Chapter 101: Mobilization Meeting

June 3rd.

Four days left until the college entrance exam.

In the classroom of Class 8, Grade 3, the number of students increased again today. Some students who had disappeared for many days returned to campus.

But it still hadn't returned to a full state. Listening to their casual talk, they learned that some people had already gone to other places to work.

The last day of campus life came so suddenly, and yet so naturally.

Today, there was no morning self-study where one would doze off, no teachers coming to class early, and even less someone wandering in the aisle collecting homework.

Everyone was waiting for the "mobilization meeting" starting at ten o'clock, or one could say, the "graduation ceremony."

Some high schools in big cities might let students wear formal suits, giving boys and girls the chance to experience the discomfort of a tie and the pinching of leather shoes for the first time, but in a small county, this clearly wasn't realistic. Forcing it would only result in some strange outfits.

However, many boys got haircuts and shaved their beards, and many girls wore hair accessories. Even if they put on a little light makeup, the security guards at the school gate didn't bother to manage it anymore.

Zhai Da sat in his seat, filling out something called an "Alumni Book." In elementary school, there were the most of these; in junior high, they weren't common anymore; by high school, only two girls had prepared them.

Zhai Da wrote down his name and contact information, discovering that there were "Hobbies" and "Specialties" to fill in below, which were embarrassing enough to make one want to dig a hole with their toes.

He couldn't help but think about what would happen if he wrote "like thin legs"...

But in the end, he honestly wrote down "Magic" and "Writing."

As for the last large blank space, "Classmate Message," Zhai Da looked up at Liu Meng, who had an expectant face, and wrote in neat handwriting:

"Wish you early success, great achievements, profit and currency, and a fierce dash at twenty-three!"

Actually, alumni books were a bit outdated in this era. Mobile phones, QQ... there were too many ways to maintain contact.

Losing contact wouldn't truly be because of not having contact information.

Don't you have any idea about your poor relationship?

Just treat it as the little girl's sense of ritual.

Liu Meng happily took back the alumni book and admired it for a long time: "Zhai Da, your handwriting is really beautiful."

Zhai Da smiled. His handwriting in his past life was just normal, because he wrote and drew more due to work, which was better than the average office worker.

But the greatest credit for his current handwriting was the set effect "Dexterous Hands," both steady and accurate.

This ability had too many places where it was helpful.

"By the way, Zhai Da, where is your exam room? Is it at this school? No. 3 Middle School? Or No. 1 Middle School?"

"No. 3 Middle School."

Yesterday, the school issued the college entrance exam admission tickets. From the fact that Lu Wei received the admission ticket via post even earlier than him, the school should have held onto them for a few days.

This time, the luck was not bad; the two were in the same exam room, "No. 3 Middle School." However, there were only three exam rooms in Dongyang in total, so the probability was not small.

"You're also at No. 3 Middle School? I made an appointment with a few classmates in the No. 3 Middle School exam room to go scout the location. Zhai Da, do you want to come?"

Lin Shuyao, who was at the side, pricked up her ears. Today, this little girl had dressed up a bit and put on light makeup. It could be seen that her technique was very raw, but fortunately, it didn't reach the extreme state of scraping putty, just applying a layer of the most popular BB cream at the moment.

Her foundation was good, and plus she had become much quieter after becoming Zhai Da's deskmate, which indeed made people's eyes light up. Many boys in the class came to find her for group photos. Lin Shuyao didn't take a single photo with just two people, but she didn't refuse group photos anymore.

She was also in the No. 3 Middle School exam room. If Zhai Da also went to scout the exam room together, she could also appear logically, and she could wear her regular clothes.

However, it was a pity. After Zhai Da thought for a while, he shook his head: "Forget it. I already scouted the location when I took the subject grade test. I'd better honestly review for the last three days."

"Subject grade test? Weren't you taking the exam at this school then?"

"Taking a friend to scout the location."

During the casual chat, the homeroom teacher Ding Rong walked in. Seeing the liveliness in the class, she rarely didn't scold them.

"In the whole hallway, our class is the loudest!" This kind of catchphrase would never have a chance to be said to this batch of students again.

Looking at the countdown at the back of the classroom.

From today on, it would stop forever at "Countdown to College Entrance Exam: (4) days." She couldn't help but think about whether she should have counted the last three days of leave when calculating the date.

Now, this number that had accompanied everyone for more than half a year could never truly count down to "0."

That's fine...

Writing to the last page of a notebook always makes one uncomfortable.

Ding Rong clapped her hands: "Prepare to go downstairs, gather on the playground."

Arriving at the playground, all third-year high school students had already arrived, lined up in long queues by class.

A platform was temporarily set up on one side of the playground. It was a bit crude, with steel frames raised by one meter, and behind it was a not-so-magnificent color-sprayed cloth. Several leaders' tables had already been set up.

It seemed they intentionally left some time for everyone to take group photos on the playground, and it wasn't until half an hour later that it officially started in such a messy way.

