“Teacher Lin, is it wrong to have such determination?”
“Of course not! Young people should give their all in everything they do. Even if you lose, at least you won’t regret putting in the effort!”
If you’re going to participate, do it with everything you’ve got. Whether you win or lose doesn’t matter – what matters is that your effort wasn’t wasted.
Teacher Lin didn’t think Xia Xiaolan had been unfocused before, but she preferred Xiaolan’s current determined attitude. Perhaps the previous incident was still affecting Xiaolan. Teacher Lin had heard from the Department Head that neither Xiaolan nor the Ji family mentioned their situation anymore. Teacher Lin felt helpless – sometimes reality forces people to compromise. Student Xia must be feeling particularly frustrated.
Hadn’t the Ji family said they would send Xia Xiaolan to study abroad?
Xia Xiaolan probably wanted to prove to the Ji family that she could go abroad without their help. Being an exchange student was the first step – with the exchange student experience, applying for a government-funded scholarship would become easier.
As for whether Huaqing students could get accepted into foreign universities, Teacher Lin had never doubted this.
The only limitation for Huaqing students applying to study abroad was the language barrier, but with Xia Xiaolan’s English level, she would have no problems in English-speaking countries.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know about Teacher Lin’s assumptions, and if she did, she would have found them endearing. Her sudden burst of determination was indeed partly due to the Ji family’s influence, but more because she felt being an “exchange student” was a good choice – the duration wasn’t too long, and it would give her a legitimate reason to go abroad.
As a university freshman, what other ways were there to go abroad?
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t poor now, but her savings wouldn’t amount to much in America.
Few undergraduate students went abroad. Even though China could take TOEFL exams in 1981, it didn’t matter much since foreign universities offered few undergraduate scholarships. With annual tuition and accommodation fees approaching 10,000 USD, which Chinese family could afford it without government funding?
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t afford it either. She hadn’t previously thought foreign prospects were better, and had been content studying architecture at Huaqing. Going abroad was something to consider after completing her undergraduate degree – it was easier to go abroad for Master’s and Doctoral studies. These stages offered more substantial scholarships, both in proportion and amount. For top students, they could even receive full tuition waivers with surplus funding – the so-called “full scholarship.”
Without a full scholarship, one could earn money by helping professors with projects.
The latter situation was practically impossible in Chinese universities in 1984. Students competed to help professors with projects – being selected meant you were excellent, but asking for payment? Professors struggled with their own funding, with every cent needed for research. China needed reconstruction everywhere, and money was needed everywhere. With so many research topics, professors queued up to apply for grants… In 1984, university students helped professors out of pure enthusiasm.
Xia Xiaolan knew she couldn’t afford self-funded study abroad, and she hadn’t necessarily planned to go abroad. When discussing with Zhou Cheng, she’d said it wasn’t decided. If she were to go abroad, it would be after completing her undergraduate studies at Huaqing. However, there hadn’t been a National College English Competition then, nor the prospect of winners becoming exchange students. With changes coming faster than planned, Xia Xiaolan changed her mind.
Teacher Lin wasn’t wrong about her determination – Xia Xiaolan was the type of person who would seize any opportunity presented to her.
Before the finals had even begun, Xia Xiaolan lay in her dormitory bed, eyes closed but mind racing. The exchange students selected from the English competition wouldn’t go abroad until at least 1985, since the finals were at the end of January 1985. Xia Xiaolan thought the second half of 1985 was more likely.
So what opportunities existed abroad in 1985?
Xia Xiaolan tried hard to recall.
It was already impressive that she could remember some major domestic events from the 1980s; international events required careful thought. She did remember several things. In 1984, Apple’s founder was pushed out of the company’s management, and the company didn’t invite him back until they faced crisis in 1996.
In her previous life, when Jobs passed away, social media constantly shared his life story – it was impossible for Xia Xiaolan to forget.
Should she try to get close to him?
Jobs, though no longer Apple’s manager, hardly needed sympathy from a poor student like Xia Xiaolan.
Apart from not being Apple’s manager, Jobs remained wealthy and established Pixar Animation and NeXT company during his time away from Apple. Even if Xia Xiaolan wanted to help during his difficult times, would Jobs appreciate it?
During 1984 and 1985, two other companies that would later exceed hundred billion USD in market value were established – Cisco and Qualcomm!
Qualcomm was out of the question – Xia Xiaolan was an outsider to wireless communications, both financially and technically. Her computer skills weren’t great either, but Cisco was founded in 1984 by a married couple teaching at Stanford. Xia Xiaolan saw some hope there – at least as an exchange student, it might be easier to approach these two pioneers?
Wait – the Ministry of Education’s exchange program might not be with Stanford.
Xia Xiaolan’s planned shortcut collapsed instantly.
Su Jing nudged Zhou Limin:
“Six keeps smiling and frowning while lying in bed – it’s creepy.”
Zhou Limin swatted away Su Jing’s hand: “Shh, I think Xiaolan is contemplating something important.”
Zhou Limin was joking, but neither of them could have guessed that Xia Xiaolan was indeed thinking about something significant – specifically about “shortcuts” to billions of dollars… After a while, Chairman Xia punched her quilt with one hand.
Her dreams were too beautiful. If shortcuts were so easy, wouldn’t she dominate the globe with her foreknowledge from being reborn?
One must examine oneself three times daily. Chairman Xia’s quilt-punching reminded herself that while she might be slightly more capable than average, she wasn’t a true genius. Everything required step-by-step progress; taking shortcuts probably didn’t suit her.
Su Jing and Zhou Limin exchanged glances – it was indeed creepy. Could she be heartbroken?
…
In 1984, there was already an air route between mainland China and Hong Kong, connecting Shanghai and Hong Kong.
With only eight flights per week, Du Zhaohui and Xia Dajun couldn’t smuggle themselves anymore – they had to return to Hong Kong through official channels. Du Zhaohui’s current identity as an investing Hong Kong merchant meant he couldn’t take black market boats, even though smuggling from Pengcheng to Hong Kong was particularly quick!
They needed to fly from Guangzhou’s Baiyun Airport to Shanghai, then catch another flight to Hong Kong.
Despite this roundabout route, Young Master Du had no choice.
He told Xia Dajun they would return to Hong Kong tonight, but actually meant they would go to Guangzhou tonight.
On the way to Baiyun Airport from Guangzhou, there was a particularly desolate stretch. Du Zhaohui dozed in the car with his eyes closed when the car suddenly jolted. Du Zhaohui opened his eyes.
The next second, a tremendous boom rang out as the car’s front was flipped over – someone had been lying in ambush here, this thought flashed through Du Zhaohui’s mind!
His second thought: his whereabouts had been leaked – who could be trusted?!