IHWL – Chapter 88.1

Chapter 88: Finale 

 The spring breeze provided warmth.

    The sun was high in the sky; cicadas were singing; birds were flying; and there was a vibrant scene everywhere.

    The sun shone on the open-air stage, illuminating the red banner in the center. The breeze blew and made the red banner dance with the wind, producing a hunting sound —— ‘College of Geosciences Graduation Ceremony’ was conspicuously engraved on the banner in gold letters, which was unforgettable at first sight.

    Nearly a hundred chairs were neatly arranged in the lawn in front of the stage. The family members of the students were radiant with joy as their warm eyes fell on the group of young graduates.

    Because of the traffic jam, Mu Xiulun was late for the ceremony. Luckily, when he entered, the ceremony had not yet officially started. He found an inconspicuous seat in the back row, and did not alarm too many people.

    He sat still and looked up toward the stage —— A group of students in graduation togas gathered in two rows under the command of the staff, nervously waiting for the upcoming tassel turning ceremony.

    In between the black masses of bachelor’s gowns, Su Jishi, in a red and black doctoral regalia, stood out.

    In order to accommodate students of different sizes, the graduation gowns were all made loose and fat. Most of the people wearing them looked skinny, like children wearing sacks.

    However, the same ceremonial gown on Su Jishi made her look tall and straight, outstanding, and vivacious.

    Straight and slender calves peeked out from under the gown in a pair of eight-centimeter high heels.  She turned the mediocre graduation ceremony into her personal show.

    On the stage, the dean was giving a speech for the ceremony, while the students talked in whispers due to boredom. Only Su Jishi, without distractions, was listening carefully to the speech on stage.

    Along with her red lips and black hair were her shining bright eyes. Mu Xiulun’s eyes seemed to be glued to her, and simply couldn’t be moved away.

    It was as if there was telepathy between the two. They were so far apart, but Su Jishi suddenly turned her head sideways and looked in Mu Xiulun’s direction.

    They were separated by hundreds of people, but their eyes were like a pair of magnets that tightly sucked each other.

    Su Jishi smiled and blew a flying kiss toward him.

    Mu Xiulun smiled and caught it.

    No one noticed the eye-rolling interaction between them. Su Jishi quickly withdrew her eyes and returned her attention to the stage.

    After the long dean’s speech, the most important part of the graduation ceremony was finally ushered in —— the tassel.

    There was a long tassel on all the degree caps. Each student went up to the stage in turn, and the leaders of the institution personally transferred the tassel from the right to the left. This ceremony represented the ripening of the wheat ears, the success of the graduates, and the fruitfulness of their studies. Su Jishi was the last to go on stage because she was a doctor.

    There were eighteen students on the stage with her, only three of whom wore the red and black doctoral robe. A green and blue ribbon was pressed around Su Jishi’s neck. She bowed her head modestly, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the old dean approaching. He raised his hand and pulled her tassel aside.

    The old dean handed the graduation certificate in front of her and smiled till the wrinkles on his face deepened: “Student Su, congratulations.”

    Su Jishi met the old dean’s attentive gaze and shook his hand: “Thank you, Dean Zhang, I will continue to dedicate myself to the cause of geology.”

    Truth to tell, Su Jishi had the pleasure of meeting Dean Zhang once. After she became Su Jin, her first film was filmed in the University. When Dean Zhang heard about it, he even made a visit to the set to ask for an autograph for his little grandson. Su Jishi respected Dean Zhang very much, and she didn’t expect that she would be lucky to receive this diploma from him today.

    After the tassel turning ceremony, all the graduates on the stage went down in a row, except Su Jishi who stayed on the stage.

    With heels stepping across the red carpet, she walked with her head high to the lectern and stopped.

    Looking down from this height, she could clearly see everyone down the stage. She raised her eyes far away to the last row of the crowd, where Mu Xiulun’s eyes were glued scorchingly on her.

    The man’s gaze spoke of faith, love, and courage that stretched endlessly and passed into her heart.

    She opened her mouth, and her clear voice resonated through the microphone to every corner of the stage.

    “Hello, everyone. I’m the representative of this year’s graduates of the College of Geosciences, and the title of my speech is…”

    ——”Okay! Cut!!!”

    The rough male voice interrupted Su Jishi’s unspoken words and cut off the solemn atmosphere of this ‘graduation ceremony’.

    Behind the monitor, the Director snapped his fingers in satisfaction; the cameraman slowly turned off the equipment and went somewhere with his camera assistant to smoke and refresh himself.

    It turned out that this wasn’t a real graduation ceremony event, but in the shooting of a large film entitled 《Measure》.

    This film was a tribute film designated by the government, and was expected to be released on the National Day next year. It told the story of the first group of geologists who measured the motherland’s mountains and rivers with their feet and recorded every inch of China with their perseverance and endless thirst for knowledge at the beginning of New China.

    Some of these great geologists were buried in the snowy mountains; some were lost in the desert; and some have lived long enough to pass on their experience to newcomers from generation to generation.

    At the end of the film, the timeline jumped back to modern times. A new generation of outstanding geologists graduated from school and began a new round of exploration.

    Su Jishi played one of the graduates.

    Because this film was a Tribute Film, the main roles were all played by domestic powerful actors, including three film emperors, two film queens and four five billion box office actors… The cast list could really frighten one to death.