Half a year later, the branches in Beijing and Shanghai were successively completed and began enrolling students. After another six months, the branch in Shenzhen was also completed and started enrolling students after the Spring Festival of 1992.

With funding in place, teachers in place, and accurate targeted enrollment, all schools got on track after the second semester.

The school's revenue exceeded expectations.

The school's headquarters remained in a provincial capital city, and the scope of art training expanded to preschool children, adding various national art professional examination tutoring classes. The teaching area was also expanded, preparing to offer adult model training, among other things.

The branches in Beijing and Shanghai mainly focused on pre-examination tutoring for admission to national key music and dance academies, while the Shenzhen branch primarily catered to the artistic training of children from high-income local families and investors from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

The school's influence rapidly expanded nationwide, and the good reputation and examination results ensured sufficient enrollment and excellent teaching staff.

In 1991, the school's shareholders' meeting officially appointed Lei Tiezhu as chairman and Yan Yuanchao as vice chairman and principal of the Beijing branch, and the meeting also approved the appointments of other leaders. Unexpectedly, under Yan Yuanchao's management, the Beijing branch has been operating since 1991 and has surpassed the headquarters and all other branches in scale and efficiency over the past thirty years.

Yan Yuanchao began to work mostly in Beijing.

Before coming to work in Beijing, his salary and year-end bonus were already quite high; when the average monthly salary for ordinary people was just over a hundred yuan, he was already earning an average of four to five thousand yuan per month.

The board decided that his salary would remain unchanged in the first year at the Beijing branch, but the school would be responsible for housing and a car, and he would hold 20% of the management shares.

Unexpectedly, under Yan Yuanchao's management, the Beijing branch has been operating since 1991 and has surpassed the headquarters and all other branches in scale and efficiency over the past thirty years.

In the last twenty years, he also became the second largest shareholder and actual controller of the Beijing school, holding 40% of the shares.

When Yan Yuanchao first came to work in Beijing, he rented a house in a hutong near Wang Jia's workplace and his parents' home close to Di'anmen Street.

In 1994, he bought a villa in Changping, Beijing for Wang Jia and himself, which was one of the earliest famous villa areas in Beijing, called "Bishui Manor." At that time, the price was only 3,500 yuan per square meter. Later, feeling that it was too far from the city center, he bought a small villa within the southeast second ring road of Beijing, a location that was excellent yet discreet, known as Yilong Villa, which was little known to outsiders.

When Yan Yuanchao and Wang Jia first got married, they lived apart, although Wang Jia's parents did not oppose it at that time out of respect for their daughter's wishes. This was quite common in their units during the 60s and 70s.

Later, when Yan Yuanchao started the branch school in Beijing, the couple rented a flat in a hutong.

However, Yan Yuanchao understood in his heart that he owed Wang Jia too much, so after achieving success and improving their economic conditions, he had to make up for it.

He liked buying villas because they felt more down-to-earth than apartments, with a yard that allowed Wang Jia, who loved flowers and plants, to grow more flowers. Additionally, villas often had more rooms, allowing his mother and in-laws to come and live with them.

The union of Wang Jia and Yan Yuanchao was both heartfelt and unexpected for many comrades from the X Division propaganda team back then.

Wang Jia was of average height and appearance, standing at only 1.60 meters, while Yan Yuanchao, who was nearly 1.80 meters tall and handsome, seemed somewhat mismatched with her.

After returning from the military to civilian life, their relationship faced many uncertainties, especially with the distance between them.

Wang Jia was born into an intellectual family and graduated from a regular university, while Yan Yuanchao joined the military art troupe at a young age, having a very thin cultural background.

However, the two loved each other deeply.

This made their former comrades in the military envious, especially the female soldiers from the original military district art troupe's dance team.

This was also inseparable from the open-mindedness of Wang Jia's parents and the support of Yan Yuanchao's mother.

In 1987, their daughter was born. At that time, Yan Yuanchao was busy with the affairs of the art school far from Beijing, and Wang Jia rushed back to Beijing just before giving birth. She returned to school when their daughter was not yet a month old. During her maternity leave, she relied entirely on her retired parents for help.

Having a daughter at the beginning of his career made Yan Yuanchao feel particularly guilty, and he always kept this matter firmly in his heart.

Entering the 21st century, the Beijing branch of the art school developed very well, separating from the headquarters and merging into a second-tier university in Beijing, becoming one of its branches, officially named the Art College of Beijing XX University.

Yan Yuanchao was the main investor in this college, but due to his age, he no longer managed specific teaching work.

It wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that Yan Yuanchao, who had already passed retirement age, was truly freed from the affairs of the school in Beijing.

Due to health reasons, Wang Jia applied for early retirement due to illness at the age of 50, and she stayed at home to play the piano and recuperate.

Their daughter, like Yan Yuanchao and Wang Jia, has been very independent since childhood. After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music's affiliated high school, she was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music in the UK to study classical piano with a renowned teacher and even held a solo piano concert at a music hall in Austria. After graduating with a master's degree, she is currently engaged in piano teaching in Europe.

Yan Yuanchao brought his mother to Beijing early on to live with them. After retiring, he lived with Wang Jia, his mother, and a nanny in a villa in Bishui Manor in the suburbs of Changping, away from the hustle and bustle, growing flowers and vegetables.

Since last year, after the pandemic, they began to return to the Yilong Villa in the city for short stays, which was convenient for gathering with old comrades and colleagues from the school.

When Pan Jun called to ask whether he and Wang Jia were living in the city or the suburbs, he asked what was the matter?

Hearing that Dong Xiaoxue from the propaganda team back then was in Beijing and wanted to gather in the evening, he was very excited and readily agreed.

Yan Yuanchao: That's great! Wang Jia and I can both attend tonight. We are living in the city now, very close to Chongwenmen. It's been over forty years since we last saw Xiaoxue. Even if we live in the suburbs of Changping, we will come over.

Pan Jun: I can see how excited you are. Xiaoxue is still your dance partner. I'll send you the address in a bit. See you tonight!

When Pan Jun mentioned that they were dance partners, he was referring to the dance "Goodbye, Mom" that Yan Yuanchao choreographed when he was transferred from the military district art troupe to the propaganda team of the X Division, which he danced with Xiaoxue.