During this period, Zhai Da was pulled to take more than a dozen photos—two-person photos, three-person photos, ten-person photos—until his face was stiff from smiling.

Even Lin Shuyao's two-person photo wasn't refused. At the final moment, small frictions didn't matter anymore.

Finally, the "Mobilization Meeting" and "Graduation Ceremony" officially began.

Considering the time was very late, the meaning of the latter might be stronger.

In terms of process, it was no different from most school activities. First, the ear-piercing sound system played impassioned music whose name one couldn't say, then the small leader spoke, the big leader spoke, the even bigger leader spoke...

The whole process lasted for an hour. To be honest, the students below indicated that they hadn't been "mobilized."

Their quietness and focus were just immersed in their own sense of loss.

My youth is gone, damn it?

Until... the stage of the outstanding student representative speaking, many people came back to their senses.

The dean of students stood straight, dragged out his voice, and said loudly: "Now, please invite the outstanding student representative of the '08 batch: Zhai Da, to the stage."

Zhai Da in the queue took a step across, and under everyone's gaze, walked to the stage with big strides and took the microphone.

Pausing slightly, he smiled:

"Hello everyone, I am Zhai Da from Class 8, Grade 3."

"Because time is tight, I can only read the manuscript, please forgive me."

Although he said so, his expression was relaxed; he didn't look like a student pulled to the stage to speak at all.

Zhai Da's emotions were too stable, even stable to the point of being abrupt.

Most people at this age, standing on the stage, would have their adrenaline skyrocketing, their vocal cords shrinking, and breaking their voice upon opening their mouths was the norm.

In front of everyone, Zhai Da took out the prepared manuscript from his pocket, and after unfolding it, it became an A4 sheet of paper.

Because there was no microphone stand, he seemed to only be able to hold the microphone in one hand and the manuscript in the other, gesturing left and right, seemingly not smooth no matter what.

So Zhai Da simply threw the manuscript paper away.

The unexpected move attracted the attention of many people, but the even more unexpected was yet to come. This manuscript paper didn't land but floated in front of Zhai Da.

Just like that, without any support, as if it were floating magic.

Zhai Da even specially swiped his hand above, below, left, and right of the manuscript paper, indicating there were no strings hanging.

And then he even commanded the manuscript paper to fly continuously on the stage! As if it had lost control and couldn't be grabbed back.

A brief silence, followed by exclamations and sustained applause.

It was much stronger than the principal's speech just now!

That Zhai Da could perform a magical magic trick was something the whole grade knew, but this special occasion still made people's hands red from clapping.

Zhai Da waited for the applause to gradually subside, and a snap of his fingers recalled the manuscript paper. The "little guy" that wasn't obedient just now honestly returned to Zhai Da's front.

"Do you think it's magical? Actually, if you decrypt it, this is just a very simple little magic trick... but very few people will take action because of curiosity; only a small portion of people will truly get to the bottom of it."

He naturally wouldn't be purely showing off his skills.

Instead, he used this lead-in to start his own speech.

However, compared to the opening with magic, the subsequent speech was a bit lackluster. This top-in-the-grade student seemed to treat this speech as an opportunity to show off his writing, using gorgeous rhetoric and allusions to pile up a five-minute speech manuscript.

Several thousand words...

Almost every sentence was a "golden sentence," and every section was an allusion, with parallelism and rhyme...

But such a density of brilliant text, squeezed together, instead fell into a lower grade... even Ding Rong at the back shook her head slightly.

The manuscript had been reviewed by her, and she had also persuaded Zhai Da that it wasn't necessary, just encouraging everyone in a patterned way, like "time flies, years pass like a shuttle," would do.

Zhai Da, like an essay, even set a theme, which was weird.

Forget it, who let him be the first place?

However, unexpectedly, the students below listened very seriously, seemingly truly stunned.

Five minutes later, Zhai Da finished his speech, put away the manuscript paper that seemed to be floating but was actually constrained by transparent silk threads, and subconsciously patted the 【Youth Straight Stick】 in his pocket.

Finally, he looked at this special perspective and the hundreds of young faces below.

In the future, he might have countless opportunities to speak in public, but it would never be this batch of people again.

Among these people, those he truly cared about might not exceed five fingers; it could be said that 99% were passersby.

But when they stood together, they became the most profound path walked in youth.

Today, the path named high school welcomed its end.

Zhai Da nodded slightly again and walked off the stage amidst countless applause.

Until he returned to the queue, it didn't end for a long time.

Regardless of the content of the speech, as the only "high school student" speaking in the "high school graduation ceremony."

He made the final farewell for all the classmates.

Outside the campus, separated by an iron fence.

Wu Yue was wearing a school uniform, looking inside.

He ultimately didn't walk into the campus again. When he was one step away at the end, he retreated out by some strange coincidence.

However, he still watched Zhai Da's speech from behind the railing.

Hmm... didn't understand most of it.

Clap clap clap...

Wu Yue subconsciously clapped his hands.

"Count you as amazing... brother!" ===== CHAPTER 102 =====