Today is the first day of school, and most of the students in Grade 17 are quite reserved.
However, Shen Fuxuan disregarded the friendship between classmates and tore off Duan Qiyan's fig leaf, causing Duan Qiyan to fall into an embarrassing situation.
If Duan Qiyan was unwilling to fulfill the bet, he would become a dishonest liar. He pursed his lips in embarrassment and annoyance. Under pressure from the situation, he lowered his noble head and said incoherently: "Teacher Jiang..."
"Duan Qiyan, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but your voice is too soft, isn't it?" Shen Fuxuan kept provoking. "You are the number one warrior in the Normal School Attached Primary School, can't you speak a little louder?"
Duan Qiyan was humiliated, but he still had a resolute look on his face. He straightened his back and shouted three times: "Teacher Jiang! Teacher Jiang! Teacher Jiang!"
Before the students around him could react, Duan Qiyan ran out of the classroom. He ran too fast and stumbled, almost falling at the door of the classroom.
Why did Duan Qiyan react so violently
When he heard about the bet, he clearly seemed very happy.
Lin Zhixia tilted her head. She turned around and followed suit: "Teacher Jiang, Teacher Jiang, Teacher Jiang!"
To her, this title was both amusing and respectful. She imitated Duan Qiyan's tone and intonation, not only did she not feel the slightest bit of shame, she even stared at Jiang Yubai with interest.
Jiang Yubai slowly turned sideways, deliberately avoiding her long gaze. He felt that Lin Zhixia sometimes confused the concept of winning and losing. Lin Zhixia didn't lose to him, so why did she call him Teacher Jiang? She even called him with a look of great joy.
A classmate around noticed something and suddenly said, "Jiang Yubai, Lin Zhixia, you two have a very good relationship."
The classmate who saw through the truth was named Han Peng. Han Peng had regular features, dark skin, and a neat crew cut. He graduated from Shengli Primary School in this city and was a classmate of Shen Fuxuan in primary school.
Shen Fuxuan hooked his arm around Han Peng's shoulders and said with a smile, "Jiang Yubai, Lin Zhixia, you are the only two in our class who skipped a grade. You two have just turned ten this year, right?"
Jiang Yubai stood up from his seat. He was two years younger than Han Peng, but he was taller than Han Peng.
Han Peng felt relieved that he lost to the grade-skipping student in height. Because Jiang Yubai was taller than him, in his mind, Jiang Yubai was his peer, and he didn't need to treat Jiang Yubai as his fifth-grade brother.
He and Jiang Yubai put their arms around each other's shoulders and said, "Let's go, Jiang Yubai, the three of us should go out and have some fun?"
Without any reason or preparation, Jiang Yubai, Han Peng, and Shen Fuxuan suddenly got along well with each other. They went to enjoy the campus scenery together and rushed to the playground on the first floor. Just as Lin Zhixia expected, Jiang Yubai went to the horizontal bar again.
The playground had a sand pit, a running track, a horizontal bar and parallel bars, and a wide football field. Shen Fuxuan and Han Peng chased and played on the running track, having a lot of fun. Later, Jiang Yubai also gave up the horizontal bar. He stretched out his long legs and ran at full speed, like a gust of wind that came and went without a trace.
Shen Fuxuan ran ahead of Jiang Yubai and turned back to yell at him: "Jiang Yubai! Have you ever tried a 1,000-meter race? The physical education test for the high school entrance exam requires a 1,000-meter race!"
Jiang Yubai's physical fitness was obviously better than Shen Fuxuan's. Shen Fuxuan ran on the playground for two minutes, panting and sweating on his forehead. Jiang Yubai stopped, adjusted his breathing, and soon recovered.
The sky is blue and the breeze is cool.
Lin Zhixia stood at the end of the corridor on the fourth floor of the teaching building. She held the railing with both hands and looked into the distance, the whole playground was in sight. There was a circle of lush poplar trees growing outside the playground. The early autumn sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, and the ground was covered with golden spots of varying shades.
She thought of the magnolia trees and crabapple flowers at the Experimental Primary School.
Someone called her from behind: "Lin Zhixia."
Lin Zhixia turned her head: "Hmm?"
Lin Zhixia met a girl. This girl was Lin Zhixia's classmate, named Wan Chunlei.
Wan Chunlei's entrance exam score ranked eighth in the class, just a little higher than Jiang Yubai. She originally wanted to ask Lin Zhixia to be her deskmate, but Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia had a close relationship, so Wan Chunlei had to give up the idea.
