Rebirth after the college entrance examination

Chapter 169 I'll State My Position

Xia An had expected this to be a brilliant and inspiring speech, where he would show those sheltered, naive college students what true awesomeness was and what it meant to live life to the fullest, thus gaining countless fans, applause, and screams. But the reality was...

The Q&A section contains only simple and formatted questions and answers.

The female host from Binhai TV's financial channel spent over an hour in the principal's office discussing 15 questions with him.

Starting from the basics, moving to the deeper levels, and finally focusing on values ​​and ideology.

The most ridiculous thing is that the personal introduction was done by the host, and the interludes between the questions actually had more lines than Xia An's own.

Life is a play.

The principal smiled and advised him, "There are benefits to both, but the overall situation should be taken into consideration."

Xia An was a little depressed. Three hundred million... was it because I wasn't standing high enough...?

On the way from the principal's office to the small theater, the female host, wearing high heels, wore a long down jacket over her suit. She had an outstanding temperament and was tall and slender.

Holding the interview transcript, she asked Xia An, "Are you nervous?"

Xia An shook her head, a lollipop in her mouth: "If I don't speak according to the script, will you be punished?"

The female host, who was in her early thirties, was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.

"The organization has given instructions, and the media who came know that if any part of the speech crosses the line, it will not be reported."

"not nervous."

Seeing him put his hands in his pockets and shrug, the female host smiled and shook her head, glanced at the group of leaders chatting and laughing in front of her, tilted her head and asked in a low voice, "Are you trying to confess your feelings to someone in public or something?"

Remembering the last personal question in the Q&A script, which was meant to lighten the mood, and its "standard answer," Xia An pulled out a candy, licked her lips, and grinned:
"not at all."

From a distance, you can see students running towards the small theater from all directions along the passageway.

The female host brushed her hair aside, recalling the past hour or so of interaction, and couldn't help but sigh, admitting that he was an incredibly charming young man; at his age and in this environment, he was extremely captivating.

"Sister, aren't your feet cold?" Xia An asked, looking at her pale insteps.

What a blunder! If I had known it was this far, I would have changed my shoes backstage.

"kind of."

"Then let's go quickly."

……

The small theater was packed.

I didn't come because of its reputation, but more out of curiosity.

Like someone winning the lottery, it has nothing to do with me, but I still want to see what a person who becomes rich overnight looks like. As for worshipping or being obsessed with Xia An... who is Xia An?
Only the photography class was required to attend; others were free to attend. However, despite the school radio station broadcasting the event repeatedly for so long, quite a few people who hadn't attended class still showed up, from all grades.

Le Ning and her daughter, Wang Yue, and several members of the band sat in the front row next to the photography crew.

As Xia An entered through the left front door, standing shoulder to shoulder with the female host behind a group of school leaders, she immediately attracted everyone's attention. The hall, which was filled with hundreds of people, and even more people standing behind her, instantly went from noisy to silent.

Zhou Ting also walked into the school to the sound of the school's loudspeaker, repeatedly asking her daughter along the way, "Wasn't it ten million? How did it become three hundred million?"

Le Ning smiled sweetly yet smugly.

A banner was strung across the top of the stage; it was something the school had put up themselves, and it was so simple it was almost rudimentary.

[A new generation of internet legends has emerged from our school]

[Xia An's Entrepreneurial Journey as a Freshman]

She only glanced at it and then looked away. A sense of shame that hadn't been there for years resurfaced, and Xia An silently fled backstage.

After the principal went on stage and read a lengthy opening speech, the curtain was drawn and all the lights came on.

The setup for the "Dialogue" segment: two single sofas, three fill lights, and three camera positions.

Xia An sat on the left.

"It's Momo! I love her so much."

Which channel?

"Local Finance".

"What a pity, they should be on the entertainment channel."

The female host, Ai Momo, crossed her legs, wearing a mauve suit and light pink high heels. Her snow-white insteps were dazzlingly bright. She looked at her designated camera position and smiled as she spoke, revealing two shallow dimples on her cheeks.

