The classroom was filled with the noisy chatter of classmates. No one noticed the little paper crown on Jiang Yubai's left index finger. Jiang Yubai seemed to be attending a grand ceremony—his crown was a meticulously cut circle of white paper, his throne a row of wooden chairs padded with sponge cushions.
Lin Zhixia had just organized this simple yet solemn ceremony for him. His heart surged like roaring tidal waves, carrying him to the mountaintop where he stood at the closest point to the sky. Excited yet silent, he once again found himself at a loss for words.
Jiang Yubai suddenly understood why Duan Qiyan had dashed out of the classroom earlier—sometimes, a young man might not know how to face reality.
Jiang Yubai's jacket had an attached hood. He simply pulled up the hood to cover his hair and shield his profile. His right palm cupped his left index finger, thoroughly protecting his crown.
Observing his every move, Lin Zhixia wrote in her "Human Observation Diary": "Jiang Yubai is indeed my best friend. He's always willing to accept my scenario settings—whether it's 'Exploring the Universe' or today's coronation ceremony, he always engages with them..."
While writing, she asked him: "Jiang Yubai, have you ever seen a real crown?"
"Yes," Jiang Yubai thought for a moment before adding, "I've seen European royal crowns in museums and private collections."
"What were they like?" Lin Zhixia tilted her head to look at him.
He carefully recalled and described: "Covered in gemstones of all colors, each about this size..." He gestured with his hands to indicate the dimensions and mentioned a specific location: "The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, has a large collection of crowns on the second floor jewelry exhibition, adorned with red, yellow, blue, green, and purple gemstones."
Lin Zhixia exclaimed in amazement: "I've only seen antiques online."
Closing her notebook, she continued: "Queen Victoria of England was born in 1819 and reigned for sixty-four years. She and her husband Prince Albert facilitated the first World's Fair, the 1851 London Great Exhibition, which showcased technological achievements from various countries in the nineteenth century. According to the '1851 Jury Reports of the Great Exhibition,' China presented exquisite silk, lacquerware, porcelain, and vegetable wax at the first World's Fair and won medals. One of the organizers of this exhibition was the first director of the museum you just mentioned."
Jiang Yubai nodded in agreement: "You remember everything so clearly."
Lin Zhixia revealed: "I want to visit museums all over the world."
"My family has a private collection," Jiang Yubai said generously. "You can come visit my house again when you have time."
Lin Zhixia immediately agreed: "Okay!"
After speaking, she asked with slight hesitation: "Jiang Yubai, is the private collection in your house like a museum?"
When Lin Zhixia made the crown for Jiang Yubai, she had cut a piece of white paper. Jiang Yubai picked up the remaining portion of that paper. Using a ruler, he drew a rectangle on the paper and wrote a line in the center: "Lin Zhixia's Museum Pass Ticket." Issuance date: January 7, 2006. Issuer: Jiang Yubai.
He handed this "pass ticket" to Lin Zhixia."Thank you, Jiang Yubai," Lin Zhixia gripped the edges of the ticket tightly with both hands, "With this, can I officially visit your family's private collection gallery?"
Jiang Yubai admitted: "Yes."
What he actually thought was, perhaps in the future, they could visit museums around the world together. It was only at this moment that Jiang Yubai finally removed the hat covering his head and calmly appeared in his classmates' field of vision.
At the front of the classroom, Teacher Zhai returned carrying a stack of test papers. He locked them in the lectern's drawer and told the students: "You'll have exams every day, so you must listen carefully in class, don't get distracted. I hope everyone can achieve good results!"
The lectern was about one meter wide, with a Lenovo computer placed on it. Teacher Zhai bent over and tapped on the keyboard, found Teacher Zhang's course presentation, and only then invited Teacher Zhang to the podium.
Teacher Zhang was responsible for the "Geometry Problems" topic. He could blend multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and calculation problems together, explaining the patterns of past competitions from simple to complex. He emphasized classroom atmosphere and occasionally asked students questions.
A competition question from last year was projected on the large screen. Teacher Zhang asked: "Everyone think about it - how do we prove that line segments AF and EC are parallel?"
Jin Baihui from Class 18 immediately raised her hand.
Teacher Zhang called her name, and she stood up to answer: "Ceva's theorem and its converse."
"Correct!" Teacher Zhang said, "This problem looks difficult, but actually it's as simple as can be. The Ceva's theorem we just discussed is sufficient. Once I draw the auxiliary lines, you'll all understand."
