"Hey, just so you know, I won''t go easy on you even though I don''t know anything about you," Wei Qiqi said to Mei Qingyang with determination in her eyes. She had her whole family to support, how could she lose here?

    "Be my guest," Mei Qingyang smiled with confidence as well. So what if this girl was ranked number one in the country? She had trained with people who never participated in these matches and were far superior when it came to martial arts abilities.

    Wei Qiqi returned the smile. She liked this no name girl who was challenging her, the top female in Jiu-Jitsu in the nation. But this kind of threats were too common for her.

    "Do you see? That famous Yu Tian is here. He came with that girl," a girl started chatting behind them.

    "Seriously? He should be around here then? Where is he?" the other girl jumped with joy. It seemed to Mei Qingyang that everyone was fan of this guy.

    "Did he come here to cheer up for his teammate?" the first girl wondered.

    "How could it be? His two friends are lying in the hospital bed and you are saying he came to support his teammate? There should be something going on between the two. Perhaps she is his girlfriend?" a third girl interjected the conversation.

    "Have you even seen how plain that girl looks? Plus, she does not even belong to the high society, otherwise we would have known who she was," another girl explained as a matter of fact.

    "Hey you guys, it''s not good to gossip behind a person''s back, especially if they are literally standing there," Wei Qiqi chided the people who were mere meters away from the two girls standing facing the mat. The girls in the back lowered their head in embarrassment.

    Mei Qingyang was shell-shocked over Wei Qiqi''s behavior. How did it matter to this girl what they were talking behind her back? But then, she turned around and looked the reddened faces of people and she could not help but giggle.

    "Thanks," she had to show her appreciation. This girl stood up for her for nothing.

    "I just cannot see two-faced people like these. By the way, is Yu Tian really here?" she looked around.

    "Yeah, over there, he is wearing a hoodie because he doesn''t want people to recognize him. Unfortunately, he did not employ that tactic earlier, so a lot of people saw him hehe." When Mei Qingyang was saying this, she felt like a girlfriend bragging about her boyfriend to others. She also realized how incredibly popular the guy was.

    Yu Tian waved his hand towards her and she waved back.

    "Oh God! Are you guys close? Can I have his autograph please, I have been a big fan of his since forever! Actually, do you know Su Lang? I am not that interested in Yu Tian''s autograph than Su Lang to be honest," Wei Qiqi rambled on. Mei Qingyang found this very amusing. Should she set her up with her elder brother? What about that assistant Su Weixi then? But a mere autograph did not really mean anything, right? She would just let them meet.

    "Senior Su is like my brother. I can get you his autograph, rather how about coming with me later to meet him?" Mei Qingyang winked towards this girl. She was liking her personality more and more. Given the people she had met in past few months, this girl was like a breath of fresh air in all that dirt.

    "Are… are you sure?" Wei Qiqi grabbed Mei Qingyang''s hands in gratitude and shook them violently. This girl was so excited just thinking about Su Lang. Mei Qingyang nodded and gave her a mischievous smile. She had totally different idea in her mind.

    "We will start now, please come forward," the referee called them. They both stepped forward and shook hands with the referee and with each other.

    Yu Tian mouthed ''All the best'' from afar which Mei Qingyang caught just in time. She was so ready to win this match.

    The bell rang and the girl started feeling out the distance and height from each other. Wei Qiqi had a slight advantage with her taller height but Mei Qingyang did not feel it much for she had taller limbs. Finally, the girls decided it was time to start grappling each other.

    Mei Qingyang got the first successful grab of Wei Qiqi''s gi and she put her in a chokehold. Wei Qiqi struggled for a bit. She had never imagined that this tiny girl (compared to her anyway) would pack so much strength in her. She had unconsciously underestimated this no name opponent of hers.

    Nonetheless, she successfully got out of the hold and both of them struggled for some time to get a good hold at each other. One was counterattacking other and there was no concrete win or lose.

    The competition was becoming intense and everyone in the gym was paying attention to this new girl in the area. Even the people who were watching other matches got attracted to this side of the gym. It was becoming a nerve-racking match even for the judges, let alone other spectators.

    Wei Qiqi finally managed to trap Mei Qingyang passing her guard. Mei Qingyang glanced at the scores and she realized she was trailing far behind, even though she had been in the dominant positions till now. Ugh, this was her real weakness. She had tried to cram up the ways to earn points in Jiu Jitsu matches but she still could not wrap her head around it.

    And this was the disadvantage that would bring her down in the match. She was not the one to give up though. She swept Wei Qiqi around and finally gained the control once again. The crowd cheered from behind. This match was turning out to be thrilling. Yu Tian at the back, could not help but facepalm for he had no idea Qingyang was this bad in keeping track of points. If he had known, he would have taught her or gotten her a coach to explain.

    They had only tested her freestyle, so they knew she was great in her skills. In a real life situation, she would almost always win. But this was a match and a match was totally different from real life.

