by Dragon King
These thoughts suddenly occurred to Huang Xujie.
Seeing Hao Ren making gains on him step by step, Huang Xujie who had his eye on the first-place immediately regulated his breathing and sped up.
Seeing the distance between Huang Xujie and Hao Ren gradually got shorter, Lin Li who was wearing a miniskirt cheered for Huang Xujie again.
Xie Yujia happened to be standing near her, and she got angrier while she watched. She bumped the excited Lin Li in the waist with her elbow intentionally.
“Ouch!” Lin Li frowned as she put her hand on her waist and turned angrily to the person beside her.
When she saw it was Xie Yujia, the Class President of Class Two, her arrogance abated a bit instantly. She glared at Xie Yujia unpleasantly.
“Sorry.” Xie Yujia apologized insincerely before bringing her palms around her mouth to form the shape of a trumpet, “Go! Go! Hao Ren!” She shouted.
Lin Li gritted her white teeth while she glared at Xie Yujia. However, she didn’t dare to release her anger. She knew about Xie Yujia’s great reputation at the university; Xie Yujia was even on good terms with those tough figures.
Since Xie Yujia was cheering loudly for Hao Ren, Lin Li was ashamed of herself and didn’t continue cheering for Huang Xujie anymore.
As the race went on, the distances between the runners were getting bigger. The last-place runner lagged behind the first-place runner by about half a lap, and competition for higher placements was still fierce.
Hao Ren and Huang Xujie were in the lead; the third-place runner was well behind them while the fourth-place runner could overtake the third-place runner at any minute.
As to the rest of the contestants, they couldn’t engage the audience’s attention.
On the spectator stand, Ling turned to Zhao Yanzi abruptly and complemented, “Zi, your ‘uncle’ is quite amazing at long-distance races.”
“Of course.” Zhao Yanzi pursed her lips with pride.
39 The Power of the Crowd
Soon, the long-distance race entered the last one and a half laps and the competition got fierce. The match between Hao Ren and Huang Xujie for first-place had undoubtedly become the focus of the audience.
The 1500-meter race had not been under the spotlight until Huang Xujie entered the race; the girls had been eagerly anticipating the event. While Hao Ren gradually gained on Huang Xujie and threatened his leading position, the guys in the spectator stand all put down the cards they had been playing and began to watch the race carefully.
For them, it was quite refreshing when someone could threaten Huang Xujie’s position as the “Permanent Champion”. Apart from the issue of strengths, it would be a disgrace to Huang Xujie if someone could take the first place from him. What a sensation it would cause!
Huang Xujie’s breathing became short, and his steps got heavier. As a veteran athlete, he had regarded the champion of the 1500-meter race as something that was already in his bag. But now, some unknown guy was catching up to him; it was like a loud slap to his face!
Naturally, East Ocean University was full of people with unusual abilities and Huang Xujie was only one of them.
On the other hand, Hao Ren had a firm look on his face, and his steps remained steady. When he passed the start line, he glanced at the sign on the side of the tracks: 1.
There was only one lap left.
On the spectator stands, all the guys standing beside Zhao Jiayi were stunned. They had not expected that Hao Ren could reach second-place and could even maintain his placement for so long. In other words, as long as Hao Ren didn’t make any mistakes, he would surely get the third-place even if his stamina ran out on him later.
None of them had betted that Hao Ren would enter the top three! Standing among them, Zhao Jiayi had a huge grin on his face since no one winning meant that him the banker was the real winner!
“Hao Ren, drink some water!” Xie Yujia dashed along with Hao Ren by the side of the track as she handed him a bottle of water with its cap removed.
Glancing at her gratefully, Hao Ren took some gulps as he continued running. Afterward, he handed the bottle back to Xie Yujia.
A girl followed suit and handed a bottle of water to Huang Xujie a few meters in front of Hao Ren
Surprisingly, Huang Xujie pushed away the girl’s arm, and the water spilled all over the track as the bottle fell to the ground.
This ungracious act showed Huang Xujie’s fury.
“Go! Uncle!” Sitting on the spectator stand, Zhao Yanzi shouted abruptly.
