interval

During the Sunday tutoring session, Lu Xiye was still sulking. Ever since Jiang Zhizhi walked in, he'd been sitting cross-legged at the coffee table, buried in his homework. It had been nearly an hour, and he hadn't said a word. Jiang Zhizhi, content and at ease, spread out a large sheet of draft paper, sat across from him, continuing the unfinished work from the previous night.

Lu Xiye dawdled through the last question on the test, glancing resentfully at Jiang Zhizhi, who was furiously writing across from him. His peripheral vision caught sight of the densely packed inscriptions on the draft paper, and a sudden headache gripped him. But he was used to it; ever since the start of this semester, Jiang Zhizhi had always enjoyed writing bizarre things.

He watched her write for half an hour straight, filling six pages of draft paper. Her pen was divinely written, as if she had already memorized everything she wrote. The more he spent time with her, the more Lu Xiye wanted to crack open her brain to see how it was that she could remember so much.

He casually opened a can of Coke and leaned back on the sofa, intending to see how long Jiang Zhizhi could finish writing.

I saw her write two more pages. Because she wrote too many words in a short time, the pen holder pressed her fingertips white. She finally let go of the gel pen and put it aside. While moving her finger joints, she sighed deeply.

She was thinking too simply. The proportions of ingredients are endless, and there is no such thing as exhaustive enumeration.

Maybe she should start from another direction.

"Hello!"

Lu Xiye on the opposite side interrupted her thoughts impatiently.

Jiang Zhizhi looked at him and glanced at the test paper on the table. "What's wrong? Which question can't you answer?"

“…”

This question is so choking that it makes people choke to death.

Considering what happened yesterday, Lu Xiye felt as if his chest was blocked by a layer of miasma, and he felt suffocated. "Aren't you going to apologize to me?"

Apologize?

Did she mean that she left him alone on Shangyuan Street yesterday?

"Feel sorry."

“…”

Such a straightforward apology only made people more angry.

"What were you doing yesterday? You didn't really go back for the money, did you?" But this didn't make sense. If Jiang Zhizhi really cared about the two thousand yuan, she wouldn't have left with him at that time. There must be other reasons behind it.

"Didn't I tell you? It's because I met my senior brother."

"You are lying. You met that guy named Xu after that. If you met him at the beginning, why didn't you tell me when I called you for the first time?" Lu Xiye cleverly found the loophole.

"Because I thought it would be over soon, there was no need to tell you. Is that an okay reason?" Jiang Zhizhi looked a little tired. She glanced at her watch and saw it was almost noon. "Rest. It's time to eat later."

She started to organize the draft paper, ignoring Lu Xiye who was so angry that he couldn't speak.

The time agreed with Xu Jiaojiao is only ten days, and today is already the second day, so she doesn’t have much time.

*

"What? Wu Ge, what did I do wrong? Why don't you let me work with you?"

Wang Xing was playing basketball on the playground of Dongxin Vocational and Technical School when he suddenly received a call from the security manager of Jasmine Club.

He's called a security manager, but aside from the extra pay, his job is no different from any other thug. Tangtang's connections led him to Manager Wu, who, impressed by his fighting prowess, often asked him to help with shady tasks. Wu explained that since he was a minor, any problems would be easier to handle. Over the past two years, he'd earned a lot of money working for Wu, and it was this that allowed him to recruit these underlings.

"Things are going on right now, with the higher-ups investigating aggressively. You're not even 18 yet, so if anything happens, it'll be trouble. Don't come to the club for now. I'll contact you again if I need anything after this period."

"But Angkor, you said before..."

"That's it, hanging up."

"beep--"

Wang Xing was no fool. He could sense a hint of intimidation in Manager Wu's tone. Had he done something wrong? Or was someone trying to cause trouble for him?

He thought about it over and over again but couldn't figure it out, so he had to call Tangtang.

"Sister, what's going on? Brother Wu doesn't want me to work with him anymore. What happened?"

"How dare you ask? You've messed with the wrong person! I heard it was the big boss who called Wu Ge personally. What on earth did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! I was so upset about Xu Jiaojiao these past two days that I didn't even go to the club."

"Could it be because of Xu Jiaojiao?"

"Impossible! I know her family situation. If she knew the big boss of the club, would she still hang out with us?"

"Okay, I'll find another chance to find out for you. Just be quiet for the next few days."

*

on Monday.

The morning was foggy and there seemed to be a thin layer of frost in the air.

Jiang Zhizhi got off the bus wearing a bulky blue school uniform. She pulled up her scarf to cover half of her face, barely blocking the biting cold wind.

"Zhizhi, what a coincidence!"

Li Rongrong just got out of a black car not far behind. She was wearing a pink and white woolen coat, which was very cute and fashionable.

Jiang Zhizhi walked towards her and thought that the driver was Li Rongrong's father. She was about to say hello, but when she got closer, she found that it was a strange middle-aged man.

