Chapter 81 Reaching the Shore [VIP]

Chapter Summary: Wishing everyone a smooth journey ashore and that you find your own wonderful life on the colorful beach.

On the stage, school leaders and grade directors took turns giving speeches.

Fu Xianyin gripped the folder cover, forcing herself to focus on the speech.

However, the black words on the white paper seemed to have a soul, dancing incessantly. Her eyes were filled with a dense mass of words, but her brain couldn't squeeze in a single one.

Fu Xianyin felt a light squeeze on her wrist. She looked up and saw Xu Xunling had somehow appeared in the crowd and was waving at her, signaling her to go up and get ready.

Fu Xianyin closed the folder and started walking forward.

Gao Ying was on stage, giving a speech to the students as the grade director, while Fu Xianyin stood beside the stage. Her gaze was unfocused, staring blankly at a point in the air, lost in thought.

She could no longer hear Gao Ying's voice, nor could she see the crowd on the playground clearly.

She stood there, all alone, all by herself.

It was as if they were isolated from the world.

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Xianyin felt a light touch on her shoulder. She turned her head and heard Xu Xunling gently reminding her, "It's your turn. Hurry up and go up."

Fu Xianyin then came to her senses and realized that everyone's eyes were on her.

She squeezed the folder, then stepped onto the stage.

The moment she stood still in front of the microphone, Fu Xianyin felt as if she had regained some of her senses.

She adjusted the microphone height and greeted her teachers and classmates with a smile.

The large screen seemed to be projecting her face onto it, and Fu Xianyin heard a small commotion from the audience:

"My God, the goddess of beauty has descended."

"Gu Linzhao was the one who gave the 100-day countdown speech, and Fu Xianyin was the one who gave the coming-of-age ceremony. No one who came would say they were a good match."

"Good at studying, good-looking, and with a good partner—will I be able to have this kind of life in my next life?"

"So where did this rumor come from that there are no beautiful girls at No. 1 Middle School? Anyone from other schools who came to take a look would not have said such nonsense."

Listening to the hushed discussions below the stage, Fu Xianyin began, "First of all, I am honored to speak at the coming-of-age ceremony as a student representative."

"Today is our 18th birthday, a day when we are about to embark on a wonderful chapter and embrace a bright future."

At this point, Fu Xianyin smiled and said, "Of course, perhaps for many people, it is still a bit too early to consider today as the day to embrace a bright future."

A burst of laughter came from the audience.

Fu Xianyin held the folder and continued, "I don't know how everyone understands and expects the word 'adult,' but for me, looking back on my eighteen years of life and looking forward, I am actually a little confused."

"I feel like a wave being swept along by the tide, with no way back but to move forward. It wasn't until I saw the golden sand that I realized I was going ashore. But I knew nothing about life on land, I didn't even know what was on land. I looked at the golden expanse, and staring at it for too long even made my eyes feel glared. This doesn't belong to me. I should return to the seabed, to the deep blue, to the boundless expanse."

There was a moment of silence in the audience.

It seems that no one expected that someone as outstanding as Fu Xianyin, someone with such a promising future and a bright future, would be so panicked at this moment when faced with the word "adulthood".

Fu Xianyin said, "Perhaps the confusion is only momentary, but in such a special period, all negative emotions may be endlessly amplified. I once wondered what my future would be like, and how I could move forward and walk a beautiful path. But I did not come up with a perfect answer. I was still confused, but I did not stop. I kept moving forward."

"What I want to say is that feeling lost is normal, feeling helpless is normal, and any negative emotions are normal during this period."

She uttered the same words that Gu Linzhao had said during the 100-day countdown rally.

She said, "So everyone, let's move forward."

"Moving forward may be difficult; we are pushed by the tide, but also swept along by it. It takes a lot of effort to break through this wave, but even so, we must not stop."

Those same old truths, spoken in a different tone, created a unique ripple in everyone's hearts.

