The Second Volume of Water Margin

  "Right ahead is the big prison!" Drumming up his courage, Ximen Qing dragged Wu Song and hid at a street corner, just in time to let a patrol team pass by: "Brother, what's our plan?"

  "What's going on?" Wu Song sneered, stroking the sharp dagger in his sleeve. The icy feel gave good feedback to his fingers: "Just go in and kill him, then grab someone and ask them, and you'll know."

  "In a moment I'll be charging forward, you just pick up the scraps from behind. The ones who mix in here are all scoundrels, hitting people with black sticks and poisoning their hands, cheating both sides out of money."

  "Good!" Shi Xiu, although a notorious outlaw, was not exactly skilled at killing people. With Wu Song's words, Shi Xiu felt reassured.

  "But how to get the door open, that's up to you, Third Brother." Wu Song saw that the big gate was tightly closed, with a faint light shining through from inside.

  "This is easy. Watch me dress up as a food delivery woman." Shi Qian pulled out a colorful headscarf from his pocket, wrapped it around his head, revealing only his eyes, and then rummaged through the nearby alley to find a bamboo basket. He cut off a piece of someone else's apron with a sharp knife and carelessly covered the basket with it, before hiding the knife again.

  "Brother, bear with the darkness for a moment, let me go and open the big gate, then I'll give you a signal." Shi Qian dressed up properly, picked up the bamboo basket and struck a pose, twisting and turning as he walked towards the big prison, his posture making Wu Song almost laugh out loud.

  The big prison has several gates, all of which are tightly closed day and night. There is only a bell hanging outside. If something happens, you can pull the bell with your hand, and someone will come out to investigate. After searching your body, they will open the second gate.

  At that time, Shi Qian made a strange gesture and told Wu Song to hide well before stretching out his hand to pull the copper bell.

  "Ding ding ding..."

  "What kind of person is this, coming so late?" The little gatekeeper inside hadn't even opened the door yet, and was already grumbling: "It's already past the second watch of the night, can't you let people sleep!"

  "Someone's bringing over a farewell meal, and there's someone waiting inside." At this time, Drumming Up a Storm pinched his nose and spoke in a fake tone: "Excuse me, big brother, could you please open the door?"

  "Execution breakfast? I haven't heard that anyone in the prison is going to be taken out for a beheading?" The little jailer muttered, carrying a lantern and reluctantly opening the door: "Whose family are you from, and what's with the timing?"

  As soon as the door opened, Shi Qian hastily lowered his head and walked in without saying a word.

  "This woman is quite strange, why isn't she speaking now?" Xiaolaozi felt something was off: "You, woman, wait a minute, lift your head so I can take a good look!"

  At that time, Shi Xiang was listening to the conversation with his head raised, revealing two thief-like eyes. Xiao Laozi lifted up the lantern and shone it on him, but the more he looked, the more suspicious he became. He stretched out his hand and pulled open Shi Xiang's headscarf, and Shi Xiang's somewhat comical little mustache immediately caught attention: "You're a woman, how come you still have a mustache..."

  The words below couldn't be spoken out loud because a sharp knife was pressed tightly against Xiaolao's throat.

  "Shi Qian smiled slyly and said in a low voice, 'You bird person, if you dare to say another word, Grandfather's knife will directly stab in! If you understand, nod your head for Grandfather!'"

  The little prisoner's throat tightened and shook twice, nodding slightly to indicate understanding.

  "Cluck, cluck!" At the sound of the drum, Xie saw that the little lock had already been controlled. He imitated the call of a bird outside the door twice, and Wu Song slipped in and closed the big gate first, so as not to be discovered by the patrol team passing by outside.

  Another big fellow crept in, and the little jailer became even more nervous. Shi Yan ordered Wu Song to crouch by the second gate, and with a fierce scowl, he nodded towards the second gate, indicating that the little jailer should open it.

  The little prisoner had no choice but to knock on the door: "Someone, open the door!"

  "Here, here, are you here to deliver the midnight snack?" The door was pushed open from inside, revealing a middle-aged man with a rugged face. His expression changed when he saw the situation and he hastily called out: "Someone's coming!"

  Just then Wu Song flashed out from the side, his hand rose and fell with his knife, and in an instant he stabbed him three or five times, and he didn't even have time to cry out before dying on the ground.

  Inside heard a noise, three or five prisoners came out to check, seeing this situation, they were all frightened.

  "Close the door!" Wu Song ordered, and rushed up, showing no mercy, stabbing anyone he saw. Shi Yan also used his knife to slash at Xiaolaozi's throat, throwing him to the ground to die, then turned around and closed the other two doors as well.

  "Third brother, you guard the gate and don't let anyone out tonight." Wu Song was as swift as lightning, and from his waist he pulled out a sharp dagger, swinging it left and right, instantly stabbing to death these three or five jailers.

  The officials who came out to see Wu Song were like seeing a killing star, and they almost went crazy. Who dared to come forward to block him? They all turned around and pushed each other back.

  "Quickly go and call out two Cai Jie!" someone shouted amidst the chaos.

  Wu Song's eyebrows rose as he listened. It turned out that these two Cai Jie were coincidentally in the big prison today, which was good and saved a lot of trouble.

  "Big brother, do you think we did the right thing?" Yizhihua Cai Qing held up his wine cup and hesitated to ask: "Although Lu Yuanwai usually doesn't have much contact with us two brothers, at least he is a high-ranking official. Is it a bit too much for us to do this?"

