The appearance of Xia Ziyu and Wang Jianhua didn’t surprise Xia Xiaolan for long.

Having come to the capital, she knew she would encounter these two sooner or later. She just hadn’t expected to run into them so quickly during the National Day parade without actively searching for them.

Recalling Zhou Cheng’s words, Wang Guangping’s father must have returned to work at the Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education?

The higher-ranking the official, the less Xia Xiaolan feared them.

What could a high-ranking official possibly have against a university student?

The real trouble usually came from those with just a little bit of power.

Of course, if Wang Jianhua was the one Xia Xiaolan had offended, then she would need to be wary of Wang Guangping. People always protect their own, and if he wanted to settle scores with Xia Xiaolan, there wasn’t much she could do about it. Had she known about Wang Jianhua’s background earlier, and that his situation would improve so dramatically, she wouldn’t have held her nose and fought to get this man back… President Xia truly looked down on him. Regardless of why Wang Jianhua and Xia Ziyu got together, this man showed no sense of responsibility, not even having the courage to be straightforward with ‘Xia Xiaolan.’

Did Wang Jianhua know about what Xia Ziyu’s family had done?

If he knew, Wang Jianhua was cruel enough. No matter how difficult ‘Xia Xiaolan’ had been before, she had never wronged Wang Jianhua. On the contrary, ‘Xia Xiaolan’ had encouraged Wang Jianhua to take the college entrance exam to escape the impoverished countryside.

If he was completely unaware, President Xia equally despised such a foolish man!

With Xia Ziyu’s fluctuating intelligence, President Xia wondered if Wang Jianhua was the deceived party. If he could be so thoroughly fooled by someone like Xia Ziyu, she would question his intelligence.

During the first two weeks of the semester, Xia Xiaolan had been adjusting to life at Tsinghua.

The following two weeks were military training, immediately followed by the National Day parade. She hadn’t had time to deal with Xia Ziyu yet. How was Xia Ziyu’s tutoring school doing? Working with the Wang family would certainly make it easier to expand the business, but tutoring schools also carried many risks… Xia Xiaolan didn’t have time to think too much about it. At 9:30, the honor guard formation needed to make final preparations.

The 35th-anniversary celebration of National Day was a major event that captured the nation’s attention.

The leaders would speak at Tiananmen Gate, and the National Day military parade was eagerly anticipated by the entire nation. Not every household had a television, but people could crowd together to watch. Government units and factories would certainly organize their workers to watch the Tiananmen celebration broadcast.

Schools would organize viewings too.

At every level – province, city, county, township, and village – they would all organize viewing sessions.

Celebration activities in other cities would all be scheduled after the Tiananmen ceremony to avoid time conflicts. Only the nation could put on such a grand military parade, and the people wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until they’d watched it.

This year’s Tiananmen celebration was different from previous years – it would be broadcast live rather than recorded!

Due to technical limitations, even the “Network News Broadcast” was typically recorded.

But on April 8th this year, China’s first communication satellite STW-1 was successfully launched, making it possible to transmit live footage of the Tiananmen celebration across the country!

In Qijing Village, Dahe Village, Anqing County, Shangdu, Pengcheng… everywhere across the country that could receive television signals was waiting for the Tiananmen celebration to begin.

Even the Zhou family had their television set ready.

Though Old Master Zhou was retired, as a veteran revolutionary he could still attend the ceremony at Tiananmen, and he did indeed go, wearing his old uniform with all his medals.

The rest of the Zhou family had to quietly watch from in front of the television.

Did they have special privileges?

Of course, they did. If Old Master Zhou had particularly favored Zhou Yi, he could have easily arranged a spot for her in some corner.

But he didn’t use that privilege, and what could Zhou Yi do about it?

The Zhou family gathered around Grandmother Zhou. Those with official duties, like Zhou Guobin and his eldest brother, weren’t present, but everyone else who could come did.

