Sui and Tang Dynasties: Awakening the Supreme Skills at the Beginning

Chapter 29: The Thief at Midnight

Having nothing to do at night, Li Zhen started meditating after dinner.

As the spiritual power circulated in his body, Li Zhen felt more and more comfortable, and his perception ability was further improved.

At midnight, everything was quiet and a bright moon hung overhead.

There is a blue brick and tile house in Zhangjiazhuang, which is Zhang Mingyuan’s house.

During the day, Zhang Mingyuan was taken to the county jail by Li Shutong. The Zhang family was immediately in chaos. From Zhang Guangji onwards, everyone was in turmoil.

This was the first time that the Zhang family had suffered such a huge loss in all the more than ten years they had been running rampant in Shenxing Town!

"Dad! Grandpa has been arrested. Are we just going to sit there and do nothing?"

Zhang Chuangqiang endured the pain in his body and spoke to his father Zhang Jixian.

"It's all because of you, this rebellious son. Why did you have to pick on this stupid boy Li Zhen when you could pick on anyone else?"

Zhang Jixian scolded angrily.

"Dad, I know I was wrong and I will never look down on them again."

Zhang Chuang lowered his head and said with a bitter face.

"Well, Chuang'er, if you want to deal with someone, you don't have to do it yourself. You need to be smarter..."

Zhang Guangji smiled sinisterly, "For example, regarding today's incident, go call Zhang An and Zhang Jie in!"

"I will quietly turn Li Zhen's family into paupers again, or even kill them. Even if the government finds out, it won't be our fault! Haha! Chuang'er, you are too young. Learn more from your father!"

……

Li Zhen suddenly sensed the presence of a stranger approaching outside. He opened his eyes, his eyes shining with brilliance.

Then there was a rustling sound, and someone was fiddling with their door.

"Is there a thief?"

Li Mantun also woke up and walked barefoot to the main room, where he saw Li Zhen who was ready for battle.

"Zhen'er..."

As soon as Li Mantun opened his mouth, Li Zhen put his finger on his lips and made a "hush" sound. Li Mantun understood and stopped talking. He turned around, picked up a rolling pin, held it high, and faced the door.

The light from the stars and the moon shone through the crack in the door, and the shiny tip of the knife could be vaguely seen, emitting a cold glow.

squeak...

The bolt was slowly opened by the tip of the knife.

The two held their breath and waited quietly for the thief to enter.

According to Li Mantun's original intention, he wanted to bolt the door and then make some noise to scare away the thieves.

But the door is not strong, and if the thieves are bold and have more people than others, they can break it down in a few strokes.

Once the thieves are on guard, a surprise attack becomes meaningless and a sneak attack becomes ineffective.

The best way is to take them by surprise, knock down two with a club first, and then the rest will be easy to deal with.

As long as there aren't too many people, there's no problem.

Although Li Zhen was strong and not afraid of thieves, he did not want to alarm other people at home in the middle of the night, so he had to solve the problem quietly.

Bang!

The bolt was opened. Li Zhen concentrated and clenched his fists, while Li Mantun held up a rolling pin.

squeak...

The door was gently pushed open a crack, and a leg stepped in.

Li Mantun aimed at the thigh and hit it hard with a stick.

"Ah! There's an ambush!"

Someone screamed, and then the door was slammed open, and two figures appeared in the moonlight.

"Who are you? Breaking into the house in the middle of the night! Li Zhen is here!"

Li Zhen threw a punch at the person who came, and his fist hit the person's chest with a sound of wind.

With a "bang", the man stretched out his arms to block Li Zhen's fist, and his body was knocked away by the force of the fist.

You know, Li Zhen's fist can even knock over a galloping warhorse with one punch, but the thieves were able to block it easily. It seems that this group of thieves are not simple!

Li Zhen thought to himself.

Li Mantun was about to rush out the door holding a rolling pin, but Li Zhen stepped forward to stop him and said softly, "Uncle, you should stay in the house to protect the family. The thief outside the door has some skills, so leave it to your nephew."

When Li Mantun heard Li Zhen say that the thief had some kung fu skills, he quickly stopped, tightly gripped the rolling pin in his hand, and looked around vigilantly.

Li Zhen crouched down, jumped out of the room, and in the blink of an eye he was fighting with the thief.

Bang bang bang...whoosh whoosh!

The two men responded quickly and fought evenly.

As the two were fighting, they suddenly heard the sound of a gong, followed by a loud shout, "The thieves are entering the village!"

The silence of the village was suddenly broken by the noise.

"Who? Who?"

Every household lit up their oil lamps, and suddenly a stern shout rang out: "The ground is very tight, the wind is strong, hurry up and get your people out!"

After a moment, Li Zhen shouted: "Where are the thieves escaping!"

But the person opposite him tiptoed onto the roof with the injured thief, and disappeared after a few jumps.

Li Zhen opened the door and came to the street. The street was already crowded with people.

"The thief has escaped, chase him!"

Uncle Wang shouted loudly.

Li Zhen raised his arms and shouted, "Uncle Wang, take a few people to defend the village, and the rest of you follow me to chase!"

Although the thief was powerful and carried weapons, it was very dangerous to chase him late at night, but who was Li Zhen? How could a mere thief scare him!

Li Zhen then led the rest of the group and chased after the thieves along their escape route.

In the hazy night, from afar, a few people in front were running with one person on their backs, and behind them, Li Zhen and a group of villagers were chasing them closely with torches held high.

