Li Si was just the beginning. Over the next few days, several leaders of the Hai Long Gang were attacked to varying degrees. Especially the other two of the Four Heavenly Kings. Qiao Zhen was directly paralyzed by a punch, and Yi Guodong's limbs were broken. He was still unconscious.
Faced with such a situation, the Hai Long Gang had no choice but to withdraw their forces in the new harbor. The Hundred Families Association, which had been suppressed before, took this opportunity to extend their reach to the harbor.
Early in the morning, Xiao Lan ran into the house with a face full of excitement. Seeing Zuo Zhicheng sitting at the table and drinking a bowl of porridge, she hurriedly said, "This time it's the white-haired wolf Qiao Zhen. Haha, I heard that he was hit by a few consecutive punches and can't get out of bed now."
"Oh? Then the Four Heavenly Kings of the Hai Long Gang are all kneeling, right? " Zuo Zhicheng smiled and said, "Speaking of which, who did the Hai Long Gang offend this time? He's so powerful that he almost single-handedly defeated the entire Hai Long Gang, right?"
"Yeah, it's all over the harbor now. They say that it's a man who's nine feet tall, whose fists are bigger than pineapples, and whose waist is thicker than a door plank …" Xiao Lan said while exaggerating her body movements to show that the other party's fists were really big. "They're really big. I heard that he can smash a watermelon with one punch!"
"Where did you hear that? Nonsense."
As if worried that Zuo Zhicheng wouldn't believe her, Xiao Lan puffed up her cheeks and said, "It's true. I heard it from Big Mouth on the next street. His brother is at the harbor, helping the Hai Long Gang move goods."
"Okay, okay. Nine feet tall, fists bigger than pineapples, right? I got it."
"It's not just that." Xiao Lan's eyes were full of stars. "I heard that he comes and goes without a trace. Every time he beats up the Hai Long Gang, he disappears and no one can find him. Now everyone calls him Gui Quan.
He's so powerful! Maybe he's even better than Master Jiang! "
Hearing this, Zuo Zhicheng only smiled. His expression did not change. He was like an older brother listening to his younger sister bragging. "Then the dojo is fine, right?"
"What else can we do? Those who can fight in the Hai Long Gang have all been beaten into pig heads by Gui Quan. No one can be as big as Master Jiang, so of course, we can forget about it. " "Brother Zuo, let's go back to the dojo tomorrow," Xiao Lan said with a smile as she gestured with her little fist.
"Sure," Zuo Zhicheng slowly finished the last mouthful of porridge, "Let's go to the martial arts school tomorrow."
For the rest of the day, Zuo Zhicheng disguised himself as another person. To be honest, it was difficult to disguise as a specific person, but it was relatively easy to disguise as a stranger.
Zuo Zhicheng disguised himself as another person today, but not as "Gui Quan", but as a skinny middle-aged man. However, this level of disguise was too easy to be seen through, so he wore a bamboo hat as a disguise.
Since he arrived at Xinlu Harbor, he had been looking for people who understood ancient characters. The reason why he took action today was that he had only found a few possible targets, a total of four. They were two teachers from the Academy, an official from the imperial court, and a retired old scholar.
The second reason was that he had no money before, so he could not threaten these cultured people with his fists. That would be too easy to cause problems. Therefore, when he attacked the Hai Long Gang, he collected about ten thousand yuan, which was enough for him to ask these cultured people for help.
He had already investigated the living habits of these four people. Today, he only marked the places where they frequented with a few ancient characters that he randomly copied from a secret book. Ordinary people would only think that they were patterns, but those who understood ancient characters would definitely be able to tell the difference.
He wanted to use this method to find out who among the four knew ancient characters.
An afternoon passed. Among the four of them, only the official and the retired old man had any reaction to the ancient characters. Zuo Zhicheng naturally targeted the old scholar.
Compared to a retired old man, he did not want to have any contact with the imperial court for the time being.
Zuo Zhicheng pressed on his bamboo hat and walked towards a small courtyard in the west of the city. In front of him was an old man who was walking slowly with a walking stick. The old man had white hair and a ruddy face. He looked like an immortal. In his other hand, he held a piece of white paper, on which there were a few special characters. It was really Zuo Zhicheng's ancient characters.
Looking at his face full of interest and the way he kept looking at the characters, it was obvious that he knew ancient characters.
Zuo Zhicheng followed behind him, and his information slowly flowed through his mind.
"Liu Changding, from the Central Plains. He came to New Lu City 30 years ago and opened a shop in the north of the city. He specializes in selling all kinds of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, as well as antique calligraphy and paintings. He has a good understanding of ancient culture."
After the old man turned into an alley, Zuo Zhicheng pressed on his bamboo hat with one hand. Seeing that there were no passersby around, he immediately caught up with the old man and blocked his way.
He lowered his head so that no one could see his face clearly. Then he cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Liu, I have something to ask of you."
"Who are you?" Liu Changding's first reaction was naturally to be alert when he saw a stranger with a bamboo hat suddenly appear in front of him.
"It doesn't matter who I am. Mr. Liu, the ancient characters in your hand were left behind by me. " Zuo Zhicheng said, "I hope you can copy down all the information you know about ancient characters and give it to me. I'll naturally reward you handsomely. "
Zuo Zhicheng naturally did not plan to learn ancient characters from these literati or let them translate directly. It would be too easy to expose himself and cause all kinds of problems. His plan was to let these people copy down a dictionary of ancient characters for him, and then he could slowly learn by himself. Although this was a little slow, it was better in terms of safety. He also had enough patience to do this kind of thing.
However, Liu Changding was not very willing to see the other person's sneaky look. He replied, "I don't know much about this. You should find someone else."
"Mr. Liu, why are you so quick to refuse?" Zuo Zhicheng smiled. "I know that ever since you handed over your shop to the eldest son, the second son has been quite dissatisfied. I have 7,000 coins here. If you give it to young Mr. Liu, it won't be so difficult to open another shop."
As he spoke, he took out a money bag and shook it. "This is a deposit of 500 coins. Mr. Liu, if you accept it today, I'll come back for it in two months. We'll exchange the money and the goods at the same time."
Liu Changding frowned. He wanted to refuse, but when he thought of the conflict between his two sons at home, he hesitated. If he had an extra 7,000 coins, his second son would not keep making trouble and complaining.
Thinking of this, he sighed and took the money in the other person's hand. "There is a lot of content in ancient characters. You want all of them?"
"Yes." Zuo Zhicheng smiled. "It would be best if you could write down the corresponding meaning of every character you know."
"That will take a long time. I'm old and can't work for too long every day. Two months is too short."
"Then how long do you need?" Zuo Zhicheng asked.
Liu Changding thought for a moment and said, "Four months. Four months from today, come here and get it."
"Okay, then it's a deal." As he spoke, Zuo Zhicheng jumped over the high wall of the alley beside him. Like a nimble leopard, he disappeared after a few leaps, leaving behind a stunned Liu Changding. His eyes flashed with fear.
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