Chapter 97: One Thing Subdues Another

tidied the table; when their arms brushed against each other occasionally, they would carefully step back a few steps. Xie Yujia was honest but also reserved—very different from those wild girls at sc...Chapter 97: One Thing Subdues Another...

They walked to the cafeteria for lunch, chatting all the way.

"It's so satisfying! Ah Ren, you should have seen Huang Xujie's face; it was even uglier than when he has a bowel movement!" Zhao Jiayin exclaimed excitedly as they walked.

"Come on, we're about to eat. Boss Zhao, can't you talk about poop later" Cao Ronghua called out.

"But it's really satisfying!" Zhao Jiayin gesticulated wildly. "Remember the last time we ran into him at Acer's restaurant He was so arrogant! Today, when those students quit the club, he didn't even dare to say a word!"

Hao Ren just smiled and wasn’t as excited as Zhao Jiayin. But actually… he felt pretty good too!

If they had rigged things to make Zhao Jiayin fall and almost caused danger, Hao Ren would never have seized the opportunity to get involved in the unfair charges of the rock climbing club.

Of course, he also knew that Huang Xujie didn’t speak up today because Xie Wanjun was present. When even Xie Wanjun said he wasn't satisfied with the charging methods of the rock climbing club, Huang Xujie could only temporarily swallow his anger!

"But Ah Ren, your rock climbing is really impressive! Did you train before" Zhou Liren interjected.

"Train my ass! I just watched it on TV before." Hao Ren replied.

However, he knew in his heart that when he was naughty as a child and living at his grandmother's place, the village walls and tree branches didn't know how many times they had been climbed by him...

"Those two single-arm rotations were just too awesome!" Zhou Liren said loudly.

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat. He was just climbing randomly, yet Zhou Liren had coined it with "professional terms."

As they walked and talked towards the cafeteria, after lunch there would be another large lecture class.

The news of Hao Ren defeating Huang Xujie on the rock-climbing wall gradually spread around school. Especially the mobile phone video footage where Hao Ren, at the end of his climb, kicked off from mid-air and did a single-handed pull-up with alternating arms before leaping up to grab onto a fixed object was wildly circulated among students.

"It's that guy sitting behind us, in the second-to-last row, wearing black..."

"Yes, he is, the flying emperor..."

Even in the public lecture that Hua Ren and Zhao Jiayin were attending, there were quite a few people looking back at Hua Ren.

"Your reputation has spread far and wide," Zhou Liren, the one with the worst grades, unfortunately squeezed out an idiom to express his amazement.

Hua Ren was too lazy to pay attention to these discussions and continued to focus on organizing his tutoring materials. He still didn't know how Zhao Yanzǐ had performed in this midterm exam...

Ding ling ling!

The bell signaling the end of class rang.

Students who had been sitting through a tedious two-hour session rushed out of the classroom. Of course, there were also many girls taking the opportunity to glance at Hua Ren when the classes ended. Among them were some rather good-looking freshmen.

"Ah Ren, you've become famous! Who knows if beautiful girls will start chasing after you!" Zhou Liren said enviously and jealously.

Right as he was saying this, a girl who was quite well-dressed walked up to Hua Ren, handing him a piece of paper. "This is my QQ number. I think you're really impressive; let's chat online sometime if you have time. I'm in the College of Business."

After speaking, the well-proportioned girl turned around and left the classroom with her backside presented beautifully. Outside, another girl asked curiously, "How is it... how is it..."

"Wow," Zhou Liren and others who were experiencing this for the first time immediately started to make a fuss.

Hua Ren coughed twice, unfolded the paper, thought about it for a moment, then crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash can in front of him.

Zhou Liren didn't expect Hua Ren to take such an action; he shouted anxiously, "Why did you throw it away! Such an attractive girl who's so proactive!"

Hua Ren waved his hand somewhat exasperatedly. "Alright, alright, let’s go."

Zhou Liren looked longingly at the black trash can and wished he could pick out the paper, but there were leftover fruits in it, sticky and gooey; no matter how much he liked girls, he couldn't bring himself to rummage through a trash bin.

Back then, if something like this had happened, Hua Ren would have been both shocked and excited. At least he would find it amusing enough to go to an internet cafe and add the girl on QQ. But now that his reputation was booming and many students were showing interest in him, wanting to be acquainted with him, Hua Ren felt rather uninterested.

Ultimately, he wasn't Huang Xujie after all.

"You don’t really have a girlfriend, do you" Zhou Liren followed out of the classroom and asked as he trailed behind Hua Ren.

"You've become more chatty lately. From now on, if I receive any notes, I'll hand them over to you to handle, okay" Hao Ren helplessly turned his head and said.

"Sure! Sure!" Unexpectedly, Zhou Liren nodded frantically, "From now on, I’ll be your agent. If a girl wants to pursue you, she has to go through me first!"

"Shameless!" Hao Ren, Zhao Jiayin, and Cao Ronghua simultaneously punched him.

"But I do think that you and Xie Yujia are quite well-suited. Besides being in the same class, you know each other very well too. It’s obvious she cares about you." While walking beside Hao Ren, Zhao Jiayin said.

"Who knows what the class president is thinking," Hao Ren replied. Actually, when Zhao Jiayin was rock climbing, Class President Xie Yujia had also been worried for him.

