He went straight to the second floor and entered his own room, where Alii was holding a small planer, shaving a wooden spirit tablet.
Beside her on the floor lay a leather whip, half of which had already been wrapped with the veneer of the spirit tablet.
When the boy was not ho, the girl would either draw or help him with these crafts.
As Li Zhiyuan appeared at the door, the girl looked up, a smile curving her lips, her eyes lighting up.
But soon, she seed to sense sothing, and her expression quickly fell.
"Look, there’s none."
Li Zhiyuan spread his hands in front of the girl, showing that his palms were without wounds.
"There are none on my body either, I resisted, really, I did it."
The boy was eagerly proving himself, as if boasting about his "exam results."
By comparison, the so-called math competition seed trivial at this mont.
The smile that had disappeared from the girl’s lips reappeared.
Seeing the girl again, the tension that had been tight within Li Zhiyuan finally relaxed.
He walked over to the bed, lay down, blinked twice, and imdiately fell into a deep sleep.
In that sleep, he had many dreams; sotis it was himself, sotis it was Li Lan, sotis Li Lan was leading him by hand, and at other tis he stood next to Li Lan, watching a mother and child walking hand in hand in the distance.
Daylight ca, and the boy woke up.
The girl was sitting by the bed, watching him.
Just like last ti when he was exhausted, she had stayed up all night for him again.
Liu Yui felt that eting the boy at Li Sanjiang’s house was Alii’s luck.
Li Zhiyuan felt that encountering Alii in the Grandmaster’s house was his own luck.
The two doors that were ant to close slowly after their eting were stuck against each other, both striving to support one another.
Aunt Liu’s voice ca from downstairs, like the sound of a temple bell cleansing the soul, also putting a definitive end to his journey back to Beijing:
"Ti for breakfast!"
...
School holidays ant the New Year was approaching.
Aunt Zhang’s small shop had received many new snacks, and there were an assortnt of small firecrackers laid out at the door.
During this ti of year, children’s purchasing power was at its strongest; from dawn to dusk, groups of children would often co by to buy things.
Li Zhiyuan also ca over to buy things.
"Yuanzi!"
"Yuanzi!"
Hu Zi and Shitou waved enthusiastically at Li Zhiyuan.
The two of them had also received New Year’s money but were usually short of cash; as soon as they received money, it quickly ca and went.
Now, they were accompanying kids who still had money, enthusiastically recomnding which types of firecrackers were fun, hoping to play with a few after the purchases.
Seeing that Yuanzi was also buying firecrackers, they imdiately stood by Li Zhiyuan’s side, acting as his advisors.
Li Zhiyuan picked up a few boxes of firecrackers and glow sticks, then asked: "What do you guys want? Just grab it yourself."
Both of their eyes lit up, yet each only took one box of the cheapest ones.
"Pick a few more boxes."
Seeing Yuanzi’s generosity, they no longer held back and chose a few boxes that they liked.
After paying, Li Zhiyuan left.
Hu Zi and Shitou, with their firecrackers in tow, boasted proudly in front of the other children.
Back at ho, Li Zhiyuan walked up to Run Sheng, who was making paper figures:
"Brother Runsheng, give two incenses."
"Okay."
Run Sheng lit two thin incenses and handed them to the boy.
The boy took the incense, walked over to Alii, and handed her one.
Then, the boy and girl began placing firecrackers all around, lighting them with the incense.
In the dam and the vegetable garden below, the sound of firecrackers erupted intermittently.
Yin ng walked out of the house with an ink pot in hand, twisting her neck while watching the playful duo below, montarily dazed:
"They are really interesting."
Run Sheng responded and asked, "Do you want to set off firecrackers too?"
Yin ng nodded: "Yes, it’s almost New Year."
"Wait here."
Run Sheng put down the rattan he was holding, went into the back room, then ca out with eight double-shot firecrackers:
"Here, let’s light them."
"Set these off?"
"Yes, if we don’t use them soon, they’ll expire. They should still make a sound now."
"My dad paged , my dad paged !"
Tan Wenbin had a pager strapped to his waist, pointing at it while walking with an exaggerated pelvic thrust, as if his pelvis was dislocated.
Because of his good final exam results, Tan Yunlong had bought him a pager. Since then, he had always worn it on his waist, and to match it, he even picked out a new pair of jeans and a belt.
Run Sheng: "Did your dad page your face?"
"Heh, I know you’re just jealous."
Tan Wenbin continued with his crab-like walk down the dam.
This act made Yin ng and Liu Yui, who were sitting on the dam drinking tea, laugh.
Tan Wenbin jogged back to Aunt Zhang’s shop to return the call, then he ran back and shouted to Li Zhiyuan, who was still playing with firecrackers with Alii:
"Brother Xiao Yuan, my dad says soone from the police station will co to pick you and Mr. Li up soon. They’ve received a strange body and want you guys to take a look."
"Okay." Li Zhiyuan nodded and walked with Alii out of the fields to the water well on the dam to wash their hands.
Tan Wenbin asked, "Should I go call Mr. Li back?"
Liu Jinxia had received a job and asked Li Sanjiang to discuss it, and he was not back yet.
Li Zhiyuan shook his head: "No need, we can go."
"Good." Tan Wenbin agreed, feeling that whether Grandmaster went or not made no difference.
Run Sheng asked: "Xiao Yuan, are we going?"
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