she had washed.
She opened the coffin, intending to help her grandfather wipe and change.
Inside the coffin, the old man lay with his eyes closed, no longer breathing. He passed away peacefully and serenely.
Yin ng cried, tears streaming down her face, but after wiping her eyes twice, she turned and smiled, saying to the three behind her,
"It’s good that my grandpa has passed away."
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