There was a limit to how much leave Fang Zhao could apply for. The manor owner had speedily requested that the matter at the manor be allowed to die down. Since there wasn’t any evidence pointing to Curly Hair and the crisis had passed, Fang Zhao decided to bring Curly Hair along with him to Ma’ersizhou after he had more or less settled matters in Huangzhou. He didn’t feel at ease leaving the dog here.
Before leaving, Fang Zhao went to the hospital to see Will once again, and he ran into Will’s parents and wife, who were advising Will to stay at the hospital for further observation.
Many people felt that Will had been really unlucky this time, but Will himself didn’t think so. He reckoned that he had been incredibly lucky this time. This was not mockery but what he truly felt. Because of this incident, he felt that he had finally broken through the wall and could pick his brush up and paint. It was just a pity that his family wasn’t allowing him to leave the hospital. They had even locked up all his painting materials.
Will could only paint in his head. Because of this, he spoke less, and thus, everyone was thinking, This person’s psychological trauma must be serious!
Will Sr. was currently full of regret. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made him attend the exhibition!” This was the 30th time he had sighed.
He only felt better when he saw Fang Zhao.
Fang Zhao asked about Will’s condition and discovered that the foot injury wasn’t serious. Will was recovering well. Besides his foot, Will’s back also hurt slightly from being dragged on the ground, but it was minor.
After Fang Zhao told Will that he would be bringing Curly Hair with him, Will watched with sad eyes as Fang Zhao left. Will wanted Curly Hair to stay, but Fang Zhao didn’t allow it this time.
Upon returning to Mazhou, Fang Zhao quickly threw himself into the project team’s workload. As for Curly Hair, his appetite was as voracious as ever in a new place.
Nanfeng was worried that Curly Hair might have received a huge scare or that he wouldn’t acclimate properly. He even wanted to get a veterinarian to take a look, but that was rejected by Fang Zhao. Dogs were just idle; Curly Hair was just a little unhappy about being unable to game, and Fang Zhao felt that Curly Hair should go out a little more.
Thus, the two-man idle group picked up dog-walking duties once again.
However, dog walking was done at night. The little park near the hotel had a restriction that dogs weren’t allowed in before 10 p.m. Only after 10, when there was basically nobody in the park, were pets permitted inside.
Today, Zuo Yu saw that it was about time and brought Curly Hair for a walk.
Indeed, there weren’t many people in the park after 10. It was very cold and cheerless.
Fang Zhao let them run with Curly Hair on a leash, and Zuo Yu specifically changed into exercise clothing before coming out. While walking the dog, Zuo Yu noticed a strange young fellow. This youth wore a retro-punk sweatshirt and sat on the bench besides the grass as though he was waiting for someone.
The kid’s gaze swept over Zuo Yu upon seeing him him, but the kid’s gaze very quickly turned into disappointment as he looked away.
Zuo Yu didn’t really care too much and walked the dog conscientiously.
Curly Hair probably heard the activity of some mice that had come out at night or something, so he got excited and wanted to chase after them. Thus, Zuo Yu was dragged along.
“You are a dog, not a cat. Why do you want to catch mice? Good boy, let’s go run a little before heading back. I will get you support once we return.”
Seeing Curly Hair nibbling on some grass, Zuo Yu hurriedly stopped him. “Don’t eat random things!”
This was a 200-million-dollar dog; what would happen if he got an upset stomach?!
“Do you know that the park cherishes the flowers and plants?” Zuo Yu said. Fang Zhao had said not to let Curly Hair do as he pleased. Otherwise, later on it would be Curly Hair walking Zuo Yu instead of the other way around.
The guy seated on the bench sneered when he heard what Zuo Yu said. Talking to a dog about protecting the plants? It would be good enough if the dog didn’t dig a hole.
The guy in the sweatshirt on the bench was the “little lost puppy” that had been dealt a blow by Fang Zhao previously. He had felt gloomy when he returned to the club that day, but two days later, his previously lost confidence had come flying back. He had realized that the others in the club totally didn’t pose a challenge! After looking up all sorts of data about the sporting circles, the spirits of the “little lost puppy” had risen once more, and he had felt that he was still rather awesome!
He even reckoned that the illogical person he had encountered running in the park that night might be a robot clad in human skin!
Or perhaps… he had seen a ghost?
He shuddered as he thought of that, but he was curious. He wanted to confirm for himself… was he really too weak, or was the other party an “abnormal being”?
Thus, he had sneaked out at night to stand guard.
He hadn’t met anyone on the first day, nor had he caught sight of his target the following two days. He had told himself that if he didn’t see that person today, he would temporarily stop coming over and just treat what had happened that day as a nightmare. Let it pass and forget about it.
He warmed himself up as he saw surveyed the cold and cheerless park. He had already come here, so if he didn’t run, he would be letting himself down.
While running, he saw Zuo Yu leading the dog on the jog, then glanced at the curly-haired dog and scoffed. “Little short legs!”
Strictly speaking, Curly Hair didn’t possess that variety of short legs, but he was really too short when compared to other large dogs, so it seemed like he had short legs.
Zuo Yu hadn’t yet expressed anything when he felt the leash in his hand tighten. Curly Hair, who had been running at an unhurried pace, suddenly rushed forward.
Zuo Yu was startled. You can’t bite people!
Luckily, Curly Hair only increased his pace and ran behind the other person. He maintained a two-meter gap.
