且說丁蔣陸魯四位將白玉堂骨殖盜出，又將埋葬之處仍然堆起土丘。收拾已畢，才待回身，只聽那邊有人啼哭。蔣爺這裡也哭道：「敢則是五弟含冤，前來顯魂麼？」說著話，往前一湊，仔細看來，是個樵夫。雖則明月之下，面龐兒卻有些個熟識。一時想不起來，心內思忖道：「五弟在日並未結交樵夫，何得夤夜來此啼哭呢？」再細看時，只見那人哭道：「白五兄為人一世英名，智略過人。惜乎你這一片血心，竟被那忘恩負義之人欺哄了。什麼叫結義，什麼叫立盟，不過是虛名具文而已。何能似我柳青三日一次喬妝，哭奠於你。哎呀！白五兄呀，你的那陰靈有知，大約妍媸也就自明瞭。」蔣爺聽說柳青，猛然想起果是白面判官，連忙上前勸道：「柳賢弟少要悲痛。一向久違了。」柳青登時住聲，將眼一瞪，道：「誰是你的賢弟！也不過是陌路罷了。」蔣爺道：「是，是。柳員外責備的甚是。但不知我蔣平有什麼不到處，倒要說說。」魯英在旁，見柳青出言無狀，蔣平卻低聲下氣，心甚不平。剛要上前，陸彬將他一拉，丁二爺又暗暗送目，魯英只得忍住。又聽柳青道：「你還問我！我先問你：你們既結了生死之交，為何白五兄死了許多日期，你們連個仇也不報，是何道理？」蔣平笑道：「員外原來為此。這報仇二字豈是性急的呢。大丈夫作事，當行則行，當止則止。我五弟既然自作聰明，輕身喪命。他已自誤，我等豈肯再誤。故此今夜前來，先將五弟骨殖取回，使他魂歸原籍，然後再與他作慢慢的報仇，何晚之有？若不分事之輕重，不知先後，一味的邀虛名兒，毫無實惠，那又是徒勞無益了。所謂『運籌帷幄，決勝千里』，員外何得怪我之深呀？」柳青聽了此言大怒，而且聽說白玉堂自作聰明、枉自輕生，更加不悅，道：「俺哭奠白五兄是盡俺朋友之誼，要那虛名何用？俺也不合你巧辯饒舌。想白五兄生平作了多少驚天動地之事，誰人不知，那個不曉，似你這畏首畏尾，躲躲藏藏，不過作鼠竊狗盜之事，也算得運籌與決勝，可笑呀，可笑呀！」旁邊魯英聽到此，又要上前。陸彬攔道：「賢弟，人家說話，又非拒捕，你上前作甚？」丁二爺也道：「且聽四兄說什麼。」魯英只得又忍住了。蔣爺道：「我蔣平原無經濟學問，只這鼠竊狗盜，也就令人難測。」柳青冷笑道：「一技之能，何至難測呢。你不過行險，一時僥倖耳。若遇我柳青，只怕你討不出公道。」蔣平暗想道：「若論柳青，原是正直好人，我何不將他制伏，將來以為我用，豈不是個幫手！」想罷，說道：「員外如不相信，你我何不戲賭一番，看是如何。」柳青道：「這倒有趣。」即回手向頭上拔下一枝簪來，道：「就是此物，你果能盜了去，俺便服你。」蔣爺接來，對月光細細看了一番，卻是玳瑁別簪，光潤無比，仍遞與柳青，道：「請問員外定於何時？又在何地呢？」柳青道：「我為白五兄設靈遙祭，尚有七日的經懺。諸事完畢，須得十日工夫，過了十日後，我在莊上等你。但止一件，以三日為期。倘你若不能，以後再休要向柳某誇口，你也要甘拜下風了。」蔣平笑道：「好極，好極！過了十日後，俺再到莊，問候員外便了。請。」彼此略一執手，柳青轉身下嶺而去。
且说丁蒋陆鲁四位将白玉堂骨殖盗出，又将埋葬之处仍然堆起土丘。收拾已毕，才待回身，只听那边有人啼哭。蒋爷这里也哭道：「敢则是五弟含冤，前来显魂么？」说着话，往前一凑，仔细看来，是个樵夫。虽则明月之下，面庞儿却有些个熟识。一时想不起来，心内思忖道：「五弟在日并未结交樵夫，何得夤夜来此啼哭呢？」再细看时，只见那人哭道：「白五兄为人一世英名，智略过人。惜乎你这一片血心，竟被那忘恩负义之人欺哄了。什么叫结义，什么叫立盟，不过是虚名具文而已。何能似我柳青三日一次乔妆，哭奠于你。哎呀！白五兄呀，你的那阴灵有知，大约妍媸也就自明了。」蒋爷听说柳青，猛然想起果是白面判官，连忙上前劝道：「柳贤弟少要悲痛。一向久违了。」柳青登时住声，将眼一瞪，道：「谁是你的贤弟！也不过是陌路罢了。」蒋爷道：「是，是。柳员外责备的甚是。但不知我蒋平有什么不到处，倒要说说。」鲁英在旁，见柳青出言无状，蒋平却低声下气，心甚不平。刚要上前，陆彬将他一拉，丁二爷又暗暗送目，鲁英只得忍住。又听柳青道：「你还问我！我先问你：你们既结了生死之交，为何白五兄死了许多日期，你们连个仇也不报，是何道理？」蒋平笑道：「员外原来为此。这报仇二字岂是性急的呢。大丈夫作事，当行则行，当止则止。我五弟既然自作聪明，轻身丧命。他已自误，我等岂肯再误。故此今夜前来，先将五弟骨殖取回，使他魂归原籍，然后再与他作慢慢的报仇，何晚之有？若不分事之轻重，不知先后，一味的邀虚名儿，毫无实惠，那又是徒劳无益了。所谓『运筹帷幄，决胜千里』，员外何得怪我之深呀？」柳青听了此言大怒，而且听说白玉堂自作聪明、枉自轻生，更加不悦，道：「俺哭奠白五兄是尽俺朋友之谊，要那虚名何用？俺也不合你巧辩饶舌。想白五兄生平作了多少惊天动地之事，谁人不知，那个不晓，似你这畏首畏尾，躲躲藏藏，不过作鼠窃狗盗之事，也算得运筹与决胜，可笑呀，可笑呀！」旁边鲁英听到此，又要上前。陆彬拦道：「贤弟，人家说话，又非拒捕，你上前作甚？」丁二爷也道：「且听四兄说什么。」鲁英只得又忍住了。蒋爷道：「我蒋平原无经济学问，只这鼠窃狗盗，也就令人难测。」柳青冷笑道：「一技之能，何至难测呢。你不过行险，一时侥幸耳。若遇我柳青，只怕你讨不出公道。」蒋平暗想道：「若论柳青，原是正直好人，我何不将他制伏，将来以为我用，岂不是个帮手！」想罢，说道：「员外如不相信，你我何不戏赌一番，看是如何。」柳青道：「这倒有趣。」即回手向头上拔下一枝簪来，道：「就是此物，你果能盗了去，俺便服你。」蒋爷接来，对月光细细看了一番，却是玳瑁别簪，光润无比，仍递与柳青，道：「请问员外定于何时？又在何地呢？」柳青道：「我为白五兄设灵遥祭，尚有七日的经忏。诸事完毕，须得十日工夫，过了十日后，我在庄上等你。但止一件，以三日为期。倘你若不能，以后再休要向柳某夸口，你也要甘拜下风了。」蒋平笑道：「好极，好极！过了十日后，俺再到庄，问候员外便了。请。」彼此略一执手，柳青转身下岭而去。
