The second update,

...

Although both were from the Li Family, and even a pair of biological brothers, the difference between Li Feng and Li Rui's status within the Li Family couldn't be more stark.

Currently, there were only three generations of the Li Family left. After the Li family patriarch passed away ten years ago, the Li Family's sway in Jiangnan Province gradually deteriorated, and their businesses even suffered significant blows.

At such a critical juncture, Li Rui, the outstanding figure of the third generation of the Li Family, serving in the military, unexpectedly returned home from the service. In just a span of three months, he seized control of half of Ninghai's underground forces. Together with the Li Family's official influence, he stabilized the faltering family at just twenty-four years of age.

In the following four to five years, Li Rui's power continued to expand, and the Li Family's influence in the Ninghai underworld swelled to an extremely formidable level.

If it weren't for the Ninghai Municipal Committee secretary Tang Yongping and the secretary of the Provincial Political and Legal Committee, Ning Changshan, who joined forces to undertake several large-scale crackdowns that swept through the Li Family's underground influence several times forcing it to retreat, it's likely that the entire Ninghai underworld would have been under the Li Family's control by now.

In contrast to Li Rui's powerful abilities, Li Feng was nothing but a spendthrift. Apart from squandering money and playing with women, he had no real talents. Even his father, Li Chaoyang, did not like him. As a result, Li Feng secretly moved out to live on his own to avoid being scolded every day.

It was only Li Rui who took his younger brother somewhat seriously. Whenever Li Feng got into trouble, it was Li Rui who helped clean up his messes, whether it was getting a girl pregnant, an assault or battery incident. To Li Rui, such issues were truly trivial.

Because of this, Li Feng's status within the Li Family sank lower and lower, yet his nature became increasingly arrogant. He never expected that Qin Fang, whom he thought he could easily toy with, would repeatedly challenge his bottom line. This led him to progress from originally wanting to break Qin Fang's limbs to later deciding to take Qin Fang's life directly.

Unfortunately, he was not Li Rui, and had no real strength in his hands. Moreover, Li Rui was abroad negotiating business deals for the past few months, leaving Li Feng with no choice but to seek someone else to take action.

He couldn't command his brother Li Rui's people; coincidentally, there were several wanted criminals like Pi San lurking in the Baiyu Lake Resort, and Pi San, unaware of Li Feng's lowly status in the Li Family, immediately agreed to his request. For him, taking a life was as common as eating...

But the outcome stunned everyone. Pi San, who was thought to be easily captured, disappeared, while Qin Fang remained unharmed. And when Pi San showed up again, he was found shot dead in Li Feng's sports car, promptly apprehended red-handed by Ning Yumo, the daughter of the top official of Jiangnan Province's political and legal systems.

The Li Family did attempt to rescue Li Feng, but the political and legal systems were controlled by the Ning family. With Ning Changshan backing them and the support of the Tang Family and several other standing committee members who were not in good terms with the Li Family, the case was being prepared to be treated as airtight.

The struggles of the officialdom were something Qin Fang didn't quite understand. However, from the hints subtly dropped by Ning Yumo, he learned that his accidental involvement in framing Li Feng inadvertently turned into a piece in the standing committee members' power struggle, causing even the influential Li Family to suffer a significant setback.

It was due to this that Qin Fang finally understood why Li Rui bore such great animosity towards him. Even without any evidence linking the murder to Qin Fang, the cause of the incident traced back to him, leading him to conjecture that not just Li Rui but likely the entire Li Family harbored hostility towards him.

...

"Yo, The Third, you seem quite busy!"

Lately, Qin Fang's mouth had become quite sharp. He was dining at Fang Feixue's place daily, taking the opportunity to check on the shop's situation. Hence, he was less involved in the dormitory's affairs. But as soon as he returned, he saw Shen Yang engrossed in writing and drawing at the desk, seemingly very occupied, and casually made a comment.

"I'm just filling out a membership application. Fourth Brother, if you're free, help me out with it…" Shen Yang said without even lifting his head but casually slid a stack of application forms over to Qin Fang, "I came from the cafeteria, and along the way, there were clubs doing recruitment, so I just took all the application forms back, predicting to cast a wide net..."

"Clubs? What's that?"

Upon hearing this term, Qin Fang paused, slightly puzzled.

"Damn, Fourth Brother, you're really out of the loop, aren't you? Not even knowing what clubs are? Let me tell you..." Shen Yang immediately threw Qin Fang a look of immense disdain, then began explaining to him on the side.

