Back to the Peak

Chapter 68: Face Changes Over and Over

As soon as Cheng Ran arrived in Anhang City, he immediately got into the car Cheng Xuze had called, quickly arriving at the competition site. As soon as he got off the car, the rowdy scene surprised him, and he retreated uneasily in front of the reporters.

Even though he had learned to socialize with people slowly for over a year, a scene like this still made him uneasy.

Fortunately, Cheng Xuze was different from Cheng Hong. To keep up his image, Cheng Hong wouldn’t act against the reporters, but Cheng Xuze was completely different. Someone at Cheng Xuze’s level didn’t care about these reporters at all, and others dared not report his affairs as they pleased.

Although those reporters approached, most of them were congratulating them, and they didn’t ask any tricky questions. Even so, the people around Cheng Xuze still pushed them aside.

“Old sir!” Ran Xue shouted, and looked at Cheng Ran beside Cheng Xuze with some surprise: “It’s great that Xiao Ran is alright.”

She had been working at the Cheng’s house for a year and a half without rest. This time, Cheng Ran had an accident, so she simply took a vacation and came here to Anhang City. From the start she had just wanted to hear news of Cheng Ran’s situation as soon as possible, but she didn’t expect Cheng Ran to be completely fine, and was surprised and delighted.

“Xiao ran has good luck and good fortune, no need to worry!” Cheng Xuze was in a good mood: “It’s like I said, it’s not so easy for something to happen to this child!”

Those who could stand up and talk to Cheng Xuze were obviously people with unique identities. At first, none of these reporters recognized Ran Xue, but now, they finally recognized her. For a time, they were even more excited, but they still didn’t dare to get too close. After all, whether it was Cheng Xuze or Ran Xue, their identities were different. So long as they took photos, there would be enough for them to do business.

Cheng Hong also came over at this time. He knew that he should be making himself feign pleasant surprise, but facing Cheng Ran, he couldn’t do it at all.

If it hadn’t been for Cheng Ran, he wouldn’t have gotten into the commotion he was in now, and not only was Cheng Ran not dead, no one had even informed Cheng Hong in advance!

He and Cheng Xuze had come together. Cheng Hong had just given a long speech and expressed his grief over Cheng Ran’s death, when Cheng Ran unexpectedly walked in completely healthy. What did this mean? The city gate wasn’t close to Anhang Academy. Couldn’t Cheng Ran have informed him during this time?

Cheng Hong’s expression was stiff. After doing some psychological build-up, he quickly stepped forward: “Dad, why didn’t you send word to me when you were returning? And Xiao Ran, it’s really good that you’re alright. Dad has been worried about you these days.”

Cheng Xuze really didn’t remember to inform Cheng Hong, but he didn’t think it mattered: “Can’t I just bring someone here?”

Cheng Xuze didn’t speak pleasantly when he opened his mouth, and Cheng Ran’s reaction was severe. When he saw Cheng Hong, he subconsciously took another step back and hid behind Cheng Xuze–Cheng Hong had never been kind to him. He knew that Cheng Ran would have something bad happen to him after he injected a radiation inducer, but still insisted on injecting him…

Cheng Ran couldn’t help but be afraid, thinking of when he pretended to be ill for a long time until Cheng Hong finally stopped paying attention to him.

Seeing this, Cheng Hong became even more angry. Now there were rumors that he wasn’t good to Cheng Ran, and Cheng Ran still behaved like this. This was clearly a confirmation of those rumors!

Cheng Hong was right. Many people had witnessed Cheng Ran’s reaction and naturally understood something in their minds.

“Didn’t Uncle Cheng find someone to watch at the entrance to the city? Grandpa’s mobile fortress should be easy to recognize.” Shi Qingyang smiled, words seemingly unintentional.

Cheng Hong was the Vice City Lord. Even if he was too busy to leave the city to look for someone, taking care of the city gate’s guards to keep an eye out for any news of Cheng Ran would just be a matter of a single sentence from him, but he didn’t even do that in the end. Was this what it meant to “worry” for him?

The meaning of Shi Qingyang’s words was recognized by everyone present, and Cheng Hong’s face was blue and white. He always felt that Cheng Ran had brought him trouble, so how could he think to tell others to watch for him?

When Cheng Ran hadn’t been found before, didn’t many people come to inform him of all kinds of news about him? So how come no one came to send him news about this matter at all? Cheng Hong was very angry, but he forgot that when others had informed him before, his tone had been bad, and he blamed others for constantly telling him the same messages over and over. Gradually, no one wanted to flatter him this way anymore. In fact, this time, someone also wanted to report good news, but he dared not say anything because he was afraid that others had already reported it to him, and he would provoke Cheng Hong’s anger if he went again.

What Shi Qingyang said, Cheng Hong couldn’t defend against at all, and Cheng Xuze was even more dissatisfied. He came all this way, and the City Lord of Anhang City, Li Rong, had already congratulated him, yet his own son didn’t even know?

