On September 4, 2004, Jiang Yubai just turned nine and transferred to a new school.
He was assigned to Class 1, Grade 4.
The head teacher was a female teacher in her thirties. She had shoulder-length hair, wore rimmed glasses, a white shirt, and a linen skirt, and looked a little serious.
The principal, vice principal, and dean of education all stood at the door of Grade 4 (1) classroom and whispered a few words to the head teacher. The head teacher immediately showed a very bright smile and said in a gentle voice: "Jiang Yubai, I am your head teacher, my name is Wu Xiqian."
Jiang Yubai stood straight and said, "Hello, Teacher Wu."
Wu Xiqian smiled even more: "Jiang Yubai, come into the classroom quickly. This class happens to be my Chinese class, and I'll let all the students in our class come and get to know you."
Teacher Wu raised one hand and knocked on the front door of Grade 4 (1).
In an instant, the whole class was silent.
Teacher Wu stepped into the classroom, and the soles of his shoes made a dull sound on the plastic floor. Jiang Yubai, carrying his schoolbag, walked silently, like a silent ghost, and stood on the three-foot podium.
"Attention, classmates," Teacher Wu clapped his hands and introduced, "There is a new transfer student in our class this semester. His name is Jiang Yubai."
There were a total of 48 students in the class. After Teacher Wu finished speaking, 48 pairs of eyes focused on Jiang Yubai's face.
Jiang Yubai was wearing a light-colored T-shirt and black sports pants. His height, figure, and appearance were superior to all the boys in the class.
The fact is in front of everyone - Jiang Yubai is the best-looking boy in the whole grade, and even in the whole school. His facial features can withstand the most critical scrutiny.
He introduced himself: "Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Yubai, Jiang is the Jiang of the Yangtze River, Yubai is..."
At the end of the classroom, a girl’s voice continued, “The river is green, the birds are whiter, the mountains are green, and the flowers are about to bloom.”
The river is green, the birds are whiter, the mountains are green, and the flowers are about to bloom.
Yes, this poem was written by Du Fu, and is also the origin of Jiang Yubai's name.
Who is speaking?
Jiang Yubai looked over and saw a pretty girl with a ponytail. She was still childish, with clear and bright eyes. She looked over the many classmates in the classroom and looked at him with interest.
There was an empty seat next to her.
She has no deskmate.
Jiang Yubai was a little distracted. He thought his name was so obscure that no classmates would know it, but he didn't expect that any girl in the class could pronounce it?
At this time, Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard. The head teacher wrote the three characters "Jiang Yubai" on the blackboard, and taught the whole class conscientiously. At the end, he added: "Student Jiang Yubai, he studied in a private primary school in Singapore for three years. He just returned to China with his parents this summer. If he is not good at Chinese, students, should you help him?"
The whole class shouted in unison: "Should!"
Teacher Wu nodded and said loudly: "You are the third batch of students I have taught. Every time Teacher Wu teaches students, he starts from the first grade and continues to the sixth grade... Why? Because in this way, Teacher Wu and the students are like a family, very close, right? Our class is also the experimental class for the entire grade, and we must set a good example for the entire grade. I'm going to say this in advance. If anyone dares to bully the transfer students in my class, don't blame me for not showing you any mercy, do you hear me?"
The students answered sparsely: "I heard it!"
Teacher Wu wiped the blackboard clean and patted off the cigarette ashes.
The chalk dust floated in the bright sunshine, and each particle of dust had a specific shape.
They fell on Teacher Wu's clothes and stuck to her hair like a heavy snowfall from the sky, and made Jiang Yubai unconsciously take a step back - he had a slight obsession with cleanliness since he was a child.
Teacher Wu faced the whole class and encouraged again: "Speak louder! Didn't you have breakfast this morning? Did you hear what the teacher said?"
The students immediately responded in a higher tone: “I heard it!”
Only then was Teacher Wu satisfied.
She turned around and said to Jiang Yubai: "Okay, look for a seat somewhere and pick one yourself. Otherwise, the teacher will help you choose one..."
Jiang Yubai hesitated for a moment and walked straight to the last row of the classroom. He sat next to the girl. Before he opened his mouth, the girl said to him, "Hello, my name is Lin Zhixia."
He replied politely: "Hello, my name is Jiang Yubai."
