Chinese martial arts: From being shot and killed by the armed police during a mountain search to bec

Before even getting close to the main hall, Chen Hongwu heard Xu Wanqing's voice.

"I've been waiting here from morning till night, is this how the Chen family treats its guests?" The tone was clearly impatient.

Chen Huaijin's voice was calm, revealing neither joy nor anger: "Hongwu is practicing martial arts, so it's inconvenient to disturb him."

"Practicing martial arts?" Xu Wanqing sneered. "You're just using that as an excuse, aren't you? I'm going to wait for Chen Hongwu today, or I won't give up!"

Chen Hongwu pushed open the door and entered.

In the main hall, Chen Huaijin sat in the head seat, his expression calm. Chen Hongwen stood to the side, gently waving a folding fan, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Xu Wanqing sat in the guest seat, dressed in a dark blue Western-style dress, her hair neatly styled. Her younger sister, Xu Wanting, stood behind her, head bowed, her fingers twisting the hem of her dress.

Chen Hongwu's gaze swept across the hall, finally landing on Xu Wanqing.

Their eyes met.

Xu Wanqing felt as if she had been pricked by a needle; her body stiffened slightly, and she subconsciously shrank back, taking half a step back, chair and all.

She looked away, no longer daring to meet Chen Hongwu's gaze.

Chen Hongwu walked to the empty chair and sat down without expression.

"Speak," he said calmly.

Xu Wanqing took a deep breath, as if to bolster her courage. She straightened her back, raised her chin slightly, and resumed her cold and aloof demeanor.

"I'm here today to discuss dissolving the engagement."

She pulled a piece of paper from her purse, unfolded it, and laid it on the table: "I've already planned to get engaged to the county magistrate's son, but the county magistrate objects because I'm already engaged, so I need your signature to dissolve the engagement."

She considered herself a woman who had received higher education abroad and had always scoffed at the so-called arranged marriages.

She also looked down on Chen Hongwu. If the county magistrate hadn't intervened, she wouldn't have bothered coming to the Chen family to break off the engagement.

After all, the two sides have completely broken off relations.

Chen Huaijin's face darkened, but he remained silent.

Chen Hongwu looked at Xu Wanqing and suddenly smiled.

"That's all?"

"That's it." Xu Wanqing pushed the paper forward. "Sign it."

Chen Hongwu didn't look at the paper; he turned to look at Chen Huaijin.

The father nodded slightly.

"Okay," Chen Hongwu said. "Release it."

A hint of smugness flashed in Xu Wanqing's eyes as she pushed the paper and pen in front of him: "Then sign it—"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Hongwu stood up.

He walked to the wall, grabbed a rosewood armchair, and carried it to the center of the hall with one hand.

Xu Wanqing didn't know what he was going to do, and frowned as she looked at him.

Chen Hongwu raised his right hand and chopped down with a chop.

"Snap!"

The chair back snapped in two, and all four legs broke off at the base. Rosewood, as hard as iron, felt like tofu under his palm.

All in one go.

Xu Wanqing's expression changed slightly.

Chen Hongwu picked up a piece of wood, about a foot square and a hand's width wide, from a chair seat. He placed the wood flat on the table and extended his right index finger.

A hidden strength is emerging.

Fingertips pressed against the wooden board, slowly downwards. The force emanated from the fingertips, like an invisible carving knife, ploughing deep grooves into the board.

Wood chips flew everywhere.

His fingers moved across the wooden board, stroke by stroke, slowly and deliberately.

The boxing manual says: "Hidden strength penetrates the fingers, like a knife carving wood. When the energy flows to the fingertips, even metal and stone can be opened."

By concentrating internal energy at a single point on the fingertip, it penetrates the skin and flesh, directly impacting the wooden board, easily splitting the stone tablet.

A moment later, he wrote a line on the wooden board—

"The engagement between Chen Hongwu and Xu Wanqing is dissolved effective immediately. They owe each other nothing and have no further connection."

The handwriting is vigorous and flowing, each stroke deeply engraved, reaching a depth of half an inch.

Chen Hongwu threw the wooden board in front of Xu Wanqing.

"Here you go, you can leave now."

Xu Wanqing stared at the wooden board, her face turning from white to red, then from red to green, and she trembled all over.

"You...you..."

She took a deep breath, her voice shrill: "Chen Hongwu, this is an insult! A blatant insult!"

Chen Hongwu looked at her expressionlessly: "You wanted to annul the engagement, and I agreed. You wanted to sign, and I signed. Where's the humiliation in that?"

"What kind of signature is this?!" Xu Wanqing pointed at the wooden board. "Who writes on a wooden board? You're clearly trying to embarrass me!"

"What's the difference between writing it on paper or writing it on wood?" Chen Hongwu said calmly. "The engagement is off, as long as you're satisfied."

Xu Wanqing was so angry that she couldn't speak, her chest heaving violently.

She stared at Chen Hongwu for a few seconds, then suddenly sneered, "Fine, very well. Chen Hongwu, you'd better remember this."

She picked up the plank, turned, and walked away. Her high heels clicked and clattered on the flagstones, a hurried and angry sound.

Xu Wanting stood there, looking at her sister's back, then at Chen Hongwu, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something.

"Wanting! Let's go!" Xu Wanqing's voice came from outside the door.

Xu Wanting lowered her head and jogged out after her.

The hall fell silent.

Chen Huaijin picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at Chen Hongwu: "Are you alright?"

Chen Hongwu waved his hand and sat down again: "What could have happened? Why is she suddenly pulling this stunt? Haven't we already fallen out?"

Chen Huaijin put down his teacup and sighed.

"I mobilized all forces to completely destroy the Xu family's businesses. Gold shops, silver shops, factories—any industry the Xu family got involved in, the Chen family got involved in as well. She couldn't hold on any longer."

He paused, a hint of admiration in his voice: "But this Xu Wanqing is indeed quite shrewd. I don't know how she got involved with the county magistrate's son and is even getting engaged to him. With the county magistrate backing her up, we can't really touch her anymore."

Chen Hongwu frowned: "County Magistrate?"

"It's that new magistrate," Chen Huaijin said. "His surname is Wang, his given name is Yucheng, he's from the Guangxi clique, a tyrannical and greedy man who's been eyeing our Chen family for quite some time."

Chen Hongwen chimed in from the side, "He wanted to borrow money and guns from the Chen family when they were suppressing the bandits. Now that the bandits are gone, he's turned his back on us."

Chen Hongwu remained silent for a moment.

"Then kill him," he said.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

The teacup in Chen Huaijin's hand stopped in mid-air, and Chen Hongwen stopped waving his folding fan.