Chapter 12: The Heroes Gather for a Joyous Feast, Song Saburo’s True Nature is Revealed

In the front hall, Zhang Yue and the other heroes were enjoying themselves, singing and dancing with abandon. “Life is short, let’s make the most of it!” they sang.

In the back room, Song Jiang heard their merriment, but his heart was filled with sorrow. He vented his anger on Song Qing.

Wu Yong had never seen Song Jiang so ferocious before. He was too scared to speak. Fortunately, the front hall was bustling with noise. No matter how loudly Song Qing screamed or how harshly Song Jiang cursed, no one would hear them.

In the front hall, the cavalry leaders, including Lu Junyi, Guan Sheng, Huyan Zhuo, Qin Ming, Dong Ping, Shi Jin, and Yang Zhi, the infantry leaders, including Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Yan Qing, and Liu Tang, and the navy leaders, including the three Ruan brothers, all surrounded Zhang Yue, vying to toast him and thank him for killing Gao Qiu, avenging them.

The leaders of the logistics and intelligence departments, including Chai Jin, Li Ying, Zhu Gui, and Zhu Fu, all scrambled to get close to Zhang Yue, asking him to recount how he killed Gao Qiu.

Zhang Yue told them how he listed Gao Qiu’s crimes one by one, how Gao Qiu forced Wang Jin to leave, causing the country to lose a great general. Shi Jin was so moved that he almost knelt down on the spot.

Seeing this, the other heroes couldn’t help but shed tears. They all raised their bowls of wine and toasted the distant Wang Instructor, who was serving under the command of General Lao Zhong in Yan’an Prefecture.

Shi Jin sighed, stood on the table, raised his bowl towards Yan’an Prefecture, and shouted majestically, “Master! That day, Gao Qiu was on Liangshan. I, your unworthy disciple, was unable to kill him and avenge you. I am ashamed. I thought I would never be able to face you again in this life. Fortunately, Brother Zhang Yue killed the traitor with his spear…”

“Come! Let’s toast Brother Zhang Yue!” the heroes shouted in unison.

When Zhang Yue mentioned Gao Qiu’s allowing his son to commit crimes, his persecution of Lin Niangzi, the White Tiger Hall, and his framing of Instructor Lin, he suddenly remembered Lin Chong.

Strangely, since Lin Chong got drunk at the South Mountain Inn that day and was captured by Lu Junyi, he hadn’t seen him again.

Zhang Yue quickly asked everyone, “Brothers, who has seen Instructor Lin today? Where is he? Why isn’t he here?”

As soon as Zhang Yue finished speaking, the Hall of Righteousness fell silent. Everyone put down their bowls of wine and sighed.

“You’ll have to ask Brother Gongming about Instructor Lin’s whereabouts!” Li Kui mumbled from the corner.

Zhang Yue looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a man with a thick, bear-like body, as playful as an iron ox.

His eyebrows were reddish-brown, and his eyes were filled with red veins. His hair was like an iron brush, and his face was as ferocious as a lion. He was like a demon from the heavens descending from a cloud ladder.

Zhang Yue thought to himself, “This black brute must be the Iron Whirlwind, Li Kui. No wonder he’s so ferocious. He’s not a human, he’s a real-life gorilla!”

Zhang Yue recognized the speaker as Li Kui and quickly walked over, bowing, “Brother Iron Ox, there are so many heroes here, and there are even leaders who specialize in gathering intelligence. They don’t know Instructor Lin’s whereabouts. Could Chief Song know?”

Zhang Yue knew that Li Kui was Song Jiang’s confidant and the only one from Song Jiang’s faction who was drinking in the Hall of Righteousness today. So, he deliberately provoked Li Kui.

Li Kui fell for it, “It must be that Brother Gongming is afraid that Instructor Lin will kill that dog official, Gao Qiu, and has locked him up!”

If anyone else had said this, Li Kui would have chopped them to pieces. Everyone was surprised that these words came out of Li Kui’s mouth.

It seemed that Liangshan was about to change. They all clamored to accompany Zhang Yue to Song Jiang’s place to inquire about Lin Chong’s whereabouts.

