Chapter Thirty-Seven: The First Among Freshmen

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Top Freshman

Qiao Lei was something of a celebrity on campus. When he and his basketball teammates went looking for trouble with the freshmen, they naturally attracted a crowd eager for drama. Many silently prayed for those unlucky newcomers, convinced they would not escape a day of bullying and humiliation at the hands of Qiao Lei and his gang.

Yet no one could have predicted the astonishing way things would end.

The tall, slender young man wearing glasses and still dressed in his military training uniform was clearly a newly admitted freshman. Not only did he have the courage to confront Qiao Lei, but after landing a fierce slap on his face, he hoisted him up and tossed him straight into the lotus pond—one of several on campus. The one they were at was called the “Ink-Washing Pond,” a poetic name.

The pond was never intended for Nanda’s students to wash ink, but today Qiao Lei and his friends had quite the cold bath.

“Damn! That guy is something else! Who is he? Which department? There’s already a legend among this year’s freshmen?”

“Heh, Qiao Lei struts around with his crew, acting all high and mighty, but he finally met his match today. I can’t help but feel delighted watching them get put in their place. Makes me want to go over and give them a few kicks while they’re down—”

“Wow, that guy is so handsome—his fighting style is amazing—”

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It wasn’t just strangers who stared at Tang Zhong in shock; even Hua Ming, Li Yu, and Liang Tao stood there dumbfounded, as if seeing him for the very first time.

Hua Ming, in particular, was stunned. He had just reached the scene when Tang Zhong had already thrown Qiao Lei into the pond. As Hua Ming shifted his target to Li Dapeng, his foot had barely left the ground before Tang Zhong had dragged Li Dapeng to the pond and pushed him in.

And then he went for the two behind Li Dapeng—

Hua Ming was quick, but Tang Zhong was quicker.

Before his fist could land, Tang Zhong had already tossed the two unfortunates into the water.

In a moment of desperation, Hua Ming nearly shouted, “Hero, wait! Those two are my targets!”

After Tang Zhong had felled four, Hua Ming automatically stopped. He was too stunned—and Tang Zhong’s movements were just too smooth and impressive, making people want to pause and watch in admiration.

To his regret, the final two were so intimidated by Tang Zhong that they didn’t even dare put up a fight and obediently jumped into the pond themselves.

Li Yu and Liang Tao hadn’t so much as touched the hems of their opponents’ clothes before the battle was over.

Liang Tao’s eyes were wide with shock, though inside he felt lucky. Fortunately, he’d chosen to stand on Tang Zhong’s side—if he ever tried to oppose him, he’d probably be the next one tossed into the water.

“Second Brother, you’re incredible!” Hua Ming rushed over and gave Tang Zhong a bear hug. “Are you Ultraman or something? These little monsters can’t even fill the gap between your teeth.”

“Second Brother, you have to teach me!” Liang Tao grinned. “With skills like that, picking up girls would be a breeze!”

“Yeah, I want to learn too!” Hua Ming shouted. “Left arm with a bunny, right hand throwing punches—I’ll be the number one lover in Nanda!”

Li Yu chuckled, patted Tang Zhong and Hua Ming on the shoulder, but said nothing.

“All right. If you want to learn, get up and run with me every morning,” Tang Zhong replied with a smile.

Liang Tao and Hua Ming were instantly deflated.

Getting up early was worse than death to them. So much for learning martial arts.

“I’ll run,” Li Yu said shyly, glancing at Tang Zhong for approval.

“Good. I’ll take you with me,” Tang Zhong agreed readily.

Qiao Lei and his crew could all swim. When they were first thrown into the pond, they’d been momentarily panicked, but soon calmed down. Still, the humiliation burned so deeply they wanted nothing more than to jump out and kill someone.

But they knew—they were no match for Tang Zhong.

In the fight just now, they’d been utterly outclassed. Before they could react, they’d been thrown into the water by that force of nature.

Worse still, two of their own had been so scared they’d jumped in themselves. Pathetic. Didn’t they have any backbone? Did they not realize Tang Zhong had done this deliberately to embarrass them in front of the crowd?

He’d shown everyone they were paper tigers, all bark and no bite.

None of them dared utter a single threat, nor did they have the face to climb out of the pond at Tang Zhong’s feet.

They swam to the far bank, climbed out on the other side, and left with their heads down, not daring to look back.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Tang Zhong said.

“Tang Zhong!” Liang Tao called.

Tang Zhong turned.

“Let’s eat out at noon. To celebrate,” Liang Tao proposed.

Tang Zhong laughed. “Sure. With Young Master Liang treating, only a fool would say no.”

