The Easiest One to Save: Zhu Zhuqing

"No, Zhuqing... I..." Dai Mubai struggled to speak, turning to grab Ma Hongjun. "Fatty, didn't you say..."

Dai Mubai was furious, but Ma Hongjun, who had nearly been slapped unconscious by Zhao Wuji, merely covered his face with a wronged expression.

"Boss Dai, you only asked whether I'd harassed someone. You never asked who exactly I harassed!"

Hearing Ma Hongjun's defense, Dai Mubai was so enraged that he could barely contain himself. Without another word, he rushed over and kicked him to the ground!

His tiger claws slapped at Ma Hongjun's ears—slap, slap, slap! Ma Hongjun's face instantly swelled from a steamed bun into a Hami melon.

"Zhuqing... no... it's not that I don't care about you!"

"It's that I had no idea the one being bullied was you!"

"Otherwise, how could I possibly..."

Dai Mubai stood there at a loss, but Zhu Zhuqing only turned her face away. She was unwilling to spare him even the slightest glance, leaving Dai Mubai completely stunned.

"Boss Dai," Ma Hongjun muttered sulkily through his dizziness, "you're choosing a girl over your brother!"

"You can't even move when you see a cold beauty? Want me to give her to you?"

"Get lost!" Dai Mubai exploded. "That girl is my fiancée! My fiancée! You dead fatty!"

The moment those words came out, the entire place fell silent.

Not only Ma Hongjun, who had just been slapped around, but even Tang San and the two deans stood frozen for a moment.

"Fiancée?" Zhao Wuji frowned deeply. "You brat has a fiancée?"

Dai Mubai panicked. "Teacher Zhao, how would I dare lie to you? Zhuqing and I really are in an arranged marriage between our families. If you don't believe me, ask her!"

Flander and Zhao Wuji exchanged a glance before turning their eyes toward Zhu Zhuqing.

Yet they received only silence, along with eyes that still refused to turn back.

Thinking of Dai Mubai's distinctive double pupils and his imperial identity, Flander immediately understood.

His expression abruptly turned solemn. "Zhu Zhuqing, is this true?"

Zhu Zhuqing pressed her lips together. In the end, she nodded. "It's true. Dai Mubai and I have a marriage arrangement."

"Sister Zhuqing, you..." Xiao Wu was utterly shocked. She had never imagined that Sister Zhuqing, usually so cold and slightly broken-looking, was actually the fiancée of that cowardly sick cat before them!

Zhu Zhuqing had never told them about this!

Ning Rongrong was still maintaining the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Tower, strengthening Zhu Zhuqing and easing her pain. Upon hearing the truth, her soul power output immediately became unstable.

"But I don't acknowledge it, and I believe he won't acknowledge it either!"

Zhu Zhuqing glared fiercely at Dai Mubai. The grievance of being abandoned in the Star Luo Empire and left alone to face the double pressure of Davis and Zhu Zhuyun erupted all at once.

"Since you don't acknowledge it, what gives you the right to say I'm your fiancée!"

"And if I weren't your fiancée, would that mean that dead fatty could bully me however he pleased?"

"So because that girl wasn't your fiancée, Fatty could bully her while you ignored it, even supported him?"

"If... if I were... then you would..."

"Sister Zhuqing!" Xiao Wu cried out. "Brother, Sister Zhuqing passed out from losing too much blood!"

Ye Hua stepped forward to examine her. Sure enough, her wounds had been aggravated. Pain and weakness had made her incoherent before she finally lost consciousness.

"Her old wounds have flared up, she's lost too much blood, and there's fire poison as well!" Ye Hua frowned deeply. "This is troublesome!"

He placed a hand on Zhu Zhuqing's back, and soul power surged forth, first stopping the bleeding before driving out the fire poison.

"Xiao Wu, go get some medicine from my Azure Jade Bracelet."

"Rongrong, come help me support her body."

Dai Mubai also ran over in panic, only to be hurled more than ten meters away by Xiao Wu's Eight-Section Explosive Throw!

His kidney was painfully struck by a stone on the ground, making him bare his teeth in agony!

"Get lost! You disgusting coward! How could someone like you deserve Sister Zhuqing!"

Xiao Wu flipped through the air and landed, glaring fiercely at him.

Watching his allies fall one after another, Tang San's expression changed slightly as he instantly realized the situation was bad.

Just then, the villagers came rushing over in a massive crowd.

At the front was the father of the girl Ma Hongjun had nearly violated!

The girl hid behind her father, crying until her eyes were swollen like walnuts.

"Dean! Dean!" The old farmer dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "Please, have mercy and control your student!"

"He keeps chasing my daughter every few days, saying she's his girlfriend and has to serve him at night!"

