Volume 2: Flourishing Chapter 55: A Different Kind of Speech

  With great power comes great responsibility.

  It wasn't until now that Su Lin felt he had truly grown up, and so he couldn't help but find his former self, who would often skip class and not study, to be laughable.

  It wasn't until now that Su Lin felt he had truly matured and understood the immense pressure his parents were under.

  It is only now that Su Lin feels she truly understands love, so she wants to do everything possible to give the people she loves and who love her a beautiful life.

  In an instant, Su Lin felt a surge of emotions and thoughts that had been blank in his mind before, making him feel like he had endless things to pour out.

  It's done, it's done. Su Lin has his speech content ready. It was as if heaven had written it for him, and in Su Lin's mind, he already had the content of his speech that he wanted to share with thousands of teachers and students at Jian'an No. 1 Middle School.

  Thousands of eyes were fixed on Su Lin, waiting for him to speak, as if in the 70 years since Jian'an No.1 Middle School was founded, there had never been a public speech as eagerly anticipated as this one by Su Lin.

  "Dear fellow students, parents and school leaders, I am Su Lin, an ordinary third-year high school student at Jianan No. 1 Middle School..."

  Finally, Su Lin slowly opened his mouth. Although it was a very unoriginal phrase at first, just as the students below him let out some disappointed whispers, Su Lin suddenly changed his tone and spoke in an impassioned voice, saying:

  "I'm sure everyone in the university is very curious about how I managed to get into the top 10 of my grade in this exam. Actually, when I was in junior high school, I was a good student with excellent grades in all subjects, which allowed me to get into Jian'an No.1 Middle School. However, later on, I wasn't a good student anymore. I thought studying was meaningless, so I indulged myself, played games, skipped classes, and my grades plummeted. I became the worst student that my classmates, teachers, and parents couldn't stand."

  This is Su Lin's own summary and awakening, as well as the voice of many Jian'an No. 1 Middle School students. Those who were able to take the exam at Jian'an No. 1 Middle School, each had good grades in junior high school, but after entering high school, they all gave up on studying hard for various reasons.

  With just this sentence, Su Lin resonated with many people. Of course, these students were the ones who currently had relatively poor grades. They felt a sense of solidarity with Su Lin and when they looked at Su Lin's soaring grades, it was as if they saw their own future selves. A small spark of hope in their hearts was ignited.

  However, those students who have always been excellent in their studies were not moved by Su Lin's words at all. From an early age, these people have been studying hard under the guidance of their parents and teachers, without any slackness, and they have never had the behavior of indulging themselves like Su Lin, and they think that Su Lin is simply unreasonable and self-degrading.

  Looking at the different expressions below, Su Lin's mouth slightly slanted, smiled and continued: "Learning is our top priority as students. This point has been instilled in us by teachers and parents since we first started learning from books, recognizing the first character, and has become our only goal for unremitting efforts over the past decade or so. We are like a learning machine that never stops studying, from primary school to junior high school, from junior high school to senior high school, and even more desperately in senior high school just to get through the highly competitive college entrance examination. This life process happens uniformly to each of us. I'd like to ask everyone, have you ever thought about it? Are we really doing this for ourselves? Is it really right for us to work so hard, giving up almost everything else to study? Is... is this really the life you want?"

  As he said this, Su Lin also slightly closed his eyes, as if in that instant, his own life had flashed through his mind according to the process he had just described. Studying, studying again, scores, exams again and again, these eighteen years of life, seemed to be punctuated by one exam after another, one semester after another.

  Su Lin is experiencing and bringing thousands of students together to experience it as well.

  Yes! What is the point of such a studying life? Is it right or wrong to study so hard? How should life be originally?

  This problem, not only Su Lin, but every student present has considered it when they can't sleep at night. However, no one has ever come up with an accurate answer, and no one knows whether this is right or wrong. This problem is like a forbidden zone of death, the more you think about it, the crazier it makes you...

  "Teacher Lin, what is this Su Lin in your class doing? What nonsense is he spouting? He's so reckless, speaking without any restraint in a setting like this. Is there any difference between what he's saying and inciting all his classmates to give up on their studies? No way, we have to get him out of here right now, can't let him continue talking!"

  Director Li Jianxing was furious, having heard Su Lin's speech content, and immediately stood up, preparing to rush onto the podium to drive Su Lin away in public.

  "Director Li, I think Su Lin makes a lot of sense. Moreover, he's not telling his classmates not to read books, but rather leading them in reflecting on life. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

  Lin Qingxue had also just graduated from university not long ago, and she too had gone through the process step by step as a student. Su Lin's words not only made her classmates think deeply, but also stirred up Lin Qingxue's memories.

