Chapter 103: Murderous Intent

He reached both hands into the fallen banyan leaves, groped for a moment, and at last Hei Fu managed, with great difficulty, to find his blade.

Gripping it tightly, he strained to bend his body upright and slowly sawed through the vine roots binding his feet — then his whole body crashed heavily to the ground!

The moment he got up, he checked his wound at once. The crossbow bolt had pierced through the leather foot-wraps and embedded two inches into the flesh of his calf, but it had not gone all the way through. Perhaps because Zhongli Mei had picked up a crossbow bolt and nocked it on the bow — the bolt was shorter and could not be drawn to full span — its speed off the string had not been very fast.

Most fortunately, it had not struck bone. This still counted as a "flesh wound"; otherwise Hei Fu would have been in real trouble, and the leg might well have been crippled for good.

But he could not afford to be careless. In this era there were none of the medicines of later ages, and the chance of dying from a wound infection was still very high.

As he tore strips of cloth from his own garments, preparing to pull out the bolt and bandage the wound, Hei Fu recalled once more the real name that Chu spy had given when he left.

"Zhongli Mei... it was actually Zhongli Mei..."

Unless it was a coincidence of identical surname and clan name, Zhongli Mei must be the man who, twenty years from now, would be Xiang Yu's most important general, hailed as an "unbending minister," ranked second only to the adoptive father Fan Zeng.

"My first contact with a famous historical figure... and it turned out like this."

Hei Fu did not know whether to laugh or cry. There had been no chance encounter, no mutual admiration, no subduing anyone with an aura of dominance. He was a Qin official, the other man a Chu spy — a life-and-death chase, and in the end he had been played, brutally beaten. If that eccentric Zhongli Mei had not pointlessly spared him, Hei Fu would be a corpse by now.

What kind of nonsense was this?!

But now that he knew the man was Zhongli Mei, Hei Fu no longer found his failure in that reckless pursuit surprising.

Zhongli Mei was skilled in warfare. During the Chu–Han contention, the King of Han, Liu Bang, was defeated by Zhongli Mei several times and afterward could not forget the man, determined to kill him at all costs. Meeting him today, though the other was still a minor Chu spy, his actions and stratagems already showed the rudiments of military method — truly an exceedingly troublesome figure.

Hei Fu could not help sighing inwardly: "I've been far too carried away. After becoming a Village Chief, I handled a few cases smoothly and began to get a bit cocky, underestimating the people of this world. I never imagined that right here in this little Anlu County, there lurked a wolf from Jing-Chu. The moment he bared his fangs, I was outmatched."

A spy with special training was indeed utterly different from ordinary bandits and thieves.

Failure is not to be feared; what is to be feared is failing without learning the lesson. This incident was, for Hei Fu, like a blow to the head and a shout of warning, jolting him awake with a start!

"My original purpose was to survive in this great era, slowly climb upward, seek opportunities, and do things of value — not to genuinely become a Qin Village Chief who toils diligently, busies himself with trifles, and throws himself recklessly into chasing down thieves and bandits!"

"I must remember this matter well and take it as a lesson. In the future I must be more tactful and never again put myself in harm's way."

"I am a man come from a later age. My life is more precious than Liu Bang's or Xiang Yu's — even more precious than the First Emperor's!"

Though he said this, Hei Fu still felt a lingering resentment in his heart. That humiliation of being hung upside down and having his life spared filled his chest. But by now Zhongli Mei had long since fled far away, and Hei Fu was wounded — his emotions had no outlet.

Just then, the sound of footsteps treading on branches and leaves came from ahead. Hei Fu immediately tightened his grip on his blade and looked up — it was an old acquaintance, the Patrolman Shu Wu...

"Village Chief Hei Fu, I've finally found you." Shu Wu called out from far off.

"So it's the Patrolman. Weren't you off chasing the scattered horses?" Hei Fu was somewhat guarded; he and this man had never gotten along.

Shu Wu walked up before Hei Fu and said, "The culprit was cunning. I feared the Stable Master and Village Chief Hei Fu would be no match for him, so after reaching the third pavilion lodge and informing the local village chief, I immediately rode in pursuit. As expected, the Stable Master fell into a trap. He pointed me the way, and I followed the markers the Village Chief left all the way here. After entering the woods, I also found this."

The object in his hand was precisely Hei Fu's red headscarf, which had been torn off by the branches.

"Hei Fu is ashamed — I fell into the culprit's trap." Hei Fu was somewhat embarrassed; his most wretched moment had been witnessed by his old rival.

"The culprit was cunning; escaping is common enough. The Village Chief should not blame himself."

Shu Wu smiled genially as he handed the red headscarf to Hei Fu, but in the very instant Hei Fu took it, he suddenly pressed his sword across Hei Fu's neck!

"Hei Fu, drop that blade in your hand."

