Chapter Two

She,

So beautiful.

The water ripples gently, twisting the light and shadow just right, and combined with the demeanor and movements of the little yellow oriole, it seems as if a filter has been applied.

Li Zhiyuan had been taken by his parents to watch the unit's cultural performance before, where he saw many professional singers and dancers. However, the impact of the little yellow oriole's performance he witnessed yesterday was no less than that felt by his brothers.

Under his parents' upbringing, he had always been very disciplined and rule-abiding. Yet, the little yellow oriole under that shabby shed revealed to him a kind of wild charm.

It was vulgar, flirtatious, rustic, and unsophisticated, but that scent, it really smelled so good.

She was coming closer and closer, like a person from a painting, walking out of the picture and then heading back into it.

At that moment, Li Zhiyuan had forgotten his own situation, as if he no longer remembered that he was still in the water, ignoring the panic of being unable to breathe and the water constantly choking his nose and mouth.

Until,

She reached out her hand.

Yesterday, when he was squeezed in front with his brothers watching the performance, the little yellow oriole had twisted her waist and sung as she came to him, even reaching out to touch his face. This was because among the group of children, Li Zhiyuan was as fair as a porcelain doll.

Originally, Li Zhiyuan had been looking forward to being touched by her again.

But,

This time, she extended both hands.

Both hands grasped Li Zhiyuan's shoulders.

"Very cold... very painful..."

In an instant, the atmosphere was twisted and shattered, and the strange fascination he had felt before disappeared.

Fear finally showed in Li Zhiyuan's eyes, like a person who had anesthesia wearing off and suddenly regained the sensation of pain.

He wanted to break free, to dodge, to escape, but those hands held him tightly, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn't get away.

At this moment, a force came from behind.

Li Zhiyuan felt like he was being pulled, like in the tug-of-war he used to play at school, only this time he was the rope.

Eventually, with a kind of detachment, Li Zhiyuan was pulled up.

In his vision, he floated up, higher and higher, while the little yellow oriole below became smaller and smaller.

Her arms were raised towards him, and between them, an abyss that should not have existed gradually formed.

"Hey!"

Fortunately, his grandson was carrying a bamboo basket on his back, and Li Weihan was using this basket to exert force upwards.

Heavy, it was so heavy that although it was just a child, Li Weihan felt as if he were wrestling with a bull in heat.

Below, there was a force preventing his grandson from coming up.

Leizi came over to help at this moment, hugging Li Weihan's waist and pulling backward.

Finally,

"Splash!"

When the grandson was pulled out of the water, the force that had been contending suddenly disappeared, and Li Weihan, Leizi, and the just-pulled-out Li Zhiyuan all fell onto the boat together.

"Quick, go!"

Li Weihan didn't have time to get up and shouted at Panzi.

This time, Panzi didn't mess up and exerted all his strength to pole the boat, quickly moving towards the other side.

"Grandpa, she's coming, she's coming!"

Leizi pointed forward in terror.

Li Weihan looked over and saw that with the boat's movement, the clump of black hair on the water's surface was also moving towards them.

She was chasing!

"Lei Hou, go help Pan Hou pole the boat, quickly!"

"Okay, Grandpa."

Leizi got up and ran over. The two of them shouted slogans together and exerted more force, increasing the boat's speed.

Li Weihan then picked up a fishing rod, his expression serious. Upon seeing that the clump of hair was still shortening the distance to the boat, he shouted and stabbed the fishing rod into the water just in front of the hair.

The fishing rod entered the water, and although it seemed to have hit something, it encountered no resistance at all. Instead, a huge force pulled the fishing rod further down.

"Ouch..."

Li Weihan exclaimed in surprise. Fortunately, he let go of the fishing rod in time, otherwise he would have been pulled into the water by this terrifying force.

The hair was even closer now.

Standing by the boat's edge, Li Weihan could see the figure of a woman in a black cheongsam underwater.

