by Dragon King
After everything was done, Hao Ren held onto his grandma and helped her to walk out of the hospital - she was still weak.
A black stretch Lincoln Limousine was already waiting outside; it was five meters away from the entrance.
58 Backup Is Here…
Similar to last time, short Elder Sun, dressed in traditional Chinese attire, was standing beside the car with two brawny men in black suits.
Seeing Hao Ren walk out with his grandmother, Elder Sun hurried over. ” Gongzi 1 Hao, Taijun 2 , congratulations on your recovery. Please get in the car.”
Hao Ren’s grandma was uncomfortable to be greeted like this by Elder Sun who looked older than her. Baffled, she turned to look at Hao Ren.
Hao Ren was feeling awkward as well when he saw people in and out of the hospital looking at them. Hurriedly, he helped his grandma into the car.
Bam! Bam! The car doors closed after Elder Sun got into the car after them, and the stretch Lincoln Limousine drove away from the hospital steadily.
On the way, Elder Sun was all smiles but remained silent. Hao Ren’s grandma was full of questions, but she refrained from asking them.
The car arrived at Zhao Yanzi’s home.
This time, Elder Sun didn’t go in and say hello like last time. Instead, he left with the car after dropping off Hao Ren and his grandma at the door.
Zhao Hongyu heard the car and hurried out to welcome them.
At the sight of welcoming Zhao Hongyu, Grandma’s mood got better. “Oh, I’m so sorry to trouble you again after all the inconveniences I caused you when you brought me to the hospital,” she said.
“Well, it’s really no trouble at all. We are a family, and that’s our duty,” Zhao Hongyu took Grandma’s hand and led her into the house.
It was Grandma’s first time inside Zhao Yanzi’s home. She looked around at the luxurious interior and the large high-end rugs on the floor of the living room and knew that Zhao Hongyu’s family was very well off.
“Here you are! Welcome!” Zhao Guang walked out of his study room and came to greet them with a smile.
Grandma had never seen Zhao Guang before, but she guessed that he must be Zhao Hongyu’s husband. She nodded at him amiably and said after some thinking, “Your home is so beautifully decorated, but I think I’d better not stay here.”
“Why, didn’t you promise yesterday to stay in our home after you’re discharged from the hospital?” Zhao Hongyu interrupted anxiously.
Grandma had thought that Zhao Hongyu was from an ordinary family when she saw her simple clothes the day before. But after knowing that Zhao Hongyu’s family was wealthy, Grandma got a little uncomfortable. After all, Grandma was from the countryside and lived a very simple lifestyle.
“Grandma…” hearing the sounds from downstairs, Zhao Yanzi, dressed in a hooded shirt and a pair of denim shorts, ran down.
She looked cute and innocent, like an energetic little white dragon jumping out of the water. She had meant to say hello to the guest as required of a good-mannered family member.
However, Grandma was charmed by Zhao Yanzi’s cute and innocent look. She took her in her arms and patted her head. “Good girl! I just came out of the hospital and hadn’t get you a gift,” Grandma said.
“Grandma’s health is the only gift I want!” Zhao Yanzi said sweetly. She meant what she said since she had been quite concerned about Hao Ren when she saw him so anxious and lost when Grandma was in the hospital. That was why she had gone with her dad to pick up Hao Ren and hoped that she could help out.
Of course, caring for Hao Ren didn’t mean that she liked him.
“Auntie, please stay with us!” Zhao Hongyu urged again.
Looking at Zhao Yanzi in her arms, Grandma hesitated and said. “Well, fine. I’m just afraid to disrupt your beautiful home.”
“Let’s sit down for lunch,” Zhao Guang called to them.
Hao Ren looked up and saw delicious-looking dishes on the table.
Hao Ren helped his grandma to the table. With a reclining chair added to the table, the five of them sat down and had lunch in high spirits.
After the incident with his grandma, Hao Ren was very grateful towards Zhao Yanzi’s family. Even if they could find another solution to the problem between him and Zhao Yanzi, he would never forget this big favor that Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang had done for him.
