Chapter 003: I Am a Good Person, Not a Pervert

"Uncle, please come in. I am not from the main branch, so I can't enter." The old man escorted Li Guo to the entrance and stopped there. "Entering as a branch member will result in a beating."

Li Guo shook his head and sighed, then entered with Xiaoxin. To him, these rules were as ridiculous as the English CET-4 and CET-6 exams. However, Xiaoxin wasn't stopped, probably because everyone assumed she was Li Guo's daughter after hearing her call him "Dad."

"Daddy... I'm scared." After seeing the dozens of large and small ancestral tablets on the shrine's altar, Xiaoxin tightly held onto one of Li Guo's fingers, biting her lip to prevent herself from crying.

Li Guo carried Xiaoxin on his back and gently patted her. "Don't be afraid, just close your eyes."

Feeling Xiaoxin trembling, Li Guo decided to quickly finish things and go back to watch the entertainment show in the evening. So he picked up his pace, relying on his memory, and walked towards the deepest part of the shrine.

The dim corridor had only a small patch of sky from the courtyard as a light source; the sun couldn't reach this place at all. Copper-green locks hung on the doors on both sides of the corridor, indicating their age. Only the door at the end was wide open, resembling an open mouth.

"Is anyone here?" Li Guo shouted loudly, causing Xiaoxin to tremble all over.

After he shouted, an old rusty door hinge creaked open. A person walked out, so old that it was difficult to tell their gender, but they seemed lively.

"Young Master, you've finally come..." The old person seemed blind as they shouted towards the courtyard, even though Li Guo was clearly on their left side.

Seeing the person's appearance, Li Guo quietly reminded Xiaoxin not to open her eyes. In his heart, he complained, "Why does every old house have such eccentric characters?"

But soon, he became resigned. An eccentric character in a bell tower was better than the old ancestor living in the ring. After all, the eccentric character was still human...

Following the eccentric character's slow pace, Li Guo started feeling a bit impatient. So he started chatting with the eccentric person without much relevance. "Hey, why do you call me Young Master?"

"You are the Young Master," the eccentric person succinctly replied. "Your son is also the Young Master."

The tightly closed-eyed Xiaoxin shouted loudly, "I'm a daughter! I'm a girl!"

The hollow eyes of the eccentric person seemed to turn towards Xiaoxin, and they let out a smile they thought was warm.

This frightened Xiaoxin, who had just opened her eyes, causing her to scream and bury her head in Li Guo's shoulder.

"This is what the former master left for you. If you didn't come today, you would have been expelled from the Li family." The eccentric person handed three things to Li Guo.

There was a box, another box, and yet another box. Apart from their different sizes and thicknesses, the material and age of the boxes seemed identical.

Curious, Li Guo fiddled with the three boxes. Two of them could be opened, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open the third one.

The two boxes that could be opened contained an exquisitely framed ancient painting and a traditional-style book with a leather cover, filled with a thick layer of fine dust.

"Young Master, the Li family has declined for hundreds of years. If you can revive the family, this old slave would die willingly." After the old man spoke, he bowed, but this time, he still bowed towards the courtyard.

Li Guo didn't dare to help him up, as he wasn't sure if the old man was bowing to him or to his grandfather.

"What do these mean?" Li Guo slowly opened the beautifully framed ancient painting box. "These three boxes."

"The heavenly secret must not be revealed. Young Master, you should comprehend it yourself. However!" The eccentric old man's tone changed, "Flowers are not flowers, mist is not mist. They come and go from midnight to dawn. Like a spring dream that doesn't last long, they disappear like morning clouds without a trace."

"Bai Juyi!" Li Guo, who had consumed gallons of ink since childhood, almost didn't need to think and subconsciously stated the author of the poem. "But what does it specifically mean?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Comprehend." After leaving behind this word, the eccentric person stopped speaking and groped their way into the dim room, disappearing.

Li Guo didn't want to stay in this strange place any longer. He quickly carried the large and small boxes and hurriedly left the dark shrine. Xiaoxin opened her eyes when she felt the outside world again.

The village chief was still waiting with his head bowed at the entrance. When he saw Li Guo coming out, he eagerly approached. "Uncle, it's getting late. Let me arrange some food for you. Stay here for the night."

Li Guo looked up at the sky and indeed, the sun had already set. Judging by the time, it was almost 5 p.m. There was no need to rush back, so he nodded and agreed to stay for the night.

Xiaoxin, for some reason, was ecstatic, dancing with joy. The poor little thing, who had been trembling in the shrine just now, suddenly became elated.

At that moment, Li Guo's phone rang, as he expected, it was Xiaoxin's mother, the landlady, calling.

"Guo'er, where did you take my precious baby?" The landlady's voice was still sweet, and surprisingly, she didn't sound panicked at all. However, there was something strange in the background noise, like firecrackers, but the bursts were irregular.

