Lin Zhixia clutched the pen and whispered, "I want to be classmates with people my own age."
Jiang Yubai replied: "If you don't skip a grade, we will all be your classmates."
Teacher Zhai heard their conversation and advised them gently, "Lin Zhixia, your concerns are normal, and I understand. I used to have a student who skipped a grade to the first grade at the age of eight. His classmates were four or five years older than him and thought he was too young. They didn't play with him or talk to him, which caused him great pressure. He had a high IQ but a naive mentality, and fell behind in his studies..."
Jin Baihui suddenly interrupted Teacher Zhai and said, "You can't blame anyone else. It's all his own problem."
Jin Baihui stood up straight and spoke in a steady tone. The spirit of stubbornness and perseverance permeated her bones and made her a tenacious and good student.
She picked up a blank piece of draft paper and thought to herself that if Teacher Zhai was willing to train her and send her to a high school competition class, she would definitely take the initiative to seize the opportunity and would never be as hesitant as Lin Zhixia.
Teacher Zhai sighed and said, "Jin Baihui, you need to calm down and be more tolerant of yourself."
Jin Baihui pursed her lips. She stared at the high school competition question without blinking, until her eyeballs became sore and swollen that she could no longer bear it. Then she took off her glasses and wiped her face with her sleeve.
Teacher Zhai returned to the podium and continued teaching. He systematically reviewed the popular test topics over the years. Lin Zhixia listened absent-mindedly. She didn't know what she was thinking.
Her mind was filled with a chaotic, unformed mass of thoughts.
In computer papers on data processing, a phrase called unstructured information is often mentioned, which can be translated into Chinese as "unstructured information". Lin Zhixia felt that she was like a database with a fixed format, being shrouded by "unstructured information" and unable to make clear and reliable judgments immediately.
After class, Teacher Zhai asked Lin Zhixia to think about it carefully, and Lin Zhixia agreed without thinking.
According to the schedule of the Grade 17 class, the fourth class this morning was physical education. As soon as Teacher Zhai left the classroom, Duan Qiyan jumped up and urged loudly: "Let's go! Let's go to the playground for physical education class!"
Jiang Yubai stood up slowly. He unzipped his jacket, put his hands in his pockets, and followed Lin Zhixia silently. Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai walked towards the playground one after the other. Lin Zhixia couldn't help but confided: "Jiang Yubai, even if I go to participate in the high school competition, we are still best friends..."
Her wording was usually blunt, but today she was very tactful.
Jiang Yubai understood what she meant - even if Jiang Yubai tried his best to study, he and Lin Zhixia were destined not to keep the same pace. He would rather watch her go further and further away than let her stop and wait for him.
So he said, "Captain Lin Zhixia."
Lin Zhixia was stunned for a moment, then answered cooperatively: "Chief Jiang Yubai."
In the entire Provincial No. 1 Middle School, they were the only two people who were familiar with the comic book series "Exploring the Universe". They pronounced each other's special names, as if they were speaking in secret codes.
Jiang Yubai stepped onto the plastic track and said calmly, "Lin Zhixia went to explore a new planet, and Jiang Yubai is waiting for her in the spaceship. Jiang Yubai is sure that Lin Zhixia can find what she wants on that planet. Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia are not separated... They just carried out different missions."
He looked off into the distance and added, "A short mission."
Lin Zhixia's eyes were filled with tears: "Okay."
She murmured to herself: "Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai will always be good friends and will never be separated."
"Yes," Jiang Yubai agreed, "I support you in participating in the special training of the high school department."
Lin Zhixia nodded vigorously and suggested, "Jiang Yubai, after the next exam, you can sit at the same table with Shen Fuxuan. I'll sit in the back row behind you. This way, when I go back to junior high school, I can still sit near you, and you won't be without a deskmate."
"No," Jiang Yubai declined her offer, "You can continue to be my deskmate. When you go to the high school department for training..."
Lin Zhixia took over his topic: "When I went to the high school for training, my seat was empty, and you didn't have a desk mate. If I was training in the high school for half a day, you would be alone for half a day."
Jiang Yubai declared: "It doesn't matter, I don't care."
The PE teacher blew the whistle, and the students of Grade 17 hurriedly gathered. Although the spring sunshine in April was bright, it was no match for the cold wind on the playground. The PE teacher led everyone to complete the warm-up exercises, and said loudly: "As usual, you will run two laps first, and then come back here for class. Today we are going to practice the physical education items for the high school entrance examination. Boys will try pull-ups, and girls will try sit-ups. You go run, don't be lazy."
