Corpse Recovery Diver

"Little Yuanhou, buy cigarettes."

"Alright."

Li Zhiyuan walked to the entrance of Aunt Zhang's grocery store and pointed to the pack of Zhonghua cigarettes on the shelf.

"I want that one."

Aunt Zhang said, "Oh, Uncle Sanjiang is getting fancy now."

Walking behind, Li Sanjiang didn't see what was happening, but casually replied:

"Of course, I've always been fancy."

When he got closer and saw Aunt Zhang handing a pack of Zhonghua to Little Yuanhou, he was slightly surprised but just smiled, reaching for his pocket. These cigarettes are expensive, not for daily use, but an occasional pack is affordable.

Before Li Sanjiang could take out the money, Li Zhiyuan handed money to Aunt Zhang himself.

Aunt Zhang said, "That's too much money."

Li Zhiyuan replied, "I'll take a whole carton."

Aunt Zhang said, "Okay."

The pack of Zhonghua was placed in Grandmaster's hand by Li Zhiyuan, the young man carrying a plastic bag with a carton of the cigarettes Grandmaster usually smoked.

Li Sanjiang tore open the wrapping paper, opened the cigarette pack, pulled out a Zhonghua to sniff, then bit it in his mouth and lit it with a match.

Aunt Zhang laughed, "Uncle Sanjiang, you're really blessed."

Li Sanjiang tilted the cigarette in his lips and replied, "That's right."

Unlike other elderly, Li Sanjiang wasn't stubborn, he was open-minded and adaptable.

He used to feel disappointed that Little Yuanhou didn't give him money, but now he quite enjoyed the occasional filial attention from the kid.

After all, his belongings would all be left to Little Yuanhou in the future, and he had already written a will.

Aunt Zhang said, "The family is slaughtering a pig, Uncle Sanjiang, do you want some meat?"

Li Sanjiang asked, "What's the occasion?"

Almost every household in the village had a pigsty, but the locals lived frugally, not even slaughtering pigs for the New Year.

Only when there was a banquet to host did they reluctantly slaughter one, rather than buying it elsewhere.

Aunt Zhang said, "The little girl had appendicitis last week and had surgery at the town hospital, now she's back home."

Li Sanjiang said, "You could have told me earlier."

Aunt Zhang replied, "Just a minor illness and surgery, no need for a big deal, three tables of relatives is enough."

Li Sanjiang said, "That's right."

For minor illnesses, only close relatives would visit, give a red envelope, and after discharge, it's customary to invite these close relatives for a meal.

Aunt Zhang said, "A whole pig is too much to finish."

Li Sanjiang said, "Send some to me, I use a lot, oh, and give me extra blood."

Aunt Zhang agreed, "Alright, I'll have my family send it to you later."

Li Sanjiang asked, "Your little girl isn't that young anymore, is she?"

Aunt Zhang replied, "That's right."

When Zhao Yi was here, Aunt Zhang thought Zhao Yi looked good and even had the idea, but Zhao Yi's talk of 'two wives' scared Aunt Zhang quite a bit.

Li Sanjiang asked, "Still hoping for a son-in-law to move in?"

Aunt Zhang had all daughters.

If she wanted it easy, she could marry them off. However, if they had some ambitions and decent family conditions, they'd generally keep one daughter and have a son-in-law move in.

Liu Jinxia back then was brought in as a live-in son-in-law for Li Juxiang.

Aunt Zhang said, "That's what we thought before, but after that incident, my husband has been more open-minded lately. Who could have thought?"

Li Sanjiang said, "Indeed, who could have thought."

Aunt Zhang said, "It all depends on fate, if they are a family, they blend well; if not, it could be a disaster."

"That's true."

Li Sanjiang and Li Zhiyuan left the grocery store and continued their post-breakfast walk.

"Little Yuanhou, don't buy cigarettes by cartons anymore, we have plenty of loose packs at home."

Li Sanjiang, who usually conducted mourning ceremonies, got cigarettes by the handfuls and was never short of them. Sometimes, when out, he'd even put an empty cigarette box in his pocket to collect loose ones on the way home.

Li Zhiyuan said, "Next time, I'll buy a carton of Zhonghua."

Li Sanjiang raised his voice, "I'll become immortal, smoking a carton of Zhonghua, haha!"

Blowing out a smoke ring and flicking the ash, Li Sanjiang asked:

"By the way, Little Yuanhou, what did that old lady call you for this morning?"

"Grandma Liu is going to the city today and asked me to come along."

"Oh, is she going to buy you something?"

"Probably not."

"If she does buy you something, just accept it, let that stingy old lady spend a bit more, she loses at the card table anyway."

"Okay, Grandmaster."

When they got back home after their walk, they discovered Aunt Zhang's husband had already delivered the pork and pig blood.

There was quite a lot, and Aunt Liu had already settled the payment, cheaper than buying from the town's butcher shop.

The meat wouldn't be a problem to consume, as the family raised meat-eating mules.

Li Sanjiang picked up a bag of pig blood and started to work.

Not to make blood tofu, but to create "black dog blood" for rituals.

For this kind of "faker," Li Sanjiang was very experienced. He first filtered and treated it a bit, then sat in the hall, mixing in pigments.

This kind of "black dog blood," with a red base and somber black, would solidify quickly and had a good dramatic effect.

While Li Sanjiang was busy, right next to him was Xiao Hei's doghouse. Xiao Hei lay there with its head on its paw, watching as Li Sanjiang made the artificial "black dog blood."

Xiao Hei was very smart for a dog, definitely clever, understanding trade-offs, and for a luxurious life, it even disregarded romance.

Every time blood was collected, Xiao Hei would proactively stick out its paw, and after, it would shake and indicated with its eyes, that more could be taken.

During periods when there was less use of red clay, the frequency and amount of blood collection decreased. Xiao Hei would feel anxious, willingly stretch out its paw to pat Run Sheng or Tan Wenbin, afraid of losing its blood earnings.