Now, Wan Chunlei took the initiative to talk to Lin Zhixia and invited her: "Lin Zhixia, do you play Go?"
Lin Zhixia asked in confusion: "Go?"
Wan Chunlei took Lin Zhixia's hand affectionately and said, "Yes! Lin Zhixia, they all say you are very smart! Can you play Go? I just found a Go board and pieces in a small box in our classroom bookcase. How about playing a game with me? I won the third place in the elementary school group of the fourth elementary and middle school Go competition in our city."
Lin Zhixia let Wan Chunlei lead her back to the classroom.
Her fingers were soft and white, and her wrist was slender. Wan Chunlei held her hand, feeling a little reluctant.
No matter what, Lin Zhixia is three years younger than Wan Chunlei. Lin Zhixia is so young, beautiful, and innocent, and obviously still a little girl with a dull mind. She may have hit upon some great luck, ranking first in the competition class for three consecutive exams.
However, Wan Chunlei wants to use a Go game to test Lin Zhixia's calculation ability and quick thinking.
Wan Chunlei was still hesitating, but Lin Zhixia urged her, "Hurry up! Let's go get the chessboard!"
"It's too late," Wan Chunlei pointed at the classroom clock, "class is about to start."
Lin Zhixia clapped her hands and said, "Wan Chunlei, let's play next time! The break between the next classes is 25 minutes long, which is definitely enough time for us to play a game!"
"Okay." Wan Chunlei agreed without hesitation.
When she was talking to Lin Zhixia, Duan Qi Yan happened to pass by.
Duan Qiyan had returned to his usual state. He crossed the podium in two steps, and the sweatpants he was wearing made a rustling sound. When he heard the conversation between Wan Chunlei and Lin Zhixia, his right eyelid suddenly jumped. He quickly looked at Wan Chunlei.
Wan Chunlei also graduated from the Normal School Attached Primary School. She and Duan Qiyan are from the same class.
Although Duan Qiyan entered the gate of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School, his spiritual beliefs still remained in the Normal School Attached Primary School. The title of "No. 1 God of War" is known to everyone. Every time Wan Chunlei met him, she showed him due respect. Wan Chunlei also paid attention to the rules in the competition examination room. In short, in Duan Qiyan's view, Wan Chunlei is a decent person.
While Lin Zhixia was walking back to her seat, Duan Qiyan grabbed Wan Chunlei and warned her: "Hey, you can't play with Lin Zhixia. You can't play Go with her."
Duan Qiyan meant well.
Unfortunately, Wan Chunlei didn't appreciate the courtesy: "Duan Qiyan, are you the class teacher? Why are you so nosy? I want to play with her."
Duan Qiyan crossed his arms and looked down at her: "Hey! Don't you understand? You and Lin Zhixia lost the game, and it's a disgrace to the Normal School."
Shen Fuxuan's seat was nearby. He suddenly added: "Duan Qiyan, I have to remind you that no matter how embarrassing others are, it will not be more embarrassing than you calling 'Teacher Jiang' three times in a row."
Shen Fuxuan's short words deeply touched Duan Qiyan's sore spot. Duan Qiyan turned around and wanted to run out of the classroom again, but the class bell suddenly rang, and the head teacher, Teacher Zhang, walked into the classroom of the Grade 17 class holding a stack of test papers.
Teacher Zhang stood on the podium for a few seconds without opening his mouth to speak. Lin Zhixia finally reacted and shouted in a clear voice: "Everyone stand up!"
All thirty-six students in the class stood up in unison, bowed and said, "Hello, Teacher Zhang!"
Teacher Zhang bowed in return: "Hello, students!"
He distributed the test papers to the whole class, wiped the blackboard eraser clean, picked up the chalk, and said loudly: "Everyone, pay attention. I will now correct the first written test paper for you. There are seven multiple-choice questions, four fill-in-the-blank questions, two big questions, and one additional question on this paper. I'm not kidding. If you give this to the best competition class student in the third grade, it should take at most twenty minutes to finish it."
There was a burst of “Woo-Wow” exclamations from below the podium.
Teacher Zhang smiled and said, "I'm telling you, don't think you're stupid. Often, it's not that the questions are difficult, nor that you have a bad brain, but that you haven't learned it, haven't seen similar questions, and haven't mastered that knowledge point. If you take a look at the questions and think they're too difficult and you don't know how to do them, and you lose all hope, that's really not okay. That's not the style of our competition class. Students in our competition class must believe that they are smart and excellent, and much better than the class 18 next door!"
Speaking of Class 18, Teacher Zhang remembered another important thing.
