Chapter 3295

The next day.

Ye Chen accompanied Xiao Churan and Dong Ruolin as they flew together to Tokyo.

On the plane, the two women excitedly discussed going shopping in Ginza and Omotesando; although Xiao Churan had little desire to shop, her mother Ma Lan had specially instructed her before leaving to bring back some Japanese-made jewelry and cosmetics for herself, so Xiao Churan could not refuse and readily agreed.

The thing Xiao Churan does best in life is keeping things balanced; since she had promised to buy something for her mother, she naturally could not favor one over the other and shortchange her father, so she told Dong Ruolin that she planned to set aside a budget of 300,000 for gifts for her parents, with each gift worth around 150,000.

Dong Ruolin immediately volunteered to be her advisor, so the two decided that upon landing in Tokyo, after checking into the hotel, they would put down their luggage and go shopping together.

Dong Ruolin then asked Ye Chen: "Ye Chen, will you come with us?"

Ye Chen hurriedly replied: "I can accompany you shopping, but tonight there is a sanshou competition in Tokyo that I want to watch; if you are also interested, we can go together, but if you are not interested, I will go alone, in which case I will not have dinner with you."

"A sanshou competition?" Dong Ruolin muttered: "I have never had any interest in that kind of sport."

After saying that, she turned to Xiao Churan and said: "Churan, I think we two should not go watch any competition; let Ye Chen go by himself, and we two will go eat something delicious tonight, since my good friend in Japan wants to treat me to dinner, so let's go together."

Xiao Churan carefully asked: "Ruolin, is your Japanese friend male or female?"

"Of course female." Dong Ruolin said: "Don't worry, I will not bring you to eat with random single men."

As she spoke, she glanced at Ye Chen and smiled: "Ye Chen, tonight I will borrow Churan for a while; you go watch the competition by yourself, and we will meet again at the hotel later."

Seeing that Dong Ruolin had local friends, Ye Chen also relaxed and said: "Alright, just don't be too late."

After getting off the plane, the three took a taxi to the hotel; after checking in, Ye Chen accompanied the two women to Ginza for shopping. He had looked up online the time of Qin Aoxue's competition, with the women's final starting at seven o'clock tonight, so at six o'clock he bade farewell to the two and took a taxi alone to the Tokyo Budokan.

Although sanshou, boxing, and wrestling-related competitions are very popular worldwide, the overall level of university students lies between professional and amateur, so the audience is not too large, and thus the popularity of the competition is not particularly high.

Ye Chen had originally thought he would have to buy tickets from scalpers at the venue, but to his surprise, discounted tickets were being sold at the venue's box office.

Seeing that the first row, the best viewing seats, still had vacancies, Ye Chen hesitated not and bought one ticket.

By the time he entered the venue, the occupancy of the large arena was about 70%, which was fairly lively; the competition had not yet officially begun, and on the big curtain beside him, the four main events of tonight were being played in a loop.

The participants in the finals were respectively the first through fourth place in the women's division and the first through fourth place in the men's division.

First to be contested was the third-place playoff, namely the match between the third and fourth place of both the men's and women's divisions to determine third place.

The first match was the women's third-place playoff, the second match was the men's third-place playoff, the third match was the women's championship, and the fourth match, also the final match, was the men's championship.

This means that Qin Aoxue's competition is in the third match.

Ye Chen also saw from the screen the name of Qin Aoxue's opponent in this match: Haley Svein, an American.

Although he did not know where this Haley Svein came from, given his understanding of Qin Aoxue, her current strength had greatly improved compared to before; not to mention she had the medicinal pills he gave her to strengthen her bones and meridians, and the martial arts mind method he transmitted to her, which could directly enhance her combat ability, so he believed she would surely win tonight.

At six fifty, the host took the stage to open the event; after the host's efforts to energize the crowd, the atmosphere quickly became lively.

The first match featured two female athletes; their strength was comparable, and they fought so intensely that it was hard to tell who would win; after each round, the third round was especially back-and-forth, evenly matched; this stalemate situation greatly enhanced the spectators' experience, and the cheers, applause, and whistles in the venue never ceased.

At the most critical moment of the third round, the African athlete among the two suddenly launched an attack, instantly disrupting her opponent's rhythm, then pressed the advantage to strike and end the match.

The audience had indeed not expected the opening third-place playoff to be so tense and exciting, and thus they looked forward even more to the second match.

What everyone certainly did not expect was that the second match would not be as evenly matched as the first; a Japanese domestic athlete was completely dominated by a European athlete throughout, quickly losing two straight sets and winning easily.

Immediately afterward, the host took the stage again and said excitedly: "The next match to be held is the women's division championship playoff, which is also the showdown that countless spectators have been eagerly anticipating; the competing athletes are respectively the first seed from Huaxia, Qin Aoxue, and the fifteenth seed from the United States, Haley Svein; here I want to focus on introducing Haley Svein: this year is her first time participating in this event; although the event's expert panel thinks highly of her strength and has placed her as the fifteenth seed, no one expected that she would actually achieve consecutive 2-0 sweep-style scores all the way to now; she can be said to be the biggest dark horse of this tournament!"

"Tonight she will challenge the first seed Qin Aoxue; whether she can succeed in her challenge, please wait and see."

Saying this, he shouted loudly: "Now let us welcome our first seed with the most enthusiastic applause—Qin Aoxue!"

The venue immediately filled with uninterrupted cheers.

Qin Aoxue has a beautiful appearance, tall figure, and an even more cool and spirited demeanor; since Ito Nanako withdrew from the competition, she has been regarded as the goddess of this field, naturally possessing a large number of fans and followers.

Immediately afterward, Qin Aoxue walked out of the passage amid the audience's applause, stepped onto the ring, and waved to everyone.

Looking at Qin Aoxue, the host asked curiously: "Miss Qin, tonight Haley Svein will challenge you; do you have confidence in defeating her and defending your championship once again?"

Qin Aoxue immediately replied loudly: "I have confidence!"

The host nodded slightly, smiling: "There are many of your fans here today; I believe they certainly want to witness your second championship defense with their own eyes."

Saying that, he added: "Then please continue to give enthusiastic applause for Qin Aoxue's challenger—Haley Svein!"

As the host's words fell, what Ye Chen did not expect was that the venue suddenly filled with boos.

Ye Chen felt puzzled, secretly thinking: "Is Haley Svein really so unlikable? Why are so many people booing her? Although it is understandable for an away player to be booed at home, Qin Aoxue is a Chinese athlete, and here is Tokyo, Japan, which is not Qin Aoxue's home ground either; for these audiences to boo a challenger like this is truly somewhat inappropriate."

Just as Ye Chen thought the audience's behavior was somewhat inappropriate, a figure dashed onto the boxing ring at high speed, and at that moment the boos in the venue reached their peak.

Ye Chen could not help but gasp in surprise; he looked at Haley Svein on the ring and secretly thought: "This... this damn guy is actually a man? Although he has long hair, his Adam's apple is clearly visible; how can he still participate in the women's competition?!"