Chapter 345 The Mastermind Behind the Scenes!
“Wait a minute.”
The student who blocked Fang Qiu’s path had extremely short hair and was wearing a tracksuit. He looked very upright and righteous.
He stopped Fang Qiu, looked straight at him, and said, “Fang Qiu, I hope that you’ll reflect on some of your actions!”
He sounded very solemn.
“You’ve won a lot of accolades after the Battle of the Pulse of Pregnancy and improved the perception of Chinese Medicine. Chinese Medicine has just barely managed to inch out of the shadow of Western Medicine and has just been acknowledged as scientific, so how could you do such a thing at this crucial juncture?”
“You might just be a student but do you even know how many people look up at you as a representative of Chinese Medicine because of your outstanding results earlier?
“As a representative of this field, I urge you not to make a mistake. Don’t bring down the reputation of Chinese Medicine with you and cause the perception of Chinese Medicine that has just barely improved to drop again!
“Even if Qigong truly exists, you can’t perform it at such a crucial juncture!”
Fang Qiu froze in surprise for a brief moment.
Then, he nodded and said, “I will take your suggestion into consideration. However, you’re probably thinking too highly of me. I’m only a student. I can’t represent Chinese Medicine.”
“You’re right,” the student replied. “At least you have some self-awareness. You’re not fit to represent Chinese Medicine, neither are you able to represent Chinese Medicine, but to the netizens, you are associated with Chinese Medicine. I’m not here to create trouble. I acknowledge that you’re highly-skilled in this field, but I hope that you’ll need my warning!”
Then, the student turned and left.
Fang Qiu shook his head with a soft sigh as he watched this student leave.
Then, he returned to his dorm.
There were a lot of people gossiping and making snide remarks about him on his way back to the dorm, but he ignored them all.
He arrived at his dorm.
“You’re back?”
Sun Hao, who took the first bed closest to the door, immediately rose to his feet. He gathered the stack of letters that were put together in a neat pile on the desk and said, “Take a look at these letters. They are all for you.”
He passed the letters to Fang Qiu.
“What are these?” Fang Qiu asked in confusion.
“Let’s not mention it,” Zhou Xiaotian said with a wry smile.
“You should take a look at them yourself,” Zhou Benzheng said as he shook his head.
“Alas,” Sun Hao said as he heaved a sigh of resignation.
He said helplessly, “I assumed that they were love letters when I first received them. After reining in our curiosity for the longest time, we finally gave in to our curiosity and opened one of those letters, only to find that it was just a letter advising you against performing Qigong.”
Fang Qiu glanced at the letters in his hand and noticed that they were all sent anonymously.
He walked up to his desk, placed these letters on the desk, and opened up all these letters one at a time out of curiosity.
As expected and just as Sun Hao predicted, the letters were all from others urging him not to use Qigong, not to indulge in old-fashioned superstition, and to focus on getting progressively better.
He was surprised to see that most of the authors of these anonymous letters had even formulated a plan for him.
For example, they suggested that he should release a statement to say that he was merely interested in Qigong and that he was just looking into it out of interest.
They also suggested that he should post a statement on Weibo clarifying his stance and announce that he was not practicing Qigong but that he was just practicing a set of movements to strengthen his body.
A strange feeling washed over him as he read these letters.
He had not even met these people, but they protected him and believed in his abilities.
He felt very grateful to these people who continued to support him after what he had done.
However, he did not feel like he was making a mistake. In fact, he would be able to help even more people in the future through his actions, so he had no intention of stopping.
His three roommates gathered around him and looked through the contents of every single letter.
They spent quite a lot of time going through the letters.
Then, Zhu Benzheng placed a hand on Fang Qiu’s shoulder and remarked, “Kid, the controversy surrounding this issue has become even greater, and as I’m sure you can tell, the school has been greatly affected as well. Now that you’ve read these letters, I’m sure you know that the situation does not bode well for you.”
“What do you intend to do next?”
His three friends stared at Fang Qiu in concern.
“I’ll carry on,” he said calmly.
He said these three simple words.
He had always moved forward without looking back, and this was how he managed to achieve a breakthrough in his martial arts abilities. There was no turning back, and he would never retreat, especially since he was not making a mistake.
Why did he have to retreat?
The foundation of Chinese Medicine was blood and Qi that was then reinforced with the five elements and Yin-Yang theories. Thus, why couldn’t he mention Qigong? Why couldn’t he practice Qigong?
The detractors of Chinese Medicine had doubted the very foundations of Chinese Medicine and if he continued to conceal this information, when would Chinese Medicine ever rise to greatness?
“Are you not afraid of others attacking or slandering you? Aren’t you afraid that you would hamper the progress of Chinese Medicine?” Zhu Benzheng asked.
“Yes, it hadn’t been easy to improve the perception of Chinese Medicine,” Zhou Xiaotian added.
“How has the perception of Chinese Medicine improved? It is all because of the kid that the perception of Chinese Medicine has improved. Have you seen him damaging the reputation of Chinese Medicine? At least, I haven’t seen him doing that before,” Sun Hao said.
Sun Hao’s words made Fang Qiu smile.
He looked at Zhu Benzheng and said, “My conscience is clear!”
“As for affecting the reputation of Chinese Medicine, the progress of modern Chinese Medicine has been impeded by Western Medicine for almost a century. In fact, modern Chinese Medicine was forced to conform to the framework of Western Medicine. This is detrimental to the progress of Chinese Medicine.”