"Oh, this isn't our car. My dad saw that the weather has been too cold recently, so he hired a private car for me to take me to and from school every morning and evening." Li Rongrong saw Jiang Zhizhi's confusion and explained while holding her hand and walking towards the school. "By the way, is Lu Xiye still riding his electric scooter to school?"

"I think so."

"Tsk, he's really cold-resistant." Although Li Rongrong liked the electric motorcycle very much, she couldn't help but sneer at this moment.

The two of them soon arrived at the school gate. In front of the bustling crowd, there were a few familiar junior high school seniors talking.

Li Rongrong suddenly thought of something and grabbed Jiang Zhizhi, saying, "Oh, by the way, I heard Xu Qingbo has been internally accepted by No. 1 High School. He did very well in the Olympiad this year, and his mock exam scores were also very stable. Last time, he even made it into the top five in his grade. Now, several key high schools are vying for him."

"Yeah, I heard that."

After Xu Qingbo skipped a grade, he has always been at the top of his class.

He was excellent, she had always known that.

"Zhizhi, if you skip a grade this year, you will definitely be no worse than Xu Qingbo."

Jiang Zhizhi smiled and said, "I haven't thought about skipping a grade yet."

For her now, it doesn’t matter whether she skips grades or not.

*

Physical education class, free time.

As usual, Jiang Zhizhi found a quiet lawn to sit down. She held a book clip in her hand with a draft book and a gel pen on it, but she sat there for a long time without writing.

She has tried many proportions in the past two days, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. The more she tries, the more powerless she feels, like facing a mountain.

Is there no other way? She stared at it, thinking, and faintly, she could sense something in her heart, ready to come out...

On the playground not far away, a group of girls were playing games.

"Palms and backs of the hands! Palms and backs of the hands! Palms and backs of the hands!"

They use the palms and backs of their hands to choose each other's teammates, one team on the palm and the other team on the back of the hand.

"This time we're a team of four..."

"Let's choose offense and defense, Rongrong. You can represent our team in rock-paper-scissors."

Li Rongrong and another girl played rock-paper-scissors.

"I won, you guys hold the line."

Another girl who was playing rock-paper-scissors with Li Rongrong said.

This is a line-keeping game. To prevent cracking, the cement floor of the playground was smoothed with square lines, dividing the entire playground into squares.

One team guards the line, while the other team steps on it. If the team guards the line and is caught, they lose. If they successfully step on the line, they win.

The rules of the game are roughly like this, but Jiang Zhizhi hasn't played this game for a long time and can't remember some of the details.

She looked at the girls, one attacking and the other defending, especially the girls on the attacking side, who were so agile and nimble that they looked like fluttering butterflies.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, they stopped.

"Your one only counts as one, not two."

"Why doesn't it count as two? I stepped on this corner, which means I stepped on the lines on both sides."

"If you say so, then I said your horn only stepped on half of the line on my side. You stepped on half of the line on this side and half of the line on the other side, so together it's only one line."

"How can you calculate like that?"

"That's how it's calculated. My line only goes from here to there, and you can only step within this range..."

Click——

Jiang Zhizhi's originally stuck thoughts suddenly became clear.

Yes, it is an interval.

Proportions are infinite, but they can be divided into finite intervals.

How about trying it with intervals?

Jiang Zhizhi wrote with swift swiftness, quickly experimenting with the draft once more...

…

"Jiang Zhizhi, someone is looking for you outside." When the get out of class was about to end, a girl appeared in front of Jiang Zhizhi and interrupted her train of thought.

She raised her head and looked in the direction the girl pointed. Outside the school gate was a tall girl wearing the uniform of No. 4 Middle School. However, she did not know that girl.

After a moment of silence, she stood up, said thank you to the girl in front of her, and walked to the school gate.

"Hello, I'm Jiang Zhizhi. Do you have something to talk to me about?" She looked at the girl in front of her. She was very tall and looked strong, with dark skin and eyes that were a little too narrow. She didn't look very friendly.

"My name is Xing Jia. Xu Jiaojiao asked me to come find you. I'm her classmate at No. 4 Middle School. We're good friends, and I often hear her talk about you."

"Oh, what does she want from me?"

"Wang Xing discovered where she was staying, so she fled to my place. She said she couldn't stay there another day and had to leave, but before she goes, she wanted to see you. Could you please come out for a while?"

"Okay, wait for me for a moment."

As Jiang Zhizhi spoke, she entered the security room nearby and spoke to the security guard. The security guard recognized her and let her out after a while.

Xing Jia took her away from the main road in front of the school and into the streets around the corner.

Until they reached the entrance of an alley, Xing Jia continued to walk inside, but Jiang Zhizhi stopped.

"What's wrong? Xu Jiaojiao is inside, why don't you leave?"

Jiang Zhizhi said coldly: "I've come this far, let her out."

"You..." Xing Jia was obviously stunned when he heard Jiang Zhizhi say this, and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"Heh." Jiang Zhizhi sneered and took out her phone from her pocket. "Xu Jiaojiao just replied to my message. Everything you said is a lie. Whoever wants to see me can just let him come out. There's no need to hide behind him."

