064 Beyond Salvation
Counselor Teacher Liu stood at the podium, his gaze sweeping across the classroom, taking in the expressions of the thirty-plus students.
At this moment, everyone had put away their phones, and there was no whispering. They were all waiting for him to speak.
“The election for class officers now officially begins. The positions up for election are class president, academic committee member, life committee member…” As Teacher Liu spoke, he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote the positions on the blackboard. “The first position to be contested is the most important one, class president. Now, I’d like to ask the students who want to run for this position to raise their hands, and then come up one by one to give a…”
Before the last two words, ‘campaign speech,’ could be spoken, he saw an arm raised high.
So Teacher Liu called on this student. “Sun Xingsi, you can come up and give your speech first. The time limit is five minutes.”
Sun Xingsi walked up to the podium full of confidence.
Teacher Liu made way for him in the center of the podium, letting him stand there alone while he himself stepped down.
Sun Xingsi looked at the students below. The pressure from the thirty-plus pairs of eyes focused on him was self-evident. But he was only nervous for a moment before quickly regaining his confident smile.
He said in a clear voice, “Dear classmates, I am Sun Xingsi. After the military training and our time together, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of me. That’s right, I don’t have any particularly amazing strengths. I just like to make friends, to listen, and to talk. If I can serve everyone and help my classmates, I would be very, very happy…”
Sun Xingsi didn’t speak for the full five minutes, finishing his speech in less than two. Because he knew very well that if it was too long, everyone would get impatient, which would only be counterproductive. The right way was to be as clear as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Amidst a round of applause from the students, Sun Xingsi stepped down from the podium and returned to his seat, the corners of his mouth unable to help but curve up. At this moment, he really wanted to shout, “Who else?” but he couldn’t ruin his image and could only maintain a proper smile…
“Next, Student Fengjia Miaomiao!” Teacher Liu called out the name of the second candidate for class president. “Come on up.”
Sun Xingsi frowned, realizing that things seemed to have changed a little.
Before the class officer election meeting began, he had never heard any rumors of a competitor. After his efforts during military training and the weekend mixer, he had even thought that the position of class president was in the bag. But now, he was suddenly told that there was actually a competitor?
Fengjia Miaomiao, this female student left a strong impression. She was pretty and delicate, with a generous and straightforward personality, and her name was very long, so her presence was quite high…
Sun Xingsi clenched his fists and couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
“Hello everyone, I’m Fengjia Miaomiao. Self-introduction and all that, I already said it at the first class meeting. It’s meaningless to repeat it. Anyway, everyone should understand my personality. If you’re willing to vote for me, then vote. If I can be the class president, I will definitely be serious and responsible. Well, that’s it.”
Fengjia Miaomiao’s speech was so short it could hardly be called a ‘speech’. She spoke quickly and was off the stage in less than half a minute.
Another round of applause erupted in the classroom, and it was even more enthusiastic than Sun Xingsi’s.
Sun Xingsi was so anxious that he looked around. Suddenly, his gaze met Wang Heng’s from diagonally behind him.
“You’ll vote for me, right?” Sun Xingsi asked quietly in a low voice.
Wang Heng smiled slightly. “A vote or two is meaningless. It’s too late to say it now.”
Sun Xingsi patted his head. “This shouldn’t be happening! Why do so many people seem to support her more…”
Wang Heng shrugged. “She’s a girl, better looking, and her speech was shorter than yours.”
Sun Xingsi: “Is it that simple?”
Wang Heng: “It’s that simple.”
On the podium, seeing that no other students were raising their hands to join the competition, Teacher Liu announced, “There are a few slips of paper on everyone’s desks. Now, please write the name of the class president candidate you support on the slip, and I will come and collect them one by one.”
Sun Xingsi was so anxious he could hardly sit still. “What do I do!”
Seeing him like this, Wang Heng also felt a little sympathetic and comforted him, “It’s okay. If you can’t do it in your freshman year, there’s still your sophomore year.”
Sun Xingsi closed his mouth. He really wanted to say that being the class president in his sophomore year and then entering the student union wouldn’t have the same effect as in his freshman year! But how could he say such a worldly thing?
Soon, the students all finished writing, and Teacher Liu walked around and collected everyone’s votes.
“Now we need a student to write tally marks on the blackboard. Is there anyone willing to volunteer for this? Um… Student Fengjia Miaomiao, you are a candidate, so there’s a conflict of interest. Please put your hand down.”
“Oh.” Fengjia Miaomiao touched her head and sheepishly lowered her arm.
Sun Xingsi suddenly turned to stare at Wang Heng again and said in a low voice, “You go up. I believe in you, Teacher Wang.”
Wang Heng pointed to himself. “Believe in me?”
Sun Xingsi nodded. “Yes. You definitely won’t let me down.”
Wang Heng looked around and saw that no one else in the classroom was raising their hand, so he stood up. “Teacher, I’ll do it.”
Teacher Liu nodded in agreement. “Alright, come up and get the chalk.”
Sun Xingsi and Fengjia Miaomiao, the two candidates, both smiled. Although the votes were already cast and couldn’t be changed, the feeling of having the vote counter be ‘one of their own’ was still reassuring.
“We still need a vote reader. Who will be responsible for reading the names on the ballots…” Teacher Liu pointed to the first person who raised their hand, an unremarkable boy. “Student Jiang Haonan, you do it. One of you will read, one will write, and I will supervise.”
And so, the moment to decide the class president arrived.
“Sun Xingsi,” “Fengjia Miaomiao,” “Fengjia Miaomiao,” “Sun Xingsi”…
As Jiang Haonan read out the two names again and again, their vote counts rose alternately, always entangled, with no clear winner.
Until the last vote.
“Sun Xingsi… and that’s it.”
Wang Heng glanced at the tally marks he had written with the chalk and sighed inwardly.
It was beyond salvation. In the end, Sun Xingsi still had two more votes.
Teacher Liu counted and then announced, “Then the class president for the first academic year of our class is Student Sun Xingsi! Student Fengjia Miaomiao will be the vice president. Is that okay?”
Naturally, no one objected.
“Congratulations to Student Sun Xingsi and Student Fengjia Miaomiao! Next, is the academic committee member…”
The election continued. Wang Heng, having completed his task, stepped down from the podium. He had just returned to his seat when he couldn’t help but be stunned.
He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
He took out his phone and glanced at it. It was actually a call from Han Yixuan!
“We haven’t been in contact for so many days. Suddenly… what does this girl want?”
Wang Heng was instantly on alert.
