Chapter 112 The award-winning speech is being recorded!
Since it was Zhu Yingning who proposed the two core consultations, it was natural for her to speak when it was the Greek representative's turn.
It's impossible to say he wasn't nervous at all, considering Xu Sirui's impressive performance. When he took the stage for his formal speech, he completely shed his sleepy morning look. He stood like a male model on a catwalk, his posture erect and lush like a pine tree. His suit only accentuated his broad shoulders and long legs. He recited his script like he was singing, his voice flowing with clarity.
The effect of this show of force was so wonderful that even Zhu Yingning herself was a little shocked.
Fortunately, when the presidium announced that the Greek representative would come to the stage to speak, Xu Sirui secretly poked her in the lower back, otherwise she would have continued to sit there like a weathered stone.
He repeated what he had said to her during their final rehearsal last night: "Remember, speak loudly, smile, and look straight ahead. Whether you feel confident or not, you must pretend to be confident. If you really can't look at anyone else, look at me."
"Just look at me." Such a narcissistic statement, but in this context, it felt strangely reassuring. She nodded and whispered, "I'll remember that."
After saying this, he took a slow, deep breath, letting his lungs fill with fresh air, and walked up to the podium step by step.
“Honorable Chair, Distinguished Delegates…”
Speaking into the microphone, her "H" in "Honorable" trembled slightly. Zhu Yingning quickly steadied her voice, raised her eyes, and followed Xu Sirui's instructions—focusing her gaze on his position. It must be said that this method actually worked quite well. The moment she saw his cocky, half-smile, her slight nervousness quickly dissipated.
“The delegation of Greece rises to address themittee on IMF Capital Increase.”
She looked him in the eyes and recited the lines in her head aloud.
**
After the core consultations concluded, other representatives proposed free consultations. Zhu Yingning, already figuring out the ropes, called Wu Bo, who had been cautiously observing, to his side and began to break down the tasks. "Wu Bo, come with me to talk to the Portuguese representatives first. The demands they just raised in the formal debate are similar to ours. If the talks go well, we can jointly draft a working document to unify our positions."
Wu Bo nodded hurriedly.
Zhu Yingning looked at Xu Sirui again: "Xu Sirui, you..."
"I know." He nodded.
There was no need to waste time talking, just split up and take action.
By the evening, she had worked with several EU countries to draft a working document, which would serve as a reference for the next day's draft resolution. Back home, she and Xu Sirui drafted a draft resolution based on the opinions of various countries, which would facilitate lobbying with other countries during the free consultations the next morning to seek common ground while reserving differences.
"The highlight of the second day of the competition is document writing. How well you write is one of the key criteria used by the presidium to judge a delegate's performance. To compete for a chance to shine, other delegates will undoubtedly submit their draft resolutions tomorrow. After all, multiple draft resolutions are allowed," Xu Sirui said. "Don't panic then. Just focus on yours. I'll leave the rest to you."
"Okay." She trusted her teammates in all aspects.
Just as he expected, as soon as the discussion on the working document ended the next morning and it was afternoon, Tan Jingjing and others took the lead in proposing a draft resolution that was favorable to the United States.
This speed made the other countries feel a sense of crisis. Even the countries affected by the European debt crisis, who had originally agreed that Zhu Yingning would be the lead author of the draft EU national resolution, began to disagree. One of the Spanish representatives said, "You've already written a lot. We are all drafters of this draft resolution. Let's share the remaining burden."
His words were nice, calling it sharing the burden, but in reality, he was just trying to gain an opportunity for his country to shine. This behavior was understandable, even common sense; after all, everyone entered the competition hoping to win a prize. But Zhu Yingning didn't want to give them the chance to shine. She had written 80% of the draft, leaving only the polishing and refinement. Giving it up now would undoubtedly be a favor to others.
"I am most familiar with this draft, so I will be the main writer. This will ensure the coherence of the entire draft and will not appear fragmented." She spoke gently, but her eyes showed no sign of retreat.
"But..." The Spanish representative still wanted to argue.
"Anyone can actively raise any opinions, and I will add them to the items. I will not ignore the needs of any country." She used the secret of not hitting someone who smiles at her, and her words were sincere, leaving those who wanted to find fault speechless and unable to think of how to refute.
