When the taxi arrived near Haishi Cultural Square, it was close to noon. Chen Xihua and the other two got out of the car one after another. The fare was thirty-four yuan!
The Chen sisters followed Teacher Du to the Jinhua Hotel, a fifteen-story building, which was right across from the Cultural Building!
Teacher Du booked two single rooms, each costing 98 yuan a day. He booked three days and two nights, as he was going to participate in a speech contest tomorrow and return home the day after!
"Chunhua, your room is 302, mine is 305 next door. Here's the key. Take Xihua to her room to put down her luggage, and then we'll go out for dinner!" Du Qingshan saw that the Chen sisters were quite tired, probably because they hadn't been on the train for so long. The two leaned against each other. Chen Xihua was a little better, but she seemed to be starving. However, she didn't show any unhappiness or complain about the hardship and stood obediently to the side waiting.
“Okay, Teacher Du!” Chen Chunhua took a key tied with a black ring, with a small wooden sign on it that read Room 302.
Upon entering room 302, I saw that it was about ten square meters in size, rectangular in shape, with a balcony window, light gray-green curtains, a double bed in the middle of the room, white duvet cover, two pillows and other bedding, a low cabinet table that looked like a coffee table, two wooden chairs, and a small bathroom next to it, and that was it.
Chen Xihua placed her schoolbag on a wooden chair and took her own small floral crossbody bag, which contained all her valuables.
Chen Chunhua took out her change of clothes, which were in a small cloth bag, from her schoolbag and put the schoolbag back on.
Ten minutes later, the two left room 302 together and arrived in the middle corridor, where Teacher Du was already waiting!
On the way to the restaurant, Chen Xihua felt like there was something she couldn't remember. "Teacher Du, I want to ask, aren't there two other students from Jiang City who are also going to have a competition? Where are they?"
“I’ve contacted them. The female classmate is from Heshui County. They live relatively close to the provincial capital, so they went there to take the train, which only takes about ten hours. Also, Teacher Gao and his son arrived two days earlier and are staying at the Jinhua Hotel, but I don’t know which room they’re in!” Teacher Du explained gently. He only found out they were staying at the Jinhua Hotel after contacting the two students’ teachers, so he took a taxi straight there, saving himself the time of looking for accommodation!
"Oh, I see!" Chen Xihua suddenly realized. She had been wondering why something felt off on the train. Why were only the three of them traveling by train? She hadn't seen Yang Xiaomei or Gao Yang!
After searching for about ten minutes, they found a small restaurant serving stir-fries at a street intersection not far from the Cultural Square. It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and there weren't many customers. Teacher Du went in first to ask about the situation, and then called to the Chen Xihua sisters, "Chunhua, Xihua, come in!"
The three of them ordered two dishes and a soup: stir-fried pork, scrambled eggs with cucumber, and a tomato soup, totaling twenty-five yuan.
After eating and drinking her fill, Chen Xihua felt better. She didn't know if it was because she was a child or something else, but she couldn't get hungry easily and would feel sleepy after eating. She had to pretend to be composed, and the day and night train ride was really tiring!
Back at the hotel, Chen Xihua and the other two went to their rooms to rest. When she woke up, it was already five in the afternoon. Her eldest sister, Chen Chunhua, was standing by the window watching, and she didn't know how long she had been watching. "Big sister!"
Chen Chunhua turned her head: "Fifth sister, you're awake!"
Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Chunhua, Xihua, are you awake?"
"Teacher Du, you're awake! Wait a moment!" Upon hearing this, Chen Xihua quickly got up to brush her teeth and wash her face!
"Okay, I'll go down to the lobby on the first floor first. You can all just go down to the first floor later!" Teacher Du's voice gradually faded away outside!
In less than five minutes, Chen Xihua finished getting ready and walked out of the room with her older sister, heading down to the lobby on the first floor.
Upon arriving at the lobby sofa on the first floor, I was surprised to see Yang Xiaomei and Gao Yang, with a middle-aged man and woman sitting next to them talking to Teacher Du!
"Chen Xihua is down. Come here and listen to Teacher Gao's explanation of tomorrow's competition!" Du Qingshan called out to her, raising his voice slightly as he saw his student come down.
"This is Teacher Wang, and the male teacher next to him is Teacher Gao! The other two students are people you've met before!"
"Hello, Teacher Wang! Hello, Teacher Gao! I am Chen Xihua (I am Chen Chunhua)!" Chen Xihua and Chen Chunhua respectfully greeted the two teachers!
