The honor guard formation had already been training for several months.

Would bringing in freshmen at the last minute risk disrupting the formation?

While Xia Xiaolan was still pondering this, others had already eagerly agreed.

“We can join the honor guard formation?”

The teacher smiled, “Whether you can depends on if you can keep up with the training.”

With fifty to sixty people present, how could they let everyone down? They nodded their heads like pecking chickens. It was already the 28th, with only three days until the National Day ceremony. Could everyone participate in the ceremonial formation? They couldn’t wait for the teacher to start training.

Xia Xiaolan observed these newly called freshmen. The female students were all around 165cm tall, each with attractive features.

The male students met the 178cm height standard, ranging between 178 and 183cm, all with proper facial features.

They had the height, and good looks, and none had poor posture. No wonder the school wanted to arrange them in the first row of the formation. Did they just need to be there for appearance’s sake?

Xia Xiaolan had her suspicions about the fifty to sixty people called together – they wouldn’t even need to participate in the final day of military training, returning directly to the city instead.

Only Xia Xiaolan and Ning Xue were selected from the Architecture Department. They quickly packed their things and boarded the school bus.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t even had a chance to say a proper goodbye to Zhou Cheng!

Since their last conversation, they’d only exchanged glances, with no chance to discuss Zhou Cheng’s family’s attitude. Xia Xiaolan didn’t want Zhou Cheng to clash with his family. If they had concerns, she was willing to try to change. She didn’t want to see Zhou Cheng causing upheaval at home for her sake. She didn’t want their life to become like a family drama, constantly entangled in trivial matters.

With that energy, why not do something else, like joining the honor guard formation?

Speaking of which, National Day was approaching, and she needed to make several calls after returning to school.

Contact her family.

Call to check on the building materials store in Shenzhen.

Check with Chen Xiliang about how the sales of the twenty thousand sportswear items were going – they needed to settle the final payment with the garment factory on October 1st!

As the school bus swayed along the dirt road of Kong Family Village, Xia Xiaolan was calculating these matters in her mind, while Ji Jiangyuan was observing her.

Xiong Baiyan lowered his voice to tease him:

“Say, you haven’t fallen for School Beauty Xia, have you? She’s not easy to pursue… Didn’t she tell you she has a boyfriend? Someone accompanied her during enrollment, driving a ministry-approved Jeep for photography.”

Ji Jiangyuan was thinking about Zhou Cheng’s marksmanship. He just enjoyed shooting, and it was rare to meet someone with such excellent skills. He hadn’t quite snapped out of those thoughts.

Misunderstanding this, Ji Jiangyuan didn’t explain but instead asked: “Where did you hear all this nonsense? Rumors stop with the wise. Don’t spread what you haven’t seen with your own eyes, and even what you see might not be true. Besides, respecting others’ privacy is what makes a gentleman.”

Xiong Baiyan opened his mouth, knowing that Ji Jiangyuan had returned from America and had some habits that didn’t align with domestic customs.

But Ji Jiangyuan’s words were correct – spreading “rumors” about Classmate Xia Xiaolan in private was particularly ungentlemanly behavior.

“I was wrong, I won’t say it again!”

Ji Jiangyuan knew better than anyone that the boyfriend with the ministry photography Jeep was Instructor Zhou Cheng.

Given the conservative atmosphere in China, such rumors would affect Classmate Xia Xiaolan the most.

Back at school, special training began immediately.

They practiced day and night, incorporating these new members into the established honor guard formation, with some original members becoming substitutes.

All the ’84 freshmen were selected. Just as Xia Xiaolan had guessed, the first row didn’t need to hold banners; they just needed to practice marching in formation, similar to what they learned during military training. When Xia Xiaolan finally had time to make phone calls, it was already the morning of September 30th.

Her first call was to the store in Shangdu, but her mother wasn’t there.

“Your mother went to Yangcheng to get stock, I asked her to visit your uncle while she’s there.”

“Aunt, why didn’t you go yourself?”

“Let your mother make a few more trips to familiarize herself with the situation there, then we can take turns going.”

Li Fengmei remembered Xia Xiaolan mentioning possibly opening a branch store in Beijing, and that store would need Liu Fen to manage it – how could she not learn more now? Li Fengmei asked how Xia Xiaolan was doing at school and how she got along with her classmates. Xia Xiaolan only shared the good news, not the bad, speaking only positively.

She also mentioned just finishing military training.

“It wasn’t hard, just got a bit tanned, but I’ll be fair again in half a month, don’t worry. Everyone has to do military training, it’s just exercise at the army base… You might not believe it, but Zhou Cheng was our chief instructor.”

Li Fengmei immediately felt relieved.

Zhou Cheng cared so much about Xiaolan, he wouldn’t let her suffer.

Mentioning Zhou Cheng, Li Fengmei reminded Xia Xiaolan, “If you have time on weekends, you should visit Zhou Cheng’s family. You’ve already met the parents, and didn’t Zhou Cheng’s family like you? Zhou Cheng is rarely home, so as his girlfriend, you should keep his family company on his behalf…”

Xia Xiaolan sighed inwardly. The first meeting had left a good impression, not just Zhou’s family’s impression of her, but her impression of them as well.

Except for Zhou Yi’s sour comments, everyone else in the Zhou family was very polite.

Who knew the situation would suddenly turn downward? What happened at Zhou Cheng’s workplace made his family doubt and oppose their relationship.

Before military training, she had thought about visiting Zhou’s family, but Guan Huie had come to the school, and Xia Xiaolan’s letters to Zhou Cheng went unanswered. How could she face going to his family now?

Now talking about being a good girlfriend, setting aside the Zhou family’s attitude, as Li Fengmei reminded her, she should maintain basic courtesy.

Even if they were just clients from her previous life, she would still maintain cordial relations.

Zhou Cheng never put on air with her family, so she should treat his family with the same attitude.

“Aunt, I understand, I’ll do as you say!”

Before hanging up, Xia Xiaolan reminded Li Fengmei to watch TV on National Day, as the parade ceremony would be broadcast.

In such a huge crowd, the chance of being recognized was tiny, with the camera surely passing by quickly, but Chairman Xia still felt a little proud and excited – what if they did spot her? As Yang Yonghong said, participating in the ’84 National Day celebration this way would truly be unforgettable!

When Xia Xiaolan made her second call to Yangcheng, Chen Xiliang called back, his voice sounding like someone pumping bellows:

“Sister Xia, Ancestor Xia, you finally have time to care about our business? Do you know that tomorrow I have to settle the final payment with the factory? Do you think this is a small business of two or three thousand yuan? The 240,000 yuan balance will take time just to count—”

“Wait, I remember we only owed Chenyu 100,000 in final payment, where did 240,000 come from?”

Chen Xiliang, who had been emotionally charged moments ago, suddenly froze.

“…Let me explain.”