Daily News: You promised yourself to be a fisherman, but you've become a martial arts god?

The cold winter nights come quickly.

Just as the hour of Xu (7-9 PM) arrived, the village fell completely silent, with only the sound of wind and snow outside.

People lived a hard life and couldn't bear to light oil lamps at night, so most of them went to bed as soon as it got dark.

Li Nianjia.

Zhao Lijuan and Duoduo were already lying in their newly bought quilts, sleeping warmly.

At that time, Li Nian was lying in bed.

With the new quilt, there's no longer any chill in the bed, and the body can relax.

He didn't fall asleep, but instead took a short nap.

Because he knew that Zhang San would come to steal the grain that night.

Tonight, we must catch Zhang San!

Time passed by, bit by bit.

Hai hour (9-11 PM).

Zhang Daniu's house.

A sleazy-looking man in an old coat, hunched over and with his hands tucked in, stood outside talking to Sister Zhang.

"Ah San, Li Nian's family is probably fast asleep. Go to their house and steal their grain."

"The grain was in the corner of the room, covered with a winnowing basket."

"Don't leave a single grain of rice for his family!"

Sister-in-law Zhang said to Zhang San.

"Sister-in-law, that Li Nian is a dullard and doesn't know how to take care of women. Why are you thinking about him?"

"Since I'm not married anyway, why don't you contact me?"

"The girls in Liuxiang all praise my skills."

Zhang San kept swallowing as he looked at Zhang Dasao's voluptuous figure.

He knew about Zhang Daniu's situation and also knew that Zhang's wife had asked him to steal Li Nian's family's winter food supplies so that Li Nian would come and help him.

"Hey, you and Da Niu are cousins. What kind of nonsense is it for you to come to my house and cause trouble?"

"After you've taken care of this, I'll give you one or two taels of silver, enough for you to find a few girls in the alleys."

Sister-in-law Zhang said.

She wouldn't even look at Zhang San.

He's ugly, and his body has long been ruined by wine and women; he might even have contracted a disease.

No one is as good as Li Nian.

Furthermore, Li Nian is young and healthy. If she comes to her family, she can work and earn money for them. Winning over Li Nian would be a win-win situation, as she is both beautiful and wealthy.

Zhang San is lazy and good-for-nothing; her family can't afford to let this good-for-nothing wreak havoc.

She's not stupid; she won't do anything that doesn't benefit her.

"I'm going."

Zhang San shrugged helplessly.

After saying that, he entered the snowy night and headed towards Li Nian's house.

Sister-in-law Zhang returned to the room, picked up the medicine bowl, and walked towards Zhang Daniu's bed, her heart filled with disgust.

"Da Niu, take your medicine."

"Did Ah San go to Li Nian's house?"

"I've gone."

"Get rid of that kid Li Nian as soon as possible, so you won't be lonely."

After Zhang Daniu finished speaking, he shakily turned his body to drink the medicine.

He didn't want to be a bastard either.

But he knew that if he didn't agree to his wife finding another man, she might run off with the money one day.

At that time, with no one to care for his injuries, he will only be left to die.

Therefore, he could only rely on his wife to ask Li Nian for help.

"Da Niu, you're so kind. Here, drink your medicine."

Zhang's sister-in-law gave a forced smile.

She was well aware of Zhang Daniu's concerns, but she pretended not to know.

After all, she was happy to have Li Nian come to her house to help her out.

Li Nianjia.

Under the moonlight, Zhang San crept to the outside of Li Nian's yard and skillfully opened the fence gate.

Li Nian's yard was surrounded by a fence, and the gate was a wide-open fence gate. You could easily open it by putting your hand inside and removing the latch.

It can't keep out thieves, it can only keep out livestock.

The fence gate opened, and the snow on it fell to the ground with a soft sound.

Zhang San didn't care at all; an ordinary person wouldn't be able to detect such a slight sound.

He swaggered in.

"They're here!"

Inside the room, Li Nian opened her eyes.

Having served in the military, he possessed keen senses and noticed even the slightest sound of falling snow.

I knew it was a thief who had broken in!

Li Nian quietly got up and went outside...

At this moment, Zhang San opened the kitchen door and went inside.

"My sister-in-law didn't lie to me, there's no food in the kitchen."

"After Li Nian lost the grain last time, he learned his lesson and stopped keeping the grain in the kitchen."

"However, even if it's kept inside the house, I, Zhang San, can still steal it if I want to."

After checking around, Zhang San found no grain.

He then went to the door of the main house, took out a piece of iron from his pocket, reached into the crack of the door, found the position of the latch, and gently pried it open.

A moment later, the door opened, and Zhang San skillfully slipped into the room, gently closing the door behind him.

By the light filtering through the window and the hole in the wall, I could see the grain placed in the corner not far away.

"So easy!"

"That kid Li Nian really caught a lot of fish, and he actually exchanged them for so much grain."

"But now they're all mine!"

"Selling this grain will net us a lot of money, and with the one or two taels of silver my sister-in-law gave me, we can go to the brothel and have some good stuff!"

Zhang San inspected the grain, a satisfied smile on his face.

She had already decided in her mind what position she should use when going to the brothel.

"The second young master told me a few days ago that he wanted me to find a few five or six-year-old girls, and Li Nian's family happens to have one."

"Let's steal grain tonight. Once Li Nian is starving and goes to help out at Brother Da Niu's house, this widow and orphan will be left without anyone to take care of her. Then we can make our move."

"Li Nian's sister-in-law is a real gem; we can have some fun with her then, hehe—"

Thinking about it, Zhang San chuckled.

With that thought in mind, he took out the sack from his arms, filled it with all the grain, slung it on his back, and prepared to leave.

puff--

However, just as Zhang San reached the door and was about to open it to leave, he heard the sound of a tinderbox.

Immediately afterwards, the oil lamp on the table was lit, and the dim room instantly became bright.

Zhang San felt a pang of panic.

"You thief! Where do you think you're taking my grain?!"

Just then, a low shout came from the side of the table.

Zhang San turned his head and saw that the man in front of him was none other than Li Nian!

He couldn't believe that such a large, living person was standing inside the house without him noticing.

His intuition told him that Li Nian had been waiting here for a long time.

As he expected, Li Nian waited there after hearing someone enter the courtyard.

He wanted to wait for Zhang San to enter the house and steal the things before reappearing, so he could catch the thief red-handed!

The oil lamp was lit, and upon seeing Zhang San's appearance, he realized that the intelligence was indeed correct.

It's Zhang San!

"Damn it! We've been spotted, time to run!"

Zhang San turned and ran away.

Nanhu Bay was an area controlled by the Zhang family. He, a member of the Zhang family, was caught stealing grain there and was not going to get away with it!

"Trying to run away!"

Seeing Zhang San trying to run away, Li Nian sneered.

With a sudden sinking of his legs, he charged towards Zhao San.

As soon as Zhang San opened the door, Li Nian was already behind him. Li Nian delivered a flying kick, and Zhang San didn't have time to react or dodge, so he was kicked hard in the back.

boom!

The heavy force sent Zhang San flying out the door, crashing heavily onto the snowy ground in the yard, the grain sack on his back falling to the ground as well.

"So it was you, Zhang San, who was stealing my grain!"

Li Nian walked out of the house, pretending not to know that Zhang San was coming, and shouted at him loudly.

Then, he continued shouting, "Everyone get up quickly! Someone has entered the village to steal grain!"