"Haha," Lin Zhixia smiled sweetly, "I know your name is Jiang Yubai."
Jiang Yubai unzipped his schoolbag and took out a black leather notebook. He placed the notebook on the desk and stuffed his schoolbag back into the drawer, ready to listen to the lecture carefully.
He and Lin Zhixia sat in the corner of the last row of the classroom. Lin Zhixia sat next to a glass window, with a blue cloth curtain that she had folded to make an inch of curling and hung on the side.
She was very curious about Jiang Yubai. She would turn her head to the side and glance at him secretly from time to time, and finally she got annoyed with him.
He whispered, "Why are you looking at me?"
Lin Zhixia quietly asked back: "How old are you this year?"
Jiang Yubai answered truthfully: "Nine years old."
Lin Zhixia then asked: "Did you grow up in Singapore?"
Jiang Yubai shook his head: "I went abroad with my parents when I was six years old, and returned this year."
Lin Zhixia held her chin with one hand: "Do you speak English?"
Jiang Yubai pretended to be humble and answered: "Not really."
Having said that, Jiang Yubai deliberately spread out his math notebook in front of Lin Zhixia. Every page was filled with math notes written in English. This was because when Jiang Yubai was preparing for the TIMSS and PISA math tests in Singapore, he could only find relevant textbooks in English. So his math notebook was full of content such as Base Conversion, and even had two pages of Calculations with plex Numbers.
Lin Zhixia's eyes sparkled, and she seemed very happy: "Complex numbers, have you learned complex numbers?"
She was so excited that she didn't know what to do. She kept telling Jiang Yubai: "Complex numbers are such a wonderful invention! They let me know that physics is the most wonderful subject in the world! The combination of the real part and the imaginary part makes wave superposition operations much more convenient! Even quantum computing can be simplified using complex numbers. The product of a complex number and a conjugate complex number will become a real number, and quantum computing must first determine a series of positions where a particle may be observed, so that we can use complex space to do Hermit inner products..."
Jiang Yubai's mind buzzed. He had no idea what Lin Zhixia was talking about.
I don't understand a word.
The reason why Jiang Yubai learned complex numbers was that when he was in Singapore, his parents found a PhD in mathematics from the National University of Singapore to be his tutor.
The tutor was very responsible. He often helped Jiang Yubai to expand his thinking, first from "integers" to "fractions", then from "fractions" to "radical numbers", and then from "radical numbers, real numbers" to "imaginary numbers and complex numbers".
He often praised Jiang Yubai: You are a very smart student.
In fact, Jiang Yubai has always been the top student in his grade during his three years in Singapore. He is at the top of his class in English, mathematics, science, Chinese, sports and music.
The private primary school that Jiang Yubai attended in Singapore had an annual tuition fee of 200,000 yuan. In 2003, the housing price in Beijing's second ring road community was about 10,000 yuan per square meter. Jiang Yubai's mother joked, "Your annual tuition fee is equivalent to a small study room in Beijing."
At that time, Jiang Yubai's elementary school classmates were either from wealthy or noble families. Their parents attached great importance to education, and everyone took extra classes. Jiang Yubai was able to stand out from this group of people and rank first without losing, so he felt that he was doing well.
But today, Jiang Yubai seemed a little confused.
The long conversation that Lin Zhixia had said to him reminded him of his own experience of attending lectures.
When Jiang Yubai was in primary school in Singapore, their principal would occasionally invite professors from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to give lectures. At that time, Jiang Yubai and his classmates sat upright in their seats, and although they could not understand what the professors said, they would still applaud for the professors.
As for university professors, just like Lin Zhixia, when it comes to their research fields, they will talk endlessly and cannot stop.
Jiang Yubai closed his notebook and couldn't help asking, "Lin Zhixia, what do you usually think about?"
Lin Zhixia clasped her hands together: "Do you like physics and mathematics? Do you believe that the universe has an end? Do you think time and consciousness can measure this world? Do you believe that humans have free will?"
She lowered her head slightly, her voice was very soft, and her fair face was slightly flushed with excitement.
She even stretched out a finger and pointed at Jiang Yubai's notebook: "Jiang Yubai, you should know more than just... some complex number operations, right?"
