No Regrets for Graduation

The interview questions weren't many and ended quickly.

The reporter smiled at Xiao Yi and said, "Thank you for your cooperation, student Xiao Yi. This interview will be broadcast on the news channel tonight, so be sure to tune in."

"I will," Xiao Yi nodded in agreement.

"Oh, right." Suddenly, the reporter took a briefcase from the cameraman, pulled out a document, and said, "Our station manager learned that we're interviewing our Provincial Top Scholar, so he specifically approved ten thousand yuan as sponsorship for our Provincial Top Scholar's future university studies."

"Fill in your relevant information on this document, and the money will be transferred to your account in a few days."

Hearing the reporter's words, Xiao Yi's eyes lit up again.

Hah!

If you had just said so earlier!

If you had mentioned the ten thousand yuan, I would have agreed yesterday.

He took the document, looked it over carefully, and said, "Oh, no, no, you really shouldn't."

Finally, under the "strong persuasion" of the surrounding school leaders, he "reluctantly" filled out the document.

It mainly stated that the money was a gift from their Provincial Satellite TV station and asked him to fill in his ID card number, bank account number, and other details.

Of course, for a Gaokao Top Scholar, receiving money from various organizations and institutions was actually quite normal.

In the past few days, some major companies in their province had also contacted him, mostly offering money, even houses, but his family had refused them all.

According to his dad, they would only accept rewards from state-run entities, such as public schools or government agencies. The Hui Province Television station fell into that category, which was why Xiao Yi accepted this money, while all private rewards were declined.

The reasoning was simple: rewards from the state were primarily to recognize him and encourage him to do better in the future, contributing to society and the nation.

Private rewards, on the other hand, were often for profit, hence the refusal.

Xiao Guohua, a civil servant working in the government, had a clear understanding of these matters, so he made this decision, and Xiao Yi naturally expressed his strong support for his father's decision.

He happily accepted the sponsorship from the television station. After filling out the information, the reporter bid farewell, as they had to rush back to edit the interview footage for tonight's broadcast.

Xiao Yi was then surrounded by the school leaders again.

Principal Liu Songlin gave him a thumbs-up. "Well done."

Xiao Yi said shyly, "It's all thanks to the good teaching at the school."

Liu Songlin laughed heartily and then said, "Alright, we've also brought the Top Scholar reward we promised you today."

Soon, another school leader brought out a scholarship plaque, which read: "USTC High School Scholarship of Thirty Thousand Yuan for 2020 Science Stream Top Scholar and School Student Xiao Yi."

Clearly, this scholarship plaque was newly made.

As usual, they first took a group photo with the scholarship plaque.

After the photo, Xiao Yi thought the day's events were over. However, Principal Liu then said to him, "Oh, right. Haven't you taken your graduation photo yet?"

Xiao Yi was taken aback. "Graduation photo?"

He shook his head. "No, I probably can't take one now."

He was the only one graduating from his class; how could they take a graduation photo?

Principal Liu laughed. "How can we possibly miss your graduation photo?"

Xiao Yi was confused. Just then, he heard the sound of running from behind him. He turned his head and was stunned.

He saw his classmates from Class 3 of the Science Stream running from the entrance of the sports field.

He suddenly remembered that Teacher Luo had left at some point, and he had thought she had gone back to class – the first and second years hadn't had their holiday yet.

But he hadn't expected that Teacher Luo had actually gone to call the Class 3 students down.

"Brother Xiao is awesome!"

"As expected of our Brother Xiao, he easily accomplished what we couldn't!"

"Long live Top Scholar Brother!"

"Our Brother Xiao is invincible!"

The Class 3 students ran over and surrounded him, offering their congratulations.

Clearly, they had already learned that Xiao Yi had successfully become the Top Scholar.

However, it would have been difficult for anyone at this school not to know.

Xiao Yi was stunned. "You guys...?"

"We're all here to take graduation photos with you. Happy?" his roommate Zou Yu'an said with a smile.

Chen Wei said profoundly, "You have fulfilled an old promise, honored a contract, so we have come to fulfill our part and present you with the final celebration."

Xiao Yi's heart warmed.

He thought he would never get to take a high school graduation photo again, but it was being made up for at this moment.

More than forty classmates had come to accompany him through this final graduation ritual.

Looking at his classmates' warm smiles, he said sincerely, "Thank you, everyone."

"Hah, what's there to thank? We should be thanking you for letting us skip this class, you know," Chen Wei said, patting him on the shoulder with a smile.

A knowing smile also spread across Xiao Yi's face.

Indeed.

For high school students, even getting half a class period off was cause for celebration.

"Slap!"

"Here, your academic gown. Put it on."

At this moment, the Principal beside him placed an academic gown into Xiao Yi's hand, clearly having it ready.

"Principal, what about ours?" Chen Wei, standing nearby, asked proactively. While he wouldn't dare speak to the Principal alone, with so many people present, his courage had grown considerably.

The Principal waved his hand. "You don't get one. We'll talk about it when you officially graduate next year."

"Alright." Chen Wei didn't ask further, or rather, his courage only extended this far.

The photographer responsible for the group photo had also arrived. It was from the photo studio near their school entrance. They heard that the owner offered to take the graduation photos for their Top Scholar this year free of charge, as it was probably the first time their studio had ever photographed a Top Scholar.

As the Provincial Top Scholar this year, Xiao Yi's name had spread like wildfire in their area.

Even a banner was hung at the school entrance: [Congratulations to our student Xiao Yi for becoming the 2020 Gaokao Provincial Top Scholar]. In addition to the banner, a large congratulatory announcement was posted on the public bulletin board outside, also detailing this matter.

Under the photographer's arrangement, Xiao Yi and the Principal stood in the center of the first row, with the students from Class 3 standing behind them.

In the camera's frame, all the students were wearing school uniforms, while only Xiao Yi was in an academic gown.

With the countdown, "3, 2, 1, say cheese," the shutter clicked, and the moment was captured.

Laughter erupted at the end, signaling that Xiao Yi's high school life had not only concluded but had done so without any regrets.

Time quietly passed.

Afterward, Xiao Yi returned to his research on papers, essentially going into seclusion in a way.

The trending topics about him eventually faded from the charts as time went by.

This was the nature of the information age: arriving with a bang and departing just as fiercely.

As everything settled into calm, knowledge began to surge within Xiao Yi's small bedroom.

Finally, a month later.