The examination hall was like a battlefield, with every difficult problem a formidable foe. The enemy's fortress stood impregnable, trapping most students in the Olympiad class. Jiang Yubai had just finished the first page of his test paper when he heard a series of sighs coming from behind him.
The winter break training camp had limited spots. Long before this monthly exam, Teacher Zhang had told everyone that only students ranking in the top forty of the entire grade would qualify for the winter intensive training.
Many students from Class 17 had prepared thoroughly for the training. They crammed problems day and night, diligent and never slacking off. No one expected this monthly exam to be so difficult!
Mathematics was no longer mathematics—it had become the flames of hell, scorching a group of bewildered test-takers.
The classroom windows were tightly shut, the atmosphere heavy and silent. Formless pressure crashed down upon Duan Qiyan's head. He was stuck on a fill-in-the-blank question, unable to solve it despite racking his brains.
It was a seemingly simple geometry problem, and Duan Qiyan immediately spotted the trap set by the examiner. But precisely because he understood that conventional methods wouldn't work for this particular scenario, he couldn't figure out what alternative approach to take.
Coincidentally, Lin Zhixia was sitting to Duan Qiyan's right.
Duan Qiyan's peripheral vision drifted slightly to the right—that single glance would haunt him for a long time, leaving him feeling suffocated and short of breath. He saw that Lin Zhixia had already reached the eighth page of her test paper.
Lin Zhixia didn't use scratch paper. Holding a pen, she would casually scribble on the questions a couple of times before finding the solution, then swiftly write the answers on the answer sheet.
The eighth and ninth pages contained math proof problems. Lin Zhixia deliberately slowed her pace, writing her answers in meticulous detail. She even glanced up toward Jiang Yubai's seat, silently cheering him on: Jiang Yubai must score higher than Duan Qiyan!
Jiang Yubai sensed someone watching him. He glanced back and happened to meet Lin Zhixia's gaze.
Jiang Yubai never expected Lin Zhixia to stare so directly at him during an exam. Perhaps she was worried he couldn't solve a single problem... but he was actually working on the fourth page.
He managed his time reasonably, answering questions meticulously. Three hours flew by, and loud bells rang through the broadcast system. The proctor said sternly, "All students, stop writing now. No more writing allowed. That boy in the fourth row of the second group wearing brown clothes! I'm talking to you! Put down your pen, unless you want me to mark your paper zero!"
The student being threatened by the proctor was none other than Duan Qiyan.
The test paper had sixteen pages, but Duan Qiyan's writing stopped at the twelfth page.
The moment he handed in his paper, Duan Qiyan's heart seemed to skip a beat, just like King Henry VIII of England never expecting to fall off his horse, just like King Louis XIV of France never expecting to be publicly executed. Duan Qiyan had met his Waterloo in life. He staggered up from his seat, his mind completely blank, as if drained dry by mathematics.
His only wish was—for Jiang Yubai to score worse than him.
He walked over to Jiang Yubai's seat.
Jiang Yubai unscrewed his thermos and poured a cup of warm water. Lin Zhixia, Shen Fuxuan, Han Peng, and others gathered around Jiang Yubai. Shen Fuxuan was the first to ask, "Jiang Yubai, how did you do on the exam?"Lin Zhixia said worriedly, "Was today's exam... especially difficult for you?"
"Can you guess the difficulty of the exam?" Jiang Yubai looked at Lin Zhixia.
Lin Zhixia placed both hands on the desk: "During the exam, many people sighed."
"Why did they make this exam so difficult?" Han Peng couldn't help but voice his complaint. He himself had been one of those dejected students in the exam hall.
Jiang Yubai said, "The exam writer wanted to create gaps between our scores."
Jiang Yubai calmly analyzed the exam writer's intention. His unperturbed demeanor made people suspect he had done exceptionally well. Shen Fuxuan suddenly became enthusiastic and shouted, "Jiang Yubai! Let's compare answers! Let's check the multiple choice questions, fill-in-the-blanks, and the first four major problems, hahahahahahaha, I wrote them so smoothly."