Now, when Second Master Ding, Jiang Ping, Lu Bin and Lu Ying had stolen out Bai Yutang’s bones, they heaped the earth back up into a mound over the place where he had been buried. They had finished and were just about to turn back when they heard someone weeping over there. Jiang Ping began to weep too. “Can it be Fifth Brother, wronged and unavenged, come to show himself as a ghost?” As he spoke he edged forward and looked closely: it was a woodcutter. Though it was only by the light of the moon, the face looked somewhat familiar, but for the moment he could not place it. He thought to himself, “While Fifth Brother lived he never made friends with any woodcutter. Why would one come here in the dead of night to weep?” He looked more closely again, and heard the man say through his tears: “Fifth Brother Bai, all your life you had a hero’s name, and wits and cunning beyond other men. What a pity that your heart’s blood, all of it, was cheated by men who forgot kindness and betrayed their bond! What do they call sworn brotherhood? What do they call an oath? Nothing but an empty name and words on paper. How could any of them be like me, Liu Qing, coming in disguise every three days to weep and pour offerings for you? Ah! Fifth Brother Bai! If your spirit knows anything, you must see by now who is fair and who is foul.” When Jiang Ping heard the name Liu Qing, it came to him all at once that this was indeed the White-Faced Judge, and he hurried up to comfort him. “Worthy brother Liu, don’t grieve so. It’s been a long time.” Liu Qing stopped weeping at once and glared at him. “Who’s your worthy brother? We’re nothing but strangers on the road.” “Yes, yes,” said Jiang Ping. “Squire Liu is quite right to rebuke me. But I don’t know where I, Jiang Ping, have fallen short. Do tell me.” Lu Ying, standing by, saw Liu Qing speaking so rudely while Jiang Ping answered him meek and low, and he was deeply put out. He was just about to step forward when Lu Bin pulled him back, and Second Master Ding gave him a secret look besides, so Lu Ying had to hold himself in. Then they heard Liu Qing say: “You still ask me! I’ll ask you first. Since you swore yourselves friends unto death, how is it that Fifth Brother Bai has been dead all these days and you haven’t so much as avenged him? What reason is there in that?” Jiang Ping laughed. “So that’s what it is, Squire. Revenge is no business for haste. A true man in his doings goes on when he should go on and stops when he should stop. My Fifth Brother was too clever for his own good, took his life lightly and lost it. He has ruined himself already; are we to ruin things further? So tonight we came first to take Fifth Brother’s bones back, so that his soul may go home to his native place, and after that we’ll take our time over his revenge. What’s late about that? Not to weigh what matters more and what less, not to know what comes first and what after, but only to chase an empty name with nothing real to show for it — that would be wasted effort and no good to anyone. As they say, ‘Lay your plans within the tent, and win the battle a thousand li away.’ Why should you blame me so harshly, Squire?” Liu Qing was furious to hear this, and still more displeased to hear that Bai Yutang had been too clever for his own good and thrown his life away for nothing. “I weep and pour offerings for Fifth Brother Bai to do my duty as a friend,” he said. “What do I want with an empty name? Nor will I bandy clever words with you. Think of all the deeds Fifth Brother Bai did in his life, deeds to shake heaven and earth — who doesn’t know them, who hasn’t heard? While you, timid at the head and timid at the tail, dodging and hiding, do nothing but the work of thieving rats and pilfering dogs — and that counts as laying plans and winning battles? What a joke, what a joke!” Hearing this, Lu Ying at his side wanted to step forward again. Lu Bin stopped him. “Brother, the man’s only talking, he isn’t resisting arrest. What are you stepping in for?” “Let’s hear what Fourth Brother has to say,” said Second Master Ding too. So Lu Ying had to hold himself in once more. “I, Jiang Ping, never had any learning in statecraft,” said Jiang Ping. “Still, this thieving and pilfering of mine is hard enough for people to see through.” Liu Qing sneered. “A single knack — why should that be hard to see through? You only take risks and get lucky for a moment. If you ran up against me, Liu Qing, I doubt you’d come off any better.” Jiang Ping thought to himself, “As for Liu Qing, he’s an upright, good man at heart. Why not bring him round, so that later he’ll be of use to us? Wouldn’t that give us a helper!” With this in mind he said, “If you don’t believe me, Squire, why don’t we make a little wager, you and I, and see how it goes?” “Now that would be amusing,” said Liu Qing. He reached up at once and drew a hairpin from his hair. “This thing, then. If you can really steal it from me, I’ll own you my master.” Jiang Ping took it and looked it over carefully in the moonlight. It was a tortoiseshell hairpin, glossy beyond compare. He handed it back to Liu Qing. “May I ask, Squire, when shall it be? And where?” “I have set up a spirit tablet to offer sacrifice from afar to Fifth Brother Bai,” said Liu Qing, “and there are still seven days of sutra services. To see everything through will take ten days. When the ten days are past, I’ll wait for you at my manor. Only one thing: you have three days and no more. If you can’t do it, never boast to me, Liu, again, and you will have to gladly own me the better man.” Jiang Ping laughed. “Splendid, splendid! When the ten days are past I’ll come to your manor and call on you, Squire. After you.” They clasped hands briefly, and Liu Qing turned and went off down the ridge.
