CHAPTER 633: CHAPTER 116_4

"Look at you, full of energy. This trip didn’t seem too hard on you."

"I even met one of our ancestors."

"The one displayed at home?"

"Yes, from your branch of the family."

"Go upstairs and fetch it, I have something to discuss with you."

"Alright, please wait a moment."

Li Zhiyuan walked up to the third floor, entered the room where the altar and Alii’s collection box were placed, glanced over the ancestral tablets, and took down Liu Qingcheng’s tablet.

Back on the second floor, he handed the tablet to Liu Yumei.

Liu Yumei glanced at it, her expression turned into a frown, and she did not reach out to receive it; instead, she waved her hand, indicating the young man to take it away.

Li Zhiyuan: "Is there a story?"

Liu Yumei: "There’s an accident."

"Could you tell me about it?"

"I don’t want to talk about it."

"Then do our two families not have a detailed genealogy or books recording the biographies of these ancestors?"

"Our families don’t have to record it ourselves because other families will remember it in great detail for us."

Li Zhiyuan helplessly said, "It’s really like you, starting a topic but not continuing."

"It’s all in the past. I’m respecting the ancestors by not discussing it."

"Alright, I understand."

"Stop keeping this old lady company; go and play with Alii."

Li Zhiyuan left the room and saw Alii coming up the stairs at the stairway entrance.

Alii, seeing the tablet in Li Zhiyuan’s hand, reached out wanting to take it.

"Alii, choose someone else; we’ll save this one for the next batch."

Li Zhiyuan and Alii returned to the third floor, waited until Alii had selected five tablets, and then Li Zhiyuan returned Liu Qingcheng’s tablet to its place.

The two returned to the first-floor room, put down the tablets, Li Zhiyuan leaned against the edge of the bed, sitting on the carpet, and Alii also sat beside him in the same posture.

Li Zhiyuan recounted this trip’s experiences to Alii in detail, especially the scene where Big Fish swallowed Yu Xuzi whole, which he described very vividly.

He knew the girl needed to draw; he thought this was the most suitable scene from this trip to depict.

Alii listened with zest.

After finishing the story, Li Zhiyuan took out the fish bone, crystal clear and finer than jade.

"Alii, can you carve jade?"

The girl nodded, reached out to take it, her fingertips gently caressed it, performing a few cutting motions and then sketched a few lines in the air.

Li Zhiyuan realized Alii was preparing to use the fish bone to craft an Array Formation Flag for herself, as this special material would be quite suitable for an Array Eye.

"I have enough Array Formation Flags already, and they’re easy to make; I wouldn’t be upset if they weren’t reused." Li Zhiyuan reached behind him and stroked Alii’s hair bun, "Let’s do this: I’ll draw the design, and then you carve a hairpin."

The girl’s eyes showed longing.

"I should have carved it and then given it to you, but alas, my hands are truly clumsy."

The youth could create implements with just the illustrations and simple descriptions from Wei Zhengdao’s books; his craftsmanship was naturally not bad, but compared to the girl, there was a truly great difference.

Alii pulled out a large wooden box from under her bed, which upon opening revealed a large and exquisite painter’s portfolio.

"Looks beautiful." Li Zhiyuan admired as he caressed this crystallization of ancestral wisdom.

Opening it, the first page had Granny Yu already bound, followed by many blank spaces waiting to be filled.

Li Zhiyuan flipped through the blank pages, and the girl beside him watched seriously.

Although they were still empty,

it was the path that the young man would walk in the future.

...

Constructing a simple indoor shower room didn’t take too long. After it was finished, Tan Wenbin went to prepare four bottles of boiled water to store in the dormitory.

Then, he left the dorm to pick some fruits from the store.

"Huh, when did a bookstall appear?"

Lu Yi said: "That’s my suggestion. Previously, we only handled photocopies; I thought we might as well complete the offering. Those magazines and novels sell quite well."

The top shelf of the bookstall was filled with newspapers, the middle with novels, predominantly romance novels, and even now, many students were choosing to rent them.

Books were cheap, but since college students had ample time to read, some even brought novels to their desks during lectures, appearing as keen students in the teachers’ eyes, which was much better than those sleeping and snoring in the back rows.

Tan Wenbin briefly inspected the area, then pulled Lu Yi aside to ask quietly: "Did you get any of those magazines with strong content?"

"Strong content? How strong do you want it?"

"The stronger, the better."

"There are some. Some students requested them, but those magazines and books can’t be displayed outside. I distribute them to representatives in the men’s and women’s dorms."

"Damn, Lu Yi, you’ve got the knack for business."

"Heh, I quite like doing business."

"Good. If this store performs well, we’ll consider giving you shares."

"No, no, really, that’s not necessary."

"Nah, if you can make it work, that’s your rightful share. I don’t have the energy for these things, it’s good to hand it over to you; keep it up!"

"Alright, I will," Lu Yi nodded vigorously.

Tan Wenbin went to visit Lin Shuyou in the medical office, holding a transparent plastic bag of fruit in one hand and a black plastic bag filled with powerful magazines in the other.

As dusk fell, he entered the ward, couldn’t see Lin Shuyou there, so he went to Fan Shulin’s duty room, gently pushing the door open with his foot.

Lin Shuyou was sitting in front of Fan Shulin, listening to him recount his college love story.