Jiang Yubai readily replied, "Let's start with the major problems. For the fourth problem, the answer is seven-ninths, right?"
"No." Shen Fuxuan furrowed his brows. He supported his right elbow with his left hand, resting his chin on his right hand, and after thinking deeply for several seconds, said, "The answer to the fourth problem is two-seventeenths. It's a simple inequality operation problem—I couldn't have calculated it wrong."
Shen Fuxuan's declaration attracted Duan Qiyan.
Duan Qiyan chimed in, "Two-seventeenths, that's what I got too! Shen Fuxuan!"
Shen Fuxuan glanced sideways at him: "So what? Why are you yelling at me?"
Duan Qiyan's face was pale. Having suffered a crushing defeat in today's exam, the title of "The primary school's First God of War" was likely to be buried forever.
The glory of the past was gone, never to return. Where did the future path lie? Filled with anxiety, Duan Qiyan swallowed hard, his adolescent Adam's apple bobbing slightly. He asked quietly, "Shen Fuxuan, if I fall out of the top twenty in the class, how about you being my deskmate?"
Shen Fuxuan was taken aback: "Fall out of the top twenty?"
Duan Qiyan straightened up proudly: "Well? I'm asking you!"
Shen Fuxuan laughed and said, "Sure."
Duan Qiyan thought he was hearing things. He asked again, and Shen Fuxuan repeated, "Sure."
Duan Qiyan pointed a finger at Shen Fuxuan, shaking it three times: "You better keep your word."
Shen Fuxuan boldly agreed. Meanwhile, his current deskmate—Han Peng—could hardly believe Shen Fuxuan's impulsive decision. Han Peng and Shen Fuxuan had been classmates for six years at Shengli Primary School and had been good friends for all those years. Now, for the sake of some "First God of War" from the attached primary school, Shen Fuxuan was abandoning Han Peng!
Why!
Han Peng hooked his arm around Shen Fuxuan's shoulder, but Shen Fuxuan ignored him. The deep friendship built over six years collapsed in that instant. Han Peng wanted Shen Fuxuan to regret it. And in Class 17 of Grade 7, only Lin Zhixia was stronger than Shen Fuxuan!
Han Peng took two steps back, facing Lin Zhixia, and said, "Lin Zhixia! After the next ranking announcement, be my deskmate. I'll treat you to strawberry candy every day. Your pencil case is covered with strawberry stickers."
Many classmates in the class liked to buy fifty-cent sticker sheets from the school store. The selection of sticker sheets was quite extensive, including various fruits and cartoon characters. And Lin Zhixia was passionate about strawberries—her love for them was evident to everyone.Sure enough, the moment Han Peng mentioned strawberry candy, Lin Zhixia's eyes lit up as she softly repeated, "Strawberry candy?"
While observing Shen Fuxuan's expression, Han Peng casually responded, "Yes, Lin Zhixia, I'll treat you every day..."
Before he could finish, Jiang Yubai stood up with a sudden "whoosh." Blocking Han Peng, he declared righteously, "Eating candy every day is bad for your teeth. If Lin Zhixia sits with you, she might develop cavities."
Cavities?
Jiang Yubai really knew how to twist logic!
Han Peng opened his mouth but couldn't refute it. He wanted to find another way to win over Lin Zhixia. However, Lin Zhixia peeked out from behind Jiang Yubai and earnestly announced, "I'll only sit with Jiang Yubai."
She added, "Jiang Yubai, you were right about the fourth problem. The answer is seven-ninths, not two-seventeenths. Shen Fuxuan and Duan Qiyan both got it wrong because they overconsidered one scenario and incorrectly narrowed the range of the correct result."
"What did you say?" Duan Qiyan pursed his lips. Though he phrased it as a question, as if doubting Lin Zhixia, he had already submitted to her judgment in his heart, treating all her conclusions as the standard reference answers.
Jiang Yubai turned around and asked Lin Zhixia, "Is the answer to the fifth problem 6.7?"
"Correct!" Lin Zhixia clapped for him. Without holding back, she shared, "The multiple-choice answers are CBACDDBAC. Jiang Yubai, did you get the same?"
