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

Wang Fu walked away with his back hunched over.

Ning Nan made a gesture, and Da Hei, holding a bow, secretly chased after them.

It's not that I want to silence him, but just in case. If this peddler is just pretending to be weak and sneaks back to Li Family Village to take Miss Zhu away, then tonight's arrangements will all be a joke.

Dahei followed along to avoid such an extreme mishap; he needed to see the peddler pushing his wooden cart and leaving the village late at night before he could feel completely at ease.

San Zhuang's snoring was deafening; he had done a great job tonight, so Ning Nan let him sleep a little longer.

Erlaizi injured his hand, and Ningnan told him to go back and rest, but he refused, saying he wanted to help his older brother clean up the mess.

But his left hand was slashed by a harpoon, leaving a bloody gash. It had just been disinfected and bandaged. His right wrist was also bruised from a kick. Luckily, he had been wielding a butcher's knife since he was a child, so he managed to keep the knife in his hand.

Ning Nan frowned and waved his hand to continue shooing people away, while Er Laizi said that his hand was fine.

Fortunately, Cui Cui came to the rescue.

While the two were struggling with their decision, she had already gone over and started dragging Zhang Cheng's feet... Ning Nan was once again shocked by the audacity of Cui Cui.

"I'll help your older brother, you go home and get some sleep," Zhu Cuiwei commanded calmly.

After his sister-in-law spoke, Er Laizi could only go home with a red face.

Leaving like this would seem disloyal, but ignoring his sister-in-law would seem even more disloyal. Erlaizi could only go home, looking back every few steps. Before leaving, he kicked Sanzhuang, and Ningnan then chased the sleepy Sanzhuang home as well.

thus.

Only one man and one woman remained alive in the room.

After killing people.

A man and a woman began burying the body.

"She's really bold..." Ning Nan took out a shovel from behind her back and sighed again.

At this time.

Snapped!

Zhu Cuiwei, who was some distance away, tossed aside the corpse's feet, looked at her own hands, and said to Ning Nan with a look of disgust, "You carry it... and... the water... bring it..."

Ning Nan: "???"

So you were faking it?

"Why would you go home if you didn't act like a scoundrel?" The woman gave the man a disdainful look. "Pour me some water!"

Ning Nan carried the gourd, poured water, and Zhu Cuiwei began to wash her hands in the water.

The water has been poured out.

She still disliked her own hands, so she took Ning Nan's hands and rubbed them together. The water was cold, and her hands also became cold, but Ning Nan's palms were warm and gentle.

"You're dirty too," she said.

Ning Nan pursed her lips, feeling the other person's damp, cool hands: "It's not even dirty yet."

The woman withdrew her hand and sat down on a clean stone to the side.

Ning Nan reluctantly began to clean up the mess on her own.

He jumped down into the pit and first retrieved the arrowhead that Dahei had stuck in Xu Jun's eye.

He jumped up again and retrieved the arrowheads that were stuck in Zhang Cheng's chest, as well as those in the tree and on the ground, and wrapped them in a white cloth.

Zhu Cuiwei frowned and asked why. Ning Nan said that blacksmiths' skills vary greatly and are easy to spot. Once someone discovers a corpse and finds this arrowhead, they can easily find the blacksmith who made it by investigating. We can't take that risk. Zhu Cuiwei nodded in understanding.

Ning Nan carefully wrapped the arrowhead. He didn't want some Imperial Guard or someone like Detective Conan to wander into Da Hei's blacksmith shop one day, pick up one of Da Hei's forged ironware, examine it, point at Da Hei, and sneer, "It really was you!"

He shivered, dispelling the theatrical scene in his mind, and picked up the knife.

Xu Jun's eye was blasted open by an arrow, so the shape of the wound was not visible, which didn't matter. However, Zhang Cheng's chest was clearly wounded by an arrow, so he took a knife and cut it open to destroy the wound.

Next, they dragged Zhang Cheng's body into the pit.

There are many woodcutters gathering firewood on the back hill.

He knew he would kill someone tonight, so he prepared lime in advance to prevent the corpse from emitting a foul odor.

Not only must the woodcutters not see it, but they must also not smell it.

They sprinkled lime on the three corpses in the pit.

They've just started filling in the soil.

