Chapter 241 Speech
Faced with Lu Yiming's blunt rejection, Li Jiahong felt very sorry, but he did not force him to accept.
After all, a forced melon is not sweet.
He made the second best choice and said, "Mr. Lu, your success story is full of inspiration and legend. After reading the report about you, our students all admire your talent and vision very much and look forward to having a more direct way to contact you. So after the school board's research and discussion, we decided to grant you the status of honorary alumnus of Huangren College, reimburse your hotel accommodation expenses during this period, and invite you to give a speech to all the teachers and students of the school to cheer up the students and spur them to study harder. What do you think?"
In front of Lu Yiming, Li Jiahong behaved very politely and did not act arrogantly at all just because he was the principal.
The decision to invite Lu Yiming to give a speech at Huangren College was also made after discussion by the school's board of directors.
In Hong Kong, students in Form 6 and Form 7 are all preparatory students who are about to graduate and will soon enter the university campus and move towards an unknown future.
They are confused and uneasy about their lives, and this is when they need guidance.
Compared to the preaching of elders, the words of genius-level peers like Lu Yiming obviously have more influence on students in school.
This is what Li Jiahong was thinking.
Li Jiahong had already been rejected once, and if he rejected it again, it would be too humiliating and would make Li Jiahong lose face. And Li Jiahong had reimbursed the accommodation fee of the five-star hotel, so Lu Yiming thought that giving a speech was harmless, so he agreed.
"Well, since Principal Li has invited me so kindly, I will not decline. The school does not have the tradition of evening self-study, so the speech will be held at eight o'clock in the evening. What do you think?"
Seeing that Lu Yiming agreed, Li Jiahong was very happy: "Of course I can arrange the time, but Mr. Lu, don't you need to prepare in advance?"
In his opinion, if he was going to give a speech, he should at least prepare a speech first.
Lu Yiming smiled and said confidently: "It's called a speech, but actually I'm just chatting with you all, sharing my mental journey during this period, and my thoughts on society and success. I'm speaking the truth, so there's no need to make special preparations."
Li Jiahong nodded happily: "Okay. I'll ask Teacher Yue to prepare the venue later. Teacher Yue..."
Yue Guodong, who was standing next to him, quickly stood up and said, “Principal.”
"Hurry up and take people to set up the venue, then send a notice to the whole school, asking students to prepare to listen to the speech in the evening."
"OK."
The scene changed so quickly. Lu Yiming, who was an exchange student before, suddenly became a genius who rejected the Ivy League school. Now he had to give a speech in front of all the teachers and students in Huangren College. It felt like he had suddenly changed from an auditor to a lecturer, and everyone around him who heard the news felt complicated.
Especially Zhu Hanwen and others.
Before coming to Hong Kong, who could have expected such a situation to occur?
Li Jiahong had achieved his goal, so he stepped aside and said politely to Lu Yiming, "Mr. Lu, let's go to class. I'll come over to treat you after school in the afternoon."
"good."
Lu Yiming nodded slightly, and then walked into the school under the attention of the school leaders and senior students.
In Hong Kong, a land where capital is king, no matter whether the cat is black or white, a cat that can catch mice is a good cat.
As long as you have money, it is very common to say, "You call me Dad, I call you Brother, let's talk about our own affairs." It is not uncommon for everyone to call Niu Madam in public and Xiao Tiantian in private.
In this world, if you have money, you can have everything.
What money can't buy, you can't buy in any other way.
Therefore, you should become famous as early as possible, and make money as early as possible.
After entering the classroom, Lin Yuzhen felt as if she was still dreaming. She pinched Lu Yiming's arm hard.
The defenseless Lu Yiming screamed: "Ah...what are you doing?"
Lin Yuzhen suddenly realized, "The principal came to the school gate to pick us up personally. I wonder if I am dreaming."
Lu Yiming rubbed his arm depressedly: "Then why are you pinching yourself, why are you pinching me?"
Lin Yuzhen raised her chin as a matter of course: " I'm afraid of pain."
