While everyone was cheering in the office, Guo Qing tapped the table and yelled happily, "Senior sister Lin, tell us something about Guannan School's current situation!"
One of Lin Hua's close friends was studying in Guannan School, who would often tell her something about this school. So she began forming words while thinking, "Gu Yue was a senior student of Professional-Ninth-Pin, and he was one of the toughest ones in this school. Fei Sanli is said to be of nearly Professional-Nine-Pin, but he hasn't attended the Ranking Event yet, so his real level remains to be seen. Ji Lan got the certification of Amateur First Pin in June, and the highest level of the new comers was Amateur Second Pin."
Hearing the current situation in Guannan School, Li Mao, Sun Jian and other fellows were all stunned as if being in a dream.
A year has passed. Ji Lan had advanced one Pin further, Fei Sanli had advanced half one step. Though Gu Yue was tougher than before, he was still unable to reach the threshold of Dan stage. It was actually the normal change that should have happened in a normal martial arts club. But things were different in their own club, since they only had one Professional-Ninth-Pin fighter, one Amateur-First-Pin fighter and several fellows of Amateur Second or Third Pin last year, and now there were two Dan-stage warriors, one nearly Professional-Ninth-Pin fighter and several fellows of Amateur First or Second Pin in their club, which was more like a dream compared with the other schools!
In Guannan School Martial Arts Club.
Seeing the lot-drawing result, Ji Lan blurted out with great astonishment, fear, and depression.
"What a coincidence!"
What a coincidence that they should draw Songcheng University, their opponent last year.
"Damn it!" Gu Yue bulged his muscles that quivered his clothes, and then he grasped a glass on the table to throw it onto the ground.
In the cracking sound, several new members took a few steps back out of fear, daring not to face their angry club manager.
After Gu Yue strode out of the office with his long legs, Fei Sanli touched his bald head and put on a wry smile,
"We can now see the result of this year's competition. I'd better join in next week's Ranking Event of Professional Ninth Pin in order not to waste time. Let's go, let's go."
Waving his hand, Fei Sanli also left the room, leaving the speechless new members behind with Ji Lan, who was still clenching her teeth.
"Ji Lan, read the ranking list of Songcheng University's substitutes' strength. They mustn't let both Lou Cheng and Lin Que fight against us." Gu Zhen, the coach touched his grey hair and sighed.
Ji Lan took a deep breath and then took out her cellphone to read the list recorded in it with a faint voice,
"Li Mao, Amateur First Pin; Sun Jian, Amateur First Pin; Yan Zheke, Amateur Second Pin, but she didn't attend the Ranking Event on September; Lin Hua, Amateur Second Pin; Cai Zongming, Amateur Second Pin; He Zi, Amateur Second Pin; Wang Dali, Amateur Second Pin; Jin Lu, Amateur Second Pin; Guo Qing, Amateur Third Pin; Mu Jinnian, Amateur Third Pin…"
She added silently after finishing reading,
"As for their leading players, while Lou Cheng is a Professional-Eighth-Pin warrior with Seventh-Pin's strength, Lin Que is a Dan-stage warrior better than normal Eighth-Pin ones. They are definitely among the top-four of this competition!"
How can we fight this battle?
Friendship first, competition second?
The autumn sky was clear, the air was crisp and the night breeze was refreshing.
Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke were taking a walk hand in hand along the lakeside. Feeling satisfied with the drawing, they began recalling last year's competition and talking about what the future would be like.
The freeze was touching their face gently without even rippling the water. After chatting for a while, when Lou Cheng was about to leave, he found that the girl was pulling his sleeve softly.
"What's wrong?" He turned his head with a smile.
He seldom saw Ke act like this.
Being covered by Lou Cheng's coat, the girl let her long black hair hanging behind casually, which served as a foil to her small white face. Her eyelashes were trembling as she spoke with great care, "Cheng, I have something to discuss with you."
"What's the matter?" Lou Cheng was confused.
