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

"Li Liang?"

Li Yanting frowned and called out.

"Yes, yes, yes! Young scholar, it's me! Your Uncle Liang!"

Whether it was the phrase "young scholar" that had an effect or not, Li Yanting put away his wooden stick, his aggressive demeanor lessened, a flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, which slowly turned into disdain and resentment, and he snorted a few times under his breath.

Ning Nan took the yellow lantern from Li Xing with his left hand and brought it closer.

As Ning Nan's right-hand blade approached, the man on the ground screamed in terror again.

Li Xing's face, which had been flushed with excitement, cooled down at this point. He stared at the man on the ground and shouted:

"Uncle Liang, is that you?"

Just then, a deafening crash of bamboo echoed through the bamboo grove. A dark figure burst forth from the depths, stumbling just before reaching the courtyard wall, thankfully avoiding a collision. "Big brother! Big brother!"

The dark figure, panting heavily, yelled and scrambled over the courtyard wall with both hands, his eyes wide open.

"Slow down, wipe your drool." Ning Nan frowned, handed the lantern to Li Xing, and said to the three strong men rushing over.

The latter groaned a few times, and seeing that his older brother was alright, he quickly stopped and glared at him, saying, "Big brother! Why didn't you call me when you made your move!"

Ning Nan was so angry she almost fainted. Ignoring him, she turned her head and stared at the man on the ground, whose face was contorted in pain.

Li Liang, a gambler in his forties, was a layabout in the village. He had mortgaged his parents' land, and his father died of anger. He had no money, so the villagers pooled their money to bury his father. In recent years, he had been doing odd jobs in Hangezhuang to make a living and hadn't been back to the village for a long time.

"Uncle Liang, why are you back?" San Zhuang, who had run over excitedly, ready to show off his skills, was not annoyed when his older brother ignored him. He glared at the ground and said.

"Ouch! Ouch! It hurts... It hurts..." Li Liang clutched his right foot, his ankle bleeding profusely.

"Three strong ones!"

"This guy's just in time," Ning Nan pointed, instructing him to remove the animal traps from Li Liang.

The moment the spike was pulled out of his flesh, Li Liang turned deathly pale, nearly fainted from the pain, and screamed in agony.

They carried Li Liang to the front yard, where several men and older children from the surrounding households were seen carrying hoes, sticks, and a few of the bolder ones were brandishing kitchen knives and wood-chopping knives.

Several experienced elderly people held torches and stood a distance away from them, to provide light and support for their descendants.

"Where is it? Where's the thief!"

"Ningwa, Tingwa, and Sanzhuang? What's wrong?"

"Li Xing, what are you doing here?"

"Li Liang, you're still alive? Ningwa, don't let him kill you!"

"Where's the thief?"

……

Li Yanting coughed. As both the host and a promising student in the village, his words immediately quelled the commotion.

Li Yanting shouted a few times, "Thank you for your help, elders. I am deeply grateful." Everyone responded with "It's alright, it's alright." The bookworm took a breath, sorted out his thoughts, and briefly explained the situation. Then everyone was in an uproar, turned their heads, glared angrily at Li Liang on the ground, and spat at him.

"How could someone surnamed Li produce such a beast as you!"

"Drown him in a pig cage! Drown him in a pig cage!"

"Let's fan it!"

Li Liang screamed in terror, "I won't do it again! I won't do it again..."

While the reading seed was speaking, Ning Nan abandoned Li Liang and headed towards the door of the main room.

The main door was closed, with only a crack open, revealing a dim light and two pairs of eyes.

One pair belonged to Yang Qiniang, who was still shaken; the other pair belonged to Doctor Jiang, which was shiny and much calmer. He even said, "Should I go out and bandage him up?"

I just heard screams, and now I see that person clutching their leg, rolling on the ground screaming, blood streaming down their foot. It's really scary.

Ning Nan shook his head: "No need, it's just a superficial wound."

Yang Qiniang took a deep breath: "Ningwa, you're amazing!"

