A lone fool

If having the audacious ambition of a toad wanting to eat swan meat could actually lure a swan down from the sky, wouldn't the countless female toads be heartbroken? So, even though Zhao Jia ran so many laps on the playground, he still failed to wait for success like waiting for a hare by the stump. Once in a while, he might catch a glimpse of one or two pretty girls. But those girls were either the sweethearts of some handsome guys dashing about on the football field or they were just taking a walk on the playground because of some emotional setbacks. None of them would even bother to take a proper look at Brother Ba Liang with his flamboyant running steps and sharp movement on the field.

Even if Zhao Jiadi could run twenty laps at a time, it was estimated that he still couldn't get what he desired even if he ran two hundred laps and trampled the playground to pieces. This made classmate Zhao Jiadi, who was going to run 5,000 and 10,000 meters on the "execution ground" in two days, feel a bit desolate.

A few days ago, when I called my grandma to ask for some Pu'er tea, she readily agreed and said that she would have someone hand over the keys and the access authorization of Tomson Riviera to him at that time.

The enterprises founded by Zhao Sanjin are based in TS City, but they also have branches and subsidiaries in Shanghai, Beijing and some resource-based cities. Although there is still a considerable gap compared with commercial behemoths like China Mobile, PetroChina and Sinopec, and it's impossible to have absolute influence in every province, compared with the general top 500 enterprises in China, those who are in charge of a part of the business under Zhao Sanjin can be regarded as powerful figures in the economic field. It's not to say that each of them can be on the Forbes list, but excluding the large part of real estate, their personal assets are not far from being billionaires.

One of the most striking points is that almost all of the veterans who fought alongside Zhao Sanjin have been successively purged. Some of them took the money and retired, while others set up their own businesses. The outside world has been scolding Zhao Sanjin, comparing him to Zhao Kuangyin, saying that he's the kind of ruthless person who gets rid of his loyal followers once they are no longer useful, just like the shrewd Emperor Taizu of Song who relieved the military commanders of their commands over a cup of wine. However, those veteran insiders have all, with great tacit understanding, remained silent不约而同, which is full of mystery. This wealthy tycoon, who is adored wholeheartedly by some and hated to the point where others wish to tear him apart limb from limb, has arranged two capable generals in Shanghai and Jiangsu, one old and one in his prime. It's not clear whether the original intention was for them to work together or to keep an eye on each other. Originally, the Empress Dowager's intention was to have "Little Xu", who had cultivated deep relationships in all aspects in Shanghai, go to the school in person. Of course, Zhao Jiadi didn't dare to agree. He had disliked that person since childhood, always feeling that he had an overly gloomy aura, just like an androgynous eunuch. Despite his sunny appearance, he was still creepy. Wang Banjin once said that if Zhao Jiadi didn't change his stinking temper, he would only have the fate of a technical bureaucrat, never being able to swim like a fish in either the system or the business world. Zhao Jiadi, however, didn't take it seriously and didn't pay much attention to it.

He has no complaints about his current peaceful life. He has both big and small goals. The big goals need to be achieved step by step, gradually. The small goal, which is the pursuit of Mu Hongli, is also within the plan. Each small step has reached the expected result. Although he hasn't managed to kiss her or hold her hand yet, at least he can accompany her in class every time he goes to Shanghai International Studies University, bicker with her, and also has the privilege of looking at her pretty face and graceful figure without getting any cold stares. When he's hungry, he can even have the cafeteria "easy meal" which costs seven or eight yuan. This kind of life is quite comfortable.

"Zhao Jiadi, you always disappear and reappear mysteriously four or five times a week. What sneaky business are you up to by going to other schools?" Shen Han asked in confusion. In his eyes, Zhao Jiadi was completely different from someone like Ma Xiaotiao. He didn't seem to be the kind of capable person who could have a romantic relationship outside the school. Nor had he heard that Zhao Jiadi had a girlfriend. So why was he running outside the school every day? And even if it was for tutoring, he didn't need to be this diligent. This had become a mystery in the dormitory.

"Since waiting around like waiting for a hare by the stump didn't work out, I'm going to try a two-pronged approach and take the initiative," Zhao Jiadi, who had just taken a bath after running twenty laps in the evening, said with a laugh. His Tieguanyin tea was all gone, so he just grabbed some other tea to make do.

"Is she beautiful?" Li Feng asked in a gossipy way.

"Gorgeous, extremely beautiful." Zhao Jiadi gave two words quite honestly.

"Aren't you courting death then?" Li Feng was so straightforward that he wasn't afraid of dampening Zhao Jiadi's enthusiasm.

Ma Xiaotiao was playing an RPG battle game called Dota on the VS gaming platform. This rich guy had bought a one-year VIP membership along with a Chinese ID, which looked really cool. His ID was "Hangzhou Duck King", and his slogan was "Seeking to be trashed and humiliated. Welcome burly guys weighing 200 jin". In fact, his gaming skills were just so-so. He had just barely gotten out of the newbie stage and was really easy to be trashed and humiliated. He had just been completely wiped out by the opposite team in a 3 vs 5 match. With a slam of the mouse, he cursed and then created a new game host. Staring at the host, he also took the chance to tease Zhao Jiadi, "Not bad, not bad. Just like me, seeking to be trashed and humiliated. I like it."

"Wasn't humiliated. We've even had a meal together already." Zhao Jiadi said with a smile. Maybe Mu Hongli's butt isn't the curviest, her breasts aren't the perkest, and her face isn't the most alluring or the purest. But he just likes that charm of a Jiangnan woman like an ink wash painting on her. She's a bit aloof and cool. In this regard, he has inherited Zhao Sanjin's bad habits and has little immunity to women from scholarly families.

