"This is not surprising, some corpses have special abilities to separate their spirit and body from one another. Remember the last time, that old lady with the cat face?"
"Cat-faced old lady?" Tan Wenbin looked surprised, "Did I arrive late and miss something important?"
Run Sheng spoke with a serious tone, "If that’s the case, Xiao Yuan, dealing with Zhou Yong will be harder."
Tan Wenbin excitedly rubbed his hands together, nodding in agreement, "Yes, it’s going to be tricky."
Li Zhiyuan shook his head, "It’s not necessarily about fighting. He hasn’t harmed any villagers yet. If he likes to swim in the river and return home to be with his deceased wife and kids, we don’t really have a reason to make an enemy out of him.
We just need to remind him not to be seen underwater by the villagers, and ask who taught him these tricks, and that should suffice.
Essentially, we can coexist peacefully with him."
"Ah? We can coexist peacefully?" Tan Wenbin was puzzled, "Shouldn’t we absolutely oppose evil and not coexist with ghosts, needing to suppress and kill him?"
"Brother Binbin, that would be too exhausting."
Just like Little Huang Ying, after she had her revenge, she stopped harming anyone, and our Grandmaster just pretended she wasn’t there, never bothering to deal with her again.
"So... where do we go now to find Zhou Yong, to his home or back to the river?"
Li Zhiyuan smiled, looking towards the rice paddies ahead, and said:
"Maybe, he is standing there right now, staring at us."
Even though Li Zhiyuan was deliberately hiding from him, he wasn’t panicked, as he had many ways to force him into a conversation.
But before that, there was another matter to take care of, as night was about to fall.
Li Zhiyuan reached into his pocket, took out some money and handed it to Run Sheng, "Brother Runsheng, go buy more high-proof liquor and ready-to-eat dishes. It’s time for dinner."
When they returned to Mr. Shan’s house, the two elders were sitting shoulder to shoulder in the courtyard smoking and chatting.
"Sanjiang, the hardest thing in my life was getting to know you."
"Shan Pao, you gambled your family fortune away, don’t put the blame on my head."
"Heh, I didn’t put it on your head."
"Yes, yes, you ended up swallowing it yourself."
"Speaking of Beijing residence, I heard that getting into universities in Beijing also..."
"Shan Pao, if you bring that up again, I’ll pick you up and dump you into your neighbor’s porcelain jar to marinate a little longer."
"Pah, you shameless old fool."
When Li Zhiyuan and Tan Wenbin returned, the two elders immediately asked about the situation.
"Grandmaster, we’ve roughly located it, and netted it, but it’s too dark now. Brother Runsheng plans to fish it out tomorrow when the sun is up."
"Look, there you go. You see, Run Sheng has progressed so much more under my guidance compared to yours, right?"
Following that, Li Sanjiang nodded at Little Yuanhou, "Right, that’s the way, it’s better not to do things at night. Sometimes ordinary corpses can start to move around."
Run Sheng brought back the alcohol and dishes, and the two elders certainly had a few drinks.
With Tan Wenbin there to liven up the atmosphere at the table, the two elders drank merrily.
For the first five drinks, Li Sanjiang kept saying it was getting late, needing to take Little Yuanhou home, but after another five drinks, he was passed out on the table along with Mr. Shan.
Run Sheng moved his grandfather and Mr. Li to their beds, tucked them in, and placed a spittoon beside the bed for convenience in case they needed to throw up at night.
After setting everything up, the three of them packed up their stuff and headed to the riverbank.
The atmosphere at night was indeed different from the day. Li Zhiyuan also knew his Grandmaster was right, but it was meaningless by now because Zhou Yong could not only hide but also slip onto the bank to watch card games.
At the bridge, Run Sheng waded into the water, released the Seven-star Hook, threw it up, and it got stuck on a nail before he started pulling hard.
After pulling out three nails consecutively, Run Sheng stopped. He stored away the Seven-star Hook and drew the Yellow River Shovel in his hand.
The temperature of the river surface soon dropped.
Even Li Zhiyuan, standing by the river, could feel the cold wind blowing towards them, carrying a chill.
Run Sheng calmed his breathing, readying himself earnestly.
Then, the noise finally came.
Ten meters in front of Run Sheng, the back of a person slowly surfaced on the river.
Tan Wenbin held the Yellow River Shovel in his right hand and constantly poked Li Zhiyuan’s back with his left hand.
"Corpse, corpse, corpse!"
"Oh my god, dad, your son has made it, I’ve finally seen a corpse!"
Li Zhiyuan looked back somewhat helplessly. Tan Wenbin’s face was filled with excitement and tension, as if he might faint the next second.
This couldn’t help but remind Li Zhiyuan of the hysterical fans at a concert in Beijing, seeing their favorite singers.
On the river surface, the back slowly turned over.
Soon, a face appeared, very pale, as if covered with a layer of putty, sticky and dripping continuously down from the chin.
When he opened his eyes, streams of white thick fluid overflowed from the corners, completely obscuring his pupils.
Li Zhiyuan drew out two pieces of yellow paper, folding them into a bundle.
But Tan Wenbin was completely stiff beside him.
Almost reflexively, Tan Wenbin quickly struck a match to help Li Zhiyuan ignite the yellow paper.
Li Zhiyuan waved the burning yellow paper in his hand, murmuring softly, and finally, stuffed the half-burned yellow paper into the clay bowl filled with yellow wine at his feet.