"Pardon the intrusion, but how much does it cost to live in a building like this?" Li Xiuwen asked. He was eager to get a place for his aunt and uncle, and perhaps hire a few martial masters as guards.
Xiao Laba spat her chewing gum into a flower bed and grinned. "How should I know? My dad used to be the Dragon Head of Hesheng Tu. He moved here after he retired."
The former Dragon Head of Hesheng Tu...
Li Xiuwen looked at Xiao Laba. She really was a second-generation boss in the Walled City—no wonder she had casually offered to keep him on retainer.
The guards at the gate bowed when they saw Xiao Laba. "Miss, you're back... And this is?"
"The resident enforcer I just hired!" Xiao Laba announced. "I'm bringing him to meet my dad!"
The guards stood down, and Li Xiuwen followed her into the building.
Because it stood within the Walled City, its exterior looked worn and weathered.
Yet the interior was remarkably refined, styled like a classical Jiangnan garden, complete with rockeries, fish ponds, and verdant pines and cypresses.
"Boss Mo, I'm back!" Xiao Laba called out across the courtyard.
A plump woman in her thirties with curled hair, wearing a bathrobe and a facial mask, stepped out onto the second-floor balcony. She laughed with mock exasperation. "What are you yelling for? Your father is talking business."
"Mom, give me some more money! I've hired a new enforcer." Xiao Laba clapped Li Xiuwen on the shoulder, slinging an arm around him in full tomboy fashion.
The woman studied Li Xiuwen for a moment, then chuckled. "Your father makes the calls on that sort of thing. It's out of my hands."
Xiao Laba pulled Li Xiuwen along on a stroll around the compound, whispering advice about what to keep in mind when meeting her father.
Once Boss Mo concluded his business, a broad, corpulent middle-aged man emerged with a smile. Spotting Xiao Laba, he chuckled. "Little girl, did someone make trouble at your venue yesterday?"
Xiao Laba replied breezily, "Uncle Liang, I sent him packing with one punch! Pretty impressive, huh?"
"As long as you weren't hurt..." The middle-aged man laughed heartily. Then he looked at Li Xiuwen and asked offhandedly, "And this is?"
"This is Li Xiuwen from the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall," Xiao Laba said. "Sister Fo mentioned him before. He's a second-floor disciple now, and I invited him to be our household's resident enforcer."
A flicker of surprise crossed the man's face.
Li Xiuwen... The name rang a faint bell. He had sent Lion Head Buddha to recruit him back then, though nothing had come of it.
"Greetings, Tianliang Lao!" Li Xiuwen said, recognizing the stout man before him: the Flower Pole of Hesheng Tu, the reigning Dragon Head.
"Haha, not bad, young man! Making it to the second floor in just four months—even if you pumped yourself full of fish balls, your future is bright," Tianliang Lao said in an easygoing tone.
"You flatter me, Big Boss," Li Xiuwen replied with a smile.
The stout man took his leave from the building. Once outside, his smile faded, his mind calm as an undisturbed well.
When he had reached out to Li Xiuwen before, it had merely been out of respect for Master Huang.
Since the kid had turned his nose up at the money, it simply wasn't meant to be.
A faction as grand as Hesheng Tu had no reason to bend over backward courting someone with ordinary innate physique.
Only talents with superior aptitude, like Gaojiao Qi or Xiao Laba, warranted repeated overtures.
*Pity the poor kid,* the stout man mused silently. *Born with inferior aptitude, led on by Master Huang to keep grinding at martial arts, and actually managing some results through sheer grit.*
*Shame his potential is tapped out. Starting so late in life, his blood-and-breath energy has barely a decade left in its prime. Even with sharp comprehension and good fortune, the Second Gate is his limit.*
*Attempting the Three Gates to reach the Tiger and Elephant realm has brutal odds. It's practically scaling the heavens...*
With those thoughts drifting through his mind, the stout man promptly tossed this minor figure to the back of his thoughts.
...
Xiao Laba brought Li Xiuwen up to the second floor.
Boss Mo sat there draped in a bathrobe, one leg crossed over the other.
