Jin Baihui put one hand on the window and raised her chin. She emphasized again: "You don't work hard at all."
Many students in the Grade 3 (17) class heard what Jin Baihui said. The classroom gradually became quiet, and Jiang Yubai suddenly stood up and said, "Every weekend, Lin Zhixia goes to the library and studies from morning to night."
Jiang Yubai originally wanted to talk about a few scary theoretical books, but he didn't know much and didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he said very seriously: "Lin Zhixia often reads monographs on mathematics and is very hardworking. During the winter and summer vacations last year, she came to school every day to participate in intensive training."
The Grade 3 (17) class was completely silent.
Lin Zhixia lost miserably in an international programming competition. If her classmates really thought that Lin Zhixia relied on her talent and was sloppy in the competition, then it would be too unfair to Lin Zhixia.
Jiang Yubai wanted to tell everyone loudly that Lin Zhixia loved learning since she was young. She had a strong desire for knowledge in all subjects. She began to think about the mysteries of life very early and worked hard to improve her self-worth. She was not born with the ability to understand mathematical concepts. She read a lot of basic introductory books and explored step by step to where she is today.
Jiang Yubai was praising Lin Zhixia in his heart when Lin Zhixia suddenly spoke up: "I will continue to learn programming and exercise my thinking ability. I ranked 24th this time, and I have learned a lesson. My life is not just about one game. Jin Baihui, are you more nervous than me? Why do you always pay so much attention to me?"
A cold winter wind blew in the corridor, and Jin Baihui's nose and ears were frozen red. But she didn't move, standing proudly by the window like a sculpture. She severely reprimanded Lin Zhixia: "You are the top student in the third grade. You went to the playground, planned the school anniversary, and went on spring and autumn tours... You wasted your time and will fail sooner or later. Aren't you nervous? How can you get rewards without paying?"
Jin Baihui is only fourteen years old, but the tone of her voice is like that of a head teacher.
Lin Zhixia held onto the window with both hands: "I feel happy when I play with my classmates, why can't I go out and play?"
Jin Baihui couldn't find a reason to refute her. Jin Baihui simply closed the window and turned to walk back to the classroom of Class 18. This class was a self-study class for Class 17 and Class 18, and the head teachers of the two classes had not yet appeared.
Lin Zhixia was quick to grab Jin Baihui's sleeve.
Lin Zhixia tried to brainwash Jin Baihui: "There is a scientist in the United States named Hilary Putnam. He is an expert in philosophy, mathematics and computers. You must want to be such a person, right? His name is written in textbooks."
Jin Baihui was indeed persuaded by Lin Zhixia. She turned around and met Lin Zhixia's gaze.
Lin Zhixia continued, "Putnam proposed a concept called 'brain in a vat.' You know, a person's feelings come from the neural signals in the brain. If someone dug out your brain, put it in a water tank, and then used a computer to transmit neural signals to your brain, how would you know whether you are living in reality or in a water tank?"
Lin Zhixia's brainwashing was unsuccessful.
Jin Baihui pulled her hand away and walked quickly towards Class 18.
Lin Zhixia shouted towards the corridor: "Jin Baihui, don't run, you took the initiative to come to me, I am willing to talk to you, why are you running so fast!"
Lin Zhixia's voice drifted far away.
The students in Class 18 also heard it.
Jin Baihui stood at the door of Class 18, unable to move forward or backward. She simply walked back to the outside of Class 17 and faced Lin Zhixia: "Were you scolding me just now?"
"I didn't scold you." Lin Zhixia argued.
Jin Baihui repeated her original words: "You want to dig out my brain and put it in a water tank."
"Wow, you remember it so clearly." Lin Zhixia agreed casually.
Jin Baihui stared at her fiercely: "You are scolding me in a roundabout way."
Several brave students from Class 18 had already sneaked out of the classroom. They stood near Class 17 and watched Jin Baihui and Lin Zhixia quarrel.
The students in Class 17 were not far behind. A group of people, led by Shen Fuxuan, had already left their seats. They gathered behind Lin Zhixia, and the class was filled with a festive atmosphere. Everyone looked at the two top students with great interest.
Duan Qiyan crossed his arms and interrupted, "Jin Baihui is allowed to scold others but not others? It makes me laugh to death. She has such a big face."
Jiang Yubai, as Lin Zhixia's deskmate, had the best viewing position. He sat in his seat and stopped Duan Qiyan from speaking: "Be quiet."
