Chapter 286: Will he act on impulse?

'In the past, Liang Sicheng, Zhu Kezhen and many other predecessors studied at Harvard. They relied on their intelligence to absorb advanced knowledge here and were respected by many people. Today, my classmates and I have followed in the footsteps of our predecessors and come here. We are full of yearning for knowledge and culture. We will prove that we are just as good as our predecessors, that we Chinese are not inferior to anyone, and that no matter the colour of hands, white, yellow or black, they can be held together tightly!'

With Zhou Ming's final impassioned speech, the Harvard Theater immediately erupted into the warmest applause, and all the students spontaneously stood up, applauding and cheering for Zhou Ming.

'This was truly an eye-opening speech!'

On the side of the podium were the positions of the school board of directors and the heads of various key departments. They also stood up with the students and applauded for Zhou Ming's speech. The school director praised and said to Lawrence, 'Old friend, for you to name those Chinese people as the freshman representative to do this time's freshman representative speech, I think I can now express my reservations. I know that he may not be so acceptable to you, but to Harvard, he was wonderful. I believe that tomorrow's newspaper will have Harvard's opening ceremony on the front page. What a nostalgic feeling!'

To the chancellor's sentiments, chancellor Lawrence just casually smiled, 'Maybe, but I don't regret my decision.'

Zhou Ming was not aware of the short conversation between Lawrence and the school director, but even if he had, it would have been useless. At that moment, he was walking down the podium to the applause of more than a thousand Harvard students.

'Chinese, you are right. Since we have come to Harvard, and since we are in this country of freedom and democracy, we should be tolerant and understanding of each other. As the elite of the world's elite, we must set an example of our own elite status, and we must not be like South Africa with its apartheid wall. That would be a great insult to ourselves!'

'Chinese, I can accept you enrolling, but you will never be able to match us. My country is now the most powerful country in the world, which is in itself proof of our excellence. You Chinese are the representatives of the new students today, but don't get too happy, we still have four years of campus life together. At the graduation ceremony in 1994, we will show you who the real winners are!'

The students of various skin colours in the audience spoke to Zhou Ming one after the other, and although some of their words carried a provocative tone, their emotions were no longer as excited as they had been at the beginning. Everyone was more of a joking mood.

Meanwhile, in the last row of the stands, the fat guy also felt incredible: 'This is truly a miracle. I never imagined that this Chinese person was so inspiring. Hey Wang, it seems that you have really sent your elites this time, just as you did a hundred years ago.'

The fat man said, turning his head, but just in time he saw Wang Jian packing his things. He exclaimed in surprise, 'I said Wang, what are you doing?'

'Leaving here. With this speech, there is no need for us to listen to the rest, we must report this news back to the organisation at the first opportunity,' said Wang Jian.

'Okay, you're in charge.' The fat man helplessly spread his hands. 'It's just that the old man Lawrence originally wanted to humiliate the Chinese, but instead he achieved the brilliance of the Red Chinese. If I could, I would go down in front of that old man and see the wonderful expression on his face.'

Offstage, Zhou Ming returned to the area where the finance class was located. He couldn't help but say that these Harvard students, although they were all just freshmen, had also demonstrated the qualities of elites selected from all over the world. They all stood up and cheered for Zhou Ming's speech just now, but they all stood firmly in their own positions, leaving a passable path for Zhou Ming.

It was precisely because the other Harvard freshmen were so well-mannered that class monitor Chen Shu and the others did not need to come out to greet them, nor did they need to show off their own qualities.

Back in the area where the finance class was located, Ming Zhou saw the eager and excited gazes of all his classmates. Ming Zhou said, 'Fortunately, I didn't let everyone down.'

Just a few words, but they made all the students in the finance class tear up, because everyone understood the circumstances under which Zhou Ming was forced to be the representative of the new students, and how he gave a speech on stage without any preparation, to the booing of all the other Harvard freshmen, and finally won over these thousand elite students from all over the world, making them cheer for him wholeheartedly.

'Chen Shu, go and thank the other students for their support, and sit down. Don't lose face for us here,' Zhou Ming said.

Perhaps the finance class will have to be re-assigned when they arrive in the US, but for this small group, the original class committee still has a lot of authority.

So Chen Shu led all 25 students in the finance class to bow deeply to all the other Harvard freshmen before sitting down together, without any hesitation. This action also left everyone with another impression, and it was still fresh in everyone's mind by the time the ceremony ended at 8pm: these people from red China are not to be trifled with.

'Hey, Chinese people, are you really from that red China? I'm sorry if I say this without any intention to offend you. I just want to be friends with you. God, I'm going to show you to my father, he definitely won't believe it, you're really amazing!'

'Chinese, which college are you going to study in? It turns out to be the Department of Economics at the Business School? That's a pity, I was thinking of being able to study with you, but with so many of you studying economics together, I think the Department of Economics will definitely be very lively this year.'

