Chapter 33: Breaking Point |
On the other side of the courtyard.
Zheng Ziqiao was clutching his painfully injured shoulder, fine cold sweat seeping from his forehead, his face slightly pale.
Qin Lie's lips curved in a cold smile as he said contemptuously, "Senior Brother Zheng, it seems your martial arts still lack some refinement. I only used seventy percent of my strength, and you couldn't handle it?"
Luo Qian frowned deeply, "When senior and junior brothers spar and exchange techniques, stopping at the right moment is sufficient. Why did you need to strike so heavily?"
Qin Lie said indifferently, "Some words should be said, some words should not be said."
Luo Qian was slightly stunned, then pressed further, "What do you mean by that?"
"It's nothing! Nothing!"
Zheng Ziqiao forcibly endured the pain and humiliation, quickly stepping forward to Qin Lie's side. He squeezed out a somewhat stiff smile on his face and reached out to pat Qin Lie's shoulder to show reconciliation, "It was just a joke, Junior Brother Qin, please don't take it to heart. This evening, I'll host a banquet at Riverside Tower as an apology. What do you think?"
He desperately tried to maintain his last bit of dignity, hoping Qin Lie would give him a way out.
Qin Lie directly knocked away Zheng Ziqiao's arm and said mercilessly, "Your joke, I don't find funny. If you arrange stories about me like this again next time, don't blame me for turning ruthless."
Before his words had finished, he had already turned and strode toward the courtyard exit.
The smile on Zheng Ziqiao's face instantly froze, then turned iron-blue.
He never would have imagined that Qin Lie would so humiliate him in front of everyone, trampling even his last bit of dignity underfoot.
A surge of rage rushed to the top of his head. He took several deep breaths before barely suppressing it.
Times had changed!
Qin Lie was not only Master Zhou Liang's final disciple, but seemed to have also climbed up to connections with the Colonel's residence. This former mud-leg had truly risen to power.
Deep feelings of powerlessness surged in Zheng Ziqiao's heart.
Luo Qian beside him was even more flushed red with anger, shame and indignation mixed together.
She looked around at the curious gazes directed at them and shouted harshly, "What are you looking at? Are you all itching for a beating? Get back to practicing!"
With that, she also stamped her foot and quickly left the courtyard.
The surrounding disciples immediately scattered like startled birds, each returning to their positions.
However, privately, whispered conversations spread like stones thrown into a pond, quickly creating ripples.
Usually, Zheng Ziqiao, Luo Qian, and Qin Lie formed a small circle that countless disciples in the courtyard desperately wanted to enter.
"They've broken apart?"
"The small circle of Senior Brother Zheng and Senior Brother Qin has dissolved?"
"What exactly caused such a big commotion?"
This sudden major gossip made many disciples' hearts itch unbearably.
Song Yufeng sidled up to Chen Qing, lowered his voice, and asked with a gossipy expression, "Senior Brother Chen, you're well-informed. Do you know what happened?"
"I don't know."
Chen Qing didn't even lift his head, organizing his training equipment on his own, his tone flat.
Song Yufeng felt as if cat claws were scratching his heart. Unable to contain his curiosity, he turned to other senior and junior brothers to inquire.
Zhou's courtyard wasn't large to begin with, and the relationships between disciples were intertwined. Soon, the followers who usually hung around Zheng Ziqiao half-concealed, half-revealed the truth.
Song Yufeng, having learned the "truth," came over like offering treasure during the break after Chen Qing finished practicing a set of boxing forms, eagerly saying, "Senior Brother Chen, guess what? It turns out Senior Brother Zheng made a joke, saying that since the Luo family was supporting Senior Brother Qin so wholeheartedly, Senior Brother Qin might as well marry into the Luo family! When Senior Brother Qin heard this, his face immediately darkened like the bottom of a pot! Later when they sparred, Senior Brother Qin struck viciously..."
He looked around mysteriously, lowering his voice even more, "Some people also say that Senior Brother Qin doesn't like Senior Sister Luo at all. He... he's fond of Senior Sister Zhou."
Saying this, Song Yufeng unconsciously glanced at the graceful figure in the corner, his cheeks even slightly reddening.
In Zhou's courtyard, ninety-nine percent of the young disciples, who among them hadn't harbored some fantasy about the gentle and beautiful Zhou Yu?