"I don't want to attend next week's Ranking Event for Professional Ninth Pin…" Yan Zheke said, less confidently, "I'm not self-confident anyway and I just intend to train myself in the Ranking Event and gain some experience for the district contest. Now that the Martial Arts Competition will be held one week earlier, I'm afraid that there won't be enough time for me to recover from the Ranking Event, so I decide not to put the cart before the horse."
She should have talked this thing with Cheng in a rational and frank way according to her characteristic and usual style, but she felt a little unconfident and guilty when she was about to tell the truth.
Damn it! Why should I feel guilty?
Lou Cheng had already noticed Ke's change when he heard the adjustment of the competition system, so he echoed with a smile instead of feeling surprised,
"It's reasonable. The Ranking Event for Professional Ninth Pin will last for two weeks and four days with three high-level matches per day. Since you don't have the abnormal stamina like me, it will be too tough and hard for you to recover from the Event within one week."
Though saying like this, Lou Cheng was actually feeling a little regretful and disappointed. Though they had been back to Songcheng for two months, he never got a chance to stay with Ke, so he had intended to book a hotel room for their honey weeks during the Ranking Event. But now it seemed to be impossible, what a pity…
Thinking of this, Lou Cheng added with a smile in order to let Ke know he wasn't annoyed at all.
"Anyway, we will have enough chances later."
Yan Zheke pretended to spat at him and give him a punch out of anger and joy.
"What are you talking about!"
"I mean that we have enough chances to attend the Ranking Event for Professional Ninth Pin in the future…" Lou Cheng giggled.
Before he could finish his explanation, Yan Zheke suddenly closed her eyes, put her weight on tiptoes and kissed the corner of Lou Cheng mouth. Then the girl said with a soft voice deliberately,
"Honey, you're perfect."
As soon as she finished the kiss, Ke turned to run away with flashing face and waving hands, leaving a string of laughter along her way.
Being stunned for two or three seconds, Lou Cheng touched his mouth with a smile, and then lengthened his stride to keep up with the girl.
Only at this moment could Lou Cheng, a mature young man who had experienced lots of things, see the 19-year-old boy living in his heart.
Coming back her dorm at a brisk pace, Yan Zheke began asking Li Liantong as soon as she opened the door in order not to be made fun of by her. "Dirty Tong, still reciting something? It's too late."
Li Liantong gave out a sad cry, "It's not what I want!"
"I'm now a sophomore and professional courses are piling up with a growing degree of difficulty. Damn it, I'm worn out by reciting the long string of words transformed from Latin!"
Yan Zheke could identify Dirty Tong's feeling since she was also suffering from it. "Me too! Just listening to the teacher is unable to help us understand the content. We used to go out for fun once a week, but now it turns to once two or three week."
Of course, such hard work maintained her mark in the first 5% of her fellow schoolmates. While for those who just wanted to graduate with Undergraduate Diploma and Degree Certificate, they just needed to listen to the teachers carefully and reviewed carefully before the examination. So they still had enough time for fun.
Sigh… She open dated with Cheng in self-study room and library recently…
"Once two or three weeks? How could your Cheng bear it?" Li Liantong turned to give Ke a surprise look, and then began saying something a little lewd.
"What are you talking about! We see each other everyday!" Yan Zheke pretended not to understand her words.
Li Liantong tut-tutted, "You have been dating for nearly nine months, right? How does your relationship develop? I don't believe that your Cheng is an ascetic monk! He is an energetic young man, who can't help wanting more once he tasted your flavor…"
Before she could finish talking, Yan Zheke picked up the decorative telephone and replied angrily,
"Hello, 110? Here is a female hoodlum!"
Their conversation greatly amused Shi Xiangyang and Zong Yanru. The latter soon changed the topic as Yan Zheke's close friend. "Dirty Tong, I can't agree with you. What's wrong with a monk? I remember a saying in one book, one for Buddhism, two for monk, three for lustful devil, four for Asmodeus."
Li Liantong nodded immediately, "Yes yes yes, there are lots of facetiaes with a monk as the main character!"
