Anning Experimental Junior High School, outside the school gate.
Another day of classes has ended and the stalls outside the school are doing brisk business.
Teppanyaki, fried skewers, and snacks filled the air. Lin Chaoxi and Pei Zhi stood outside the school gate, waiting for Huajuan and Lu Zhihao.
The hotpot party ended yesterday and there are no more leisure activities today. They have to go to the Red Star Welfare Home together to attend Lao Lin’s cram school.
Hua Juan walked out of the school gate and saw her. He still felt incredible. He picked up his schoolbag and asked as he walked, "Are you really going with us?"
"What else would I do at night?"
"Watching TV." Lu Zhihao answered after buying some fried sausages from a roadside stall.
"If I continue to watch this, my math grades will be worse than yours. I can't let this happen."
"You are no longer as good as me..."
Lu Zhihao muttered softly.
The math cram school opened by Lao Lin was in a small classroom on the first floor of the Red Star Welfare Home.
The class starts at 6:30 pm, but before 6 pm, many people have already arrived in the classroom. Many students come directly after school, and the classroom is filled with the aroma of pancakes, snacks and bread.
Lin Chaoxi and Pei Zhi walked into the classroom. Although the classroom was shabby, it was very clean and tidy. Under the incandescent light, everything was bright and shiny.
Seeing them, many students looked at them curiously.
Lin Chaoxi glanced at the students, among whom were of course her old friends Chen Chengcheng and An Beibei, but there were more unfamiliar faces.
Chen Chengcheng still looks thin and weak, but An Beibei is healthier and more vigorous.
They sat down in the back row. An Beibei came straight from the first row, put her hands on Pei Zhi's shoulders, and looked at her in disbelief: "Pei Zhi, Lin Zhaoxi, am I blind? Why are you here?!"
Lin Chaoxi thought that An Beibei must have learned Chinese from Lao Lin...
"The Digital Union selection is coming soon, so I came here to get some extra training," she said.
"Me too." Pei Zhi said.
"What are you tutoring for!" An Beibei's eyes widened, expressing everyone's thoughts.
"mathematics."
Pei Zhi put down his schoolbag and spoke briefly and to the point. An Beibei was choked and couldn't speak for a long time.
After a while, An Beibei cried out in pain: "Comrades, Pei Zhi is back. This year we have one less place to compete. We are in such a plight!"
"What's the tragedy?"
Lao Lin walked into the classroom amidst the screams of classmate An Beibei. He was wearing a plaid shirt, had just finished his meal, put down his book, leaned on the podium and asked with a smile, looking very cool.
"Teacher, Pei... Pei Zhi is back!" An Beibei rushed to the podium again.
"Yes, I'm back now. If you have any questions in the future, don't ask me too much, but ask the student at the end of the classroom more." Lao Lin pointed and said, "Student Pei, raise your hand, let's get to know each other."
Pei Zhi sat under the incandescent light, his features calm, clear and steady, though he looked a little confused.
When Lao Lin spoke, he subconsciously raised his hand. The students all turned around and looked at him.
Those who don’t know are very curious, and those who know are very shocked.
Pei Zhi enjoyed the 30-second long watching. Lao Lin was satisfied and let him put his hand down.
"Hey, there's another new student in our class today." Smiling, Lao Lin turned his eyes to her and spoke.
Lin Chaoxi raised his hand.
"Stand up and introduce yourself," said Lao Lin.
She could only put down her hands, stand up, and be completely exposed to the curious eyes of the whole class. She and Comrade Lao Lin on the podium stared at each other, not understanding whether Lao Lin was going to sacrifice his own family for the sake of justice, or what else he was going to do?
"Student, have you paid the tuition?" asked Lao Lin.
Lin Zhaoxi: ???
"I...I have no money..." she said in a low voice.
"Then our class policy is this: the top three students will get free tuition. The next exam will be on Friday. I hope you will work harder."
"What if... I can't get into the top three?"
"Then you can only take care of all the housework and work part-time to pay for tuition. We can discuss the specific conversion method when we get home." Lao Lin pressed his hand and motioned for her to sit down.
Lin Chaoxi's face flushed red, and the class burst into laughter; everyone understood who she was.
"Who are the top three in the class now?" Lin Chaoxi sat down and poked Lu Zhihao in the front row.
"The one you are asking about is now ranked second in the class."
Lao Lin had extremely sharp ears, and he could answer questions even from across half the classroom.
