Shi Hao remembered that the name on the deed was Jiang Ping, and indeed Jiang Ping was the old man's name from yesterday—unless the neighbors were all covering for him, but that was highly unlikely.
"Jiang Ping is my dad, my name is Jiang Sanli!" the young man added.
Shi Hao just looked at him without saying a word.
Jiang Sanli glanced at Shi Hao and felt a surge of jealousy. So handsome, if he had such good looks, he wouldn't be 25 without a wife to call his own.
However, coming across such an easy mark, he was determined to make a good profit.
"This is our Ancestral Land, very auspicious. Someone offered 500 Silver before, and my dad didn't sell," Jiang Sanli said, "You think you can buy it with a mere 200 Silver? Let me tell you, no way!"
He made to squeeze past into the house, intending to squat there until Shi Hao offered a satisfactory price.
However, he couldn't get through.
Shi Hao simply extended his arm to block the way, as if there was a mountain before him that he simply couldn't breakthrough.
"Scram!" With a casual flick, Shi Hao sent Jiang Sanli flying out.
Thud—Jiang Sanli hit the ground hard, and before he could get up, Shi Hao had already shut the courtyard door.
He winced in pain but also clearly understood the young man was not only handsome but also possessed enormous strength.
"Strong as you are, you can't beat Brother Ma!" he snorted with an idea already brewing in his mind.
Jiang Sanli caught his breath and got up, then ran off to a certain place.
The Hailing Gambling House, one of the properties under the Hailing Martial Gym.
"Brother Ma! Brother Ma!" He found a middle-aged man with a long braid, surnamed Ma, the boss of the gambling house, known as Brother Ma.
"Hmm?" Brother Ma was playing cards and responded indifferently.
Jiang Sanli looked at him with reverence. This man was a Primary Level martial disciple, with a strength of over two thousand pounds—Jiang Sanli thought of him as describably strong.
Moreover, this man was Iron King's top henchman, the second-in-command at the Hailing Martial Gym!
"Brother Ma, I've got a great business deal!" Jiang Sanli said obsequiously.
"What kind of good deal could you have?" Brother Ma scoffed, prompting laughter from the others at the card table.
Everyone knew Jiang Sanli was proficient in indulgence—drinking, whoring, gambling, you name it—and had squandered a decent inheritance. Someone so lacking in merit talked about introducing a business deal—nobody would believe that.
"Really!" Jiang Sanli hastily said, "There's this fool who bought my old house for this amount!"
He held up two fingers.
"Twenty Silver?" Brother Ma guessed offhand. Jiang Sanli had pawned off almost everything valuable from his house, which was practically bare, so getting twenty Silver for it was already quite good.
—Mengyang City was just a small town, the land there was not worth much.
"Two hundred Silver!" said Jiang Sanli emphatically, shaking his fingers for emphasis.
Now Brother Ma was genuinely interested. He slapped his cards down on the table and said, "You're not trying to cheat me, are you?"
His face showed a dangerous expression, menacing and terrifying.
Jiang Sanli shivered in fright but immediately said, "How would I dare to deceive you, Brother Ma? It's true, I just tried to shake that kid down, but he's got skills—I couldn't beat him."
"But if Brother Ma intervenes, you could easily handle him."
Seeing Brother Ma hesitate, he struck while the iron was hot, "The house transfer hasn't been completed yet, the land deed still bears my father's name and handprint."
With that said, Brother Ma finally stopped hesitating.
He looked at Jiang Sanli and asked, "How do you plan to split the money?"
Jiang Sanli thought for a moment and said, "We'll knock him for a thousand taels of silver. I only want three hundred, and the rest will all go to Brother Ma."
Brother Ma's heart was racing. Although he was the boss of the gambling house, he didn't dare put a single coin into his own pocket. He had to dutifully hand it all over; otherwise, his body would be found in the moat the next morning.
So, he often did some private jobs to earn some extra cash on the side.
Seven hundred taels of silver was also a significant amount for him. That could afford him several lavish visits to Osmanthus Alley.
But he frowned and said, "Since he's just a young lad, can he actually come up with a thousand taels of silver?"
"Absolutely," Jiang Sanli assured confidently. "That foolish lad set the price himself. Two hundred taels in silver notes, paid upfront. Brother Ma, with him being so liberal with money, he surely has far more than that."
This made perfect sense. Brother Ma nodded and laughed, "Good. To prevent this silly young man from being deceived by others, we should take good care of his wealth for him."
"Hahaha," all of Brother Ma's men burst into laughter.
Brother Ma lost interest in playing cards, immediately called his minions, and, following Jiang Sanli's lead, set off to make money!
It wasn't far from Hailing Gambling House to Shi Hao's residence, so after a short walk, the group arrived at the place.
Jiang Sanli immediately went forward and knocked on the door, banging loudly and urgently, as if someone had died.
The door creaked open, and Shi Hao walked out. Upon seeing Jiang Sanli again, he finally showed anger.
"Kid, don't even think about coercing a sale. I'm telling you, this is my family's Ancestral Land. Unless you give me a thousand taels of silver, don't think about taking the house away!" Jiang Sanli immediately shouted loudly.
Shi Hao kicked out, and Jiang Sanli instantly turned into a rolling gourd, tumbling backwards repeatedly.
"Aiya!" Jiang Sanli cried out in pain, struggling to get up, and complained to Brother Ma, "Brother Ma, look, look, this guy doesn't give you face, he dares to hit me right in front of you!"
"Brother Ma, you must stand up for me!"
He was so busy whining that he failed to notice the fear that filled Brother Ma's face.
Brother Ma had just returned from the martial arts school the day before yesterday to report the casino's profits to the older martial brother, and it was then that he personally witnessed Shi Hao killing Zhao Cheng, defeating the Iron King and his elder martial brother.
The terrifying image, like that of a demon god, had lingered in his mind these past two days and had even caused him to wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares at night.
How could he have expected to encounter Shi Hao here, his boss's boss's boss!
After a jolt, he instantly broke out in a cold sweat, and his gaze towards Jiang Sanli was murderous.
Are you trying to get me killed?
"Kid, you see our Brother Ma here, and you don't kneel down quickly!" Brother Ma's underlings were still trying to bolster his presence.
"Nonsense!" Brother Ma was almost frightened into passing out, he rushed over quickly, and started punching and kicking the underling.
This confused everyone. What was going on? Why would Brother Ma start hitting his own man out of the blue?
"Brother Ma—" Jiang Sanli weakly said, do you have strabismus or something, hitting the wrong person without even realizing?
"Brother my ass!" Brother Ma charged over and kicked Jiang Sanli, toppling him to the ground.