It's just that most later recognized reality.
"Slap!"
Chen Qing gave Song Yufeng a light but firm slap on the back of his head, scolding in a low voice, "Stop gossiping and focus on practicing boxing! In less than a month, if you still can't touch the threshold of obvious strength, you'll have to pack up and leave."
"I understand, Senior Brother..."
The excitement on Song Yufeng's face immediately vanished without a trace, replaced by deep anxiety.
Calculating the time, he had been at Zhou's courtyard for almost two months already.
Thinking of this, Song Yufeng lost his mood for gossip and began practicing boxing behind Chen Qing.
Due to this sudden disturbance, the atmosphere in the courtyard became somewhat strange, with many disciples appearing distracted during practice.
Chen Qing was unaffected and continued diligently practicing his boxing techniques.
Until evening, when he finished a complete set of through-arm boxing flowing like water, an indescribable sense of clarity instantly spread throughout his limbs and body.
At the same time, a golden light suddenly flashed in his mind:
[Heaven Rewards Diligence, Success Guaranteed]
[Through-arm Boxing: Great Achievement (1/2000)]
Chen Qing slowly exhaled a long breath of turbid air, a flash of brilliance appearing and disappearing in his eyes.
Through-arm boxing had finally reached great achievement.
At this moment, his breathing and boxing movements were perfectly integrated. When exerting force, he could "move power with qi," with strength flowing through his entire body, truly reaching the realm of "inner and outer unity."
Boxing techniques were extremely difficult to master, requiring not only comprehension but also years of refinement.
Looking at the entire Zhou's courtyard, currently only Zhou Liang had reached great achievement in boxing techniques.
"My chances of succeeding in the martial examination have increased by several points," Chen Qing thought to himself.
Over the next few days, Chen Qing continuously consolidated his great achievement boxing realm while focusing more intently on studying hidden strength tempering techniques.
Hidden strength was completely different from obvious strength, with its subtleties lying in three points.
Internal force penetration: Power doesn't show externally but can penetrate the opponent's flesh and blood, directly injuring internal organs.
Soft and flexible power generation: Appearing effortless but releasing tremendous force through joint-by-joint transmission.
Extremely strong controllability: Can adjust the depth, hardness, softness, speed, and slowness of force at will, even striking people like hanging paintings, sending opponents flying without harming their surface.
During these days, the atmosphere at Zhou's courtyard was very strange.
Zheng Ziqiao seemed to have lowered his stance, frequently initiating conversations with Qin Lie, trying to repair their relationship.
On the surface, the two seemed to have reached some kind of reconciliation, but anyone with eyes could see that the relationship they once had, sparring and exchanging techniques together, talking and laughing freely, had completely vanished. An invisible barrier permeated the air.
Luo Qian hadn't shown up at the courtyard for several consecutive days.
That core small circle that countless disciples had envied had completely fallen apart in just a few days, causing people to sigh with emotion.
Due to his participation in bandit suppression and his minor military achievements, Qin Lie had been very busy during this period.
Wealthy merchants came to visit Zhou's courtyard in an endless stream. Even stewards from the Five Major Families frequently called, all wanting to recruit this promising young talent before Qin Lie became completely famous throughout Gaolin.
Zhou's courtyard was bustling with visitors, much livelier than before.
The happiest was none other than Zhou Liang, who smiled so broadly each day that he couldn't close his mouth, filled with unprecedented anticipation for the upcoming martial examination.
After daily practice ended, he would unfailingly give Qin Lie special instruction, carefully pointing out the latter's shortcomings.
This scene fell into the eyes of other disciples in the courtyard, their envy almost overflowing from their eyes.
On this day, after Chen Qing finished practicing boxing, he walked home to Mute Bay in the afterglow of sunset.
The usually quiet boat district was now unusually bustling with voices, the narrow waterway blocked so tightly that not even water could leak through.
The air was filled with an uneasy fishy smell and low-voiced discussions.
Chen Qing's heart sank slightly. He quickened his pace forward and saw neighbor Uncle Gao with a deathly pale face, shrinking at the outskirts of the crowd, his whole body slightly trembling.
"Uncle Gao, what happened?" Chen Qing squeezed through to ask.
