Chapter 2: Falling into the Trap

  "What's the big secret? Ah! Qingzi! Tell us! What secret?" Liangzi suddenly became interested, and a hint of anticipation appeared on the faces of several others.

  Qingzi smiled slightly and lowered his voice: "Hehe! Brothers! It's like this, yesterday when I was relieving myself in the small woods on the mountain, I happened to run into..." As he spoke, Qingzi's voice dropped a few more decibels, until Lin Fei, who was sitting at the side, could hardly hear him.

  Qingzi and a few others sat for a while before getting up to settle the bill and leave. Seeing them walk out of the small wine shop, Lin Fei quickly took out a few copper coins from his pocket and threw them on the table, greeted the shopkeeper and followed them out.

  As soon as Lin Fei went out, he was a little stunned. Qingzi and several others were nowhere to be seen. Lin Fei carefully observed the surrounding terrain and found that there was a small alley next to the tavern. He thought for a moment and followed along the alley.

  Not far from walking out, I vaguely saw a few people in front of me. The person who fell behind seemed to be the one I saw in the small wine house just now. Lin Fei was overjoyed and quickened his pace.

  Several people disappeared in front of a courtyard, Lin Fei stood in front of the courtyard and observed that this courtyard was somewhat dilapidated, as if it was a broken family's home. The paint on the two large gates had faded a lot, and the copper rings on the gate were rusty.

  Lin Fei quietly walked to the front of the door, stuck to the door seam and looked over. The yard was very large, with some broken things piled up inside. Only the upper house's door was a bit stronger, and the curtain on the upper house's door was still swaying, indicating that someone had just entered.

  Lin Fei quietly pushed open the courtyard gate and crept to the center of the yard. Before he could take a closer look, he heard the main gate slam shut with a loud bang. Lin Fei secretly cursed his bad luck and hastily turned around to see that the heavy gate had already been closed, with two fierce-looking men standing in front of it.

  "Haha! Good kid! Heaven has a road you don't take, hell has no door you come to throw yourself in. Fine! This is also good! Saves us the trouble! You little ones! Keep an eye on the door!" Along with the curtain being lifted, a familiar voice entered Lin Fei's ears.

  "Qingzi!" Lin Fei silently cried out in his heart.

  Qīngzǐ walked out of the house door surrounded by Liángzǐ and others, he glanced at Lín Fēi with disdain: "Youngster! Are you that young master from the Lin family who returned from studying abroad?"

  Lin Fei was taken aback, his mind racing: "Not bad! I am Lin Fei! Gentlemen! Do you have any instructions?"

  "Hah! Good! You've got guts! I like that! It's just a pity, we've only just met and now we have to send you on your way. Otherwise, we might have been able to sit down and have a drink together."

  Lin Fei calmed down at this time, and he looked up and down Qingzi: "Brother! So you've known who I am all along? The few of you in the tavern just now were just trying to lure me into a trap?"

  Li Zihaha laughed loudly: "Hahaha! Kid! Not bad at all! Good!"

  "Second Master! Why bother talking to him? Let's just get things done quickly. I'm tired and want to finish up early so I can go back to the mountain and take a nap."

  Qingzi smiled slightly: "Hmm! Sanzi said it well! Brothers, let's get to work! Do the job quickly and send Young Master Lin on his way!"

  "Hey! Can I die with some clarity? I don't want to be a wrongly killed ghost."

  "What's the big deal? There are plenty of wronged spirits these days, one more won't make a difference. Let's get moving!"

  Lin Fei waved his hand: "Hold on!"

  Qingzi was taken aback: "What's going on? Does Young Master Lin have anything else to say?"

  Lin Fei nodded: "Everyone! We have no grudges in the past, and we are not enemies recently. You're doing this business for money, aren't you? How about this, I still have some money in my pocket, and besides, I have some more money hidden away in a secret place. If you can make me die with a clear conscience, all of this money will be yours."

  Qingzi looked at Lin Fei with a puzzled expression, and Liangzi hastily asked: "What? You still have money outside? How much?"

  Lin Fei looked at Qingzi: "Sir, what did you just say?"

