For two whole days, Lin Zhixia didn't come to class.
Jiang Yubai's campus life is like a faded oil painting.
Lin Zhixia's seat became empty. Her laughter, her recess games, her "Human Observation Diary" all disappeared without a trace.
Lin Zhixia was recuperating at home, and there was no news. Jiang Yubai began to worry whether something had happened to her. On the night she had a fever, Jiang Yubai called her home, but no one answered.
Jiang Yubai's parents and uncle never answer calls from strangers. Jiang Yubai suspects that Lin Zhixia's family also has this rule.
So, after school that afternoon, Jiang Yubai decided to go to Ancheng Community in person.
At five o'clock in the evening, the sky gradually darkened, the setting sun broke through the sunset glow, and all things melted into the twilight of dusk.
The main gate of Ancheng Community was open, and people were coming and going.
The cold winter wind blew, making people wrap their coats and scarves tightly. The streets were dark and cold, and two street lamps were broken.
Jiang Yubai put his hands in his pockets, mixed in with a group of students going home from school, and followed them into the Ancheng community. He found the Lin family's supermarket with ease - to his surprise, the supermarket was still open today.
Jiang Yubai saw Lin Zhixia through a plastic door curtain.
Lin Zhixia was wearing a sweater and sweatpants, and a pair of pink bunny slippers. She put her hands on the cash register, looked up and said to her mother, "Where is my brother?"
Mom replied, "Your brother hasn't finished school yet. At the beginning of next month, their school's competition class will select a group of new students. Your brother wants to be admitted to the competition class, so he stays in school for an extra half an hour every day to ask questions to the teacher in his class."
Lin Zeqiu is studying in the first grade gifted class of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School.
The Provincial No. 1 Middle School is the best middle school in the provincial capital. It includes junior high school and senior high school, gathering almost all the top students in the city and the most powerful teaching staff in the city.
The junior high school department of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School offers four types of classes: competition class, gifted class, ordinary class, and international class.
Lin Zeqiu has always wanted to join the competition class.
But he never passed the exam.
"My brother wants to join the competition class, why didn't he tell me?" Lin Zhixia asked puzzledly, "I can also tutor him for the math competition."
Mom smiled and said, "When he comes back, go ask him."
Lin Zhixia nodded and said, "Mom, I want to go to the university town this weekend. Mom, can I go? Professor Shen Zhaohua agreed to let me visit their physical oceanography laboratory."
Before her mother answered, Lin Zhixia glanced around and suddenly caught a glimpse of Jiang Yubai.
Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia looked at each other for a moment, then bravely stepped into the supermarket.
Lin Zhixia asked him, "Why are you here?"
Jiang Yubai had already thought of a legitimate reason for the visit. He immediately unzipped his schoolbag and pulled out a stack of test papers and homework books: "Lin Zhixia, you haven't been to class for two days. The teacher assigned homework."
Lin Zhixia's mother suddenly spoke up: "Is this your classmate, Xia Xia?"
Lin Zhixia nodded proudly: "Yes! He is my deskmate!"
After he finished speaking, Lin Zhixia's father also ran out of the warehouse.
Dad and Mom were both looking at Jiang Yubai.
Jiang Yubai stood straight. Today was his first formal meeting with Lin Zhixia's parents. He decided to leave a good impression on them. His self-introduction was very detailed: "I am Jiang Yubai. I transferred to Experimental Primary School in September this year. My extracurricular hobbies are reading, swimming, playing tennis, and doing math problems. I am Lin Zhixia's deskmate this semester."
Lin Zhixia happily replied, "Yes! Jiang Yubai and I have been deskmates for four months!"
"Four months!" Dad exclaimed.
Before Jiang Yubai appeared, there was no child who could sit at the same table with Lin Zhixia for four weeks, let alone four months.
Lin Zhixia's father even received a call from another parent, who bluntly advised him that as Lin Zhixia's father, he must take good care of his daughter and tell her not to say nonsense in class and affect other children.
