Stakeout

The next day, Liu Yuanzhou invited Liu Chuang and Zhang He over for drinks at the Cave Dwelling where he lived. After three rounds of wine, Liu Yuanzhou raised his cup and looked earnestly at the two of them. "Hu Wa, Xi Zi, drink this cup. Let all the unpleasantness between us be wiped away with one stroke. From now on, we're still good brothers."

Liu Chuang and Zhang He exchanged smiles, raised their cups, and drained them in one gulp.

Seeing that the two had finally made up, Liu Yuanzhou was sincerely delighted. Smiling, he kept urging them to drink, and the atmosphere at the table immediately grew lively. The three traded cups, played drinking games, and guessed fists until nearly midnight, when Liu mother Zhang Shi came in to check on them and broke up the gathering. All three were dead drunk. In the end, Liu Yuanbo and Liu Da had to take Liu Chuang and Zhang He home.

When Liu Yuanzhou got up early the next morning, his head felt as though it were splitting apart, and his stomach was still churning endlessly. He secretly swore, I'll never get drunk again. It was not until after breakfast, when he threw up once more, that Liu Yuanzhou felt a little better. In this state, practicing martial arts was naturally out of the question, so he decided to be lazy for a day.

On the evening of the second day after the drinking, Liu Yuanzhou finished his meal and slipped out of the house under the excuse of looking for Liu Chuang. After leaving the courtyard and reaching the main road, he headed toward Crouching Tiger Slope. He was going to Fatty Wang's home—to stake out the Wang Family Old House.

How should he teach Fatty Wang a lesson? Liu Yuanzhou actually already had two plans. One was to sneak into his home and quietly beat him up. The other was to seize an opportunity when Fatty Wang was alone and teach him a lesson.

The greatest obstacle to the first plan was the Wang family's martial arts instructor, Martial Master Zheng. Liu Yuanzhou knew how formidable a martial arts instructor was. To slip into the Wang Family Estate under a martial arts instructor's very nose without being discovered was beyond his ability, by his own reckoning. The greatest problem with the second plan was that it would be difficult to catch Fatty Wang alone. He and Liu Chuang could not watch Fatty Wang without pause, so that would depend on luck.

Liu Yuanzhou leaned toward the first plan. In his view, Martial Master Zheng would not remain at the Wang Family Estate all the time. He had to go out eventually, and that would be Liu Yuanzhou's opportunity. Thus, he planned to first take a look around the Wang Family Estate and study the terrain in preparation for making his move later.

As for Martial Master Zheng's whereabouts, he planned to have Zhang He inquire into them. Liu Chuang would continue keeping an eye on Wang Wu. Liu Yuanzhou had always believed that Wang Wu and that White-Haired Taoist would make some major move. Because of that day's drinking, Liu Yuanzhou had told Zhang He about his plan to take revenge on Fatty Wang as well. Zhang He had readily joined the revenge squad, so Liu Yuanzhou assigned him this task.

The Wang Family Old House stood at the foot of the mountains south of Crouching Tiger Slope, some two or three li away. Its walls were high and its gates vermilion, with rows upon rows of buildings. Fatty Wang's family lived there. Everyone knew this.

At this moment, Liu Yuanzhou stood atop the mountain behind the old house, looking down at the courtyard below. High walls surrounded the courtyard on all sides, and its buildings stretched out in tangled rows.

Dusk was approaching. Liu Yuanzhou saw many people going in and out of the rooms in the courtyard. From time to time, barking could be heard. Clearly, the courtyard kept dogs to guard the home.

Only after darkness fell and lamps lit up one after another in the courtyard did Liu Yuanzhou descend the mountain by the way he had come. After passing through a patch of woods, he arrived in Crouching Tiger Slope village.

After leaving Crouching Tiger Slope, Liu Yuanzhou frowned in thought as he walked home.

He had observed a great deal from the mountaintop and roughly worked out the courtyard's layout, but he could not determine exactly which room Fatty Wang lived in.

The courtyard had dogs, but that was easy enough to deal with—just a few bones would do.

And whether Martial Master Zheng would remain in the residence all the time would have to be analyzed alongside the information Zhang He gathered. Liu Yuanzhou had not seen Martial Master Zheng in the courtyard that day.

Looks like I'll have to come a few more times before I get the result I want, Liu Yuanzhou thought. Before he knew it, he had already entered his own courtyard.

Over the next seven days, Liu Yuanzhou carried on as usual, helping his family plow fields and plant crops. Every day or two, he secretly climbed up the mountain behind the Wang Family Old House to investigate once.

During that time, Liu Yuanzhou met with Liu Chuang and Zhang He once, and they each reported the progress of their efforts. The results were less than satisfactory. Zhang He had failed to learn anything related to Martial Master Zheng, while Liu Chuang had inquired several times about Wang Wu's recent circumstances. Everything was normal.

That was only to be expected. It was the first time the three of them had done something like this, and they had no experience. Moreover, the matter concerned their own safety, so they all acted with utmost caution.

In the end, Liu Yuanzhou summed up, "Zhang He, you can't inquire blindly. Doesn't Xiucai have many classmates in Crouching Tiger Slope? They might have dealings with the Wang family. You can get to know them through Xiucai, then slowly sound them out."

