competition

When the first snow of this winter arrived in Haicheng, students from the two classes were rarely gathered together to attend the same class.

The lesson plan is not accurate either. This should be considered as a guidance activity for competition registration, and Teacher Chen Yuan will give the lecture to everyone.

For convenience, she asked Class 1 to find a place to sit in Class 2 before evening self-study. With the two classes combined, she didn't have to explain the lesson again.

Although the high school students were already adults, they were still very curious about this kind of activity and they moved their chairs over enthusiastically.

Before He Qingtian could do anything, Jiang Xiaosong got the news and came in a flash, carrying his friend's chair and placing it next to his own seat.

"Qing'er, just sit next to me!"

He left behind these words before leaving.

Lin Yue was faster. She was the first to enter the next class. When Li Xinran saw her, she smiled and waved, motioning her to sit next to him.

Chen Shan was a little hesitant when she came in. She didn't know anyone in the next class, and Li Xinran and Jiang Xiaosong also had their own companions. For a moment, she stood a little awkwardly in the back row, looking for a place to sit.

When she looked forward, her eyes met Zhou Tian who had just woken up.

Zhou Tian hadn't figured out what was going on yet. She glanced at Chen Shan, then at the group of people around her looking for a place to sit. Only then did she realize what was going on. She thought he wanted to sit where she was, so she nodded and said, "You can sit."

Chen Shan:?

Although she didn't know what the other party had misunderstood, it was still good to have a seat, so she sat down.

Shen Anyan naturally moved to sit next to Gu Cijiang without a second thought. After she sat down, the person in front of her turned around and saw her and said happily: "Oh, you are in the next class and you still want to follow me to sit behind me."

It was Lin Yue.

Shen Anyan raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Yes, yes, I like sitting behind you the most."

Lin Yue failed to make a joke, but was teased back by the other party. He crossed his arms and shook his head with a look of toothache, cutting the loss in time and ending the teasing between the two.

After teasing Lin Yue, Shen Anyan went to provoke Gu Cijiang again. She approached him and asked with a smile: "What are you doing?"

Gu Cijiang said: "I'm doing the test."

Shen Anyan moved closer and also looked at the topic the other person was writing.

Noticing the movements of the person next to him, Gu Cijiang moved the exercise book to the side so that the other person could see it more clearly.

Halfway through writing, Shen Anyan suddenly said, "This part is wrong."

She pointed to a step on the paper and said, "I forgot to take the absolute value of this."

Gu Cijiang looked in the direction the other party pointed, and read it again from the beginning. It was exactly as the other party said.

He crossed out the wrong steps and asked, "Have you done this before?"

Shen Anyan smiled and said, “No, it’s my first time writing.”

Gu Cijiang was a little surprised: "You can tell what's wrong without any calculations?"

Shen Anyan nodded.

Lin Yue, who was sitting at the table in front of me, listened and turned around to add, "Not only does she not use calculations, I've never seen her use scratch paper to do math problems. She just sits there and looks at it for a while, then writes down the answer."

Li Xinran was shocked when he heard this: "So amazing?"

She spoke without lowering her voice. Chen Yuan happened to walk into the class. She glanced over and raised an eyebrow, asking, "What's so amazing?"

Seeing the teacher coming, the originally noisy class instantly quieted down. Everyone looked at each other and then followed Chen Yuan's gaze.

Li Xinran felt a little embarrassed by the gazes of the people around her. She rubbed her fingers, not knowing how to answer.

Lin Yue explained: "Speaking of Shengyan, she doesn't need manuscript paper to do math problems, and we think it's amazing."

There was another commotion around them, and everyone started to murmur. Most of the people in Group 2 knew Sheng Yan, but not many of them were familiar with him. They all asked those around them if it was true.

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "Oh, I see. Speaking of which, when I first saw her doing her homework, she wasn't using a pen, she was just moving her eyes. I mentioned it a few times, but I didn't expect she could actually do it just by moving her eyes. So I stopped saying anything."

The teacher personally certified that this was absolutely true, and there was a burst of exclamations in the classroom.

