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

Zhu Zi was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at this fellow villager who spoke with a Hejian accent and knew to bring him authentic braised donkey meat and Hengshui Laobaigan liquor.

Ning Nan shrugged, his eyes clear and bright, and said in a calm voice:

"Brother Bamboo, I just want to know these things so I can tell my mother when I get back. She misses her hometown terribly, but we don't have the ability to take her back to see it. That's why I ran into you and asked you."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zi was stunned for a moment, her eyes welling up with tears. She put down the pieces of donkey meat in her hand, wiped her mouth, and glanced at Ning Nan again.

Seeing that the other person seemed genuinely only interested in knowing how the harvest was in their hometown, he looked even more dazed.

Ning Nan turned around, took the wine jar from Qian Sijin's hand, and poured a bowl of wine for Zhu Zi. The sound of the wine gurgling filled the air as Zhu Zi watched the water level slowly rise.

"call……"

He seemed to exhale a breath from his lungs, his whole body relaxed, he clenched his hands together, picked up the wine glass, and gulped down another glass of wine. His stomach felt warm, and he slammed the glass down with a "bang".

After a while, he glanced at Ning Nan, his eyes reddening, and sighed:

"Brother Ning, if you want to hear it, I'll tell you. How's the harvest? How are people doing? Ha... There were a few years of good weather, but it didn't matter. Which farmer isn't hardworking? Even in famine years, we had our ways of surviving, we could manage, eating tree bark, eating clay... But it's all useless, all useless... The Tartar city is close to our village, only a few dozen miles away, maybe forty or fifty miles. When the Tartars want to take our land, they just crack their whips, their horses gallop, and the land is theirs. If anyone objects, they'll just trample them to death on horseback, and they won't get any land. So, how's the harvest then?"

"It's not enough that we shaved our heads and became slaves to the Tartar emperor; we had to become slaves to them. Only by becoming slaves to them could we have land to cultivate. But by the time we became slaves, it was too late. There was no land to cultivate, and countless people starved to death... Let me tell you, after my father was taken to build a city for the Tartars and died, my younger brother and sister-in-law both starved to death. Only my mother and I were left in the family... The government officials were bondservants, those so-called descendants of princes and nobles. They were well-fed, but they went to the countryside to collect taxes for the Tartar emperor and forced us to do corvée labor... Widow Chen from my village, her family was ruined by them until there were no survivors, and they still came to demand poll taxes, saying, 'If you don't have money, why don't you go to the city and become a prostitute?'... "

As they talked...

Sobbing began, and tears streamed down Zhu Zi's face.

Qian Sijin said in a deep voice, "So you joined the Heavenly Principles Cult?"

Ning Nan remained silent.

Bamboo knew he had inadvertently revealed his secrets last time, but as long as he didn't expose other matters within the sect, it was a minor matter. He sneered and said:

"How can we survive if we don't join the religion? Who will lead us to fight the government and the Tartars if we don't join?"

Qian Sijin retorted, "Does your mother know you've joined the church? If you die, how will she live?"

Bamboo let out a cold laugh:

"I joined the religion because my mother took me to burn incense! She wished I would die, because after burning incense, people who die can pass through the Red Sun Tribulation and go to their hometown in the Void to enjoy happiness, instead of dying like my father and my siblings, who died worse than a Tartar dog."

Bamboo's voice was sharp and resolute, with a determined tone that seemed to be clenched between teeth.

Upon hearing the voice, Qian Sijin glanced at the speaker but remained silent.

Ning Nan narrowed his eyes: "Burning incense?"

Zhu Zi glanced at Ning Nan and didn't hide anything, saying that to join the sect, one had to kowtow to the patriarch in front of the local master, burn three incense sticks, offer three cups of tea, and recite a scripture with the master.

Qian Sijin and his group naturally knew about this. There were always spineless cowards who couldn't take the pain and revealed some of the Heavenly Principles Sect's secrets. However, believers at a certain level were very tough. One of the Heavenly Principles Sect's altar masters was imprisoned in the imperial prison.

After revealing his identity as a believer, Zhu Zi's face shone even brighter, and he solemnly addressed Ning Nan:

"Brother Ning, how many people from this surrounding area don't join the sect? If you still have uncles or aunts over there, they're probably brothers and sisters in my sect too, you know?"