"This Chunhua, I think I've seen her before. Is she a student from Jiangshi Middle School?" Teacher Gao noticed that the older sister next to Chen Xihua looked familiar. He had followed Chen Xihua before; she had won first place in the preliminary round, and his son had come in second!
"Hello, Teacher Gao. Yes, I'm from Jiangshi Middle School, and I'm a second-year high school student!" Chen Chunhua's face was a little embarrassed and slightly red. Her request for leave had been seen by a teacher from her own school!
To ease her older sister's embarrassment, Chen Xihua looked at the two classmates and said confidently, "Yang classmate, Gao classmate, we meet again. I am Chen Xihua, and this is my older sister!"
Gao Yang said with a serious face, "Hello, Chen! Hello, Sister Chen!"
Yang Xiaomei's eyes sparkled with excitement: "Xi Hua, you can just call me Yang Xiaomei. Teacher Wang is my aunt. Can I call you Xiao Xi Mei? You're so amazing! Sister Chen, you're a student too! You're so pretty, you're all so good-looking!" Yang Xiaomei was very lively and cheerful, and she became familiar with everyone right away. She's a real social butterfly!
After everyone had exchanged greetings, Teacher Gao prepared to speak.
Mr. Gao is a bit overweight, in his forties, and is Gao Yang's father. He is the head of the senior high school English teaching group at Jiangshi Middle School. He arrived yesterday and has already gone to inquire about the competition.
"Tomorrow's speech contest will have twenty-five contestants, each with eight minutes. The chief judge will be Professor Lai from the English Department of Shanghai University, along with two translators from the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office. The scoring criteria is out of ten, and the average of the three judges' scores will be used!"
The competition starts at 8:00 AM tomorrow, and the order will be drawn on-site. There will also be an awards ceremony and Professor Lai's English lecture in the afternoon!
"You can read the script during the competition, but it's best to be able to speak without it!"
Chen Xihua and the other two who were going to participate in the competition listened carefully to Teacher Gao's words and made sure they understood the details of the competition.
Because there was a competition tomorrow, after explaining the competition rules, they didn't chat about anything else. Teacher Gao and his two classmates took Chen Xihua and her four students to a state-run restaurant for dinner.
The food they ordered at the state-run restaurant was much more plentiful than what Chen Xihua and the others had for lunch, but it was also significantly more expensive!
Chen Chunhua thought the food was very good at lunch, but he didn't expect that the food at the state-run restaurant in the evening would be even better, not to mention better than what he ate on the train.
In fact, Teacher Du Qingshan is a very frugal person. Although the school reimbursed the expenses, Gaoyang County is poorer than other places in Jiang City, so he tried to save money wherever possible. At noon, he took Chen Xihua and her sister to a small restaurant!
After dinner, Chen Xihua and her group walked slowly back to the hotel. Chen Chunhua finally saw the beautiful scenery that her fifth sister had always talked about, which could only be seen at night.
The surrounding high-rise buildings were lit up, with colorful neon lights and billboards creating a bustling scene. Everything was so beautiful and desirable. All sorts of people walked on the streets, men and women chatting and laughing. White-collar elites were all so confident and ambitious!
Back at the Jinhua Hotel, Chen Xihua and the others went to their respective rooms to rest. Yang Xiaomei said her room was on the fifth floor, while Gao Yang's room was on the eighth floor.
The hotel bathroom had hot water, so Chen Xihua took a comfortable shower and washed her hair, and then washed her clothes as well.
After Chen Chunhua finished washing up, it was already nine o'clock in the evening. Chen Xihua was still haphazardly drying her hair with a towel, as she couldn't find a hairdryer.
Chen Chunhua had finished hanging up the clothes. Not wanting to see her fifth sister messing up her hair, she took the towel from Chen Xihua and helped her sister dry her hair.
She discovered another advantage of having short hair: it made getting around easier.
While her older sister was drying her hair, Chen Xihua fell asleep comfortably! Her dreams were filled with happiness, and she had a slight smile on her lips, as if she wanted to say: "My older sister is so virtuous and kind. I can't let her be bullied by an abusive man!"
On the morning of May 16th, just after six o'clock, Chen Xihua got up. Chen Chunhua next to her was awakened by the sound of her getting up, as she was a bit of a light sleeper!
After washing up, Chen Xihua put on a slightly worn white polyester top and black pants, and tied her hair in a high ponytail, looking energetic and neat.
She was still a twelve-year-old girl, but the Chen family was considered relatively tall in the south, and Chen Xihua was almost 1.55 meters tall, looking like a young woman, youthful and beautiful!