“Grandpa, let’s hurry in, we still have to participate in the competition,” Shi Qingyang added. He didn’t want Cheng Ran to be on display out here.

Cheng Xuze nodded, but Cheng Hong finally noticed Shi Qingyang’s way of address and became more dissatisfied: “Who are you? Why are you calling him ‘Grandpa’?”

Many people heard Shi Qingyang’s term of address and were very curious. They recognized Shi Qingyang as a student of Spark Academy who had disappeared with Cheng Ran, but because Shi Qingyang’s information was too simple, many people categorized him as Cheng Ran’s attendant at the beginning. Who would have thought that this attendant could call Cheng Xuze ‘Grandpa’?

In the blink of an eye, a teenager from a third tier city who wasn’t outstanding at all had formed a relation with a level-8 radiant warrior. How could this be?

Hearing Cheng Hong’s question, Cheng Xuze immediately thought of Cheng Ran’s talk of marrying Shi Qingyang. Only then did he realize that he had allowed Shi Qingyang to call him Grandpa so early in order to take advantage of Not Starving… What an embarrassment!

However, since he had allowed it, he had allowed it. Shi Qingyang had been used to calling him this way for so long, he didn’t have any reaction to it: “What’s wrong with calling me grandpa? This is what I asked him to call me. If it weren’t for him this time, Xiao Ran would have died outside the city.”

“Dad, some people just want to climb our coattails, and Xiao Ran was also lead astray by him.” Cheng Hong thought of what Shi Qingyang said just now and didn’t like him at all. He hoped to take him a step down.

“What are you talking about!” Cheng Xuze scolded, “You want to ignore Xiao Ran and won’t let others care about him?” Even if Shi Qingyang fawned on Cheng Ran at the beginning, his ability to protect always Cheng Ran was enough to show that he was sincere. What’s more, they had still gotten the Almighty Elixir from Shi Qingyang. With a Master like his, why would Shi Qingyang need to ride their coattails?

When Cheng Xuze left the city, Cheng Ran had disappeared not long ago. At that time, there were no rumors about Cheng Hong in Anhang City. Naturally, he didn’t know what was being discussed online now, let alone that Cheng Hong was still pretending to be haggard. Therefore, when he spoke, he was frank and didn’t hide the bad things Cheng Hong did to Cheng Ran at all.

But when Cheng Hong heard the words “ignore Cheng Ran”, his face became even worse. Cheng Xuze was his own father, and he actually said this…

Cheng Xuze, was clearly trying to humiliate him without leaving a leg to stand on!

As long as Cheng Hong was against Cheng Xuze, he found it difficult to control his emotions. There was Cheng Ran next to him, which made him even more irritated. If there weren’t so many people around now, he might have even quarreled with Cheng Xuze on the spot. Fortunately, he still cared about his image: “Dad, I was also worried about Xiao Ran.”

Ran Xue noticed the tense atmosphere between father and son, and then advised, “Old sir, coming back so quickly must have made you tired. Some things don’t need to be solved so quickly. Go in and have a rest, and then watch Xiao Ran compete together.”

Cheng Xuze also didn’t want to lose face in public, so he took Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang directly and walked in.

In the lounge, the teachers and students of Spark Academy had learned about Cheng Ran being brought back. Several teachers were alright, but when those students saw them, their faces were embarrassed and guilty.

Most of these people had chosen to give up Cheng Ran for their own safety before, but Shi Qingyang wasn’t angry. Cheng Ran had a normal relationship with these students. In situations where their lives were being threatened, they were certainly not willing to sacrifice themselves for Cheng Ran.

However, although he was not angry, Shi Qingyang was too lazy to deal with these people after making such a scene. He glanced at them and walked directly to the side: “Teacher Chang, how is your injury?”

Chang Jiashi was injured in order to cover Gu Changjin’s departure. The injury was not light, but he received the best treatment. Cheng Xuze sent him medicine after knowing this. Now he had recovered: “I’m all right. It’s great that you could get away. What about Mister Gu?”

“Grandpa Gu was injured and has been sent to the hospital,” Shi Qingyang said.

“Thank you, Teacher Chang,” Cheng Ran also said. He had seen everything that had gone down at that time.

“No, I’m a teacher. It’s my duty to protect the safety of the students,” Chang Jiashi said.

“What a good young man!” Cheng Xuze praised.

What was Cheng Xuze’s identity? This was a level-8 rad-warrior! His deeds were widely spread on the Internet, and many people regarded him as an idol. His praise was naturally unusual in others’ eyes.

Chang Jiashi’s face showed an excited expression, looking at Cheng Xuze’s face while full of worship.

Seeing this, Cheng Hong frowned. Seeing that the reporters didn’t come in, he immediately looked at Cheng Xuze: “Dad, don’t you know? You suddenly coming back with Cheng Ran and not even letting me know in advance, how much trouble that’s caused me?” It wasn’t easy for him to give up, but he still let go of his unwillingness and decided to continue to on as Vice City Lord. He didn’t expect to encounter such a situation. Just now outside, Cheng Xuze, Cheng Ran, and Shi Qingyang had been dismantling his platform, obviously trying to make him lose all of his grasp on the hearts and minds of the people.