"My daughter is only fourteen! We're just ordinary farmers. How could we possibly provoke a great Soul Master? But he can't ruin her like this!"

"And my house!" Another villager pointed at the smoking ruins. "That fatty breathed fire and burned down my roof! My life savings are gone!"

Accusations rose one after another, smashing Flander's expression into livid darkness.

With this much damage, how much compensation would they have to pay?

At that moment, he felt that even without Lord Tie Xiong's involvement, it was pretty good that Zhao Wuji had beaten Ma Hongjun up!

Flander took a deep breath. "Everyone must bear the consequences of their actions. Even Soul Masters, even geniuses, are no exception."

"Tonight's incident was caused by Ma Hongjun. He will bear all losses. The academy's compensation payments will be deducted from his earnings at the Great Spirit Arena until every last coin is paid."

"As for you two—"

Dai Mubai and Tang San's hearts tightened.

"Since you didn't know the full truth, I won't pursue the matter for now. But in the future, don't rush to pass judgment before understanding the truth, or you'll only harm others and yourselves!"

Dai Mubai's face burned, and he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.

Zhu Zhuqing would probably remember what happened tonight for the rest of her life!

That damned Ma Hongjun! He hadn't clearly said who he had harassed, causing Dai Mubai to make such a fool of himself!

Zhao Wuji had also finished beating Ma Hongjun. Panting heavily, he turned around. "Teacher Ye, what do you think... are you satisfied with this handling of the matter?"

Ye Hua gave him an indifferent glance. "Teacher Zhao handled it impartially. Of course I'm satisfied."

Zhao Wuji let out a huge breath, the weight in his heart finally lifting.

Flander also stepped forward and grasped Ye Hua's hand. "Teacher Ye, your strength is obvious to all. You can officially join us tomorrow."

"As for your teaching arrangements, I'm sure you have your own unique ideas. We old men won't meddle!"

Ye Hua raised an eyebrow slightly, instantly seeing through Flander's intentions.

Having him teach students was, on one hand, a way to use the Heavenly Prodigy Teacher gimmick to suppress outside doubts. On the other hand, it was to let the students achieve a Soul Ring Miracle under his guidance as well.

Still, although Flander was greedy and stingy, he was far more upright than Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.

At least he was not hypocritical. He laid all his schemes out in the open, and besides, he truly wanted to save Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong through teaching.

"I'll follow the dean's arrangements." Ye Hua spoke calmly, then bent down and lifted Zhu Zhuqing into his arms.

Zhu Zhuqing had already awakened. Her entire body stiffened slightly when Ye Hua held her, yet she did not struggle. She merely buried her face in his chest, refusing to let others see her burning cheeks.

Xiao Wu pouted slightly when she saw this, but said nothing.

However, Dai Mubai's heart ached so fiercely it seemed to cramp.

He watched helplessly as Ye Hua held Zhu Zhuqing, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it!

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Zhu Zhuqing did not even spare him half a glance!

It was as though he, her fiancé, was the most useless, most contemptible, and most invisible person there!

[Ding—]

[Zhu Zhuqing's Rescue Progress +20%]

[Current Rescue Progress: 45%]

[Detected that Zhu Zhuqing has recognized Dai Mubai's ugly habit of taking sides unfairly and is utterly disappointed in him. Please keep up the good work, Host.]

Hm? That much?

Ye Hua carried Zhu Zhuqing back to the dormitory, one brow lifting.

When he had saved Xiao Wu before, he had put in tremendous effort just to gain a little over ten percent.

Yet with Zhu Zhuqing, the Rescue Progress was shooting up!

That made sense. Compared to the complexity of Xiao Wu's sacrifice tragedy, Zhu Zhuqing's tragedy of being trapped in marriage was much simpler.

He only needed to make her give up completely on a certain scumbag, then rescue her from the oppression of the Star Luo Empire.

Actually, I can do the latter right now. Would the Star Luo Empire declare war on me, someone served by four Title Douluo, for her? Only an idiot would do that!

If I wanted to marry Zhuqing, the Star Luo Empire would probably approve with both hands and feet, eager to use it to win me over!

It's just that Xiao Wu's final five percent of Rescue Progress refuses to fill up, while Ning Rongrong's rescue mission hasn't even opened yet...

Ye Hua frowned. That was the knot in his heart.

Forget it. He would stop thinking about it for now. Zhuqing's rescue reward had already been issued.

But when Ye Hua saw the mission reward, he was visibly stunned for a moment.

"Yu Xiaogang, Yu Xiaogang... you really have been such a scumbag that even heaven and thunder want to strike you down. Even System Bro can't stand watching anymore!"