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Chapter 22 – Leave Her Alone
The afternoon, home time.
As he left the classroom, Xia Ping discovered that all of the surrounding students were pointing and staring at him, as if he was some precious and endangered species. Unbeknownst to him, he had already became famous.
“Quickly, look! That’s the Xia Ping from the rumours.”
“Doesn’t seem like much. How did he get the school’s flower pregnant?”
“You can’t judge a book by their cover. Who knows, he might have used drugs or something.”
“Very possible. This guy really does look like the criminal-type.”
“Sooner or later, he’ll be arrested by the police too. According to the rumours, two other students in his class were arrested because they were running naked through the school. They’re spending the next week or so in jail right now.
“Birds of a feather flock together. This guy is definitely not a good bird.”
The surrounding students whispered to each other as they looked Xia Ping over.
“So it’s like that? Because of those sex scandal rumours?” Xia Ping also hadn’t thought that those rumours would spread so fast. In only one day’s time, practically the entire school was aware of it.
With a ding, the System’s reminder went off: “Congratulations Master, at the moment, you’ve earned a total of seven hundred and thirty six Hatred Points.”
What? Seven hundred and thirty six Hatred Points?!
Xia Ping was really speechless. The day before, he had to mock a huge amount of people and go up onto the Soaring Dragon Platform just to earn two to three hundred Hatred Points.
Now, just this sex scandal alone, and he earned more than seven hundred. Was he seriously hated by that many people just for making contact with the school’s flower? This really was too ridiculous.
Still, in a way it was also understandable. If an ordinary person just popped out of nowhere all of a sudden and captured the heart of the school’s flower, especially one that was extremely popular and beautiful, they would pretty much be the object of envy and jealousy.
“Hmm, could it be that I actually don’t have to go around mocking people to get Hatred Points, instead I just have to capture girls?” Xia Ping seriously considered the possibility of this.
“You’re Xia Ping?” a distant voice asked in an imperious tone. Turning around, Xia Ping saw a handsome man of around five eleven with an intimidating aura about him walking over. Behind him were six followers, each one of them tall and big with a thick martial arts vibe surrounding them. None of the surrounding students dared to block their path as they all made way.
“Isn’t that Zhou Taian from class one? It’s said that he’s already at the sixth layer of Martial Disciple and ranked in the top three throughout the school. He’s even stronger than Xiong Batian since he practices the Five Mountains Fist.”
“Not only is he a great talent, he’s also filthy rich. In Skywater City, his family owns a five star hotel with assets over a hundred million. Every time he comes to class, it’s always in a luxury car worth several hundreds of thousands. How awesome is that?”
“He’s also very handsome. The hunk of our ninety fifth high school. Who knows how many girls are secretly in love with him? A pity though since he only likes Jiang Yuru and has been wooing her ever since.”
“Now this will be interesting. Isn’t that Xia Ping, Jiang Yuru’s boyfriend in those rumours? Then will they start to fight?”
All of the surrounding students were discussing the matter, their eyes filled with yearning for gossip. It was very obvious from Zhou Taian’s furious appearance that he was here to look for trouble.
“You’re looking for me?” Xia Ping asked, directly meeting Zhou Taian head on face to face.
Zhou Taian’s gaze bored into him. “You should know why I am here. It’s about Jiang Yuru.” His eyes flashed as he looked Xia Ping over, as if he wanted to find out every secret he had. A powerful pressure started to emanate from him.
“I’ve also heard about some of the rumours going around, but I didn’t believe any of them. After all, Jiang Yuru isn’t that kind of girl. However, I still came here to tell you something. And that is: leave her alone!” he forcefully ordered.
”Then you’re here to warn me off?” Xia Ping asked with furrowed brows.
Zhou Taian sneered. “Right. I’m here to warn you off. Do not think that just because you defeated Xiong Batian, you can now do whatever you want. At our school, he’s nothing more than a joke with practically no power whatsoever. If we have to be more precise, he’s nothing more than a hoodlum and a punk. Before, he never touched by bottom-line, so I let him be. That does not mean that I cannot deal with him. From what I know about you, your father is Xia Chuanliu while your mother is Huang Lanxin, neither of whom holds a job with any significant importance. Their total income combined is seven to eight thousand credits per month at most and they even have debt of several hundreds of thousands. Jiang Yuru is not the same though. She’s a true talent, a genius. Her future stage isn’t some mere Skywater City, it’s in Yanhuang University and the Skycloud World. From birth, it can be said that the two of you are worlds apart.”
His face was the very picture of arrogance. It was as if he stood upon a mountain while looking down at Xia Ping who was struggling in the muck. There was a feeling of absolute superiority. “You lack the family background necessary and your grades are only average. At most, you can enter some second-rate university. Considering all that, how will you be able to give Jiang Yuru the happiness she deserves?! As a person, you should know your place. Understood?”
Hearing Zhou Taian’s self-righteous phrasing and words, Xia Ping laughed and then sneered, “Zhou Taian, do you really think that just because your family has authority and power and that everybody else says you are the school hunk and the strongest in school, you can now interfere with my life like the police? There are other people who compliment and suck up to you, but that is them. As for me? In my eyes, you aren’t even worth shit.”
He stared at Zhou Taian, his gaze filled with frost and ice. “Don’t even mention whether or not I actually have a relationship with Jiang Yuru, even if I do, so what? If I want to do something or like something, since when did I have to first explain it to you?”
“You!”
Zhou Taian’s eyes narrowed. He never thought that this kid would actually be so audacious. Not only did he ignore his words, he actually dared to talk back to him and slap his face.
In school, he was the boss with countless underlings. Even the teachers gave him face and treated him with respect, yet this kid actually dared to say that he wasn’t worth shit?
All of this made him feel even more irritated.
”Xia Ping, you are too arrogant!”
“Look at the difference in status between you and boss Zhou and yet you still dare talk to him like that?”
“You dare say that boss Zhou isn’t worth shit? Then what are you worth?”
“What, you think that just because you defeated a weak hoodlum like Xiong Batian that you’re now invincible?”
“There are many people more capable than you in this world. You mean nothing.”
All of Zhou Taian’s followers furiously glared at Xia Ping as they started cursing him. Zhou Taian was a true top student who ranked in the top three throughout the entire school. As for Xia Ping, who was he to dare compare himself to Zhou Taian? This was practically a joke.
“Xia Ping!”
Zhou Taian’s face froze over. “I’ve seen many people who can boast. You’re not the first. Some even say that they’re invincible, but in reality? They have no power at all. You’re representing your class in the school’s big martial arts competition this time, right? Then you better pray the we don’t meet, otherwise I’ll show you the true difference between a genius and a layman. I am somebody you can never aspire to. Understood?”
He cracked his knuckles, his fearsome aura practically overflowing off of him, as if he was a predator out on the hunt. All of the surrounding students couldn’t help but take a few steps back.
As for Xia Ping, he didn’t say a word. He just watched him, unaffected by his display of strength.
“Let’s go!”
Giving Xia Ping one last malicious glance, Zhou Taian gestured for his underlings to follow as he left.
