Plans

"What happened? Come into the cave dwelling and tell me." Liu Yuanzhou was greatly startled and pulled Zhang He into the cave dwelling. He did not want his family to know about fighting, afraid they would worry.

Zhang He panted as he said, "Today, I went to Crouching Tiger Slope to buy vegetable seeds. At the entrance of the general store, I saw Fatty Wang and several others surrounding Hu Wa, so I hurried over to see what was going on. Who knew Fatty Wang's gang would pin us to the ground and beat us up? My whole body still hurts." As he spoke, he kept rubbing his arm.

Liu Yuanzhou had long noticed Zhang He's complexion and saw faint bruises on his face as well. "Fatty Wang has gone too far in bullying people!" Liu Yuanzhou said angrily. "How is Hu Wa?" he asked again.

"I came to find you because of that. On the way back, something was very wrong with Hu Wa. He wouldn't speak and kept a dark face. I was afraid he'd do something foolish, so I rushed over to find you," Zhang He said anxiously.

"That Hu Wa... he really never lets anyone rest easy." Liu Yuanzhou sighed inwardly. He was worried too. "Come on, let's hurry over to his house and take a look." With that, the two headed out.

"Second Child, where are you going? The food's almost ready, and Xi Zi is eating with us too." Seeing the two hurrying away, Liu Yuanbo asked.

"Brother, I need to go find Hu Wa. You eat first. Don't wait for me." Liu Yuanzhou did not stop as he spoke, hurrying off with Zhang He.

The moment Liu Yuanzhou and Zhang He entered Liu Chuang's courtyard, they saw Liu Chuang's younger sister, Xiao Hua, standing by the door and wiping away tears.

"What happened, Xiao Hua?" Liu Yuanzhou hurried over, patted her shoulder, and asked why she was crying.

When Xiao Hua saw Liu Yuanzhou and Zhang He, she burst into loud sobs.

"Don't cry. Tell us what happened. Did something happen to Hu Wa?" Liu Yuanzhou asked urgently.

"Brother Second Child, hurry and save my brother! My dad is going to beat him to death!" Xiao Hua said through sobs.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Where's your brother? Where is he now?" Liu Yuanzhou asked.

"He's over at the Cattle Pen. Brother Second Child, hurry! My dad is so fierce—he even yelled at me. Boohoo..." Xiao Hua began crying again.

Looks like Uncle Tie stopped Hu Wa and didn't let him do anything reckless. Liu Yuanzhou comforted Xiao Hua a few times, then called Zhang He over and headed toward the Cattle Pen at Liu Chuang's house.

Liu Chuang's Cattle Pen was not far away. They only had to go down a slope to reach it. Though it was called a cattle pen, it was really just several abandoned earthen cave dwellings.

When Liu Yuanzhou arrived, he saw Liu Chuang sitting in the open space of the yard with his head lowered. His father stood beside him, holding a stick in one hand and smoking from a pipe in the other.

"Uncle, calm down," Liu Yuanzhou called from afar.

Liu Chuang's father looked up and saw Liu Yuanzhou and Zhang He had come. Staring hatefully at Liu Chuang on the ground, he said, "This disaster has a death wish! He wanted to take a knife and fight them to the death. Rather than let someone else beat you to death, I'd rather beat you to death first, you little bastard!"

Though he spoke that way, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Liu Chuang had always trusted Liu Yuanzhou, and sometimes Liu Yuanzhou's words worked better than those of his own father.

Liu Yuanzhou comforted Liu Chuang's father. "Uncle, don't be angry. I'll talk him around. Go back and check on Xiao Hua first. She's been frightened to tears."

"All right. Second Child, give this brat a good talking-to. If he won't listen, beat him—beat him half to death." With that, he tossed down the stick and turned to leave.

"Zhang He, you should head back too." Liu Yuanzhou turned to him. "I'll treat you to a drink another day."

Zhang He glanced at Liu Chuang. Knowing Liu Chuang still harbored a grudge against him, his heart darkened. He nodded to Liu Yuanzhou and turned to leave as well.

Liu Yuanzhou walked over to Liu Chuang and sat down on the ground opposite him. Looking at Liu Chuang's tightly drawn face, he did not know what to say for a while.

