Chapter 1: The Entanglement of Fate and Enmity, Haicheng's Solitude

  Years later, before the 15th of the first month, Hao Qiu Zi returned. He came back with a full load, and piled up all sorts of food and toys on the kang. Most importantly, old Qiu Zi brought back a little girl, who looked to be around eleven or twelve years old, with big eyes that were very cute. Hao Qiu Zi called her Yan Zi, so Li Hu Qiu also called her Yan Zi, but Yan Zi didn't like it when Li Hu Qiu called her that way, she liked it better when he called her Yan Zi Jie. Li Hu Qiu didn't have the capital to resist the little girl, so he could only give in. From then on, his life had a bit more warmth and color, in what should have been a dark and painful childhood, the unfortunate Yan Zi Jie gave him not just maternal love, but also taught him gratitude. Yan Zi Jie liked reading "Dream of Red Mansions", so Li Hu Qiu followed along and pretended to read it too; Yan Zi Jie liked jumping rope, so Li Hu Qiu used a big tree as a stake and pulled the rope for her; when Yan Zi Jie was fourteen years old and slept on the same kang as Hao Qiu Zi, that night Li Hu Qiu first understood the pain of being a woman, and his body and mind were both wounded. The next day Yan Zi Jie cried all day long, and eight-year-old Li Hu Qiu secretly vowed that one day he would definitely kill Hao Qiu Zi to make Yan Zi Jie happy.

  From that day on, Yanzi sister was even more favored by Hao Duanzi. She also gradually adapted to the life of serving Hao Duanzi every day. That year, Li Huqiu finally ended his begging career. Under Yanzi's persuasion, Hao Duanzi decided to start teaching Li Huqiu the skills of opening locks and picking pockets. It was also the first time Li Huqiu heard the name "Qianmen". Deception, cheating, stealing, Qianmen Wudao, Hao Duanzi belonged to the "Miaoshou Kongkong Dao", although the so-called Qianmen no longer existed in today's society, but every time Hao Duanzi mentioned this name, the fervor in his eyes was not fake.

  Hao Huai Zi accepted Li Hu Qiu, a orphan from Hei Sheng Province, as his indoor disciple and the 48th master of Kong Dou Dao.

  From then on, Li Huqiu began the most important learning stage of his life. The basic skills of "Miao Shou Kong" were all in his hands, and the first lesson arranged by Hao Duanzi for Li Huqiu was to train his hand sensitivity. Training hands is actually similar to destroying hands, Li Huqiu's hands were soaked in vinegar for a long time every day, and then practiced various angles of bending. Before going to bed, his hands were soaked in milk for a long time again. The milk that had been used to soak his hands would be drunk by Li Huqiu in one gulp. The calcium in the milk would help strengthen Li Huqiu's hand bones and offset the damage caused by the vinegar. In those years, having a large bowl of milk every day was also considered a high-ranking treatment for Li Huqiu.

  Every morning at 5 o'clock, Li Huqiu gets up to run, and then returns to the yard to practice qigong under the eaves. When practicing qigong, he must stare at the rising sun and the changing clouds in the sky with both eyes. It is said that this is to temper his body and practice Li Huqiu's physical skills and eyesight. Every morning, Hao Qiu will leave a mark at the destination of Li Huqiu's run. When Li Huqiu arrives at the place, he remembers the mark and reports it back to Hao Qiu, which means he has completed his running task. At first, the distance was very short, and Li Huqiu didn't think it was hard work. Later on, the distance became longer and longer, and the marks left by Hao Qiu became more and more obscure. Li Huqiu's mistakes gradually increased, and the distance he ran also became longer and longer. When he rarely made mistakes, Hao Qiu increased the difficulty again, and began to tie lead blocks and sandbags to Li Huqiu's body. As a result, Li Huqiu returned to his previous state of panting more fiercely than a dog every time he ran back.

  After practicing qigong and eyesight, the next step is to practice listening skills. A good thief must have excellent hearing, in order to distinguish how much cash a traveler mentioned in their sleep talk in a noisy environment, practicing listening skills is essential. Hao Qiu Zi arranged for Li Hu Qiu to take a course where he would stand beside the railroad tracks, and when the train passed by, Hao Qiu Zi would whisper something to Li Hu Qiu, then ask him what he had just said. If he answered incorrectly, Li Hu Qiu would be punished with three additional locks to open.

