Chapter One: Perplexity

  After turning the corner, Gao saw a group of boys bullying a younger boy. The lone boy was being beaten to the ground and crying out in pain.

  The first one, a young man, cursed while hitting: "Beat you to death, you little rascal! You bumped into me and didn't apologize, watch me beat you to death! What's with your family background? So what if I hit you today? You dare to use your family background to bully me? Bah! Your father is already dead, and now your grandfather is just a village head, what can he do to me? Beat him!"

  After a few days of getting familiar, Gao Huaiyuan already had some understanding of the local customs. Without asking, this leading boy who beat people must be a little rascal from Shaoxing Prefecture Street. He was looking for trouble and bullying others again. However, listening to his words, the boy being beaten seemed to have some status, a member of the imperial clan? That is to say, the boy being beaten should be surnamed Zhao, how did he end up in such a sorry state, being beaten on the street! It seems that this boy must be a very distant branch of the Zhao family, otherwise no one would dare to bully him like this.

  Gao Huaiyan shook his head secretly, originally he wanted to turn around and leave, but because of the habits of his previous life's profession, seeing someone being bullied, he couldn't just walk away, it seemed a bit against his conscience. After hesitating for a moment, he finally stepped forward to mediate: "Everyone! You've already fought, this is a child's home, how can it withstand your beating? I think you should stop now!"

  When someone came to persuade, the several young men who were beating people stopped their hands and feet. The leading young man had a sloppy appearance, looking at Gao Huaiyuan with a slanting eye, measuring him up and down after a while, not recognizing him, and Gao Huaiyuan was dressed in ordinary clothes, not like a noble family's son, so he snorted: "Which family's wild species are you? Dare to come and manage my affairs, I think you're also itching for a fight, right? My affairs have nothing to do with you, be sensible and roll away quickly, lest you provoke me to anger and beat you together!"

  After listening to this kid's words, Gao Huaiyuan was furious at the time. His identity in the Gao family was indeed a bit awkward. In the past, he had been scolded by those Li women for being a bastard. Now that he was attached to Gao Huaiyuan, he was very taboo about someone scolding him as a bastard. So his face sank on the spot. He didn't know this kid, but he wasn't afraid of him either. After all, Gao Jian was a judge in Shaoxing Prefecture, although his rank was not high, but his power was not small either. If something happened, Gao Jian would probably support him, so he had a plan in mind and straightened his waist.

  "How dare you be so rude, I'm just trying to mediate in good faith, but you're speaking out of turn and cursing at me. Don't think that just because you have more people, I'll be afraid of you. Today, I'm going to take care of this matter, what can you do about it?" Gao Hua Yuan angrily said to the leader.

  This guy took a look and indeed came to a good thing, so he led several small henchmen to release the crying teenager, surrounded by Gao Huaiyuan, and the leader carefully looked at Gao Huaiyuan again, confirming that he had never seen this guy in Shaoxing City before, so his courage grew, scolding: "Wow! It's really a skin-itching guy! Do you want to intervene? Well! Let's take you to practice our hands then! Brothers, beat him up and let him know that we are not to be trifled with in Shaoxing City!"

  A few kids came rushing over to Gao Huaiyuan, who was so angry that his nose was about to be twisted. In his opinion, although these guys were almost the same age as him in reality, he was after all a soul in his twenties, and yet he was being bullied by these little brats - wasn't that a joke? Although there were many of them, Gao Huaiyuan wasn't afraid of them at all. In recent days, he had already figured out his situation, and this body of Gao Huaiyuan seemed to be truly gifted, with terrifying strength. Although he was only twelve years old, the strength in his arms was enough to rival that of a grown man. So when several guys rushed up to him, he didn't show any fear at all. Fighting? He had done plenty of that even as a child in his past life, so today he would just use them as practice!

  A few guys rushed to Gao Huaiyuan's front, and one by one, they swung their fists and started fighting. Gao Huaiyuan not only didn't retreat but instead accelerated, charging into the midst of them. During his police school days, hand-to-hand combat was a required course, and he had put in a lot of effort back then. With Gao Huaiyuan's brute strength added to that, as soon as they started fighting, his advantage became apparent.

  A guy running in the front just threw a punch, and Gao Huaiyuan grabbed his wrist with one hand, pulled him into his arms, turned sideways and put his arm on his shoulder, exerted force at his waist, and gave this guy an over-the-shoulder throw. After falling to the ground, he was immediately stunned and dizzy, as if all his internal organs were about to shift out of place, and he let out a loud cry, rolling around on the ground and unable to get up again.