He immediately issued a notice: "I almost forgot, the next class is the introductory class of the competition class. You and the students of Class 18 will go to the third-tier classroom to listen to the lecture. The dean of our grade will introduce the setting of the competition class, the types of competitions, and the training methods of the coaches. After the dean's class, our Class 17 and Class 18 will have an impromptu small competition - it is a math warm-up quiz competition, and you will see which class has a more solid foundation and quicker response."
When the students heard the word "competition", they were immediately shocked.
Teacher Zhang added a polite remark: "Don't feel pressured. The most important thing is participation. Friendship comes first, competition comes second."
In the first class this morning, Teacher Zhang stated that Class 17 and Class 18 are brother classes.
But then he said: Brothers are divided into different types of closeness.
Before the competition even started, the entire Class 17 was already eager to compete. After this class, the class's eagerness to compete was like a surging undercurrent that suddenly broke through the surface of the water and reached a peak.
Jiang Yubai was calm and composed. He put away the math test paper with 84 points, unscrewed the water cup, and poured out half a cup of tea. The fragrance of West Lake Longjing was overflowing, and the tea leaves in the cup were floating up and down. He picked up the cup and said firmly: "Class 18 is sure to lose."
Lin Zhixia tilted her head to look at him: "Are you so sure?"
Jiang Yubai sipped his tea quietly and said calmly, "They know nothing about true wisdom."
"Hahahaha," Lin Zhixia laughed happily, "Jiang Yubai, who are you talking about?"
Jiang Yubai remained silent.
Lin Zhixia tugged at his sleeve: "Wan Chunlei asked me to play chess! Do you want to come and watch? She asked me to play Go. She was the third place winner in the elementary school group of the city's fourth elementary and middle school Go competition. She's amazing!"
Jiang Yubai clearly remembered that one day, Lin Zhixia sincerely praised him for being super awesome. Perhaps because he had such a deep impression of that day, Jiang Yubai felt a little bothered when Lin Zhixia praised another classmate enthusiastically.
He asked, "Have you ever played Go?"
Lin Zhixia looked a little bewildered: "I've never played with anyone."
Jiang Yubai tried to figure out what she meant and guessed, "Have you read any relevant books?"
"Yeah." Lin Zhixia nodded vigorously.
That's fine.
Jiang Yubai is confident of victory.
He held the water cup, stood up and said, "Let's go find classmate Wan Chunlei."
Let Wan Chunlei taste the taste of failure - Jiang Yubai didn't say this.
In a seat near the window in the fourth group, Wan Chunlei had already set up the chessboard. She placed her hands on the table, palms facing upward. Her expression was very gentle, calm, and full of the demeanor of a master.
Han Peng couldn't help but sighed: "Wan Chunlei, when I look at you, I think of the Zhenlong chess game played by Senior Wuyazi in "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"."
Wan Chunlei held a chess piece and tapped the board gently: "My father is an amateur 5th-dan Go player. He told me about the Zhenlong chess game in history."
Han Peng and a group of classmates who like to watch the fun had already found their seats. They stood or sat together, and finally waited for Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai to arrive.
When Han Peng saw Lin Zhixia approaching, he grinned and said, "Squad leader?"
Lin Zhixia thought of Dong Sunqi from Grade 4 (1). She decided to imitate Dong Sunqi and become a well-respected monitor. So, she replied: "Please call me, Monitor Lin!"
Han Peng was a very talkative person. He sat up straight and said, "Team Leader Lin."
Squad Leader Lin sat opposite Wan Chunlei.
"Shall we start?" Wan Chunlei asked for her opinion.
Lin Zhixia was very frank: "Okay!"
Wan Chunlei immediately started the game and asked her casually, "Have you... learned Go?"
"I've read related books, but I've never played against anyone." Lin Zhixia pushed out one of her chess pieces.
Wan Chunlei did not answer. She was already lost in thought.
While Lin Zhixia was calculating Wan Chunlei's plan, she said to herself, "I'm reminded of the black-and-white Mary experiment. It's a hypothetical experiment in the philosophy of mind. Suppose Mary was locked in a room after she was born, and she could only watch black-and-white physics knowledge on TV. Even if she had learned all the physical optics theories, as long as she walked out of that room and saw pure red tomatoes, she would have new insights."
By the time this conversation ended, Wan Chunlei had already exchanged several moves with Lin Zhixia.
Wan Chunlei needs to think over and over again before every action, but Lin Zhixia makes a move every two seconds and attacks her fiercely.
