CH 62.2

Soccer Ball.

‘Ladies and gentlemen please sit in your assigned seats,’ the MC said. ‘All contestants must come onto the stage before the commencement of round one otherwise they’ll be disqualified. The winners of round one will be eligible to move onto round two. Contestants not abiding by the rules will be instantly disqualified by the judging panel. There’ll be an intermission between round one and round two for the judging panel to judge and to setup round two. The third round will commence tomorrow morning.’

The contestants sat at their assigned tables on stage. Zhen Wu sat in the middle row on stage and La Ba Te sat behind him.

Zhen Wu carefully read the instructions for round one then he began to code a program onto his computer.

La Ba Te read the instructions of round one. It was a challenging round one, and he saw many contestants forfeit the competition. He was startled to see Zhen Wu calmly start round one in front of him.

‘Zhen Wu, do your best!’ Lucy cheered.

Lucy stood on her chair in the front row, and she waved her hands in the air to cheer for Zhen Wu. Her guard held her waist because he was scared she would fall off the chair.

Zhen Wu looked up and he felt shy to have Lucy cheer him on in the audience when everyone else were quiet. He saw the head judge turned around and gave Lucy a stern look. Lucy smiled, sat down on her chair and he looked back at his computer screen and continued to code.

One second before the end of round one, La Ba Te uploaded his completed program. He looked up, and as he expected Zhen Wu was sitting still in front of him. He felt confident Zhen Wu would be knocked out in round one.

The contestants who received a fail from the judging panel cursed or cried because they were knocked out of the competition. When Zhen Wu received a pass, he calmly walked off stage toward Zhen Zhen.

La Ba Te obstructed Zhen Wu’s way and he spoke to Zhen Wu in Italian.

‘Congratulations for passing round one,’ La Ba Te said.

Zhen Wu replied in Italian too.

‘Thank you,’ Zhen Wu said.

Zhen Wu walked around La Ba Te and he didn’t look back.

‘The little boy got lucky,’ John said to La Ba Te.

‘The little boy isn’t bad if he can pass round one,’ La Ba Te said.

‘Anyone who wins first place today will be sought after by the biggest companies,’ John said.

‘I only want to be accepted into Dawson’s company,’ La Ba Te said.

Zhen Wu ran to hug Zhen Zhen.

‘Mum,’ Zhen Wu called.

‘Zhen Wu, you did well,’ Zhen Zhen praised.

‘Round two doesn’t start until the afternoon,’ Ling Jia said. ‘Let’s go and eat lunch. The competition rules state all family members of contestants who pass round one are rewarded a free lunch.’

Zhen Zhen smiled at the way Ling Jia’s eyes lit up at the sight of a free lunch.

The richest companies sponsored the extravagant lunch buffets for the competition. Luckily Ling Jia didn’t know Yue’s company was one of the sponsors otherwise she wouldn’t be happily eating lunch at the table reserved for Zhen Wu’s family.

‘Congratulations Zhen Wu,’ Lucy said.

Lucy held her grandpa’s hand to walk to Zhen Wu’s table.

‘Thank you,’ Zhen Wu said politely.

Zhen Wu recognised the old man holding Lucy’s hand was the head judge.

‘Grandpa, I want to sit and eat lunch with Zhen Wu,’ Lucy said.

‘Lucy, behave,’ Dawson Brenda said affectionately.

Lucy pouted her lips.

‘It’s OK,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘There are many free seats at this table.’

Zhen Zhen smiled at Lucy. She moved to sit next to Louis for Lucy to sit next to Zhen Wu. She thought it was a good opportunity for Zhen Wu to become friends with Lucy who was close to Zhen Wu’s age.

‘Thank you,’ Dawson Brenda said. ‘I’m Dawson Brenda and this is my granddaughter Lucy.’

‘Hello, I’m Zhen Zhen,’ Zhen Zhen said.

Zhen Zhen introduced her family but Louis introduced himself before she could.

‘Dawson, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ Louis said. ‘I’m Louis. I’ve heard good things about you.’

Zhen Zhen didn’t read business articles, which was why she didn’t recognise Dawson Brenda was the CEO of Dawson’s company, a renowned IT company around the world.

