Jin Baihui clutched the chalk and walked back to her seat in silence.
Jin Baihui was wearing a pair of square glasses with straight lenses embedded in a red plastic frame. She raised her hand to adjust the frame of her glasses, and her sharp eyes penetrated the lenses and fell on Lin Zhixia.
She and Lin Zhixia were separated by a distance, looking at each other from afar, and she even mouthed: I'll find you after class.
Looking for me after class? What did Jin Baihui want to say to me? Lin Zhixia was puzzled.
Even more strange was that Jin Baihui no longer participated in the math warm-up quiz. She sat quietly and never raised her hand to speak again.
Jin Baihui and Lin Zhixia both withdrew from the competition, and the students in Class 17 and Class 18 had more opportunities to perform. The best among them rushed to raise their hands and strive to win honor for their class.
However, this math warm-up quiz is coming to an end.
Class 17 was one point behind Class 18, and the last question was crucial. Before Teacher Zhang started reading the questions, Lin Zhixia predicted, "Class 17 and Class 18 will definitely end in a tie."
"Yes." Jiang Yubai agreed.
Teacher Zhang cleared his throat and began to read aloud: "There is a set that contains only two-digit numbers. All two-digit numbers in the set are positive integers. Every element in this set can be divided by its own ones or tens digits. Students, please tell me, what is the sum of all the elements in the set?"
After Teacher Zhang finished speaking, Duan Qiyan raised his hands frantically.
Duan Qiyan's profile was stern and his eyes were defiant. His arms were straight, his wrists were tight, pointing to the ceiling, like a bright flag raised high.
As expected, Teacher Zhang called out his name: "Duan Qiyan, you come and give the lecture."
Duan Qiyan had already figured out the answer. He knew that the set must contain the numbers 11, 22, 33...99, plus the five special numbers 12, 15, 24, 36, and 48. The sum of all the elements in the set equals 630!
Yes! That’s six hundred and three!
Fight for the honor of the Normal School Attached Primary School!
Duan Qiyan shouted confidently, "Three hundred and sixty!"
As soon as the word "six" came out of his mouth, Duan Qiyan's temples throbbed twice.
Why? Why on earth? Six hundred and three floated in his mind, but he called out three hundred and six?
Because he was too nervous and too afraid of failure, he made the worst mistake in the competition! He quickly corrected himself and said, "Teacher, I was wrong. It's not 360..."
Teacher Zhang smiled and comforted him: "It's normal to make mistakes in mental arithmetic. Even computers can make compilation errors, let alone one person. It's okay. Class 17 will lose one point."
Class 17 only had 18 points left.
They are destined to lose to Class 18.
The morale of Class 17 plummeted immediately. Duan Qiyan also became a sinner for all eternity. He stood there like a stone statue, watching Jin Baihui raise her hand. And Teacher Zhang also pointed at Jin Baihui without hesitation.
Jin Baihui did not stand up. She sat in her seat and said without warning: "The answer is one thousand."
Jin Baihui's class teacher sighed and said, "How could it be one thousand? Jin Baihui, this question is not difficult, you can definitely solve it. I will announce the correct answer, which is six hundred and three. Think about it after class."
The head teacher personally deducted one point from Class 18.
The final score was 19 to 18. Class 18 scored 19 points and Class 17 scored 18 points. Although Class 18 won, it was a narrow victory. The two teachers did not make any comments, but only encouraged everyone to use their brains, do more exercises, and strive to be the best.
"Strive to be the best!" Lin Zhixia repeated excitedly.
Shen Fuxuan in the front row turned his head and looked at her: "Our class lost, aren't you angry?"
"I'm not angry," Lin Zhixia said from the bottom of her heart, "As long as the competition process can make me happy, I don't care about winning or losing. Also, do you think Jin Baihui deliberately gave us a point just now? Jin Baihui is quite fair."
"That question is too simple, she couldn't have made a mistake." Shen Fuxuan agreed with Lin Zhixia's inference.
Han Peng interjected, "Simple? According to you, Duan Qiyan also deliberately lost to Class 18? Duan Qiyan is very strong, the number one god of war in the Normal School Attached Primary School! He can't have made a mistake."
"The number one idiot in the Normal School Elementary School." Shen Fuxuan laughed.
Before the school started, Shen Fuxuan had never expected that Duan Qiyan would provide him with so many jokes. Duan Qiyan, the top warrior in the Normal School Elementary School, first started the trend of "running out of the classroom when embarrassed" in the class, and then dragged down the whole class in the math quiz... I'm afraid Duan Qiyan won't be able to keep his third place in the next exam.
