Diving into the ancient well, Yan Shouyi repeated his previous actions. Just as he was about to suffocate, he tilted his head back and broke the surface of the water.
At the brink of death, people were most likely to see ghosts. Yan Shouyi held his breath until the last second to return to the real world from the Yin-Yang realm of the Liu family ancestral home.
Between the underworld and the living world, there existed a small overlapping space called the Yin-Yang realm. Liu Jingkang must have found a Yin-Yang master to set up a formation in the Liu family ancestral home to create this realm. In the Yin-Yang realm, ghosts could survive more comfortably. Otherwise, apart from Liu Jingkang, the other ancestors of the Liu family would have long since dissipated into nothingness.
Back in the world of the living, Yan Shouyi took a deep breath of air. Still soaking wet, he touched the wall of the ancient well and was dumbfounded:
The ancient well was too deep, and the well walls were too wet and slippery. If no one lowered a rope to pull him up, he would be trapped here.
Helpless, Yan Shouyi took out a small wooden whistle from his satchel and blew it hard, producing a sound like a bird's call.
Outside the Liu residence, by Liu Yiren's side, San Yuan, the wooden bird, heard the whistle and immediately flapped its wings towards the Liu residence.
Liu Yiren was startled, "San Yuan, didn't your brother tell us not to come in?"
San Yuan flew to the gate of the Liu residence and kept pecking at the door. Liu Yiren then understood, "Can we go in now?"
San Yuan nodded.
Liu Yiren quickly pushed open the door. The gust of chilling wind that met her made her shiver involuntarily, but she mustered her courage and walked in.
Just a few steps inside, she saw a ball rolling into the courtyard from who knew where.
The ball rolled all the way to Liu Yiren's feet.
Liu Yiren froze in fear, whispering, "Yan Shouyi? Is that you? Don't scare me... come out..."
Although Liu Yiren seemed to have a spirit of adventure, when faced with these supernatural phenomena, she displayed her more timid, feminine side.
There was no response from anyone in the courtyard. The silence was terrifying, and what made Liu Yiren even more distraught was that the ball that had rolled to her feet actually started moving on its own, circling around her feet!
Just then, San Yuan burst out, stepped on the ball, and spread its wings towards the air in front, as if in defiance.
The ball instantly stopped moving. A gust of yin wind blew, and the door of the room next to the courtyard suddenly closed, as if something was hiding from San Yuan.
Seeing this, Liu Yiren breathed a sigh of relief, "San Yuan, thank you."
San Yuan flapped its wings and led Liu Yiren towards the backyard. As soon as she entered the backyard, Liu Yiren heard Yan Shouyi's voice, "Good niece!"
Hearing Yan Shouyi's voice, Liu Yiren felt both relieved and annoyed, "Shut up!"
Unexpectedly, Yan Shouyi really stopped calling. Liu Yiren, not knowing where Yan Shouyi was hiding, became scared again and couldn't help but say, "You... call out a few more times?"
"Good niece! Good niece!"
"..."
Liu Yiren was helpless against Yan Shouyi and could only say, "Where are you? Come out quickly!"
"I'm in the well. Look around nearby and see if there's anything you can use to pull me up!"
Liu Yiren hurried to the well and saw Yan Shouyi's head. She couldn't help but ask, "How did you fall into the well?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Pull me up first!" Yan Shouyi said.
Although the Liu family's courtyard was located deep in the mountains, Liu Mingzhi often sent people to clean it. In a corner of the backyard, there was a bundle of hemp rope. Liu Yiren tied the rope to a jujube tree in the backyard and threw the other end into the ancient well.
Yan Shouyi climbed out along the rope and sat by the well, gasping for breath. It wasn't the climb that tired him, but rather that he had spent a day and a night in the Yin-Yang realm as a living person, and his body had been eroded by the yin energy, causing him to be somewhat weak.
"Are you alright?" Seeing Yan Shouyi looking so exhausted, Liu Yiren directly took off her riding jacket and draped it over him.
However, her riding jacket was too small, and Yan Shouyi's shoulders were broad, so the jacket didn't serve much purpose.
"Thank you, I'm fine." Yan Shouyi smiled gratefully, pushed the riding jacket back, and then directly took off his wet upper garment.
Fortunately, it was the height of summer, and even in the deep mountains with light rain, the temperature wasn't too low.
Raindrops fell on Yan Shouyi's body, steaming. In the mist, Liu Yiren saw Yan Shouyi's well-defined muscles, and her pretty face blushed.
She had never seen a man's body before, let alone Yan Shouyi's fit physique. The ripples in her heart at this moment were no less than a man seeing a female technician holding a briefcase.
"Why are you taking off your clothes?" Liu Yiren asked.
