Yin Meng echoed, "Truly dedicated."
Li Zhiyuan concluded the lesson: "Remember what you’ve learned, and hand your class notes to Run Sheng. Don’t let him fall behind on his studies."
Every adventure the team undertakes together is a precious experience.
Yin Meng’s cooperation was inferior to Tan Wenbin’s, and she always blurted incongruous nonsense. This might have been because ever since she joined the team in Nantong, she hadn’t been in any troubling waters, lacking the team experience. Binbin used to talk even more nonsense when he first joined.
Mao Chang’an was ready to clear the scene. His plotting had failed, and his son and disciple were dead, but life must go on.
Zhao Junfeng and Qiu Minmin approached him, obviously instinctively wanting to lay hands on him. Bending down, he picked up two damaged puppets from the ground. Facing the advancing dead, he remained unfazed, rapidly re-threading and inserting needles with his fingers.
Li Zhiyuan turned around, walked out of the hiding spot, and went straight to the door. Looking at Mao Chang’an, he said:
Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng didn’t understand why Xiao Yuan chose this moment to show up. Wouldn’t it be better to let Mao Chang’an deal with the two corpses first and then the three of them take care of the old man together?
This was also more in line with their original plan, except it shifted from taking the old man down first to having only one left that they could deal with.
But despite their confusion, the two quickly joined Li Zhiyuan’s side, each wielding a Yellow River Shovel, protecting him from the left and the right.
Mao Chang’an held the two freshly repaired puppets, his fingers lightly plucking, and the two dead immediately halted. With another light tweak, the two turned around, facing the door.
Then, Mao Chang’an stretched out three fingers with his left hand, his right arm twirling, crisscrossing them before finally stacking them on top of each other:
"Mao Chang’an, my ancestors are from the wharves of Jinling’s Qinhuai River. May I ask from which wharf does this young man come from?"
When professionals met, the first reaction was actually caution. They probed to avoid friction as much as possible.
There’s no help for it; everyone in this line of work has their own set of tricks, and if things escalate to mutual deception, it’s bad news for everyone.
Bringing up "sitting at the Hao River wharf" at this point would be intentionally adding levity.
Li Zhiyuan, with his hands in his pockets, couldn’t be bothered to return the courtesy but said straightforwardly:
"I’m not from any wharf. I worship the Dragon King of the Liu Family."
Mao Chang’an’s expression froze, visibly flustered, and he even took several steps back, anxiously explaining:
"I failed in my teachings, leading my son astray and causing such a tragedy. Now that I have rightfully dealt with my kin and trying to remedy the situation, please understand!"
But his fear differed from Yin Fuhai’s shock when he faced the Liu family’s name in Fengdu Ghost Street.
Yin Fuhai had been living in a small county for generations, only hearing rumors about the happenings on the river. Mao Chang’an, however, could manage to hang a cultural heritage site plaque on his door.
What he feared was not the past reputation of the Liu family, but the present!
This couldn’t help but remind Li Zhiyuan of Yu Shu, the storyteller who had visited Nantong before.
It seems that Grandma Liu had also held back during their walk after the dinner at the Ding family of Mountain City—not deceiving him, but certainly not revealing the whole truth.
Li Zhiyuan pointed to the two puppets in Mao Chang’an’s hands and asked, "Can you toss one over for me to take a look?"
Mao Chang’an hesitated.
Eh, is he really going to toss one to me?
Li Zhiyuan continued, "Better hold back, everyone outside is with us."
Although it was clear that unless Run Sheng left the hospital carrying his IV drip, there was no one else outside.
But Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng still calmly puffed out their chests, especially Tan Wenbin, who even sported a disdainful smile.
Mao Chang’an tossed the female puppet towards Li Zhiyuan.
Covered in needles, Li Zhiyuan didn’t catch it; instead, Yin Meng made a quick move, nullifying the force before smoothly catching it and passing it to Li Zhiyuan.
Mao Chang’an said, "I can provide a full explanation for what happened here... it’s really..."
As Li Zhiyuan examined the puppet, he nodded, "Don’t worry, we won’t wrong a good person, nor let a bad one go."
The youth was certain, the old man in front of him mistook him for someone like Yu Shu. It seems that after Uncle Qin left Grand Master’s House, he didn’t just choose a place to live quietly; he had things to do.
After inspecting it, Li Zhiyuan nonchalantly tossed the female puppet to the ground.
As it hit the floor, the needles touched, and Qiu Minmin contorted into several odd poses.
Mao Chang’an asked in confusion, "What is this...?"
Li Zhiyuan pointed to Zhao Junfeng, "He’s actually not under your puppet’s control. He’s been pretending from the start."
Mao Chang’an exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible?"
"Believe it or not, up to you. Weren’t you planning to use this puppet to control them to finish yourself off, to complete the final step of destroying the evidence?
You would have died, and he was actually waiting for this chance."
As soon as the words fell, Zhao Junfeng lunged at Mao Chang’an.
Mao Chang’an clumsily rolled to the side, narrowly escaping.
He quickly plucked the fingers on the male puppet he held, but to no effect. Zhao Junfeng spun in mid-air and swooped down again, opening his mouth and spewing a mist of blood.
Mao Chang’an, upon seeing this, had to throw away the puppet and dodge again, but this time his right arm got grazed by the red mist, not just tearing his clothes but also scorching a layer of his skin.
"Why is this happening?"
Confused not only was Mao Chang’an, but Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng were just as baffled. Yet they continued to keep a straight face, with Tan Wenbin still managing to force a ’look, that’s how it is’ expression despite his puzzlement.