ACultivator'sCampusLife

Chapter 48 A Pep Rally Before the College Entrance Examination

Recently, Lu Yao had become the big man on campus. And those students from low-income families even lauded him to the skies.

A child, who grew up in a poor single-parent family, ranked first in the entrance examination for high school after years of unremitting efforts and was finally admitted to the No. 1 High School in Shuangta City.

Because he was ill and his family had to move around a lot, his school work was suffering and he gradually faded into an ordinary person later. People all thought that he would remain obscure until he took the college entrance examination and graduated from an ordinary university.

To everyone's surprise, Lu Yao actually ranked third in the provincial placement exam for high school juniors in Xinlu Province and took Chu Minghui's place in the list of recommended students for admission to universities. A few days ago, he even turned the tables on Tang Fa, a basketball special enrollment student and former professional basketball player, and helped his team take the championship in the basketball game.

And there were rumblings that Lin Jiayi, the Ice Queen, also told Lu Yao how she felt about him, but he didn't say yes.

Although some insiders knew that there were many exaggerations, no one could deny that this talented teenager who was about to fade out had attracted the attention of many teachers and school leaders again.

This day marked the 30-day countdown to the college entrance examination. Headmaster Hu asked Yang Linchi to invite Lu Yao to his office. He hoped that Lu Yao could speak at the pep rally on behalf of the students.

Lu Yao wanted to refuse. But he finally agreed when he saw the smile on Yang Linchi's face.

Lu Yao knew that many teachers had been gossiping about Mr. Yang in these years. Some people even said that it was because he benefited from his association with Lu Yao that Yang Linchi could be transferred from an ordinary middle school to the No. 1 High School in Shuangta City. They also said that it was unrealistic to think that Lu Yao could resume his former position when Yang Linchi chose to support Lu Yao, who had fallen behind on his studies.

Lu Yao realized that this speech was not only about himself but also about clearing Mr. Yang's name. He knew that this speech would silence those who looked down on them.

After making up his mind, Lu Yao reviewed his life. He summed up his life experience and wrote a speech of several thousand words.

The pep rally was scheduled for this Friday morning. This day also marked the 28-day countdown to the college entrance examination.

In the morning, it started to drizzle. Teachers and students of the No. 1 High School in Shuangta City stood on the playground, holding all kinds of colorful umbrellas over their heads.

After Headmaster Hu and Director Li made speeches, thousands of students watched Lu Yao, whose school uniform had turned whitish from much washing, walk towards the stage and begin his speech.

"Good morning, everyone. It's really a pleasure to be here and quite an honor to make a speech on behalf of all the students. I know that many of you may have known me because of the placement exam and the basketball game and some of you may not even know me. But it doesn't matter. I'd like to introduce myself to you again. My name is Lu Yao. I was born in a so-called poor family. To tell the truth, our family is so poor that we don't even have a decent door."

"I am an orphan. It was my godfather who adopted me and brought me up. When I was in primary school and middle school, I studied hard both during the day and at night. So I did pretty well in the entrance examination for high school. However, because I had a health problem that required surgery, I had to work hard to save money since starting high school. As a result, my grades dropped. I even dropped from 1st to 20th. I felt disappointed and helpless, too. But finally, I managed to bounce back with the encouragement of my godfather, who has always loved me and helped me, and my teacher, Mr. Yang."

"Today marks the 28-days countdown to the college entrance examination. I didn't stand here today to show off. And I don't want to boast about how powerful I am. I just want to take this opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. I want to tell you that every accomplishment starts with a strong belief and all wealth starts with a dream. The reason why I can stand here is that I have set my belief that I can make it. I know that only the college entrance examination can change the fates of people from poor families like me."

"Someone once asked why only a few people could succeed and most people just failed. I can tell you the reason. Directionless people would lose their way; negative people would fall ill; timid people would be scared by rumors; ungrateful people would disappear..."

Lu Yao's speech made the audience laugh from time to time, but they were silent most of the time. It was because Lu Yao's speech reflected the views of many people. Two minutes after he finished his speech, the audience responded with thunderous applause.

Lu Yao's speech was not only meant for the students who were junior to him but also meant for himself. Lu Yao wanted to take this opportunity to get all the emotion out of him, which had been stored up. He needed to release his feelings. He wanted to be true to himself. He didn't want to read the moods of others around him. And he would no longer tolerate or indulge some people.

This was why he used a slam dunk to take a swipe at Tang Fa and Chu Minghui at the very end of the basketball game.

...

...

"Lu Yao, your speech is so great that it just made me cry!" As they walked to the classroom, Han Dong, Lu Yao's best friend, put a hand on Lu Yao's shoulder and gushed.

