Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Early the next morning, two trucks arrived outside the school.
Shi Fuluo, the old woman with the bamboo basket, and Tu Dahai, the butcher, had personally come with them.
“The Tu family’s blood incense offerings still smell as rich as ever.”
Shi Fuluo walked up to the Tu family’s truck, sniffed, and pulled back the tarp. The cargo bed was piled high with blood-red bricks.
“These are all old stock. This stuff isn’t easy to make. You have to feed a pig realgar and cinnabar for three years, chant incantations over it for another year, then slaughter it. Only its blood can be made into ‘blood tofu.'”
Tu Dahai shook his head, nostalgia in his eyes. Then he said, “Your Shi family’s Stone-Rot Flowers are as brilliant as ever.”
The Shi family’s truck was filled with stacked flowerpots. Clusters of vivid crimson flowers bloomed within them, beautiful enough to steal the eye.
“Stone-Rot Flowers, Stone-Rot Flowers. Without anomalous stone, how could we possibly grow them? These were also left behind by our ancestors.”
Shi Fuluo sounded equally sorrowful.
“You’re both here,” Yin Rumei said as she arrived.
“The Yin family’s worship was exhausted all those years ago. I will have to trouble the two of you.”
“I know this is everything your families have left. I will remember what you have done for me.”
“What are you saying, Miss Yin?” Shi Fuluo replied. “This little bit of worship is nothing.”
Tu Dahai added, “It’s only a shame that our two families have so little left. I’m afraid it will be no more than a drop in the bucket for Teacher Li’s plan.”
“Damn those other families. Every last one of them is an ungrateful wretch!”
Yin Rumei sighed softly as well. Mingjiang No. 7 Special School might have formed an occult configuration, but with so little worship, welcoming the Old Divine Gate back would likely remain an empty dream.
“The Zhang, Gu, and several other families contacted me again last night. They said they were willing to give me their worship…”
But those families had attached a condition. They wanted an anomalous entity once owned by the Yin family in exchange.
That anomalous entity was the last inheritance her family possessed.
She had neither agreed nor refused and was still hesitating.
“Those ingrates are simply coveting the ancestral anomalous entity in your hands. Miss, you must not agree!” Shi Fuluo said.
Tu Dahai clenched his teeth. “They’re taking advantage of your desperation!”
Yin Rumei shook her head.
“Forget them. Let us plant the worship first.”
For now, they could only use what little they had.
Shi Fuluo and Tu Dahai had no choice but to sigh.
…
The trucks soon drove onto the school grounds.
Shi Fuluo personally led two members of the Shi family in moving the Stone-Rot Flowers beside the flower beds. Tu Dahai hauled the red bricks to a dilapidated section of the perimeter wall.
“You moved this quickly?”
Li Que approached with Leng Qingyan and Qin Shiyu. They were surprised to find the Shi and Tu families already hard at work.
“We wouldn’t dare delay a matter this important,” Yin Rumei said with a sigh.
“Teacher Li, I am only worried this… may not be enough.”
Li Que smiled and shook his head.
“It’s enough, more than enough. The fact that you’re willing to help already means a great deal.”
Truthfully, neither the Shi family’s flowers nor the Tu family’s wall repairs were urgent necessities for Mingjiang No. 7 Special School.
They would be nice to have, but the school could manage without them. What mattered was the families’ devotion to public service and education.
Yin Rumei relaxed slightly.
Just then, another horn sounded at the school gates as a third cargo truck arrived.
“The Xun family’s stone is here!”
The driver jumped down from the cab. He had an honest, dependable face and wiped the sweat from his brow.
“My name is Xun Wu. I’m here to build a platform for the school. Where would you like it?”
Leng Qingyan and Qin Shiyu both looked toward Li Que. He surveyed the grounds and pointed at an empty space to the right of the athletic field.
“That spot looks good. Build a stage there. It will be convenient for school events in the future.”
Xun Wu wore work clothes dusted with gray powder. He smiled broadly.
