The anniversary ceremony of Provincial First High School was scheduled to take place in the coming days.
Lin Zhixia and her friends had all received invitations from the principal.
The principal hoped that Lin Zhixia, as an "outstanding graduate representative," could deliver a speech to encourage the younger students to live actively and bravely step into the future.
After a moment of thought, Lin Zhixia agreed.
She also told Jiang Yubai, "I’ll be giving a speech at this year’s anniversary ceremony of Provincial First High School."
When Lin Zhixia spoke to Jiang Yubai, he was sitting in his study reviewing a document. While writing with a stylus, he replied, "I’ve seen the list of speakers: Lin Zhixia, Duan Qiyan, Jin Baihui, Tan Qianche…"
Lin Zhixia asked, "But not you?"
Surprisingly, Jiang Yubai said, "I’m just an ordinary person. Whatever I’ve achieved so far is thanks to the conditions my family provided. If I were to give a speech to high school students, it would just be empty pleasantries—meaningless."
Lin Zhixia thought to herself: He casually mentioned "meaningless," which means the principal of Provincial First High School must have approached him before.
As it turned out, Lin Zhixia’s guess was absolutely correct.
That evening, Duan Qiyan announced in the WeChat group: "Fellow alumni of Provincial First High School, you must attend this year’s anniversary ceremony in September! I’ll be giving a speech. Dozens of outstanding graduates from over the years will take turns on stage, each with only ten minutes to speak. If you have time, come support me, and we can have a class reunion while we’re at it!"
He specifically tagged Jiang Yubai: "You turned down the principal, but don’t turn me down."
Jiang Yubai replied with a "Sure" sticker.
Everyone responded enthusiastically.
Duan Qiyan was the organizer of this class reunion. He had reserved a restaurant and drafted a plan but suddenly found himself in a dilemma. He wasn’t sure whether he should invite Jin Baihui.
Jin Baihui had been their high school classmate.
However, no one in the class had ever interacted with her.
If he invited her, he was afraid she might have nothing to say to others and end up sitting alone in an awkward silence.
If he didn’t invite her, she was one of this year’s outstanding graduate representatives. She had stayed in Beijing for her Ph.D. and had just published an important mathematical paper that received widespread international acclaim. With Jin Baihui’s abilities, she might be able to discuss mathematics with Lin Zhixia and the others.
So, Duan Qiyan wrote an email to Jin Baihui.
Jin Baihui replied the same day: "I’ll be there. Thank you."
Duan Qiyan added Jin Baihui’s name to the "Class Reunion" list.
On the day of the anniversary ceremony, Provincial First High School was packed with people.
A huge red banner hung between the iconic twin towers of the school’s clock building, bearing the words: "Warmly welcome alumni back to your alma mater!"
This year marked the tenth anniversary of Lin Zhixia’s graduation from Provincial First High School, and she remembered every building on campus vividly.
She clearly recalled the classrooms of both the junior and senior high school sections.
And now, she herself had become a teacher.
For this year’s anniversary, Lin Zhixia had carefully prepared a speech. She also coordinated with Tan Qianche to avoid overlapping topics related to the "Four-University Joint Research Group."
Tan Qianche, however, said, "My speech will only last three minutes. I’ll just talk about study methods—no risk of overlapping with your content."
"Is three minutes a bit too short?" Lin Zhixia asked her.
Tan Qianche shrugged. "I was practically forced into this anyway."Tan Qianche stood in the backstage lounge of the school auditorium. He wore a pure black suit with a golden osmanthus flower pinned to his collar—the school flower of Provincial No. 1 High School.
With his hands in his pockets, he glanced around.
Lin Zhixia continued discussing work matters with him: "Next month, I'm taking a few students to a conference in the United States. If the remaining students encounter any problems, they might come to you... and Teacher Meng. I've already informed Teacher Meng."
"No need to inform me," Tan Qianche said while checking his reflection in the mirror. "Your students are my students."
Jiang Yubai's reflection appeared in the mirror.
As their eyes met through the glass, Tan Qianche explained with a smile, "Don't misunderstand. Teacher Lin and I are both leaders of the Four-University Joint Research Group. Our students are cross-trained, so I'm responsible for them too."
"Don't worry," Jiang Yubai responded. "I'm just here to see Teacher Lin."
Jiang Yubai was also dressed in a black suit, but his collar lacked the golden osmanthus. Tan Qianche expressed mild surprise: "You're not giving a speech on stage?"