It wasn't until dawn, when the woman sitting beside him had fallen into a deep sleep, still draped in his own clothes, that Ning Nan finished filling the pit.

He let out a long breath, patted the dirt with his shovel, and wiped away his sweat.

Not afraid of waking the woman, he chopped the tree with the large black arrow hole in half along the hole... He looked around with satisfaction before finally cleaning up all the mess.

He rubbed his thighs, which were sore and painful, and ran over to wake up Cuicui.

They couldn't wake them up.

The woman was fast asleep, lying on her side with her hand under her head. Her face seemed to be covered in dew, making her look radiant and beautiful, like Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale.

"I'm going back to take a shower and go to bed!" he said angrily.

An impatient look appeared on Cui Cui's fair face as she rolled over on the big rock.

Ning Nan couldn't do anything about her.

With a quick snip of his hands, he hoisted her onto his back and carried her home once again.

On the road.

Ning Nan frowned and lifted the woman on his back: "Why does she seem to have gained a lot of weight?"

Her cold eyes snapped open instantly, and her pretty face, which had been resting on Ning Nan's shoulder, lifted up.

"oops--"

Ning Nan's face contorted, his body arched to the right, and he gritted his teeth: "Zhu Cuicui! Don't pinch my waist!"

……

……

sunset.

Before the orange-red sun set, it draped the Ning family's courtyard in a warm, golden hue.

Ning Nan went home, took a shower, and slept until this time.

The Ning family is very lively today.

Cui Cui and her mother were busy in the kitchen.

Erlaizi brought over a plate of pork kidneys, saying he wanted to nourish his older brother.

San Zhuang brought half a hang of cured meat and his younger sister along for a free meal. The girl, who was twelve years old back then, is now fifteen, dark-skinned, and graceful. It's said she's already betrothed and will be getting married in a couple of years. Ning Nan greeted the girl, who shyly ran off to help in the kitchen.

Li Xing hadn't brought anything with him, but when he saw that everyone else had brought things, he quickly slipped home, grabbed a bunch of vegetables, and even stole a pot of his father's old wine.

To Ning Nan's surprise, Han Laoguai, the schoolteacher, also came today, bringing a pot of good wine and two catties of meat. He sat in the main room, bragging to Er Lai, San Zhuang, and a few other young men about how he used to live in the north. The villagers loved to hear stories from the outside world, and they never got tired of hearing them, no matter how true or false.

Li Xing poured wine for the old monster, whose name was given to him by Han Laoguai, who came to Lijia Village ten years ago, meaning "the revival of the Great Liang".

The old man was dressed in a refined long robe. He was in his early fifties with slightly graying temples. He was twirling a tuft of his still-dark beard while smiling. No matter how you looked at him, the old man did have the air of a refined old scholar. Everyone in the village respected him, except for Ning Nan.

The old woman also invited several aunties from the neighborhood, including Yang Qiniang. The aunties chatted idly in the main room, but their eyes would occasionally glance at the still-pretty Han Laoguai. They would puff out their long-shriveled chests, and when Han Laoguai gave them a look, the illiterate village women would purse their lips and reveal a touch of the gentle charm of an elderly lady from Jiangnan in their eyes and brows. But they couldn't speak, because if they did, their true colors would be revealed.

He casually greeted everyone.

Ning Nan then went into the kitchen.

There are quite a few people, and Cui Cui will definitely be too busy to handle everything. She'll be lucky if she can cook one or two dishes well.

His mother leaned closer, and he then understood that when she heard that Cuicui was going to cook, she had called over several village loudspeakers to have dinner, intending to formally introduce Cuicui, her "cousin from Ningnan," to the villagers.

"Uh..." Ning Nan frowned slightly, "What is this? Giving them a title? They're not going to be living here long..."

Once he goes to Shangyuan County and delivers the letter, Master Zhu will come to pick him up soon.

Widow Ning's gaze was gentle.

The fact that my son said that shows he has a clear conscience and has never had any improper thoughts about such a beautiful girl as Cui Cui. Yes, he is a gentleman, just like his father. He is a descendant of the Ning family.

"Hey!" Widow Ning tapped her son's head with a mix of regret and relief, and said softly, "Even if you, you good-for-nothing, don't end up with the good fortune to marry such a wonderful girl... isn't Cui Cui my goddaughter? You should visit her more often... visit her more often..."