Lin Zhixia didn't know that her words were like a knife, stabbing into Jiang Yubai's heart, breaking his self-esteem and causing blood to flow.
"I..." Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Teacher Wu on the podium yelled, "Lin Zhixia!"
Lin Zhixia sat up straight and opened her textbook.
Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard again: "You guys! Don't gossip in class! Classroom discipline! You must abide by classroom discipline! Only I am willing to reason with you. When you go to junior high school, which teacher will pay attention to you? I will kick you gossiping students out of the classroom immediately. You will not be able to listen to the class, your grades will drop, you will fail the junior high school entrance examination, and you will not be able to get into a good high school. Then you will realize that Teacher Wu is doing this for your own good!"
Lin Zhixia covered her face with a book and smiled secretly.
Even though Teacher Wu's eyes were fixed on the area near Jiang Yubai, Jiang Yubai still asked, "Lin Zhixia, what are you laughing at?"
"It's fun," Lin Zhixia replied, "I'm a human behavior observer."
After the Chinese class ended, as soon as Teacher Wu stepped out of the classroom, most of the students in the class gathered around Jiang Yubai.
The students formed a solid barrier, and Jiang Yubai was like an exhibit in the barrier for all the students to visit.
We were all nine or ten-year-old children, and our jealousy, curiosity, and exploration were not concealed at all.
A fat boy said, "Jiang Yubai, my name is Zhou Bufeng, I'll sit in front of you."
Jiang Yubai looked through his homework book, recognized his name, and nodded and said, "Hello."
Zhou Bufeng rested his hands on Jiang Yubai's desk. He was wearing a pure cotton sweatshirt, which was slightly tight around his abdomen, revealing a layer of belly. He patted his belly and suddenly asked, "Jiang Yubai, Dong Sunqi and I saw you and your father at the school gate this morning. Do you have a sports car at home? Is it an Aston Martin?"
Aston Martin is a luxury sports car brand owned by Ford Motor Company of the United States. The company is based in London, England.
As soon as Zhou Bufeng finished asking, Jiang Yubai replied: "My father didn't come today. The person you saw is my family's driver."
"Ugh—" A burst of booing broke out among the classmates.
This unanimous voice of the group made Jiang Yubai feel a little uneasy. In addition to the Aston Martin, his family's garage also had Porsche, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and McLaren F1. Jiang Yubai guessed that he didn't fit in with his classmates. Or in other words, his family background was very rare in the class.
Sure enough, Zhou Bufeng pushed Jiang Yubai and said, "Where do your parents work? Your family is very rich!"
Lin Zhixia also said: "Yes, when you transferred here, the principal stood at the door to see you."
Zhou Bufeng stole a glance at Lin Zhixia and asked incessantly, "Jiang Yubai, where do you live? Do you have a big villa?"
Do you have a big villa?
This straightforward question seemed rude. And the presumptuous answer was very abrupt. After all, most of the classmates in the class did not have a sports car at home, and probably did not have a villa. But Jiang Yubai's home in this city was not only a villa... to be more precise, it should be a private manor. His home had a tennis court, a swimming pool, a rose garden, and a martial arts training ground.
In July this year, Jiang Yubai often got lost in his home during the first few days after returning home.
Jiang Yubai lowered his head and thought, frowning slightly: "I don't know."
Satisfied with his answer, he repeated it: "I don't know."
"You don't even know this?" Zhou Bufeng looked at him as if he were a fool.
Lin Zhixia asked: "Because your house is too big, so you can't tell whether it is a villa or not?"
"You're right." Jiang Yubai admitted coldly. He had just sat at the same table with Lin Zhixia for less than half a day, but he was already beginning to dislike her improvisation and pretense of cleverness.
Zhou Bufeng pointed at another boy with a crew cut in the class and said, "Hey, that's Dong Sunqi! Dong Sunqi is our class monitor, and he's the richest man in our class! Jiang Yubai, you're richer than him!"
Dong Sunqi heard someone calling him. He turned his head to glance at Zhou Bufeng, then turned his face back.
The fourth grade (one) class was divided into two camps without anyone noticing.
The first camp was centered around Dong Sunqi, who was surrounded by mostly boys. The second camp was centered around Jiang Yubai, who was surrounded by nearly a one-to-one ratio of male and female students.
