12: Someone wants to cause trouble

Seeing the intense curiosity in Xiang Cao’s eyes, and the hopeful gazes from the surrounding crowd, Li Qinghe, though usually mature in his actions, still had the youthful blood of a young man coursing through him.

In short, an opportunity to show off was right before him, and Li Qinghe chose to take it.

If it were an old man reborn, he would definitely consider how to perfectly conclude his display or what benefits it might bring.

But for a young man, showing off is just showing off; there’s no deeper reason. Do it first, and worry about the aftermath later. He couldn’t possibly think that far ahead.

So Li Qinghe effortlessly jumped onto the equipment rack. Xiang Cao, with a slight effort, picked up a 40KG barbell plate and hung it on the iron chain between his legs.

The surrounding gym-goers and trainers watched Li Qinghe, suspended on the equipment, with scrutinizing eyes.

Xiang Cao continued to add barbell plates of varying sizes.

Someone softly counted, “One…”

As Xiang Cao hung the fourth barbell plate, bringing the total weight to 130KG, the initially scrutinizing gazes of the crowd had turned into shock.

With a 130KG load, setting aside whether Li Qinghe could even perform the exercise, merely being able to hold on without falling was already incredibly impressive.

Because Li Qinghe’s arms were supporting not only the 130KG of barbell plates but also his own body weight.

“A-He, how do you feel? You’ve already far broken the gym’s world record.”

Xiang Cao asked Li Qinghe with concern how he felt. It was clear that she was becoming increasingly interested in him.

Although Li Qinghe’s physique was robust, it wasn’t overly exaggerated. Xiang Cao hadn’t expected such immense power to be hidden within his body.

“I can continue.”

Li Qinghe effortlessly performed a standard pull-up.

So Xiang Cao hung another barbell plate.

“Wow, he’s definitely the strongest man in the gym today.”

“When he pulled Coach Xiang Cao up with him earlier, I already felt he was extraordinary.”

“Coach, when can I train to this level?”

A gym-goer enthusiastically asked the muscular fitness coach beside him.

The coach sized up the student, whose thighs were not even as thick as his own arms, and gave a very insincere thumbs-up.

“A Jian, your physique has great potential. It took me 12 years to reach my current level; you’ll only need 6 years to achieve it.”

“Then, Coach, how many years did it take you to reach his level?”

“His level?”

The fitness coach looked at Li Qinghe, who was already doing pull-ups with 200 kilograms of barbell plates, his eyes slightly narrowed.

A mysterious smile appeared on his lips: “I’m probably still about 50 years of training away from that level.”

A Jian excitedly calculated on his fingers: “The coach needs 50 years, I only need half that time.”

His smile then froze on his face: “Half… half.”

A Jian couldn’t utter another word. Although 25 years was a joke, it made him realize the vast difference between himself and the man on the equipment rack.

Li Qinghe on the rack paid no attention to the various discussions around him. He performed 10 pull-ups in a row for the camera.

Then, amidst the gasps of astonishment from those around him, he waited for Xiang Cao to remove all the barbell plates before jumping back to the ground.

This level of exercise seemed to make Li Qinghe sweat slightly.

A patch of sweat was slowly spreading on his gray workout tank top.

“A-He, come do some relaxation exercises with me.”

Xiang Cao didn’t slack off at all. She professionally led Li Qinghe through several recovery and relaxation movements, proving she was worth the 400,000 per hour personal training fee.

Li Qinghe performed 10 pull-ups with a total weight of 200KG, an unprecedented achievement in the global fitness world.

The onlookers were almost frantic. Before them, a man had perfectly completed 10 pull-ups with a weighted load nearly double the world record.

This made some men’s eyes a bit glazed over. Being close to Thailand had this downside; one could easily ‘bend’ without realizing it.

Subsequently, Coach Xiang Cao unhesitatingly began to massage Li Qinghe’s shoulder muscles to help him relax.

Only upon touching him did she truly feel how much power was hidden within those beautiful muscles beneath her hands.

All of this was happening in plain sight.

