He shouted until his throat was raw. The sound of rain and rumbling thunder drowned out everything. Standing in the heavy rain, Zu Ye cried in despair.
After dawn, Zu Ye made his way back to the city. Afraid of running into those men again, he stole some clothes that were hanging out to dry at the edge of town and disguised himself as a child from a respectable family. As soon as he entered the city, he heard people everywhere discussing the immortal children and corpses against the current. He immediately had an ominous premonition. He followed the crowd to the riverbank. At that moment, several A’Baos had already pulled the corpses ashore. When Zu Ye looked, they were indeed his younger brother and sister. His heart felt as if it had been stabbed with a knife—the pain nearly made him faint.
He wanted nothing more than to run over and bite those A’Baos to death. He wanted even more to throw himself on his siblings’ corpses and have a good cry. But he held back. His heart was broken, but his consciousness wasn’t broken. If he wanted revenge, he had to endure. Otherwise, it would only be a dead end. This wasn’t something an ordinary person could do, but the 15-year-old Zu Ye did it. That’s why he became Zu Ye.
Zu Ye watched as his younger siblings’ bodies burned. He bit his lip until it bled. He smelled the charred flesh of his brother and sister. He silently watched everything before him, his eyes blood red.
Suddenly, one A’Bao in the crowd spotted Zu Ye and gave the other A’Baos a look. Two A’Baos rushed toward Zu Ye. Seeing something was wrong, Zu Ye turned and ran. The two A’Baos chased for a while but lost him. Zu Ye found a corner and hid.
After sunset, when Zu Ye returned to the riverbank, the crowd had dispersed. Zu Ye had a good cry. In less than a month, his family had been destroyed and everyone killed—something he never could have imagined in his dreams. For the first time, he thought about suicide. Dead, dead—death would end everything. But thinking of his mother’s heart-wrenching cries and his siblings’ helpless eyes, he kept telling himself: I can’t die. If I die, it’s all over. I must get revenge, I must!
For some time afterward, Zu Ye begged secretly while searching for traces of those A’Baos. He also disguised himself as a child from a respectable family and quietly followed some old ladies, like a grandson accompanying his grandmother to burn incense, sneaking into that temple. Looking at the clay dolls on the altar made from his younger siblings’ ashes, Zu Ye suppressed his grief. While burning incense, he silently said in his heart, “Little brother, little sister, rest assured—I will definitely avenge you!”
Zu Ye knew the temple’s abbot was in league with those A’Baos, so he didn’t dare stay long. After burning incense, he left. He had to first find those A’Baos, then figure out how to kill them. He staked out the temple for several days but found no clues. Thinking it over, he suddenly remembered that dilapidated house. He and his siblings had been drugged there, but before being drugged they were conscious. Zu Ye had an extraordinarily strong memory and remembered the route. He planned to return to that house and stake it out to see if he could find any clues. So one night, after eating his fill, he made his way back to that house.
It was a courtyard among some old residences in the suburbs. The walls had partially collapsed. Zu Ye crouched outside the wall and listened for a while—no movement. He barked like a dog twice—still no movement. So he climbed over the wall into the house.
Inside it was pitch black. Zu Ye groped around and found nothing but some broken furniture. He planned to take a nap there that night, then hide in a haystack not far from the house at dawn to keep watch. Just as he was thinking this, suddenly urgent footsteps came from behind the house. Zu Ye’s heart skipped a beat. The footsteps got closer and closer. Zu Ye hurriedly tried to run out but was tripped by something and nearly fell.
By moonlight, Zu Ye saw it was a long poker. A poker was an iron rod that people used to poke stoves at that time, about as thick as a finger. One end had a wooden handle for gripping, while the other end was sharpened to a point so it could poke all the way to the bottom of the stove. Zu Ye grabbed this poker and jumped over the wall to the outside. At that moment, several people had already broken through the main gate of the residence. Zu Ye hid behind the wall and peeked. He saw several men carrying two boxes inside. There seemed to be people groaning inside the boxes.
Those men carried the boxes into the house. One of them took out a flint stone, struck a fire, and lit an oil lamp. Now it was clear—Zu Ye saw those men’s faces. Two of them were the very A’Baos who had lured him and his siblings to this residence that day. At this moment, a leader said to those two A’Baos, “You two guard this place tonight. Don’t just focus on drinking, and be careful these two old geezers don’t escape, or Fourth Master will have your lives!”
