Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was hard to guard against people who played dirty.
After Team SHU had successfully qualified through the last-16, Yang Ying and Luocheng were summoned by the head of department to his office.
Yang Ying sensed the irregularity and quickly made a call to Mr. Fang.
They arrived at the office and found the chubby university officer looking at them with a pair of cold eyes.
“Someone gave me some feedback saying that you two were causing unrest during a dinner meetup. I was told that you two were drunk and even attempted to beat up members of the Student Union. They even claimed that one of you had hurt the female members with some glass shards…” The head of department said peevishly.
Yang Ying and Luocheng both frowned, apparently, the Student Union had begun to take revenge on them.
They wouldn’t tolerate such a presumptuous act coming from a freshman. They had not used illegal means to take vengeance, but had utilized a seemingly proper channel to deliver their displeasure.
“Mr. Wang, there must be some sort of misunderstanding,” Yang Ying tried to explain.
“Misunderstanding? What sort of misunderstanding would cause the glass to end up on the wall? I have already received several similar reports. You dare say you are not trying to provoke a fight?” His harsh voice was raised by several decibels.
“Don’t you know the university is a place for gaining knowledge and not for fighting? Our university regulation strictly prohibits students from getting involved in any form of brawling. Yang Ying, you are a Student Union member yourself, so you should have known better. And you, only a few months into the university and you are already being this disrespectful to the senior students. How indecent! Let me tell you straight, you two better behave properly from now on under my close scrutiny.” The head of department blasted them righteously.
“Yang Ying, write me a reflection report. Luocheng, as a warning for you not to repeat the same offense, you will be penalized and removed from the competition with immediate effect.” The head of department said.
“Penalized? Removed from the competition?” Yang Ying was stunned.
‘For f*cks sake! He had only smashed a glass. There wasn’t even a brawl in the first place, why was he penalized and disallowed to play?’
The head of department was obviously helping the Student Union to oppress Luocheng!
“What’s the matter? Do you have any opinion about my decision?” He glared at Yang Ying.
“Mr. Wang, he is one of the core members of the E-Sports Club. He plays a vital role in the team and will represent the university in the upcoming last-16 and quarter-final matches…” Yang Ying tried to plea.
“That’s even more unforgivable. Luckily it only involved our own students this time. What if his impulse had led to a fight with participants from another university during the match? Isn’t that going to tarnish our university’s image? He is not suitable to join such an inter-university event being this bad-tempered. The E-Sports club has a lot of members so just get another person to replace him. The president of the Student Union has specifically emphasized that it is inappropriate to have such a misbehaved student to represent our university.”
Yang Ying’s face darkened.
He could imagine the cunning smirk on Wang Lang’s face now.
Those who had paid attention were more or less aware that Luocheng was now Team SHU’s trump card to reach the quarter-final. They had not included him in the team so far only because they had wanted to keep the opponents in the dark.
The members of the E-Sports Club had tried feverishly to make their university proud, but as their schoolmates, what had those idiots done? They had used a dirty trick to rob away their team’s greatest pillar because of a trivial incident.
Didn’t they know that without Luocheng, the university would also lose the merit point that was already in the bag?
Yang Ying finally realized that sometimes, it was not your enemy that would stop you from achieving greater heights. Such holdbacks sometimes came from those who were supposed to be on the same boat as you, however, their jealousy and laziness prompted them to use all kinds of ploys just to block your ascendance. They simply couldn’t stand other’s success!
“Wang Jianlin, what are you plotting this time?!?” Suddenly, a bellow came crashing through the door.
The young and striking Mr. Fang walked in swiftly, and his roar garnered the attention of all the officers inside the room.
The head of department furrowed his brow and reprimanded his rude intrusion. “Please stop your senseless yelling. Do you even own the most basic courtesy as a teacher?”
“Of all people, you are the last person I want to hear that from,” Mr. Fang stood in front of his students and rebutted him furiously.
He had heard every word Mr. Wang had said just now and could no longer withhold his rage.