Luo Cang looked back at the torches in the distance getting closer and closer, and couldn't help but shout: "Brother, let me go, you and second brother run away quickly! Otherwise, none of us three can escape!"

"Nonsense! We brothers have always lived and died together. Big brother, you don't even take a few villagers seriously!"

As he spoke, he put more strength into his legs, and his speed immediately increased a lot.

Luo Xiu, who was following closely behind him, glanced at his eldest brother and third brother, a trace of reluctance flashed across his eyes.

Then he turned around, picked up his long knife, and rushed towards the torches that were approaching from far away.

"kill!"

With a loud shout, Luo Xiu killed the crowd, but before his knife fell on the villagers, Li Zhen raised his palm and pushed lightly. A huge force threw Luo Xiu high up, and then fell heavily to the ground.

"Tied!"

Luo Xiu was lying on the ground unable to move. Wang Qingshan and Li Erhai came forward, put their hemp shoulders around his back, and tied him up tightly with a hemp rope.

Li Zhen waved his hand and walked over to four people, lifted up Luo Xiu's arms and legs respectively, and continued to chase in the direction where the thief escaped.

After an incense stick of time, Li Zhen and his men were getting closer and closer, and it seemed that they were almost reaching each other.

Luocang looked back and became anxious.

He stuffed a cloth bag in his arms into Luo Liang's arms and shouted, "Brother, hurry up and leave. I will go and hold them off for a while. Don't forget about mother. She can't wait any longer!"

As Luo Cang spoke, he jumped off Luo Liang's back and limped towards the direction where Li Zhen and others were coming from.

"Third brother!"

Luo Liang turned around and watched Luocang being engulfed by torches, his heart aching.

Then he turned around and started running.

After dealing with Luo Cang, Li Zhen was not in a hurry. He stared at Luo Liang slowly and leisurely.

He wanted to see what this thief was up to!

From a distance, Li Zhen saw Luo Liang enter a small courtyard with adobe walls.

Li Zhen raised his hand and said, "Surround them!"

The people holding torches surrounded the courtyard with a loud noise.

Wang Qingshan and Li Erhai picked up wooden sticks and kicked open the dilapidated wooden door.

Li Zhen was in front and two people were behind, and they broke in.

But in the main room, there was a tattered mat on the floor, and on the mat a white-haired old woman was lying on her back. Luo Liang was feeding the old woman the stolen rice bit by bit.

"Mom, you haven't eaten for three days, you should eat this little rice quickly!"

Luo Liang half-knelt in front of the old woman, using a spoon to feed rice into her mouth bit by bit.

"Da Lang, I'm not hungry. You still have to work tomorrow, so you should eat!"

"Mom, I'm full. Look, my belly is bulging. I brought this specially for you."

As soon as he said this, his stomach started to growl uncooperatively and Luo Liang's face turned red.

Luo Zhang smiled softly: "You're not hungry yet, your stomach is growling!"

"Mom, you eat first. Liang'er can eat after you finish eating."

"it is good!"

Luo Zhang sighed softly, tears welling up in her eyes.

Luo Liang scooped out a spoonful of rice with a spoon and gently put it into his mother's mouth. Luo Zhang was so hungry that she lowered her eyes obediently and ate the rice. Seeing this, Luo Liang smiled with satisfaction.

He continued to feed her the second spoonful, and Luo Zhang said stubbornly, "I'm full, you can eat the rest, Dalang!"

"Da Lang is not hungry, let mother eat!"

……

Li Zhen stood on the ground and watched for a while, his heart ached, he pushed the door open and walked out, and the two people behind him also followed him out.

About an incense stick later, Luo Liang finished feeding his mother, walked out of the house, glanced at Li Zhen in the yard, and bowed to Li Zhen.

"Thank you, my good man, for letting me have a full meal before I died. You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you. I, Luo Liang, will not say a word!"

At this time, hearing the noise, a group of villagers gathered around.

"Master, please let my son go. He stole just for an old woman like me. Arrest me and put me in jail!"

The hunchbacked, thin, and white-haired Luo Zhang crawled out of the house, knelt in front of Li Zhen and kowtowed.

"Master, please forgive our master! It is wrong for him to steal, but he has no choice. My mother-in-law is sick and needs medicine. He works for others from dawn to dusk but can't earn much money. He has no choice but to take this path. We kowtow to you!"

The three wives brought a group of children to kneel down and kowtow to Li Zhen and his men.

Li Zhen reached out to help, but couldn't, so he had to turn sideways.

"Alas, the three brothers of the Luo family are really filial sons! If their father had not passed away two years ago, they would not have become thieves in order to bury him, and their old mother had fallen ill, so they had to sell all their land. The income from working as a farmhand was not enough to feed the family! Otherwise, they would not have become thieves. Even though they were thieves, they never stole a single grain of food from our house."

"Sir, please let them go! These three brothers are all good people!"

"You've captured all three of their strong laborers. How are they going to survive?"

The villagers who were watching all advised against it.

Luo Liang knelt down and kowtowed to his mother, then said to his wife.

"Take good care of me and my kids. I'm leaving now!"

Li Zhen felt as if his heart was stabbed hard.

He worked hard but could not support his mother, wife and children, and was forced to become a thief.

What the hell is this world!

This was the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. If it were in the turbulent previous dynasty, how could people survive?

The common people are suffering!

Seeing Li Zhen's livid face, the onlookers dared not speak.

Only Luo Zhang and a few young wives were quietly wiping away their tears.