Li Qinghe was enjoying the intense gazes of the crowd and didn’t mind.

Xiang Cao was also a seasoned coach at the gym and was accustomed to working in public, so she didn’t mind much either.

“A-He, you are the strongest Vietnamese person I have ever encountered.”

Xiang Cao praised Li Qinghe with a proud expression: “I’ve seen many big, muscular guys in American gyms who don’t have your kind of strength.”

“Coach Xiang Cao, I’m sorry, I am Dragon Country People.” Li Qinghe corrected Xiang Cao with a slight smile.

“Oh~~” The surrounding crowd let out a sound of understanding.

“So he’s Dragon Country People, no wonder he’s so strong.” Xiang Cao also showed an expression of realization.

It seemed to provide a reason for Li Qinghe’s strength, as if it was only natural for Dragon Country People people to be so strong.

“A-He, next, let’s challenge the Big Three. I have a feeling you can break the gym’s record.”

“Is there a standard for this in the fitness world?”

Li Qinghe was a bit curious. Although he knew that a total of over 1000KG in the Big Three could get one into the world-renowned 1000KG Club, he wasn’t really clear on the specific standards.

“If the weight for each exercise can exceed twice your body weight, that’s a very excellent achievement.”

“But given your pull-up performance just now, I don’t think even three times your body weight is your limit.”

“Oh, and the California Gym’s Big Three record is 929KG.”

Xiang Cao said with a serious expression.

Li Qinghe smiled and said into the sports camera: “Brothers and sisters, Coach Xiang Cao says she’s confident that each of my Big Three lifts can exceed three times my body weight. What do you all think?”

Xiang Cao also threw a wink at the camera from the side, gave a thumbs-up, and loudly shouted in Vietnamese: “A-He is the best!”

That charming Vietnamese accent sounded very interesting.

This was why Li Qinghe wanted a friendly, not aloof, female coach.

Because only a coach like Xiang Cao could provide abundant emotional value during the video shooting process.

To produce the kind of video effect Li Qinghe desired.

While Xiang Cao was helping with the massage and recovery, Li Qinghe shook his shoulders and felt no issues.

He then carried the sports camera and, led by Xiang Cao, went to the weight training area.

And this group of onlookers, fitness enthusiasts, actually abandoned their own workout plans and followed the two to the strength training area.

It seemed they wouldn’t give up until they saw a result.

“A-He, which exercise do you want to start with?”

“How about deadlifts?”

“Good idea.”

After praising him, Xiang Cao added: “A-He, is it okay if I share your body data with everyone?”

“Suit yourself.”

As a video creator, Li Qinghe didn’t mind his superficial body data being revealed.

After all, the true core of his body could not possibly be known by these people.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the gentleman before you weighs 95KG, and he hopes to challenge weights of over three times his body weight in the Big Three powerlifts.”

Although many fitness enthusiasts were watching earlier and knew Li Qinghe was incredibly strong, his body weight wasn’t something everyone knew.

Once Xiang Cao announced it, everyone immediately had a clear number in their minds.

Of course, some people who weren’t great at math immediately pulled out their phones and opened the calculator to figure it out.

“285KG.”

A gym-goer who could deadlift that much in a gym would immediately be considered a god-like presence.

Could this Dragon Country People man really achieve that level?

Among the crowd, a few later-arriving Greater Vietnamese nationalist gym-goers were already preparing to cause trouble.

They didn’t know about Li Qinghe’s astonishing performance earlier.

They themselves couldn’t achieve the deadlift multiplier Li Qinghe was challenging, but that didn’t stop them from mocking a Dragon Country People man who also couldn’t achieve it.

Some had already pulled out their phones and started filming, planning to upload a video of Li Qinghe’s failure to YouTube.

As one of the “YouTube Big Five,” Vietnamese people have a high exposure rate on YouTube, frequently appearing in various trending topics.

So, being able to mock Dragon Country People people on YouTube was something these spiritually Southeast Asian overlords were very happy to do.

Li Qinghe could already hear some unpleasant remarks.