'Chinese Week, aren't you going to join the student union? I believe with your eloquence you will definitely be able to become the 'little president' managing the 6,000 students at Harvard University, and you will also be the first Chinese 'president'!'

That evening, after the commencement ceremony, when Ming Chau led the finance class out of the theatre, the surrounding students, no longer bound by the ceremony, were finally able to speak their minds and came up to them to chat. Ming Chau was fine with this kind of scene, as he had some experience dealing with it from his previous business career, but the other finance students were embarrassed, so it was nearly an hour before Ming Chau and the others were able to be left alone.

Looking at the dark night sky, Zhou Ming said to his classmates, 'Today's incident was an accident, but as the saying goes, there is always a way out. Everyone can go back and think about what they gained and lost today. And since we have all entered the business school, Harvard Business School at that, we must learn to think more broadly. Then we can think about how to maximise our interests.'

Chen Shuhe nodded with everyone to show that they understood, only Ye Ning picked up on the scent. She asked, 'Teacher, is there something else you want us to do when you let us go back?'

Zhou Ming didn't expect Ye Ning to suddenly ask, but he also had no intention of hiding it from them. He replied, 'I do have something else. Chen Shuhe, you take the students back first.'

Chen Shu nodded and said yes, but Ye Ning still asked Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, can I go with you?'

Zhou Ming had wanted to refuse, but when he looked at Ye Ning's hopeful eyes, he didn't want to disappoint his female student, so he nodded in agreement. Afterwards, Chen Shu took the other finance class students back to the dormitory, while Zhou Ming took Ye Ning and the bodyguard ** to go the other way.

As they walked along the road, Ye Ning whispered to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, thank you for taking me with you.'

This remark made Zhou Ming a little surprised, but when he turned his head to look at Ye Ning, he suddenly understood, because Ye Ning's face was now red, and she didn't dare to look at Zhou Ming in the eyes, obviously having the secret joy of a young girl.

Zhou Ming had a headache. It wasn't that Ye Ning was ugly, in fact, she was quite pretty, especially with the innocence that was unique to her age. But the point was that she was his student, and even though he appeared to be in his early twenties, his actual psychological age was fifty. If he really had any thoughts about Ye Ning, he would be nothing more than a beast!

It was just that Zhou Ming was not good at handling relationships with girls in the first place, let alone this kind of forbidden relationship.

In his previous life, Zhou Ming had watched some films about teachers and students, but they were all Japanese style, more bestial than animals, and impossible to be of any use. They only made Zhou Ming feel even more at a loss.

Fortunately, Ye Ning was very understanding and did not let the awkward atmosphere last long. She quickly changed the subject and asked Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, please forgive me for being nosy, but the opening ceremony has just ended, where are you going?'

'I'm going to the principal Lawrence's office to thank him,' Zhou Ming replied.

'What? Teacher, I didn't hear you wrong, you said you were going to Principal Lawrence's, why is that? And doing that at this time...is that a good idea?'

Ye Ning was extremely surprised. In fact, this was the question she had asked casually, but Zhou Ming's answer was something she never expected. The school opening ceremony had just ended, and Principal Lawrence had just been slapped in the face by Zhou Ming's actions. Now he was going to visit him. No matter what, Lawrence was the president of Harvard University. How would they get along with Principal Lawrence if they got on so badly? What would happen to their lives and studies here for the next four years?

From Ye Ning's expression, Zhou Ming could completely guess what she was thinking at the moment, so Zhou Ming immediately explained, 'Don't look at me with that expression, I really want to thank him, I'm not going to mock or anything.'

'Teacher, I know that you are a very stable person and not someone who acts on impulse, and I can also understand that you definitely wouldn't go out of your way to humiliate someone over such a trivial matter, but I still don't understand, why do you want to thank President Lawrence? Do we need to thank him?' Ye Ning asked curiously.

'Absolutely,' Zhou Ming said, but when he saw that Ye still looked puzzled, he had to ask her in return, "Ye, let me ask you, what kind of person do you think can be the president of Harvard?'

Ye didn't understand Zhou Ming's thinking, and she still tried hard to think about it before answering, "I think he should be a highly respected educator.'

'Do you think that kind of person would just be a teacher, not knowing how to get along with people or having political acumen?' Zhou Ming asked again.

'That's impossible,' Ye Ning said immediately. "If all you can do is teach, then you're just a teacher, and there's no way you can become the principal. To become the principal of Harvard, in addition to having very good educational abilities, I think it's more important to be able to manage. You need to have the mind of a CEO to be able to take care of the big and small things in the school in an orderly manner, and you need to be able to coordinate some internal conflicts and emergencies, etc.'

In the end, Ye Ning concluded, "Such a person can even go to a big company to be the president, and it's impossible that they don't have political acumen.'

  Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'Indeed, to be selected from among countless Harvard graduates to serve as the president of his alma mater, this person must have extraordinary abilities and, more importantly, political acumen. Then, do you think such a person would be so headstrong as to act on impulse?'