Midnight, near a small courtyard by the woods, shadows flickered. In the dim light, blood splattered as chaotic shouts and screams intertwined. It began when three men dressed in Jianghu attire attempted to sneak into the illuminated courtyard from different directions. However, they were discovered by those lying in ambush around the area, leading to a fierce battle. One of them was seriously injured on the spot, while the other two were chased into the woods.

Subsequently, someone else tried to scale the wall from the darkness. The figure only hesitated for a moment on the wall before being caught by several ropes flung from inside, pulled in, and then silenced after a brief scream. This was likely just a test and a beginning, as it was unknown how many people were lurking on either side in the darkness.

Everyone was clearly not of a benevolent nature. Near Ten Mile Slope, where few people passed by at night, similar Jianghu brawls and gang conflicts had happened more than once. Often, the results would only be discovered by someone the next morning. From afar, the sounds in the woods resembled the cries of night owls. Only the small courtyard remained quietly situated there, with an unknown number of people still lying in ambush inside and nearby, the lamplight seeping through the windows.

"This isn't something you did... You hadn't reached this stage..."

Xi Junyu was trying to understand the contract on the table, everything before him. Su Tan'er smiled.

"Indeed, it wasn't me." She paused slightly. "You finally admit it."

"...Then who exactly is it? The old man? Your father?"

Su Tan'er frowned, looking at him.

"It couldn't be Liao Kaitai, and Su Yunsong isn't here either..."

"You wouldn't know."

The woman's fingers were interlaced on the table, and she shook her head with a cool tone. She was dressed in men's clothing, but her appearance was still beautiful. The aura she had accumulated over the years was now evident, combined with the usual demeanor of a refined lady, creating a particularly imposing sense of coldness. As she spoke, the sound of fighting came from outside again. Su Tan'er glanced in that direction. She was perhaps still not entirely accustomed to such things, and frowned slightly.

"When Wu Qilong told me, I was somewhat doubtful. But for them to attack like this, it shouldn't be someone from the Wu family or the Xue family. You actually have people like this behind you..."

"There will always be opportunities to encounter such people." After a long silence, Xi Junyu finally said these words. Then he looked at Guard Geng behind him. "Before, at the Su residence, when Uncle Geng informed me, he gave me time to prepare. Was it for these people?"

"You thought I was bound to lose. Uncle Geng told you I was confident, and you were certainly puzzled, thinking the key event tonight was here with you. To be safe, you would of course inform those you could truly use. We could then follow the trail and find them all. And also settle the score for my father's assassination. I just didn't expect they would really come to save you like this."

"A good calculation." Xi Junyu smiled sarcastically. "And four months of patient planning... Who on earth devised this scheme?"

Su Tan'er took a breath, not answering him. "Ten Mile Slope has monthly brawls. The government can't even control it. If someone dies here tomorrow, it can only be treated as a similar incident. Even if passers-by are caught in the crossfire, one can only express regret. You used to say that we merchants are most afraid of breaking the rules and tearing each other apart. Assassinations and hiring killers are things everyone fears. Once done, it's never-ending. So once such a thing happens, you must find the culprit. I was originally afraid that when the truth came out, if it was really done by the Xue family or the Wu family, I wouldn't know what to do. But now it's you... This is also good."

As she spoke, she pushed back the chair behind her and stood up, seemingly ready to leave. Xi Junyu frowned. "...Who exactly is it? Du Tingzhong?" This was also a trustworthy shopkeeper he usually relied on.

"I told you, you wouldn't know."

"Don't you want to know why I did these things?"

Su Tan'er stood there, paused for a moment. "People aren't plants, Manager Xi. I once regarded you as a teacher and friend. No matter the outcome today, Su Tan'er feels no joy, only sorrow. The more pleasing your reasons are, the more they only add to the annoyance. As long as I know that my Su family has never treated you unfairly, why should I listen to your explanations?"

Xi Junyu was stunned, realizing for the first time that Su Tan'er had perhaps never considered having any connection with him on the level of "man" and "woman." Until this moment, what she thought was entirely the pure business relationship and friendship between a teacher and student, a superior and subordinate.

"Ha..." He almost laughed out loud for a moment, and then suddenly raised his voice. "Then who exactly is it?" Su Tan'er walked towards the door. He sat there and said several possible names. "It can't be that your family's three maids came up with it!"

"Ning Liheng?"

Walking to the door, Su Tan'er paused. Xi Junyu noticed that slight expression. He thought for a moment. "You must be joking..."

Su Tan'er opened the door. Outside the door, under the eaves of the courtyard, Su Boyong, sitting in a wheelchair, was talking to a burly middle-aged man. From the room behind, suddenly came a questioning voice full of gnashing teeth and disbelief:

"It's... Ning Liheng!?"

******************

At the same time, inside the city.

