Volume 4: Hidden Struggles, Chapter 116: The Harassment Offensive
“Hachigaku, you actually still engage in secret deals with South Korea’s Kim family enterprise. What about our interests in Great Japan? Tenkou-kun, we help each other based on the principles of friendship and mutual assistance. Your actions have severely damaged the dignity of our Yamato nation and the interests of our company!” An old man on the screen demanded sternly.
“Mr. Yoshida, please calm down. Everything will work out slowly, and problems can be discussed,” Zhou Tianxing said calmly.
“Tenkou-kun, I expect you to give me an answer now. You know the influence of our Yokokawa Company in Japan, as well as the protection it provides for all of your Tianxing Group’s investments and business operations there. Recently, the ancient Iga ninja organization has also come under our Yokokawa’s control…” Yoshida threatened.
A cold glint flashed in Zhou Tianxing’s eyes, but his expression quickly returned to calmness. “Our separate dealings with South Korea’s Kim family enterprise are merely normal trade between our group and them. As for this planned cooperation, our contact with them is limited to formal gatherings of the five parties involved, and it does not affect anyone’s interests.”
Faced with Zhou Tianxing’s deflection and denial, Yoshida frowned and subtly made a gesture with his right little finger. Suddenly, a figure behind him vanished in a flash, with a cold light appearing in the air. But mid-air, it was intercepted by a middle-aged man behind Zhou Tianxing. That man was extremely fast; before the blue shadow he left behind could disappear, he had already exchanged a few blows with the ninja. With a low roar, he blocked the ninja’s blade with a punch, his powerful energy preventing the ninja from advancing even an inch.
The middle-aged man then exerted more force. With a shout of “Kai!”, the ninja was instantly pushed back, and the man used the momentum to float back and stand behind Zhou Tianxing. To outsiders, it seemed as though the two were evenly matched and parted ways simultaneously. Zhou Tianxing was quite satisfied with this outcome. He nodded slightly without saying a word, staring straight at Yoshida.
Yoshida’s face turned ashen, as ugly as it could get. He had intended to show off their strength but instead ended up helping others. This filled him with shock, forcing him to reconsider and think more deeply about the Tianxing Group and Zhou Tianxing…
“Hehe, Mr. Yoshida. Rest assured, the interests of our five families are like…” Before Zhou Tianxing could finish his soothing words, the middle-aged man behind him shouted, “Who’s there?”
Then the screen shook violently before turning into snowflakes… Chu Tianyu turned off the projector, holding the remote in his hand and fiddling with it. After pondering for a while, he smirked disdainfully. Muttering to himself, he said, “The Five Directions? Interests? Their wolfish ambitions are self-evident!”
While Chu Tianyu was deep in thought, there was a knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw a young man with gold-rimmed glasses standing outside. He appeared to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with a refined appearance, yet his face showed determination and resolve.
As soon as he entered, the young man’s expression instantly became extremely respectful. He bowed to Chu Tianyu in the unique style of the Xuanji Sect, softly saying, “Xu Hua from the Qianfeng Beijing branch greets the sect leader!”
Chu Tianyu helped him up and smiled, saying, “Heh, no need for formalities. Are you the only one who came? Oh, you have cultivation skills?”
“Sir, although I belong to Qianfeng, I was sent to the Military Academy for training ten years ago. I only returned to Qianfeng in the past two years. There are also a dozen or so disciples from the Military Academy and Qianfeng with me, ready to follow the sect leader’s orders at any time…” Xu Hua replied respectfully.
Chu Tianyu nodded inwardly. Judging from his appearance, he was indeed an elite. According to the Xuanji Sect’s practices, members of Qianfeng generally did not practice martial arts; only those selected to become leaders might be sent to the Military Academy. This showed his outstanding abilities.
“Come, let’s go inside and talk slowly. No need for all this ‘sect leader’ and ‘subordinate’ nonsense. This is a private setting, so let’s be more casual. By the way, Brother Xu, I heard you’re proficient in multiple languages, especially Japanese, and you’re the youngest professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University…”
“The sect leader is too kind…”
“I called you here precisely for this reason…” Chu Tianyu got straight to the point, explaining his plan. A few Qianfeng disciples skilled in Japanese would be responsible for surveillance and eavesdropping, while the remaining Military Academy disciples would handle tracking and protecting the safety of Qianfeng’s members.
“By the way, sect leader, these are the investigation materials you asked for last time. They involve some government officials, so it’s not convenient to transmit them. I brought them here instead! The four bodyguards you wanted are also with me, waiting downstairs. Would you like to meet them in person?” Only after Chu Tianyu finished giving instructions did Xu Hua report on these matters.