Seeing Tang Zhong joke with him, Liang Tao was honestly moved.

He knew Tang Zhong had finally accepted him.

---

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“Nanshin, my child, what am I to do with you?” An elderly woman, dressed in a dark red cheongsam, kind-faced and elegant, sat beside Jiao Nanshin, her voice full of concern. “Look at you, it’s only your second day at Nanda and you’ve already hurt yourself. You say your leg was injured falling while running—that I can believe. But your eye? Walked into a door? Whose child injures their eye walking into a door like that?”

“Grandma, I’ve explained so many times. Why don’t you believe me?” Jiao Nanshin buried her face in a cushion. “And can you please stop mentioning my eye? I’m embarrassed enough as it is.”

Her leg injury meant she couldn’t continue with military training. After taking leave from Counselor Li Qiang, she came to stay at her grandmother’s house—mobility was an issue, and even eating was difficult. Not wanting to trouble her roommates, home was far more convenient.

But her grandmother’s constant questioning about her eye was driving her mad.

“How can I believe you? You say you hit the doorframe—well, we have doorframes here too. Go on then, hit your other eye for me and let’s see if it matches,” her grandmother snapped.

Jiao Nanshin was speechless. “Grandma, you’re so mean. I’m your own granddaughter! How can you treat me this way?”

“How am I treating you? I care about you!” her grandmother huffed. “You’re such a good girl—why do you insist on learning boxing with the boys? Reading, writing, gardening, keeping pets—those are fine. Your parents let you have your way, but I won’t. Listen, from now on you’ll stay here. I’ll break you of these bad habits. In three months, I’ll turn you into one of Beijing’s most refined young ladies.”

Jiao Nanshin was nearly in tears. “Grandma, you’re going to be the death of me. If you keep this up, I’ll skip lunch and leave right now.”

“Not eating and just leaving? What now?” Jiao Yuheng entered, opening the door. “What’s this, arguing with Grandma again?”

“No, of course not!” Jiao Nanshin forced a smile. “It’s just that Grandma keeps trying to brainwash me, and I can’t let her win. If she did, I’d end up like her—bullied by men my whole life.”

“What’s this about being bullied by men?” Jiao Yuheng laughed. “When have I ever bullied your grandmother?”

“Oh, you haven’t? Not letting her work, making her stay home cooking and doing laundry—that’s not bullying? I could never do what she does.”

Her grandmother, annoyed, whacked her with a cushion. “You stubborn girl. Just wait—when you find a man you like, you’ll be eager to cook and wash for him every day.”

Jiao Nanshin covered her head. “That’s never going to happen.”

“All right, all right,” Jiao Yuheng said, chuckling. “Is lunch ready? Come, let’s eat.”

Her grandmother tried to help her to the table, but Jiao Nanshin refused. “Grandma, I can manage. I’m no socialite or refined lady—”

Then, hopping on one leg, she bounced to the table and sat down.

Her grandmother looked on in despair, feeling her blood pressure rise.

Jiao Yuheng took his wife’s hand and said, “Let it be. The children have their own futures. We can’t force them.”

Once the elderly couple were seated, Jiao Nanshin cheerfully placed a drumstick in each of their bowls. “Grandpa, did anything interesting happen at school today?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Jiao Yuheng nodded. “Something quite amusing did occur.”

“What was it?” Jiao Nanshin asked, curious.

Jiao Yuheng smiled wryly. “It’s about that new student of mine. Just as I was finishing work, the Academic Affairs Director came to my office to tell me about it in person.”

“Tang Zhong?” Jiao Nanshin perked up.

“Yes. That boy is certainly not one to be underestimated,” Jiao Yuheng said, sipping his wine. “He got into another fight today.”

“Really? With whom? Did he win or lose?”

“Qiao Lei, a third-year from the International Finance School—well-known troublemaker. Tang Zhong took on the whole basketball team by himself, beat all six, and threw them into the Ink-Washing Pond.”

“So impressive?” Jiao Nanshin’s eyes went wide in surprise. Then pain shot through her eye, and she remembered she was injured—she couldn’t open her eyes wide without pulling her eyelid.

“Yes,” Jiao Yuheng nodded. “The whole school’s talking about it. They’re calling him ‘the top freshman’—it’s giving me a headache just thinking about it. I’ll have to find time for another talk with him.”

“The top freshman?” Jiao Nanshin clenched her chopsticks until they creaked. “That bastard. He said he didn’t know martial arts—how could he take on six at once?”

Remembering how he’d injured her eye with a single punch, Jiao Nanshin was so furious she could have strangled him.

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