He Xunyan gave a conditioned-reflex “ah,” raised her head to rub her head, and looked apologetically at Jiang Yumo: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have run so fast.”
What are you doing, He Xunyan? She just helped you not long ago, and is this how you repay kindness with enmity!
Seeing He Xunyan rub her head, Jiang Yumo rubbed her own nose and said with concern, “It’s fine. Is your head okay?”
“I’m fine, really sorry about that.” Remembering something as she spoke, He Xunyan turned her head and saw Qin Qianyi waving at her.
Turning her head back with an embarrassed smile, she said, “Yeah, my head is fine. It’s just that my arm might have a bit of an issue in a moment, hahaha.”
Confirming that Jiang Yumo’s nose was okay and apologizing once more, He Xunyan was hooked away by Qin Qianyi’s arm.
“You girl, she just helped you get your book back last class break, and this class break you go bump into her. Didn’t you agree not to repay kindness with enmity?” Qin Qianyi said as she pinched He Xunyan’s nose twice.
“What are you even talking about? Are these the same thing?” He Xunyan seemed to realize something, broke free from Qin Qianyi’s arm as she spoke, and ran off, “Hurry up, hurry up, class is about to start.”
Time slipped away carefree once again, and the monthly exams quickly concluded amidst the anticipation of the students.
Meanwhile, the Role Model Guidance, Passing the Torch—Qieting Secondary School Periodical Commendation and Outstanding Alumni Donation Appreciation Ceremony was about to begin.
Thousands of students filled the playground, and a banner with red characters on a yellow background hung in front of the rostrum.
Upon learning that the outstanding graduate Jiang Yunze would make a personal donation to the school, the leadership of Qieting Secondary School immediately planned to hold an outstanding alumni donation appreciation meeting.
At the same time, they wanted to take this opportunity to arrange for Jiang Yunze to return to school to give a speech in his capacity as an outstanding graduate, thereby inspiring students of all grades.
Considering that the time was close to the originally planned monthly exam commendation meeting, the school leadership made the executive decision to combine the three major meetings into one.
The host was on stage finalizing the meeting schedule with the leaders for the last time. Down below, an endless stream of whispers went on in wave after wave.
“First it’s the whole-grade monthly exam commendation meeting, then the outstanding graduate returning speech, and then the outstanding alumni donation appreciation meeting. The school really wants us to sit on the playground for a whole day,” Qin Qianyi complained, using one hand to shield against the sun and the other to adjust her chair.
Instead of following Qin Qianyi’s complaint, He Xunyan poked Qin Qianyi’s arm with her elbow and opened a new topic in an eager tone:
“Do you know how our school got its name?”
“How?” Qin Qianyi lowered the hand shielding the sun, turned her head to look at He Xunyan, and asked with curiosity.
Hearing Qin Qianyi’s question, He Xunyan was very satisfied. She shook her right index finger while shaking her head and said:
“Before the semester started, I specifically checked. Our school’s name is taken from ‘Fame or fortune, rushing along the road, stop being so busy; travelers coming and going, the streams and mountains are quiet, just pause a while,’ which was inscribed by Li Yu, a man of letters and dramatist of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.”
After He Xunyan finished speaking, the two of them simultaneously looked up at the banner hanging in front of the rostrum.
Just at that moment, a gust of wind blew past, flipping the unfixed banner in front of the rostrum.
Under the instruction of the school leaders, the planning staff hurriedly rushed up to tidy it up.
The two of them turned their heads at the same time, their gazes meeting, and Qin Qianyi waited with expectant eyes for He Xunyan to continue.
“In a campus whose name carries a touch of idealism, holding a three-in-one meeting that chases fame, fortune, and efficiency, doesn’t it have a faint sense of humor?”
He Xunyan raised an eyebrow quickly, anticipating Qin Qianyi’s response.
He Xunyan, who had already prepared to launch into a lengthy discourse on this topic, did not wait for Qin Qianyi’s response, because the Role Model Guidance, Passing the Torch—Qieting Secondary School Periodical Commendation and Outstanding Alumni Donation Appreciation Ceremony had already begun.
