"I didn't expect this Guo Yi to have ties with Professor Du."
"Now it's going to be trouble."
As the Capital City Pokémon Research Institute's announcement went live, the Jin family once again convened a high-level meeting.
And this time, everyone's attitude toward Guo Yi was clearly different from before.
After all, no matter how strong Guo Yi's teacher was, he was still just one person.
And the Jin family had the Pokémon League at their back. They might be wary, but they weren't overly frightened.
But now it was different.
Because League researchers were key figures the Pokémon League paid close attention to.
And from the way things looked, Professor Du seemed to value Guo Yi quite a lot.
Wasn't it obvious?
Professor Du's official Weibo had even posted about how pleased he was that Guo Yi had joined.
And Professor Du's prestige within the Pokémon League—something even the Jin family couldn't hope to match.
Now Guo Yi had strength, and he had League backing.
On top of that, he kept putting out this so-called Dragon-Slaying Art.
The Jin family had no choice but to take the matter seriously.
After a round of discussion, they finally reached a conclusion.
The family head said to the Second Elder, "Second Elder, Jin Yu's assessment needs to end early."
"This incident has had a very negative impact on the Jin family. I hope that child Jin Yu will take it to heart and stop trying to show off."
"Of course, as compensation, Jin Yu can still participate in next year's Dragon Envoy assessment."
By clan rules, each person could only take the Dragon Envoy assessment once before turning thirty.
If you failed, you would never again have the chance to bear the title of Dragon Envoy.
And this time could be considered an exceptional case.
The family head decided to give Jin Yu another chance.
The Second Elder had also put in quite a bit of effort behind the scenes.
And facing the family head's ruling, the Second Elder only nodded in silence.
There was no choice.
This was a conclusion reached by the group—he didn't have the standing to overturn it by himself.
"Alright. Jin Yu's matter is settled."
"As for Guo Yi, I'll have Jin Peng go and reconcile with him."
"Hopefully, he'll stop teaching these Dragon-Slaying Arts in public."
To reconcile with Guo Yi, the Jin family really pulled out all the stops.
They were directly sending Jin Peng—an Elite Four Tier powerhouse—to make peace.
But this was also Jin Peng's own wish. He was curious about Guo Yi too.
...
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Jin Yu still had no idea what was about to hit him.
He was still thinking about how to get the Flying Eagle Gang out of trouble.
"Ling Si—how's the Flying Eagle Gang lately?"
Seated in the place of honor, Jin Yu asked about the Flying Eagle Gang's current situation.
Ling Si wore a troubled look as he replied, "The other forces have backed off, but the Azure Dragon Society is still pressing in step by step."
Jin Yu frowned.
"It's just the Azure Dragon Society, and you still can't hold them off?"
A trace of displeasure showed in Jin Yu's eyes.
"Against the Azure Dragon Society alone, I can barely hold on. But Guo Yi also handed his Ninetales over to Ye Qing."
"That Ninetales is Elite Four Tier, but it's terrifyingly strong."
"We're not a match for it at all."
After spending this period of time together,
Ling Si's feelings toward Jin Yu had shifted—from hopeful at the start to disappointed now.
Look at Guo Yi—he directly sent Pokémon to help.
And Jin Yu?
All he did was sit here and talk.
Good thing I've already arranged my son's escape route.
At least I don't have anything to worry about there anymore.
Maybe that was the only comfort Ling Si had left.
Even though these days, the Flying Eagle Gang's influence was still being swallowed up bit by bit,
Jin Yu's arrival had at least bought them some breathing room.
And during that time, Ling Si had secretly gotten his son out.
As for himself—
Sorry.
Whether it was Jin Yu or Ye Qing, neither of them would let him leave easily.
After all, the feud between the Azure Dragon Society and the Flying Eagle Gang had to land on someone's shoulders.
Jin Yu could hear the resentment in Ling Si's words.
But he had no solution.
With Beedrill and Zapdos standing guard, Jin Yu didn't dare openly have his people interfere in the Flying Eagle Gang's affairs.
Otherwise if Beedrill and Zapdos stepped in, Jin Yu himself might be in mortal danger.
That was the helplessness of lacking strength.
You can have ten thousand schemes; I'll break them with pure force.
"Go."
With no ideas left, Jin Yu could only wave his hand and dismiss Ling Si.
"Young Master, what do we do now?"
"The Flying Eagle Gang is useless, and the Tang family's attitude is wishy-washy."
"This assessment… we don't even know where to start."
Nangong Qiu, the one with the severed arm, also looked deeply worried.
If he'd known it would turn out like this, back then he would've done anything to stop the Young Master from getting involved with the Flying Eagle Gang.
At the beginning, Nangong Qiu had hoped his young master would proceed steadily—use the Tang family's initial attempts to curry favor to build a foundation first, then advance step by step.
But Jin Yu's appetite was too big. He wanted to make it in one leap.
So he took a risky path, and now he'd played himself into a dead end.
Leaving Nangong Qiu trapped, unable to move forward or retreat.
Facing Uncle Qiu's question, Jin Yu didn't know how to answer either.
If he had a way, why would he be this frustrated?
Suddenly Jin Yu's phone rang. He picked it up, and a smile appeared on his face.
"It's Grandpa."
