Chapter 4

"Master Ye! Someone has come to learn kung fu!"

Sitting in a chair with a bandage on his left foot, Third Auntie suddenly shouted, startling Ye Wen and Zuo Xiaoyou, who were helping to hang bed sheets.

Ye Wen pulled the bed sheet aside and stepped out, seeing a handsome young man with a bent waist and a hat. He asked, "Do you want to learn Wing Chun?"

"Let's see! I don't even know what Wing Chun is."

Seeing the familiar scene and hearing the familiar dialogue, Zuo Xiaoyou, standing to the side, smiled without a word.

Master Huang, you've finally come.

It had been over ten days since Zuo Xiaoyou became Ye Wen's disciple, and Ye Wen's family had moved into his home for about three or four days.

It wasn't clear whether it was because Zuo Xiaoyou had given Ye Wen too many favors or because he was the only disciple, but Ye Wen taught kung fu with great dedication. He not only taught all of Wing Chun but also passed on the Hundred Cuts Blade technique to Zuo Xiaoyou.

What is the Hundred Cuts Blade? It's the blade technique Ye Wen used to slash people with dual knives at the fish market, incredibly powerful.

With Ye Wen's dedicated teaching and Zuo Xiaoyou's natural talent and hard work, in just a few short days, Zuo Xiaoyou felt his combat skills had improved significantly.

Time flew by, and just when Zuo Xiaoyou was about to forget about Master Huang's apprenticeship, he finally arrived.

"You don't need to say much. Let's fight. If I lose, I'll pay the tuition."

Master Huang's words were domineering, but they sounded very harsh to Ye Wen. If it were before he had Zuo Xiaoyou, he might have endured it for the sake of living, but now that his living conditions had improved, Ye Wen's old habit of going with the flow resurfaced.

"Martial arts are not for fighting, but for strengthening the body. You just want to follow whoever is the strongest, which is not worthy of learning Chinese martial arts." Ye Wen's response left Zuo Xiaoyou stunned.

Master Huang sneered, "I don't think you're that great." He threw the flyer and turned to leave.

Zuo Xiaoyou's eyes widened.

What... is this situation!?

Master Ye Wen's first disciple, Huang Liang, is just gone like that???

"Master..." Seeing Master Huang really leave, Ye Wen didn't try to stop him, leaving Zuo Xiaoyou a bit dazed.

"Ah You." Ye Wen said earnestly, "Remember, Chinese martial arts emphasize benevolence and righteousness. If one is aggressive and combative, they are not a martial artist but a hooligan."

"Master is right," Zuo Xiaoyou agreed, but his mind was in turmoil.

Without Master Huang, how would the subsequent plot unfold?

Ye Wen's confrontation with Hong Zhenan was due to a conflict between Master Huang and Hong Zhenan's disciple. Without this conflict, if Ye Wen missed the confrontation with Hong Zhenan, the entire plot would be disrupted. Without prior knowledge of the plot, it would be difficult to complete the tasks. If the tasks were not completed, he would be stuck in this world forever.

Absolutely not!

"Master, I think that young man isn't inherently bad, just young and undisciplined." After Ye Wen finished his lesson, Zuo Xiaoyou quickly defended Master Huang, "But precisely because of this, Master shouldn't just watch him go down the wrong path!

Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, and guiding someone to do good is also a great virtue. Master, don't you think so?"

Zuo Xiaoyou looked at Ye Wen with hopeful eyes, and Ye Wen was moved by his words, showing a hint of hesitation.

"Master, I'll go bring him back." Without waiting for Ye Wen's response, Zuo Xiaoyou ran down.

Fortunately, Master Huang wasn't walking fast, and Zuo Xiaoyou caught up with him downstairs soon.

"Hey!"

Master Huang, with a backpack, turned to look at Zuo Xiaoyou, frowning, "What do you want?"

"I am Ye Wen's senior disciple, Zuo Xiaoyou." Zuo Xiaoyou stopped about a meter in front of Master Huang, looking at him closely. Master Huang had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, incredibly handsome. In comparison, Zuo Xiaoyou, who was ordinary, was far behind. However, as the saying goes, "A man of learning has a natural grace," and even Master Huang couldn't hide the demeanor Zuo Xiaoyou had cultivated through years of reading. This was why Master Huang was willing to stop and talk to him.

Before Master Huang could speak, Zuo Xiaoyou said, "You want to know if Wing Chun is powerful, right? Follow me, and I'll show you."

With that, he turned and walked into a small alley.

Master Huang's eyes narrowed, and he followed.

Soon, they arrived at an uninhabited place. Zuo Xiaoyou turned to face Master Huang, assuming the starting stance of Wing Chun, and said, "Come on!"

Master Huang dropped his backpack, shook his neck, and assumed a boxer's stance.

Master Huang, at 179 cm, was tall compared to Ye Wen, but he was still a bit shorter than the 185 cm Zuo Xiaoyou, making him look less imposing.

Master Huang probably realized this and, knowing he couldn't win in terms of presence, threw a left straight punch first.

He thought it would give Zuo Xiaoyou some trouble, but the next moment, he felt his wrist pushed from the inside, leaving his guard wide open. The next moment, a fist the size of a sandbag hit him in the face.

Bang—

Master Huang grunted, swaying and squatting down, holding his nose.

"This is Wing Chun." Before Master Huang could react, Zuo Xiaoyou stepped forward, standing above him, and said, "It's a close-range combat style, excelling in short-range fights. The smaller the space and the closer the distance, the more powerful it is. Wing Chun's defense is the strongest. If you can't break through Wing Chun's defense, Wing Chun is invincible. Do you understand?"