Dong Sunqi was wearing a red scarf and a badge with two stripes on it. He stretched out his left arm and showed the two stripes. The boys around him were all laughing, and there was an inexplicable atmosphere of happiness in the air.
Someone shouted, "'The Adventurers'! Dong Sunqi bought 'The Adventurers' again!"
Dong Sunqi stood up slowly so that the students in the last row could see his inventory clearly.
When everyone looked over, they saw seven copies of "The Adventures of the Little Tigers" stacked on Dong Sunqi's desk.
"The Adventures of Little Tigers" is a popular book in the school. Students are keen to use a transparent "decryption card" to find clues in the book while reading.
A copy of "Adventure Little Tigers" costs 18 yuan.
If you buy it yourself, you will definitely lose money.
It's very easy to borrow classmates' toys.
Dong Sunqi is a long-term supplier of "The Adventurers", and he has a good relationship with everyone in the class. In addition to "The Adventurers", he also often buys series such as "Goosebumps" and "Ghost Blows Out the Light" to meet the extracurricular reading needs of the majority of students.
Dong Sunqi once said: My family is rich! I have a lot of money!
Therefore, his nickname is "Dong Wanguan", and some people call him "Dong Shaoye".
Zhou Bufeng took the lead and ran to Dong Sunqi and shouted to him: "Dong Wanguan, lend me a book! I'll return it to you next week." More and more people came to borrow books, and Dong Sunqi's area started to become noisy.
Jiang Yubai's side was much quieter.
Lin Zhixia tidied up her desk and said to Jiang Yubai, "In our city, the best schools are public schools. The tuition fees of public schools are not expensive... the school selection fee seems to be a little more expensive. However, compared with your private primary schools in Singapore, our good schools are still much cheaper."
"What do you mean...you Singaporeans?" Jiang Yubai said impatiently, "I'm not Singaporean, I'm Chinese."
Lin Zhixia tilted her head: "I'm sorry. Are you angry?"
She blinked, her eyes looking very confused.
Jiang Yubai blushed under her stare. He could only turn his head and look the other way before answering her, "I'm not angry."
"That's good!" Lin Zhixia clapped her hands, "Get out of my way. There's only ten minutes left. I'm going to play flip cards."
The so-called "flipping cards" is a fun little game popular in the whole school. This game has been popular in the whole school for a long time. It was once initiated by senior students, then spread to younger grades, and even became popular in all primary schools in the city.
Before participating in the "Flip Card" game, you must first prepare 1 yuan as starting capital.
This 1 yuan can be used to buy 40 small cards at the store at the school entrance. The back of each card is covered with blue patterns crisscrossing vertically and horizontally, and the front is a different character from the Japanese anime "Pokémon" - including Pikachu, Togepi, Koda duck, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, etc.
At the beginning of the game, two students stand on either side of the desk, show their cards, and then turn them over on the table. Then, they should bend down slightly and take turns to pat the table with their palms - whoever can turn over the card, the card belongs to him.
"What's so fun about this?" Jiang Yubai asked in shock.
Jiang Yubai looked at his classmates who were obsessed with the game, especially Lin Zhixia who was also enjoying it... Jiang Yubai felt that he couldn't understand it.
A new round of poker has begun.
In this round, Lin Zhixia faced Dong Sunqi.
Lin Zhixia was wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt and grey jeans, and her figure was thin and frail. Her wrists were too thin and soft, and it was difficult for her to exert any strength, so how could she possibly flip over two cards?
Facing such an opponent, Dong Sunqi actually did some warm-up exercises. He bounced up and down a few times, stretched his arms and legs, and waited in a serious manner: "I'll go first!"
Lin Zhixia agreed cheerfully: "Okay! You go first!"
She puts out a "Dream" card.
The students watching exclaimed: "What a dream! Dreams are so hard to come by! A senior in the sixth grade was willing to pay 3 yuan to buy a dream!"
"How is it?" Lin Zhixia said, "I'm dreaming, what are you going to do?"
Dong Sunqi felt the pressure from the strong. He had to stay calm. He took a breath and let it sink into his lungs. He spread his five fingers and wrapped them around the two corners of the table: "I'm going to... Pikachu!"
"Ah! Pikachu!" Another classmate commented, "I spent 7 yuan last time and bought hundreds of cards, but I couldn't get a single Pikachu! Class Leader Dong, you are so generous!"
