A Girl Who Wants to Be a Beneficial Person to Society

291 - 300

Chapter 291

The stage curtain was a deep red, unusually thick. The table in front of the stage curtain was exceptionally lonely.

Xiao Qi walked onto the stage. She did not receive a warm round of applause like the previous contestant, Tang Baolin. After all, this was Qingmeng University. Hardly anyone recognized her.

The students were still somewhat curious about Enhua University. It was rare for a private university to be rated as a second-tier university. There were many private universities in China, but respectable second-tier ones were scarce.

A few of Xiao Qi's dormmates sat in the back rows, watching her go on stage. Mi'er tried her best to clap, but she did not garner much momentum. The applause was sparse and scattered.

At this moment, even her friends felt immense pressure. Before coming, they were confident Xiao Qi would do well. Some even believed she could clinch first place. After all, Xiao Qi had always created miracles for them, even breaking records in marathon running.

But after watching contestant after contestant, even Xiao Qi's number one fan, Mi'er, was uncertain. The Qingmeng University students were truly exceptional, each one more outstanding than the last. They had assumed all college students would be on par with each other. In reality, there were vast discrepancies.

It made sense when they thought about it. Qingmeng University accepted students with over 600 points on the college entrance exam, while they had 400-something points for Enhua. There was already a 200 point gap. Even the worst Qingmeng student would be better than them.

The stark contrast between Qingmeng and students from other universities was even more disheartening. Their confidence plummeted; even the usually absent-minded Yunshu's face seemed more vacant.

Wei Cheng's cheeks were puffed up, deadly serious, extremely nervous - as if she were the one on stage.

On the other side, Lin Min's roommates nudged him and whispered, "Damn, your girl is so pretty, on par with Tang Baolin. No wonder you have zero interest in Tang Baolin."

Xiao Qi had not put on any makeup. Although it was only a small auditorium stage with some distance, makeup would have made her facial features clearer and more sculpted. But considering her speech content, she felt she might have difficulty controlling her emotions and end up crying, smudging her makeup and looking strange.

Her speech theme was "Become a Person Useful to Society." During late night dorm discussions, she had told her roommates that she wanted to become someone useful to society, someone with value.

Her initial draft centered around her life experiences, mostly from childhood. Recalling those memories still easily moved Xiao Qi to tears. Many said the misfortunes of childhood required a lifetime to heal. Some spend their whole lives healing the wounds of an unfortunate childhood.

If not for the later transformations and changes in her life, Xiao Qi felt she might have lived a completely different life - no college, working at factories like the other village girls. At a certain age, she would start thinking about getting married for the bride price. The poorer the place, the higher the demands for a bride price. She would marry another equally poor man and repeat her parents' life, possibly having children of her own. If the child did well in school, they could continue their education with financial aid subsidies, as she could not provide the best conditions. If the child did poorly, they would drop out and start working outside like she did.

The same life repeated over generations, never changing.

Xiao Qi did not want that fate. From deep in the mountains and forests of her remote village to the small town of Huanghe to the Lvshan City and finally Meng City, a seed had been planted in her heart at some point and had persistently grown roots, sprouted, and flourished. She wanted to forge ahead, move upward, break out of her existing social class to explore those above and even higher. She wanted to become an even more useful and valuable person to society. She needed to keep striving upward tirelessly.