Chapter 31: Hands Up
Seeing Wu Song holding up his sword and about to leave, Yang Chang stepped forward and stretched out his hand to stop him: "Brother, are you going now?"

"A man should avenge his grudges to avoid any more troubles!"

Wu Song took off his mourning clothes without further ado, but was stopped by Yang Chang again.

"Brother, listen to me. Since Ximen Qing can bribe the government, our every move may be under his control. If he stays at home, he can't come to kill us, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

After listening to Yang Chang's analysis, Wu Song nodded in agreement and muttered to himself: "Xi Men Qing has thugs at home. It is not wise to break in alone. Maybe there is a trap waiting for him."

"Yes, we need to think long-term."

"The funeral will be held in five days. I don't want to wait until after he is buried to seek revenge. My brother will never be able to rest in peace if I do that."

"I have thought of a plan that will help my brother achieve his wish."

"Come quickly."

Yang Chang led Wu Song to the front of Wu Da's coffin and confirmed that there was no one around before whispering the "strategy of making the soldiers arrogant", which meant focusing on the preparations for the funeral and waiting for Ximen Qing to become careless before taking action.

After hearing this, Wu Song agreed with it deeply. Not only did he repeatedly confirm the funeral process, he also applied for his salary in advance from the county magistrate, saying that Wu Da had worked hard for half his life, and he wanted to make his death more splendid, so he needed to buy more funeral objects.

The magistrate, unaware of the plot, readily agreed and directly gave Wu Song a large ingot of silver. Then Yang Chang went out alone as an errand boy, going from street to street under the guise of purchasing funeral objects.

Take people's money and eliminate disasters for them.

Manager Li saw that Wu Song was concentrating on the funeral, so that night he went to Ximen Qing's house in the name of tipping off someone.

Of course, this small amount of income does not need to be handed over to the county magistrate, so it can only enrich his own pocket.

Yang Chang went to the street to gather information, but he did not go looking for Ximen Qing himself. Instead, he found Yun Ge's cronies, gave each of them some money for drinking, and asked them to keep an eye on Ximen Qing and his close friends.

On the morning of February 23, Yang Chang received an important piece of information that Ximen Qing would host a banquet for distinguished guests from the capital at noon the next day at the big restaurant under the Lion Bridge.

The funeral will be held on February 25th, and February 24th is the final period.

Wu Song has been waiting in agony these days. If Yang Chang still can't give him definite news, he is ready to visit him at night.

The next morning, Yang Chang went out with a knife in hand to make a final confirmation.

At the turn of the year, Ximen Qing took his confidant Dai'an out of the house.

Yang Chang hid at the door opposite and drank tea and watched, and only returned to the yamen to report the news after he was sure.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Wu Song and Yang Chang left the mourning hall and hurried out of the yamen, but they were stopped halfway.

"Where is the head of the city going?"

"Oh? It's Manager Li."

Wu Song stopped and looked back, and found that it was actually the magistrate's confidant, Manager Li, and immediately lied: "The paper horse shop went back on its word. The price we had agreed on before was raised at the last minute. Sanlang couldn't handle it, so I had to go there myself."

"What's the reason? It shouldn't be like this."

Manager Li's face was full of curiosity. Wu Song knew that this man was cunning, so he frowned and explained, "It's just that they want it too urgently. They said they are working day and night, so they need to pay more."

"Businessmen are cunning. They saw that the captain was in urgent need of money and did this on purpose. However, funeral objects are not negotiable. If the captain is still short of money, he can ask the benefactor for help."

"Forget it, my Lord has given me so much, I am too embarrassed to ask for more."

Wu Song shook his head and smiled bitterly, then clasped his fists and said, "The profiteers are bullying Sanlang because he is young. I will not be polite to them. Tomorrow morning I will rely on the steward to deliver the eulogy. Wu Er will take his leave first."

"It's just a small matter. The most important thing is to take care of the funeral. Don't get angry."

"Wu Song saves it."

After saying goodbye to Manager Li and leaving the yamen, the two of them headed straight for the Lion Bridge. However, after just two blocks, Yang Chang pulled Wu Song to a stop.

"Brother, wait a minute. We have to turn right and go to Zishi Street. I deliberately forgot the knife at the paper horse shop. Only by taking it can we be sure of safety."

"We have to take the detour through Zishi Street? Wouldn't that delay our time? There's no need to do that."

"There's no need to rush. Besides, the sword will have to be taken away sooner or later."

