Have They Regretted It?

"Who was so bold as to detain someone from our Fenglei Martial Hall?"

At that moment, a fiery voice rang out. With a bang, a bearded man stormed in like a whirlwind, his face twisted with rage. "Hall Master, give the order at once. I'll take some men and wipe him out. An Eighth Rank Martial Artist dares act so wildly?"

Lei Yucheng hurriedly tried to calm him. "Master Li, please cool your temper. This matter still needs to be discussed..."

"What is there to discuss? That brat has climbed right onto our necks. I won't swallow this birdshit anger."

Master Li flared his nostrils and glared, showing Lei Yucheng no courtesy whatsoever.

Lei Yucheng's expression darkened when he saw that Master Li did not take him seriously in the slightest.

Still, he knew that Li Xiangrong was Master Li's most treasured nephew. Now that he had been detained, Master Li was naturally anxious.

At that moment, Lei Zhenguang, who had been seated there all along, spoke up and reproached him, "Old Li, why are you still so hot-tempered?"

Master Li did not dare lose his temper before him. He said sorrowfully, "Old Hall Master, I, Li Ankun, have only this one nephew. If anything happens to him, how am I supposed to answer to my late elder brother?"

Lei Zhenguang snapped, "Can't you use your brain before speaking? If you lead men to attack his door and force him into a dead end, wouldn't that be sending your nephew to his death?"

Li Ankun roared angrily, "Would he dare?"

"Hmph. Even a cornered rabbit will bite. Much less a young man who reached the Eighth Rank at twenty."

"Then, Old Hall Master, what do you think we should do?"

"First, find out exactly what happened. Yucheng, bring in the man who came back with the message."

"Yes."

Before long, the man Chen Ming had released recounted the entire course of events.

Li Ankun flew into a rage again before he had even heard the end. "A mere Eighth Rank actually dares demand that we apologize to him? Who the hell does he think he is?"

After listening to the man finish, Lei Zhenguang became certain that Chen Ming had likely truly broken through to the Eighth Rank.

An Eighth Rank at twenty...

After pondering for a while, he shook his head. "Xiangrong acted somewhat recklessly."

With a single sentence, he set the tone.

Hearing this, Li Ankun knew that his nephew would have to swallow this loss for nothing. The Old Hall Master would not seek to recover face for his nephew. This truly left them with no face to show.

Though unwilling, under Lei Zhenguang's accumulated authority, he did not dare object.

Lei Zhenguang continued, "Smashing someone's gate is no different from smashing their signboard. We are in the wrong in this matter. Yucheng, send Yue Bin over to repair the Chen Estate's gate and compensate him with five hundred taels. Bring Xiangrong and the others back."

"Yes."

Lei Yucheng immediately left.

Li Ankun finally could not hold back his complaints. "Old Hall Master, if we do this, where will the Fenglei Martial Hall's face be? Those who don't know better will think the Old Hall Master is afraid of him."

"You always care too much about these meaningless contests of pride. A little lost face is no great matter. Our Fenglei Martial Hall will still be Qingfeng City's number one martial hall."

Seeing the defiance written across his face, Lei Zhenguang knew he would not listen, so he said no more and waved him away.

Half an hour later, everything had been arranged.

In the study, only Lei Zhenguang and his grandson Lei Yucheng remained.

"Grandfather, even if Chen Ming is an Eighth Rank Martial Artist, our Fenglei Martial Hall need not fear him, right? Why should we smooth things over?" Lei Yucheng once again asked the question in his heart.

The Fenglei Martial Hall alone had three Eighth Rank Martial Artists. Not to mention that his grandfather was a genuine Seventh Rank Martial Artist.

Lei Zhenguang asked him, "How long did it take you to break through from the Subordinate Ninth Rank to the Eighth Rank?"

"Four years."

"This Chen Ming took only one year."

A sharp glint flashed through Lei Yucheng's eyes. "That boy had been utterly unremarkable under Huo Chengkun back then. Yet over the past year, he has advanced by leaps and bounds, breaking through two realms in succession. He must have some secret."

"If you think so, wouldn't others think so as well?"

"Grandfather, you mean...?"