Han Dong did this not just for fun. He could tell that Lu Yao was not happy after he made the speech. So he wanted to make Lu Yao happy in this way.

"Thank you, Han Dong. The college entrance examination is coming soon. Where do you want to go? Have you ever thought about it before?" Hearing Han Dong's words, Lu Yao felt much better. But his enthusiasm faded at the thought that they would go to different colleges after the college entrance examination.

"Of course, I've thought about it. But my exam results are not as good as yours. So I can't go to my dream university, Yanjing University. Well, I'll just see if I can get admitted to Xijing University. It's also a good choice." Han Dong said sadly, "My father is gonna run his business in Xijing. If I can be admitted to Xijing University, my family will move there, too. If so, we can rejoin my father and we don't have to live apart again!"

Lu Yao had never seen Han Dong's father in these years. He only knew that his father was a jeweler who ran a successful business. However, businessmen like him had to travel all year round and didn't have time to accompany his family.

And Han Dong's mother was a full-time housewife, who had always been taking care of Han Dong and his grandfather. So his family had lived apart for a long time.

Lu Yao didn't tell Han Dong that he also wanted to go to Xijing University because he didn't want the entire school to be aware of this. Otherwise, the headmaster and Mr. Yang would have a talk with him again.

Several universities in Yanjing were very interested in Lu Yao. After the list of recommended students for admission into universities was published, a teacher from the Admission Office of Yanjing Education Department came to talk with Lin Jiayi, Dong Xiao, and Lu Yao. Because Lu Yao left a very good impression on the teacher, many people believed that Lu Yao would be admitted to a well-known university in Yanjing.

After making the speech, Lu Yao was in low spirits all afternoon. Han Dong asked him to go out for a walk a few times, but he refused.

After school, Lu Yao neither went home directly nor went to the martial arts school. Instead, he walked alone along the street.

Watching people streaming across the street, Lu Yao felt that he was both poor and lucky for the first half of his life.

He was poor because he was abandoned without knowing who his biological parents were.

Fortunately, he met Lu Yiqian, the kindest man in the world. Lu Yiqian adopted him and brought him up. He had worked hard for so many years because he wanted to let Lu Yao have the operation. And he always considered Lu Yao within his list of priorities.

"Ah, help! I was robbed!" A scream suddenly interrupted Lu Yao's meditation.

Lu Yao looked up and saw a young man, who dressed decently and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, wrenching the white handbag from the hand of a fashionably dressed middle-aged woman. When the woman started to call for help, the man flung her to the ground, snatched the white handbag from her hand, and ran towards the nearby alley.

People didn't expect that the man could rob the woman in the street in broad daylight. So they were momentarily deterred by his arrogance. No one dared to come forward to help the woman.

Lu Yao didn't want to interfere either. But when he saw the middle-aged woman sitting on the ground and crying her eyes out, he took pity on her and decided to chase after the young man.

Perhaps it was the first time that the man had committed such a crime, so he didn't arrange his escape route in advance. Or perhaps it was because he was unlucky, he met Lu Yao who used to live in this slum area. Watching the man walking into a blind alley, Lu Yao slowed down and began to think about how to deal with him.

The man wanted to resist at first, but he couldn't fight back against Lu Yao, who had learned many skills of capturing from Wang Ping and other coaches in the martial arts school these days. The white handbag was in the man's right hand. With a sudden stretch, Lu Yao grabbed his right wrist.

"Oh, oh, oh, bro, let go of me! You're gonna break my wrist!" As Lu Yao grasped the man by the wrist, the man immediately screamed and begged for mercy.

Meanwhile, the fashionably dressed woman caught up with them, panting heavily. After catching her breath, she started to punch and kick the man. After that, she gave his ear a tweak and cursed, "You b*st*rd, I provide you with food and shelter. And I've bought a lot of things for you. How dare you rob me of my bag in the street!"

"I'm sorry, honey. I won't do it again. I promise." The man immediately admitted his mistake.

"Let's go home. You're going to be punished!" The woman cursed as she yanked the man to his feet by pulling his ear. When she walked past Lu Yao, she said, "Thank you. You've really done me a great favor today!"

Lu Yao realized that it was a family problem. They were a couple, so there was no need to call the police. Looking at the mighty woman, Lu Yao said nothing. He just nodded and let them go.

After a while, Lu Yao watched their retreating figures and found that the woman had loosened her grip on the man's ear while the man was talking to the woman respectfully. Lu Yao didn't care much for that because he thought that the man was just sweet-talking his wife into forgiving him.

Lu Yao didn't expect anything in return when he decided to help the woman. Watching them walking away into the distance, he walked slowly towards the entrance of the alley.