Chapter 366: The Strong Su Yu (1)
Early in the morning, there were very few pedestrians in the academy. The air was fresh. Walking along the road framed by towering trees, Su Yu was not in the mood to appreciate the serenity and fresh air. Instead, he was in a bad mood.
He was wondering what Wan Tiansheng was thinking. The conflict between the two character factions was starting to get out of hand. It was no longer a simple matter of competition. Instead, it had escalated to a matter of life and death. As the principal, was Wan Tiansheng going to ignore that?
Was he only concerned about the academy? Outside the academy, he wouldn't care what everyone does? Even if there were outsiders involved in this conflict between fellow academy members?
If this continued, could the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy maintain its prestige? Su Yu tried putting himself in Wan Tiansheng's place. What would he do? What should he do?
After a while, Su Yu sighed. Perhaps their considerations were different because of the different positions they were in. Wan Tiansheng was the hardest person for him to understand in the academy. It was said that Wan Tiansheng was the leader of all cultural researchers in Great Xia instead of only the leader of the academy.
But he really wasn't looking like a leader right now. Was his silence due to his strength? Was he still below the Sunmoon Realm?
While thinking about all that, Su Yu reached the books depository.
Some students and researchers could be seen entering and leaving the building. Some of them noticed Su Yu and greeted him warmly. Some merely looked at him indifferently. Su Yu wasn't bothered. He returned the greetings one after another with a smile on his face. As for the one acting indifferent, he ignored them.
He wasn't a merit point. He couldn't make everyone love him. Thus, his best option was to rope in the majority and suppress the minority. Ensure that his enemies would fear him, his friends would like him, and the neutral ones wouldn't be swayed by his enemies.
That was actually something he had learned from Chen Hao's father. When Chen Qinghe was the deputy head at the Traffic Department, he was not the only deputy head. There was a deputy head who was greatly prejudiced against him.
Thus, he silently roped in a few other deputy heads. He showed kindness to those under him, showed his ability to those above him, and showed goodwill toward the other deputy heads. Only the deputy head prejudiced against him was constantly targeted by him.
During the conflict, a majority of people in the department agreed that the other deputy head was at fault. And public opinion was strong enough to bend the truth. Even in situations when Chen Qinghe was at fault, the blame would still be assigned to the other deputy head.
Ultimately, the deputy head retired as he could no longer withstand the pressure of being targeted by the entire department.
Thus, Su Yu had to let everyone in the academy understand that in this conflict, the single character faction was the villain.
If they ended up fighting, it wasn't Su Yu looking for trouble. Rather, it was the single character faction bullying them. It was their fault. Even if Su Yu was very heavy-handed during his fights with them, it was merely self-defense. They were the ones who had forced his hand.
Perhaps the opinion of the masses wouldn't give him any tangible benefits, but he would gain an excellent reputation.
These days, both strength and reputation were important. With a bad reputation, it would be hard for him to carry out any other plans in the future.
When the guards saw Su Yu, they smiled and stepped aside. Su Yu also smiled and gave them a slight bow before walking into the books depository.
...
10th floor.
This time, Su Yu wasn't here to look for Chen Yong. Instead, he was here to see his senior sister, Wu Jia. After a short greeting with Chen Yong, under Chen Yong's astonished gaze, Su Yu went downstairs with the friendly Wu Jia.
"Junior Brother, why are you looking for me?"
Wu Jia followed Su Yu downstairs cheerfully and asked. It was so early in the morning. Why was her junior brother looking for her?
"Senior Sister, it's October."
"Yeah. What about it?"
"If you can't enter the top 100 after December ends, the academy will launch a second review on Martial Uncle. Even after plugging the holes in the account, it's pointless. The second review is a deep review with multiple elders involved."
Wu Jia's expression changed. She was naturally aware of that. She listlessly said, "I know, but...Junior Brother, I'll try to enter the ranking in December!"
Su Yu smiled, "Senior Sister, if you do that, there will be too many variables."
"Then..."
Su Yu slowly said, "The multiple character faction is being targeted. Why can't we be the one doing the targeting for once? If Martial Uncle can be reviewed, what about the others? If you fail to enter the top 100, Martial Uncle will be subjected to a review because of the poor results of his student. What about those from the single character faction? Would their teachers be subjected to a second review if they all dropped out of the top 100? And would the review discover anything bad about them?"
Wu Jia looked at Su Yu blankly and asked, "What do you mean, Junior Brother?"
"Counterattack." Su Yu smiled, "Senior Sister, offense is the best defense. We can't keep staying passive. My fight with Huang Qifeng and what I did to him was acceptable as I have a proper reason for what I did. But if I do the same to anyone else, everyone will start believing that the multiple character faction is needlessly cruel and domineering."
Su Yu said, "The single character faction does not care about public opinion. But we must care about it. Because we are small. Because we are weak. Thus, we still need to protect our reputation. We are already the weaker party. We can't stand against the public as well."
