Li Yaqian quickly covered the hem of her skirt, though her pair of snow-white legs remained uncovered.
Wu Hua froze for a second, and immediately received a flick on the forehead from Li Yaqian.
"Hey, Sister Yaqian, you kicked me in the face when you fell back just now. I closed my eyes reflexively, I didn't see anything at all."
Hearing Wu Hua's explanation, she suddenly understood. So when she fell backward, her foot had inadvertently kicked his face. Ha! She had brought this on herself—who told him to massage her foot so painfully?
Only then did Li Yaqian's anger subside, though she still gave Wu Hua a sidelong glance and said, "You brat, you got lucky this time! Stay away from me, I'll rub it myself!"
Wu Hua had no idea what Li Yaqian meant by "getting off easy"—whether she meant he had figured it out or not, she was letting him off the hook anyway.
Realizing this was not the time to provoke her further, he awkwardly retreated to the side and watched as Li Yaqian applied medicinal liquor to massage the swelling on her foot.
He thought to himself that if he could play some music or a relaxing, pleasant tune right now, it might put Li Yaqian in a better mood, so he walked over to the tape recorder to look through the cassettes.
After rummaging for a bit, he found *Let the World Be Filled with Love*. Feeling the song was quite fitting, he put it into the tape recorder and pressed play.
As the gentle, melodious tune began to play, Li Yaqian involuntarily raised her head. With the music, the irritation in her heart gradually melted away.
Back in the nineties, color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and tape recorders were high-end luxury goods—how could ordinary families ever afford them?
Li Yaqian's family was no exception. They didn't have a single one of these four major appliances, owning only a fourteen-inch black-and-white television. Listening to music was a luxury for her.
Seeing Li Yaqian humming along with the tape recorder, Wu Hua knew her mood had improved, so he stepped closer and suggested, "Sister Yaqian, let's eat first. The food is getting cold."
In a great mood, Li Yaqian glanced at Wu Hua and said, "Alright, let's try this brat's cooking!" After treating her foot injury, she was able to step on the ground again, though she still walked carefully and with a slight limp.
Eating the dishes Wu Hua had cooked, Li Yaqian had to admit that the taste was truly wonderful. Unlike the plain home-cooked meals her mother made, these had a distinct and unique flavor, prompting her to give Wu Hua a couple of words of praise.
Having been starved for a while, Wu Hua smiled and nodded at the compliment, then eagerly dug in with big bites.
This left Li Yaqian feeling rather annoyed. *Hmph! No one is fighting you for it, why are you eating so fast?*
After the meal, Wu Hua went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, while Li Yaqian went to the balcony to check on her skirt and underwear. Seeing they weren't completely dry yet, she turned back to the living room intending to watch TV. Accidentally catching sight of the newspaper on the coffee table, she picked it up and began to flip through it.
As she read, she discovered Wu Hua's article and found it hard to believe for a moment. You had to understand that in that era, being able to publish an article in newspapers and periodicals already made someone a "writer," and "writer" was a lofty and respected title.
After verifying the author's name and school name, Li Yaqian finally believed that it was genuinely Wu Hua's work.
Recently, Dabao had constantly been chattering in her ear about Wu Hua—how good his martial arts were, how he won first place in school and municipal math competitions, and how he had even gone to the provincial level to compete.
She had originally been half-skeptical, thinking Erbao might be exaggerating, but seeing this concrete article right in front of her, she believed it. When did this inconspicuous little guy become so amazing?
Around eight o'clock in the evening, the rain stopped, and Li Yaqian's clothes were dry. After changing into them, Wu Hua walked her all the way home with a flashlight. When he got back and saw his own pile of wet clothes still lying on the floor, he muttered to himself: *Why didn't Sister Yaqian think to help me wash mine too when she was doing the laundry?*
The next day—ah, it seemed even rebirth couldn't escape a life of hard labor. Self-reliance was the only way to go!
On the third day, the sun was shining brightly. Wu Hua and Song Xinmei took the bus to Donghu Hotel, arriving at the hotel lobby at seven-twenty to find Deputy Director Wang from the Education Commission and their guidance counselor already waiting there.
On the fourth day, standing next to Deputy Director Wang was a middle-aged man of about fifty, slightly bald on top and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looking quite imposing.
Deputy Director Wang introduced him as Director Guo from the Wujiang City Municipal Education Commission, who had received a temporary notification from the Provincial Department of Education last night and rushed over to attend the commendation ceremony.
Upon learning that he was Wu Hua, Director Guo shook his hand warmly and offered several words of praise.
As soon as they entered the venue, Wu Hua sensed something unusual. The venue was arranged with great solemnity; clear promotional boards stood on both sides, and two rows of seats were set up on the stage, with nameplates placed in front of every single seat.
Standing far away, Wu Hua couldn't make out whose names were written on the nameplates.
Normally, competition commendation ceremonies did not include arrangements for stage seating. Today, not only were there seats set up, but nameplates had also been placed, which suggested that important leaders would surely be gracing the event with their presence.
Looking over at the nearby promotional boards, which focused on provincial educational achievements and had nothing whatsoever to do with math competitions, Wu Hua was completely baffled for a moment, still unaware that he was about to become the spotlight star of today's conference!
As Wu Hua and the others stepped into the venue, a conference staff member greeted them with a smile. After confirming they were from Wujiang City, the staff member led them to the designated seating area for Wujiang City.
Perhaps because the provincial capital's team was close by, bringing many advantages, their seats were arranged in the second row, while in front of the first row was a continuous line of tables draped with white dacron tablecloths—clearly seats reserved for the leaders.
Melodious music played throughout the venue. After taking his seat, Wu Hua looked around as delegation teams from various cities gradually arrived, guided into their seats in an orderly manner by the staff.
Wu Hua noticed that there were more officials in attendance today than usual. In past pre-competition briefings, a city's delegation typically consisted of a fixed configuration of eight guidance teachers in addition to a single Education Bureau official serving as team leader.
He specifically counted, and this time every team had an extra one or two officials. Connecting this to the personal attendance of Director Guo from the Wujiang City Education Bureau, the reason behind it became self-evident.
Ultimately, Wu Hua's gaze fell upon the brightly lit stage. It was set up quite elaborately, with the main podium located on the left and two rows of seats directly in front of it. Microphones stood beside the seats in the front row, clearly indicating that the conference was of no small scale.
Glancing at the names on the nameplates, Wu Hua puzzled over them for a while without recognizing a single one. Ever since his rebirth, he didn't even know who the director of the Songjiang Railway Bureau was, let alone the bigwigs of the province! But judging by the scale of the scene, these people undoubtedly possessed formidable backgrounds.
Song Xinmei sat right next to Wu Hua, and a faint, subtle fragrance drifted to the tip of his nose, making Wu Hua's heart skip a beat.
With the occasion being so formal today, Song Xinmei was also very excited. Surrounded by completely unfamiliar people, she certainly felt too shy to bicker with Wu Hua.
As it neared eight o'clock, a group of officials walked in one after another and were guided to sit in the first row. Seeing Director Guo and Deputy Director Wang from the Municipal Education Commission chatting cordially with them, Wu Hua learned from their conversation that these individuals were the heads and deputy heads of various departments within the Provincial Department of Education.
Soon after, a crowd of reporters carrying video cameras, still cameras, and interview microphones surged in and were directed to reserved seats in the middle of the front row. Print reporters and photographers took their respective seats, while television camera operators set up tripods and adjusted their camera angles toward the stage, busy yet entirely orderly.