"Lin Zhixia, did you flip back through the test before handing it in to memorize the multiple-choice answers?" Duan Qiyan pressed relentlessly.
Lin Zhixia didn't answer him. Picking up her backpack, she left the classroom with Jiang Yubai.
The hallway was bustling with people, light and shadows intertwining as Lin Zhixia followed Jiang Yubai down the stairs, their figures gradually obscured by the steps. It seemed that through their constant companionship, they had built another world—one filled with trivial life insights and shared understanding, where other classmates found it hard to intrude.
Duan Qiyan held his breath and had an epiphany. "I've been so foolish."
Han Peng teased, "How did you figure that out?"
Gazing into the distance, Duan Qiyan said, "Lin Zhixia must have tutored Jiang Yubai. How did Jiang Yubai improve so quickly?"
"You just don't get it," Han Peng told him. "At Experimental Primary School, Jiang Yubai was known as the richest kid in the whole school. His elementary classmates called him 'Wealthy Jiang.' I heard he has several private tutors."
A sense of foreboding rose in Duan Qiyan's heart.
On the day the math scores were released, Duan Qiyan went outside the classroom after class to cool off in the cold breeze. The homeroom teacher had even posted the score sheet next to the blackboard for the whole class to review together.
This exam had caused significant shifts in the class rankings. Lin Zhixia remained the unshakable top scorer, even achieving a perfect score once again. Jiang Yubai followed closely behind, with Shen Fuxuan in third place... Jiang Yubai didn't bother looking further down for Duan Qiyan's name. Knowing when to show mercy, he decided to let Duan Qiyan off the hook for now and not deliberately provoke his already bruised ego.
Lin Zhixia, however, seemed a bit gleeful. "Duan Qiyan will have to shout 'Long live Emperor Jiang Yubai' at the winter break training camp! How did he come up with that idea? What kind of TV dramas does he watch at home? Hahahahaha..."
Lin Zhixia's arrogant and unrestrained laughter reached Duan Qiyan's ears without missing a single note.Duan Qiyan stood at the classroom doorway, neither advancing nor retreating, truly caught in a dilemma. During the days when he made the bet, he had been watching "The Legend of the Twin Dragons of Tang" at home and was indeed influenced by the TV drama, yearning to become a heroic figure like the emperor.
However, reality was too cruel to him.
Time continued to pass day after day. The students in the Olympiad class gradually grew accustomed to a life accompanied by mathematics, their bonds as classmates grew stronger, and Lin Zhixia's work as class monitor progressed very smoothly. Thanks to her exam scores, almost all her classmates showed genuine admiration and respect for her. No matter which corner of the classroom Lin Zhixia went to, someone would call out, "Monitor Lin."
Monitor Lin was the pride of Class 17.
No matter how difficult or twisted the test papers were, Monitor Lin would never fail.
Before the winter break training camp began, the second-year Olympiad class seniors had already heard of Lin Zhixia's reputation.
In the depths of winter, a layer of unmelted snow covered the railings, and the entire campus was bitterly cold with howling north winds. Undeterred by the harsh conditions, three second-year senior girls banded together to sneak a peek at Lin Zhixia.
Lin Zhixia happened to be sitting by the window. During the break, she wrote in her "Human Observation Diary": "Winter has come, and it snowed again this year. What changes has Jiang Yubai undergone in 2006? His Mental Calculation Level has steadily improved, and he has gained some understanding of the basic introduction to physics. Although he is struggling with a simple irrational number proof problem, I believe he can at least solve it by today..."
Lin Zhixia glanced sideways at Jiang Yubai and noticed he had only written the word "Solution." So, she crossed out the word "today" on the page and changed it to "this year."
Her entire sentence then became: "I believe he can at least solve this problem by this year!"
After recording her "Human Observation Diary," Lin Zhixia stopped writing. Outside the classroom, separated by a glass window, the senior girls commented, "Is that Lin Zhixia? The top student in the first-year Olympiad class."
One of the senior girls said, "Lin Zhixia is really cute."