When the guy in the sweatshirt pick up his pace, so did Curly Hair. When he slowed, Curly Hair slowed down as well. In any case, the gap was always maintained. His little dog paws even made swishing sounds as they rubbed against the ground while he ran. Zuo Yu noted that Curly Hair’s paws didn’t normally make such sounds when they ran.
Half an hour passed, yet the situation was still the same.
An hour passed without any changes.
The guy in the sweatshirt was dripping with perspiration. The swishing sounds behind his back seemed to be urging him on, making his heart flustered.
However, though the guy in the sweatshirt could still run, Zuo Yu couldn’t go on any longer. He wasn’t an athlete and had never received professional training in this aspect. He had never wanted to exert himself to his fullest. Seeing Curly Hair’s exuberant manner and then scanning the park and realizing that the park was fenced up and there were no other people, Zuo Yu unleashed Curly Hair, as he didn’t have to worry about losing Curly Hair or the dog disturbing other guests. Zuo Yu would stand to the side and rest while letting Curly Hair get his fill of running. He could even see that Curly Hair was calling out.
Yet another hour passed.
Not only was there swishing behind the youth in the sweatshirt, there was also the huffing sounds of a dog panting.
As if mocking him.
He couldn’t shake the dog no matter how he ran!
As Zuo Yu recounted the situation here to Fang Zhao and the others back in the hotel, he was smiling as though he had heard a joke.
“This young fellow even mockingly called Curly Hair ‘little short legs.’ I bet he is on the verge of tears now.” Zuo Yu delighted in that little fellow’s misfortune. However, he hadn’t expected that Curly Hair could actually run so well. It was no wonder he was the gold-medal dog that had defeated all the shepherd dogs in Muzhou!
“That’s enough, bring him back,” Fang Zhao said.
“Ah? Return just like this? He looks like he can still continue running.”
“It’s enough,” Fang Zhao said. If this went on, that young fellow would crumble.
“All right.” Even if Zuo Yu wanted to continue watching that guy in the sweatshirt, but his boss’s orders were more important.
Zuo Yu whistled, then shouted, “Let’s head back. Boss’s orders.”
Curly Hair pouted before changing his direction and heading over to Zuo Yu. They left the park and returned to the hotel.
The next morning.
The club manager of a certain club discovered that his fresh talent, whose spirits had started to pick up in the past two days, had gone out last night and returned emotionally drained in the morning. Wasn’t it a nightly run? What sort of blow had he again suffered?
“Mazhou dogs are really too frightening!” the talented newcomer said gloomily.
The manager: “…”
Elsewhere, to ensure that Curly Hair did not upset other people when running, Fang Zhao rented a treadmill for Curly Hair.
While Fang Zhao was composing and observing Curly Hair, the program team of a certain variety program was gearing themselves for battle. This variety program dealt with poverty alleviation.
In this sort of era, these sorts of nonmainstream poverty-alleviation programs headed to tough places. Normally, they simply couldn’t invite any big name celebrities. However, with the backing of some charity funds and the Poverty Alleviation Office, this program was able to go on.
This time, the program team had actually been able to invite a celebrity from Leizhou’s aristocratic family: Zaro Renault!
Zaro had been forcefully chucked into the program team by his father. This time, his father had steeled his heart with the intention of making Zaro suffering some so that he would live a little less aimlessly, do more meaningful things, and learn to appreciate life.
When Zaro saw that he had no hope of being saved, he took on an “If I go down to hell, you people can forget about ascending to heaven” attitude and dragged Woo Tianhao and Barbara into it as well.
The program team was delighted, gaining personages of this level one after another! If not because there was a limit to how many people they could accept, the program team would really hope to trick everyone in Zaro’s contact list into joining as well!
These people had background, financial muscle, and the support of Zaro’s father, General Renault. With such strong backing, their program team would see a change in fortune.
The program team contacted the commanding officer of a certain planet near the tail end of the development sequence and discussed a collaboration.
At the time, that commanding officer was happily deciding how to allocate the military funding and resources they had fought so hard to achieve in the past year. He was considering whether to upgrade some of the base’s facilities when he received the information from the program team.
Poverty-alleviation variety program? Very good, very good! It will be even better if it can pull in some developmental funding!
However, when he saw the program team’s guest list and the proposed plan, his face turned green. Are you f*cking kidding me!
“Look at the sort of people they are! Are they to alleviate poverty or flaunt?”
What poverty-alleviation team? More like a team of fools!
The project team negotiated again and tried to paint their most beautiful vision.
The base commander sneered. “To hell with you!” Do you think this sort of little trick can befuddle me?
They didn’t wish to wait upon a bunch of spoiled and pampered young masters and mistresses! Inconveniences! And if they accidentally stirred up some trouble, the losses would outweigh the gains.
The program team didn’t give up, and the people from the Poverty Alleviation Office came forward and offered advice as well. The base’s top brass held a meeting and ultimately came to a decision. “We can collaborate, but we request the addition of another person. We will accept the collaboration if you are able to bring him on board.”
“Who?” The program team was curious.
“Fang Zhao.”
————
Prof. Carter’s eyelids twitched violently. He felt like he didn’t seem to have any peace of mind. But when he had gone through each and every one of his important matters, he hadn’t discovered anything out of his control.
He had just reported to Mo Lang about work a while back. Mo Lang had told him to guard against fire, theft, and the entertainment circles, and he had agreed.
Carter really didn’t think much about guarding against the permeation of the entertainment circles. This was Mazhou; there was lots of news about athletes, competitions, and all sorts of sporting gossip. Who would even take notice of Fang Zhao, who spent most of his time composing in the hotel?
Wasn’t keeping his distance from the entertainment circles just fine!?