After the little fat man Liu Shu finished speaking, he looked at Liu Mang expectantly.
"Brother Mang, if you want to become a disciple, with your talent, the old man will definitely accept you!"
In his mind, Liu Mang has always been the most capable person in the surrounding villages.
Moreover, in the past year, Liu Mang has become smarter and calmer than before, and his conversation and opinions are as if he has seen the world before, which also adds a lot of admiration to Liu Shu.
"It's not that easy."
Liu Mang shook his head, he was not as optimistic as Liu Shu.
Martial arts masters often have weird tempers that cannot be controlled by common sense.
Liu Mang asked: "Xiaoshu, how much other information do you know about this old man?"
Liu Shu thought for a moment and then said: "I only know that he has an old janitor. They live in the original village chief's residence in Shenjia Village, and they don't like to have contact with fellow villagers. I don't know much about the rest."
"That's enough." Liu Mang nodded.
Knowing the old man's existence and residence is already a very big gain.
He looked at the little fat man Liu Shu who was sitting on the long bench. His face was as red as a red apple, and there was even a drop of sweat hanging on the tip of his nose, which touched Liu Mang's heart.
After the little fat Liu Shu got the news, the first thing he thought of was to tell him. If it weren't for him, he might have moved to Liuhe Village and joined the Golden Tiger Gang.
Once you join a gang, your destiny is no longer under your control, and your life and death are completely determined by God.
You have to accept this sentiment yourself.
Thinking of this, Liu Mang stepped forward and patted Liu Shu on the shoulder: "Xiao Shu, if I can learn martial arts, it's all thanks to the news you told me today."
Liu Shu scratched his head stupidly: "Brother Mang, you've become famous now, won't you be able to cover me even more in the future?"
Liu Mang nodded. There are some things that don’t need to be said. You can just show them with actions later.
"It's getting late. Brother Mang, I have to go back. I also have to help dad plow the fields."
"Xiao Shu'er needs some food before leaving. I'll cook it right away!" Mother Liu persuaded her.
"No, no, no, Auntie, please rest your body more, and when Brother Mang is successful, I will buy you ten or eight maids to take care of you!"
"You're such a sweet-talking kid, be careful on the road." Mother Liu warned with a smile.
Watching Liu Shu gradually go away, Liu Mang moved the firewood at home to the door, picked up the ax and began to chop the firewood one by one.
His movements were so sharp that no matter how thick the firewood was, Liu Mang's ax could be easily split into two halves, with the cross section being smooth and flat.
At this time, there was also a noise at Wang Laizi's house next door.
"Ah, my legs, you are trying to murder your husband by stepping on the horse, please be gentle!"
Snapped!
After a while.
Wang Sun, who clearly had a red slap mark on her right face, walked out cautiously.
She held the wooden toilet, glanced at Liu Mang quickly, lowered her head quickly, and hurriedly walked around.
The door of another neighbor, Uncle Wang's house, also opened.
Uncle Wang moved a broken wooden chair and sat at the door. He held an old smoking gun that contained shredded tobacco and stared blankly into the distance.
Next to him, the yellow dog, which was blind in one eye, stared at Liu Mang fiercely and grinned unfriendly.
"Good morning, Uncle Wang." Liu Mang greeted, but there was no response as usual.
He didn't take it seriously and continued to chop wood.
After chopping the firewood, I went back to the house to cook rice, and even fried some leek, eggs, and shredded pork with lettuce.
Although only one egg was used and the shredded meat was barely visible, the meal was already considered a sumptuous meal, comparable to a holiday, and it was considered a celebration without the need for a housewarming.
After eating, Liu Mang put on a clean gray shirt, put his ax in his pocket as usual, and set out on the road to Shenjia Village.
On the bumpy road, I met many people from Liujia Village, and everyone greeted each other.
"Is Tieniu going to work at the dock?"
"Hello, Uncle Lu, I haven't been able to do anything during the day. I'm going out for a walk."
"Good morning, Brother Tieniu."
"Good morning, Xiaojun."
Among these people were old men who went to plow the fields, and those with fields were considered rich farmers in the village; there were young people who went out to find work, and they were a little flattered when they saw the tall Liu Mang; there were also people who were staggering to the market carrying rice and vegetables.
old woman.
Everyone is looking for a living, and they will not stop their busy pace when encountering one.
Shenjia Village and Liujia Village are separated by a small river. Over the river stands a gray-white stone bridge more than four feet long. The carvings on the bridge deck have been blurred, and a section of the bridge railings has even been broken long ago.
Lively noises came from the bridge. There were many people sitting or standing at both ends of the old bridge, including on the bridge. There was a stall in front of everyone, selling rice and vegetables.
There are also sellers of coarse linen clothes.
Liu Mang crossed the old bridge with a normal expression and headed towards his destination in Shenjia Village. The dirt road in Shenjia Village was wider than that in Liujia Village, and the adobe houses on both sides were of better quality. Liu Mang even saw a few used ones.
A house made of cow dung.
Half an hour later, a red brick house with a courtyard wall that was obviously much larger than the surrounding houses came into Liu Mang's eyes.
Liu Mang narrowed his eyes slightly because he saw a dark and thin young man who happened to walk to the entrance of the courtyard and knelt down directly.
This man was about thirteen or fourteen years old. He was dressed in cloth, barefoot, and kneeling on both legs, but his upper body was straight and he had a determined look on his face.
"Please accept me as your disciple!"