Wu Bo was initially worried they might start arguing, but seeing this, he stepped forward with a pen and paper, acting as a coordinator. "Yes, you can list your suggestions yourself, or you can read them out and I'll help you write them down. We'll consolidate your opinions, so everyone gets to participate, right?"
In the end, the rest of the people had to give up.
After the brief exchange, Zhu Yingning continued to work on perfecting the draft resolution, assisted by Wu Bo. Meanwhile, Xu Sirui was tasked with proposing amendments to Tan Jingjing and her team's draft resolution, aiming to enhance their presence.
Everything is busy but in order.
In her previous years of study, Zhu Yingning had never experienced true teamwork. This was the first time she had chosen her own teammates to work together toward a common goal. It was a wonderful, reassuring feeling, because no matter what, there were teammates supporting each other. The strengths of others and her own weaknesses intertwined like an ancient mortise and tenon joint, forming a complete piece of wood, supporting each other's progress and retreat, and serving as stepping stones for each other's ascent.
After submitting the draft resolution, she suddenly felt that whether or not she won an award was no longer important.
——No way.
After the third day of voting ended and the closing ceremony and awards ceremony began, Zhu Yingning realized that she had a very wrong understanding of herself.
Her calmness and indifference to fame and fortune were all fake, she still wanted to win the award.
Each committee read out the draft resolution that was finally passed on the stage - not Tan Jingjing's, nor hers, but the result of integrating the two drafts - and summarized the final results of the meeting.
Then, someone started playing the background music, and amidst the solemn background music, the committee began to announce the individual award winners.
The awards were divided into individual and group prizes, with individual prizes further categorized as Best Representative, Outstanding Representative, Honorable Mention, Best Document, and Best Speech. Tan Jingjing, unsurprisingly, won the Best Representative award, due to her proactive and outstanding performance in all areas. The applause was thunderous, and Zhu Yingning, listening below, felt both admiration and immense pressure.
"Do you think we won't even get a participation prize?" She became inexplicably pessimistic.
Xu Sirui glanced at her and asked, "Are you crazy?"
“…”
No, she suspected that she had a masochism. After being scolded by Xu Sirui, she was not so anxious anymore.
The two elementary school students had just finished their verbal fight when the committee on the stage suddenly called out her name: "Best Document Award."
She was so frightened that she couldn't react at all before the excited Wu Bo pushed her onto the stage. She accepted the certificate with a bewildered look on her face. The flash clicked against her cheek, and she came to her senses and quickly gave a silly smile.
Not long after, Xu Sirui also came on stage and won the Best Speech Award.
After receiving her personal award, Zhu Yingning grabbed Wu Bo's hand. Wu Bo noticed her hand had grown cold again, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Didn't you already win the award? What's there to be anxious about?"
"I hope we can win the best representative award for the group."
There are two group awards, the Best Representative Award and the Outstanding Representative Award. The former is equivalent to the champion, and the latter is equivalent to the runner-up.
Wu Bo couldn't articulate her feelings. She'd been prepared for this, knowing her skills weren't high enough for an individual award, so missing out was understandable. But seeing Zhu Yingning and Xu Sirui both step up to receive their awards, while her name never got called, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. She didn't want to let her emotions show and affect the others, so she kept reminding herself that no matter the outcome, she had to stay positive and congratulate them.
But Zhu Yingning said she would rather win a group award.
The group award meant that she could also have a place. Wu Bo was sad about her own mediocrity and felt so heartbroken that she wanted to cry.
"I also want to win the team award." She said softly.
Zhu Yingning held her hand and said with a smile, "I'm sure you can."
**
This week, Zhu Zhiwei has successfully registered and reviewed a Taobao store, and is busy arranging the listing of products.
Short on staff, she had to do almost everything herself. If Emily and Yi Yi were here, perhaps things would be easier, but things don't always go as planned. On Monday, Emily called to say she was resigning. Zhu Zhiwei knew what she was worried about—she was getting married to her boyfriend at the end of the year, and "working as an employee in the shop of a well-known mistress" was not a good name for a bride-to-be. Coincidentally, her boyfriend had connections and found her an accounting job.
Zhu Zhiwei completely understood her choice. If she were in his shoes, she would absolutely not want to work in a shop where people could smash it up or even throw red paint at it, or even be accused of being a mistress. She settled Emily's salary and asked Yi Yi for her opinion.