“They are under my supervision and I am the one who has the final say in whether he is allowed to participate or not. Since when were you given the right to disqualify a student out of the blue? The E-Sports club has managed to reach the last-16 stage and this team is our university’s biggest hope in advancing into the quarter-final or semi-finals in a national level game. It’s fine if you are not being supportive but please don’t hinder them with some stupid accusation. You only listened to a one-sided story and jumped straight into your conclusion. What has Wang Lang done? Has he ever earned any notable honor for the university before?” Mr. Fang scolded in rage.
“Calm yourself down!” The head of department was getting a little agitated from all the attention they were receiving.
“Retract the penalty!” Mr. Fang ordered.
“I could retract the penalty but his intent to fight the student representative and members from the Student Union was inexcusable. We cannot allow such a student to represent our university,” Mr. Wang exclaimed.
“Are you daft? He is the key for us to reach the quarter-final and semi-final. If you insist on forbidding him to take part in the competition, then I am going to file a complaint to the dean right here, right now.”
Mr. Fang took a pen and began to script his complaint on a paper.
The letter wrote, ‘In this year’s inter-university competition, we, from the E-Sports club, had been progressing marvelously and were on course to attaining a better position than last year. We have lost that merely because Mr. Wang Jianlin has barred a highly competitive student from joining the competition. This in return, has cost us a valuable spot, and the university’s position in the merit ranking. I sincerely hope that the dean will look into this without being biased and take this matter seriously.”
Mr. Wang was restless after he read what Mr. Fang had written in front of every present teacher and officer. He hadn’t expected Mr. Fang to go this far.
In fact, Mr. Fang had seen through Wang Jianlin’s foul intent. Something similar had happened in the past whereby the head of department had abused his power to heavily punish one of Mr. Fang’s students for a minor mistake, just because he was holding a grudge against the teacher.
Mr. Fang knew he was simply trying to exert his authority, but this time, he was not going to back down. ‘I am ready to go down with you if you really want to do this. I am not going to give in to a selfish scum like you for my students’ welfare!’
***
Most of the teachers knew that this was not the first time Mr. Fang and Mr. Wang had gone against each other, but this was the first time they had had such a huge fight that might startle even the dean.
If the dean was made known of this quarrel, either one or both of the teachers would be disciplined and delegated.
Luocheng was touched to see Mr. Fang defending them in front of the head of department. Nowadays, it was rare to see a teacher willing to defy their superiors in order to protect a student. Most would only be intimidated and bow shamelessly to those of a higher rank.
“You two, get back to your training now. Leave this matter to me,” Mr. Fang said to Luocheng and Yang Ying.
Luocheng and Yang Ying understood that their presence would not help to alleviate the situation, so they followed the order and left the office.
On their way back to the E-Sports room, Yang Ying hardly spoke. Luocheng too remained silent. In fact, he had not said a word from the beginning.
“Mr. Fang has done the same thing for his students in the past. This is not the first time he has irked Mr. Wang, but he has threatened to complain to the dean this time… I hope that he is going to be fine,” Yang Ying said worriedly.
“Yeah,” Luocheng nodded.
***
They did not receive any updates regarding the matter for a few days after that, but on and off, they did hear that the conflict between Mr. Fang and Mr. Wang had worsened by the day.
That night, Xiao Jia entered the room with a gloomy face while they were undergoing a scheduled training. He was definitely bringing in some bad news.
“What’s wrong?” Meiqi asked him.
“Shit! The conflict has reached the dean’s ears. The Student Union has uniformly agreed that Luocheng should not be allowed to represent our university for his misconduct. They claimed that sportsmanship and friendliness are the two vital qualities in any form of competition, and Luocheng, according to them, is an impulsive student that is going to smudge the university’s image for sure. Mr. Fang was infuriated and argued with several other teachers that govern the Student Union. He has now offended a lot of teachers other than Wang Jianlin.” Xiao Jia delivered the bad news.
“That’s absurd. Luocheng did nothing to deserve such a severe punishment,” Lee Meiqi said.
“The main problem still lies between the two teachers. I think this is a continuation of their previous grudge. The difference is that this time, they have escalated the conflict to a point where the dean can no longer ignore it,” Xiao Jia explained.