Dong Sunqi raised his hand and pressed it down, signaling the crowd to be quiet.
He said, "I'm the monitor of our class. If I'm not generous, who will be?" He looked at Lin Zhixia and said, "I'm going to take action!"
Lin Zhixia urged: "Hurry up, don't waste my time."
Dong Sunqi bent down, and using all his strength, slapped the desk hard with his palm. The force was so great that it seemed as if the whole desk would crack.
The two cards on the table were motionless.
Dong Sunqi's expression collapsed.
"Hahahahahaha, it's my turn!" Lin Zhixia was very happy.
She knelt on a chair, stretched out her right hand, adjusted the angle, and muttered something.
What is she talking about?
Jiang Yubai couldn't help but walk over to eavesdrop. He was very close to Lin Zhixia. He heard Lin Zhixia say, "The angle is 37 degrees, and the torque is in this direction..."
Then, she tapped the cards lightly, and the two cards flipped over at the same time, revealing the faces of "Dream" and "Pikachu".
The classmates applauded her: "Lin Zhixia, you are so strong!"
"Oh, what a lucky guy." Lin Zhixia happily put away the cards and joined the group of girls to play cat's tuck with them.
Dong Sunqi sat on the chair in a daze, feeling sad because of the departure of "Pikachu". His expression was sad and melancholy, and a classmate nearby comforted him: "Squad Leader Dong, don't be sad."
Dong Sunqi shook his head. He looked through the window and gazed at the sky: "No, I'm not sad. Winning or losing, both are the meaning of fighting... I wanted to protect something, but I lost it in the end! Goodbye, Pikachu!"
Jiang Yubai muttered to himself: "Psychosis."
These students in the fourth grade (one) class still have the immaturity of the third grade of elementary school, and have not developed the composure of the fourth grade of elementary school. Jiang Yubai walked out of the classroom and wanted to go outside for some fresh air. Suddenly, the cell phone in his pants pocket began to vibrate wildly. He stood in the corridor, took out his cell phone, and answered, "Hello?"
His driver replied: "Mr. Jiang, you forgot your water cup in the car. I just found it and I'm sending it to your school..."
"No need," Jiang Yubai said stubbornly, "I'm not thirsty, I don't want to drink. No need to bring me a cup of water."
The driver said anxiously, "That won't work, Mr. Jiang. Children grow up every day, and I have already walked into your school."
When Jiang Yubai was talking to the driver, he felt someone behind him. He turned around and saw Lin Zhixia standing behind him. She looked at him with her eyes wide open, as if she had just uncovered a huge secret.
He stepped back and leaned his back against the cool railing.
He asked, "Why are you looking at me again?"
Lin Zhixia asked: "Are you afraid of me?"
Jiang Yubai asked back: "What are you afraid of?"
Lin Zhixia said: "Some of my relatives call me a freak. Just like your relatives... call you Mr. Jiang?"
Jiang Yubai's driver is not a local, but he has worked for the Jiang family for a long time. He is used to calling Jiang Yubai's father "Mr. Jiang" and calls Jiang Yubai "Little Mr. Jiang".
In fact, Jiang Yubai really disliked the title "Little Jiang Zong". But he was too embarrassed to ask him to change it - it would show that he was not broad-minded enough to care about a mere title.
He was about to speak when the bell rang.
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai returned to the classroom one after another and sat back in their seats quietly.
Today was a bright day, with white spots of light falling on the table, making the wooden noodles glow with gold and silver. Lin Zhixia found it fun, holding a ruler and chasing the bright spots. She also imitated others and called him "Little Jiang Zong."
He avoided her gaze and turned his head to the side: "If you scream again, I won't play with you anymore."
Lin Zhixia became even more interested and called out, "Mr. Jiang."
When I was in elementary school, many classmates liked to give each other nicknames, and even liked to call each other by their nicknames. Lin Zhixia once thought this behavior was very boring.
However, when Lin Zhixia discovered how much fun it was to call someone by their nickname, she couldn't stop. Especially the more shy the person was, the more curious she became, and the more she couldn't help but call him: "Little Jiang, Little Jiang, Little Jiang... Little Jiang!"
Jiang Yubai punched the table hard.
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