Bone Painting Coroner

The two bandits looked at each other in tacit understanding. They both spat on the ground in sync.

“Hurry up! Use your foot to kick the knife over.”

“Good!”

With good teamwork, the knife was quickly obtained by one of the bandits who’s name was Tie San. After another period of time spent cutting through the thick and rough rope that tied them up, the two bandits finally freed themselves, nursing their bruised and bloodied wrists.

“Da Chui, what should we do now?” Tie San asked.

“What to do? Of course, run away!”

Da Chui rushed out with Tie San in tow.

“There are people outside!” warned Tie San.

The two of them abruptly stopped at the entrance before observing the scene outside, noticing that one of Jing Rong’s guards was right outside. While it looked like their escape plan was bound to fail, Da Chui’s brain was quite agile. He proceeded to grab Tie San and said, “Hurry and scream now!”

“Ah?”

“I said scream.”

Tie San was stupefied by the other’s order. His brain was frozen until Da Chui rapped his head rudely. He screamed out in response.

Aaaaah!

When the guard heard the scream, he turned around and walked into the room to check out what had happened. As he looked around, his gaze fell on a bead, only to realize a bigger problem. The bandits were gone, only leaving behind their cut ropes.

“Oh no!” The guard wanted to sound the alarm, but as soon as he turned around, something flew out from the darkness and knocked him unconscious.

Da Chui and Tie San, who had been hiding behind the door as the guard walked in, were still unsatisfied with the amount of payback they had dished out. As a result, they ruthlessly kicked the guard a few more times before sneaking out. However, they had no idea Jing Rong wasn’t lax with the security, and had dispatched a guard at every entrance of the two-storied building.

“What are we going to do, Da Chui?”

“What else is there to do but wait? There might be an opportunity to get out of here.”

“But…” Tie San didn’t finish his words because he suddenly heard noise coming from the main entrance.

“Hurry up! Send some good wine and good food!”

More than twenty men flocked into the place. Each one of them was an arrogant daredevil. They were all dressed in strange clothes made of some kind of rough animal pelt, a machete hanging from each of their belts.

Mountain bandits.

After they came in and dispersed to find a table, a tall man in boots of animal leather entered. A dense beard covered his entire jawline, with the hair on his head barely being contained by a yellow headband. The two razor-sharp eyes on his face were accentuated by his eyebrows being sharply slanted inwards like spears. His appearance possessed an inherent ferocity that could deter anyone from confronting him.

“Boss, sit here.” Ba Hu, one of the bandits, shouted.

Zhao Qing, the person whom the bandits called Boss, walked forward in big strides. Ba Hu hastily wiped the stool with his sleeve before Zhao Qing sat and the shopkeeper came to cater to his needs.

The shopkeeper seemed used to such a scene. He simply bowed and showed an ingratiating smile. “Second Master, what kind of wine would you like to drink?”

Zhao Qing didn’t even give him a glance. He picked up a pair of chopsticks and tapped them against the table.

Ba Hu kicked the shopkeeper’s posterior. “The same as last time. Hurry with the wine! Do you believe we will kill you if you make our boss irritated?” He raised his hand, threatening to beat up the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper dodged with his head lowered his body quaking in fear. He said urgently, “Y-y-yes! I’ll quickly bring you all your wine.” He ran away to fetch the wines at lightspeed.

When he arrived behind the counter, the waiter whispered into his ears, “Shopkeeper, isn’t it better that we report this? Our inn doesn’t have many customers as it is, not even considering that we’re serving bandits. If this keeps up, we’ll be ruined.”

The shopkeeper was far from calm. He took a jug of wine while sighing, “This inn has been passed down in my family, generation after generation. It must not be destroyed at my hand. Even if I was to die, I will protect this inn.”

“Then why are you not reporting it to the authorities?!”

“Report?” The shopkeeper felt extremely distressed. He replied, “Our Shanhuai county’s magistrate could care less. A fine example of a corrupted official – colluding with thieves. After we report them, those bandits might burn my inn to the ground. Won’t that be a huge loss for me instead?”

“Even so, what about the other guests? Without guests, this inn can’t keep going.” The waiter said with concern.

Hey!

The shopkeeper looked out and shook his head. “Forget it. If they want to drink, let them drink. We still need to serve those tyrants,” he grudgingly said.

At that moment, Da Chui and Tie San were crouching above them on the second floor. The two hadn’t expected to encounter this crowd of people while waiting for the opportunity to escape.

“It’s the Second Master and his lackeys,” Tie San exclaimed.

“I didn’t expect that after a whole year, we would actually run into that Second Master today.” Da Chui was exasperated.

Tie San on the other hand, didn’t think much of it. He tugged at his partner. “Da Chui, we should ask the Second Master to save us!”

Paf!

Da Chui slapped Tie San’s head. “Ever since First and Second Master had their falling out a year ago, both factions have been like fire and water. Instead of rescuing us, Second Master may even kill us! Even if he decides to save us, when First Master learns of it, won’t he feel ashamed? Perhaps he might end our lives.”

“This…” Tie San rubbed his head and had to agree with Da Chui’s argument.

Gaoshan Gang’s First Master and Second Master were brothers with a very close relationship; at least, that had been the case until a year ago. For some unknown reasons, they suddenly had a falling out, resulting in a large fight breaking out in the camp. The two had split ever further apart since then, with Second Master Zhao Qing taking his men and establishing a new camp on another mountain peak.

After a year had gone by, First master Zhao Huai and Second Master Zhao Qing still hadn’t reconciled with each other. If either group encountered the other, they would start a fight. Over time, the enmity shaped the current relationship between the two gangs.

Many rumors circulated, trying to explain the sudden downturn in the relationship between the two brothers. Some said that the First Master had grabbed a woman who was the Second Master’s lover. Others said the Second Master had the ambition to rule the mountain alone, and planned to kill his blood-related big brother. However, his plans were discovered before implantation. There was another rumor circulating saying that the Second Master was worried he would be implicated by the First Master, whose actions might lead the imperial court to dispatch soldiers to exterminate them, so he left the camp with his people. There were all kinds of speculations as to why the to had come to such extremes.

……

At that moment, the ground floor of the inn was packed full with bandits. Zhao Qing had a vicious expression while tapping his chopsticks on the table. Everyone was chatting noisily until the innkeeper came back with the wine. They started to guess what kind of wine it was while gorging themselves.

Ba Hu poured a cup for Zhao Qing. “Boss, please drink.”

Zhao Qing squinted. He threw the chopsticks at a pillar, watching as they actually stabbed straight into the wood.

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