My name is Lin Yuan

Lin Yuan ascended the podium with heavy steps, facing a thousand people in the large conference hall, unsure how to begin.

He had no opportunity to practice his public speaking skills during his undergraduate studies, and he hadn't even realized that public speaking was a skill until now. Because when Gu Xuan had just stepped down, there was a lot of applause from the audience.

There were very few ordinary, mediocre students like him from non-elite universities who could handle such occasions.

At this moment, a sense of inferiority, which he thought had long left him, resurfaced in Lin Yuan's mind. That feeling of always believing he was not as good as others.

'How could I ever learn that?'

'How could I ever get in?'

Even, 'How could a girl like that ever like me?'

He had doubted himself like this countless times.

But after getting the system, he finally realized, 'I am not inferior to them. Even without the system, I am not inferior to these people.'

One must first overcome oneself, not through blind confidence in the manner of Ah Q, but by accomplishing things and truly believing in oneself from the bottom of one's heart.

'My system didn't give me click-to-get abilities. If I hadn't tried everything I could, what good would its powerful computing power be?'

'So, I, Lin Yuan, achieved success mutually with the system. I was once like you, but now, with the system, I can stand above you mortals.'

He thought of Xia Ye's face.

'Xia Ye definitely wouldn't have liked the old me.'

'First, it's not a material issue, but confidence. Because confidence is a man's greatest charm.'

'One sentence: When a man dies, he faces the sky!'

Lin Yuan quietly took a deep breath, then leaned into the microphone, "Teachers, students, hello everyone. My name is Lin Yuan."

"I graduated from the Computer Science Department of Tangcheng Institute of Technology. After graduation, I worked as a CURD developer for about half a year, but I couldn't see any hope. So I had no choice but to prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam.

To afford rent and food, I had to prepare for the exam while also delivering food.

The days of delivering food were tough. I saw fewer sunrises in my four years of college than in one month of delivering food. I saw Zijin City at every hour from midnight to six in the morning.

For more than half a year, when my mind was tired, I went out to deliver food; when my body was tired, I came back to study. Gradually, I found that those books were not actually obscure, and intense physical exertion did not affect the efficiency of reading. On the contrary, physical fatigue spurred me to study harder.

The books I should have read in four years of college, I finished in the half-year gaps while delivering food."

"I encountered all sorts of unreasonable customers, strange and disdainful looks, and leech-like station managers. But fortunately, there was still more sunshine in this world.

These experiences made me think about why the world is the way it is. The process of thinking taught me to be more rational.

And rationality is an essential skill for a STEM professional, just like a spiritual root for an immortal cultivator in a fantasy novel.

That's right, in these six months, I reshaped my spiritual root."

"After experiencing all of this, I finally arrived here."

Lin Yuan's speech on stage was full of emotion and a touch of chuunibyou, filled with his memories and deep feelings. However, it did not resonate much with the students in the audience.

So much so that Professor Zhang turned back several times, saying, "Sigh, why are students nowadays no longer interested in this kind of content?"

"It's not our era anymore," Dean Li comforted him.

Gu Xuan, watching Lin Yuan, showed a faint, disdainful smile on his face, 'Just a useless loser from a trash school. What era is this, and he's still giving a hardship-style speech?'

So far, Lin Yuan's speaking style was indeed not well-received, because very few people present had experiences like his.

More people's impression of him was: Oh, so the guy on stage is a delivery rider.

Some even secretly joked, "Is our school that easy to get into now? Even delivery riders can get in?"

Lin Yuan calmly watched the calm below, because human joys and sorrows are inherently not interconnected.

If exam ability were described by a formula, Exam Ability = Personal Ability * k + Environmental Factors * j + Luck Factors * i.

If 'k', the coefficient representing personal ability, is large enough, it can greatly weaken the influence of the other two factors. Such people are exceptionally talented, like someone who breaks through the nine heavens with a single sword stroke.

Unfortunately, Lin Yuan was not such a person, and 99.99% of people in this world are not this type of person.

Since that's the case, many people simply force themselves to believe that factors not due to their own ability are part of their personal ability.

When an ignorant youth is shrouded in the shadow of inferiority due to material poverty, he is already behind at the starting line.

