Raising a Fox Spirit in My Home

Chapter 62: The Biggest Name on Campus

Later that night, the leaders and higher-ups of the university had a debriefing session to assess the success of the performance night.

“That kid has to be expelled!” Director Qian slapped the conference table, his comb-over sliding down from the top of his head until it covered half of his eyes. “He’s a ticking time bomb and trouble waiting to happen!”

For a brief moment, the conference room was silent except for Director Qian’s heavy breathing.

“Just look at what happened tonight!” Director Qian went on. “He nearly killed one of our foreign visitors! And teaching the foreigner an insulting phrase? This is just too much!”

“I agree with Director Qian,” said Professor Liu. “If we keep a student like him around, it’s just a matter of time before he does something to damage the university’s reputation permanently. Just look at his behavior over the past two weeks!”

The chancellor was currently away from the country on a business trip, so Vice-chancellor Ke was the one entrusted to handle all university matters.

Vice-chancellor Ke adjusted his reading glasses with a finger, then cleared his throat. “But we cannot deny that he left a good impression amongst the students from the University of Pennsylvania,” he said, glancing at Director Qian. “Every one of our foreign visitors is currently singing his praises.”

“But he nearly killed John Schelter with a punch, vice-chancellor!” Director Qian protested. “And he even taught him an impolite phrase afterwards! How on earth can that kind of behavior leave a good impression? Wouldn’t people start to question our competence if we keep a student like him around? Worse, what if they think that all of our students are like that!”

Silence fell upon the conference room as Vice-chancellor Ke pondered Director Qian’s words.

After a while, Vice-chancellor Ke sat up straighter and addressed the rest of his staff with finality: “Regardless, we cannot, in good conscience, deny that the boy had put in a lot of effort to make the event work. Not only that, but he was also the star of the show. Expelling him now would just raise all kinds of questions, questions that we cannot provide satisfactory answers to.”

The way Vice-chancellor Ke saw it, this event would’ve been a disaster had it not been for Li Yundong’s efforts. In other words, he had started to take a bit of a liking to Li Yundong.

Director Qian snorted and said nothing else. Deep down, however, he was highly troubled. If Li Yundong had won the vice-chancellor’s support, Director Qian knew that expelling him would be difficult if not impossible.

Vice-chancellor Ke glanced at Director Qian, then said, “Now, let’s move on to the next item on the agenda…”

***

After the meeting, Director Qian was stopped by Professor Liu when he was about to leave the conference room.

“One moment, Director Qian,” said Professor Liu.

Director Qian came to a halt and glanced at Professor Liu with a raised brow.

“Getting rid of that troublemaker isn’t difficult at all, Director.”

A look of surprise formed on Director Qian’s face. “Oh?”

Professor Liu smiled. “The semester’s final exams are nearing, you see,” Professor Liu said. “And I’ve already checked his credits for this semester. So far, he has skipped more than forty classes. That alone has cost him a lot of his semester credits. Also, he isn’t allowed to sit for the final exams for four of his papers. The two papers which he is allowed to sit for the exams on, are both compulsory papers. So, as long as he fails to accumulate enough credits on those two papers…”

Director Qian smiled in understanding. “We would have a legitimate excuse to kick him out…”

“Exactly,” Professor Liu said.

The two “educators” smiled at each other, reveling in their new-found evil scheme.

***

That night, the university’s servers were swamped with web traffic as all students logged on to the forum.

Inside the female dorms, Cheng Cheng was staring at the screen of her laptop. She’d been scrolling through the university forum ever since she stepped out from the shower earlier. The moment she logged into her account, she saw that the forum was already swamped with posts about the performance night. Most of the post contained video clips from the event. When Cheng Cheng sorted the forum threads by popularity, she wasn’t surprised to see the thread featuring Li Yundong’s performance sitting right on top.

Cheng Cheng jumped up from the bed, then ran towards the bathroom.

“Nana!” Cheng Cheng hollered outside the bathroom. “Quick! Come check this out!”

Cheng Cheng hurried back towards her bed and picked up her laptop, then clicked into the thread and played the video.

When Feng Na strode out of the bathroom a while later, all their roommates were standing beside Cheng Cheng’s bed, staring at something playing on Cheng Cheng’s laptop. Feng Na ran a small towel through her wet hair and strutted towards Cheng Cheng’s bed. As she walked, her long and pale legs swung alluringly under the bath towel wrapped around her body.

“What are you girls looking at? You’re acting like you’re high on drugs or something,” Feng Na said, peeking at the screen.

Feng Na laughed when she saw the video clip featuring Li Yundong’s performance.

“Seriously? This video is what got y’all so excited?” Feng Na said, chuckling. “Come on, we’ve seen the whole thing live! And this video isn’t even in HD!”

Cheng Cheng glanced at Feng Na and chuckled. “Who cares! Li Yundong looked so hot from this angle too!”

“Of course!” Feng Na said, her face beaming with pride. “Why else do you think I picked a junior as my idol?”

Their roommates burst into giggles.

One of them even decided to tease Feng Na a little.

“So… Tell us, Nana. Which base have you gotten to with him, hmm?”

Feng Na felt an instant tug inside her chest when she heard her roommate’s ribbing. All of a sudden, Feng Na’s eyes turned slightly glassy.

