I traveled back to the Qin Dynasty, and the First Emperor begged me to become his empress.

Chapter 251 Assassination of Zhang Liang 13

At this moment, the gate to Wang Po's house was wide open. Wang Laoda, standing in the middle of the yard, was pleading desperately, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Please, please let my mother go!" Wang Laosan, who had been dragged out by Wang Laoda, looked utterly dejected, like a soulless puppet, standing lifelessly in place, his eyes empty and vacant, seemingly indifferent to everything happening around him.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the crowd. It was Liu Sheng and the village head rushing over after hearing the commotion. When they arrived at the scene, they were met with this chaotic sight—Liu Lao Er was running around the yard like a frightened rabbit, shouting repeatedly, "Murder! Save my mother!"

Liu Sheng looked at the group of people in front of him with a serious expression and asked, "What exactly happened? Tell me the truth!"

The eldest brother, Wang, had hoped his eloquent third brother would explain the situation, as he was the most articulate among them. However, the third brother stood there blankly, as if he had lost his soul, not uttering a single word. Left with no other option, the eldest brother had to steel himself and stammer, "I...I went hunting in the mountains with my second and third brothers. As we were walking, we suddenly saw a woman...a woman lying motionless on the ground. Good heavens, we three brothers were terrified! We thought, 'Is she dead?' So we mustered our courage and went closer to check."

Before he could finish speaking, the village head sitting to the side impatiently snapped, "Stop rambling and get to the point!"

Startled by the village head's shout, Boss Wang shivered and hurriedly continued, "The important thing is, I just discovered that this person isn't a woman at all, but a man! Tell me, what kind of nonsense is this? And this guy not only cheated us out of our food, but also lied to us by saying he would have our babies!" By the end, Boss Wang himself felt a little embarrassed, and his dark face instantly turned bright red.

The village head nearly fainted from anger after hearing these words. His eyes widened in fury, and he roared, "Shut up! Wang Laosan, you come and explain yourself!"

After being called out, Wang Laosan stood there dumbfounded, not uttering a sound. Seeing this, Wang Laoda quickly tugged at his sleeve, a tug that seemed to snap Wang Laosan out of his daze. He took a deep breath and then spoke rapidly, "I don't know what happened to her—no, what triggered it! Suddenly she seemed like a different person, pulling out a gleaming dagger without a word and holding it straight to my mother's neck! Then she chased us all out of the house."

Standing outside, Liu Sheng listened to Wang Laosan's account and had a general understanding of the situation. He composed himself and shouted loudly into the house, "Zhang Liang, I know you're hiding in there right now! If you're a smart man, hurry up and come out with us. We just want to investigate a small matter with you. Once we've figured it out, we'll let you go and won't make things difficult for you."

However, there was no response from inside the house for a long time. After a while, an angry roar came from inside: "Stop talking nonsense! Who would believe such gibberish?" Clearly, Zhang Liang inside the house was not buying Liu Sheng's act.

Liu Sheng frowned and continued to shout, "Zhang Liang, let's talk this out! Don't get agitated. What do you want? As long as the conditions are reasonable, everything is negotiable. After all, holding a helpless old woman hostage like this hardly makes you a gentleman!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Liang burst into unrestrained laughter from inside the room: "Hahahaha... A gentleman? You actually have the nerve to mention the word 'gentleman' to me? We've never met before, yet you went to such lengths to take my life, mobilizing a huge force and turning the entire city of Huaiyang upside down! Is such ruthless behavior what a gentleman does?"

Liu Sheng said with a solemn expression, "Killing you was not my personal wish; I was simply following orders!"

Just then, Zhang Liang's calm yet slightly doubtful voice drifted out from inside the house: "I don't care about anything else right now. The only thing I want to find out is who wants to take my life? And why they want to kill me? As long as I get the answers to these two questions, I will release Wang Po immediately."

