Volume 4: Hidden Struggles, Chapter 217: Joining in the Hype

During the self-study period, the attention of all other students was drawn to Bai Lei’s sensational claims, to the point where even Chu Tianyu’s sudden appearance in the classroom—someone who hadn’t shown up in “thousands of years”—was overlooked by everyone.
After shouting those words, Bai Lei coughed loudly, adjusted his tone, and only then, under repeated urging from the crowd, said, “Well, this? According to the latest information I got from the school administration, our school will form a joint martial arts team with Peking University and Tsinghua University to welcome international guests. It seems they’re all college students, for pure martial arts exchanges and to strengthen international friendships…”
“Tch… Shh…” Before Bai Lei could finish, the classroom was filled with murmurs of disapproval. They had expected him to reveal some shocking gossip, but the result left them deeply disappointed. Clearly, they had no interest in this so-called martial arts exchange.
“Hey… hey… listen to me…” Bai Lei tried to say more, but his voice was drowned out by the chatter around him.
Yet Bai Lei wasn’t disappointed by his lack of impact. Instead, his expression remained calm, as if gathering energy. After a pause, he summoned his strength and suddenly roared, “I heard Xue Feifei, who joined Tsinghua University just the day before yesterday, is also going to participate…”
At the sound of Bai Lei’s roar, all the noise in the classroom ceased instantly, and silence fell over the room for five full seconds. Five seconds later, a storm of voices erupted again, and the crowd surged around Bai Lei, not only drowning out his voice but also surrounding him completely…
Chu Tianyu was also greatly surprised, but his surprise had two aspects. First, how could Bai Lei, who had just suffered physical harm the previous night, still have such an interest in gossip? Second, regarding the gossip Bai Lei had revealed—Xue Feifei, who had only completed her enrollment a few days ago—her arrival at Tsinghua University had already caused quite a stir, and she was even supposed to participate in some international college martial arts exchange. Why hadn’t Xue Feifei mentioned anything about this? She had been with them these past few days, with no time, yet she signed up for this exchange out of nowhere. Could it really be something that happened this very morning?
Chu Tianyu truly admired the guy who was now completely surrounded by the crowd—just a few words from him had piqued even his curiosity.

After a while of chaos, Bai Lei finally managed to break free from the crowd as their emotions gradually calmed down. He found a slightly less crowded spot, wiped the sweat from his hands, and said exaggeratingly, “Wow, this guy is too enthusiastic—I really can’t take it!” Yet his expression showed no sign of discomfort; on the contrary, Chu Tianyu was all too familiar with that smug look—this guy was once again enjoying the attention from everyone.

“Um, cough, comrades, classmates, dear ladies and girls, I’ll now discuss in detail the issues that everyone is concerned about…” Finally, under the persistent questions and requests of the crowd, Bai Lei began to speak.

It turned out that for this International University Students’ Martial Arts Exchange, given the proximity of Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Beifu College, each institution was assigned to send five members from their martial arts clubs. Tsinghua University served as the host venue for a period of fifteen days, with the exchange focusing on martial arts, combat techniques, and competitive sparring.

Since Tsinghua University was chosen as the main venue, to enhance the impact of this exchange, the university planned to have Xue Feifei, who had just enrolled, participate. However, how Bai Lei knew about this confidential information, which hadn’t been made public and might not even be known to Xue Feifei herself, remained unknown.

But soon, Bai Lei revealed another astonishing piece of news: out of the five spots allocated to the school, the president and vice president of the martial arts club took up two of them, leaving all the remaining spots in Bai Lei’s hands!

This shocker once again sent the whole class into excitement. Needless to say, the aggressive boys were thrilled, and even some girls who usually complained of exhaustion after walking a few steps couldn’t help but shine their eyes at Bai Lei, staring at him eagerly…

Bai Lei finally got his wish, enjoying the adoration as if he were the center of attention, looking utterly delighted. But good times didn’t last long—soon the situation got out of control. The crowd surrounding Bai Lei was no longer admiring him but was actually “crowding” him! His smug expression turned into a flushed face, with veins bulging on his forehead and his eyes bulging out as if he couldn’t breathe.

At this point, Bai Lei must have panicked—he was indeed suffocating from the crowd. Even shouting for them to back off became a luxury; he couldn’t produce any sound due to holding his breath.

Just as Bai Lei stretched his arms out desperately in a final struggle, trying to create some space to catch his breath, he finally saw Chu Tianyu standing at the periphery. Overjoyed, he raised the part of his body above his wrist that he could still move and waved at Chu Tianyu, his eyes filled with a desperate plea, wishing desperately that Chu Tianyu would rescue him from this dire situation right away.

