1994: From a young man from a small town to a second-generation resident of Shanghai

At noon, Chen Fang invited Chen Yong to have lunch.

Lunch was cooked in her teachers' apartment.

Chen Fang cooked three local Shanghai dishes, and added a little chili to suit Chen Yong's taste.

Those who come from Yunnan Province can generally handle spicy food.

Yunnan Province has high humidity, so eating chili peppers can induce sweating and expel dampness.

"I've already contacted the music company, let's go prepare for recording on the 2nd."

"Is it in such a hurry? Do they have to work during the National Day holiday?"

In the 49s, the National Day holiday still followed the regulations from December 12, with two days off.

At that time, there were only seven statutory holidays in the country: one day each for New Year's Day and Labor Day, two days for National Day, and three days for Spring Festival.

In 99, the National Day holiday was extended to seven days, giving rise to the concept of the Golden Week for tourism.

"Their music company isn't some legitimate state-owned enterprise; it's just privately owned. What's there to take a break from? The music company I found belongs to the Shengtian Group and has partnerships with major radio and television stations across the country. As soon as your song is recorded, you'll immediately get a lot of promotional resources. Becoming a nationwide hit is not a dream."

Chen Fang started dreaming of becoming a star, while Chen Yong ate his meal seriously, showing no interest in becoming a star at all.

The song "1994" will be sung by Chen Fang and Chen Yong.

The lyrics were written in two versions: one for a solo performance, and the version to be released is a duet.

"This morning, Yuan Hua said that the college will arrange for students to go abroad for study tours at the end of the semester. Do you know which school it is?" Chen Yong asked, getting down to business.

Chen Fang is from the School of Economics and Management, so she should know this information. She wouldn't bother to tell Chen Yong unless he asked.

Chen Yong has already achieved so much; he should learn from her. Chen Fang felt that she could no longer offer any help.

Chen Yong didn't want her to give up on herself like this, so his aunt had to take the initiative.

"What? You want to go abroad? You're already a partner in the academy; you'll have to start all over again if you go overseas."

"Ask what happened. Tell me quickly."

"We have many universities that cooperate with our college. This time you can choose one from New York University, Columbia University, and Harvard University. Of course, this is only a two- or three-month visiting scholar program, mainly to broaden your horizons. And the students are going with the teachers; you are not the main force."

Who is the teacher leading the group?

Chen Fang suddenly pointed a finger at herself with a smug look on her face, "Me!"

"You alone?" Chen Yong asked in surprise.

"Of course not, Professor Xiong is with us too. The two of us are going on a research trip together, and we're taking a few students with us."

"If you want to go, you'll have to rely on your own efforts; I can't help you," Chen Fang said, distancing herself from the situation.

"Why is Auntie being so stingy now? Shouldn't you be risking breaking the rules to get me a spot?"

Chen Fang rolled her eyes. "Dream on. I'm worried that if you go to America, you won't want to come back. Then I'll lose my only nephew. Right?" Then, Chen Fang chuckled and pinched his cheek.

…………

7 PM.

After dinner, the National Day gala will begin.

The venue was set up a week in advance.

Two outstandingly good-looking college student hosts stood in the center of the stage.

Distinguished leaders, teachers, and dear students, Happy National Day!

October 1st is a significant day.

…………

Following the established procedure, Yao Jing and Jiang Sheng introduced the attending leaders.

The most important person is Principal Yang Fujia, followed by the leaders of each college.

National Day feels like a family reunion.

The head of the family, Yang Fujia, went on stage and spoke to the new students for a while.

These are the only two opportunities most Fudan University students have to meet the university president during their university careers.

Freshmen and seniors.

The principal may not be the same person; there may be two principals, or even three, and in the most extreme cases, a new principal may be appointed every year.

For more than a decade or so from the 1990s to the early 21st century, leaders all had one problem.

When they go on stage to speak, they talk for one or two hours straight, and it's all just nonsense.

Even a university like Fudan University only changed it later.

Principal Yang's speech alone wasted an hour; the opening ceremony started at seven o'clock and lasted until eight o'clock.

Some of the students sitting below had already fallen asleep.

Chen Yong didn't care; he was only going to sing one song anyway, and his makeup was already done.

Zhang Xiting was concerned about whether the students who were performing would become complacent at this time.

"Class monitor, come with me backstage and see them."

"Don't worry, we rehearsed again this afternoon, and it went really well. We'll definitely get first place this time."

"Let's go take a look. Everyone's probably tired of waiting after all this time."

Old Deng above is really long-winded.

Chen Yong was quite bored sitting there, so he accompanied Zhang Xiting backstage to see the cast of actors who were about to perform.

The leader of the acting group was Ye Linghuan. When Chen Yong and Zhang Xiting arrived, she was rehearsing with her classmates.

Only when Zhang Xiting and Chen Yong arrived did the students stop to rest.

"Why is the Youth League secretary here? And why did he bring the class monitor along to check on us? Are they afraid we'll slack off?"

Ye Linghuan's first words were pure and authentic, making Chen Yong want to laugh but dare not.

I can only keep it to myself.

Zhang Xiting couldn't do anything about Ye Linghuan, and she wouldn't argue with her openly. "The class monitor and I just came to check it out. The performance is about to start, is that okay?"

"We've rehearsed so many times, how could there be a problem? Besides, it's such a brilliant script that our class monitor came up with; even my family likes it. Winning first prize is definitely no problem," Ye Linghuan said confidently.

"What does your family do? Are you able to appreciate stage play scripts?"

Zhang Xiting took the opportunity to probe Ye Linghuan's family background, saying that everyone said she was a second-generation red, but she herself had never admitted it.

"My family are all honest, working-class people! Unlike you, a rich girl from a bureaucratic family!" Ye Linghuan mocked her again. If she hadn't flaunted that her parents were high-ranking officials, would everyone have supported her as the Youth League branch secretary?!

When the boys in the class saw the pitiful look on the class monitor's face, as if she was trying to hide her grievances, their warm hearts stirred, and they wanted to go over and comfort her. But they held back.

There was a conflict between the Youth League branch secretary and the academic representative. Some clueless boys tried to mediate, but they were both rebuffed by the two of them.

They'll die instantly.

In class, only the class monitor could mediate the tension between the two.

Ye Linghuan had just finished criticizing the class monitor when she immediately showed concern for Chen Yong, "Class monitor, your single is our class's grand finale, good luck! Whether it can overshadow the economics class depends on you!"

"I'll do my best, and everyone should do their best too! No regrets for our youth!"

…………

The school has a total of twelve colleges, and each college must put forward at least one program. If there are many classes, they will compete within the college to select a group program from each class.

The School of Economics and Management, due to its prestigious status, has multiple slots available, allowing for more programs to participate.

Individual performances also involved backstage competitions, with the best performers selected for the final round.

There were ten solo performances in total, with only two being solo acts, and those two were performed by two students from the School of Economics and Management, one from the Economics class and the other from the Finance class.

In the finance class, only Chen Yong's program was selected; the other programs were eliminated during the auditions.

It can only be shown on New Year's Day for internal viewing within the college.

…………

"Having just enjoyed a heartwarming skit, I'm sure everyone is eagerly anticipating the next exciting program. Please enjoy the National Day anti-Japanese war stage play 'Bright Sword,' and relive the hardships and triumphs of those historical years!"