這裡陸彬魯英道：「蔣四兄如何就應了他？知他設下什麼埋伏呢？」蔣平道：「無妨。我與他原無仇隙，不過同五弟生死一片熱心。他若設下埋伏，豈不怕別人笑話他麼？」陸彬又道：「他頭上的簪兒，吾兄如何盜得呢？」蔣平道：「事難預料。到他那裡還有什麼刁難呢，且到臨期再作道理。」說罷，四人轉身下嶺。此時水手已將骨殖壇安放好了。四人上船，搖起槳來。
这里陆彬鲁英道：「蒋四兄如何就应了他？知他设下什么埋伏呢？」蒋平道：「无妨。我与他原无仇隙，不过同五弟生死一片热心。他若设下埋伏，岂不怕别人笑话他么？」陆彬又道：「他头上的簪儿，吾兄如何盗得呢？」蒋平道：「事难预料。到他那里还有什么刁难呢，且到临期再作道理。」说罢，四人转身下岭。此时水手已将骨殖坛安放好了。四人上船，摇起桨来。
Back here, Lu Bin and Lu Ying said, “Fourth Brother Jiang, how could you agree to that? Who knows what traps he’ll lay?” “No harm in it,” said Jiang Ping. “He and I have no quarrel; it’s only that he was so warm-hearted toward Fifth Brother, to the death. If he laid traps, wouldn’t he be afraid of people laughing at him?” “That pin on his head,” said Lu Bin again, “how will you ever steal it, brother?” “Things like that are hard to foresee,” said Jiang Ping. “Who knows what tricks he’ll put in my way when I get there? I’ll work it out when the time comes.” With that, the four of them turned and went down the ridge. By now the boatmen had settled the jar of bones safely in place. The four of them boarded the boat, and the oars began to row.
不多一會，來到莊中，時已四鼓，從北俠為首，挨次祭奠，也有垂淚的，也有歎息的。因在陸彬家中，不便放聲舉哀，惟有徐慶咧著個大嘴痛哭，蔣平哽咽悲泣不止。眾人奠畢，徐慶蔣平二人深深謝了大家，從新又飲了一番酒，吃夜飯，方才安歇。
不多一会，来到庄中，时已四鼓，从北侠为首，挨次祭奠，也有垂泪的，也有叹息的。因在陆彬家中，不便放声举哀，惟有徐庆咧着个大嘴痛哭，蒋平哽咽悲泣不止。众人奠毕，徐庆蒋平二人深深谢了大家，从新又饮了一番酒，吃夜饭，方才安歇。
Before long they reached the manor. It was already the fourth watch. Led by the Northern Hero, everyone made offerings in turn; some shed tears and some sighed. Since they were in Lu Bin’s house, it would not do to wail aloud; only Xu Qing, his big mouth wide open, wept bitterly, and Jiang Ping choked and sobbed without end. When everyone had made their offerings, Xu Qing and Jiang Ping thanked them all deeply. Then they drank wine once more and ate a late meal before at last going to rest.