Chapter 204: Fighting Side by Side Your Friends, My Friends

The forum on the second day started at 9:00 a.m. and lasted until 1:00 p.m. Although the final draft of the PPT had been sent to the organizer for review in advance, in order to ensure that everything was foolproof, they still arrived at the venue early. Before the meeting started, they met with the staff to familiarize themselves with the process and finally checked the PPT.

Since national leaders were participating in this meeting, security measures were very strict. Before entering, they were first carefully searched by security to ensure that they did not carry any prohibited items. Only then were they given work badges and allowed in.

After checking the PPT behind the scenes, the staff reminded them that they could go to their seats and wait for the meeting to begin.

The seats in the lecture hall are strictly divided according to function. The first two rows are occupied by national, provincial and municipal leaders. The middle rows are occupied by representatives of various companies, e-commerce industry leaders and participants in poverty alleviation work. The last two rows are occupied by reporters and media people.

There were many well-known and influential figures among them. When they passed by the first few rows of seats, even if the seats were not occupied, Zhu Yingning would cautiously pull Xu Sirui and walk past them quickly, not even daring to look at the name tags on the seats.

Their position is in the corner of the third row from the bottom.

Zhu Yingning thought that this seat was very suitable for their status as small shrimps. In other words, it made them feel very safe.

According to the speakers' list, they were the last of all the business and government representatives to speak. After all, the decision to invite them was made so hastily that they had to be squeezed in at the end to avoid disrupting the already scheduled speeches of others. After the speeches, there were reportedly live e-commerce sessions and business negotiation sessions.

In other words, they have to endure until the last moment when everyone has finished speaking.

Zhu Yingning said optimistically that it didn't matter, as it meant they had more time to memorize the script.

"You've been trying to comfort yourself since just now." Xu Sirui looked at her with his chin in his hand, raising his eyebrows teasingly. "Are you that nervous?"

"...It's normal to be nervous." Zhu Yingning defended himself seriously, then felt a little depressed. "But you, why aren't you nervous?"

Xu Sirui yawned: "I'm a little sleepy."

"Ah! You mustn't be sleepy." She quickly reached out and pinched his arm gently, reminding him to wake up. She then whispered something in his ear, pointing him at the cameras that were like guns and cannons around him. "I heard that this forum will be broadcast live on CCTV. Although we are sitting in a corner and there is a high probability that we will not be filmed, what if? It would be bad if we fall asleep and are broadcast live on TV."

Xu Sirui could only force himself to keep his eyes open and promise: "I'll try not to be sleepy."

"Keep a good spirit."

“I try to keep a good spirit.”

"want……"

"I'll try my best."

After being interrupted by him, Zhu Yingning's nervousness subsided a lot. After the meeting started, in addition to memorizing her own manuscript and listening carefully to the speeches of everyone on the stage, she also glanced sideways from time to time to see if Xu Sirui beside her had fallen asleep, and was very worried and busy.

It must be said that being assigned to the corner also has its advantages, because after listening to two or three hours of high-intensity speeches, she herself was a little restless.

Although she always thought that her concentration was excellent, sitting upright and highly concentrated for more than two hours was something that even a great immortal would not be able to bear.

She began to lose focus.

Just as she was trying hard to force herself to concentrate, Xu Sirui next to her suddenly pushed a piece of draft paper towards her. She lowered her eyes and saw that he had drawn a tic-tac-toe grid on it and put a check mark in the upper right corner.

"?"

She wrote in small letters at the bottom of the draft paper: You are going to die! How can you play tic-tac-toe on such a sacred occasion?

Xu Sirui glanced at the people in the front row. Zhu Yingning glanced away suspiciously and saw that the person sitting in front of them was drawing stick figures on a piece of draft paper. Judging from the number of stick figures, it could be inferred that he had been distracted for a long time.

Zhu Yingning: “…”

Xu Sirui raised his eyebrows, his eyes urging: It's your turn, get off quickly.

She could only pick a grid and draw a circle on it with a guilty and apologetic feeling.

After playing three games of Tic-Tac-toe in a row, Zhu Yingning was thinking that this was a way to refresh her mind. After all, her tired brain did feel much clearer - at this time, the host on the stage suddenly called out her name and Xu Sirui's name.

"Next, we would like to invite Comrade Zhu Yingning, the leader of the village work team and the first secretary of the village Party organization from G Province..., and Mr. Xu Sirui from the Shanghai... game studio to come to the stage and share their experience in cleverly leveraging the internet to bring local pork from mountain villages out of the mountains through online games."

Although there were no spotlights shining on them like at a star award ceremony, the sudden thunderous applause and the host's gaze still made Zhu Yingning's originally steady heartbeat beat like a drum.

The vibration of the heartbeat gradually matched the frequency of the applause.

She took a deep breath and glanced sideways at Xu Sirui beside her. In his dark pupils, she saw her own solemn and determined gaze.

