"Or, have you considered staying here a little longer?
For example, stay for a month, so you can at least ensure mastering one technique."
"It’s okay, just teach ."
"Then I’ll list all twelve techniques, and you choose one for us to get familiar with tonight?"
"No need, just start from the first one."
"Oh... alright then."
At first, even though he knew the other party was from the Liu family, the old man still thought the boy was crazy, his ambitions higher than the sky.
But as he taught, he realized that he was actually the frog in the well.
For each technique, he would describe it once, then demonstrate it, and lastly give so pointers.
The boy sat on the chair, pondered for a while, then managed to use it; the first attempt was awkward, the second smooth, and the third perfect.
The second, the third... all were like this.
Midway, he even began to suspect that the other party had already learned the Yin family’s Underworld techniques and ca here pretending, just to verify, but he soon dismissed this thought.
Because for the last three techniques, he himself did not know how to perform them, he could only repeat the ancestral teachings and points of caution to the boy without demonstration.
The boy still did the sa, sat on the chair and thought for a while, then started analyzing with him: based on the preceding nine techniques following the sa lineage, should the next step be this way or that, and where the crucial points lie.
And then, the boy just did it.
After performing, he even taught it back to him, asking him to try and practice.
Unnoticed, the roles of teacher and student had reversed.
The old man never dread that one day, soone would co to impart his family’s ancestral techniques to him; it was truly absurd, but the reality was right in front of him, undeniable.
What was even more crushing was that after mastering them, the boy broke them down further, explained them in detail, resulting in significant insights for him, deepening his understanding, yet he still couldn’t perform them imdiately.
By the ti the boy had learned everything, it was still dark outside, still so ti until the rooster’s crow.
The old man felt frustrated; he slumped against the wall, looking at the still vibrant boy and exclaid, "No wonder you’re from the Liu family."
To this, Li Zhiyuan rely smiled; to him, this was really just basic stuff, like reviewing foundational concepts he had skipped earlier.
"It’s like being liberated now. If it were the old days, once you grew up, you would definitely be a major figure who could command the winds and the rains."
"Old master, was the Liu family really powerful before?"
After finishing his learning, Li Zhiyuan was actually willing to chat, especially about the stories of the Liu family from before.
"Listen to you, there used to be a saying on the river surface, ’The river is the court, Water Transport Gang is iron-forged.’
Many of the famous bosses of the Water Transport Gang were just like the Dragon King figures of the Liu family, pushed to the foreground as minor deities.
Back then, the only family that could match the Liu family in reputation was the Qin family.
Such major families didn’t care about those trivial matters on the river surface; they were more focused on the secrets beneath the river, that’s where their real strength lay."
"Old master, you know a lot."
"Ha, there are many passengers from all over in this place, and I used to like making friends and showing off in my early years.
It’s almost dawn, you should rest now; actually, I’m exhausted too, haha."
"Mm." Li Zhiyuan nodded, "Just two guests today?"
"Yes, that’s right."
The first guest had entered right when the doors opened, the second guest ca in the middle of teaching.
"But, the second guest didn’t pay."
"What?" The old man was taken aback, he rembered that the boy had his eyes closed in contemplation then, but still noticed this issue, and imdiately explained, "The deal didn’t go through, naturally, there was no need for paynt."
"The deal didn’t go through? But after the second guest left, your complexion imdiately turned very bad."
"I’m just tired, really, haven’t worked this hard in a long ti."
"You said they were all basics, and demonstration of the first nine techniques, even if repeated, was just a small effort.
So, old master, was it really because you were tired, or because you gave a big chunk of your lifespan to the second guest?"
"You’re joking, haha."
"I can read faces; you are nearing your end."
"You..."
"Is it inconvenient to say?"
"I’m too ashad to speak."
The old man lowered his head, stroking his face with his hand, half in sha and half in fear. The boy, who had obviously noticed earlier, had waited until he had finished teaching all the Twelve Techniques before bringing this up.
This mindset and temperant were truly terrifying.
"Then let’s not talk about it."
Li Zhiyuan raised his hand to snap his fingers to end the Underworld task; today had taken a bit too long. He felt that he should sleep until noon; luckily, it wouldn’t delay the afternoon boat.
"Let’s just say it, I’m afraid if you leave late in the day, you will still find out."
"I will find out?"
"My son is dead."
"Yin ng said, after her parents divorced, her dad went to work in the south, and then there was no news from him."
"I originally thought that he couldn’t bear the shock of the divorce and imdiately ran to the south alone, abandoning his daughter and this family."
"What’s the truth?"
"He’s dead."
"Dead?"
"He disagreed with the divorce. The woman, along with the man she has now married, killed him, and his body was dumped at the bottom of West Bay."
"How did they get divorced?"
"In our small place, the rules might be stricter now, but in the past, to marry, you just needed to hold a ceremony, there was no need to register it. If you needed the certificate later, you could just get it then.
Divorce was even simpler, just returning to one’s own ho was considered a divorce.
At that ti, he left a letter, claiming he was useless, a waste who couldn’t even keep his wife, ashad to stay at ho, he went to work in the south to make sothing of himself, and to not worry about him.
The man was already dead by then, and the letter was forged."
"Didn’t you ever suspect?"
"I’m stupid, I really never suspected."
"Who told you?"
"He ca back himself, last month, during the temple fair. He returned ho and told himself.
Because they were repairing the bridge near West Bay, digging the foundation had uncovered his remains. It had been so long that the police couldn’t investigate it.
I’m furious, so I plan to..."
"I’m tired, my head hurts."
"Huh?"
"Let’s not talk anymore, I’m going to sleep."
After waking up, he really had slept until midday.
Li Zhiyuan climbed out from the coffin, while Run Sheng was holding a cloth, helping to wipe the counter.
Seeing Xiao Yuan awake, he imdiately went inside the room to wake up Tan Wenbin, who was also still sound asleep.
"Hey, you really can sleep," Yin ng said smiling.
"Uh-huh," Li Zhiyuan responded.
Tan Wenbin rubbing his eyes ca out, and right in the midday, he directly shouted: "Yin ng, your grandfather isn’t dead, right?"
"Of course he isn’t dead, I never said he died yesterday, he just had a cerebral infarction and hasn’t woken up."
"Is that so? Didn’t you say that yesterday?" Tan Wenbin recalled carefully.
Li Zhiyuan: "She didn’t say that."
But the implication, inside and out, was almost like the grandfather was dead, although, it was indeed almost the sa.
Tan Wenbin imdiately apologized with a smile: "Oops, sorry about that, hehe, I was mistaken."
Yin ng said: "Are we eating lunch? I’ll make it."
Li Zhiyuan: "Let’s eat out."
The pig’s feet from last night still left a bit of a shadow.
At this mont, two boys walked into the store from outside, looking to be just two or three years older than Li Zhiyuan, with red eyes they ran inside.
"Sis, sis."
"Sis."
The two boys shouted for sister Yin ng as soon as they ca in.
"Who are they?" Tan Wenbin asked.
"They were born to my mom later."
"How co they seem close to you?"
"Uh, when they occasionally co to the county town, I would buy them so food and give them so pocket money."
Tan Wenbin: "You’re actually quite nice."
"Really?"
"As nice as if your brain was waterlogged."
At that mont, the two boys ca running over, hugging Yin ng and crying:
"Wuu wuu wuu, sis, it’s terrible, both our mom and dad drowned in the pond this morning!"
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