Chapter 696 Arena

There are quite a few places to drink coffee in Tianjin, but the best coffee shop must be in Xiaobailou.

It was clearly daytime, but the owner insisted on pulling the curtains halfway to create a dim and alternating light.

The soothing and low-pitched music echoed in the space exuding complex aromas, making the atmosphere lazy and ambiguous.

So lovers always like to date in such places, because when men and women go to such places, even if they don’t want anything to happen, they will definitely be unable to restrain their minds from "thinking wrongly".

For example, Su Yi and Gong Er now.

The light with a halo sprinkled on each other, making the people sitting opposite look mysterious and angular. The white mist from the two cups of coffee occasionally blocked the sight of the two people, and they tried to hide the emotions in their eyes in this alternating moment.

But the effect was not very good.

"I remember the first time I drank coffee was when I was fourteen years old." Gong Er suddenly smiled and said, "That year, the Zhepeng people killed Marshal Zhang in Huanggutun. When my father heard the news, he laughed three times and cried. He laughed because if it weren't for Marshal Zhang, my master uncle would not have been forced to leave his hometown and couldn't return home; he cried because if it weren't for Marshal Zhang, who else could stop the Zhepeng people?"

The topic was a little heavy, and the previous charming atmosphere disappeared. The gentleness in Su Yi's eyes gradually turned into solemnity.

However, this was what Gong Er intended.

"A heart of loyalty to serve the country, two lines of tears for missing relatives." Gong Er said faintly, "I know my father's suffering and his dilemma. So I have always listened to him and never let him worry about me."

Su Yi listened quietly and didn't speak.

"Dad had been feeling bad for a long time, and one day he suddenly said he wanted to take me out for coffee. He said he would, so I went with him. But after we went, I found out that it wasn't just Dad and I who were drinking coffee together. There was also a father and son."

Speaking of this, Gong Er suddenly paused, her eyes flickering.

Su Yi understood what she was going to say, and why she was "ignorant of the situation" when the atmosphere was just right.

"Their family is powerful and has a big background in Jinling." Gong Er laughed at herself, "I always thought that my dad was my heaven, and with him, I would be happy and healthy all my life."

"But that day I realized that there is always a higher heaven. The troubled times are coming, and my dad is afraid that his sky can't cover me, so he found a higher and bigger sky for me."

Su Yi still didn't say anything, he was still listening.

"I promised to marry the son of that family." Gong Er looked at Su Yi, "In fact, when my father asked me that day, I just said 'no' and my father would definitely agree with me, because he never forced me to do anything. Mr. Geng, do you know why I didn't say anything in the end and agreed to my father?"

Su Yi looked at her and said slowly: "Maybe, you want to be his heaven."

Gong Er's eyes suddenly had more brilliance.

She said: "I actually regret it a little, so I worked hard to practice martial arts these years. I think I don't need to rely on others to be the heaven, I can rely on myself. Maybe I overestimated my own ability. From that day on, I have never been happy again."

Su Yi said, "Sometimes people are unhappy because they carry too many things that they shouldn't carry. They want to let go, but they feel that they shouldn't let go and can't let go."

"Are you like this too, Mr. Geng?" Gong Er asked.

"Me too." Su Yi said.

"So you are not happy too?" Gong Er asked again.

"Sometimes, but more often I will try to find joy in suffering." Su Yi smiled, "Whose life is without pain?"

"Miss Gong, in fact, people should be in pain when they should be in pain, and be happy when they should be happy. You won't be happy when you are in pain, so why do you want to recall painful things when you are happy?"

Gong Er looked at Su Yi and suddenly smiled and said, "Mr. Geng is blaming me for ruining the scenery?"

"No," Su Yi said, "I'm just trying to make you happy."

Gong Er's eyes seemed to be rippled, and she said softly, "Many people told me not to be unhappy. But they never knew why I was unhappy, and never tried to make me happy."

Su Yi smiled and said nothing.

"Tell me about yourself, Mr. Geng." Gong Er said, "I want to hear it."

Su Yi looked at her and said slowly after a while: "Like you, I have too many things that I can't let go of, so I have a lot of things that I have to do, such as this ring. I know there are tigers in the mountains, but I still go to the tiger mountain. In fact, no one likes to fight in the ring, but if you want to do something, this world needs you to fight with others."

