06 Grand Encounter | Why didn’t he come?

Flower curve.

Lin Weifeng looked at her dress which was also placed next to the sink.

Sheng Xin's question once again prompted her to ask herself: When did you start to remember the curve of flowers?

“Plastic Mathematics.”

"Cyclone."

"Flowers are as numerous as brocade, and their shapes are the same as numbers."

"The pattern of the gemstones on your bracelet is part of the curves of the flowers."

Clear water flowed on her twined flower bracelet, the rotating branches, and the inseparable center point. She suddenly thought of something.

In the first semester of his senior year, as a liberal arts student, Lin Weifeng amazed everyone and qualified for the finals of the provincial Olympic Mathematical Competition.

She was happy for herself, but the pressure started to increase and she couldn't get rid of it.

It happened that Jingjiang Police University was holding the Ginkgo Festival, and Lin Haidong helped her apply for a ticket so that she could go and see it.

She agreed and went, but she also took the schoolbag containing the competition questions with her...

The ginkgo trees at the Public University stand quietly, tall and straight, forming a straight path. Fallen leaves cover them, flowing with a golden rhythm, carrying the poetry and tenderness of autumn.

She walked from the first tree to the last tree, walking on her own, unable to take pictures from every angle like other people on the street.

After going through all the steps, I still can’t do the questions I don’t know how to do.

She sighed, but still couldn't relieve the pressure in her heart.

Leaving the bustling ginkgo forest, she walked to a sparsely populated yellow land with only some gradually withering grass and two sycamore trees on the ground.

She shielded the sun with her hands and looked up at the leaves of the sycamore tree.

“It’s also very beautiful.”

If the sycamore trees could be arranged in a row, their beauty would be no less than that of the ginkgo trees.

She shook her hands, walked behind the tree with thicker branches, sat on an exposed rhizome, opened her schoolbag and started studying.

She was in good shape at the moment and successfully solved two big questions.

Unfortunately, I was stuck on the third question for a long time.

"The trochoid, though it looks simple, is my nemesis."

She looked at it for a long time, and saw that the warm autumn sun made her feel sleepy. Under the clear sky, she fell asleep leaning against the sycamore tree.

About ten minutes later, two boys walked into the open space, talking and laughing.

One of them patted the trunk of a tree and said, "This one is thick. I will put my target in front of it so that I can have double vision."

Another said: "When shooting, you don't need to pay too much attention to the external vision. All you need to stare at is the center of each bull's eye."

"Old Jiang, I asked you to tutor me so I could prepare for the final exam, not to help me become a master."

“But there are no sycamore trees in the examination hall.”

"Shut up, it's okay now."

"Aren't you afraid of damaging the tree?"

"What can this bullet hurt? Besides, I'm the famous and outstanding trainee police officer Song Ze. I just can't shoot accurately, not that I can't hit the target."

Lao Jiang was helpless: "Well, you have more excuses, you win."

Song Ze smiled with his fangs shining: "Hehe, you agreed earlier. Put it away, let's go."

"Then practice the fifteen-meter distance first."

"Okay."

The two men stood fifteen meters away from the target.

Lao Jiang said, "Let me play first, and you can see the difference between my and yours."

Song Ze: "Yeah, I think so too."

Lao Jiang skillfully raised his hand, drew his gun, pulled the trigger, fired, and put the gun away, all in one go.

Bang!

There was a gunshot, and a small hard lump appeared in the bull's eye.

Lin Weifeng woke up in shock.

Huh? Is that—gunshots?

Huh? Really?

Lao Jiang said to Song Ze: "In fact, the essence of shooting is absolute speed and relative accuracy."

"I'm not saying... you asked me to watch and learn, but you're so fast, how can I see anything? You think too highly of me."

Lao Jiang shrugged and smiled: "Then you try it, I'll see what the problem is."

Song Ze stood speechlessly at his designated position, raising his pistol in a formal yet unsure manner, muttering, "I'd rather be involved in a dozen more difficult cases. I really can't handle this stuff. There's also the swing shooting next semester, which is really annoying..."

Lao Jiang: "Hurry up."

Song Ze became more serious, his eyes fixed on the target fifteen meters away. Lao Jiang followed his movements and smiled slightly.

Song Ze: "What are you laughing at?"

When Lao Jiang was about to say that this angle couldn't hit the bull's eye—

Lin Weifeng slowly walked to the sycamore tree.

At this moment, Song Ze had already pulled the handle and pulled the trigger.

…

Song Ze also realized that there was someone in the distance, but the inertia of his hand movements made it impossible to stop.

Just as Song Ze was about to shoot in fear, Lao Jiang instantly put his hand on Song Ze's hand and adjusted the angle of his gun.

