Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

After Ren Yuan finished asking his question, it was clear that Liu Si and his wife, along with his elderly father, fell silent.

"Mom, eat!"

The child, unaware of what was happening, saw that his parents were not speaking and immediately raised a chicken leg to stuff it into their mouths.

"Dabao, eat first, Mommy will eat in a little while."

Liu Si's wife quickly comforted her child, afraid of upsetting Ren Yuan.

"It's alright, it's nothing."

Ren Yuan smiled and waved his hand, signaling the children to continue playing, while seriously asking Liu Si a question.

“Brother Liu, tell me, what happened? Now that you’ve joined Liangshan, you’re a member of the stronghold. If you’ve been treated unfairly, as the leader, I can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

"Yes, Liu Si, if there's anything, just tell the chief. You're a grown man, don't keep things to yourself."

Song Wan also came up, patted Liu Si on the back, and encouraged him.

"Fellow chieftains, let me tell you. My whole family originally came from Xixi Village at the foot of Liangshan Mountain. My parents, my wife, and two children, along with a few acres of poor land, meant that although we weren't exactly well-fed and clothed, we never went hungry. We were a happy family."

"Xixi Village, that's very close, it's right at the foot of the mountain."

Du Qian, an old man from Liangshan, was also surprised at this moment. What had happened so close by that made this man and his family want to go up the mountain?

"Yes, but unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. One day, the youngest son of the village head of Xixi Village took a fancy to my wife and started harassing her. We tolerated and forced them to back down many times, but they were still not satisfied."

"First, they falsely accused my parents of altering the land deed and forcibly seized our family's land. Then, under the pretense of delivering young boys and girls to the Xixi River God, they tried to forcibly take my two poor children."

"Just when my family was at our wits' end, the village head's youngest son came to our door again and said that as long as my wife spent the night with him, he would stop making things difficult for us."

"brute!"

Yuan Lang's expression darkened, and he couldn't help but curse.

“Of course I refused, but the headman’s son pulled out an IOU and said that I owed him fifty taels of silver and that if I didn’t pay it back, he would set my house on fire.”

“My mother was furious and went up to argue with them. They pushed her with their men, and she fell and injured the back of her head. She died on the spot.”

"Insolence! Is no one in charge? Have you reported this to the authorities?"

Ren Yuan was instantly enraged. What kind of bandits and village bullies were these? How could they be so lawless?

"Of course we went, but chieftain, the government office faces south, and those with reason but no money are not allowed in. I went to the city to file a complaint, but the people at the government office beat me out with sticks."

Liu Si became increasingly upset as he spoke, and even pulled open his clothes to point out the bruises from the beating.

"What's going on? The magistrate of Yuncheng County should be a decent official. Besides, I heard that there's a clerk in Yuncheng County nicknamed 'Timely Rain,' he shouldn't be protecting such a person, right?"

Du Qian was somewhat incredulous. He had been in Liangshan for some time and considered himself to have some understanding of Yuncheng County.

"I didn't go into the yamen and didn't see the magistrate. As for that clerk, I saw a short, dark-skinned man dressed as a clerk at the village head's house in Xixi Village. He was chatting happily with the village head, and the village head even gave him a lot of money. I don't know if it was him."

"So, with no other choice, I buried my mother and moved my whole family up the mountain two months ago. Luckily, I met the village chief, otherwise I would not know where to go."

After Liu Si finished recounting his experiences, the leaders all remained silent.

Are there few people like Liu Si who have experienced similar misfortunes? No, quite a few.

"Is that clerk the same Song Jiang, nicknamed 'Timely Rain'?"

Yuan Lang asked.

"The Second Chieftain also knows this person? I only heard about it from a guard in the Baozheng's household. It is indeed this person."

Liu Si was somewhat surprised.

"Hmph, back in the day, people in the martial arts world said there was a man in Shandong who was known for his timely rain, generous and righteous. Now it seems he was just a man with an empty reputation."

Yuan Lang shook his head, his tone disdainful.