'Alright,' Lin Yuan chuckled self-deprecatingly, 'After all, Xia Ye is one of the very few people in this world. Because what ordinary people can understand is not heartfelt connection, but strength.'

'Since that's the case, let's talk about strength.'

Lin Yuan cleared his throat, "I thank my mentor, Professor Zhang, for giving me this opportunity despite all objections."

Ahem~~, Dean Li next to Professor Zhang felt a bit awkward for a moment. Because, damn it, he was the main objector.

"Does your student have to be so direct?" Dean Li quietly complained to Professor Zhang.

"Hmph, you ignored him then, but now you're using his scholarship to glorify yourself. You even want me to make him your political achievement, you are shameless..."

"I... I misjudged back then, isn't that enough? I, Li Youcai, am not a scoundrel; I will compensate him doubly."

"I hope you won't break your word."

"Hey, old ghost Zhang, we've known each other for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am?"

"A person who doesn't get up early without profit."

"Alright, I won't argue with you. I'll reserve one of the organization's quotas this year for this kid."

"Huh? Really?" Professor Zhang became excited, grabbing Dean Li's arm, "You can't go back on your word."

"Hey, using his 100,000 yuan scholarship for publicity is also very helpful for him. I'm not the kind of petty person who only cares about himself. Don't worry, he will definitely have a spot in this year's quota."

"Then it's settled." Professor Zhang's posture made it seem like he couldn't wait to drag Dean Li to press his handprint.

Lin Yuan's voice continued, "Through my mentor's introduction, I interned at Hao Tuan Company for a month. During that month, I maintained my previous diligent habits.

Therefore, I received a one-time scholarship of 100,000 yuan. And I also successfully joined Good Group's Shanghai Research Branch after graduation."

"Wow!!!"

The entire venue instantly erupted!

Because entering a major internet company is the goal for many people pursuing postgraduate studies, and being able to enter an internal research institute of a major company is something many people can only dream of. But Lin Yuan had already achieved it on the day of the matriculation ceremony.

Lin Yuan's starting point now was the endpoint that most of these people would not be able to reach even three years later.

What's more, Lin Yuan also received a scholarship of 100,000 yuan.

How could this not astonish these people!

Gu Xuan really wanted to imagine Lin Yuan as just an outsourced worker at an internet company. But an outsourced worker couldn't possibly get a 100,000 yuan scholarship, nor could he get into an internal research institute.

He recalled Dean Li's deliberate instruction to prolong the ceremony earlier, and he was now convinced in his heart—he himself was indeed a complete minor character.

Even if Gu Xuan was an idiot, he had already understood that Dean Li intended to use Lin Yuan as a political achievement. Therefore, Lin Yuan had to be given the opportunity to speak on stage.

Lin Yuan, who was staring at the audience, didn't pay attention to Gu Xuan's position at all. He couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself.

'Indeed, compared to the process of growing peaches, the world is still more concerned with the abundance when picking them.'

He still remembered the faces of a few people in the audience, those who had shown disdain when he mentioned "Tangcheng Institute of Technology." And now, they were filled with awe and trepidation.

Lin Yuan imagined that if he were to greet them now, they would surely be very eager. After all, he now had a way to provide them with internal recommendations in the future. An internal recommendation at least guaranteed them one interview opportunity, and internal recommendations were usually not limited to just one's own company.

For someone working in a major company's research institute, helping to get an internal recommendation opportunity was very simple.

More importantly, if they had the chance to follow Lin Yuan and work on a project or two to boost their resumes, they would be able to stand out from many competitors in the future.

In short, Lin Yuan now was like a Foundation Establishment cultivator displaying his strength, naturally attracting the attention and admiration of all the Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Subsequently, Lin Yuan concluded as simply as he had begun—a brief opening, a straightforward ending.

"My name is Lin Yuan. Thank you, everyone."

The remaining time was like garbage time on an NBA court; the student representatives who came on stage afterward naturally lost their air of being favored by heaven.

When the matriculation ceremony ended, Dean Li, without hesitation, gave the closing speech.

This old man was very excited, as if the "Vice" in his full title "Vice President Li" had loosened another notch.

One should know that normally, people would only tactfully call him "Dean Li" when the actual Dean and Party Secretary were absent. But everyone knew he still carried the "Vice" title.