In the Water Margin
Xue Yong comes from Luoyang in Henan. His grandfather was an officer under the old Marshal Zhong but offended his colleagues and was never promoted, and the family has lived ever since by showing off spear and staff and selling medicine. He is called Sick Tiger. When Song Jiang, on his way into exile at Jiangzhou, stops to watch him perform in the market town of Jieyang, nobody dares give the stranger a coin, because the local bullies have forbidden it. Song Jiang gives him five taels of silver.
The bully Mu Chun steps up to strike Song Jiang, and Xue Yong grabs him from behind and throws him down. Mu Chun's men later catch Xue Yong at an inn, beat him and string him up, and he is let go only when Song Jiang asks Mu Chun's elder brother Mu Hong to free him. After the rescue at the Jiangzhou execution ground, Xue Yong goes to scout the town of Wuwei for revenge on Huang Wenbing, runs into his old pupil Hou Jian working in Huang's house, and on the night of the raid he sets the fire. He joins Liangshan and takes seat eighty-four beneath the Diyou star.
