On his way back, Zhang Yuan ran into Li Xuekai from the school basketball team.
"Zhang Yuan, it's been so long since I've seen you!"
Seeing Zhang Yuan's delighted expression, Li Xuekai blocked Zhang Yuan at the iron gate intersection leading from the school to the student street and greeted him with a smile.
"Yes, it's been a long time!"
Zhang Yuan gave a perfunctory reply.
"Excuse me, could you move aside?" He was carrying a large box and was about to pass by Li Xuekai.
"Hey, don't go!"
"I need to talk to you about something!"
Li Xuekai stopped Zhang Yuan.
Zhang Yuan looked completely puzzled.
I don't think I know him very well! Why is he looking for me?
Li Xuekai stopped Zhang Yuan, his clean-cut face always bearing a gentle smile.
"Tomorrow is the Tongcheng City University Basketball League Finals..."
Li Xuekai was interrupted by Zhang Yuan halfway through his sentence.
"Oh, basketball? I'm not really interested. Could you please move aside?"
As Zhang Yuan spoke, he squeezed past Li Xuekai while carrying the box. Even though Li Xuekai was 1.9 meters tall and had strong muscles from playing basketball for many years, he was still pushed and stumbled.
Seeing Zhang Yuan about to leave with the box, Li Xuekai quickly got straight to the point, saying: "If you are willing to represent Tongcheng University in the finals tomorrow, the team can give you 2,000 yuan!"
Zhang Yuan was focused on getting the medicinal herbs back to refine pills and didn't pay attention to what Li Xuekai was saying, so he continued walking forward out of habit.
Seeing that Zhang Yuan showed no sign of stopping, Li Xuekai became anxious, sweating profusely, and shouted:
3000!
4000!
Zhang Yuan finally stopped.
I think I just heard Li Xuekai mention some money, 2000? 4000?
He turned his head and looked at Li Xuekai with a puzzled expression.
"What did you just say?"
"Um, well, if you're willing to represent Tongcheng University's team in the finals tomorrow, the team can give you 3000 yuan! Oh no, 4000 yuan!"
Li Xuekai said emphatically, his tone earnest yet tinged with anxiety.
Zhang Yuan: ...
You can earn 4,000 yuan for playing one match?!
Did I just get lucky and step in dog poop?
Zhang Yuan was a little incredulous, thinking he had misheard. His face flushed, he looked at Li Xuekai again to confirm: "Are you serious?"
Li Xuekai: "Of course!"
Seeing Zhang Yuan stop and become interested, Li Xuekai felt a little smug, thinking to himself that his research was indeed correct, and that Zhang Yuan was a greedy man!
Zhang Yuan was pondering whether or not to go play in the ball game.
A basketball game only takes about half a day, and I can earn 4,000 yuan. It seems like a great deal! And it doesn't interfere with my cultivation!
Seeing the greedy look on Zhang Yuan's face as he pondered, Li Xuekai's eyes darted around, and an idea flashed through his mind. He then added with a smile, "4000 yuan is for winning the final championship. Of course, even if you don't win, as long as you represent the school team and do your best, you can still get 2000 yuan!"
Zhang Yuan: "Uh, didn't you just say 3000 yuan?"
Li Xuekai gave an awkward laugh: "3000 it is! Just do your best."
Zhang Yuan: "Deal!"
"What time and where is the match tomorrow?"
Li Xuekai: "Tomorrow at 3:30 PM, at the Tongcheng University of Technology basketball gym. Remember, don't go to the wrong place! Then I added Zhang Yuan on WeChat and sent him my location."
"Understood, see you tomorrow!"
After finishing his sentence, Zhang Yuan carried the box back to the Rongxia Courtyard.
Li Xuekai watched Zhang Yuan's retreating figure, a smirk playing on his lips, and slowly said, "University of Technology, see you tomorrow. Let's see how arrogant you are this time!"
At the same time, he felt a little proud, because he had accomplished something that even Coach Li Yinan couldn't do!
~~~~~
Zhang Yuancai had only taken a few steps when his cell phone rang.
He held the box in one hand and answered the phone with the other.
"Hey, Senior Ya Jing, what's up?"
"Where are you? I'm here to deliver your award certificate."