When Li Xinglai arranged this matter, she kept muttering that she thought Ningwa was crazy, making a mountain out of a molehill, and had watched too many plays. But Doctor Jiang said to listen to Ningwa, so Yang Qiniang had no choice but to obediently move the young lady to the main room with Doctor Jiang. Fortunately, the young lady was very picky and didn't eat anything. She was also light, so Yang Qiniang could carry her by herself.

But she never expected that there really was a womanizer tonight! And Ningwa actually caught him!

"This is truly amazing!" Yang Qiniang murmured, clicking her tongue in amazement.

Ning Nan didn't say much, but told the two not to open the door and to stay inside, as there would be no danger.

Yang Qiniang nodded vigorously and waved her hand, "Go away, go away! I'll close the door, we're not joining in the fun!"

Ning Nan turned around and slammed the door shut.

The torch hissed and burned, casting a fiery red light that stretched a long shadow over Ning Nan on the ground. The closer Ning Nan got, the longer the shadow became.

When he arrived at the venue, everyone made way for him and shut their mouths.

Ning Nan shook the sharp knife in his right hand, which was wrapped in strips of cloth.

Li Liang was so terrified his heart almost stopped, and his lower body felt ice-cold.

If someone else said they wanted to castrate him, they would at least pick a day and find a butcher, but if Ning Nan said he wanted to castrate him, he would do it right away.

When this boy was ten years old, he saw that Widow Ning was living a lonely life, so he glared at her buttocks a few times on the road and asked her if she wanted a man.

Unexpectedly, this kid looked exactly the same way that day, wielding a kitchen knife, his hands wrapped in cloth, chasing him and hacking through half the village!

"Come on, kill me. Even if I die, I can still kill you!"

Li Liang breathed out a puff of air, he would never forget that little bastard's sinister look.

His parents and Widow Ning persuaded the boy for several months before he dared to return to the village.

"Ningwa..." Li Liang forced a smile.

"Who sent you?"

"No, no one." Li Liang swallowed hard.

"Do you know that according to the laws of the Great Liang Dynasty, you are to be beheaded?"

Ning Nan squatted on the ground, the blade pointed at the timid man.

Everyone in the room swallowed hard. Ningwa was ruthless, just like a wolf cub.

Seeing this scene, Li Yanting felt inexplicably annoyed. He thought to himself that he should have interrogated Ning Nan first while Ning Nan was away, instead of thinking that since Ning Nan was the one who arrested him, he had to wait for Ning Nan to come. If he had interrogated him himself, the story of interrogating a flower thief at night would have been a good one.

"Tsk." Li Yanting shook his head.

"No, no!" Upon hearing the beheading, Li Liang's pants were already soaked with urine. Under the firelight, the ground was blackened, and a strong smell of urine filled the air.

A teenager chuckled and whispered, pointing at Li Liang, "He peed. He peed."

Li Liang said with a tearful face, "Oh dear, Uncle was blinded by greed... I came back to the village today and heard someone say that the young scholar had picked up a bride from another family. She is as beautiful as an angel. Uncle Liang has never seen her, so I thought I would come to see her, just to see her..."

"presumptuous!"

Li Yanting waved his hand to interrupt, his face flushed, "Li Liang! Explain yourself! What do you mean by 'picking up'? What do you mean by 'someone else's bride'?! We're sworn brothers!!"

The bookworm was so angry that his neck turned red, but he remained very well-mannered and didn't curse.

She didn't deny that he was as beautiful as an angel... Ning Nan raised his eyebrows: "You bookworm, hold on a minute, listen to him."

Just then, a voice came from the crowd: "Yeah, Ningwa, how's the bride? Is she alright?"

Ning Nan smiled and said, "It's nothing." He looked up and glanced at the person who had spoken.

The speaker was named Li Sanjin, whom he usually addressed as "Uncle Sanjin." He lived not far from Li Yanting's house.

Standing next to Li Sanjin was a handsome young man with delicate features.

The young man, like the other villagers, held a wooden stick in his hand and, like everyone else, looked towards the main room, seemingly checking on the bride's safety.

Ning Nan paused for a moment; the face was both unfamiliar and familiar to him.

The reason they were strangers was that Ning Nan had never met them before today.

He said he was familiar with the person because this evening he had personally witnessed the other person pushing a wooden cart, going from street to street selling things.

"Ha, that peddler."