Summer in Your Name - 18
Speech
The bookstore owner brought over an extra chair and handed Zhang Shu a menu. He sat down, glanced at it, but didn't take it. "Just water, thanks."
"Anything else?"
"No."
The owner hesitated, glanced at Sheng Xia, then swallowed whatever he'd been about to say. He replied with a simple "Okay”, and left with the menu.
Places like this never made money selling books. The unspoken rule was that seating came with a required drink purchase. But Sheng Xia and Tao Zhizhi were regulars and members, so the owner didn't push it.
Tao Zhizhi asked, "Zhang… Shu, did you have lunch? There's pizza left. It's pretty good."
Sheng Xia palmed her forehead. Since when did her loud, chaotic best friend turn into this considerate creature?
"Already ate," Zhang Shu said.
"Oh... okay."
"Do you have the draft?" Sheng Xia cut in, rescuing Tao Zhizhi from her awkwardness.
Zhang Shu pulled a notebook from his bag. "No ending yet."
Sheng Xia took it and skimmed through. It was flat. No logic. Just slogans strung together, like he'd cut and pasted from several different speeches.
"Have you ever listened to other flag-raising speeches?" she asked tactfully.
Zhang Shu said, "Forced to endure a few minutes of that every week. Didn't you have them at No. 2 High?”
Well...
Tao Zhizhi's gaze flicked between them. This academic god didn't sound like someone asking for a favor. He was exactly as rumored: aloof and hot.
His presence was intense, even Tao Zhizhi felt a little intimidated.
But her best friend, Comrade Sheng Xia, seemed unfazed, she even shot back. "Then you should have a basic concept of what a flag-raising speech is supposed to be."
Meaning: If you don’t, are you deaf?
Zhang Shu laughed. "Why don't you enlighten me?"
Sheng Xia put down her pen, picked up a pencil, and started marking his draft. She leaned toward him and began patiently. "First, the format. The greeting here…"
She spoke with clarity, her suggestions were tactful, on point. Her voice was soft, earnest, almost hypnotic.
Tao Zhizhi was already sleepy. Listening made her sleepier. She put her head down on the table and closed her eyes.
"That's it for now," Sheng Xia finished, handing the draft back. "Why don’t you revise it first? If it’s still not right, we can go over it again."
Zhang Shu's gaze lingered on her face, warmed by the afternoon light, then looked away, taking the draft. "Okay."
Sheng Xia nodded and went back to her practice test.
Zhang Shu asked, "Can I borrow your phone?"
She looked up, her expression questioning.
"Per your advice," he said, waving his own phone. "Gonna see how other people write it. I'm out of data."
Sheng Xia handed hers over.
This brand of phone wasn't common among high schoolers.
Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow. Liu Hui'an was right. Her family was not simple.
It took him a moment to find the browser. He tapped the search bar and was about to type, when he saw the autofill search history.
The top few were authors' names, idioms, classical allusions. No wonder her Chinese was so good. She did a ton of outside reading.
Further down, Zhang Shu's eyes narrowed.
[Is photocopying and selling pornographic contents a crime?]
...
...
...
She'd really done her homework.
Zhang Shu couldn't even laugh. He looked up at the girl across from him.
She was bent over a geometry proof, ruler moving back and forth across the page, still figuring out where to draw the auxiliary line. Frustrated, she bit down hard on her lower lip until the soft pink went white. After a moment, she released it, and color rushed back, leaving it glistening...
Zhang Shu looked away. His Adam's apple bobbed, he took a sip of water.
---
Sheng Xia wasn't even halfway through her math practice test when Zhang Shu finished his revision. She read it. Much better than the first draft. He was really smart. Even with something that didn't have formulas like math, he picked it up quickly.
"I think it's good now. The ending just needs to be elevated.” she suggested again. "A speech hinges on its close. Memorable speeches always inspire at the end.”
This was Zhang Shu's least favorite part. "You mean, pump them up? Isn't that still just shouting slogans?"
Sheng Xia: ... She'd just said slogans were no go.
"You could put it that way. But there are sincere endings too. Ones that leave you wanting more." Sheng Xia explained patiently.
Zhang Shu asked, "What's sincere?"
Sheng Xia thought for a moment, biting her lip out of habit. "Well..."
Just as she started speaking, she saw Zhang Shu turn away. Strange. Then he turned back again.
She continued, "Maybe talk about dreams and goals? That would resonate more. What are your dreams?"
Zhang Shu thought.
What were his dreams?
He wanted to be an adult. He wanted to be independent.
But that didn't feel like a dream.
Sheng Xia looked at his blank expression in surprise. “Don’t you have something you want to do? Or… what kind of person do you want to be?”
He looked at her earnest expression, finding himself at a loss for words.
"You're so smart. You can do so many things others can't. If I were as smart as you, I'd have so many things I'd want to do." Sheng Xia murmured, gently guiding him.
Smart.
She actually had a positive opinion of him. He thought she just saw him as some kind of criminal.
"What do you want to do?" he asked.