"After this ring, there will definitely be another ring waiting for me, and I will continue to fight. Whether I like it or not, I have to stand on the ring again and again, use my fists, use my knife, to defeat my opponents, and even kill my opponents."

After a pause, Su Yi looked at Gong Er and continued: "So I am destined to miss a lot of scenery in my life, and I am destined to leave a lot of regrets."

"Like now?" Gong Er asked suddenly.

"Yes." Su Yi said.

The two looked at each other, Gong Er's eyes were a little misty, she smiled, as if joking: "If there is a chance, buy a train ticket without asking where to go, are you willing to give up everything and follow me?"

"Can you let it go?" Su Yi asked.

Gong Er looked at Su Yi deeply and shook her head slowly.

At this moment, Su Yi suddenly felt relieved.

He suddenly thought that maybe when Gong Baosen asked Gong Er if she was willing to marry that young man, he was in the same mood as he was just now.

So when Gong Er shook her head just now, was it for the same reason as before?

"Mr. Geng, I'm very happy to meet you." Gong Er said.

"Me too." Su Yi said.

Gong Er smiled and stood up: "In fact, coffee is not very good, it's too bitter. Mr. Geng, this cup of coffee, I'll buy it."

She turned and left without looking back.

Su Yi pressed himself on the sofa for a long time until he was sure that he could never catch up with Gong Er again.

Gong Er said that she was stubborn and competitive, and she had never admitted defeat to anyone in her life.

But she still admitted it just now.

Su Yi told her that whoever loses this duel will buy it.

This cup of coffee was finally paid by Gong Er.

Since that day, Gong Er has never come again.

In fact, after returning from Xiaobailou, Gong Baosen waited for his daughter at the martial arts arena of Zheng's house as usual, but he did not wait for Gong Er, but only for Lao Jiang.

"Master, the girl said she would not come." Lao Jiang said, "She will not go in the future."

Lao Jiang hesitated.

"What do you want to say?" Gong Baosen asked.

"There seems to be something wrong between the girl and Geng Liangchen..." Lao Jiang said hesitantly.

Gong Baosen's face changed, his eyes were uncertain for a long time, and then he asked in a deep voice: "Are you sure?"

"It's been five years, and I have never seen the girl so happy as she has been in these days." Lao Jiang said, "But today, the old girl is back again."

Gong Baosen was silent for a long time, and sighed: "The matter in Tianjin should be settled. Let Shan Ao send a letter to the newspaper."

"Yes, sir."

The next day, the front pages of major newspapers in Tianjin published a message - the Chinese Warriors Association will hold the Chinese Elite Warriors Competition at the Tianjin National Martial Arts Museum in ten days, aiming to select national martial arts elites from various sects to form a national martial arts elite association, promote national martial arts, and promote the spirit of martial arts.

The elite warrior competition is divided into four stages.

The first stage of the competition system is the "Challenge Master Challenge". All the sects and individuals invited must draw lots to randomly compete. Those who win three consecutive games can become the champion. The champion needs to win ten consecutive games to be considered as successfully defending the championship and enter the second stage of the competition.

The challenge lasts for ten days. The champions who have not completed the rounds must fight at least two games every day, or accept challenges from others, or randomly draw opponents.

Those who lose once still have one chance to continue to participate in the challenge, but if they lose two games in total, they will lose the chance to advance to the second round.

The champions who successfully defend the ring by winning consecutive games within ten days will advance to the next round. The second stage of the competition system is the "champion competition".

All champions will be divided into groups after drawing lots to fight against each other. Each group has four people, and each person needs to play three games. The points system is adopted, one point for a win and zero points for a loss.

Only the first place in each group will advance to the third round.

The third stage of the competition system is called the "national champion competition". The champions of each group in the second round need to fight against each other in turn, and the top three will be determined according to the points system. The Chinese National Martial Arts Museum will give them the titles of "national champion, knight and warrior".

At this point, the main competition of this national martial arts elite challenge is completely over.

But there is still a fourth stage of the competition, which is the "inheritance performance match".

