After hearing that, my heart sank. Gritting my teeth, I ran toward Liu Dali’s house. 

When I came to his door, I didn’t hear the dog barking.

Soon

, I found the dog lying dead inside the courtyard

. I

ts body was 

curled into a ball. 

I even saw a streak of blood on the corner of its snout.

I had a really bad feeling. 

I hurried

 into the house

 and s

aw Liu Dali 

lying

 unconscious on the ground. 

It was an emergency, 

so

 I didn’t have time to consider a lot. I directly scooped a bowl of water from the water tank and splashed it on his head. 

Liu Dali shivered

 and

 opened his eyes. “What happened to me?” 

“What happened after I left?” I asked. 

“Nothing

. W

here’s your friend?” Liu Dai didn’t care about the water on his 

face

. He looked a little flustered

 as he looked 

behind me. 

I was surprised. “Didn’t you just call me?” 

“No,

I just 

went

 to my room and felt a little tired. I sat on the couch and rested until now.” He shook his head

, h

is face perplexed. 

“Damn it! We

’ve been 

tricked.” I cursed under my breath

 and felt 

like a dum

my

 running back and forth. I needed to 

go back

! If that thing had tricked me 

into 

leav

ing

 the village entrance, it would mean that Li Mazi was there just recently! 

I rushed out again. On my way, I checked the donkey cart in the yard. The donkey looked dead 

as it lay on the

 ground, and the cart 

was next to it

. Subconsciously, I ran toward the cart to check if the tofu was still 

there.

I found nothing

. All the tofu was gone. 

There wasn’t even

 a speck of flour. 

“

Is that thing

already

 here?”

Liu Dali appeared behind me. Seeing the scene, his legs turned into jelly

. He slumped 

onto the ground

, 

his eyes look

ing

 spiritless. 

His 

words

 reminded me

 that t

he dogs in the village 

weren’t

barking

or

 howling anymore. 

I pulled him up

. 

“It seems something 

ate

 the tofu 

and

 left. I don

’t 

think it 

will

show

 up again 

tonight

. Uncle Liu, you should go back to your room to rest.” 

After that, 

I headed to the village entrance

.

I felt

 bitter. The opponent had inaudibly captured Li Mazi and eaten all the tofu right under our watch. It 

had

 even trick

ed 

me 

into

 running back and forth. Sadly, I 

hadn’t gained any clues

. 

While I was 

racking

 my brain to find a solution to 

rescue

 Li Mazi, he called me. I thought that Li Mazi was being manipulated, so I 

said

 coldly, “Who are you? What do you want?” 

“Little 

B

rother Zhang, I’m Li Mazi. Where are you?”

Li Mazi’s voice 

went

 through the phone.

His voice sounded

 real. “Brother, are you okay?” 

“I’m okay. I’m stand

ing 

by the stone column at the village entrance. Come get me.” 

After 

I hung

 up the call, I dashed to the village entrance. Indeed, Li Mazi was standing by a stone column, holding the Holy Mother Scepter. When he saw me, he smiled

.

 “Little 

B

rother Zhang, I’m rich now!” 

“Stop 

spouting

 nonsense. Tell me, where did you go just 

now

?” 

I heaved a sigh of relief as Li Mazi 

was still joking

 with me. I really 

cared

 about this man. 

Li Mazi didn’t talk. He produced an immaculate white jade from his pocket

 and gave it to me

. “Hey, can you tell me how old 

this jade is

?” 

The jade was square, and it felt warm in the palm. The main side was perfectly polished, 

while

 the other side had many small holes that looked like the cells on a honeycomb. 

I frowned

 and said,

 “It’s a good jade. Good to wear. From the color and texture, I

’m

 guessing it’s from the Qin-Han era. It’s a little bad that it 

has holes

 on the other 

side

. Otherwise, it would be worth a lot of money.” 

“Well done, Little 

B

rother Zhang!” 

Li Mazi gave me a thumb

s-

up. Then, he kept fiddling with that jade, making me 

look

 at one side of the jade and then the other side. After a while, he asked, “What do you think it 

looks

 like?” 

