On September 4, 2004, Jiang Yubai just turned nine and transferred to a new school.
He was assigned to Grade Four (Class One).
The head teacher was a female teacher in her thirties, with shoulder-length hair, wearing rimmed glasses, a white shirt and a linen skirt, and looking a little serious.
The principal, vice principal, and dean of studies all stood at the door of Grade 4 (1) classroom and whispered a few words to the head teacher. The head teacher immediately showed a very bright smile and said in a gentle voice: "Jiang Yubai, I am your head teacher, my name is Wu Xiqian."
Jiang Yubai stood straight and said, "Hello, Teacher Wu."
Wu Xiqian smiled even more deeply: "Jiang Yubai, come into the classroom quickly. This class happens to be my Chinese class, I'll let all the classmates in our class come to meet you."
Teacher Wu raised one hand and knocked on the front door of Grade 4 (1).
In an instant, the whole class became quiet.
Teacher Wu stepped into the classroom, and the soles of his shoes made a dull sound on the plastic floor. Jiang Yubai, carrying his schoolbag, walked silently, like a silent ghost, and stood on the three-foot podium.
"Attention, everyone in the class," Teacher Wu clapped his hands and introduced, "There is a new transfer student in our class this semester. His name is Jiang Yubai."
There are a total of 48 students in the class. After Teacher Wu finished speaking, 48 pairs of eyes focused on Jiang Yubai's face.
Jiang Yubai was wearing a light-colored T-shirt and black sports pants. His height, body shape, and appearance were superior to all the boys in the class.
The fact was in front of everyone—Jiang Yubai was the best-looking boy in the whole grade, and even in the whole school. His facial features could withstand the most critical scrutiny.
He introduced himself: "Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Yubai, Jiang is the Jiang of Yangtze River, Yubai is..."
A girl's voice came from the last row of the classroom, "The river is green, the birds are whiter, the mountains are green, and the flowers are about to bloom."
The river is green, the birds are whiter, the mountains are green, and the flowers are blooming.
That’s right, this poem was written by Du Fu and is also the origin of Jiang Yubai’s name.
Who is speaking
Jiang Yubai looked over and saw a pretty girl with a ponytail. She was still childish, with clear and bright eyes. She looked at him with interest, looking past the many classmates in the classroom.
There was an empty seat next to her.
She has no desk mate.
Jiang Yubai was a little distracted. He thought his name was obscure and no classmates would know it, but he didn't expect that a random girl in the class could pronounce it
At this time, Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard. The head teacher wrote the three characters "Jiang Yubai" on the blackboard, and taught the whole class diligently and conscientiously. At the end, he added: "Student Jiang Yubai, he studied in a private primary school in Singapore for three years. He returned to China with his parents this summer. If he is not good at Chinese, classmates, should you help him?"
The whole class shouted in unison: "Yes!"
Teacher Wu nodded and said loudly: "You are the third group of students I have taught. Every time Teacher Wu teaches students, he starts from the first grade and teaches them all the way to the sixth grade... Why? Because in this way, Teacher Wu and the students are like a family, very close, right? Our class is also the experimental class for the entire grade, and we must set a good example for the entire grade. Let me make it clear in advance, if anyone dares to bully the transfer students in my class, don't blame me for not showing you mercy, do you hear me?"
The students answered sparsely: "I heard it!"
Teacher Wu wiped the blackboard clean and patted off the cigarette ash.
The chalk dust floated in the bright sunshine, and each particle of dust had a specific shape.
They fell on Teacher Wu's clothes and stuck to her hair, like a heavy snowfall from the sky, and made Jiang Yubai unconsciously take a step back - he had a mild obsession with cleanliness since he was a child.
Teacher Wu faced the whole class and urged again: "Speak louder! Didn't you have breakfast this morning? Did you hear what the teacher said?"
The students immediately responded in a higher tone: "I heard it!"
Only then was Teacher Wu satisfied.
She turned around and said to Jiang Yubai: "Okay, look for a seat and pick one yourself. Otherwise, the teacher will help you choose one..."
Jiang Yubai hesitated for a moment and walked straight to the last row of the classroom. He sat next to the girl. Before he could speak, the girl said to him, "Hello, my name is Lin Zhixia."