Jiang Yubai adjusted the golden osmanthus on Lin Zhixia's chest: "I'll be applauding for you from the audience."
"Great!" Lin Zhixia said. "After the speeches, we'll go for a meal together."
"Your class reunion?" Tan Qianche interjected.
Out of courtesy, Lin Zhixia invited him: "It's our high school class reunion. You can join if you'd like."
Tan Qianche asked further: "Where's the gathering? That expensive restaurant near the school?"
"Yes," Lin Zhixia confirmed. "The restaurant gave us a discount."
On stage, the host was announcing speakers. The first presenter was a gentleman in his seventies—an alumnus of Provincial No. 1 High School from the previous century. With white hair and glasses, he needed assistance to walk.
Yet when he spoke, his voice resonated with vigor, inspiring all the students present. Even Lin Zhixia couldn't help applauding for him.
"Will I be like that when I'm old?" Jiang Yubai suddenly murmured.
He stood close behind Lin Zhixia.
His lowered tone sounded almost like a soliloquy.
Lin Zhixia comforted him gently: "No. Our generation has better physical fitness. By the time you're seventy, technology will be advanced. You'll definitely be a sprightly old man."
Jiang Yubai chuckled: "I meant, when I'm old, will you applaud for me?"
Lin Zhixia extended both index fingers, secretly pressing their tips together—her self-created "discreet applause method," born specifically to encourage Jiang Yubai.
Jiang Yubai watched her for several seconds before saying: "So adorable."
Lin Zhixia replied modestly: "You flatter me."
When the host called Lin Zhixia's name, she waved at Jiang Yubai and walked toward the stage with ceremonial grace.
The vast auditorium remained unusually quiet, without the slightest whisper among the students. Just as Jiang Yubai found this strange, he saw Lin Zhixia's complete resume displayed on the circular screen. No wonder—had he encountered such senior students during his high school days, he likely would have been speechless too.
On stage, Lin Zhixia spoke eloquently. Her tone remained relaxed and gentle, yet turned resolutely firm when discussing "ideals." She conveyed an intensely powerful sense of conviction to the younger students, earning unprecedented, prolonged applause from the audience.Jiang Yubai remained backstage.
Duan Qiyan teased him: "You're the man behind Lin Zhixia."
Jiang Yubai adjusted his tie. On his left ring finger was a platinum wedding band, and the mechanical watch on his wrist was part of a couples' set. He seemed to accept the description of being "the man behind Lin Zhixia."
Duan Qiyan added: "Tingting and I are holding our wedding next year. You must come."
"No problem," Jiang Yubai agreed.
Duan Qiyan slung an arm over his shoulder, and for a moment they seemed to revert to their mischievous teenage selves from over a decade ago.
Duan Qiyan's attention was fixed on the front stage when he suddenly felt Jiang Yubai's shoulder sink under additional weight—another arm had joined them. He initially thought Tan Qianche had also come to cozy up to Jiang Yubai, but turning his head, he saw Shen Fuxuan instead.
"Well, if it isn't Little Shen," Duan Qiyan called out.
Shen Fuxuan smiled before speaking: "Sorry I'm late, brothers. Traffic was terrible."
"Lucky you're not giving a speech," Duan Qiyan remarked.
Shen Fuxuan shook his head.
It suddenly occurred to Duan Qiyan that Shen Fuxuan's mother was the principal of Provincial No. 1 High School. In other words, if Shen Fuxuan wanted to speak on stage, all he had to do was ask his mom.
Jiang Yubai changed the subject: "You smell like osmanthus."
Shen Fuxuan came clean: "To be honest, there was no traffic jam. I ran into Jin Baihui outside the auditorium. She had three osmanthus sprigs pinned to her collar. We chatted for a bit, and now I smell like them too."
"Huh?" Duan Qiyan sounded surprised. "Are you still secretly in love with Jin Baihui?"
Shen Fuxuan turned to glare at him with a look that could kill.
"Are you or aren't you? If it's true, I'll help you out," Duan Qiyan pressed on, fearless.
In Duan Qiyan's memory, Shen Fuxuan had always been carefree and nonchalant, maintaining a lighthearted, teasing attitude even in the face of disaster.
But now, Shen Fuxuan looked somewhat serious: "You guessed half right."
"Half of what?" Duan Qiyan didn't understand.
