"You have good sense!" The old woman snorted, had Er Zhuzi pick up the bronze cauldron, and left triumphantly.

Old Liu was so angry that he paced around the room. "What the hell is this? Mr. Li, don't be angry. That old woman is crazy, don't take her seriously. Most of the people in our village are reasonable."

I tapped the table and said, "What if someone is not reasonable? What will you do?"

"I'll smack him, I..." Old Liu's beard trembled with anger.

I said faintly, "What if the whole village is unreasonable?"

Old Liu finally heard the hidden meaning in my words. "Mr. Li, what do you mean?"

I picked up the teacup on the table. "Do you have any wine? Let's have a couple of drinks and talk."

"Wait a minute!" Old Liu bustled about inside and outside the house for a while before preparing a few simple dishes. "Mr. Li, there's nothing much at home, just salted fish and sausage. The wine isn't good either, but please make do with it!"

"This is fine!" I picked up the wine bottle and poured myself a glass. "Old Liu, I'm going to ask you three questions. Think carefully before you answer."

Old Liu was confused. "Mr. Li, I don't understand, what do you mean?"

"You will soon understand! And you will soon have to make a choice." I raised a finger to face him. "First question: If you know that someone you've known for a few hours is right, and a group of people you've known for decades are wrong, which side will you choose?"

I raised my second finger. "Second question: What is the difference between sacrifice and sending someone to their death?"

Before Old Liu could speak, I raised my third finger. "If, and I mean if, everyone is using morality to kidnap you, unanimously demanding that you die, will you choose to let everyone praise you and die, or let everyone curse you and live?"

I put my hand down. "Think carefully before you make a decision!"

Old Liu understood what I meant, and he poured wine into his mouth cup after cup, refusing to speak. After drinking half a bottle of wine, he asked with red eyes, "Mr. Li, is that what you guessed, or...?"

I shook a finger. "Guessed! But sometimes guesses come true."

I continued, "Now, all that's missing is a fuse. As soon as that fuse arrives, what I predicted will happen."

Old Liu was about to reach for the wine again when he heard someone shouting outside, "Uncle Liu, Uncle Liu... Zhao Zhuang's light is out, come and take a look!"

Old Liu's hand trembled and he almost dropped the bottle. I raised my hand and pressed down on him. "What's coming will always come, let's go take a look together."

Old Liu put his pipe in his mouth and walked forward without raising his head. I followed him unhurriedly. "Every house in this village has a light on?"

"Yes!" Old Liu nodded. "The eternal light is a signal for the villagers. The village watches the lights and takes care of each other. I usually patrol the village at night to see whose light is out and go in to take a look."

Old Liu led me outside a villager's courtyard. "This is Old Zhao's house! His ancestors were also Shou Shui Camp people." (Shou Shui Camp: Water Guard Camp)

As Old Liu spoke, I had already jumped into the courtyard from the outside.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, the door of Zhao's house was pushed open from the inside. "What do you want, jumping into my yard?"

Old Liu also ran in from the gate. "Zhao Zhuang, Mr. Li is here to catch ghosts. You quickly..."

"There are no ghosts in my house, go stay where it's cool!" Zhao Zhuang turned around to go back into the house. Old Liu had just shouted in the yard when I appeared behind the man, and the Bai Zhou (White Day) dagger in my hand stabbed out suddenly, piercing the man through.

"Li..." Old Liu was almost scared out of his wits. "Mr. Li, how could you kill someone?"

"Did I kill someone?" When I used the knife to turn Zhao Zhuang around, Old Liu was stunned, because I was holding up a paper figure on the tip of my knife.

"This...this..." Old Liu couldn't speak for a long time.

I shook off the paper figure hanging on the tip of the knife, turned sideways and rushed into the house. Zhao Zhuang's family of three was lying neatly on the kang (heated brick bed), each with their bodies straight, their hands folded on their chests, and their three pairs of feet, wearing shoes, were all stretched out flat on the outside of the kang edge, with a white rope wrapped around their feet.

I cut the white ropes on the three people's feet with three strokes of the knife, then stabbed the knife back at the kang cabinet.

At the moment when the blade of Bai Zhou penetrated straight in through the gap in the cabinet door, Zhao Zhuang, who was lying on the kang, suddenly sat up, staring blankly at my face. Da Feng Novel

I grabbed Zhao Zhuang's neck with my backhand and pressed him back onto the kang. The Bai Zhou in my left hand then erupted, stabbing into the kang mat close to Zhao Zhuang's cheek. As a faint green fire floated up from the gap in the kang mat, I released the hilt of the knife and stepped aside. "See for yourself!"

Old Liu reached out and pushed Zhao Zhuang twice, but the latter didn't move at all.

I stood by the edge of the kang and said, "No need to call, you can't wake him up. He'll be here tomorrow morning."