Lin Zhixia's father felt indignant about this.
It was obviously that person's child who was not smart enough and could not keep up with Xia Xia's thinking. How could it be Xia Xia's fault
Today, Lin Zhixia's father heard for the first time a nine-year-old boy declare in his self-introduction that "my hobby after school is doing math problems", and he couldn't help but feel touched. Sure enough, this particularly smart child would have a common language with Lin Zhixia.
Dad asked in a gentle voice: "Jiang Yubai, did you come here specially to deliver homework to Lin Zhixia today?"
Lin Zhixia didn't come to school for two days, and the head teacher didn't mention her in the class meeting.
The phone at her home was not working, so Jiang Yubai came up with the idea of "paying her a home visit".
The so-called "homework" is just an excuse.
Jiang Yubai is concerned about the personal safety of his competitors.
When he found out that Lin Zhixia was fine, he felt much more relaxed. He said, "Well, I'll deliver the homework. After I've delivered the homework, I'll leave first. See you tomorrow, Lin Zhixia."
Boxes of drinks were stacked at the entrance of the supermarket, rows of shelves were filled with all kinds of goods, and the floor was made of pale yellow tiles. The tiles at the corners had long been cracked, revealing several crooked gaps. The remaining fragments formed irregular patterns, looking very fragile.
Jiang Yubai paid special attention to these details. He stepped lightly on the tiles, careful not to crack another one.
He would never be rude in front of Lin Zhixia and her family.
Lin Zhixia suddenly called out to him: "Jiang Yubai?"
Lin Zhixia's mother also said, "Xia Xia, take something to send him off. He came all the way from school in such a cold day just to give you your homework, you must remember to thank him."
"I don't know what he likes to eat." Lin Zhixia was very troubled.
She asked directly: "Jiang Yubai, what do you like to eat?"
Jiang Yubai had his back to Lin Zhixia. He had just stretched out his hand and was about to touch the plastic door curtain at the entrance of the supermarket. Just at this moment, two customers came in. They were a middle-aged couple who were returning home late from get off work.
Recently, the supermarket at Lin Zhixia's home has also been selling some fruits, such as apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, etc. The guests stood in front of the shelves picking and choosing, and Jiang Yubai walked around them and came to Lin Zhixia's side.
He faced Lin Zhixia's parents and politely declined, "Thank you, uncle and aunt, you don't have to give me anything."
Generally speaking, when you reject someone, you need to find an appropriate reason so as not to embarrass the other person and to preserve your own dignity.
Jiang Yubai quickly came up with a good excuse: "Lin Zhixia often inspires me to study physics at school. Today I brought her homework, which is considered a return of favor."
Lin Zhixia replied happily: "Is that so? Tomorrow morning, let's discuss the overview of the heterogeneous string theory! We can talk about the clockwise hyperspace vibrating strings of the nine-dimensional Grassmann number and the counterclockwise vibrating strings of the twenty-five-dimensional space. Do you still remember the definitions of bosons and fermions? The particles in quantum mechanics are divided into bosons and fermions. According to mathematical derivation, the fermion vibrations in the ten-dimensional space use one way to loop, and the boson vibrations in the twenty-six-dimensional space use another way to loop. The directional closed strings formed by the hybridization of the Fermi strings and boson strings in two different high-dimensional spaces can describe the gauge action. This is a simple description of the heterogeneous string theory [1]. Tomorrow morning, I will tell you more in detail and vividly, and bring your favorite mathematical derivation along."
Jiang Yubai was startled and immediately took three steps back: "I'm going home first, see you tomorrow."
After saying this, he turned around and left resolutely, and no one could pull him back.
Lin Zhixia followed behind him: "Jiang Yubai, I'll take you to the gate of the community."
Jiang Yubai said, "Don't dirty the rabbit slippers."
Lin Zhixia was wearing a pair of pink rabbit slippers. The streets of the city were inevitably dusty and dirty.