Someone said to the left and right: "Wouldn't this save a lot of money on scratch paper? I'm going to try writing questions with just my eyes someday."

Chen Yuan was nearby and happened to hear this. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the other person: "You need to be good at mental arithmetic. If you can't do that, you'd better just write it down. If you can't bear to spend money on draft paper, then come to me and ask for it. I'll pay for it for you."

The classmate scratched his head embarrassedly and smiled.

Li Xinran didn't expect that one sentence of hers could lead to so many things. She turned around and said "sorry" to Shen Anyan with some guilt.

Shen Anyan didn't react at first, but after thinking for a while, he understood why the other party said sorry. He couldn't help but smile: "It's okay, we were just joking, don't take it to heart."

Chen Yuan turned on the projector and projected the PPT onto it while jokingly saying to Shen Anyan, "Hey, Shengyan, you have to participate in this competition. You can't let your mental arithmetic ability go to waste."

Shen Anyan actually didn’t know the specific content of the competition, but since the teacher said so, she just smiled and said “OK”.

An image was quickly projected onto the whiteboard, with a few large characters written in the center - "Athena Competition".

Chen Yuan explained, "I think everyone has probably heard of this competition to some extent. If you haven't, it doesn't matter. Let me briefly explain it. The Athena Competition is by far the highest-level and most prestigious competition in the field of mathematics. Winning a prize in this competition is very helpful, whether you're applying for a degree or studying abroad—I think many students in our liberal arts class have plans to study abroad—and it will be a great help."

After she finished speaking, she switched to the next page on the PPT: "The competition is divided into preliminary rounds, finals, and then the international competition. I won't go into detail about the last part. First, it's quite difficult. Second, if you really want to make it to this round, there will be professional teachers who will explain it in detail. The preliminary round will be held within the province, around the end of the year. Selected students can attend winter camp during the winter break for a month-long training, and then participate in the national finals. If you are still shortlisted, you can join the national team and compete internationally."

Jiang Xiaosong raised his hand and asked, "Teacher, where is the winter camp for training? Is it a fully enclosed camp? What are the accommodation conditions like?"

Chen Yuan said, "Oh, well... you're really confident you can go to the winter camp, so tell me about it. The location is Changqing Mountain in the neighboring Fanhua City. You're familiar with it, right? It's a tourist attraction in Haicheng. And the winter camp is free, which is equivalent to you being able to travel for free for a month."

Now the students' enthusiasm was high. The name of Fanhua City is as its name suggests, and the biggest attraction is the flowers. Although the best time to visit is in spring, you can also see plum blossoms in winter. The winter snow scene in Changqing Mountain is even more unique. This trip is worth it.

A classmate asked: "Teacher, are we going to the mountains for training? Where will we live?"

Chen Yuan said, "Our provincial competition team rented an apartment in the mountains specifically for this purpose. It's a double room with a bed and a desk underneath, a balcony, and a private bathroom. The facilities are all quite good, and it's definitely better than our school dormitories."

Now everyone was excited, and they couldn't wait to participate in the competition and enter the winter camp.

Seeing the students' excited expressions, Chen Yuan knew she didn't need to motivate them to participate. She smiled and said, "Okay, without further ado, let's take a look at the registration process. Day students can register today when they get home, and boarding students can still register over the weekend. The deadline is 12:00 next Monday, so don't miss it."

After the competition explanation was finished, which took less than twenty minutes in total, Chen Yuan closed the computer, waved his hand and told everyone to go back to their classes.

Jiang Xiaosong hugged He Qingtian's arm and wailed, "Why is it so fast? I wanted to sit with you for a while longer!"

He Qingtian was helpless: "Then I'll sit here for a while and wait for the evening study bell to ring before going back?"

Jiang Xiaosong was reluctant to leave: "Well, this is the only way. How about we play a game of Go?"

Lin Yue was about to leave, but when he saw Jiang He and the other man across from him, who looked as if they would never see each other again, he looked at Li Xinran hesitantly: "Can I stay a little longer?"