On July 19, the State Internet Information Center released the 7th Statistical Report on Internet Development in Yanjing.

The report indicates that my country's internet development is accelerating again, showing a vigorous development trend in many aspects and entering another period of rapid development.

截止到今年6月30日，我国网民总数达到了1亿2300万人，与去年同期相比增长了19.4%，其中宽带上网人数为7700万人，在所有网民中的比例接近2/3。

The total number of websites in my country has reached 788,400, with an increase of 90,000 in the first half of this year. The total international bandwidth of the Internet has reached 214175M, representing a growth rate of 159.2% compared with the same period last year.

In addition, among the 2 million primary and secondary school students, 3000 million have access to the internet, with an internet penetration rate of 15.4% among primary and secondary school students, and more than half of high school students have internet penetration.

Data shows that the total number of internet users in my country increased by 1200 million in the first half of this year, which is 1.5 times the increase in internet users in the second half of 2005…

Xia An was stunned. They hadn't rehearsed the opening lines during the script reading, and yet this woman in front of him had effortlessly recited such a long string of lines full of data with an elegant voice and a brisk rhythm... Wow, that's what you call professional.

"And among these hundreds of millions of netizens, the luckiest trendsetter of the new century has emerged," Ai Momo gracefully raised her right hand, pointing at Xia An, and shifted her gaze from the camera to his slightly dazed face. "Xia An, what do you think of me describing your success as 'lucky'?"

I'm crazy.

So you're the one who doesn't follow the script!
That's not the first question.

Seeing the mischievous glint in Ai Momo's smile, Xia An straightened up and replied with a smile:

"actually…"

Ai Momo glanced sharply, gesturing for him to look at the camera.

"..."

In that instant, Xia An realized that the woman opposite him was quite interesting. Perhaps this wasn't a proper interview, but just a pre-recorded video.

Trying to recapture the feeling of appearing on camera in her past life, Xia An took a breath, regained her composure, and looked at the fixed camera position with the red dot flashing at one o'clock.

"You could say it was luck, but not entirely. Luck is an adjective that summarizes the result, but the process, or rather the opportunities and challenges of the times, came because I had the ability and the understanding to make it happen."

A hint of appreciation appeared in Ai Momo's eyes, and she naturally picked up the conversation.

"You seem like a very confident young man. As far as I know, you are a freshman in college, and everyone here is from your own school. I believe that before today, some of them knew you and some did not."

Xia An, don't be nervous. How about you introduce yourself to everyone first?

"..."

Why aren't you following the script again? Didn't you give my introduction?

Looking at the camera, Xia An blurted out, "My name is Not Nervous..."

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared at Xia An's bewildered expression, then burst into deafening laughter.

Zhou Ting couldn't help but chuckle.

Ai Momo covered her mouth and smiled sweetly, "Alright, let's lighten the mood a bit. It's been a long time since I've been back on campus."

Youth is a winding river that flows in one direction. We have all played on its banks, dreaming of a bright future.

As time flows by, the scenes fade, and we become just another face in the crowd.

The young man in front of me is in the prime of his youth, full of vigor and vitality. He is one of the most dazzling and iconic figures on the banks of the times.

Of course, this isn't my assessment of him. Before he came, relevant leaders from the province, city, and school, after reviewing his application materials, gave him the same evaluation: "A son of the times."

These were good words, but upon hearing them again, unlike the collective gasp of shock in the audience, Xia An still raised an eyebrow. This straightforward praise was both a stigma and a way of putting him on the spot.

If you can catch it, you'll achieve instant fame; if you can't, you'll disappear in a flash.

"Xia An, after graduating from high school, ventured into the field of internet entrepreneurship. In less than six months, he successively founded the campus community project 'Meggle' and the online streaming website 'hualahuala.' Simultaneously, he opened over 20 chain convenience stores in Dongshan, the provincial capital. It is reported that the latter has been acquired by the recently booming provincial leader, Sugar Persimmon Group, for over ten million yuan…"

There was still no uproar at the scene; it remained quiet—Shock 2.0.

