Chapter 1: Who Is Undergoing Tribulation

　　Zhengyang City, 4 p.m. It should have been bright and sunny, but the sky was shrouded in thick clouds, as dark as if night had fallen.

　　Along with the clouds came gusts of wild wind and distant flashes of lightning and thunder, as if the end of the world was upon them.

　　Jason Ford sat in the staff dormitory, staring blankly out the window. He set his beer bottle heavily on the table and let out a deep sigh. “Damn... which fellow cultivator is undergoing tribulation?”

　　Jason Ford wasn’t a cultivator; he was just a fan of online novels, and his complaint at this moment was simply because he was in a terrible mood.

　　He was about to quit his job.

　　Jason Ford was twenty-four this year, a graduate of Jiangxia University, holding double degrees in Chinese and Business Administration.

　　Although, after the expansion of university enrollment, there were more undergraduates in the city than dogs, being able to earn double degrees from a 985 university in four years clearly put him—barely—among the so-called “pride of heaven.”

　　However, graduation meant unemployment. He first went to his girlfriend’s southern city to work hard for two years, then, with plenty of experience, came alone to Zhengyang City.

　　His current employer—well, not really an employer, more like a company—was Hongjie Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd.

　　Who knows why a fitness club would call itself “Culture”? Maybe it’s that old saying about culture and sports being inseparable?

　　That’s right, Jason Ford was now working at Hongjie Fitness Club.

　　Not as the legendary fitness coach with countless romantic encounters, but as the guy responsible for reception, running errands, and cleaning up.

　　Fitness coaches need certification, and Hongjie Fitness Club isn’t some shady roadside place—it’s quite famous in Zhengyang.

　　The reason Jason Ford got the job was, first, there was a shortage of young labor in the market, and second, he had a decent appearance—rugged features and a sturdy build. He wasn’t exactly a pretty boy, but he could just about pass for “fit and strong.”

　　However, after getting the job, he learned that to be a fitness coach, you needed a license!

　　That was truly a sad revelation.

　　So, this double-degree holder ended up as a lowly assistant at a fitness club.

　　Of course, even an assistant has his moments. In the three months he’d worked there, a few middle-aged women had shown interest in him, hoping for “private training” sessions, but Jason Ford declined—they didn’t have pure intentions.

　　The key issue was, they were far from attractive, and some even had an unbearable body odor and an aggressive demeanor.

　　Some fitness coaches mocked him for being so uptight—“Graduate students really are poor but proud.”

　　Damn it, a double degree and a graduate student are not the same thing, okay?

　　Anyway, at Hongjie Fitness Club, Jason Ford was a bit of an oddball—highly educated but in a low position, and with a bit of youthful pride that isn’t encouraged in the service industry.

　　Customers don’t like that kind of pride, and colleagues secretly look down on it too.

　　Today, Jason Ford’s assignment was snatched away by a coworker.

　　In the morning, four young and beautiful girls walked into the club. They weren’t members, just came in on a whim to work out. One of them, a tall girl, was especially stunning.

　　Jason Ford was in charge of receiving them. If he could persuade them to sign up for a membership during their workout, he’d earn a commission.

　　To be honest, Jason Ford didn’t have much hope. The reason was simple: these girls were obviously college students, and there weren’t any colleges nearby.

　　Besides, students are young and energetic, but few have a long-term need for fitness, and their wallets aren’t thick—very few are willing to spend money on this.

　　But even this small reception job was taken from him. The bodybuilding coach, David Miller, came over and said he could provide relevant consultation and services.

　　When Coach Miller came over, he waved Jason Ford away like shooing a fly. “Go, go, go... I’ll take it!”

　　Jason Ford was quite upset—not just because of the commission, but also because of the attitude. “Is it so hard to look me in the eye when you talk to me?”

　　But he couldn’t say anything. In a fitness club, coaches obviously outrank assistants.

　　And then... something happened. Coach Miller got beaten up.

　　The ones who beat him were those four girls.

　　David Miller, as a fitness coach, had a bodybuilder’s physique and impressive muscles, so he shouldn’t have been weak. But among those four girls, two could really fight, so even the strongest can’t win against four.