After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Following the gurgling stream, Ningnan ran to the house of the seedling reader to the east. Entering the courtyard, the precious tree in the house stood proudly, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, its green leaves glistening.

Under the shade of a tree, a peddler pushed his wooden cart, his face beaming with smiles: "These are all good stuff, old man, I wouldn't dare tell anyone!"

The families on the east side nodded immediately, saying, "Don't worry, don't worry, we wouldn't do such a despicable thing." They carefully took out a row of copper coins and handed them to the peddler, who returned a small paper packet.

Ning Nan finally understood why everyone was so unguarded around this man, allowing the peddler to make his business in the village.

...because no one dared to do business outside the village.

"Selling smuggled salt," Yang Qiniang said softly, covering her mouth as she stood next to Ning Nan.

The illegal trade of salt is strictly prohibited in Daliang; the penalty is death.

However, smuggled salt was more than half the price of official salt, and its quality was better. Some of these were merchants who were not afraid of being beheaded. Since the law did not punish the masses, ordinary people also secretly bought it.

On the peddler's rather simple wooden cart were common goods such as tea, sugar, and cloth.

On the wooden rack hung an iron pot, along with rattles, bells, and longevity locks—trinkets for children. But what the peddler really wanted to sell was the smuggled salt hidden in his chain bag; that was where the enormous profits were made.

Ning Nan doesn't know martial arts, but when he was a child, he often climbed over the wall to secretly watch the guards of Master Li's house practice martial arts.

I've never seen anyone leap across rooftops or scale walls, nor have I ever seen a martial arts master who could blow through a wall with a single breath.

Every move, every punch and kick, was flashy and not much different from the fancy moves of later generations. In a real fight, the most effective move would probably be the wild, unorthodox punches.

In the era of cold weapons, an inch longer meant an inch stronger; a knife was inferior to a spear, and a spear was inferior to a lance.

But unless one is riding a horse, a long spear can hardly compare to a powerful bow, and his bow, which had been honed for a long time, was several times stronger than the strongest bow of this era.

He couldn't tell if the stranger was skilled in martial arts, but the man wasn't much stronger than him. Erlai wasn't in the village, so he could bring three strong men along. They could easily defeat him in a two-on-one fight, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

Of course, this is based on the premise that the other party is indeed a spy for the group that assassinated Miss Zhu.

According to the plot of the book, this group should have carried out the assassination three to five days later, but they sent people to various villages in advance to gather intelligence and search for Miss Zhu who might still be alive. Such a professional group would really look down on the other side if they didn't do it this way.

Ning Nan hadn't forgotten that not long after he left yesterday morning, the other party had cleaned up the corpses on the road spotlessly, as if they wanted to leave no trace of dirt. They were very professional in doing things.

Li Yanting's elaborate rescue yesterday showed that it was inevitable that the other party would find this family.

"Big brother, is it him?" Li Xing leaned closer to him, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

The older brother said that in the next few days, some outsiders might do something detrimental to the village, and he should keep an eye on things. But no matter what happens, he shouldn't do it alone; he should always tell the older brother.

"have no idea."

Ning Nan shook his head.

"You'll find out tonight."

Yang Qiniang came out to watch the excitement, but at the same time she also had something she wanted to say to Ning the Demon. The young lady she had rescued was far too delicate.

Not to mention himself, even Doctor Jiang was finding it hard to take it anymore, and Tingwa was almost driven crazy by this young lady today.

Strangely enough, people are somewhat intimidated by Ning Nan, but when something happens, they want to ask him for advice.

But before she could even get a word in edgewise, Ningwa left. Li Xing said his older brother had gone to the blacksmith's shop.

Yang Qiniang stamped her foot in frustration, glanced into the inner room, and walked in with a sigh, muttering under her breath:

"What a mess she's made of! I wonder which rich girl she is, spoiled rotten, she won't eat meat or chicken, I wonder what kind of divine treasure she wants to eat!"

The blacksmith shop was not far from Li Yanting's house. By going around his backyard, through a bamboo forest less than a kilometer long, and then across two acres of thin fields, you could see the black smoke billowing from the red-hot furnace.

Clang!

The sound of hammering was incredibly crisp, and as soon as Ning Nan stepped into the blacksmith's shop, sweat broke out on his forehead.

Upon seeing him arrive, a burly man wearing a sweat towel and with bulging muscles called out, "Big Brother."

Ning Nan walked over with a smile: "Big Black."

Li Dahei was actually three years older than him, but like Sanzhuang and the others, he called him "Big Brother".

Eight years ago, Dahei's parents died. Before his father died, he mortgaged the family's land to Master Li to pay off gambling debts.

Li Dahei was homeless and ate at the homes of many families for three months. He ate the most at the home of the kind-hearted widow Ning.

Later, when Ning Nan was ten years old, he persuaded Chen the blacksmith to take Li Dahei as his apprentice and pass on his skills. After Ning Nan died, Dahei carried his coffin and had a son who took the surname Chen. Only then did Dahei finally have a place to go.

The stove was burning brightly, and on top of it was an iron basin filled with water, steaming hot.

In the center of the basin sits a small wine jar, immersed in water heated by the stove. Inside is aged yellow wine, which, once warmed, will taste heavenly.

"Is it done yet?" Ning Nan picked up a pair of scissors that Da Hei had made and looked at them. They were shiny, sharp, and neat. Da Hei's skills were getting better and better.

"alright."

Li Dahei picked up a handkerchief and wiped his face. He walked behind the counter and took out a heavy cloth bag. "I've tested it. It works."

Ning Nan nodded, took the cloth bag, padded it, and made a clanging sound inside. It was quite heavy, at least ten pounds.

"Thanks." Ning Nan handed over thirteen copper coins.

He provided the iron, just for the craft. At a fair price, it should have been around eleven copper coins, but Ningnan never let his brothers suffer losses, and always gave them a little more.

Dahei glanced at it, pursed his lips, and didn't say anything more. He knew his older brother's personality; during the holidays, he just needed to bring a couple more strings of cured meat to visit Aunt Ning.

With a crooked mouth and drool dripping from his mouth, Chen the blacksmith sat on the recliner next to Ning Nan, calling out "Hey, hey" to him, seemingly quite pleased.

The old man was addicted to alcohol.

A year ago, he caught a severe cold and almost died. Ningnan saved the old man with penicillin. A few days later, the old man started bragging and drinking again. Half a year ago, he finally suffered a stroke and ended up like this.

Ning Nan took the warmed rice wine from the hot water in the iron basin, poured a bowl of it, and Chen the blacksmith's eyes lit up, and he chuckled.

Ning Nan waved the wine in front of Chen the blacksmith, then drank it all in one gulp.

"Excellent wine!"

when!

He put down his bowl, wiped his mouth, and said, "I'm off!"

"Goodbye, Big Brother." Li Dahei smiled as he put away the bowl.

Only when the eldest brother drinks Master's wine will Master not get truly angry.

……

"What are you looking for?"

On the bed, Zhu Cuiwei glanced at the country doctor who had knocked on the door and entered her room, rummaging around under the bed.

"Looking for something."

Ning Nan chuckled, dragged a wooden box out from under his mother's bed, patted it, and the room was covered in dust.

Zhu Cui narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry." Having just drunk a bowl of delicious yellow wine, the young man's face was flushed, and the smell of wine from his breath almost hit the woman's face.

He wrung out a towel and roughly wiped the woman's face: "Don't tell my mother, okay?"