Bang--

After trying hard to turn the tide, fortunately, there was another hard lump on the bull's eye.

Lin Weifeng couldn't believe it and said to himself, "Is there really someone shooting a gun here?"

Song Ze was so frightened that he dropped the gun in his hand. He scratched his head, jumped up and down, grinning, and suddenly pointed at the girl who suddenly appeared and said, "Lin Weifeng? My dear father! Why are you here?"

Lin Weifeng was so angry that he opened his mouth and exhaled, saying, "Song Ze! You should have asked me why I was here before you shot me? You are really something!"

Song Ze quickly approached her and pointed his finger around the area. "Oh my god, luckily I'm a good shot, otherwise, you'd be dead!"

"You're a good shot? You're the worst student my dad has ever taught."

"Lin Weifeng, don't think that I won't confront you just because you're a senior in high school!"

"Go ahead and argue! A high school senior is full of resentment and was nearly killed by the person with the worst shooting skills. Go ahead and argue! If you have the guts, then argue!"

“You… humph!”

Although Song Ze was two years older than Lin Weifeng, he had never been treated like a brother since he was a child, and he had never won an argument with her...

Lao Jiang picked up his practice gun, loaded it, and walked over to them.

After seeing the stranger, Lin Weifeng calmed down and just whispered to Song Ze: "You, suck!"

Lin Weifeng was already annoyed, and now he was furious.

She stomped back to where she had been sitting and began to pack up her things with heavy hands.

Although Song Ze was harsh in his words, he still had some conscience. He walked over and squatted next to Lin Weifeng.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Song Ze said incoherently.

Lin Weifeng suspected that there was something wrong with his ears, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Huh?"

Song Ze: "I said..."

His good temper could only last for a sentence or two, and suddenly he didn't want to talk anymore.

He rolled his eyes, casually took away the test paper that Lin Weifeng was packing, and said, "Is this homework? Hahaha, someone still has to do homework."

"..." Lin Weifeng emphasized the words, "It's the provincial-level Olympic Mathematics Competition finals."

Song Ze: "What the hell?"

Lin Weifeng was speechless: "..."

She pinched the upper edge of her test paper and tried to pull it back, but Song Ze held it tightly.

She said, "Okay, I'll show you. You'd better be able to do it. I... I can't do some of them."

After saying that, she sighed deeply.

A senior high school student was facing the fact that he didn't know how to do it while getting angry.

"Ah~~~" Song Ze scanned the questions on the test paper, his voice changing drastically, "Straight line, curve, rotation, function!"

Lin Weifeng: "Can you?"

Song Ze said confidently: "I can't."

"Then you 'ow'?"

"Did you just meet me? I was admitted to the police academy because I'm not good at math."

"There's nothing to be proud of. It's lame."

"..." Song Ze was silent for a moment, then suddenly thought of something. He turned around to look at his brother who was leaning against the other side of the sycamore tree, and said to Lin Weifeng, "He can do it! My roommate can do it. He's the top scorer in science in their district, and he also participated in your Olympics. He came to the police academy because his family was not well off, and he wanted a stable job."

Lin Weifeng said: "It's someone else's privacy, why are you making such a loud noise?"

Song Ze stood up, pulled his brother in front of Lin Weifeng, and said to him, "Help my sister take a look. This is not an ordinary sister. She is the daughter of your mentor. She is very precious."

Lin Weifeng first said to Song Ze: "Speak less, I'm annoyed just hearing your voice."

Then she looked at the boy next to him, her bright eyes suddenly gentle, and asked, "Do you know how to solve the cycloid problem?"

The boy's expression didn't change noticeably. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I'll try."

The boy took a few steps forward, squatted beside Lin Weifeng, and took the test paper and pen she handed over.

At that time, the sunlight danced on the tips of his hair, shining straight on the black track left by the tip of his pen.

He has clear eyes, a calm temperament, and is serious and rigorous, completely different from Song Ze's noisy nature.

Seeing the formulas on the draft paper growing longer and longer, Song Ze sighed, "Gosh, you really are good at this."

The boy completed the last step and without saying a word, he handed the draft paper and the test paper directly to Lin Weifeng and glanced at her.

Lin Weifeng took it and studied it carefully.

He wrote in great detail, including all the parts omitted in the reference answers, making it easy to understand and covering everything.

She said, "It turns out that I made a mistake in the first step. I really didn't understand the basic principles."

The boy patiently explained, "A cycloid is also called a cycloid, and it's related to the brachistocentric problem. Have you ever seen anyone skateboarding?"

"Um."

"When an object rolls freely on a track of constant altitude, cycloids can help explain why objects on certain curved paths can reach their destination faster. High school competitions only test this far. The question you don't know is already the most difficult one."

"What's even harder?"

