No one knew whether CEO Sun Lincheng’s so-called track and field achievements from his school days came from running or throwing the shot put.
But since he so “sincerely” insisted on joining, Li Bai brought him to the outer ring of the university town.
Along the way, Sun Lincheng kept looking around.
Seeing that Li Bai had finished warming up and was about to start running, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked, “Xiao Li, where’s Teacher Liang? Why haven’t I seen her?”
“Teacher Liang? I don’t know. CEO Sun Lincheng, did you arrange to meet her?” Li Bai replied with an innocent expression.
Sure enough, this old man still hadn’t given up!
Fortunately, Li Bai had been cautious. When he came to Ocean University with Sun Lincheng today, he deliberately didn’t contact Liang Manjun.
Otherwise, it would have been like delivering a lamb into a tiger’s mouth.
Sun Lincheng couldn’t exactly admit that he had shamelessly followed along just to catch a glimpse of her beauty.
He hesitated for a moment before waving his hand. “If she’s not here, then she’s not here. Let’s run!”
Li Bai started off at a relaxed pace of just over 5 minutes per kilometer.
But even that was too much for Sun Lincheng!
Before they had even run 50 meters, he hurriedly called out, “Xiao Li, slow down, slow down!”
“Why run so fast? What if you run out of energy later?”
“You’re still young—you don’t understand what it means to pace yourself!”
Li Bai was speechless.
Pacing yourself required having something to pace!
Sun Lincheng was running slower than Li Bai’s walking speed—what kind of pacing was that?
Calling it a slow trickle would be generous. It was more like barely dripping.
Even after Li Bai slowed down to wait for him, Sun Lincheng couldn’t last long.
After struggling his way to 400 meters, he was panting like a bellows, clutching his waist and waving his hands frantically.
“I can’t run anymore! I can’t! Xiao Li, Xiao Li… huff, huff…!”
As Sun Lincheng gasped for breath, Li Bai finished his sentence for him. “Alright then, CEO Sun Lincheng, you can walk slowly. I’ll go ahead and run.”
Without waiting for a reply, Li Bai took off.
Those 400 meters had already suffocated him!
For someone who could run well and had decent performance, being forced to crawl along at a snail’s pace was even more painful than running a half marathon.
Li Bai lengthened his stride and instantly shot forward at a 5-minute pace.
Sun Lincheng was left behind, hands on his knees, staring in shock.
“Hey, I meant for you to help me back… young people are too impatient, can’t handle big things,” he muttered.
After catching his breath, he turned around and limped back step by step.
His weight was too heavy, and running placed enormous strain on his knees.
Fortunately, he hadn’t followed Li Bai for a full loop of the outer ring. Otherwise, his knees might have been ruined.
But as the saying went, misfortune could turn into fortune.
Panting heavily, Sun Lincheng returned to Ocean University, ready to drive back.
Then, in the parking lot, he unexpectedly saw Liang Manjun just coming down from the teaching building!
She looked like a dream.
Holding a few books in her arms, with a high ponytail, a white T-shirt, and a brown skirt, she radiated both the freshness of a university student and the maturity of an intellectual woman.
In Sun Lincheng’s eyes, she was like a goddess stepping out of his youthful dreams.
His middle-aged heart suddenly felt alive again!
“Teacher Liang! Teacher Liang!”
Sun Lincheng’s excited shout, combined with his bouncing, ball-like run, made Liang Manjun’s brows knit together immediately.
“CEO Sun Lincheng.”
She greeted him indifferently.
“Teacher Liang, what a coincidence! Running into you again—we must be fated!”
After those few steps of running, Sun Lincheng was already out of breath again.
“Is that so? Dawan Mall is quite far from here, isn’t it?” she replied bluntly.
You call this a coincidence? It looks more like you deliberately ran over from more than 10 kilometers away to “accidentally” meet me.
“Haha, Teacher Liang, you misunderstand. We came to Ocean University today to conduct interviews for the students from last week’s recruitment fair.”
“You all?”
“Yes, and Xiao Li too. Teacher Liang, didn’t you run with him last time? He’s my employee.”
Liang Manjun didn’t respond.
With her intelligence, she instantly understood why Li Bai hadn’t contacted her when he came to Ocean University.
“Just now, I even went running with Xiao Li. I also quite like running.”
“Oh? Really?” Liang Manjun sneered lightly.
With Sun Lincheng’s physique, the idea of him running was almost absurd.
He was probably just using Li Bai’s running as a way to embellish himself.
“Teacher Liang, since we’re so fated, how about I treat you to a meal? I know a private restaurant in Fengsheng Community up ahead that’s quite good.”
Sun Lincheng didn’t dare continue talking about running, afraid she might suddenly suggest going for a run together.
“I’m sorry, CEO Sun Lincheng. I have other matters to attend to.”
Her words were polite, but her tone was distant and cold.
“Then where are you heading? I can give you a ride—that Mercedes over there is mine.”
Sun Lincheng persisted, even bringing money into play.
But Liang Manjun stopped in front of a violet Porsche Cayenne.
“I have a car. CEO Sun Lincheng, please step aside.”
She got into the car and drove away calmly, leaving Sun Lincheng staring in shock.
“…”
It took him a long moment to come back to his senses.
“Kids these days are that extravagant? Just in their twenties and already driving a Cayenne!”
Back in his own car, as he reached for a cigarette, his hand trembled and dropped it onto his lap.
It wasn’t from exhaustion.
A sense of unease was creeping into his mind.
Someone so young driving a Cayenne—could she have a powerful background?
That uneasy feeling turned into reality that very night.
“Sun Lincheng, were you at Ocean University to recruit, or to cause trouble?”
“The big boss called all the way from overseas. What exactly did you do?”
“You’d better take care of yourself! The big boss was extremely angry just now. If this blows up, even I won’t be able to protect you!”
A director from the headquarters who had once promoted him called.
Sun Lincheng held the now disconnected phone, his face pale as death.
After panicking for a long time, he finally thought of trying to fix things.
But he didn’t have Liang Manjun’s contact information.
“Li Bai… Hong Xueyi, right, Dean Hong!”
Sun Lincheng hurriedly called Hong Xueyi.
Fortunately, the dean picked up.
After Sun Lincheng stammered through the situation, Hong Xueyi showed no intention of helping.
“CEO Sun Lincheng, have you ever thought about why she could become the dean’s assistant?”
After leaving that single sentence, he hung up.
It was like a bolt of lightning struck Sun Lincheng—everything suddenly made sense!
Why could someone so young become the dean’s assistant?
It wasn’t because she was beautiful!
Hong Xueyi was nearly sixty and not in great health.
Even if he had certain intentions, he didn’t have the capability.
Why could Teacher Liang remain so cold and distant toward him?
Why could she casually skip the dean’s dinner?
Why was she driving a car worth over a million?
Because behind her stood a background that no one could afford to provoke!