When the gunshot rang out, a dozen or so guys on the starting line rushed forward, vying with each other. Zhao Jiadi didn't make a strong dash but ran at a constant speed.
When he was little, Zhao Jiadi was frail, but fortunately, he didn't have any major illnesses or disasters. Later, he practiced some rather odd stance-holding and all kinds of random martial arts moves with his grandpa. He also went into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs with a few stray dogs. The mountain wasn't big, and they never ran into wild boars or anything like that, let alone black bears. Zhao Jiadi just liked chasing rabbits and pheasants with those local dogs. It was from that time that his body started to get stronger and his courage grew. During his childhood and adolescence, he thought his grandpa was a reclusive master like those in martial arts novels. Otherwise, how could he be a traveling doctor, tell fortunes, and read feng shui for people, and also be able to perform several sets of Bagua or Baji boxing in the yard? Later, after verification, Zhao Jiadi found out that those martial arts moves were actually all fake. In modern terms, they were just shoddy imitations, just the surface stuff. However, after going through the rebellious period, Zhao Jiadi was truly grateful from the bottom of his heart for his grandpa's careful cultivation. Unfortunately, the old guy passed away early, and that little brat Zhao Yangge was left with no one willing or able to discipline him. At first, when Zhao Jiadi toughed it out a few times to teach this ungrateful kid a lesson, he was even given the cold shoulder and suspected by his stepmother in name. Later, Zhao Jiadi couldn't be bothered to care and just did what he should do. He studied hard to make progress every day, exercised to avoid being beaten up in fights, and delved into German and Russian to prove himself. That's how he got through his middle school years.
During the running, Zhao Jiadi thought of many people and things. It was far from being about joys and sorrows, partings and reunions. He knew his own limits. It was understandable for a little kid to talk about having gone through hardships with a sense of vicissitudes, but it would be really disgusting if he actually regarded himself as a scallion that had weathered storms and hardships. However, there were definitely childish joys and sorrows. The greatest thing to be glad about was that his friends were all on a good path. Just as Huzi said, Yang Pingping, with her typical wild and rich girl demeanor, had even been admitted to Peking University. Compared to that, Sparrow, who privately vowed to have a hand in both the legal and illegal worlds in Henan and Hebei in the future, also honestly got into Fudan University. The restless Huang Hua finally stopped harassing the innocent girls in school. He fell in love with a mature businesswoman in Qinhuangdao. It was said that he successfully broke up her happy family, making a woman who was way past her adolescence abandon her husband and children just to be with him. That could also be considered Huang Hua's "accomplishment". Huzi and Pistol both reluctantly took over their fathers' jobs. Old Yang, who was the fiercest in fighting, also became a national defense student with the help of his grandfather's connections in the army. Hu Li, that girl, had even surprisingly mended her ways. She went to Sichuan to do volunteer teaching work in obscurity and became the most decent girl in their small circle. Everyone was doing well. Finally, they had all transformed from good-for-nothing rascals into aspiring youths.
The 5,000-meter race on a 400-meter track means running 12.5 laps. Zhao Jiadi hadn't received professional training, but he knew how to create an optimal curve graph in his mind based on his physical condition. He knew exactly what level of physical energy to use at each stage of the progress. As a true goal-oriented athlete, once he had a clear goal and an accurate breakdown of stages, he could always achieve twice the result with half the effort.
So after five laps, he had risen from fourth from the bottom in the first lap to third from the top.
In the stands in the distance, there was a special spectator. She wasn't a student of this school. Wearing a baseball cap, with a ponytail, she looked neat and clean. She had on a high-quality cotton T-shirt with a painted ink-wash portrait of a female role in Chinese opera, simple jeans paired with equally simple and refreshing canvas shoes. Not far from her, besides a couple who were busy with intimate little actions and were completely lost in themselves, there were also three or four boys who held back their urine and didn't even want to go to the toilet once they saw her. One of them had already secretly taken many photos of her from various angles and in different ways with his mobile phone. They weren't interested in the playground at all. As long as no one was openly committing murder or arson, their attention was all on this strange girl.
Mu Qingyu, who had already finished running the 400 meters and managed to get the last-place ranking, went back to the dormitory to take a shower. Then he rode his bicycle slowly to the stadium, found her, sat beside her, and handed her a bottle of mineral water, asking with confusion, "Sister, why are you still here? What's so interesting to watch?"
"The 5,000-meter race is a lot more interesting than the 400-meter sprint," explained Mu Hongli, who had specially come from Shanghai International Studies University. Her eyes were still fixed on the runners sweating profusely on the track.
"Only the rejects go for long-distance running. It's typical of the blue-collar class. Guys like me are the golden-collar class," said Mu Qingyu with disdain. He had always considered himself a refined man. Thanks to his privileged family background, he was rather aloof. His family was a traditional scholarly family with official connections. He could blatantly look down on those nouveau riche who were richer than him. And as for those without money, they were even less worthy of his attention. From childhood to adulthood, his special family background had always been his stepping stone for tricking those infatuated girls and also his get-out-of-jail-free card for avoiding punishment.