“You must be Teacher Li. Wonderful! My young master told me you’re an extraordinarily good man!”
He extended a hand. Li Que smiled and shook it.
When Xun Wu released him, a layer of white dust remained on Li Que’s hand.
“Oh… I’m sorry, Teacher Li. I was moving stone before I came over and didn’t notice,” Xun Wu hurriedly explained, his face apologetic. “A clumsy laborer like me is always making mistakes.”
Li Que laughed freely.
“It’s fine. I’m a laborer myself, truth be told. When I first came to the school, I did masonry work too. Plenty of places were falling apart, so I patched them up myself.”
“You know masonry too, Teacher Li? Impressive!” Xun Wu exclaimed.
Qin Shiyu, however, frowned faintly. This driver was clearly a member of the Xun family, and his enthusiasm seemed a little excessive.
“All right, I’ll get to work. Don’t worry, Teacher Li. You’ll be completely satisfied with the platform we build!”
With that, Xun Wu directed the workers as they unloaded the cargo. One long piece of cut stone after another was carried out of the truck.
“Vice Principal Leng, Dean Qin, I’ll head to class. I’ll leave this place to you.”
Li Que smiled. He was in an excellent mood as he departed.
Leng Qingyan nodded. Supervising the work naturally fell to them.
Qin Shiyu watched Li Que go, still wanting to warn him about something. But Tu Dahai’s shout came from the other side.
“Vice Principal Leng! Dean Qin! Come over here!”
His voice sounded urgent.
Leng Qingyan and Qin Shiyu immediately hurried over, with Yin Rumei following close behind.
When they reached the dilapidated wall, Yin Rumei asked, “What happened?”
Tu Dahai held a masonry blade in one hand, sweat covering his brow. His expression was complicated.
“Miss Yin, this brick… I can’t cut it!”
Yin Rumei was startled.
“What?”
She knew perfectly well that Tu Dahai’s masonry blade was itself an S-minus-class anomalous entity. Moreover, years of using it to prepare worship had elevated it far beyond ordinary anomalous entities.
Yet it could not cut through the school’s wall?
“I also picked up a little dust that had fallen from the wall.”
Tu Dahai took out a small transparent bag and handed it to Yin Rumei.
“Miss Yin, smell this.”
Yin Rumei lifted the bag and sniffed. Shock instantly filled her face.
“This is… the scent of worship?!”
Tu Dahai nodded.
“And it is far stronger than our worship. I think… this is Sixfold Sacrifice-grade worship!”
Yin Rumei was struck speechless.
Sixfold Sacrifice?!
Lesser Sacrifice. Grand Sacrifice. Sixfold Sacrifice.
These were the grades of ritual worship, and the Sixfold Sacrifice represented the highest tier. Even the Old Divine Gate could withstand no more than Sixfold Sacrifice-grade worship.
And someone had seeded the very walls of this school with worship of that grade?
Did that not mean this place’s status was already no lower than the Old Divine Gate’s?
This was simply absurd.
“Who… seeded this wall with worship?”
She turned and instinctively looked at Leng Qingyan and Qin Shiyu.
Qin Shiyu was equally baffled. She turned to Leng Qingyan. After all, Leng Qingyan had served at the school longest and was its vice principal.
Leng Qingyan’s expression was complicated.
“Don’t look at me. The wall was already like this when I arrived.”
Yin Rumei suddenly remembered something.
“Wait… What did Teacher Li say just now?”
All of them spun around and stared in the direction Li Que had gone.
“He said… that when he first came to the school, he did masonry work and patched up all sorts of places.”
Qin Shiyu cried out, “So… he planted the worship back then?”
Their expressions turned complex. Almost instantly, they reached the same conclusion.
There could be no answer but Li Que.
“This is Sixfold Sacrifice-grade worship. Even those old ancestral hearths probably have very little left. Where did Teacher Li get it?” Yin Rumei murmured.
“Vice Principal Leng! Dean Qin! Come over here!”
At that moment, Shi Fuluo called to them from beside the flower beds.
…