Lin Zhixia heard someone calling her name. She immediately looked out the window, and the senior girls scattered in a flurry, but she remembered each of their faces. She confided in Jiang Yubai, "Jiang Yubai, the second-year Olympiad class seniors seem to have something to tell me. Or maybe they just came to take a quiet look at me. Which one do you think it is?"
"I think it's the latter," Jiang Yubai said, his pen tip hovering over the reference book.
Lin Zhixia picked up her mechanical pencil and wrote an expression in his notebook. With a little guidance from Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai figured out how to solve the problem. He sighed, "The teacher said the winter break training will be very tough. For you, there should be no hardship, only..."
Only what?
Before Jiang Yubai could finish, Lin Zhixia added for him, "Only ease."
She pressed the tip of her mechanical pencil and spoke her mind to Jiang Yubai, "My rural hometown doesn't feel like home to me. The place where I live with my Mom, Dad, and Brother is my real home. This winter break, I don't have to go to the countryside, and I get to see all of you every day. I'm so happy."
Jiang Yubai noticed that Lin Zhixia didn't say "you" but "all of you." He asked subtly, "Which classmates do you want to see during the winter break?"Those classmates might all be potential competitors who could surpass Jiang Yubai in future exams.
Jiang Yubai believed that the classmates Lin Zhixia paid attention to must be strong contenders with considerable ability and talent.
Yet Lin Zhixia declared, "I, Lin Zhixia, am now the class monitor of Class 17!"
Jiang Yubai cooperatively responded, "Monitor Lin."
"Mm-hmm!" Lin Zhixia nodded proudly. "So, I want to see all my classmates at the winter training camp."
Jiang Yubai thought to himself that only twenty-three students from Class 17 had made it into the top forty of the grade. The winter training camp would have a total of 140 participants. By then, students from Classes 17 and 18, senior students from the second year of junior high, and those from other schools would all witness Lin Zhixia's extraordinary qualities.
The winter training camp at Provincial No. 1 High School officially began on January 7, 2006.
The head coach of the junior high school mathematics competition was in charge of this training camp.
The coach, around forty years old, spoke with a slight accent. He was decisive and efficient, with his own set of principles. At the training camp's mobilization assembly, he introduced himself in a booming voice: "Hello, students! My surname is Zhai. I am your Teacher Zhai! Let's keep it brief! This training camp has only two goals. The first is to consolidate and strengthen your knowledge of junior high mathematics competition topics! The other is to familiarize yourselves with past years' competition question types! After the winter break, you will see a qualitative improvement—from quantitative change to qualitative change, from ordinary students to first prize winners in competitions. It all depends on how much effort you're willing to put in!"
The students from Classes 17 and 18 of the first year of junior high were participating in such training for the first time. They felt varying degrees of curiosity, anticipation, and nervousness. Yet Lin Zhixia sat at her desk, enthusiastically playing Cat's cradle with Wan Chunlei.
As long as Lin Zhixia didn't bring up Go, Wan Chunlei was willing to play any game with her.
One's bottom line collapses abruptly through step-by-step concessions—Wan Chunlei understood this principle well but still set up the red string and played happily with Lin Zhixia.
The students were seated in the first-tier lecture hall, with each class assigned a specific area. To Wan Chunlei's left was Lin Zhixia, and to her right was Duan Qiyan. Even though Teacher Zhai was delivering what seemed like meaningless motivational speeches, Duan Qiyan diligently recorded every word in his notebook.
Duan Qiyan was arrogant and self-assured, but his handwriting was neat and elegant. He wrote stroke by stroke: From quantitative change to qualitative change, from ordinary students to first prize winners in competitions, it all depends on how much effort you're willing to put in...
After finishing, he even mocked Wan Chunlei: "Isn't Cat's cradle something kindergarten kids play?"
Wan Chunlei sneered, "Duan Qiyan, when are you going to call Jiang Yubai 'Your Majesty'? Do you dare go to the front row and shout it after this class?"
Duan Qiyan shuddered. He fell silent, as if trying to renege on his promise.