Being successful in changing the topic, Yan Zheke breathed with relief. While listening to the girls' chatting, she took out her cellphone to reply Lou Cheng's text and logged in the forum to see the public's attitude towards the drawing result.
In Lou Cheng's forum for fans, "Eternal Nightfall" Yan Xiaoling topped her post with the title as Broadcast for "Martial Arts Club's Reaction for Drawing Result!"
She wrote in the main post. "So sad. I was worried about the television camera and refused to attend the ceremony, no, cross this part out, cross this part out. I was unable to enter the office since I'm not a special-trainning fighters, but I had an undercover in the office. Let welcome reporter Hezi, no, reporter Cat 'Many Cats' to report for us~"
In the second floor of this post, "Many Cats" wrote,
"… When drawing Guannan School, Lou Cheng turned his gaze at senior sister Yan for the 28th times tonight, and senior sister Yan looked back for the 28th, too."
What? Yan Zheke opened her mouth with an innocent look, and then looked upwards while recalling what she had done tonight. She began counting the time she looked back at Cheng seriously.
She's lying! I just looked back at Cheng for 19 times.
Turning her gaze downwards, she continued to read the report. "…Lin Que closes his eyes and put both hands in pockets with an emotionless face as usual. He doesn't know that Jinjin is always looking at him. Club manager Cai Zongming begins chatting with senior brother Li Mao happily, but it seems that the latter intends to cover his ears with hands for several times. Reporter Shu is like a shark smelling blood, and she has been turning her gaze from one fighter to another. Senior sister Guo Qing gives Senior sister Lin Hua a big hug. Coach Shi has drunk up all his wine and is now shaking his bottle to see if there is an extra drop. Ie seems he doesn't pay attention to the drawing result at all…"
While reading the descriptions, Yan Zheke kept a soft smile on her face. She was now surrounded by a warm feeling.
This is our Martial Arts Club, ours…
"Then what about you, reporter Cat?"Unparalleled Dragon King asked in curiosity.
"Many Cats" replied, "Meow meow meow?"
The busy and fulfilled days soon passed, and the University Martial Arts Competition was coming nearer and nearer. Finally, Saturday came.
Mu Jinnian and Yan Xiaoling, who failed to enter the competition, came together to the gymnasium. There were already so many audiences here, among which they saw many schoolmates.
"I'm so excited, we are playing on our home ground!" Taking advantage of her height, Yan Xiaoling jumped back and forth in the stands and finally found seats for two of them.
Being in a white Songcheng University martial arts suit with black borders, Mu Jinnian brought a backpack with her, from which she took out a banner with Lin Que's name written on it and some cheering helpers like vuvuzela and inflatable hammer.
"Wow… Jinjin you prepared all these?" Yan Xiaoling was stunned.
"Am I right to prepare them?" Mu Jinnian looked at her in confusion, "You didn't prepare something for the competition? Aren't you a big fan?"
"I' I'm too excited… Well, I'm going to help senior sister Wen!" Yan Xiaoling left her seat out of embarrassment.
Fanfan, Dragon King, Okamoto, Bull Demon King, Naive, Qiqi… I fail to live up to the forum!
In the locker room of the home team, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke were sitting at one side of a bench shoulder to shoulder. They both leaned back against the wall to relax and wait for their turn.
He heard the cheering and yelling came from outside, which recalled him of what had happened to them when they played on home ground last time.
They lost the game to Wensheng School and Zhou Zhengquan, but none of them got disappointed. Instead, they shouted together as "We'll be back!"
While all the thoughts flashing across his mind, he found the cheering outside was gradually amplified and kept in good order.
What were they cheering for? Lou Cheng turned his ear to the door in curiosity and enhanced his listening.
The sound soon turned clear to form a tidal wave.
"We're coming!"
"We're coming!"
We'll be back… We're coming? Lou Cheng soon understood his schoolmates. They were actually extending their cheering in the last competition! It was their answer to the last year!
Taking efforts to keep his tears back, Lou Cheng clenched his fists.
Yes, we are coming!
Thank you for this long-time waiting!