father and daughter replied, “If we could return to our native village, we should look upon you as our parent for this new life. But will the proprietor of our inn let us go? If we go, the Bully will certainly demand the money from the inn proprietor.” Major Lu Da said that was not important as he had a plan. He took five taels of silver from his pocket and put them on the table and then asked Shi Jin if he could lend him some money till the following day. Shi Jin did not want repayment and placed an ingot of ten taels of silver on the table. Major Lu Da gave this money to the old man Jin and told him to make his arrangements at the inn, and he would come early the following morning to send them off. They gave their thanks and departed. Old Jin went outside the town and hired a cart for the following day; they paid the inn for the lodging; they packed their baggage, and waited for daybreak. About four o’clock he lit a fire and cooked some food for breakfast. Shortly after daybreak Major Lu Da arrived and told them to go quickly. As they moved toward the door the waiter stopped them and explained to the Major that the money for the pawning of the body was still unpaid, and the Bully had ordered him to watch them. Major Lu Da said that he himself would pay that to the butcher: but as the waiter was unwilling to let them go, the Major slapped his face so that blood flowed from his mouth: he knocked his two teeth out with his fist. The waiter rushed out of the inn, and the old man Jin with his daughter quickly left. Major Lu Da thought the waiter might intercept them, so he sat down on a stool and waited there for two hours. When he thought Jin had gone some distance he got up and walked to the Zhuangyuan Bridge.
The butcher had a double frontage shop, two butchers’ blocks, and about five sides of pork hanging. The butcher was behind the counter watching his ten assistants selling the meat. When Major Lu Da arrived, he stood outside the door, and called to the butcher, who came and saluted with folded hands. He said, “Excuse me” and then told an assistant to bring a stool for the Major, who sat down, saying, “I have an order from the garrison commander for thirteen jin53 of lean minced pork; he does not want the least fat in it.” The butcher told his assistants to get it ready but the Major objected. “Do not let those dirty men handle the meat. You cut it yourself.” “Very well,” said the butcher, “I will cut it myself.” He then got to the block, selected ten jin of lean pork, and cut it into small pieces. The waiter of the inn just then arrived with a towel wrapped round his head; when he saw Major Lu Da, he dare not come nearer, so he stood under the eaves of a house some distance away. It took the butcher quite half an hour to cut the meat, he then wrapped it in lotus leaves, and asked if he should send it.
“Send what?” asked Major Lu Da. “Wait! I want another thirteen jin and it must all be fat. There must not be any lean flesh with it. It must also be minced.”
“But it is now all lean pork,” said the butcher; “I am afraid that the commander wants to make pork pies. What use is there for minced fat?” Major Lu Da stared at the butcher, and said, “The commander gave me the order, so who dare ask questions?”
“No matter what purpose it is intended for, I will cut it up.” He then selected ten jin of the finest fat pork, minced it, and placed it in a lotus leaf. He had been cutting the pork almost all the morning and it was now near the dinner hour. The butcher said, “Shall I tell someone to go with you to carry this to the magistrate?”
Major Lu Da replied, “I also want ten jin of gristle to be chopped fine, there must be no flesh attached to it.”
The butcher laughed and said, “It appears as though you had specially come to waste my time.”
Major Lu Da upon hearing this, got up and staring at the butcher said, “I certainly came to waste your time.” He then picked up the two parcels of pork and threw them into the butcher’s face—the minced pork falling like a shower of rain. The butcher was very angry and his passion pervaded his body from his feet to the crown of his head. His heart became a burning mass of passions which could not be extinguished. He seized a sharp pointed knife and jumped out of the shop. Major Lu Da had got into the street before him. There was a crowd of neighbors but nobody dared intervene. The passers-by and the waiter from the inn were frightened out of their wits. The butcher had the knife in his right hand, and with his left he tried to seize Lu Da: but the Major caught his left arm and kicked him in the groin; so that he fell in the street. The Major took a step forward, and placed his foot on the butcher’s breast: he raised his fist (which was as large as a monk’s alms bowl) and said, “Now you are a butcher, and are like a dog. Why did you swindle the Jin’s girl, Cuilian?” He struck a blow on the butcher’s nose which was broken and twisted to one side, the blood was gushing forth like the breaking of a sauce bottle. The butcher could not rise and throwing aside his knife said, “Enough.”
Major Lu Da abused him, saying, “You thieving bastard! How dare you reply!” Then lifting his fist he struck the butcher in the corner of his eye such a blow that the eyeball fell out with a display of red, black, and purple colors on his cheeks. The butcher asked to be pardoned but Major Lu Da shouted, “You are a bad lot. If you were sincere I would forgive you; but I cannot do so.” He thereupon hit him on the temple and it seemed to the butcher as though a whole temple of priests were chanting their prayers, ringing bells, and clapping cymbals. The Major saw that the butcher was exhaling without any intake, so he falsely spoke to him, “You are pretending to die.” But he saw that his skin was gradually becoming pale. And he could hardly believe that three blows of his fist could have killed the man. He knew that he would be prosecuted, so he decided to go away. As he left, he saw the butcher was dead. As he went along, he turned round and abused the butcher: but the onlookers dared not interfere. Returning to his lodging the Major packed a few things and silver and taking a cudgel he quickly left the town by the South Gate.
The people tried to revive the body for half a day without success—for alas, he was quite dead. The members of the family went to the yamen and, when the magistrate came, made their accusation. The magistrate thought that as Major Lu Da was a military officer he had better report to the garrison commander; so at once he got in a sedan chair and went to the headquarters. When they met, the magistrate saluted, then he stated that Major Lu Da had killed a man but he dared not arrest him without the General’s consent. The General was startled at the news, and after some thought he asked the magistrate to arrest and try him according to the law. As Major Lu Da was still on the staff of the Old General Zhong of the frontier the sentence should be submitted to the latter for confirmation. The magistrate agreed to do this, and upon returning to his yamen he took his seat on the bench, and issued a warrant for the arrest of Major Lu Da. The inspector who received the warrant proceeded to the lodgings of the Major, but he found no clue there. Moreover as he did not know where he had gone he arrested the landlord and two of the neighbors. The magistrate sent these men temporarily to the detention house, and ordered the coroner to make a careful postmortem examination of the corpse, then have the body placed in a coffin, and deposited it in the courtyard of a temple awaiting further developments. He then issued a proclamation giving details of the murder, a full description of the major, with a reward of a thousand strings of cash for his arrest. This was printed and posted in public places in every district.
Lu Da traveled hastily without any definite object in view. When hungry, he took any food that was ready; when cold, any clothing available; hurrying, he did not choose road; and being poor he would have taken any woman as his wife. In just more than a fortnight he reached Yanmen County in the Daizhou Prefecture, and entering the town on a market day he found that the streets were crowded and noisy. Horses and carts were passing along side by side. There were all kinds of traders selling and buying goods from all parts. Although it was only a county town yet it was better than many a prefectural capital for business. Arriving at the crossroads he saw a crowd looking at a proclamation. He forced his way through the crowd, and as he could not read he listened to one man who was reading it aloud. It was the proclamation about himself, warning the people not to harbor him, and offering a reward for his arrest. When he had listened to this he heard a voice behind him say, “Elder brother Zhang, what are you doing here?” He was then pulled away from the crossroads.
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