After a long time, he finally said slowly, "Hu Wa, I know you're hurting inside. I won't say any more words to persuade you. You surely understand all the reasoning already. But brother, rest assured—your enemy is my, Liu Yuanzhou's, enemy. Your grudge is my grudge."

After a while, Liu Chuang lifted his head and looked at Liu Yuanzhou, tears brimming in his eyes. "I... I'm really useless." He lowered his head again and began to sob softly.

"Ah, I understand it all." Liu Yuanzhou sighed, resting one hand on Liu Chuang's shoulder. He raised his head and gazed into the distance as he said quietly, "Xiucai has become a tongsheng, with a boundless future ahead of him. I'm going to work in the city too. Even Zhang He, who has always been so carefree, may rise in the world because he followed Xiucai. Of us four brothers, you alone are still the same as before. You must feel terribly stifled inside. I understand."

"I'm not..." Liu Chuang said softly.

"Listen to me finish, Hu Wa. What I want to say is that we were good brothers before, we are good brothers now, and we'll still be good brothers in the future."

"Remember when you asked whether I would change after making something of myself? I'll answer you solemnly now: my loyalty to my brothers will never change."

"So don't be anxious anymore. I'll go to the city first and test the waters. Once I've gained a firm foothold, if you want to come work there too, the two of us brothers can venture forth together. What do you say?"

"Really? I can go to the city and work too?" Liu Chuang hurriedly wiped away his tears with his sleeve, his face filled with hope. Then his expression dimmed again, and he sighed. "Ah, my dad definitely won't agree."

"I'll persuade your dad," Liu Yuanzhou said solemnly.

"Really?" Liu Chuang's eyes lit up again.

"Heh, would I lie to you? Ah, though the premise is that I have to make something of myself first." Liu Yuanzhou shook his head and laughed.

"I believe you'll definitely do better than Xiucai," Liu Chuang said with absolute certainty.

"All right, I'll do my utmost." Seeing that Liu Chuang had finally emerged from his dejected mood, the stone in Liu Yuanzhou's heart fell to the ground.

Liu Yuanzhou added, "Now let's discuss how to deal with Fatty Wang."

"I'll listen to you in everything. We have to beat him up viciously," Liu Chuang said hatefully.

"Beating Fatty Wang up isn't difficult. We just need to find a chance when he's alone. The hard part is how to deal with the aftermath and avoid bringing his retaliation upon us. You know the Wang family is powerful. Taking revenge on us would be as easy as turning over their hands, and it might even drag our families into it." Liu Yuanzhou had already formed some ideas on the way over. He continued, "Also, don't forget that his family has a martial arts master."

Liu Chuang nodded, somewhat uncertain. "Then we'll secretly beat him up without revealing our identities. Could we cover our faces and dress up like masked heroes?"

"Mm, that's a good method. But to keep him from guessing it was us, we can't take revenge in the next couple of days. We need to push the timing back. Think about it—he beat you yesterday, and someone beats him tomorrow. Even a fool could guess it was you." Liu Yuanzhou nodded slightly and stroked his chin in thought for a moment before adding, "Let's act in twenty days or so. In the meantime, we'll secretly gather information about him and prepare for the operation."

Liu Chuang thought it over and felt that Liu Yuanzhou made sense. He nodded. "All right. I'll follow all your arrangements."

Liu Yuanzhou glanced at him and continued, "Now let's divide up the tasks. I'll be responsible for gathering information on Fatty Wang. Your job is to stay at home and not go anywhere." Seeing Liu Chuang's face immediately fall, Liu Yuanzhou thought it over and decided he should still give him something to do. An idea struck him. "Then I'll give you a task: find out what Wang Wu has been doing lately. Perhaps we can make use of him."

"Okay." The moment Liu Chuang heard that he had a task too, he immediately brightened.

"Also, come drink at my house tomorrow. Go call Xi Zi over," Liu Yuanzhou suddenly said.

Liu Chuang struggled inwardly for a while. At last, with helplessness in his voice, he said, "All right. Since you're helping me, I'll run this errand for you." In truth, he had long since let go of his grudge against Zhang He. Especially today, when Zhang He had stepped forward for him, Liu Chuang had been deeply moved. He simply had not taken the initiative to reconcile because of his pride.

The two discussed a few more details, then each went home.