"If you need funds from the dormitory for chasing girls, just let us know right away." Li Feng said considerately.

Ma Xiaotiao gave him a student card with a deposit that had already reached four digits. As the dormitory head and housekeeper of Room 313, Li Feng divided this huge sum of money into several parts. Besides the water and electricity bills, there were all kinds of "funds", one of which was the fund for chasing girls. Shen Han had already withdrawn the money equivalent to about a dozen cups of milk tea. Of course, all of this required Li Feng's personal review. Ma Xiaotiao didn't care about it at all and was happy to see the dormitory in a harmonious atmosphere. During his high school days, he had a very tense relationship with his roommates. Those kids who studied hard didn't like him, a black sheep who skipped classes and smoked as casually as having a meal. He remembered that once he managed to bring a girl into the dormitory of the boys' dormitory building after going through a lot of hardships. He had just touched her a few times when a bookish roommate with an unimaginable sense of justice summoned the head teacher by text message. Ma Xiaotiao was almost kicked out of the school directly. At that time, he was studying in a very excellent private high school in Hangzhou, which was famous in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. There were also many classmates who didn't say much but had powerful backgrounds. So Ma Xiaotiao didn't dare to make much trouble afterwards. Now that he's in college, his three roommates neither steal his limelight nor are they cunning. Ma Xiaotiao has no reason not to spend a little money to strengthen their friendship.

Zhao Jiadi nodded and didn't refuse. There was really no need to be too particular about such things. Going too far would seem pretentious. He turned on the computer and checked his emails. His childhood-betrothed sister, Qi Dongcao, had sent him the enterprise information of several new stocks on the Growth Enterprise Market. He was concentrating on browsing through the materials.

At the peaceful moment when Zhao Jiadi was supplementing his professional knowledge, on the balcony of a dormitory in Shanghai International Studies University, Mu Hongli was gently playing the guitar, the music soft and soothing. Just like the song "Kid" that amazed everyone at Zhao Jiadi's college party, this piece was also composed, arranged and lyric-written by herself. Mu Hongli's relationship with her roommates wasn't exactly strained, but neither was it overly harmonious. She always felt that she couldn't get in sync with the other three roommates. She wasn't the kind of woman who would pretend to be sincere to win others' favor, nor would she deliberately use trivial chats to build relationships. So she had a sense of being alone and solitary, really like a proud white swan, standing out conspicuously among the chickens. Because for a swan, even without making a sound, its mere existence was a kind of "mistake", just like in their dormitory, there were many beasts who on the surface wanted to be friends with Mu Hongli but harbored dirty thoughts of doing something sneaky.

She placed the guitar on her lap and took out her phone, wondering whether that guy would participate in the sports meet. However, this thought was quickly suppressed by her as soon as it emerged. She forcefully put the phone on the windowsill far away from her, as if she was afraid of doing something impulsive on a whim. Mu Hongli stretched out a finger and gently plucked the guitar strings, lost in thought. The school where her younger brother Mu Qingyu studied was going to hold a sports meet the day after tomorrow, and he would also take part in the 400-meter race. Mu Hongli hesitated for a moment and decided not to call Zhao Jiadi out after all.

Was she afraid that he would misunderstand, or was she afraid that she herself would misunderstand? Mu Hongli's usually clever head was in a muddle and she didn't want to think about it deeply.

College sports meets are always lukewarm, lackluster, and half-dead. You can choose to watch them or not, and they seem to have a rather pompous air.

Fortunately, the weather was favorable and the sports meet was held as scheduled.

Since it was Friday, Ma Xiaotiao from Room 313 had already gone to the city center to have fun. However, he didn't forget to send a text message to Zhao Jiadi to encourage and cheer him up, vowing that if Zhao Jiadi won the first place in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races, he would treat him to a "double flight", which got Zhao Jiadi quite excited. Li Feng, the housekeeper, had originally sworn to provide all-round, 360-degree service to Zhao Jiadi, including serving him tea, bringing him water, waving flags and shouting cheers for him, as well as giving him massages and pounding his back. But his parents called him back home for dinner, so he had to give up. As for Shen Han, he was so smitten by the guzheng-playing girl he had finally managed to hook up with that he went to the library with her to be all lovey-dovey. Zhao Jiadi also understood this deeply.

So in the end, Zhao Jiadi went into battle all by himself.

The men's 5,000-meter long-distance running was the last event, and the already sparse spectator stands became even more deserted. The 5,000-meter event was originally an obscure and unappealing one with no ornamental value at all. If it were the women's 5,000-meter event, perhaps one could casually watch those girls who were even more "manly" in willpower with their breasts trembling as they ran. And if a good-looking girl fainted, maybe one could even play the hero to save the beauty. But what was there to watch in the men's 5,000-meter event?

So when Zhao Jiadi stood on the starting line together with a dozen or so people, except for a few despicable couples flirting and joking around in the spectator stands, there were only a handful of genuine spectators left.

Because of the sports meet, Zhao Jiadi specially bought a pair of old-school Warrior shoes. In the past, when he ran on his own, he would casually wear a pair of hiking shoes without an obvious logo. They were chosen by Qi Dongcao and were very comfortable. He had already worn them for five or six years.

He was wearing a really tacky vest with the athlete's number hanging on his chest. He was unremarkable and not at all eye-catching in the group.

Zhao Jiadi looking like this was really damn stupid.