Chapter 41 Who Can Outmatch Whom

hereal peak.Hao Ren hadn't come to the ethereal peak since preparing for the Dragon God Temple examination, so he felt nostalgic upon returning.The valley was pitch black with no birds or beasts in si...Chapter 41 Who Can Defeat Whom

(Tonight I need to go out, so since I've been at home all day today, I finished writing and am updating early to avoid keeping everyone waiting~~)

After winning, it's natural to receive the prize.

The sports meet venue had a simple podium erected in the middle of the field. Hao Ren and third place ascended the stage one after another. Huang Xujie was nowhere to be found; even the organizers couldn't locate him.

Desperately, the announcer could only claim that Huang Xujie suffered an injury during the race and couldn't come up to receive his award. Upon hearing this news, both inside and outside the venue, girls became worriedly chattering. Actually, for them, whether or not Huang Xujie won the long-distance running championship was not crucial; they just hoped he would remain as handsome and stylish as ever.

The award ceremony proceeded as usual, with an empty spot on the podium. The Student Council president Gu Jialing personally presented certificates to Hao Ren and third place.

The certificate was merely a formality; the most substantial reward was that every champion of each event in the sports meet would receive a cash prize of 1000 yuan. Second place got 500 yuan, while third place received 250 yuan.

This setup was meant to encourage participation and competition. However, someone like Zhou Liren who knew he couldn't compete wouldn't be enticed by these prizes into participating recklessly.

As Hao Ren was on the podium receiving his certificate and prize money, Zhao Jiayin on the stands was also frantically collecting bets.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Pay up! Pay up!" He waved around a piece of paper listing all the bets. "Yu Rong, 200 yuan! Chen Ke, 300 yuan! And Zhou Liren, don't run away, you owe me too 200 yuan as well!"

The boys were both無奈又高興。一方麵，他們冇想到郝仁竟然能跑到第一名，令人驚訝；另一方麵，由於這樣，郝仁奪冠讓他們非常興奮，隻是因為他們低估了郝仁的實力。

With the prize money and certificate in hand, Hao Ren walked back to the stands with Xie Yujia. He was about to find Zhao Yanzi and Xiaoling but found them both gone.

"Zhao Jiayin! Where did the girl sitting here go" Hao Ren asked the person above who was frantically collecting bets.

"Oh, when you crossed the finish line, they left," Zhao Jiayin replied.

So that's how it is... Hao Ren felt a bit down inside.

But he quickly cheered up and shouted to Zhao Jiayin above, "I won some money; let me treat you all to dinner tonight!"

"What the hell! You think I'm going to treat everyone after losing 200 yuan" Zhou Liren complained.

Upon hearing Zhou Liren's words, other losers also began shouting, "That's right, Zhao Jiayin should treat us!"

Zhao Jiayin was not a stingy person; on the contrary, he was the most generous among them. He laughed heartily and said, "Alright! Let's all have a good meal tonight! It doesn't matter if it's empty pockets filling up with rice; these are all winnings that we'll use up. We'll just treat it as celebrating Hao Ren's victory!"

The others agreed enthusiastically. After all, they felt proud of Hao Ren winning the championship and didn't mind losing such small amounts. Xie Yujia smiled happily seeing how well the boys in their class got along.

"Let's invite the monitor to come too!" Zhao Jiayin called out.

"Eh" Xie Yujia seemed surprised, "I won't join you guys. You boys just have fun and celebrate amongst yourselves!"

"Come on! Come on! Join us all!" Zhao Jiayin enthusiastically urged her, along with the other boys.

Xie Yujia blushed, "Alright then, we’ll celebrate a bit. But… I also have to invite the rest of the girls in our class."

She was worried it would look strange if only she as one girl were invited along. After all, she knew what these guys were like; they’d be hyped up and acting silly if there weren’t any pretty ladies around.

In their whole class, there were only six girls in total. Zhao Jiayin waved his hand grandly, "Great! Let's call them all over!"

"Next match: Aerobics Contest. Participants from each faculty please report to the venue as soon as possible," came a broadcast announcement.

