She quickly stood up, and even Little Taotao sitting next to Jian Zhiqing also stood up. Elementary students all performed the Young Pioneers salute, while many of the adults gave military salutes and wore military uniforms. Qin Xiangnuan surprisingly recognized among them Jian Ming, who is Jian Zhiqing and Jian Zhiqin’s father. Nearly a decade had passed, yet time didn’t seem to carve its harshness onto him. Instead, it added a fair amount of maturity and wisdom. He looked very much like Jian Zhiqing, or rather, Jian Zhiqin resembled him a lot. Jian Zhiqin’s features were a bit more delicate, thus he looked more like Li Qiuhua. She thought, Jian Zhiqing would probably look when he reaches middle age.
However, he really was quite handsome, a dignified middle-aged uncle. This is truly when men are most charming, having achieved success in their careers and harmony in their homes.
After the national anthem, it was time for speeches by the leaders, but there were far fewer speeches than usual. After all, this wasn’t a meeting but a Children’s Day celebration. Many children were already feeling drowsy, fearing that if the speeches continued, many might fall asleep.
The two hosts were both adults, probably school teachers. Their hosting wasn’t professional, but it wasn’t bad either, of course, incomparable to professional hosts in the future. The programs from three schools also continued.
Whether adults or children, everyone perked up, focusing all their attention on the performances staged amidst the lively music.
The earlier programs included mostly large choruses, childish and simple—not necessarily pleasant to hear, but such pure voices, one imagines, would be disliked by no one.
There were various types of programs. Qin Xiangnuan felt it was actually a matter of the times, so even if they were school performances, they were pretty monotonous. Yet, they did have the characteristics of this era, albeit lacking in novelty.
A boy roughly the same size as Jian Zhiqin sang a fairly popular song at the time called "Half a Building." Initially, it was quite good, and his vocal quality was solid; the boy really shocked everyone as he began to sing. Unfortunately, halfway through, the pitch became too high, and he couldn’t keep up, leading to an awkward silence. Probably also because he was young, he couldn’t hold the audience, so he just drank half and stepped down, causing some school leaders to smirk sarcastically, while the principal of the performing school’s face turned dark.
This was indeed embarrassing, completely humiliating.
Following that, the curtain drew open for the next performance, a young girl playing the piano. The stage’s audio wasn’t great, so it couldn’t achieve the musical sensation of future piano performances, and it was clear the young girl had not been learning for long, missing some beats. But even so, she received plenty of applause as she was considered a student with a special talent.
Qin Xiangnuan was reflecting on herself, feeling she didn’t have any special talents. She could write calligraphy, do embroidery, and make scallion pancakes. If it were anyone else, these would be considered extraordinary talents. But for her, having lived a whole life again, it really seemed rather unfair to these years.
"Brother Jian, should I learn a musical instrument?"
She propped her chin, suddenly feeling this surge of impulse.
"En, you could," Jian Zhiqing pretended to ponder.
"But what?" Qin Xiangnuan leaned closer to hear him better, it was too noisy otherwise.
"Hehe..." Jian Zhiqing suddenly laughed, "You’re a bit too old for that."