  Speaking of unlocking, it is inevitable to mention the unlocking training arranged by Hao Buzi for Li Huqiu. Every day at lunchtime, there was only a period of time between 11:30 and 12:00. At 11 o'clock every day, Hao Buzi would lock Li Huqiu in a room with at least six pairs of handcuffs on his body using the Su Qin back sword style. On the door, he would hang ten hidden locks, and within half an hour, Li Huqiu had to escape, otherwise, he would not be able to eat lunch. This unlucky rule made Li Huqiu, who was young and weak and just starting out on this path, basically unaware of the taste of lunch for the first three months.

  At first, he could hardly open a lock. In fact, at that time, he couldn't even deal with the handcuffs on his hands. It took him a month to figure out how to unlock the handcuffs. It takes almost half an hour to open six locks. Another half month later, he mastered the unlocking technique and it only took one minute to escape from six locks, so he could finally touch those ten secret locks. For the next one and a half months, Li Huqiu was basically competing with those ten secret locks. Although Hao Cui had taught Li Huqiu the trick of opening locks in great detail, this was after all a skilled job, and Li Huqiu's mastery of it was not easy.

  What is called talent is merely a greater use of the mind, what is called determination is merely a greater use of effort. When it's time to sleep, don't sleep, lie there and think about how to apply the force in your hands when opening locks. When opening locks, not only use force with your hands but also savor the sound of the lock's mechanism in your heart.

  With a wire in hand to unlock, there is a sound of the lock core being picked in his heart. Three months later, Li Huqiu finally mastered the knack and technique of unlocking with the "perseverance" and "talent" of others. But Hao Cui's training subjects also changed accordingly.

  In a pitch-black room, there was a safe. Li Huqiu had to open the safe and take out the paper with the task written on it that Hao Duanzi had given him. After reading the content of the paper, he would then open the 16 interconnected locks on the door and exit according to the requirements of the task. He had to complete the task within an hour and return to the room to restore everything to its original state.

  Hao Duanzi's tasks usually required Li Huqiu to steal a certain amount of money at the train station within a specified time. Being a thief not only requires good hands, but also exceptional eyesight to identify who has money with just one glance. As a skilled thief, having proficient manual skills is far from enough; one must also have good eyesight, great courage, and strong psychological quality. Apart from innate factors, the most important thing is to go through many battles of actual combat training.

  When this training started, Hao Duizi expected that Li Huqiu would at least be caught once or twice. He even made preparations to send someone to bail out Li Huqiu. However, what Hao Duizi did not expect was that not only was Li Huqiu never caught, but he also discovered that Li Huqiu's eyesight and intuition were quite impressive. This kid almost always completed his tasks without needing a second try, which means he could tell at a glance who among the travelers had goods on them. If it were an experienced old thief who achieved this, it wouldn't be surprising, but Li Huqiu was just a half-grown child. How did he cultivate such eyesight?

  Hao Diaozi couldn't help but ask Li Huqiu about the reason. Li Huqiu said: "Every time I go to work, I deliberately make myself look shabby and then blend in with the crowd. Those who are dressed elegantly and neatly, and speak coldly to me, are mostly rich people. Then I observe them, looking for opportunities to expose their wealth. Even if I don't see them spending money, it's not hard to tell who is wealthy just by looking at the watches and jewelry they wear."

  Hao Qiu Zi asked again: Gold and silver jewelry are easy to identify, how do you know that the other things they carry on their bodies are valuable? Li Hu Qiu replied: Song San taught me to recognize characters, I can understand newspapers and magazines, there are pictures and words on them, I remember them all. Hao Qiu Zi was satisfied and patted Li Hu Qiu's head, saying that from now on, follow the master and do a good job, the two of us will steal our way around the world. Li Hu Qiu nodded silently, but in his heart, he thought of Yan Zi Jie's delicate face with tears, and Hao Qiu Zi's greedy and shameless nature. He lowered his head to hide the hatred in his eyes.

  The most difficult part of the entire training process was the sixteen concentric locks. The sixteen locks were linked together, and if one lock was opened incorrectly, all the other locks would be locked again, requiring a restart from the beginning. Li Huqiu often spent more than an hour unable to exit the room due to these sixteen concentric locks at first. Hao Duanzi taught Li Huqiu the traditional double-line split-control synchronization method of unlocking. Despite having previously studied this technique, it still took Li Huqiu over a month to master it.