Those two A’Baos quickly said, “Second Brother, don’t worry! Second Brother, don’t worry!” Then the leader left with the other A’Baos. The two guards took out a large jug of wine, sat on the ground, and pulled out a package of meat from their clothes, eating and chatting.
Zu Ye’s eyes were fixed on these two A’Baos. He thought to himself, “I must kill you!”
But Zu Ye knew clearly in his heart that if he rushed out rashly now, he definitely couldn’t beat these two strong and robust A’Baos. He had to wait for an opportunity—wait until these two guys had drunk enough and were dizzy, then he could make his move.
Zu Ye stared motionless for over an hour. Seeing that they had almost finished the wine and their tongues were no longer working properly, he gripped that long poker, slowly climbed over the wall, and quietly walked toward the house. Just as he reached the middle of the courtyard, one A’Bao suddenly stood up. Zu Ye was startled and quickly crouched behind a pomegranate tree at the edge of the courtyard. That A’Bao staggered over, mumbling, “Take… take a piss…”
The A’Bao walked to the pomegranate tree, pulled out his penis, thrust his lower abdomen forward, and began pissing with a splash. While pissing, he sang, “The young widow goes to the grave, the light rain drizzles…”
Zu Ye crouched behind the tree, and urine splashed through the branches onto his face. Zu Ye had planned to strike from behind after the man finished pissing and turned to walk back, but this guy’s piss lasted a very long time, and urine kept splashing onto Zu Ye’s face. Zu Ye became furious and couldn’t hold back anymore. He grabbed the poker and suddenly stabbed it toward the guy’s lower abdomen. This stab used all of Zu Ye’s strength and happened to pierce the guy’s bladder. Immediately there was no more urine from his penis—a big hole opened in his belly, and both urine and blood spurted out from this hole.
The guy let out an “Ah!” of agony and fell to the ground clutching his lower abdomen, rolling around. Zu Ye stood up and immediately thrust the poker into his throat. The throat was pierced through, blood gushed out, and though the guy wanted to shout, he couldn’t make a sound. Soon he stopped moving.
The other A’Bao heard movement outside and frantically shouted from inside the house, “What… what’s going on? Don’t… don’t scare me!”
Zu Ye rushed in swiftly and knocked the man down with a knee strike. Before the other could react to what was happening, Zu Ye raised the poker high and stabbed it into his throat. This time he used even more force—the poker pierced out through the back of the neck. The guy kicked his legs a few times and soon stopped moving too.
After Zu Ye killed these two men, the groaning sounds from inside the boxes grew louder.
Risking Life to Save His Mortal Enemy
Zu Ye approached to look. The boxes were nailed together with thick wooden boards. Zu Ye inserted the poker into a crack between the boards and exerted great effort to pry the boxes open. Inside were two people bound hand and foot. They were tied with expert technique—both hands bound together, both feet bound together, then a rope drawn through the middle to pull the hands and feet forcefully together. This way, all four “limbs” were bound together, and the entire person was like a shrimp ball, hunched and lying inside, unable to move at all.
Zu Ye pulled out the cloth wads stuffed in their mouths. After a bout of coughing, the two people expressed their endless gratitude. “Thank you, young brother, for saving our lives!” By lamplight, Zu Ye looked at these two men. One appeared to be about fifty years old with a goatee, while the other was probably sixty or seventy years old, his face full of wrinkles but clean-shaven.
Zu Ye began helping them untie the ropes. They were all dead knots that couldn’t even be bitten open with teeth. Finally, the older man said, “Young brother, take off the lamp shade from this oil lamp, bring the lamp over, and burn them directly.”
Zu Ye slapped his forehead. “Right! Why didn’t I think of that!” He quickly fetched the oil lamp. The two men worked together through the gaps, and soon the ropes were burned through. Suddenly, Zu Ye’s scalp tingled—how come this old man’s voice just now wasn’t like a normal person’s? It had an eerie, strange quality to it.
The fifty-year-old man now also spoke. “Young brother, may I ask who you are? How did you come to be here to rescue us?”
This question stumped Zu Ye. He thought to himself: I originally came here to find clues and seek revenge on my enemies. I didn’t expect to incidentally save two people. How should I explain this? Should I tell them the truth? I can’t! Maybe they’re in league with those people—it might create more trouble if I do!
