HLM – Chapter 1061 Returning to Campus

This time, the underwater stone deposit was discovered on a marine shoal.

A marine shoal is a rather peculiar underwater terrain—it’s a raised area on the seabed in a deep-sea region. From the surface, the water appears shallow and there’s a stretch of muddy sand, which is why it’s called an underwater shoal.

The ocean is vast. Although this shoal had been discovered a few times before, the seabed was mostly rocks with few seaweeds, aquatic plants, or plankton, so there wasn’t much fish yield.

Moreover, this type of terrain easily causes ships to run aground, so over the years people avoided it. This time, it was a group of urban youth diving for fun who happened to discover the mineral deposit below.

Wang Bo knew the location of this shoal. Water depth ranged from five or six meters to about a hundred meters, mostly around fifty to sixty meters. He had gone there as a teenager to fish for squid.

Zhong Dabo clearly remembered too. Spitting out a few watermelon seeds, he said, “Do you remember that place? Back in middle school, we often went squid fishing there. There were so many squids.”

Wang Bo nodded. Thinking back, that place indeed had many squids, mainly because the underwater stones were irregular in shape. Some stones had many holes, which were perfect hiding spots for squid.

Zhong Dabo sighed, “Fate really isn’t fair. If we had just jumped in back then to check the underwater conditions, what a great chance to make a fortune we missed.”

This really was a chance to get rich. While diving, several young people had found a pine stone and several bonsai stones, each worth 100,000 yuan in today’s collector market.

Wang Bo also felt that fate was unfair—but perhaps too kind to him. He had received the “Heart of the Lord,” and he was already very satisfied with his life, so he had no desire to meddle with underwater mining.

The main reason was that although he grew up by the sea, his diving skills were only average. Risking his life for so little money to collect stones from the seabed would be troublesome if something went wrong.

After obtaining the Heart of the Lord, he no longer wanted to take risks, especially risky money-making ventures—they weren’t worth it.

Besides, this time back home, he had other important matters to attend to.

In August, Linhai City was still in the peak of summer heat. The “autumn tiger” was fierce, and when the sun came out, it was nearly impossible to stay outdoors.

Wang Bo had already contacted his alma mater, and on the first weekend back, he went there with Na Qingyang and the others.

Wang Bo’s parents were very interested in underwater stones, going out to sea every day before dawn. Eva went with them once but lost interest afterward.

In reality, Wang Bo’s parents didn’t dive—they just watched from the boat. Additionally, they offered boat rentals; some people brought diving gear to try their luck, and naturally had to rent boats to reach the shoal.

On Saturday, Wang Bo drove Zhong Dabao’s Passat to his alma mater. Na Qingyang had arrived a day earlier and was wandering the campus with Li Xing and Su Dongdong.

When entering the city, he made a call, and Su Dongdong and the others went to the parking lot to meet him.

Once they met, Su Dongdong smiled and asked, “Mayor Wang, where’s our first stop? Shall we go back to the dorms and relive our old days?”

Thinking back on his college life, Wang Bo felt a bit nostalgic. Life was tough back then, and money was tight, but he was happy. Even a bowl of fried sauce noodles with a fried egg could make him happy for a while.

“Shall we go see? Can we even get in?” he asked, half in nostalgia.

Su Dongdong chuckled, “Of course. Who would dare stop you? You’re coming back as the God of Wealth this time. Probably in a couple of years, for the school’s centennial celebration, they’ll invite you back as a VIP guest.”

This visit wasn’t just to acquire the patent for the super-hydrophobic material; Wang Bo was also making a donation to his alma mater.

As the saying goes, “Returning home in wealth is like walking at night in brocade armor”—he didn’t want to be too showy. But now, as someone involved in politics, building a good reputation domestically would benefit the development of Sunset Town.

The Chinese market had become the most important for global capitalists. Wang Bo had the unique advantage of being ethnically Chinese, which he needed to leverage.

Na Qingyang was handling the arrangements. He had contacted the principal and the party secretary. Wang Bo’s donation of ten million yuan was a substantial amount for a Chinese university.

However, the official meeting was scheduled for the afternoon. Wang Bo came in the morning to catch up with old classmates.

They walked together across campus. It was Eva’s first time at a Chinese university; everything was novel. Holding her sister, she kept looking around and unintentionally fell behind the others.

At that moment, a basketball came flying toward her, though slowly, and bounced off the ground in her direction.

Seeing it, Eva quickly stepped back half a pace and accurately caught the ball with one hand.

Then, a sweaty young man ran over. Seeing Eva dodge the bouncing ball, he paused, then quickly smiled and asked in fluent English, “Hello, I’m very sorry. I almost hit you with the ball. You are…?”

Eva’s lips curved in a slight smile. Her brows were relaxed, her eyes lively, naturally radiating gentle elegance.

Seeing this, the boy’s eyes immediately lit up. Behind him on the basketball court, several other tall, well-built boys watched eagerly.

Li Xing tugged Wang Bo, who was talking to Su Dongdong, and laughed, “Someone’s hitting on your wife.”

Wang Bo looked back and said, “Really? This guy’s pretty handsome.”

The boy talking to Eva looked far more impressive than Wang Bo—tall, well-built, with striking features. He wore LeBron James’ number six Heat jersey, his exposed muscles perfectly defined, like a model.

Wang Bo didn’t care about Li Xing’s comment. Su Dongdong laughed and said, “Wang, you were right this time. That kid is trying to flirt with your wife.”

Wang Bo asked, “What do you mean? He’s a student here, right?”

“A graduate student, same surname as you, named Wang Pengjie. He’s a sports major, specializes in basketball, and is quite famous in the campus sports circles,” Su Dongdong explained.

Wang Bo said, “Judging by your tone, you don’t like this kid much.”

Su Dongdong sneered, “Damn it. If I weren’t his teacher and he a student, I would’ve beaten him up already.”

“What happened?” The others became interested.

Su Dongdong noticed his tone sounded harsh and felt a bit embarrassed. “Nothing much. It involves Zhu Fang. He once took an elective with her, and probably after watching too many… let’s say ‘inappropriate videos,’ he wanted a student-teacher romance and harassed her in various ways.”

Wang Bo was stunned. “Whoa, this kid’s bold? I remember when we were in college, we only dared to talk about such things in secret in our dorm rooms. Kids these days really act on it?”

Su Dongdong said, “They act first, think later. His flirting with your wife isn’t just for show—he genuinely intends to pursue Eva.”