Chapter Five: The Escape Begins

  Li Xiangcai never thought that someone would fake it to such an extent, and without exaggeration, even if he were to show himself the letter again now, he still wouldn't be able to find any flaws. This trick of luring the snake out of its hole isn't complicated at all, on the contrary, the process is very simple - just a set of clothes and a letter was enough to deceive him into coming out. When did Huatian Village produce such a mastermind?

  Li Xiangcai was so regretful that he wanted to cry but had no tears left.

  Regret is useless, but Li Xiangcai didn't dare to slack off. He knocked his head several times with great force, knocking it until it bled, and wailed: "Two great heroes, I know my mistake, please spare me! I, Li Xiangcai, swear to heaven that I will not pursue today's matter. Besides, I have a lot of silver, as long as you two let me go, I'll give you as much as you want, spare my life!"

  No matter how much money you have, if you lose your life, what's the use?

  The night was getting darker, and the surrounding area was filled with the sounds of insects and frogs. It was as if they were singing in unison, their voices echoing through the desolate land. But to Li Xiangcai's ears, these sounds were like the ominous calls of the ox-headed and horse-faced demons, come to claim his life. The man named Lu Haoshan had killed two people without batting an eyelid, his heart as hard as steel. Li Xiangcai knew he was at a critical moment of life and death, and he didn't hesitate to offer all his silver wealth, begging for mercy with all his might.

  "Shan Ge, what about this guy?" Liu Jinzhu asked, pointing at Li Xiangcai who was kneeling on the ground.

  On the ground lay two corpses, and the smell of blood made him feel a little nauseous. A gust of night wind blew in, casting an eerie atmosphere over the scene. But when he saw Lu Haoshan standing there with no expression on his face, he forced himself to suppress his fear in order to show bravery in front of his newly acknowledged leader.

  "Great hero, no, Mountain Brother, spare me, spare me!" Li Xiangcai also saw that Lu Haoshan was the one in charge, and without even wiping away the blood on his head, he crawled and rolled to Lu Haoshan's feet, wailing: "I dare not, I dare not! I'll give you a grand funeral for your father, silver, I have silver, and plenty of grain too. You want it all? And women... my son bought me a fine Yangzhou horse, still untouched in the west wing, I'll offer it to Mountain Brother. Just spare my dog's life, whatever you want, I'll give!"

  For the sake of his life, Li Xiangcai could no longer care about anything else, tightly hugging Lu Haoshan's feet and crying bitterly as he begged.

  Li Xiangcai knocked his head to the ground, his forehead bleeding, a man over fifty years old hugged a younger person and cried with tears and snot flowing together, unable to express his desperation. But for the sake of survival, he couldn't care about anything else at this moment. No matter how much land or wealth one had, even if it was immense riches, what use were they without life? In the face of life and death, how many people could remain as calm as a saint?

  Li Xiangcai is no saint, on the contrary, he is greedy for wealth and values his own life more than heaven.

  Looking at Li Xiangcai's pitiful appearance, Lu Haoshan didn't have a shred of sympathy. On the contrary, the scene of Old Man Lu being struck by the wooden stick and slowly falling down kept replaying in his mind. Suddenly, flames rose to three feet high, "Bang"! One kick landed squarely on Li Xiangcai's chest, just one kick sent Li Xiangcai flying to the side. With a loud shout: "Get out!"

  This kick, with hatred and strength, was heavy and powerful, and it hit Li Xiangcai's chest mouth, causing severe pain, bleeding from the mouth, and tears in his eyes. It was unclear whether his ribs were broken or not. As a wealthy man who usually rode in carriages or sedan chairs, Li had never experienced such suffering before. He screamed loudly on the spot, wailing like a pig being slaughtered. However, Lu Haishan's eyes had already turned red with hatred, and without saying another word, he rushed forward, kicking and trampling Li Xiangcai repeatedly while cursing him.

  "This kick is for avenging my godfather"

  "This kick is for you looking down on people with your dog eyes"

  "This kick is for you being wealthy but not benevolent, bullying the villagers"

  "This kick is for you to pay back the usury money and oppress the common people"

  "This kick is for you taking our people's daughter by force, lawless and unscrupulous"

  "This kick... forget it, I just don't like you"

  .....

  Lu Haoshan kicked Li Xiangcai like a football, each kick filled with resentment, as if venting the anger that had been building up in his heart over the past few days. He kicked Li Xiangcai until he cried out for his parents and begged for mercy, but Lu Haoshan didn't listen. One kick after another, slowly but surely, Li Xiangcai's voice grew weaker and weaker. When Lu Haoshan finally stopped kicking, exhausted, he saw that Li Xiangcai was lying on the ground, covered in wounds, barely clinging to life, unable to even cry out for help.

  At this time, the sky had already darkened, and Liu Jinzhu lit a torch beside him. The dim light fell on Lu Haoshan's face, which still looked ferocious, and then he looked at Li Xiangcai, who was lying on the ground with a pale face covered in blood, gasping for breath. He felt a chill in his heart, and Liu Jinzhu had a cold feeling, carefully asking: "Shan Ge, what should we do now?"