"Award certificate? What award certificate?"
"You forgot? The school gave you an award for the exorcism last time, and my aunt asked me to give it to you."
Zhang Yuan gave a faint "oh".
He didn't care about the certificate, so he forgot about it after Principal Zhang Tangjin mentioned it.
"I'm on student street, about to head home!"
"Then wait for me for two minutes, I happen to be nearby."
"Okay, let's meet at the iron gate."
Zhang Yuan hung up the phone and walked back with the cardboard box in his arms.
Zhang Yuan placed his box on the ground and stood at the iron gate of the fence leading to the student street of Tongcheng University, looking around.
Three minutes have passed.
Senior Chen Yajing hasn't shown up yet!
Eight minutes passed, and senior student Chen Yajing still hadn't appeared!
Zhang Yuan muttered with a crooked mouth, "Sure enough, a woman's mouth is a lying devil!"
Five more minutes passed.
Wearing a pink backpack with a white bear tied to it and munching on a corn cob, senior student Chen Yajing finally arrived at the iron gate.
Upon seeing Zhang Yuan, she wiped her hands with a tissue, then took out a yellow certificate of merit from her bag and handed it to him.
"Here you are, your certificate!"
Zhang Yuan took it and opened it for a quick look.
The two large black characters "award certificate" were written on the pale yellow paper, which immediately reminded Zhang Yuan of when he was in elementary school and got first place in his class. The school also issued this kind of award certificate.
Below the large black lettering on the certificate, there is a simple line of text: Thank you to Zhang Yuan from Class 1, Literature and Philosophy, 2021, for his special contribution to Tongcheng University!
This is a special reward!
Chen Yajing continued to gnaw on the corn cob.
"Keep the certificate safe. With this certificate, you can get extra credits by talking to your college advisor! Aunt Ruan has already spoken to your college leadership."
Zhang Yuan responded with an "oh".
Chen Yajing threw the finished corn cob into the nearby trash can. Seemingly in a good mood after eating, she said to Zhang Yuan, "By the way, did the principal give you the reward for exorcising the ghost?"
"Here you go, 2000 yuan!"
Zhang Yuan said with dissatisfaction.
"Oh! Only two thousand?"
"My aunt told me that the school's finance department already reimbursed 20,000 yuan. Could it have been embezzled by that greedy principal?"
Zhang Yuan's face suddenly trembled!
A nameless pain in my heart!
So he cursed Zhang Tangjin and his ancestors for eighteen generations in his mind!
Seeing that Zhang Yuan's expression was not good, Chen Yajing poked Zhang Yuan's arm with her slender fingers.
"Are you alright?!"
\"fine.\"
"Hey, junior, you still haven't told me how you caught ghosts last time. Tell me about it."
Zhang Yuan shook his head to indicate that he was busy.
Seeing Zhang Yuan about to leave, Chen Yajing immediately grabbed his arm to stop him, shaking it from side to side and saying, "Just tell me!"
Zhang Yuan didn't want to talk, thinking, "I don't have time to talk about such boring things with a little girl like you. I'd rather use that time to refine Foundation Establishment Pills and make money."
Chen Yajing pouted in dissatisfaction, then rolled her eyes and said, "How about we go to the grove behind the mountain tomorrow afternoon to talk? There's no one there."
I know that exorcism techniques are definitely your secret. Don't worry, tell me and I will definitely not tell anyone else!
Also, could you teach me some Taoist self-defense techniques?
Zhang Yuan suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Just then, a few sleazy-looking boys passed by Zhang Yuan and Chen Yajing. When they heard the words "go to the grove behind the mountain," they immediately perked up their ears and kept glancing over out of the corner of their eyes.
Zhang Yuan glared at the three sleazy boys, scaring them away, before saying, "Sorry, sorry, I'm also unavailable tomorrow afternoon. I have to go to Tongcheng University of Technology for the school team's finals."
"Then I'll come over and cheer you on!"
Zhang Yuan: "Uh, no need."
Chen Yajing: "Anyway, I don't have anything planned for tomorrow, Saturday, so it's settled. See you tomorrow."
After saying that, she turned and left, then took out another candy from her jeans pocket and popped it into her mouth, munching on it.
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