Chapter 319 A Battle Amongst the Top 100
“There you are. Come on and sit down for breakfast,” Li Qingru said to Su Ping.
She saw Su Ping when she came out of the kitchen.
Su Lingyue finally snapped out of her reverie. She blushed when she noticed the weird look in Su Ping’s eyes, then she retaliated with a glare.
Su Ping curled his lips and sat down. He grabbed a steamed bun with meat stuffing.
After their mother walked over and sat down to get some congee, Su Ping told her about buying a TV for the store. He asked her to handle the TV purchase for him; he would have to drive Su Lingyue to the game during the day, so he had no time for this. To find someone online and pay them to set up the TV would be too troublesome. After all, installing a TV was not a complicated issue.
Their mom asked some questions. Upon knowing that this was to drive up business in the store, she agreed without hesitation and promised him that she could take care of it.
She had seen how the store was often packed and people would line up outside. She was not skilled in searching for news online but she didn’t have to do that to understand that business in the store was booming. She was proud to have a son with such a good business sense. Therefore, she never doubted Su Ping’s reasoning. Su Lingyue heard her mother praising Su Ping’s business sense. She looked up and cast a glance at the two, wondering what their mom would think if she found out that Su Ping had once hired celebrities to advertise for the store, and about the championship matter.
Su Lingyue felt an urge to ask Su Ping about the celebrity spokesperson. However, she decided not to mention it. She knew that Su Ping was unwilling to let their mom know too much about the store, all to prevent her from becoming a bundle of nerves, constantly on tenterhooks.
After breakfast, Su Lingyue and Su Ping left.
“Drive slowly. Don’t worry. You’ll make it in time,” their mom said to Su Ping in haste.
Both replied with a yes and got in the car.
After they drove away from their street, Su Lingyue asked the questions that had been on her mind since breakfast. “Mu Shuangwan used to advertise for your store. Then she said she would quit the contract. What happened then?”
“Nothing happened. That was it,” Su Ping answered. He kept his eyes glued on the road ahead, demonstrating that he was a qualified driver.
“You mean she did cancel the contract, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“But…”
Su Lingyue was angry since Mu Shuangwan eventually did end the cooperation. What a nice way to kick them when they were down.
She wasn’t happy. She could take advantage of Su Ping, but she wouldn’t allow other people to bully him.
“I once liked her. I didn’t know that she would be like this. Hmm! I will never buy her CDs again!” Su Lingyue gnashed her teeth. She sounded so furious, as if she were the victim.
Su Ping darted her a glance. One less person buying her CD wouldn’t mean anything to Mu Shuangwan.
He kept the words to himself. After all, Su Lingyue was speaking in his defense. Having said that, he was not touched by her heroic words at all.
“You sure have some free time to think about this. Don’t you have a match to be ready for today?”
“You! I am speaking up for you!”
“Winning the championship for me is better than anything else!”
IL
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Su Lingyue was speechless. She turned away from him.
Silence returned to the vehicle. He pulled up some music and hummed along. He was in quite the bright mood.
But next to him, it was cloudy over the passenger seat.
They arrived at the venue.
Still, no empty seats. If anything, the audience was even more excited than the day before.
However, the staging area was much less crowded. Merely one hundred participants were there.
The staging area was large enough to hold one thousand people; it looked a bit bleak with just a hundred people sitting there, which was a sharp contrast when compared to the spectator’s seating areas. Su Ping walked Su Lingyue to the staging area. “Focus and be careful,” He cautioned her.
Su Lingyue nodded. She knew this was a serious matter.
They did have a bit of an argument while on their way to the venue. Since they arrived, she had shifted her entire focus to the game and she would note down everything Su Ping said. “Go on now.”
Su Ping went away and found himself a seat. The family members’ area was even more crowded than the day before. The participants who didn’t pass the trial could still take their family members there and they could stay there to watch the competition.
More and more people arrived.
The family members’ area had become overly packed.
This day, Qin Shuhai didn’t sit with Su Ping, much to Su Ping’s delight. He casually looked around the venue. Soon, he saw Fei Yanbo approaching. He had arrived a bit later; his son and some students who failed the trial were following him. Apart from Luo Fengtian and the girl with the ponytail, the other students had failed. They had gone there to watch the competition.
Fei Yanbo saw Su Ping as well. However, since the seats around Su Ping had all been taken, Fei Yanbo did not go over. He nodded to Su Ping across the distance as a greeting and then took his students to find seats.
All of a sudden, Su Ping heard a voice. It was a young man sitting next to him. “Molly, another point and I would have passed the trial yesterday. I was unlucky. I ran into that freak from the Ye Family. Otherwise, I would have won a place for today’s round!”
Affected by the lively atmosphere in the venue, the young man sounded excited, albeit disappointed at the same time.
“Of course! I know that you’re awesome! I can always read people accurately!” a girl with a sweet voice replied with admiration.
“Hey, naturally. It is too bad that I’ll be too old for the next Elite League. Otherwise, I would have definitely made it to the Top 10!”
Sensing the look of admiration from his girlfriend, the young man was beaming with more pride.
Su Ping turned around. He didn’t know that he was sitting next to a young couple. He had a feeling that he was going to be smothered by their public display of affection.
He was right. The boy and girl continued to bully Su Ping’s nerves with their honeyed words.
All of a sudden, Su Ping missed the days when he would sit with Qin Shuhai and Fei Yanbo.
Soon, the game began.
The commentator went up to the stage to read the rules.
The one hundred participants would be placed in ten groups.
The participants in each group would have one-on-one battles. The winner of each group’s finals would be on the shortlist to become the Top 10 winner. The losing party of each group’s finals would still have other chances.
They would battle against the losing party of another group.
The winner of that match would still have an opportunity to make it to the Top 10.
This mechanism was set up in case two powerful participants would be in the same group.
After the rules were read, the cheerleaders entered the stage for their performance.
Their bodies were nice and curvy, and the clothes they had on were revealing. They performed a sexy dance.
Many parents hurried to cover up their kids’ eyes while they enjoyed the show through telescopes to their hearts’ content.
Su Ping found this show amusing as well. But, an argument broke out next to him. “They are pretty, aren’t they?” “Ah? Yes… No, of course not. You are much prettier.”
“Oh? So, you have been watching carefully, right?”
Danger! Danger! “No, I wasn’t. I just glanced at them a bit. Molly, to me, you are the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“Oh, really? Just to you? So you’re saying that I’m not as good looking as they are.”
“I…”
The couple soon stopped talking to each other after this “friendly” exchange of views.
Su Ping felt nice, as if having just eaten ice cream on the hottest day. There were benefits of being single after all!
After the cheerleaders’ performance, the audience became more excited than ever!
Then the participants began to draw lots to decide their groups.
The names were picked out randomly.
When the names of promising participants were read, the audience would chant and shout.
However, for participants that were in the same group, they were less happy.
Soon, Su Ping saw Su Lingyue’s group. She was in Group D.
The others in Group D pulled long faces. That was not because of Su Lingyue. It was because there were other powerful opponents in that group!
Qin Shaotian!
One who people regarded as a likely prospect to win the championship!
Of course, that was the opinion online. The participants were fully aware that Qin Shaotian had yet to exhibit his full strength in the previous matches. He had not won the most votes online because his performance had been average.
After all, most people that would participate in the voting activities online were average citizens. They weren’t aware of all the secrets and they would only judge the participants by what they did in a match.