not open their mouths. After they had finished their meal and paid the innkeeper they left the village, and on the road Lin Chong asked, “Elder brother, where are you going to?”
Lu Da said, “A murderer must see some blood, and so a rescuer must see that his man is quite safe. I am not yet quite easy in my mind about you so I will go with you as far as Cangzhou.”
The two constables upon hearing this muttered to themselves, “Here is more trouble! Our business is entirely spoiled! What can we say when we get back? But we cannot do anything except follow them.”
After that they were so afraid that Lu Da might kill them that they immediately agreed to whatever he wanted to do. If things were all right he cursed them, or if anything was wrong he hit them without the least protest from them. After about two days they got a cart for Lin Chong to sit in. The two constables were still so afraid and suspicious that they decided to follow Lu Da in order to preserve their own lives. On the way Lu Da paid for the food and wine for the party. Every day they stopped at inns quite early in the afternoon, and departed late the following morning. The two constables cooked the rice for the party, and also did whatever they were told to do. They discussed matters privately, and Dong Chao said, “We are under the close supervision of this monk, and when we go back Marshal Gao will blame us for our failure in carrying out his order.”
Xue Ba said, “I heard that a monk called Lu Da had recently been placed in charge of the vegetable garden at the branch temple of the Great Xiangguo Monastery, and I think this monk must be that person. So when we get back we must tell the truth, that we really tried to kill Lin Chong in the Yezhu Forest, but this monk stopped us from doing so, and then took us with him on the road to Cangzhou. In this way we shall escape punishment. We must return the ten taels of silver we received, and then Lu Qian will himself go and search for this monk. We shall thus be free from blame.”
Dong Chao said, “What you say is quite right.”
But Lu Da never let them get out of his sight, and after traveling for about eighteen days like this they were within twenty-three li of Cangzhou. Lu Da inquired and found out that there was no desolate spot about there as there were houses all along the road, and then decided to have a rest in a forest of fir trees nearby.
Lu Da spoke to Lin Chong, “Younger brother, we are now close to Cangzhou. I have made inquiries, and find that there are many houses on the way, and no unfrequented places. So I will leave you now, and see you again some other day.”
Lin Chong said, “Elder brother, when you return, you can report my safety to my father-in-law. If I live I will certainly reward you liberally for your benevolent protection.”
Lu Da took twenty taels of silver, and gave them to Lin Chong. He also gave three taels of silver to the two constables, and said, “If I had been by myself I would have decapitated both of you before now, but as my younger brother has pleaded for you I will let you off this time. Now your destination is not far away so you must not harbor your original vile plan.”
The constables said, “We will not do so. It was Marshal Gao Qiu, who deputed us to kill him.”
They received the silver, and just before they separated on their different ways, Lu Da spoke to the constables, “Are your heads as hard as the fir trees?”
The men replied, “Our heads are as they were at birth.”
Lu Da swung his staff and hit a tree with it leaving a gash two inches deep—and causing the top part to fall down. He then shouted, “If you two rascals have vile intentions I will treat your heads in the same way as that tree.” He then turned to Lin Chong, and said to him: “Younger brother, you had better be on your guard against these two men. I must now leave you.”
The two constables were so frightened that their tongues hung out for a long time.
Lin Chong said at last, “Well, we had better go.”
The constables said, “What brute strength that monk has! He broke a tree with just one blow of his staff.”
Lin Chong said, “That is only a small affair. At the Great Xiangguo Monastery he tore a tree up by its roots.”
The two men shook their heads upon learning that this monk was the very Lu Da they had supposed.
The three men then left the forest, and about noon they came to an inn which they entered, and Lin Chong requested the constables to take the seat of honor. After seven hours the two constables began to feel that they recovered their spirits. There were many men in the inn drinking wine, and five waiters attending to their wants. The waiters were very busy bringing first one thing and then another, Lin Chong and the two constables sat waiting for an hour, without a waiter coming to attend to them. Lin Chong’s patience was exhausted, so he rapped the table and called out, “I suppose the proprietor of this inn despises us because I am a criminal, and therefore he does not attend to us. But as I can pay for the wine, your conduct is most unreasonable.”
The proprietor replied, “You evidently do not understand why we do this.”
“As you do not supply us with food and wine what else is there to understand?”
The innkeeper said, “You evidently do not know that in this village we have a very wealthy man named Chai Jin who is also known as Squire Chai; he has been nicknamed by the robbers as Small Whirlwind. He is the descendant of Chai Shizong, of the Later Zhou Dynasty, who at Chen Qiao abdicated in favor of the Emperor Taizu, founder of the Song Dynasty and the latter bestowed on him a charter made in iron that all men must respect him and his offspring for all future time. In his home there are generally about fifty brave men who have come from all parts of the empire at his invitation. He has given us a general order that should any banished criminals pass this way they can go to his home, and he will assist them with money. If I supply you with wine and food your face would be red, and when he sees you in that condition he would assume that you are not short of money and would not assist you.”
Lin Chong upon hearing this turned to the two constables, and said, “While I was in the army at Kaifeng I often heard about this Squire Chai, but I never knew that he lives here. So why should we not go, and ask him to help us?”
The two constables saw no objection to this so they asked the proprietor of the inn where Squire Chai lived. The proprietor told them that they must follow the road in front of the inn for about a li till they came to a large stone bridge, and there turning off the road they would come to the village where Squire Chai lived.
Lin Chong thanked the proprietor of the inn, and leaving the inn they found the bridge. From there stretched a fine road leading to a clump of willow in which was situated the village they were looking for. The village was surrounded by a white wall and also a very broad moat on the banks of which were many big weeping willows. Upon reaching the moat they found there were about five men sitting on the bridge enjoying the cool air. The three men saluted, and then Lin Chong said, “Excuse me troubling you, but will you please inform your master that a criminal, named Lin, who is being escorted to the prison wishes to see him.”
The rustics replied, “You are unfortunate, as if our master had been at home he would have given you wine, food, and money. But today he went out hunting, and has not returned yet.”
Lin Chong asked, “When will he come back?”
The rustics replied, “We are not sure about that as he may have stopped at the eastern estate for a rest.”
Lin Chong said, “It is evident that I cannot see him, and that is unfortunate; so we will