Chu Tianyu had previously been shaking his head in admiration at Bai Lei’s ability to “control wind and rain,” feeling utterly helpless and about to call for Da Ge and Bao Cai’s help. Then he saw Bai Lei, who had once looked so proud, now with a red face, staring at him urgently, as if trying to convey some message.

Chu Tianyu was initially stunned, but quickly understood Bai Lei’s intention. It wasn’t because of Bai Lei’s strange expression, but because Chu Tianyu sensed a stagnant and suffocating energy within Bai Lei’s body. So he quickly released his own energy outward, spreading it like a network among the frenzied crowd surrounding Bai Lei. Then he silently pushed out his energy, instantly pushing everyone back.

However, Chu Tianyu’s control over his energy had reached a masterful level. Not only were the students who were pushed back unaware of what had happened, but even those watching from the periphery didn’t notice anything. It seemed as though everyone had simply stepped back half a step, but aside from Bai Lei in the center, it appeared as though no one else had moved at all.

Gaining a chance to breathe, Bai Lei didn’t hesitate. He bent over, placing his hand on his chest, gasping for air. In Chu Tianyu’s eyes, he looked utterly miserable—why go through such trouble?

“Everyone, stop fighting and competing. I’m sorry, but the last three spots have already been taken. They will be chosen from among our Five Heroes of the Northern Mansion. After all, good things don’t go to outsiders. Please bless us!” Bai Lei knew full well that he had this chance to breathe only because of Chu Tianyu. To avoid further chaos, as soon as he caught his breath, he jumped onto the table and quickly revealed the truth, no longer beating around the bush.

But the moment Bai Lei spoke the truth, the classroom was immediately filled with cries of “blessings”: “Damn… Tch… FUCK… Dizzy… Die… Puke…”

Despite their dissatisfaction and curses, the classmates gradually calmed down and stopped focusing on Bai Lei. After all, knowing the unbreakable bond among the Five Heroes of Beifu, they realized there was no chance. So, they had to think of another way to get into this so-called international martial arts exchange group.
“Tianyu, thank you, thank you so much! This spot is yours!” Bai Lei said, overwhelmed with gratitude, as he finally approached Chu Tianyu.
“Damn you, scoundrel! What shady thing did you do this time that got caught by the third brother?” Da Ge said with a smile as he approached Bai Lei.
“You’re the one who does bad things!” Bai Lei retorted, casting him a disdainful glance.
“If you don’t do bad things, why do you act so friendly as soon as the third brother shows up?” Bao Cai said, crossing his arms and grinning mischievously. Chen Qing, following behind Bao Cai, also had a smirk on his face.
“You guys… Hey, it’s really nice to have all of us here today—what a coincidence!” Bai Lei looked around.
“Of course! We heard there was some good stuff here, hehe…” Da Ge and Bao Cai said almost in unison.
“Oh, I see why you’re so eager—so it’s about competition!” Bai Lei realized suddenly. With that, his earlier arrogance turned into a shameless attitude, making people want to teach him the Fuhu Quan right there on the spot…
“Hehe, well, you said there were three spots, right?” Bao Cai started to speak again, but Bai Lei cut him off mercilessly, saying, “Bao Cai, can you use your brain for once? There are only three spots—what does it have to do with you?”
Hearing this, Bao Cai became anxious and quickly said, “W-why not? I’m also in the martial arts club. We’re all brothers—why shouldn’t I be included?”
“Don’t you use your brain? There are three spots—do you want mine?” Bai Lei pointed at himself deliberately.
“Th-then there are two left, right?” Bao Cai stammered.
Bai Lei didn’t waste any more time arguing with him. He simply pointed at Da Ge and said, “Are you planning to compete with Da Ge? This is a real martial arts exchange, not a place to share trivial skills!”
When Bao Cai followed Bai Lei’s gaze to Da Ge, Da Ge promptly showed off his robust build as a man from the Northeast, making Bao Cai swallow hard and fall silent. He then looked at Bai Lei with an expectant expression—his meaning was clear.

