Huanglong County is a large county with a larger population and a larger area than Qinghe County. Its economic development is also much stronger than Qinghe County. Therefore, the wharf in Huanglong County is naturally much more lively than that in Qinghe County.
There are no less than a hundred ships of various types docked at the Huanglong County Wharf. There are warehouses of various types next to each other on the wharf. Workers unloading and loading goods are carrying things like ants. Coming to this world and looking at this prosperous wharf in front of him, Yan Liqiang just feels that everything is very interesting.
"Oops, be careful..."
Just when Yan Liqiang had just stepped onto the dock, suddenly, more than ten meters away from him, a laborer who was carrying things onto the boat suddenly slipped while getting on the boat, and a large sack on his back and he fell into the river at once, causing exclamations from those around him.
Seeing someone fall into the water, and it was right next to him, Yan Liqiang ran over without thinking to see if he could help.
"Oh, that's a bag of spun cotton yarn that I just collected. Don't let it get soaked in water..." A businessman-like man almost jumped up and down beside the boat, "Hurry up and pick up the cotton yarn..."
When people and goods fell into the water, the first thing that the merchant thought of was to rescue the goods instead of the people. Yan Liqiang almost wanted to curse. He glanced around and saw a rope on the ground not far away, so he ran over, took the rope and prepared to rescue people.
But there was a man who was faster than Yan Liqiang. Just when he ran to the water's edge with the rope, an old boatman standing barefoot on a small boat next to him was holding a long pole about seven or eight meters long. He inserted the pole into the water and gently lifted it. The strong man's body flew up from the water and landed steadily on the dock.
“Cotton yarn, cotton yarn…” The laborer who had just come out of the water didn’t care about his own safety and started shouting as soon as he landed on the ground.
The old boatman put the pole into the water again, and with another lift, the big bag of veils flew up from the water and landed on the ground of the dock.
It took the old boatman only two seconds to rescue the man and get the yarn. The whole process was neat and beautiful, and a false alarm was turned into nothing. The people on the dock and on the bed next to him couldn't help but cheer, "Good skills..." The old boatman didn't say anything, but just clasped his fists to the people around him with a calm face, "Excuse me", and returned to the cabin to continue doing his own thing, as if he had done something insignificant.
Yan Liqiang, who was holding the rope, was surprised, because he saw that although the old boatman was holding the pole used on the boat, the action he used to pick up the people and cotton yarn from the water was a spear technique. This could be seen from the old boatman's posture holding the pole. The old boatman's right hand was holding the root of the pole, without exposing the handle. At that time, the old sentry was standing by the boat, his lower body as steady as a mountain, and he easily picked out hundreds of kilograms of people and dozens of kilograms of goods with two moves, just like he picked up two bean sprouts from a plate with chopsticks. Without decades of immersion in spear techniques, he would never have been able to do this.
But such a person is working as a boatman on the boat, which only shows one thing, that the old boatman has not completed the foundation building. Without this foundation, no matter how much the old boatman practices his spear skills, they are all external skills. Now it is estimated that he has reached the top and there is no way he can go any further. Moreover, as the old boatman's physical strength will decline in the future, his decades of hard work on spearmanship will ultimately be in vain.
Practicing martial arts without practicing the basics will all be in vain.
The merchant just now hurriedly directed people to take out the veils from the linen belts and dry them in the sun. Fortunately, the veils had just fallen into the water and were not soaked much. The river water here is clear and will not dye the veils and affect the quality of the veils. The overall loss is not that great.
"What a pity..." a voice suddenly sounded behind Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing not far behind him.
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a dark red military uniform of the garrison soldiers with a beautiful cowhide tiger-head belt on it. He had a bulging belly and looked like an officer at the rank of lieutenant. The middle-aged man had a face full of stubble and seemed a bit lazy and unkempt, with a smell of alcohol on him.
Other officers would have swords or something like that hanging on their belts, but this man had a wine gourd hanging on his belt.
When Yan Liqiang turned around, the man's eyes had already landed on his face. He was stunned for a moment, his eyes suddenly became complicated, and he muttered to himself, "Resembling, too much alike..."
Yan Liqiang's eyes swept over the man's right hand, and the little finger of the man's right hand was missing.
"Yan Liqiang greets Uncle Qian!" Yan Liqiang quickly saluted the man.
The man's expression had recovered. He looked at Yan Liqiang, his eyes swept over the rope in Yan Liqiang's hand, and a smile appeared on his face, "Were you planning to save someone just now?"