"People like you would be doomed once exposed if you entered a Japanese enterprise or a large company with a corporate culture like Dell's," Mu Hongli said softly. She took a sip of water without turning to look at Mu Qingyu. She had long been used to her younger brother's conceit. Out of sight, out of mind.
"Even if they knelt on the ground and begged me to go, I still wouldn't," Mu Qingyu snorted.
Mu Hongli simply ignored this guy.
Bored to death, Mu Qingyu took out the iPhone that a friend had brought back for him from abroad and started playing a mini-game. Since entering this school, he had been in a state of loneliness and emptiness. He couldn't even find anyone to stir up trouble with him. Back in high school on his own turf, he had a group of cronies from similar family backgrounds or with comparable wealth. They looked for fun every day, doing whatever was considered out of line. They dabbled in gambling and sex but stayed away from drugs. He owed a huge debt from playing Bullfight and Pai Gow. He pestered Mu Hongli relentlessly to hand over her private savings to pay off part of it, and left the rest to fate. In his words, it was just "Damn it, it's only seventy or eighty thousand yuan. Can you buy two square meters in downtown Shanghai with that?" As for sex, he was considered pure in his circle. He didn't lose his virginity until the second year of high school. At that time, he even received a symbolic red envelope of 1 yuan. That one-yuan coin is still in his collection. He didn't think there was anything wrong with losing his virginity to a prostitute. His catchphrase was quite famous in the circle: "So what if a prostitute takes on clients every day? Isn't a noblewoman still going to be fucked hard by her man every night?" After getting into college and leaving that circle that could barely be considered second-tier in the provincial capital city, without the support and backup of those who used to egg him on and back him up, actually, he, who was more bark than bite, didn't dare to mess around too much anymore. He was mostly just being boastful with his words. His father, who was a diplomat, had long predicted that this son, barring any accidents, would never face a serious consequence in his life. So, after being angry about his lack of ambition and feeling sorry for his misfortune, he simply shifted his focus onto Mu Hongli, wholeheartedly cultivating the more presentable and well-behaved daughter, preparing to let her take over the baton of the family.
It was already the 8th lap. Zhao Jiadi was running in the second position, not panting and his face not flushed. Maybe this was what was called strolling in a leisurely manner. The one who was gritting his teeth and holding on to the first place was a long-distance running expert. However, his speed was obviously much slower than in the first five laps. By the fifth lap, he had almost pulled a full lap ahead of the second-place runner. And now Zhao Jiadi was just three or four meters behind him.
Zhao Jiadi looked up at the not-too-bright evening sunset and suddenly felt a bit sad, because he suddenly realized that no matter how fast he ran, even if he stripped naked and ran, no girl would actually be willing to remember him.
His unusually abundant physical strength was toughened up by his grandpa's "torture". But before the senior year of high school, he didn't have the habit of running 10 laps on the playground. The reason he developed this good habit was actually thanks to a certain girl. That "she", the bitch that Sparrow and Leopard wished they could draw a grotesque face on. Up until now, Zhao Jiadi still hadn't forgotten her. Saying that he didn't resent her at all and that he had completely let go of this farcical first love was just self-deception. Zhao Jiadi wasn't a promiscuous brute like Yang Pingping and Huang Hua, nor could he be as devoted as Pistol. On the first day of the sophomore year, when he was lying on the balcony skipping classes and smoking, he heard her heartrending sobs. Then he saw that small oval face with tears streaming down like pear blossoms. Finally, the two of them looked at each other. One was crying inconsolably, and the other was gaping with a cigarette in his mouth. After coming to his senses, Zhao Jiadi, the toad, knew that he had fallen for this school beauty. He hadn't fallen in love with her at first sight when she was showing off like a peacock in all her splendor before. Instead, he saw her being strange in an awkward place, and Zhao Jiadi fell for her without hesitation. At that time, it was as if he had seen a wounded little puppy, whimpering helplessly and sadly. Little Zhao Jiadi, being quite manly, felt a surge of murderous intent and asked, "Tell me, who bullied you? I'll chop him up!"
She stayed there for a long time, continued crying until she had no more strength to cry and her voice was hoarse. Then she sobbed and said, "It's so-and-so."
Zhao Jiadi was almost like a fool running the 5,000 meters today. He single-handedly took down that guy and four or five other strong fellows who were with him.
Returning to the balcony with a bruised face, surprisingly, the good student girl was still waiting there like a fool. Zhao Jiadi lit a cigarette and said two words with great aplomb: "Taken care of."
She didn't say "thank you", just as she didn't say "sorry" in the end.