"Hmm..." Sheng Xia put down her pen and rested her chin on her hand, thinking out loud. "Nothing specific yet. My abilities are limited, I don't know what university I can get into, or what major. But overall... I want to leave a mark. Proof that I was here. If I'm ordinary, at least be a good person. Be useful to the people around me. If I'm exceptional... then be useful to the country. To the world. Someone who will be remembered long after gone."
She seemed lost in her own world as she spoke. When she finished, she realized what she'd said and looked down, a little embarrassed. "The last part is a stretch for me. But I think… if it were you, I think you could do it."
This was Sheng Xia's honest opinion.
He hadn't even tried his hardest, and he'd already achieved what others couldn't with sleepless nights. He had choices. Any universities he wanted. Any major. He could do many incredible things, as long as he wanted it.
Zhang Shu looked at her. He didn't speak. His gaze seemed to land somewhere far, far away.
Like he was spacing out.
Sheng Xia's ears warmed, realizing belatedly that this conversation had gotten way too personal. His silence made sense.
Zhang Shu took a sip of his water, flicked his draft, and nodded. "Got it. I'll work on it."
After a moment, he asked, "Done with your practice test?"
Sheng Xia shook her head. "Still two big questions left.”
"Can you get to them in exams?"
She shook her head again. "Sometimes. Usually, I just manage to read the question…"
Zhang Shu said, "I'd suggest you focus on speeding up the earlier sections first before you tackle the big ones. Otherwise, all that practice won't help you get to the end. So what's the point? Right now, just read the big problem, write down whatever formulas you can, and if you can't solve it, leave it. You'll still pick up a couple of points."
"Wouldn't it be too risky to give up on the big problems now?" She hesitated. Sometimes she could solve one, not often correctly, but still. They were already in the first semester of senior year. If she stopped practicing the hard ones now, would she ever catch up?
Zhang Shu shrugged. "Speed up your multiple choice. Get the accuracy up. The rest will follow. Master one, master all.”
Sheng Xia considered this.
"Just a suggestion. It's your call how you study." Zhang Shu added.
---
Zhang Shu actually followed through on his "reciprocity" promise. He waited for her to finish the practice test, checked the answers with her, and explained the problems. Even Tao Zhizhi, who'd given up on studying, woke up and listened in.
After he left, Tao Zhizhi gave a thumbs-up, her expression solemn and awed. "Two words: freaking awesome."
Sheng Xia nodded in agreement.
He might have sounded impatient here and there, but overall he was thorough, clear, good at explaining.
"I feel like he's pretty nice to you," Tao Zhizhi said.
Sheng Xia looked up. "Not really. He explains questions like this to everyone.”
Tao Zhizhi shook her head knowingly. "Not the explaining. I don't know how to describe it. When he talks to you, he's less... aloof. His voice is softer than when he talks to me."
Sheng Xia: ...
---
Back at school for evening study, Sheng Xia didn't receive a final draft from Zhang Shu, nor did she ask. She saw him take it to Fu Jie, and that was enough, her part was done.
Monday morning, before the reading session, they have the weekly seat rotation. She was Zhang Shu's deskmate again.
After a few rotations, she'd stopped making a big deal out of it. It was all the same. Near or far, it didn't matter. It was still the same people.
The flag-raising ceremony at Affiliated High was scheduled for the first long break on Mondays. That day, Sheng Xia was on duty and didn't have to attend.
She and Xin Xiaohe swept the floor and cleaned the blackboard, while Lu Youze and his deskmate took out the trash.
Even though they weren't at the ceremony, the school broadcast the whole thing live over the speakers.
"Next, let's welcome Zhang Shu from Class 6, Grade Three, to give his speech under the flag..."
The announcer's voice was bright and clear, coming from the speaker on the podium.
Scattered applause followed.
Then the boy's voice came through. A magnetic, lazy tone, deepened by the speaker into something steady and grounded. "Good morning, teachers and students. I'm Zhang Shu from Class 6..."
Sheng Xia sighed inwardly. His original draft had started with "Hello everyone, I'm Zhang Shu." She'd changed it to "Respected teachers, dear fellow students"...
Oh well. The aloof king had his own stubbornness.
Suddenly, thunderous applause erupted, mixed with excited chatter, echoing from both the speaker and the actual ceremony outside, overlapping in waves…
"Whoa, that enthusiasm," Xin Xiaohe stopped sweeping. "Has something like this ever happened in a flag ceremony? Is Zhang Shu spreading his tail out there?"
The applause faded. Zhang Shu began his speech.
The middle parts were exactly what she'd seen. No major changes. She noticed those standard patriotic themes didn't sound so stiff when he read them. There was a line between casual and serious, and he walked it perfectly.
He was actually good at this. No shouting, no pumping fists. He just talked like he was having a conversation, and it made you want to listen.
The ending was new to her. She slowed her blackboard wiping, listening carefully.
He seemed to pause for a moment, then began, slowly.
"Someone told me, when you come into this world, you should leave a mark. If you're ordinary, at least be a good person. If you're exceptional, be useful to your country, to the world. I don't know what mark I'll leave behind. But I know the kind of person I want to become: sound in character, independent, with love for my country and global vision. If I can become such a person, then my youth isn't wasted in vain. My speech is done. Thank you.”
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