Yan Liqiang dropped the rope somewhat embarrassedly, "Human life is at stake, we can't just be indifferent..."
"Hahaha, a life is at stake, we can't be indifferent!" The middle-aged man laughed and patted Yan Liqiang on the body. "Let's go. I guarantee you will live more comfortably in Huanglong County than in Qinghe County..."
After meeting each other at the dock, the man took Yan Liqiang away from the dock and came to the roadside not far from the dock.
The roads here are bustling with traffic and people, even more than in Qinghe County.
The wharf is a place where passengers and goods gather, so there are many ox carts and horse carts parked on the roadside outside the wharf, carrying both people and goods.
Just when Yan Liqiang was wondering whether the man he called Uncle Qian should call a car, a horse-drawn carriage parked not far away, which was specially used to carry people, had already come running over without the man even calling for it, and stopped in front of the two people. The driver jumped off the carriage nimbly and greeted the man with a nod and a bow.
"Mr. Qian, take my car, take my car..."
"Hahaha, you're the only one with sharp eyes. Okay, I'll give you a favor and take your car..."
The driver smiled and took the initiative to open the door for Yan Liqiang and the man. "Where does Master Qian want me to take you? Zui Xiang Lou or Yi Xiang Yuan? I heard that there are several beautiful girls in Yi Xiang Yuan these days, all waiting for Master Qian."
"Ahem..." The man surnamed Qian glanced at Yan Liqiang and waved his hand, "Stop talking nonsense and go back to the craftsman camp..."
"Okay, okay..."
Two people got on the carriage. The driver closed the door, climbed to the front, shook the reins, and the horses pulling the carriage started to run.
The two-wheeled carriage runs briskly and the compartment is much more private. Sitting in the carriage, apart from some shaking, with the curtains drawn on the windows, outsiders can basically not see what is happening inside the carriage.
Yan Liqiang, who got into the car, actually already had a lot of questions in his mind.
At this time, his father was able to entrust him to the care of the man surnamed Qian, which showed that his father absolutely trusted this man and the relationship between the two was extraordinary. But the strange thing was that in all the years since he was a child, he had never heard his father mention that he had such a friend in Huanglong County, and the man surnamed Qian had never been to his house before. Such a relationship was really hard to understand.
The carriage was shaking slightly. The man surnamed Qian was sitting opposite Yan Liqiang. He looked at Yan Liqiang's face, and a complicated look flashed in his eyes again. "Your father has already told me about you. Although the Hong family is a tyrant in your Qinghe County, it is a family that has not produced a warrior for three generations. No matter how long its claws are, they can't reach Huanglong County. Even if they can reach, I can cut off those claws and let the Hong family suffer the consequences. Just listen to my arrangements and rest assured to recover!"
"Thank you, Uncle Qian!"
"By the way, has your father ever told you about me before?"
"No!" Yan Liqiang shook his head.
"Hmph!" The man surnamed Qian snorted coldly, seeming a little dissatisfied, "My name is Qian Su, I'm your father's junior apprentice, we were both taught by the same master..."
"Junior brother?" Yan Liqiang looked at Qian Su with some doubt.
Qian Su seemed to know what Yan Liqiang was thinking. He picked up the wine gourd hanging on his waist, opened it, and took a sip of wine. "Your father and I learned the craft of blacksmithing together, not martial arts. Later... Later, your father and I had a quarrel over something and fell out. We haven't had any contact in recent years. I know your father is in Liuhe Town, and your father also knows that I am in Huanglong County. But later, although we calmed down, neither of us was so embarrassed to take the initiative to look for each other. I didn't expect your father to come to me last night..."
"Did you and my father... fall out because of my mother?" Yan Liqiang asked calmly.
Qian Su was about to take his second sip of wine when his hand stopped in mid-air. He stared blankly at Yan Liqiang with a look of surprise. He had never expected Yan Liqiang to be so perceptive. "Did your father tell you that?"
"No, I just guessed!" Yan Liqiang shook his head.
In most cases, men can fall out with each other because of only two things: money or women. This is the experience and life perception that Yan Liqiang summed up in his previous life. Although it sounds a bit cliché, it is the truth. Judging from the complicated expression on Qian Su's face when he saw him, as well as his relationship with his father and his father's character, the reason why the two of them fell out is probably because of emotional reasons.
Qian Su took another big sip of wine, and his unshaven face showed a trace of loneliness that was hard to let go. "Your mother is our master's daughter. Your father and I both like your mother, but your mother likes your father..."