"Learning martial arts is just to avenge the murder of my father!"
"From now on, boy, I am willing to be a cow or a horse!"
There were several younger teenagers around, watching from a distance. Liu Mang was obviously not the only one who wanted to learn martial arts.
Whether to be a bad guy in the outer city for the rest of his life, or to learn martial arts to change his destiny, everyone has a weighing scale in their mind.
Liu Mang was not angry because someone was ahead of him. Instead, he watched carefully to see how the old man in the courtyard would react.
If the other party is soft-hearted and agrees to accept a disciple, can't you just copy the homework yourself?
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
The boy kept kneeling, but there was no reaction in the courtyard.
Liu Mang felt a little bored. He found a villager next to the old man's mansion and said, "Uncle, I want to stay at your house for a while. If you have any unchopped firewood at home, I can help you chop it."
The villager was an old man in his fifties or sixties. He smiled and said, "This is not the Iron Ox from the next village. You don't have to go to the dock today?"
Liu Mang said softly: "I'm going in the evening. Didn't I hear that an expert is coming? I also want to see if I can become a disciple."
The old man said: "Haha, if I were thirty years younger, I would definitely have this idea. Just stay at my house for as long as you want, and you won't have to chop wood."
"It's not possible, I'm very strong anyway."
The old man's surname was Huang, so Liu Mang helped Old Man Huang chop firewood. During the break, he went to the window on the west side of his house to take a look, where he could have a panoramic view of the surroundings of the mysterious old man's house.
Until the evening, perhaps because he had been kneeling for seven or eight hours, the thin black boy couldn't help it anymore and continued to shout:
"Please accept me as your disciple!"
"I want to avenge my father!"
The sincerity in his tone made everyone around him look at him with suspicion.
"It's so noisy that it disturbs people's rest. It has nothing to do with me if you avenge your father!"
Suddenly there was a powerful sound in the courtyard, which made the straw curtains on the windows of Old Man Huang's house sway.
Liu Mang could clearly see that the door to the mysterious old man's house had not been opened, but the body of the skinny black boy was thrown backward out of thin air.
It was as if there was an invisible energy attached to him, and then he fell to the ground with a bang, a full three feet away from where he was originally kneeling.
Encountering such a mysterious and strange thing, the skinny black boy's eyes were full of fear, he rolled and crawled and ran away without looking back.
"Is this martial arts? It's exactly the same as in the TV series!"
Liu Mang's eyes were burning and his heart was excited. Everything he saw in front of him declared to him the strangeness of this world and the existence of martial arts!
After a while, his heart gradually calmed down.
Martial arts does exist, but others must be willing to teach you!
Judging from the experience of this dark and skinny boy, the other party is not the kind of person who is easy to talk to, and must consider the long term.
Thinking of this, he said goodbye to Old Man Huang and went directly to the dock to work.
After working all night, I went home for dinner. I heard from my mother that Liujia Village has been controlled by the Red Society. They also called out all the villagers and gave them a lecture, emphasizing the existence and majesty of the Red Society.
Whether it is the Little Knife Club or the Red Clothes Club, it makes no difference to the villagers, and everyone can only accept it numbly.
After Liu Mang rested at home for two hours, he hurried to the home of old man Huang who was alone in Shenjia Village.
Old Man Huang's house is closest to the mysterious old man's house, about six to seven feet apart. Small movements cannot be felt, but loud noises can still be clearly heard.
It's a pity that no sound came from the mysterious old man's house. It has been like this for several days.
Liu Mang even wanted to get close to the opponent's wall so that he could hear more clearly.
But thinking about the opponent's identity as a martial arts master, what if you mistake him for someone with evil intentions and just chop him up with one palm?
Liu Mang didn't dare to gamble.
I could only stay at Old Man Huang's house most of the time, and occasionally pretend to take a walk, walking close to the outer wall of the other party's courtyard.
He has also mastered some information in the past few days:
For example, the oil lamp in the mysterious old man's house will not go out until midnight.
The old man had an old servant with half-white hair, a hunched back, and a scar on the left side of his face. He would go out to buy things on time at nine o'clock every day, and would come back half an hour later with a black cloth bag, and he didn't know what was in it.
The mysterious old man has never left home.
One of the two old men snores, and the sound is sometimes very loud, which can be heard clearly in Old Man Huang's house.
During this period, a leader of the Sanhe Club, an outer city gang, visited the mysterious old man's house with generous gifts.
Unfortunately, after standing at the entrance of the courtyard for two hours, the other party ignored him.
The leader of the Sanhe Assembly Hall did not dare to lose his temper, so he had no choice but to leave angrily.
Other teenagers and children who wanted to become disciples had some enthusiasm in the first few days, but then slowly dissipated.
Only Liu Mang still persisted.
He suppressed his impetuous mood, slowly collected information, and kept repeating the three points and one line of life in his hometown, the dock, and Old Man Huang's house.
He deeply understands the importance of information collection. Only by knowing what the old man likes can he like him. As the saying goes, only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be invincible in every battle.
Just like an interview, he only has one chance to make contact at most.
Another four days have passed.
The piles of firewood in Old Man Huang's house were piled higher than people.
That evening, Liu Mang habitually walked to the window of Old Man Huang's house.
Then I heard a loud curse coming from the mysterious old man’s house:
"Bah! What kind of beef did you buy? It tastes worse than rat meat!"
"And this wine, is this wine? If you didn't tell me, I thought it was horse urine!"