戴宗
A native of Baizhang Village () in Yishui County (in present-day Linyi, Shandong), Li Kui flees from home after killing a person by accident. He ends up in Jiangzhou (江州; present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi), where he becomes a jailer under the chief warden Dai Zong. He gets to know Song Jiang, who is exiled from Yuncheng as a mitigated sentence for killing his mistress Yan Poxi, through Dai. He draws the attention of Song, who is dining with Dai in an inn, when he threatens the keeper of the inn to lend him money. Song and Li take to each other as one appreciates utmost forthrightness and the other unstinting generosity. As they are having meal, Song Jiang suddenly craves for fish. As the fish at the restaurant is not fresh, Li Kui volunteers to get some from the riverside market. Impatient to wait for the chief fishmonger Zhang Shun to come, he tries to snatch some fish inside cages but inadvertently releases them into the river. Zhang arrives and fights him. He beats Zhang Shun easily, but the fishmonger lures him onto a boat, which he then overturns, causing Li Kui to fall into the water. Li, a non-swimmer, is continuously dragged down under water by Zhang. Luckily, Song Jiang and Dai Zong come to the scene and stop the fight. The four become friends.