Chapter 542 - The Club!
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
“The Eighth Generation of Broadcast Exercises. First exercise, march on the spot. Go!
“One, two, three, four…”
Hao Ren was sleeping on his bed when he heard the music from outside in the morning.
“Ren! Ren! Their school year has started!” Zhou Liren, who was on the upper berth of the other bed, pushed at Hao Ren’s bed in excitement.
Half asleep, Hao Ren realized that it was Zhao Yanzi’s first day.
“Haha, that’s the morning exercises!” Zhou Liren hopped off the bed and ran onto the balcony in his slippers.
Students from all the dorm buildings came out to watch LingZhao Middle School’s broadcast exercises <sup>1</sup> .
Hao Ren got to the balcony as well and saw students lined up in classes, doing morning exercises.
Dorm Building No.7 was only one wall away from LingZhao Middle School. Hao Ren’s Room 302 was higher than the fence so that they could see the sports field clearly.
“There are so many cute girls!” Zhou Liren stared at the girls on the sports field and sighed.
Hao Ren scanned the area, looking for Zhao Yanzi; students in Grade Nine should be doing the exercises as well. The teachers would only take up this period during the second half of the term when the high school entrance exam was near.
Middle school students were developing, so the heights of the students were largely different.
Hao Ren spotted Zhao Yanzi immediately; she was in the fourth column and the second row.
Students were lined up according to their heights with girls in the front and boys in the back. The shorter students were standing in front of the taller ones.
Zhao Yanzi wasn’t tall in her class, so she was in the second row, right in front of Ling.
“Third exercise, leg kicks!
As the music and the broadcast changed, Zhao Yanzi had to change her movements according to the instructions. She looked a little absent-minded in her uniform, but she didn’t act too lost since a teacher was supervising her class.
Hao Ren couldn’t help but laugh at her silly movements. Zhao Yanzi hopped lazily in her uniform, yet she still looked pretty cute.
“Is little cousin there?” Zhou Liren asked when he noticed Hao Ren’s smile.
“Not telling you.” Hao Ren rolled his eyes at Zhou Liren coldly on purpose.
“Come on, Brother Ren!” Zhou Liren stuck his neck out with his hands holding onto the railing. He started the search himself.
However, all the students of LingZhao Middle School were in light blue uniforms. He got lost in search of Zhao Yanzi. Besides, how could his eyesight be compared with Hao Ren?
Zhao Yanzi looked up at the university dorm buildings as she followed the instructions.
This was their first day of the school and their first broadcast exercise on this campus. Many university students were watching them, and Zhao Yanzi wondered if Hao Ren was one of them.
However, there were so many balconies, and she remembered that Hao Ren’s dorm building was the ‘furthest’ from her school. She couldn’t spot Hao Ren after searching for a while, and she made a few mistakes, causing her to stand out in the group.
“Eighth exercise, cooling down!
It was the last portion of the broadcast exercise, so the movements slowed down.
“Is Uncle amongst them, Zi?” Ling made large steps on purpose in order to get closer to Zhao Yanzi, and she asked quietly when she got the chance.
“No. His room is far from here!” Zhao Yanzi answered.
“Were you looking for him? You made a few mistakes today,” Ling said.
“What are you talking about? I was thinking about today’s homework!” Zhao Yanzi tried to justify herself.
The exercises finished, and all the classes exited the sports field along with the music. Zhao Yanzi was obviously the prettiest girl in her class.
When it was Zhao Yanzi’s class turn to exit the sports field, she looked back at the university dorm buildings. She had a weird feeling and felt like Hao Ren was staring at her.
“Go back to bed, go back to bed,” Zhao Jiayi and Cao Ronghua lost their interest as the youthful girls exited the sports field. They went back into their room from the balcony.
Their schedule was completely opposite of Hao Ren’s. Most of their classes were in the afternoon beside the mandatory classes. That was because they wanted to sleep in.
Zhou Liren stuck his neck out in search for Hao Ren’s ‘little cousin,’ but he still couldn’t find her.