As Teacher Zhang diligently drew the auxiliary lines, Lin Zhixia was also reading a copy of "Geometric Topology" she had brought. She began thinking about the relationship between entropy and Euler characteristics she had seen in Rian's paper. As early as 2003, Perelman had proven the Poincaré conjecture, but Perelman hadn't directly applied Ricci flow to three-dimensional manifolds...
Lin Zhixia immersed herself in the world of differential geometry. Wan Chunlei caught sight of the book in Lin Zhixia's hands and gasped audibly, asking her: "What, what are you reading?"
Lin Zhixia flipped back to the title page: "'Geometric Topology'."
While Teacher Zhang was explaining triangle solutions on the podium, Lin Zhixia was reading "Geometric Topology" at her seat. The contrast between them was striking, and Wan Chunlei felt a tremendous impact. The differential equations in the book Lin Zhixia held were densely packed, and Wan Chunlei didn't dare glance in Lin Zhixia's direction again.
Wan Chunlei couldn't help testing Lin Zhixia: "Your book is full of algebraic expressions, Lin Zhixia. Are you thinking while you read?"
Lin Zhixia murmured to herself: "I'm recalling Perelman's proof process for the three-dimensional manifold Poincaré conjecture. There's one part I don't understand. After I go home at noon today, I need to call a mathematics department PhD student."
"Professor Shen gave you the mathematics department PhD's phone number?" Jiang Yubai's note-taking hand paused.
"Professor Shen went on an ocean expedition and hasn't returned yet. Sister Zhu Chan has helped me several times," Lin Zhixia said honestly, "Zhu Chan gave me the mobile numbers of PhD sisters from the mathematics, physics, and computer science departments."
Jiang Yubai casually asked her: "What does Zhu Chan usually talk to you about? Marine physics?"Lin Zhixia recalled her conversation with Zhu Chan, her face showing a bewildered expression: "Sister Zhu Chan often asks me what my mom ate when she was pregnant with me, and how many hours she slept each day. I'm so puzzled. Adults' actions usually have specific motivations—what drives her?"
Jiang Yubai also felt perplexed.
Lin Zhixia speculated: "Could it be that she wants a child similar to me..."
"A child similar to you," Jiang Yubai completed her sentence.
Lin Zhixia covered her face with her hands: "Sister Zhu Chan doesn't know—I'm afraid of the dark, ghosts, and injections."
Shen Fuxuan, sitting in front of her, turned around and asked: "Are you afraid of exams, Lin Zhixia?"
Before Lin Zhixia could respond, Jiang Yubai declared: "For her, exams are just a game."
No student's fidgeting could escape the teacher's notice in the lecture hall. Standing on the six-foot podium, Teacher Zhang gently reminded: "Classmates, pay attention to the lesson and maintain quiet. Don't whisper right under the teacher's nose. Our Class 17 students should pay extra attention to their manners."
Lin Zhixia and all nearby classmates simultaneously fell silent. They maintained this quiet until successfully completing the morning training session.
During the training period, teachers lectured rapidly, assigned heavy homework loads, and students faced intense competitive pressure with overwhelming academic burdens. The daily lunch break lasted only two hours—many students couldn't make it home and had to eat at Provincial First High School's cafeteria before catching a quick nap at their desks.
But Lin Zhixia lived close to school. She took the bus home, ate the lunch her mom prepared, then happily napped in her own bed. After waking up refreshed, she energetically returned to Provincial First High School for afternoon training.
At 1:40 PM, Lin Zhixia entered the classroom. Teachers hadn't arrived yet, and noisy chatter filled the air. A circle of students crowded around the podium where Duan Qiyan stood red-faced and shouting: "I didn't do this!"
A student from Class 18 said: "Jin Baihui saw you in the classroom..."
Duan Qiyan retorted: "You believe everything Jin Baihui says? What is she to you? Why don't you change your surname to Kim and become her lackey? The podium drawer's lock was broken, the test papers were seen—how could I do something so stupid? Wasn't I always first in every exam at Normal University Affiliated Elementary School? Would I need to peek at test papers?"
Duan Qiyan's brief explanation helped Lin Zhixia understand what had happened.
That morning, Teacher Zhai had placed a stack of test papers in the podium drawer and locked it with a padlock. Teacher Zhai followed the principle of "digesting daily knowledge immediately," holding a 90-minute exam every evening and announcing results the next morning—a terrifying nightmare for most students.