Before he could say more, Lin Zhixia appeared: "You're all here, perfect. We'll go to the restaurant together later."
The old classmates began catching up, while Tan Qianche walked straight through their group and headed for the podium at the front of the auditorium.
A spotlight shone down on Tan Qianche's head.
The moment he appeared, scattered applause rose from the audience. At Provincial No. 1 High School, the name "Tan Qianche" was as legendary as "Lin Zhixia"—both were famous throughout the school.
Tan Qianche's gaze immediately fell on Wei Ruoxing sitting in the fourth row.
Why was Wei Ruoxing attending this year's anniversary ceremony?
Because Provincial No. 1 High School held its anniversary at the end of September, and with National Day approaching next month, Wei Ruoxing and her husband had returned to the provincial capital early to visit their parents.
Wei Ruoxing had heard that Lin Zhixia would be participating and wanted to see her. After Lin Zhixia's speech ended, Wei Ruoxing was about to leave when Tan Qianche entered.
Wei Ruoxing thought for a moment, then still chose to exit.
Her husband carried a briefcase in his left hand and held Wei Ruoxing's wrist with his right. Their tall figures gradually disappeared into the dark audience seats, while Tan Qianche remained standing straight and poised on the stage.Tan Qianche delivered content not found in his prepared speech: "As students of Provincial First High School, you must learn to distinguish between reality and ideals. Luck and talent may matter more than your abilities. As ordinary students, without striving, you have no future..."
Tan Qianche was eloquent and an excellent speaker.
He excelled at controlling the atmosphere and engaging the audience's emotions. Within just three minutes, he made some students' moods sink repeatedly while still earning their genuine admiration, as they acknowledged every word he spoke was stark reality.
"Wow," Duan Qiyan commented, "sharp enough."
Jiang Yubai reminded him: "You're the next speaker."
"Is Tan Qianche better than me?" Duan Qiyan suddenly asked.
Jiang Yubai approached it from a different angle: "Competition coaches have no weekends, no winter or summer breaks. Your job isn't easy at all—guiding dozens of students every year. That's quite remarkable. You should have confidence."
Tan Qianche's speech had concluded.
Steeling himself, Duan Qiyan strode straight to the podium. He elicited even louder cheers, since as Provincial First High's competition coach, many students had seen him before.
Adjusting the microphone, he spoke in a deep voice: "I'm the high school math competition coach, and also a graduate from the class of 2004. Having spent so many years at our school, I've come to believe no one understands you better than yourself. Listening to both sides brings clarity, believing only one leads to confusion."
So Duan Qiyan had this mature and steady side too.
After the school anniversary ceremony, Lin Zhixia and her group headed together to a restaurant.
At the restaurant entrance, Lin Zhixia ran into her seniors Luo Ying and Meng Liansi—Meng Liansi also graduated from Provincial First High and was once the school's celebrated beauty and top student.
The two elegant seniors carried an air of cool refinement, their long hair flowing. Walking arm in arm, they made an extremely pleasing picture.
Lin Zhixia greeted them: "Seniors! Teacher Meng!"
Meng Liansi smiled warmly: "Are you here for a gathering?"
"Yes," Lin Zhixia asked, "what about you?"
Luo Ying replied: "We just finished eating."
A silver rose earring adorned Luo Ying's left ear, while its matching pair hung from Meng Liansi's right ear—Lin Zhixia noticed this detail. She guessed the two seniors' relationship must be quite stable now, feeling genuinely happy for them.
After the seniors left, Lin Zhixia hurried to the restaurant's private room. The moment she entered, everyone called out: "Class Monitor Lin!"
Scanning the room, Lin Zhixia saw many of her middle school classmates. Some had changed in appearance, while others looked much the same, like Jin Baihui. Jin Baihui still wore her hair short, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and athletic pants, with red-framed glasses.
Lin Zhixia waved at her quite friendly.
Jin Baihui acted as if she hadn't seen it.
Time had left almost no trace on her, Lin Zhixia thought.
Jiang Yubai wrapped an arm around Lin Zhixia's waist, guiding her to one side of the round table. She immediately took a seat while classmates continued addressing each other by old nicknames. One male student even declared loudly: "Back in our class, I always said Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia were a pair, Duan Qiyan and Tang Tingting were a pair! None of you believed me! See? Time proves everything!"
"We're together because we want to be," Tang Tingting retorted, "What about you? Where's your girlfriend?"