"As a bailiff, he doesn't uphold justice for the people but instead accepts bribes. His reputation is all just a facade."

Song Wan and the others also looked down on them.

"Hmph, you can know a person's face but not their heart. This Song Heizi is short and of average appearance. In order to make his way in the world, he can only give himself a good reputation. On the surface, he is generous and righteous, but behind the scenes, who knows how many dirty tricks he has done."

Ren Yuan didn't have a good impression of Song Jiang either. He was a guy who used his brothers' lives to pave his own way, and he was ruthless. He would use a ruthless scheme to force anyone he fancied to join the bandits. Qin Ming suffered greatly at his hands in the original novel.

In this life, with me, Ren Yuan, here, Song Heizi, don't even think about causing trouble!

"Liu Si, since you have been wronged, and the stronghold is ready to act on behalf of Heaven, then your matter is the stronghold's matter!"

Without any hesitation, Ren Yuan turned around and gave the order: "It's too late today, and we just had a fight during the day. Tomorrow, send someone down the mountain to find out about the head of Xixi Village. We'll go down the mountain tomorrow night and get justice for Brother Liu Si!"

"Don't worry, brother, we understand."

Old Master Liu and Liu Si immediately knelt down before Ren Yuan again, "Chief! Thank you so much for avenging us!"

"Rise up! We, the brothers of Liangshan, are of one heart and one mind. Once we join the mountain, we are all brothers, sharing both glory and loss. We will avenge you!"

Liu Si and his family thanked him profusely and left. Ren Yuan stopped Du Qian and asked him to tell him about the situation in Xixi Village.

"Brother Du Qian, do you know anything about this Xixi Village?"

“Brother, this Xixi Village is strange, it’s said to be haunted.”

Du Qian, as expected of an old man from Liangshan, immediately came up with some ideas after a brief recollection.

"Oh? A ghost? What do you mean?"

"At the foot of Liangshan Mountain, there is a stream, and on each side of the stream is a village. The one on the west is called Xixi Village, and the one on the east is called Dongxi Village. The ancestors of these two villages were all one family, but later the brothers separated and lived separately."

"After the two villages separated, although they lived their own lives, they would occasionally have conflicts over the stream. I don't know when it started, but people from Xixi Village kept saying that there was a water ghost in the stream. In order to quell everyone's panic, the head of Xixi invited a high-ranking monk and others to perform a ritual and carved a pagoda out of a large blue stone, which was placed in the stream to suppress the water ghost."

"It's strange, but ever since that incident, Xixi Village has actually been doing better than Dongxi Village. Dongxi Village was not happy about this, so their village head went to the stream, moved the stone pagoda back to Dongxi Village, and in the process earned himself a nickname in the martial arts world."

"Chao Gai, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King?"

Ren Yuan raised an eyebrow.

“It is indeed this person. I didn’t expect you to know him too, brother.” Du Qian was slightly surprised, but that didn’t stop him from continuing.

"After the stone pagoda was moved, Dongxi Village returned to peace. In Xixi, the water ghosts were causing a ruckus. At this time, the headman of Xixi claimed that the River God could deal with the water ghosts, but that a young boy and girl had to be offered to the River God every year to restore his power. The headman of Xixi was responsible for organizing each ceremony, and he always charged the entire village money. I think this water ghost story might just be a fabrication by this headman to swindle money from the villagers!"

Du Qian told everything he knew, but he didn't believe the water ghost story from Xixi Village.

"Hmph, a mere village headman probably couldn't tell such a colossal lie; there must be government officials behind it."

Ren Yuancai did not believe that this matter could be accomplished by the head of Xixi Village alone.

He simply couldn't believe that there weren't some corrupt officials behind him.

For example... Song Heizi, what role did you play in all of this?

"Judging from this, Xixi Village is indeed haunted. Let's go and meet this ghost tomorrow!"

"I'd like to see what kind of devil dares to be so arrogant at the foot of my Liangshan Mountain!"