"Uncle Qian, my mother is no longer with us. You and my father are both people who value friendship and loyalty. Let the past be the past..." Yan Liqiang sighed.
"Haha, you're right, the past is the past. To be honest, I'm very happy that your father came to see me!" Qian Su let out a long breath, looked at Yan Liqiang again, and suddenly laughed, "Your father said that you have never been far away before, and you used to practice martial arts every day. You are a bit introverted, you don't have any ideas, you are not good at socializing, you can't speak, and he asked me to take care of you. I think your father might have made a mistake..."
What could Yan Liqiang say? He just widened his eyes and looked at the man in front of him with pure, innocent and cute eyes. The expression on his face was like those two-dimensional pink girls wearing colored contact lenses and taking selfies.
Qian Su's next sip of wine was almost choked by Yan Liqiang's expression, and he started coughing violently in the car...
…
When Yan Liqiang arrived in Huanglong County, in a study room in the backyard of the Hong family compound in Liuhe Town, the old man of the Hong family, Hong Tao's grandfather, was listening to a report from a housekeeper with a slightly frown on his brows.
The old man of the Hong family, Hong Chengshou, looked somewhat wealthy. He was in his sixties, and was wearing a gorgeous indigo satin gown. His hair was combed meticulously. He was sitting on an armchair, playing with a few iron balls in his hands. As the steward reported, the smile on Old Man Hong's face gradually faded, but his eyes gradually became sharper.
"You said that butcher Liu saw the Hong family father and son heading towards the county town this morning, and then only Yan Dechang came back alone, but Yan Liqiang didn't come with him?"
"Yes!" The steward who was talking to Old Master Hong nodded, "Originally I thought Yan Dechang sent his son to a clinic for treatment, but I asked people to check several clinics in the county this afternoon, and no one found Yan Liqiang!"
"Does anyone know where Yan Liqiang went?"
"No one knows where Yan Liqiang has gone yet!" The steward whispered, and then he remembered something, "Oh, by the way, when I came back last night, I met the Yan father and son on the road. The Yan father and son still refused to bow their heads. That Yan Liqiang seemed to be a little different from a few days ago. He didn't seem so dull..." The steward then recounted what happened when he met Yan Liqiang last night, especially what Yan Liqiang said, which he repeated to Old Master Hong word for word.
Listening to what the steward said, Old Master Hong narrowed his eyes, and the iron gallbladder in his hand stopped spinning for a moment. After two seconds, he resumed spinning and said faintly, "Yan Liqiang's previous dullness might have been something his father asked him to pretend to do so that we wouldn't notice him. But in this martial arts preliminary test, when Yan's father and son saw that our Hong family had taken action against them, there was naturally no need to pretend anymore..." At this point, Old Master Hong sneered, "But at this point, it's not up to them. Go arrange for someone to find out Yan Liqiang's whereabouts. Even if our Hong family hasn't produced a warrior for three generations, Liuhe Town is still our Hong family's Liuhe Town. We can't allow a blacksmith's son to turn the tables..."
"yes!"
The steward left the study, and another person came out from behind a secret door in the study.
The man was thin and had a pale green face. He had a pair of unpleasant triangular eyes and a bean-sized black mole on his left cheek. He looked a bit sinister. He chuckled and said, "Mr. Hong, I said it would be best to strike a few days ago. I only needed to go to their house at night and break his spine with one palm. He would be useless for the rest of his life and could only spend his days in a wheelchair. How could he practice martial arts? How could he make such a fuss like he is doing now?"
"We had the first national martial arts test a few days ago. If we had taken action against Yan Liqiang at that time, the traces would have been too obvious, which would have attracted criticism and attention. But as long as Taoer can defeat Yan Liqiang on the field, it will prove the strength of our Hong family. No one will suspect our Hong family if anything happens to a blacksmith's son. I originally wanted to let you take action these two days, but I didn't expect the Yan family father and son to be so alert..." Old Master Hong sighed and shook his head.
“I can’t help you with finding people. Mr. Hong didn’t invite me here to look for people. Mr. Hong just needs to tell me where he is, and I will leave Pingxi County after I’m done. But the time I’ve spent in the Hong family these few days will be charged separately…” The man chuckled, licked his lips, and a hint of greed flashed in his eyes.
"Don't worry, our Hong family can still afford this amount of money..."
"That's good!"
…
(End of this chapter)