    He did give her thousand points for not giving up though.

    After some more pushing and entangling, Mei Qingyang managed to bring the score to a tie. The audience cheered some more. Where would you find a person who was giving such a tough competition to number one girl in the nation? This was a totally unexpected situation.

    In the blink of an eye, the ten minutes got over and the score still remained tied. The judges then took some time to decide who had a bigger advantage. It was a nail-biting moment for both the girls and everyone else was holding their breaths for the result as well.

    Yu Tian, on the side, was completely chill. He knew his kitten had won. This was a close call but she did manage to turn it to her advantage.

    In the end, Mei Qingyang was declared the winner. The two girls, with sweat dripping from their whole body, shook their hands. "Plop," a few hot tears embraced Mei Qingyang''s hands when she was shaking hers with Wei Qiqi. She could not hold herself back on having lost the money she was pegging her hopes on.

    Mei Qingyang had no idea how to console the girl. Should she have let her win after all? But Wei Qiqi was a champion, she would have known. Then she would have felt more indignant.

    "Wei Qiqi, let''s go see Su Lang, how about it?" Mei Qingyang took her rival in a big hug. Wei Qiqi did not reject it and then burst out crying even more. Mei Qingyang patted her back. She knew how poverty felt, she had experienced that first hand in the last moments as Li Sibao. And she experienced it everyday at her school.

    Mei Qingyang took Wei Qiqi with her down the stage. There was a thunderous applause for the pair. Everyone was praising them for such a great match and the sportsmanship they had shown. Mei Qingyang signaled Yu Tian and the guy nodded. They were to meet near the door, because none of them wanted to reveal his identity.

    Before they could reach the door, Mei Qingyang was surrounded by reporters and other people who wanted to congratulate her.

    "Ms. Mei, could you tell us where you got your training from?"

    "Ms. Mei, how does it feel like to defeat the number one player of our nation?"

    "Ms. Mei."

    "Ms. Mei."

    Mei Qingyang was finding it difficult to swim through this sea of people with Wei Qiqi still in her arms. Wei Qiqi got a hold of herself and led Mei Qingyang by her hand through the scores of people trying to push them.

    "Phew! What would you have done without me girl?" Wei Qiqi came back to life and scolded Mei Qingyang a bit.

    "Pfft, ahahahahaha," Mei Qingyang''s laughter rang like a melodious bell in the area. Wei Qiqi beamed as well.

    "This was hilarious, especially how you went from all snotty to taking me out like a bodyguard. I am sorry but it is just so funny hahahaha," Mei Qingyang loved the sudden transformation of this girl.

    "Geez, you really would have drowned there if not for me," Wei Qiqi joined in the laughter. She had forgotten how she would be looking right now with a tear stained face and cracking.

    "Ahem! Wei Qiqi, for your performance today, my Yu Capitals has decided to give you a scholarship which would cover all your tuition fee for till wherever you want to study. You will also get a monthly allowance which we will decide later. Thank you for such a great match," Yu Tian would have given her money just for letting him see his kitten laughing so merrily. He knew what would have into this girl''s mind when he saw how she was helping her opponent off the mats.

    "No way! Scholar… scholarship? For what? I did not even do anything. Young Master Yu, I cannot accept your money without any rhyme or reason," Wei Qiqi outright refused. Mei Qingyang, on the other hand, was very grateful to Yu Tian. She was going to discuss it with both Yu Tian and Su Lang, but it would have been difficult to come up with an excuse for such a righteous person.

    "As I said, let''s just say, I am paying you to keep your friendship with my kitten. How does that sound?" Yu Tian whispered quietly to Wei Qiqi while Mei Qingyang got distracted talking to someone who had come to congratulate her.

    "Oh! So, she has not accepted you yet? She is worthy to make friends with, I don''t need your money for that," Wei Qiqi replied back.

    Girls were really a trouble. Why could she not accept it quietly?

    "Fine then. How about we want to sponsor you for the Olympics team later when you are ready. For that, we want to make sure you are getting proper meals and do not have monetary stress in life. Does that sound reasonable?"

    "O… Olympics team for M nation? Are you serious? But I just lost to your ''kitten''!" Wei Qiqi could not believe her ears. She earned a spot for losing? She even forgot her manners in front of the prince of the nation and blurted out non-sense. Realizing her mistake, she bowed her head in embarrassment.

    "Yes, I am serious. It is the fruit of your labor. Qing Qing is certainly good in skills but she lacks experience of matches. You would be a better choice for competitions," Yu Tian nodded.

    "I… I will take up the offer. Thank you very much," she bowed multiple times, not able to wipe her silly smile off her face.

    "We will see you around then," he shooed her away for now he needed his alone time with his kitten.

    Wei Qiqi felt like she was the true winner of today''s match as she slipped away in the crowd, her head at cloud nine.