The Urban Dao Child

The night passed and Yang Dao reported to the cycling club in the morning. Thomas greeted him and passed him a brown envelop. He said, “Inside is something sacred for us cycling club members. I hope that you can ride with all you have in the future and make our colors be in the lead.” his words confused Yang Dao but he did not question it. His EQ was low but he was careful enough to cover it up with a smile and silence.

He walked inside the locker room leaving his bike on a stand outside the club. He opened the envelope and found a jersey inside. The jersey was white and blue in color. It was half-sleeved, a zipper for closing the front, white torse, and sleeves with a blue seam on the joints. The shorts were blue in color with a white seam on the joints. On the back of the jersey, a font was printed,  DAO, 09, JADE CITY UNIVERSITY. The font was written in blue color and the font was generic. It looked very simple and sober. Yang Dao liked this kind of style.

This was the first time he ever had something like this. His vacant emotions reacted a bit. He quickly took out the jersey and put it on. The jersey felt cold to his body. It was tight yet not suffocating. On the contrary, it was as if the fabric was breathing with him. He put on the shorts as well.

Yang Dao glanced at himself in the mirror and he twisted his waist to view himself as much as he can. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind, “Dao look here.” he turned his neck and heard a  ‘SNAP’. Icarus stood behind him wearing a similar jersey as him. Yang Dao smiled brightly. Icarus was two years older than Yang Dao. He looked macho while dressed in the jersey. Icarus showed him his mobile, on the screen, a picture of Yang Dao looking back wearing the jersey was being displayed.

Icarus asked, “How is it?”

Yang Dao nodded and said, “It is a good picture. Can you mail it to me?”

Icarus nodded and sent the picture to Yang Dao in a mail. He then asked, “Hey Dao, why don’t you buy a smartphone?” his tone was filled with curiosity.

Yang Dao replied honestly, “I think it will distract me.”

Icarus held his face in his palm. He shook his head and said, “Dao, my innocent child. You need to know that nothing can distract us if we don’t want it to distract us.” his sudden words of knowledge stunned Yang Dao. He felt as if his brain exploded. He stood there in a place looking dumb. Icarus was shocked by his side. He thought to himself, ‘Isn’t this reaction too exaggerated?”

Yang Dao calmed down after a few moments. He said to Icarus, “Can you take me to buy a new smartphone? Also, brother can you teach me how to use it?” his tone was still calm and composed but he looked at Icarus with respect. His casual statement helped him achieve a breakthrough in his mindset.

Yang Dao maybe the Dao Child but he was not omnipotent from birth. He has been blessed with virtue This virtue is what made him what he is today. Icarus on the other hand was surprised with Yang Dao calling him brother. He was happy to have this guy call him brother. He agreed to buy a phone with him after the practice run. Soon the whole team assembled. wearing jerseys. Today they will practice in a group of three. The third place in tomorrow’s race was someone, who got the flat tires in between and had to wait for the bus to come over with spares and help him.

The boy greeted Yang dao and Icarus, “Hello, I am Rayden. First-year, literature department.”

Yang Dao shook hands with him and so did Icarus. Icarus spoke, “Since you can get the third with 20 minutes gap then that means you can beat us both? Bro we are racing in the evening.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Rayden smiled and nodded at him. They all set off. Rayden followed Thomas(third-year & captain) and Montage(second-year & all-rounder. Icarus followed Ray(third-year & Sprinter) and Damon (Second-year sprinter) Yang Dao followed Felix(third-year & climber) and Aran(Second-year & climber).

This session was just to get these three people familiarized with their roles in the team. The third-years explained everything to them. Then the third years started increasing the pace and they all led the others easily. The second-year was calm and keeping up. Yang Dao followed with ease the session came to an end. Then before they got back to the college Icarus and Yang Dao went to buy a mobile at a flagship store. This was a store belonging to Icarus’s friend. Se e called him and asked a guard to open the store for him. They simply selected a phone picked up the box, scanned the code, and Yang Dao paid with his card.

Yang Dao was confused about which one to buy so Icarus helped him with a good-looking white business mobile. I could run emails, balance sheets, etc. Yang Dao was satisfied with the mobile phone and share his picture with Yang Dao the moment he learned how to use this, he called Feng Yun and sent her the picture of him in the jersey.

Feng Yun was similarly happy to see her Young Master enjoying his first jersey. And finally, she can have a video call with him at night. Yang Dao and the rest returned to the college and hurried to the class. Yang Dao asked Professor Newt to add him to the social media group of the class. Kiya was absent today. When Yang Dao asked the disciplinary committee members they told him that Kiya has joined the physics group.

Yang Dao had already decided to join the group as well. It would be beneficial for him in the future. After the class finished, he walked parted from Icarus and came to the office of Professor Newt. As a senior scientist at such a young age, Professor Newt was given a separate office. Yang Dao rapped on the door. After a few moments, the door was opened and a pink head popped out from behind.

It was Kiya, she was surprised to see Yang Dao. She smiled and invited him inside. Yang Dao smiled at the girl as well, after all, no matter how emotionally dumb you are. A boy will naturally smile back at a girl. This is a heavenly mandate. Or you will die single. So, after walking in Yang Dao saw the professor scribbling with some paper. He was frowning constantly.

Yang Dao nudged Kiya with his elbow lightly and with an eye, gesture asked why the professor was in such a mood. Kiya understood his gesture and pointed at the blackboard. Then she leaned close to him and whispered in his ear, “That problem was sent in this morning. It was Professor Bailish who sent it. He told the professor to see if he can do anything and help him solve it. This problem is very important and is related to governmental issues.”

Yang Dao’s eyes sparkled this was an opportunity to cater the governmental support for his experiments in the future. He took out a notebook from his bag and with a pen in his hand he started to solve the thing. Kiya was surprised by his action. She thought, ‘How can he solve it if the professor cannot do it. But well he is courageous enough to try.’

Yang Dao was unaware of the math going on in her head and he gradually lost himself in solving the problem. His hand never stopped moving. Sometimes he crossed out a line he wrote with a constant flow for two pages. After filling up 20 pages he stooped and exclaimed, “Huh, they are researching an aeronautical equation?”

His voice was loud. It landed on professor Newt’s ear like a ballistic missile. He asked, “Yang Dao, what did you say?” a strong wave of surprise was present in his voice. He did not expect this teenager to guess what the problem they just solved was for. Yang Dao replied honestly, “I solved it. And after a little reverse calculation, the root is visible.”

Professor Newt shook his head and said, “Show me what you have got.” Yang Dao passed him the notebook. Professor Newt’s face was like a television program. His expressions were changing constantly. After turning the final page he sighed and spoke, “I never thought this could be down by the basics. Simply genius. But how did you figure out the thrust value?”

Yang Dao replied, “First half of the problem denotes the weight of the carrier. So, I calculated it with a general formula and then integrated it.” his manner was as calm as ever.

The Professor smiled and then he picked up the phone on his table. He dialed a number and after the call connected, he said, “Your thing is done, old man. Now you do me a favor…” he was on a call for half an hour. They needed permissions to run experimental simulations. After the call was disconnected the Professor told Yang Dao, “We will get the NOC by tomorrow. Are you ready?”