Peiying High School's campus was enormous, with uniquely designed teaching buildings and library. The venue for the arts gala was at the end of a stone path—a massive domed hall.
Not far away, luxury cars were parked everywhere—BMWs and Audis were a common sight. The students here were all dressed to impress.
"That's the venue for the arts gala," Jason Liu pointed ahead, explaining to Evan. "I heard their hall can seat up to five thousand people. Even some big phone companies hold their product launches here."
Jason Liu gestured toward the hall, introducing it to Evan Lin.
There were a lot of people today, and there was still a little time before the gala started.
At the moment, plenty of people were heading toward the hall in twos and threes.
Jason Liu and Evan Lin had only walked a few steps forward when a group of people approached them.
Leading the group was none other than Luke Lu. After a few days, the swelling on his face had gone down quite a bit, but it hadn’t completely disappeared—at first glance, he still looked a bit like a steamed bun.
Beside Luke, Sharon Shen was dressed up in skinny jeans, her look carefully styled. She clung to Luke’s arm, smiling sweetly, looking especially close to him.
Seeing this, Jason’s eyes dimmed a little.
"Hey, you guys made it."
Sharon Shen spotted Jason Liu and Evan Lin, calling out to them.
"Yeah, Sharon, you look great tonight," Jason Liu nodded, grinning widely.
Sharon rolled her eyes at him and didn’t answer. Her gaze went straight to Evan Lin. Raising a shapely eyebrow, she said, "You showed up to our school’s arts gala dressed like that? You’re really not giving us any face."
As soon as Sharon finished, Luke Lu’s lips curled up. He squinted at Evan, "This brother looks like a free spirit. Maybe we had some misunderstandings before—tonight’s a good chance to clear things up."
Luke’s tone was a little odd. The boy Jason Liu had punched at the match also nodded, grinning weirdly: "Yeah, there were some misunderstandings. But our Brother Ryan Chen still has to perform on stage tonight. After Chen’s performance, we’ll settle up!"
Hearing this, Jason Liu’s heart sank. Realizing trouble was brewing, he was about to speak up when Evan Lin calmly nodded: "That works. No rush, there’s plenty of time tonight. If there are misunderstandings, we’ll clear them up."
Luke, Sharon, and the others were surprised by Evan’s response. They thought he was clueless and couldn’t see through their scheme.
Still, Luke nodded, grinning: "Good, you know what’s up. Brother Ryan Chen runs with Hugh Hu. If you behave yourself, maybe Chen will be happy enough to make you one of his little underlings."
"Hugh Hu?"
Evan Lin raised his eyebrows slightly at Luke’s words.
"Hu Yongrui! You don’t know Hugh Hu? And you still dare show up at Peiying? You’ve got some guts!" one of the boys sneered.
"Hu Yongrui? The one whose dad’s a major?" Jason Liu was startled when he heard that.
"Who else? Over summer break, Hugh Hu went out and caused a huge mess—beat someone so bad they were crippled. He got locked up at home and only just got out. He’s got a lot of pent-up anger, so when you see Hugh Hu, don’t mouth off or you’ll get smacked! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!"
Luke Lu kept sneering.
This Hu Yongrui was the school’s resident tyrant. His dad was with the Jinnan Military District, so nobody dared mess with him.
Luke Lu only managed to make a name for himself at school thanks to Hugh Hu. By clinging to that big shot, he’d gotten pretty far.
After Evan Lin beat him up, Luke had planned to ask Hugh Hu for help, but Hugh was under house arrest at the time. He’d only just come back in the last few days.
Luke took this chance to lure Evan Lin and Jason Liu to school. He planned to have Hugh Hu deal with Evan after Hugh finished performing, to finally get his revenge.
"Evan, I think we should leave. I just remembered—I still haven’t finished my homework for today!" Jason Liu decided on the spot and tried to drag Evan away.
Hugh Hu wasn’t like the others. With his background, anyone who messed with him didn’t stand a chance of turning things around.
"Leave? Come on, you just got here! The gala hasn’t even started yet. Plus, you’re in luck—our school’s idol Selina Shi is performing live tonight, and Hugh Hu and Ryan Chen are her backup dancers. If you leave before it’s over, you’re not giving Hugh Hu any face!"
Luke Lu sneered, "If you don’t give Hugh Hu face, you’re not giving me face either!"
Luke’s words rang out loud and clear.
As soon as he finished, a few guys stepped up, glaring at Evan Lin and Jason Liu with obvious bad intentions.
"We’re already here, so we might as well take a look," Evan said calmly.
Evan was curious—was this Hugh Hu they were talking about the same arrogant Hu Yongrui he’d crushed at White Dragon Mountain Resort?
And this ‘Brother Chen’—could he be Chen Ren, the son of his mom Joy Zheng’s old classmate Neil Kong?
Thinking of this, Evan couldn’t help but smirk. What a coincidence.
Hearing Evan’s response, Jason Liu stopped trying to persuade him and straightened his back.
"That’s more like it. Come on, let’s head to the hall—I even saved seats for you guys," Luke Lu chuckled, his eyes gleaming.
Sharon Shen clung to his arm, looking proud.
When the group arrived at the hall, it was already packed.
Luke led Evan and the others to seats in the third row, right in the center. The first two rows were reserved for school leaders and the student council. Getting third-row seats was all thanks to Hugh Hu’s influence.
After Evan and the others entered, it wasn’t long before Ryan Ren came in with Lynn Chen. Lynn instantly drew plenty of attention from the crowd.
Everywhere they went, guys shot Ryan envious looks. He enjoyed every bit of it.
"You sit here—I’m going backstage to get ready. I’ll be on stage soon."
Ryan flashed Lynn a confident smile.