Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 270 Acting for Heaven
Among the people at the second table, Mr. Chen was in a daze, Lord Jinyang Li Yan was doing nothing in a polite manner, Xiao Wu seemed to be a little greedy for wine and had secretly taken several sips, and Meng Dalang had sweat on his forehead, but his eyes never left the main table.

There was limited space in the hall, and the attendants of each family did not come in to serve. Meng Dalang was truly a filial son, always ready to serve his old father.

There is always a toast process for birthday drinks. Wang Heng and Xiaocai both seized the opportunity to eat more carefully and fill their stomachs at least half full so that they could easily take the three glasses of birthday drinks.

Wang Heng had been paying attention to everyone's every move in the hall. Suddenly he realized that the main course had not been served yet, and he hadn't heard of any important guests who had not arrived. He couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Uncle Gui, the housekeeper of the Li residence, frowned slightly, as if he had noticed that the dishes had not been served for a long time, and the servants of the Li family had not entered the main hall to ask questions, so he looked around and hurriedly pushed the door open, but just in time he saw the male servant who served the dishes coming to the door, and he could not help but scolded: "Why are you dawdling until now?"

Uncle Gui turned back to the main table, and several male servants who were serving the dishes followed him with their heads lowered and their bodies hunched.

The first dish was a whole fish of Fu Lu Shou. Xiao Cai was still wondering whether the fish was produced in the big river near Li’s house.

All that could be heard was the sound of clanging and the clashing of swords. The male servants of the Li family who served the dishes were all middle-aged men, but they were as fast as flying swallows over the waves. They all pulled out their weapons from the trays and rushed straight towards Lord Li Wan who was sitting at the main table. Li Wan was completely unprepared and was caught between several sharp swords.

The housekeeper Gui Shu was horrified and rushed to Li Wan's side, shouting, "You are not the staff of Zuibailou. Who are you?"

It turned out that there were very few servants in the Li family's residence, so Uncle Gui went to Zuibailou in the county town to hire a few waiters to help today. He was old and his eyes were blurry, so he didn't remember clearly what the hired waiters looked like that day.

"Bang." With a muffled sound, seven or eight masked men in black came in from outside, all holding swords. The leader was a tall man, but he was unarmed. He kicked Uncle Gui in the heart, and Uncle Gui flew out and fell at the foot of the house, his life or death unknown.

All the guests in the hall were in a panic, they were all stunned like wooden chickens, with only their legs trembling.

The tall man waved his hand, and the other masked men in black came to tie up the guests. The tall man said loudly: "We are the heroes of Qingfeng Village. Today we come to borrow some money from Li Caidong. Masters and young masters, you are all precious lives. We in Qingfeng Village are after money, not life. Don't resist, no one will be injured or killed."

The man spoke northern Mandarin and his articulation was quite fluent.

There was a male servant of the Li family in the corner, probably Li Wan's personal servant. Thinking he had some kung fu skills, he attacked the man's face while he was talking, trying to tear off the black cloth covering his face.

The tall man didn't dodge or evade, but instead struck the servant's vital point with his palm. He was so powerful that the servant immediately fell to the ground.

The man said sternly: "According to the rules of our Qingfeng Village, if you take off your mask, you will have to bleed on the edge of your knife today. You are all sensible people and should know what to do."

The man's intimidation worked. The guests in the hall fell silent and no one resisted. In an instant, all of them had their hands tied by the masked men in black.

The man pointed a knife at Li Wan and said, "Master Li, I heard that you were a high-ranking official. This village would like to borrow 10,000 taels of silver from you. You can choose between money and life."

Li Wan remained calm and said, "I choose my fate, but I have been an official all my life and I am not rich enough to take out 10,000 taels of silver."

The man sneered, "Master Li, I'm sorry. It turns out you are an honest official. Our village has always respected loyal officials and filial sons. I will make a decision for the king and reduce it to three thousand taels. It won't be a waste for the brothers to come here. Let your family open the warehouse and we will move it ourselves."

Seeing Li Wan looking in the direction where Uncle Gui fell, the man smiled and said, "Is this the housekeeper? Yes, he looks like a housekeeper." A masked man in black stepped forward, felt Uncle Gui's nose and saw that he was still breathing, and said to the tall man, "Brother Scar, this old man is still alive."

Scar Brother ordered someone to pour a basin of cold water on Uncle Gui's face. Fortunately, Uncle Gui was not kicked to death and woke up slowly.

Scar Brother said to Li Wan, "Give orders to the butler to take the brothers to the storehouse to get the silver. If there is less than 3,000 taels, use antique jewelry to pay it off."

Li Wan said to Uncle Gui, "Ah Gui, you should do as the hero says. Our lives are the most important."

Uncle Gui stood up in a daze. The tall man Scar Brother waved his hand to let several masked men in black clothes follow him and shouted, "Brothers, be careful of him for trickery. Move the silver and treasures and come out to join us immediately. If you meet women in the inner hall, just lock them up in the room and don't fight with them. We are Qingfeng Village, which enforces justice on behalf of heaven. Brothers are all good men with passionate hearts."

The masked men obeyed the order and escorted Uncle Gui out of the main hall.

Scar Brother then instructed the men who had earlier disguised themselves as waiters of Zuibailou to divide the guests in the main hall into two groups and detain them in the east and west side halls respectively. He also ordered people to detain those with the surname Li together and lock them in the east hall, and the rest in the west hall.

Although Mr. Meng's surname was not Li, he claimed to be a cousin of the Li family and asked Scar Brother to lock him up together with Li Wan. Scar Brother saw that Scar was old and was not very wary of him, so he did as he wished.

Meng Dalang assessed the situation and knew that being imprisoned with Li Wan would be more dangerous than being imprisoned in another room. He tried to dissuade Meng Shanren with his eyes several times, but Meng Shanren insisted on going forward and backward with Li Wan.

Meng Dalang couldn't persuade his old father, so he had to ask to be imprisoned with them.

Although Meng Dalang was young and strong, he was obviously a rich and pampered kid who could barely use his hands and feet. The heroes of Qingfeng Village looked down on him and were annoyed by his nagging, so they drove him to the east hall and let him live in the same room with the Li family.

Wang Heng, Xiaocai, together with Master Chen, Master Chen II, Li Wei and Xiao Wu were driven to the west hall. The people of Qingfeng Village saw that they were all weak scholars and were only guests of the Li family, so they locked them inside and left one person to guard outside the door.

It was quite unpeaceful outside the window, with strong winds and heavy rain beating against the window frames, and rain pouring down on the eaves, making crackling sounds.

The room was dark and creepy, with only a faint light coming through the crack in the door, allowing the people inside to see each other.

Xiaocai is the youngest and has experienced many dangerous situations, but he is still calm in the face of emergencies.

Mr. Chen II had always enjoyed a life of wealth and luxury, but now he was frightened and was in a very bad condition.

Master Chen groped his way closer to Master Chen Er and called softly, "Er Er, don't be afraid."

The second son of Chen said in a trembling voice: "Daddy."

Master Chen said in a low voice: "These masked men must be the enemies of the Li family who are here to seek revenge. We are just innocent victims. They won't do anything to us. This group of people are well-trained and agile. They are definitely not bandits. The leader, Scar Brother, even said several idioms. How could there be such bandits?"

"Master Chen is right. These people can't be bandits." Wang Heng interrupted, "They are most likely soldiers from the garrison."