The sports committee member of the Grade 17 class is named Cao Wu. Cao Wu is 13 years old this year, tall and strong, with a strong body. He took the initiative to apply for the position of sports committee member from the class teacher. He especially likes to lead the whole class to run on the playground.
As soon as the physical education teacher finished speaking, Cao Wu rushed to the track.
Duan Qiyan followed closely behind Cao Wu, and while chasing him, he shouted, "Cao Wu, you run so fast, you won't be able to do pull-ups later!"
Cao Wu opened his arms and stretched out his palms, like a glider. He enjoyed the feeling of running fast, and even closed his eyes slightly, revealing an extremely intoxicated look: "Duan Qiyan! Close your eyes and run faster! Tell me loudly, do you feel good?"
Duan Qiyan was bewitched. He closed his eyes, stretched out his arms, exerted force on his feet, and suddenly jumped up. It was as if he took off from the plastic track and leaped into the vast blue sky. He shouted happily: "It feels so good, so good!"
Duan Qiyan also said: "Jiang Yubai, quickly learn my moves."
Jiang Yubai thought to himself: He's crazy.
Jiang Yubai was very close to Duan Qiyan. He had the foresight to step aside, only to see Duan Qiyan accidentally bump into Cao Wu's back, and they both fell to the ground, slamming into the mud.
Although they were not injured, the physical education teacher insisted that they rest. They could only sit on a piece of military green sponge mat like fools, watching the boys in the same class accept the "pull-up" test.
The physical education teacher called out the names of the students according to their student numbers. Shen Fuxuan's student number was 2, and he had to lead the way for all the boys in the class.
Shen Fuxuan coughed, took off his coat, and only wore a thin wool sweater, holding the horizontal bar with both hands. The boy's back was thin and his strength was not strong enough, so he used all his strength to do a pull-up.
"Hahahahahahahaha." Duan Qiyan laughed heartlessly.
Shen Fuxuan raised his eyebrows at him and mouthed: old, weak, sick and disabled.
Duan Qiyan was about to explode, but Cao Wu stopped him. Cao Wu put his palm on Duan Qiyan's shoulder and advised: "The teacher doesn't allow us to do pull-ups, so don't move around."
Duan Qiyan chatted with Cao Wu for a few words, and suddenly lifted up his trouser legs to show Cao Wu his newly bought Nike sports socks. Cao Wu praised him for his "good taste", and the physical education teacher called Jiang Yubai's name.
In an instant, the eyes of all the students in the class fell on Jiang Yubai.
As we all know, Jiang Yubai often goes to the playground after class. It is said that he loves "hanging on the horizontal bar". Did he do some training in advance and practice pull-ups well, just waiting for today to make a splash
Jiang Yubai walked to the horizontal bar calmly and rubbed his hands with great experience. He was full of master style, without even taking off his coat, and directly grabbed the horizontal bar and did four pull-ups in a row. Then, he hung in the air motionlessly.
This is his favorite "hanging bar".
Lin Zhixia had observed this long ago. She once broke down Jiang Yubai's "hanging on the horizontal bar" movements into several steps and recorded them in detail in "Human Observation Diary". Frankly speaking, she couldn't quite understand Jiang Yubai's behavior. But she still applauded him: "Great, Jiang Yubai is so great!"
Duan Qiyan glanced at Jiang Yubai, then at Lin Zhixia, feeling a little envious. He also wanted to get Lin Zhixia's praise and encouragement - after all, Lin Zhixia has always been ranked first in the grade. Her affirmation has extraordinary significance.
Duan Qiyan ran to the bottom of the horizontal bar, grabbed the beam, put his legs together, and hung his feet in the air. He held on for seven seconds, and unexpectedly fell down with Jiang Yubai.
The physical education teacher reminded: "You guys, for the physical education test in the high school entrance exam, you have to choose pull-ups. You should practice more when you have nothing to do."
Lin Zhixia answered for them: "Okay!"
The PE teacher laughed and said, "Girls don't need to practice."
Lin Zhixia still stood under another horizontal bar. The activity of "hanging on the horizontal bar" obviously exceeded her physical limit. She couldn't even do half a "pull-up". She said with emotion: "Everyone has a hobby that they are better at."
Jiang Yubai responded: "Don't be afraid, keep going forward, learning is your interest..."
Before he finished speaking, Lin Zhixia knocked on the horizontal bar: "I'm not afraid, I'm leaving." Jiang Yubai knocked on the horizontal bar with her. Those complex emotions that were difficult to express in words seemed to be all integrated into the metal noise they made.
At the end of April 2006, Lin Zhixia officially joined the high school group's special competition training.