The light above my head is bright, just like the Milky Way pouring down. The sky is full of stars, coming for me.

She smiled at him and mouthed, "Let's go."

**

They appear here together, not because they are so similar.

On the contrary, they have so many differences from beginning to end.

Different professions, different perspectives, different personalities.

From small things like food taste to big things like ideological ambitions.

She's warm and welcoming to strangers, while he's dismissive of them. She embraces an old-fashioned spirit and lifestyle, while he embraces new-age trends. She believes in boundless love, while he believes in focusing on the self. She optimistically believes in fairness and selflessness, while he harbors a deep suspicion of the dark side of human nature.

If we were to use a book to list all the differences between them, it would take up hundreds of thousands of words.

They appear here together not because of similarities, but because of understanding.

There is no need to recall the past, and the future is unpredictable. Only at this moment, they are comrades fighting side by side.

**

After the forum ended, the first thing Zhu Yingning and Xu Sirui did was to quickly find a restaurant to eat and comfort their hungry stomachs.

After four hours, they were almost starving. They remained silent after the food arrived, fearing they would starve to death if they ate too slowly. After finishing most of the food in front of them, Xu Sirui stood up, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and asked, "What are your plans for the afternoon?"

Today is Sunday, and Wang Shengju helped her apply for an extra day off, allowing her to stay until Monday.

Zhu Yingning swallowed the food in his mouth and shook his head: "I haven't decided yet."

She is now full and not sleepy, and seems to be able to do anything.

As if he could see what she was thinking, Xu Sirui said, "Let's get everyone together for dinner tonight."

"Who to call?" she asked confusedly.

"You're silly." He smiled and flicked his finger across her forehead. "Anyone is fine, your friends, my friends. You've been in the countryside for a year now, and you haven't gotten together with anyone yet, have you?"

**

Friendship needs to be maintained, Zhu Yingning deeply agrees with this.

Because the decision came so suddenly, they only had time to call some friends who were working or studying in Beijing. Fortunately, it was Sunday and most people were free.

After busily calling everyone, they went back home to clean up and wash up.

Zhu Yingning hadn't brought much with her; she'd changed out of her suit for a simple gray sportswear set, a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Compared to her, Xu Sirui was much more flamboyant. She didn't understand how he could always find such well-designed, well-cut clothes.

The dinner venue is set at Quanjude in Hepingmen.

Wu Bo was the first to arrive, and Zhu Yingning almost didn't recognize her when she walked over.

The last time they met was in their senior year. Since their graduation ceremonies happened to be at different times, they had time to attend each other's graduation ceremonies. However, after the graduation ceremonies, since Wu Bo needed to start the job he found right away, they didn't even have time to meet before Zhu Yingning left for training in the capital of Province G.

Zhu Yingning remembered that when she attended Wu Bo's graduation ceremony, she looked haggard, exhausted from the graduation thesis and job hunting. A year passed in a flash. Although Wu Bo had a bit more of a classmate style, her overall dress was much more fashionable than when she was in college. She looked more energetic, wearing a yellow floral dress and her hair dyed reddish-brown.

"Come, come, come!" Seeing her, Wu Bo waved to her with a smile on his face.

When Zhu Yingning walked over, she pulled her around to look at her. She couldn't help but complain, "Oh my goodness, I thought you were the star today and would be dressed up. Why are you here so plainly? And not even wearing makeup! If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you were a freshman. This clear and simple temperament is really consistent." She lowered her voice and said, "But the person behind you is like a peacock spreading its feathers."

"I think this is quite comfortable."

It's not like she hasn't tried makeup before, like at graduation ceremonies and before attending a forum this morning. But Zhu Yingning can't stand the feeling of foundation covering her face, especially since makeup these days is all about whitening, and the darkest shades are meant to make darker skin look even fairer. As a result, the color on her face and neck becomes layered after applying it. She finds it hilarious when she looks in the mirror, and laughs for a while before finally washing it off.

After Zhu Yingning finished explaining, she couldn't help but chuckle when she heard Wu Bo's comments about Xu Sirui: "Don't let him hear it, or he'll remember you."

Wu Bo clicked his tongue and shook his head: "He's still so stingy?"

Zhu Yingning didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Stingy or not... Anyway, I still care about my appearance."

"But I have to say, this guy is really handsome." Wu Bo nudged her with his elbow mischievously, "Are you lucky with handsome guys? Every one you date is more handsome than the other. Especially Xu Sirui, wow..."

Zhu Yingning's hair stood on end at Wu Bo's teasing, and she quickly clarified, "Don't talk nonsense, we're just friends."

"Ah? You're not dating?" Hearing her words, Wu Bo seemed surprised and sighed stealthily, "Xu Sirui hasn't even chased you yet? I saw he's liked you since high school, and I thought you two were definitely together."