First was the whole-grade monthly exam commendation.
“Class 1, Grade 1: Xu Zhitao, Lu Xingmian.”
“Class 2, Grade 1: Jiang Yumo, Gu Jingqiu.”
“Class 3, Grade 1:”
Jiang Yumo in the thunderous applause walked down from the rostrum, and just as she was preparing to return to the formation, she was called back by her head teacher:
“Jiang Yumo, don’t leave right away after the meeting ends. Your older brother has something to discuss with you.”
“Alright, understood. Thank you, Teacher,” Jiang Yumo responded with a nod.
Following the whole-grade monthly exam commendation was the outstanding graduate speech.
The outstanding graduate Jiang Yunze was on the rostrum, adjusting the microphone.
Qin Qianyi bumped He Xunyan with her shoulder. Once He Xunyan turned her head, Qin Qianyi semi-cupped her mouth, leaned sideways, and whispered into He Xunyan’s ear:
“Do you believe it? It’s definitely going to be the same old platitudes repeated over and over: study hard, get into a good university, find a good job, and enjoy the blessings for the rest of your life.”
“Who knows whose blessings are actually being enjoyed, though,” Qin Qianyi shifted to the right and sat upright, shaking her head while sighing, and then shrugged with a hint of helplessness.
He Xunyan nodded slightly, rested her right elbow on her right knee, propped her right cheek with her right palm, and responded with a smile following Qin Qianyi’s words:
“I think so too. Who knows, they might even make us follow along with an oath.”
Having said that, under Qin Qianyi’s gaze, she clenched her right fist and placed it by her right temple, mimicking the posture of taking an oath:
“Something like: Live up to the expectations of our parents, live up to the profound hopes of our beloved teachers, live up to the wisdom bestowed by heaven, and live up to the ideals of our youth.”
Amidst Qin Qianyi’s irrepressible laughter, He Xunyan twisted her body left and right, adjusted her posture, sat up straight with her hands resting on her knees, and resumed a serious tone:
“No matter what, we’ll just listen to whatever they say. Even if the reasoning is cliché, it’s ultimately for our own good.”
At that moment, Jiang Yunze on the rostrum looked out at the audience, striving to imprint every unfamiliar yet familiar face below into his mind.
He finally spoke, his voice clean and crisp: “Thank you to the school administration for the invitation.”
“When extending the invitation, the school administration explicitly expressed the hope that I would speak more on words of encouragement for everyone to study hard, such as ‘Raise your score by one point, eliminate a thousand competitors,’ or ‘Suffer more hardship now, shed fewer tears later.'”
“Yet I feel these principles are already old clichés; saying more is of no use.”
“Therefore, today, I wish to take advantage of this stage of Role Model Guidance to say something a bit different.”
As he spoke, Jiang Yunze left the speaking spot arranged for him by the event planning staff.
The voice on stage slowed down as he continued: “Our school is named Qieting. I believe many students are familiar with the couplet behind it.”
After speaking, Jiang Yunze paused for a few seconds to give the students below time to react.
Noticing a few more voices rising from the audience, Jiang Yunze continued: “Fame or fortune, rushing along the road, stop being so busy; travelers coming and going, the streams and mountains are quiet, just pause a while.”
Pausing once more, Jiang Yunze walked from the far left of the rostrum to the middle-right position, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the students below.
“This couplet tells us that on life’s journey, we must learn to stop, rest a while, and look at the scenery along the way.”
As his words faded, Jiang Yunze looked toward the Grade 3 students seated on the far left below the rostrum:
“It reminds us that grades are not the destination, and competition is not the entirety of life.”
Jiang Yunze shifted his gaze to the Grade 1 students seated on the far right below the rostrum, his voice softening slightly:
“If, during these three years, you have never raised your head to look at the evening glow outside the evening self-study classroom window, have never felt your heart flutter for a book unrelated to exams on some afternoon, and have never solemnly wasted an afternoon pondering seemingly useless questions, then your youth is perhaps a bit too hasty.”