Just then, Lin Zhixia hooked the corner of the red string and fashioned a beautiful red flower, holding it up for Wan Chunlei to see: "Look, a little red flower!"
Wan Chunlei was stunned: "You're even better at Cat's cradle than anyone else."
Lin Zhixia then turned to face Jiang Yubai, who was sitting to her left: "The Tang Dynasty scholar Wen Tingyun once wrote in a poem—'Red flowers first bloom, snowflakes abound.' Jiang Yubai, look, it's snowing outside, and I have this little red flower here. Doesn't it fit the scene perfectly?"Jiang Yubai set down the paper and pen. He lowered his head slightly and picked up the string with his fingertips. He wanted to play with Lin Zhixia for a while, but with just a slight tug, he accidentally scattered her red flower. He quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, the flower has vanished."
"It's alright, Ji-Ji-Ji-Jiang Yubai!" Lin Zhixia said with a laugh. "The flower hasn't vanished; it will forever bloom in my mind."
Jiang Yubai used a red pen to draw a red tulip on the paper: "This one is for you too, Li-Li-Li-Lin Zhixia."
At the front of the lecture hall, Teacher Zhai had already finished explaining the outline of the training program. He dusted the chalk off his hands and announced loudly, "Class, we'll have a fifteen-minute break. In the next session, Teacher Zhang from Class 17 of Grade 7 will summarize the first major category of competition problems for everyone. We must digest the day's knowledge on the same day! After each morning and afternoon session, we'll hold a pop quiz in the evening! The test papers will be handed out the next morning! Your scores for every exam will be recorded. Outstanding students will have the chance to be selected as representatives for provincial and national math competitions!"
Some students in the lecture hall rushed out for a breather, while the rest stayed to listen to Teacher Zhai.
Teacher Zhai told everyone, "Last year, I took students to Macau for the national league competition. Those students also took the opportunity to tour Macau, and the school covered all the expenses. The competition prizes were generous too. Don't view competitions as something painful—they come with many added benefits, understand? You're all teenagers now, boys and girls. Have confidence and don't let fear of difficulty hold you back."
Many students were resistant to the rule of "a pop quiz every day." Everyone knew how exhausting and terrifying the "winter training camp" could be, but Lin Zhixia was deeply captivated by Teacher Zhai's mention of "touring Macau along the way." She shared her thoughts with Jiang Yubai again: "This training program is really fun!"
Before her words faded, Teacher Zhai walked out of the lecture hall. He was heading to the printing room to fetch materials for the students.
Duan Qiyan slammed the desk and stood up.
His fountain pen rolled to the floor. He didn't pick it up.
His classmates from Class 17 guessed what he was about to do, feeling both anticipation and anxiety. If Duan Qiyan made a fool of himself, the reputation of Class 17 would be tarnished too.
Duan Qiyan stood at attention, stomping his left foot heavily on the ground. The sound was firm and powerful, drawing the attention of nearby students. He was so embarrassed he could barely keep his eyes open, only managing to pinpoint Jiang Yubai's location through narrowed slits. Facing that direction, he bowed deeply and shouted, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"
Jiang Yubai remained silent. Lin Zhixia answered for him: "Who are you?"
Gritting his teeth and blushing, Duan Qiyan replied, "I am his subordinate!"
The entire lecture hall fell into a three-second silence, then erupted into waves of mocking laughter. Many students from other schools and their own school ridiculed Duan Qiyan, but he didn't bolt out of the classroom. Struggling to maintain his composure, he sat back in his seat, hugging his knees.
This was his growth.Lin Zhixia remained completely undisturbed by the outside noise. She cut out an exquisite little crown from white paper and personally placed it on the tip of Jiang Yubai’s left index finger. Then, leaning over the desk, she whispered to him, "Congratulations, Jiang Yubai. The little prince has successfully ascended the throne, and Lin Zhixia crowns you."
Author's Note: Ahhh I love Xia Xia so much 【weeping like a proud mother.jpg】
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【Next Episode Preview: Winter break training camp brings countless challenges! Class 17 unites as one to face external rivals!】
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