Chapter 547: Money! (1.3 for 1 Chapter)
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Hao Ren brought Zhao Jiayi and the other guys over to Green Hill Cafeteria by the library so that he could treat them to lunch; the bet was something separate. Hao Ren would need hard labor from his friends, so he would have to treat them to lunch.
Almost every student in the cafeteria was discussing what had just happened outside LingZhao Middle School. When they saw Hao Ren heading over, they started pointing fingers.
Hooligans surrounded Hao Ren’s little ‘cousin,’ so Hao Ren went over to save her. Then, Huang Xujie appeared with the members of the Rock-Climbing Club, and they engaged in a fight… Different versions of the story were wildly spread across the school.
Huang Xujie was one of the well-known people at East Ocean University. He was the head of the largest club in the school, the Rock-Climbing Climb, and the son of a deputy mayor.
In the past half year, Hao Ren had also become the focus of other students.
After this incident, they seemed to be more connected with each other, so the students of East Ocean University had all kinds of theories. Some said that Huang Xujie was just putting on a show, pretending that he was helping Hao Ren; some said that Hao Ren was from a rich family while Huang Xujie had owed money to many people, so Hao Ren had cleared the debt for Huang Xujie; some said that Huang Xujie and Hao Ren had fought outside of school once, and Hao Ren had beaten Huang Xujie so badly that Huang Xujie was in awe of Hao Ren’s strength… When everyone focused their attention on them in the cafeteria, Zhou Liren suddenly felt very proud.
“Incredible! One of my roommates is the Captain of the National University Basketball Champion while the other one is the king of the school whom even a deputy mayor’s son needs to obey him!” he thought.
“Brother Hao, I’ve borrowed the tables and created the banners.”
Just when Hao Ren and the other guys were eating lunch, Lu Qi came over and said to Hao Ren.
“OK. Thanks.” Hao Ren looked at Lu Qi. “Did you eat lunch yet?”
“Yeah, I ate lunch already!” Lu Qi smiled and nodded. “My own club is getting ready to attract new members, so I won’t be able to help you out later.”
“It’s ok. You’re busy with your stuff.” Hao Ren smiled and said.
The students in the cafeteria would look at Hao Ren occasionally. When they saw Lu Qi standing next to Hao Ren with excellent manners as if he were reporting something to Hao Ren, they were once again in shock.
Who was Lu Qi? He was a rising star in the Go community, and even the Princ.i.p.al would need to show him some respect!
Many international and domestic media channels had interviewed him countless times, which was quite rare.
When talking about influence and future potential, Lu Qi far exceeded Huang Xujie. Usually, he would be immersed in the Go world and would not speak to other students at the school. Underneath his humble disguise, he was a bit haughty!
However, Lu Qi was bowing down and speaking to Hao Ren!
Lu Qi walked out of the cafeteria after talking to Hao Ren for a bit.
Zhou Liren blinked his eyes a few times and finally realized that something wasn’t right. Lu Qi was the President of the Go Club, and the Go Club was the most unique club amongst all clubs at East Ocean University.
Since the Go Club had high expectations and skill requirements, it had the least number of members. It wasn’t a club for those who were just slightly interested in Go; it was a professional club that maintained a high level of skill!
Hao Ren was going to start the Calligraphy Club, but the President of the Go Club had personally helped Hao Ren out. This made Zhou Liren feel like he was going to lose the bet.
“Let’s go!” Hao Ren rushed out after picking up his plates.
There was still one hour before their first cla.s.s in the afternoon. This was the golden time of the day to attract new members.
This was the time when there was the most number of students at the cafeteria entrance.
Since the Green Hill Cafeteria was also the central cafeteria of the school as it was connected with dorms and academic buildings, this was a spot that most students have to pa.s.s by!
The clubs, regardless of their sizes, had already started to get ready to recruit some new blood into their clubs.
Hao Ren didn’t want to recruit regular students; his targets were dragon cultivators. A club was only a camouflage so that he could gather all the dragons together.
The Supervisor was Su Han while the President was Hao Ren. These two were inspectors, so they could manage the club both in the light and in the dark. All the dragon cultivators in the school probably understood the meaning of this club.
Inspectors could kill any dragons who dared to disobey them!
Su Han didn’t bother with those small cultivators, so many groups and powers formed at school organically. However, Hao Ren was prepared to organize everything this time!
Yue Zilong was standing by the third-floor window of the Administrative building, and he chuckled when he saw this.
Hao Ren’s way of doing things was out of his expectations. Hao Ren didn’t use force to conquer all the small dragon forces at school. Instead, he created a club and used Lu Qi’s influence to attract the smaller forces so that they would join on their own.