Besides, it is winter now, the night is pitch black, the moon is not noticeable, and the street lights in the community are broken again... Jiang Yubai walked down the stairs, and Lin Zhixia hurriedly shouted: "Wait for me! I'm going home to change into a pair of sneakers! I have something to tell you!"
What's up
Jiang Yubai was led astray by his curiosity and stood obediently in front of the stairs. After waiting for about two minutes, Lin Zhixia suddenly rushed towards him.
She smiled and said, "Sorry for the wait, here I come."
He asked, "What do you want?"
"It's like this!" Lin Zhixia told him, "Do you still remember Professor Shen Zhaohua? In mid-October, we met her and her four doctoral students at the Oceanarium."
In fact, Jiang Yubai has always suspected that Lin Zhixia would skip a grade sooner or later.
He had never seen a girl like Lin Zhixia. When he was surfing the Internet on his computer at home, he couldn't help but search for "childhood education for geniuses". He found that geniuses with extremely high intelligence would mostly skip grades and break the rules.
Jiang Yubai was thinking silently, while Lin Zhixia said to herself: "This afternoon, I called one of Professor Shen's students, the sister is called Zhu Chan. Zhu Chan told me that I can visit their laboratory on Sunday morning! You know, Jiang Yubai, I am so happy!"
Jiang Yubai nodded nervously: "Did Professor Shen invite you to go to university?"
"No," Lin Zhixia stopped, "I'm only nine years old. I don't want to go to college."
Jiang Yubai reluctantly said what was in his heart: "You can go to college now."
Lin Zhixia shook her head like a rattle: "I am very free and happy now."
Then, she asked, "Jiang Yubai, are you free on Sunday? Professor Shen asked me to meet her at the university town at nine o'clock on Sunday morning. If you are free, we can visit the simulation laboratory of physical oceanography together! It is the best laboratory in the country!"
Professor Shen works at the best university in the province, which is ranked among the top five in the country.
Jiang Yubai’s mathematics tutor is also an alumnus of this university.
According to Jiang Yubai's original plan, he should have a math class and then a piano class this Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, his mother will host a winter party at home, and some friends from this province and neighboring provinces will be invited to attend.
Jiang Yubai was ready to cancel all his classes. As for the meaningless winter banquet, Jiang Yubai didn't care whether to attend or not.
Lin Zhixia had already extended a sincere invitation to him. If he missed this opportunity—missed the opportunity to visit the university laboratory with Lin Zhixia…
He will be left far behind by his competitors.
That was certainly a situation he didn't want to see.
He can even foresee a specific scenario. For example, Lin Zhixia might add in the Human Observation Diary: My deskmate Jiang Yubai gave up Professor Shen Zhaohua's physical oceanography laboratory for a boring banquet. This is the limitation of ordinary human thinking.
Jiang Yubai was immersed in his own imagination and sneered in his heart. Haha, he would definitely break through the limitations of ordinary human thinking and make the most correct and rational choice.
After some deep thinking, Jiang Yubai finally said, "I'm free on Sunday."
These five short words are concise and powerful, and encompass all of his plans.
Lin Zhixia responded, "That's great! By the way, Professor Shen said it's best to bring a guardian because we are both too young."
"No problem." Jiang Yubai promised without hesitation.
At this time, he and Lin Zhixia passed by a street lamp.
The light was almost a warm orange, which could not illuminate the long nights of winter.
Lin Zhixia sneezed. Jiang Yubai remembered that she had a high fever the day before yesterday and had just recovered today. If she caught a cold again, it would definitely be very uncomfortable.
Jiang Yubai said to her: "Go home quickly, my driver is waiting for me."
Outside the main entrance of Ancheng Community, there was an eye-catching Aston Martin parked. The driver of the car waved at Jiang Yubai and ran towards him.
The driver was strong and walked very fast. He came to Jiang Yubai and wanted to help him carry his schoolbag. Jiang Yubai declined, so the driver said, "Let's go, Mr. Jiang."