"Yeah!" Duan Qiyan chimed in.The young man seemed as if a sword had been thrust into him by their words.
Lin Zhixia was still flipping through the menu. She whispered to Jiang Yubai, "This restaurant is owned by your mom, right?"
Jiang Yubai recommended a few dishes to her. As his fingers pressed against the menu, Lin Zhixia gently placed her fingertips over his nails. When he moved his fingers, she followed along. This lasted less than ten seconds before he grabbed her wrist and pinned it on his leg under the table.
The tablecloth concealed all his movements.
The classmates were still toasting and clinking glasses.
One classmate raised his cup and said with utmost seriousness, "Class President Lin, back in our school days, you never hesitated to answer anyone's questions. Now that you're a university professor, I'm sure you're just as amazing with your students! Here, on behalf of all students, I toast you with this cola!"
Lin Zhixia laughed. "No need to be so formal. We're all old classmates."
The classmate downed the full cup of cola in one go, and everyone applauded and cheered for him.
Without another word, he refilled his cola and turned to Jiang Yubai. "Class President Jiang, back when Class President Lin went out for competitions, you served as acting class president..."
Duan Qiyan interjected, "I remember now, Class President Jiang, you helped me a lot back then. Thank you. Wait, I should call you President Jiang now. President Jiang!"
Jiang Yubai filled his own cup with water. Holding this cup of water, he engaged in some business banter with Duan Qiyan: "Teaching is the noblest profession under the sun. Teacher Duan, you're still so polite even as a teacher."
Duan Qiyan preferred orange juice. He expressed his gratitude to Jiang Yubai with a cup of orange juice, while everyone egged them on: "Bottoms up! President Jiang, Class President Lin, Teacher Duan!"
Tang Tingting looked displeased. "We finally have a class reunion, and you're bringing in drinking culture? Just drink however much you can."
Duan Qiyan tilted his head back and chugged half a cup of orange juice. After wiping his mouth, he remarked, "The orange flavor is quite strong."
Amid the continuous laughter and chatter, Jiang Yubai remained quiet while eating. Tasting a fish ball that was particularly good, he scooped a spoonful for Lin Zhixia. She held her bowl waiting for his offering, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone watching him.
Jiang Yubai glanced sideways and met Shen Fuxuan's gaze.
Shen Fuxuan gave a relieved smile and raised his cup toward him.
After the meal, many classmates had dispersed.
After seeing off Shen Fuxuan, Duan Qiyan brought Tang Tingting into the campus of Provincial First High School.
Now, Duan Qiyan was the homeroom teacher for an Olympiad class in the tenth grade.
The rules in the Olympiad class were very strict, strictly prohibiting students from dating. Duan Qiyan often patrolled the small grove to catch and reprimand any students daring enough to have dates—Tang Tingting had never witnessed such scenes, so Duan Qiyan brought her in to see for herself.
"Playing the villain who breaks up lovers," Tang Tingting said to him.
He sighed. "There's really no time for dating in the Olympiad class. You know that."
Tang Tingting nodded. "True. If we had dated back then, we definitely would have broken up."
They happened to pass by Tan Qianche.
Tan Qianche was strolling alone through their former campus.
Teenagers in school uniforms ran past him on both sides, their laughter and chasing echoing through the hallway.
He passed by the brand-new teaching building, his reflection visible in the glass windows. He noticed what seemed to be a few white hairs—he was only in his thirties this year, still young, yet he already had white hair.
He looked up at the sky.
Actually, Tan Qianche's memory was very good too.He closed his eyes and could recall the vast playground, the sunlight outside the classroom window, the emerald bamboo grove near the laboratory building... To him, that was sixteen years ago.
Sixteen years ago.
He shook off his wandering thoughts and crossed the playground.
In a clearing at the corner of the playground, Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai were taking a walk.
Lin Zhixia had overeaten at lunch and wanted to move around a bit. As she passed by the horizontal bar area, she was suddenly struck by a wave of nostalgia.
Back in the day, Jiang Yubai had stood right here and told her to boldly move forward.
Lin Zhixia had been very timid as a child, and Jiang Yubai had given her a great deal of courage. Over the years, the bond between them had grown even stronger, and Jiang Yubai remained the most important subject of observation in the "Human Observation Diary."
A permanent subject, she thought.
(Web Version Extra Story - The End)
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