After hearing Zhang Liang's voice, which had regained its composure, Liu Sheng hesitated for a moment before replying, "This matter is of great importance, and we are in a public place with many people watching. It is not the right place to speak, so please forgive me for not being able to tell you frankly."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Liang's voice came again from behind the tightly closed door: "Since that's the case, then have everyone here leave first. Then come to the door and tell me the truth in a low voice. I know very well that, given the current situation, I probably can't escape today. But even if I'm going to die, I hope to get everything clear and understand it all before I die."

After listening to these words, Liu Sheng thought for a moment and then decisively refused, saying, "That won't do, after all, there's still Granny Wang inside. How about this, you release Granny Wang first, and then I'll go inside and talk to you in detail."

After a moment of silence, Zhang Liang replied, "Alright."

At this moment, the others around him tried to dissuade Liu Sheng, saying, "Sir, you mustn't do this!"

However, Liu Sheng waved his hand and said firmly, "Don't worry, nothing will happen." After saying that, he took a step and slowly walked towards the room.

Zhang Liang cautiously peered through the crack in the door, his eyes fixed intently on the approaching figure—Liu Sheng. With each step Liu Sheng drew closer, Zhang Liang's nerves tightened. Finally, when Liu Sheng reached the door, Zhang Liang took a deep breath and shouted, "Put down your sword!" His voice carried an undeniable air of authority.

Upon hearing the command, Liu Sheng paused slightly, but quickly nodded obediently, deftly unfastening his sword and placing it on the ground. Seeing Liu Sheng's compliance, Zhang Liang breathed a sigh of relief, then gently pushed the door open a crack. Liu Sheng darted into the room. Immediately afterward, Granny Wang was pushed and shoved out of the room.

Zhang Liang looked at Liu Sheng with a solemn expression and asked, "Can you tell me now?" Liu Sheng looked up at Zhang Liang, a complex look flashing in his eyes, then lowered his voice and said, "This is top secret. Come closer." Zhang Liang hesitated for a moment, but still slowly moved closer to Liu Sheng.

However, just as Zhang Liang was about to get close to Liu Sheng's ear, a sudden change occurred! Zhang Liang abruptly raised the dagger he had been concealing for a long time and stabbed it fiercely towards Liu Sheng's neck with lightning speed. At the same time, Liu Sheng seemed to have been prepared, and he quickly pulled out an extremely sharp dagger from his sleeve, also stabbing fiercely at Zhang Liang.

Unfortunately, Zhang Liang was ultimately just a scholar, not a martial artist. Facing a well-trained assassin like Liu Sheng, he was utterly powerless. In the blink of an eye, Liu Sheng's dagger had pierced Zhang Liang's chest with pinpoint accuracy, and a sharp pain instantly spread throughout his body. Although Liu Sheng's own neck was also slashed by Zhang Liang's dagger, the injury was not serious.

Blood gushed from Zhang Liang's mouth, staining his chest. Even so, he clung tightly to Liu Sheng's clothes, refusing to let go, and with his last ounce of strength asked, "Who sent you?" Liu Sheng, however, stared coldly at Zhang Liang, showing no intention of answering. Then, with a cold snort, Liu Sheng unhesitatingly pulled the dagger from Zhang Liang's chest, and with another powerful swing, delivered a fatal blow.

With this final blow, Zhang Liang's body collapsed to the ground, his eyes slowly closing, and he finally lost all life force, gradually ceasing to breathe... The room fell into a deathly silence, with only the bloodstains on the floor and the two bloodstained daggers bearing witness to this thrilling life-or-death struggle.

Zhang Liang died without understanding why he had met such a tragic end. Who had so cruelly murdered him? And why had they taken his life? He was filled with resentment and confusion; he still had a blood feud to avenge, ambitions yet to be realized, and the distant East yet to be explored. But all of it vanished in an instant, scattered by the merciless wind, and Zhang Liang disappeared from this world forever…

As for Wang Po's family, no one was injured. Before leaving, Liu Sheng gave them ten taels of silver as compensation for killing someone in their house. After dealing with Zhang Liang, Liu Sheng carried Zhang Liang's head and headed towards Xianyang City.