Lin Zhixia chuckled: "Jiang Yubai, see you tomorrow?"
The night wind was bleak and the lights were dim. Jiang Yubai walked forward without looking back, thinking that his back looked handsome: "See you tomorrow."
In fact, because Jiang Yubai had just fought with the driver for the schoolbag, his clothes and hat were tightly caught by the schoolbag. The schoolbag was hanging below his neck, and he was unaware of it. From Lin Zhixia's perspective, Jiang Yubai was like carrying a tortoise shell.
Although he stood and sat properly, and walked with his back straight and steady steps, he looked really funny now. Lin Zhixia couldn't help but laugh secretly, since he couldn't see or hear anything anyway.
He is really an interesting person.
Lin Zhixia watched Jiang Yubai get into the car from a distance.
She saw the headlights light up and the wheels rolling, and the black Aston Martin blended into the night, speeding forward all the way, heading into the distance that she could not see.
Why did Jiang Yubai come to deliver the homework
Lin Zhixia began to figure out Jiang Yubai's intentions.
Jiang Yubai should know that Lin Zhixia writes very fast. It only takes her ten minutes to make up her homework. Within ten minutes, she can definitely make up two days of homework.
If it wasn't for homework...
Is that because he cares about her
That’s right!
Lin Zhixia regards Jiang Yubai as a good friend, and Jiang Yubai also regards Lin Zhixia as a companion.
In the "Exploring the Universe" comic series, Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai will never be separated. No matter what strange things happen in Orion, no matter which galaxy the Earth Corps chooses to settle down in, Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai will always be companions who support each other.
Thinking of this, Lin Zhixia walked home with a much lighter pace.
The first part of the comic book series "Exploring the Universe" has been completed. Lin Zhixia decided that tomorrow morning, she would produce the second part of the comic book series "Exploring the Universe" and let Jiang Yubai understand her sincere heart.
Lin Zhixia is a girl with strong action ability.
The next morning, she found her notebook which she had hidden away in the bottom of her box - it was the prize she won in the "Elementary School Students Encyclopedia Knowledge Competition" held in her school last winter.
The notebook is very thick, and the paper pages are smooth, flat and ink-proof.
Best of all, there is no grid on each page!
Perfect for drawing!
Lin Zhixia happily ran to school holding the notebook.
At around 7:20 in the morning, Lin Zhixia walked into the fourth grade (one) classroom, but Jiang Yubai had not appeared yet.
Today's duty students were cleaning the classroom. Labor committee member Han Dawei was busy running around, sweating profusely. When he saw Lin Zhixia, he asked her, "Lin Zhixia, you haven't been to class for a few days, right?"
Lin Zhixia said: "Only two days."
Han Dawei pointed at her seat and said, "Don't forget to tidy up your drawers. Teacher Wu said that the dean will randomly check the fourth grade classrooms in the next few days and evaluate the hygiene level of all classes. Now the hygiene red flag is in our class. If the red flag is taken away by another class, Teacher Wu will be furious."
The "Little Red Flag of Hygiene" is a supreme honor.
At the end of each month, the Dean of Studies will take the team leaders and squad leaders to spot check the hygiene conditions of each class and give scores to those classes on the principle of fairness, justice and openness. The class with the highest score will receive the only "small red flag of hygiene" in the whole grade.
Mr. Wu, the head teacher of Grade 4 (One) Class, adopts thunder-like measures and manages the class effectively, and has always occupied the "Little Red Flag of Hygiene".
It is said that the windows of Grade 4 (1) class can reflect light, the floor is spotless, and the blackboard is cleaner than the hair of the labor committee member of other classes.
Teacher Wu clearly requires that all students must keep their desks clean, and it is best to wipe their desks every day.
Lin Zhixia hasn't come to school for two days, but her desk is still tidy.
She knew that Jiang Yubai had also helped her clean the table these two days.