The river was flowing eastward, yet she was moving against the current.

She was walking, she was truly walking on her own!

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

The boat began to rock, and the shaking gradually intensified.

Li Weihan couldn't imagine what would happen if the boat capsized and he and his grandsons fell into the water. It was no longer a matter of good swimming skills; this was just too eerie!

At this moment, Li Weihan's gaze fell on the fishing net at his feet. Without time to think, he quickly grabbed it and threw it towards the hair, which was now less than two meters away from the boat.

The net first covered the water surface, and soon half of it sank.

Initially, the net on the water surface was still being dragged forward, but gradually its speed slowed down until it finally stopped.

It worked, it had tripped her!

Li Weihan rushed to the stern and grabbed the bamboo pole: "You two go check on Little Yuan Hou!"

"Okay, Grandpa."

Panzi and Leizi were just big kids, and the previous bout of hard poling had already left the two of them somewhat exhausted. After Li Weihan took over, they immediately went to Li Zhiyuan's side.

"Yuanzi, Yuanzi? Yuanzi, wake up, please wake up!"

"Grandpa, Yuanzi won't wake up."

Li Weihan kept poling the boat while continuing to look at the gradually receding net. He shouted back, "Is he still breathing?"

"Grandpa, he's still breathing!"

"Pat Little Yuan Hou's back."

The two of them immediately followed his instructions, one holding Li Zhiyuan up and the other patting his back. But after a long while, Li Zhiyuan still didn't wake up.

"Grandpa, it's not working!"

Li Weihan didn't respond, just gritted his teeth and kept poling, not daring to take his hand off to wipe away the sweat that flowed into his eyes.

Finally, the boat reached home. Li Weihan threw the bamboo pole aside and, without bothering to tie the boat, jumped off. But he was already very tired, and when he jumped down, his body staggered. In order to protect the child in his arms, he had to use his knee to brace against the bluestone steps below.

"Ouch..."

His knee was scraped open, but the next moment he forced himself to get up and carried the child into the house:

"Guiying, Guiying!"

"Back so early?" Cui Guiying was clearing the ashes behind the stove. Upon hearing the commotion, she stood up and, seeing her husband carrying the child, immediately cried out anxiously, "What's wrong, what's wrong, what happened to the child?"

Li Weihan first laid the child on a mat in the inner room. There were many children in the family, and the bed couldn't accommodate everyone. It was summer, so they all slept on the floor together at night.

Cui Guiying picked up Li Zhiyuan's head and gently patted his face, but the child couldn't be awakened no matter what. She immediately cried out:

"Oh dear, my child, my child, what's happened to you."

"Don't wail!" Li Weihan kicked Cui Guiying's calf, "Quick, change the child's clothes into dry ones."

"Panzi, go call Zheng Datong!"

"Okay, Grandpa."

Zheng Datong, whose real name is Zheng Huamin, is the village clinic doctor, also known as a barefoot doctor. Because he liked to scare children with a large syringe, the children first gave him this nickname, and over time, the adults also started calling him that.

"Leizi, go call Liu Xianzi."

"Okay, Grandpa."

Liu Xianzi's real name is Liu Jinxia. Her parents died early, and she was arranged by her uncle to marry from Sian Town. In the first year after her marriage, both her in-laws died successively, which made many daughters-in-law in the village cry with envy in secret.

The next year, her husband got drunk and fell into a latrine at night, drowning to death, leaving behind a just-born daughter.

At that time, there were rumors in the village that Liu Jinxia had a hard fate and could harm her blood relatives.

Life was tough for a widow with a child. In addition to managing the household chores, Liu Jinxia also started a business of fortune-telling and warding off evil spirits. The more rumors spread about her, the more people believed in her abilities.

In those years, farming could only provide a basic living. To live a more prosperous life, one had to rely on other means. Liu Jinxia made a living through this business and even managed to arrange