  Yes! So many years of hard study, getting into university, then graduating from university and coming to Jian'an No. 1 Middle School to teach and educate people, guiding generation after generation of students along the same path I've walked, is this really all there is to my life?

  Lin Qingxue was also bewildered, she vaguely remembered her childhood dreams, looking at the paper-cut maps of beautiful scenery from all over the world, had she sworn to travel the world and become a great adventurer?

  But now, dreams have been buried by reality, and it's unknown how long ago, Lin Qingxue even in her dreams was grading students' homework.

  "Is... this really the life I wanted?"

  Unconsciously, Lin Qingxue's mouth repeated Su Lin's words, and her heart also began to struggle violently. Looking at Su Lin beside the podium microphone, she suddenly felt that Su Lin was not just a student of hers, but rather like a beacon in life, illuminating herself from the darkness and letting her see a glimmer of hope.

  "No matter what, we can't let Su Lin continue to spout nonsense, he must be stopped from speaking immediately..."

  Deputy Director Li Jianxing rushed forward in a flurry, but was stopped by Principal Li Weimin of Jianan No. 1 Middle School.

  "Principal, this student is talking nonsense, let me go and get him down..."

  "Director Li, what's there to be afraid of? If a student dares to speak their mind in this setting, then let them go ahead and say it!"

  Principal Li Weimin was very open-minded and did not criticize Su Lin, but instead stopped Li Jianxing and encouraged Su Lin to continue speaking.

  "But Principal, if Su Lin is allowed to continue speaking like this, what if the students become unmotivated and stop studying? He's deceiving people!"

  Li Jianxing was depressed, how could Principal Li allow a student to say such things in the presence of Jian'an Middle School?

  "If Su Lin makes sense, then let's listen to him. If he doesn't make sense, no one will listen anyway, what's there to be afraid of? Director Li, relax, we're educators, not officials playing politics. The school atmosphere should encourage students to innovate and speak out freely, saying whatever they want, that's how you cultivate open-minded thinking and guide the future hundred schools of thought. No need to create a one-voice chamber, that's just bureaucratic!"

  Principal Li waved his hand and let Li Jianxing sit back down, continuing to listen to what Su Lin had to say.

  At the same time, Qin Yanran, who was sitting at the bottom, also felt a sudden jolt in her heart when she heard Su Lin's views. She was indeed pierced by Su Lin's words to the most closed place in her heart. What has been the point of studying so hard and achieving such excellent academic results all along?

  Qin Yanran was thinking, and also looked at her mother Fang Liping's expression with a bit of guilt. She worried that Su Lin's words would make her own mother very disgusted, after all, her own mother was like other people's parents, urging her to study hard and get good grades.

  "This Su Lin, what he said is quite interesting!"

  But what Qin Yanran didn't expect was that her mother, Fang Liping, actually smiled slightly and praised Su Lin instead.

  "What's wrong with mom today? She even praised Su Lin!"

  Qin Yanran was even more puzzled, why her mother was so abnormal today? And all of this was because of Su Lin.

  However, not all parents are like Fang Liping, who still has a hint of appreciation for Su Lin's words. In the eyes of almost all parents, it is only natural that their children go to school and read books, take the middle school and college entrance exams, get into a good university, graduate and find a good job - isn't this just the most normal life path?

  Now Su Lin's words have caused a huge stir among the parents of these students. Many parents have already started scolding Su Lin.

  "What an excellent student! What is Jian'an No. 1 Middle School doing, letting such a student give a speech on stage?"

  "Our child was originally unruly, and now with him saying this, it will be even harder to discipline them in the future!"

  ……

  Similarly, Su Lin's own mother Liu Aizhen's face also sank, muttering: "What is this nonsense that Xiao Lin is talking about?"

  "Ai Zhen, I think our Xiaolin is right. When reading books, one must know what to read for, can't just read for the sake of reading, that's called 'reading dead books'. Didn't Premier Zhou Enlai say it before? It's about reading for the rise of China..."

  Su's father was more thoughtful and could understand what his son Su Lin meant.

  In fact, Su Lin's unusual speech had not yet ended, but it had already caused a stir at Jian'an Middle School. The short speech of just a few minutes had already made the students, teachers and parents think deeply. Su Lin turned his head to look at Teacher Lin Qingxue behind the podium, and also saw a hint of encouragement and emotion in her eyes, knowing that Lin Qingxue also approved of his speech, allowing him to continue speaking.

  Take another look at the playground, Su Lin found Qin Yanran at a glance, and Qin Yanran was also looking at Su Lin at this time. The four eyes met, and Su Lin suddenly discovered that the person sitting next to Qin Yanran looked very familiar. Wasn't she the young woman from the hotel that day? She... Could it be Qin Yanran's mother?