"Could it be Grandpa knows what I'm dealing with here and is going to help me?"
Full of anticipation, Jin Yu happily answered.
"Grandpa, you—"
Before he could finish, scolding exploded from the other end.
"You little brat! When you chose Shanghai back then, I told you to be careful in what you did."
"And now look at you—your assessment eligibility has been cancelled by the family."
"Hurry up and come back. Stop embarrassing yourself outside!"
Those words hit Jin Yu like a bolt from a clear sky.
"C-cancelled… the assessment?"
His voice was trembling.
How could this happen?
Why was his assessment suddenly cancelled?
He hadn't done anything recently, had he?
Question marks flooded Jin Yu's mind.
Cancelled.
In the Jin family, he was probably about to make history.
Even those clan members who ultimately failed their assessments had never had their assessments cancelled.
They simply reached the end and didn't pass.
Jin Yu couldn't accept it.
"Grandpa, why?"
With unwillingness and confusion, Jin Yu blurted it out.
"Xiao Yu, I told you from the beginning."
"Shanghai isn't like other places. You could say it's full of hidden tigers and crouching dragons—so I told you to act cautiously."
"But why did you have to go provoke Guo Yi?"
Perhaps to spare his grandson's feelings, the Second Elder's tone softened quite a bit this time.
"Guo Yi?"
Hearing the reason, Jin Yu was even more bewildered.
"Grandpa, it's just Guo Yi—he can make the family decide this?"
He didn't understand.
So what if Guo Yi's teacher was strong?
Their Jin family wasn't weak either!
And they also had the Pokémon League as their backing.
After all, over so many years, the Jin family's network was terrifying.
"The specific reason—go look it up online and you'll understand."
"Anyway, it's already decided. Come back early."
"And don't lose heart. Even though this assessment is cancelled, Grandpa kept next year's chance for you."
"Use this year to properly raise your strength."
With that, the Second Elder hung up without waiting for Jin Yu's reply.
At this point, no matter what Jin Yu said, the result couldn't change.
So the Second Elder chose not to listen.
"Grandpa!"
Listening to the dead tone, Jin Yu was filled with despair.
Next year, one more chance—that was just nice talk.
Once word got out that his assessment had been cancelled, what power would still have faith in him next year?
Not understanding what had happened, Jin Yu could only follow his grandfather's instructions and start searching online.
During this time, because of Nangong Qiu's severed arm, Jin Yu hadn't had any spare attention to watch what was happening on the internet.
Which left him lagging behind on the news.
And when he saw Guo Yi's Dragon-Slaying Art, along with the announcement that he'd been hired as a specially appointed researcher,
Jin Yu finally understood why his assessment had been cancelled.
"Guo Yi!"
"This isn't over between us!!"
The phone in Jin Yu's right hand creaked under his grip, his hatred for Guo Yi impossible to put into words.
"Young Master, calm down!"
Nangong Qiu hurried forward to persuade him.
"Don't do anything stupid!"
Right now, they truly had no way to deal with Guo Yi and his side.
Huff.
A full ten minutes passed before Jin Yu finally exhaled long and completely steadied his emotions.
"Uncle Qiu, don't worry."
"I won't do anything stupid."
"But even if we can't do anything to Guo Yi, that doesn't mean the same goes for his disciples."
"I don't believe those fledglings will stick by Guo Yi's side forever."
"Guo Yi—let's see who has the last laugh."
By now, Jin Yu had fully accepted the reality in front of him.
But there was no way he was just going to let it go.
If he couldn't touch Guo Yi, he'd set his sights on Guo Yi's disciples.
He would reclaim every scrap of face he'd lost these days.
That night, Jin Yu didn't linger in Shanghai at all.
Under cover of darkness, he left Shanghai in silence, taking Nangong Qiu with him.
...
"Director Tang, why'd you call me in first thing in the morning?"
Guo Yi complained to Tang Ming in front of him.
Today was the day he was teaching in the afternoon—he was about to lecture the Dragon-Slaying Cloyster plan.
While Guo Yi was preparing his teaching materials, Tang Ming suddenly called and told him to come to the school.
That was how they ended up here.
Faced with Guo Yi's complaint, Tang Ming could only smile apologetically. "Sorry, Teacher Guo. A big shot came to the office."
"He wants to meet you, and I had no way to refuse."
Thinking of the person in the office, Tang Ming was still a little stunned.
I didn't expect someone like him to come.
I just hope he doesn't clash with Teacher Guo.
Guo Yi's interest was piqued. "A big shot?"
"Which big shot?"
If Tang Ming was calling someone a big shot, then their status really couldn't be small.
"Uh…"
"You'll know when you go in."
"And Teacher Guo—please, I'm begging you, talk it out peacefully. This place is small; I can't take you two tossing it around."
With that, Tang Ming turned and left.
"Toss it around?"
"I'm famous for being easy to talk to—how would I toss anything around?"
Watching Tang Ming's back, Guo Yi muttered under his breath.
Then he pushed open the wooden door and stepped inside.
And when he saw the figure in the office, Guo Yi finally understood what Tang Ming meant.
"I didn't expect the one who wanted to see me… would be you."
"Dragon-type Elite Four—Jin Peng."
---
T/N: ye
...
everyone is on vacation so no character notes this week
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