"I'm soaking wet. If I don't take off my clothes, should I wait to catch a cold?" Yan Shouyi wrung out his clothes and said, "I have something urgent. Let's go back now, and I'll tell you on the way."
"Okay, okay."
The two walked towards the gate of the Liu residence. In the front courtyard, Yan Shouyi specifically went to the room where the coffins and paper figures were kept, placed Liu Yong's soaked paper figure back in its original position, and then put a few candies on the ground before leaving.
Exiting the Liu residence and getting on the motorcycle, Liu Yiren, with a bare-chested Yan Shouyi, sped through the mountain rain.
"You stayed in my ancestral home for a day and a night without eating or drinking?"
"I brought some dry food and water, so I didn't starve. Don't worry."
"Why did it take so long? And I feel like my ancestral home isn't very clean..." Liu Yiren said weakly.
Yan Shouyi chuckled. Of course, your ancestral home isn't clean. A large group of ancestors live there, including your sister Liu Jiaren.
Liu Jiaren had asked Yan Shouyi to pass a message to Liu Yiren. Yan Shouyi thought about it and decided not to deliver it. He wasn't some sort of disreputable man, nor would he deceive Liu Yiren, so Liu Jiaren's advice was meaningless. It was better not to say anything.
"It's definitely not clean, but isn't that why I'm here?" Yan Shouyi said. "Your grandfather asked me to improve the feng shui of your ancestral home. I've been surveying it for the past couple of days."
"So that's how it is!" Liu Yiren laughed. "Just improving the feng shui, and you made it so mysterious. I thought something else was going on..."
"After I go down the mountain this time, I'll be back in a few days. Tell your grandfather to find good workers and carpenters. Once I'm back, we'll start renovating the ancestral home," Yan Shouyi instructed.
"You're in such a hurry to go down the mountain. Aren't you planning to stay for a few more days?" Liu Yiren blurted out.
Then she realized that saying that might be too enthusiastic. Yan Shouyi would definitely take advantage of it.
As expected, Yan Shouyi immediately asked, "Are you reluctant to part with your second uncle?"
"Get lost! Once we get to Zuihua Li, I'll have Uncle Zhong send you down the mountain. It's best if you don't come back!" Liu Yiren said angrily.
"Even if I'm willing, your grandfather and father won't be!"
"You just know how to bully me!!"
Annoyed, Liu Yiren floored the accelerator, scaring Yan Shouyi into hugging her waist tightly. But instead, Liu Yiren became shy. She focused on the accelerator and was too embarrassed to speak further.
Thus, the two rode their motorcycle in the rain for over an hour before finally returning to Zuihua Li.
When they arrived at Zuihua Li, Liu Mingzhi had not yet returned. Liu Yiren indeed abandoned Yan Shouyi. After a while, Uncle Zhong brought clean clothes and planned to personally drive Yan Shouyi down the mountain.
However, Uncle Zhong, who came to deliver the clothes, had a slightly unusual look in his eyes. That glance seemed to tell Yan Shouyi, "You rascal, you're quite something!"
After changing into clean new clothes, Yan Shouyi got into Uncle Zhong's car. The car drove smoothly towards the mountain.
Liu Yiren, standing on the terrace of her small courtyard, had also changed into clean casual wear. Holding her cat, she watched Yan Shouyi's car leave.
She couldn't help but touch the bracelet on her wrist and pouted, "Hmph, you'd better not come back!"
...
Not long after the car carrying Yan Shouyi drove out of Zuihua Li, a convoy of cars suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the mountain road.
The convoy consisted entirely of Mercedes-Benz S-Class vehicles, eight in total. The windows were all tinted, making it impossible to see who was inside.
Yan Shouyi noticed through the car window that the license plates of these cars were sequential.
The people in these cars must have extraordinary identities...
Yan Shouyi frowned and asked, "Uncle Zhong, do you know whose cars these are?"
Uncle Zhong replied casually while driving, "The Bai family's."
"You recognized them at a glance?" Yan Shouyi asked in surprise.
"The Bai family's old ancestor likes the number seven, so their license plates all start with three sevens," Uncle Zhong also felt it was strange. "Why are so many people from the Bai family suddenly going to Guling? What are they up to?"
Yan Shouyi leaned back against the seat, took a deep breath, and looked back at Guling.
He had just sensed a strong aura of yin from the Bai family's convoy. This indicated that there were definitely ghosts from the Bai family following them.
What were the Bai family's ghosts doing on Guling?
Could it be that Liu Jingkang had started his plan and directly invited the Bai family to the Liu residence for a chat?
If that were the case, Yan Shouyi would naturally be happy. However, he always felt that things were not that simple.