Chapter 22
Chapter 22: The Most Handsome Guy in East Ocean University
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
In the following two days, Hao Ren didn’t tutor Zhao Yanzi but took the time at night to practice long-distance running on the sports field. He didn’t expect to win the first place, but he didn’t want to end up last either.
He believed that his long-distance skills were still there and he just needed to regain his form.
With only 4-5 lamps illuminating the 400m synthetic racetrack surrounding the outside of the soccer field, the whole sports field looked quiet and lonely.
Regulating his breathing and steps, Hao Ren practiced alone. He had purposely chosen to run here at nine o’clock at night.
In one hour, the entrance of the dorm buildings would be locked up. The basketball and soccer players had all gone back, and thus he would have no distractions while practicing.
Today in Weak Optical Signal Processing class, the beauty Su Han was wearing a studded shirt, denim shorts, and Dr. Marten Boots. She looked so gorgeous that the guys yelled and cheered.
However, she didn’t spare a glance at Hao Ren as if she didn’t summon him to her office last week.
She remained aloof during the whole class until she left. Although Hao Ren knew they crossed paths in another world, they had returned to the normal world and were strangers. After all, a super beautiful female teacher would never show any special treatment to a very ordinary student.
He believed that Su Han must have gone to Lu Qing to talk about him.
While he ran, his mind wandered through events that happened today. Suddenly, a basketball rolled toward his feet.
Hao Ren stopped running and picked up the basketball before looking toward the place where the ball had come from. Not far from him, a handsome guy wearing a white shirt sat on the bleacher. With a well-proportioned and robust body, the guy had dashing eyebrows slanting upwards and outwards.
Hao Ren recognized him.
Known as the Most Handsome Guy in East Ocean University, Huang Xujie was the president of the university’s Rock Climbing Club and the celebrity student who was even pursued by the most popular girl in the school, Lin Li.
Lifting the basketball with one hand while pointing at it with the other, Hao Ren used this gesture to ask him if the ball was his.
Huang Xujie nodded and curled his finger.
Hao Ren took a step forward before throwing the basketball to him with one hand.
The basketball covered the 20-plus meters between them before it fell toward Huang Xujie.
Huang Xujie reached one hand out and caught the ball.
With the ball gone, Hao Ren swung his arms and prepared to start jogging again.
“Sophomore!” Huang Xujie suddenly said.
“Uh?” Hao Ren looked at him, baffled.
“I heard that you too had entered the 1500-meter race?” He asked abruptly.
Hao Ren looked at him cautiously, feeling a trace of hostility from him.
“I heard that you’ve been in the limelight quite a lot recently.” Spinning the ball with his finger, Huang Xujie asked, “You live in grand style, don’t you? And you have been picked up from campus by a limo, haven’t you?”
“Did I steal your show?” Hao Ren asked directly.
Snap! Huang Xujie stopped spinning the basketball abruptly, “Yeah. I’m pissed off by your blatant shows.”
Though low-key, Hao Ren was never afraid of confrontation. Facing Huang Xujie on the racetrack, he asked, “So as a senior, you want to teach me a lesson, don’t you?”
Huang Xujie didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “They say Su Han asked you to her office all alone. What’s between you and her?”
From the trace of hostility, Hao Ren sensed an intense jealousy.
“I have nothing to tell you!” Hao Ren went back to jogging.
Huang Xujie froze for a moment, surprised that an ordinary sophomore would be so arrogant. His hand tightened on the basketball while he gazed at the back of Hao Ren.
When Hao Ren returned after another lap, Huang Xujie was gone.
He knew he had attracted a lot of attention in the past couple of weeks, and the several limo pick-ups on campus made him look like a big show-off.
More importantly, Su Han’s invitation to her office made the self-important handsome guys red-eyed with jealousy. Maybe they thought Hao Ren’s previous behavior had been his efforts in attracting Su Han’s attention and the famous students were furious that his clumsy efforts had paid off and had successfully drawn Su Han’s interest to him.
