Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 38: Killing Sheep and Dogs: A Man's Business
Xu Wujiang was born in a poor family. When he grew up, he was brave, chivalrous and generous. He followed Xu Wufu to Biyang and made some money after several years. Then his family bought 20 to 30 acres of land near Nanzhai. Xu Wujiang even doubted whether his father could remember his birthday, let alone celebrate his birthday.
Su Di rushed back to Yuhuangling to celebrate Xu Wujiang's father's birthday, and the tribesmen had no doubts.
When they heard that Liu Qiong'er, who had just redeemed herself from Yuehonglou, had asked Xu Wujiang to come and celebrate the birthday, many people ran over to watch the fun.
Under the elm tree at Xu Wujiang's old house in Nanzhai, a brocade carpet was spread out, and Liu Qiong'er was sitting in front of a guqin, plucking the strings lazily. The sound seemed casual, but it was sonorous and resonant, like the sound of a clear spring splashing on mossy stones under the moon, indescribably pleasant to the ear.
Su Di was definitely a rare beauty in Tongbai Mountain, otherwise Xu Wufu would not have had a rift with Xu Wujiang because of her. However, Su Di and other beautiful women in Lutai villages had ordinary clothes, and the skin on their hands and faces was inevitably rough due to years of hard work, but their bodies were also more agile.
Liu Qiong'er redeemed herself from Yuehonglou, and her beautiful clothes and ornaments were more exquisite than those seen in the village. Her skin, which had never experienced the wind and frost, was so white and tender, and her figure was so delicate and weak.
And Liu Qiong'er's gait, frowns and smiles were all strictly trained in Yue Hong Lou. Every subtle movement could withstand scrutiny, and every subtle movement revealed her alluring beauty like a coquettish woman.
When they were riding across Qingliu Creek, they were still a little disheveled. Liu Qiong'er then tidied herself up carefully and sat in front of the piano stand, looking like a fairy. The Xu family members were stunned and more and more people gathered.
Xu Huaidu regretted it. Liu Qiong'er could attract all the Wuzu family members just by sitting in the yard. Why did she use the birthday celebration as an excuse?
Xu Wujiang's father had some knowledge of writing but had no experience in worldly affairs. When he saw in Xu Wujiang's letter that they were framed by Deng Gui and had to escape from Qingxi Village and hide, he became panicked.
"Dad, Deng Gui is only an inspector and cannot cover the sky with one hand. After surviving this disaster, Wu Jiang will have his own plan to escape. But we can't lose our composure easily at this time. And Xin'an, Xu Sihu and other Wu soldiers are also the foundation of Wu Jiang's resistance against Deng Gui. We can't let Deng Gui send people to capture their families." Su Di said.
Xu Huai held the knife in his arms and stood against the door frame. Seeing Xu Wujiang's father's reaction, he knew that it was not a big problem. Of course, it was impossible to tell all the truth. At the moment, as long as Xu Wujiang's father could calm down and cooperate with them, it would be fine.
Xu Wujiang has brothers and sisters, but none of them survived to adulthood. Now Xu Wujiang is the only child in the family. His mother led two sheep into the yard, poked her head in with a puzzled look on her face and asked the old man: "Is your birthday really today? How could I have forgotten it?"
"You old bitch, if you cooked a few eggs for me every year for my birthday, I wouldn't forget the time." Xu Wujiang's father said cursingly.
"Xu Huai, come and slaughter this sheep, it should be enough!" Xu Wujiang's mother called Xu Huai to do something.
Xu Huai grabbed the fat sheep by its four hooves in the yard, drew out his sword and slashed it across its neck. Blood gushed out for a few breaths, then gurgled and flowed all over the ground. When the fat sheep stopped struggling, Xu Huai let go, but the yard was covered in blood...
"You idiot, look at what a mess you have made of this yard. Get out of here and don't get in the way here!" Xu Wujiang's mother cursed angrily.
"Wu Jiang's mother, why are you so angry with this idiot? Just tell us to do these things!"
Xu Huai didn't know that Xu Wufu intended to take Su Di as his concubine. He was unable to see it before, and no one went to him to gossip about it, but most of the Xu family members knew about it.
Later, Xu Wujiang went to the Inspection Office. In the eyes of the clan members, Xu Wufu was eager to get Xu Wujiang out from under their nose and prevent him from interfering in the clan's and family's business in various places to prevent him from becoming too powerful.
In the past two years, other clansmen have become estranged from Xu Wujiang's family, but those who were organized into the Inspection Office's Wuzu have become closer to Xu Wujiang's family. Upon hearing that Xu Wujiang's father was having a birthday celebration today, several Wuzu family members had put down their work and rushed over to help skin and bone the fat sheep, not daring to let Xu Huai get involved and mess things up.