Having noticed the sudden shift in Feng Na’s mood, Cheng Cheng decided to change the subject. “Hey, girls! Check out these funny comments!” Cheng Cheng said.

Once again, the girls formed a circle around Cheng Cheng’s laptop and stared into the screen. One of the girls read the comments out loud.

Nantian451: Holy cow! I didn’t even know such a badass exists in Tiannan University! Chuck Norris ain’t got nothing on this guy!

Niu_B66: @Nantian451 This is what I call hidden talent, people! Hidden talent! It just goes to show that it’s always possible to extract high-quality fertilizer from a sh*tty place 🙂

Nantian451: @Niu_B66 LOL. But seriously, I feel kinda proud to be a student of Tiannan University right now.

MasterTao2: A true Zhenren would never reveal this true self! (Note: Zhenren is a title in Toaism given to those who had obtained spiritual transcendence)

NOOB: @MasterTao2 Are you implying that Li Yundong can never be a Zhenren because he revealed himself today?

Troll_55: @MasterTao2 @NOOB Tsk, tsk! What are you both talking about? He can still become a Zhenren… as long as he hasn’t shown his d*ck…

Niu_B66: @Troll_55 HAHAHAHA!

Nantian451: @Troll_55 LOL. *thumbs up*

MasterTao2: Yep. According to @Troll_55’s logic, Li Yundong can still become a Zhenren.

Shaolin18: Ahoy, citizens of the world! Rest assured that five hundred years from now, Li Yundong from Tiannan University will rise to become the modern day Zhenren! Amitabha, Amitabha! The ocean of bitterness is vast and boundless. Repent, however, and the shore is at hand! The great Buddha beckons, people! Repent now! Repent before it is too late! Take the first step in your repentance by becoming an almsgiver to the great Zhenren Li. To make a donation, please call 134***54657 and speak to Zhenren Li’s disciple! If you prefer to talk face to face, please come to Tiannan University’s men’s dorms, Room 406. Amitabha…

MasterTao2: @Shaolin18 What are you even talking about, you f**king retard! What does Zhenren have to do with Buddhism? Zhenren is a Toaist term, dumbass!

YinYangTao: You’re all a bunch of charlatans! Listen up, people! I now speak on behalf of Zhenren Li himself since I’m his 49th successor! To those of you who wish to be one with the Tao, come to Room 108 of Tiannan University’s male dormitories! Stand at the door, and yell, “Long live our Lord, Zhenren Li,” and your call shall be answered!

MasterTao2: @YinYangTao 49th successor of Zhenren Li? More like the 49th successor of a cuckoo! Zhenren Li isn’t even 20 yet, and you’re already his 49th successor?

Cheng Cheng was laughing so hard that she was practically in tears.

Cheng Cheng’s body shook in laughter as it fell sideways until she was lying in Feng Na’s lap.

“Damn, these people are hilarious!” Feng Na said, wiping her tears away.

“Oh… yeah,” Cheng Cheng said. “I have a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a long and fun night.”

***

In just one short hour, the thread had over 2000 comments!

Cheng Cheng went back to the forum’s home page and sorted the threads by popularity. Unsurprisingly, the thread featuring Li Yundong was still sitting right on top. Minutes later, when Cheng Cheng clicked “sort by date,” a thread caught her eye: The Most Popular Tiannan University Male Student of All Time!

Piqued, Cheng Cheng clicked into the thread.

The OP had created a poll with a list of all the good-looking and popular male students in the past. Cheng Cheng scrolled down and realized that the thread already had 1000 comments. Li Yundong was leading the poll with 95% of the votes going to him. Zhao Yujian’s name never even made it onto the list.

Ten minutes later, an idea struck Cheng Cheng. She went back to the forum’s homepage and started a new thread: Who Is Your Ideal Male Partner?

“Ooh, a new thread, Cheng Cheng?” one of their roommates said.

“Yep! What are you girls waiting for,” Cheng Cheng said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. “Start voting!”

When Cheng Cheng closed the poll twenty minutes later, Li Yundong was once again the winner with 97% of the votes going to him.

Feeling as though she was on a roll, Cheng Cheng started another thread: Who Do You Think Is the Perfect Female Partner?

“Another one, Cheng Cheng?” said one of their roommates. “You sure are having fun tonight!”

“Mm-hmm!” Cheng Cheng said. “Now hurry up, girls. Let’s all cast our votes! Nana all the way!”

As Feng Na’s bestie, it was pretty much Cheng Cheng’s sworn duty to give Feng Na her full support.

However, Cheng Cheng’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw the result of the poll twenty minutes later. Feng Na didn’t win, not even close. Neither did Tiannan University’s beauty queen, Zhou Qin.

The winner was “Li Yundong’s Mysterious Girlfriend.”

“This can’t be right! It can’t be!” Cheng Cheng said in annoyance. Then, a sudden thought came to her. “This has got to be the guys’ doing! They are getting back at us because we all voted for Li Yundong as the ideal male partner!”

“Sisters! We have to fight back!” Cheng Cheng said. “How can we allow the most handsome and popular male student in Tiannan University to be taken away by some woman with an unknown background?”

The keyboard warriors of Tiannan University had taken up arms.

So began a long and grueling debate that would take the entire forum of Tiannan University by storm.