  Gao Weiyan landed a punch, ignoring everyone else, and raised his hand to block a child's fist. With a swift motion, he struck the guy's cheek with his left arm, and due to his great strength, the guy was immediately knocked sideways, falling to the ground with a loud thud. A front tooth was knocked out on the spot, along with a mouthful of blood and saliva that spilled onto the ground. After all, he was still just a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, and upon seeing himself bleeding and having lost a tooth, he burst into loud wails.

  The other guys were shocked, they didn't expect that this unremarkable guy would actually know a few moves and knock down two of them at once. They all became somewhat afraid, but the leader was still quite bold. Seeing Gao Huai's ferocity, not only did he not give up, but instead commanded the remaining guys to charge forward together again, wanting to take advantage of their numbers to win.

  Gao Huaiyuan was surrounded by them and a melee ensued. Although Gao Huaiyuan knew how to capture, after all, he was alone, and his two fists were no match for four hands. He knocked down two guys in a row, but at the same time, he also took several blows. At this moment, Gao Huaiyuan was also anxious, completely disregarding the pain on his body, targeting one person, knocking him down, and ignoring the attacks of others. His body soon took many more punches and kicks.

  Their fighting attracted a spectator, an old man in his fifties or sixties who looked frail but had a straight back and piercing eyes. He glanced over and was about to leave when Gao Huaiyuan used a wrist-locking move to grab one of the enemy's wrists, twisting it until he had no choice but to turn around. Then, with a swift kick, he swept the man's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. However, as soon as he did, he felt a foot on his back and was kicked to the ground.

  The old man apparently became interested and stopped in his tracks, watching with great interest, shaking his head from time to time, and finally started smiling.

  Gao Huaiyuan didn't have the time to pay attention to this old man who was watching the commotion. After being knocked down, he immediately rolled over and hooked his leg around the ankle of the leading young man. With a swift motion, he locked the young man's legs together, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards onto the ground. However, just as Gao Huaiyuan saw this, he noticed that there was a protruding rock where the young man's head would hit the ground. He was startled, thinking that if the young man were to hit his head on the rock, it could lead to serious injury or even death. Since Gao Huaiyuan didn't have any deep grudges against these people and didn't want things to escalate into bloodshed, he quickly reached out with his hand to support the back of the young man's head. As a result, when the young man fell, the back of his head landed on Gao Huaiyuan's hand instead of hitting the rock. However, Gao Huaiyuan's own hand was severely bruised and bloodied from being slammed against the stone.

  And all of this happened in a flash, the old man seemed to have seen the danger, but he was standing too far away and couldn't react in time. His eyebrows furrowed, but when he saw Gao Huaiyuan stretch out his hand to catch the other's head, he relaxed again, nodding slightly.

  The little rascal didn't know he had already taken a stroll in front of the Ghost Gate, and as soon as he got up, he wanted to press down on Gao Huaiyuan. However, Gao Huaiyuan withdrew his legs, curled them up to his chest, and with both feet, he kicked this guy's chest, sending him flying out. With a loud "ah", he fell into a mess, struggling to get up but unable to do so.

  Gao Huaiyuan, despite his injured hand which was throbbing in pain, didn't have time to care about it now. He quickly scrambled up and threw a hook punch that struck the little boy's chin, sending him flying out as well, where he fell to the ground and fainted.

  Looking at the scene again, only one of the seven or eight little guys was still standing. This guy looked around in a circle and suddenly found that he was the only one who hadn't fallen down yet. He was so scared that he turned his head and wanted to run away. As a result, Gao Huaiyuan took a step forward, grabbed his collar with one hand, and pulled him hard. The guy lost his balance and was dragged to the ground.

  "Stop hitting, we admit defeat! You're ruthless enough, aren't you? Are we not afraid of you?" The little rascal who was lying on the ground and was the leader of the group saw that seven or eight people were all knocked down by Gao Huaiyuan alone, and he was quite a sensible person. He struggled to get up and shouted at Gao Huaiyuan, his eyes already red from being hit by Gao Huaiyuan.

  After looking around for a while, Gao Wu Yuan finally realized that the battle today had already ended. Looking at these kids again, not one of them was standing anymore. He unconsciously raised his fist to take a look and saw that the back of his hand had been smashed open by a rock, with blood gushing out in a terrifying manner. Then he looked down at his own body, which was only around twelve or thirteen years old, and felt a little incredulous.