"Yo… Yo… It’s only our Ren who likes the class president!" Cao Ronghua called out.

Hao Ren shook his head, unwilling to argue with them. These guys could never accomplish anything good but were always adept at messing things up. If not for their insistence on declaring Hao Ren's feelings toward the class president earlier, Hao Ren and Xie Yujia wouldn't have fallen out.

Recently, he and Xie Yujia had begun to smooth over their relationship again. He really didn’t want Zhao Jiayin and his team of well-meaning guys to come between them once more.

Hao Ren admired Xie Yujia more than he liked her. With outstanding grades, a gentle appearance, tall figure, efficient ways of doing things, and exceptional abilities, along with occasional cuteness, not even mentioning how good she was at singing, the class president was destined to be many boys' swan princess…

Seeing that Hao Ren didn’t want to continue this topic, Zhao Jiayin changed the subject and shouted, "Since we still have time, let’s go play basketball!"

He had failed in rock climbing today but his addiction for sports was ignited. Hao Ren hadn't told him about how he might've succeeded if it weren’t for their interference; otherwise Zhao Jiayin would’ve been even more depressed.

"Ren, you should come too!" Zhao Jiayin pulled at him and shouted.

"I don't know how to play," Hao Ren shook his head.

"Knowing how to pass the ball, dribble it, and shoot is enough!" Zhao Jiayin punched Hao Ren’s shoulder hard with his fist as a sign of dissatisfaction.

“Alright then…” Thinking about how busy he had been recently with cultivation and preparing for tutoring sessions, so much so that he hadn’t played with them in ages, Hao Ren felt guilty and agreed to go along.

Zhao Jiayin’s execution was commendable. He called up Yu Rong and the rest of his crew, asking them to bring out basketballs from their dormitory rooms, then took Hao Ren and the other three over to take control of an outdoor basketball court. The two groups happened to meet at Basketball Court B.

Due to last time’s incident, there was now a strict rule set by the school. As such, the members of the basketball team hardly appeared on outdoor courts anymore. Of course, they had upcoming matches against Jinghua University next week; with several key players expelled and the rest intensively training inside the gym daily, this was also part of the reason.

And not far away, outside the basketball gymnasium, the rock climbing club’s recruitment activity that used to last all day had also been canceled. All the tables and chairs were gone.

Hao Ren could imagine that Huang Xujie would be furious when he returned, and didn’t know how he would vent his anger at his own club.

Since he had already stirred up this hornet’s nest before, he wasn’t afraid to stir it up a few more times. Hao Ren didn’t think about how Huang Xujie would deal with him; instead, he joined Zhao Jiayin and the others in playing basketball.

The game was played half-court with four players on each side. One team consisted of Zhao Jiayin’s dorm mates, while the other team included Yu Rong's dorm mates.

Hao Ren wasn’t good at basketball at all; basically, he would pass the ball as soon as he got it. If he couldn't pass it out, he wouldn't dribble to move around but just shoot towards the hoop. If the ball went in, it was a lucky shot. Otherwise, Zhou Liren's height and Zhao Jiayin’s insane jumping ability usually allowed them to grab the rebound.

"Ren, don’t pass every time you get the ball! Dribble and run!" After several attempts, Zhao Jiayin, who had just jumped six times in a row to grab rebounds, panted heavily as he shouted.

"Ah, I’m afraid of traveling!" Hao Ren held the ball like an elementary school student and replied while dribbling it on the spot.

Zhao Jiayin rolled his eyes. He really didn’t know what to do with him. However, he had to admit that although Hao Ren wasn't good at quick runs and dribbling, his awareness of positioning when there was no ball in his hands was quite good. Often, this allowed Zhao Jiayin to find an opening for a pass and then have Hao Ren take the shot.

Unfortunately, Hao Ren’s shooting accuracy was too poor. Most shots were airballs; occasionally, they would hit either the backboard or rim and needed Zhou Liren to grab them with his height advantage and put them in.

The skinny Cao Ronghua had decent shooting accuracy but lacked stamina. He couldn’t fly around like Hao Ren, so he could only wait for a pass from him.

Gradually, Yu Rong’s group realized that Hao Ren wasn't good at shooting and focused their defense on Zhao Jiayin and the other two players, allowing Hao Ren to shoot freely. However, grabbing rebounds also required stamina; after several attempts, Zhao Jiayin and Zhou Liren's strength was nearly depleted.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Seeing that his dorm mates had a higher average level of basketball skill but were still being overtaken in scoring by Yu Rong’s group, the impatient Zhao Jiayin shouted loudly.

Holding the ball, Hao Ren saw his three brothers tightly sealed off and unable to pass. He could only take another shot, which naturally resulted in yet another airball.

I told you I’m not good at basketball and would be a burden… Seeing Zhao Jiayin's murderous gaze directed at him, Hao Ren felt wronged inside.

At this moment, it seemed like a dark cloud had drifted over the sky, blocking out the previously bright sunlight.

Hao Ren looked up but didn’t see any clouds. Instead, he saw Xie Wanjun towering like a mountain behind him.

Zhao Jiayin and the others saw things weren't looking good and quickly threw down their basketballs, rushing to surround Hao Ren.hing big has happened!" The sudden shouting from outside startled Hao Ren to almost jump up.Zhao Zizi slightly turned over and showed signs of waking up.Hao Ren quickly stepped out of bed and rushed t...