“A block of tofu!” 

I answered instinctively since the cell-like holes on the other side looked like the bubbles in the tofu. 

Something suddenly

 flashed in my head

. I felt 

incredulous. “Is it…” 

“You

’ve

 got it!” Li Mazi interrupted me, then excitedly explained to me. 

It turned out that when he entered the village, the sky was already dark. He wanted to call me. Then, he saw a man wearing brocade clothes coming 

at

 him, asking him where he wanted to go. Since Li Mazi knew that I was in the Village Elder’s house, he asked the old man how to get to the Village Elder’s house, 

so

 he didn’t call me. The old man offered to show him the way. Li Mazi followed him without hesitation. 

T

he old man had walked for a long time

, and t

he surroundings didn’t have any houses anymore. Li Mazi recognized 

that the

 situation was wrong. Gritting his teeth, he was ready to use the Holy Mother Scepter to attack the old man. 

“Kid, don’t be scared. I just want to tell you a story.” 

The man wearing brocade clothes gently 

raised

 his

 palm,

 and the Holy Mother Scepter automatically left Li Mazi’s hand. Li Mazi knew he 

wasn’t

 the old man’s equal opponent. Moreover, the old man didn’t want to hurt him. He decided to listen to what the old man wanted to tell him. 

The old man said that he had lived 

during

 the Han dynasty, which was two thousand years ago. He was Prince Li of Huainan, but he wasn’t interested in being a prince. He liked to make 

delicious

 foods. One day, while he was trying to cook something new with soybeans, he discovered that if he put a pinch of gypsum into soybean, he could create soft, white tofu. He was the one who invented tofu in China. 

The emperor wanted to compliment his invention, so he ordered people to make a jade that looked like tofu to reward him. Prince Li 

always wore

 the jade and never left it for even 

a

 day. However, his good days 

didn’t

 last long. 

T

he imperial court issued an order to cut the vassal and divided his governed land. Although he wasn’t interested in politics, he had become a sacrifice in 

the

 political war. He died with 

a

 grudge 

for

a

 crime of treason he didn’t commit. 

“Liu An

...

H

e

’

s actually Prince Li of Huainan!” 

I was s

o 

excited that my body shivered. Prince Li of Huainan’s greatest achievement was his invention of tofu. It had become what he wanted to follow and develop for the rest of his life. It wasn’t hard to explain 

why

 he would appear when the tofu guy came to the village to sell tofu. And, to explain why the dogs barked, I thought they could sense the imperial blood from Liu An. They barked because they were scared. 

However, I was curious why Liu An had 

shown

 up these days, and why he wanted to give Li Mazi his tofu jade. I 

gestured to Li

 Mazi to continue talking. 

“I 

don’t

 know

 the reason

. He told me the story then gave me the jade. Before he left, he said, ‘

W

ealth and pride, everything is predestined. When you die, you will have to reincarnate

.’

” 

I repeated what Liu An told Li Mazi in my 

mind

. Suddenly, I felt warm inside. He meant that wealth and pride weren’t important. When people died, they couldn’t bring anything with them. 

He had vanished and was willing to let go of everything, including his glory. I thought that he wouldn’t come again. If 

we had brought him tofu earlier

, this incident wouldn’t have happened 

at all

.  

I recalled a line from a poem by Li Bai: When 

things are

 done, I 

take

 my merit and fame with me. 

Liu An had done that. He had slept for more than one thousand years underground. His mood wasn’t affected by the world outside. I admired and respected him! 

After a long time, I pulled myself together

 and asked, “Do you remember where he took you?” 

Li Mazi thought for a while, then nodded. However, I interrupted him before he finished

.

 “It’s all right. No need to tell me. 

Let him rest

. We shouldn’t disturb him.” 

I wanted to go and see his spirit to compliment him. However, after thinking about it again, the best respect we could give him was to not disturb him. 

In this life, no matter how hard people competed for fame and wealth, no one would think that Prince Li of 

Huainan, the

 prince who had invented tofu, was buried in a remote corner of this small village. 

He had stayed here as though it was the Pureland, watching and laughing at this competitive mortal world.