It sounded more like... gunfire?

How was that possible... China is a country governed by law. How could such a magical thing as gunfire exist?

After clearing his head of these messy thoughts, Li Guo put on a voice that sounded menacing. "Your sister is already in my hands. If you're smart, return all my half-year's rent, or... hehehehe."

"Hey... Daddy, your laugh sounds disgusting." Xiaoxin, who was unaware of the truth, only knew that Li Guo's laughter was unpleasant.

"You have fun with her. I might have to work overtime tonight and won't be going back." The landlady didn't take Li Guo's threat seriously at all.

And just a second before hanging up, Li Guo suddenly heard a rough male voice from the other end exclaim, "Oh no! They have grenades..."

"Rather play Counter-Strike than come back to take care of the child." Li Guo complained and turned to Xiaoxin. "Is she really your biological mother?"

In the evening, Li Guo had the most lavish meal he had in the past six months. It had everything from shark fin and abalone to Four Joy Meatballs and fish dumpling soup. Dishes from various regions including Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Anhui were all there. It was basically a working meal prepared according to the standards of a full Chinese banquet.

Both Xiaoxin and Li Guo ate until their throats were blocked before reluctantly putting down their chopsticks.

"Daddy... Let's pack up and go back tomorrow." Xiaoxin looked at the table full of dishes, her eyes sparkling. "It's much tastier than KFC."

Li Guo rolled up his sleeves and nodded seriously. He started figuring out how to distribute the dishes so that they could be conveniently carried without mixing flavors.

But then he started wondering again. Did the Li family village strike a gold mine or traffic drugs? This table of dishes, if it were in a restaurant, would cost a fortune. Yet the village chief said they were pressed for time and couldn't prepare properly. If given half a month...

Would dinosaur meat work? Probably not. But the South China tiger would definitely not escape.

During a post-meal stroll, Li Guo mustered up the courage and found the village chief, asking if they could pack up the dishes tomorrow. It was difficult to bring up, but he knew that if they couldn't take them, Xiaoxin would definitely cry her eyes out.

"Uncle... Are you living such a difficult life now?" When the village chief heard Li Guo's words, he almost burst into tears. Trembling, he took out a bank card from his pocket. "This is a filial gift from your nephew. It doesn't have a password; it's a credit card."

Li Guo waved his hand and decisively refused the shiny golden bank card. He wanted the food, not the money. Although he was poor, he wanted to have some dignity in his poverty. As long as there's determination in his heart, dreams can still be pursued. It's just unemployment; he can always start from scratch.

However, Li Guo still asked why the Li family village was so wealthy. The old village chief told him that when their ancestor passed away, he left behind 3,000 kilograms of gold for the Li family village. The village used this gold as collateral for bank loans, contracted all the surrounding mountains and reservoirs, and built over twenty breeding farms. In less than ten years, everyone in the village had villas.

Li Guo was dumbfounded. His grandfather had 3,000 kilograms of gold, and he had no idea about it. Neither did his father. How much would that be worth? If he didn't go to Heaven on Earth or Las Vegas, this money would be enough for him to live comfortably for several lifetimes, right?

Of course, there must have been a reason for what his grandfather did, and if it's gone, it's gone. But the village chief's words were still heartwarming. He doesn't forget the person who dug the well when drinking water. The bank card was forcibly stuffed into Li Guo's pocket.

Li Guo felt quite troubled...

When it was time to sleep, the little sister refused to sleep alone and insisted on staying in Li Guo's bed, asking him to tell her the story of "Black Whirlwind Defeats the White Bone Demon."

"Where is that story?" Li Guo was desperately racking his brain, but he couldn't come up with the story of "Black Whirlwind Defeats the White Bone Demon."

Xiaoxin pouted. "Mommy always tells me that story."

"You're a Japanese girl. Why don't you tell the story of Momotaro or Urashima Taro? Instead, you're talking about 'Black Whirlwind Defeats the White Bone Demon.' Okay, I'll tell the story, but it's a bit inappropriate. 'Black Whirlwind Defeats the White Bone Demon'—do you have any integrity?" Li Guo immediately dialed the landlady's number and scolded her loudly, "Do you understand the seriousness of the situation?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before the landlady slowly said, "Who defeated the White Bone Demon?"

"Zhuge Liang!" Li Guo said and hung up the phone with a snap, then looked at Xiaoxin with a gentle and kind expression. "Come here, today Uncle will tell you a story about Zhuge Liang defeating the White Bone Demon."

Before the story could be finished, both the big and small slept soundly in the warm air-conditioned room without a care in the world.

After a while, in a daze, Li Guo heard a crisp voice reciting a poem, "Arrows chase the clouds and geese descend, eagles follow the moon rabbits in flight."

But immediately after, a voice filled with murderous intent shouted, "Draw your sword!"

"Pervert, die!"