Thus, during today's lunch break, some bold student had pried open the metal lock and stolen the exam papers.
Through Jin Baihui's accusation, Duan Qiyan had become the prime suspect.Lin Zhixia rushed to the podium and spoke up for Duan Qiyan: "I'm Lin Zhixia, class monitor of Class 17. Duan Qiyan is my classmate. I've known him for a semester, and I don't believe he would pick a lock to steal exam papers. This lock is broken. The teacher might cancel the exam, but our Class 17 has never been afraid of exams, let alone needed to pick locks."
Several students from Class 17 spontaneously gathered and stood behind Lin Zhixia. Facing them were the class monitor of Class 18 and three boys from another school.
The Class 18 monitor said: "Our class's Jin Baihui just said she saw Duan Qiyan crouching here suspiciously..." The monitor drew a circle on the floor with his toe: "Duan Qiyan took advantage of the unsupervised lunch break to crouch here and pick the lock."
Jin Baihui, who had been solving problems, was dragged into this complicated dispute. Her seat was in the first row of the lecture hall, making it impossible for her to avoid hearing the conversation at the podium. Holding a pen in her right hand and an exercise book in her left, she quickly walked to the Class 18 monitor's side and sternly accused: "At 12:30 during lunch break, when everyone in the classroom was sleeping, what was Duan Qiyan hiding behind the lectern and busily doing?"
"I brought a USB drive," Duan Qiyan hurriedly explained. "I wanted to copy Teacher Zhang's PPT to take home. I have a computer at home. Open your eyes and look carefully - the main computer unit is under the cabinet. Don't I have to crouch down to plug in the USB? There's a row of ports on the main unit. I couldn't see which one was the USB port clearly, so I was searching for a long time before finding it!"
Jin Baihui didn't believe his explanation. She raised her arm, pointing the pen tip at Duan Qiyan: "Last January, right after exams ended, you deliberately picked a fight with Lin Zhixia in the hallway..."
Lin Zhixia interrupted: "But last year's incident doesn't seem related to today's matter."
Jin Baihui insisted: "Duan Qiyan isn't a reliable person. When the teacher comes, I'll report this to the teacher."
Jin Baihui stepped onto the edge of the podium with one foot. She was convinced Duan Qiyan was the culprit. The lecture hall had no surveillance cameras installed, making eyewitness testimony crucial evidence.
Moreover, Jin Baihui often achieved the second-highest grades in the grade level. Generally, teachers tended to believe the testimony of good students more.
Although the classroom had heating radiators installed, Duan Qiyan felt chilled from head to toe. The flying snow of deep winter seemed to penetrate through the windows and reach his heart, placing him in an oppressive, resentful space that made him somewhat disoriented.
Duan Qiyan lifted his leg and kicked the lectern: "Jin Baihui, what right do you have to falsely accuse me? Everyone knows I'm the most reliable person. When I promise someone something, I always deliver 100%. I'm going to report to the teacher that you're framing me."
Jin Baihui's eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. She stepped fully onto the podium and looked up at Duan Qiyan: "If you didn't steal the exam papers, then who did?"
"Definitely not any student from our Class 17," Lin Zhixia stated firmly.
Her elementary school classmate Zhou Bufeng had been very fond of stealing things. Based on her observations of Zhou Bufeng's daily habits, she believed Class 17 didn't have anyone similar to Zhou Bufeng.
Behind Lin Zhixia, students from Class 17 echoed in response: "Not us! Our Class 17 would never pick locks, no matter what!"The classroom gradually filled with more students. Jiang Yubai and Shen Fuxuan arrived as well. Seeing Lin Zhixia surrounded by a crowd, they immediately approached the podium. Jiang Yubai squeezed through the onlookers, ascertained the cause of the commotion, and gently tugged at Lin Zhixia's sleeve, intending to lead her to the back row seats.
Lin Zhixia said to Jiang Yubai, "I'm the class monitor of Class 17, and Duan Qiyan is a student in our class. I can't abandon my post in the face of trouble. I must find the real thief and uphold justice for Duan Qiyan. That's the duty of a class monitor."
Jiang Yubai reminded her, "Monitor Lin, there are no surveillance cameras in the classroom. You'll have to rely on your 174 IQ to figure something out."
"What can I do? If I can help, just say the word," Shen Fuxuan said, his sympathetic gaze falling on Duan Qiyan. "Duan Qiyan's face has turned pale from being frightened by Jin Baihui."
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