CHAPTER 84

Three sworn brothers surprise the Wu stronghold; an evil star is extinguished

LEI Ming and Chen Liang both wanted to capture Cloud Dragon, but Liu Rui countered, “What are you thinking of, brothers?”

“Come down with us!” urged Lei Ming. “We will capture Cloud Dragon.”

“Slowly!” exclaimed Liu Rui. “Not this way, I think. First, there are not many of us and a good many of them; second, we are not on official business and we have no warrant. Where would we take him? Now that we have found him, why must we take him at first sight? He is not doing something evil just now. This is a matter for Ji Gong to handle and not a matter of revenge—besides, we might fail.”

Liu Rui’s statements seemed reasonable to Lei and Chen. Chen Liang said, “Never mind now. Let’s see where he goes.” Lei Ming nodded his head in agreement.

They heard Cloud Dragon say, “Brother Wu, you have given me enough. After a few days at Brother Dian’s, I will come back to you. With you two I have nothing to fear.”

One servant went for the sedan chair. The other passed through a gate in the corner of the courtyard, where he knocked at a door. Inside were two men, Wang the Second and the watchman whose job it was to strike the hours. The watchman and Wang came out with a lantern and unlocked the strong room. Suddenly the lantern disappeared. “Wang, why did you take my lantern?” the watchman called.

“No, I’m still in the room,” said Wang. Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the lantern was back. In that moment the three men, Lei, Chen, and Liu, had slipped inside and hidden themselves behind a tall chest. The three observed while the watchman was getting the silver, and when the watchman and Wang had gone, helped themselves to some silver as well.

When the watchman went out he locked the door to the strong room. The three men felt about the room and discovered that there were bars on all the windows. “This is bad,” said Chen Liang. “We can’t get out.”

“Never mind,” said Liu Rui and he began to mew like a cat.

“You’ve locked the cat inside,” said Wang.

The watchman heard the sound and came back. “I hate that cat,” he said vehemently as he unlocked the door. “It’s always causing trouble!” He looked about with his lantern in the center of the room, but saw nothing. When he entered the room in the west section, the three men slipped out and went up on the roof. Again Liu made the sound of a cat mewing.

“It went out and now it’s on the roof,” said the watchman, as he came out and again locked the door. Up on the roof, the three watched as the watchman took the silver to the guest hall and gave it to Cloud Dragon.

The outlaw expressed his thanks and said goodbye. Wu Kun accompanied him outside the big south gate, saying, “After a few days have passed, come back to us, Brother Hua.”

Cloud Dragon went on his way and Wu Kun returned. As he stepped through the gate, Liu Rui, who was hiding behind it, suddenly ended the evil man’s life with one stab of his knife.

The place was immediately in an uproar. People were shouting, “Catch the murderer!” But the next day they had to report that the guilty man was nowhere to be found.

The three men, having finished their task, returned to the inn and slept soundly. In the morning they rose early. Liu Rui asked, “Where will you two warriors be going?”

“We must go to Chuzhou prefecture to do something for Ji Gong,” replied Chen Liang.

“I have several friends I still want to see,” said Liu Rui, “so we will part here and meet another day.” The three paid their bill and left the inn.

Lei Ming and Chen Liang hurried along the high road to Chuzhou prefecture. Just outside the east entrance to the village called Wuliupai, they saw a temple on the north side of the road. Standing before the gate was a tall man wearing a dark-blue jacket. He was standing unsteadily and repeating in a trembling voice, “Oh dark, dark heaven! Oh sightless gods! Oh heaven and earth! Blind and deaf! Never would I have thought that I could fall into such a condition!”

The two recognized him at once, and approaching, asked, “Brother! What happened?”

“Are you two the demons with the cow’s head and the horse’s face that have come to take me to hell?” asked the tall man.

“You’re mad,” said Lei Ming. “We are Lei Ming and Chen Liang.”

“Not demons from hell?” asked the man. “Then did you come to take me to the western heaven?”

“Don’t you recognize us, brother?” asked Chen Liang. “We are Lei Ming and Chen Liang.”

As he began to understand, the man said, “All this time you were my brothers Lei Ming and Chen Liang. I am dying from pain.” He turned as he spoke and fell to the ground, motionless.