"I was just careless." Master Huang shook his head, stood up, and his eyes blazed with determination.

Zuo Xiaoyou was speechless, knowing his words had been in vain.

"Then let's go again."

Since talking wasn't working, they would fight until Master Huang was convinced.

"Here I come!"

Bang—Slap—Crack—

A few minutes later, Zuo Xiaoyou looked at Master Huang, who was lying on the ground, nose and face bruised, like a dead dog. He rubbed his slightly sore fist and said, "Now you know how powerful Wing Chun is! To be honest, Master is ten times better than me. Back in Foshan, Master, with an empty stomach, defeated ten Japanese karate experts. Someone like you, Master could take on a hundred."

Master Huang was stunned, looking at Zuo Xiaoyou in disbelief.

"Don't think I'm exaggerating. In Foshan, many people know about this." Zuo Xiaoyou took a step and left, "If you want to be a disciple, show sincerity. If not for Master's recent financial difficulties, he wouldn't be openly accepting disciples."

This time, Master Huang listened to every word and remembered them.

The next day, Master Huang, with bandages on his face, brought three young men to the rooftop and was beaten up by Zuo Xiaoyou. Fighting four at once was a bit challenging for Zuo Xiaoyou, and he took a few hits, but it wasn't a big deal. He managed to subdue these four overly enthusiastic, idle young men.

The four young men then knelt down and asked to be disciples.

Ye Wen glanced at Zuo Xiaoyou, chuckled thoughtfully, and said, "Pay the tuition first, pay the tuition first."

Although Zuo Xiaoyou had helped improve Ye Wen's living conditions, it was still his personal contribution. With four new disciples, Ye Wen hoped to share some of the burden. A teacher shouldn't rely solely on a student for support. Ye Wen had his pride.

After Master Huang and the others became disciples, the plot finally returned to normal. In the following days, Master Huang, using his connections in the "underworld," brought in many more young men to learn kung fu. This increased Ye Wen's income, and his smile grew wider.

Seeing the plot return to normal, Zuo Xiaoyou felt relieved and could finally focus more on his interests.

Like reading.

Reading was Zuo Xiaoyou's only hobby from childhood. Whenever he had free time, he would read. He mostly read novels and biographies, and he had read many famous works from ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign.

He also liked collecting old books. If he found a valuable old book, even if he didn't like reading it, he would try to buy it for his collection. In reality, his small rented room had two large boxes of old books, mostly published before 1980, with a few from after 1980, which were mostly the types he liked to read.

After coming to Ye Wen's world, he was too busy planning and arranging his future strategies in the first few days to read. But after Ye Wen's family moved in, he finally had the time to read.

Although it was only 1950, there were many bookstores in Hong Kong. Most were small, but they had a wide variety of books, many of which Zuo Xiaoyou hadn't read.

Excited by the prospect, Zuo Xiaoyou would visit various bookstores during his afternoon breaks, buying old and rare books or those he found interesting without hesitation.

Thanks to him, most bookstore owners within a few miles knew him as a young collector of old books. They all tried to acquire old books to sell to Zuo Xiaoyou for a profit.

This was a good thing, and Zuo Xiaoyou was happy about it. In just a few days, the one cubic meter space in his watch was filled with books. He had to leave many more at home. Seeing these books, Zuo Xiaoyou felt a pang of regret. The watch's space was limited, and although the books were his legal property, he couldn't take them out.

The feeling of having good books in front of him but unable to take them was terrible.

Even so, it couldn't stop Zuo Xiaoyou's passion for collecting old books.

One day, Zuo Xiaoyou visited a bookstore. The owner was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a blue robe, with a goatee and round glasses, giving him a scholarly air.

Seeing Zuo Xiaoyou, he greeted him with a smile, "Old Sun, do you have any new books?"

"Ha, you came at the right time." Old Sun took out a yellowed, bound ancient book from the counter, "The 'Shennong Bencao Jing.' It's quite old, just acquired."

Zuo Xiaoyou didn't respond, silently flipping through the book. It indeed looked old but was in relatively good condition, with some damage but no missing pages, and the text was complete.

"How much?" Zuo Xiaoyou asked, putting the book down.

Old Sun looked at Zuo Xiaoyou, who had a calm expression and eyes.

Tsk!

Old Sun said, "Fixed price, twenty dollars."

"Ha ha." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled, "Five dollars."

"Get out! Get out!" Old Sun's face turned red, pushing him, "No deal!"

"Don't be hasty. Business is business, but friendship remains. How about eight dollars?" Zuo Xiaoyou smiled calmly.

"Less than fifteen, no deal!" Old Sun lowered the price...

After some haggling, the book was sold for twelve dollars, a price Zuo Xiaoyou was satisfied with. Although it was an old book, it was only about a hundred years old, and the printing was rough, making it a common item from a hundred years ago, not very valuable. With many new books being published, if not for Zuo Xiaoyou's interest in old books, no one would buy it.

In troubled times, people value gold; in peaceful times, they collect. In this era, life was tough, and no one wanted to spend money on a dirty old book. If not for Zuo Xiaoyou's ability to buy a million worth of items, he wouldn't have spent the money.

Old Sun, though pretending to be at a loss, was secretly happy. He had bought the book for a dime from a junk collector and resold it for twelve dollars, making a profit of eleven dollars and eighty cents.

"Even if you're as cunning as a fox, you still have to drink my foot washing water." Old Sun was quite pleased.

At that moment, a petite, long-haired girl in a white dress walked into the bookstore. Her bright eyes scanned Old Sun and Zuo Xiaoyou before asking, "Do you have a simplified version of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'?"

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Thank you to 'sam~tang' for the 500起点币 donation.

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