Chapter Five: Midnight Revenge

  Chen Guangfu and his brother Chen Guangyuan, along with the other guests, bowed their heads to see off County Magistrate Hu and Police Chief, then returned to the living room from outside. Each of them looked dejected. Some cursed their mothers, while others sulked in silence. The joy they had when they first arrived was instantly crushed by County Magistrate Hu's words.

  "Town Chief Chen, tell me, at the end of the year, why are we suddenly asked to hand over such a large amount of military rations? My grain was all robbed by those poor devils. How many silver dollars did I spend on that?" Qian Xuewen, the owner of Jiajiang Business Firm, said with a sorrowful face to Chen Guangyuan.

  "Brother, it's all the same. Look at me, although I wasn't robbed, it's just like being robbed. For years, I couldn't collect rent from those poor devils. They refused to pay up. Just a couple of days ago, I personally went to Fengshu Ping to collect rent, ran to several households, but didn't get a single cent. Every household claimed they were poor. I was so angry that the next day I drove those poor devils out of the village. And still, one family died on me, owing me three years' worth of rent. Damn it, what bad luck!" Chen Guangfu walked up and patted Xuewen's shoulder, saying.

  The president of the Chamber of Commerce, Zheng Changfa, held a water pipe in his hand, took two puffs, and walked to Qian Xuewen's side, saying: "Old brother, things are gone, but they can be earned again. As long as people are fine, that's all that matters. The current situation is that the world has no master, and the princes claim to be kings. We do business outside, it's not easy, this official can't be offended, nor can these bandits. Those poor devils also need to be avoided. It's still better to be more careful."

  "Director Zheng is right. Then, what do you think we should do about this grain collection matter?" Yang Jincai, the owner of Fumin Rice Shop, walked over and asked Zheng Changfa.

  Zheng Changfa's eyes rolled around and he said, "Wool comes from sheep, since this batch of military rations is what the Governor's Office wants. Going to ask County Magistrate Hu would be useless. To be honest, although those sitting here have a solid family foundation, saying that they should empty their own pockets isn't a good strategy. I have an idea." As he said this, Zheng Changfa's eyes rolled around again, and a plan formed in his mind.

  "What good idea does Director Zheng have? Speak quickly, speak quickly." The guests in the living room all gathered around, perked up their ears and listened to Director Zheng's idea.

  "Let's beat the grass to scare the snake."

  "Is it 'startling the snake by hitting the grass'?" Chen Guangfu also became interested.

  "Gentlemen, you can speed up the collection of rent and taxes. And, like Yang and Qian bosses, spread the word that prices will be raised. This way, those poor devils won't be able to take it and will start making trouble. As a result, they won't be able to get through the year and will go to the county government..."

  "Alright, Director Zheng has spoken well. In that case, we won't be able to eat at County Magistrate Hu's place, and neither will the rest of us... Haha!" Everyone burst out laughing without needing to say another word.

  "Master, the dinner is ready. The theater troupe is also prepared, shall we invite the guests to take their seats?" Liu Xueren, the butler, came from the back hall to the living room and stood behind Chen Guangfu, saying in a low voice.

  "Good, good." Chen Guangfu nodded in approval. He turned to the guests in the living room and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming to my humble abode. I have prepared a New Year's Eve dinner, please enter the back hall to take your seats."

  The guests in the living room followed Chen Guangfu to the banquet hall set up in the back hall.

  At the same time that Chen Guangfu and his entourage went to the back hall for a banquet, outside the east-south wall of the backyard of the Chen family home, on top of an old locust tree with sprawling branches, amidst the snow-covered tree limbs, someone was crouched in the darkness. This person was none other than Li Guoting, the young man whose sister had died just a few days ago, and whose parents had been driven to hang themselves by Chen Guangfu's debt collection.

  At this moment, Li Guoting's entire body was like being ignited by a fierce and uncontrollable fire. He thought of the tragic scene of his parents hanging themselves. He thought of how he had witnessed his family working tirelessly in the fields from dawn till dusk, rain or shine, only to hand over their hard-earned harvest as rent to Chen Guangfu. In the end, they still owed a debt. He thought of Chen Guangfu's vicious kick that day, aimed at his father and himself. And those whips that had landed on his own body. Li Guoting wished he could immediately chop Chen Guangfu's bald head with the axe in his hand. To avenge his parents, to avenge himself.

  The weather was very cold, Li Guoting wore the tattered cotton-padded jacket left by his father. A grass rope was tied around his waist. His right hand tightly grasped the axe for chopping firewood at home. His two eyes stared tensely through the bare tree leaves and the intersecting branches to observe any movement in the backyard.

  "Clang, clang, clang." A burst of copper gong sounds came from the small path inside the garden.