After lunch, Zhao Hongyu helped Grandma to rest in the room that had been newly cleared for her, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi were put in charge of cleaning up, and Zhao Guang had left as there were some urgent business matters he had to take care of.
Zhao Yanzi stood shoulder to shoulder with Hao Ren in the kitchen while washing the dishes. To tell the truth, Zhao Yanzi sucked at washing dishes as none of the plates she washed was clean, so Hao Ren had to wash them again.
“Thank you for all the things you did,” Hao Ren said while he rewashed the plates.
“I didn’t do anything,” Zhao Yanzi pursed her lips.
Hao Ren smiled and said, “Do you want me to play games with you this afternoon?”
“I don’t need your company! I’m going shopping with Ling this afternoon!” Zhao Yanzi pushed all the dirty plates to Hao Ren and skipping out of the kitchen. Afterward, she dried her hands and thought her task was over.
Hao Ren turned and saw Zhao Yanzi tiptoeing out of the door and running to the street through the glass door of the kitchen.
“This girl is going out shopping without her mom’s permission. She must have gone pocket money from her Third Uncle to buy girly things…”
Exasperated, Hao Ren shook his head and continued washing the dishes.
Maybe it was her way of telling Hao Ren not to be smug, Zhao Yanzi had dinner in Ling’s home after shopping with her. Then, she asked Ling’s parents to call home to tell her parents that she was staying the night at Ling’s home.
Knowing that Ling and Zi were best friends, Zhao Hongyu agreed to Zhao Yanzi’s request. After all, it was the weekend, and she wanted her daughter to have some leisure time. Hao Ren stayed the night in Zhao Yanzi’s home to keep his grandma company. The next day was Sunday, and he returned to school after being assured of his grandma’s comfort.
After the eventful weekend, Hao Ren returned to the dorm and went back to the messy and happy life with Zhao Jiayi and his other buddies. Another week began.
After two classes in the morning, Hao Ren carried an armful of library books and went to the library alone to return them.
After returning the books, he borrowed some new ones. In the past, he had some time for reading. Now, he had to tutor Zhao Yanzi and cultivate outside of his regular class schedule; he almost had no time of his own and couldn’t play cards and games like Zhao Jiayi and the others.
Hao Ren gradually felt like Zhao Yanzi’s home was his own since he went there every day after school and now even his grandma lived there.
He walked out of the library with those thoughts on his mind. When he walked toward the stairs, he saw Class President Xie Yujia dressed in a white shirt studying in the periodicals reading room.
She seemed to have sensed his presence as she turned and saw Hao Ren on the stairs.
Hao Ren smiled and waved at her. After that, he continued going downstairs with books in his arms. He went into the hall and out of the library.
When he was turning towards the direction of his dorm, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.
He turned and saw Xie Yujia rush towards him with books and notebooks in her arms.
“Hao Ren, wait! I need to talk to you!” Gongzi is an ancient Chinese way of addressing the son of a noble; similar to Childe in the Western world. Taijun is an ancient Chinese way of addressing an elderly woman who had a noble status.
59 Why Are You so Disrespectful?
Xie Yujia was running so fast that she almost tripped over the steps outside the library and landed in Hao Ren’s arms.
She barely steadied herself, and her face was red due to the run. She panted and
said, “Are you going back to your dorm?”
“Yeah?” Hao Ren looked at her, baffled.
“I…I am heading back to my dorm, too,” Xie Yujia said after half a second pause.
“Oh. Let’s walk back together,” Hao Ren still looked nonplussed.
“Wait for me for a second; my bicycle is over there,” with her books in her arms, Xie Yujia walked to the parking lot on the right side of the library. She put the books in the basket in the front and unlocked the bike before walking it to Hao Ren.
Dressed in a white shirt, a pair of denim shorts, and a pair of green canvas shoes while walking a semi-new bike, Xie Yujia looked like the girl-next-door.
In Hao Ren’s mind, she had the perfect image and should be the most popular girl in the school instead of that blatantly dressed-up Lin Li from the Third Class.
Seeing Hao Ren staring at her, Xie Yujia blushed and said, “Let’s go.”