"You go and get it. I have been patient for a long time. Do you think it's urgent?" Wu Song didn't wait for Yang Chang to reply and strode forward alone. He planned to avenge Wu Da alone and didn't want to drag his brother into it.

By the time Yang Chang reacted, Wu Song had already walked two meters away. He chased him for a few steps but couldn't catch up, so he simply went to Zi Shi Street to get a knife, thinking of meeting him at Lion Bridge later.

Wu Song left Yang Chang behind and reached Lion Bridge in just a quarter of an hour.

Standing in front of the restaurant, he could hear laughter and noise coming from upstairs. Wu Song had remembered Ximen Qing's voice deeply, and when he heard that his enemy was indeed upstairs, he strode in.

"How many guests are there?"

"Guest officer?"

Wu Song ignored the waiter and walked straight to the wooden ladder at the back. The waiter chased after him and shouted, "Sir, the second floor has been reserved today."

"Ok?"

Wu Song grabbed the handrail and turned around, his eyes gleaming with ferocity, and the waiter was so frightened that he froze in place and dared not say anything to dissuade him.

The shopkeeper saw this and called the waiter back to comfort him, saying, "I think this man looks familiar. He might be Mr. Ximen's friend. You need to learn how to judge people when you first come to wait. Don't make trouble for yourself."

"understood"

The waiter lowered his head in grievance, thinking that he had praised me for my hospitality yesterday, but now he is scolding me for not knowing how to judge people. How much can I earn by running a business? The man just now had a fierce look on his face. I really hope he will get drunk and cause trouble later.

The waiter didn't know that his complaints would soon come true.

Hearing a noise at the stairs, Ximen Qing mistakenly thought that a distinguished guest had arrived, so he hurriedly asked Daian to lead the way while he stood up and straightened his clothes.

Seeing how serious Ximen Qing was, the friends from the county who had been invited to accompany him all stood up and followed his example, wanting to catch a glimpse of the distinguished guest from the capital.

As for who the distinguished guest was, even Ximen Qing didn't know. The informant only said that it was arranged by Yang Jian, and that the guest was at least someone close to him, so he kept it a secret from others.

Thump thump thump.
The sound of feet stepping on the wooden planks is heavy.

Dai'an had a smile on his face and ran happily to greet the guests, but saw Wu Song showing up.

"you"

"Dian, why don't you welcome the distinguished guests?"

"No"

Hearing Ximen Qing's urging, the stunned Dai'an took small steps to retreat quickly, speaking in a panic, "He Wu."

"All right!"

Ximen Qing had already seen the person coming and quickly stopped the panicked Dai'an.

Seeing that Wu Song had nothing in his hands, and that there were seven or eight of his brothers upstairs, he was not afraid at all if a fight really broke out, so he said calmly, "Captain, what are you doing here? A distinguished person from the capital will come to the banquet later, so please leave quickly, as there will be a funeral gift for you later."

"You and I have no grudges against each other, so why did you let Brother Yun spread rumors to alienate us? And why did you kill my brother? If you don't explain it to me clearly, even if you ask the king of heaven to help, it will be useless!"

"Ok?"

Ximen Qing was not a good person. Seeing Wu Song's arrogant attitude, he suddenly became angry and said coldly, "Captain, you are so unreasonable. Wu Dalang was kicked to death by Pan Jinlian. What does it have to do with me, Ximen Qing? As for the rumor of incest between uncle and sister-in-law in Yanggu County, it was just my conjecture as the owner of the pharmacy. Who would have thought that Yun Ge actually took it seriously? But if the captain didn't buy the aphrodisiac, how could there be such a rumor?"

"It is not the act of a true man to dare to do something but not take responsibility for it!"

Wu Song's eyes widened with anger, he clenched his fists and asked again in a stern voice: "One last question, where is that whore?"

"Oh, you still want to fight? You beat up a sick cat on Jingyang Ridge, and you dare to call yourself a hero?"

Ximen Qing was not angry but happy. Since he had started the feud with Wu Song, he had spent a lot of money. He was secretly angry at this moment and wanted to vent his anger in front of many people. So he tilted his head and smiled playfully, and said sarcastically: "Captain, do you want to have a taste of it too? But now there is no chance. But I can tell you generously that your sister-in-law is very plump."

"Hahaha"

"court death!"

Just as the guests were laughing, Wu Song stomped his feet on the ground and pushed back hard. His huge body leaped forward like a fish and he raised his fist to punch his enemy in the face.

(End of this chapter)