“Moreover, Qi exists, and Qigong can be used to cure illnesses.”
“As long as there is another method to heal others that could bring true Qi into existence, then why should I care whether I live or die?”
His three friends gave him the thumbs up after they heard his words.
They understood that Fang Qiu had his own reasons for insisting on doing what he did.
Then again, who didn’t?
However, Fang Qiu’s insistence on standing firm was at odds with those who stood on the moral high ground and had been used by those with ulterior motives against him.
They thought about a scene from a movie that they had watched recently, ‘Wu Kong’.
His disciple had asked, “Grand Saint, why are you embarking on this journey?”
“To crush the Southern Heavens and to destroy the clouds,” Wu Kong replied.
“If you don’t come back...” the disciple said.
“Then so be it!” Wu Kong declared.
Fang Qiu did not think of retreating. He was only thinking of moving forward.
Fang Qiu was the true advocate of Chinese Medicine!
...
On the fifth day, Fang Qiu came to Central Lake as he always did.
There were only a few people left from the large group who had been practicing Qigong with him, and Jiang Miaoyu was one of them.
“Everyone has left,” Jiang Miaoyu whispered softly as she looked at the few people who gathered around Central Lake.
“That’s alright,” Fang Qiu said with a smile. “Relax, don’t think too much into this. Let’s make preparations to start soon.”
Those who had turned up and were still feeling very conflicted and hesitant rose to their feet and started to warm-up.
Then, a series of footsteps could suddenly be heard.
“Clack, clack...”
He turned to see a large crowd heading toward them from a distance.
He took a closer look and saw that these people were glaring indignantly at him.
They rushed up to him, and their leader said, “Didn’t you read the letters we sent yesterday? Have you not seen the commotion you’ve created online?”
“Exactly. Photographs of you practicing Qigong every day have been posted online. When are you going to put a stop to this nonsense?”
This crowd was very loud and sounded very annoyed, but Fang Qiu ignored them.
Instead, he turned to look at the few people, who had shown up but were still very hesitant about practicing Qigong, and said, “Ignore them and relax. If you can force yourself to concentrate despite the commotion, you’d be able to focus and concentrate in all other situations as well.”
The students who had seemed hesitant exchanged looks with each other. Then, they relaxed and started working on their stance.
Since they had persevered to this day, it showed that they were serious about learning Qigong and wanted to continue their practice.
However, their actions only provoked the students who had come to question Fang Qiu.
Several students from the angry mob rushed up to the group of students practicing Qigong and started to pull them forcefully apart, disrupting the session.
Their leader was even more extreme.
He rushed up to Fang Qiu and stretched out his hand toward Jiang Miaoyu.
“Get lost!” Fang Qiu’s eyes flashed coldly. He grabbed the leader’s hand and said coldly, “Why should we stop?”
The leader of the group looked up boldly at Fang Qiu and said, “This is part of the university’s compound, so we’ll be able to stay here for as long as we like. We wouldn’t leave until you give up on Qigong!”
“How could you!” Fang Qiu said angrily.
He was truly angry this time.
He would be able to ignore the comments and actions of others as long as they didn’t disrupt his lifestyle, but now, they had crossed the line.
He was livid and was about to attack when Jiang Miaoyu rushed up to him and grabbed his arm.
“Stop,” she said softly as she held him back. “You shouldn’t act rashly. There are so many of them, and you are also a well-known figure, so if you attack them, you would not be able to clear your name.”
Fang Qiu knew that Jiang Miaoyu was right.
Nonetheless, why should he have to put up with this just because he was a well-known figure?
No way!
There might be others who would be willing to put up with this for the sake of their reputation but not him!
“Humph.”
Then, the leader looked smugly and derisively at Fang Qiu as he said, “What’s wrong? Do you not recognize me?”
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Chen Tianyang...”
At the same time, Fang Qiu’s phone that was in his pocket suddenly rang.
“Beep beep...”
His eyes narrowed as he looked at Chen Tianyang.
He immediately dug out his phone and saw that it was a call from He Gaoming.
“Hello,” Fang Qiu went straight to the point after he picked up the call. “Have you completed your investigations? You’ve been rather slow this time.”
“Haha,” He Gaoming said with an embarrassed laugh before he added. “I’ve been busy recently, so this has indeed taken some time, but I’ve managed to find what you wanted.”
“Who was it?” Fang Qiu asked.
“It originated from your university. A junior student known as Chen Tianyang uploaded it.” He Gaoming suddenly chuckled and added, “I even managed to find out that Chen Tianyang seems to have a crush on your girlfriend. Apparently, he had already taken a liking to her when your batch entered the university. But unfortunately, he did not catch her eye.”
“Then again, why must you dabble in Qigong of all things? You’ve really offended many people this time. It is true that Qi exists, though. Look at me, I’ve cultivated internal Qi. Doesn’t that sound more amazing than whatever you’ve been practicing? Would you like to learn from me? My fees are not expensive...”
Fang Qiu turned to look at Chen Tianyang in surprise. Then, he hung up before He Gaoming could finish delivering his report.
“I didn’t manage to catch that earlier. Why don’t you introduce yourself again?” Fang Qiu said.
“I’m Chen Tianyang from Year Three Class Five,” Chen Tianyang said before he added pompously, “you shouldn’t blame us. We are doing this for the sake of Chinese Medicine.”
“For the sake of Chinese Medicine?” Fang Qiu scoffed coldly.
“You must have uploaded my photograph online five days ago out of good intentions then!”