University clubs were similar to extracurricular interest groups from before; it's just that entering university meant half-stepping into society, so these clubs were prepared to gather students with certain interests together, like basketball, soccer, martial arts, poetry, music, photography, and so on, with a wide variety. Essentially, if you can think of it, you can form a club around it.

Of course, you have to be able to find others with the same interests to join as well.

Unless the clubs were particularly inactive or the presidents were incompetent, most would organize some activities periodically, which could be quite interesting.

For instance, the basketball association might organize some competitions with certain cash rewards, the photography club might arrange outdoor photography expeditions, and the chess and cards club might hold various matches...

"So that's what this is all about..."

Having heard what Shen Yang had to say, Qin Fang understood and casually flipped through the application forms Shen Yang had brought back. Indeed, they were quite a mixed bag of clubs and associations, even including a Supernatural Association... Qin Fang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Fourth Brother, you're going to join a club too, which one do you have your eye on? Hehe, I plan to join the Spring Wind Poetry Society, the Dance Club, the Photography Association..."

While they were talking, Xiao Nan and the others had also returned with laughter, each holding a few application forms that were clearly more targeted than Shen Yang's scattershot approach.

"Why these clubs? As if I don't know you well enough..."

Qin Fang looked at Xiao Nan with some surprise. This guy was only good at reciting simple verses like "The sea, oh, is full of water; the steed, oh, has four legs..." It was a real travesty to have him join a poetry club.

As for the Dance Club, there was no need to mention it; not a single thing about this fellow suggested he had ever learned to dance... Qin Fang didn't even need to think about the Photography Association.

"Hehe, you've seen through me! I've heard that the Poetry Society and the Dance Club have the most beauties..." Xiao Nan said without feeling the slightest bit embarrassed, "As for the Photography Association... I heard they have a project on nude art photography!"

With that explanation, Qin Fang finally understood. These were the real reasons why Xiao Nan was joining these clubs, likely reflecting the shared motivations of many male students wanting to join these particular clubs.

"And what about you, Boss?"

Qin Fang noticed that Fang Dacheng was also holding an application form, just a single one.

"I want to join the Martial Arts Association..."

Fang Dacheng gave a simple and honest smile, showing Qin Fang the application form in his hand.

Qin Fang could understand Fang Dacheng's choice. He also trained in martial arts with Fang Dacheng and knew all too well how painful it was to have no one for sparring. Currently, only Qin Fang could spar with Fang Dacheng, but given that their skill levels differed by one rank, and their relationship was close, they tended to hold back when sparring, which made it all less intense and enjoyable.

Since returning from the military boot camp, Qin Fang hadn't had the chance to spar with Fang Dacheng. Firstly, because Qin Fang had been busy and secondly because he had learned techniques in the camp that were designed to quickly take down or even kill an opponent, which wouldn't be suitable to use on Fang Dacheng.

"Martial Arts Association? Can you really learn martial arts there? Become a master?"

Shen Yang immediately got excited at the prospect, his eyes nearly gleaming. They had all wanted to learn martial arts with Qin Fang and Fang Dacheng at one point. Unfortunately, they had never managed to master the Breathing Technique, and while they had practiced some moves, their inconsistent training was as good as none.

Seeing Shen Yang's excitable nature, both Qin Fang and Fang Dacheng just smiled, saying nothing, and watched Shen Yang search through the pile of application forms for the Martial Arts Association.

"I'll go get an application form too, it's good to have some camaraderie if we join together..."

After some consideration, Qin Fang decided to go pick one up. Although his Xingyi Fist had reached the Intermediate level and his fighting skills were fairly decent, he had too few opponents to really spar with. The Xingyi Martial Arts Hall was only available on the weekends, so it might be better to join the Martial Arts Association for more sparring opportunities.

"That's great, we'll join together..."

Fang Dacheng smiled broadly, clearly pleased with the idea. Given his somewhat reticent character and his preference to not interact much, having a familiar face around would be quite convenient.

Qin Fang had to get the application form himself as it wouldn't be fair to send his friends back for another trip. He decided to head downstairs towards the cafeteria and also took the opportunity to call Tang Feifei and Xiao Muxue to find out which clubs they had joined.

However, the outcome was somewhat amusing and frustrating for Qin Fang. In addition to joining an Art Club herself, Tang Feifei had also signed Qin Fang up for the Dance Club, justifying it by saying it's nice to have a dance partner during practice.

Could Qin Fang reject such a reason?

Obviously, it was impossible. No matter how liberal Qin Fang was, he would never allow another man to touch his girlfriend, as he was actually quite possessive about this kind of thing. (To be continued. For those wishing to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com. There are more chapters to support the author and for legitimate reading!)

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