he message was indeed sent to a man named Zhao Jiayan, she let out a light snort and handed the phone back to Hao Ren."Are you relieved" Hao Ren put his phone back in his pocket and asked her sarcasti...Chapter 42: Big Trouble

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Bai Zixiong, standing at a height of 1.9 meters, showed no signs of anger after this blow. Instead, upon hearing the words from the door, his dark face became submissive.

The basketball team members behind him also revealed panic on their faces.

They hung their heads and silently filed out of the store entrance one by one. Each time someone left the store, he was forcefully hit in the back of his head by that man blocking the door. The hardest blows were given to Bai Zixiong, causing him to stagger forward a few steps without daring to argue or resist.

Looking at the huge and imposing figure at the entrance, Hao Ren and the other boys couldn't help but wonder how high one's martial arts level needed to be to subdue these tough guys!

"All of you go back for training!" With another stern command from the door, this mysterious man led those basketball team members towards the school gate, leaving behind a tall and broad figure towering half a head over Bai Zixiong.

"That should be the basketball captain, Xie Wanjun. Only he can control these guys in the basketball team," Yu Rong, who was well-informed about the school situation, remarked.

Hao Ren didn't get to see Xie Wanjun's face from beginning to end because the man was simply too tall—taller even than the door frame. After turning around and leaving, only his back was left behind.

"Alright, alright, let's continue eating!" Hao Ren gathered his scattered thoughts and called out.

Xie Yujia awkwardly smiled and also招呼大家重新坐下來吃飯。

然而，在籃球隊那群人攪局之後，他們都失去了原先的興趣，喝酒也不再那麼痛快了。

"You won against Huang Xujie today, damaging his reputation. His friends might come after you for trouble; be careful," Xie Yujia leaned towards Hao Ren and warned.

Seeing that Hao Ren didn't respond, Xie Yujia continued, "But don’t worry too much about it. They’ll most likely just make your life difficult without doing anything overly extreme."

"I’m not worried. They’re simply looking for trouble. Upperclassmen bullying underclassmen isn’t new at our university. Zhao Jiayin is often having his basketball court taken away by them, and he’s always wanted to gather people to fight them," Hao Ren said.

Xie Yujia sighed, "Don't get into a fight; getting school punishment wouldn’t be good."

In her mind, she considered whether to talk to her brother about it and ask the basketball team members to tone down their behavior. However, she knew that such actions would have minimal effect. The culture of upperclassmen oppressing underclassmen had long existed, especially for Huang Xujie, son of a vice mayor. Not only did he establish the most popular rock climbing club in recent years at the school, but he also got along well with other sports clubs. Most importantly, he was close friends with the basketball team members, who were practically invincible within the university.

The basketball team from Donghai University was renowned nationwide and had won the national college league championship last year, bringing great prestige to Donghai University. Therefore, for the school, despite their poor academic performance, each of them was a treasure. Forget about ordinary students being able to defeat them; even in disputes, the school would definitely favor the basketball team.

With Huang Xujie's close ties with them, it naturally allowed him to act recklessly at school.

However, regardless of anything else, Hao Ren’s performance on the court that had damaged Huang Xujie's reputation and might make Huang more targeted towards Hao Ren caused some concern for Xie Yujia.

Xie Yujia was preoccupied with her thoughts while Hao Ren was thinking about something entirely different. He wasn’t worried about what Huang Xujie could do to him; in fact, he didn't really care much about the vice mayor's son.

He was thinking about the long-standing resentment between the so-called "awesome seniors" and the younger students, like when Zhao Jiayin and his classmates were playing basketball only to be driven off by members of the rock climbing club along with a few from the basketball team—a situation that would inevitably lead to a real conflict.

If things came to blows, no one would benefit, especially not Zhao Jiayin's weaker group. According to Hao Ren's knowledge, Zhao Jiayin was already contacting friends; if the seniors, led by the rock climbing and basketball teams, continued bullying them, they'd fight back hard.

Hao Ren began considering whether he should take out Lu Qing's business card and have a serious talk with this vice principal.

The get-together lasted another half hour before hastily concluding. A gloomy Zhao Jiayin returned to the dormitory, still harboring resentment; had Hao Ren not intervened, Zhao Jiayin would've gathered people tonight to settle scores.

"Ren, if they dare cause you trouble, call me!" In the dorm room, Zhao Jiayin pounded his chest and said.

Hao Ren smiled. "It's fine, they're just showing off their power; they won't really do anything."

In this dormitory, Zhao Jiayin was clearly the big brother, while Hao Ren, Cao Ronghua, and Zhou Liren were his "little brothers." It was natural for a big brother to protect his little brothers. And indeed, Zhao Jiayin had many friends.

But he could never have imagined that Hao Ren's background included Vice Principal Lu Qing, who in the so-called dragon clan would respectfully call Hao Ren "Son-in-law."

Even without this connection to Lu Qing, Hao Ren didn't fear Huang Xujie. He simply disliked causing trouble and kept a low profile.

The day passed noisily, and the next day everyone discussed yesterday's sports meet while attending regular classes as usual.

During class, Hao Ren continued to focus on organizing his middle school English exercises; knowing that he was going to tutor Xumei in the evening, Zhou Liren didn't bother him.

The glory of being a long-distance running champion was as fleeting as a light breeze and passing clouds. Even the thousand yuan prize money from the competition, Han Ren had put into the communal box in his dorm room 302, to serve as funds for their entertainment expenses.

In Han Ren's view, only those who think too highly of themselves would care about these empty titles and the screams of admiration from girls. He had competed earnestly both because he participated in the event and due to Xie Yujia's expectations.

By evening, the sky suddenly turned gloomy. Han Ren arrived at Zhao Yanzi’s two-story house on time via bus number 767.

For some reason, after having a few meals prepared by Ah Zi's mother, whenever Han Ren came to tutor Zhao Yanzi, he would feel hungry beforehand. And now that it was Monday and he hadn't come for tutoring the previous day, standing at the door, he particularly missed Zhao Hongyu's deliciously cooked meals.

Holding his study materials, Han Ren pressed the doorbell.

At this moment, a sudden thunderous noise erupted, followed by a heavy downpour!

Rushing water… Caught off guard outside in the rain, half of Han Ren's clothes instantly became drenched!

"Ah, come inside quickly!" Zhao Hongyu hurriedly opened the door when she heard the bell. Seeing Han Ren soaked like a drowned chicken, she promptly pulled him in.

Rumble-rumble… Another violent thunderclap came with a long snake-like lightning streaking across the sky outside.

The blinding rain soon obscured the distant high-rise buildings.

Han Ren shook his wet hair and placed down his materials. Zhao Hongyu handed him a dry white towel, speaking coolly without any transition, "Stay here tonight; Elder Sun is in charge of this rainfall today, so there will definitely be heavy rain all night." black pupils in Lu Linni’s eyes turned as she said.The spirit energy rapidly draining from Qin Shaoyang's body abruptly stopped.He still had enough spirit energy left for a Quake Realm cultivator. Ho...