Hao Ren kept her eyes on Zhao Yanzi the entire time. He even saw her messing around with Ling when she returned to her classroom.
The lively and familiar scene reminded Hao Ren of his own middle school days. It would be fun if he could turn back time and become Zhao Yanzi’s classmate.
He checked the time and realized that his first class was about to start. So, he freshened up and headed to his class.
Xie Yujia was already there when he arrived at the classroom.
“Hi!” Xie Yujia waved at him.
She looked as refreshing as usual in her white t-shirt and jeans. Several guys were checking her out as they nudged each other when Hao Ren entered the room. They were probably betting on asking for Xie Yujia’s phone number.
However, their cheerful faces immediately turned gloomy when she greeted Hao Ren with a bright smile.
Hao Ren glanced at the guys as he walked to Xie Yujia and sat down. These guys were probably freshmen, and they thought Xie Yujia was new as well.
“How is it going with the club?” Hao Ren asked.
“Um, everything is set up. Since Vice Principal Lu was here yesterday, he stamped our documents. I registered at the administration office after that, and the club is officially established.” Xie Yujia smiled.
“Good,” Hao Ren was relieved at this news.
“Should we put some advertisements up? Newly established clubs don’t always get many students. But since new students just started school, we can rent a place and host some recruiting events.” Xie Yujia continued.
She thought of many activities for Hao Ren last night; she tried to think of some ways to recruit students for him so that this Calligraphy Club wouldn’t be too miserable with only a few members.
“It’s ok. Lu Qi has already spread the word for me. Let’s go to the cafeteria and put up a little table by the door,” Hao Ren said.
“Don’t we need some promotional activities? Should we ask Lu Linlin and Lu Lili for help?” Xie Yujia asked.
East Ocean University encouraged the students in enriching their spare times, so the students established a lot of clubs. However, newly started clubs usually found recruiting difficult since students would instead join the large clubs than small ones with few members.
In addition, the school board would cancel any clubs’ qualification if they could not recruit over 50 members within a month. During all these years, only large clubs like the Swimming Club and Boardgame Club could survive.
Xie Yujia was worried about Hao Ren’s club. He went through a lot of trouble to get it running, so she didn’t want it to be disqualified after a month. Therefore, she suggested that he should promote the new club in early September.
“It’s alright…” Hao Ren started to comfort Xie Yujia instead. Although it was his club, Xie Yujia had taken a lot of effort in running around for him.
He couldn’t help but smile at her serious look. That was how her personality was; she would try her best in everything she did.
“Ok. As long as you say it’s alright!” Xie Yujia finally smiled in relief. She believed in Hao Ren’s abilities and realized that she overly-stressed herself.
As they chit-chatted, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili in their floral short skirts and black sandals walked into the classroom, laughing and chatting.
The guys who were staring at Xie Yujia were suddenly stupefied with their eyes lighting up. If Xie Yujia was only pretty to them, the twins were astonishing.
“Gongzi!”
Before they could stare more at the sisters, these two beauties fastened their steps and headed toward Hao Ren who was at the back of the classroom.
The guys who were looking at them gasped.
What was the definition of brutal? This was it! They saw this quiet, beautiful girl in the back row when they first entered the classroom, but they soon realized that she already had a boyfriend just before they were going to ask for her number. Then, they saw these two lively twin sisters coming in which brought them hope, but those two pretty girls ran toward that guy in the back as well!
Hao Ren felt the pressure as he realized that he had crushed those freshmen’s spirit. He slightly waved and said, “Don’t play around too much; the class is starting.”
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili became quiet, and they sat beside Hao Ren, pouting.
The class was about to start, and the students gradually arrived.
“Oh, there is a freshman in our program named Xu Ke. Do you know him?” Hao Ren asked Xie Yujia.
“Xu Ke?” Xie Yujia thought for a bit. “I don’t remember.”
“He’s the guy who called me to the office last time,” Hao Ren added.
“Oh, him!” Xie Yujia nodded. “I didn’t know his name, but when Ma Lina dragged me to watch the campus military training, he came over and asked me for the directions to the supermarket.”