He replied politely: "Hello, my name is Jiang Yubai."
"Haha," Lin Zhixia smiled sweetly, "I know your name is Jiang Yubai."
Jiang Yubai unzipped his schoolbag and took out a black leather notebook. He placed the notebook on the desk and stuffed his schoolbag back into the drawer, ready to listen carefully.
He and Lin Zhixia sat in the corner of the last row of the classroom. Lin Zhixia sat next to a glass window, with a blue cloth curtain folded by her and hung on the side.
She was very curious about Jiang Yubai. She would turn her head to the side and glance at him secretly from time to time, and finally she got tired of him.
He whispered, "Why are you looking at me?"
Lin Zhixia quietly asked back: "How old are you this year?"
Jiang Yubai answered truthfully: "Nine years old."
Lin Zhixia asked again: "Did you grow up in Singapore?"
Jiang Yubai shook his head: "I went abroad with my parents when I was six years old, and returned this year."
Lin Zhixia held her chin with one hand: "Then can you speak English?"
Jiang Yubai pretended to be modest and answered: "Not really."
Having said that, Jiang Yubai deliberately spread out his math notebook in front of Lin Zhixia, and every page was filled with math notes written in English - because when Jiang Yubai was preparing for the TIMSS and PISA math tests in Singapore, he could only find relevant textbooks in English. So his math notebook was full of content such as base conversion, and even had two pages of calculations with plex numbers.
Lin Zhixia's eyes sparkled, and she seemed very happy: "Plural numbers, have you ever learned them?"
She was so happy that she didn't know what to do. She kept telling Jiang Yubai: "Complex numbers are such a wonderful invention! They let me know that physics is the most wonderful subject in the world! The combination of real and imaginary parts makes wave superposition operations much more convenient! Even quantum computing can be simplified using complex numbers. The product of a complex number and a conjugate complex number will become a real number, and quantum computing must first determine a series of possible locations where a particle can be observed, so that we can use complex space to do hermit inner products..."
Jiang Yubai's mind buzzed. He had no idea what Lin Zhixia was talking about.
I couldn't understand a single word.
The reason why Jiang Yubai learned complex numbers was that when he was in Singapore, his parents found a PhD in mathematics from the National University of Singapore to be his tutor.
The tutor was very responsible. He often helped Jiang Yubai to expand his thinking, first from "integers" to "fractions", then from "fractions" to "radical numbers", and then from "radical numbers, real numbers" to "imaginary numbers and complex numbers".
He often praised Jiang Yubai: You are a very smart student.
In fact, Jiang Yubai has always been the top student in his grade during his three years in Singapore. He is at the top of his class in English, mathematics, science, Chinese, sports and music.
The annual tuition fee for the private primary school in Singapore that Jiang Yubai attended was 200,000 RMB. In 2003, the housing price in Beijing's second ring road community was about 10,000 RMB per square meter. Jiang Yubai's mother joked, "Your annual tuition fee is equivalent to a small study room in Beijing."
At that time, Jiang Yubai's elementary school classmates were either from wealthy or noble families. Their parents attached great importance to education, and everyone took extra classes. Jiang Yubai was able to stand out from this group of people and rank first without losing, so he felt that he was doing well.
But today, Jiang Yubai seemed a little confused.
The long conversation that Lin Zhixia had said to him reminded him of his own experience of attending a lecture.
When Jiang Yubai was in primary school in Singapore, their principal occasionally invited some professors from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to give lectures. At that time, Jiang Yubai and his classmates sat upright in their seats, and although they could not understand what the professors said, they still applauded for the professors.
As for university professors, just like Lin Zhixia, they will talk about their research fields and cannot stop.
Jiang Yubai closed his notebook and couldn't help asking, "Lin Zhixia, what do you usually think about?"
Lin Zhixia clasped her hands together: "Do you like physics and mathematics? Do you believe that the universe has an end? Do you think time and consciousness can measure this world? Do you think humans have free will?"
She lowered her head slightly, spoke in a very low voice, and her fair face flushed lightly with excitement.
She also stretched out a finger and pointed at Jiang Yubai's notebook: "Jiang Yubai, you should know more than just... some complex number operations, right?"
Lin Zhixia didn't know that her words were like a knife, stabbing into Jiang Yubai's heart, breaking his self-esteem and causing blood to flow.