“Is Zhou Cheng’s unit participating in the military parade?”

“Will Brother Zhou Cheng appear on television?”

At times like these, Guan Huie felt most proud!

Zhou Cheng’s cousin Cheng Min suddenly said, “Isn’t Sister Xia studying at Tsinghua? Tsinghua is part of the honor guard. If she could appear at the Tiananmen celebration with her cousin… Aunt, is Sister Xia going to the celebration?”

After their last meeting, Xia Xiaolan bought clothes for Cheng Min Gu Siyan, and the other younger ones, and with her academic reputation, they naturally had a good impression of her.

Cheng Min spoke casually, as the younger generation had no idea that Zhou Cheng had made mistakes at work, nor did they know that the Zhou family’s attitude toward Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan’s relationship had changed from approval to opposition.

Guan Huie was most opposed, while Old Master Zhou and Zhou Guobin silently permitted this opposition.

But the rest of the Zhou family didn’t know about this.

Guan Huie remembered her last visit to Tsinghua University to find Xia Xiaolan, who had been very straightforward, neither agreeing nor disagreeing to break up, saying she needed to discuss it with Zhou Cheng.

Guan Huie felt frustrated, and now Cheng Min, completely unaware, brought up Xia Xiaolan at this moment.

How should Guan Huie respond?

As her son’s girlfriend, she should know something about the situation, but after that one unsuccessful visit, she preferred not to think about it when she didn’t have to see her. Now, with the whole family present, Guan Huie could only answer vaguely:

“With so many people there, even if she’s in the honor guard, how could you spot her on television?”

Cheng Min realized this made sense and immediately dropped the subject.

Zhou Yi’s eyes flickered – Second Aunt’s words were interesting, neither confirming nor denying, as if she knew nothing at all. Xia Xiaolan had been studying in the capital for about a month now, but there had been no mention of her visiting Second Uncle’s home.

Was Xia Xiaolan simply ignorant of social customs, or was there another reason?

Zhou Yi held this doubt in her heart.

After being humiliated last time, she was extremely cautious and no longer dared to bring up Xia Xiaolan casually. She even advised Tong Lili to give up on her cousin Zhou Cheng.

The humiliation had been too painful!

Now she didn’t dare speak carelessly and planned to observe.

“Cheng Min, you talk too much. Quickly watch the television, the ceremony is about to begin.”

Indeed, the camera was already focused on the Mayor of Beijing.

At exactly 10 AM, the Beijing Mayor personally announced: “The celebration assembly for the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Republic begins!”

The majestic and intense March of the Volunteers began playing, twenty-eight ceremonial cannon shots were fired in succession. Even through the screen, one could feel the grandeur of the great nation, enough to make one’s scalp tingle. How many hundreds of millions of people across the country, those who had the means to watch television, weren’t trembling with excitement!

The national flag passed by.

The national emblem passed by.

Then came the honor guard formed by university students.

Tsinghua’s honor guard formed the map of the motherland, with four large characters meaning “Unify the Motherland”!

The camera first showed a wide shot, capturing the entire map formation.

The Tsinghua students shouted slogans of “Revitalize China, Achieve the Four Modernizations” and “Start with Me, Start Now” in loud, uniform voices!

As the first university honor guard, the camera zoomed in for a close-up, wanting to capture the spirit of the successors of the Four Modernizations. The camera intended to quickly pan across the faces of the first row of students, but perhaps due to the time needed to focus, or maybe because it happened to stutter when reaching the first Tsinghua student – after all, this was their first satellite broadcast… whatever the reason, that face remained on screen for a full three seconds.

That was enough!

Enough time for people to see the face of that Tsinghua student.

The Zhou household fell completely silent.

It wasn’t until Tsinghua’s honor guard had completely passed by, and Peking University’s contingent had passed as well, perhaps two or three minutes later, that Cheng Min finally stammered:

“That person just now – that was Sister Xia, wasn’t it?”