Tuo Shu's words struck a deep chord within me.
Without a word, I turned and walked directly to Tuo Shu, knelt down with a thud, gritted my teeth, and held up three fingers, saying, "Uncle, if you truly have this ability, I beg you... teach me!"
After speaking, I kowtowed to Tuo Shu three times.
Tuo Shu, meanwhile, continued to smoke his cigarette without a word, staring at me intently.
I don't know how much time passed.
All I know is that just as I felt Tuo Shu was about to refuse me, I suddenly heard him utter a single, firm word.
"Alright!"
And so, Tuo Shu's and my life paths became intertwined.
And this intertwining lasted for six years!
There was no formal master-disciple relationship. From that day on, I followed Tuo Shu and learned gambling skills for six years.
Or rather, cheating skills.
It wasn't until I turned twenty that Tuo Shu stopped teaching me and quietly resigned from the textile factory.
During our last night shift together, I didn't notice him slip a letter into my work uniform pocket.
It wasn't until the next morning when I changed clothes after getting off work that I found the letter.
Upon opening it, I found only a few dozen words.
In the letter, Tuo Shu told me he was fortunate to have met me. It was I who had reignited his flame of revenge.
Therefore, after passing on all his skills to me, he was also going to seek revenge.
He told me not to worry about him. Life and death are determined by fate, but fate is determined by oneself, not by heaven!
If his great vengeance was fulfilled, we would meet again in the martial world.
Otherwise, he would become a duckweed, drifting through the martial world.
At the end of the letter, Tuo Shu cautioned me: the martial world is deep, the martial world is treacherous, be extremely careful, and take good care of yourself.
Besides that, he also left behind three principles of "seven parts."
Speaking seven parts, acting seven parts, treating guests seven parts…
Although there was no formal master-disciple relationship between Tuo Shu and me, he had imparted knowledge and skills to me.
So, after reading the letter, and without knowing which direction Tuo Shu had gone, I knelt and kowtowed three times in succession towards the east, south, west, and north.
Having done so, I resigned immediately and left the textile factory.
…
I still remember Tuo Shu once saying to me, "Ordinary cheaters cheat money; top cheaters cheat people."
As long as you can cheat a person, let alone money, even their lives are easily obtained!
Having learned cheating skills from Tuo Shu for six years, I initially thought his most formidable ability was his unfathomable cheating techniques.
But I later realized that his greatest skill was reading people.
Tuo Shu once said that the reason he agreed to teach me cheating skills, besides seeing through my obsession with revenge, was that he saw something different in my attitude towards money.
I could have easily taken back the twelve hundred yuan I had lost without any effort, but I didn't accept it.
It was precisely because I refused that twelve hundred yuan that he agreed to teach me cheating skills.
I asked Tuo Shu why, and he replied, "Only gamblers without backbone accept money and gifts from others after losing."
"If a person develops a gambler's mentality, they are not qualified to be a cheater."
"Because true cheaters will personally take back everything they have lost and forfeited!"
So now, it's my turn to personally reclaim what I lost, my home!
However, before that, I need to find two reliable helpers.
As the saying goes: even the best fists can't fend off four hands!
The reason Tuo Shu had his fingers and legs broken was because in his youth, he was too arrogant and looked down on everyone, thinking he was invincible, like a lone hero in a martial arts novel, appearing and disappearing without a trace, beyond anyone's reach.
Although he was truly formidable and impressive, the reality was that his enemies found a group of helpers, each of whom was a master.
Top cheaters in a showdown, every move is fatal!
In a best-of-five gamble, Tuo Shu won the first two rounds, only to have the opposing side win the next two.
As the saying goes: winning first is not winning, losing last is losing!
In the two rounds Tuo Shu won earlier, he demanded two fingers from each of the two helpers who fought for his opponent, and one leg.
And in the two rounds he lost later, the opponent's other two helpers naturally retaliated in kind, demanding three fingers and one leg from Tuo Shu as well.
In the final match against his opponent, if Tuo Shu hadn't fought with all his might, using every skill he possessed, to achieve a draw, he would have lost his life long ago!
Therefore, in the face of such bloody lessons, I would certainly not be overconfident and decided to find two helpers for myself first…
During my six years at the textile factory, apart from the first two card games, I never gambled again after following Tuo Shu.
So, I managed to save some money over the years.
After leaving the textile factory and arriving in town, I didn't rush to my main objective of finding helpers. Instead, I surveyed my surroundings and walked slowly forward.
Because this kind of matter cannot be rushed, and one must not be impatient. Moreover, I had to first rule out a congenital factor.
Fellow members of the trade!
The "fellow members of the trade" I'm referring to here are not those who, like me, have learned cheating skills.
Fellow members of the trade, "fellow" refers to the eight gates of the martial world.
The outer eight gates are: Feng, Ma, Yan, Que, Hua, Lan, Ge, Rong.
Cheating skills belong to the Hua gate.
From the day I began learning cheating skills from Tuo Shu, strictly speaking, I had already become a member of the Hua gate.
Since all eight gates of the martial world are involved in illicit professions, the "fellow members of the trade" I mentioned earlier refer to these eight gates.
And my sole prerequisite for finding helpers is to exclude members of the eight gates.
If you insist on asking why, I can only answer you with Tuo Shu's words: "The martial world is deep, the martial world is treacherous."
Although it is a time of peace now, and the eight gates of the martial world have gradually faded from public view, the eight gates have a long history, and over the years, deep-seated grudges have formed among them.
Once they encounter each other, their first action is to investigate you thoroughly!
Your surname, your name, where you live, who your master is, and so on and so forth…
If they don't find any grievances, they'll immediately pack up and leave.
But if they happen to discover something, then I'm sorry.
If there's no deep hatred, they'll engage in minor disputes and schemes, causing chaos and unrest in your household.
If there's a deep hatred, it's a fight to the death!
Therefore, to avoid attracting trouble, I constantly reminded myself to stay away from the idle people on the street who were looking around aimlessly.
Because among them, there might be members of those strange eight gates.
But I overlooked one point.
Where there are people, there is a martial world.
Where there is a martial world, there are the eight gates.