  After two months of training, Li Huqiu was able to complete the tasks assigned by Hao Suizi with ease within the allotted time. During an assessment, Hao Suizi was astonished to discover that Li Huqiu could open sixteen concentric locks using only one steel wire, rather than the two wires he had taught him to use in conjunction with the split-control synchronization method. After a long while, Hao Suizi couldn't help but exclaim: "This kid is born for this stuff! His skeletal flexibility and agility far surpass mine when I was his age, and his brain is even more agile. Back then, I didn't have any free time except to practice my skills, whereas this kid completes all the training and still has time to practice flying knives on his own, read books with Song Lao San, and write letters. It's clear that he's incredibly gifted! Given time, it's not impossible for him to surpass me."

  In 1988, Li Huqiu embarked on his first national trip. That year in Leshan, the "Heavenly City", thieves from all over the country gathered for a Thief King Competition. The Northeast Tiger Gang and Northwest Wolf Gang, famous nationwide, held a grand meeting. Hao Duanzi, as the most famous thief king of the Northeast Tigers, although not the organizer of the conference, was the hottest contender to win the title of Huaxia Thief King. During the gathering, various thief kings toured the beautiful scenery of China's southwest and then traveled north together, starting their Thief King Competition.

  In this big game where no one could be let off, Li Huqiu made his first move and shocked Hao Duanzi. At that time, the rule was that people from all walks of life would gather in Beijing, get on the train together, and head south to Zhengzhou, Henan. After getting off the train in Zhengzhou, they would count the money each person had on them, and the one with the most would win, which was considered winning the first round. As a result, Hao Duanzi got 18 wallets along the way and took the lead among the thieves. In the hotel that night before going to bed, the old thief asked Li Huqiu with a smile if he had made any moves, and comforted him by saying that it was okay if he hadn't gotten anything, after all, there were too many industry elites on this train, and it was normal for him to get nothing at his young age.

  What he never expected was that Li Huqiu quietly took out a large package, and after opening it, Lao Zei was shocked to find that it was full of big tickets, totaling 80,000 yuan. Li Huqiu only took out one package, but the amount was several times more than what Lao Zei had collected from his eighteen packages! "This money is my filial piety to you, thank you for your guidance over the years. A teacher's kindness is as heavy as a mountain, and one day I will support you in your old age." After hearing this, Hao Cuizi nodded repeatedly with tears in his eyes, but didn't notice the flames in Li Huqiu's eyes. The reason Li Huqiu said these words was that when Hao Cuizi saw the package of money, Li Huqiu had keenly detected a hint of ruthlessness in his gaze. Money can move people's hearts, and he quickly changed his strategy, presenting the money to Hao Cuizi and pointing out that since he had no children, he would need this disciple to support him in his old age.

  The old thief asked the young thief: "How did you know he had a lot of money on him?"

  The little thief replied, "This man doesn't move unless he has to, wears earthy clothes, but on his hand is a Movado watch. He went to the bathroom three times in total, each time taking over 20 minutes. It's impossible that every time was for a bowel movement. Who takes 20 minutes to pee? So I paid extra attention to him and upon closer inspection, found that his two legs were of different thicknesses. Thus, I concluded he had money on him."

  The old thief asked, "How did you get the money that was tied to his thigh?" The little thief replied, "I kept an eye on him all along, and when we were approaching Zhengzhou, I tricked a policeman into sitting next to him. Only then did he feel at ease and fall asleep. I then used a pick (a small knife blade often used by thieves that can be hidden in the seam of one's fingers) to cut open his thigh from under the seat and took out the package."

  Under the eyes of the police, doing things in secret is called "thunder under listening to the sound". Doing thieves has three principles: absolute, accurate, and big. The method is absolute, the eyesight is accurate, and the courage is great! This "thunder under listening to the sound" is a description of the thief's great courage, and such courageous thieves are rarely seen.

  An old thief patted a young thief on the head and said, "You can't be a thief all your life, but being a good person is a lifelong business. When traveling the world, you must learn to leave some room for others, don't seek to take everything, and remember to leave some money for those who are away from home."

  Li Huqiu asked the old thief, "When are we going back? I miss home." What he was actually thinking of wasn't home, but a gentle warmth from his childhood memories that he couldn't forget. It was an unforgettable memory etched into his bones, making him recall only that pure and innocent smile whenever he thought of his childhood. The hardships of training, the pain, the dual devastation of body and soul all became insignificant.

  Old Thief replied: "Tomorrow there's a second round of competition, from Zhengzhou to Shencheng, only stealing jewelry. When we get off the bus, let's compare who got the most valuable things. After this round is over, whoever gets the title of National Thief King, we'll head back to Harbin."