"Alright... Thank you, Uncle Qin."
Li Zhiyuan could only nod his head; it seemed that his only option was to wake up Grandmaster and ask for his opinion.
However, Grandmaster probably had no solutions either, for he had shown fear toward the Bai Family’s Lady that day and chose to back away.
At that moment, the eastern room’s door was opened from the inside.
Dressed in pajamas, with her hair down, Liu Yumei came out. Her eyes were still very red.
"Ali, follow Xiao Yuan to the hospital to deliver the money."
Li Zhiyuan looked at Liu Yumei in surprise. He only mentioned it as something to try, not expecting Liu Yumei to agree so readily this time.
"Xiao Yuan, wait a minute, your uncle will get the bicycle out."
"No need, Uncle Qin, we’ll go wait at the bridge south of the main road at the village entrance; a car will come to pick us up."
"Oh, alright then, let’s go. If we come back late and your Grandmaster wakes up, your Aunt Liu will explain to him for you, don’t worry."
"Do you need to take anything with you?"
"No, we can leave now."
Before leaving, Li Zhiyuan bowed to Liu Yumei: "Thank you, Granny."
Liu Yumei didn’t respond and turned back into the house.
After Li Zhiyuan and Uncle Qin left, Aunt Liu came in carrying a basin of hot water, placed the water on the rack, took up the comb, and started to help Liu Yumei groom her hair.
The years would relentlessly roll over everyone; Liu Yumei’s hair was only silvery grey last year, but now, only the surface layer retained that color. Once combed through, all that was underneath was soft white hair.
As Aunt Liu combed, she couldn’t help but choke with emotion.
"Why are you crying?"
"Heh." Liu Yumei put away a spirit placard she had wiped clean.
"I want to know why you agreed this time.
Even if Uncle Sanjiang doesn’t know and it indeed doesn’t concern him, Xiao Yuan still lives here. He’s still related to Uncle Sanjiang. In case..."
"Of course, I’m aware of ’in case’." Liu Yumei gazed at the rows of spirit placards in front of her, "but today, I’m in a bad mood and I don’t feel like bothering about ’in case’ at the moment."
Aunt Liu continued to brush the hair in silence without replying anymore.
Liu Yumei’s voice suddenly rose: "What, am I, this old lady, already too old even to be whimsical when I please?"
"No, you can, you can!"
Liu Yumei stood up and pointed at the spirit placards, her tone impassioned:
"These folks, back then, they left with their fleets without a word to me, kept the whole family - no, both families - in the dark on purpose!
Great, all of them were so eager to be heroes, and died to the last man, leaving me all alone. Did they ever think of me?
They weren’t even willing to leave behind a spirit placard for the family, sacrificing them all. For decades, I’ve been stayed here staring at these lifeless placards, without even anyone to talk to!
Why should they be the only ones to be reckless while I have to carefully stay here, fearing that any little thing could trigger a backlash from Luck.
As she spoke, tears flowed from Liu Yumei’s eyes, one hand supporting the offering table, the other covering her face.
Aunt Liu was heartbroken, yet she didn’t know how to comfort her.
Liu Yumei dropped her hand and raised her head again, looking at the spiritual placards, chuckling:
"Heh heh, see that? Did you see that? You’re no longer here, and it hasn’t been that long. Those Bai family rats from the river’s bottom dare to clamber ashore and disgust people."
Liu Yumei’s expression turned serious, and her gaze became sharp:
"Then I’ll just slap them right back.
who really has the final say!"