"I..." Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Teacher Wu on the podium yelled, "Lin Zhixia!"
Lin Zhixia sat up straight and opened her textbook.
Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard again: "You guys! Stop talking in class! Classroom discipline! You must abide by classroom discipline! Only I am willing to reason with you. When you get promoted to junior high school, which teacher will pay attention to you? You students who talk nonsense will be kicked out of the classroom immediately. You will not be able to listen to the class, your grades will drop, you will fail the junior high school entrance examination, and you will not be able to get into a good high school. Then you will know that Teacher Wu is doing this for your own good!"
Lin Zhixia covered her face with a book and smiled secretly.
Even though Teacher Wu's eyes were fixed on the area near Jiang Yubai, Jiang Yubai still asked, "Lin Zhixia, what are you laughing at?"
“It’s fun,” Lin Zhixia replied, “I’m an observer of human behavior.”
After the Chinese class was over, as soon as Teacher Wu stepped out of the classroom, most of the students in the class gathered around Jiang Yubai.
The students formed a solid barrier, and Jiang Yubai was like an exhibit in the barrier for all the students to visit.
We were all nine or ten-year-old children, and we did not conceal our jealousy, curiosity, and exploration at all.
A fat boy said, "Jiang Yubai, my name is Zhou Bufeng, I'll sit in front of you."
Jiang Yubai looked through his homework book, recognized his name, and nodded and said, "Hello."
Zhou Bufeng rested his hands on Jiang Yubai's desk. He was wearing a pure cotton sweatshirt, which was slightly tight around his abdomen, revealing a small belly. He patted his belly and suddenly asked, "Jiang Yubai, Dong Sunqi and I saw you and your father at the school gate this morning. Do you have a sports car at home? Is it an Aston Martin?"
Aston Martin refers to the luxury sports car brand owned by the American Ford Corporation. The company is located in London, England.
As soon as Zhou Bufeng finished asking, Jiang Yubai replied: "My father didn't come today. The person you saw is my family's driver."
“Ugh—” A burst of booing broke out among the classmates.
This unanimous voice of the group made Jiang Yubai feel a little uneasy. In addition to the Aston Martin, his garage also had Porsche, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and McLaren F1. Jiang Yubai guessed that he was out of tune with his classmates. Or, in other words, his family background was very rare in the class.
Sure enough, Zhou Bufeng pushed Jiang Yubai and said, "Where do your parents work? Your family is so rich!"
Lin Zhixia also said: "Yes, you transferred here, and the principal stood at the door to see you."
Zhou Bufeng stole a glance at Lin Zhixia and kept asking, "Jiang Yubai, where do you live? Do you have a big villa?"
Do you have a big villa
This direct question seemed rude. And the presumptuous answer was very abrupt. After all, most of the classmates in the class didn't have sports cars, and probably didn't have villas. Jiang Yubai's home in this city was not only a villa... To be more precise, it should be a private manor. His home had a tennis court, a swimming pool, a rose garden, and a martial arts training ground.
In July this year, when Jiang Yubai first returned home, he often got lost in his home.
Jiang Yubai lowered his head and thought, frowning slightly: "I don't know."
Satisfied with his answer, he repeated it: "I don't know."
"You don't even know this?" Zhou Bufeng looked at him as if he were a fool.
Lin Zhixia asked, "Because your house is too big, so you can't tell whether it is a villa or not?"
"You're right." Jiang Yubai admitted coldly. He had just sat at the same table with Lin Zhixia for less than half a day, and he was already beginning to dislike her improvisation and pretentious cleverness.
Zhou Bufeng pointed at another boy with a crew cut in the class and said, "Hey, that's Dong Sunqi! Dong Sunqi is our class monitor, and he's the richest man in our class! Jiang Yubai, you're richer than him!"
Dong Sunqi heard someone calling him. He turned his head to glance at Zhou Bufeng, then turned his face back.
The fourth grade (one) class was invisibly divided into two camps.
The first camp is centered around Dong Sunqi, who is surrounded by mostly boys. The second camp is centered around Jiang Yubai, who has a nearly one-to-one ratio of male to female students.
