Chapter Twenty: Kneeling in Accompaniment to Burial

  The news of the death of Hei Feng Zhai's master and his entourage in an ambush by government troops while descending from the mountain was received by Bai Dian Tang, who had come to offer condolences, on the second day. For this reason, he even sent someone to pay attention to the subsequent development of Hei Feng Zhai. What he did not expect was that after losing its master, Hei Feng Zhai still had the ability to launch a surprise attack on Xiang Lu Peak that very night.

  What made it even more unbelievable was that the one who had brought down Xiang Lufeng was actually Xu Bin, whom he had previously thought to be a bit immature and unreliable. He recalled what he had said to Xu Bin's father last year about marrying his precious daughter off to Xu Bin, thereby strengthening the ties between their two mountain strongholds through kinship.

  But with the death of Xu Yiren, this matter only remained as a promise between the two families, and it seemed that something unexpected had happened. If not for Xu Bin's sudden change of heart, which was a 180-degree turn in Bai Detang's eyes, this marriage would not have been possible to continue.

  Although Bai Dingtang also understood that his own daughter was notorious for being wild, and had a personality that didn't love traditional feminine attire but instead loved military uniforms. Ordinary families with some social standing wouldn't possibly accept such a daughter-in-law. Not to mention the fact that although the Bai family had a reputation in Juxiang, they were originally bandits, so those ordinary citizen families fundamentally didn't want to have too much involvement with them, let alone welcome his daughter as a bride.

  Then she could only choose a daughter-in-law from the same industry, which is also why she initially interacted with Xu Yiren and thought that Heifeng Village's strength was still okay. Moreover, Xu Bin seemed to have a good personality, so there was the joke about engaging in a drunken marriage back then. If Heifeng Village could continue to stand upright under the management of the Xu brothers, then when her daughter turned 18, it was possible for the Bai and Xu families to become in-laws.

  Now that this unexpected event has occurred, the marriage between the Bai and Xu families will depend on Xu Bin's ability going forward. At least for now, Xu Bin's performance is not bad, but to meet White Dingtang's expectations of him as a son-in-law, he still needs to improve. This is similar to the principle of "door-to-door" that ordinary people often follow when choosing a spouse.

  Looking at Xu Bin walking towards him, Bai Dian Tang stopped his footsteps up the mountain and revealed a hint of a smile. While Bai Mulan, who came with him, stood aside with an impatient expression, fiddling with the two braids on her head. She glanced at Xu Bin briefly before completely ignoring him, showing no interest in this nominal fiancé!

  Both sides exchanged greetings, and Bai Dingtang looked somewhat sorrowful: "I didn't expect that the last time we parted at Xiangu Mountain, I and Brother Yiren would become eternal partings. Bin Xian nephew, you must be filial and change your ways. Although your father is gone, if there's anything in the future that needs help in the mountain stronghold, Nephew Xian can come to the White Family Stronghold to find me at any time. As long as I can help, I will definitely do it for you."

  Xu Bin didn't take the kind words from the person in front of him too seriously. In this day and age, taking the polite words of a bandit leader at face value means you're not far from death. The principle that it's better to rely on oneself than others is something Xu Bin understood deeply.

  However, his face was still very polite and said: "Thank you, Uncle, for your concern. As the new leader of the mountain stronghold, I will definitely not bother you less in the future. Today, I let Uncle come to pay respects by himself, I really feel ashamed, please ask Uncle to rest on the mountain for a while, and then I will go to Uncle's side to ask for advice."

  Although it's a bit awkward to say this, but since they came all the way here to exchange some pleasantries, it should be acknowledged. As for his fiancée following behind him, that girl ignored him, and Xu Bin, being a proud man, naturally didn't have the interest to go over and greet her, also ignoring her, led Bai Dingtang and the others into the main hall of Heifeng Fort.

  The arrival of the White Mansion made several mountain stronghold bosses who had arrived at Heifengzhai ahead of time hurry to welcome them. After all, the status of the White family in the bandit circle on the surface of Juxiangdi was still worthy of respect from these small strongholds. Otherwise, who would dare guarantee that offending the other party would not bring danger to the stronghold?

  When the last representative of Xiaoshan Village, who had dealings with Heifeng Village, arrived, Xu Bin roughly estimated that in all these years, the Xu family had been involved in the Juxiang bandit circle, and the number of allies seemed to be quite numerous, with nearly twenty families.

  But how many of them are truly trustworthy allies, Xu Bin couldn't tell for the time being. At least he felt that these guys' superficial skills were well-practiced, and he couldn't see any intention to stab him in the back. It seemed that his old man's reputation still had some credibility in the bandit circle.

  When the people who came to mourn arrived at the mourning hall, Li Chengbing, who was in charge of the funeral, began to order the porters to come and lift the coffin. The nailed coffin was lifted to the burial site that had been selected earlier. As a filial son, Xu Bin walked to the front of the procession with a sad face.

