Chapter 28: The Chen Family Has a Bandit

Chen Wuji caught a ride and suddenly discovered that Chen Bushi was simply a lunatic.

This guy kept catching him pretending to be an idiot, really treating him as an idiot and giving him a hard time.

The two of them fooled around and caused trouble for most of the journey; when it finally settled, Chen Wuji suddenly realized.

They seemed to have gone off course.

This was fundamentally not the road to the city.

"Uncle Nine, did we take a wrong turn? You two wouldn't be planning to sell us off, would you?" Chen Wuji jumped up and shouted.

Chen Luozi waved his hand, "Don't worry, what are you two worth? I'm doing some business with your third uncle; taking a slight detour won't delay your affairs."

Chen Wuji looked left and right, feeling somewhat doubtful.

What business could be conducted here?

To the left and right are woods; ahead is the main route that several villages use to reach the county seat—no village in front, no shop behind, so aside from being convenient for digging graves and dumping corpses, the only convenience is to squat comfortably here for a big bowel movement.

"Someone's coming!" Chen Bushi suddenly jumped off the mule, tied the tether to a tree, opened his bundle, pulled out two knives and threw one to Chen Luozi.

Chen Luozi raised his hand to catch the knife, gave Chen Wuji a wink, "Wuji, help me watch the donkey, don't let it run off, and don't let it bray."

In Chen Wuji's shocked gaze, these two clansmen uncles brandished their knives and rushed out of the woods, blocking the three fat monks walking from afar, and with a raise of their hands they stabbed them several times.

Their movements were swift; after killing, they quickly grabbed the monks' legs, dragged them into the woods, then carefully cleaned up the bloodstains on the ground before slipping into the woods to search the monks' bundles.

Huo Sanniang had already been frightened silly by this scene.

"Wuji, Third Uncle and Ninth Uncle seem like… like bandits; should we report to the officials? No, we can't report them, they're our clansmen uncles, but how could they be bandits? Third Uncle is still a scholar." She spoke incoherently.

Chen Wuji grasped Huo Sanniang's small hand, "Don't be afraid, wife, Third Uncle and the others definitely killed bad people; they're our own people, even if they didn't kill bad people they wouldn't harm us. Moreover, Third Uncle looks like no good person at first glance, so it's not strange for him to kill."

"But…" Huo Sanniang's single "but" was swallowed by the forest breeze as Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi returned, and she didn't continue speaking.

Chen Bushi walked over and flung a string of coins at Chen Wuji, "Split the loot."

"These monks aren't anything good; relying on their monk status they swindle and rob, doing everything from theft to murder—I stabbed a few of them to earn some tax."

"Third Uncle, this work is great, much better than my hunting; take me along, I also have a knife, the kind that can chop a python's neck, a family heirloom—maybe it's a brother blade to the one you hold." Chen Wuji shouted excitedly.

Huo Sanniang was startled and quickly grabbed Chen Wuji's arm.

Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi looked at Chen Wuji, also wearing a dazed expression.

"Get lost!" Chen Bushi swore, waving his hand, "This is a capital offense; why are you coming over to join the fun? Let's go, to the county city—today we have money to buy wine."

Chen Luozi jumped onto the cart, then suddenly laughed, "But Wuji guessed right about one thing—this knife really is a brother blade; my father forged it on his deathbed, one for each household."

Upon hearing this, Chen Bushi's face darkened instantly, "Don't mention your father—because of these few knives, our Chen family almost got charged with rebellion, which is why I never attained any official rank."

"Forging knives is just forging knives; why calmly say the future will be unsettled? If the Chen family has a knife, if we can't hold out we'll band together and rebel against the mother, and if we can't win we can still slit our throats."

Chen Wuji never expected there to be such a story.

Who would have thought, the utterly ordinary Chen family of Xishan Village actually is a place that produces talent.

Chen Luozi's father was simply far-sighted; he probably activated a cheat before dying.

However, causing Chen Bushi to lose his official rank is indeed quite unfair.

Chen Luozi chuckled, "It's fine, it's fine; with your level, even if you took the exam you'd definitely fail—just say whether my father's forged knife is good or not."

Chen Bushi stared at Chen Luozi with a dark face and muttered, "Bring this up again and I'll send you to meet your father; we laborers top the county, so what grounds do you have for failing the exam?"

"But back then, those who studied with you also included the County Magistrate's son and the Zhang family's son… alright, alright, I won't say more—it's just that my father wasn't human; this year we won't burn paper money for him, let him suffer punishment down below." Chen Luozi immediately changed his tone in the face of Chen Bushi's unfriendly gaze.

Chen Wuji couldn't help laughing; Ninth Uncle is someone who knows how to steer.

After this not-so-harmonious little interlude, the group set off again.

This time, they were truly on the road to the county city.

Huo Sanniang turned her head to glance at the spot where Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi had just buried the corpses, somewhat worried she asked, "Ninth Uncle, the graves you dug are all fresh soil; they'll definitely be discovered."

"So what if they're discovered? Who could know it was us? Don't worry, the court's laws have loosened to near nothing except for the tax clause." Chen Luozi said offhandedly.

"Those clerks sent down from the county, because villagers don't give them tea money, they often wipe out whole families. Just in the past month or two that I've heard, there have already been four or five such cases; ordinary people who go to sue officials instead get a beating."

"This day, it's dark."

Huo Sanniang firmly gripped Chen Wuji's arm and whispered, "Ninth Uncle, I and Wuji will definitely not leak this; you… you can rest assured."

"I know." Chen Luozi flicked the whip, speaking nonchalantly.

"The loot's been divided; you're our own people—would reporting to the officials have them come arrest you?"

Huo Sanniang stared blankly; seeing Chen Wuji counting the coins one by one, she suddenly felt her hands burning.

But it seemed no matter how hot her hands got, she still had to hold onto the money.

Usually ordinary, even overly honest clansmen uncles suddenly turned into highway bandits, killing people as easily as slaughtering chickens; this hit Huo Sanniang pretty hard.

Chen Wuji, however, didn't really take this to heart.

Although the words he just said to Chen Bushi were pretending to be foolish and nonsensical.

But if life becomes untenable, taking up banditry is something he has genuinely considered.

Could it be that this is the secret hidden in the bones of the Chen family of Xishan Village? A universal propensity for banditry?

The cart's wheels jolted along the official road; soon the county city's not-so-high walls loomed in the distance.

The group smoothly entered the city.

Chen Wuji and his wife, along with Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi, parted ways at the East Market, agreeing to meet again at noon to return to the village.

"Wuji, remember, no one is to mention what just happened; keep it absolutely sealed."

After Huo Sanniang nervously gave Chen Wuji another round of reminders, the two then hurried off to the coffin shop at the East Market entrance, right next to the county's execution ground for criminals.