Chapter 13 - 3_4

Words : 1123 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 13: Chapter 3_4``` I've told you before, when you can no longer walk, Li Weihan will take care of you and attend to your needs until the end of your days. Uncle, you have to trust in my character as Weihan. Li Sanjiang nodded. "Heh heh." Li Weihan laughed twice and reached for some biscuits. He hadn't eaten anything since the afternoon and was really hungry. "Smack!" The back of his hand was slapped and the biscuit he just picked up fell back. Li Sanjiang stood up and said, "Eat my ass, save some for the offering tray." Li Weihan was stunned for a moment, and then he understood. After all, he had assisted Li Sanjiang for a while in the past. Opening the inner room's door, he saw Cui Guiying, holding a child, leaning forward as she stood there. After the door was opened, Cui Guiying quickly adjusted the hair near her earlobes and asked, "Are you done talking?" Li Weihan: "Guiying, come out and help set up the offering table. Let Xiao Yuan sleep first." At this moment, Li Sanjiang's voice came from behind: "Let Xiao Yuan stay here for now." Li Weihan turned his head to look at Li Sanjiang, his brow furrowed, but after hesitating, he seemed to have made a certain resolve and gestured for his wife to bring the child out. Li Zhiyuan had been asleep since the afternoon and wasn't sleepy, so he just sat quietly on a little stool, watching the adults bustling around. "Out of your mind!" Li Sanjiang cursed at the offering table Li Weihan had moved outside the rear door, "Do you want everyone outside to see? Move it back in here!" Here in the plains' rural areas, there are no mountains, ditches, or buildings to obstruct the view, offering excellent visibility. If they were to light candles and burn paper money outside, anyone stepping out for a late-night pee would spot it from afar, and the news would quickly spread. After all, what normal family would perform ancestral worship in the dead of night? Li Weihan immediately moved the table he had just taken out back inside, near the rear door, against the wall. Cui Guiying began to arrange the offerings, with four plates containing biscuits, egg cakes, peanuts, and one that was empty. "Uncle, we don't have any meat at home," Cui Guiying said to Li Sanjiang. "We're out of smoked and salted meat." With over a dozen kids in the house, it was impossible to have leftovers for the next day, and even the pickled vegetables were running low. But an offering without meat wasn't proper somehow. Li Sanjiang pointed to the snack cabinet, "Do we have pork floss?" "Yes," Cui Guiying immediately nodded. "Will that work?" "It's meat, after all. It'll do." Sёarᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Alright." Finally, a plate of pork floss was arranged as part of the offerings. Li Weihan brought a shabby tin bucket from outside and placed it in the kitchen corner, this time without needing a reminder. Netherworld banknotes were still a rare commodity at the time, only available in the town's netherworld shops. Villagers were reluctant to use them for minor rituals, but almost every household had stocks of yellow paper and paper ingots. The paper ingots were usually folded by the women of the house, while the yellow paper could end up in a basket next to the toilet, used as toilet paper. Li Sanjiang first lit two candles on the offering table, then used the candle flame to ignite a few yellow papers, waving them briskly in front of the table while muttering incantations. Then, he rushed back to the corner to throw the half-burnt yellow paper into the tin bucket as a fire starter, and Cui Guiying promptly put more yellow paper and paper ingots to burn. Li Weihan used a thin wooden stick to stir the papers within, ensuring they burned thoroughly before moving the bucket outside to dispose of the ash. When he returned, he saw Li Sanjiang pulling out a bell from his pocket, picking at the inside with his grubby fingernails until he removed the cotton ball that was clogging it. "Ding ding ding..." With a gentle shake, clear sound rang out. Li Sanjiang untied the bell's string and approached Li Zhiyuan: "Come, Xiao Yuan, raise your right hand." Li Zhiyuan obediently did as told and watched as Li Sanjiang tied the bell around his wrist. Next, Li Sanjiang picked up the incense burner from the offering table, thought for a moment, then snipped off a large section from each of the three sticks of incense, leaving only a little bit of the tip, and reinserted them into the burner. "Xiao Yuan, hold this." Li Zhiyuan stood up, holding the incense burner. Cui Guiying, finally understanding what was happening, instinctively moved forward, only to be grabbed by the wrist by Li Weihan, who forcefully pulled her back. "How could you let Xiao Yuan..." Li Weihan glared hard at his wife. Li Sanjiang put his hand over Li Zhiyuan's ears, then raised his head to look at the couple and casually asked, "I'm asking you one last time, do you want to do this or not?" "We'll do it!" Li Weihan immediately answered. "If anything happens to Xiao Yuan..." Cui Guiying tried to break free from her husband's restraint, shaking her arm. Li Weihan spoke with gravity: "If there's no such thing, then nothing will happen. But if it exists, and you don't do this, Xiao Yuan will still be in danger; that thing has its sights set on our Xiao Yuan!" Hearing this, Cui Guiying stopped struggling, letting her arms fall. Li Sanjiang chuckled and said, "Weihan, are you really sure about this? If word gets out, it won't be easy for you to live in this village." Even if there was no actual corpse and it was all a big joke, the fact that you conducted such a ritual at home would mean a serious grudge if someone found out! "Heh," Li Weihan also snorted. "Uncle, I'm not afraid of Big Beard's house. I have four sons, after all." In rural areas, the more grown sons a family has, the stronger their backing. Even though Li Weihan's four sons weren't exactly paragons of filial piety, with their fair share of squabbles among the daughters-in-law, when it came down to the Li family facing trouble from the outside, these four sons would undoubtedly stand united. ```

Chapter 13 - 3_4

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