Dazzling

After leaving the competition venue, Qing Ye sprinted wildly through the streets. She had never run so recklessly in public before. Reaching a crossroads, she dashed across the road and stopped a motorized tricycle. The rider broke into a cold sweat from her sudden appearance and was about to curse when Qing Ye threw a hundred-yuan bill at him. "Get to Electronics Street in five minutes, and I'll give you another hundred."

The driver weaved through alleys like a madman, swerving and bumping violently. Qing Ye clung to the door, her body jolted repeatedly as if her organs had been rearranged. Suddenly, everything felt surreal. How could this be? How dare they attack someone at such an event? Qing Ye had never imagined such a thing in her life. Now it seemed Da Cao had decided even before arriving to take Xing Wu down in the arena.

She recalled asking Xing Wu what would happen if he didn’t win. He had told her the outcome didn’t matter.

Da Cao’s goal wasn’t to defeat Xing Wu in the match—it was to humiliate him publicly, to crush him before a crowd and force his submission.

Qing Ye had always believed Da Cao wouldn’t dare attack Xing Wu during the event. It was a county-sanctioned competition—how could he cause trouble openly?

It wasn’t until the tricycle’s violent speed slammed her against the door that she realized: this wasn’t the world she came from. Here, rules were different, authority distant.

Precisely because the event was government-sponsored, if Da Cao attacked Xing Wu, officials might dismiss it as a competition dispute to avoid accountability. With the Dark Hall’s influence twisting through the system, the situation changed entirely. Even if Xing Wu were maimed, as long as Da Cao didn’t strike the blow himself, he’d face no consequences. Qing Ye paled at her own realization.

The tricycle driver risked his life navigating shortcuts, delivering Qing Ye to Electronics Street in exactly five minutes. She tossed him another hundred and sprinted through the alley toward Quan Ya’s home.

Following her memory, she rushed to Quan Ya’s courtyard and pounded on the gate. Soon, Quan Ya shuffled out in slippers and froze at the sight of her heaving for breath. "Qing Ye? What are you doing here?"

"Xing Wu’s surrounded," she blurted without hesitation.

But Quan Ya’s eyes only tightened with tension—no surprise, no shock. He simply asked, "Did Da Hei and the others go?"

Reading his expression, Qing Ye stared in disbelief. "You knew? You knew he’d be attacked, didn’t you?"

Quan Ya’s grip tightened on the gate, his voice strained. "I warned him. This was his choice."

She seized his arm, demanding, "What do you mean?"

His brow furrowed with conflict. Qing Ye’s voice tore from her throat, "What exactly do you mean?"

Tremors wracked her body, tears spilling uncontrollably. Her hands shook violently around Quan Ya’s arm until he grasped her wrists firmly. "Calm down. Wu Zi already made arrangements with Boss Jiang."Qing Ye felt a chill run through her body, her thoughts growing increasingly chaotic. She could only grasp at fragmented keywords, staring intently at Quan Ya: "Boss Jiang? What does Boss Jiang have to do with this?"

"For years, the Dark Hall has been meddling in Boss Jiang's business, costing him a fortune in payoffs annually. Lately, they've grown increasingly greedy, even trying to move into the bar and nightclub scene. Last year, one of Boss Jiang's venues was trashed during a disturbance—later traced back to the Dark Hall."

"He's been waiting for an opportunity to wipe out the Dark Hall entirely. Xing Wu made a deal with Boss Jiang: if Da Cao took action against him in the arena, Boss Jiang would leverage his connections to pressure the authorities into cracking down on the Dark Hall."

Qing Ye stared blankly at Quan Ya, then suddenly released her grip, her body slumping against the courtyard gate. So Quan Ya had anticipated Xing Wu would be attacked—or rather, only if Xing Wu was assaulted, only if the situation escalated, would Boss Jiang have grounds to intervene.

Now she understood why Xing Wu had endured his injuries to continue competing, why he'd ignored all the petty provocations, why he'd remained passive in the face of Da Cao's taunts.

He was deliberately provoking Da Cao, pushing him to lose control and strike openly. Once Da Cao made a public move, Xing Wu's objective would be achieved. All he needed to do then was refrain from fighting back, ensuring he could emerge completely unscathed when the case was finalized—shifting all blame onto Da Cao and the Dark Hall. The rest would be left to Boss Jiang's maneuvering.

So he never cared about the competition results—his real goal was to take down Da Cao.

The Dark Hall believed they could suppress the incident, but they never anticipated Boss Jiang waiting in the shadows, ready to reap the rewards.

