Chapter 250: Avenge the Teaching Master

The leading officer's eyes flashed, "I didn't expect there would still be a fish that slipped the net here. Grab him!"

The other two officers immediately seized the teaching master.

The teaching master shouted, "Are you crazy?! Open your eyes and see who I am! I am the Juren of Ding County, exempt from taxes and labor! The County Lord even invited me to his home last year! Let me go!"

In the earth tunnel, the young students who heard the master's roar were all extremely tense.

Fang Hui and a few people next to him held their breath, carefully peering through the cracks in the wooden board, and saw that the teaching master had already had his hands bound in reverse.

"Ha! So it's Liu the Juren, no wonder he's so arrogant," the lead officer said with a false smile, "But even with your arrogance, you'll still have to tuck your tail for me. We're going to suppress bandits, we're short on manpower, and I haven't caught enough today. Though you can't shoulder a load or lift a hand, you can still count as a strong youth."

The teaching master struggled and said, "You dare even grab me, I… I want to see the County Lord!"

The lead officer slapped him and growled, "Times have changed. When there was nothing, the County Lord could spare you a little face. Now there's trouble, your face is nothing. Keep shouting and I'll cut out your tongue!"

Seeing the teaching master about to be taken as a conscript, the students in the tunnel grew anxious and, careless, made a noise.

The officer looked down at the sound, his gaze sweeping toward the wooden board, "Did you hear that movement?"

The teaching master went rigid all over.

The other two officers said they seemed to have heard something, as if it came from underground, wondering if it was a rat or something.

It was normal to have rats in a ruined temple.

But the lead officer drew his side sword and slowly walked toward the wooden board.

In the tunnel, Fang Hui could already see the tip of the sword through the board's crack; the other students also heard footsteps overhead, and everyone held their breath, cold sweat streaming.

If they were discovered, they wouldn't even be able to escape.

Just as the lead officer was about to step onto the board, the teaching master suddenly summoned all his strength, shoulder‑bumping the officer beside him, and sprinted out of the ruined temple.

Only by doing so could he draw the officers' attention and prevent the children from being discovered.

The lead officer's steps halted, and he turned back.

The other two officers immediately chased toward the temple's main gate.

Liu the Juren was, after all, just a scholar, his hands still bound in reverse; in his haste he stepped into a ground depression, lost his balance, and crashed hard against the threshold.

"Yo, you're running pretty fast, keep it up!"

"With those skinny arms and legs, don't go and die!"

"Hahaha!"

The two officers laughed at him as they walked up to him.

Liu the Juren's head was cut by the threshold, bleeding; two of his front teeth fell out, his whole body dizzy, yet he endured the pain, rolled over, and kicked the two officers' shins.

The two officers were caught off guard, staggered from the kick, and fell into the mud.

Liu the Juren, pressing his head against the threshold, struggled to climb up, limping outward while shouting, "You act lawlessly! I can't believe the County Lord would even dare to seize me! I'll sue him! You all will die!"

That shout truly frightened the three officers in the ruined temple.

Some matters, even if they don't weigh four ounces on a scale, once weighed they become a thousand jin that can't be restrained.

They capture conscripts and end up grabbing people with achievements; the County Magistrate might be okay with that, but if Liu the Juren really brings it before the County Magistrate, they definitely won't have a good ending.

"Why are you still hesitating? Don't let him go!" the lead officer roared.

The two fallen officers scrambled up in a hurry, and within a few steps caught up with Liu the Juren, then drew their side swords and thrust toward his back.

Poof—

Two blades pierced Liu the Juren's body, the tips emerging from his chest.

Liu the Juren lowered his head in disbelief, watching the fresh blood slowly flow down the blade.

The lead officer was stunned, rushed over and shouted, "Why did you kill him!"

The two officers, utterly shocked, drew their swords and asked in a daze,

"Didn't you say not to let him go?"

"Right, if he really sues the County Lord, wouldn't we be finished?"

Liu the Juren's gaunt body slowly collapsed, his blood staining the muddy ground red; before he breathed his last, he still strained to look toward the ruined temple's main gate.

The lead officer, furious, drew his sword and, pointing at the two who had killed, shouted furiously,

"I said don't let him go so you wouldn't let him escape, not that you should kill him! Capture him, and later send him with the other conscripts to Black Water Bay to fight the water bandits. How could he ever meet the County Lord? Are you both pig‑brained? We already lacked enough conscripts; we finally snagged one in the ruined temple, and you two idiots… sigh! I really want to slaughter you!"