At this point, remembering something, Jiang Yunze walked to the exact center of the rostrum and brought up content not included in his prepared speech draft:
“Speaking of this, I suddenly recall a line of poetry by the Northern Song poet Huang Tingjian: After all, how many truly catch the deer, unaware that all day long they dream of being fish?”
Hearing this line of poetry, Qin Qianyi turned to look at He Xunyan, but He Xunyan did not notice and remained focused intently on the stage.
In Qin Qianyi’s self-proclaimed art of judging character, one could deduce a person’s underlying personality through the poetry they favored.
And this poem happened to be He Xunyan’s second favorite.
Jiang Yunze’s tone grew increasingly earnest: “This poem employs two historical allusions to convey that the so-called fame, fortune, and status in this world are actually impossible for anyone to verify as true or false, gained or lost.”
“The ridiculous part is that most of us muddle through our days unaware, not realizing that at this very moment, we might simply be swimming fish within someone else’s dream.”
After finishing, Jiang Yunze swept his gaze across the students below from left to right once more:
“Whether it is Li Yu’s ‘Fame or fortune, rushing along the road, stop being so busy; travelers coming and going, the streams and mountains are quiet, just pause a while’ or Huang Tingjian’s ‘After all, how many truly catch the deer, unaware that all day long they dream of being fish,’ they all point to a core proposition.”
Jiang Yunze paused his gaze on the Grade 3 students at the far left below the rostrum: “How we should settle our bodies and minds amidst the bustling worldly pursuits.”
Jiang Yunze’s voice turned gentle as he brought the speech to a close: “Therefore, I hope that as a freshman in high school, you do not need to rush to calculate gains and losses three years from now the moment you step onto campus. Youth has just begun, and the scenery must be appreciated slowly.”
“As a sophomore, when you feel suffocated in the mountains of books and seas of exams, please allow yourself to surface and catch your breath.”
“As a senior, amidst the most intense sprint of the coming year, please also remember to leave a window for yourself. Outside that window are the four seasons, life, and a world far broader than scores.”
“I hope that five or ten years from now, when you look back on this secondary school time, what you remember will not just be the rankings from exam after exam, nor just whether your name was on the honor roll.”
“I hope you remember that there was an afternoon when the sunshine was glorious, the wind blew across the playground, and it made you feel that the mere fact of being alive was something well worth rejoicing over.”
“Please remember that your alma mater’s name is a blessing.”
“It wishes that every student walking out from here knows how to give their all when it is time to strive, and also knows how to grant themselves a moment of peace when it is time to pause.”
“Finally, thank you once again to the school administration for the invitation.”
“All of the above I share with you all as mutual encouragement.”
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience once more.
Excitedly, Qin Qianyi bumped He Xunyan with her shoulder twice: “Gosh, this senior really has some substance.”
He Xunyan nodded in agreement.
At the very end of the three-in-one meeting was the outstanding alumni donation appreciation.
The host standing behind the rostrum walked to the center and spoke, bathed in a spring breeze:
“Thank you to Senior Jiang Yunze for the wonderful sharing. The two characters Qieting represent the alma mater’s most profound message to every student.”
“Today, Senior Jiang Yunze has not only brought intellectual enlightenment but has also repaid the alma mater’s nurturing grace with concrete actions.”
With a slight turn, the host gracefully extended her right arm toward the side of the stage in an inviting gesture.
“Next, let us give a warm round of applause to invite Principal Zhang Chengzhi of Qieting Secondary School onto the stage to accept the donation on behalf of the school and deliver a word of thanks!”
Thunderous applause rang out across the audience once more.
Amidst the applause, a middle-aged man trotted to the center of the rostrum, placed his right palm over his chest, and spoke with emotion:
“Teachers and students, I stand here with incomparable excitement to announce a heartwarming piece of news.”
“Our school’s outstanding graduate, Jiang Yunze, has made a personal donation of 15 million RMB to his alma mater.”