This is not a traditional speech, and rather than a speech, it is Fu Xianyin sincerely telling everyone about herself, her low points, her confusion, her disappointment, and how she picked herself up, got ready, and continued to move forward into the uncertain future.

Fu Xianyin closed the folder and smiled.

She said, "I used to think about what kind of person I wanted to become in the future. I wanted to be excellent, outstanding, and make outstanding contributions to society. But as I get closer to the 'future' milestone, I feel more and more that I am getting further and further away from these so-called excellent and outstanding qualities."

"The closest thing to me is not the future society, but my future self."

"So I thought, I want to be a kind person. A person with a sound personality, a brave, righteous, adult."

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Everyone could tell that everything Fu Xianyin said, every single word, came from the bottom of her heart.

It's not so glamorous, not so noble, not so passionate, and even a bit bland.

It is precisely this ordinariness that allows people to truly empathize.

The applause was thunderous and prolonged. Fu Xianyin smiled and began to conclude her speech:

"Finally, I wish all parents and teachers success in their work, and I wish all students success in their studies and that they will find their own wonderful lives on the colorful beach."

The phrase "go ashore" was a double entendre, which made everyone laugh.

Finally, the coming-of-age ceremony concluded successfully with the host's summary.

Parents gradually left the school, and students began to walk towards the classrooms.

All that remains are the colorful ribbons scattered all over the playground and the adult gate that still stands in the middle.

After stepping down from the stage, Fu Xianyin inexplicably felt a little better.

Gu Linzhao was waiting for her below the podium, and Fu Xianyin naturally handed him the folder.

Zou Yuqin was no longer on the playground. Fu Xianyin asked, "Hey, has your aunt left?"

Gu Linzhao nodded and said, "Okay, I'm leaving."

Fu Xianyin glanced in the direction of the school gate, then hesitated before speaking, "Those photos..."

Gu Linzhao looked up and asked, "What?"

Fu Xianyin bit her lip and said, "Those photos your aunt took, the ones she needed to give your mother as an explanation."

She took a deep breath, her shoulders slumping slightly: "They filmed us so close together, how am I going to explain this?"

Gu Linzhao suddenly smiled.

Fu Xianyin was puzzled by his laughter. She raised her hand and poked Gu Linzhao's cheek, saying, "What are you laughing at?"

Gu Linzhao said, "I'm laughing at you for daring to kiss me on the playground, yet you're afraid of this."

It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't mentioned it, but the moment he did, Fu Xianyin became even more annoyed.

She said, "You're the one who's criticizing me. Didn't you bring it up yourself? As the class monitor, how could you lead the way in violating school rules in public?"

Gu Linzhao just smiled.

He laughed so hard his shoulders swayed, and the wind blew his thin bangs across his forehead, making his smiling eyes even brighter.

Fu Xianyin glared at him, half annoyed but not annoyed, and then, as if unsatisfied, raised her hand and lightly patted Gu Linzhao's arm.

He intercepted her arm in mid-air and then held it in his hand.

As the wind blew by, Fu Xianyin heard Gu Linzhao say, "My mom knows I'm in a relationship."

"I'll find out on New Year's Eve."

Fu Xianyin opened her mouth, but after a long while, she finally managed to say, "Then she...isn't...how come?"

Gu Linzhao said, "Otherwise, how do you think I told her when I got back so late on New Year's Day?"

Fu Xianyin's voice trailed off: "I... I just said it was for a classmate's birthday..."

She became increasingly less confident, until she couldn't utter a single word.

A cool breeze blew through the teaching building. Fu Xianyin followed the crowd up the stairs and back to her classroom.

She put the folder back in her desk drawer and was about to take out her school uniform jacket to put on when she realized that she had left in such a hurry that morning that she hadn't brought her school uniform.

The wind made her arms feel chilly. Fu Xianyin tugged at Gu Linzhao's sleeve, blinked, and said, "It's awful cold. Can I wear your coat?"

His body heat still lingered on the suit, warm as if it were a hug.

Fu Xianyin adjusted her clothes, lowered her head, and curved her lips into a smile.