Jiang Yubai has been the acting monitor for many years and has great prestige in the class. Duan Qiyan surrendered unconsciously. He did not say another word.
Outside the window, Jin Baihui raised her hand, pointed her index finger at Lin Zhixia and said, "I didn't scold you."
"You didn't understand what I meant," Lin Zhixia sat sideways on the chair, with her hands on the windowsill. "What I just said about the 'brain in a vat' is not to dig out your brain, but to give you a hypothetical scenario. If your life experience is all determined by the simulated signal of a computer, what kind of signal do you hope to get?"
"I want to be the best in my grade, the best in the entire grade." Jin Baihui answered without hesitation.
Lin Zhixia held her finger and pointed it at herself: "You are the first in the grade. Then what?"
Jin Baihui and Lin Zhixia looked at each other. Lin Zhixia's gaze seemed to have some kind of penetrating power, and Jin Baihui replied inexplicably: "Then, I want to go to the best university."
Jin Baihui fell into a fantasy life. However, that fantasy only lasted for a few seconds, and Jin Baihui broke free from the vague assumptions.
She looked straight at Lin Zhixia and raised her voice and said, "Do you know what I hate most about you? You learn too easily, and you don't understand how valuable your abilities are. If I had your abilities, I would have entered university a long time ago. I would follow my teacher to study the unsolved mysteries of millennium mathematics, the Hodge conjecture and the Riemann conjecture, and prove the existence and mass gap of Yang-Mills. I would put the three words Jin Baihui in the mathematics textbook..."
In order to achieve her wish, Jin Baihui is willing to endure hardships.
Throughout the entire third year of junior high school, no one could understand Jin Baihui, not even Lin Zhixia. Jin Baihui once thought that Lin Zhixia would become her confidant. As it turned out, Lin Zhixia and she had nothing in common.
Lin Zhixia thought thoughtfully: "There is a mathematician in India named Ramanujan. Have you heard of him?"
Jin Baihui said: "I have learned Ramanujan's identity."
Lin Zhixia nodded: "It is said that Ramanujan is the greatest mathematician of the 20th century. I think he is much smarter than me. He proposed a mathematical formula that can be related to black holes in the early 20th century. At that time, there was no concept of cosmic black holes. Ramanujan was an Indian who dropped out of college and had no systematic mathematical training. He claimed that the mathematical formulas he created were told to him by an Indian goddess in his dreams. To this day, many of the formulas in his manuscripts and handwriting have not been deciphered."
"What do you want to say?" Jin Baihui asked.
Lin Zhixia whispered, "There are always people better than you. If you just stare at me, you will definitely be tired. If I stare at Ramanujan every day, can I achieve his achievements? No."
Jin Baihui was influenced by Lin Zhixia and said: "Ramanujan, Einstein, and Tesla are all geniuses. Are you a genius? You are an ordinary person who is a little smart but doesn't work hard."
"Really?" Lin Zhixia asked calmly, "I always get higher scores than you in every exam, so who do you think you are?"
The students in Class 17 burst into laughter, and even the spectators in Class 18 sighed. Jin Baihui's face was tense, and her chest rose and fell slightly. She said, "I..."
Before Jin Baihui could finish her sentence, Lin Zhixia gave her a way out: "The competition will definitely determine the rankings. It is not shameful to be ranked at the bottom. Every contestant deserves respect. You have worked very hard. Not only do I respect you, I also admire you."
Lin Zhixia spoke the last sentence particularly sincerely.
Jin Baihui looked like she couldn't accept it. She lowered her head slightly, her fingers stiff. After a long while, she turned around and said, "It's time for self-study class. Go back to class and study, or I'll tell the teacher."
Jin Baihui was the study committee member of Class 18. At her command, the students in Class 18 ran away faster than rabbits.
Lin Zhixia watched Jin Baihui return to her classroom.
A cool breeze was blowing and the corridor was empty.
Lin Zhixia closed the glass window and sat back in her seat.
Tang Tingting in the front row said with emotion: "Squad Leader Lin, you are so gentle."
"No, I'm not gentle," Lin Zhixia explained, "The words I said to Jin Baihui were also spoken to myself."
The students in Class 17 who were watching the fun had not yet dispersed. Duan Qiyan chuckled: "Class Monitor Lin, next time you quarrel with Jin Baihui, be bold and scold her."
Some classmates around agreed: "Jin Baihui comes to Class 17 to find trouble all day long."
