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

"Brother Wang, if you can't bear to see my Uncle Liang off here, then when Uncle Liang passes away, I'll have to trouble you to go to the Bridge of Helplessness to see him off..." Ning Nan said gently.

His smile was very gentle and polite, like that of a kind and honest scholar.

Looking at those gleaming white teeth, Wang Fu felt a chill run down his spine, gritted his teeth, gripped the harpoon, and jumped into the pit.

呲!

Seeing the harpoon coming at him, Li Liang's eyes were filled with shock and helplessness. The moment the harpoon in Wang Fu's hand pierced his neck, Li Liang's eyes finally lost their last glimmer of light.

Ning Nan's smile vanished.

The moon was obscured by the clouds in the sky, and the forest was dark for a moment. When the clouds drifted away and the cold white moonlight shone on Ning Nan again, he put his bottom down and exhaled deeply.

A fair hand handed over a moon-white handkerchief.

Ning Nan took the handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and the handkerchief instantly became filthy, turning blood red.

When Zhang Cheng's throat was slit earlier, blood splattered into his eyes. Then, the three blows from San Zhuang splattered some yellowish-white substance onto his face.

The smell of blood and stench made his stomach churn.

As he untied the white cloth strips binding his hands, he laughed at the woman squatting beside him, "You're really brave!"

He watched helplessly as three people died, and their deaths were far from pleasant; they were the kind of deaths that would give him nightmares if he saw them. But the woman in front of him looked completely normal. He had originally thought she would be crouching behind that tree.

"I'm not afraid at all," Zhu Cuiwei said.

In her own view, when she said those words, her tone was flat, her chin was raised, and she sounded somewhat distant and disdainful; she was very relaxed.

But in Ning Nan's eyes, it was like a little girl stubbornly saying she wasn't afraid of the dark, while her body involuntarily moved closer to him. Her tone and expression carried a hint of bravado and forced resistance, which he found amusing, even somewhat endearing.

"We're having meat tomorrow!"

After admiring the face for a while, until an unnatural pink flush appeared on it, he slowly turned his head and raised his head to Erlai and Sanzhuang beside him.

Erlaizi rubbed his hands together and grinned, "Okay!"

My brother's cooking skills are unmatched, not only in Lijia Village, but even in Hangezhuang!

He wasn't the "village treasure" his older brother often joked about. From a very young age, he often followed his father, who was a pig butcher, to Hangezhuang. When helping his employer slaughter pigs, he would often steal food from the employer's feast. Even if it was the best restaurant in Hangezhuang, he would still dare to steal food. But even the best dishes prepared by the best chefs there couldn't compare to his older brother's!

San Zhuang sat up abruptly, his eyes wide and drool dripping from his mouth.

Ning Nan gave a thumbs-up and pointed at the woman with a calm expression: "Sister Cui Cui is cooking." The two of them glanced at the woman.

I lost the bet.

I owe you a meal.

Zhu Cuicui glanced around and threw two knives at Ning Nan... In such a bloody situation, talking about this is disgusting.

They quickly looked away.

The woman nodded her chin: "Yes, I'll cook." She was keeping her word.

"Great!" San Zhuang and Er Lai cheered in unison when they saw that Sister Cui Cui agreed.

At this moment, Wang Fu, who was in the pit, threw down the harpoon, grabbed the edge of the pit with both hands, and climbed out.

The instant he climbed up...

"Whoosh!"

An arrow slammed right in front of him!

Wang Fu's legs went weak instantly.

His mouth was dry, and he gritted his teeth, but he wasn't particularly afraid because he knew that the archer was just warning him and wouldn't actually kill him.

He had pretended to agree to the ruthless man with the knife, saying he would do as the man said, but that wasn't what he really thought. Black Tiger Stronghold... even if he had eight hundred lives, he wouldn't dare to betray Black Tiger Stronghold!

But to his surprise, just a few steps away, an arrow pierced through his groin and stuck in the ground.

He urinated right then and there.

"You are free to do not do as I say along the way, but if Li Liang and the other two act even slightly wrong, my brother will shoot your dick through."

He felt a chill in his crotch.

"I will kill all three of them, leaving no survivors... Not only will you not betray Black Tiger Stronghold, you will also perform a great service..."

Finally, the man with the sharp knife persuaded him with this tone.

"Here you are, Brother Wang."

Ning Nan smiled and tossed a cloth bag to the still-shaken Wang Fu.

Wang Fu took it; it contained silver. This was Zhang Cheng's money pouch. He emptied it out and counted it; it was about ten taels. Zhang Cheng was a womanizer, so he didn't have much money left.

"This is his."

Ning Nan pointed to the blood-soaked corpse under the tree.

"You found those two inside, right?"

Wang Fu nodded. Xu Jun and Li Liang had just taken their money bags as well, totaling about fifty taels.

"Really, all of them for me?" He swallowed hard.

"Of course, I keep my word."

Wang Fu lowered his head.

"Brother Wang, do you still remember what to say when we return to the stronghold?" Ning Nan said gently.

"I remember... Embroidered Uniform Guard... Constable... Shangguan Xiu... Centurion..." Wang Fu muttered a few keywords.

Ning Nan smiled and comforted him, "Not bad."

The best option is to shift the blame onto Shangguan Xiuer.

No bandit stronghold would be crazy enough to cause trouble for the Embroidered Uniform Guard; they would only tremble with fear and wish they could send more people to be killed by Shangguan Xiuer.

Wang Fu pursed his pale lips: "This silver..."

"It all needs to be used for bribes." Ning Nan's tone became more serious. "Brother Wang, I'm doing this for your own good. Use all this money to curry favor with a big boss, get into the mountain stronghold, and just be a henchman... Don't even think about taking the money back to your hometown. What goes around comes around. Since you've entered the underworld, don't dream of getting away unscathed... If you run away, the people in your stronghold will definitely come looking for you..."

Wang Fu, the peddler, was actually quite clever; he believed the other party could understand what he was saying.

He sat on the ground, his voice not loud, but very steady.

Zhu Cuiwei squatted behind him, looking at the man's back, and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows... Who on earth raised such a freak?

She had two points of suspicion before.

The first question is why Li Liang obediently came over; this remains unknown to this day.

The second question is why Wang Fu listens to this man so much. Listening to their brief conversation, I've guessed a little, but it's not clear yet, and I need to think about it some more.

She couldn't help but feel annoyed. Whether she'd listened to the Grand Tutor lecture on classics and politics, or Master Lu recount ancient and modern military examples, she'd never felt this way before. Most of the time, she could almost immediately follow along after they finished speaking, earning compliments like "Your Highness is incredibly intelligent." She'd never felt this way before… Did she actually feel a little stupid?

When we cook tomorrow... oh, we'll all be eating together, so we can't spit... um, how about I spit in his rice when I'm serving it?

As Ning Nan was talking to the peddler, trying to persuade him to return to Black Tiger Stronghold and become his inside man, the woman watched his retreating figure, inexplicably becoming somewhat angry and lost in thought.

San Zhuang was fast asleep, while Er Lai Zi listened to his elder brother's words, frowning thoughtfully.

Deep in the forest, Li Dahei held a composite bow, his eyes still as fierce as a wolf's.