Those boys who had been shouting and clamoring moments ago suddenly perked up at this news, howling like wolves.

"Sigh… these guys…" Xie Yujia shook her head in exasperation and sat down. She knew exactly what those boys were after; they pretended to watch the aerobics contest but really just wanted a glimpse of the girls’ bodies clad in tight outfits.

Hao Ren also sat down beside her, leaning closer to her ear, "Uh… Monitor Yujia, I'll hand over my 1000-yuan prize money as class funds. I was thinking that I’d have to treat them all to a meal but since that won’t be necessary…"

Xie Yujia glared at Hao Ren and cut him off mid-sentence, "Why should you give it away You worked hard for this prize money and brought glory to our class as well. This prize is yours by right!"

Seeing her earnest face, Hao Ren was taken aback, "Alright then, I’ll keep the money."

In truth, he felt that Xie Yujia had played a crucial role in his winning of this championship title and donating the prize money would be a way for him to express his gratitude toward her.

Xie Yujia’s gaze shifted from Hao Ren’s face. She thought quietly to herself: This Hao Ren is truly different from other boys; he isn’t greedy or lustful…

She was smitten by Hao Ren, only to find that he had already turned his attention to the first group of participants from the School of Management who were doing their aerobics routine. His mouth hung open and his eyes sparkled.

Sigh, as if I never said anything… Three beads of sweat appeared on Xie Yujia’s forehead.

The aerobics contest was the highlight event of the sports meet. The tall and beautiful girls chosen from each faculty would move to music rhythmically indeed an aesthetic sight to behold.

This arrangement also succeeded in keeping most of the boys till the end of the sports meet. Finally, prizes were awarded based on performance in all events by school leaders; they announced that a day-long sports meet had come to a close successfully.

The students in the stands made their way out one after another. Zhao Jiayin invited his friends and led everyone outside for some grilled meat.

Two of the girls from class were busy with other things, so only four joined them including Xie Yujia, while there were more than twenty boys who came along in a big group. They entered a barbecue restaurant and practically occupied half of it.

Hao Ren unexpectedly won the long-distance race championship, which was a surprising yet celebratory achievement. Under Zhao Jiayin's arrangement, Miss Xie Yujia, with her flushed cheeks, sat beside today’s hero Hao Ren.

While Hao Ren tried to stop them from making trouble and apologized repeatedly to Xie Yujia, she knew the boys' personalities quite well and thus was only slightly exasperated. She did not get angry at all.

The beer, barbecue, and beautiful girls... each element contributed to a surge in the male students' adrenaline. They clinked their glasses vigorously, turning this half-barbecue place into an area for unrestrained revelry.

Under Cao Ronghua’s somewhat loyal persuasion, Xie Yujia also drank several cups of beer and sat beside Hao Ren; her face had become redder like a ripe, fragrant apple that was both sweet and aromatic.

As for Hao Ren, he naturally couldn't escape them. Almost everyone came over to toast him with a glass of beer. Although it was beer, Hao Ren inevitably felt somewhat tipsy.

The scene didn’t seem like they were celebrating Hao Ren's victory but rather more akin to the pre-wedding banquet before the wedding chamber chaos.

Half-drunk and half-awake, Hao Ren wanted to send a message to Zhao Yanzǐ to ask if she had arrived at school smoothly and returned home safely. But when he fished out his phone, he remembered that he didn't have her number. So, he patted his head and lamented how truly drunk he was.

"Hey! Aren't you guys too noisy"

Just as they were in full swing, an unceremonious voice erupted from another corner with a loud bang of a table being slapped.

Zhao Jiayin and the others suddenly fell silent and turned their heads to look over there.

A sturdy-looking guy with a brush-cut hairstyle was holding his cup, glaring viciously at them.

"This is public space. If you think it’s too noisy, find another place to eat." Zhao Jiayin met the man's gaze head-on and retorted. Zhao Jiayin was Hao Ren's dormitory leader and usually protected him. He was also a senior figure in high school and had never been afraid of anyone.