  Li Guoting shrunk his body and gazed intently at the approaching sound of gongs.

  A patrolman appeared, followed by two Chen family guards with red tassels on their backs and big knives. These people just looked around and muttered something to themselves before walking away.

  The patrol's gong sound gradually went away.

  Li Guoting crouched on the branch, looked around and found that the large garden was quiet. There were no other people in sight, so he inserted the axe tightly held in his hand into the waistband of his trousers at the back of his padded pants. With both hands grasping the branches stretching towards the wall, he carefully moved his body forward.

  They were getting close to the wall, and the branches they were climbing suddenly made a creaking sound. Li Guoting was startled, and quickly pressed his body against the branch, wrapping his legs around it, and peeked into the courtyard with his face sideways. Fortunately, at this moment, a gust of cold wind blew by, causing the flowers and grass in the garden to rustle loudly. No one noticed.

  Li Guoting carefully made his way along the branch and finally approached the wall. He took aim, jumped down with both feet, and landed right on the wall, fortunately there were no obstacles on the wall of the backyard. Li Guoting didn't dare to stay on the wall for long, he climbed along the wall and jumped into the bushes in the backyard.

  Look around and make sure no one is watching. Li Guoting crouched down, following the small path in the garden, and arrived at the entrance of Chen Guangfu's ancestral hall next to the garden.

  Hiding behind a large tree, Li Guoting saw that the Chen family's ancestral hall was brightly lit and filled with incense smoke. Looking again, he found no one inside. So, he crouched down and slipped in.

  Seeing the ancestral tablets of the Chen family in front of him, Li Guoting's anger burned, he rushed forward, stretched out his hand to pull down the ancestral tablet of Chen Guangfu, threw it under his feet, and trampled on it with his snow-covered feet. He cursed: "Go die, go die."

  Not satisfied yet, Li Guoting pulled out another candle next to him and ignited the surrounding curtains.

  Watching the flames burning from the canopy, Li Guoting burst out laughing happily.

  Suddenly, Li Guoting heard footsteps coming this way and hastily ran out of the Chen family's ancestral hall which had caught fire.

  "It's bad. It's bad. The ancestral temple is on fire. Come quickly, people! Come quickly!" Just then, Yang Yulin, Chen Guangfu's first wife, arrived at the ancestral temple.

  The maid standing beside her also became flustered. Two of the maids ran forward to shout for people.

  Chen Guangfu, who was entertaining guests in the backyard, heard that his ancestral temple had caught fire and hastily led Liu Xueren, the chief steward, out of the banquet hall. They saw flames shooting up into the sky from the direction of the rear garden.

  "Household servant! Quickly call people to put out the fire! Put out the fire!" Chen Guangfu hastily turned around and shouted at the household servant.

  The Chen family members who heard the news and rushed over were carrying trays of food, fetching water, and swarming towards the ancestral temple.

  The guests invited by Chen Guangfu, who were eating and chatting in the banquet hall, also rushed out to watch when they heard that a fire had broken out in the backyard of the Chen family.

  Next to the Chen family temple was a warehouse for storing grain paid as rent by tenants. The fire happened to be fanned by the downhill wind in the evening, and soon ignited the Chen family's granary.

  Chen Guangfu and his brother Chen Guangyuan rushed over with their men, only to see that the granary where they stored grain had also been set on fire. In a panic, he shouted loudly: "Quickly! Quickly! Save the granary first! Save the granary! Damn it! Are you all deaf? Can't you hear me?! Grain! My grain! Ah, my mother...!" Chen Guangfu saw the big fire rolling in with its merciless tongue, wildly burning the thatched roof of the granary. Cold sweat dripped down his bald head. He hastily directed his family members who had rushed over from all directions to put out the fire, while scolding those clumsy and slow-moving men.

  Chen Guangyuan hastily told Chen Guangfu, "Quickly, first stabilize the fire, I'll go call the town's security team." Saying that, he brought a few of his men and rushed out.

  Chen Guangfu was most worried about the small wooden two-story building next to the grain warehouse. That was his inner chamber, where he and his favorite little wife lived, and that small two-story building also stored the pearls and jade utensils he had collected from all over. If it were burned by fire, it would be his death.

  Then Chen Guangfu hastily ran alone to a small two-story building next to the grain warehouse.

  Just as Chen Guangfu was walking through the bamboo forest path leading to the inner house, he had just reached the semicircular gate when a thin figure flashed out from behind him. The figure followed closely behind Chen Guangfu, its two eyes staring with angry gaze, and its right hand quietly reaching into the back pocket of his pants, pulling out a crescent-shaped chopping knife, tightly grasped in his hand.

  This man was none other than Li Guoting.