  "Alright! I'll let you live a bit longer, Young Master Lin. What is it that you want to know?"

  Lin Fei asked in a low and stern voice: "I want to know who exactly wants to destroy my entire family? Who did the Lin Gongguan thing?"

  Qingzi pouted and nodded at Liangzi, who immediately nodded: "Listen up! We're just making a living from this bowl of rice. As the saying goes, 'taking someone's money is to help them spend it', so by rights I shouldn't be telling you, but since you're about to die anyway, I'll tell you."

  Lin Fei nodded: "Good!"

  Liang Zi took out a cigarette and lit it up, taking a deep drag. He blew out a smoke ring towards Lin Fei: "Kid! Have you ever heard of Zhang Yunbin?"

  "Zhang Yunbin?" Lin Fei shook his head. "Never heard of him! Who is he? What does he do? Does our family's matter have anything to do with him?"

  Liang Zi nodded his fat head with satisfaction: "Hmmm! The kid is clever! That's right! We did use Commander Zhang's silver to make this deal."

  Lin Fei still looked puzzled, and Liang Zi said impatiently: "Kid! Don't think about it anymore! Let me tell you! This Zhang Yunbin is the son of Commander Zhang Dakuan of our Longcheng garrison, as for what grudges he has with your Lin family, that's not something we know."

  Lin Fei nodded: "Brother! So you're saying that our Lin family's old and young, a dozen or so people, are all your doing?"

  One of the three sons patted his chest: "Not bad! It was us who did it, but not in the way you think. There's another person we didn't touch, and that person is now at Zhang Dashuai's mansion."

  "What? There's still someone who's fine? Who is it?" Lin Fei was shocked, because he had personally buried his family members, so how could there still be someone alive, and who was it?

  Qingzi glared at Sanzi, then turned to look at Lin Fei: "Since my brother has already said it, I'm not afraid of you knowing. It's a girl, what relation she is to your family I don't know, all I know is that her name is Wu Mei."

  Wu Mei! Lin Fei's heart skipped a beat. On the day of the incident, Wu Mei was in her own home, so why did these people let Wu Mei go? Why is she now at Zhang Yunbin's house again?

  Qingzi waved his hand, and several people, including Liangzi, took out short knives from their waists, grinning wickedly as they pressed forward towards Lin Fei.

  Lin Fei's heart skipped a beat as he thought to himself that the key now was how to escape and how to deal with the current situation, other things would be figured out another day.

  Liáng Zǐ Chōng gave a signal with his eyes to Sān Zǐ and the others: "Brothers, I think I'll take care of this Lin Shào Ye myself. You guys just keep an eye on things from behind."

  "Alright, Liangzi! It's all up to you now!"

  Liangzi smiled slightly: "Young Master Lin! Sorry about that! Next year on this day, brother will give you money to buy flowers."

  Liangzi finished speaking and swung his short knife to Lin Fei's front, Qingzi and several others looked at him with a smile, as if Lin Fei was already a dead man in their eyes.

  But contrary to everyone's expectations, just as Liangzi was about to stab Lin Fei with his knife, Lin Fei suddenly turned around and disappeared from Liangzi's sight. Just as Liangzi was still in a daze, Qingzi and others' cries of surprise and Lin Fei's palm arrived simultaneously.

  Lin Fei flashed to the back of Liang Zi, before Liang Zi could react, one hand had already grabbed Liang Zi's neck. Liang Zi hadn't even had time to cry out when he felt his vision go black and his body went limp, the short knife in his hand also falling into Lin Fei's hands.

  Everything happened too quickly, Qingzi and a few others had not yet figured out what was going on when Lin Fei suddenly appeared in front of Sanzi. Seeing the situation was not good, Sanzi tried to dodge, but Lin Fei's short knife had already stabbed into Sanzi's chest. Sanzi fell to the ground with an expression of disbelief.

  Qingzi's face changed greatly, he didn't expect Lin Fei's skills to be so good. He pulled over the two people beside him and pushed them forward in front of Lin Fei. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he stretched out his hand from his pocket and pulled out a Mauser pistol.