Volume 3 Chapter 11: The Speech and the Meeting
Lin Lin followed Teacher Zhu all the way to the side of the stage. She took the speech paper the teacher handed her, lowered her head, and barely managed to hold back her sad feelings.
After a short while, it was her turn to go on stage as the student representative.
The girl hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she still stepped forward.
Even though her mood was not good, she still had to do her best. If she could bring good comments to the class, Teacher Zhu would probably feel more at ease when handling Lin Lin’s own matter later.
Lin Lin walked to the podium and heard the host announce, “Now please welcome the student representative, Lin Lin, to give her speech.”
She stepped up to the microphone and reached out to adjust it. For a moment, she didn’t get the position right, and the microphone let out a sharp, unpleasant sound.
Lin Lin quickly pulled her hand back, feeling flustered. Standing in front of so many people, she felt nervous and unsure what to do.
Not ready yet…
No, more than that, she hadn’t adjusted her emotions yet.
The student host beside her kindly came over and helped adjust the microphone. After a moment, the microphone was finally set properly.
Seeing the host gesture to her, Lin Lin nodded, stepped forward again, and picked up the speech paper.
Ignoring the quiet whispers on the stage, Lin Lin slowly began to read from the paper.
“Respected school leaders, teachers, and fellow students, hello. Today, as a student representative, I stand here to speak…”
She read the script in a stiff, mechanical way. Her performance was not very good. Her tone was flat, and her voice lacked confidence.
Compared to the loud and overly energetic voices of many other girls who often spoke on stage, Lin Lin’s voice sounded too shy.
Still, this was her first speech, and it was already quite decent.
Watching from below the stage, Teacher Zhu thought to herself that this kind of practice was good for the child.
But Lin Lin didn’t feel the same.
She carefully read words that were not written by herself at all, staring at lines she was unfamiliar with and afraid of misreading. It all felt a bit ironic.
“Our school’s students care for one another, help each other, and the campus is full of harmony and friendship…”
Care for one another…
Help each other…
Harmony and friendship?
As Lin Lin read this part, she paused for a moment. A bitter smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Wasn’t it ridiculous to make a girl who had just been bullied out of jealousy read something like this?
Of course, maybe this was just one case.
Of course, the school didn’t have only Han Kui. There was Xiao Bai, there was Teacher Zhu, there was… Gao Liang, and others she was willing to be close to.
But still… why, why did she have to be bullied by someone like that?
The people on the playground outside held their breath. Even the school leaders sitting near Lin Lin on the stage started to feel nervous.
What was going on? Why did Lin Lin suddenly freeze?
After a long pause, everyone on the playground could only hear the girl’s speech continue, unstable and broken, until it finally ended.
If one listened carefully, they might even hear sobbing in her voice.
…………
Inside a cafe, Gao Liang was sitting across from a middle-aged man.
The two of them seemed to have talked things over for quite a long time. In the end, Gao Liang nodded and said,
“Thank you, Leader. If you hadn’t been willing to help, it would have been very hard to get justice in this matter.”
“Ah, not at all.”
The man sitting across from Gao Liang was actually the head of the competition supervision team from the art competition Lin Lin had joined before. He was also a well-known artist in the city and an official in an art association.
He nodded, looking a bit ashamed. This could be considered a failure within his own group. After a moment, he looked at the young man in front of him with some appreciation and said,
“If you hadn’t sent those materials to me, how could I have found something so well hidden? Young man, you’re very capable.”
The leader clearly admired Gao Liang. But when he thought about how serious the matter was, he couldn’t help letting out a cold laugh. It was obvious that he felt embarrassed, guilty, and also very angry.
“I never imagined that someone in the supervision team I led would dare to take bribes. This is… simply a disgrace among us!”
Seeing how angry the leader was, Gao Liang could only smile bitterly. He waved his hand and said,
“When a forest is big, all kinds of birds exist. There are always one or two flies. At least, Leader, you didn’t try to brush this off or make it a small issue. That already shows your strong sense of integrity.”
“Heh, haha… young man, you don’t need to flatter me like that,” the leader said. “I hate people who secretly play dirty tricks behind others’ backs. I’m just following the rules, that’s all.”
After hearing Gao Liang’s words, the leader seemed a bit embarrassed. He scratched his head and smiled,
“Listen to you talk, you’re praising me too much. Sigh, it’s really shameful that something like this happened under my watch. These past few days, while I was investigating, that teacher surnamed Han was still stubbornly denying everything. But now, all the evidence has been collected. He won’t escape responsibility. Don’t worry, we will deal with this very seriously. This is a city-level competition, so it must be handled strictly!”
“Yes. Even though something like this happened, fortunately, it didn’t affect Lin Lin too much, and it didn’t have a big impact on her final competition result,” Gao Liang said.
Hearing this, the leader nodded. Then he suddenly changed the topic and brought up the girl who could paint at the level of a Da Vinci original.
“By the way… um, young man, that girl of yours, your girlfr… companion—ah no, haha, I mean your friend, Student Lin. Does she have any plans recently to join more competitions?”
“Hmm, it doesn’t seem like it,” Gao Liang said, taking a sip of coffee. Then he spoke casually, “Lin Lin was quite shaken by the cheating incident. Maybe because of this, she doesn’t want to take part in higher-level competitions anymore?”
“Th-that’s absolutely nothing to worry about!”
The leader was clearly startled by Gao Liang’s words and quickly promised.
“Young man, please tell Student Lin that if she wants to continue joining competitions, I can guarantee that every future competition she enters will be 100% fair and just. There will be no shady dealings at all!”
“Mm…” Gao Liang nodded in agreement. But then he suddenly looked up and said,
“But… if the girl who worked with the competition supervisor to target Lin Lin ends up facing no consequences at all, Lin Lin probably won’t feel confident either.”
“Of course she must be dealt with!”
The leader grew anxious and stood up, patting his chest as he spoke.
“Don’t worry, young man. The supervisor who took bribes will be punished, and the student who gave the bribe will also be punished. This is clearly written in the law! Rest assured, I will personally make sure this case is followed through!”
“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you, Leader!”