Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 194 Song Jiang mourns the loss of his ancestors; Little Li Guang launches a night raid on th

In the backyard of the Jizhou government office, the elegant room that Song Jiang once regarded as a haven of pleasure now resembled an airtight prison. In the incense burner, the finest ambergris was weakly releasing its last trace of sweetness, but it could not suppress the overwhelming bitter smell of the medicinal soup that filled the room, as well as an even more suffocating, decaying odor called despair.

Song Jiang, nicknamed "Calling for Justice," was ashen-faced and emaciated, leaning weakly against the bed like a limp lump of mud stripped of its bones. His eyes were sunken, and his lips were cracked and peeling. He bore no resemblance to the "Filial and Righteous Black Third Brother" of legend, much less the heroic spirit of "Timely Rain." He looked more like a dying man on the verge of death.

Beside her stood Yan Poxi, dressed in a pink silk robe as thin as a cicada's wing, almost transparent. Her snow-white skin was faintly visible in the dim light, adding to her allure. She was holding a bowl of dark, sticky medicine, stirring it absentmindedly with a small silver spoon. Her pretty face, which always wore a charming smile, now showed a hint of undisguised anxiety and impatience.

"My lord, please have just one more sip, okay?" Her voice was high-pitched and thin, with a sickeningly sweet, coquettish tone.

"This is a tonic soup that I asked someone to get from the best pharmacy in the city, 'Jishetang.' The old doctor there boasted that it was made with a hundred-year-old ginseng and a thousand-year-old he shou wu, and one dose costs three taels of silver! If you don't drink it soon, it will all get cold, and all my good intentions will be wasted."

The pungent smell of the medicine, radiating straight to the top of his head, made Song Jiang feel a churning in his stomach, as if his internal organs were out of place. He weakly waved his hand, barely having the strength to speak.

"I don't want to drink anymore... I don't want to drink anymore... Take it away..."

"My body... I'm afraid it's been completely ruined by wine and women... No matter what kind of magic potion I drink, it's all in vain..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Poxi subtly raised her meticulously drawn eyebrows, a hint of undisguised contempt flashing in her eyes. She cursed inwardly, "You short, dark, filthy wretch, don't you even take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? What a jerk you are! You were so reckless in bed, like a donkey in heat, and now you're acting like a half-dead, sick cat in front of me! What bad luck!"

She spoke softly, with a hint of reproach, and moved closer to him. The cheap scent of perfume made Song Jiang almost vomit.

"Oh dear, my good husband, what discouraging words you speak. You only caught a cold because you were working day and night on the important matter of suppressing bandits a few days ago. Didn't the doctor say that you were overthinking and exhausted? As long as you take good care of yourself and take more nourishing things like tiger penis and deer antler, you'll be full of energy again in three to five days, ready to fight on all sides."

Song Jiang let out a long, desperate sigh, then simply closed his eyes, not even bothering to look at the woman again. His heart was filled with bitterness, as if he had swallowed a hundred bitter herbs.

Toiling over state affairs?

What a load of bullshit about national affairs!

It was clear that this woman had treated him like a dreg of medicine, draining him dry!

Song Jiang, a man who had weathered many storms in the martial world and seen a bit of the world, never imagined that at his age he would fall for such a fickle and promiscuous courtesan. He had spent half his life toiling away in the government and striving for fame in the martial world—all for what? Wasn't it all so that one day he could shed his official status, obtain a position, secure a comfortable life for his wife and children, and bring glory to his ancestors?

Now things are really messed up; he hasn't even gotten his official position yet, and he's already ruined. If word gets out, where will Song Jiang, the "Timely Rain," put his face? He'll probably become a laughingstock for the whole world!

Just as she was feeling sorry for herself, the door creaked open and a frantic voice, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, pierced through the room.

"Brother! Brother! Something terrible has happened! The sky is falling!"

Song Jiang struggled to open his eyes and saw his younger brother, "Iron Fan" Song Qing, tumbling in, his face filled with panic and ashen color, as if the sky had truly fallen.

"What's all this commotion about? What kind of behavior is this!" Song Jiang frowned and hissed in a low voice. The ominous premonition in his heart instantly grew like wildly spreading vines, entwining his heart.

Song Qing didn't care about propriety at all. She knelt down in front of the bed with a "thump", her voice filled with heavy sobs and almost incoherent.

"Brother! Those...those Liangshan bandits...yesterday they already broke through Yuncheng County!"

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Song Jiang was struck dumb, as if his blood had frozen in that instant! He suddenly sat up straight in bed, but due to the sudden movement, he felt dizzy and saw countless stars before his eyes. He then fell back down heavily, making the bed creak.

"Yuncheng...Yuncheng has fallen?!" He couldn't believe his ears, grabbed Song Qing's collar, and roared with all his might.

"Yes...yes..." Song Qing cried, his face contorted with grief, his body trembling like a sieve in the wind. "Not only that, that...that Magistrate Shi Wenbin was bound hand and foot by the thieves and thrown into the death row! That tyrannical 'Hairless Tiger' Niu Er in the city was...was executed by dismemberment in front of the entire city..."

"Where is my father?! How is he?!" Song Jiang's eyes were bloodshot and his gaze was almost bursting; this was the only thing he cared about!

Song Qing was so terrified by his words that he stammered and could barely utter a complete sentence.

"Father...Father...I heard...I heard he...he's already joined Liangshan..."

"nonsense!"

Song Jiang couldn't catch his breath and felt as if a giant hammer had struck his chest, almost causing him to faint again.

"My father was a loyal and righteous man, praised throughout the village. How could he... how could he have become a thief?!"