We met in the lobby on the first floor again. The hotel provided breakfast, but it was just steamed buns and mantou (steamed bread), which could be picked up in the lobby. Because we were in a hurry to familiarize ourselves with the competition venue and draw our competition numbers, the group didn't go out to find anything else to eat!
At 7:30, Chen Xihua and his team arrived at the cultural building across the street. The competition was scheduled for the largest tiered conference hall on the third floor, which could seat three to five hundred people. There was a large stage at the front and seats at the back!
When I went in, there were already dozens of people inside. The first row was for the judges and organizers, as well as leaders from the Shanghai Municipal Education Bureau. The next two rows were for the contestants, and the audience seats were behind them, where people could sit anywhere.
Upon entering, they drew their order cards. Chen Xihua was number 21, Yang Xiaomei was number 7, and Gao Yang's luck was uncertain. He was the second to appear, and judging from his expressionless face, he seemed unfazed!
"Fifth sister, keep going! I'll sit here, you can go to the front!" Chen Chunhua found a seat in the middle, a little worried, but still encouraged her sister with a smile!
At eight o'clock, a teacher who was the host went up and first introduced the organizers, leaders, judges, and competition rules of the "Nanjiang District Junior High School English Speech Contest".
Half an hour later, the competition officially began. The first contestant was a girl, about thirteen years old, with short hair and black-rimmed glasses. Her topic was praising the school. Her speech was standard but fluent, and she scored 8.9 points.
The second one was Gao Yang, whose topic was how junior high school students can learn English. He included tips and methods, and he scored 8.9 points.
Chen Xihua felt that the judges were quite skilled, because the first two scores were easily used as a reference by the later ones, making it difficult to distinguish between scores with the same result!
The competition went on until the fifth person to score 9.0. When it was Yang Xiaomei's turn, she scored 8.8. The scores of the previous seven students were very close. An hour had passed, and the competition continued smoothly…
Suddenly, Chen Xihua heard a very standard British English pronunciation. The speaker was a girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. She was fair-skinned, very pretty, and wearing a white floral dress. She was very confident and spoke fluently without any notes. It didn't sound like a speech; it sounded like she was sharing her thoughts.
The topic was the difference between the learning situation of foreigners and the English proficiency of junior high school students in China. The contestant's name was Huang Feifei, and she scored 9.5 points, which is currently the highest score.
Chen Xihua seemed to hear someone whispering behind her, "She's really something, Minister Huang's daughter, she studied abroad!"
"Yes, if she hadn't also participated in the competition, Minister Huang would have been the chief judge this time! To avoid any appearance of impropriety!"
The competition continued, and when it reached the eighteenth round, there was another high score of 9.2 and another of 9.3. Then the next three scores were all below 9.
Finally, it was Chen Xihua's turn. She didn't bring any notes and calmly walked onto the podium.
Chen Chunhua, sitting in the middle, stared intently. She was even more nervous than Chen Xihua herself. Teacher Du, who was also sitting next to Chen Chunhua, was also a little nervous and sat up slightly.
Chen Xihua stood on the stage and glanced at the audience below. The stage was packed with people, all staring at her with dark eyes. She felt a bit of trypophobia coming on. It wasn't nervousness, but rather that she hadn't expected the audience to be so attentive at this moment, not whispering to each other or taking videos or photos with their phones.
However, she quickly calmed down. Chen Xihua had spoken on stage in front of so many people before, so she stopped thinking about it and began her speech.
The theme is a beautiful vision and outlook for the country's development over the next two or three decades, and a belief that it will definitely be realized!
The nation will experience a tremendous transformation in its economic level, comprehensive national strength, and international influence; diversification of the secondary and tertiary industries; development of the industrial structure; changes in goods and services; a shift in the status of a manufacturing powerhouse with industry and agriculture moving to the forefront; improvements in infrastructure, transportation, and telecommunications; a transition in residents' living standards to a moderately prosperous level; and the development of social programs…
At this moment, one of the two middle-aged men sitting in the last row, wearing a Zhongshan suit, suddenly flashed a sharp light in his eyes, "Is this girl also from Haishi?"
"No, Minister, this girl should be from Jiang City, or even a small county under Jiang City!" The person next to her should be a staff member from the organizing committee.
"In a small county town? Such vision and ideas are impressive. This girl's speech was excellent! I must get to know her sometime!" said the middle-aged man called the minister with admiration.