Shen Fuxuan predicted that Jiang Yubai would be third in the class.
At this moment, Jiang Yubai asked Shen Fuxuan: "Why don't you raise your hand to answer the question?"
Shen Fuxuan stretched his back and said slowly, "There is a folder on my mother's computer, which contains the start-of-term information for the competition class. I have seen the questions for this math quiz..."
"So, do you remember the topic?" Lin Zhixia suddenly interrupted him, "Shen Fuxuan, will you never forget what you have read? Do you think this way of remembering is very disturbing?"
"No." Shen Xuanxuan scratched his neck.
Lin Zhixia stared at him intently, as if she wanted to see through his soul and will. She thought she had found someone like him, but Shen Fuxuan said, "How is that possible? How can I still remember those things? I just don't like to redo the questions. That's so boring."
Lin Zhixia seemed to be thinking about something.
The projector stopped working and the bell rang.
The students left the classroom in groups with brisk steps.
Lin Zhixia followed Jiang Yubai and walked out with him. The sun shone on the steps, with alternating light that was sometimes deep and sometimes shallow. Jin Baihui stood sideways in the shadows and shouted in a powerful voice, "Lin Zhixia!"
Lin Zhixia was startled, but it was Jiang Yubai who responded: "What's the matter?"
Jin Baihui said straight to the point: "I have studied university courses. I have studied "Graph Theory", "Linear Algebra", "Complex Functions and Integral Transformations", and "Advanced Mathematics" Volumes 1 and 2. "Advanced Mathematics" does not mention Blackwell's key update theorem. Where did you go to elementary school, Lin Zhixia?"
She lifted one leg and stepped onto the step. The sole of her shoe twisted slightly and crushed a passing ant to death.
Lin Zhixia took a step back and hid behind Jiang Yubai: "I graduated from Experimental Primary School."
"Fourth grade at Experimental Primary School?" Jin Baihui asked persistently, "Are you a skipped grade?"
Lin Zhixia didn't say anything. Jiang Yubai answered frankly, "I'm a grade-skipping student." He also revealed, "I take extra classes every day, from morning to night. If you want to find a competitor, you can find me."
The phrase "from morning till night" is clearly an exaggerated rhetoric.
Jin Baihui believed it. She also asked, "What time do you go to bed every night?"
Jiang Yubai goes to bed at 8:30 in the evening. His father told him that children must rest more when they grow up, otherwise, his height may not reach his father's level.
One of Jiang Yubai's life goals is to reach a height of 1.88 meters. His father and uncle are both of this height, so Jiang Yubai will certainly inherit the family's fine tradition.
He thought for a moment and said to Jin Baihui, "I sleep when it's late at night and everyone is asleep."
This is not lying.
After eight o'clock in the evening, the whole manor was silent, the street lights were turned off, and only dim ground lights and infrared alarms remained.
Jin Baihui didn't know Jiang Yubai's family background. She lived in a busy area near a street. According to her life experience, "deep in the night" was roughly equivalent to midnight.
Jin Baihui bit her thumb and said, "You two skipped grades, are you tired of studying?"
"You should rest when you are tired, don't push yourself," Lin Zhixia advised sincerely, "physical health is the most important thing. We are still young, we can't study too hard, it's not good for our health. Jin Baihui, be happier, relax a little, and try to enjoy a relaxed life."
After saying that, Lin Zhixia looked at Jiang Yubai and said, "Don't be too tired."
Jiang Yubai said honestly: "I don't feel tired."
"How can there be rewards without efforts?" Jin Baihui suddenly said. She was wearing long sleeves and a vest today, and she felt a little hot. The temperature rose a lot at noon, and her nose was covered with a layer of sweat, but her eyes were still clear and bright.
Lin Zhixia handed Jin Baihui a pack of napkins.
Jin Baihui accepted it hesitantly. She took out a tissue to wipe her face and said, "You have heard of what Edison said - 'Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration'. If you don't give, there will be no return. One plus one equals two. If you don't create one, you won't have two."
"One plus one does not necessarily equal two," Lin Zhixia said, "For example, in binary, there are only 0 and 1."
Jin Baihui pursed her lips and added: "The one I'm talking about is a unit."
Lin Zhixia tried to communicate with her: "Have you heard of quantum computing? A bit in quantum computing is called a qubit, and a qubit can contain a combination of 0 and 1. You can't say that a qubit itself is 1 or 0, it may be more like a combination state. The expression of the combination state is also very interesting, generally including basic states and constant amplitudes. Each constant represents the probability of a particle being observed at the corresponding position, and the sum of the squares of the probability constants must be equal to one. Do you like to study problems related to probability?"
