"..."

I almost couldn't catch my breath. I took a deep breath and woke up, drenched in cold sweat.

I heard the joyful sounds of my niece running and playing in the courtyard downstairs.

It wasn't a dream!

I threw off the blanket, disregarded my shoes, and rushed out onto the balcony. I saw that burly man running down the hill with a knife in his hand.

I held my breath and quickly ran downstairs.

"Yao Yao, it's time for breakfast!"

Before my mother finished her sentence, I brushed past her like an arrow, leaving her completely bewildered.

I quickly closed the gate of the courtyard and bolted it shut. Then I shouted at my younger brother, "Xuan Xuan, quickly bring the water jar over to block the doorway!"

My brother, Fang Zhi Xuan, looked at me like I was crazy, sitting there motionless.

Grandpa and grandma looked at me with curiosity, their expressions hazy, and then burst into laughter.

They must have found it amusing to see me rushing down in my bare feet and pajamas, looking like I hadn't fully woken up from a dream.

"Auntie!" The two-year-old niece happily pounced on me, asking to be picked up and hugged.

"Fang Zhi Yao, what are you doing? Put on your shoes quickly. It's cold in winter, don't catch a cold..."

Before my mother could finish her sentence, there was a loud banging on the front door, as if someone was hacking at it with a knife.

"There's a murderer! I saw it from upstairs!"

They were suddenly startled. Fang Zhi Xuan was the first to react, dropping his phone and rushing to move the water jar.

However, the burly man managed to climb over the wall and entered, slashing at Fang Zhi Xuan, who was in the middle of moving the water jar.

My brother was gone, just like that.

"Ah!" My mother was so shocked that she fainted instantly.

I quickly picked up my crying niece and ran into the house.

Grandpa and grandma trembled, unable to move, and the screams abruptly stopped.

I could hear the sound of that burly man hacking at my mother with his knife from behind. Tears streamed down my face as I took my niece and hid in the kitchen, closing the door.

The burly man quickly found us. As he hacked at the kitchen door, I pushed my niece into the cupboard and grabbed two kitchen knives. Just as I turned around, the burly man broke through the door.

The knives swung down, and in that moment, blood splattered.

I saw the wide-eyed gaze. It turned out that the burly man was Da Zhuang, an honest man who had lived alone in the village for fifty years.