Chapter 8

“Everyone, stand at attention!” A middle-aged man, who seemed to be in good spirits, stood on the rostrum and shouted. His voice spread to every corner of the campus through the loudspeaker.

The students straightened their backs a little, still looking a little listless.

This is especially true for senior high school students.

The one with the most spirited outlook is the first-year student in high school.

There is no doubt that this year’s first year of high school will end up like that.

This is the evolution of the old-timers.

The person who shouted on the stage, if nothing else happened, should be the physical education teacher. He shouted this sentence, but it was merely going through the motions. Seeing that most people raised their heads, he continued to shout, “Raise the national flag, play the national anthem, pay attention! Present!”

As the national anthem sounded, the students all looked perfunctorily at the slowly rising national flag.

There are very few people with piercing eyes and firm beliefs.

In fact, this is also very normal. After all, they are just ordinary people. We can’t ask everyone to be as disciplined as soldiers.

These are all good, but there are still a few boys in the team who are randomly arranging the lyrics and singing in a low voice, which makes Mo Xueyao frown.

But they all laughed happily, as if it were an amusing thing.

“Forget it… don’t take it too seriously…” Mo Xueyao said to herself and finally saw the national flag raised to the top.

Next is the principal’s speech.

The principal who came to the stage was unexpectedly young, so at first, Mo Xueyao thought he was just another teacher.

He was about thirty years old, his eyes showed a hint of wisdom, and the stubble on his chin looked very rough. He wore a neat suit and had an elite demeanor.

“Students, teachers, good morning.” In the beginning, it was just an ordinary opening remark.

However, Mo Xueyao noticed that he didn’t bring a manuscript to the rostrum, but only held a microphone in his hand.

It looked like a completely unscripted speech.

“After getting to know each other for a month, I believe that all the students are already familiar with me, the new principal, right? I don’t know how you feel about the recent changes in the school. Does the new school uniform fit comfortably?”

“Principal—! This school uniform is too cold!” A girl’s shout sounded in the relatively quiet playground.

Many students looked in the direction of the sound.

Only the students standing in the front row would know.

That girl is in Class 1 and 2 of Senior High.

In fact, Mo Xueyao could accurately say the name of the caller. That’s right, it was her desk mate, Wang Jiale.

When queuing up at the classroom door, the head teacher had already assigned a place to Mo Xueyao by visually measuring her height.

Her height of 158 is considered short, but she is not the shortest, so she is standing in the fifth position, while Wang Jiale, who is the shortest in the class, is standing in the first row of the team.

“I’ve heard what that girl said. Don’t worry, all the girls’ autumn and winter school uniforms and coats will arrive tomorrow. You can change clothes according to your own needs, and the boys will have to wait a few days.” The young principal seemed very approachable, with a bit of a smile in his tone.

“At the end of the National Day holiday, all students should calm down and focus on their studies. Starting today, our school will open some clubs. I always believe that students should not only study textbooks. Everyone should have their own interests and hobbies. The several clubs opened in the school are led by instructors. But if there are students who want to establish their own clubs, then there is no problem at all. Submit the application to the class teacher, and then the class teacher will hand it over to the teaching director. After approval, you will be eligible to create a club, and the applicant will also become the first president of the club.”

The students on the playground suddenly became restless.

Many boys looked eager to try.

Some people even wanted to open a video game club.

Although Mo Xueyao felt that this association must be very interesting, she felt that this association would probably not be approved…

“However, it should be noted that if a club’s condition is not good, there are not enough people to join, and it will have many negative effects, then this club will be dissolved, and each student can only apply for a club once a semester. So please consider it accordingly.”

Standing on the podium, the young principal adjusted his tie, and then said, “This time we are opening four clubs led by instructors, and they are—”

“The basketball club and the football club are directly led by Teacher Ye Ran; there is also the Social Practice Club, which is directly led by Teacher Yinling, and the Photography Club, which is led by Teacher Qiu Yi.”

“The number of clubs is not very large. If we want our Yukong High School clubs to become more abundant and diverse, we need the joint efforts of all the students.”

The students in the audience could no longer contain their excitement. The third-year students only hated that they would have to take the college entrance examination next year, and they might not be able to participate properly. They all complained with their heads down, wondering why the new principal hadn’t come out sooner.

