The First Volume of Qinghe County

  Wu Yue-niang stood by the window, watching the sky slowly turn white, waiting for her father and brother to return, with Dongmei dozing off beside her.

  Wu Yue-niang got up and softly called out to Dongmei: "Dongmei, go to the front yard and see if Master has returned."

  "Where did the old master go?" Dongmei moved her cold limbs and looked puzzled: "Why didn't he come back all night? I went to check several times. Besides, miss, why aren't you resting? You've been waiting all this time. It's so cold outside."

  "It's better if you don't know these things." Wu Yue-niang sighed and said: "Go take a look quickly."

  Although Dongmei grew up with her since childhood, Wu Yueniang couldn't bear to tell the simple-minded Dongmei the truth.

  Dongmei responded with a sound, furrowed her brow and went to the front yard. Wu Yueniang still leaned on the windowsill, watching the distant sunrise slowly rise, but her own heart was constantly sliding down at any moment.

  When Zhu arrived at the West Gate's mansion, he stood in front of a large pit and it was already high noon. On his left was Niu Da Tou and on his right was Shi Ye, both staring at the massive hole with incredulous eyes.

  How annoying is this, digging such a big hole in front of the house where you eat. If you say it's a cellar, even if you kill an ox, no one would dare to believe it.

  When Ximen Qing personally went to invite Zhu Zhiyuan, he did not fully explain the actual situation but reserved a part of it.

  Zhu Zhi County looked at the big pit in front of him and glanced at Ximen Qing, for a moment he didn't know what this guy had invited himself to do.

  Looking at Ximen Qing's mysterious smile, Zhu Zhiyuan, despite being quite tactful, couldn't help but ask: "Ximen brother, you invited me here just to see this big pit? Didn't you say that Wu family father and son sneaked in last night and were all captured by you?"

  Can't you just dig a hole and lock people up?

  Looking at Zhu Zhi County's puzzled eyes, Ximen Qing excitedly pointed to the pit: "Your Honor doesn't know, this old Wu actually has a set of martial arts skills. If not for digging such a big pit yesterday, we wouldn't be able to catch this old thief!"

  "Good heavens!" Magistrate Zhu couldn't help but take two steps forward. As the lid was lifted, sure enough, at the bottom of the pit lay a man in black clothes, his entire body covered with some sort of white stuff, and in the distance, there was a steel knife.

  Wu Qianhu had been awake for a while, although the break in his right foot still hurt terribly, he had slowly gotten used to the pain and it didn't affect his movements much. However, the combination of the pig fat and wooden board still made it impossible for him to get up. Wu Qianhu felt around in the darkness and pulled out the wrist dagger from his chest, gripping it tightly and covering the short blade with his sleeve.

  Wu Qianhu thought that as soon as it got light, Ximen Qing would definitely pull himself out of the pit and tie him up, waiting for Zhu Zhiyuan to come and see. At that time, he would take advantage of the situation to rise up in resistance, and perhaps he could even hold Ximen Qing hostage and escape.

  He didn't expect that Ximen Qing had no intention of saving him before Zhu Da came, and he continued to abandon himself in the pit without a word.

  So when the lid was lifted, the first one to poke his head out and look at his own disheveled appearance was Zhu Zhi County. Wu Qianhu then knew that this idea of his wasn't reliable again.

  "Is this Wu Qianhu?" Magistrate Zhu was momentarily unable to accept that Wu Qianhu, the notorious night bandit, looked like this. Moreover, with his entire body covered up, only revealing a pair of eyes, it was indeed impossible to tell.

  "That's right." Jiang Jing nodded and said: "If it weren't for Xi Men Xian's early preparation, perhaps this old thief would have been stabbed to death last night."

  Although Ximen Qing was somewhat fearful, he nodded complacently in front of Zhu Qian and put on a wise and powerful air: "If this old thief dares to come, he will certainly not return."

  "Hey, Old Wu! Did you sleep well last night? Is it cold down there?"

  Wu Qianhu didn't have the energy to bother with him, but was secretly accumulating his remaining strength, preparing to strike at any moment. Even if he couldn't escape himself, he would drag Ximen Qing down with him!

  "Ximen, my younger brother, go and bring the old goods up." Zhu Zhixian nodded: "This guy actually dared to break into a civilian's house at night, he must have ulterior motives. In this county's opinion, today's property invasion case doesn't need to be tried again, immediately pass the order to surround Wu's family first, and wait for the inventory of their property."

  Ximen Qing smiled and presented a confession: "This is the old thief's son's written confession from last night, he has already confessed to embezzling no less than 10,000 taels of silver from my family, please take a look."

  Zhu Zhi County took it over without even looking at it, and directly handed it to the teacher on the side: "The evidence is conclusive, and there's nothing much to see. Today, this county will conduct an on-site office."

  "The adults think for the common people, and indeed they are like parents who provide clothing and food!" Ximen Qing praised without hesitation: "The people of Mian County will surely be grateful and respectful."

  "Ximen Qing, you will not die a good death!" Wu Qianhu heard for half a day and finally couldn't help but scold: "Surnamed Zhu, you are also a corrupt official, you two are in cahoots with each other!"

  Zhu knew that Wu Qianhu was scolding him in a way that was hard to listen to, and he frowned, only urging Ximen Qing to find someone to pull this guy out of the pit and tie him up.