The mouthpiece, everyone at Binhai University knows, is it his?
Hualahuala is a recently popular video website where you can watch pirated American TV series in high definition.

Convenience stores...more than 20, tens of millions.

Most of the people in the photography class looked at Le Ning, including Zhou Ting, who whispered in her daughter's ear, "Did he tell you all this?"

Le Ning nodded reluctantly, and when she heard the host mention the Sugar Persimmon Group, she pouted her jelly-like lips almost imperceptibly.

Zhou Ting sighed and said softly, "Less than half a year... How did he do that?"

On the surface, he felt sentimental, but inside he felt bitter. Ten million after ten million, he had been in business for more than ten years, so why did he never feel that money was so easy to make?
Ai Momo continued her introduction: "In this process, the domain name was just a business he casually set up. According to my prior understanding, Xia An registered more than a dozen websites with a monthly maintenance fee of 220 yuan. In just three months, one of them, VacationRentals.com, was spotted by HomeAway, a giant in the American hotel rental industry, and was eventually sold for 3800 million US dollars."

--hiss
--Grass
The radio broadcast mentioned that some website was acquired by an American company, and the price was also mentioned.

However, the monthly cost of 220 yuan was not mentioned.

In other words, that short-haired guy on stage with the roguish smile only spent six or seven hundred yuan and got three hundred million?
This is unacceptable! It's even more outrageous than winning the lottery!

The whispers from the audience gradually turned into loud discussions, filled with complaints, envy, and jealousy.

The school leaders stood up and looked back, suppressing the commotion.

Ai Momo looked at Xia An: "Domestic and international IT websites have defined this business as a wealth-creating myth of the new generation of the Internet. What do you think? Not only me, but the whole world thinks you are a lucky person. Do you still think this is wealth creation through cognition, and not just luck?"

Ai Momo skillfully steered the conversation back on track, and Xia An admired her linguistic artistry.

"Yes, behind the fortunate outcome is my in-depth study of the internet sub-sectors. Under the premise of the North American subprime crisis, HomeAway was still able to obtain a high amount of venture capital of 1.6 million US dollars at the beginning of the year. This means that Western capital is pessimistic about the persistence of the financial crisis, and the tourism industry, which has been rising for years, will inevitably usher in a retaliatory rebound after the crisis."

Western societies have fully entered the internet age, and HomeAway's need for expansion is obvious. Frankly, my investment in this industry is like planting seeds of future problems, preparing to sell it off.

This was the second time Ai Momo had heard this explanation, but like everyone else present, she was still surprised by Xia An's insight.

When explaining his theories, this incredibly young boy exuded confidence and self-assurance.

Zhou Ting whispered to Le Ning, "Can you understand what he's saying?"

Le Ning couldn't understand Xia An's words, but she understood her mother's deeper meaning. She said, "Xia An said he wants me to help him after graduation."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ting turned her head and took a deep look at the boy on stage who was talking and laughing confidently in front of the camera.

Ai Momo: "Do you think your insights come from talent or from continuous learning?"

Xia An: "Both, but to be honest, I didn't have much time to study before the college entrance examination. After graduation, I would occasionally go to internet cafes to play games and read the news in between. I guess I had more talent than hard work."

This was the answer Xia An insisted on giving in the principal's office.

He didn't want a lot of people coming to him for advice later.

Ai Momo: "So do you think other young entrepreneurs have the same chance of achieving overnight success as you have?"

Xia An: "The Internet is a tool, and in the future it will continue to penetrate people's lives in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, creating opportunities everywhere."

Ai Momo: "Which direction should we go?"

Xia An: "I am also in the process of continuous thinking and learning."

Ai Momo: "Use your talent?"

