Chapter 493: 489. A Child's Growth (Please subscribe, monthly tickets!)

On October 23rd, the business world was shaken once again. Although everyone knew that the Zhang Ran System would certainly be making constant moves, no one expected them to come so quickly.

October 23rd, 10:00 AM.

Fengli Group and Weiteng Group simultaneously released an announcement: Fengli Group had acquired Dingdang Net, a subsidiary of Weiteng Group!

Dingdang Net's market share in online shopping was indeed nothing to write home about, but no matter how poor it was, it still had the backing of Weiteng Group and possessed a fair amount of traffic.

Now that it had been acquired in an instant, it was equivalent to adding another layer of strength to Fengli Group.

Having such an event occur right before a looming battle undoubtedly increased the odds of victory for Fengli Group.

However, Huamei was not sitting idle either; they and several other platforms had also begun to develop corresponding collaborations.

At the same time, this matter was not truly just about two groups; it involved many things, and many companies within the industry had already begun to take action.

Even if the two sides were not focusing their attention on them, the market was only so big, and when the time came, market choices would not spare these people just because of the two sides' grudges.

Therefore, starting from the latter half of October, the business world began to surge with activity, and it was no longer just the Zhang Ran System standing alone in the spotlight.

Many companies began making major moves, especially during this period, as financing, collaborations, mergers, and other events occurred one after another.

It was precisely because of Zhang Ran's intervention that these matters began to move from the shadows into the light, and it also directly intensified various conflicts.

However, Zhang Ran did not concern himself with these matters for the time being; he just looked at the news every day, and then at the information He Qing helped him collect.

By now, He Qing had become increasingly adapted to the role of Zhang Ran's secretary, and as Zhang Ran's secretary, she was different from other secretaries.

Other executives' secretaries basically followed their bosses around every day, but she was different; she was basically always in a state of being sent out on assignments.

But He Qing also knew that the biggest reason for this was that her own abilities were not yet sufficient to hold her current position, so she worked even harder.

The 23rd was also the day of the Fuyuan Primary School autumn sports meet. Zhang Ran sent the two little ones over and followed them into the school himself.

In any case, during this time period, if parents were interested, the school would not stop them.

The three-day sports meet was also treated as a holiday for the students; there were no classes, and every day was spent on the playground competing and cheering.

Susu was participating in such an activity for the first time, so she appeared a little nervous. It was because Zhang Ran saw her like this that he came along.

"Don't be nervous, Grandpa is cheering for you!" Zhang Ran encouraged.

Zhang Xiaotao also said, "Little sister, I'll run with you; just follow me when the time comes."

Comforted by the two of them, Susu's nervous little emotions slowly dissipated, and at the same time, she felt a bit eager to try; deep down, she actually hoped to play together with everyone.

Susu's race arrived very quickly; her preliminary heat was at 10:30 on the first morning.

Zhang Xiaotao did just as he had said, standing by Susu's side, but he didn't run on the track, so as not to disturb others.

Then, as the starting pistol sounded, Taotao ran out first, and Susu ran along with her older brother.

Slowly, Susu cast aside all her nervous emotions and began to run with all her might.

As for tactics or plans to conserve energy, those were all fleeting clouds; after all, they were only first-grade children, and talking about such things was useless.

However, Susu's physical stamina was quite good, as Zhang Ran would give the two little ones whatever good things he had.

At first, Susu lagged behind a little, but as her state slowly improved, and with her brother leading the way in front, Susu soon overtook one classmate after another.

Slowly, without even realizing it herself, she reached the finish line first!

Immediately, Susu's homeroom teacher and some of her classmates ran over, surrounding Susu and cheering.

Although it was only a preliminary heat, Susu had left the second-place runner behind by at least twenty meters; such a gap was very obvious even among elementary school students.

This was the first time Susu had been surrounded and congratulated by so many people; her little face looked a bit unnatural, but deep down, she was extremely happy.

Zhang Ran watched from the side without going over. Seeing the smile that filled Susu's little face, Zhang Ran was equally happy.

"Grandpa, I did well, didn't I?" Taotao found his grandfather first and said with some pride.

Since no one was congratulating him, he ran over to his grandfather to claim credit.

Zhang Ran certainly wouldn't let him down and praised him quite a bit, making Taotao even more smug.

But how does that saying go?

It's called "extreme joy begets sorrow"!

At eleven o'clock, during the second-grade boys' 400-meter preliminary heat, Taotao was almost eliminated.

It wasn't that Taotao's speed wasn't fast; on the contrary, his speed was too fast, and then his footing became unstable, causing him to fall flat on his face, scraping his arms and knees.

At that moment, Zhang Xiaotao was completely stunned, and then the pain hit him; his eyes immediately filled with tears.

He instinctively looked for his grandfather, wanting comfort, but when he saw his grandfather, his grandfather did not come over to comfort him, but instead made a cheering gesture and a "manly" gesture toward him.

Zhang Xiaotao didn't know why, but a spirit of refusing to admit defeat suddenly surged in his heart, because his grandfather had said that a real man cannot easily admit defeat, nor can he easily cry.

So Zhang Xiaotao wiped away his tears, ignored the teacher calling out to him, got up, and started running again.

His arms hurt, and his knees hurt even more, but Taotao couldn't feel anything at this moment; he was a real man, he couldn't admit defeat, and he definitely couldn't cry!

This was what his grandfather taught him!

Zhang Xiaotao slowly overtook one person, and finally, at the very end, he overtook the eighth-place runner, becoming the eighth-place finisher himself, barely qualifying for the finals!

His homeroom teacher had been waiting anxiously; she knew Zhang Xiaotao's identity, so she was very worried.

Zhang Xiaotao, however, did not look at his homeroom teacher, but looked at his grandfather for the first time.

When he saw his grandfather give him a thumbs-up, Zhang Xiaotao, despite the tears still in his eyes, proudly puffed out his little chest; he was a real man!

Zhang Ran was actually very nervous and even more worried when Zhang Xiaotao fell, but he knew that Zhang Xiaotao's weak personality had to change.

This was also why, for such a long time, he had been instilling the idea of being a real man into Zhang Xiaotao whenever he had the chance; he just wanted to change his personality.

And today, Zhang Xiaotao did not let him down. Although these were only very small things, they proved to him that Zhang Xiaotao was a little man!