“Everyone don’t rush to be happy. Be quiet for a while. I still have some good news to share with you all.”

The students suddenly became quiet, listening intently for any good news.

“The cafeteria of our Yukong High School took advantage of the National Day holiday to undergo a small renovation. In order to make the meals of all students more diverse, the cafeteria will now provide seven windows, each offering six different types of lunch. The menu will change every month. If you really can’t eat lunch, you can go to the seventh window in the cafeteria and exchange the meal tickets for snacks for the day. But remember, the snacks provided at noon are limited.”

“Wow–!!”

The students were all excited now.

Even more excited than before.

Although the food in the school cafeteria was not too unpalatable, it was basically the same dishes served repeatedly, and one would inevitably get tired of eating them after a while.

This was really good news for the students.

“At noon today, everyone can experience the food in the new cafeteria.” The principal coughed twice, and then said, “Next is the announcement for the freshmen.”

Many of the sophomore and senior high school students who anticipated what would happen secretly laughed.

After all, they had also been through it and now they could finally witness the freshmen going through it.

“Military training will start on 10.18. First-year students in high school, please be prepared. The class teacher of each class will notify you of the items you need to bring to the military training location.”

The first-year high school first-year students, who hadn’t been happy for a few seconds, suddenly became dejected.

But Mo Xueyao was different from others. Her eyes shone a little, and she looked forward to the arrival of military training.

After all, military training was the best time to show one’s masculinity.

Even though she was a girl now.

But it didn’t stop her from yearning for it.

Just like how she still yearned to become a soldier and defend the country.

After all, she had spent sixteen years as a boy. Although she might be slightly different from ordinary boys because of her appearance, deep down in her heart, she had a stronger dream of family and country than most girls.

Whenever she thought about defending the country and dying on the battlefield, she couldn’t help but feel excited.

“Okay, I won’t talk nonsense. That’s the end of my speech.” The principal simply handed the microphone to the dean standing beside him.

The dean was also a young and attractive woman, wearing a pair of black translucent stockings and a gold-framed glasses, exuding an intellectual beauty.

She seemed more disciplined than the casual principal.

She talked about some more detailed school arrangements and the statistics of each class’s scores in the previous week.

But like the principal, she was efficient, avoiding empty words and quickly finishing what she had to say.

Finally, it was time for the student representatives to speak, and it seemed to take a long time.

The student representatives delivered lengthy and cliché speeches, talking a lot without saying much substance.

At last, when the students grew impatient, she finally finished speaking.

The familiar athlete’s march played, and the physical education teacher took the microphone again. After clapping hard, he said, “Hello? Okay, now the classes will leave in order.”

Almost every class formed neat lines downstairs and then immediately dispersed, turning into a scattered group and heading to various destinations.

Some wanted to return to class, some wanted to go to the cafeteria to buy snacks, and some wanted to go to the bathroom together…

If it were in junior high school, Mo Xueyao would probably be going to the bathroom with her close friends, even if she didn’t actually need to go.

But now…

She was alone.

She hardly knew anyone at school.

So, she went back to the classroom on her own.

The class representatives were collecting the homework that others had placed on the desks, while the first student in each large group counted the number of homework submissions. They all seemed quite busy.

“Huh—our new principal is so nice and handsome~” Wang Jiale, who sat at the same table, started to get excited as soon as she sat down.

The corner of Mo Xueyao’s mouth unconsciously curled into a smile as she looked out the window, pretending not to hear what Wang Jiale was saying.

“Hey, at the same table.”

Mo Xueyao didn’t respond.

“Mo Xueyao?” Wang Jiale poked Mo Xueyao’s back. Mo Xueyao reluctantly turned her head to look at the lively girl sitting beside her, who could never be boring.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Don’t you think the new principal is handsome?”

“Uh… he’s okay…”

“His last name is also Mo, just like yours! Hey, could you be related to the principal’s family?”

Mo Xueyao drooped her eyelids helplessly. “Even though there aren’t many people with the surname Mo, you can’t assume that I’m related to him, right?”

“Well… that’s true… By the way, did you copy the class schedule?”

“Schedule?” Mo Xueyao blinked blankly. “I didn’t see where…”

“Oh, I forgot. That piece of paper got torn off. It’s fine, though.” Wang Jiale eagerly opened her pencil case. “Do you want to copy mine?”

“Sure… thank you.”