Ling Jia was a skilful surgeon and a computer programmer, it wasn’t unusual for her to know who Dawson Brenda was. But she was surprised Lucy was Dawson Brenda’s granddaughter. She decided when she and her family returned home, she was going to speak privately with Zhen Wu. She would tell him the advantages of marrying Lucy. If Yue’s company and Dawson’s company merged through marriage, Zhen Wu would be king of the business world. If Zhen Wu wouldn’t agree then she would ask Yue Cheng Tian to persuade Zhen Wu to marry Lucy in the future. She thought Lucy could be groomed to be the perfect wife for Zhen Wu since Lucy was a sweet and a loveable person by nature.

‘Zhen Wu, let’s go play in the children’s playground,’ Lucy said.

Lucy ate half her lunch, and she was restless to play in the sandpit.

Zhen Wu hesitated and he looked at Zhen Zhen’s eyes for advice.

‘Zhen Wu, you should go and play with Lucy,’ Ling Jia interrupted.

‘Grandpa…’ Lucy pleaded.

Dawson Brenda nodded his head. Lucy jumped off her seat, held Zhen Wu’s hand and they walked to the children’s playground.

At the children’s playground, Lucy and Zhen Wu took off their shoes to play in the sandpit. Zhen Wu lined up his shoes and Lucy’s shoes together outside the sandpit. He sat next to Lucy, she built a sandcastle while he played games on his computer.

Dawson Brenda approved Zhen Wu being friends with Lucy. Louis smiled at the match-making gleam in Ling Jia’s eyes, he knew Ling Jia wanted Zhen Wu to marry Lucy and conquer the business world. Zhen Zhen was happy to see Zhen Wu to play with someone close to his age.

Zhen Wu put his computer down when he noticed Lucy was crying and a taller girl was holding her soccer ball.

‘Lucy, what happened?’ Zhen Wu asked.

‘Zhen Wu, she stole my soccer ball,’ Lucy said.

Lucy showed Zhen Wu her red hands. He was angry someone hit her hands. He gently rubbed her red hands.

‘You played with the soccer ball for too long,’ Ni Lei said.

Zhen Wu stood in front of Lucy to protect Lucy. He glared at Ni Lei.

‘There are many free soccer balls over there,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘You didn’t need to steal Lucy’s soccer ball.’

‘I want this soccer ball,’ Ni Lei said.

Zhen Wu took back Lucy’s soccer ball from Ni Lei’s hands, and he gave it to Lucy.

Ni Lei’s mum saw Ni Lei crying and she ran to the children’s playground.

‘What happened?’ Ni Lei’s mum asked.

‘Mum, those two kids stole my soccer ball,’ Ni Lei said.

‘Xiao Ni Lei, don’t cry,’ Ni Lei’s mum said. ‘I’ll help you get your soccer ball back.’

‘Give me the soccer ball,’ Ni Lei’s mum said to Zhen Wu and Lucy.

Ni Lei stood behind her mum, and she stuck out her tongue at Zhen Wu and Lucy.

‘Aunty, Lucy and I were playing with this soccer ball first,’ Zhen Wu explained. ‘It was your daughter who stole our soccer ball.’

‘I don’t care who the soccer ball belongs to,’ Ni Lei’s mum said. ‘Give the soccer ball to my daughter.’

Ni Lei’s mum snatched the soccer ball from Lucy’s hands.

Zhen Wu thought Ling Jia was right about some people didn’t know how to listen to reason. He was about to take back the soccer ball again for Lucy, but their family came to protect them.

Yue Cheng Tian held Zhen Wu in his arms and Dawson Brenda held Lucy in his arms.

‘You have guts to bully my grandson,’ Ling Jia said to Ni Lei’s mum.

‘It’s those two bad kids who stole my daughter’s soccer ball,’ Ni Lei’s mum said.

Dawson Brenda fumed and he glared at Ni Lei’s mum for insulting Lucy.

La Ba Te ran to his mum and his little sister when he saw they made Dawson Brenda angry.

‘Mum,’ La Ba Te called.

‘This is my son La Ba Te,’ Ni Lei’s mum said proudly. ‘Don’t think my family is easy to bully. My son is going to win today and he’s going to be accepted into Dawson’s company.’