“Mm, good. Let me take a look first…”
…
While Chu Tianyu was fully immersed in this cat-and-mouse game, Ouyang Ziyi and Qin Nianran had another round of verbal sparring since Chu Tianyu left.
At first, Ouyang Ziyi was so busy packing and organizing things that she didn’t even glance at Qin Nianran. As for Qin Nianran, aside from her initial surprise and shock, she gradually calmed down after Chu Tianyu left awkwardly and continued to look through her documents. However, from her thoughtful expression, it seemed she was just going through the motions.
Obviously, Ouyang Ziyi, with ulterior motives, wasn’t going to let her off so easily. Soon, her packing activities expanded to include the area around Qin Nianran—she kept brushing into her, moving things around, until Qin Nianran finally spoke up, saying, “Look, how much more space do you need? If it’s really not enough, I can make room for you here too. If that still isn’t enough, you can even move out now!”
Hearing Qin Nianran’s words, Ouyang Ziyi immediately smiled and pulled up a chair to sit next to her, saying, “Hehe, how dare I ask our Miss Qin to make room for me? It’s that guy, Chu Tianyu, who insisted I bring so many things, afraid I might miss anything. Ugh, how can one praise that guy?”
If Chu Tianyu were there, he would probably spit blood hearing Ouyang Ziyi’s twisted words. He had strongly suggested bringing just one large bag, but before he could say anything else, Ouyang Ziyi retorted, “Are you a woman? If not, stay out of packing and organizing…”
Facing Ouyang Ziyi’s constant mention of Chu Tianyu, Qin Nianran knew it was meant to provoke her. Yet every time she heard those three words, she couldn’t stay calm—she couldn’t describe the feeling.
Ouyang Ziyi’s strategy was to fear neither hatred nor insults, nor anger—only silence! This harassment continued until evening. Qin Nianran had planned to go somewhere quiet after dinner, but Ouyang Ziyi said, “Nianran, you can’t have any objections to me, right? As your new roommate, I’ve ordered takeout to celebrate in our ‘own’ dorm. You won’t make an excuse to leave, will you?”
“Yes, yes! It’ll be so much fun to gather together! Nianran, it’s a rare opportunity for us. You two are known as the twin beauties of Peking University. Living in the same room now—even we feel honored! You won’t ruin everyone’s fun, will you?” The other two girls in the room agreed.
“……” Faced with her roommate, who usually never spoke to her at all, saying she felt honored to live together with Ouyang Ziyi, Qin Nianran was utterly speechless.
After dinner, the two roommates left under some pretext, leaving the room to Qin Nianran and Ouyang Ziyi.
“You’re really good at this!” Qin Nianran suddenly said as she watched the two roommates disappear.
“What do you mean ‘good at this’? I’m just good at interacting with people! By the way, if it were our Tianyu, that would be…”
Before Ouyang Ziyi could finish, Qin Nianran angrily interrupted, “Enough!!! Classmate Ouyang, I don’t have that much time to discuss Chu Tianyu. Can you please stop dragging unrelated matters onto him? Besides, I’m not very familiar with him to begin with, and I’m not interested in his affairs. Sorry, I think I should ‘quietly’ go through some materials!”
Ouyang Ziyi clearly didn’t grasp the importance of “quietness” and instead smiled, suddenly asking, “Do you know the famous star Xue Feifei?”
“What?” Qin Nianran asked helplessly, defeated by her.
“Do you know? This Xue Feifei has a special relationship with our Tianyu. But to talk about how they met and had a romantic story filled with deep affection, we have to mention Classmate Li Rou. As for that Li Rou…”
As Ouyang Ziyi elaborated on Chu Tianyu’s truant trip and adventures, Qin Nianran had long forgotten her earlier words and her request to “be quiet.” Instead, her emotions swayed with the story, completely absorbed in it!
After Ouyang Ziyi finished speaking, she looked at Qin Nianran, still immersed in the story, with a triumphant smile and remained silent.
After a while, Qin Nianran seemed to come back to her senses and asked Ouyang Ziyi in an incredulous tone, “Do you really think there are real dragons and dragon energy in this world?”
“I’m not sure if they exist, but the dragon on Tianyu’s chest is definitely real. If you get the chance, ask him to show it to you!” Ouyang Ziyi replied as if casually.
Qin Nianran nodded naturally and said, “Mm, okay!”
As soon as those words left her mouth, she froze in place, while Ouyang Ziyi pursed her lips, struggling hard to hold back laughter, though her shoulders trembled uncontrollably…