Water Margin: Did we kill Zheng Tu today?

Chapter 8 A Clean and Efficient Person

Li Zhong followed behind Zheng Tu, the two of them walking through the streets and alleys one after the other.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, they turned into a quiet alley, where a house appeared at the end. The two stopped in front of the door.

Li Zhong looked up and saw that although the house was not a grand mansion, it still had high walls and deep courtyards, with a continuous roof ridge, making it quite impressive in this alley.

He thought to himself, "This Master Zheng must have some wealth; this mansion is certainly not from an ordinary family."

He was secretly surprised, but his hand had already unconsciously rested on the whistle at his waist.

"Is this the place?" Li Zhong asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over the door and walls.

Zheng Tu did not answer, but gently leaned his staff against the wall, then took out a small piece of silver from his pocket, weighing about two qian, and handed it to Li Zhong.

"Consider this a bonus. You wait outside the door, and when I cough, burst in and subdue that pale-faced man. Make sure he can't move; his life or death is irrelevant."

Li Zhong took the silver; it felt heavy in his hand, and his heart warmed. He thought to himself, "This deal is worthwhile."

Seeing Zheng Tu straighten his clothes, he was about to step forward and knock on the door knocker.

Before Zheng Tu could raise his hand, Li Zhong suddenly stretched out his arm to stop him.

Zheng Tu turned his head, a look of doubt on his face.

Li Zhong leaned in half a step, his breath brushing against Zheng Tu's ear: "Does Your Excellency know how many people are inside?"

Zheng Tu held up two fingers and shook them.

Seeing this, Li Zhong smiled slightly: "If that's the case, why should you, sir, bother knocking on my door? Just watch my methods."

Before he finished speaking, he had already tucked the baton diagonally behind his back and tightened his waistband.

Before Zheng Tu could reply, Li Zhong, a seasoned traveler, proved to be quite agile.

He crouched down, walked briskly along the base of the courtyard wall for a few steps, and when he reached the eastern corner of the wall, he listened intently to the sounds coming from inside.

Without needing Zheng Tu to explain the layout of the house, he took two steps back, took a deep breath, and suddenly lunged forward, pushing off the wall with his right foot and grabbing the top of the wall with both hands.

Using the strength of his waist and legs, he silently flipped up the wall, peered out briefly from the top, and then leaped into the courtyard without even knocking a single tile.

Zheng Tu watched clearly from outside the door, and thought to himself, "What impressive skill! Although the original owner of this body has some strength, he's ultimately clumsy. It would be better to learn some martial arts moves from Li Zhong, so that with such skills to rely on, he can...

Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly heard a muffled thud in the courtyard, as if something heavy had fallen to the ground. Then I heard a low shout, which was followed by silence after a few shouts.

Zheng Tu Fang wanted to listen more closely.

"Squeak."

With a soft sound, the two large doors opened a crack from the inside.

Li Zhong peeked out, grinning smugly, and whispered, "My lord, please come in. Everything is ready!"

Li Zhong's move was clean and efficient, which truly surprised Zheng Tu.

He composed himself, stepped over the threshold, and turned back to gently insert the bolt.

……

In the main room, a man and a woman were tightly bound with hemp rope, kneeling back to back.

The man was around thirty years old, with a fair complexion, but his hair was disheveled and he had a bruise on his forehead; the woman was Fu Shi, with her hair askew, her outer garment loose, revealing an apricot-red undergarment underneath.

Zheng Tu ignored them and first glanced around the courtyard. The doors and windows of the side rooms were tightly closed, and the door to the main room was ajar; the commotion had clearly not disturbed the neighbors.

Once he felt a little more at ease, he strolled over to the couple and sat down in the seat of honor.

Li Zhong fetched half a bucket of cold water from the well and splashed it over the two men's heads.

Both of them had rags stuffed in their mouths, and when they were splashed with water, they slowly woke up.

His eyes were blank at first, but when he realized that the person standing in front of him was Zheng Tu, he couldn't help but let out a horrified "woo-woo" sound. His body twisted violently, and he looked at Zheng Tu as if he had seen a ghost!

What is Zheng Tu doing here?!

How did he find out about his family's affair?!

When did he get such a capable assistant?!

Fu shuddered, the rag in her mouth was ripped out by Li Zhong, and she immediately screamed, "Zheng Da! You, why are you back? What...what is this?!"

