Martial Arts Club Dispute (Continued)

"By the way, can international students become official athletes?"

As soon as he asked the question, Si Ming realized that he had used his international student status on his student record, which proved to be perfectly valid. So he said, "The three Nation of Beauty students who just transferred to our school this year, Si Jingyu, Si Huaruo, and Si Shuiyun, are all experts on par with Murong Qing. You should recruit them into the club."

Ke Chajing exclaimed in surprise, "Is that so! I didn't even notice the gem right in front of me; I'm really blind!"

Hu Jixian said leisurely, "They all have the surname Si, so does that mean they're related to you?"

"We're of the same clan, I suppose."

Si Ming was relieved that there was no custom here where women would take their husband's surname after marriage; otherwise, he didn't know how many people would misunderstand him.

"The task of recruiting people into the club is now in your hands," Ke Chajing said decisively. "As long as they're willing, I guarantee they'll be given the qualifications to be regular members."

That won't do.

A burly, middle-aged man with a full beard suddenly walked over and said, "President Ke, even if you are the president of the Second Martial Arts Club, the spots for the regular election cannot be awarded privately by you at will. It must be discussed by everyone, otherwise it will not be convincing to the public."

Si Ming glanced at it, ignored it, and asked Ke Chajing, "Who is this guy?"

"He's our club advisor. After all, we made it to the national competition, and we were the only team there. If the school wants to achieve good results, they can't let us mess around anymore. Besides, after that incident, Teacher Yuezheng had no choice but to step down."

"I understand, they've come to pick the peaches." Si Ming immediately understood.

The middle-aged man was so angry that he puffed out his beard and glared. "Disrespectful to elders, they don't even have the slightest sense of courtesy towards teachers, they are truly ill-mannered!"

Si Ming sneered and said, "Respect teachers and value the Way? What kind of teacher are you? What kind of Way are you? Have you ever taught me anything? You're just a staff member at Linked Mountains University who gets paid to work. You're no more noble than a sanitation worker sweeping the streets. Don't equate the modern teaching profession with the old-fashioned master. Have some self-awareness, okay?"

How dare they take advantage of his master Yan Jinghong! This is truly intolerable.

"You, you, you..."

The middle-aged man's face flushed red, and he trembled with anger. He seemed to want to continue to lecture the other party in the manner of an elder, but when he met Si Ming's gaze, he was immediately frightened and swallowed his words. After a moment's thought, he changed his target to Ke Chajing.

"President Ke, look at this! This is the member you favored. He has absolutely no discipline, participating only when he wants and not participating when he doesn't. He has no sense of collective honor whatsoever. You even specially reserved a substitute spot for him, which was never used in the end. It was a complete waste of a spot. The fact that we only reached the top eight in the national competition is the consequence of your stubbornness. If the club wants to achieve results next year, we absolutely cannot let him act recklessly again!"

Ke Chajing reluctantly swallowed her anger and said, "The reason our Second Martial Arts Club was initially established was to surpass the school's Martial Arts Club. Everyone joined out of interest, not for honor..."

"How can you, as the president, say such irresponsible things? No wonder the results in the national competition were unsatisfactory. If you, as the leader, don't strive for improvement, others will follow suit, and it's no wonder they can't achieve good results. In contrast, Gong Fei is much more responsible, and his performance in the national competition was outstanding. I think it would be better to move the vice president position..."

Thump!

Si Ming slammed his fist on the floor, the powerful force reverberating and shaking the entire gymnasium. He looked up at the middle-aged man and said, "If you say another word, I'll punch you in the stomach. Of course, you can bet on it; maybe I'll be afraid of being punished for violating school rules and won't dare to do it." As he spoke, a disdainful smile appeared on his lips.

The middle-aged man was furious and opened his mouth, seemingly tempted to "give it a try," but in the end, he didn't utter a word. He didn't dare to gamble; he was no longer an impulsive young man.

"Hmph, trash. You have neither strength nor courage, so get lost!" Si Ming waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "Let me give you a piece of advice: there are some people you can bully with your power, and as long as you don't push them to the limit, they won't fight back. But there are some people you can't even say a harsh word to, or you'll lose your life in a heartbeat."

Being publicly scorned like that, the middle-aged man undoubtedly lost face terribly. He turned and left in a panic, it's unclear whether he heeded Si Ming's advice.

"It's been a long time since I've encountered such a pure, simple, and brainless villain. I wish all the enemies I encounter in the future were this type; it would be satisfying to beat them up, and they wouldn't pose much of a threat."

Si Ming was filled with emotion, then turned to Ke Chajing and asked, "Seriously, you guys have such good tempers, letting this kind of person take advantage of you."

"Without results, of course you can't speak with authority," Ke Chajing rolled her eyes. "Whose fault do you think it is? We couldn't even gather enough people to participate in the competition, so we could only allow him to bring a large group of students to join, and then we were usurped. These days, democracy is becoming more and more popular, and it's all about the minority obeying the majority."