Bai Lei ignored them completely and said bluntly, “Don’t even think about getting that last spot. It’s someone from Qingda University who specifically asked for her. To be honest, the other two spots are only possible because of the third person; otherwise, we’d have no idea who the club president and vice president would secretly assign them to!”
After hearing Bai Lei’s words, everyone realized it was actually Chu Tianyu who had done all the work, and Bai Lei had nothing to do with it at all. He had acted as if he were so important…
“Wow, so it’s all thanks to Chu Tianyu. Then why do you get to decide everything?” Bao Cai seized the opportunity to attack.
“Why!? Hehe, Bao Cai, come on. Let’s have a good talk about why. I believe you’ll find the answer in three hours. I’m quite optimistic!” Bai Lei said, smiling brightly at Bao Cai.
That night, when Chu Tianyu returned, he found out that indeed, earlier that morning, while he was confronting Qin Nianran, people from Qingda University approached Xue Feifei and, in the name of promoting international friendship and national spirit, invited her to participate in this international exchange event for college students in martial arts and combat.
Xue Feifei wasn’t very enthusiastic at first, but she couldn’t resist the persuasion from Ouyang Ziyi and the others, so she agreed out of curiosity. After discussing it with Ouyang Ziyi and the others, she made one small request: among the participants from Beifu College, there had to be someone named Chu Tianyu…
Upon hearing this, Chu Tianyu was both amused and exasperated. He never expected that this was the reason Bai Lei almost ended up “honored” in such a way! But it was a minor issue. After discussing it for a while, the conversation naturally turned to Qin Nianran, as Ouyang Ziyi and the others were still very concerned about the outcome of Chu Tianyu’s proactive actions.
Chu Tianyu didn’t hide anything and recounted the entire process of his meeting with Qin Nianran, even sharing naturally his feelings when he impulsively wrote that love agreement the previous night.
Hearing this, Ouyang Ziyi, Xue Feifei, and the others immediately thought of Chu Tianyu as a true “master” of love!

Chu Tianyu naturally accepted this title with great humility. After some joking around, Ouyang Ziyi seemed to remember something and suddenly became serious, saying, “By the way, Tianyu, you need to be careful of that Zhan Zifeng. He’s not a good person! Ever since he got injured, he hasn’t come to school until after the summer vacation, when school started again this semester. Not only has his appearance changed drastically, but according to his classmates, his personality has also changed greatly. He’s become moody and often attacks his classmates for no reason. He’s also gathered a group of spoiled brats who are extremely arrogant. If it weren’t for his family’s background, the school would have punished him long ago. In the end, everyone is living in fear, too scared to speak up.”

“Is Zhan Zifeng really that bad?” Xue Feifei asked doubtfully, not knowing much about the situation.

“Not at all. According to Ziyi, he’s not only arrogant but also cruel. To get a chance to pursue Qin Nianran, he even killed Zhou Tiansheng’s grandson, Zhou Chongyun. Tianyu said he and Qin Nianran witnessed it with their own eyes!” Li Rou added.

After hearing this, Xue Feifei finally said, “Oh…” realizing why Ouyang Ziyi had said such things.

Facing the girls’ conversation, Chu Tianyu remained calm, his emotions unaffected by their words. Only after they finished talking did he slowly say, “Actually, back when dealing with Tianxing Group, I already arranged for people to secretly protect Ziyi and Nianran. Moreover, Nianran’s strength has improved greatly now. Although she may not be stronger than Zhan Zifeng, she can definitely protect herself. I’m more worried that he might have evil intentions and target Ziyi because of me…”

“Why not take action first? We can’t just wait passively for him to cause trouble. Besides, we only hear of thieves who work for days, not those who guard against thieves for days. And even if we try to guard, it’s impossible to guard against everything…” Xue Feifei said without hesitation.

Xue Feifei didn’t know many details. In her opinion, with Chu Tianyu’s strength, wouldn’t he be able to do whatever he wanted?

So before Chu Tianyu could speak, Ouyang Ziyi explained on his behalf, mentioning the various forces behind Zhan Zifeng, both overt and covert, and saying that it wouldn’t be easy to resolve things through fighting.

Hearing this, Xue Feifei understood and looked at Chu Tianyu, waiting to see how he would handle the situation.

Chu Tianyu could easily tell what she was thinking from the way she looked at him, so he smiled slightly and said, “We shouldn’t worry needlessly, but we also can’t be careless. I’ll assign more people to follow up on this matter—not just targeting Zhan Zifeng alone, but their entire family and their entire influence network…”

At these words, all the women were stunned. They hadn’t expected Chu Tianyu to expand the scope so much. In their view, it was just an ordinary school romance conflict that could be handled with a little preparation. They didn’t understand why Chu Tianyu would want to take such drastic action.

However, their doubts were quickly resolved by what Chu Tianyu said next. He continued, “Actually, I’ve investigated the Zhan family. As their sole heir, Zhan Zifeng isn’t very useful or a threat at present, but to take precautions—given their massive influence—if that power falls into his hands, he will surely cause trouble in the future, and the consequences would be unimaginable!”

