After a period of recuperation, Ding’s leg, which had been broken by the Crown Prince, had recovered to a certain extent, and although he could not walk for a long time, he was able to get out of bed with his crutches.
During this period of recuperation, he had indeed learnt how correct Lin Mo’s previous admonition was.
At first, those of his peers in the family mocked him, but over time, seeing him lying in bed without any movement, the attention he received slowly faded away, and now no one cares about him as a cripple except for his parents who come back to visit him and care about his condition.
This also gave Ding Li the opportunity to quietly develop his forces. After the bloodbath over Zheng Zhilong’s treasure, the old group of men had grown up rapidly.
This was because he had listened to Lin Mo’s advice and eliminated many suspected spies, otherwise he would have grown to over 2,000.
Half of the 1,500 men were his open forces, while the other half were hidden from everyone’s attention and trained secretly in the shadows.
On this day, Ding Li, as usual, was leisurely enjoying the midday sun, sipping green tea while being served by his maids, even cozily.
“What elegance, brother!”
Ding Li sat up sharply at the sound of a familiar voice: “What brings you here, Brother Wen Qiang? It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch.”
It had been a while since they had last parted from Hai Fang Guangyao, and Ding Li was in awe of Wen Qiang, his smart and skilled brother.
“I’ve been busy with some important matters, but I’ve just had some time off, so I’m here to visit you?”
As Wen Qiang said that, he took off his black bowler hat, and after he was beside Ding Li, he took care of himself and served tea.
Ding Li also knew that this was a habit of Wen Qiang’s elder brother, who always wore black clothing and always liked to see the brim of his hat pressed down so low that sometimes he could not see his face.
“How is it, is your foot better?”
“This is the medicine I brought you back from abroad, it says it’s good for healing bruises.”
Ding Li looked at the medicine bottle in front of him and his heart warmed, this big brother always took such good care of himself.
“Thank you, Brother Wen Qiang, my leg injury is almost healed.”
When he finished, he winked at the maids and waited until everyone had withdrawn before continuing.
“Brother Wen Qiang the matter of the Kong family and that Lin Mo, have you heard about it?”
Wen Qiang nodded and drank from the cup of tea in his hand, “The whole of Da Qu is abuzz with this matter, how could I not know about it.”
“By the way, what do you think about this matter?”
“What can I think, both of them are not good people let them bite the dog.”
He, Ding Li, had first sent his men to find trouble with Lin Mo, then he was imprisoned by Lin Mo, and then his leg was broken by the crown prince, so he and Lin Mo were enemies from the outside.
He and the Kong family had fought over the sea before, and their relationship was cold.
So there was nothing wrong with Ding Li saying that the two of them were dog-eat-dog.
It was only when he finished speaking that the movement of pouring tea in Wen Qiang’s hand suddenly paused for a moment, and then immediately reverted back, in his opinion this was the biggest anomaly, according to Ding Li’s previous temperament, even if he was lying down, he would crawl over to make up for it, but now he was unusually steady.
“Brother Ding, you’ve grown up!”
The former rash young man had unknowingly grown up slowly.
Ding Li froze his expression in the face of his inexplicable remark.
“What’s grown up?”