“Ok,” Hao Ren walked with her shoulder to shoulder. They walked across the open space in front of the library and crossed the bridge over the school lake.
The sun was shining, and the bike rolled forward slowly, matching their steps. They walked for a dozen meters in silence before Xie Yujia asked abruptly, “How is your grandma?”
“She is fine now,” Hao Ren thought for a moment and said, “Thank you for your concern.”
Xie Yujia lowered her head and asked after a few seconds, “What is going on between you and Su Han?”
With her white hands on the bike handles, her soft and elegant body leaned slightly to one side.
“She is my distant cousin,” Hao Ren forced himself to say the words even himself wouldn’t believe.
“That day, Thursday, I saw you enter her office,” Xie Yujia said.
Hao Ren turned to look at her; now he knew that the person who had followed him was actually Xie Yujia. He thought quickly and said, “Oh… I went to ask her about something I didn’t quite understand from her class.”
“Oh, so she tutored you privately,” Xie Yujia said immediately.
“Well,” Hao Ren smiled at the assumption, though the content of the tutoring session wasn’t about the topic taught in the class but about cultivation.
“Any more questions?” Hao Ren asked after Xie Yujia turned silent.
“No,” Xie Yujia shook her head.
Looking at her bright and pretty face, Hao Ren thought the beautiful Class President was quite cute.
They continued to walk. Although Xie Yujia had the bike with her and had finished asking her questions, she didn’t seem like she was in a hurry.
“Warm Welcome to World Famous Biologist Hao Zhonghua and Globally Well-Known Meteorologist Yue Yang Who Will Be Giving Lectures in the University!”
A red banner hanging over the top of the Green Hill Cafeteria came into their view.
It was hung here to get more students’ attention.
Looking up at the banner, Xie Yujia started another topic, “I didn’t expect our school to be able to invite such famous people to give guest lectures here.”
“Oh? Do you know them?” Hao Ren was surprised.
Seeing Hao Ren’s surprise, Xie Yujia said immediately, “How can I not know them? Hao Zhonghua is China’s most famous biologist, and the domestic media says that he is the most promising Chinese candidate for the Nobel Biology Prize. His paper on genetic information transcription has been published in Nature Magazine in the United States. International media also has a high opinion of his other research projects, though I can’t remember the titles now…”
Xie Yujia had a lot to say about the global reputation of the so-called Greatest Biologist in China. However, when she talked about his biological research projects, she couldn’t remember the titles.
Seeing the confusion on Hao Ren’s face, Xie Yujia was angry at her futile efforts. “Anyway, he is one of the greatest scientists in China. Besides, he is very young, only in his forties. He published papers in all kinds of science magazines, and he is in the news frequently. You haven’t heard of him at all?”
Seeing her serious expression as if she was giving a lecture to a student, Hao Ren had an urge to laugh.
“You guys only know about playing online games, watching movies or reading comic books in your dorm, and you don’t care a bit about the world around you. If you guys keep going like this, you will be left behind by the world!” with one hand on her hip, Xie Yujia lectured him sternly.
Seeing her all riled up, Hao Ren had to give in. “Ok! Ok! Now I’ll remember his name,” he said.
“Good!” Xie Yujia was satisfied. “It would be shameful if you knew nothing about such a famous scientist! Besides, he should be a distant relative of yours.”
“Distant relative?” Hao Ren was baffled.
“Yeah. Since you both have the surname of Hao, you guys probably belonged to the same family 300 years ago,” Xie Yujia stared at Hao Ren and said.
Hao Ren chuckled. “You are right, Class President. I didn’t know you are a fan of this Hao Zhonghua.”
“Be respectful! He is the most famous scientist in China!” Xie Yujia began to lecture him again.
“Yeah, yeah…” Hao Ren didn’t want to argue with a girl or the Class President. He surrendered and said, “Class President, I guess you will definitely go to the lecture this Thursday.”
“Of course! And this time he isn’t alone! His wife will be here, too! This is a rare opportunity for us undergraduates! As academicians, he and his wife are busy with their research and rarely show their faces in public. I wonder how the school managed to invite them both to give us lectures… This is even a rare opportunity for doctoral students!”