The realization struck Qing Ye like lightning: Quan Ya knew exactly what Xing Wu would face today, which was why he couldn't bear to witness it.

This was never truly a sports competition, nor merely a personal rivalry between Da Cao and Xing Wu.

The Dark Hall wanted to seize Boss Jiang's business. Boss Jiang had been frequently meeting with Mr. Jia from the shooting range, making the Dark Hall restless enough to trash his venue. Then they tried to suppress Xing Wu while propping up Da Cao. Boss Jiang was using this very opportunity to eliminate the Dark Hall entirely.

And the only person who would ultimately pay the price was Xing Wu, while the biggest winner lurking behind it all was Boss Jiang.

Within half a minute, Qing Ye pieced everything together. She straightened up, fixing Quan Ya with an intense glare: "Does Shu Han know about this?"

Quan Ya's brow furrowed deeply as he shook his head. "No one knows except me."

A distorted, cold smile suddenly twisted Qing Ye's face. "Have you ever considered Boss Jiang's other motive?"

Quan Ya simply watched her as she sneered: "Boss Jiang won't even show up. He'd gladly let the Dark Hall beat Xing Wu to death. Take me to your sister."

Quan Ya jolted, as if suddenly realizing something. Without another word, he slipped on his shoes, grabbed his motorcycle keys, and rushed Qing Ye to the mahjong parlor where Shu Han was. They found her in a cozy private room.

When they burst in, Shu Han was playing cards with several others, a handmade pearl-adorned coat draped over her shoulders. She barely glanced at Quan Ya, but when she noticed Qing Ye rushing in behind him, she paused slightly. Qing Ye walked directly up to her and asked, "Do you have a moment?"Shu Han casually drew a tile. Though she said nothing, her meaning was clear—she was busy.

Qing Ye glanced up at Quan Ya, who said to Shu Han, "Xing Wu's in trouble. Can you—"

"Can't you see I'm playing mahjong?" Shu Han cut him off directly.

The others at the table looked up at them. Qing Ye had never felt so humiliated. She was about to turn and leave but forced herself to stay, gritting her teeth as she pleaded in a low voice, "Sister Shu, it's urgent."

Shu Han irritably discarded a tile, which happened to be the winning tile for her opponent.

She pushed her tiles away and stood up, saying to them, "Wait a moment."

Then she walked out of the private room. Qing Ye quickly followed her into the adjacent empty room. Shu Han lit a slim cigarette, turned to look at them, and asked, "What's the matter?"

Qing Ye glanced at Quan Ya, who then explained the agreement between Boss Jiang and Xing Wu to Shu Han. Shu Han listened with a dark expression, took a deep drag from her cigarette, and looked at Qing Ye. "So what's your purpose in coming to me?"

Qing Ye's nails dug into her palms. If possible, Shu Han was the last person in the world she wanted to face. But with Xing Wu's situation uncertain, she had no choice. Dignity and pride were nothing compared to Xing Wu's life.

She just stared at Shu Han and said word by word, "Boss Jiang agreed to Xing Wu's deal to get Da Cao involved, but he'll definitely make Xing Wu suffer. As for why? You should know."

Shu Han's hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly. She quickly replied, "You've already said he made the deal with Old Jiang earlier. I can't interfere in this."

Qing Ye looked at her with choked sobs, her smile bitterly sarcastic. "Just because you can't have him, you're willing to watch your man destroy him because of you, is that it?"

Shu Han viciously crushed out her cigarette and slammed both hands on the mahjong table. "This has nothing to do with me."

Qing Ye instantly raised her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. The scene of Xing Wu being surrounded and beaten seemed to rush back into her mind from a distant place, driving her nearly mad.

Quan Ya started arguing with Shu Han beside them. Qing Ye mechanically turned and walked toward the door. Her hand on the doorknob, she suddenly said coldly, "People can be ridiculous sometimes. They find excuses to fall, then blame it all on fate. If Xing Wu can never stand up on the racetrack again today, would that make you happy? Is this what you wanted?"

Shu Han slowly raised her gaze to look at Qing Ye's back, but Qing Ye didn't turn around, directly pulling open the door and striding out.

The cracked clouds gradually closed, and the land fell into gloom once more. Qing Ye wandered aimlessly along unfamiliar streets, everything around her becoming illusory and strange. She had no options left—Shu Han was her last hope. If she refused to approach Boss Jiang, Qing Ye couldn't think of anyone else in this entire county who could save Xing Wu from his dire situation.