"It's true, brother! It's absolutely true!" Song Qing burst into tears. "The spies reported that...that Father has not only joined Liangshan, but now...now he's helping that heartless Li Hanxiao to investigate land ownership in the city, abolish the status of lowly people, and say he wants...to equalize land distribution and exempt taxes..."

"puff--"

Song Jiang could no longer hold on. He felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a stream of hot blood gushed out like an arrow. It landed squarely on the pink silk robe of the stunned Yan Poxi, like red plum blossoms blooming in the snow.

"My lord!" Yan Poxi screamed in fright at the sudden turn of events, her face turning pale, and she almost dropped the medicine bowl in her hand.

"Father! You've been foolish! How could you do this!"

Song Jiang's vision went black, and all he could hear was his own desperate lament. He then completely lost consciousness and collapsed into Yan Poxi's soft yet cold arms, unconscious.

"Quickly! Quickly, call Scholar Wu here!"

Seeing this, Song Qing forgot about crying and rushed out in a panic, screaming.

Half an hour later, Song Jiang finally woke up slowly under the intense stimulation of the doctor's several silver needles.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Wu Yong standing in front of his bed, his face full of anxiety and his expression solemn.

"Scholar Wu...I...I'm..."

Wu Yong sighed deeply, helped him up, and placed a soft pillow under his sweaty back.

"Brother Song Jiang, you were so angry that your blood and qi went into a reverse flow and you fainted. I have already asked Brother Song Qing to go to the kitchen to prepare the medicine."

Song Jiang grabbed Wu Yong's hand, which was cold and trembling. His eyes were filled with terrifying bloodshot veins, and his voice was hoarse, like two pieces of sand rubbing together.

"My father...my father...did he really become a thief?"

Wu Yong nodded gravely. He knew that what he was about to say would be an even more cruel death by a thousand cuts for Song Jiang.

"The news is absolutely true. Not only that..."

He hesitated for a moment, looking at Song Jiang's desperate face, but finally gritted his teeth and said with a heavy heart, "My scouts just reported that because Song Taigong helped Liangshan to investigate the land and distribute the family property equally, all the gentry and wealthy households in Yuncheng County hate him to the bone. They are afraid of Liangshan's power and dare not oppose them, so they vent all their pent-up resentment on the Song family."

"Just last night, a group of unidentified individuals, taking advantage of the darkness, sneaked into the ancestral cemetery behind Song Family Village..."

With each word Wu Yong uttered, Song Jiang's face paled a little more.

"They...they dug up all the ancestral graves of our Song family for four generations!"

"The remains... were left exposed in the wilderness, devoured by wild dogs, not a single one intact!"

"what--!!!"

Upon hearing this, Song Jiang felt as if a thunderbolt had exploded in his mind, shaking him so much that his soul seemed to leave his body!

He let out a bloodcurdling, beast-like scream, shoved Wu Yong aside, and without even putting on his shoes, rushed out of the room barefoot, charging wildly toward the century-old locust tree in the courtyard.

"Father! Your son is unfilial! Your son is unfilial, which is why you have suffered such a disgrace!"

"Ancestors above! This unfilial son, Song Jiang, has no face to meet you in the afterlife!"

He cried out as he rammed his head against the thick tree trunk that required two people to hug.

"boom!"

With a sickening thud, Song Jiang collapsed again, blood gushing from his forehead and staining the ground red.

"elder brother!"

Wu Yong and Song Qing were shocked and rushed forward to hold him tightly.

This time, Song Jiang remained unconscious for a full two hours before slowly waking up.

After waking up, he stopped crying and screaming, and stopped trying to kill himself. He just lay blankly on the bed, his empty and lifeless eyes staring at the carved beams. Two lines of turbid tears silently slid down the corners of his wrinkled eyes and disappeared into his temples.

The room was deathly silent, with only his faint, rapid breathing as proof that he was still alive.

Seeing him like this, Wu Yong felt a pang of pity, but he knew that this was no time for sentimentality. In ancient times, when the emphasis was on "burial for peace" and "remembering one's ancestors," digging up ancestral graves and leaving corpses exposed in the wilderness was a curse and insult a hundred times more vicious than murdering one's parents.

Li Hanxiao's move was truly a bloodless killing, a ruthless attack on the soul!

He didn't harm a hair on Song Taigong's head, and even gave him unparalleled glory and power, but he made Song Taigong take the initiative to stand on the opposite side of all the gentry class, and made him personally dig up the foundation on which his family depended for survival.

This further burdened Song Jiang with the eternal infamy of being an "unfilial descendant who brought shame upon his ancestors"! This was worse than death for him!

“Brother, things have come to this point, grief is useless. The most urgent thing is to think about how to break this deadlock and how to deal with it.” Wu Yong sat on the edge of the bed and gently advised, his voice carrying a hint of bewitching magic.

Song Jiang slowly turned his head. His eyes, which had always gleamed with shrewdness and calculation, were now filled with endless hatred and cold madness.

"Wu Yong... what do you think I should do?"

A glint flashed in Wu Yong's eyes, like a venomous snake hunting its prey in the night. He knew the time had come.

He leaned down, brought his ear close to Song Jiang's, and spoke in a low voice, so soft it was as if a chilling wind were blowing from hell.

“Brother, in my opinion, Li Hanxiao’s actions are utterly despicable! His policy of ‘equal land distribution and tax exemption’ may seem to be advocating for the people and winning the hearts of the people, but in reality, he is trying to undermine the foundation of our Great Song Dynasty and dig up the ancestral graves of all the scholars and officials in the world!”