Volume 1: The Beginning Chapter 3: Big Uncle

  The next day. After school, Xia Wenjie did not go home, but went directly to his brother's bar. The name of this bar is Longhu Bar, located on the Yellow River Road in D City, which is the most prosperous new business district in D City.

  Xia Wenhao was also very lucky. When he chose to buy a store on the Yellow River Road to open a bar, it wasn't because of his long-term strategic vision, but because at that time this place wasn't a commercial district yet, and the houses were relatively cheap.

  However, in just a few short years recently, the city has developed rapidly, constantly expanding outward. The old commercial district is saturated and urgently needs new commercial districts to fill the gap. As a result, Huanghe Road and its surrounding areas have gradually risen, with several large shopping malls being built, making it one of D City's new major commercial districts, even surpassing the old commercial district in terms of momentum.

  The sign of Longhu Bar is black with red letters, very large and magnificent, also very beautiful. Inside, it's divided into two floors: the first floor is a public area, and the second floor has private rooms, offices, warehouses, etc.

  It's now evening, and there are already many guests in the bar, with waiters constantly coming and going.

  The staff at the bar of course all knew Xia Wenjie, as the boss's younger brother, he was also considered half a boss.

  As he walked in, the waiters passing by all greeted him. He walked up to the counter, put his backpack on it. The bartender inside took it over with great tacit understanding, placed it under the counter, and smiled: "Wenjie, are you looking for your brother?"

  Xia Wenjie looked around and asked, "Where's my brother?"

  "He's upstairs." The bartender said with a smile: "It seems like he is discussing contract matters with Sister Huieru."

  "Oh." Xia Wenjie nodded.

  The bar owner said that Hui Ru Jie was not unfamiliar to him, she was a resident singer in the bar, not very old, only in her early twenties, just a few years older than Wen Jie. She looked extremely beautiful, dressed fashionably and had a naturally good voice. When Xia Wen Jie first saw her, he was infatuated with her for a while, of course, it was just a naive infatuation of youth, but later it came to nothing.

  He turned around and his eyes naturally fell on the most secluded corner of the bar. After a glance, his eyes lit up and he muttered to himself: He's really here!

  Still sitting in the same old spot, still ordering just a pint of beer, still wearing a crisp black suit and white shirt inside, also still fully focused on fiddling with his computer.

  It's as if there was an invisible wall erected around him, isolating him from the outside world.

  Xia Wenjie came back to his senses after a while and said to the bartender, "My brother is discussing serious business, so I won't go up. I'll sit down here for a bit."

  The bartender nodded and responded with a sound, just about to speak, another customer sat down next to him to order wine, the bartender immediately went over to greet them.

  Xia Wenjie left the stage and walked to the farthest corner. When he got close, he sat down in front of that person with a smile on his face and said, "Uncle."

  The man didn't lift his head, his eyes still fixed on the laptop screen, and he never gave him a second glance. However, he said with a smile, "Looks like the wound on your face has healed, young people recover quickly."

  Thinking of his miserable appearance last night, Xia Wenjie felt both afraid and embarrassed, he said solemnly: "I... I came to thank you, uncle..."

  "Haven't you thanked me already......" The person still didn't raise his head and asked absent-mindedly, "Is there anything else?"

  One sentence revealed his heart's desire, Xia Wenjie's old face turned red, he remained silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and said word by word: "I want to become an apprentice."

  "Cough..." The man seemed to be choked by his own saliva, coughed, and finally lifted his head, looking at Xia Wenjie sitting across from him. After a while, he couldn't help but burst out laughing, shaking his head and saying: "Still want to pay respects, what era is this? Do we need to set up an incense table or something?"

  Xia Wenjie's face turned even redder with embarrassment, and if there were a seam on the ground at that moment, he could have crawled into it without hesitation.

  "I... I just want to avenge my friend."

  That person laughed and said: "You can't even take a few jokes from others, what's the point of talking about revenge?"

  Xia Wenjie's heart skipped a beat, the awkwardness on his face disappeared, and he asked seriously: "I hope Uncle can teach me what to do."

  That man stared at him with his eyes wide open, after a long while, he blinked and picked up a cigarette, lit it, took two slow puffs, and then said: "There are three ways to send someone to their death."

  "What three ways?" Xia Wenjie's eyes widened, staring at the person without blinking, his body leaning forward as before.

  "The first method is the one you used, which is to go all out and find someone to fight with. This is also the stupidest approach. Even if you succeed, you can't escape responsibility. At best, it's a prison sentence, at worst... *makes a shooting gesture*. If you don't succeed, you should have felt the consequences by now. So either way, this method doesn't lead to a good outcome."