As Fu Xianyin had expected, their actions at the coming-of-age ceremony were indeed witnessed by many people.

The news of her relationship spread like wildfire, and Fu Xianyin even felt that she would receive stares from others when she walked down the street.

Gao Ying and the other teachers had already made their stance clear at the coming-of-age ceremony. Since they weren't particularly opposed to dating, Fu Xianyin wasn't too worried about the matter getting out.

Anyway, Fu Dongyuan won't care about her, and Chen Huimei can't care about her anymore.

However, in this environment, Fu Xianyin felt that she was gradually becoming somewhat powerless.

The ups and downs had worn Fu Xianyin down to her wits' end. Looking at the test paper, which was mostly blank after a whole evening self-study session, Fu Xianyin had no energy left to be angry.

All she wanted to do was laugh.

Even at her coming-of-age ceremony, she was telling everyone to keep moving forward and never stop, no matter how difficult it gets.

Now it's her turn to face difficulties.

Fate is truly unpredictable.

Unable to continue writing, Fu Xianyin simply put down her pen and began to nap on the table.

Along with her studies, her sleep quality also plummeted. Fu Xianyin lay there for ages unable to fall asleep, so she turned her face to Gu Linzhao openly.

The boy had striking features and thick, drooping eyelashes, and was intently working on the problem at hand.

Fu Xianyin's gaze moved from the wisps of hair on his forehead to his high brow bone, thin eyelids, then down to his straight nose, and finally landed on his slightly pursed lips.

Ah, I want to kiss you.

She truly deserved to be called a little hooligan by Gu Linzhao.

She forced herself to look away from Gu Linzhao's lips and move her gaze down to his workbook.

The familiar formulas leaped off the page, and Fu Xianyin watched his solution steps with great interest. The derivation logic was clear and unambiguous, line by line. She continued reading until Gu Linzhao changed his focus, and Fu Xianyin saw him write in the blank space:

Bad mood?

Fu Xian music.

She thought Gu Linzhao hadn't noticed her little actions.

She grabbed a pencil and wrote on the manuscript paper:

I'm not feeling well, I can't write anymore, I need to take a break.

After finishing writing, she thought for a moment, then continued:

Don't stop, I think you can keep watching.

It's time to review.

A soft laugh reached her ears. Fu Xianyin squinted, adjusted to a comfortable position, and continued watching Gu Linzhao write his homework.

She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but Gu Linzhao seemed to be jumping around a bit more in his problem-solving steps.

She found it amusing, picked up her pen, sat up, and was just about to ask him on the manuscript paper if he looked down on her, and why the steps were written so clearly, when suddenly the back door was pushed open.

Fu Xianyin looked up and saw Gao Ying standing at the door.

Seeing her look up, Gao Ying didn't go into the classroom, but instead waved to her directly.

Fu Xianyin pointed to herself with some confusion, and only walked out of the classroom after seeing Gao Ying nod.

The motion-activated lights in the corridor were off, leaving the corridor pitch black except for the lights shining from the classrooms.

Fu Xianyin closed the back door and asked softly, "Teacher, what's wrong?"

Gao Ying said, "Your parents are looking for you."

Parents?

Upon hearing those two words, for some reason, Fu Xianyin's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She looked up and followed the direction Gao Ying was pointing.

A figure was hidden in the darkness not far away. The person was dressed in a suit and leather shoes. Fu Xianyin couldn't see the face clearly, but she knew who it was in an instant.

It's Shao Yang.

Seemingly noticing her gaze, Shao Yang looked up and met her eyes through his glasses.

A deep sense of unease enveloped Fu Xianyin, and her heart sank the moment she saw Shao Yang.

Fu Xianyin even felt her legs begin to weaken. She raised her hand, braced herself against the wall, and after a while, she finally had the strength to walk towards Shao Yang.

Shao Yang's face remained unchanged. He pushed up his glasses and said:

"Miss Fu, Mr. Fu wants to see you."

[Author's Note]

Good luck to all those who want to succeed! (Including myself, sob sob sob)