Cai Qing

Cai Qing is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Stalk of Flower", he ranks 95th among the 108 Stars of Destiny and 59th among the 72 Earthly Fiends.

Cai Qing and his elder brother Cai Fu are from Daming Prefecture (大名府; present-day Daming County, Hebei). They work as jailers and executioners in the local prison. Cai Qing, who has large eyes and thick eyebrows, is nicknamed "Stalk of Flower" because he likes to stick a flower in his hat.

Lu Junyi is arrested and imprisoned after being betrayed by his adulterous wife and treacherous housekeeper Li Gu. Li Gu bribes the Cai brothers to kill Lu Junyi in prison. Chai Jin visits them later and offers them an even larger sum of money to take good care of Lu Junyi. Not wanting to antagonise either side, the Cai brothers use the money to bribe officials to sentence Lu Junyi to exile on Shamen Island (沙門島; present-day Changdao County, Shandong).

Li Gu bribes the guards escorting Lu Junyi to Shamen Island to kill him along the way. Although Lu Junyi's loyal servant Yan Qing manages to save his master when the guards are about to finish him off, Lu Junyi is captured again shortly after when Yan Qing goes look for food. This time, Lu Junyi is sentenced to death and the Cai brothers are assigned to be the executioners. During the execution, the Cai brothers deliberately stall for time while Shi Xiu, one of the Liangshan outlaws, storm the execution ground in a lone attempt to save Lu Junyi. Shi Xiu succeeds in freeing Lu Junyi but both of them are ultimately outnumbered and captured again. Grand Secretary Liang Shijie, the governor of Daming Prefecture, decides to keep Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu alive to lure the Liangshan outlaws to attack Daming Prefecture. The Cai brothers are tasked with watching over the prisoners and they treat them well.

As Liang Shijie expected, the Liangshan outlaws come for Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu later. Wu Yong, Liangshan's chief strategist, sends a number of spies to infiltrate the city and create havoc during the Lantern Festival. In the meantime, Chai Jin visits the prison and succeeds in convincing the Cai brothers to free Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu. When the Liangshan spies create havoc in Daming Prefecture, the other Liangshan outlaws use the opportunity to attack from outside. Liang Shijie flees as the government forces are thrown into disarray by the sudden attack. Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu are saved, while the Cai brothers follow the outlaws back to Liangshan and join them.

Cai Qing becomes an assistant to Cai Fu, who is appointed chief executioner of Liangshan, after the 108 Stars of Destiny come together in what is called the Grand Assembly. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces on Song territory after they received amnesty from Emperor Huizong. He is one of the Liangshan heroes who survive the campaigns, and is awarded the official post "Martial Gentleman of Grace" (武奕郎) by the emperor. He returns to Daming Prefecture with Guan Sheng, where they assume their respective offices.