The two officers were so scolded they could barely lift their heads and dared not speak.

The lead officer examined Liu the Juren's condition, found he was breathless and dead, and couldn't help beating the two confused, pig‑headed officers with fists and kicks to vent his rage.

After a moment, the lead officer finally calmed down.

The other two whispered apologies, their voices low.

"Enough, stop talking!" the lead officer said, his face grim, staring at the corpse beneath his feet.

The other two then asked him how to handle it.

The lead officer thought briefly and said, "Tie up the rope on his hands, then strip him of his money, clothes, and shoes. That way we can claim he met misfortune here, robbed and killed."

The other two officers immediately began to stage the scene as a robbery and murder.

After the falsification was complete, the three officers quickly left.

In the ruined temple's tunnel, Fang Hui only mustered the courage to lift the wooden board after hearing no more sounds from outside.

"Push me out first, let me see the situation," Fang Hui told the others.

The youths worked together, inch by inch, to squeeze Fang Hui out of the tunnel.

Fang Hui finally crawled out, cautiously observing his surroundings, then peered out at the temple entrance to ensure no officers were in sight, and returned to the tunnel entrance to help the others.

Dozens of students, their faces dusty and grimy, emerged from the tunnel one after another; everyone thought the teaching master had been taken by the officers and began discussing how to rescue him.

But they were just children with no life experience, frantic like ants on a hot pan, unable to think of any solution.

Fang Hui comforted them, "Don't worry, the master was taken as a conscript to the County Gate, so his life isn't in danger. Let's wait for Brother Li He to return; his mind is the sharpest and he'll surely devise a plan. Until then, none of us should leave the temple."

Hearing him say that, the youths finally calmed down.

"Hmm? What got burnt...?" someone sniffed and asked.

"Ah!" Fang Hui slapped his forehead, "I completely forgot I even cooked something for you!"

He twisted his head and ran toward another corner of the broken temple, the rest followed, and saw a large pot where a viscous, sticky mixture churned, its bubbles popping with a gurgle, and thin strands of charred green smoke rose.

The only thing to be grateful for was that the fire beneath the pot was about to die out; otherwise the whole pot of food would have been reduced to charcoal.

Fang Hui scratched his head, awkwardly saying, "Add half a pot of cold water, stir it, and maybe it'll still be edible..."

The group, having hurriedly fled the private school yesterday and eaten nothing since, were so hungry that their chests pressed against their backs, and they didn't mind this half‑pot of food whose ingredients were indiscernible.

They then, together with Fang Hui, went to the back courtyard of the broken temple, and from several half‑broken water jars took the rainwater collected last night and added it to the pot.

After turning it into a large pot of thin porridge reeking of burnt flavor, they took turns scooping it with their hands to drink.

Just as everyone was drinking heartily, a sudden roar sounded from outside the broken temple: "Mr. Liu! Mr. Liu!!!"

The group froze, hurried toward the doorway, and from a distance saw Li He kneeling on the ground, wailing and sobbing.

The others rushed to his side, only then realizing that the teaching master had become a cold corpse, his outer coat gone, his shoes missing, leaving only a tattered thin shirt stained crimson with blood.

Fang Hui and the others' minds went blank, frozen in place like puppets.

Li He lifted his head, his tear‑streaked eyes shouting, "What happened! Why was the teacher... why was he killed!"

The voice thundered, startling everyone.

The group of teenage students collapsed to their knees, crying with heart‑rending anguish.

Fang Hui remained slightly calmer, bearing his grief, and detailed the matter of three officials coming to the broken temple to seize people.

"Brother Li He... I... I thought the teacher had been taken by the officials," Fang Hui knelt, his face full of self‑blame, "I didn't expect the teacher to have fallen victim to bandits' poison, robbed of clothing, shoes, and silver, but why... why did they kill him!"

Li He closed his eyes, breathing deeply repeatedly, then suddenly opened them, his face bristling with murderous intent, "No, in my view, the teacher wasn't a victim of robbery and murder!"

Fang Hui said blankly, "But it looks exactly like that; it can't be those three officials who killed the teacher, can it? They had no reason to do so."

Li He gritted his teeth and said, "Although I cannot fathom their motive, from the wound shape it appears the teacher was stabbed to death by two official knives from behind. His clothes and shoes were stripped and his belongings taken; it must be a deliberate ruse by those three to shift the blame onto robbers!"