Like this, whether he could even become the Vice City Lord or not was uncertain.

“I brought Xiao Ran back, but it turned out that I caused trouble for you?” Cheng Xuze had been in a good mood ever since he found out that Cheng Ran was still alive. He didn’t expect his son to say something like this as soon as he came back, and he couldn’t help being angry.

“I didn’t mean that…” Cheng Hong found that there were still many people around looking at him, gritted his teeth, and finally stopped saying anything.

At this time, the dean of Anhang Academy also rushed over. Generally, such activities didn’t need him as the dean to attend. After all, there were basically no good seedlings in the surrounding tertiary cities. Even if there were, he had long come to Anhang Academy to study, so he didn’t pay attention to those people.

But now the situation was somewhat different. If he didn’t accompany Cheng Xuze and Ran Xue, would he have to let the teachers below him accompany them?

He couldn’t give up such a good opportunity to get close to Cheng Xuze and Ran Xue without showing disrespect.

The dean of Anhang Academy actively invited Cheng Xuze and Ran Xue as guests to watch the competition. Cheng Xuze and Ran Xue naturally readily agreed. At this time, the competition finally began.

As the Vice City Lord of Anhang City and the president of Anhang City’s Radiation Energy Association, Cheng Hong didn’t need to be present from beginning to end for an activity like this, but now that Cheng Xuze had stayed, he couldn’t leave, so he could only find a seat and sit in front of the stage.

The venue of the competition was on the sports ground of Anhang Academy. The sports ground was very large, and there were many seats to go around. In the past, just the students of Anhang Academy could fill one third of these seats. But this time, the situation was different. In the end, many latecomers couldn’t even find a seat.

Of course, most of these people didn’t come for the competition. They all brought long-range glasses and could clearly see things in the distance. Instead of looking at the competition materials that had been placed in the middle of the stadium, they stared at Cheng Xuze and Ran Xue, many of them taking photos.

Shi Qingyang didn’t care about what was happening outside. At this time, he just went to Ning An to understand the specifics of this competition. It was from Ning An that he learned that this competition was completely different from usual.

Because more and more people paid attention to this competition, the contestants originally sent by the three tertiary cities appeared to be a little less. Because of this, Anhang Academy had also selected many students from the first and second years to participate in the competition. As for why they didn’t choose from higher grades, it was because the students of Anhang Academy were far better than those of academies in the surrounding tertiary cities.

At the same time, because of this, the pharmacy competition, which was originally scheduled to finish after the theory and execution segments in the morning, added a finals in the afternoon.

“Teacher Ning, what kind of medicine do you usually choose in the competition?” Shi Qingyang asked again, although Cheng Ran now had radiant energy, and his overly soft radiant energy was probably very suitable for the preparation of medicine, this matter couldn’t be told to others, and naturally had to be understood first.

“Don’t worry. Pharmacists are different from radiant warriors. Although they need radiant energy, they don’t have high requirements for radiant energy. What they need most is experience, so pharmacists are more popular as they get older. Pharmacists at this age are basically just beginning to learn, and most of them haven’t learned how to use radiant energy when mixing medicine,” Ning An comforted, “If you don’t even learn the medicine and mixing well, teaching students to use radiant energy to mix medicine is absolutely irresponsible to students and a waste of pharmaceutical materials.”

“That’s good.” Shi Qingyang smiled. As long as it was a medicine that didn’t need radiant energy, Cheng Ran could easily create it.

With this thought, he immediately turned around, found Cheng Ran, and repeated what he’d learned word for word.

Listening to this with a smile, Cheng Ran said, “Qingyang, I’d already checked this on the way here, and have already looked all of this up.”

“Then why listen to me say all this?”

“I just like to hear you speak… Qingyang, I’ll win this time!”

“I believe in  you.” Shi Qingyang laughed and watched Cheng Ran go on stage.

The Spark Academy participants in the pharmacy competition, including Cheng Ran, totaled eight people, and there were no more than ten from the other two tertiary cities. However, Anhang Academy sent twenty people. After nearly fifty participants arrived at the venue, the organizer’s speech began.

At this time in the past, there had always been many people who wanted to speak, usually starting from the high-level ones, and then continuing to speak from the low-level ones. Cheng Hong even wrote a speech for this. But this time, the dean of Anhang Academy invited Cheng Xuze to speak.

“Competition is competition. I find it useless when people babbled on every time something happens. I won’t speak much this time. Hurry up and compete. Then you can quickly go have a good meal after the competition.”

Cheng Xuze spoke happily. Cheng Hong, who was reading the manuscript with a recorder next to him, changed his face again.

However, at this time, except the reporter that was still watching his face and writing a report, no one else paid attention to him. The dean of Anhang Academy, who planned to curry favor with Cheng Xuze, directly announced the start of the competition.