It is said that chess character is like one's character, and chess style is like one's personality. If this is true, then under Lin Zhixia's innocent and harmless cute appearance, there is a very rough and rampant heart! Wan Chunlei thought secretly.
The ignorant classmates around didn't notice the tense atmosphere at all.
Wan Chunlei's expression became more and more serious. She tried to disrupt Lin Zhixia's thoughts and asked, "Why are you telling me about the Black and White Mary experiment?"
"Ah, I want to thank you," Lin Zhixia said sincerely, "You are willing to play chess with me, which brings me a brand new experience."
Wan Chunlei didn't understand what Lin Zhixia said. Her mind gradually became confused. She stared at the chessboard, but the situation became worse.
Wan Chunlei was desperate and held on for the last few rounds. Lin Zhixia destroyed her nest with one move and said in a brisk tone: "Do you admit defeat?"
The seats for the fourth group are near the windows, providing excellent lighting.
When Wan Chunlei looked up, she saw the light in Lin Zhixia's eyes, and she said to her, "Do you admit defeat?"
I don't recognize it.
These three words stuck in Wan Chunlei's throat, and she couldn't say them out. She held the chess basket in her left hand, and accidentally glanced at Duan Qiyan, and suddenly an idea flashed in her mind!
She put down the chess basket and ran out of the Grade 17 classroom like Duan Qiyan did in the previous class. As long as she ran fast enough, she wouldn't have to face the embarrassing situation near her seat.
Jiang Yubai looked at her retreating figure and sighed, "Another Duan Qiyan. How many war gods are there in your Normal School?"
Duan Qiyan felt that Jiang Yubai was targeting him. He tried to think for a long time but couldn't come up with a rebuttal. He could only hope for today's math quiz.
They have a very good foundation in mathematics at the primary school attached to the normal school.
If I can win honor in the quiz contest, all previous shame will be washed away.
Before the introductory class began, the students of Grade 17, led by Lin Zhixia, walked to the third-tier classroom of the junior high school.
The location of the third-tier classroom is very special. It is located at the junction of the first and second grade teaching buildings.
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai walked in the first row of the class. Jiang Yubai talked about the structure of the connected graph, but Lin Zhixia's voice became much weaker. She raised her head slightly and looked at the group of people walking in front of her.
They were several seniors from the gifted classes for the eighth and ninth graders.
The leader was Lin Zeqiu.
Lin Zeqiu had a very good figure. Among the group of junior high school boys, Lin Zeqiu was the most outstanding. Everyone gave him a feeling of being the center of attention.
When Lin Zeqiu was at home, he often cleaned, washed dishes and mopped the floor with a dirty face. He was indeed not as energetic as he was at school.
Lin Zhixia paused. She said she had something to do and asked the classmates to go to the classroom first.
When the students of Class 17 entered the third-tier classroom one after another, Lin Zhixia ran towards Lin Zeqiu. Today, Lin Zhixia only tied her hair with a dark blue ribbon. She ran very fast, and the ribbon fluttered in the wind.
Lin Zeqiu stood still. When she was about to approach him, he asked, "Are you a student in the first grade competition class? You look familiar."
Lin Zhixia was stunned.
Lin Zeqiu tilted his head and said to his classmates, "Let's go."
Before he took a step, Lin Zhixia walked past him and ignored him. She first greeted a boy wearing glasses: "Hello, senior, I saw you in the car this morning. Are you going to the printing room to pick up the materials?"
The junior high school department of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School prepared a new batch of psychological health teaching materials. When the class leaders of the second and third grades heard the broadcast, they went to the printing room to pick up the materials.
The senior student quickly responded: "Yes, yes! Do you still remember me?"
"Of course!" Lin Zhixia replied enthusiastically.
Then, Lin Zhixia looked at another senior: "Nie Tianqing?" She called out Nie Tianqing's name accurately.
Nie Tianqing's expression was very interesting. He smiled, lowered his head, looked puzzled, and sighed: "Do you have any impression of me?"
"I remember it," Lin Zhixia repeated in detail, "Last September, we played Bubble Ball Battle together in the children's playground. You are Dong Sunqi's neighbor, and he brought you here that day. How is Dong Sunqi doing recently?"
As soon as Lin Zhixia finished speaking, Jiang Yubai walked behind her. In Jiang Yubai's opinion, there was really no need to reminisce with Nie Tianqing. They had no intersection or friendship with Nie Tianqing.
So Jiang Yubai pulled Lin Zhixia's sleeve and said, "The introductory class is about to start."
Lin Zeqiu's gaze was like a flying knife, piercing Jiang Yubai's hand fiercely.