A Student of Twofold Genius

At Zhang Qishan's words, Qian Mingyuan jolted, his eyes widening and his mind going blank.

Liu Mei and Liu Wan exchanged another glance.

Both wondered, Could this student be in her class?

Impossible. If No. 1 High School really had such a gifted student, how could they not know?

"Blood qi 2.79... combat power 9.21... killed a Wind-Rending Swift Leopard in three moves..." Qian Mingyuan muttered. Then, as though suddenly coming to his senses, his voice shot up. "Where? Where is this boy? I'll go find him right now!"

"Find him? Hasn't he already been handed over to your No. 1 High School?" Zhang Qishan laughed even more heartily. "He's that Lin Hao you were just talking about.

"You ought to thank No. 2 High School. They expelled such a precious treasure, and you ended up reaping the benefit."

"Lin Hao?!" Qian Mingyuan was so shocked that his voice cracked.

Liu Mei's face instantly turned deathly pale. Her lips trembled, and for a long while, she could not get a word out.

Just moments ago, she had been congratulating herself for pushing Lin Hao onto Liu Wan.

Now she felt as though a hand had seized her heart and clenched it hard, the pain leaving her unable to breathe.

"Impossible!" Liu Mei's voice suddenly turned shrill. "Lin Hao's blood qi was clearly only 0.3! No. 2 High School even expelled him. How could he possibly be a one-star martial artist? Director Zhang, you must have made a mistake!"

"A mistake?" Zhang Qishan scoffed. "The city lord, Deputy City Lord Shen, Chief Chen, and a whole group of Jiang City's senior officials are already heading to the mining district's family housing compound where Lin Hao lives. I'm on my way there with them now.

"Do you think all those senior officials could make the same mistake? Oh, I forgot to tell you. He's also the anonymous champion of the Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition."

Those words instantly exploded through the office like a thunderclap.

Qian Mingyuan's legs went weak, and he dropped straight back into his chair.

A martial arts genius, and a pharmacy genius too?

An eighteen-year-old genius in two fields?

Liu Wan abruptly came to her senses. The clouds of worry on her face vanished, replaced by wild joy she could not conceal.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably with excitement.

He had been a homeroom teacher for nearly twenty years, and his greatest dream was to teach a student who could get into Capital Martial University.

She had never imagined that this student she had just been so desperate to avoid was the very genius she had dreamed of!

"Director Zhang, thank you for letting us know! We'll have to leave it there. I'm going to Lin Hao's home right now! His enrollment hasn't officially transferred to No. 1 High School yet. I'm worried something might change!" Qian Mingyuan grabbed his coat and took off toward the door.

"Principal Qian, wait for me!" Liu Wan hurried after him, her steps almost stumbling.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Liu Mei also snapped out of her daze and rushed after them. "Principal Qian, Ms. Liu, I'm actually quite close to Lin Qing too! Back when Lin Qing was in school, I even tutored her in martial arts theory!

"My class would be a better fit for Lin Hao. I guarantee I'll teach him well!"

Qian Mingyuan turned and glared at her, snapping, "Who was just pushing Lin Hao away like a plague god? Now you want to fight over him? Too late! I'll send someone to handle his enrollment right away. Lin Hao will be a student in Ms. Liu Wan's class!"

Liu Wan also glanced back at her, the corners of her mouth rising despite herself as she quickened her pace.

"Please don't, Principal Qian! Let's discuss it some more!" Liu Mei followed behind, stamping her feet in anxiety. Watching their backs recede farther and farther away, she regretted it so much her guts turned green.

Two figures raced down the corridor.

The students along the way found the sight of Principal Qian and Ms. Liu running utterly unbelievable.

What could have happened to make Principal Qian and Ms. Liu run through the school?

Qingyang City, the Su Family's pharmaceutical business headquarters.

The family head, Su Qiwen, was looking through the pharmaceutical business's reports for the month, while Su Mo stood beside him, learning.

The telephone on the desk suddenly rang.

He had only just picked up the receiver when he heard Uncle Fu's heavy panting.

The old steward had served the Su Family for nearly forty years and always spoke at a slow, measured pace.

Now, however, he sounded as though he had run the entire length of Qingyang City's main street in one breath.

"F-Family Head, we found him!"

Uncle Fu's voice was somewhat hoarse. "The anonymous champion of the Six-City Pharmacist Competition is Lin Hao, a Jiang City local, eighteen years old. He lives in the mining district's family housing compound."

Beside him, Su Mo's eyes immediately lit up, his face filling with delight.

Su Qiwen glanced at his son and said into the receiver, "Go on."

"This was an oversight on my part." Uncle Fu's voice suddenly sank.

"What oversight?" Su Qiwen asked calmly.

The other end fell silent for two seconds. Father and son could hear car horns on the street where Uncle Fu was.

"Jiang City is only so big, and there aren't many people named Lin Hao. I found him two days ago."

Uncle Fu let out a long sigh. "But this Lin Hao only had 0.3 blood qi, and he was caught up in that matter involving an improper hire for an industrial park security position. I thought, how could someone like that possibly be the person we were looking for? So I ruled him out."

"That isn't your fault," Su Qiwen said slowly. "Never mind you-even sitting here in Qingyang City and hearing this news, I still can't fully believe it.

"A pharmacist's pill-refining ability may not depend entirely on blood qi, but 0.3 blood qi isn't even enough to sustain one standard refining session, let alone several processes running in parallel. How did this Lin Hao manage it?"

"Family Head, Lin Hao's blood qi isn't as simple as 0.3. That information was wrong."

A complicated note entered Uncle Fu's voice as he continued, "Just this morning, Lin Hao went to the Jiang City Martial Artist Assessment Center and was certified as a one-star martial artist.

"His tested blood qi was 2.79, and his combat power was 9.21. He went through the exceptional certification process and killed a Wind-Rending Swift Leopard with 4.5 blood qi. He took only three moves to kill it, and all three were Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist."

Su Qiwen was inwardly startled and did not reply for a moment.

Standing beside the desk, Su Mo's eyes were filled with shock. He had not expected Lin Hao to be even more monstrous than he had imagined.

Su Qiwen had taken over the ancestral business at twenty-one and had seen countless geniuses, but this was his first time encountering one like Lin Hao.

In pharmacy, he had pierced straight through the ranks of young pharmacists across all six cities.

In martial arts, he had trampled Jingwu's qualifying threshold underfoot.

"Uncle Fu," Su Qiwen said, lowering his voice, "go to the mining district's family housing compound right now. Don't bring a contract, don't bring bargaining chips, and don't negotiate terms. Whatever conditions Lin Hao asks for, just agree.

"It will probably be very difficult to get Lin Hao to join our Su Family. But you must let him see our Su Family's attitude."

"I understand," Uncle Fu said gravely.

Su Qiwen hung up and looked at Su Mo beside him.

"Mo." His voice regained its calm. "As far as today's matter goes, I care more about you becoming friends with him than recruiting him.

"Not approaching him as the Su Family's young master, but making friends as one person to another. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand." Su Mo nodded.

He knew full well that if he could truly become friends with Lin Hao, it might mean a century of prosperity for the Su Family.