This time, Zheng Yubai only took half an hour to sort the beans. His rapid progress stunned even him.
"Not bad." Xu Ruoyu's tone no longer contained anger, but instead was filled with undisguised admiration. "It took me a full month to reach your current level. Although we started from different points, your progress is gratifying enough. In this sense, I have somewhat wronged you."
"I don't dare." Zheng Yubai rarely heard Xu Ruoyu's praise, so he just responded lightly. He knew from a young age that the best way to stop his father's temper was to try his best to complete the tasks he assigned. As for the meaningless things like dissatisfaction and retort, there was no point at all.
"Being able to sort the beans in half an hour is already a very good result. If you continue practicing at the current pace, you should be able to sort the beans within ten minutes after a week. That will be considered as completing this stage of practice. But don't forget that what I require is not just this." Xu Ruoyu said again.
Zheng Yubai scratched his head: "I thought hard for a long time last night, but I couldn't get started..."
Xu Ruoyu nodded: "It's indeed a bit difficult for you. Go and draw the curtains."
Zheng Yubai followed his instructions and closed the curtains. When he turned around, Xu Ruoyu had mixed the beans together again and took out a piece of black cloth to cover his eyes.
In the darkness, although Zheng Yubai had good eyesight, he could only see vaguely. Xu Ruoyu said, "I will only demonstrate it once, watch carefully." As he said that, he reached into the bag and shook it rapidly.
Zheng Yubai looked at the scene in front of him in amazement, almost unable to believe it. Countless white iron beans flew out of the bag like fireflies and landed in another bag, making a crisp sound. Xu Ruoyu's hands were as fast as lightning, and he sorted the beans almost without thinking, even faster than Zheng Yubai in the sun.
"This is incredible..." Zheng Yubai was shocked. Although he was relatively dull when he was young, he was determined and practiced hard. He was also diligent and eager to learn. After he turned fifteen, he became a talent. This may have something to do with his four eyes and double pupils, but it also had a lot to do with his hard work and eagerness to learn in his childhood.
Now he watched Xu Ruoyu's demonstration greedily, and the double pupils in his eyes reappeared, flashing in the darkness. Although Xu Ruoyu covered his eyes, his senses were extremely sharp. He was surprised to find a familiar feeling beside him, as if he had demonstrated this stunt next to his sworn brother and enemy Gao Fei. His mind was a little dazed, and his hands couldn't help but slow down.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it..." Xu Ruoyu didn't notice anything unusual. He thought to himself that he and Gao Fei hadn't seen each other for more than ten years, and there was only Zheng Yubai by his side. How could he feel him around? It might be an illusion caused by his high concentration.
In the darkness, Xu Ruoyu sorted the iron beans in just eleven minutes. If he hadn't paused for a moment, it would have taken him less than ten minutes. Zheng Yubai opened the curtains and saw the two bags of iron beans, which were clearly separated. He couldn't help but marvel at them.
Xu Ruoyu took off the black cloth from his eyes, sighed and said, "I'm old. If this hand was still flexible..." He didn't say the rest. After all, he was a thief king with status. It was a bit inappropriate for him to sigh about life in front of a junior like Zheng Yubai.
Zheng Yubai looked at Xu Ruoyu's broken hand, and could not imagine what his martial arts skills would have been if that hand was intact. Compared with Xu Ruoyu, Du Bisheng's method was more clever and flexible, because that was a trick used on the gambling table. Although Xu Ruoyu's method was used in the art of stealing, it had a rare momentum of grandeur, at least the effect was very amazing. Comparing the two, Xu Ruoyu's method was actually better.
"What do you think?" Seeing Zheng Yubai's dazed look, Xu Ruoyu thought that this boy looked very stupid. He really didn't know why his precious daughter was so fond of him.
A daughter is a father's treasure. When marrying off a daughter, a father may not be as excited as a mother, but he must feel worse. When Xu Jin asked him to help, Xu Ruoyu knew that there must be some relationship between Zheng Yubai and Xu Jin. Although he had only been here for two days, he was more convinced of this idea. The reason why he treated Zheng Yubai badly was that he was subconsciously worried about the person who might take his daughter away.
However, after two days of contact, although Xu Ruoyu did not understand the hidden spirit in Xingyiquan, he could see that Zheng Yubai was not as slow and dull as he seemed. It was just that the skill of sorting iron beans in the dark required years of training to achieve success. Even though Xu Ruoyu was a rare genius in the thieves' sect, it took him two full years to achieve success. Now it was a bit too much for Zheng Yubai to master it within three months.
But what else can he do? Xu Ruoyu heard from his daughter that Zheng Yubai made a life-and-death bet with Gao Fei because of Xu Jin. Whether from the perspective of revenge or to make his daughter repay the favor, Xu Ruoyu had to strictly require Zheng Yubai. Because without this skill, it is simply an impossible task to defeat Gao Fei by gambling.
But there is only three months left, can he really do it? Xu Ruoyu looked at Zheng Yubai who was in a daze, thinking with some worry.
Zheng Yubai had no idea what Xu Ruoyu was thinking. In fact, his mind was no longer in this room. His mind was full of Xu Ruoyu's actions just now, playing over and over in his mind like a slow-motion movie.
Ever since Zhang Daosheng discovered that he had four eyes with double pupils, Zheng Yubai had subconsciously thought about developing the ability to "copy". Xu Ruoyu's action just now brought him into a wonderful state that he had never reached before, and he suddenly entered a state of "sudden enlightenment". It was as if all his thoughts and ideas had disappeared, and only Xu Ruoyu's free and easy exquisite skills kept playing in his mind.
"How did he do it?" This question lingered in Zheng Yubai's mind for a long time. His mind was like a dark and endless universe. White iron beans fell in the darkness with a popping sound. The crisp sound made people somewhat obsessed.
White fluttered in the darkness, like falling snow. Xu Ruoyu's movements were also decomposed in Zheng Yubai's mind. Gradually, Zheng Yubai seemed to be able to see Xu Ruoyu's movements more clearly.
Xu Ruoyu saw Zheng Yubai's dazed look and wondered what was wrong with this kid. Was he possessed? Just as he was about to wake him up, he saw him walk to the two pockets, mix the black and white iron beans together, then take Xu Ruoyu's black cover cloth and cover his eyes with it, then flip his hands and insert them into the iron beans.
"What does he want to do?" Seeing Zheng Yubai doing these things silently, Xu Ruoyu couldn't help but be stunned. Could it be that he only watched it once and learned it? (To be continued)