  "Hold on!" Jiang Jing, the divine calculator, suddenly stood out: "This old thief is not ordinary, and we must be careful. Our family has also been in the rivers and lakes for a long time, and this kind of goods may have other sharp objects on his body!"

  "What?" Ximen Qing flashed back without thinking, and shielded Zhu Zhikun behind him: "Don't be afraid, sir. I'm here, and I absolutely won't let that old scoundrel hurt you in the slightest."

  Jiang Jing burst out laughing and said, "Ximen Xiaodi, you don't have to worry. With a certain family here, this old thief won't be able to turn the tables. As long as we use a pole to lift up his arms, even if he has a hidden weapon, he won't be able to use it."

  "Why didn't you say so earlier!" Ximen Qing relaxed his stance with a huff and called for the servants to bring over several carrying poles.

  This pole is made of bamboo that is neither too thick nor too thin, with an iron hook at the front. It is mainly used to hang lanterns in daily life.

  Wu Qianhu saw the two poles fall down and knew that his plan had completely failed. He let out a long sigh and said, "Forget it! If I had known I would suffer such humiliation, I might as well have continued to make a living on the rivers and lakes. Why did I wash my hands in the golden basin in the first place?"

  With the two wooden poles hooking his arms, one on the left and one on the right, Wu Qianhu took advantage of the momentum to sit up, shouting loudly: "You bunch of bastards, I'll haunt you as a ghost if I don't take revenge!"

  With a flick of his wrist, the shiny dagger was thrust into his own chest!

  "No good! This old thief wants to kill himself!" Ximen Qing was the first to arrive at the edge of the pit, looking at Wu Qianhu who already had a sharp knife inserted into his chest, and hastily signaled for the servants to lift up the carrying pole.

  Wu Qianhu's mouth flowed out black blood, and for a moment he couldn't die. His two eyes stared viciously at Ximen Qing, and suddenly he laughed: "You think I'm dead, you can find those treasures? I'll take this secret to the underworld!"

  Ximen Qing smiled shyly: "Old thief, don't forget that you still have a son who is afraid of pain. Not afraid of god-like opponents, but afraid of pig-like teammates."

  "Huh... " Wu Qianhu suddenly remembered his own son, that good-for-nothing, and with a hint of resentment, he slowly lowered his head...

  When Wu Qianhu was dragged up, he was already dead and couldn't die again. Only his two eyes were wide open, extremely unwilling to give up.

  The cow lifted the veil on its head, revealing Wu Qianhu's face. Zhu Zhixian nodded: "This guy actually killed himself, it's a bargain for him."

  A gust of wind blew over, blowing open Wu Qianhu's sleeve. Ximen Qing had sharp eyes and saw that the old man's wrist seemed to have a tattoo that was faintly visible. He hastily called for Niu Doutou to roll up the dead man's sleeve, and indeed, on the part of the wrist going down, there was a yellow bee pattern tattooed, although the body of the bee wasn't big, but the sharp stinger extending from its rear end had a length about that of a human body, looking very strange.

  Ximen Qing didn't think much of this thing and thought the tattoo looked quite ugly, although he only took a glance; on the other hand, Jiang Jing seemed slightly surprised after seeing the tattoo, and bent down to take a closer look.

  "Jiang Xian-di, what have you discovered?" asked Zhu Zhi-xian.

  Jiang Jing stood up, furrowed his brow and thought for a moment: "Killer bees, see blood go crazy, the whole family was killed."

  "Killer Bee?" The teacher seemed to have thought of something: "Sir, more than 20 years ago in Hebei Province there was a lone thief who killed people like flies, I think his name was also this."

  "Huh?" Ximen Qing on the side was also greatly surprised, how could Wu Yue's old father still have such years.

  "That's right." Jiang Jing nodded affirmatively: "This old thief must be the Killer Bee. No one has ever known his real name, and wherever he goes, he kills everyone without leaving a single chicken or dog alive, so no one has seen his face either. I didn't expect this person to have been living in Qinghe County under an assumed name all along."

  Upon hearing this, Ximen Qing only felt a lingering fear. Fortunately, the old thief had retired from the underworld beforehand; otherwise, he would have been beheaded long ago and wouldn't have needed to slowly embezzle his property.

  Magistrate Zhu's face showed a hint of greed, but it immediately disappeared without a trace: "Ximen Xiaodi, you see that although this killer bee is suicidal, reporting it will still be a great achievement. I'll have the teacher draft the document..."

  "What a great achievement!" Ximen Qing laughed and said: "If it weren't for your promotion, how would I have gotten the position of county lieutenant? This merit should naturally be credited to you."

  "Very well!" Zhu Zhixian nodded directly, without any delay, like an old fox: "In that case, this great achievement will be shared equally between our county and Brother Ximen!"

  "Nonsense!"

  "It's small!"

  "Send a few yamen runners to press the crowd and block the Wu family's gate." Magistrate Zhu instructed, "Ximen Xiaodi, this Wu family is now in your hands."

  "I'll take care of it, you can rest assured." Ximen Qing's two eyes suddenly shone brightly, as if he had seen the fluttering couplets in the sky and Wu Yueniang's face would be quite colorful.

  Wu Da Shu was dragged out and saw his old man lying dead on the ground, he was so scared that he peed in his pants, and immediately revealed all the hidden secrets of his family.

  Then, a group of people preparing to move house led by Ximen Qing, escorted Wu Daishu's joyful and lively procession, which was much more impressive than the team that had rushed over to smash the scene earlier.