"Second-year student" The guy held Zhao Jiayin’s gaze, then stood up.

When he stood up, everyone noticed his unusual height; he was nearly six feet tall. Standing before Zhao Jiayin, the height difference between them became obvious—almost a head taller.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, Xie Yujia hurriedly got to her feet and said in her authoritative manner as class monitor, "Zhao Jiayin, come back! Don't cause trouble!"

But Zhao Jiayin wouldn’t retreat due to his personality. He continued to glare at the guy without backing down.

The other guys who were dining with this tall man suddenly stood up one after another. Each of them was over six feet tall; standing together, they looked like a group of imposing mountains.

Worried that Zhao Jiayin would be at a disadvantage, Zhou Liren—who usually avoided trouble and was the tallest among them—suddenly rushed to stand beside him, forming an opposition.

The other guys followed suit by walking over and standing on either side of Zhao Jiayin. Hao Ren wanted to join as well but was tightly held back by Xie Yujia.

While Zhao Jiayin's group didn't have the height advantage, they outnumbered the opposition four to one. If it came down to a fight, it would likely end in mutual injury and stalemate.

As tensions rose to a breaking point, Xie Yujia screamed, "Alright, everyone stop! Don’t fight!"

But at this moment, who cared about what she thought

"You think you're pretty tough, huh" The tallest and most crew-cutted guy suddenly pointed at Hao Ren, who was being held back by Xie Yujia.

Xie Yujia stared in shock as realization dawned on her that these guys were deliberately provoking Hao Ren. She quickly recalled the name of this basketball team vice-captain from their fourth year: Bai Zhixiong, a close friend of Huang Xujie’s.

"So you’re after Ah Ren" Just as Xie Yujia was trying to figure out what was going on, Zhao Jiayin had already seen through the intentions of the other party and asked the guy.

Even though the Department of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering consisted mostly of introverted guys, they were a tight-knit group. Although Hao Ren often got pulled into their teasing, outsiders who wanted to bully him would be in for a rude awakening.

"Zhao Jiayin, they came after me," Hao Ren took advantage of the moment when Xie Yujia had loosened her grip on his arm to break free and step forward.

He didn’t want Zhao Jiayin or any of his good friends to get hurt because of him. Since it was aimed at him, Hao Ren felt he had no reason to hide behind them.

The tall guy originally wanted to intimidate Hao Ren but was taken aback by the ordinary-looking student’s backbone. He couldn’t use the premeditated lines anymore and could only stare dumbfoundedly, contemplating his next move.

Seeing him silent, Hao Ren walked up to him and said, "If you think underclassmen are easy targets, think again. Your so-called upper-class status isn’t something to be proud of. Huang Xujie is indeed strong in some aspects but he’s become too arrogant, losing his true self—that's why he lost to me."

"You really are arrogant," Bai Zhixiong slightly lowered his head and said.

Hao Ren helplessly shook his head. "This isn’t arrogance; it’s common sense. You’re not happy with me, just as I’m not pleased with you, but unlike me who doesn’t interfere, you think your seniority gives you the right to lecture us"

"Why bother talking about logic If they come after us, we fight back!" Zhao Jiayin shouted from the side. He had long been fed up with these guys forming cliques and bullying others, especially since he often got turf wars when it came to basketball courts.

Whoosh…

Suddenly, a brown basketball flew in through the door.

The ball narrowly missed Zhao Jiayin’s head and smacked straight into Bai Zhixiong’s face.

Even though Bai Zhixiong was robust, he still couldn’t withstand such an unexpected assault from a genuine leather ball, causing his nose to start bleeding profusely.

"Who the hell let you come out Get back inside for training!" A thunderous voice bellowed from outside the door.

Hao Ren turned around and saw a towering figure blocking the entire doorway.

"Brother…" An almost imperceptible syllable emerged from Xie Yujia’s throat. arrow slots. In other words, the demonic bow could shoot a maximum of six arrows.This time, Hao Ren aimed at a distant stretch of sea.That stretch of sea had no Eastern Sea soldiers stationed there;...