Hao Ren glanced up at her and gave her a gesture of victory.
Then, with his eyes glued to track in front of him, his body tilted slightly forward while his heels continued to step onto the ground. With a snap, he shot forward like a bullet!
Sprint! He was sprinting!
Everyone was screaming in their heads.
He began to sprint with one whole lap left; it was 400 meters away from the finish line!
Seeing the astonished faces around him, Huang Xujie in the leading position involuntarily looked back. When he saw Hao Ren sprinting toward him like a rocket, he hurriedly moved to the right as he tried to block him.
Hao Ren didn’t slow down! Running close to the inner track, he leaped into the air lightly and passed Huang Xujie through the gap on his left side.
It was like a move from the hurdle race and a breakthrough in a soccer game.
Huang Xujie’s heart sank. When he tried to block again, Hao Ren had overtaken him!
It was the first time in his whole life that he was overtaken by someone with such arrogance and ease!
He felt like Hao Ren showed him the ultimate contempt.
“But he will regret sprinting so early…” Gazing at Hao Ren who was moving fast away from him, Huang Xujie thought to himself with resentment.
“Go! Ren!”
On the spectator stand, Zhao Jiayi abruptly stood up and shouted. From the morning until the afternoon, he had been playing cards with Zhou Liren and some others and didn’t pay much attention to the events. It was his first cheer of the day.
“Go! Ren!” Zhou Liren and Cao Ronghua joined him.
One after another, Yu Rong, Gu Jiadong, Chen Ke, Huang Jianfeng, and other classmates who were close to Hao Ren began to cheer for him.
Their cheering drew the attention of other classmates, and they all stood up and cheered loudly.
Their high spirits spread to other classes. From the neighboring Class Three to Class One to Class Four… Soon, all the students from the Mechatronics Engineering Major began to cheer for Hao Ren.
Then, the spirits spread to the other majors. Soon, the entire Engineering Faculty began to cheer for Hao Ren.
“Go! Go! Ren!” The cheering resonated across the whole field, and the voices got louder and more distinct.
Their faculty had the highest percentage of guys, and their collective cheering was a magnificent sight.
Meanwhile, the cheering for Huang Xujie from the girls was shattered as if small waves were hit by the tsunami.
Hearing the deafening cheers, Huang Xujie panicked for the first time. He even found that the guys from the other faculties were cheering for the “sophomore”!
“You all want me to lose?!” A wave of fury surged in Huang Xujie mind, and the fury was a source of new-found energy as it allowed him to sprint forward!
On the tracks, the first two runners continued to sprint as if they were in a 100-meter dash.
They sprinted forward with all their strength as the finish line was still 300 meters away.
Hearing the deafening uniformed cheering, Hao Ren felt a strength surging in his body. Stepping hard on the ground, he began to speed up!
Huang Xuejie who was also sprinting got left in the dust as he saw Ren run away at an insane speed; he knew he would never catch up.
Despair engulfed him. He had regarded his opponent with contempt, yet this opponent had easily overtaken him and create a distance of more than 20 meters between them.<
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When Hao Ren was almost at the finish line, he looked back to see if Huang Xujie was right behind him.
This subconscious behavior was noted by most of the people in the audience.
“So arrogant. He even looked back when he sprinted across the finish line.”
“Damn! It was a blatant taunt…”
“It was an easy win…”
Of course, Hao Ren didn’t hear those comments. When he saw Huang Xujie was still far behind him, he relaxed before sprinting across the finish line.
Huang Xujie also reached the finish line three seconds later.
One of his buddies tried to drape a jacket over his shoulders but was pushed away by him forcefully. With a pair of red eyes, Huang Xujie dragged his exhausted body to the locker room without looking back. He wasn’t even planning to attend the award ceremony.
On the rostrum, Lu Qing, the vice president of the university, slouched on a chair with a cup of tea in his hand. He grinned while his gaze followed Hao Ren who was walking towards Xie Yujia as soon as he won the race.
40 Who Would Win the Fight?
A simple awards podium was built in the middle of the field. Hao Ren and the third-place runner walked onto it successively, but Huang Xujie couldn’t be found by the organizers.