In the alley, Wang Xing came out with four hooligans. They looked at Jiang Zhizhi and said, "You're really smart. No wonder you got first place in your grade. But you're too arrogant. You knew it was fake, yet you still dared to come here."

It was indeed him.

Just now on the road, Jiang Zhizhi was wondering who it could be. After thinking about it, she realized that the only person who would cause trouble for her recently was Wang Xing.

"Of course I didn't dare come here alone. In fact, I had already called the police before I came." Jiang Zhizhi shook her cell phone and looked at Wang Xing fearlessly, her expression relaxed yet with a hint of mockery.

Her words caught Wang Xing and others off guard.

Especially the gangsters behind Wang Xing. They are bad boys to begin with. Even if this kind of thing has not happened, they will feel guilty when they see the police.

"Boss, why don't we just go..."

"That's right. If we end up in the police station, it won't be worth it."

"Besides, Boss, we have no evidence to prove that Jiang Zhizhi is involved in your being fired from the club."

"Boss..."

Club?

Was Wang Xing fired by Jasmine Club?

"Jiang Zhizhi, I was fired from the club. Does it have anything to do with you?" Wang Xing was in a dilemma at the moment and simply confronted Jiang Zhizhi and questioned her.

"What does it have to do with me? You're a minor, the club shouldn't have wanted you in the first place. Isn't it only natural to fire you now?"

Time is precious, and Jiang Zhizhi doesn't want to waste it on this kind of person, so she turns around and leaves.

"stop!"

Wang Xing blocked her path again. "Where is Xu Jiaojiao? Where did you take her?"

"I kidnapped her?"

This is simply laughable.

Jiang Zhizhi said coldly, "You sent her to that kind of place. I was already merciful enough not to call the police to arrest you. You'd better stop pestering Xu Jiaojiao, otherwise you will be courting death!"

*

On the weekend, Xu Honghan was leaving Nanshi. Jiang Zhizhi had lunch with him and saw him off. When they returned home, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.

She took out the key and was about to open the door when she suddenly heard a man's voice coming from the house.

She was stunned for a moment, then reacted and hurriedly opened the door with the key.

In the living room, Chen Yuping was chatting and laughing with a strange man, seemingly discussing her affairs.

Seeing Jiang Zhizhi coming back, Chen Yuping stood up and said, "Zhizhi, you're back? Has your senior brother left?"

"Yes, he's already on the plane." Jiang Zhizhi looked at the man. He looked to be in his forties, wearing a gray sweater, black pants, and glasses. He looked very gentle and refined, not like a bad guy. "Mom, this uncle is..."

"This is Uncle Gao. I left something in the community today, and he brought it to me specially. He is a writer. When he knew your article was in the magazine, he insisted on taking a look. He also praised your writing skills." Chen Yuping happily introduced to Jiang Zhizhi.

Jiang Zhizhi was a little embarrassed, "Hello, Uncle Gao."

"Zhizhi, you are really talented in writing. Are you interested in becoming a writer in the future?" Gao Bin walked over enthusiastically and said to Jiang Zhizhi.

"No, I plan to study physics." She confessed to end the topic.

Gao Bin's eyes showed a hint of surprise. "You want to study physics? Very few girls are willing to study physics."

Jiang Zhizhi raised her eyes to meet his gaze and said calmly, "Uncle, I don't think girls should be defined. There are boys who like literature, and naturally there are girls who like physics."

This answer was beyond Gao Bin's expectations. As he looked at the girl in front of him, he felt more and more that she was different from other girls of her age.

Looks very mature.

"Yes, you are right. No one should be defined." Gao Bin looked at her with some appreciation.

"Okay, it's just right that you're back. Give Xiaoye a call and I'll take you and Uncle Gao out for dinner." Chen Yuping interrupted their conversation, took off Jiang Zhizhi's backpack, and urged.

"Me? Should I call Lu Xiye?"

"What's wrong? Are you two arguing again?"

"Um... no, I asked him to come down." Jiang Zhizhi picked up the phone and called Lu Xiye.

Although Lu Xiye was still sulking, he came down obediently after receiving her call.

After having a meal together, Jiang Zhizhi got to know Gao Bin a little better.

He graduated from the Literature Department of Nanjing University and worked as a magazine editor for two years before quitting to become a freelance writer. He has now switched careers and is a screenwriter for children's plays. While he's not well-known, he has free time and a stable living. He was married once while working as a magazine editor, but his wife died in a car accident. He never remarried and is now known in the community as a "widower." Many people believe that his wife's death caused him to suffer mental problems and he is unwilling to remarry.

After hearing that Gao Bin had not remarried since his wife's death, Lu Xiye had a great impression of him, "Uncle Gao, you are such a good man, really."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and suddenly felt that the skewers in his hand no longer smelled good, and his expression became lonely.

Jiang Zhizhi knew that he must be thinking of his father.

After dinner, it was getting dark. Jiang Zhizhi counted the days. Tomorrow was the tenth day. She had asked for leave from her teacher in advance on Friday. Everything was ready, just waiting for tomorrow.

He shouldn't refuse.