Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Summary and Commendation Assembly
The weather on Saturday was nice, no wind, and the sun would occasionally show its face.
The last two classes before the holiday were meetings again, the summary and commendation assembly for the previous semester.
Feng Yiping had originally wanted to hide in the back and be at leisure, but Wang Yumin named him and asked him to sit in the first row. There were only four rows in a class, and the four people in the first row were Feng Yiping, Tang Shaokang, who had always ranked second in his class, and the other two were Huang Jingping and Zhang Qiuling.
As usual, a banner was hung from the two sycamore trees in the centre of the playground, which read 'Liangjiahe Middle School 92nd Semester Summary and Commendation Conference'. On the raised platform in front of the playground, behind four desks, sat the three school principals, one main and two deputy, plus the head of teaching. On the centre desk sat a microphone wrapped in red cloth, with no speakers. The microphone was connected to the loudspeaker hanging from the sycamore tree.
There was no 'March of the Athletes' either. Amid the 'dong-dong' sound of the tractors and tricycles that drove by the school gate from time to time, the director of teaching emphasised the meeting's discipline, and then the principal gave his speech. The principal's speech was still not very original. Of course, on an occasion like this, it would be quite difficult to come up with something new to say.
Let's be tolerant after more than 20 years. At that time, some university leaders added some new elements to their welcome speeches, but the results were mixed. These official-style articles cannot be expected to be too good. They should be stable and free of mistakes.
After the president, the two vice-presidents and the dean of students spoke in turn. By the time the microphone returned to the president, most of the class had already passed.
At this point, the principal threw out a topic that made everyone happy. The school has officially decided to build a teaching building and raise funds from various sources. It has applied for funds from the town education team, the county education bureau, the town government and the county government. At the same time, it has also sent letters to past alumni who have graduated, hoping that they will support the construction of the school's teaching building within their means.
When this news was announced, there was a buzz of excitement. Many students were excited at the prospect of sitting in the legendary building, and many teachers sitting in the back row were also smiling.
Tang Shaokang thought differently from the others and whispered to Feng Yiping, 'It's not going to be another fundraising drive, is it?'
His concern was normal. At this stage, there are many similar fundraising activities, from the national to the local level.
In 1990, when the Asian Games were held in Beijing, Feng Yiping was still in primary school. His teacher mobilised the students to donate money, but although it was called a donation, it was actually compulsory, and each student was asked to donate 50 cents. In 1990, 50 cents was a lot of money for a rural family like theirs, so Feng Yiping remembers that he asked his mother and father for help, and they worked all night. In the end, they agreed because they were told that the teacher had asked for it.
Then the town built a hydroelectric power station, and the whole town raised funds according to the number of people, not one person was left out. Then the county hospital was repaired and expanded, and the county people's square was rebuilt, and there was another round of fundraising. Of course, the fundraising in the county was mainly carried out by people who were on the government payroll.
When he was in technical secondary school, the city was building a bridge across the river, and it was mandatory for all people on the payroll to have 10% of their salary deducted each month to make up for the lack of construction funds.
Perhaps there were too many fundraisers in those years, and this cut was too harsh, causing a big backlash. At one point, several hundred people surrounded the municipal party committee and city government, and some people went to the provincial government to petition. The matter was eventually left unresolved. The bridge was not built until the beginning of the next century, after the city's financial situation improved.
Similarly, the teaching building at Liangjiahe Middle School, if Feng Yiping remembers correctly, also ended up being left unresolved. It wasn't until he graduated from technical secondary school and started working that a three-storey teaching building was built at the end of the century. As for the dormitory building, it wasn't completed until the 21st century.
Tang Shaokang's father worked in the town and also ate public sector food. He was probably asked to contribute to the fund-raising in the past two years, so he was more sensitive to such things than the average student.
Feng Yiping of course would not tell him not to worry, that this time the preparations would end up with nothing happening. Seeing that Zhang Qiuling next to Tang Shaokang no longer whispered with Huang Jingping, but was paying attention to this side, he pretended to be very surprised and looked at him, 'What's wrong with raising funds? Shouldn't we raise funds? The school's hardware will improve, and it will be the same as the town's middle school. Only then will those good teachers agree to transfer in, which will also be good for improving our grades. Our family still has some awareness of this.'
Tang Shaokang looked at Feng Yiping with confusion, not sure if he really didn't understand or if he was being deliberately aloof. He was at a loss for words, but inwardly he felt a little contempt, still from the countryside, after all, his horizons were not broad.
After the leaders had spoken, the main event of the meeting began, with the best students and outstanding students from each class going up to receive their awards.