Then, Lin Yuzhen blinked again and looked at Lu Yiming with the eyes of a magical creature: "You actually refused to study abroad at Harvard and Cambridge? Will you really not regret it in the future? Those are the world's top universities. How many people dream of studying there all their lives."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Ordinary people are proud to be admitted to Harvard or Cambridge, but I am different. If I go there, Harvard and Cambridge will be proud to have a student like me. But that is the territory of foreigners. Can I let them have their wish? Impossible."
Lin Yuzhen rolled her eyes and cursed with a smile: "You, you are so shameless."
The afternoon speech was held in the school auditorium.
All the teachers and students in the school were very interested in this speech. After all, Lu Yiming is a legendary figure in Hong Kong.
Fan Xueqin and Deng Yaqing arrived at the door of the auditorium early after school in the afternoon and waited. They held notebooks and pens in their hands and looked like they were going to attend some academic seminar.
This is especially true for the boys.
Because when they think of a young man of about their age who has earned billions through his own abilities, they feel excited and wish they would be the next one.
In this age where everything is about money, there is no better role model than a young genius like Lu Yiming who started from scratch.
Not long after, Lu Yiming, accompanied by a group of school leaders, walked towards the auditorium.
Fan Xueqin excitedly grabbed Deng Yaqing's arm, looked at Lu Yiming with a rosy face, and couldn't help but take small steps and cheered in a low voice: "He's here, he's here, so handsome."
Although Deng Yaqing was grimacing in pain, she still stared at Lu Yiming intently and muttered, "He's handsome and rich. This is the kind of man I should look for in the future."
Li Huishan, who was standing next to him, bit her lip, secretly regretting that she should have been more enthusiastic when they first met, at least to leave a good impression.
But it was too late to say anything now. Looking at Lu Yiming surrounded by the principal and several school directors, Li Huishan felt that she had missed out on 100 million.
The auditorium of Huangren College was very large, with an estimated thousand people sitting inside, and countless eyes were focused on it.
Fortunately, Lu Yiming has a good psychological quality, otherwise, if he suddenly encountered such a big scene, he would have been scared to the point of his legs going limp on the spot.
After Lu Yiming was escorted onto the stage , he looked composed. As the saying goes, money is the courage of a hero. Now that he is worth more than one billion, such a small scene can no longer affect him.
Lu Yiming took the wired microphone handed over by the etiquette club beauty wearing cheongsam and stockings, cleared his throat, and then greeted everyone present: "Hello everyone, I am Lu Yiming, from Baiyun City, the capital of Guangdong Province, and I am currently a senior high school student, which is roughly equivalent to the sixth form students here. I am about to take the college entrance examination."
There was thunderous applause from the audience.
Putting aside the facts, Lu Yiming's identity as a senior high school student is easy to gain everyone's recognition. After all, people love to fantasize. Lu Yiming was worth over 100 million before the college entrance examination, so there is no reason why I can't be too.
Am I weaker than others?
No one will admit that.
"I came to Huangren College to exchange and learn. I didn't think of standing here to preach to you all, because I really hate preaching. I get annoyed when I hear those big truths. So today, I haven't prepared any big truths. You can just listen to me talking to myself here for fun."
Lu Yiming's down-to-earth speech attracted countless laughs, and the whole auditorium was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. Many students who were preparing to take notes with serious faces relaxed their expressions, and then their moods also subconsciously became relaxed.
Zhu Hanwen is a traditional person. He thinks that speeches should be read from a script, prepared in advance and read aloud, and strive to make no mistakes. The entire speech should be started, how to point out the topic, how to expand it, how to sublimate it... all should be done step by step.
But now, when he heard Lu Yiming speaking at the podium, Zhu Hanwen always felt uneasy, fearing that Lu Yiming might accidentally say something wrong and cause trouble.
But Lu Yiming is not a person who likes to follow the rules. He did not regard this speech as a serious report, nor did he think about gaining benefits and fame from it, so he is now in a very relaxed state.