He had short, bleached-yellow hair, rugged features, a broad nose, and prominent cheekbones. The knuckles gripping his teacup resembled knotted old bamboo stalks—unmistakably the hands of a trained fighter.
"Junior Li Xiuwen greets Boss Mo," Li Xiuwen said.
Boss Mo sized him up, smiling faintly. "How old are you?"
Li Xiuwen lowered his head. "Twenty-one."
Boss Mo drew on a cigar. "Black Membrane at twenty-one isn't bad. Xiao Laba called you an old geezer, so I thought you'd be ancient. With a bit of luck, the Second Gate won't be an issue."
Xiao Laba grinned. "Twenty-one... I feel like I'll already be crossing the Third Gate by then."
Boss Mo frowned. "Don't get cocky. For someone with superior aptitude like you, building up blood-and-breath energy and grinding to the peak of Flood Dragon Muscle is child's play.
"Crossing the Third Gate, however, is a monumental threshold with a steep failure rate. Even someone of superior aptitude attempting the gate head-on only has a fifty-fifty shot.
"You're still young, and time is on your side. Unless you're over ninety percent certain, you need to build a deeper foundation. Good things take time...
"If you can cross the Third Gate smoothly at twenty-one, I'll be more than satisfied. How many prodigies have thrown their lives away by rushing ahead blindly?"
Boss Mo seemed to be scolding Xiao Laba, but his words served as an indirect warning to Li Xiuwen.
He knew that with Li Xiuwen's age and innate physique, reaching his current standing had required gorging on fish balls—a sign of an impatient temperament.
He had no desire to see his daughter waste money keeping an enforcer who was merely a hollow medicine jar, all show and no substance.
Having been lectured by her father, Xiao Laba merely shrugged, clearly used to it.
"So it's settled, then? Ah Wen is our family's enforcer. I even bought him a communicator," Xiao Laba said with a grin.
Boss Mo waved a hand, his eyes softening affectionately. "Go to Third Uncle for the money. But since Ah Wen is a second-floor disciple, you'd better know what to do if he fails to reach the Second Gate within six months."
Xiao Laba beamed smugly. "Got it! Trust me, Ah Wen is more capable than you think... Say what you will, but your daughter's eye for talent isn't half bad."
...
After stepping outside, Xiao Laba muttered,
"Handsome, you heard that, right? You have to reach the Second Gate within six months, or I won't be able to keep you on. Of course, if you pull it off, I'll give you a raise."
Li Xiuwen chuckled. "I'll do my best..."
*Six months?*
He would reach the Second Gate this very month.
Others needed to patiently build up a foundation, but he had no such need.
As they were leaving the building, someone entered through the front gate. The figure was tall and lean, with a youthful face, sharp eyes, and bleached-yellow hair.
An intangible aura emanated from him, like a haughty water bird stalking across a vast marsh to inspect its territory.
*Gaojiao Qi?* Li Xiuwen wondered inwardly. *What's he doing here?*
"What are you doing at my house?" Gaojiao Qi frowned, glaring at Li Xiuwen before turning to Xiao Laba. "You brought him here?"
"None of your business!" Xiao Laba grabbed Li Xiuwen's arm and strutted off.
Once they were out of earshot, Li Xiuwen couldn't help asking, "Who was that just now?"
Xiao Laba gave a derisive snort. "My brat of a younger brother—three months younger than me. The two of us fight all the time."
Li Xiuwen stood dumbfounded.
So the little blond brat and Xiao Laba were from the same family.
No wonder every generation of this household dyed their hair blond and loved calling people old geezers. It was practically a family tradition!
"That little brat even went to challenge your martial arts hall before," Xiao Laba added.
"Yes, he's very strong," Li Xiuwen agreed, speaking from firsthand experience.
"Heh, still not as good as me! He loses to me every time we scrap, and he can't win an argument against me either. That's why he can't stand me—such a brat!" Xiao Laba said.
"Boss, can I get an advance on this month's pay?" Li Xiuwen brought up business. After paying rent to Old Huang, his savings had bottomed out, leaving him with only three thousand yuan. He urgently needed funds.
Chapter 61