After all, their blatant behavior only won them screams of the pretty girls while the extreme beautiful Su Han didn’t show a trace of interest.
Indeed, Su Han’s beauty exceeded people’s imaginations, and it was natural that the male students were crazy for her. If Hao Ren had not known her real identity, he would have been silently amazed by her beauty, too.
It was three quarters past nine when Hao Ren jogged back to his dorm. Zhao Jiayi and his other two roommates were engaged in a fierce card game with Gu Jiadong from the dorm room opposite to theirs.
Hao Ren took his washbasin and towel to take a cold shower. He didn’t tell anyone about Huang Xujie’s provocation.
Friday passed quickly with only half a day of classes. With most of the students coming from local areas, East Ocean University became unusually quiet every Friday afternoon.
Zhao Jiayi and the others didn’t want to go home this weekend, and they dragged Hao Ren and several others from the next-door dorm room to a nearby KTV*. After singing themselves to exhaustion, they went to a hot pot buffet. They stuffed themselves with beer and meat before returning to the dorm room for a game of cards.
The days were decadent and carefree.
It comforted Hao Ren that he had such a group of brothers with him no matter what had happened. They did everything together: going to classes, skipping classes, drinking, and feasting.
Zhao Yanzi’s Third Uncle would never appreciate this kind of happiness enjoyed by mortals.
At nine o’clock, Hao Ren put down the cards in his hand and said, “I’m going to the sports field to practice running.”
“Oh, don’t go. It’s no use practicing with only a few days left before the race. Play cards with us…” Zhao Jiayi tried to stop him.
“I can regain some of my form with practice. Gu Jiadong, come over and play cards!” Hao Ren stuffed his cards into Gu Jiadong’s hands, “It’s on me if you lose, and you get all the benefit if you win.”
Grinning at the promise, Gu Jiadong took his cards and sat down immediately.
Hao Ren changed into his running shoes and jogged to the sports field.
The campus was unusually quiet on Friday nights. When he was passing by the office building, Hao Ren looked up involuntarily as a weird thought occurred to him, “Su Han should be home now. Where does she live?”
Zhao Hongyu said Su Han had some special connection with East Ocean Dragon Clan, and Hao Ren wondered what it was…Maybe that was why she took a teaching position at Lu Qing’s university…
While he ran, Hao Ren wondered about her. He met two girls who were taking a walk. When they saw his lingering glance, they snorted in disdain. Almost every male in the university more or less had some feelings for Su Han, and the male students were usually caught staring at Su Han’s office in the hope of finding a glimpse of the unrivaled beauty.
It was frustrating to them that Su Han didn’t show her face except when she was walking to and from her class. No one had seen her even at the cafeteria. All of these deepened the feeling that she was like a fairy who didn’t consume food of the mortal world.
Hao Ren came to the sports field and began to run the ten laps according to his plan. He found his stamina recovered faster than before, and he wondered if it was a result of the breakthrough into the first level of the Spirit Concentration Scroll.
The dim lights extended Hao Ren’s shadow while he enjoyed the vast sports field and the loneliness of the night. Circulating the energy according to the Spirit Concentration Scroll and savoring the nature’s essence, he regulated his breathing and steps as he ran at a steady pace.
His clothes floated in the air. Hao Ren didn’t realize there was a free and eased aura surrounded him when he ran. Every step was steady and firm while a light breeze swam around him and through his clothes.
The Heavenly Dao came from nature. The order of nature had unknowingly influenced Hao Ren, and each of his movements in this peaceful night followed the easiest and logical routes suggested by the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams.
After ten laps, he ran another ten laps.
Hao Ren was surprised that his strength had not diminished at all. He was practicing long-distance running, but he felt like he was strolling casually without any heaviness detected in his steps.
“Uh?” After a while, he had a sudden feeling that someone was watching him from a corner.
He looked towards that direction.
He saw Xie Yujia in a long chiffon floral dress sitting quietly on a step a dozen meters away. She was watching him with a smile.
* KTV: A place for Karaokes