She stretched out her hand.
Little Zhao Jiadi was stunned for a moment and then handed her a cigarette.
She didn't take it and pointed at the cigarette in Little Zhao Jiadi's mouth.
After she took it, she actually smoked it and coughed terribly. Then she crouched on the ground and started crying again, wailing and sobbing. For any girl who cherished her reputation, she had pretty much shown her most wretched side to others. Her crying made Little Zhao Jiadi lose his wits and he didn't know what to do.
If she had cried in front of other peers, at most she would have received some perfunctory comfort. But Little Zhao Jiadi was different. He was the guy who had two tough grandmas. Among them, the second grandma, who had been elegant and poised all her life, after the old man passed away, even though she was in good health and could have lived for another ten or twenty years at least, she actually passed away peacefully in her sleep that very day and never woke up again. Then there was his aunt. After divorcing Zhao Sanjin, she saw through the ways of the world even more. In the end, she simply went to Putuo Mountain in Zhoushan to live a quiet life like a semi-nun, leaving behind a crazy daughter, Wang Banjin, who was without a father's love and a mother's care and who tormented Little Zhao Jiadi every day. Little Zhao Jiadi's mother was nominally Zhao Sanjin's legal wife, but she had already settled in Australia. The marriage hadn't been dissolved, but the moment she left the Zhao family, the young stepmother who was pregnant with Zhao Yange walked into the Zhao family. They didn't get a marriage certificate but just held a wedding banquet with nearly a hundred tables. The grandeur of it was probably only short of having a national leader give the opening speech. This was almost equivalent to forcing Little Zhao Jiadi to engage in an intense power struggle with his scheming stepmother when he was still a kid with his private parts not fully developed. Even now, he wasn't sure if the kidnapping incident when he was 12 years old along with Wang Banjin was her doing.
Fighting against the heavens, the earth, the stepmother, and having to spar with his father whom he still hasn't figured out from time to time. Is it really supposed to be fun? Fuck that "fun"!
Living in such an environment, it's already a miracle that Zhao Jiadi wasn't driven into a pervert or a lunatic. Naturally, his views on women became extremely stubborn.
Then she showed up, unfortunately.
Throughout the whole sophomore year, Zhao Jiadi read the dictionary and prose every day to write love letters to her. He did this for 365 days. One day he'd copy from "The Book of Songs", the next day he'd translate Russian poems, and the day after that he'd figure out complimentary sentences from German masterpieces. At least, he managed to raise his average Chinese grade by over ten points. Maybe it was true that sincerity can break through even metal and stone. The most important thing was that he finally managed to persuade her and she became the first true girlfriend in Zhao Jiadi's virgin life. Now Zhao Jiadi often wonders how such a simple and kind girl could change so quickly. How could she suddenly become so worldly-wise and shrewd, just like people say that a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. After thinking a lot and being taciturn for half a year, Zhao Jiadi reluctantly came to terms with it. When she was good, she was good. When she was bad, she was really bad. After being listless and muddled for nearly half a year, Zhao Jiadi felt that he could face up to that oval face that was no longer innocent but cold. He washed his face, shaved his beard, pulled out a machete from under the bed, and ran over. In front of her, who was as pale as a ghost and thought Zhao Jiadi was going to die with her, without looking at the new suitor by her side, he chopped the ring he'd saved up to buy into pieces. Then he beat the guy who was hugging her into a bloody mess like a pig's head. He clapped his hands, cursed "Son of a bitch", and then turned around and walked away without any hesitation. The only regret was that when they were dating, he was so busy taking care of her that at most they just had a little kiss. He even overlooked the most proper sex. So in the end, he still didn't figure out whether she was a virgin or not.
By the 10th lap, Zhao Jiadi was already far ahead. Actually, he could have run even faster under normal circumstances, but a sense of powerlessness welled up within him.
He gave himself a hard slap, which made him a lot more sober. Zhao Jiadi took a deep breath and cursed with a laugh, "That kind of trash. When I force Zhao Sanjin to step down, since she likes money the most, I'll dump a whole sack of money and make them line up in the future. They can stick their asses up for me to fuck. Shit, I'll just look and not fuck you."
Zhao Jiadi started sprinting like crazy. By the 11th lap, he had already left the second-place runner far behind by more than half a lap and had already lapped the last-place runner nearly two times.
He kept sprinting until he reached the finish line. Then he bent over, gasping for breath heavily. Ignoring the gaping referees and the few scattered spectators, he walked straight out of the playground.
Whether it was the loneliness that was like dog shit or the pretentious solitude, anyway, even Mu Hongli on the stands felt an inexplicable pang of heartache.
Zhao Jiadi knew in his heart that those were just angry words. He resented her betrayal but didn't hate her. If there was hatred, it would mean he truly loved her, and that would be the real sorrow of a loser.
What a desolate and fierce guy!