The Adventure of the Kecapi
Chapter 58

Yauw Lie's words must have calmed the beggars' hearts. .

 The three of them then followed the six beggars to climb the Skull Hill which was overgrown with pine trees.

 When they arrived at the hilltop village, they were amazed to see how the village was unlike the slums that are usually characteristic of the dwellings of beggars.

"Well! That's where our leader lives!" the old beggar exclaimed, pointing to a house in the middle and the largest building among the others, and the three of them were invited into the mansion.

The head of the red-stick beggar's assembly received them in the spacious front room, while the oldest beggar who had fought against the black-clothed man was also present at the meeting and the other five were not present.

The head of the red stick beggar's society was a tall man, about sixty years old. His face still imagined his good looks and long beard neatly preserved. The clothes are simple, also patchy but clean. His attitude was full of the authority of a man who used to lead many men.

Yauw Lie and the two young men saluted with their arms in front of their chests, respectfully answered by the chief, who invited them to sit opposite him.

A beggar reported about the meeting with the three of Yauw Lie, who, after first he fought against a man from the Black Skull Hill and his opponent then left while challenging for the leader of the red stick beggar association named Kui Sin to dare to compete against his chairman on the tomorrow morning at the place where they were fighting.

"Hm.., how dare you ignore my message so as not to make enmity, now it even raises opposition so that I am carried away being challenged by it!" exclaimed chief Kui who furrowed his brows. His voice contained a reprimand as he said to his men.

"Sorry, chief. I did not dare to violate the Chairman's message, but the man appeared and without reason berated that the red stick beggars were thieves and said that our society stole treasure. Accused of thieves, I of course denied that there was a tailed quarrel into a fight. Please the chief will forgive me." said the beggar in a timid manner.

"Chairman, we are the witnesses! Not this beggar uncle who started and challenged to hold a match between the leaders of the two factions was that person in black!" liu Hong said loudly.

Chief Kui nodded his head and sighed while stroking his long beard.

"Here you go, you may go out, I will speak with these three guests." commanded the chief Kui.

"The members of our society just said that the three of you are young warriors investigating about the treasures that are being stirred up in the martial world, and you want to ask me for a clue about the theft of the treasure. Let's introduce you first, who are you?" said and asked Chairman Kui After the beggar came out, Kui looked at Yauw Lie, Liu Ceng and Liu Hong.

 "Chairman, this is Big Brother Liu Ceng and this one is big brother Liu Hong. I myself named Yauw Lie." said Yauw Lie who introduced both his friends and himself.

"Why are you going to investigate and find the treasure thief?" asked Chairman Kui who was staring at Yauw Lie and the others one by one.

Then Yauw Lie told the origin of the treasure search, until they were in front of the chief Kui.

"Sister Liu Ceng felt obliged to rediscover the treasure left by his late father. While Big Brother Liu Hong and I were helping him and we were facing Chairman Kui for guidance, who should be suspected of being the treasure thief." explains Yauw Lie.

"Tell me first, why are you looking for that treasure thief Miss Yauw?" ask the curious chief Kui.

 Now the chief looked at the three young men with furrowed brows.

 "I've heard of Liu Bok's name as a warrior loyal to the Han Empire and patriotic in spirit and I would love to help him find treasure because I'm sure that he'll use it for the sake of nusa and nation. But if you young people are looking for treasure for yourself, don't expect to get my support. I don't want to help people fight over treasures like hungry dogs fighting over bones!" said chairman Kui.

"What's? You consider us dogs!" liu Hong exclaimed in annoyance.

Liu Ceng touched Liu hong's arm and when his adoptive sister looked at him, he shook his head preventing his sister from continuing to talk.

"Chairman, you seem to have misunderstood. I want to explain our true situation. When my father died of being killed by a Mongol commander, Father left me a treasure map with a message to search for the treasure and hand it over to the rightful, namely the fighters who fought to free the homeland and the nation from the Mongol occupation. In reality the treasure had been stolen or taken by people. The three of us were looking for the stolen treasure, not at all for our own possession, but for us to hand it over to the warriors as Father Liu Bok had ordered. We heard that the red stick beggars were also against the Mongol government, so we believed that the Kui chief would certainly help the freedom fighters of the homeland from the clutches of the Mongol invaders. Therefore, we dare to go to the chairman to ask for directions." Liu Ceng explained.

 Hearing Liu Ceng's explanation, Chairman Kui smiled and his face turned bright.

"Well, now I have no doubt of the truth of the news that the late Liu Bok was a wise swordsman after seeing his son! brother Liu, forgive my attitude earlier. If indeed you want to get back the treasure to be handed over to the freedom fighters, of course we fully support you!" said Chairman Kui.

"Thank you, chief!" yauw Lie said happily.

 "But we don't think the time has come when we need the help of the red stick beggars. For now we only need a hint from the chairman, who would be among the residents of the cobra snake college who should be suspected as the treasure thief. We ask for guidance from the chairman." said Yauw Lie.

 "We think there are only two groups that should not be included in their list of suspected cobras and red stick beggars. We thought that these two societies would not be able to pull off the theft because we were both not the ones who were angry about property. However, there are many people or other groups that are the largest and have many students are the school of red Scorpions and their men who live in the western area of this mountain range and the second is the black skull college with their disciples who lived on the black Skull Hill and were in the Northern area of this mountain range. In addition to them, of course, there are still many hermits who reportedly have devotion, living in secluded places in this vast mountain" said Chairman Kui who explained.

"The man dressed in black who fought with the red stick beggars, said he was a member of the Black Skull Hill. Then, he's a student of the black skull college?" ask Liu Hong.

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