9. (10 points) Uncle Zhang and Uncle Li's combined age is 56 years old. When Uncle Zhang was half of Uncle Li's current age, Uncle Li's age at that time was Uncle Zhang's age. How old is Uncle Zhang now? $\qquad$ years old?
【Analysis】The age difference between the two people remains constant, let this difference be $x$. From the problem, it is easy to determine that Uncle Li is older. From the statement “When Uncle Zhang's age was half of Uncle Li's current age, Uncle Li was exactly Uncle Zhang's current age,” we can infer that $x$ years ago, when Uncle Li's age (reduced by $x$ years) was Uncle Zhang's current age, Uncle Zhang's age would also decrease by $x$ and become half of Uncle Li's current age. This means Uncle Li's current age $=2 \times$ (Uncle Li's current age $-x-x$), so Uncle Li's current age is $4x$, and Uncle Zhang's age is $4x-x=3x$. This gives us the equation: $3x + 4x = 98$. Solving this equation will give us the current ages of Uncle Zhang and Uncle Li.

【Solution】Let the age difference be $x$. According to the problem,
Uncle Li's current age $=2 \times$ (Uncle Li's current age $-x-x$),
Uncle Li's current age $=4x$, so Uncle Zhang's age is $4x-x=3x$, giving us the equation:
$$
\begin{aligned}
3x + 4x & = 56 \\
7x & = 56 \\
x & = 8.
\end{aligned}
$$

Therefore, Uncle Zhang's age is: $8 \times 3 = 24$ (years old);
Uncle Li's age is: $8 \times 4 = 32$ (years old).
Answer: Uncle Zhang is currently 24 years old.
So the answer is: 24.