Dong Sunqi was wearing a red scarf and a badge with two stripes on it. He stretched out his left arm and showed the two stripes. The boys around him were all laughing, and there was an inexplicable atmosphere of joy in the air.
Someone shouted, "'The Adventure of Little Tigers'! Dong Sunqi bought 'The Adventure of Little Tigers' again!"
Dong Sunqi stood up slowly so that the students in the last row could see his inventory clearly.
When everyone looked over, they saw seven copies of "The Adventures of Little Tigers" stacked on Dong Sunqi's desk.
"The Adventures of Little Tigers" is a popular book in the school. Students are keen to use a transparent "decryption card" to find clues in the book while reading.
A copy of "Adventure Little Tigers" costs 18 yuan.
If you buy it yourself, you will definitely lose money.
It's worthwhile to borrow it from classmates.
Dong Sunqi is a long-term supplier of "The Adventure of Little Tigers". He has a good relationship with everyone in the class. In addition to "The Adventure of Little Tigers", he also often buys series of books such as "Goosebumps" and "Ghost Blowing the Light" to meet the extracurricular reading needs of the majority of classmates.
Dong Sunqi once said: My family is rich! I am extremely wealthy!
Therefore, his nickname is "Dong Wanguan", and some people call him "Master Dong".
Zhou Bufeng took the lead and ran to Dong Sunqi, shouting to him: "Dong Wanguan, lend me a book! I'll return it to you next week." More and more people came to borrow books, and Dong Sunqi's area started to become noisy.
Jiang Yubai's side was much quieter.
Lin Zhixia tidied up her desk and said to Jiang Yubai, "In our city, the best schools are public schools. The tuition fees of public schools are not expensive... The school selection fees seem to be a little more expensive. However, compared with your private elementary schools in Singapore, our good schools are still much cheaper."
"What do you mean... you Singaporeans?" Jiang Yubai said impatiently, "I'm not Singaporean, I'm Chinese."
Lin Zhixia tilted her head: "I'm sorry. Are you angry?"
She blinked, her eyes looking very confused.
Jiang Yubai blushed as she stared at him. He could only turn his head and look the other way before answering her, "I'm not angry."
"That's good!" Lin Zhixia clapped her hands, "Get out of my way. There's only ten minutes between classes. I'm going to play card flipping."
The so-called "flipping cards" is a fun little game popular in the whole school. This game has been popular in the whole school for a long time. It was once initiated by senior students, then spread to lower grades, and even became popular in all primary schools in the city.
Before participating in the "Flip Card" game, you must first prepare 1 yuan as starting capital.
This 1 yuan can be used to buy 40 small playing cards at the store at the school gate. The back of each playing card is covered with crisscrossing blue patterns, and the front is a different character from the Japanese anime "Pokémon" - including Pikachu, Togepi, Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, etc.
At the beginning of the game, two students stand on both sides of the desk, show their cards, and then turn them over on the table. Then, they should bend down slightly and take turns to slap the table with their palms - whoever can turn over the card, the card belongs to him.
"What's so fun about this?" Jiang Yubai asked in shock.
Jiang Yubai looked at his classmates who were obsessed with it, especially Lin Zhixia who was also enjoying it... Jiang Yubai felt that he couldn't understand it.
A new round of poker has begun.
In this round, Lin Zhixia played against Dong Sunqi.
Lin Zhixia was wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt and grey jeans, and her figure was thin and frail. Her wrists were too thin and soft to exert any strength, so how could she possibly knock over two cards
Facing such an opponent, Dong Sunqi actually did some warm-up exercises. He bounced up and down a few times, stretched his hands and feet, and prepared for battle: "I'll go first!"
Lin Zhixia agreed cheerfully: "Okay! You go first!"
She laid out a "Dream" card.
The students watching exclaimed, "What a dream! Dreams are so rare! A senior in the sixth grade is willing to pay 3 yuan to buy a dream!"
"How is it?" Lin Zhixia said, "I'll play Dream, what will you play?"
Dong Sunqi felt the pressure from the strong. He had to stay calm. He took a breath and the breath sank into his lungs. He opened his five fingers and wrapped them around the two corners of the table: "I'm going to... Pikachu!"
"Ah! Pikachu!" Another classmate commented, "I spent 7 yuan last time and bought hundreds of cards, but I couldn't get a single Pikachu! Class Leader Dong, you are so generous!"
