As possibly the only assassin in the Great Martial Country who studied human psychology...
Although Zhang San did not cure his fear of fishermen, after years of research, Zhang San understood very clearly that from a medical perspective, young children with immature minds are the easiest to brainwash.
Therefore, for the already nine-year-old Wang Xiaoer, Zhang San knew that if he didn't start the brainwashing now, in a few years, this kid might really go and marry a wife!
So for the whole night, Zhang San analyzed for these bandits how to tell a good story.
A so-called story requires a beginning, development, twist and conclusion, missing any one would be incomplete. It must be moving, yet reasonable.
Of course, this posed some difficulty for the group of bandits.
So Zhang San had these bandits memorize the story he wrote first, and later they could improvise if they wanted, but they must not deviate from the original intention. The main goal was that through the story, Wang Xiaoer would develop a fear or even disgust of women, thus causing psychological trauma.
After a round of theory combined with practice, plus how to tell a story full of emotion...
"So you all understand now?" Zhang San asked.
"Understood, understood," the bandits all nodded.
Zhang San smiled with satisfaction and sent them away.
The night was almost over.
...
...
What?
Why would a group of bandits believe a nine-year-old child would have psychological trauma related to women?
Even if the bandits had low education levels, how could they believe such a far-fetched thing?
However, Zhang San said, then do you think when these bandits learn of Wang Xiaoer's imminent future use of Seven Steps Scatter on them, other than believing him Zhang San, do they have any other way of staying alive?
So this was never an issue of believing or not, but a multiple choice question with only one option.
What?
Why did Zhang San go through so much trouble, talking to Wang Xiaoer first, then having the bandits eavesdrop outside? With force, couldn't he also make these bandits obedient?
Zhang San said, people with such thoughts could never become a successful capitalist, oh no, a successful underworld businessman.
As someone who almost became a big underworld boss in the assassin industry abroad, he went through so much trouble of course for a reason.
The logic was simple.
No matter if you are an underworld businessman hiring people to work for you, or like Zhang San wanting to use these bandits to brainwash Wang Xiaoer.
You can never let the people hired by or used by you feel like they are working for you. You absolutely cannot use any method to threaten or coerce them, because that will make them resentful, hindering the work.
Therefore, when you hire or use others, you must make your subordinates feel like they are working hard for their own lives, only then can you motivate them to their fullest potential.
Zhang San had even seen an underworld boss, the so-called "underworld businessman", whose brainwashing skills were unprecedented. For three consecutive months he didn't pay his subordinates at all, yet his organization's performance kept improving day after day!
So what do you think that assassin organization's boss was?
Of course the role model for every capitalist, oh no, every underworld businessman's dream!
Just like now, would these bandits feel like they were telling stories to Wang Xiaoer for Zhang San?
Of course not!
These bandits would only feel that everything they were doing now was to save their own lives!
When it came time to tell the stories, could they not pour their heart and soul into it?
...
...
The next day.
Wang Xiaoer believed he had successfully persuaded his master the previous day, so he became even more unscrupulous with the poisoning.
But today when Wang Xiaoer was detoxifying the poisoned bandit leader, he heard the disoriented, poisoned bandit leader tell his love story.
It was a sad story.
Once there was a little waiter at a restaurant who worked hard and diligently. One day, he had the good fortune to encounter love.
The waiter was poor, but still prepared flowers under the moon for the girl.
The waiter didn't know poetry, but learned cooking skills from the chef, just to make her happy.
The two spent several years together, seemingly happy and peaceful, thinking it would be for life. But unexpectedly, the mother-in-law's words before the wedding destroyed their tranquility.
"Where is your house?" the mother-in-law asked.
The wedding was delayed because of this.
The waiter promised that in the future he would definitely buy a big house for the girl. From then on he worked even harder and struggled even more.
But the next year, the girl married someone else, because the waiter only had enough money to buy a shack, while someone who bought a big house already proposed.