"Alright," Lin Zhixia sat up straight, showing the demeanor of a class monitor, "You all should go back to study quickly."
Duan Qiyan couldn't help but ask back: "If we don't go back, will you follow Jin Baihui's example and sue the teacher?"
Lin Zhixia was stunned when she heard this.
Some time ago, Lin Zhixia was busy with the information science training in the high school department. Later, she went to Moscow, Russia to participate in a competition. She was indeed not in the third grade (seventeenth) class for a long time. No wonder Duan Qiyan also started to provoke her.
Lin Zhixia was about to regain her feeling as class monitor, but Jiang Yubai helped her to speak up: "The students in Class 18 are willing to listen to Jin Baihui and go back to their seats to study. Duan Qiyan, are you not as good as those students, or are you not as good as Jin Baihui?"
This question really hit Duan Qiyan's sore spot.
Duan Qiyan quickly rolled back to his seat, took out his exercise book without delay, and began to practice the questions seriously. The contrast between Duan Qiyan's before and after was so obvious that Lin Zhixia couldn't help but high-five Jiang Yubai and exclaimed: "Jiang Jiang Jiang Yubai, you are so awesome."
Jiang Yubai said modestly: "Not as good as Lin Lin Lin Zhixia."
As usual, he opened the textbook and placed it on the table as a decoration. He praised Lin Zhixia: "What you and Jin Baihui said was quite meaningful. I remember the concept of 'brain in a vat'."
"Have you seen the movie The Matrix?" Lin Zhixia said enthusiastically, "The core idea of The Matrix is similar to the 'brain in a vat'."
Jiang Yubai was more concerned about another question: "When you first entered the classroom..."
Lin Zhixia replied tacitly: "At that time, I was a little sad. But now, I feel much better."
Lin Zhixia's ability to adjust herself seems to be much stronger than before. The competition experience over the past two years has tempered her determination. She has become more courageous and even plans to go to college in the next two years.
Since Lin Zhixia won two gold medals in heavyweight math competitions, several of the most prestigious universities in China have contacted her. She did not give a definite reply, but she already had plans and arrangements in mind.
Jiang Yubai was the first person besides Professor Shen Zhaohua to learn about Lin Zhixia's future plans. Lin Zhixia told Jiang Yubai that she planned to study in the high school department of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School for another year, and when she turned fourteen, she would go to Beijing to attend university.
Jiang Yubai asked her why she had to study in high school for another year
Lin Zhixia replied that she and two senior students in Professor Shen's group were co-writing a paper involving high-performance computing of computer clusters. She would stay in the provincial capital for another half a year to monitor the computer cluster and the physical oceanography laboratory every week. Moreover, she was a little reluctant to leave her parents and brother, and wanted to spend more time with her family for a year. In addition, there was another insignificant reason - Lin Zhixia wanted to experience a little bit of high school life before going to college. Basically, college students have been to high school, and Lin Zhixia was very curious and wanted to try it.
"Before going to college, experience a little bit of high school life" - it was this sentence that made Jiang Yubai speechless.
Jiang Yubai kindly reminded Lin Zhixia: "You have been in the high school competition class for more than a year."
Lin Zhixia said, "I was in the high school competition class, just attending classes by the way, and I didn't enjoy the colorful high school life."
Jiang Yubai understood Lin Zhixia's idea very well. He asked directly: "Do you want to study in the high school competition class for one year?"
"Yes." Lin Zhixia admitted frankly.
Jiang Yubai nodded: "I applied for an international high school in Beijing."
International high school in Beijing.
It sounds very unusual.
Lin Zhixia suddenly realized: "You went to high school in Beijing, and I studied for my undergraduate degree in Beijing. We live in the same city."
"What should I do this year?" Jiang Yubai held the thermos cup and fell into thought. "I thought you would go to college next year..."
Although Lin Zhixia didn't want to be separated from her good friend, she couldn't hinder Jiang Yubai's pursuit of studies.
Back then, when Lin Zhixia was going to the high school department for training, Jiang Yubai always encouraged her to move forward. She learned many good qualities from him, and now, she gave him feedback: "It's okay, it's just a short year. During this year, I will write to you, call you, and exchange my thoughts on study and life. Jiang Yubai, you must move forward bravely, and you will become better and better. Of course, you are already a very good person."
Lin Zhixia's praise was very sincere, and Jiang Yubai couldn't help but suggest a solution: "I will study in the provincial No. 1 high school competition class for a year, and then transfer to an international high school in Beijing."