Of course, there were also some Wuzu families who, seeing that it was still early, could not leave their fields to work, so Su Di had to go in person to invite them over.
Xu Huai deliberately made a mess, and seeing that everyone really disliked him, he broke away and rushed to Beizhai.
Most of the clan members would not be suspicious about the birthday celebration, but how could Xu Wufu, who gathered his direct lineage back to Yuhuangling and was determined to betray Xu Wujiang and others, not be suspicious?
The North Gate is the gateway to Lutai North Village and even the entire Yuhuangling Mountain. It faces the wooden bridge over Qingliu Creek. This section of the village wall is built solidly, and there are two anti-bandit arrow towers on both sides of the gate.
Xu Huai arrived at the north gate of the village. According to the rules, the farmhands who were supposed to guard the gate had gone somewhere to take some time off. So Xu Huai climbed the rope ladder directly to the arrow tower that was nearly three meters high, and had a panoramic view of the village that was two or three hundred steps deep.
The most magnificent house in the village is of course the one where the cousin Xu Wufu lives. It has blue bricks and black tiles, and has courtyards and alleys. At a glance, there are nearly a hundred houses. However, Xu Wufu has many wives and concubines, but only two sons grew up.
In addition, Xu Boshong and his son Xu Wuqing are also a strong branch of the Xu family. In addition to owning thousands of acres of private land in Yuhuangling, they have a lot of say in Xu's mule and horse markets, grain warehouses and other businesses in Huaiyuan, Biyang and other places.
The village chiefs of all the villages in Lutai and the elder head of the northern village were all Xu Bosong, who was two generations older than Xu Huai in the clan.
Recently, Xu Huai has not had the opportunity to contact Xu Wufu, Xu Bosong, Xu Wuqing, Xu Wuqi, who is regarded as Xu Wufu's right-hand man, and his eldest son Xu Heng.
He doesn't know now that it was Xu Wufu's idea to be bewitched by Chen Tong and betray Xu Wujiang. Are the others still kept in the dark for the time being? Or do Xu Bosong, Xu Wuqi and others have a consensus on this?
If it is the latter, things will be more dangerous.
"You idiot, what are you doing on the arrow tower?" A man in short shirt saw Xu Huai running to the arrow tower, knocked on the wooden pillar with his scabbard, and shouted at Xu Huai to come down.
"What are you yelling about?" Another dark-faced man patted the back of the shirt man's head and cursed in dissatisfaction, "Did Xu Huai fuck your wife or your daughter?"
The man in short shirt knew that although Xu Huai's father Xu Wuxuan had died of illness more than ten years ago, people like Xu Wukun and Xu Wuliang who had followed Xu Wuxuan back from the Jingsheng Army still had some feelings for him.
He just saw Xu Huaishun scolding him twice, and didn't want to show his displeasure to this fool in front of Xu Wukun, so he said with a grin:
"My wife has a very big appetite now. I think she is eager to hook up with a young man to ruin the family reputation."
"Uncle Wu Kun!" Xu Huai greeted the black-faced man under the village wall.
"I heard from the head of the family that Old Seventeen led the soldiers to guard Qingxi Village. Why didn't you follow him and instead ran back to the village with Di Niang?" Xu Wukun climbed up the arrow tower and asked Xu Huai in confusion.
"Uncle Seventeen is going to celebrate his father's birthday, so we came back." Xu Huai glanced at Xu Wufu, his eldest son Xu Heng and others walking towards this side from a distance.
"That's it?"
Xu Wukun was totally confused and had no idea what Xu Wujiang was up to.
The bandits in Hutou Village were unusually active, robbing and killing people on Zoumadao twice, and all the major clans in Tongbai Mountain were disturbed.
The Inspection Office invited the clans of various major families to discuss matters, intending to organize local militia to suppress the rebellion; and Xu Wufu, returning from Biyang, withdrew all the men from Huaiyuan and Biyang, also claiming that he wanted to gather local militia to prepare for the suppression of the bandits.
At this critical moment, does Xu Wujiang still have the mind to celebrate the birthday of his father who can't even fart when he is slapped twice?
"I can't get anything out of you, I'll go ask Xu Wuliang and Di Niang!" Xu Wukun and his men had been bandits and soldiers before, and even after returning home they were unable to find a place to join the army. They could only rely on their families to make a living, but their vision and experience were beyond the reach of ordinary villagers. So he decided to ask Xu Wuliang and Su Di.
When Xu Wukun turned around to leave the arrow tower, he saw the head of the family Xu Wufu, the eldest son Xu Heng, and Xu Wuqi walking towards him.
"You stupid ass, you come here and act so unruly. Is the Arrow Tower the place for you to act unruly? Get down here now!" Xu Heng walked to the bottom of the Arrow Tower and scolded in a bad tone.