As the only third-best student in the first grade, Feng Yiping was honoured to be the first to receive an award. The principal presented the awards to the third-best students, and this was the first time he had met Feng Yiping face to face. He took a look at him: Feng was thin, slightly tanned, with short hair and a sharp-featured face. He looked very energetic and full of life. He was dressed warmly, with a down jacket and leather boots, and it seemed that his family was well off.
When he received the award and prize from the principal, Feng Yiping was slightly shy. He smiled and looked at the principal in return. Although it was just a brief moment, the eyes are the window to the soul. Even the old fox of a principal suddenly felt that this student was indeed a bit interesting!
Next to go on stage were Huang Jingping, Tang Shaokang and Zhang Qiuling, the outstanding students. They walked on stage from the same direction, and they both seemed to be walking directly at each other. Seeing this, Feng Yiping hurriedly moved to the left, and Huang Jingping moved to the right at the same time. The two were still facing each other, so Feng Yiping moved to the right, but who knew that Huang Jingping also moved to the left, still facing each other.
They kept on going back and forth, but they still ended up in the same position as they started. Some of the students were already laughing, and Huang Jingping felt a little embarrassed. Seeing this, Feng Yiping stood still, raised his right hand, and smiled, making a gesture of invitation to Huang Jingping. He waited until she had blushed and walked over, before he came down.
Zhang Qiuling followed, and as she got up, she whispered to Feng Yiping, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?'
Tang Shaokang followed up, 'Why do I feel like we're getting married?'
Huang Jingping, who had just received her award and walked off the stage, happened to hear this. She immediately blushed like a big apple and hurriedly walked over to her stool and sat down. Feng Yiping gave Tang Shaokang a hard slap behind his back, 'It's your turn, go up quickly.'
When Zhang Qiuling came down, she took what Feng Yiping was holding without any hesitation and compared it. The three good students were an award certificate, a hardcover notebook, and a pen, while the outstanding student did not have a pen.
Zhang Qiuling flipped through the items, 'The notebooks are the same.'
Huang Jingping over there was looking at the awards, "His awards have gold-foil lettering.'
Zhang Qiuling looked and sure enough, it was the case. She felt a little unhappy and shoved the items at Feng Yiping, "How can a school be so stingy as to differentiate between awards of different grades and have all of them with gold-foil lettering? It only costs a few extra dollars.'
Feng Yiping smiled and said to him, 'Yes, go back and ask your principal father nicely why he is so stingy.'
Zhang Qiuling was even more annoyed. In front of Feng Yiping, why did she always lose out?
After the awards for the three grades had been presented, as usual, the student council would go up and speak, and then the meeting would be adjourned. However, today there was an additional agenda item. The head teacher took out three red leather certificates, three boxed pens, and three exquisite codebooks.
The headmaster stood up and said, 'Starting this year, the school will add a new award for "model students", to recognise students who not only do well in their studies, but also excel in other areas. There will be one awardee per grade. Now, please come up to the stage to receive your award.'
The third-grade model student Su Qing was a girl. Feng Yiping remembered that she should have been a classmate of his sister in primary school. When Feng Yiping was in fourth grade, they were in sixth grade, and they had some dealings at the time. She was particularly good at mathematics and had won prizes on behalf of the school in the Mathematical Olympiad several times.
The model student in the second grade was a boy who, Feng Yiping heard, had represented the school in the county sports meet and won first place in the 1,500-metre long-distance race.
The model student in the first grade was Feng Yiping again. After receiving the certificate and prize from the headmaster, he was about to go down the stage when the headmaster stopped him with a smile, 'Feng Yiping, although I have never taught your class, I have heard your name many times from other teachers, including teachers from other schools. How about taking today's opportunity to say a few words to everyone, great writer?'
Although he spoke in a consultative tone, the principal had already stepped out from behind his desk and pulled Feng Yiping towards his seat, the microphone right there on his desk.
Feng Yiping followed the principal without thinking, and was pushed into the chair. While he berated the principal for not playing by the rules, he was also a little frightened. Sitting so casually was probably impolite. So he stood up again, and the principal didn't object, leading the applause. He didn't sit down either, but stood to the side. Seeing this, the head of the teaching staff moved another chair from the nearest house in the building for the principal to sit in.
Taking a moment to compose himself, Feng Yiping nervously wondered what he should say. Standing there, holding the microphone, he first said some standard phrases of thanks to buy some time: 'I'd like to thank my parents, the headmaster, all the teachers and my classmates.'
At first, his voice trembled a little, but as he spoke, he found the feeling of speaking at a company meeting and spoke steadily and fluently.