Chapter 43 (2/2)

“Wave upon wave, the Yangtze River flows. New people overtake the elder generation.” The host said to the audience with a hangdog expression.

The audience roared with laughter again.

“This handsome boy who has received the flowers, you are Cheng Zhiyan from Class One of the fourth grade, am I right?” The host placed the microphone near Cheng Zhiyan as he asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Cheng Zhiyan replied nonchalantly.

“May I ask what New Year’s greetings you have for everyone?”

“Happy New Year.”

“Anything else?”

“Study hard.”

“Um…anything else?”

“…..” Cheng Zhiyan gave the host a weird look, then, not having anything else to say, resorted to, “Make progress every day.”

“Hee, hee, hee…hee, hee, hee.. Those are really… some words of blessing…” AHEM! AHEM! The host laughed awkwardly, then, in an attempt to lessen the awkwardness, he said, “But there is a proverb that goes something like this: the gift itself may be small, but the goodwill is deep. Although this student only gave a few brief words of blessings, those blessings contained his warmest feelings. For all the students present, your main responsibility is to focus on your grades, so you must remember that you must study hard and make progress every day, all right?”

“All right!” All the students shouted together in loud voices.

“Great, let’s thank the students in Class One of the fourth grade for bringing us this wonderful performance. Now let’s welcome…” The host smiled as he sent away the students who had finished performing, and proceeded to announce the next segment of the program.

With the bouquet of flowers in one hand and Xiaotu’s little hand held firmly in his other hand, Cheng Zhiyan slowly walked to the back of the stage.