Wu Jia nodded with a pensive look. She looked at Su Yu curiously. This junior brother of hers really spent a lot of time thinking.
"Junior Brother, what do you need me to do?"
"Challenge the top 100 students." Su Yu said, "Challenge the people from the single character faction. Wait, no, let them challenge you. The single character faction is currently pretty helpless against me. But they won't stop targeting you."
Su Yu thought about it and asked, "Have you been challenged recently?"
"Yes." Wu Jia gloomily answered, "There are a lot of them. A bunch of bastards not in the top 100 are challenging me every single day. If Teacher hadn't stopped me, I would have fought them long ago. This is intolerable. If not for my injuries, would those bastards even dare to challenge me?"
"Good." Su Yu smiled, "Accept the challenges, Senior Sister. Don't fight girls. Fight the guys. Don't use your willpower. If you have to sustain physical injuries, just take it. Remember to cough more blood. Let everyone see that despite your injuries, you are still fearless.
"It would be even better if you can win. After winning your first fight, challenge a top 100 student. It doesn't matter if you lose since you're still recovering from your injuries. They only need to know that you have only issued the challenge because you can't stand their bullying anymore. As a result, you fall into their ruthless hands once again."
Wu Jia looked at Su Yu with a dazed expression. She was starting to understand what he wanted her to do.
"Junior Brother...you mean...I need to gain the sympathy of the public? I need to act pitiful?"
"No. You're really pitiful. There is no need to act." Su Yu smiled, "Let the entire academy see how big of a bully the single character faction is. You're an injured girl yet they keep going after you, bullying you relentlessly. It's like they are shitting on your face and forcing you to swallow."
"Junior Brother, that's gross. Don't use that metaphor."
Wu Jia had a gloomy expression. Why was her junior brother using that as a metaphor?
Su Yu found himself speechless. Wu Jia suddenly smiled, "Junior Brother, you have this slimy look on your face. Are you planning to do something against them again?"
"..."
Su Yu blanked out slightly. He hurriedly flashed her an honest smile and said, "Senior Sister, I'm not being slimy. I'm"
"Don't explain." Wu Jia did not care about that. She happily said, "I love slimy snakes like you, Junior Brother. You look really cute when you act all treacherous like this."
"..."
Su Yu wanted to say that he was not a slimy snake. He was not treacherous. He was an honest man! Something was wrong with this senior sister of his. She was slandering him!
"Alright. I understand."
Wu Jia wasn't really a stupid person. In truth, very few cultural researchers were truly stupid. Some of them were simply more innocent and inexperienced, but none of them was a fool.
"Junior Brother, I am confident I can defeat the students at the bottom 10 of the top 100. I have only been worried about the endless challenge that might come after that. Some might even drop their ranking to challenge me."
Su Yu's eyes lit up, "So you can win?"
"There is hope."
"Good! Let them drop their ranks to fight you. Maybe we can even let them challenge you endlessly."
Su Yu's eyes lit up in excitement, "Remember to look really miserable when you fight them. Also, be careful about your sea of willpower. Don't further damage it. After launching the opening salvo, you can leave the rest to me."
Wu Jia nodded.
Su Yu thought for a bit and added, "Senior Sister, remember to doll yourself up nicely for each fight. Remember to look really pitiful when you cough blood. Paste a look of stubborn indignance on your face. If you can suffer some physical wounds, it would be even better. I will supply you with scar-removal pills so everything will be fine. Would this be too much suffering for you, Senior Sister?"
That last question angered Wu Jia. She rubbed Su Yu's head roughly and said, "Who are you looking down on? Your senior sister was already in the top 100 before you joined the faction. And I had relied on my own strength to enter the top 100. I am no stranger to injuries!"
She was furious. How dare this junior brother look down on her?
She kept tousling his hair furiously, turning his handsome hairstyle into a bird nest. Only then was she satisfied. "Don't worry. This is nothing. But Junior Brother, are you confident in your plan?"
"In the top 100, Di Feng is the only troublesome opponent from the single character faction. As for the others...they won't be difficult to deal with."
Su Yu smiled, "Those not in the single character faction won't bother dropping their ranks to challenge me. Thus, the strongest opponent I might face is the 9th ranked Di Feng."
"I am still not confident against Di Feng. Even if I can put up a fight against him, I doubt I can seriously injure him. In that case, fighting him is pointless."
Wu Jia nodded, "I know what to do. When do we start?"
"Today." Su Yu smiled, "You'll accept a challenge first. I'll go get some people to hype up the fight and draw more spectators. We will let more people know that we are not the one finding trouble. It's the fucking single character faction being a damn bully."
Pa!
Wu Jia slapped Su Yu and unhappily said, "Junior Brother, watch your language."
"..."
Su Yu had a helpless expression. Meanwhile, Wu Jia smiled and said, "Smile. Smile happily. You look very good when you smile. Alright. I know what to do. I'll go take a stroll. Those bastards will challenge me without any provocation the moment they see me."