Chapter 15: Ghosts of Xixi

After Ren Yuan finished asking, it was clear that Liu Si, his wife, and his elderly father all fell silent.

“Mother, eat~”

The child, unaware of what had happened, saw his parents silent and immediately raised a chicken leg, trying to feed them.

“Da Bao, you eat first, Mother will eat soon,” Liu Si’s wife quickly comforted their child, fearing Ren Yuan might be displeased.

“It’s alright, no worries,” Ren Yuan smiled, waving his hand to signal the child to continue playing. Then he turned to Liu Si with a serious tone.

“Brother Liu Si, speak freely. Now that you’ve joined Liangshan, you are one of the band, and if you have been treated unjustly, I, as the chief, cannot stand idly by.”

“Yes, Liu Si, whatever troubles you have, speak to the chief. We are men; don’t keep it to yourself,” Song Wan stepped forward, patting Liu Si on the back to encourage him.

“Leaders, then I will speak. My whole family originally lived in Xixi Village at the foot of Liangshan. My parents, my wife, and our two children, along with a few acres of poor farmland. Though we never lived in luxury, we never went hungry either. The family was happy and harmonious.”

“Xixi Village? That’s very close, right at the mountain’s base,” Du Qian, an old Liangshan veteran, was surprised. Such a nearby place—what could have happened to force this man’s entire family to come to the mountain?

“Yes, but the good times didn’t last. The youngest son of the village head of Xixi one day took a fancy to my wife and began to harass her. We repeatedly endured and drove them away, but they were never satisfied.”

“First, they falsely accused my parents of altering land deeds and forcibly seized our farmland. Then, under the pretense of offering boys and girls to the river god of Xixi, they tried to seize our two poor children.”

“When my family was at a loss, the village head’s youngest son came again, saying if my wife spent one night with him, they would stop troubling us.”

“Beasts!” Yuan Lang’s expression darkened as he cursed out loud.

“I refused, of course. Then that son produced an IOU claiming I owed him fifty taels of silver. If I couldn’t repay, he threatened to burn down my house.”

“My mother was furious and went to argue. They pushed her, causing her to fall and hit the back of her head. She died on the spot.”

“Scoundrels! Didn’t anyone intervene? Did you report this to the authorities?”

Ren Yuan’s anger flared. What kind of bandit village tyrants were these? Such lawlessness!

“We did report, chief, but the magistrate’s office in Yuncheng County faces south—if you have reason but no money, don’t enter. I went to the city to complain, but the officials beat me with sticks and threw me out,” Liu Si said, growing more sorrowful as he pulled open his shirt to show the bruises.

“How can this be? I thought the official in charge of Yuncheng County was a decent man. And I heard there is a constable nicknamed ‘Timely Rain’ in Yuncheng—surely he wouldn’t protect such scoundrels,” Du Qian said, disbelieving. He had been in Liangshan for some time and believed he knew a bit about Yuncheng.

“I never saw the magistrate. As for that constable, I saw a short, dark man in constable’s uniform at the village head’s house in Xixi. He seemed very friendly with the village head, who gave him a lot of silver. I don’t know if that was the same person.”

“So, helpless, I could only bury my mother and bring my whole family up the mountain two months ago. Luckily, we met the chief; otherwise, I wouldn’t know where to turn.”

After Liu Si finished his story, the leaders were silent.

Were there few people with such misfortunes? No, there were many.

“Is that constable the one called ‘Timely Rain,’ Song Jiang, Song Gongming?” Yuan Lang asked.

“You know him too, Second Chief? I heard about him from a guard at the village head’s house. It is indeed him,” Liu Si said, surprised.

“Hmph, in the past, it was said in the Jianghu that someone called Timely Rain in Shandong was righteous and generous. Now it seems he is just a hollow name,” Yuan Lang shook his head, disdainful.

“As a constable, he does not stand up for the people but takes bribes. His reputation is all fabricated.”

Song Wan and the others also looked down on him.

“Hmph, you can never truly know a person. That Song Jiang is short and plain-looking. To survive in the Jianghu, he had to arrange a good reputation for himself—outwardly righteous and generous, but behind the scenes, who knows what dirty dealings he’s involved in.”

Ren Yuan had no good impression of Song Jiang either. He was someone who paved his path with the lives of his brothers, ruthless and heartless. If he set his sights on someone, he would use utterly ruthless schemes to force them to join the mountain. Qin Ming in the original story suffered greatly because of him.

In this life, with me, Ren Yuan, here, Song Jiang, don’t even think about causing trouble!

“Liu Si, since you have grievances and the mountain is prepared to enact justice, your matter is now the mountain’s matter!”

Without hesitation, Ren Yuan turned and gave orders, “It’s too late today, and we just had a battle during the day. Tomorrow, send men down to gather news about the village head of Xixi. The next night, we will descend the mountain and seek justice for Brother Liu Si!”

“Brother, rest assured. We understand,” Liu’s old father and Liu Si knelt before Ren Yuan again.

“Rise! We, the brothers of Liangshan, are of one heart and body. Any brother who comes to the mountain is no different from the rest of us. When one prospers, we all prosper; when one suffers, we all suffer. Your grievance will be avenged by the mountain!”

Liu Si’s family gratefully withdrew. Ren Yuan called Du Qian to speak with him about intelligence on Xixi Village.

“Brother Du Qian, what do you know about Xixi Village?”

“Brother, it’s strange. It is said there are ghosts there,” Du Qian, a veteran of Liangshan, recalled some information quickly.

“Oh? Ghosts? How so?”

“At the foot of Liangshan, there is a stream. On either side are two villages: Xixi Village on the west and Dongxi Village on the east. The two villages share ancestors but later separated.”

“After the split, they lived separately but occasionally quarreled over the stream’s water. At some point, the people of Xixi began saying there was a water ghost in the stream. To calm fears, the village head of Xixi invited a great monk and others to perform rituals and carved a precious pagoda from a large blue stone, placing it in the stream to suppress the water ghost.”

“Strangely, after this, Xixi Village’s fortunes improved compared to Dongxi Village. Dongxi villagers were unhappy. Their village head took the stone pagoda from the stream to Dongxi Village, earning himself a nickname in the Jianghu.”

“The Pagoda King Chao Gai?”

Ren Yuan raised his eyebrows.

“Exactly. I’m surprised you know him, brother,” Du Qian was a little amazed but continued.

“After the stone pagoda was moved, Dongxi Village became peaceful again. Meanwhile, the water ghost in Xixi became more troublesome. The village head of Xixi claimed the river god could suppress the ghost but required yearly offerings of boys and girls to restore his power. The village head handled the ceremonies and collected money from all villagers. I think the water ghost story might be fabricated by the village head just to extort money from the people!”

Du Qian laid out everything he knew. He did not believe the water ghost tale.

“Hmph, such a scheme could not be the work of a single village head. There must be corrupt officials behind it.”

Ren Yuan refused to believe the matter was solely the doing of the Xixi village head.

He was convinced there were corrupt officials involved.

For example... Song Jiang, what role do you play in all this?

“So it seems Xixi Village really does have ghosts. Tomorrow, we’ll go meet these ghosts!”

“I want to see what kind of ghosts dare to be so arrogant at the foot of Liangshan!”