  "With a 'ding' sound, Lu Haoshan suddenly threw the long knife in his hand to Liu Jinchu's front and said expressionlessly: "Jinchu, kill him for me."

  Just now, after that round of kicking and punching, Lu Haoshan's anger in his heart had dissipated by more than half, and he was much clearer-headed. Apart from revenge, he thought of many other things, such as escape routes, future life, etc. In a chaotic world where the strong prey on the weak, the laws that had been enforced for hundreds of years would soon collapse under internal and external pressures. Lu Haoshan thought about how to survive well in the chaos.

  No matter what, a helping hand is indispensable. One person's power, no matter how great, has its limits. Through several days of interaction, Lu Haoshan discovered that Li Jinchu had many good points: he was clever, capable, and had a flexible mind; he was skilled at observing people's expressions and handling matters effectively. For example, the handwriting of the old master of Qi Yang County was all handled by Liu Jinchu. Although he didn't have much vision, as a subordinate, he was already qualified. Lu Haoshan decided to thoroughly take him in: he ordered him to kill Li Xiangcai, which would serve two purposes - it could test his determination and also give him a case of murder on his hands, eliminating any possibility of retreat. In the future, he would have no choice but to follow Lu Haoshan resolutely, a move that would achieve two goals at once.

  "Me? I killed him?" Liu Jinzhu said in surprise.

  "You can spare his life." Lu Haoshan said calmly.

  Liu Jinzhu clenched his teeth, suddenly picked up the long knife stained with blood, walked to Li Xiangcai's face, and suddenly stabbed him in the chest with great force. A stream of blood shot out, and Li Xiangcai, who was on the verge of death, stared wide-eyed and opened his mouth, wanting to let out a miserable cry. However, it seemed as though the knife had taken away all his strength, and he didn't make a sound. His body convulsed several times before becoming completely still.

  "Shan Ge, Li Xiangcai is dead. What are we going to do now?" Liu Jinzhu said somewhat anxiously, his heart a little tense every time he killed someone.

  Liu Jinzhu understood that Lu Haoshan letting him take action was a test, and once he did it, there would be no turning back. However, he would gain Lu's trust. Liu Jinzhu was very clear that by participating in this matter, whether or not he personally killed someone, if caught by the authorities, there would be no good outcome. Moreover, even if he didn't take action but witnessed the entire process and knew too much, he feared that Lu Haoshan might kill him to silence him. With his quick thinking, he immediately made the most correct choice.

  Seeing Liu Jinzhu kill Li Xiangcai, Lu Haoshan didn't say a word, but looked up at the sky and silently prayed: Old Lu, no, Godfather, your enemy Li Xiangcai is dead. If you have a spirit in heaven, you can rest in peace now.

  After finishing his prayer, he nodded to Liu Jinzhu and said: "Alright, from now on we are brothers. Jinzhu, there is a lot of wealth in the carriage, go take it out and count it."

  Killed Li Xiangcai, naturally want to escape, out the door, no point disk can not, Lu Haoshan early designed good, in seduce Li Xiangcai come out at the same time, hint him bring money silver come to fight points of use, Li Xiangcai no doubt have trickery, Lu Haoshan personally see him take a big package of wealth out, now great revenge already reported, is time clear own spoils of war.

  "Yes, Shān Gē." Liu Jinzhu took the torch and climbed up onto the horse cart. Very quickly, he excitedly pulled out a cloth bundle, placed it on the ground, opened it up, and suddenly let out a delighted cry: "Shān Gē, look!"

  As soon as the cloth package was opened, six silver ingots with white flowers appeared immediately. Fifty taels per ingot, that's three hundred taels here. Next to the silver was a stack of yellow gold leaves. In addition, there was a wooden box, which Liu Jinzhu presented to Lu Haishan with both hands. Lu Haishan opened it and found that it was a deed for a house in Qiyang City. Looking at its location and layout, it was worth a lot of money, but unfortunately, neither of them could use it.

  Lu Haoshan didn't even look at the land deed and threw it away, put the gold leaf in his arms, and let Liu Jinchu collect the silver. Then he patted Liu Jinchu's shoulder and said: "Jinchu, we've finished off Li Xiangcai, this Yongzhou Prefecture is no longer a place for us to stand, we have to flee, are you clear-headed? If you don't want to go, it's still possible to regret now."

  "Brother Shan, from the moment we left Huatian Village together, I, Liu Jinzhu, have entrusted my life to you. There's no need to say anything else. I'll follow you wherever you go."

  "Alright, let's clean up here first. If they can't find the body, they won't be able to file a case. This way, we'll have time to escape calmly. Come on, put the body onto the horse carriage."

  "Yes, Shān Gē" Liu Jinzhu asked curiously while lifting the body: "Shān Gē, where are we headed?"

  Lu Haoshan fell silent for a moment, then spat out two words: "Yangzhou."