The drastic changes in his family had hit Zu Ye too hard. He could no longer trust anyone! Zu Ye smiled and said, “I… I’m actually a fugitive wandering the rivers and lakes. Last year, my family had a conflict with the land bailiff over paying land rent. In anger, I struck that black-hearted bailiff and have been wandering far from home ever since. Just now I happened to pass by here and saw several people carrying you into this residence. I’m the kind of person who can’t stand injustice. Moreover, saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, so I couldn’t resist and took the risk to save you! Actually, it’s nothing—seeing injustice and helping out, that’s what all righteous heroes do.”
After hearing this, the two men looked at each other in bewilderment. After quite a while, they said, “Young brother, so young yet with such courage and chivalrous heart—we admire you!”
The fifty-year-old man clasped his fists and said, “I am Zhou Zhenlong.” Then pointing to the sixty-seventy-year-old man, he said, “This is my master, Zhang Dancheng. May I ask young brother’s honored name?”
Zu Ye also clasped his fists and replied, “You’re too kind. My surname is Wang, given name Yixing—meaning ‘wholehearted cultivation.'”
Zhang Dancheng nodded. “Mm, good name, good name!”
Zu Ye’s scalp tingled again, and goosebumps rose all over. This old man’s voice was too peculiar—thin and reedy, like a bleating sheep, making one’s whole body feel cold.
In fact, Zu Ye was lying. Ever since his father had offended the warlords and suffered the massacre of his family, he never dared reveal his real name again. This name was something he made up on the spot, and its meaning only he himself understood: Yixing—one person walking alone and lonely in the world.
Zhou Zhenlong said, “This place is not safe to stay long. Let’s go somewhere else to talk!”
Zu Ye hadn’t wanted to go with them, but thinking that these two men could be mixed up with those villains, either they were enemies or they were in league with them—in any case, there was a connection. Why not take the opportunity to fish for information? On that day when the scheme was set up on the street to trick Zu Ye and his siblings away, there had been three villains total. Now two were dead, but there was still one wearing glasses who hadn’t been found.
So the three men hurriedly left under the moonlight. They waded across a small river, turned through several alleys, and came before a residence. Zhou Zhenlong took out a key and opened the door. At this time, dawn was just breaking. After the three entered the house, Zhou Zhenlong didn’t rush to have everyone sit down. Instead, he lifted the mat on the kang. Underneath was exposed a wooden board. He then lifted the board to reveal a hole with a ladder standing upright inside. Zhou Zhenlong said to Zhang Dancheng, “Master, let’s go down to talk.”
Zhang Dancheng nodded. Zhou Zhenlong supported him and let him go down first. Then he turned to Zu Ye and said, “Brother Wang, please.”
Zu Ye stared in astonishment at this large hole in the kang, completely dumbfounded. He thought, what kind of mechanism is this—digging a big hole in the middle of the kang? Then he also bent down and descended. Zhou Zhenlong was the last to go down. After descending, he used his hands to support himself and put the wooden board and kang mat back in place.
After Zhou Zhenlong lit the oil lamp, Zu Ye could see clearly. This was a cellar supported by four pillars with a low table in the middle. On the right side was a dark tunnel extending inward—who knew where it led.
After the three sat down, Zhang Dancheng spoke again. “Brother Wang’s life-saving grace—this old one has no way to repay. Da Batou, in a moment, take out more gold goods and ask Brother Wang to accept them with a smile.”
Zhou Zhenlong nodded and said, “Yes.”
This was the first time Zu Ye heard the term “Batou.” Zu Ye’s mind was focused on finding clues and getting revenge. He wanted to extract some information from these two men and didn’t care much about the gold. So he said, “A real man living between heaven and earth should naturally be true-hearted. If Mr. Zhang sends me off like this, it would really be too much!”
Zhang Dancheng and Zhou Zhenlong looked at each other again. They were bewildered by this young man before them. “Then… you… how should we repay you?”
Zu Ye smiled. “That I could meet you two gentlemen is also fate. In other words, it’s also that you two were not meant to die—good people have their own heavenly protection. I merely played the role of savior. If you two gentlemen want to give thanks, thank Heaven.”
The two men froze, then burst into hearty laughter, laughing until tears came out. They thought this young man before them was too endearing.
Hearing Zhang Dancheng’s threadlike, shrill laughter, Zu Ye got another layer of goosebumps.
Zu Ye couldn’t wait any longer and said, “Why were you two gentlemen bound by those thieves? Could it be you offended them?”