Chapter 38

Since the official start of school on September 1st, Jia Hongjian has become the focus of the entire Grade 1, Class 5, and it is only natural that he has become a well-known figure throughout the school and even the entire grade. However, as a rising star, he is a bit frustrated. He can still do the eye exercises accompanied by the "Protect Your Vision for the Revolution" music, but he has completely forgotten the class break exercises. Although he is a transfer student, the middle school radio calisthenics are something that all students of the same age across the country should know, and it is impossible to forget them just by changing schools.

When his secret of not knowing the class break exercises was discovered by everyone, Jia Hongjian was a bit annoyed seeing the people around him trying to suppress their laughter. He felt that he should do something, find a way to show his advantages, or find a way to bring everyone down to a lower starting line...

However, he hasn't thought of a method or way to do this yet, as he is currently focusing most of his energy on the TV talk show in Beijing on Friday. The "Oriental Horizon" program has kindly agreed to adjust the recording time and even booked round-trip tickets from Shanghai to Beijing for Jia Hongjian and one of his guardians in advance.

Yes, the program team considered that Jia Hongjian is a minor and even booked two round-trip tickets without consulting his family. The tickets are train tickets, and in this era before 1997, even the first round of train speed increases hasn't happened yet. It takes a full 21 hours to travel from Shanghai to Beijing by train!

Although the 21-hour journey is quite frustrating for Jia Hongjian, his main attention is now on preparing for his speech on "Oriental Horizon." According to the usual practice of Chinese talk shows, the TV station will usually have a rehearsal of the speech outline with the guests beforehand, telling them what can and cannot be said, and giving them an idea of what the other party will say, so that both sides won't be speechless when they hear the other's questions.

However, even with this, the rehearsal of the speech outline is only a few minutes before the actual recording. Given Jia Hongjian's cautious nature, he can't rely on the so-called professors being friendly. He is now taking Wang Hai's place, and when Wang Hai first became famous, he faced a lot of criticism!

So, Jia Hongjian has been preparing various contingency plans these past few days, such as how to respond to questions about his character, intentions, and legality. He has even taken the time to write a touching confession, preparing to read it dramatically on the show to move the entire nation.

He is actually a bit introverted and mischievous. If he were to be a good student, he would definitely be the type who secretly studies hard but pretends to be playing around. When the exam results come out, if he gets the top score in the grade, and someone comments on how hard he studies, he would definitely say, "Who studies hard? I didn't study at all! Really, I didn't study at all!"

By Wednesday afternoon, as the sun set and the students were still in class, the school was very quiet. Jia Hongjian and his mother, Su Ping, were dragging their suitcases to the school gate. "Son, do you want Mom to accompany you during the filming?"

Jia Hongjian turned his head and noticed that his mother looked a bit worried, as if she was afraid he would be attacked by those big men on the show. "If you're curious and want to see how the filming goes, you can come. If you're worried about me, don't. Your son is a big bad guy, you know! I've never been bullied, only I bully others, okay?"

Although she didn't quite understand the word "qin" (亲), Su Ping knew her son was trying to reassure her. She chuckled, "What about Wang Danshui? Doesn't she often bully you?"

"Ha, that was in the past. Now, I'm the one teasing her, okay?"

"Wow, you're so confident. By the way, son, wasn't half of the capital for the fake goods you sold sponsored by Wang Danshui? How will you thank her? Why don't you take her out for a meal?"

Su Ping is a good mother; after a few words, she started planning her son's social life. Jia Hongjian's face turned a bit pale. "Why not just give her the profit from her part of the capital? Do I really have to take her out for a meal? Her appetite... Can't we find another way to thank her? Maybe buy her some clothes?"

"She has been very nice to you, and she always says she hasn't had a full meal in her life. You've made a lot of money, so why not take her out for a big meal? She's a delicate girl; how much can she eat? Even if she eats a lot, it can't be more than ten bowls of noodles, right? At most, twenty bowls. That's not much money, is it?"

"Alright, I get it." Jia Hongjian nodded, thinking that it wasn't a lot of money, and he really wanted to see how much her stomach could hold. In his previous life at university, he saw Wang Danshui eat ten bowls of noodles and still say she was only about 30-40% full. Now, with her looking younger and prettier, he wondered if she would be full after thirty bowls or forty.

The next day, around 3 or 4 PM, Jia Hongjian and his mother got off the train at Beijing Station. At that moment, Jia Hongjian really felt like crying. He thought that trains were not something humans should ride. A 21-hour sleeper train is like being in prison!

No internet, no computer, no mobile phone, no MP4, no tablet, and no one to chat about ACG, girls, the Champions League, the NBA, American football, or American baseball. No one to chat about future economic trends, stock market prospects, or corporate mergers. Nothing!

On the train, he had nothing to do except sleep, but he couldn't sleep well on the sleeper train. Every time the train stopped, he would wake up, and he would go through the cycle of sleeping and waking up all night, feeling like he was sick. It was pure torture, and his neighbor was snoring, too!

Just as Jia Hongjian was finally feeling like he was out of prison, his mother tugged at his sleeve. "Hongjian, look over there. Is someone holding a sign saying they are here to pick us up?"

Jia Hongjian followed his mother's finger and saw a girl in her twenties wearing a "One Piece" dress holding a large sign that read, "From Shanghai: Su Ping and Jia Hongx." He was secretly grateful that she didn't write his full name on the sign. If she had, some passengers might have recognized him as the one who sold fake goods and might have waited to take his picture.

He dragged his suitcase and walked with his mother to the girl. The girl had a few freckles on her face, shoulder-length hair, and a big wave hairstyle from the 80s, making her look like she had a fluffy wig on top of her head.

"Are you Ms. Su Ping and Mr. Jia? From Shanghai? I am from CCTV and here to pick you up. Could I see your identification, please? Just to make sure I haven't picked up the wrong people..." the girl said apologetically.

After checking their IDs, the girl immediately smiled. "Please follow me. Our station has allocated funds for me to take you to the guesthouse by taxi..."

When Jia Hongjian heard "taxi," he thought of the minivans that were popular in the capital at the time. However, to his surprise, the girl hailed a three-row Mercedes! Oh my, Jia Hongjian was truly shocked! This is the great capital, isn't it? He actually got a Mercedes as a taxi!

Well, Jia Hongjian had heard of such things. In 1993, just as the planned economy was ending, many foreign car manufacturers had just entered China, and their factories weren't even built yet. Therefore, sedans were very rare in the Chinese market. The taxis used by various taxi companies were mostly minivans, but they also used high-end cars like the Crown.

Later, these high-end Crown cars were mostly used as official cars by a few hotels. In this era, the Xiaoli (Chery) cars hadn't been widely adopted in Beijing, but they were more common in Tianjin, while Shanghai was full of Volkswagen Santana and Nissan cars. Jia Hongjian had heard that the great capital had used Mercedes as taxis, but he never thought he would have the chance to ride in one.

After staying in a very simple guesthouse for one night, the next day, the TV talk show hosted by "Oriental Horizon" and "Consumer News" was about to start...

*********

Note: "One Piece" is the original name of the manga, which literally translates to "one piece" but actually means "dress" in English. The author, Eiichiro Oda, was already a fan of dresses when he was an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, the author of "Rurouni Kenshin," believing that women look the most beautiful in dresses.

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