Xie Yujia was excited about this topic. She had been a straight-A student since elementary school, and she had her eyes on science and technology. As a result, her admiration of scientists was understandable.
Of course, even the students who had no interest in science would go to the auditorium to see the famous couple Hao Zhonghua and Yue Yang.
Xie Yujia continued her lecture while walking with Hao Ren, “Hao Zhonghua is only in his forties, but he is already a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 1 . And his wife, Yue Yang, is also awesome since she is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Some say each of them could be a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, but they aren’t given the titles because of their young ages…”
Hearing the “gossip” about the couple from Xie Yujia, Hao Ren found the serious look on her face funny.
Soon, Xie Yujia found that Hao Ren was still unimpressed after her lecture and was almost treating what she said as some jokes. She was seriously upset and said, “You! You don’t have any respect for such great scientists!”
Hao Ren was about to argue his case when the cell phone in his pocket began to buzz.
Digging out his phone, he saw it was from Cao Ronghua. He answered lazily, “Well, I’m on my way. You can take out the cards now.”
“It’s not about the cards! Sh*t went down!” Cao Ronghua’s agitated voice came from the phone, “Zhao Jiayi is in a fight with the guys from the basketball team!” CAS and CAE are both institutions of the State Council of China. Their members are all influential
60 The Outburst of Hao Ren
Hao Ren was astonished by the news. He asked immediately, “Where are they?”
“Zone B on the basketball court!” Cao Ronghua yelled on the phone.
“Got it! I’m coming!” Hao Ren hung up and looked towards the direction of Zone B; he was ready to take off.
Xie Yujia reached out and held him back. “What happened?” he asked.
“Zhao Jiayi is fighting with the guys from the basketball team!” Hao Ren answered. Suddenly, he looked at Xie Yujia’s bike and reached for the handles. “Lend me your bike!” he said.
“No! I’m going, too!” as the Class President, Xie Yujia felt it was her duty to make sure that everyone in her class was safe.
Hao Re
n didn’t want to argue with her. He threw his leg over the bike and was on it instantly. Xie Yujia held onto his shirt tightly and sat on the back seat of the bike.
With Xie Yujia on the back seat, the bike was still not heavy. Hao Ren paddled hard and dashed forward at a hurtling speed.
Xie Yujia was astonished at the speed and the powerful strength of Hao Ren’s legs. She had no choice but to clutch his shirt in her hands and hold onto Hao Ren tightly to stop herself from falling off the bike.
The ordinary bike rushed toward Zone B of the basketball court.
Screech! Hao Ren braked hard when they reached the court, and Xie Yujia’s soft body crashed onto his back with great momentum.
However, Hao Ren was oblivious to all this. Jumping off the bike, he dashed onto the court.
With her chest hurting, Xie Yujia caught the bike and kept it from falling. She saw the court was crowded with people and fighting noises could be heard coming from the center. She pushed the bike aside and ran after Hao Ren onto the court.
Hao Ren pushed through the crowd with a force he didn’t know he possessed before, rushing towards the center. Xie Yujia had followed Hao Ren closely and thus also got into the inner circle of the crowd.
In the center of the basketball court, four big guys from the basketball team surrounded Zhao Jiayi while giving him bashes and kicks.
Zhao Jiayi was bruised all over. Although he had fallen to the ground, he stubbornly kicked at his opponents who were wearing sports shorts. Hurt and enraged by his kicks, his opponents beat Zhao Jiayi with greater force.
“Stop!” a surge of hot blood rushed into Hao Ren’s head. He rushed over and punched the guy who was giving Zhao Jiayi the most vicious kicks in the face.
That guy was red in the eye and had not expected someone would dare to stop him. Unprepared, he was solidly punched by Hao Ren’s fist; he fell back three steps, and his face instantly swelled up.
It happened so fast that the others didn’t notice Hao Ren’s interference as they kept kicking Zhao Jiayi. Enraged, Hao Ren rushed into the circle of the fight. Shielding Zhao Jiayi with his body, Hao Ren grabbed onto two ankles and swung them out.