Zhang Yue looked around. Apart from Wu Yong, Hua Rong, Dai Zong, Kong Ming, Kong Liang, Wang Ying, and Hu San Niang, who were all loyal supporters of Song Jiang, almost all the leaders were present.

It wouldn’t be appropriate for everyone to go to Song Jiang’s place, so he told everyone to continue drinking.

He took Chai Jin, Li Ying, Lu Junyi, Guan Sheng, Huyan Zhuo, Qin Ming, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Yang Zhi, Liu Tang, Shi Jin, Zhang Qing, and the three Ruan brothers, more than twenty Heavenly Gang Generals, and quietly left the Hall of Righteousness, heading to the back room where Song Jiang lived.

As soon as they stepped into the back room, they heard Song Jiang’s scolding.

Zhang Yue motioned for everyone to remain silent. The twenty or so people stood quietly in the courtyard. Song Jiang continued to scold, “I told you to take charge of arranging the feast on Liangshan, just so you could profit from it for my Song family. Through the mouths of our brothers, you could turn the property of Big Official Chai and Gentleman Li into my, Song Sanlang’s, property!”

“Slap, slap!” Song Jiang angrily whipped him twice, and Song Qing screamed hysterically. Song Jiang continued to scold, “Look at you. How have you been doing? It’s been years, and you’ve only gotten me a few tens of thousands of taels of silver! The other day, when Grand Marshal Gao came, I was too embarrassed to take it out…”

Song Jiang said this with a hint of disappointment, raised his whip to strike again, but seeing that Song Qing was already a bloody mess, he stopped.

He threw the whip away and continued to scold, “You shouldn’t have done this, you shouldn’t have done this. You shouldn’t have made a fuss about the plaque. You lost sight of the big picture…”

Song Qing was ashamed and dared not look at Song Jiang. Song Jiang said with a heavy heart, “I wanted to gain a good reputation, so I gave away silver, five taels here, ten taels there. The title of ‘及时雨’ (timely rain) was ruined by you in one fell swoop!”

Song Jiang’s words were all true, all the dirty secrets that he couldn’t reveal, were heard clearly by everyone outside the door.

Zhang Yue smiled awkwardly and wanted to lead everyone back to the Hall of Righteousness, but Wu Song stepped forward and kicked open Song Jiang’s door. Song Jiang saw the gloomy faces of the heroes outside.

Knowing that his secret was out, he stopped pretending and pointed at everyone, saying, “Brothers, to be honest, how have I, Song Jiang, treated you?”

Everyone remained silent.

“You, Gentleman Lu, Big Official Chai, although you have a lot of wealth, without me, the Righteous Black Third Brother, could you have become famous throughout the world?”

Lu Junyi and Chai Jin looked at Song Jiang disdainfully and said nothing.

“And you, Guan Sheng, a mere patrol inspector of Pudong, and you, Huyan Zhuo, a mere commander of Runing County, if it weren’t for me, Song Jiang, could you have become Five Tiger Generals?”

Song Jiang spoke with passion, and Wu Yong behind him was trembling with fear.

He was afraid that these people would find out that it was his cunning plan that had caused them to lose their families and be forced to join Liangshan.

Wu Yong dared not interrupt Song Jiang’s words, afraid that Song Jiang would publicly recount his “brilliant schemes.”

Song Jiang completely gave up. He wanted to vent all the repression in his heart:

“And you, Dong Ping, a villain who killed a whole family and took over a woman, without me, the Timely Rain of Shandong, you wouldn’t know how many times you’ve died!”

Everyone was surprised that Song Jiang had taken the initiative by accusing them first. The people present silently lowered their heads.

But for the true heroes, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, the three Ruan brothers, and Liu Tang, Song Jiang felt ashamed and lowered his head.

The scene was extremely awkward. Song Jiang had essentially lost his qualifications as the leader of the mountain stronghold, but no one dared to point it out.

“Not good! Not good! Instructor Lin is in trouble!” The Knife Ghost, Cao Zheng, rushed in.

Song Jiang, upon hearing this, cried out, “Waa!” He knelt down, beat his chest, and stomped his feet, shouting, “Brother! I, Song Sanlang, am sorry! It’s my fault!”