Dong Sunqi raised his palm and pressed it down, signaling the crowd to be quiet.
He said: "I am the monitor of our class. If I am not generous, who will be?" He looked at Lin Zhixia and said: "I am going to do it!"
Lin Zhixia urged: "Hurry up, don't waste my time."
Dong Sunqi bent down, exerted all his strength, and slapped the desk hard with his palm. The force was so great that it seemed as if the whole desk would crack.
The two cards on the table did not move at all.
Dong Sunqi's expression collapsed.
"Hahahahahahaha, it's my turn!" Lin Zhixia was very happy.
She knelt on a chair, stretched out her right hand, adjusted the angle, and muttered something.
What is she talking about
Jiang Yubai couldn't help but walk over to eavesdrop. He was very close to Lin Zhixia. He heard Lin Zhixia say, "The angle is 37 degrees, and the torque is in this direction..."
Then, she tapped the cards lightly, and the two cards flipped over at the same time, revealing the faces of "Mew" and "Pikachu".
The classmates applauded her: "Lin Zhixia, you are so strong!"
"Oh, I'm lucky." Lin Zhixia happily put away the cards and went back to the group of girls to play cat's tangle with them.
Dong Sunqi sat on the chair in a daze, feeling sad because of the departure of "Pikachu". His expression was sad and melancholy, and a classmate nearby comforted him: "Squad Leader Dong, don't be sad."
Dong Sunqi shook his head. He looked through the window and gazed at the sky: "No, I'm not sad. Winning or losing is the meaning of fighting... I wanted to protect something, but I lost it in the end! Goodbye, Pikachu!"
Jiang Yubai muttered to himself: "Psycho."
These students in Grade 4 (1) still had the immaturity of Grade 3 and had not yet developed the composure of Grade 4. Jiang Yubai walked out of the classroom and wanted to go outside for some fresh air. Suddenly, the cell phone in his pants pocket began to vibrate wildly. He stood in the corridor, took out his cell phone, and answered, "Hello?"
His driver replied: "Mr. Jiang, you forgot your water cup in the car. I just found it and will send it to your school right now..."
"No need," Jiang Yubai insisted, "I'm not thirsty, I don't want to drink. No need to bring me a cup of water."
The driver said anxiously, "That won't work, Mr. Jiang. Children are growing up every day, and I've already walked into your school."
When Jiang Yubai was talking to the driver, he felt someone behind him. He turned around and saw Lin Zhixia standing behind him. She looked at him with her eyes wide open, as if she had just uncovered a huge secret.
He took a step back and leaned his back against the cool railing.
He asked, "Why are you looking at me again?"
Lin Zhixia asked: "Are you afraid of me?"
Jiang Yubai asked back: "What are you afraid of?"
Lin Zhixia said: "Some of my relatives call me a freak. Just like your relatives... call you Mr. Jiang?"
Jiang Yubai's driver is not a local, but he has been working for the Jiang family for a long time. He is used to calling Jiang Yubai's father "Mr. Jiang" and casually calls Jiang Yubai "Little Mr. Jiang".
In fact, Jiang Yubai really didn't like the title "Little Jiang Zong". But he was too embarrassed to ask him to change it - it would show that he was not broad-minded enough to care about a mere title.
He was about to speak when the class bell rang.
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai returned to the classroom one after another and sat back in their seats quietly.
It was sunny today, and white spots of light fell on the table, making the wooden surface look golden and silver. Lin Zhixia found it fun, holding a ruler and chasing the bright spots. She also imitated others and called him "Little Jiang."
He avoided her gaze and turned his face to the side: "If you scream again, I won't play with you anymore."
Lin Zhixia became more interested and called out, "Mr. Jiang."
In elementary school, many classmates liked to give nicknames to others, and even liked to call others by their nicknames. Lin Zhixia used to think this behavior was very boring.
However, when Lin Zhixia discovered how much fun it was to call someone by a nickname, she couldn't stop. Especially the more embarrassed the person was, the more curious she became, and the more she couldn't help but call him: "Little Jiang, Little Jiang, Little Jiang... Little Jiang!"
Jiang Yubai punched the table hard, making a loud noise.