The aftermath of the clan meeting had not yet subsided. The atmosphere inside and outside the Su family mansion was still slightly chaotic. The light was dim in this courtyard near the side door. Fragmented sounds came from a distance, which made the surrounding air seem dead silent. The scholar looked at the two family servants who came in from behind, and suddenly relaxed his body. "Which area are you from?"

There was some anger in his voice. The two family servants were slightly stunned. The scholar pointed to the body lying on the ground. "Someone has sneaked in, do you know that! Go and call someone immediately! You, watch him. I'll go find a rope!"

In the dim light, his voice was serious and urgent. From the moment the two men came in and saw their companion lying on the ground, the scholar finished speaking and turned to leave. This was only a brief moment. The two men were still unsure whether the other man really thought they were family servants or was pretending. But in any case, if he really called someone, everything would probably go wrong. The two men said "Yes" and hurried to follow him, their bodies still maintaining a posture of shock and wariness, their hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw them at any moment.

The distance was rapidly closing, but the scholar had only taken two or three steps before turning back. "Aren't you going to call someone!"

The family servant on the left, who was being looked at by him, hesitated, glancing at his companion beside him. In a moment, he couldn't really think too much. Even if both sides suspected the other was acting, there were naturally two options at the moment: either say "Yes" and continue acting, or immediately draw his sword and turn hostile. As he hesitated in his mind, the scholar waved the knife in his hand. "Right, take this."

Both of them were actually wary of the weapon in the scholar's hand. But the next action was truly unexpected. He actually threw the knife directly to the man walking on the right, who was moving slightly faster. Both of them felt a slight relief in their hearts. The man on the right reached out to catch the knife, and the man on the left nodded slightly. The word "Yes" was about to come out. At that moment, the string stretched taut in the air, after a moment of slight relaxation, suddenly tightened to the extreme, and snapped with an almost imperceptible speed!

The relaxed mood fell into emptiness, and the sound of the attack whistling through the air. The figures suddenly collided together, and there was a loud crash. The man on the left cried "Ah" and drew his sword. The blade reflected the starlight, like a pool of water that suddenly rippled and swept through the air. With a "Clang--", sparks flew in the air, stretched into a long line. The force of the recoil came, and he staggered back involuntarily, because he had drawn his sword hastily. The body of his companion on the right flew out to the side, and crashed into a small stone table next to the courtyard with a loud bang.

What appeared in his field of vision was the scholar's back, suddenly approaching and then moving away again. At this time, there was no trace of bookishness in that back. He was carrying a knife, and after clashing with them, he went straight towards the injured man lying between the stone table and stone bench.

The family servant on the left, who had been forced back after drawing his sword, was shocked and uncertain. After stopping, he had hardly been able to adapt to the whole situation.

Previously, the scholar had pretended not to doubt the two of them at all, and these two people certainly didn't believe it - no one would believe such a thing. But since the scholar wanted to leave, they naturally gladly followed his lead, keeping the greatest vigilance in their minds, and guarding against the scholar suddenly shouting or freaking out. But because everything happened so quickly, many things were actually just first reactions. They were wary, so they paid extra attention to the scholar's actions. It was in this atmosphere that, when the scholar then threw out the knife they cared about most, the slight surprise inevitably caused them a moment of negligence.

In this moment of surprise, the man on the right subconsciously reached out to catch it, and the man on the left suddenly felt a moment of relief. The knife was still in mid-air when the man named Ning Yi had already launched his attack. He directly knocked away the man on the right, grabbed the knife in the air, clashed with the sword light from the other side, and then used that force to close in on the man who had been knocked away.

The sparks from the clash of metal were still flying in the air, and Ning Yi was actually slightly surprised in his heart. Lu Hongti had told him at the time that what she taught him was second-rate internal energy, which could increase explosive power during fighting, but after all, it was not top-notch. Too much use could even harm the body. He hadn't practiced it for too long now. Today was the first time he had used it with all his strength. He didn't expect that a kick on a person's body would have so much power. It seemed that the concept of second-rate in the mouths of ordinary people was somewhat different from the concept of second-rate in the mouths of experts? This thought flashed through his mind, and he instantly switched the pointed knife from his right hand to his left hand, bent down, grabbed a blue brick from the ground, and slammed it behind the head of the man who was lying between the stone table and stone bench and seemed to be able to move.

Turning around, the family servant who had just clashed with him was rushing over, and then stopped with his sword raised. Both of his companions had now fallen to the ground. He looked ahead, looked to the side, and breathed heavily. "You, you..."

"So it works like this, you guys are really something... I am Ning Liheng, Jianghu people call me Blood-Handed Butcher." In the dim light, the scholar cupped his fist in greeting, and smiled like a Jianghu person. "I have too many enemies and can't remember them all. May I ask, who exactly sent you?"

Anyway, it sounds really cool after saying Blood-Handed Butcher ...

******

These last couple of days, the plot has been there, but it just didn't feel right, I would get stuck as soon as I tried to write, stuck as soon as I tried to write, but now I've finally gotten through it ... (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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