Chapter 62: The Prodigal Son
Chen Fang approached with a sullen expression and glanced at Li Dong. He said to Fang You, "I'll cover the money for you. Go ahead and compete with him!"
"Chen Ge, this..."
"What are you afraid of! If you lose, you won't have to pay anything!" Seeing Fang You's hesitation, Chen Fang snorted, "You used to be a special student. Are you really afraid of him?"
Chen Fang then pulled out a thousand yuan and waved it, encouraging, "If you win, the money is yours. If you lose, I'll pay. Does that work?"
Fang You thought about it and figured he wouldn't lose anything, so he said to Li Dong, "I'll bet with you!"
Li Dong didn't look at him but stared at Chen Fang instead, his face showing some displeasure.
It wasn't because Chen Fang's interference was annoying, but because Chen Fang's involvement made Li Dong think of Huang Shanshan.
He didn't even remember participating in the competition, yet Chen Fang somehow knew to arrange for someone to trouble him. The information must have been leaked earlier.
It's clear where the leak came from. It was most likely Huang Shanshan. The class leaders all knew about the sports meet registration list.
Li Dong searched the crowd again and, as expected, spotted Huang Shanshan. What was even more ironic was that she was in the cheerleading squad.
A hint of sarcasm appeared on Li Dong's face. It was quite interesting to see if she was cheering for him to win or lose.
---
Huang Shanshan bit her lip. She had naturally seen Li Dong's sarcastic look.
However, she had nothing to explain. The fact that she leaked the information about Li Dong participating was true, but it was for a reason. She didn't expect Chen Fang to send someone to trouble Li Dong.
Bai Su gently tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "I know it's not your fault. I'll explain it to Li Dong."
"No need!"
Huang Shanshan shook her head. It was pointless to discuss it now.
---
"Chen Fang, it's bad enough that you're an idiot yourself, but you even found another idiot to go against me. How boring." Li Dong sneered. Since he knew Fang You was instigated by Chen Fang, he wasn't polite with his words.
Chen Fang's face flashed with anger as he spat venomously, "Li, watch your mouth. Is that all you can do, just talk?"
"Fine!"
Li Dong smiled without sincerity and said calmly, "If you want to play, I'll play along."
"But if we're going to play, let's make it big. How about a one-on-one match between us?"
Chen Fang snorted disdainfully, "Don't provoke me. You can't afford to play with me!"
Li Dong stopped talking and simply chuckled, "Alright, if you're unwilling, then forget it. I'll find a chance to play with you properly later."
After saying that, he ignored Chen Fang and turned to a nearby teacher, asking, "Teacher, isn't the competition starting soon?"
The teacher, who was keenly observing the situation, blushed. Clearing his throat, he said in a serious tone, "It will start soon. Contestants, take your positions!"
---
"Ready!"
"Bang!"
As soon as the starter pistol fired, Li Dong took the lead.
Today, he was well-prepared and, with a surge of anger, his speed was even faster than yesterday.
Fang You, motivated by the money, also ran quickly and soon surpassed Li Dong.
At this point, the other competitors had become mere spectators. After having seen a dramatic performance earlier, they were now enjoying watching the two of them race, trailing behind and observing.
The two of them had no chance to speak and were giving their all to run forward!
Halfway through the race, Li Dong overtook Fang You!
With forty meters to go, Fang You caught up with Li Dong again.
Twenty meters, Li Dong was ahead by a step!
Ten meters, nine meters, eight meters...
The two of them surged past the finish line simultaneously like a gust of wind.
Li Dong panted heavily, cursing inwardly. Had this idiot taken steroids today? Could a thousand yuan have such magical power?
He didn't want to think too much about it. Li Dong slowed his pace and jogged over to the referee, asking, "Who won?"
The referee was the same one as yesterday. Since Fang You and Li Dong had crossed the line almost simultaneously yesterday, the referee had come prepared today.
Hearing Li Dong's question, the referee looked at another teacher who had come to help and asked, "What's Fang You's time?"
It turned out that he had specifically brought an additional person to help with timing, fearing he wouldn't be able to time accurately today.
The teacher who timed Fang You looked at the stopwatch and said, "10.8 seconds. This time is good enough for the university sports meet."
It's worth noting that the national university sports meet record for the 100 meters was only broken in September of this year, with the new record being 10.28 seconds.
For an untrained student like Fang You to run 10.8 seconds was impressive.
The university's sports meet record was 10.6 seconds, set three years ago by a sports special talent student, and had yet to be broken.
Upon hearing his time, Fang You's eyes flashed with joy.
He hadn't expected to run such a fast time. His previous best in high school was 11 seconds, and now he had broken his own record.
Li Dong remained silent. After hearing Fang You's time, he too fell silent.
10.8 seconds was an impressive time for a freshman in the university sports meet. Li Dong wasn't sure if he had run faster than Fang You.
The referee looked at his stopwatch, and instead of announcing the result, suddenly asked, "Li Dong, are you interested in joining the school's track team?"
Li Dong's mouth curled into a smile. He had a feeling he had won!
Typically, the champion would enjoy the spotlight at such times. Since the referee was asking him, it meant he was most likely faster than Fang You.
Indeed, before Li Dong could speak, the referee praised, "10.7 seconds. And this isn't a professional timer. The actual time might be even faster. It could potentially break the university sports meet record."
Li Dong laughed heartily. He wasn't concerned about records; what mattered was that he had won!
He didn't care about the thousand yuan bet. Just thinking about Chen Fang and Fang You's awkward expressions made him feel elated.
These two idiots really thought they could embarrass him?
It was a joke. Not only did Li Dong win, but even if he had lost, Chen Fang was just an idiot with childish methods of humiliation.
For some reason, Li Dong suddenly thought of Xiao Ran, who was with Chen Fang. He had a premonition that Xiao Ran was more skilled at scheming than calculating.
---
When the news of Li Dong's victory spread, the happiest person wasn't anyone else but Meng Qiping.
He darted out quickly and, before Chen Fang could react, snatched the thousand yuan from his hand.
Holding up the money, Meng Qiping's mouth stretched into a wide grin.
"Won! A thousand yuan! Dong Ge, you're awesome! Hahaha!"
Standing next to him, Cheng Nan also smiled happily. While Meng Qiping was stunned, she snatched the winning thousand yuan and Meng Qiping's own thousand yuan.
Seeing Meng Qiping in a daze, Cheng Nan said with a grin, "Fatty, I'll keep this for you so you don't spend it recklessly."
Meng Qiping's face instantly fell. All his joy turned to bitterness. He wished he hadn't shown off.
Cheng Nan paid him no mind and smiled at Chen Fang, "Thanks, big spender. The prodigal son, huh!"
Chen Fang snorted. Since Cheng Nan was Huang Shanshan's roommate, he didn't say anything more and walked away with a dark face.
Cheng Nan wasn't concerned and didn't fear offending Huang Shanshan.
She had no good feelings for Chen Fang, who enjoyed scheming. Especially after becoming close with Meng Qiping, she was even more dismissive of Chen Fang.
---
At this moment, Li Dong had no time to worry about Meng Qiping or watch the drama with Chen Fang.
The referee kept pestering him to join the school's track team, and Li Dong was extremely annoyed.
Especially after Fang You had agreed to join, Li Dong was even less likely to join.
But this guy was so clingy; Li Dong couldn't believe a man in his thirties could talk so much.
Li Dong gave a few perfunctory responses, said he would think about it, and finally managed to get rid of the referee. Only then did he remember he hadn't had the chance to taunt Chen Fang.
Unfortunately, when Li Dong returned to the starting point, Chen Fang had already been gone for a while.