The broadcaster had no choice but to announce that Huang Xujie was injured and won’t participate in the awards ceremony. The girls in and out of the field murmured among themselves with concern. The fact was, they didn’t care if Huang Xujie won the first-place in the competition or not; all they wanted was for him to continued to be handsome and cool.
Despite the vacancy on the awards podium, the awards ceremony went on, and Gu Jialing, the Student Council President, presented the Certificates of Merit to Hao Ren and the third-place runner.
The certificates were just a symbol while the most attractive part of the awards was that the champion of each event would get 1,000 yuan in cash, second place would get 500 yuan, and third place would get 250 yuan.
The prize money was set up to encourage participation in the competitions. Of course, people like Zhou Liren who knew they were weak would never enter the competitions just for the money.
While Hao Ren was receiving the Certificate of Merit and prize money, Zhao Jiayi was busy collecting his money.
“Hurry! Hurry! Hand me the money you lost in the bet!” He waved the paper written with records of the bets, “Yu Rong, 200! Chen Ke, 300! And don’t run, Zhou Liren! You owe me 200, too!”
Those guys were both pleased and reluctant. On the one hand, they were surprised and happy that Hao Ren had won first place; on the other hand, they scolded themselves for underestimating his strength.
With the certificate and prize money in hand, Hao Ren walked back to the stand while talking to Xie Yujia. He looked for Zhao Yanzi and Ling, but found that they were gone.
“Zhao Jiayi! Where are the girls who were sitting here?” Hao Ren raised his head and asked Zhao Jiayi who was busy collecting money.
“Oh, they left after you crossed the finish line,” Zhao Jiayi answered.
Well… Hao Ren was a little disappointed.
But he soon rallied and shouted at Zhao Jiayi, “I won the prize money! I will treat you all to dinner tonight!”
“Forget it!” Zhou Liren, who had lost 200 yuan, shouted sulkily, “Zhao Jiayi has won much more than you! Dinner is on him!”
Hearing Zhou Liren’s suggestion, the other guys who had lost yelled in agreement, “Yeah! It’s on Zhao Jiayi!”
Zhao Jiayi was never a stingy person; on the contrary, he was the most generous one among the group. He laughed. “Ok! Tonight, let’s go eat something fancy! I will spend all my winnings to celebrate Hao Ren’s victory!”
The others all agreed. After all, they were proud that Hao Ren won the race, and none of them minded their small losses. Xie Yujia smiled with joy at the friendship among the guys.
“Class President, you come with us too!” Zhao Jiayi shouted.
“Uh?” Xie Yujia was surprised, “Don’t count me in. You guys have a good celebration!”
“Come on! Come on!” Zhao Jiayi coaxed her with enthusiasm while the other guys shouted in agreements.
Xie Yujia blushed. “Ok, I will join your celebration. But… you must invite the girls in the class as well.”
She wouldn’t find it awkward if she weren’t the only girl among them.
They only had six girls in the class, so Zhao Jiayi waved his hand grandly and shouted, “Ok! I invite all of them!”
“The next event is the Aerobics Competition. All the contestants, please enter the field as soon as possible!” The broadcaster announced the next competition.
At the announcement, the boisterous guys suddenly became quiet while their eyes lit up. Then, they howled with delight.
“Well… these guys…” Xie Yujia sighed with helplessness and sat down. Of course, she knew what was on the guys’ minds. They faked interest in the Aerobics Competition while they focused their attention on the girls who were competing.
Hao Ren sat down. He moved a bit closer to Xie Yujia, “Urm, Class President, I want to donate my 1,000 yuan prize money to the class. I planned to spend it on the dinner, but now that I don’t have to pay for it…”
Staring at Hao Ren, Xie Yujia interrupted him, “Why donate it? You won it! Besides, you won honor for the class and the department. You deserve it!”
Hao Ren froze a little looking at her serious expression. “Ok, then I will keep it,” he said.
In fact, he felt he owed a lot to Xie Yujia for his win, and donating the prize money to the class was his way of expressing his gratitude.
