The mentioned student, Zhang Xiu’e, was also baffled. Wasn’t she supposed to be the second to go on stage?
But at that moment, the gaze of several leaders on stage had already turned toward her, and the applause from the fellow juniors had begun, leaving her no time to think more. So she just gave a strange glance at Lu Chen, who was frozen in place, and hurriedly went up to the stage.
"Hello, fellow juniors, I’m Zhang Xiu’e..."
As the girl on stage began her passionate speech, Lu Chen, coming to his senses, looked embarrassedly at Wang Qiaobin, who was still snickering, and quickly found a student council staff member nearby.
After Lu Chen expressed his concerns, the junior from the student council quickly spoke up,
"Well, Brother Lu, I’m not sure what’s going on either. Why don’t you wait here for a moment while I go ask Teacher Ni..."
"Okay, okay."
Lu Chen nodded. Once the junior left through the back door, he felt a bit more at ease.
It must have been a mix-up in the schedule, right?
The committee clearly notified him to prepare that speech. There was no way they’d just decide not to let him speak now, was there?
But damn it, Wang Qiaobin, what’s so damn funny about this?
"Sorry, sorry, I’ve dealt with all sorts of clients, all kinds of people, so normally, I wouldn’t laugh..."
Seeing Lu Chen staring at him, Wang Qiaobin waved his hand while laughing.
After a while, when the second graduate went up to speak, that student council junior finally returned, hesitantly walking up to Lu Chen, "Well... Brother Lu..."
Seeing the hesitant demeanor of the other person, Lu Chen, who was already quite anxious, felt a bad premonition welling up. He quickly asked, "Junior, what’s going on?"
"Ahem, well, there might have been a glitch when printing the event list, so... so your name wasn’t on it, Brother Lu. Sorry about that..."
The student council junior’s explanation was dry, and anyone could tell he was hiding something.
"No, come on, junior, what do you mean the printing was wrong? Can’t you just add my name back? I can go on later, right... Should I just go talk to Teacher Ni myself?"
Despite his frustration, Lu Chen still held on to a glimmer of hope.
"Uh, well, Teacher Ni asked me to apologize to you, because the schedule is set in stone, and there’s no way to fit you in now, so..."
The junior said with an awkward smile.
As Lu Chen stood there in a daze, the junior, possibly fearing further questions, quickly said "sorry" again before scurrying off.
"Ha!"
Unable to hold back, Wang Qiaobin laughed out loud again. Finally, with rising anger, Lu Chen couldn’t help but mutter, "Wang Qiaobin, are you laughing at your own father?"
"Oh, Lu Chen, Lu Chen, we’ve all been out in the world for a year now, how can you still be so naive!"
At that moment, Wang Qiaobin only chuckled and said, "You already know you were booted at the last minute, and yet you’re still deceiving yourself here?"
Lu Chen’s face darkened. He surely realized things weren’t as simple as a "printing error," but he couldn’t understand why the school was treating him this way.
He hadn’t offended any school leaders, had he?
At this moment, amid enthusiastic applause, the second male speaker finished his speech.
Speaking of which, this guy had stirred some buzz, as he started his own delivery brand called "Meat Skewer Burrito King" after graduation. The brand had already swept across Yunan Province, with nearly twenty franchises, and the franchise fees alone had brought a windfall of close to a million.
In this "money-driven" era, it wasn’t just the juniors who were listening with great interest and admiration for him; even Zhou Wang, standing backstage, felt a bit moved.
This senior’s experiences were very similar to his own, both having started entrepreneurial attempts during their university years. The only difference was that the other succeeded, while he faded into the crowd, even falling into obscurity, reducing to the ordinary 99 percent.
As the male speaker’s address neared the end, a female student council member came trotting backstage to remind Zhou Wang that he was about to go on stage.
Zhou Wang nodded and stood up. At that moment, Jiang Qingkui, who had been silently accompanying him, came over and helped straighten his cuffs and collar.
The girl from the student council gazed at Zhou Wang with a veiled intensity, yet out of deference—or perhaps fear—of Jiang Qingkui’s aura, she ultimately didn’t muster the courage to ask for a photo with Zhou Wang...
Amid the applause, the male speaker descended the stage, and Ni Hong took the podium from one side again. After the applause in the lecture hall had died down a bit, she held the microphone and smiled,
"Students, the next speaker is someone you could call a ’special’ graduate. Among the ’Outstanding Graduates’ deemed by Cai University, he has the shortest graduation time, yet, among all the recent graduates of Cai University over the past decade, he stands out as the most dazzling..."
This equally unique introduction instantly made many people look up in surprise, and suddenly, a girl let out a scream, drawing the attention of many.
"Hey, could it be that person..."
The girl, a little embarrassed, lowered her head but couldn’t help murmuring softly.
Most people were quite puzzled, but a small fraction of college students who kept up with current events seemed to recall something, all showing a look of surprise.
Damn, it couldn’t be, right?
At this time, Ni Hong’s introduction was drawing to a close: