From Wage Slave to Tycoon novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: A Day in the Imperial Capital

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.

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