On the way back, Zhang San briefly explained Bai Fang's background to Wang Xiaoer, mainly to let Wang Xiaoer have some sense of propriety and not talk nonsense with her, and most importantly, he must not reveal his identity.
Wang Xiaoer also asked his master along the way why he was beaten all over his body.
After knowing the truth, Wang Xiaoer couldn't help but sigh and say that when it comes to ruthlessness and prudence, no one can compare to my master!
It turned out that in order to make it look real, all the injuries on Zhang San's body were caused by himself using inner strength.
In short, 'self-harm'.
Too ruthless!
...
Night.
Returning to the tofu shop and continuing to pretend to be asleep in order to avoid suspicion from Bai Fang and her mother tomorrow, Zhang San was increasingly uneasy.
The tenth ranked killer Shuang Lang on the list has the notorious reputation for being brutal. Especially his younger brother "Xue Lang", who loves bloodshed and is extremely cruel. He often tortures people to death before killing them. His elder brother "Sha Lang" has a cold temperament and is extremely merciless. No matter who the target is, he will never show mercy, even to a child.
However, Zhang San was not afraid of these two "wolves".
Although ranked tenth on the list, they were already top masters in the Jianghu, and even Zhang San would feel a headache when dealing with them, but that’s it.
Even Xiao Tianjie of Heishan Ke died at Zhang San’s hands. To be honest, he did not have a strong fear of these two wolves.
What Zhang San feared was the master behind these two wolves.
Zhang San did not believe that these two people would take the initiative to protect a lonely mother and daughter.
And from the performance of Bai Fang and her mother, they did not seem to know that there were experts protecting them in secret.
It is well known that among the top twenty killers on the list who do not belong to any organization and are not restricted by anything other than Wang Xiaoer's father "Hui Shi", it is this Shuang Lang. And they have disappeared from the Jianghu for nearly five years.
Who tamed these two brutal and bloodthirsty "wolves"?
Not only that, but also trained them to have such superb disguise skills that even Zhang San was temporarily fooled. And all this is just to secretly protect Bai Fang and her mother.
Among the people Zhang San has seen since entering Tian Ruo City, those who have contact with Bai Fang, or may have contact, and have this ability, seem to be only two people.
One called Lu Gaosheng, the prefect of Tian Ruo Prefecture. Zhang San has met him once.
One called Ming Qing, dressed like a dignitary. He came to the shop to buy paintings.
Zhang San knew a little about Lu Gaosheng. As the chief of a prefecture, he had vicious means and was definitely a ruthless figure.
As for that Ming Qing...
Speaking of which, the surname Ming is very rare in Dawu Country. In his twenty years walking the Jianghu, Zhang San has met only a few people surnamed Ming. As for some famous people surnamed Ming, Zhang San could only think of the current Grand Master of the Imperial National College—Ming Shu.
Thinking of this, Zhang San, who was originally frowning with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes!
The age and seniority of Zhennan General Bai ShiXuan and Grand Master Ming Shu seemed to be similar.
And there were rumors that the two were very close. After all, among the officials who were almost implicated in the rebellion case twenty years ago, there was Ming Shu.
Bai ShiXuan and Bai Fang.
Ming Shu and Ming Qing.
The father-daughter relationship has been confirmed in the first pair. Then for the second pair, although Zhang San had no evidence, he had a strong intuition!
However, all of this gave Zhang San a feeling that could be summed up in two words.
Unstable!
Too unstable!
Zhang San's desire to retreat was even more firm.
As a very prudent underworld member, Zhang San believed that he should never get involved with these two descendants of prominent military and official families, otherwise he might not even know how he died.
...
The next day, Zhang San, who had "just recovered from his injuries", thanked Bai Fang with the etiquette of a scholar for taking care of him, and then left with Wang Xiaoer.
Although Bai Fang tried to keep them, worrying that Zhang San's weak body might still need a doctor to take another look, Zhang San firmly rejected Bai Fang's proposal with etiquette, and explained that as a scholar, how could he stay alone with a mother and daughter.
It was an accident yesterday, but now that he was awake, he could not do anything that violated etiquette!
Righteous words! Aboveboard!
Then Zhang San hurried away with Wang Xiaoer, who looked very reluctant.
The first thing Zhang San did when he returned to the painting shop in the morning and closed the door, without even removing those useless bandages on his body, was to write a notice in the backyard with the theme of selling the shop.
Zhang San, who claimed to be the most prudent killer in Jianghu, now only wanted to stay as far away from that tofu shop as possible!
In the room in the backyard, Wang Xiaoer reluctantly asked, "Master, are we really leaving? We haven't even lived for a few days, and the shop we just bought is going to be resold. Won't people be suspicious?"
Zhang San sighed while writing the notice, "Do you think I want to leave? If I sell in a hurry now, I'm afraid I won't get much money. As for suspicion, I thought about it last night too, just tell others that my master is powerless and afraid that Black Dragon Hall will come back, so I sold the store cheaply."
Wang Xiaoer lowered his head and thought to himself: Master, you are overthinking this. It's not just that you can't sell for much money, you probably can't even sell it!
Zhang San continued to write the notice and sighed again, "I don't know if we have a bad year, we randomly bought a shop and it turned out to be next to the orphaned daughter of General Zhennan. Plus Ming Qing and Lu Gaosheng, just thinking about it gives me a headache!"
Wang Xiaoer next to him lowered his head even more. After all, the "random purchase" of the shop described by Master was probably not as "random" as the actual situation.
If the master knew about this...
Wang Xiaoer shook his head. Seeing the master's anxious look at the moment, in order to survive, he decided to keep this secret forever and would rather die than say it!
But just as Zhang San finished writing the notice and made up his mind to withdraw in three days whether he could sell it or not, there was a sudden violent knock on the door, accompanied by a rather majestic shout:
"Open the door! Open the door!"
Zhang San and Wang Xiaoer, who had just learned some secrets yesterday, were nervous at once.
Who would come to knock on the door of a painting shop so early in the morning?
Zhang San let Wang Xiao Er stay in the backyard while he walked lightly to the front door.
Closing his eyes, Zhang San listened carefully...
There were quite a few people outside, about three or four, all men judging from their breathing...
"Open the door!" the person knocking shouted again.
Zhang San gently leaned his foot against the door, secretly instilling inner strength. Zhang San, who had once opened the door and was sprayed with colored flour on his face by Xuwang Chou, swore that he would never make such a low-level mistake again.
The door of the painting shop slowly opened.
The catching head showing his sense withdrew behind the "Prefect".
And this should be the first formal meeting between Zhang San and Lu Gaosheng.
One had great schemes, the other great acting skills.
The moment they met, Zhang San reasonably revealed the panic and surprise that a scholar should have when facing so many catching heads.
Lu Gaosheng looked at Zhang San impassively, without revealing any doubts in his heart so as not to let Zhang San realize it.
However, both of them had their own thoughts at the moment.
Zhang San had always suspected that Lu Gaosheng might have some connection with Bai Fang, but now it seemed to be true.
Zhang San thought: Damn it! Bai Fang had just got into trouble yesterday, and I helped her. The next morning, this Lu Gaosheng came. If they say the two have no relationship, even dogs won't believe it!
Lu Gaosheng had the Shuang Lang secretly protect Bai Fang all the time, and asked them to report everything about the tofu shop at any time, including yesterday's incident.
Lu Gaosheng thought: It must be him! When Shuang Lang sent the portrait of that scholar yesterday, it felt familiar. Plus yesterday, as a weak scholar, he almost got himself beaten to death in order to help Bai Fang. Now looking at him, the strangeness on this person is increasing.