Hu Jixian said, "This person actually has some real skills and is not an ignorant person, otherwise he wouldn't have been hired by Linked Mountains University. But how should I put it, his way of doing things is still the traditional way, too rigid, plus he is self-righteous, just like someone else, so it is destined that we can't get along. If there are two voices on one side, everyone will be in chaos."

Ke Chajing said discontentedly, "Who are you implying? How could I be the same as him? I do everything uprightly, but this guy likes to resort to Evil Dao. He won't say anything to your face when there's a conflict, but instead does dirty tricks behind your back. I really can't stand it. Si Ming, you'd better be careful. He's not the kind of person who forgives and forgets easily. You humiliated him in public today, and he will definitely retaliate in the future. Even if he doesn't dare to provoke you openly, he will still try to annoy you with his underhanded methods."

"Whatever, if he dares to come, I'll just punch him to death... Although I want to say that, it's really a waste of time to waste on this kind of person. Let's just start from scratch. Let him try to reap the rewards. Back then, we formed a Second Martial Arts Club to deal with the Martial Arts Club. Now, we can just form a third Martial Arts Club."

Ke Chajing and Hu Jixian exchanged a glance and said, "If that's what you think, we don't mind. To be honest, compared to these big gangs where making a decision requires gathering people for half a day of discussion, I prefer a small group of a few people who can do whatever they want, mess around as they please, and not have to worry about what others think."

Hu Jixian said, "Martial arts competitions are different from other sports. There are no fixed training methods, and everyone uses completely different martial arts techniques. Therefore, the role of the coach is reduced to a minimum. The important thing is the athletes. If there are experts, you can win. If we leave, the Second Martial Arts Club will just be an empty shell. Let them have it if they want it. I'm afraid we'll repeat the same mistake. After we achieve results, the school will send people to steal the credit."

Although he didn't know Si Ming's specific background, he could easily guess from their daily interactions that Si Ming had a lot of influence behind him. Therefore, he hoped that Si Ming could get his backer to put pressure on the school and dispel any improper thoughts.

But Hu Jixian undoubtedly misjudged Si Ming's character. Si Ming had indeed borrowed Yan Jinghong's influence, but he had never actually asked Yan Jinghong to stand up for him. He disdained to do the kind of plot where the protagonist in an urban novel is misunderstood by a villain, imprisoned in a police station, and then makes a phone call to a high-ranking official he knows, using his political status to intimidate the person and get his revenge.

Si Ming didn't deliberately hide the fact that he was Yan Jinghong's disciple, because he had completely forgotten about it. What he wanted people to remember was the name "Si Ming," not the identity of "Yan Jinghong's disciple."

So this time, Si Ming didn't play the game as Hu Jixian had planned.

He smiled and said, "That's simple. We can play with the name. Instead of calling it the Third Martial Arts Club, we can call it the 'Martial Arts Club of Passion,' the 'Martial Arts Club with No Ambitions,' the 'Martial Arts Club Without Asking,' or the Martial Arts Club Without Begging.' Basically, we can express our intentions and let everyone know our attitude. If the school is willing to beg us under such circumstances, then given their shamelessness, we might be able to negotiate a thing or two."

Hu Jixian was taken aback. This approach was far beyond his expectations, completely unlike the usual tactics of political struggle, and even somewhat childish. But upon closer examination, it didn't seem entirely unacceptable...

"This is a good idea. It's about exposing their shamelessness and seeing if they feel ashamed." Ke Chajing was quite fond of this idea.

Hu Jixian was speechless now, but he reminded us, "Leaving the club requires the advisor's permission. Given the Martial Arts Club's experience, he might not let us leave."

Si Ming snapped his fingers, "That's easy. The school doesn't stipulate that students can only join one club. We can be a ghost member of the Second Martial Arts Club while simultaneously creating a new club and actively participating in its activities. The advisor can only manage their own club; how can they manage other clubs' activities?"

Hu Jixian said, "I'm afraid he'll use this to attack us, smear us, and accuse us of being traitors and disregarding the bigger picture."

"Screw his mouth! Let him talk, I don't care. I'll do what I want, what others think is their business," Ke Chajing said fiercely.

Si Ming, "We should protect our reputation if we can. Actually, the method is very simple. Once we hear rumors, we'll beat him up. Of course, he'll definitely not admit to doing it. If he's smart, he'll prepare a lot of excuses to deny it. But let him say what he wants, I'll beat him up. There's no need to pay attention to what he says. Just beat him up whenever we hear someone talking badly about us, regardless of whether he did it or not. Of course, we have to cover our identities when we beat him up and not leave any evidence."

Hu Jixian chuckled and shook his head, saying, "This is truly a reckless approach. Should we say that evil people need other evil people to teach them a lesson?"

Si Ming protested, "Hey, hey, hey, since the other side is the evil camp, then of course I'm on the side of justice. There's no need to follow any rules of the martial arts world when dealing with Outer Dao; we should use whatever method works."

Ke Chajing immediately made the decision. "It's settled then. I'll take on the task of creating the new club, and you, Si Ming, will take on the task of informing everyone."

"No problem."

"This semester is almost over, and I need to train hard and improve my strength during the upcoming summer vacation... By the way, Si Ming, do you have any good places to recommend for special training?"