What did Grandpa do before?
Zheng Nanle opened his eyes alertly and immediately released his mental energy.
Her experience in the apocalypse taught her that if she smelled flowers in the middle of the night, it meant that there was an attack from alien plants.
After a moment, she closed her eyes and held her breath.
Almost forgot, she transmigrated to a peaceful and tranquil world.
The fragrance wasn't emitted by any exotic plant, but rather by Old Man Zheng blowing smoke outside.
Zheng Nanle couldn't help but laugh. She never expected that the kind of drama she had only seen in TV dramas in her previous life would actually be playing out in real life here.
Come to think of it, where would Old Man Zheng, a country bumpkin, get such a sophisticated thing as sleeping powder?
In the past, he would only ask Old Madam Zheng to take the lead, but now he finally couldn't resist and took action himself.
In other words, the murderous intent she felt from Old Man Zheng was not an illusion, but rather Old Man Zheng genuinely wanted to kill her.
Judging from how easily he controlled his killing intent, he must have killed people before, and quite a few at that.
What did Old Man Zheng do before?
In an instant, Zheng Nanle thought of many things.
Over there, Old Zheng finished blowing out the sleeping powder, pressed his ear against the door, and waited quietly.
After waiting a few minutes and confirming that there was no movement inside, he took out a sharp knife and used it to slowly move the door bolt (the door to Zheng Nanle's room was an old-fashioned wooden door with bolt holes on the door frame and the door itself, and a flat wooden bolt on top).
The bolt was removed from the door frame, and Old Zheng pushed the door open very gently and slowly, making almost no sound.
He stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and moved lightly to the bedside.
The room was dimly lit, especially late at night, but Old Zheng's steps were unwavering, clearly showing his familiarity with the room's layout.
Perhaps while Zheng Nanle was idling around in the back mountain, Old Man Zheng had sketched out the layout of the outbuilding countless times with his eyes and imagined the murder plan in his mind, which is why he was able to act so smoothly at this moment.
He raised his right hand high and thrust it forward with a sudden thrust.
He was halfway through stabbing when a sharp pain shot through his abdomen, and he was sent flying backward. He gripped the knife tightly, looked up at the bed, and his face was filled with terror.
In the dim light, there was a blurry figure by the bed. Old Zheng only glanced at it before clutching his stomach and trying to get up from the floor to rush out the door.
As soon as he got up, a hand pressed down on the back of his neck, slamming his head to the ground. A sharp pain shot through his cheek, and at the same time, his wrist went numb, and the knife slipped from his hand.
Zheng Nanle toyed with the dagger and chuckled softly, "Grandpa's hobby is quite unique. In the middle of the night, he's using a dagger to try and assassinate his granddaughter. Is he playing a killer game with her?"
The dagger in his hand was made of bronze, with an intricate and elegant scroll pattern covering the blade. The handle was made of thick purple sandalwood and inlaid with a ruby. The entire dagger was smooth, simple, noble and gorgeous. It was not an antique, but a family heirloom.
Such a dagger should belong to a young master from a noble family or a wealthy household; it should not and should not appear in the hands of Old Man Zheng, whose family has been made up of peasants for generations.
So, does Old Lady Zheng have a hidden identity?
Old Zheng's fingers twitched slightly, and he spoke righteously, "You evil spirit, even if Er Ya split into San Ya, she wouldn't have such skills. Who are you? What are you trying to do by impersonating Er Ya?"
Zheng Nanle was too lazy to argue with Old Man Zheng about this matter.
She gave an explanation, and they accepted it. Why did they have to dig deeper?
Moreover, they don't genuinely care about Er Ya; they just want to occupy the moral high ground and disguise all their malicious acts as righteousness.
It's utterly boring.
Zheng Nanle held the dagger above Old Man Zheng's hand, her voice light, calm, and gentle, with a sweet smile, "Grandpa, don't talk nonsense. If Grandpa's nonsense isn't pleasant to hear, my hand might tremble."