"As for Hu Wa, keep doing things your original way. Be careful not to attract Wang Wu and the others' attention."

Liu Chuang and Zhang He nodded in agreement.

Another seven or eight days passed. Liu Yuanbo's fruit tree saplings had also been planted, on the hillside behind the village. These past few days, Liu Yuanzhou had helped carry water to irrigate them every day. Whether the saplings survived depended entirely on whether they were properly cared for during this initial period. Liu Yuanbo spent every day soaking himself in the orchard, tending them with great care, and had grown noticeably thinner.

Zhang Shi felt heartache for her son and began blaming her daughter-in-law. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have let you plant any trees. Look how exhausted Da Wa is." Li Shi could only secretly wipe away her tears and did not dare talk back.

That day, the three met again. Zhang He excitedly shared a piece of good news: the Wang family's Martial Master Zheng had gone on a long journey. Zhang He had learned it by accident while listening to Xiucai chat with several classmates. He had even pretended to be curious and asked Xiucai's classmate where Martial Master Zheng had gone and when he would return. That person said he did not know either. Still, this news was incomparably precious.

After investigating the Wang Family Old House seven or eight times, Liu Yuanzhou had also roughly figured out Fatty Wang's residence. Liu Chuang had yet to discover anything substantial, which left him rather depressed, but the information from his side seemed irrelevant to the entire revenge plan now.

Only then did Liu Yuanzhou tell the other two about the first plan he had devised. They were incomparably excited after hearing it.

Liu Chuang cried impatiently, "What are we waiting for? Let's act tonight! I can't wait another moment."

Zhang He said as well, "Yeah, Second Child, let's act tonight." As he spoke, he kept rubbing his hands together.

Liu Yuanzhou pondered for a moment. "Tonight is too rushed. We still need to prepare some things, and there are details we need to discuss."

Liu Yuanzhou had already prepared everything. He got up, opened the wooden chest on the kang, and took out three black face coverings, three wooden sticks as long as an arm and three fingers thick, and a length of rope.

Liu Chuang spun a stick around in his hand, his face full of admiration. "Second Child, you're really something."

Zhang He covered his face and struck silly poses.

Liu Yuanzhou quickly said, "Those aren't toys. They're for the operation. Come over here. Let's discuss the specific details."

Only then did Liu Chuang and Zhang He reluctantly put down the sticks and face coverings and sit in front of Liu Yuanzhou.

Liu Yuanzhou said, "We'll act tomorrow night. What do you think?" Seeing Liu Chuang and Zhang He nod, Liu Yuanzhou continued, "After dark tomorrow, we'll meet beneath the Old Locust Tree at the village entrance. The excuse we give our families is that we're going to Crouching Tiger Slope to drink with Xiucai."

Liu Yuanzhou took a sheet of paper from his chest, unfolded it, and spread it over the kang. Liu Chuang and Zhang He leaned in to look. A crude map was drawn on it, showing the outline of a courtyard, a mountain, and a patch of woods. Seeing that Liu Yuanzhou had even drawn a map, Liu Chuang and Zhang He admired him all the more.

Pointing at the map, Liu Yuanzhou said, "This is the Wang Family Old House. You both know where it is. We'll climb over the wall from here, and this spot is Fatty Wang's room."

"When the time comes, I'll climb over the wall, knock Fatty Wang unconscious, and abduct him. You two will wait outside the wall to back me up. As for how I'll get him out, you don't need to worry. I have my own method."

"Then we'll take Fatty Wang to this patch of woods. It's about half a li from the courtyard. We'll beat him up viciously there."

"That's my plan. What do you think?" Liu Yuanzhou said at last, looking at Liu Chuang and Zhang He as he waited to hear their opinions.

Liu Chuang pondered for a moment. "It's a good plan, but Second Child, I'll go into the courtyard with you and get Fatty Wang out. Let Xi Zi wait outside alone to back us up."

"Heh, there's no need. I have my own method. If you go, you'll only interfere with my actions." Liu Yuanzhou shook his head with a smile.

"Then we'll do everything your way," Liu Chuang said. Ever since that day at Xiucai's house, when Liu Yuanzhou had shown his hand and beaten Li Xiaoming and the others by himself, Liu Chuang had known how formidable Liu Yuanzhou was. He vaguely sensed that Liu Yuanzhou seemed to have learned some powerful martial arts, so after hearing Liu Yuanzhou's words, he said nothing more.

"Second Child, we can pretend to be bandits who roam the rivers and lakes. Then Fatty Wang won't guess it was us," Zhang He said at this point.

Liu Yuanzhou nodded in praise. "Good. We'll call ourselves heroes from Two Dragons Mountain, passing through this place and borrowing a little travel money from Fatty Wang." They had heard Third Master mention Two Dragons Mountain when telling stories from Water Margin. Heroes such as Lu Zhishen had taken refuge in the mountain as outlaws.

"Good, we'll say that." Liu Chuang and Zhang He cheered.

With the plan settled, the three went their separate ways. Liu Chuang and Zhang He each returned home.