At three in the morning, while still sound asleep, Su Chen was woken up by his alarm.
In order to see the national flag-raising ceremony, Su Chen had specifically looked up a guide before bed. If you wanted to snag a good viewing spot, you had to get up bright and early.
Whether it was to fulfill a lifelong dream or simply out of a deep-seated yearning, Su Chen didn't know, but he went ahead and set his alarm for three in the morning.
After quickly freshening up, Su Chen left his room, got into the hotel's private car, and headed straight for Tiananmen Square.
The Grand Metropark Hotel wasn't very far from Tiananmen Square—less than six kilometers away. With few cars on the road after three in the morning, the trip only took about ten minutes.
With directions from the hotel staff, he found the entrance.
"Holy cow... I thought I was plenty early, but I can't believe there are people who got here even earlier!" Watching the line snake into the distance, Su Chen couldn't help but admire their dedication.
Most of the people in line were young adults, but Su Chen also spotted several families with children. The kids, around six or seven years old, all looked bleary-eyed.
As time went on, the line grew longer and longer. When Su Chen looked back, he couldn't even see the end of it.
"They're letting us in! Wake up, everyone!" Just as Su Chen was starting to doze off, a voice from the front of the line snapped him wide awake.
He scanned his ID and went through security, then moved quickly forward with the flow of the crowd.
Watching the flag-raising ceremony wasn't as simple as it seemed. There were several checkpoints to pass through, but the real competition was the mad dash after the final one.
Using his tall, sturdy frame to his advantage, Su Chen half-walked, half-ran his way to the front of the crowd, stopping just before the final gate.
"Stop pushing, stop pushing! If you knock someone up in this crowd, are you going to take responsibility for it?"
"Hey, buddy behind me, can you chill out a bit? We're all friends here, no need to be so... hard about it, right?"
The moment the final gate opened, everyone took off as if they'd been fitted with tiny motors, each one sprinting at top speed.
Su Chen was no exception, breaking into a run with long, powerful strides.
"Jeez, I'm exhausted! Are these people insane? They run so fast! I almost didn't snag a good spot!" Su Chen gasped, leaning against the railing and panting heavily.
Seeing several young women next to him who weren't even out of breath, Su Chen started to wonder if he was losing his touch.
'Pfft! As if I'd be losing my touch!'
After resting for a moment, Su Chen finally caught his breath and looked at the sea of heads behind him.
It really brought to mind the old saying: "A thousand people can blot out the sky; ten thousand people become a boundless ocean."
THUMP... CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! The sound of perfectly synchronized footsteps echoed from the gate tower's archway.
"The ceremony is starting!" someone yelled, and the clamorous crowd instantly fell silent.
Everyone took out their phones, switched to video mode, and craned their necks to look toward the archway.
Seeing this, Su Chen quietly pulled his own phone from his pocket.
The moment the tri-service honor guard emerged from the archway, a thrill shot through Su Chen.
Watching it in a video online and experiencing it in person were two completely different things.
At that moment, Su Chen understood this profoundly.
As the national anthem began, the entire crowd started singing along. Su Chen held his phone in his left hand and placed his right hand over his heart, feeling it pound in his chest.
In that instant, an idea took root in Su Chen's mind: to travel across the beautiful landscapes of his homeland and see all the places he had only ever witnessed on a screen.
The ceremony was over in about ten minutes, but the crowd lingered, with people finding spots to take photos with their friends and family.
Su Chen, however, began to amble his way out of the square.
He had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, and now that the initial rush of excitement had faded, a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
He decided to head back to the hotel to catch up on sleep before climbing the Great Wall and earning his title as a "true man."
It was only 5:40 AM when he got back to the hotel. Su Chen grabbed some breakfast before returning to his room.
......
"I finally get what they mean by 'you're not a true man until you've climbed the Great Wall.' Anyone who makes it up here is a true hero!"
Su Chen slept straight through until eleven, had a simple meal in his room, and then headed directly for Badaling.
By the time he arrived at Badaling, it was already after one in the afternoon. He joined an impromptu group; it didn't cost anything and would make climbing the Great Wall with a few other people a bit more lively.
Su Chen had seen plenty of videos of the Great Wall and thought the steps wouldn't be that steep. But when he saw it in person, he was dumbfounded.
The climb was enjoyable at first, but the further he went, the steeper the Wall became. Every single step took a considerable amount of effort.
It took Su Chen over two hours to reach the top.
"North Tower Eight really teaches every would-be hero a lesson!"
Standing on the viewing platform, Su Chen gazed down at the Great Wall snaking across the landscape below, a sense of accomplishment welling up inside him.
'I, Su Chen, am officially a true man now!'
If it weren't for his trembling legs, he might have actually believed it.
Su Chen wisely chose to take the cable car back down. It wasn't that his legs couldn't afford the trip down, but rather that the cable car offered better value.
To get back to the city, Su Chen hailed a taxi. He had no other choice; the private car from the hotel had already left after dropping him off earlier.
Not long after getting into the car, Su Chen drifted off to sleep.
He was utterly exhausted. Between waking up so early and climbing stairs for half the afternoon, he was completely drained.
His energy and spirits were all but depleted. All Su Chen wanted now was to get back to the hotel, soak in a hot bath, and get a good night's sleep.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ... He had just started to doze off when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Squinting at the caller ID, Su Chen answered the phone.
"Hello, Qingya. What's up?"
"Brother! Where did you go? You said you were just attending a banquet, right? How come it's the next day and you're still not back? Are you out messing around...?"
Before Su Qingya could finish, Su Chen cut her off. "I'm in the Imperial Capital. I just finished climbing the Badaling section of the Great Wall and I'm on my way back to the hotel now."
"The Imperial Capital? The Badaling Great Wall? Brother! You went on a trip without me?" Hearing that Su Chen was in the Imperial Capital, she was instantly displeased.
"Next time. I promise I'll bring you next time, alright?"
"Next time? I guess I'll have to wait for my summer vacation, then! Oh, by the way, Brother, I have to register at school the day after tomorrow. Will you be back by then?" Su Qingya's voice carried a hint of disappointment.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning." 'So much for staying a couple more days,' Su Chen thought. 'Guess I'll have to wait until my next trip to the Imperial Capital to really explore.'
It was already eight o'clock at night when he got back to the city, and an embarrassing incident occurred when he returned to his hotel.
It turned out the presidential suite Su Chen was staying in had been arranged by the organizers of the BAZAAR Charity Night... but the room had only been booked for one night.
When Su Chen had left around noon, the hotel staff assumed he was checking out and had cleaned the room. It was only when he returned that he found he couldn't get back in.
Su Chen had to go down to the front desk to ask what was going on, and only then did he learn the full story.
In the end, Su Chen had to book a new room for himself.
'There's never a shortage of troubles, is there?' That night, Su Chen had a lot on his mind. A whole lot.