Uncle Gao seemed to have received a tremendous shock, his lips trembling, "For the sake of boat girls at the floating houses, he borrowed from loan sharks! The lenders brought four burly thugs and said that five taels of silver debt had rolled into twenty taels in three months! When Xiao Chun couldn't pay, they smashed Daochun's rice jar, tore apart his cabinet, and even seized the silver hairpin that Daochun's wife brought as dowry..."
He spoke incoherently, his eyes full of lingering fear.
"What?"
Fish seller Uncle Wang staggered two steps with his fish basket, "That boy just came to my place the day before yesterday to buy half a jin of river shrimp, saying he wanted to make soup for his father to nourish his body. He seemed quite thoughtful..."
"Thoughtful my foot!" Tofu seller Aunt Cuihua spat, "Last month I saw him squatting in the back alley of the floating houses, stuffing osmanthus cakes into boats."
The surrounding fishermen also crowded together, whispering to each other, their faces showing more disbelief than anything else.
Who could have imagined that Xiao Chun, who usually appeared clever and sharp-witted and worked as an apprentice at Treasure Hall, would become infatuated with boat girls and cause such a catastrophic disaster?
Chen Qing listened silently, not particularly surprised in his heart, only shaking his head heavily.
That day when he encountered Xiao Chun's disheveled figure being thrown out, he had indeed offered warnings, but unfortunately the other party was already deeply mired in the quagmire and turned a deaf ear to his words.
Among gambling, prostitution, and drugs, prostitution was a poison that ate through the intestines, but this infatuation for beautiful women was a thorn stuck in the flesh that couldn't be pulled out, stabbing until bloody and raw, yet still considered sweet as honey.
Just then, he caught sight of a familiar figure among the crowding heads, Er Ya.
She worked as a rough servant girl in a wealthy merchant's household, usually living at her master's home and rarely returning.
Chen Qing himself spent entire days immersed in practice at Zhou's courtyard, occasionally going on patrol duty. Since their last small gathering, the two had barely seen each other.
Er Ya also saw Chen Qing and squeezed over like grasping a lifeline, grabbing his arm.
Her fingers were ice-cold, her voice carrying uncontrollable trembling, "Ah... Ah Qing, did you see? Xiao Chun was beaten so badly just now... those people... those people simply aren't human, so terrifying..."
As she spoke, she fearfully looked around in all directions, as if those fierce thugs were still nearby.
Chen Qing patted the back of her hand, trying to keep his voice steady, "It's over now, those people have already left."
Upon hearing this, Er Ya's tense body relaxed slightly. She let out a long breath, but her eyes remained frightened and uneasy, warily scanning the surroundings.
The two stood at the edge of the chaotic crowd, briefly chatting about recent developments.
From Er Ya, Chen Qing learned that Liang Badou was now working under his third uncle at the county office, thriving and in high spirits. It was said that he would soon be able to take over his third uncle's position as a clerk, apparently becoming the most respectable person from Mute Bay.
Er Ya's tone was filled with undisguised envy and longing.
As for Li Hu, there had been no news since their last gathering, as if he had evaporated from the world.
Xu Fang needed no mention, she had long become a person from another world, and Er Ya had no further contact with her.
"I have to go back now,"
Er Ya suddenly said, her voice carrying a trace of barely perceptible fatigue, "I still have to get up early tomorrow to return to work at the master's house, I can't delay..."
As she spoke, she unconsciously arranged her coarse cloth clothing, her tone carrying habitual caution and worry, "If I'm late, the master will probably punish me again..."
Before finishing her words, she hurriedly turned and walked toward her family's dilapidated boat, her back appearing somewhat hunched in the dim light.
Chen Qing stood in place, watching Er Ya disappear among the chaotic boat shadows, his brow slightly furrowed, lost in thought.
The brief conversation just now had made him clearly feel Er Ya's changes.
The former straightforward, even somewhat reckless girl was gone, replaced by an Er Ya who spoke cautiously, submissively, even always carrying a pleasing tone in her words.
Her demeanor and behavior had already been tainted with the marks of serving as a slave in deep courtyards, revealing a humbleness worn smooth by rules and punishments.
Chen Qing understood in his heart.
The high walls and deep courtyards of wealthy households had strict rules, with beatings and scoldings at every turn.
Er Ya must have suffered many hardships there, endured many punishments, to have been worn down into her current appearance.
In this world, even staying alive was difficult, let alone preserving those edges that came with being human.
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