‘Mum, apologise to them,’ La Ba Te said.

La Ba Te knew the head judge was Dawson Brenda. He didn’t want his mum’s temper to ruin his chances of being accepted into Dawson’s company.

‘Big brother, why does mum need to apologise to them?’ Ni Lei asked.

‘I’m sorry on behalf of my mum and little sister,’ La Ba Te said.

La Ba Te’s family was poor. He knew he would be his family’s bread winner in the future. But he would have no future if his family offended Dawson Brenda.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ni Lei’s mum said.

Ni Lei’s mum knew La Ba Te only apologised to someone with a high status.

Yue Cheng Tian and Dawson Brenda carried Zhen Wu and Lucy back to their table.

John ran to La Ba Te because he was curious why La Ba Te apologised to Zhen Wu and Lucy’s families.

‘Why did you apologise to them?’ John asked.

‘Didn’t you see the old man was on the judging panel?’ La Ba Te asked. ‘All the other judges valued his opinion the most. It means he has a high status.’

La Ba Te wanted to win and to receive a college scholarship from Dawson’s company.

Minutes before the second round, Dawson Brenda couldn’t coax Lucy to stop crying.

Zhen Wu took out a gold pearl from his pocket and he gave it to Lucy.

‘Lucy don’t cry,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘This is for you. You won’t be beautiful if you cry.’

Lucy held the gold pearl in her hands and she stopped crying.

Ling Jia smiled because she was happy Zhen Wu gave her priceless gold pearl to Lucy.

Dawson Brenda was grateful for Zhen Wu. Dawson Brenda knew Lucy wasn’t someone easily coaxed when she was upset. Dawson Brenda had reviewed all the contestants’ entries from round one. He was impressed with Zhen Wu’s program the most, and he thought La Ba Te’s program was good too.

The second round of the competition commenced. The one hundred contestants remaining were given three minutes to crack the program’s password. By the end of three minutes only fifty contestants passed.

The final hurdle of the second round was the contestants needed to gain administrative control over a program. It was a challenging task because Dawson Brenda was the creator of the program, and he coded a new firewall each time a contestant attempted to gain administrative control.

‘Zhen Wu’s mum, do you think Zhen Wu can win?’ Lucy asked.

Lucy thought her grandpa was the smartest person she knew. She was worried Zhen Wu would lose to her grandpa’s challenge.

‘Lucy, don’t worry,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘Let’s believe in Zhen Wu.’

Zhen Zhen didn’t care if Zhen Wu won or lost as long as he was having fun in the competition.

It was a fierce competition between Zhen Wu, La Ba Te and Lien Shen. Lien Shen couldn’t bypass firewalls as fast as Zhen Wu and La Ba Te. After the end of the second round, both Zhen Wu and La Ba Te passed.

Zhen Wu calmly walked off the stage. Lucy ran to him and she kissed his cheek.

‘Congratulations Zhen Wu!’ Lucy said and smiled.

Dawson Brenda carried Lucy in his arms so she wouldn’t run to Zhen Wu’s home.

‘Grandpa, let’s invite Zhen Wu to our home to play with me,’ Lucy said.

‘Lucy, tomorrow morning Zhen Wu needs to compete in the next round of the competition,’ Dawson Brenda said. ‘We can invite Zhen Wu to our home after the competition ends.’

‘Oh…’ Lucy said.

Lucy was disappointed Zhen Wu couldn’t come to her home to play that day.

Zhen Wu didn’t know why he was sad to see Lucy look disappointed.

‘Lucy, don’t worry,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘After I win the competition, I’ll visit your grandpa’s company.’

‘Um, that’s right,’ Dawson Brenda said. ‘Then Lucy will be Zhen Wu’s tour guide.’

‘Really?’ Lucy asked.

‘Yes,’ Dawson Brenda said.

Dawson Brenda said bye to Zhen Wu’s family and he took Lucy home.

La Ba Te was jealous Zhen Wu was the star of the competition. The other contestants were envious of Zhen Wu’s family’s luxury cars, and the smaller companies wanted to recruit Zhen Wu because Dawson Brenda praised Zhen Wu’s programming skills.

***

End of Chapter Sixty-Two (Part 2 of 2)