As Zhu Zi spoke, he became more and more anxious, as if he had suddenly found some great path to enlightenment and became full of energy.

"The Red Sun Calamity is nearing its end, and the White Sun is about to arrive! The one destined for this calamity has been born and grown up... He will lead us through this final Red Sun Calamity... When the White Sun arrives... everyone will come back to life... My father will come back to life... My mother will come back to life... My younger brother and sister will come back to life... The White Sun is coming..."

Zhu Zi became more and more excited as he spoke, but Qian Sijin frowned and had to take a step forward to prevent him from suddenly attacking someone.

Ning Nan looked calmly at the man who had suddenly become somewhat deranged, and couldn't help but sigh slightly. He interrupted the man in his Hejian accent, saying:

"Brother Bamboo, did you come to kill me that day to avenge Xiao Chun?"

Zhu Zi froze, her excited expression gradually fading. She glanced at Qian Sijin, then solemnly shook her head and said:

"No, we just want to invite you to be our guest. We won't kill you."

As he spoke, Zhu Zi lowered his eyes, then raised his head again and solemnly said:

"At least I, Zhang Zhu'er, will not kill you, nor will I let anyone else kill you."

Ning Nan didn't speak, but just smiled and nodded. He picked up the wooden bowl, toasted the other person, and gulped down the Lao Bai Gan in one go. Hengshui Lao Bai Gan was sweet and refreshing, much better than Senior Brother Feng's strong liquor.

Bamboo smiled and returned the favor with a bowl.

……

Ning Nan slowly walked out of the house.

Qian Sijin glanced at him and saw that Young Master Ning looked preoccupied, so he couldn't help but darken his gaze.

He worried that his son-in-law might have taken pity on these Tianli believers and want to let them off the hook. He opened his mouth, wanting to say that these Tianli believers were not only rebelling in the north, but also in the south.

Ten years ago, in a county in Jiangnan, the Tianli sect attacked the county seat, killed the local magistrate, and plunged the local people into misery.

The Heavenly Principle Sect originated from the White Lotus Sect and rebelled several times during the Liang Dynasty, let alone now.

Ning Nan glanced at him, frowned, and said:

"Qian Xiaoqi, do you think that if we release Zhang Zhuzi and the others, we can use them to find the headquarters of the Heavenly Principle Sect and wipe them out in one fell swoop?"

"Huh?!" Qian Sijin choked, his expression somewhat astonished.

Ning Nan sighed and said:

"Qian Xiaoqi, don't think I'm a bad person who would cheat honest men like that. I have no other choice."

He shrugged and said...

"Zhang Zhuzi may be telling the truth and doesn't want to kill me, but I don't believe the Heavenly Principles Sect doesn't want to kill me. If I killed one of their altar masters and they didn't kill me, what about their leader—well, what kind of sect leader is he? Where would their leader's face be? This feud is now in the making."

talking.

Ning Nan looked closely at Qian Sijin, whose face looked honest, and worried that the Imperial Guard might have gone astray, so he solemnly said:

"Qian Xiaoqi shouldn't be too kind."

Qian Sijin breathed a sigh of relief and nodded solemnly, "Young Master Ning, rest assured."

Ning Nan nodded.

Uncle Ping drove his carriage over.

The old yellow horse, its age unknown, neighed obediently as it walked under Uncle Ping's whip. With a flick of the whip, a deep hoofprint appeared on the ground, followed by two long ruts.

Ning Nan glanced at the marks on the ground, then, before getting into the car, pursed his lips and said to Qian Sijin:

"Qian Xiaoqi, I need to trouble you with something."

Qian Sijin said, "Young Master Ning, please speak freely."

"If one day..."

Ning Nan thought for a moment,

"I had no choice but to kill Zhang Zhuzi and the others. Remember to remind me..."

Qian Sijin was taken aback.

"Remember to remind me to pour a glass of strong liquor at their graves, to tell them... that I, Ning, will avenge them... but not in their way, and certainly not through any 'Eternal Mother' or 'Void Hometown'..."

Qian Sijin was taken aback, somewhat not understanding what Young Master Ning meant.

Especially the meaning of the word "revenge" mentioned by Young Master Ning. If Young Master Ning killed them, shouldn't the revenge be sought from Young Master Ning himself?

Qian Sijin was stunned for a moment, unsure how to respond. However, after hearing what Young Master Ning said, he remained silent for a moment and then agreed.