In the Water Margin
Shi Qian is ranked 107th of the 108 heroes, under the star Dizei (地贼星), the Thief Star of Earth. Small, wiry and light on his feet, he could scale walls and cross rooftops without a sound, which earned him the nickname Flea on a Drum: a flea can hop across a drumskin without making it ring. Originally from Gaotang, he drifted to Jizhou and lived by burglary and grave robbing, and he never pretended otherwise.
He meets Yang Xiong and Shi Xiu on Cuiping Mountain just after the two have committed a killing, steps out of hiding and asks to come with them to Liangshan Marsh. On the road his old habits land them all in trouble, but the same skills make him one of the most useful men in the stronghold. Whenever a plan needs something taken quietly from inside a locked house, Shi Qian is the one who goes.
Key episodes
- The rooster at the Zhu Family Inn. Stopping at an inn on the way, Shi Qian steals and cooks the rooster the innkeeper relies on to crow the dawn. A brawl follows, the inn goes up in flames, and Shi Qian is captured by the Zhu family. Freeing him draws Liangshan into the three assaults on the Zhu Family Village.
- Xu Ning's armor. To break Huyan Zhuo's chained cavalry, Liangshan needs Xu Ning, the master of the hooked lance. Shi Qian slips into Xu Ning's house in the capital at night and steals his treasured family armor from the rafters, and Xu Ning follows the trail all the way to the marsh.
- The Lantern Festival in Daming. To rescue Lu Junyi, outlaws slip into Daming Prefecture during the festival crowds. Shi Qian sets fire to the Cuiyun Tower, and the blaze becomes the signal for the attack from inside and out.