Xia An: "If you don't have talent, just keep repeating it, and you'll eventually get a chance."

Ai Momo: "Are your plans for online streaming websites and convenience stores also part of the future trend?"

Xia An: "At least that's my personal opinion. Once the internet becomes detached from traditional industries, it will cause an uncontrollable employment crisis."

Ai Momo: "This goes against the mainstream view today."

Xia An: "I firmly believe in my own judgment."

Ai Momo: "How are your grades at school?"

The abrupt turn of events drew laughter from the audience.

Xia An: "University is a true holistic education. My grades... are average. I often miss classes, but the teachers all like me."

Xu Wanying blushed under the gaze of countless eyes. How could this person speak so carelessly?

Ai Momo: "You're an art student, will this skill be helpful in the entrepreneurial process?"

Xia An: "Whether it's music, fine arts, or any other art form, they are all tools for developing imagination. I sincerely advise everyone to cultivate an artistic hobby."

He noticed that Ai Momo had disrupted the order of the questions. He wondered if this was her habit or if she was deliberately challenging her reaction time. Interview programs are programs too, and they need to have interesting points. Perhaps she was hoping that he would make a mistake.

Xia An took another look at the pretty female host opposite him; under the soft light, she was indeed outstanding.

Ai Momo sensitively noticed his burning gaze, and her heart skipped a beat for no reason. That gaze was so aggressive.

How high do you think you will achieve in the future?

"On this land, entrepreneurs must follow the general trend of the country. There will be setbacks, but they will pass. China's development is unstoppable and is advancing all the way. I believe that as long as I do not make any fundamental mistakes, I will definitely be able to steadily rise along with the country."

What constitutes a fundamental error?

"Bullying ordinary people."

--hiss
The audience finally found empathy.

Ai Momo put down the manuscript in her hand, interlaced her fingers on her knees, a faint smile on her lips, and looked intently at Xia An.

"Give some advice to your peers: Is it too late to start working on improving your cognitive abilities now?"

“All the ‘too late’ moments are actually just the right time,” Xia An said with a faint smile as she looked at the sea of ​​faces below the stage. “In every moment of sudden clarity, we must seize the present, because that is our future selves calling for help.”

Ai Momo: "I can foresee that your college life will no longer be ordinary. If you could go back to the summer vacation that just passed, would you still choose to start a business? Or to put it another way, will you regret focusing on money during this lemon-colored youth?"

Xia An looked at her and saw the raised eyebrows of her.

The original draft focused on career, but she changed it to money.

After a pause, Xia An's gaze searched for Le Ning's location.

She saw it; two rows away, Le Ning saw Xia An looking over.

Their eyes met, and Xia An said, "No one can go back to the past, but everyone can start over. I'm afraid that one day in the future I will regret not working hard in my prime, leaving myself and those around me with nothing."

Ai Momo clenched her fists and smiled, "The last question, which I believe is also the one everyone is most concerned about, is: Do you have a girlfriend?"

—No, I've been focused on other things and haven't had time to talk. I'm working on improving myself and I believe I'll meet better people in the future.

This is the agreed-upon standard answer.

Xia An didn't say anything, but looked at Ai Momo and said, "Yes."

Then, mimicking her, he raised an eyebrow.

After looking at each other for two seconds, Ai Momo told him with her eyes that this was a pre-recorded segment and would be cut.

He then smiled and read his closing remarks to the camera.

The cameras were turned off, the interview ended, and the dozen or twenty media outlets in the first aisle were not allowed to ask any additional questions.

Xia An and Ai Momo shook hands, nodded to the school leaders, and stepped off the stage.

Amidst the uproar, he smiled and walked step by step toward Le Ning and her daughter.

Le Ning smiled and cheerfully greeted them.

She nestled into Xia An's arms and gave him a light kiss.

Holding her close, Xia An grinned at Zhou Ting and said, "The principal will probably scold me, Auntie, let's go quickly."

(End of this chapter)