“This person is capable of a lot,” Yue Zilong thought; he was very impressed by Hao Ren’s performance.
The Dragon G.o.d Shrine had never lacked strong cultivators, but there weren’t many that were strong and smart enough to resolve complicated situations efficiently.
“What can I reward him with… But he is the Commanding General of East Ocean… I can’t make him any haughtier!” Yue Zilong thought as he looked up at the sky and suddenly sensed the demonic aura within the territory of East Ocean City.
“Zhao Jiayi! Put my banner over here! Yu Rong, help me lift the table!”
Hao Ren walked out of the cafeteria and saw that Lu Qi and his people were getting their tables and banners ready. They had set everything up outside the cafeteria.
Hao Ren started to order Zhao Jiayi and the guys to help organize.
Each year, Lu Qi would personally oversee the recruiting for the club, so he had lots of experience. He got all the stuff that they needed ready.
The advertising banner was like a retractable curtain. It was only a plastic cloth with a white background, and there were only two big words on it: Calligraphy Club.
The clubs around them were very busy. Some clubs had as little as ten people while others had dozens of people; this showed the strength of the club. There were also little pamphlets, small gifts, while some even had small quizzes. There were many different things at different tables.
At Lu Qi’s Go Club, over ten members were helping. Their items were much more simplistic. They had five chess boards on a long table. Five of the strongest members were there prepared to take on any student who might come to challenge them. Only those who had enough skills were allowed to join the club.
Zhao Jiayi and the other guys helped Hao Ren move the table by the road. Then, they opened the banner and pulled over a few chairs before sitting by Hao Ren. They just waited for students to come and ask.
Xie Yujia sat behind the table and made notes.
Some clubs had just put out their displays, and many students went over to inquire. However, for Hao Ren’s club, no one came after they set up their displays. It was lonely.
Some young students came over because Xie Yujia was pretty. However, when they only saw the words, Calligraphy Club, they went to other clubs’ booths without saying a word.
Zhao Jiayi and the other guys were sitting beside Hao Ren. They thought it didn’t look good on them. Although they wanted to make Hao Ren treat them to a big meal, it looked terrible and sad when not even one person inquired about the club.
“Gu Jiadong, pretend to be a freshman and run over to ask about the club!” Zhao Jiayi said as he nudged Gu Jiadong, who was sitting next to him.
Gu Jiadong touched his goatee and said, “I… don’t look like one!”
“Here is one! Here is one!” Zhou Liren suddenly yelled.
As expected, a tall and strong male student ran over and asked Hao Ren, “How do I join?”
“The members.h.i.+p fee is 500-yuan, and you must know how to use an ink brush,” Hao Ren responded.
“Oh…” The male student immediately ran away.
“Brother Ren! I really don’t know what to do with you. It was hard enough that someone came, and you scared him away!” Zhou Liren turned around and looked Hao Ren. He sounded very disappointed as if he were the President of the Calligraphy Club.
That male student ran off and went from the back to go to the Rock-Climbing Club’s booth. He said to Huang Xujie, “Brother Huang, I pretended that I was a freshman and asked them about their club. Their members.h.i.+p fee is 500, and members have to know how to use an ink brush.”
“What? 500?” Huang Xujie gasped. “He wants money so badly that he has gone mad!”
Even though students wouldn’t usually sign up for these kinds of unpopular clubs, there might be one or two students who were interested in calligraphy. However, even if they were interested, a 500-yuan club members.h.i.+p fee would scare those students away.
“He’s such a dumba.s.s. Don’t bother with them,” Huang Xujie said. He had just come back to school and had treated the wounds on his lower legs. He had also changed into a clean set of clothes and came to the cafeteria to organize the club’s recruiting.
When this member heard what Huang Xujie said, he pouted but didn’t say anything else.
Not long ago, Huang Xujie had fought with the hooligans for Hao Ren outside LingZhao Middle School. That was why the members of the Rock-Climbing Club thought that Huang Xujie and Hao Ren had become best friends. However, from the looks of it now, it didn’t seem that way.
The weather was slightly hot, and Zhou Liren was sweating since he had sat under the sun for over ten minutes. He leaned against the chair and looked tired as if he was going to fall asleep.
Some students came to inquire but were all scared away by the club members.h.i.+p fee. They thought that this club was a scam as if it was going to go out of business after collecting the money. Even though the freshmen were new to the school and somewhat naïve, they still wouldn’t get tricked by this.
“Brother Ren, stop playing around. Let’s go back and sleep.” Zhou Liren urged as he rubbed his eye.