"Qingfeng City is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There are many people stronger than your grandfather. When a secret becomes known to everyone, do you think it will be our turn to claim it?"

Lei Yucheng froze for a moment. A bitter smile appeared on his face, and he let out a long sigh. "I understand, Grandfather."

Lei Zhenguang said with some satisfaction, "I knew I had not misjudged you. In this world, if one wishes to live long, one must keep one's greed in check."

"Grandfather, then what next? How should we treat Chen Ming?"

"Follow the rules. If he wants to continue opening a hall and taking disciples, then let him pass the trials."

On Show Water Street, inside a grand residence two alleys away from the Chen Estate.

A young girl was embroidering in a pavilion in the rear courtyard. She wore a light yellow ruqun, and her features were delicate and beautiful. She was sixteen or seventeen years old.

She was embroidering a picture of mandarin ducks playing in water, the kind used when a woman married.

"Miss, Miss, I heard there's a fight outside."

"Oh."

Zhang Xinyi was uninterested in it and remained focused on her embroidery.

Her personal maid, however, loved hearing of excitement and began chattering with another servant girl nearby.

"I heard it was a family that just moved here..."

"Their surname is Chen..."

"They run a pharmacy..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xinyi suddenly lost focus. Her finger stung as the needle pricked it, and a bead of blood quickly welled up, falling onto the embroidery and spreading across it.

The maid suddenly came to her senses. She struck the servant girl and reproached her, "Look at your nonsense. You ruined the embroidery Miss spent half a month making."

Their surname was Chen, and they ran a pharmacy. Wasn't that Miss's former fiancé?

Though it might not necessarily be him.

But Miss must have been reminded of that person.

The servant girl was somewhat bewildered, having no idea what she had done wrong.

Zhang Xinyi suddenly asked, "How did they end up fighting?"

The servant girl looked at her, then at the maid beside her, unsure whether she should speak.

The maid angrily struck her again. "Miss asked you a question. Hurry up and tell her."

Only then did the servant girl say, "It seemed they offended some Martial Hall Guild, and they came to demand an explanation..." She vividly recounted the entire incident.

When she heard how those from the Martial Hall Guild had arrogantly declared how they would deal with that second son of the Chen Family, Zhang Xinyi's heart tightened. She asked nervously, "He... he's all right, isn't he?"

He?

The servant girl had no idea whom Miss meant and looked utterly blank.

Seeing how foolish she was, the maid kicked her and snapped, "The second son of the Chen Family, of course."

Only then did the servant girl understand. "He's completely fine. Miss, you have no idea how formidable he was. He knocked more than ten people flat in one go."

Zhang Xinyi was stunned. "He was... that formidable?"

"Of course he was. I heard he's an Eighth Rank Martial Artist. He's incredibly powerful."

Eighth Rank?

Zhang Xinyi was shocked.

No matter how little she cared about martial matters, she knew the weight carried by an Eighth Rank Martial Artist.

Could it not be him?

Her former fiancé was said to have had ordinary aptitude and had even given up martial training for a time. If his aptitude had been even a little better, her family would never have entertained thoughts of breaking off the engagement.

In her memory, he had not even been a martial artist.

Zhang Xinyi had not heard any news of him in a long time and knew nothing of his current circumstances. Only once had she accidentally heard her older brother mention that the Chen Family Pharmacy's business was getting better and better.

The maid also found it strange. "What is the name of this second son of the Chen Family you mentioned?"

"I don't know that."

"Then go find out."

"Yes."

After a while, the servant girl returned with a regretful look. Once she had learned the second son of the Chen Family's name, she finally understood why Miss had been acting so strangely.

So it turned out to be that second son of the Chen Family whose engagement Miss had broken off!

No one had called Chen Ming that before.

Master had strictly ordered that this person was not to be mentioned before Miss. Yet she had accidentally committed such a grave mistake.

The maid impatiently asked, "Was it him?"

The servant girl stammered, "It was."

It really was him?

Zhang Xinyi's heart surged like storm-tossed waves, and she could not calm down for a long while.

Suddenly, she recalled what Huo Qianqian had said.

An uncontrollable thought rose in her mind. Had Uncle and Father regretted it by now?