Investigate the source.

Campus rumors were notoriously difficult to trace to their origins.

Someone suggested directly recommending Ning Xue as the Outstanding Graduate – after all, she was the freshman representative and the face of this year’s architecture department. Getting the military training Outstanding Graduate award and then this year’s “Three Excellences Student” award would be perfectly fitting.

But Teachers Lin and Wang immediately objected!

“That would be unfair to student Xia Xiaolan.”

They couldn’t just award the military training Outstanding Graduate to Ning Xue just because she had a better professional foundation. If nothing else, everyone started military training from the same point – why shouldn’t Xia Xiaolan have a chance to compete?

The result of their discussion was to nominate both students as candidates from the architecture department.

“We should properly investigate the source.”

Once they started investigating, the rumors seemed to have converged gradually from different sources.

It began during the new student reception when Du Xuefeng from the Mechanical Engineering Department was struck by the beautiful junior student. He mentioned it in his dorm that evening, and such things couldn’t be kept secret – soon all the senior male students in Building 5 knew about “Xia Xiaolan.”

That’s how the campus beauty title started circulating.

Secondly, Zhao Qian from the Architecture Department remarked to classmates on registration day, “I just helped Xia Xiaolan with enrollment procedures. She’s really as beautiful as Du Xuefeng said, though she looks quite delicate – wonder if she’ll last long in architecture.”

Zhao Qian’s comment was casual, made only because Xia Xiaolan had left such a strong impression.

This became the source of rumors about her being delicate and wanting to transfer departments.

Third, after the opening ceremony, Ji Jiangyuan had actively sought out Xia Xiaolan for conversation, and they had chatted pleasantly. Xia Xiaolan had casually mentioned needing to return to her dorm to write to her boyfriend. She hadn’t thought anything of it, but others had overheard, and those who knew naturally discussed it.

These little comments, though initially harmless, had combined to form a considerable wave of gossip.

Ultimately, it was because she drew attention. At Huaqing, where academic achievement was everything, Xia Xiaolan was perhaps too eye-catching.

Frugality and simplicity were the main themes among students now.

While others spent twenty cents on a meal, Xia Xiaolan never hesitated when selecting dishes in the cafeteria. If someone else ate braised pork daily, no one would notice. But because Xia Xiaolan already drew attention, any small detail about her was magnified.

It wasn’t jealousy – perhaps people were just tired of constantly hearing about what Xia Xiaolan was doing.

Her presence was too prominent, and not because of academics?

Were they at the real Huaqing or not?

“This is nonsense! These things mean nothing, and even if they were true, every student has their personality. Huaqing isn’t trying to turn students into identical robots!” Teacher Lin was particularly angry. They had all lived through the years of political movements and knew how serious the consequences of labeling people could be.

Xia Xiaolan had been labeled.

Though no one was criticizing her directly, being surrounded by such rumors must put tremendous pressure on her!

No wonder student Xia Xiaolan often looked at him hesitantly during class.

That was a student’s desire to speak out, which he had ignored.

Not calling on Xia Xiaolan to answer questions had undoubtedly contributed to the rumors’ growth. They needed to do something to clear her name.

“I remember the Ministry of Education is organizing a national college English competition this year…”

The 1950s Russian language learning trend had passed, and the 1980s formally entered the English learning era. Before 1984, although English was part of the college entrance exam, it was only weighted proportionally in the total score. This year’s exam counted English as 100 points toward the total score and made it a main subject.

Teacher Lin thought he could help register Xia Xiaolan for the Ministry of Education’s first National College English Competition.

…

Xia Xiaolan’s ears felt hot.

The last two days of military training were suddenly all about formation practice.

The Huaqing teachers supervising the training announced the news that stirred up the freshmen who had just completed their field training.

For this year’s 35th National Day, Huaqing University has prepared three components:

First, a 1,847-student “Honor Guard Formation” would lead the entire Huaqing parade, displaying a 30-meter long, 27-meter wide map of the motherland.

Second, organizing 2,200 people to join the “Science and Education Parade Formation” following right behind the honor guard, carrying flowers as part of the parade crowd.

Third, Huaqing University would design and create a 10-meter-high parade float-themed “Learning from the Huashan Rescue Battle Collective,” showcasing contemporary college students’ courage and willingness to help others.

The university had been preparing the first “Honor Guard Formation” since the end of the school anniversary celebrations in late April. They had been selecting and training members for several months. The ’84 freshmen weren’t involved then – the task had been given to the class of ’82.

Each student in the honor guard had a strictly designated position, as each would hold a small puzzle piece that would ultimately form the giant map of the motherland.

Even if Yang Yonghong wanted to join the honor guard, it wouldn’t be possible – the formation was already set when the freshmen started school.

But besides the “Honor Guard,” there was still the “Science and Education Army” of parade participants!

The school planned to assign this 2,200-person “Science and Education Army” to the ’84 freshmen – they had just completed military training, their spirit and discipline were at their peak, and their young, energetic faces were perfect for the celebrating “crowd.”

When they first arrived at the military camp, everyone said it wouldn’t work, so the freshmen focused entirely on the parade formations.

Now it was different – they had discipline and basic movement training. With the foundation laid, and since the parade didn’t require goose-stepping, they could form up with just two days of practice.

This news from Huaqing delighted Yang Yonghong – though the honor guard was out of reach, joining the parade formation would still be wonderful.

Most freshmen shared Yang Yonghong’s thoughts.

Participating in the National Day celebration, even just walking past Tiananmen Square holding flowers, would be an indescribable honor and source of pride!

In principle, all freshmen could participate in the parade formation – they needed 2,200 people, and there were only about 2,100 undergraduate freshmen in the ’84 class.

To prepare for possible illness among some students, the school had also arranged for some sophomores to join. While Xia Xiaolan thought she was destined to be just another enthusiastic participant, Huaqing’s teachers called her, Ning Xue, and about twenty other female students together, along with an equal number of male students.

“Would you like to join the honor guard formation, in the front row?”

Miss Xia was stunned.

The front row of Huaqing’s honor guard for the 35th National Day?

In other words, they were asking: Would you like to show your face to the entire nation?!

Thinking about the 35th-anniversary celebration, possibly with foreign media coverage, even a one-second camera sweep might mean showing their faces to the whole world. Xia Xiaolan felt either she was hallucinating or the world had become too surreal!