“Then, will Mr. Fang be alright?”
“Mr. Fang brought the fight to someone else’s office. He was the one who initiated the conflict, moreover, his rank and influence are lower than the devious Wang, to begin with. It’s obvious how this is going to pan out. Wang Jianlin’s title is not only for decorative purposes after all.”
“That’s… That’s unfair. Mr. Fang is such a responsible teacher.”
“True. We should sign a petition to defend Mr. Fang!”
“I agree. Let’s do it now!”
Instantly, everyone in the room stood up in unison.
The E-Sports Club had always been a self-dependent society. Other clubs were normally guided by a teacher and they could easily access the university resources through the advisor. Mr. Fang had been the only one willing to support the E-Sports Club. If he was forced to resign, then the E-Sports would not be able to survive in this tumultuous university culture.
“Signing a petition would be useless at this point. It would only make the matter worse than it is now. The dean actually hopes for the two teachers to settle this privately. He doesn’t want to see more trouble so it’s best to not get involved in it.” Xiao Jia calmed them down.
“Then what should we do? We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Zheng Xia said with urgency.
“That’s right. This is not the first time the E-Sports club has been bullied like this. Now, we’ve even gotten Mr. Fang into trouble. I feel sorry for not being able to help,” Yang Ying said.
He blamed himself for not apologizing on Luocheng’s behalf that day. He did not mind being penalized but he would not forgive himself if their actions were going to cost Mr. Fang his job. Without him, the E-Sports Club was going to crumble for sure as well. The computer equipment, this room, and their club fund had all been fought for by Mr. Fang.
“I don’t think the final decision would be made this early. It’s all up to the dean…”
“You all should know that the dean is obsessed about the merit ranking. I have done the math. If we can manage to get in the top four, then the university would stay above twenty in this year’s overall ranking. This is a huge improvement from last year by about ten spots. This improvement is vital for the university as the dean is planning to apply for a new grant from the government.” Xiao Jia analyzed.
“So, in other words, if we can reach the semi-final, then the dean might side Mr. Fang in this matter?” Zheng Xia said brightly.
Xiao Jia nodded solemnly, “You have guessed right. To the dean, the end result matters the most. Mr. Fang is the advisor of our E-Sports Club, and if we can get a convincing result, it will help defend Mr. Fang’s case. We need to use our actions to show that Mr. Fang is fighting reasonably for the university’s honor, and not out of compulsion.”
The group suddenly found their direction. Yang Ying’s stiffened face was also slowly replaced by a smile. He looked at Luocheng and asked, “Do you have the confidence to bring us into the top-4?”
“I do.” Luocheng nodded his head resolutely.
This was partly his fault and he vowed to steer things back onto the right track.
“Okay. We must get into the top-4 for Mr. Fang’s sake!”
“Top-4!”
“For sure!”
The hearts of the E-Sports Club’s members were tied together strongly, they had each other’s backs at a dire time like this.
“By the way, who is our next opponent?”
“We will reach the quarter-final after beating them. With another victory, we will acquire the ticket to the semi-final!” Meiqi exclaimed.
Jian Feng sat in front of the computer immediately and brought up the tournament page.
“Hey everyone, come over here. The match schedule has been finalized. Let me check who’s next… F*ck!” Jian Feng cursed out of nowhere, his expression had changed abruptly.
The others closed in quickly. They looked at the match schedule and the atmosphere instantly became glum.
Top-16 matches adopted the knockout format. This meant that if they lost the next match, they would instantly be disqualified from the tournament and could very well forget about getting into the semi-finals.
To make matters worse, their hurdle in front of the quarter-finals was none other than Zhejiang University.
Zhejiang University! The runner-up of last year’s national tournament! Their strength was second only to the almighty Fudan University.
‘Why is this happening to us? Why?’
Even God was not being merciful to them.
A minute ago, their determination to finish at top-4 had been sky-high, however, their buzz was killed the moment they saw Zhejiang University come up right next to Shanghai University. The name itself sent a shiver down everyone’s spine.
