Who Is the Murderer

Upon learning that Qin Zheng was Qiao Feng's second uncle, Duan Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was just about to ask how the man had become Qiao Feng's second uncle when a beggar suddenly ran up and reported to Qiao Feng, "Big Brother, the Four Great Elders, Quan Guanqing, and the others have already gone to assemble at Apricot Grove. This concerns the death of Deputy Chief Ma. For a matter so grave, they actually dared to keep it from you. They must mean to move against you, Big Brother!" Qiao Feng gave a slight nod and said to Duan Yu, "Worthy brother, there is a grave matter in my gang I must deal with. You are not one of the Beggar Gang. If you come along, I fear you will be dragged into it. Let us part here, and meet again another day!" By now Duan Yu was already drunk and muddled. Drawing on the jianghu experience he had picked up from Qin Zheng, he declared with soaring heroic spirit, "Whether I belong to the Beggar Gang doesn't matter. But you, Big Brother, will always be my—Duan Yu's—big brother! If you are in trouble, Big Brother, I, Duan Yu, will come even through mountains of blades and seas of fire. We go together!" Qiao Feng said, gratified, "Good brother. Then we go together!" With that, he used his lightness skill to leap down from the building and sprinted flat out, meaning to shake Duan Yu off so as not to implicate him. Seeing this, Duan Yu leapt down after him and chased his retreating figure. The beggar who had brought the news wanted to follow as well, but the waiter beside him grabbed him and said with a grim face, "You haven't settled the bill yet!" The beggar felt about his person and could not find even half a copper coin. Cold sweat broke out on his brow. Glancing at the shop hands closing in around him, he squatted on the ground with stubborn defiance, arms wrapped over his head. "Same as always. Beat me however you like!" The waiter: "..." Elsewhere, Qiao Feng ran twenty li in one go. Duan Yu followed him like a shadow. Not only was he not shaken off, he had completely sobered up, and in one swift stride he came up beside Qiao Feng. "Big Brother, where were we going again?" Qiao Feng burst out laughing. To himself he thought, So this new sworn brother of mine is a wine-muddled fool! He glanced at Duan Yu and could not help slowing his pace. "There are people in the Beggar Gang moving against me. I'm going to see what mischief they're up to. Worthy brother, go find a place and rest on your own." Duan Yu slapped his forehead and at once recalled what had just happened. "Don't worry, Big Brother. We brothers share life and death. Whatever comes, we face it together!" Warmth rose in Qiao Feng's heart. "Don't worry, worthy brother. That pack of capering clowns, in my, Qiao Feng's, eyes, are nothing more than men who have stuck sale-tags on their own heads!" Before long, the two of them arrived in Apricot Grove. Looking up, they saw that several hundred people had already gathered in the grove. The Beggar Gang's Four Great Elders, Quan Guanqing, Bai Shijing, and the others were all present. Besides them, there were quite a few onlookers from the jianghu. Two groups stood out in particular. One was the Murong family's Four Great Retainers, bringing with them two women as fair as flowers and jade, A'Bi and Wang Yuyan. The other was headed by Qin Zheng, with several dozen fierce-looking brawny men behind him, knives and axes in hand. When Qiao Feng saw Qin Zheng, delight rose unbidden on his face. He led Duan Yu over, cupped his fist, and said, "Second Uncle, it's been a long time!" Qin Zheng glanced in surprise at Duan Yu beside him. "How did the two of you wind up together?" Qiao Feng said, delighted, "Second Uncle, so the two of you know each other! Duan Yu is my newly sworn brother. I'll trouble Second Uncle to look after him for me." Qin Zheng nodded. "Mm. Go see to your business first." Qiao Feng saluted once more, then strode toward the Beggar Gang crowd. Full of curiosity, Duan Yu said, "Hero Qin, you ought to be quite a few years younger than my big brother. How did you become his second uncle?" Qin Zheng said with a wistful look, "Qiao Feng's father, Qiao Sanhuai, is a farmer whose skill at tilling the land is exceedingly formidable. Three years ago, while I was escorting a convoy, I happened to pass Mount Shaoshi. Qiao Sanhuai and I felt like old friends at first sight. We spent three days and three nights discussing the knacks of growing crops, and in the end we became sworn brothers of