Chapter 35 - Concern
Chapter 35: Concern
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Taking Luo Ziling’s hand, Cao Jianhui swaggered out of campus from the west gate, watched by the curious crowd.
He led the group to a very good Chinese restaurant and asked for a VIP private room. Cao Jianhui did all the ordering. They ended up with more than a dozen expensive dishes to be shared among the four of them.
Cao Jianhui also ordered a carton of beer to accompany their meal. He asked Luo Ziling and the other two friends to drink to their heart’s content.
In his own words, the dissatisfaction of a lifetime was resolved on that day, and hence, must be celebrated properly.
Calling his brother, Cao Jianhui asked about how he was handling the situation. Thankfully, Cao Jianguang had already called Yanching University’s vice chancellor. He was in charge of security and logistics, and he had told Cao Jianguang that he would handle the case properly.
Hearing his brother’s words relieved Cao Jianhui, and he then told Luo Ziling, Li Fuming, and Wu Longjiang not to worry as well.
The four started drinking to their heart’s content. In the end, they finished two entire cartons of beer, which totaled up to forty-eight bottles.
Because of his constitution, Luo Ziling could actually drink a lot. Since he was fifteen, he had often accompanied his grandfather to drink. Home-brewed rice wine was all he drank, and he had been able to drink four or five pounds of it by the age of eighteen.
The Luo family’s ancestral home was in Yuezhou, Jiangnan Province. The Shaoxing rice wine produced there was world-renowned. There was almost nobody from Yuezhou who did not like to drink.
However, Cao Jianhui, Li Fuming, and Wu Longjiang could not drink as much as Luo Ziling. When they left the restaurant, all three were drunk, with Luo Ziling being the only one still sober.
“Boss, we really admire you more and more,” mumbled Cao Jianhui, clinging onto Luo Ziling’s arm and burping as he spoke. “You… are good at fighting and… drinking. You are so handsome, I can’t compare to you. If… you are good at studying too, you would be Mr. Perfect in the eyes of girls. Haha!”
A cold wind blew as they walked out of the restaurant. Feeling it, Li Fuming could not help throwing up. He did not care about it at all, and instead excitedly hooked his arm around Luo Ziling’s shoulder.
“Boss, why are you… that good at fighting? It seems that you… your grandfather must be a martial arts master.”
Slightly disgusted, Luo Ziling pushed him away, but Li Fuming paid him no mind. He made a punching movement, and then came over to pull on Luo Ziling’s arm with a giggle.
“Boss, why don’t you train us to fight? If we become martial arts masters, no one would dare to bully us anymore.”
“Sure, pay me a hundred thousand each as training fees,” said Luo Ziling, opening his palm. “I won’t teach you if you’re short of even a single penny.”
“Boss, you are so ruthless. How can we afford to pay you a hundred thousand dollars? Do you want ten dollars instead?” replied Li Fuming. He took out ten dollars from his wallet and put it into Luo Ziling’s outstretched hand.
Luo Ziling kicked him aside and exclaimed in annoyance, “Piss off!”
Li Fuming did not mind being kicked by Luo Ziling. He put the ten dollars back in his pocket very seriously. “It can be used to buy breakfast for the four of us.”
“You should get up earlier tomorrow and buy us breakfast,” ordered Luo Ziling with a smile. “I would like to have twenty steamed buns. Ask the others what they want, but get my order first.”
“After they wake up tomorrow.” Li Fuming hiccupped once before retching again. “Ugh, what did you just say?”
He had forgotten what he just said, causing Luo Ziling to kick him again.
The group of four staggered back to the campus.
As soon as they made it back to the dorm, Cao Jianhui, Li Fuming, and Wu Longjiang immediately got into bed and fell asleep, without washing up. Cao Jianhui and Li Fuming squeezed into the same bed while Wu Longjiang climbed to the top bunk with Luo Ziling’s help.
On the other hand, Luo Ziling was still very much awake. He was lying in bed looking at his phone. As he scrolled mindlessly, he suddenly grew curious and wondered whether there were any posts about him on the forums.
Thanks to Cao Jianhui’s guidance, albeit with much lamenting from him over Luo Ziling’s incompetence, he now knew how to go online, as well as how to log in to the school forum.
He was surprised when he logged onto the website as there were plenty of posts related to him.
The fact that he had thrown the group of martial arts students into the pool had been reposted many times. There were many comments, most of them expressing admiration for his superhuman-like performance. There were also many who said they wanted to learn martial arts from him.
There was also a poll about him: ‘Will Luo Ziling from the Clinical Medicine Freshman Class(1) be the next Mr. Popular?’
There were three answer options below the post: ‘Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘Just Passing Through’
As the results could only be seen after voting, Luo Ziling curiously chose ‘Yes’. Once his choice was updated, he could finally see the results. The long blue column which showed that 78% of people had voted ‘Yes’ really made his day.
He could not help smiling proudly. ‘It seems that I’m quite popular.’
He clicked into every post related to him to have a look. Most of them were discussing the earlier incident and several of them were asking for his information. Judging from the nicknames in the post, they were probably girls.
‘Haha, university life is wonderful,’ thought Luo Ziling before he fell asleep.
On the second day of military training, Luo Ziling and Cao Jianhui were taken to the security office for some questioning. The guards did not make things difficult for the boys and only politely asked them what happened.
Of course, Cao Jianhui completely put the blame on the martial arts group. He claimed that it was them who came looking for trouble by attempting to take revenge.
After they left the security office, Cao Jianhui patted his chest and assured Luo Ziling that the school would not punish them as his brother had intervened on their behalf. Luo Ziling was still a little worried, but ultimately chose to believe his roommate’s words.
Not long after, he received a call from Li Qing.
“Handsome, I saw someone post in WeChat Moments. It said that you fought with others. Is that true? Are you injured?” she asked worriedly.
Li Qing’s concern made Luo Ziling feel warm. Slightly embarrassed, he replied, “I had a conflict with several schoolmates. It’s not a big deal. Thanks for your concern, Sis Li. I didn’t get injured.”
“Thank goodness.”
Though reassured by his answer, Li Qing still seriously asked Luo Ziling about the incident. Appreciative of her concern, he briefly explained what happened.
Li Qing chuckled. “You’re amazing, handsome. You are so skillful. I couldn’t tell that you are a martial arts master. You must be careful in the future. Avoid getting into scuffles with others. Otherwise, it will bring trouble to you.”
“I understand. Thank you for your concern, Sis Li.”
Luo Ziling could sense warmness at the bottom of his heart.
However, there was another woman beside Li Qing when this call was made. Li Qing had put the call on loudspeaker and the woman had heard the whole conversation.
As no one else mentioned the situation that day, Luo Ziling had no further thoughts about it. Those who were involved in that fight with him had more or less lucked out.