At that moment, another tall guy turned around—it was Zhang Shuai! Forgetting my embarrassment, I asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
Zhang Shuai clung tightly to Zhang Bing, defiantly saying, "Why can't I come? Isn't this fair competition?" Zhang Bing, however, clung to Xiang Yu, ignoring Zhang Shuai's presence. She said to me sarcastically, "Xiang Yu is so lucky to have a friend like you." She patted Zhang Shuai and said, "When are you going to help our little brother pick up a girl?" Zhang Shuai retorted, "I'm not your little brother, I only like you."
It’s messy, it’s really messy…
It now seems Zhang Bing has fallen deeply in love with Xiang Yu, while Zhang Shuai is taking advantage of Xiang Yu's guilt to relentlessly pursue Zhang Bing. Looking at Xiang Yu, he indeed looks weathered—having to endure watching someone else pursue his woman, even if it's from a past life, how could he not look weary?
Just then, Baozi opened the door. Upon seeing us, he said in surprise, "Oh, someone's here? Come in and sit down."
By now, we'd all gotten used to it, so I let them inside. Baozi grabbed Zhang Bing's hand and said, "This must be Big Guy's girlfriend, right?" Everyone in the room hummed and hawed, unsure what to say, except for Zhang Shuai, who firmly stated, "No!"
Baozi looked at him, puzzled, and asked, "Who is this again?"
Zhang Shuai stated matter-of-factly, "I am currently the third party."
Baozi: "...How come this is even more chaotic than 'Struggle'?"
While they were chatting, I pulled Xiang Yu aside and said, "Brother Yu, now I'm asking you to say in one sentence whether Zhang Bing is Yu Ji or not. What would you say?"
Xiang Yu was stunned for a long time before saying, "I don't know."
I yelled in frustration, "What do you know?"
Xiang Yu slowly said, "I only know that even if two people look alike and even have the same mannerisms, there will always be some subtle differences that can be detected after spending a long time together."
"What's the meaning?"
“For example, last time I saved Tong Yuan, if it were according to A Yu’s personality, she would definitely clap her hands and cheer, and then rush up and kiss me.”
I said, "Isn't it bad to draw conclusions so easily based on just one incident?"
Xiang Yu looked at me and suddenly laughed: "Let me use you as an example again. If there is someone who looks exactly like you, but is polite and well-mannered in dealing with people, and is dressed neatly even when going out to buy groceries, then I would conclude from this: this person is not Xiao Qiang."
Me: "...You're definitely not my brother Yu. He would never put people down like that."
...
The next morning, I met up with the heroes at the hotel restaurant. Tiger, Tong Yuan, and the three-man group of perverted Xiang Yu were also there. I felt it was necessary to invite Ni Siyu to make it a four-person group, so that it would at least look more harmonious. Maybe the four of us could form two perfect pairs, but unfortunately Ni Siyu has been busy with training recently.
For the first time, the heroes displayed impeccable military discipline. This was their first time fighting a battle they were unsure of, which ironically fueled their enthusiasm.
As we walked towards the stadium, we could clearly feel the different atmosphere. Groups of twos and threes, or even just a few, kept coming into view. When we arrived at the venue, we were even more surprised. The stadium was packed, and it was only 7:15. Reporters from various media outlets were carrying all sorts of equipment, and many who arrived later couldn't even find a place to stand. Many reporters who had purchased accident insurance climbed onto the walls to broadcast live.
We entered the VIP section under the watchful eyes of the crowd, finalized the list, and decided: Zhang Qing would be the first to compete, followed by Lin Chong, Yang Zhi, and Shi Qian. This order was the result of their discussions until midnight. They truly put their heart and soul into this competition.
At 7:30, the Red Sun stadium was still empty. Due to the chaos at the stadium entrance, the organizing committee deployed 300 soldiers to maintain order.
At 8:55, a minor commotion broke out again at the stadium entrance because a film crew was bringing in over 60 horses. The organizing committee staff were initially puzzled, but later learned that the crew had already spoken with the stadium management. The crew was filming a documentary, and the horses were to be used as props for a cavalry unit. The stadium would also be temporarily used after the competition. This was a minor incident, and the film crew quickly settled in at the entrance of the indoor stadium.