"The more difficult ones won't be in math, but mostly in physics, with questions like magnetic fields and gravity added in."

"I see."

"Um."

"So is this the hardest circuit function problem in the math competition?"

The boy shook his head.

Lin Weifeng asked sincerely: "What is it, what is more difficult?"

"Flower curve." The boy said firmly.

Lin Weifeng repeated: "Flower curve."

The boy pointed to the last question on the test paper and said, "This is the kind of question."

Lin Weifeng calmed down and read the questions, then tried to do them herself, but she didn't understand.

"What is a flower curve?" She asked sincerely, eager to learn.

"Do you have any discarded plastic bottle caps and double-sided tape?"

"Yes, I have all my stationery."

At this time, Song Ze interrupted and said, "Poor students have more stationery."

Lin Weifeng yelled at him: "I am a good student!"

The boy looked at Song Ze and said, "You should also learn the spinning line. Then you can pass the swing shooting test next semester."

Song Ze: "..."

Lin Weifeng laughed out loud and handed the double-sided tape and the unscrewed bottle cap to the boy next to him.

There was also a smile on the boy's lips.

He placed a clean piece of white draft paper on the cover of the book in Lin Weifeng's hand, put the double-sided tape in the center, and then used a black pen to paint the edge of the bottle cap black.

He lifted the bottle cap, found the center point with his eyes, poked a small hole, and inserted a thin branch.

Song Ze asked: "What are you doing?"

The boy replied: "Making gears."

"gear?"

"Or you can call it, Fanhua Gui."

As he spoke, he placed the bottle cap against the inside of the double-sided tape and rotated it along the arc of the tape.

On the draft paper, a beautiful curve immediately appeared around the center of the circle.

Wow--

Lin Weifeng and Song Ze spoke at the same time, then looked at each other with disgust.

The bottle cap spun once, and the boy stopped. His gaze flickered between the two of them, then to Lin Weifeng. He said, "This is the simplest flower curve: one gear, one outline. The more gears and outlines there are, the more the curve's trajectory can intertwine into different shapes, forming a more complex flower. However, the competition won't test that level of detail."

Lin Weifeng felt shocked for the first time when she encountered a math problem, and she didn't know what to say for a moment.

When she saw the cartoon characters on the boys, a sentence popped into her mind: "Cockroach bully."

The boy looked at his T-shirt and said, "Cockroach bully?"

Lin Weifeng smiled sheepishly: "Well, this little thing is called Cockroach Bully, a villain in the cartoon, who later joined the protagonist group to save the world."

The boy nodded.

Lin Weifeng said, "I've strayed off topic. You just mentioned what the key point of the Flower Curve test is in the competition."

The boy spoke seriously again, "If the test involves large and small gears, when the gear ratio can be converted into the simplest fraction, the denominator is usually the number of revolutions of the small gear. The sum of the denominator and the numerator is the number of petals in the pattern. As for the numerator, it is the number of revolutions of the small gear along the large gear."

Song Ze: "...Is this Chinese?"

The boy said: "This principle is not only used in Chinese, but also in the patterns on many cultural relics."

He looked at the twined flower bracelet on Lin Weifeng's hand: "You have it on your hand, an artistic flower curve."

Lin Weifeng stared at the twined flower patterns, his brain working rapidly, and he could actually imagine the appearance of some gears turning to draw the pattern.

She swallowed and looked at the boy.

I want to say something, but I don’t know what to say.

Then he looked back at his test paper.

She said calmly, "The flower curve is a difficult problem, but... it's beautiful."

The boy said, "Beauty is its characteristic, but the combination of mathematics and beauty is its essence. Many people collect artifacts with floral curves, not only because of their beauty, but also because their appearance indicates that our ancestors began to pay attention to mathematical thinking. Combined with other clues, we can find gear civilization and the prototype of industrialization."

…

Time has passed quietly until now. In the New World Hotel, the white dress in Lin Weifeng's hand was slightly soaked in water, and the pattern on it became darker.

Lin Weifeng looked at the pattern on the hem of the skirt, her heart beating faster for no reason, her thoughts like a tangled mess, unable to untie the knot of emotions.

So, the boy who solved the problem back then was Jiang Yu?

Is the so-called "passerby" who told him about the cockroach bully himself?

How come I forgot what the boy under the paulownia tree looked like?

At that time, did you love studying so much?

What was his name or where was he from? That day, I didn't ask anything.

If it weren't for him, how would he know that today's hostages could understand the sign language compiled by Lao Lin.

If it was him, how could he...

How could he...

Why didn't he come to see her tonight?

Obviously, you said you were staying at the New World Hotel, right?

Come and reminisce, chat, even if it’s about math problems like flowers and curves, isn’t that nice?