  Li Guoting set a fire in the Chen family's ancestral hall, igniting the silk curtains hanging from the beams. Unexpectedly, that night, a strong gust of wind blew, fanning the flames and lending them its power. In no time, the entire ancestral hall was engulfed by the raging inferno.

  It so happened that when the fire broke out, there was not a single person in the Chen family's ancestral hall. They had all gone to the banquet hall to entertain and receive guests. According to custom, after dinner, they would watch opera performances and set off fireworks in the front courtyard to celebrate the arrival of the new year. So, all the family members ran to the front courtyard to join in the excitement.

  Li Guoting hid in the bamboo forest beside the small path leading to Chen Guangfu's inner house, and through the swaying bamboo leaves blown by the cold wind, he saw the fire he had just set burning more and more fiercely. The raging flames and thick smoke billowed up, engulfing the entire ancestral temple. A triumphant smile spread across his face.

  Just then, he suddenly heard a shout for help with the fire. Before long, many members of the Chen family rushed out and ran towards the ancestral hall. Immediately after, someone shouted that the grain warehouse was also on fire. Li Guoting did not know that next to the ancestral hall was the Chen family's granary where they stored rent collected from tenants. Seeing the big fire burning next door, he couldn't help but shout "good" while hiding in the bamboo forest.

  "Burn, burn you bastards, bullying us poor people. Burn, hurry up and burn! Haha...". Just as Li Guoting was laughing with joy, he heard footsteps rushing towards the small path in the bamboo forest where he was hiding. He quickly covered his mouth, which had just let out a laugh, and hid deeper into the bamboo forest.

  Through the swaying bamboo leaves, Li Guoting crouched down and looked up at the road, only to see a man wearing a long gown and a horse jacket, hurrying along the bamboo forest path. He took another look, and it was none other than Chen Guangfu, the wealthy landowner who had come to his house a few days ago to collect debts and driven his parents to death.

  Enemies meet, eyes are red. Li Guoting was about to pull out the axe from his waist and rush out of the bamboo forest to avenge Chen Guangfu, but suddenly heard another footstep behind him, so he suppressed the anger in his heart, lowered his head, and followed Chen Guangfu's back around the bamboo forest.

  When he saw Chen Guangfu hastily walking to the front of a small crescent-shaped round door at the bend of the bamboo forest, Li Guoting looked around and found that there was no one following behind Chen Guangfu. This is truly a heaven-sent opportunity, the chance to avenge his parents has arrived. Thinking of this, Li Guoting stretched out his hand from his back waist and pulled out the chopping knife, tightly grasping it in his hand, staring dead at Chen Guangfu, taking advantage of Chen Guangfu's momentary distraction as he entered the small round door. Li Guoting jumped out of the bamboo forest, fiercely running towards Chen Guangfu's back, raising the chopping knife in his hand, chopping down towards Chen Guangfu's back.

  Chen Guangfu hastily ran towards his own inner courtyard, without noticing that someone was still following behind him. Just as he had just entered the small circular gate, he heard a rustling sound from behind and quickly turned his head around.

  Right before his eyes, a shiny axe with a curved hook was swung at him from the hands of a half-grown child. Chen Guangfu suddenly let out a frightened shout: "Who are you? What kind of person are you?"

  He shouted in surprise and hastily dodged, but still a little late, the axe chopped down on Chen Guangfu's arm with a "swish".

  Chen Guangfu clutched his chopped arm with his hand, shouting loudly: "Come on, come on, there's an assassin! There's an assassin!" He shouted as he dodged to the side.

  At this time, Li Guoting had already put his own life and death outside. Hatred made him forget the danger in front of him. He waved the axe in his hand and chased Chen Guangfu all over the yard.

  "Cut you this dog landlord to death. Cut you this dog landlord to death." Li Guoting waved the axe, shouting and chopping wildly at Chen Guangfu.

  "Come quickly, catch the assassin." Chen Guangfu's arm was bleeding. He dodged Li Guoting while shouting for help.

  When she heard Chen Guangfu's shout, his little wife and the servant girl ran out of the room on the second floor of the wooden building, leaned over the railing and looked down, saw a man chasing Chen Guangfu around the yard, the person chasing Chen Guangfu was waving a chopping knife in his hand. She was so frightened that she shouted: "Come quickly! There's an assassin! There's an assassin!"

  The maidservant also shouted: "Come quickly, come quickly. There's an assassin! There's an assassin!"

  Upon hearing the shout, Chen's family servants rushed over to Chen Guangfu in a flurry.

  Li Guoting heard a loud shout around him, his heart suddenly anxious, and he threw the axe in his hand at Chen Guangfu's chest. The axe went straight into Chen Guangfu's left shoulder. Chen Guangfu let out a loud cry and fell to the ground.

  Li Guoting didn't dare stay and turned around to run out of the round gate.