"It's Uncle Nine's sixtieth birthday today. Aunt Seventeen said that Uncle Seventeen is on duty at the Inspection Office and is contributing to the clan. Yesterday he was sent to Qingxi Village to repel bandits. The head of the family should express his gratitude to Uncle Nine on his birthday, so he specially asked me to come and invite the head of the family to the South Village!" Xu Huai stood up, stared at Xu Heng under the arrow tower for a while, then looked at Xu Wufu who was a little further away and said in a muffled voice.
"I wanted to invite my father over for a drink, why are you here, you idiot?" Xu Heng cursed angrily.
"Aunt Seventeen said that the head of the family will come when I get here, and I won't be able to find the head of the family if I go somewhere else." Xu Huai said.
Xu Wukun didn't understand the wit behind Xu Huai's words. How could Xu Wufu and Xu Heng, father and son, be completely indifferent, as they were guilty of their crimes?
Xu Heng looked at his father Xu Wufu with an uncertain expression. He didn't know why Su Di sent Xu Huai here to say these words. Was it because Xu Wujiang was simply dissatisfied with them for not speaking up for him, or did he see something?
Xu Wufu had been suspicious about the birthday celebration. He heard that Xu Huai had come to the arrow tower at the north gate, so he thought it would be easy to get information from him, so he came over. Now he asked calmly, "Since Di Niang asked you to invite me, and I'm here too, why don't you come down?"
"Okay, I'm coming down!" Xu Huai jumped over the fence and jumped down.
This scared Xu Wukun, Xu Wuqi and others.
There is no such thing as mysterious and unpredictable light body skills in the world. Jumping high and low requires extraordinary eyesight and judgment, and precise control of the muscles of the legs, feet, waist and hips. But even so, Xu Wuqi and Xu Wukun did not dare to say that they would not get hurt if they jumped from the arrow tower that was nearly three meters high.
It is generally acknowledged that Xu Huai was born strong but clumsy.
How could they not be shocked to see him suddenly jump from such a high place? They were worried that Xu Huai might accidentally fall and get hurt.
However, even if Xu Huai could jump directly from a height of three meters, he would not show it in front of Xu Wufu and Xu Heng, father and son.
He leaped out of the arrow tower fence, first landing his feet on the wooden eaves outside the fence, then leaped forward and reached out to grab the thick elm branch that was lying ten feet in front of him, bending the branch and stopping his body from falling.
When his body dropped to a height of more than ten feet from the ground, Xu Huai let go of his hand and landed steadily in front of Xu Wufu. He patted his shoulder with the scabbard and said, "I'm down, let's go!"
Xu Wufu was stunned for a while. This idiot Xu Huai was hitting him with the scabbard of the knife. If the assassin had drawn the knife and stabbed him, wouldn't he have been beheaded by now?
"Don't be rude to the head of the family." Xu Wuqi held the hilt of the knife, stared at Xu Huai coldly and scolded.
"My master asked me to come down. How is that rude?" Xu Huai stared at Xu Wuqi and asked.
Xu Huai knew that among the old soldiers of the Xu family who had returned home from the Jingsheng Army, Xu Wukun was fat and strong and was the most kind to him, while Xu Wuqi, who was ranked ninth in the Wu generation of the direct branch and had a yellow face like a sick man, was second only to his father in status; but Xu Wuqi was also the only one of the previous generation of the Xu family who could impress Xu Wujiang .
Xu Wuqi's family did not have any land or houses in Yuhuangling. After returning home, he and most of the other old soldiers depended on Xu Wufu for a livelihood.
However, Xu Wuqi was not like Xu Wukun, Xu Wuliang and others. He had no feelings for Xu Huai and was also not kind to other tribesmen. Everyone called him a cold-faced tiger behind his back.
Xu Wuqi was extremely strict in teaching boxing, kicking, swordsmanship and archery at Zhenwu Hall. Xu Huai used to be clumsy, and if his movements were not in place, he would be beaten by Xu Wuqi's stick many times, and the kind of beatings that drew blood. As a result, whenever Xu Huai sees Xu Wuqi now, he feels a subconscious fear in his heart.
However, Xu Wufu needed someone like Xu Wuqi to help him control his subordinates and relied on him in everything.
From the reactions of Xu Wufu and his son Xu Heng just now, Xu Huai could tell that the ones who really decided to sacrifice Xu Wujiang were only the two of them, father and son. However, Xu Wuqi was not aware of this for the time being, and he was just following Xu Wufu's orders in many things.
Xu Wukun's status was lower, so he was even less aware of the situation. He came over to smooth things over and scolded Xu Huai with a threatening face: "You guy, you jumped down without knowing the severity of the situation. You'll know what's good for !"