Li Xinran said bewilderedly: "Ah...ah? That's fine, but aren't you going back to do your homework? It's inconvenient to do it here."

That made sense. Lin Yue and his friend hit it off and quickly moved their stools back to do their homework.

Shen Anyan was in no hurry to leave. She approached Gu Cijiang again and asked, "Are you planning to participate in the competition?"

Gu Cijiang said: "Well, I plan to sign up when I get home tonight."

Shen Anyan asked: "Can you help me sign up as well? I don't have a computer at home."

Gu Cijiang nodded and was about to ask the other party to send him a copy of his personal information when he heard the other party say, "Then wait for me for a while after evening self-study tonight, and we will go together."

Gu Cijiang: "...You want to go to my house?"

Shen Anyan seemed to take it for granted: "Then how else can you fill out my application form?"

Gu Cijiang thought about it and felt that it would be safer if they went together, so he stopped objecting and agreed to the other party's request.

Shen Anyan smiled happily, stood up, took the chair, and said goodbye to the other party: "Then I'll go, see you tonight."

Gu Cijiang said, "Hmm," "See you tonight."

The two evening self-study sessions passed quickly. After school, Shen Anyan put on his schoolbag, said goodbye to everyone around him, and left for the next class.

Gu Cijiang was also holding his schoolbag, standing in the aisle waiting for her. When he saw her approaching, he took a step forward and walked side by side with her towards the school gate.

There is a black car parked on the side of the road. Its design is low-key and simple, but the details reveal its luxury.

When the two approached, a middle-aged man got out of the car and took Gu Cijiang's schoolbag. When he saw Shen Anyan, the man was stunned and looked at Gu Cijiang hesitantly: "Master, this..."

Gu Cijiang explained: "My classmate."

The man said nothing more and prepared to help Shen Anyan carry his schoolbag.

Shen Anyan hurriedly shook his head and declined: "No, I can do it myself."

The man did not force it. He turned around and opened the back door. After the two of them got in, he closed the door and then returned to the driver's seat and started the car.

The night was dark, the seats were soft and comfortable, and the car was running smoothly. Sleepiness naturally came over him. Shen Anyan closed his eyelids and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Gu Cijiang felt they were already close enough that he didn't bother to create conversation like he had when they first met. The other person didn't say anything, and he wasn't in the mood for conversation, so he let the silence settle between them.

The driver in the front seat couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror several times, thinking, aren't they classmates? Why don't they chat? Are they not familiar with each other?

The car bumped around, and Shen Anyan was still asleep, but his body fell to one side, just leaning on Gu Cijiang's shoulder.

Gu Cijiang was slightly startled. When he turned around, he found that the other person had fallen asleep.

He didn't move, but adjusted his posture so that the other person could lean more comfortably.

The driver saw this scene in the rearview mirror and couldn't help but worry again.

He had just wondered if the two were not familiar enough, but now he was worried if they were too familiar with each other.

When they reached their destination, Gu Cijiang gently patted the shoulder of the person next to him. Seeing that the other person had woken up, he whispered, "We're here."

Shen Anyan sat up and looked at the villa outside the window. The layout was generous and elegant, without a trace of unnecessary decoration. It was consistent with her impression of the Gu family's low-key style.

The distance from the car to the door was not long, and they arrived there in a short while. The butler stood at the door, bowed and greeted everyone, then his gaze lingered on Shen Anyan for a moment, and he frowned almost imperceptibly before welcoming the two of them in.

"Do you need me to prepare food for you?" asked the butler.

Gu Cijiang was about to refuse, but then he remembered something and asked Shen Anyan: "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

Shen Anyan said: "Well, eat something."

Gu Cijiang asked: "Okay, then what do you want to eat?"

Shen Anyan thought for a moment: "Crab roe tofu."

Gu Cijiang was about to say "OK" when the butler interrupted and replied stiffly: "This is out of stock."

Gu Cijiang didn't think much about it: "Then let someone buy it."

The butler choked and said, "The servants have a fixed time to buy food. It will take a long time to buy it now."

Shen Anyan said: "It's okay, just eat whatever you have, I'm not picky."