different surnames. Qiao Feng is a very filial man. From then on, he has called me Second Uncle." Listening to Qin Zheng's account left Duan Yu wide-eyed and speechless. He looked at Qin Zheng with doubt in his eyes. You, a Bandit King, with nothing better to do, ran off to Mount Shaoshi and spent three days and three nights discussing crop-growing with a farmer... You think I believe you just happened to be passing by? Seeing Duan Yu's doubtful expression, Qin Zheng was not angry. He said mildly, "What are you staring at me for? Can't I be good at farming? Go look at the Qinling Mountains. Those drought-resistant mung beans covering the hills and plains are all my doing. The mung-bean cakes, mung-bean soup, and mung-bean noodles you eat now—which of them could do without me?" "And I've also bred a kind of disease-carrying rice. Plant a single seedling, and it can at once make all the rice in your Kingdom of Dali fall ill. I guarantee you won't harvest a single grain for a whole year. If you don't believe me, I can have someone go plant a seedling in Dali right now and we can try it." Duan Yu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "I believe you. Of course I believe you. Hero Qin, please stay your hand..." While Duan Yu was trembling with fear, Wang Yuyan noticed that Bao Butong and the others were all staring at Qin Zheng with hatred in their eyes. Puzzled, she could not help asking, "Third Brother Bao, didn't we come to prove Cousin's innocence? What are you looking at that man for?" After breaking out of Mantuo Manor the day before, Murong Fu had received a message by carrier pigeon from the Western Xia First Rank Hall, ordering him to come to Apricot Grove and encircle and wipe out the martial artists of the Central Plains. Left with no choice, he had to part from the others and, in the guise of Li Yanzong, go join the people of the Western Xia First Rank Hall. After they separated, Bao Butong learned that the Beggar Gang was holding an assembly today and wanted to come clarify that Ma Dayuan's death had nothing to do with Murong Fu. So he had brought Wang Yuyan and the others hurrying over. Hearing Wang Yuyan's question, Bao Butong said through gritted teeth, "Young Miss, that man's name is Qin Zheng. He's the one who seized our Yanziwu!" "Ah! So he's that big villain!" Wang Yuyan covered her mouth in shock and hastily, fearfully, shifted her gaze away from Qin Zheng's face. Bao Butong gave a cold snort. "Hmph. Never mind him for now. The urgent matter at hand is clearing the young master's name!" With that, he stepped forward several paces to stand before the Beggar Gang crowd, cupped his hands, and said, "I am Bao Butong, a household servant of Young Master Murong Fu of Gusu. When your gang's Deputy Chief Ma Dayuan met his death, my young master was in Jiangnan auditing the accounts, a thousand li from Luoyang, where Deputy Chief Ma was killed. This was absolutely not my young master's doing. I ask all our fellow friends of the jianghu to see the truth clearly!" The moment he finished, someone immediately said, "What's the Murong family doing sticking their nose in? Doesn't everyone in the jianghu know by now that Ma Dayuan was killed by Duan Zhengchun?" "Huh? Wasn't it Jiumozhi who killed him?" "Right, I heard it was Jiumozhi too! I also heard that, to escape the Beggar Gang's pursuit, Jiumozhi has already fled to the Xingxiu Sea and gone to seek refuge with Ding Chunqiu, the Old Freak of Xingxiu!" Qin Zheng pinched his throat to disguise his voice and said, "That can't be right! How is it I heard that Ma Dayuan was killed by his wife, Kang Min, in league with the abbot of Shaolin Temple? I heard that Xuanci, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, and Kang Min once had a romantic involvement. Not long ago, Ma Dayuan unexpectedly learned of it and wrote a letter telling Xuanci to come to Luoyang and have it out with him. After being exposed, Xuanci nursed a grudge. In shame and fury he killed Ma Dayuan with the Great Vajra Finger, and even made it look as though Ma Dayuan had died beneath the Throat-Locking Grapple." As the words fell, the whole of Apricot Grove went silent in an instant. "..." Not only were the martial artists present struck dumb, even Kang Min, hidden behind the Beggar Gang crowd, was stunned. What? I've had a fling with the abbot of Shaolin Temple too? She had been wanton all her life and had slept with more men than she could count. For a moment she actually could not recall whether Xuanci had been among them...