After a brief pause, he added, “Moreover, in my opinion, his jealousy toward me is particularly intense. Compared to Zhou Chongyun, my hatred in his eyes might even be many times greater. I could tell from the look in his eyes when he left! But fortunately, for me, I still have a significant psychological advantage. After all, in his eyes, I’m just a playboy from the Chu family, without any real strength. As for Qin Nianran, I’m also seen as playing both sides. So, based on my assessment, he won’t try to deal with me for now. At most, he’ll intensify his efforts against Qin Nianran…”

Hearing Chu Tianyu’s thorough analysis, they felt relieved and no longer worried. Ouyang Ziyi joked, “Oh, our playboy, you’d better step up! Don’t just stand by while your fiancée gets snatched away by someone else! Hehe…”

“I don’t think so. Didn’t Miss Nianran even accept that love agreement? I can’t remember what it’s called… Ugh, look at my memory!” Xue Feifei joined in.

“That’s called mutual affection!” Li Rou said honestly, trying to hold back her laughter.

Chu Tianyu remained unmoved by their teasing. Once they stopped talking, he simply said, “I think it’s getting late. Time to go to bed, right?” He even winked at them meaningfully.

Just these words immediately silenced all the women, and the room was instantly filled with an air of romance. Once again, soft murmurs and gentle breaths could be heard…
…
On the roads of Qingda University, Chu Tianyu, Bai Lei, and Da Ge were walking with their bags on their backs, chatting and laughing. Especially Bai Lei—since his confession last time, he seemed even more unrestrained, walking and talking in a bold manner, as if trying to show off his arrogance to everyone.
“Bai Lei, calm down a bit. Don’t act like such an idiot. With your mediocre skills in combat, you’re still far behind!” Da Ge teased him, unable to stand it any longer.
Chu Tianyu didn’t say much, because last night he had learned from Ouyang Ziyi that both of Bai Lei’s “partners” seemed unstable. According to Ouyang Ziyi, since that day, Lan Yue and Chu Yunjiao had become good friends, while it seemed like Bai Lei no longer mattered at all!
So now Chu Tianyu understood Bai Lei’s behavior—beneath that arrogant exterior, he must be feeling quite lost inside. But it was his own fault; he couldn’t blame anyone else. He had to deal with it himself; no one else could help!
Along the way, Bai Lei and Da Ge kept bickering until they arrived at the gathering place for the event—the Qingda University reception center!
As soon as they entered, they saw the president and vice president of the university’s martial arts club already there. Seeing them arrive, they waved them over and gave each of them a name tag, a simple ID card indicating their eligibility to participate in the event.
“Qingda University is really stingy. Just giving us such a crappy card with a few words on it, not even including names or introductions. How will we know who’s the most impressive? I think…” Before Bai Lei could finish his sentence, he opened his mouth wide in surprise as Xue Feifei walked in with Lan Yue and Chu Yunjiao, also wearing the name tags he had just criticized…
“Oh, Yueyue, Junjiao, why do we hear someone talking bad about our university as soon as we enter? Did I hear wrong?” Xue Feifei said with a smile.
Without even mentioning Bai Lei regretting his complaints, the president and vice president of the North Mansion Martial Arts Club were utterly stunned when they saw Xue Feifei and the others enter.

After a long while, the two of them slapped themselves hard a few times. Glancing at the now-empty lobby, the team leader couldn’t help but mutter, “Is this Qingda University, or a paradise for beauties? Did the famous star Xue Feifei really come here too? The two beauties behind her are simply stunning—am I dreaming?”
“You’re not dreaming. That’s indeed Miss Feifei. Once you see her face, you’ll never be able to forget it!” the deputy team leader said in awe.
Once convinced, the two exchanged a look, paused for a moment, then let out a roar that shook the heavens and moved the spirits: “Wow! That’s really Xue Feifei! Didn’t we come here just to see her? Are you idiots, still standing here? This is a rare chance—hurry in and get her autograph!”
After entering, they realized that people from Peking University had also arrived, and they too were a group of beauties. Two of them were on par with Xue Feifei—so beautiful it was beyond description. What was even more surprising was that one of them exuded charm and youthful vitality, while the other had icy beauty and an air of cold elegance that kept people at a distance yet made them unable to resist her. Their minds stopped functioning entirely; it seemed as if the whole world had come to a halt. Their hearts skipped a beat, and as if by agreement, they both fainted on the spot…
But it wasn’t just the two of them who fainted. There was another person lying on the ground—none other than Bai Lei! Clearly, he had once again underestimated Lan Yue and Chu Yunjiao’s attitude toward him and the strength of their combined attack!
It was Chu Tianyu who stepped forward, prodded Bai Lei with his toe, and said, “Stop lying on the ground. This trick of feigning weakness won’t work. No one will pity you now. Besides, I can hear the foreign delegation coming in. Weren’t you trying to restore your image and show off your power?”