Fang Hui inhaled a cold breath, recalling that earlier the teacher had confronted officials to keep the people hidden in the earth pit from being discovered, and said, "It seems... the teacher died because of us..."

"I will avenge the teacher!" someone cried out.

The other teenage students also shouted angrily, "Avenge the teacher! Kill the Dog Official!"

Someone even bowed heavily to the teaching master several times, then got up and ran toward the county town.

"All of you, stand still!" Li He shouted, "Mr. Liu gave his life to protect you; he didn't send you to die!"

"What now?" the youths said resentfully, "Should we just let the murderer go?!"

"Even though we're weak, together we can kill those three Dog Officials!"

"Right! We're not afraid!"

Li He slowly stood up.

His blood‑red yet calm eyes scanned the crowd.

The invisible domineering aura that emanated suppressed everyone's anger.

"Listen to me," Li He said word by word, "This grievance must be avenged, but we must act according to plan and never act rashly!"

Fang Hui also stood, "Everyone, trust Brother Li He; he always keeps his word. First we should bury Mr. Liu; we can't let him just lie in the cold rotten mud..."

The group of youths kept crying.

"Brother Li He, Brother Fang Hui, you're right..."

"We will all listen to the two brothers, first bury the teacher, then plan revenge."

Then the group carried the teaching master back to the broken temple.

The youths, while weeping, cleaned the teacher's body, then dug a pit behind the temple, buried him, then knelt in a circle, kowtowed and wept.

The teaching master had always been especially strict, but he was truly kind to them.

This time he gave his life to protect them, making their hearts feel as if cut by knives and ground into mush.

Li He waited until their emotions steadied, led them back to the broken temple, sat on the ground with everyone, and told them what he had discovered back in the city.

The County Office really had gone mad, robbing civilians of their property, harsher than bandits or marauders.

Not only did they rob property, they also crazily seized strong men, even boys of fourteen or fifteen were not spared; many little beggars were also captured.

As for the fathers or brothers of these students, they were probably all doomed to be captured as well.

From yesterday to now, the city has probably been largely looted, and the County Office's men have already begun extending their claws to surrounding villages.

Hearing this, the group felt both fear and anger, and a hint of despair rose deep within.

"Brother... what shall we do?" Fang Hui asked, "How shall we avenge Mr. Liu?"

Facing such a situation, Li He had no optimal plan in the short term; he could only say that everyone should first hide in the broken temple, which had already been searched, making it the safest place for now, and that he would, after nightfall, continue into the city to look for a chance; if he encountered the murderer of the teacher, he would take his life.

"By the way, do you know what those three officials look like?" Li He asked.

Fang Hui immediately said, "I've seen their faces; the leader has a big black mole on his nose, easy to identify; the other two... plain, no obvious features."

Li He nodded, "As long as we find the big black mole, we don't need to worry about the other two. Fang Hui, where did we put the kitchen knives we casually took out earlier?"

Fang Hui ran to the corner of the wall, fumbled around, found them, and placed them before Li He.

Li He picked up the two kitchen knives, looked at them, "Hmm... we'll sharpen them later; better than having no weapons. Fang Hui, during this time you stay in the temple to look after these kids; I'll handle the revenge for the teacher alone."

Hearing this, the students all said they also wanted to join the revenge.

Li He, wielding the twin blades with style, looked around and said, "Among you, who has abilities like mine?"

The crowd looked at each other.

Li He said, "You haven't even killed a chicken, how can you talk about killing people? You probably can't even hold a blade steady, so don't be overconfident. You called me Brother Li He, and Mr. Liu was also my master; I shall bear the responsibility of avenging him. Wait for my good news!"

"Brother Li He..." a dozen teenage students' tears welled up, and they bowed heavily to him.

Nevertheless, they still insisted on taking part.

Even if they lacked skill to slay the enemy, they wanted to help Li He, and some said that although they'd never held a blade before, they could learn now; they were confident in their learning ability.

Li He laughed, "Do you think learning martial arts is the same as studying literature? Besides, even if you want a knife, I don't have any extra here—just two kitchen knives."

Fang Hui suddenly spoke, "Big brother, I just remembered—two days ago Sister Ning Jingli came again, didn't she give the two of us some self‑defense weapons?"

Hearing that, the others' eyes lit up.

Li He said, "That's still not enough! Fang Hui, you kid, shut up! I'll go on the adventure alone; no need to drag the big guy!"

At that moment, a familiar gentle voice rang out.

"Huh? Why are there so many people today? Li He, Fang Hui, what are you two doing?"