  "Brother, what's right or wrong in this world?" Tie Gun Cai Fu drank a mouthful of wine by himself: "Don't mention an ordinary official, even if it's a high-ranking court official, once they fall into our brothers' hands, we'll have to flay them three times before letting them out."

  "There's nothing to think about, we've taken Li Gu's money, so we have to do things for him." Cai Fu continued: "If it were Li Gu in our hands and someone else gave us money, we'd do the same thing to him."

  "Brother is right." Cai Qing nodded: "Collecting money to handle matters, this is the rule of our line of work."

  "Look, isn't it clear?" Cai Fu refilled his brother's wine: "Why are you hesitating today?"

  "Brother, I don't know what's wrong today, as soon as the sun sets, I feel jittery and can't calm down." Cai Qing drained his cup: "We two brothers have saved up quite a bit of money over the years, why not talk to Lord Liang about it, go back home and take a break, do some business too."

  "Nonsense!" Cai Fu slammed down the wine jug: "In all these years, how many merchants and wealthy businessmen have fallen into our hands? Without this position, aren't they just waiting to be taken advantage of?"

  Cai Qing stared blankly for a while, reached out to touch the flower on his head, but touched nothing, and exclaimed in shock: "Where's my flower?"

  "Hahaha!" Cai Fu bent down to pick up the flower from the ground, gently patted it and handed it back to his brother: "Just now when you were drinking, the flower on your head fell off."

  Cai Qing took the flower from Cai Fu, who had tapped it twice, causing many petals to fall off and getting some dirt on it. Sighing, he casually threw it on the table: "The flower is dirty, can't wear it anymore."

  Cai Fu saw that his brothers looked somewhat disheartened, and was just about to offer a few words of comfort when several guards rushed in from outside: "Section Head! Something terrible has happened!"

  "Something big has happened!"

  "Go out and take a look!"

  "What's the big hurry!" Iron Arm Chang Fu was already annoyed, listening to these few guys going back and forth, nagging on without getting to the point, loudly rebuking: "Get someone who can speak clearly!"

  "There are people killing their way in from outside! They're killing anyone they see! We've lost many brothers!"

  "He's coming! He's coming! The man is here, run quickly!"

  Tsai Fu listened to it without a head or brain, and before he could figure out what was going on, those three guys ran away again.

  At this time, who still has the mind to speak clearly? Of course, escaping with one's life is the most important thing!

  "Brother, let's get out of here!" Iron Arm Cai Fu didn't quite understand what was being said, but judging from the actions of these three guys, he knew things were going to be bad. He tossed his wine cup and reached for the waist knife placed beside him: "Let's go take a look, just the two of us brothers!"

  Cai Qing also summoned up his spirit, drew his waist knife, and the two of them stood with knives in hand, vigilantly watching the door. Suddenly, a loud cry was heard from outside the door, and it was unclear who had been killed. A large man rushed in, holding a steel knife and coldly staring at Cai Fu and Cai Qing.

  "You have eaten bear's heart and leopard's gall, how dare you come here to kill people!" Iron Arm Cai Fu looked at the person covered in blood, shook his waist knife, and asked.

  It's Wu Song who has come!

  The two sharp knives had long been unknown where they went, Wu Song killed people, snatched knives, and killed people all the way. The steel knife in his hand was originally carried by the prisoners. At this time, he pointed at the two people inside the house: "You two bastards, are you Cai Fu and Cai Qing?"

  It's useless to talk nonsense at this time. Cai Qing shut his mouth and gestured to Cai Fu, shouting: "Kill!"

  "Alright! Be more careful, brother!" Iron Arm Chai Fu raised the steel knife in his hand and charged over to give a powerful slash at Mount Hua.

  A flower branch Cai Qing quietly cooperated, the steel knife in his hand was like a poisonous snake coming out of a cave, sweeping towards Wu Song's waist and abdomen!

  "Good arrival!" Wu Song remained motionless, his steel knife flying up and down, and had already knocked out the moves of Cai Fu and Cai Qing brothers. Immediately afterwards, the steel knife moved with him, charging towards Cai Fu!

  Chai Fu and Chai Qing, two brothers, were defeated by Wu Song in a fight, and only then did they realize that Wu Song was incredibly powerful, and the two brothers were no match for him.

  "Brother, let's fight him together!" Cai Fu shouted while defending himself: "We brothers, if one of us escapes, that means we win!"

  Cai Qing saw that Cai Fu was having a hard time defending himself, and if he were to retreat now, his brother Cai Fu would likely be killed by Wu Song's sword. In this situation, Cai Qing didn't dare to leave, so he gritted his teeth and swung his steel knife at Wu Song's back!

  "You two are also famous in the Jianghu, but when it comes to fighting, you're just a waste of time!" Wu Song struck several times, forcing Iron Arms Chai Fu to retreat repeatedly. He lightly dodged the moves of Flower Chai Qing behind him.

  In the small room, three people suddenly fought and couldn't be separated!

  After dozens of rounds, the three men had become evenly matched. Wu Song's moves changed continuously, leaving Cai Fu and Cai Qing unable to adapt, with a somewhat flustered feeling.

  "The house is small and can't be expanded. We must quickly get rid of these two birds, lest someone comes to the door and Third Brother can't hold on!"

  Wu Song's mind flashed with an idea, and he stretched out his left foot to lightly lift the table that Cai Fu and Cai Qing had just used to drink wine, tossing it between the two of them!