Yi Yi hesitated and finally said, "Manager, I'd better stay..."
In fact, Zhu Zhiwei could see that she also wanted to leave, but she didn't dare to quit because she hadn't found a new job yet.
She smiled, didn't reveal anything, and just said, "Okay."
Although Yi Yi continued to stay in the store, she always left very early in the evening. Zhu Zhiwei knew that she was busy submitting resumes, so she always considerately let her go.
She was alone in the store taking pictures of the products. She should have hired a professional photographer, but the store was short of funds, so to reduce the costs of the online store, Zhu Zhiwei had to do it herself.
She returned to the store with the newly arrived fill light, and suddenly a light bulb flashed in her mind, and she remembered what Zhu Yingning had told her.
She said, "Sister Weiwei, I have a live broadcast of a game on Sunday evening. If you have time, log in to PPTV and watch it. Maybe you will be interviewed by me."
Zhu Zhiwei put down the fill light, turned on the computer in the shop, logged into PPTV, and prayed that her competition had not ended yet, otherwise if she was asked about the details of the competition afterwards, she really didn't know how to answer.
Fortunately, although the competition has come to an end, it has not ended hopelessly, and it just stopped at the award ceremony.
The camera focused on a student in a suit, who said, "Now presenting the Best Delegate Award, and the recipient is—Japan!"
Zhu Zhiwei dug out the fragmented English words in his mind and tried to understand the meaning of the sentence. The general meaning was... the winner of the Best Representative Award is Japan?
The camera was focused on a girl with bright features and two members behind her. Zhu Zhiwei tried to spot Zhu Yingning's figure in the out-of-focus background, but it was in vain.
Didn't she win the award? She was just thinking about how to comfort her when she saw her later when she heard the committee say, "And the winner of the Outstanding Delegate is...Greece!"
The camera turned, and the next second Zhu Yingning's face suddenly appeared on the screen.
Zhu Zhiwei saw her eyes widen in disbelief. Just when everyone thought she was going to scream with joy because of her unexpected award, she exclaimed in disappointment, "Ah! How come I only came in second place?!"
Wu Bo was so frightened by her that his face turned pale. He immediately slapped her arm and reminded her, "The camera is recording!"
Xu Sirui, who was sitting on the other side of Zhu Yingning, had already fallen down laughing at her outrageous words and actions.
What a youthful picture.
Zhu Zhiwei smiled outside the screen. She smiled as she watched the three children on the screen push and shove each other onto the podium and stand with the Japanese team that won the championship.
The reporters began interviewing them about their acceptance speeches. The first speaker was the pretty girl from the Japanese team. She offered a series of formal thanks to the presidium, the delegates, the instructors, and her teammates. Then the microphone passed, one by one. When it was Wu Bo's turn, she was so nervous she stuttered. Then, when it was Xu Sirui's turn, he managed a rare polite and courteous speech.
Finally, the microphone came to Zhu Yingning. Zhu Zhiwei leaned forward slightly. Although she knew that Zhu Yingning's speech would most likely just be a templated speech of thanking the presidium, because these templated speeches were made by her, she still wanted to listen carefully even if it was boring.
Then she heard Zhu Yingning say, "I can stand on this stage thanks to... uh, thanks to..." She thought for a moment, then blushed and said loudly, like a broken jar, "Thanks to this custom-made suit I'm wearing! Its slim fit and high-end tailoring are the best value in its price range. It's luxurious yet approachable, simple yet elegant. As they say, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. This suit is my weapon. If you want a similar suit, you can search for 'VV's costume' on Taobao. Thank you very much!"
Oh my god, what is she doing? Such a rare interview opportunity, she actually used it to advertise her Taobao store!
Zhu Zhiwei held her chin with her hand to prevent Zhu Yingning from frightening her and dislocating her jaw.
She saw on the screen that Xu Sirui was trying so hard to suppress his laughter that his shoulders were shaking. Wu Bo had a look of shock on his face, and the other students were all stunned. The reporter took the microphone and said hesitantly, "Haha, this student has quite a personality..."
Isn't it very unique?
Zhu Zhiwei laughed on the other side of the screen.
As she laughed, she raised her hand and felt tears on her face again.
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