Meanwhile, Xie Yujia looked away from Hao Ren and thought, “Hao Ren is indeed different from the other guys. He is neither greedy nor dirty-minded…”
Her heart fluttered. But when she turned to Hao Ren again, she found him staring at the first aerobic contestant from the Management Department entering the field. His mouth was slightly open, and his eyes lit up.
“Well, forget it…” Xie Yujia was speechless.
The Aerobic Competition was the last event. Pretty girls with great figures selected from each major leaped and swayed with the music. It was a pretty sight.
This wise schedule had successfully kept a majority of the guys to the end of the whole competition. The competition ended with the announcement of the results of the unity prizes for each department. They were given by the school’s management team according to the overall performance of each major in the competitions.
The students on the stands left one after another.
Zhao Jiayi sent out his invitations and led everyone to a BBQ restaurant.
Except for the two girls who couldn’t make it, four girls, including Xie Yujia, joined the 20 plus guys. When they entered the restaurant, they almost took up half of the small establishment.
Hao Ren’s victory in the long-distance race was unexpected but worthy of celebrating. To award Hao Ren, who was today’s hero, Zhao Jiayi arranged Xie Yujia, the pink-faced beautiful Class President, to sit next to him.
Hao Ren tried to stop them while he kept apologizing to Xie Yujia. Fortunately, Xie Yujia knew their ways; she pouted with helplessness but was not angry.
Beer, roasted meat, and pretty girls… All these raised the guys’ adrenaline levels. They clinked their beer mugs repeatedly, and half of the BBQ restaurant became their venue of revelry.
Under the persuasion of the naive-looking Cao Ronghua, Xie Yujia drank several glasses of beer. Sitting next to Hao Ren, her face was deep pink, and she looked sweet and bright like an apple.
As for Hao Ren, they didn’t go easy on him. Almost everyone came over to drink with him. Although it was only beer, Hao Ren began to feel the effects of the indulgent drinking.
The scene looked more like a wedding feast just before the wedding night than a celebration for Hao Ren’s victory.
Half drunk, Hao Ren wanted to send a message to Zhao Yanzi to ask her
if her trip back to school was safe and was she home yet. However, when he dug out his mobile phone, he suddenly remembered that he didn’t have Zhao Yanzi’s number. He patted himself on the head and lamented about his drunkenness.
“Hey! You are too loud!”
A harsh voice cut into their boisterous conversations with a loud bang on the table at the other end of the room.
Zhao Jiayi and others stopped talking and looked toward that direction.
A brawny guy with a crew cut was glaring at them while holding a glass of beer in his hand.
“This is a public place. If you find it noisy, you can go to another place,” Zhao Jiayi turned to the guy and retorted.
As the leader of the dorm, Zhao Jiayi had always put Hao Ren under his protection. When he was in middle school, he had been a big gun at his school and never had to back off from anyone.
“Sophomores, right?” that guy looked at Zhao Jiayi as he stood up.
When he stood up, the people in the room saw his unusual height. Almost six feet four inches tall, he was one head taller than Zhao Jiayi!
Sensing a fight was in the air, Xie Yujia stood up immediately and called out with her Class President tone, “Zhao Jiayi, come back! Ignore him!”
However, Zhao Jiayi’s motto was to never back off. He stared back at that guy without fear.
The other guys eating with the tall guy abruptly stood up. Each of them was at least 6 feet tall, and they looked like a group of aggressive mountains when they stood together.
Fearing for Zhao Jiayi’s safety, the usually timid Zhou Liren, who was the tallest of the guys, rushed over and stood next to Zhao Jiayi.
Then, the other guys in Hao Ren’s class walked over and stood on both sides of Zhao Jiayi. Hao Ren was about to go as well, but Xie Yujia caught him with a firm grip.
Zhao Jiayi’s group had no advantage in height, but their number was four times of their opponents’. If the fight broke out, the worst result would be heavy losses for both parties.
Sensing that a fight was about to break out, Xie Yujia screamed, “Come back here! Don’t fight!”
But at that moment, who would care about her opinion?