"There should be a chance. This girl's score must be quite high. Minister, aren't you supposed to be here to present the certificate at the awards ceremony this afternoon?"
Sure enough, just as that person finished speaking, Chen Xihua's score came out: 9.4 points. Chen Chunhua's tense heart finally relaxed, and Teacher Du's lips curled up slightly, showing that she was in a good mood!
There were four final speeches, one of which scored 9.1 points, while the others all scored below 9. The morning speech competition ended, but the rankings for all participants were not announced until the awards ceremony in the afternoon!
As they walked out of the meeting hall, Chen Chunhua appeared more excited than usual. The usually gentle woman held Chen Xihua's hand tightly, saying, "Fifth sister, you're amazing!" She was too happy to say anything else!
"Xi Hua, you did a good job. Let's go eat first, then go back to the hotel to rest for a while. We have plans for the afternoon!" Du Qingshan was also very happy, and his face, which he rarely smiled, was beaming with joy!
We ran into Yang Xiaomei and Gao Yang on the way, so we went to eat together!
"Xi Hua, Xi Hua, you're amazing! You got 9.4 points, just a little short of 9.5. I think you did a better job!" Yang Xiaomei, ever the outgoing one, grabbed Chen Xi Hua's other hand, as excited as if she herself had gotten a high score!
Teacher Wang, watching from behind, smiled helplessly. Her cousin's daughter, who only scored 8.8 points, didn't feel embarrassed at all. She was so carefree and didn't care if others looked down on her!
However, Teacher Wang also realized that although the Chen sisters didn't talk much, they weren't the kind of people who were arrogant or smug, so he just let his niece be!
"Yang, you flatter me. Your speech was also very good!" To be honest, Chen Xihua wasn't very good at interacting with such enthusiastic people, so she just nodded and smiled.
"Oh, I already told you, just call me Little Sister. Calling me Yang Tongxue makes it too formal. Don't worry about making me unhappy or saying things you don't mean to comfort me. I know my own English level. It's just barely passable. 8.8 is fine!" Little Sister Yang didn't care about Chen Xihua's somewhat indifferent attitude at all. She talked about her English score without any concern!
"Let me tell you a secret, if my mom hadn't forced me to learn English, I wouldn't have bothered. She keeps saying my aunt is an English teacher, so I should have the advantage of being close to her. If I don't study English properly, she'll break my legs!" Yang Xiaomei looked back at her aunt, Teacher Wang's, disappointed look, and felt a little guilty. She first looked annoyed, but then quickly laughed heartily again!
Okay, Chen Xihua understands. This Yang Xiaomei is an optimist and not one to hide anything. She's a good friend! "Calling you 'Xiaomei' isn't really appropriate. I'm twelve years old, so I'm probably younger than you. How about I call you 'Sister Yang' instead?"
“Okay, okay, great! Sister Yang sounds nice, I’ll call you Xiao Xi! I’m fourteen years old and in the second year of junior high. Wait, how come you’re only twelve and already in the first year of junior high?” Yang Xiaomei was even happier, but she was a little suspicious. No matter how she calculated it, she couldn’t understand it. Didn’t everyone start school around the age of seven?
"Uh, well, I skipped a grade in second grade!" Chen Xihua couldn't lie to her about starting school early. If she wanted to make genuine friends in the future, she should tell the truth!
"Ah, ah, you skipped a grade! Are your other grades also very good?" Yang Xiaomei was so excited that she shouted out loud.
They had fallen behind and were suddenly looked at by several teachers in front. Chen Xihua and her companion felt a little embarrassed, so they immediately shut up and quickly caught up!
We didn't go to the state-run restaurant we went to last night for lunch, it was a bit far. This time, Teacher Du led the way to the small restaurant where the three of them ate stir-fries yesterday!
"This dish is quite delicious, although the variety isn't as extensive as in state-run restaurants!" Teacher Wang took another bite of the braised eggplant. It was alright. Actually, she was from the provincial capital of Nan Province, and her family was relatively well-off. She used to eat at state-run restaurants and rarely went to privately owned restaurants. She was surprised to find that the food at these small restaurants was also very good, and she could freely make any requests!
"Yes, it's quite delicious and very affordable. We had lunch here yesterday!"
Du Qingshan was a little embarrassed at first because he had just run into some local students from Shanghai who were participating in the competition at the intersection. One of the female students mocked him, saying, "Where did this country bumpkin come from, eating at a roadside stall like this!"
Chen Xihua, who was following behind, also heard that Zhou Ru got 9.2 points and should be ranked fourth according to the score!
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