“Um… is this the Calligraphy Club?” A girl who wore gla.s.ses and looked bookish came to their booth.
Hao Ren was immediately energized when he saw her.
Kan-level, fire-elemental!
Zhou Liren leaned against the chair. He opened his eyes to get a good look at this girl. Then, he lazily shut his eyes again. He thought, “This girl is a pretty and gentle type. She probably practiced calligraphy in elementary or middle school, so she is interested in it. However, if Hao Ren tells her that the members.h.i.+p fee is 500-yuan, she will for sure turnaround and run away, just like the other students before.”
“Yes, the club members.h.i.+p fee is 500,” Hao Ren responded.
“OK. I’m joining. Do I need to register?” the girl asked as she took out five 100-yuan bills from her bag.
Zhou Liren’s eyes were still closed, and he was ready to hear the girl apologize and leave. When he heard what the girl said, he jumped up, and his eyeb.a.l.l.s almost popped out.
During this moment, the money had been pa.s.sed down to Xie Yujia. Xie Yujia pa.s.sed a booklet and ink brush to the girl and said, “Write your name, student number, cell phone number, and also where you’re from.”
The girl held the small ink brush and wrote her contact information down smoothly. Her calligraphy was graceful and steady; it seemed like she had some experience.
Zhao Jiayi and the other guys were all shocked. They never thought that Hao Ren could really catch some fish.
The girl who registered smiled and walked toward the academic buildings. It seemed like she registered due to interest on her way to cla.s.s.
Zhou Liren looked at that girl again and savored the moment. That girl’s figure and looks were not as great as Xie Yujia but were still pretty nice.
“That freshmen just spent money so carelessly; probably from a rich family,” Yu Rong exclaimed. He saw Xie Yujia putting the five 100-yuan bills into a plastic bag and thought that they had successfully baited someone.
“However, there will not be another person like this…” Yu Rong thought.
Just then, another pretty girl walked over.
This beauty was taller and hotter than the girl with gla.s.ses. She was in a black s.h.i.+rt, and she didn’t b.u.t.ton it up all the way. Her hair was swaying in the wind, just like a model.
Gulp! Zhou Liren swallowed a mouthful of saliva subconsciously and thought, “This beauty is not as great as Su Han, but she is hot!”
“Calligraphy Club?” This beauty walked straight in front of Hao Ren and asked.
“Yeah. The members.h.i.+p fee is 500.” Hao Ren showed his palm.
This beauty did not hesitate at all; she took out her leather wallet and handed 500-yuan to Xie Yujia.
Xie Yujia was also a bit shocked. However, she quickly pushed the registration booklet over to the beauty.
There was already an example, so the new member had reference and didn’t need to ask how to do it. She immediately wrote down her personal information.
Her writing with the ink brush was strong and free.
“We’ll meet again.” The beauty waved at Hao Ren and walked toward the library.
Yu Rong, Cao Ronghua, Zhou Liren, Gu Jiadong… All their mouths were slightly open.
In a moment, they got 1000-yuan?
“Are there so many students at East Ocean University who have so much money that they don’t have anywhere to spend it?” they thought.
Hao Ren secretly thought to himself, “Zhen-level, earth-elemental.”
They had written down the places they were from, which was actually the addresses of their dragon palaces.
“Is… your hand ok?” Xie Yujia asked as she looked over at Hao Ren’s hand and saw band-aids on it.
“I’m ok”! Hao Ren looked down to look at his own hand. There were five or six cartoon band-aids, and they were eye-catching.
His hand did not actually hurt, so he guessed that the wounds had already healed. However, Hao Ren didn’t want to peel off the band-aids since they represented Zhao Yanzi’s care.
“Boss! Boss!” One of the male students ran toward Huang Xujie. “Two girls have already signed up for the Calligraphy Club! They even paid!”
“Two?” Huang Xujie was shocked. “There really are r*tards?”
“Two people have given Hao Ren 1000-yuan already?” he thought.
He was in charge of the Rock-Climbing Club, so he knew that the club members.h.i.+p fees were just profit to the club. The new members would have to pay for any new equipment or event fee out of pocket.
Even Huang Xujie was a bit jealous. He had created the Rock-Climbing Club so that he could look cool in school. Also, he wanted to earn some money while he was at it.
However, Hao Ren only made a banner with the name, Calligraphy Club, on it.
Then, he made 1000-yuan. This ability to make money was like a miracle!
“Ps.h.!.+ He’s probably just on dumb luck. There can’t be any more people joining!” Huang Xujie said as he held his fist tightly out of jealousy.
“Boss! Boss! There are more people over there!” The male student pointed.