"And the third one?"
Chen Chengcheng raised his hand.
"So who's number one?"
Before she finished her words, a tall and thin figure appeared at the classroom door.
Zhang Liang was carrying a schoolbag, his expression was cold, and his tone was arrogant: "What do you want from me?"
Lin Chaoxi was struck by lightning and was stunned for a long time until Lu Zhihao's voice called her back.
She swallowed her saliva, feeling sorry for Lao Lin’s bowing to the money, and looked up at Lu Zhihao, saying sympathetically: “You will be squeezed out of the top three.”
——
Before class started, Mr. Lin came early to answer students' questions.
He answered two questions at the podium. Lin Chaoxi put away his notebook and began to look at the new teaching materials, ready to wait for him to start the class.
At this time, Lao Lin continued to point at her.
"New classmate, what are you doing?"
"Pre-study..."
"Preview what?"
I haven't taken your class for two years, so I don't know...
"What do you want to learn?" Old Lin paused, "Come to my class. What are your learning goals?"
"I want to... win first prize in the National Junior High School Mathematics Competition." Lin Chaoxi said.
The whole class looked at her again, but Lin Chaoxi still didn't understand...
Lao Lin: "Just tell me when I ask you, why are you so honest? In our class, everyone keeps their goals to themselves, and you are the first one to announce them to everyone."
Suddenly, Lin Chaoxi's face turned red again. Comrade Lao Lin's routine was really different from others.
In front of the podium, Old Lin smiled and pondered for a moment, but Lin Chaoxi couldn't understand his expression.
"Since you are so motivated, the teacher will also try his best to help you." Old Lin paused and called out, "Lu Zhihao."
"exist!"
"The new classmate is back for you to take care of."
For unknown reasons, Lin Chaoxi was rushed to attend Teacher Xiaolu's class.
She and Lu Zhihao sat in the corner of the classroom, looking at each other.
Lao Lin's textbooks don't have the serious atmosphere of a normal classroom. It's more like everyone studying together.
It didn't seem strange for her to be talking to Lu Zhihao one-on-one, but when facing Teacher Lu who was seriously flipping through the book, Lin Chaoxi felt it was strange...
Lu Zhihao opened the book and scratched his head, confused as to what it was teaching.
"Well... actually the junior high school mathematics Olympiad is quite difficult..." This was his first sentence.
"You haven't attended classes for more than two years. It's not easy for you to pass the exam in our school." This was the second sentence.
"Do you know what the Mathematics League is all about?" He held it in for a long time, and finally couldn't help but say, "It's really hard to win the first prize."
Lu Zhihao is still as honest as ever.
Lin Chaoxi knew that Lu Zhihao had been holding back a lot of things since she said she wanted to give up her place in the competition. He probably thought she was too ambitious and wanted her to be more down-to-earth. Looking at her old friend's worried expression, Lin Chaoxi felt complicated, but was more moved.
She calmed herself down and spoke slowly, "The National Junior High School Mathematics Competition is divided into two tests. The first test focuses on basic knowledge and basic skills. The question types are 6 multiple-choice questions and 4 fill-in-the-blank questions, with a total of 70 points. The second test focuses on the ability to analyze and solve problems. The question type is three problem-solving questions, and the content is divided into algebra questions, geometry questions, and geometry-algebra comprehensive questions, with a total of 70 points. The total of the two tests is 140 points."
"What if we want to win the award?" Lu Zhihao looked up and asked her.
"If you want to aim for the sprint prize, you must get the first question of the second test right, and if you want the first prize, you must get the second geometry question right. The third question, geometry and algebra, is the real, decisive question."
"Then... do you know how many participants there are?"
"Last year, after multiple rounds of selection, a total of 2,421 people participated in the finals of the National Junior High School Mathematics Competition, 60 of whom won first prizes with a total of 99 points, accounting for 2.47% of the total number of participants. The number of junior high school students in the country is more than 57.6 million."
Lin Chaoxi told Lu Zhihao about his preparations bit by bit. Lu Zhihao fell silent. After a while, he spoke again.
“It’s really hard.”
"I know."
"It's okay if you don't win first prize."
"You still have to take it."
"Why?"
This time, it was Lin Chaoxi's turn to be silent.
In fact, she wanted to say that in the future, the school she wanted to enter and the major she wanted to study would only be more difficult than this.
If we back down now, what will we do in the future?
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