She wiped away her tears, but they kept overflowing uncontrollably. This county—why did it have to be this wretched county? Who else could she turn to?

Who else... Qing Ye lifted her head, staring blankly at the endless stream of unfamiliar faces on the street. Suddenly, it felt like someone had struck her skull—her tears stopped instantly. What was the use of her standing by the roadside crying? Xing Wu was still suffering elsewhere. She had to find a way!"Find people, find people, is that it? They want to make a scene? Fine, then let's make the biggest scene possible!"

Qing Ye immediately took out her phone and called Liu Nian, instructing him to rally as many people as possible in the group chat and hurry to Anzi County Stadium.

After hanging up, she stood by the roadside and called Fang Lei. Fang Lei answered breathlessly, "Qing Ye, don't worry, we're almost there. Where are you?"

Just then, someone called out from a distance, "Classmate Qing."

As Qing Ye turned, she saw a group of Jin Zhong students coming down from a nearby building. The one who called her was Ye Yingjian. She quickly said to Fang Lei, "I'm heading back to the stadium right away."

After hanging up, Ye Yingjian noticed her reddened eyes and asked curiously, "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

Qing Ye just stared at him with wide eyes. Ye Yingjian exchanged a puzzled glance with his friends and asked again, "Where are you going?"

Suddenly, Qing Ye grabbed him tightly, startling Ye Yingjian so much he jumped. But then she said urgently, "Take me to the county stadium."

Confused, Ye Yingjian opened the door of an Audi parked by the roadside. "You—you let go first, I'll take you."

Before getting in the car, Qing Ye glanced back at Wei Dong, then leaned in and whispered, "I know your little secret. Do me a favor—get as many people from your school as possible to come to the county stadium. I promise no one at your school will ever find out."

Wei Dong stared at her in shock. Qing Ye gave him a meaningful look, then hurried into the car. The drive wasn't far, but Qing Ye checked the time—she'd been gone over half an hour. She had no idea what was happening there. To make matters worse, Ye Yingjian in the passenger seat kept turning around to chat, buzzing like a fly. Qing Ye felt like slapping him to shut him up.

Under her constant urging, the car soon approached the stadium. But to Qing Ye's surprise, the road ahead was inexplicably jammed, and the car was stuck at the intersection. Unable to wait any longer, she opened the door and got out.

Ye Yingjian leaned out and shouted, "You're leaving just like that?"

Qing Ye was about to run toward the stadium when she heard him. She turned and stared back. Ye Yingjian shivered under her gaze. The next second, Qing Ye rushed back, yanked open the passenger door, and pulled him out. "Buddy, since you're so nosy, why not come with me? To be honest, my boyfriend's in trouble. The people causing it are from the Dark Hall. Ever heard of the Dark Hall? If not, ask your dad."

"Your boyfriend? The handsome guy who went to the county with you that day?"

Qing Ye snapped, "Is this really the time for that? Am I blind? Do I need you to tell me he's handsome? Anyway, if you help me today, I'll owe you one."

"Teach me spoken English?"

"I'll teach you alien language if you want."With that, Qing Ye dragged Ye Yingjian through the crowd. Strangely enough, when Qing Ye had just exited the stadium earlier, there was hardly anyone at the entrance. But now, a large number of people were swarming in that direction, many of them elderly men and women in their fifties and sixties, looking absolutely delighted, as if heading to a bustling market.

Ye Yingjian muttered, "Why are there so many people?"

Qing Ye said anxiously, "How should I know?"

The further they pushed in, the more surreal it became. These elderly folks were actually heading into the stadium too. And because the crowd was so massive, the ticket-checking barriers at the entrance were completely overwhelmed and collapsed under the pressure. The ticket sellers were utterly stunned.

A van was parked right at the stadium entrance. Qing Ye spotted Liu Nian and Grandpa Xie at once and waved, shouting loudly toward Liu Nian. Liu Nian quickly heard Qing Ye's call, squeezed through the crowd, rushed over, and told her, "Boss Li has already taken people inside. I have no idea what's going on in there."

Qing Ye yelled at him, "Why are there so many people?"

"Didn't you tell me to gather people? Grandpa Xie happened to have a van full of eggs that he was planning to sell at our place. I just had him drive the van here. I was worried they wouldn't come, so I posted in the group chat that free eggs were being given out inside the stadium. I never expected this many people to show up."

"..." Unbelievable.

Qing Ye didn't say another word, just gave him a thumbs-up, grabbed Ye Yingjian, and followed the crowd as they squeezed their way in.

When she finally pushed her way back into the stadium, she was completely dumbfounded.