A few more minutes passed, and there was still no movement from Hongri's side. The audience began to whisper among themselves, as the teams that usually competed should have gathered by now. The organizing committee was also very anxious and tried every means to contact Cheng Fengshou and his team. Just after 8 o'clock, a staff member rushed onto the stage looking flustered and handed a letter to the chairman. The chairman glanced at it and immediately left the stage.
Just as I was wondering what was going on, the chairman called me over the internal phone and asked me to come see him immediately.
I knew something was wrong, so I jogged to the office I'd been to before. There stood the chairman, looking troubled, holding the letter. Seeing me come in, he silently shoved it into my hand. Instinctively, I asked, "What's wrong?"
The chairman said, "The people from the Red Sun Martial Arts School suddenly announced their withdrawal."
I was startled and quickly read the letter. It was clearly written by someone who practiced martial arts; the handwriting was messy yet powerful, and the tone was very sincere and earnest, just like Cheng Fengshou's. He succinctly recounted our private sparring match that day, then stated that the two sides were far apart in strength, and there was no point in continuing. Although retreating from a stronger opponent was not in line with the spirit of martial arts, the Red Sun team would still forfeit the match. Furthermore, if the runner-up prize money from this competition was still valid, they would be willing to donate it to Yucai School. Finally, he asked me to give his regards to Lao Zhang and wish him a speedy recovery, and so on.
The chairman, with his hands behind his back and a stern face, asked, "Did you really have a private competition?" I nodded.
The chairman stamped his foot and said, "Do you know that this violates the rules of the conference? To put it nicely, you two hit it off immediately; to put it bluntly, it's a gang fight!"
I quickly said, "No, no, the staff here can testify that we were very nice and friendly at the time."
The chairman strode to the window, pointed at the tens of thousands of spectators outside, and roared, "How am I supposed to explain this to them? This is the final, and you've turned it into a farce like a gangster movie!" The chairman then asked, "By the way, who is this Old Zhang?"
Then it suddenly dawned on me: it must have been the heroes who told Cheng Fengshou about Lao Zhang's deeds that made him make this decision.
Actually, in a fight, Lin Chong and his group had a much better chance of winning. Now that Cheng Fengshou has done us such a huge favor, it's hard to repay him. But I'm still quite touched. You see, Cheng Fengshou's school is just a small, private school in a rural town, nowhere near the size of Tiger or the Jingwu Association. 100,000 yuan is no small sum for them.
I briefly recounted Lao Zhang's story to the chairman, omitting the twists and turns like match-fixing. In the whole narrative, we were portrayed as a group of passionate young people fighting for a good principal.
The chairman was deeply moved after listening to this. He rubbed his hands and said, "But how am I supposed to explain this to the others? Won't the martial arts tournament become a laughing stock?"
Just then, the audience outside finally began to jeer, blowing their horns loudly and occasionally booing. The Chairman walked to the window again, looked outside, and said worriedly, "It will be difficult to get them to leave like this."
I said, "If not fighting a match isn't enough to appease public anger, why not just pick any of the teams that were eliminated before to play against?"
The chairman stamped his foot: "As a martial artist, what kind of filthy things are in your head?"
I waved my hand and backed away, saying, "Don't worry, I'll go find someone to discuss a solution."
I scurried back to the VIP seats and explained the situation. Lin Chong and the others were all deeply moved and expressed their gratitude for Hong Ri's righteousness.
I said urgently, "Brothers, the most important thing right now is to win over the audience. If someone suspects there's something fishy going on here, and they incite us, these tens of thousands of people could eat us alive at any moment."
By this time, the audience had long lost patience, littering and swearing, and were on the verge of exploding. Xu Delong and his men stood motionless beside the area where water bottles were flying everywhere; they considered those people as "commoners," and it seemed that even if a riot broke out, they wouldn't be willing to exert their full effort to maintain order.
Duan Jingzhu looked down for a while, then gasped and said, "If these people rush up in a moment, we'll grab a horse and escape. I counted, there are 60 horses over there, just enough." As he spoke, he pointed in that direction.
Wu Yong pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Having horses makes things much easier. Who among these people has ever seen someone fight in a ring while on horseback?"
Lin Chong's eyes lit up: "That's right, let's have an exhibition match that no one has ever seen before!"
Zhang Qing immediately perked up and shouted, "Agreed!"
Dong Ping: "Thumbs up!"