  "What... what about the second option?"

  "Hire a thug to do the job." The man said with a hint of a smile: "Spend some money and let others do what you can't. Of course, there's also risk involved, whether it succeeds or not is uncertain, and the person who takes action also risks being caught and confessing. So, the result of doing this is that you still find it hard to extricate yourself from the situation."

  Xia Wenjie was stunned, he swallowed hard and asked: "That... the third one is..."

  He said: "The third way is very clever, and you need to have patience to wait."

  "What's going on?"

  "Waiting for an opportunity."

  "What chance?" Xia Wenjie's face was full of confusion.

  "A chance with a tenfold guarantee and can also put oneself in a safe position."

  Xia Wenjie lowered his head thoughtfully and muttered: "How could there be such an opportunity? If we wait, how long will we have to wait?"

  "Hmph." The man smiled and said, "It's up to you whether you want to be a hunter or the hunted. If you want to be a great hunter, you need to have a heart that can withstand impatience. In the forest, a hunter may wait for several days or even tens of days to catch his prey. In society, a hunter who wants to succeed often has to wait for several years or even over a decade. If you don't have such patience, then don't mention avenging our friendship again, because you won't succeed."

  "Now, many people lament that they were born at the wrong time and missed good opportunities. In fact, opportunities are not lucky drops from heaven, but come from patient waiting. A few people have already made preparations and are just waiting for the opportunity to arrive, while most people are living in a muddle, even if the opportunity is right in front of them, they can't grasp it, wasting it, and then complaining about heaven and fate, lamenting that they were born at the wrong time."

  Xia Wenjie listened intently, and suddenly he felt a sense of epiphany, as if the scales had fallen from his eyes, and he thought that what was being said made sense. Before this, no one had ever spoken to him like this.

  After a while, he couldn't help but ask: "Uncle, what exactly do you do?"

  That man smiled, but this time the smile made Xia Wenjie feel warm, no longer a fake smile like a mask. He said: "Do you know the middleman?"

  "Middleman?"

  "He's just a matchmaker." The man shrugged and said, "I'm now considered a retired middleman."

  "I don't know what an intermediary does, but I think Uncle's words make sense, so I still want to become his apprentice."

  Xia Wenjie is now more determined in his thoughts, and inexplicably, he feels that there must be something he can learn from this uncle that will benefit him for the rest of his life.

  In fact, it is indeed so.

  This uncle indeed changed Xia Wenjie's outlook on life, becoming the most important enlightenment teacher in his life. Later, many people said he was a cunning opportunist, and this was precisely due to the influence of this uncle.

  The uncle looked at Xia Wenjie and smiled, "I can't tell you my name, that won't do you any good. I also can't let you have any connection with me, that would be even worse for you. However, I can teach you some skills, the kind of skills that will make your body strong."

  He didn't care whether he accepted his master or not, what was important to Xia Wenjie was that he was willing to teach him something. Hearing the big uncle's words, he was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly, asking: "Uncle, what do you want to teach me?"

  "Are you in high school now?"

  "Yes."

  "En." The uncle nodded and asked again: "How far is your home from school?"

  This really stumped Xia Wenjie, he thought for half a day and still couldn't figure it out, scratching his head and saying: "I only know that I need to sit on the bus for six stops."

  "Six stations... each station is about one to one and a half kilometers apart, the ones in the city are about within one kilometer, so six stations would be around five kilometers."

  Uncle thought for a while and said to Xia Wenjie, "From now on, you don't have to take the bus to school or get off work, change to running to school and get off work. No matter what you want to do in the future, having a strong and healthy body is always the most important thing."

  Xia Wenjie nodded as he listened, committing his words to memory. After a while, seeing that he still hadn't continued, he asked doubtfully: "Uncle, what then?"

  "Then?" The uncle looked up and smiled, saying: "You first stick to what I just said, then we'll talk about 'then'."

  "It's very simple..."

  "It's easy? It's easy for a day or two, but it's hard to persist." The uncle looked at his watch, then picked up the cup and drank the beer in one gulp. He stood up and said, "Alright, I'm leaving now, see you later."

  Xia Wenjie hastily stood up and asked: "Can't I really know your name, uncle?"

  Looking at his expectant eyes, the uncle seemed to be dazed for a moment. His mouth moved slightly, and finally, he smiled and said: "It's better if you don't know." After finishing speaking, he didn't stay any longer and walked out.