"Patrolman, what is the meaning of this?" Hei Fu looked at the sword, sighed inwardly, and thought to himself, Is today some kind of cosmic misfortune? But he still tossed the blade aside.

Shu Wu kicked the blade far away with one foot. Now that Hei Fu was unarmed, he dropped all pretense and laughed loudly: "That culprit — no, I should say that Chu spy — you let him go on purpose, didn't you!"

Hei Fu stared coldly at Shu Wu. "What nonsense is the Patrolman spouting?"

Shu Wu's face hardened. "Village Chief Hei Fu need not pretend. I arrived here half a quarter-hour ago and happened to overhear the last few lines of your exchange with that villain. He clearly could have killed you, yet he deliberately did not. When he left, he even gave his real name and set a time for your next meeting. If you were not in collusion with him, why would that be! No wonder that Chu spy led us all by the nose at every turn — so it was with the assistance of Village Chief Hei Fu!"

"I do not understand the Patrolman's words."

Hei Fu shook his head. "I exerted myself to capture the villain and fell into a trap by mistake. Though I failed in my duty, my conscience is clear. The Patrolman is welcome to escort me back to the county seat, and the two of us can face each other in the court! If the accusation proves false, the Patrolman himself will suffer the penalty for false accusation! As for the Patrolman himself — he was clearly right here, yet offered no aid and stood by watching the culprit leave. Failing to save someone within a hundred paces is one crime; as a Patrolman, letting a villain go is another. If we are speaking of secretly colluding with a Chu spy, your own suspicion seems rather greater!"

"You!"

Shu Wu's face went pale then flushed. He had been bent on stealing the credit from Hei Fu, which was why he had come so quickly. But once he arrived and saw that even Hei Fu, a renowned warrior of the county, had been hung upside down by the villain, Shu Wu had immediately lost his nerve — how would he dare show himself?

He knew his own capabilities well enough, so only after the culprit had left did he dare creep cautiously out. Seeing Hei Fu in such a sorry state, he could not help feeling smug again, and a wicked thought arose: he would use the scraps of conversation he had overheard to sling mud at Hei Fu.

Who would have thought that Hei Fu was not afraid in the slightest? Shu Wu failed to see the flustered, panic-stricken look he had hoped for, and this infuriated him.

These days, the County Right Lieutenant had come to rely more and more on Hei Fu, while he himself was often reprimanded — it was even said that he would be stripped of his Patrolman post and replaced by Hei Fu...

Jealousy had taken root and sprouted in Shu Wu's heart, and now it had grown into a towering tree, overshadowing the great banyan before him!

As Hei Fu had said, accusing him of colluding with a spy without any proof — the likelihood of making the charge stick was low, and he himself might well suffer the penalty for false accusation instead.

But what if, in these deserted mountains, he killed the wounded Hei Fu and blamed it on the villain?

"Kill him! Then no one will contend with you anymore!"

Once this thought appeared, Shu Wu could no longer stop it. He glanced around guiltily — there was no one about. Those pavilion conscripts would probably take another quarter-hour to arrive, to say nothing of the lame Stable Master.

Hei Fu saw Shu Wu's eyes darting about and knew he had conceived a murderous intent. Inwardly he thought, This is bad!

"Right — for the killing, I cannot use my own sword. The Law Clerk would discover it."

Shu Wu's eyes fell upon Hei Fu's own sword, lying several chi away.

"Don't move!" Shu Wu kept his sword pointed at Hei Fu, his face turning vicious. With his other hand, he reached over for Hei Fu's sword...

"Kill Hei Fu with his own sword, then say the villain seized the sword and stabbed him — that when I arrived, only a corpse remained. No one will ever suspect..."

Just as he was thinking this, Shu Wu suddenly heard a noise behind him!

He could not attend to anything else. He spun around at once and thrust his sword fiercely — but Hei Fu had already leaped up, dodged Shu Wu's sword, and at the same time, gripping something in both hands, stabbed Shu Wu violently!

The very crossbow bolt that had just been lodged in Hei Fu's calf sank to its full length into Shu Wu's eye socket!

"Shu Wu."

Shu Wu's face was covered in blood as he staggered back with a howl of pain. Hei Fu stood to the side, a savage grin on his face. "You thought everyone is Zhongli Mei!"

A quarter-hour later, when the Stable Master limped up with three pavilion conscripts, Hei Fu, who had already washed Shu Wu's blood off by the pool, was hobbling out with difficulty, leaning on his sword — likewise limping...

"Village Chief Hei Fu!"

The Stable Master was overjoyed and immediately ordered the conscripts to support Hei Fu. He asked urgently, "Are you all right? Where is the villain? Where is the Patrolman?"

"It's all my fault."

Heifu's face was full of grief. He raised his head and said with regret, "I was careless for a moment and fell into a bandit's trap. I was hung upside down from a banyan tree and couldn't get free. And Uncle Wu, trying to save me, was shot dead by that bandit with a crossbow!"

(End of chapter)