She put down her schoolbag, opened her pencil case, and wrote on the cover of her notebook: The second part of the "Exploring the Universe" comic series.
After Lin Zhixia finished writing, she immediately looked around to make sure no one noticed her actions. Through a smooth glass window, she happened to see Jiang Yubai walking through the corridor. He was carrying a schoolbag and walked into the main door of the fourth grade (one) class classroom.
The first thing Jiang Yubai said after he sat down was: "I have an uncle, he is my father's younger brother. On Sunday morning, he will take me to the university town."
"That's great! In two days, we can visit the university laboratory together!" Lin Zhixia chatted with Jiang Yubai while drawing comics.
Jiang Yubai realized that Lin Zhixia was writing the plot of "Exploring the Universe" again.
Lin Zhixia smoothed the first page of his notebook and drafted the title "Prologue to the Second Part of Exploring the Universe: The Miracle of Survival in the War Years".
She wrote in front of Jiang Yubai: After the Orion base was destroyed by evil forces, the Earth Corps drifted in the universe to search for the next target. The huge losses brought by the war made all the team members understand the importance of peace...
Jiang Yubai provided a new plot idea: "Lin Zhixia made a major discovery near Orion."
Lin Zhixia nodded and recorded: A red supergiant star named Betelgeuse has attracted the attention of Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia. Betelgeuse is expanding at an accelerated rate and is about to explode!
Jiang Yubai was actually a little nervous: "Betelgeuse is about to explode, isn't Lin Zhixia going to run away?"
"No," Lin Zhixia claimed, "Betelgeuse is a star in Orion. At the end of its evolution, a star will explode, producing strong electromagnetic radiation and emitting the most dazzling light, illuminating the entire Orion constellation. Then, it will become a supernova! Lin Zhixia wants to see the formation process of a supernova."
Jiang Yubai took out his pen from his schoolbag and wrote on the blank space of Lin Zhixia's notebook: Will the strong electromagnetic radiation detonate the molecular cloud core? Jiang Yubai wanted to take Lin Zhixia away.
Lin Zhixia laughed “hahahaha”.
She sighed quietly: "Jiang Yubai, I feel very happy when I play games with you."
Jiang Yubai held the pen tightly and wrote: I am a little happy too.
He didn't have time to think it through before he put pen to paper.
After writing those six words, he suddenly realized... what he had written!
If he continues like this, he might lose his original intention of competing. Lin Zhixia will treat him as an ordinary friend - just like she treats Gan Shuli, Ding Yan, and Dong Sunqi.
Wouldn’t that mean he would lose to Lin Zhixia forever
He would never allow this to happen.
While Jiang Yubai was distracted, Lin Zhixia added a physical formula below the image of the star Betelgeux. She wrote: The formula for density saturation nuclear pressure under the zero-temperature limit can be substituted into the equation of state of a supernova explosion to calculate gravitational collapse and the propagation of shock waves [2].
Then, Lin Zhixia read out the next plot: "After calculations, Jiang Yubai discovered that his spaceship needed to be developed to the level of "space jump"..."
Before Lin Zhixia finished writing, Jiang Yubai pointed out a question: "In this chapter of the comic, did Jiang Yubai calculate gravity and shock waves?"
"Yes." Lin Zhixia nodded repeatedly.
Jiang Yubai took a deep breath and criticized himself mercilessly: "No! How could Jiang Yubai calculate it?"
"Of course Jiang Yubai can!" Lin Zhixia turned her head and smiled at him, "Because Jiang Yubai is also very good! Jiang Yubai is super good!"
There was a buzzing sound in Jiang Yubai's mind, as if something suddenly exploded.
This was the first time he heard Lin Zhixia say in person: Jiang Yubai is also amazing! Jiang Yubai is super amazing!
He fastened the cap of his pen, then suddenly laid down on the table, burying his face in his arms.
He was wearing a well-made loose coat, and the sleeves covered his profile. Lin Zhixia couldn't see his expression, but she noticed that his ears were red.