The two went to the back room to clean up the scene. Zhou wanted to find the old lady's clothes, changed her into a set of clean clothes, and then "put" them into the space and placed them on the bed in the wooden house. The old lady was the first resident of this wooden house.
Ling Ran asked her to stand aside and let him handle the situation.
He took the gloves the little girl handed him and put them on. The clothes and mattress on the bed that were stained with blood were rolled up and put away. The quilt that was not stained with blood was left alone. He then found a torn quilt and used it as a mattress and laid it down, then covered it with the sheets.
The bloodstains on the ground were gently shoveled up and turned over on the soil in the yard, and then the entire back room was swept, making it look like someone was still living there.
The yard and the kitchen were tidied up again, the leftovers from lunch were taken away, and all traces of his activities were covered up.
On the wall, the traces of the man climbing were covered up, and the traces of fighting on the ground were covered up.
He pulled Zhou Xiang back to the front room, repaired and installed the wooden door, wiped off the marks on the stool and the small square table, and swept the floor.
After browsing for a while, he felt at ease and pulled the little girl out of the door, gently closing the wooden door.
After taking off the gloves and putting them into their storage rings, the two took one last look at the two houses and turned to leave the village.
The village was quiet. A big event happened and ended, but no one knew about it.
Back on the dam, Zhou Xiang looked out at the surging Huai River and said, "Is this where Auntie wanted to be buried? Unfortunately, we can't do that now. We'll come back after the rainy season."
Ling Ran nodded, "Auntie has hated and loved the Huai River all her life. She wants to be buried here, not only because she loves the Huai River, but also because she misses her family.
However, after burial, another flood might wash her body up, and the decay of her body would pollute the Huai River. Let's cremate her! After cremation, scatter her ashes in the Huai River, close to her family and the river itself, allowing her to travel with the river's currents.
"Okay!" Zhou Xiang agreed without hesitation. The old lady should be happier if this is the way it is handled, right?
It was already past five o'clock when they returned to the town. Ling Ran went to wash the car. Zhou's mother asked her little girl why she ran out in such a hurry?
Zhou Xiang shook his head, "Don't ask, it's Ling Ran's business, you don't need to know."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother stopped asking questions. As an ordinary citizen, she couldn't ask about Ling Ran's work.
After dinner, Ling Ran stayed again. After following Zhou Xiang upstairs, he entered the space to interrogate the man.
Zhou Xiang lay on the grassland, staring at the sky in a daze, while Da Huang lay beside her to keep her company.
When Ling Ran found her on his bicycle, she had already woken up.
"What did you find out?" Zhou Xiang lay still and asked the person above his head.
Ling Ran lay down beside her, "That man is indeed from R country, he has been here for almost a year, he knows that he has accomplices in Huai County, but he doesn't know who they are.
His mission to Huai County was to investigate the Huai River, but his specific mission was unclear. He was simply told to investigate the river. He followed it section by section until he met an old woman. After hearing the legend she told him, he suspected his mission was to follow the Taoist priest's legend, the ancient legend of the Dragon Kingdom.
"Cultivating immortals?"
"Yes! The captain's ancient books contain not only elixirs, talismans and magical instruments, but also techniques for cultivating immortality."
"Has the captain tried it?"
"He tried, but he couldn't do anything. He could only make powders. He hasn't even developed your invisibility cloak yet!"
"Have you ever looked through those ancient books?"
“Yes, those ancient books were selected from those.”
"Then, if you cultivate immortality, can you really achieve immortality?"
"Impossible. I need to upgrade. Upgrading can only increase my lifespan. I'll still die in a few hundred years at most. I've worked myself to death, spent a lot of time and money on cultivation, but in the end, I still can't escape death."
Isn't this similar to what's written in later novels? Cultivation requires spiritual energy. The captain couldn't cultivate, which must be because the air outside was bad. If the air outside was as good as the space, he probably could have cultivated.
Is this little bit of air in my own space, no, let's call it spiritual energy, enough for me to cultivate to the first level? If the spiritual energy is absorbed, will my space become the same as the outside world?
So, no matter how good the air quality is outside, it will be ruined as long as someone practices.
Then, if the remaining legends are true, there were people who practiced Taoism in ancient times, and the immortals took away the health resources of their descendants so that they could live hundreds of years longer.
During these hundreds of years, a lot of time was spent in practicing meditation, and he couldn't even enjoy love and family affection.
So, if we deduct the time he spends in meditation, is the rest of his waking time as long as an ordinary person's lifetime?
Cultivating immortality? What kind of bullshit is that? Death is inevitable, so you might as well die early and be reborn sooner.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Ling Ran propped up his head with his arms, looked at her, and pushed her, "What are you thinking about?"
Zhou wanted to tell him what she had just thought, and Ling Ran nodded. "Yes! I think your idea makes sense. If you take away the resources of future generations, even if you cultivate immortality, you still can't escape death. If the time you can spend freely and unrestrained is not as long as the life of an ordinary person, then what is the purpose of the immortal cultivator's life? What did he do?
He did not accumulate virtue or bring blessings, but instead committed sins. I wonder if he will go to hell after his death? So, was the Taoist priest in the legend of the old lady dead and caused the Huai River to flood again?
So, was the Taoist priest accumulating merit or committing sin? Not to mention that he had sucked away the earth's spiritual energy, he had prevented the Huai River from overflowing its embankments, no matter how high its water level rose, thus causing the people to lose their vigilance against floods.
If it breaks out again, even more people will die. Since he has the ability, why doesn't he use it to control the Huai River? Isn't that the only way to prevent future troubles?"
"Yes! So I wonder what they were really thinking? Or maybe they were the selfish ones, the evil ones. And Auntie even sacrificed her life for the sake of a legend."
Ling Ran touched the top of her head. "We are here to fulfill Auntie's last wish. She's over seventy years old and almost at the end of her life. At least, she has no regrets. Without us, she would have had to keep her two wishes hidden in her heart and leave with regrets."
Zhou Xiang sighed deeply, "This is the only way to comfort myself."
"The old lady left with a smile, and that's enough."
They lay side by side for a while before getting up. She thought about the man again, "What are you going to do with him? Are you going to let him live here? His eighty-eight generations of ancestors combined haven't accumulated enough blessings to be this lucky, right?"
Ling Ran laughed, "Let's wait for a while. We'll deal with it in the capital. It's not convenient here. We can't bury it in the soil, right?"
Zhou Xiang waved his hand, "It will dirty the space, okay! We'll deal with it when we get to the capital. Ask Da Huang to feed him every day. A few years ago, when Gao Xun was imprisoned, I asked Xiao Bai to drag a towel over Gao Xun's face every few hours. As long as he doesn't die, that's fine."
Ling Ran shook his head. "That's too much trouble. Just lock him in the bathroom, throw him some steamed buns and water, and let him stew on his own."
"Okay! Then we won't take up Da Huang's time enjoying family happiness."
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