Published at 5th of December 2024 10:02 am

Chapter 293: Still the Familiar Formula

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

After Li Niu’s heart-wrenching scream subsided, Xu Fan left with Tongtong, moving away from Li Niu. Since the purpose of the punishment had been achieved, Xu Fan didn’t linger at the scene of the incident.

Xu Fan sat with Tongtong in the tent for a while, and in less than five minutes, the community staff had finished preparing for the sports day. Then someone from the community leadership ascended the stage and began to make a speech.

The speech lasted ten minutes, mostly filled with clichés and platitudes, which Xu Fan didn’t really listen to until the very end, when the leader on the stage announced, “The Mercedes-Benz Sports Day now officially begins,” that Xu Fan slowly came back to his senses.

“Families of the athletes, please get ready to enter by your numbers. We have now divided all participants into four groups. Those in Group A, please prepare to enter now.”

On the stage, a staff member with a microphone called out to the crowd below.

Upon hearing this, Xu Fan glanced at his number card and saw that he was indeed number 9 in Group A. So, he gently picked up Tongtong and asked, “Baby, it’s our turn to go on now, are you ready?”

“Daddy, Tongtong is ready. I’m going to be first today,” Tongtong said happily, swinging her pigtails.

“No problem!” Xu Fan replied and, carrying Tongtong, slowly made their way to the designated gathering point indicated by the staff.

What Xu Fan didn’t expect was to see the same foolish, rough man, Li Niu, whom he’d hit with a pebble that injured his rear, also arriving at the preparation area for the contestants, carrying his little Li Xiaoniu.

Both he and his son had number cards on their backs and chests— they were the number 13 participants in Group A.

No wonder Li Niu had seemed a bit hostile towards Xu Fan; it turned out that after seeing the number card on Xu Fan, he realized they were in the same group. If Xu Fan was to win the championship, he would directly eliminate Li Niu, leaving him with no chance to advance to the finals.

That’s why Li Niu had ridiculed Xu Fan upon hearing his words because, in his eyes, all the other parents in Group A looked like frail scholars, and there were also quite a few women around thirty, none of whom seemed capable of defeating a strong man like himself.

Seeing Li Niu, Xu Fan was also a bit surprised; by all logic, that big, foolish brute should have been nursing his injured rear at the hospital, yet here he was, back at full health before Xu Fan’s very eyes.

Xu Fan had walked away with Tongtong right after flicking the pebble, so he didn’t know that Li Niu had gone home to get patched up and had someone give him an injection.

The pain had significantly subsided by now, though he looked a bit awkward walking, as if he was dragging his feet, looking quite silly.

“Humph! The champion of Group A will definitely be us!” Li Niu glared fiercely at Xu Fan.

Although he hadn’t noticed any problem when he was getting the shot, Li Niu still felt that his injury had quite a bit to do with Xu Fan, so he glared at Xu Fan with ill-will.

“Heh…” Xu Fan scoffed contemptuously at Li Niu and turned his head away, no longer paying him any attention.

Although he had taken some medicine and was able to return to the field, it was destined to be a lost cause. Even if Xu Fan competed upside down, Li Niu wouldn’t stand a chance at winning against him.

“Dear competitors, we are now ready to begin our first activity called the Kangaroo Hop.” A staff member wearing a red cap came to the middle of the competitors and started explaining the precautions and rules of the activity to everyone.

The Kangaroo Hop, in short, involved the parents and children taking off their shoes, then the child would stand on the parent’s feet, resembling a kangaroo carrying a little baby in its pouch, with both of them moving together, walking as one.

If a child falls off during the event, that would be considered a foul, and they can only return to the starting point and set off again, so this activity not only tests the physical endurance of the parents but also the level of understanding between the parent and the child.

If the child is on the instep, relying solely on the parent’s strength won’t allow them to walk, and the shifting center of gravity will cause the child standing on the instep to fall off.

Only when the child and parent move their legs together while walking can they avoid dropping the child and advance steadily forward.

The activity area was already laid out with a ten-meter-long track by the staff, using foam mats, each lane one meter wide and differentiated by colors, so after the lanes were allocated, everyone had their own separate track.

Another rule of the activity was that if a child or parent stepped onto someone else’s track, that too would be considered a foul, and they had to start again from the beginning.

However, with such a short distance, committing a foul almost meant that there was no chance of winning the competition.

After the staff had thoroughly explained the rules and confirmed that there were no further questions from the participants, they were asked to take their places at the start of their respective tracks.

The staff carefully checked the numbers hanging on everyone’s chest to ensure they completely matched the lanes, and then gave the order, “Take off your shoes!”

This is when the differences became apparent.

Xu Fan remembered learning to put on and take off his shoes at a very young age, and even to tie his shoelaces.

However, in a high-end community like Zhonghai City, none of the children took the initiative to remove their shoes; most were waiting for their parents to do the task for them.

“Tongtong, Daddy will teach you how to untie shoelaces today. Watch, grab these two laces, pull hard with your hand, and they will come undone,” Xu Fan squatted down and demonstrated to Tongtong how to untie shoelaces.

Though Xu Fan was extremely indulgent with his daughter, he didn’t want his pampering to turn her into someone incapable of doing anything, so he didn’t neglect teaching Tongtong what she should know.

“Tongtong got it, Daddy is so nice!” Tongtong, excited, squatted down and said to Xu Fan, “Daddy, let Tongtong help you untie your shoelaces.”

Seeing Tongtong’s behaved manner, Xu Fan was overjoyed to the point of nearly exploding.

Daughters truly are intimate little cotton pads, Xu Fan thought with blissful exasperation.

However, in just a moment, Xu Fan frowned.

It wasn’t because of anything Tongtong did, but rather because Li Niu and his son Li Xiaoniu had also taken off their shoes next to him.

A sour and putrid smell akin to a mouldy pickled cabbage left in a sewage ditch for over ten days emanated from Li Niu’s feet and spread over the field.

His son Li Xiaoniu also proudly inherited this trait from Li Niu; despite the smaller size of his own feet, a distinct odor spread in the air as well.

It was the familiar formula, the familiar scent.

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