In this stage of the competition, a total of eight martial arts masters, including Gong Baosen, Li Shuwen, Shang Yunxiang, Sun Lutang, Zhang Ce, the arm saint, Yang Chengpu, Ma Yingtu, and Ma Liang, will select the top three elite warriors for a martial arts inheritance performance match.

They will randomly select their favorite disciples and have a heritage performance match with them, and after the challenger reaches the reasonable conditions they preset, they will reward the challenger with their signature skills and special skills.

In addition, as long as you advance to the second round, you will get a generous reward of one thousand oceans.

Advancing to the third round will get a reward of ten thousand oceans.

The top three in the third round will receive rewards of one hundred thousand, fifty thousand, and twenty thousand oceans.

All the prize money for this competition is sponsored by Liu Haiqing's "Three Youth Group".

Looking at this familiar competition system, it is obvious that Su Yi has contributed to it.

Both the novel competition system and the generous rewards are full of gimmicks. After the news was announced, it quickly aroused heated discussions among the people.

Moreover, the news not only fermented in Tianjin, but also quickly spread to the whole country.

The competition system this time is very advanced, complete and fair, and the rewards are very generous, which can be said to be unprecedented.

Almost all martial artists in the country are attracted, and those who have the conditions to come have quickly started to set off and rush here.

Ten days is enough for people from most parts of the country to rush to Tianjin, but due to various reasons, few martial artists from the south still come, especially those south of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Even so, after ten days, there are thousands of martial artists gathered in Tianjin, which has put great pressure on the public security situation in Tianjin.

The streets of Tianjin have been very lively recently. No matter where you go, people are talking about this martial arts event.

The number of people is far beyond Gong Baosen's expectations. In Gong Baosen's original expectation, hundreds of people participating in the competition would be considered a large event.

But now, there are thousands of people!

A competition with thousands of people is definitely a super-large event. It is also the first time in this era that such a grand competition has been held with the largest number of participants in history.

Gong Baosen and Zheng Shanao were both a little at a loss as they had no experience in this.

This incident even attracted the attention of Yu Xuezhong and even Jinling. Because there were too many people gathered, Jinling had already called for the martial arts competition to be stopped. For a time, there was panic and bad news came from everywhere.

Fortunately, Su Yi took action in time and took on the job of "organization consultant" without hesitation. He sent his Liba as "volunteers", and Liu Haiqing persuaded the military to come forward, so that order returned to normal.

Therefore, the first round of the "Challenge" competition system began to change with the increase in the number of people. Thousands of contestants were divided into eight competition areas according to the order of registration time. Contestants in the eight competition areas were not allowed to "cross-area" to participate in the competition, and the competitions in the eight venues would be held at the same time. The duration of the competition was strictly controlled within five minutes.

In this way, although the number of participants was nearly ten times more than expected, the competition system did not actually change much, and was not affected much.

This mature competition system amazed everyone, and they felt that the person who could design such a competition system was definitely a genius.

There were even warlords who paid attention to this matter and offered generous conditions to "poach" Su Yi, hoping that he would switch to their command and do "more meaningful work".

Of course, Su Yi ignored it and turned a deaf ear to it. This made people who knew of his existence praise his "indifference to fame and fortune".

The day of the competition finally arrived!

On this day, the whole streets of Tianjin were empty, and people all flocked to the eight competition sites in Tianjin to visit this unprecedented martial arts competition.

Su Yi did not do anything special, because this competition really ignored the background and treated everyone equally, and everyone had to start from the first round.

Of course, even so, it is impossible to be completely fair. The words fame and fortune are the most likely to make people rack their brains and continue to fight. No matter how perfect the rules are, there are people who can find loopholes in them.

For example, someone may buy off ten opponents to challenge him in order to advance, and deliberately lose to him on the stage, so that he can qualify for the second round.

In this situation, even Su Yi had no good solution, and could only achieve his goal through post-punishment.

Fortunately, this kind of champion who got to the ring by cheating would not go far, because in the second round, everyone was on the same starting line again.

As a contestant, Su Yi was assigned to the first competition area, which had the most people, with more than 800 warriors from all over the country participating. The competition venue was in the French Concession, in a racecourse opened by a lighthouse man.

Five rings were built here early, and each ring had two referees.