Chen Liang went to the nearest gate on the village street and knocked. An old man came out and asked, “What do you want?”

“Would you let me have a bowl, old fellow, with a little hot water? I have a Daoist at the temple gate who is very sick. I want to dissolve some medicine and give it to him.”

“So that’s what it is,” said the man. “That big fellow is a friend of yours, sir. He has been there at the village entrance very sick for several days. Up until two days ago we kept giving him some food, but, seeing that he was so much worse in the last two days, we did not dare to continue. If you will wait a moment, sir, I will get the bowl of water.”

When he returned with the bowl of water, Chen Liang dissolved the medicine provided by Ji Gong and gave it to the man. In a short time the medicine began to take effect as the man’s five organs responded.

At last he was able to sit up and speak. “Dear brothers Chen and Lei, where did you come from?”

“Is Brother Guo better now?” asked Chen Liang.

This man was none other than Guo Shun, sometimes called the Night Demon. He was one of the thirty-six friends of the Jade Mountain. Some time before he had decided to leave the fellowship of the Greenwood and become a Daoist monk, simply wandering from one place to another. He had become ill at the entrance of this old village temple. With no money to stay at an inn, he had grown worse until found by his two friends.

“We were sent by Ji Gong from Dianchang prefecture especially to help you,” explained Chen Liang. “We also have a letter to give you which he asks that you read and obey.”

It was only when Guo Shun took the letter and read it that he understood everything clearly. “I must go now and assist Ji Gong in carrying out some business,” he said as he looked northward. “Do you two have any extra money? I will need some on my journey.”

“We have,” said Chen Liang and gave him an envelope with some silver.

“I have been a lot of trouble to you two,” said Guo Shun. “On another day I must thank my dear brothers again.” He then said goodbye and departed.

Lei Ming and Chen Liang hurried on their way to Chuzhou prefecture. Turning north at the first crossroad inside the walls of Wuliupai, they saw a wine shop where a man was raising the bamboo blind at the door. They entered the shop. Noticing a staircase, the two went upstairs. There they could see that it was very light and airy. The two found themselves a table and sat down.

“Will you gentlemen drink?” asked the waiter who approached their table.

“We will,” answered Chen Liang.

“If you wish to drink wine, come downstairs,” said the waiter.

“Why can’t you let us sit upstairs?” asked Lei Ming.

“Today the upstairs table has been reserved for three of our great local gentlemen, whom we call the Honorable Three. Please, sirs, come downstairs to have your wine,” the waiter said.

Lei Ming opened his eyes wide and said, “And we two gentlemen would also like to reserve this table.”

“Don’t become angry, sir,” said the waiter. “This is a case of first come, first served. Of course, if you had reserved the upstairs first, we could not give it to someone else.”

“Let us not be rude, brother,” said Chen Liang. “It’s all the same whether we drink downstairs or up.”

Lei Ming then followed Chen Liang downstairs and into a room to the rear, where they found a vacant table.

The waiter quickly laid out cups and chopsticks. “And what wine and dishes would you gentlemen like?” he asked.

“What do you have?” the two responded.

“Dumplings,” answered the waiter, “boiled, steamed, or fried; northern and southern style dishes of all sorts; anything you would like to order, really—and rose-flavored wine. As well as most other kinds of platters, regular plates, and side dishes. Please order anything you like.”

“Fix us four dishes that will go well together, that is, something crispy fried, something steamed and so on, with two pots of old virgin wine—whatever will taste good. Don’t worry about the price,” ordered Chen Liang.

“Yes,” replied the waiter, and immediately passed on the order. In a little while the four dishes and the wine were served.

“What is your name, waiter?” asked Chen Liang.

“My name is Liu,” the waiter answered.

“I would like to ask you something,” Chen Liang continued. “Is one of these three people who are coming to eat upstairs perhaps the younger brother of the prefect?”

“No,” answered the waiter.

“Then why do you call them the Honorable Three?” asked Chen Liang.

“You two gentlemen are not from around here, and there are things you do not know. I will see if they have arrived and then answer your question,” the waiter replied. He went out to look and then returned. “They haven’t come yet. Now I will tell you what you want to know.”

“Tell us then,” urged Chen Liang.

In a low voice the waiter began to explain one thing after the other. As the two listened, they could feel their anger rising.