Li Kui came out with his mother on his back, but he bumped into Li Da carrying a jar of rice.
Li Kui hurriedly bowed and said, "Brother, I haven't seen you for many years."
Li Da took a closer look at Li Kui and saw that he was vaguely similar to his brother who ran away more than ten years ago, and then said: "What are you doing back here? Where are you going with my mother on your back?"
My mother heard from her back that the two brothers were quarreling again, and said hurriedly: "Tieniu has become an officer now, and he came here specially to take us to enjoy the blessings. Back then, he killed someone and made you suffer a lot. I will be able to repay you in the future." .”
Hearing this, Li Da looked at Li Kui doubtfully and said, "What kind of officer can you do?"
Li Kui said: "I will become an officer in Jeju."
Hearing this, Li Da couldn't help but change his expression and said: "I heard that there is a group of strongmen in Liangshan, Jeju. Please don't let him go. We can live in poverty here and save ourselves from getting stabbed there."
Li Kui shouted: "Liangshan are all heroes who uphold justice for heaven and do not harm the people."
Mu Hong saw that Li Kui was about to make a mistake, and hurriedly said: "It is because there are strong men in Liangshan that Jeju recruits troops, so Li Kui can be an officer. But it is said that those strong men in Liangshan are heroes who uphold justice for heaven, and they only kill corrupt officials and evil gentry." , but they have not harassed Jeju, so you can go there with confidence."
Li Da also nodded and said: "I heard that they don't harm the people. I heard from you that there are really such strong people in this world. Then I will follow you to Jeju, but I have to go to the rich man's house to resign. , and pack some things that can be used at home, you might as well go into the house and sit for a while."
Li Kui heard this and shouted: "Who bothers to wait for you? What's the use of those broken things in the house?"
As he spoke, he took out an ingot of fifty taels of silver from his arms and threw it to the ground, saying: "I, Tieniu, have a lot of silver now, and I am about to let my mother enjoy her happiness. What do you want from those shabby things of yours? You can go as long as you want, or not." Come on, why are you so busy?"
Li Da had never seen such a big silver ingot before. Seeing Li Kui throw it into the soil, he quickly picked it up, wiped it clean with his clothes, held it in both hands and sent it to Li Kui, saying: "Brother is prosperous, and he will also benefit from it. Go and listen to brother." Yes, let’s go now.”
"Then let's go, I'll give you this ingot of silver."
Seeing his brother's change of attitude, Li Kui felt proud and proud, and strode out with his mother on his back.
Upon hearing this, Li Da gave him the large ingot of silver and quickly put it carefully into his arms. He was afraid of dropping it, so he had to hold it with his hands through his clothes, and then strode out after Li Kui.
Seeing Li Da follow the two of them, a village man became bolder and shouted: "Li Da, where are you and I going?"
Li Da said with a proud look on his face: "My brother Tieniu has become an officer, and I will follow him to enjoy the blessings."
The village man couldn't help but feel envious after hearing this, and then he felt moved and asked, "Whenever I pack up my belongings at home, I will also help."
Li Da squeezed the money in his arms and looked down on the shabby furniture. He smiled and said: "I don't want any of them. If you can take it, you can take it."
When the village man saw that he had guessed it, he hurriedly said: "What I'm saying is that when you become rich, it's useless for these villagers to even think about it."
As he said this, he saw several other villagers looking towards the Li family's house, and hurriedly said, "Thank you, brother Li Da, for giving me this household item."
While telling everyone in the village that Li Da had given him the things, he ran towards the Li family's house.
Li Da looked at everyone's envious eyes, straightened his back a lot, and followed Li Kui as he strode out of the village.
After walking for half a day, my mother shouted on her back: "Tieniu, you carried me out before I had lunch. Now I'm very hungry. Look where you can find some food."
Mu Hong saw that it was getting late, so he also said: "Look where there is a house, let's stay overnight and make some food."
Several people looked around for a while, but Li Da saw two thatched cottages exposed in a valley.
Everyone came to this house together, and when they arrived, they saw a woman in the courtyard with a cluster of wild flowers on her temples and some rouge and powder on her face.
Mu Hong couldn't help but frowned when he saw the village woman dressed like this.
Li Kui didn't feel any different about women, so he shouted: "Sister-in-law, we are passers-by. It's getting late, and there aren't many restaurants nearby. I'll give you five taels of silver, let us stay for one night, and then we can do it again."
Let’s have some wine and food.”
When the woman heard that there were five taels of silver, her eyes lit up and she said, "That's fine, but there are only two rooms, so you have to squeeze in."
Li Kui nodded after hearing this and said: "It doesn't matter, it's just for one night. My mother is hungry, please hurry up and get us food to eat, and the money will be given to you later."
The village woman said: "Okay, you go to the guest room to rest first, and I will go wash the rice."
The village woman showed them the way, and then hurriedly went to wash rice.
Li Kui carried his wife into the house, put her on the kang, wiped away the sweat, and said, "After walking for half a day, my throat is almost smoking. You guys sit down first, and I'll ask the sister-in-law to bring some wine to eat."
Mu Hong was afraid that Li Kui would tell the truth after drinking, so he hurriedly said: "Tieniu, don't mess around. It's not too late to have a drink when you get back."
Li Kui, who had been restrained by Mu Hong all the way, became a little impatient and shouted: "I have already picked it up. We are not in a hurry tonight, so it doesn't matter if we just have some wine."
Mu Hong glanced at Li Da and couldn't tell him clearly, so he could only stare and said, "You're just not allowed to eat it."
Li Da saw that Mu Hong seemed to be in charge of Li Kui, so he quickly said: "Tieniu, let's just drink some water."
Li Kui had just shown his authority in front of his brother. Seeing Mu Hong losing face in front of his brother, he couldn't help but said angrily: "When I was in Liangshan, King Chao Tianwang and Brother Yong didn't care about my drinking, but you are pretending to be a big-headed bird here.
.I want to eat it today.”
When Li Da heard this, he couldn't help being furious. He pointed at Li Kui and cursed: "It turns out that you fell into the grass in Liangshan, and you came to coax us to become robbers with you."
Seeing that he had missed the point, Li Kui could only apologize and said with a smile: "Brother, don't be impatient. You and I will go to Liangshan to have a big bowl of wine and a big piece of meat. Wouldn't it be a happy time?"
Li Da cursed: "I'm afraid my head will fall off after just a few days of drinking." He was about to hit Li Kui, but he thought he couldn't, so he turned around and walked out.
Mu Hong was afraid that Li Da would report to the official, so he hurriedly stopped him and said: "Brother Li, please hurry up, but I, Liangshan, are not ordinary bandits. We are all heroes who uphold justice for heaven. There are dozens of leaders alone, and we are not afraid of arrest by the court."
"
But Li Da didn't believe it: "There are so many soldiers and horses in the imperial court, how can they do nothing to you. Don't say anything anymore. Even if you say Po Tian, I won't go with you. Let go."
When Mu Hong saw that Li Da was determined to leave, he had to resort to a delaying tactic and said: "It's getting dark in the wilderness. If you go out, you might be eaten by tigers and wolves. Why don't you stay here for one night and you can go there early tomorrow morning?"
Go back to Baizhang Village. You are Li Kui's brother, we must not harm you."
Li Da was a little timid when he thought of the recent rumors about tigers appearing in the mountains. He sat in the corner with a livid face and stopped talking.
(This chapter describes the impression of Liangshan among the people in distant places through the dialogue between the Li Kui brothers. The banner of upholding justice for heaven has spread in the world, but ordinary people are still more suspicious. After all, Liangshan
Still a strong man, Liangshan still needs to do a lot)