Xie Yujia looked at Hao Ren. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing much. You have more connections in the Student Council. Please see what information you can find on him,” Hao Ren said.
Hao Ren noticed the surprised look on Xie Yujia’s face when Xu Ke came to see him last time, so he knew that she must have met him before. Now that he thought about it, Xue Ke must have approached Xie Yujia on purpose last time when she went to see the campus military training with Ma Lina.
“Oh, ok!” Xie Yujia didn’t ask any more questions. Hao Ren must have his reason for looking this person up.
At this moment, Huang Xujie pushed open the door and entered the Rock-Climbing Club’s office. He asked the guy who was sitting in front of the computer, “How is Lu Qi’s post going?”
Today was an important day for club recruiting. The first day of school was usually for first-year students to adapt to the new environment, and the clubs would usually start their promotional campaigns on the second day of school in order to snatch resources.
Therefore, although Huang Xujie was already a fourth-year student, he got up early in the morning to check on the recruiting status at the Rock-Climbing Club.
The more club members he had, the higher the status he would have at school. The Rock-Climbing Club was the No.1 Club of East Ocean University. However, since Lu Linlin and Lu Lili joined the Taekwondo Club and the Swimming Club, their memberships had been increasing rapidly to a point where it was threatening the Rock-Climbing Club’s position; Huang Xujie got into some arguments with the other two club presidents because of this.
It was that time of the year again, and Huang Xujie paid extra attention to each club’s movements since he knew that Hao Ren was also a part of this.
“That post is pin to the top by the forum administrator, but few people have responded,” that member answered as he opened the webpage.
Huang Xujie took a look. Sure enough, only three or four students responded under the post, and they were just random responses since none of them actually intended to join the club.
“Humph, Calligraphy Club? I have no idea what he was thinking. Who would join a club like that?” Huang Xujie squinted his eyes with disdain.
Usually, the larger the club was, the more money it could bring. Members had to pay a registration fee as well as for the equipment fees and activities fees. A club like the Rock-Climbing Club could make quite a lot of money every year just with the rock-climbing equipment and outdoor activities.
“Hao Ren must have started his Calligraphy Club to show off or out of his own interest,” Huang Xujie thought and was curious how many dummies would join a boring club like that.
The courses were taking place as usual, so were the classes at LingZhao Middle School on the other side of the street.
Zhao Yanzi was sitting in the classroom as she played with a ballpen in her palm. She was listening to her English teacher in boredom.
That was the first day of her Grade Nine year, yet the class atmosphere was very depressing. This so-called expert teacher didn’t seem to be as good as Hao Ren in explaining English grammar.
Ring… The class dismissal bell rang, and Zhao Yanzi hopped out of her seat all of a sudden. She patted Ling who sat behind her and said, “Hey! Let’s go eat at Hongji Square!”
Although LingZhao Middle School had very strict rules on students, it allowed them to go outside of the school for lunch. After being ‘locked up’ for an entire morning, Zhao Yanzi finally got released.
“Alright, I know. I was going to go with Liu Yuntao. I guess we can go together,” Ling glimpsed at Zhao Yanzi and shrugged.
“Hehe…” Zhao Yanzi dragged Ling out of the classroom. They went next door to look for Liu Yuntao, Ling’s boyfriend.
Liu Yuntao played well on the basketball team. Although he was not one of the main forces, he was tall, came from a well-off family, and was nice to Ling. Unlike Zhao Yanzi, Ling had a different taste for boyfriends. She liked taller guys who could give her a sense of security.
Ling and Liu Yuntao got along pretty well during this summer. Therefore, Zhao Yanzi got familiar with him after school started.
LingZhao High School and Middle School were now in different locations, and some of the Middle School Department’s staffs hadn’t arrived yet. Therefore, the school cafeteria was still closed; most of the students left from the front gate and headed toward Hongji Square for lunch.
“Hey! Are you Zhao Yanzi?”
A gangster-looking man who sat on a motorcycle walked up to her after she left the campus.
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