"I see that everyone here is young, which reminds me of a sentence in Lu Xun's article: 'I hope that all young people will get rid of their coldness and just move forward. Don't listen to the words of those who give up on themselves. Those who can do things should do things, and those who can speak should speak. If you have a little heat and a little light, you can be like a firefly, and you can also shine a little light in the dark. You don't have to wait for a torch. If there is no torch in the future, I will be the only light. If there is a torch, and the sun comes out, we will naturally disappear with sincerity and will not only have no grievances, but will also rejoice and praise this torch or the sun; because it illuminates mankind, including me.'"
"I like Lu Xun's articles very much. I think he is a warning bell and a measuring stick. When more and more of his articles appear in our textbooks, it means that our society is getting better and better. On the contrary, if Lu Xun appears less and less in our textbooks, it means that some people are afraid of his appearance. I believe I don't need to say more about what this means."
"Oh, sorry, I seem to be preaching here again. See, it's not the teachers and scholars' fault. It's not that they want to preach, but this place has such magic."
He stamped his feet fiercely, lowered his head and said through gritted teeth: "It's all your fault."
The people below were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.
"Let's get back to the point. I believe you all know why the school invited me to give this speech. Isn't it because I made a lot of money? I believe you have all heard about the battle to defend Hong Kong's financial sector? I firmly believe in the country and actively participate, so I made money. And those who don't believe in the country and Hong Kong have lost a lot of money and are lining up to jump off buildings. Why is this so? Because of choice. Looking back on a person's life, you will find that choice is often more important than hard work. If you choose the right path at the right time, you will get twice the result with half the effort. If you make a mistake, you will be miserable. Getting half the result with twice the effort is still good, but one misstep will lead to eternal regret."
Lu Yiming was chatting and laughing on the stage, not at all stage frightened.
And in the audience, Wu Qiuya was deeply impressed and felt that confident men were indeed handsome.
After talking for a while, Lu Yiming felt a little thirsty. After drinking half a bottle of mineral water, he smiled and said, "I am always the only one talking. I think everyone must be tired of listening. Now you can ask questions. Does anyone have any questions for me?"
The students in Hong Kong received Western-style education and had a strong desire to express themselves. Many students immediately raised their hands high and showed great enthusiasm.
Lu Yiming took a quick look and found a boy who looked more sunny and handsome. He said, "You are so handsome, let's pick you."
A staff member immediately handed over the microphone.
The student took the microphone, introduced himself first, and then asked directly: "I just want to know, how did you make a billion dollars from scratch at the age of seventeen?"
Sure enough, what young people talk about life and path are all too vague. It is better to be down-to-earth. Smart people know that they have to talk about money.
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "I've said before that if you want to succeed, choice is more important than hard work."
The other party was obviously not satisfied with this answer, and then he asked for some details: "Mr. Lu, the newspaper said that you made your first pot of gold by self-studying computer programming, and then earned $300,000 from the world's richest man Bill Gates. Is this true?"
Lu Yiming held the microphone and laughed heartily: "Of course this is true. Bill Gates invited me to join Microsoft at that time, but I thought the salary he offered was too low, so I didn't agree. How much did the world's richest man give me? An annual salary of $100,000, and you're playing like a beggar?"
The students burst into laughter. Lu Yiming's way of speaking was really funny. This casual and unrestrained style was very much in line with the preferences of young people.
"Converted into Hong Kong dollars, the annual salary Bill Gates offered you was about one million, right? Is that low?"
"Yes, it was indeed too low for me, because in the second month after I rejected the offer, I used the $300,000 he gave me as capital and made $500 million."
Although this is a story that has been written in the newspaper, it feels different when told by Lu Yiming, the person involved.
He rejected a million-dollar annual salary and made 500 million instead.
The rich and the poor people at the scene were all silent.
Just as he has been emphasizing, choice is often more important than hard work, because no matter how hard you work, the best you can do is to earn a million dollars a year and join the middle class.
If you want to be successful and wealthy, it is useless to just work hard. You have to make the most correct judgment on key choices.
"Okay, that's the end of the questions, thank you."
The student sat down.
Lu Yiming asked: "Anything else? One more."
Immediately, many people raised their hands, including Li Huishan.
Lu Yiming pointed at Li Huishan and said, "It's you."