The girl ultimately chose to abandon him!
The story ended here.
The waiter finally became a bandit leader.
This story... was of course fake.
The real situation was that the girl was still waiting for the waiter, the bandit leader, in her hometown.
And their real status was, the bandit leader was making money as a bandit while the girl wove cloth at home to save up for their future life.
But of course such an inspirational story could not be told to Wang Xiaoer, so Zhang San reasonably "artistically modified" the bandit leader's love story into the version Wang Xiaoer heard now.
After all, the bandit leader had mentioned some of his past when talking about his dreams before, so he had to combine what he said previously with half-truths to make the smart Wang Xiaoer believe him.
The bandit leader lay trembling on the sickbed, and said to the tearful Wang Xiaoer: "Child, listen to uncle's advice. Women, really hurt people! We men can't afford to be hurt."
Wang Xiaoer acknowledged this with tears.
But suddenly, Wang Xiaoer seemed to recall something. He asked: "Wait, uncle, didn't you say before you all became bandits to go home and marry wives? You've been hurt so badly, yet you still want to marry?"
The bandit leader immediately broke into a cold sweat behind him.
"Oh... Oh that, child. You don't understand this yet. As a man, we care about face. What I said before was all to conceal the scars in my heart. Don't take those details too seriously."
I see.
Nine-year-old Wang Xiaoer had a look of sudden realization.
...
...
Another day, it was Bandit A's turn to be poisoned. Wang Xiaoer went to "carefully" detoxify him, but unexpectedly, Bandit A also told a story.
Bandit A's story carried even more helplessness.
It was a sad story.
It was about a youth who had learned swordsmanship for some years. Although his martial arts skills were not great, compared to ordinary people he was still a bit stronger. He had a dream that in this underworld-filled era, he would become a heroic swordsman.
Apart from ideals, regarding love, the youth had always secretly admired a certain girl in town.
One day, some local bullies came and harassed the girl.
The youth drew his sword to intervene. Encouraged by love, the originally mediocre youth actually defeated the underworld thugs.
In a moment, the title of "Gallant Swordsman" spread through the town.
Everyone looked at him with new eyes.
Even the girl was moved to say: "If not for you, I might have been... by that person. But penniless hero, I can only repay this debt in the next life."
But the youth did not expect the girl to repay him, he only hoped to become friends with her.
In the end the two did become close confidantes.
Until one day, the bullies returned with the might of the underworld behind them, naturally to get back at the youth. The youth was no match and was beaten black and blue.
But the bullies deliberately shamed him - they beat him but didn't beat him to death or injure him severely. Instead they brought people to publicly beat him in the streets every few days, making him lose face in the town.
Yet the youth did not leave the small town, he silently trained harder in martial arts, because he was afraid the bullies would go after the girl again someday when he was not there.
One day, the bullies really went to harass the girl again.
Just then, a wandering swordsman appeared and drove away the bullies and their thugs.
The gallant demeanor of the wandering swordsman's sword-like brows made the girl fall for him.
The two got married in the end.
The young man attended the wedding of the two people and saw that wanderer.
Later, the young man gave up his dream of being a knight-errant and became a bandit in the mountain village.
Wang Xiaoer asked Bandit A, "But why on earth did you do it?"
Bandit A picked up the mirror by his bedside, glanced at his pockmarked face, and sneered coldly, "If you're handsome, pledge yourself to another; if you're ugly, repay in the next life. Hah, women!"
Hah, women!
"How could she do this!!" Wang Xiaoer angrily stood up for the bandit.
However, this story... of course was still written by Zhang San.
But this didn't prevent Zhang San from using Bandit A to educate Wang Xiaoer.
Bandit A said, "They all say men are lustful, but aren't women lustful too? Boy, listen to uncle's advice, when you grow up in the future, never find a woman, they are too hurtful! We men can't afford to be hurt by them!"