  Although he felt a bit suffocated being a filial son, Xu Bin thought it was only right to be one since the body he had taken over belonged to someone's son.

  Compared to the tearful scenes of ordinary people mourning their loved ones, the funeral rites of bandits were less boisterous and more sorrowful in silence. As a bandit, everyone knew that this was an inevitable fate they would eventually face.

  Compared to Xu Yiren's funeral, which was so grand, if other ordinary bandits died, a slightly better mountain stronghold could afford to buy a thin wooden coffin for burial. Those that were worse off would just wrap the body in a straw mat and hastily bury it in an inconspicuous place. This is probably what they mean by "same people, different fates".

  The coffin of the former head of Heifengzhai was placed in the newly built tomb, and Xu Bin led the way by throwing a handful of earth into the tomb. The rest of the representatives who came to mourn, as well as the bandits from Heifengzhai who participated in the funeral, all followed one after another and threw a handful of earth into the tomb, which was considered to be fulfilling the last wish for the deceased.

  When the circle was finished, several bandits waiting on the side quickly filled up the grave. Once everything was settled, Li Chengbing immediately sent someone to push Ma Liu over and make him kneel down to accompany the burial. The intention of doing so was to let the underground boss know that these living people had avenged him, and he could rest in peace and be reincarnated as a human being.

  Looking at Ma Liu who refused to kneel, Li Chengbing was extremely furious. Just as he was about to take action, Xu Bin walked calmly in front of Ma Liu and said: "If you want to die a little more comfortably, then kowtow three times to my father and apologize. Otherwise, don't blame me for not being merciful and flaying you alive. You can consider what to do next yourself."

  He had always thought that death should be an easy thing, but when it suddenly arrived, Ma Liu suddenly wanted to die with some dignity. For this reason, when Li Chengbing asked him to kneel down, he directly ignored him. But he never expected that Xu Bin, who seemed relatively trustworthy, would use cruel words to threaten him to kneel down.

  Thinking of the cruel means he had witnessed before, Ma Liu suddenly felt that death was an extremely terrifying thing. It was just that being forced to kneel down and kowtow to an enemy made him feel unacceptable in his heart.

  "Xu Bin, how dare you go back on your word?"

  Xu Bin replied calmly to Ma Liu's inquiry, "When have I ever gone back on my word? I did promise to make your death a little easier, but I never said it would be like this."

  "Don't you think that your actions led to my father's current situation? Moreover, as the leader of a bandit group colluding with government troops, if someone else were handling you, you should know what kind of outcome would await. Today, these three heads you must kowtow to, no matter what; if you don't, you should be very clear about the consequences."

  Believe it! I'm a bandit now, okay?! What credit does a bandit have?!

  In his heart, he despised this guy for being so naive. At the same time, Xu Bin wrote a threatening letter with ease. He was very clear that if the bandit dared to collude with the government army to murder fellow travelers, once caught, the consequences would be no trivial matter. Being skinned alive and having his tendons pulled out were all normal punishments, it could be said that death would be better than living like this!

  Ma Liu, who didn't want to die in such a painful way, realized that the young man in front of him was far more ruthless than he had imagined. He could only grit his teeth and kneel in front of Xu Yiren's tombstone, quickly knocking three loud heads with a heart full of resentment. This scene fell into the eyes of many allies around, making many people realize that Xu Bin, the new leader of Black Wind Fortress, was not as naive as he seemed.

  Ma Liu got up quickly after kowtowing three times and said angrily: "Come on!"

  Are you in such a hurry to die?

  For this requirement, Xu Bin was still quick to satisfy, ordering Li Chengbing, who hated Ma Liu, to personally hold the gun and shoot a shot at Ma Liu's forehead with his eyes closed. Looking at Ma Liu, who was shot through the head like a broken sack, fell to the ground, Xu Bin waved his hand and ordered people to find a place to bury him casually.

  No matter how you look at it, Ma Liu's death was a sad affair for Wang Er Zhuang, whose expression still looked somewhat sorrowful. The other brothers of the Black Wind Gang were furious and would have liked to chop up Ma Liu's corpse and feed it to the dogs. However, in order to take care of his subordinates' feelings, and following the rule that "when a person dies, their enmity is extinguished", Xu Bin felt that finding a place to bury Ma Liu was only proper.

  With Ma Liu's death, the funeral was almost over. Xu Bin returned to the stronghold and had a few drinks with these 'allies'. He followed Xu Yi Zhong again, standing at the entrance of the stronghold, politely sending off one by one these allies who came from afar.

  What made Xu Bin puzzled was that the distant Bai Detang, who had come this time, seemed to be in no hurry to return and even planned to stay on the mountain for one night before going back. This made Xu Bin very curious about what intention this 'uncle' had in staying behind!

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