The pale-faced man also shouted, "Master Zheng, it's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"

Zheng Tu raised his hand to stop them from talking. His face was expressionless, neither furious nor heartbroken. He looked at them as if they were two objects in his way.

Having been reborn several times, he had become as calm as still water.

"Where are all the money and valuables kept at home?" he asked bluntly, his voice calm.

This Madam Fu is quite formidable. All the money the original owner earned was entrusted to her for management, so he had no idea how much wealth he possessed.

Madam Fu was taken aback, her eyes darting around in a panic, and she tried to evade the question: "What are you talking about, sir... household expenses..."

"explain."

Zheng Tu uttered only one word, his gaze falling on the pale-faced man's face. Li Zhong understood, and pressed the end of his cudgel against the man's Adam's apple, applying slight pressure.

The pale-faced man was deathly pale, cold sweat mingling with well water as he cried out urgently, "It's...it's in the hidden compartment by the bedside in the bedroom! There are also some precious jewelry under her dressing case! The land deeds and banknotes are under the bedding!"

He spoke fluently, as if he were afraid of speaking even a fraction too slowly.

Fu stared at him in disbelief, her lips trembling, but she could no longer utter a word.

Zheng Tu got up and went as instructed. Before long, he found a blue cloth bundle, which was obviously prepared in advance.

He opened the box and examined it briefly. There were several ingots of official silver, some loose gold and silver ingots, several pieces of gold and jade jewelry, and a stack of land deeds.

He picked out the gold, silver and valuables, wrapped them up, looked at the land deeds, and then put them back on the table as they were.

These are inanimate objects; you can't take them with you, and you can't exchange them quickly.

He walked back to the main room and casually picked up a cowhide rope.

Seeing this, Li Zhong wanted to stop them, but after thinking about it, he stood still.

Fu seemed to sense something was wrong. She shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face, and sobbed, "My lord, spare my life! My lord! For the sake of our many years of marriage... this scoundrel forced me..."

Zheng Tu seemed not to hear, his hands moving without stopping, the rope looping around Fu's neck and then tightening around the pale-faced man's neck.

The two men struggled desperately, back to back, kicking and thrashing with their four legs, but because they were tightly bound together and pulled on each other, they could exert even less strength.

Zheng Tu strained his arms, his muscles bulging, his face eerily calm.

After a short while, the thrashing subsided, and finally, the two bodies went limp.

Li Zhong, who was watching from the sidelines, saw it all clearly. Even though he had seen his share of things in the martial arts world, his heart still skipped a beat.

This Zheng Tu was far too decisive. He asked for the money and settled the account immediately, without saying a single unnecessary word.

He couldn't help but glance at Zheng Tu, only to see the other man wiping his hands with a cloth, his profile half-lit and half-shadowed.

"My lord," Li Zhong hesitated for a moment before speaking, "this is... the punishment?" He had originally thought that at least he would be forced to reveal the reason for the affair, or humiliate him to vent his anger.

Zheng Tu tossed the cloth beside the well and said indifferently, "Such sordid matters are unpleasant to hear. Since they have already harbored disloyal intentions, they are enemies. What's the point of talking to enemies? Decide quickly and save yourself the trouble."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhong felt a slight tremor in his heart.

For some reason, a sense of fear arose in his heart towards this official Zheng.

Looking again at Zheng Tu's calm and composed expression, he vaguely felt that this Zheng Da Guanren, who was wielding a knife to sell meat, was probably not a cunning and scheming person.

Just then, the courtyard gate was gently knocked on, three long knocks and two short knocks, quite rhythmic.

Zheng Tu and Li Zhong were both startled and exchanged a glance. Zheng Tu signaled Li Zhong to be on guard, then quietly walked behind the door and listened intently.

A hushed voice came from outside the door: "My lord, it's me, Wang San from the shop."

It was the waiter he had sent to keep an eye on Old Man Jin and his daughter.

Zheng Tu felt a sense of relief and instinctively reached for the door latch, but suddenly stopped.

He remained calm and peered through the crack in the door.

Wang San was standing outside the door.

And just a few steps behind him, in the shadows of the alley corner, stood a burly, bear-like man!

Zheng Tu's mind went blank, and his blood seemed to freeze instantly.

Lu Zhishen!