The senior from the second year of high school had already set a precedent. Lin Zhixia's arrival did not cause a sensation in the high school department. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, she would receive training with the students from the first-year math competition team.
The competition subjects of the high school department of the Provincial No. 1 High School mainly include mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and information - this is the "five major subject competitions" in the popular sense. Lin Zhixia majored in mathematics and was also very interested in physics and information competitions.
Lin Zhixia's high school math teacher was named Sun. Mr. Sun was a 30-year-old male teacher who graduated from a key university with a major in math. He suggested that Lin Zhixia first get the medals in the math competition and then pay attention to the physics and informatics competitions.
Teacher Sun said to Lin Zhixia: "Take steady steps and be down-to-earth."
Lin Zhixia knew that many seniors had participated in more than one subject competition. The school's public bulletin had repeatedly written: Warm congratulations to our student XX for winning the first prize in the provincial mathematics and physics competition!
In order to make Teacher Sun believe in her ability, Lin Zhixia decided to answer quickly.
In the classroom of the high school mathematics competition class, Teacher Sun just showed the slides and asked, "Do you have any ideas for this question?"
Lin Zhixia immediately raised her hand: "Teacher Sun, this question requires us to prove the upper and lower bounds of the product of the general formula of a sequence. We can use the inverse Abel transform plus the Cauchy inequality."
Teacher Sun praised Lin Zhixia: "You reacted very quickly."
Teacher Sun briefly wrote down the steps to answer the question on the blackboard and talked about a prime number proof question. Lin Zhixia raised her hand again: "Teacher Sun, the question you just mentioned can be applied to Wilson's Theorem and Legendre's Theorem..."
"These questions are relatively simple." Teacher Sun nodded.
In Mr. Sun's competition class, he only held a math test every half a month. Lin Zhixia's performance in class disrupted Mr. Sun's plan. In order to accurately measure Lin Zhixia's problem-solving level, Mr. Sun brought a stack of test papers on a Wednesday morning.
The test paper was generally difficult, and the last two application questions were beyond the syllabus.
During the exam, two students in the back row of the classroom were scratching their heads anxiously. Of course, the top students in the class were still concentrating on their homework. Teacher Sun walked back and forth with his hands behind his back. He noticed that Lin Zhixia rarely made drafts.
All her thoughts seemed to be completed in her mind.
She writes very fast.
The high school competition class of the Provincial No. 1 High School has a strong faculty. Teacher Sun is not the top competition coach in the high school department. However, Teacher Sun and Teacher Zhai have a good relationship. Teacher Zhai recommended Lin Zhixia to join the high school department, and Teacher Sun accepted Lin Zhixia without saying a word.
The results of the junior high school math league have not come out yet, and other competition coaches in the high school department have not noticed Lin Zhixia yet. The high school competition class itself has many talented students, and the coaches are more willing to cultivate the good seedlings they have targeted.
Lin Zhixia's comprehension ability exceeded Teacher Sun's expectations.
The last question on the test paper prepared by Teacher Sun discussed a new concept in a math paper and asked students to apply this concept to a real problem. Lin Zhixia read the question stem and started writing. The sound of her writing was so loud that it seriously affected the first-year students next to her.
After she finished the test paper, she handed it in ahead of time without wasting a moment.
Teacher Sun confirmed again and again: "Aren't you going to check?"
"No inspection!" Lin Zhixia put on her schoolbag, "Teacher Sun, the class is almost over. Can I go back to the Grade 17 class? In our class, the fourth class this morning is art class... I like art class very much."
Teacher Sun had reserved the third and fourth classes for the exam. There were still more than ten minutes left before the end of the third class, and Lin Zhixia had already handed in her paper? Did she have art class next time
Teacher Sun didn't say much. He was a quiet person, but after becoming a teacher, he had to speak all day. He asked Lin Zhixia to leave first, then he found a red pen, sat on the podium, and corrected Lin Zhixia's test paper on the spot. The more he corrected, the more surprised he was. When he thought about Lin Zhixia's age of only eleven, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of responsibility as a "teacher".
Coaching an international champion in the high school Olympic competition is definitely a glorious achievement for a competition coach.
From that day on, Mr. Sun treated Lin Zhixia very attentively. He developed a special training plan for Lin Zhixia and introduced her to the competition coaches of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School in physics and information science. Lin Zhixia got a computer in the computer room—it was her first time to actually come into contact with programming. Before that, she used her brain as a program compiler. She was very late to many programming languages, such as C++, Java, Matlab, and even Visual Basic, which she couldn't help but want to deconstruct. From May to August 2006, for three whole months, Lin Zhixia went to school whenever she had nothing to do, and her system analysis ability grew as rapidly as her programming level.