"Grandpa, Grandpa, Aqing is back!"
Upon entering the village, Wang Da'an jogged to the brightly lit ancestral hall and shouted loudly.
"What? Ah Qing is back?"
"Ah Qing is alright?!"
"You brat, are you sure you're not seeing things?"
As soon as he uttered that voice, a commotion broke out inside the ancestral hall, and many villagers rushed out.
"How could I be wrong? Look, isn't that Ah Qing?"
Wang Da'an was displeased and pointed behind him, shouting.
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a person slowly walking over. Under the bright moonlight, his features were vaguely discernible. Who else could it be but Lu Qing?
"It really is Aqing!"
The villagers were overjoyed.
"I'm sorry to have made everyone worry about me."
Lu Qing arrived at the ancestral hall and bowed gently to the villagers.
"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back," Grandpa Zhang said with great relief.
"Yes, as long as they come back safe and sound."
Other villagers chimed in with their comments.
They truly lived in fear all day.
They were worried that Lu Qing would never return to the village.
They were also afraid that what awaited them would be the ruthless villains of the Black Wolf Gang.
Now that Lu Qing has finally returned safely, everyone can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Grandpa Zhang, where's Xiaoyan?"
Lu Qing glanced around and, noticing that Xiao Yan wasn't there, asked.
“She’s sleeping inside. You haven’t come back all day. In the afternoon, she started crying and asking for her brother. She was crying a lot and didn’t want to eat dinner. Dr. Chen gave her two acupuncture needles and she finally fell asleep.”
"Is Master inside too?" Lu Qing asked.
"Yes, when Dr. Chen saw that you hadn't come back, he brought Xiaoyan down from the mountain."
Lu Qing remained silent.
He knew that his master's reason for coming down the mountain, besides worrying about him, was probably also to protect the villagers of Jiuli Village.
“Grandpa Zhang, I’ll go in first to apologize to my master. It’s really wrong of me to make him worry so much,” Lu Qing said.
"Of course, of course. Even though the old doctor didn't say anything, we could all tell that he was just as worried about you," Grandpa Zhang quickly replied.
Lu Qing walked into the ancestral hall and saw his master holding Xiao Yan sitting on a rock under a tree in the courtyard.
"You're back?"
When Dr. Chen saw Lu Qing, his face finally relaxed a little.
“This disciple was reckless and has worried Master. Please punish me,” Lu Qing said, bowing his head.
"It's good that everyone is back safe and sound."
Dr. Chen sighed.
Although he thought Lu Qing's decision that morning was reckless, he also knew that as a son, how many people could truly remain calm after suddenly learning the truth about their parents' deaths?
The reason he taught Lu Qing martial arts in the first place was precisely because he was worried that something like this might happen one day.
"Is everything resolved?"
The old doctor looked at Lu Qing and keenly noticed some bloodstains on his clothes.
But he saw no signs of injury on his disciple.
"Yes, it's temporarily resolved. For the next while, no one should come to the village to bother everyone," Lu Qing replied.
"Oh, what did you do?"
Seeing his disciple's confidence, Doctor Chen was somewhat surprised.
During the day, he heard from the villagers that the people who came to cause trouble in the village in the morning were members of the Black Wolf Gang.
As someone who frequently travels in and out of the city, how could the old doctor not know what the Black Wolf Gang represents?
Knowing the Black Wolf Gang's consistent modus operandi, he made a special trip down the mountain to protect the villagers of Jiuli Village.
Now that he heard Lu Qing say that everything was resolved, how could he not be surprised?
Lu Qing did not answer his master's question directly.
Instead, he asked, "Master, do you know of a place called Happy Village nearby?"
"Kuaihuo Village?" The old doctor thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Never heard of it."
Lu Qing was speechless.
However, he thought about it and realized that his master usually spent his time either treating patients or researching medical techniques.
I don't really care about other things.
It's normal if you haven't heard of Kuaihuozhai.
"That Happy Village is a casino and brothel run by a leader of the Black Wolf Gang, about fifty or sixty miles away from here."
“My father was framed by the people of Happy Village and ended up owing a lot of money.”
“Those people wanted to seize my family’s land and force my mother to sell herself into servitude in the village. My parents refused and eventually drowned themselves in the river.”
"I see." Doctor Chen finally understood why his disciple had suddenly brought up the village.
Only then did the villagers outside learn how Lu Ming and his wife had died.
"And now this Happy Village..." the old doctor asked.
“Happy Village no longer exists,” Lu Qing said. “I have already avenged my parents with my own hands.”
"..." The old doctor paused for a moment before saying, "It's a good thing that such a harmful village is gone."
The old doctor thought that Lu Qing's revenge meant killing the leader and disbanding the so-called Happy Village.
Although he himself disliked hurting others, as a son, avenging his parents was a matter of course, and even he couldn't say anything about it.
At this moment, the old doctor never expected that his disciple would be so bloodthirsty that he would kill everyone in the village except for those poor girls.
Lu Qing didn't say directly that he had killed nearly a hundred people in one night.
Seeing that his master did not blame him, he breathed a sigh of relief.
On the contrary, the other villagers were shocked when they heard Lu Qing say that he had destroyed the entire village.
Although they already knew in the morning that Lu Qing was highly skilled and had extraordinary martial arts abilities.
But he single-handedly destroyed an entire mountain stronghold.
This feat far exceeded their expectations.
Lu Qing noticed the villagers' expressions.
He thought for a moment and then said, "Grandpa Zhang, although I destroyed the village that harmed my parents, we should not spread this matter around. The village is controlled by the Black Wolf Gang in the city. We don't know if they will send people to investigate, so we should try not to mention this matter recently."
Although Lu Qing believed that with Ma Gu's abilities, he should be able to handle the situation at Happy Village well.
But things that need to be reminded still need to be reminded.
"Yes, yes, you all heard that, right? When you go outside, you're not allowed to mention anything about Aqing! No, during this period, you're not allowed to go out except to work in the fields, not even to the market, understand?" Grandpa Zhang realized what was happening and quickly shouted.
"knew!"
Those still gathered at the ancestral hall were mostly mature adults from the village, who naturally understood the [N O V E L I G H T] seriousness of the matter and responded in unison.
"Alright, now that Aqing is back, let's call it a day. Everyone's been worried all day, haven't had dinner, and are all tired. We can talk about it tomorrow," Grandpa Zhang said.