"The lighting was poor at night, so I don't know where the dagger would pierce if it fell."
Even though Old Man Zheng was ruthless, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
This Er Ya looks remarkably like the smiling tiger second-in-command he had met before.
Speaks softly and has a gentle face, but kills without blinking an eye while smiling.
One second the second-in-command was chatting and laughing with the first-in-command, addressing him as "Big Brother" and offering him toasts, and the next second a dagger was plunged into the first-in-command's chest.
Blood spurted from the leader's chest, splattering all over the second leader's face. But the second leader's smile remained unchanged. He turned around, holding his wine cup, and spoke to the brothers in the stronghold with a gentle voice and a smile, as if the blood on his face did not exist, as if the fact that he had killed the leader did not exist.
Decades later, this scene still lingers in his mind.
His body trembled, and finally he was afraid. "Er Ya, Grandpa was wrong. Grandpa will give you two hundred dollars to buy my life."
Zheng Nanle laughed and said, "Is Grandpa's life so worthless?"
"Three hundred." Old Zheng added without blinking.
“Grandpa is so sensible, and his granddaughter isn’t unreasonable either.” Zheng Nanle ran her fingers over the dagger, her eyes brightening. “A good dagger.” She put the dagger away.
Old Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.
His life was saved.
He tried to get up by pushing himself up with his hands, but it felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him. He lay on the ground and tentatively called out, "Er Ya?"
Zheng Nanle chuckled softly, her voice gentle and soothing, like a gentle breeze in the quiet night. "Grandpa, you haven't told your granddaughter what Grandpa used to do."
Old Zheng's eyes narrowed slightly, but he pretended to be relaxed, "Er Ya, what are you saying? Our Zheng family has been poor farmers for eight generations, and Grandpa was naturally a farmer before."
Whoosh—
With a whooshing sound, Old Man Zheng felt a cold touch brush against his ear and cheek before plunging into the ground.
Realizing what had happened belatedly, Old Man Zheng broke out in a cold sweat.
That madman.
It was pitch black; the dagger was just a hair's breadth away from piercing his head.
"Oh, Grandpa, I can't stand lies. My hands start to tremble when I hear them." Zheng Nanle sheathed his dagger and chuckled softly.
Old Zheng had no more illusions left. "When I was young, I was a bandit."
So they were bandits. No wonder they were so fierce and fearless in killing.
However, will this affect Er Ya's chances of taking the civil service exam?
Her face darkened. "When did this happen?"
"It happened before the founding of the People's Republic of China," Old Man Zheng said honestly. "The second-in-command of the village killed the first-in-command and wanted to become a righteous bandit to fight the Japanese devils, so I fled back home."
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it shouldn't have been a problem, right? Er Ya's father became a soldier, didn't he?
"Did you take any gold or silver jewelry with you when you fled?"
Old Zheng remained silent.
Zheng Nanle snorted coldly, just as he was about to get serious, when Old Man Zheng suddenly spoke up, "I brought it, I brought it, it's buried under that big water vat at home."
Zheng Nanle used his spiritual power to probe downwards and indeed saw a small box.
"Anything else?" Zheng Nanle casually tossed the dagger down, and it landed between the old man's fingers.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Old Zheng's forehead; he knew this was a warning.
"That's all, really. The second-in-command is ruthless; I didn't dare take any more."
Seeing that Old Man Zheng wasn't lying, Zheng Nanle directly hypnotized him, "You've never been a bandit, nor have you ever brought back any treasures."
Old Zheng repeated it blankly.
Zheng Nanle sheathed the dagger, released Old Man Zheng, and said with a grin, "Grandpa, three hundred yuan, don't forget."
Old Zheng felt completely exhausted, so he hurriedly got up and fled the outhouse.
He glanced back at the outhouse and made a decision in his heart.
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