"I have read Quantum Mechanics." Jin Baihui raised her head proudly.
"Do you understand?" Jiang Yubai asked casually.
Jin Baihui crumpled the paper ball in her hand and threw it accurately into the trash can beside her. She asked, "Lin Zhixia, can you understand every book?"
"No," Lin Zhixia said without any shame, "Collecting information from the outside world can fill in the blanks in our thinking. I think this process is very happy. Although there are some things conveyed in the book that I don't quite understand."
Jin Baihui lowered her arms, her palms pressed tightly against the seams of her pants. She didn't say hello to Lin Zhixia, but turned around and walked back to Class 18.
Lin Zhixia gently pulled Jiang Yubai's schoolbag strap. The two of them returned to Class 17. The head teacher, Teacher Zhang, brought everyone a stack of materials - it was the teaching plan for the competition class.
Teacher Zhang gave a few brief instructions and announced the end of the morning class.
Lin Zhixia put all the documents and materials into her schoolbag, and found her student bus IC card. She was very stubborn and refused to go to the second grade to look for her brother. She took the bus home alone.
At twelve o'clock noon, Lin Zhixia stepped into the house.
Her mother asked her, "Xia Xia, where is your brother? Didn't your brother come back with you?"
Lin Zhixia immediately complained to her mother: "Mom, Mom, I don't know why my brother always ignores me... No, he is not my brother, he asked me to call him Lin Zeqiu. Today at school, I met Lin Zeqiu's classmates, and Lin Zeqiu pretended not to know me. Lin Zeqiu told her classmates that I was a junior in the first grade competition class."
When the mother heard this, she immediately became furious: "What's wrong with Lin Zeqiu? It's only the first day of school!"
The mother did not understand the whole story and concluded that Lin Zeqiu was just looking for trouble.
Lin Zeqiu arrived at the door of his house at about 12:10. He was a little worried that Lin Zhixia couldn't find her way home, or was kidnapped on the bus... She was obviously younger than a normal junior high school student, and she looked very innocent and easy to deceive.
Before Lin Zeqiu entered the house, his mother yelled at him, "Lin Zeqiu! Come here right now!"
Lin Zhixia stopped them: "No, Mom, don't be violent to my brother. I want you to be a witness. You sit next to my brother and me and listen to our conversation."
This was Jiang Yubai's idea.
Jiang Yubai provided Lin Zhixia with a brilliant idea. Jiang Yubai suggested that when Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu communicated, they should let the elders in the family be witnesses. In this way, Lin Zeqiu would have to choose his words carefully and not show his viciousness at will.
Lin Zhixia knew that her brother was very well behaved in front of her mother and never dared to talk back to her. As long as her mother supported her, she would not be afraid of her brother turning vicious!
The place where the brother and sister communicated was Lin Zhixia's bedroom.
Lin Zhixia brought three chairs and sincerely invited her brother and mother to sit down.
My brother's expression was very different. He frowned and said nothing, his legs slightly apart, his hands on his knees. No matter how my mother tried to explain, he was unwilling to explain himself. He simply said, "You can kill me or I can do whatever you want."
The mother was still furious: "Lin Zeqiu, today is your sister's first day of middle school. As a brother, you can forget about not being able to help her, but how can you bully her in school? She is your biological sister. Your sister is so young, and you don't protect her, and you let her draw a line between you and her?"
Lin Zeqiu took a deep breath. He was feeling depressed and couldn't find a way to vent.
"Brother!" Lin Zhixia sat opposite him.
He finally said, "What do you want to do?"
Lin Zhixia thought her brother would say: Get out of here and don’t bother me.
Unexpectedly, my brother just asked: What do you want to do?
Sure enough! In front of his mother, his brother becomes more gentle. Jiang Yubai's suggestion is so useful! Why didn't Lin Zhixia think of it before!
"I must communicate with you, brother." Lin Zhixia sat upright, her eyes fixed on Lin Zeqiu.
Lin Zeqiu leaned back against the chair.
Lin Zhixia continued, "You pretended not to know me in school. This was your subjective action. You must have been influenced by external and internal factors to take this action..."
"Don't talk to me about psychology, I'm not interested." Lin Zeqiu interrupted his sister coldly.
But the mother said, "Lin Zeqiu, talk to your sister nicely. I have told you so many times that you are the older brother. Which older brother is like you? Did your sister provoke you?"
Lin Zhixia stood up and hugged her mother's arm: "The atmosphere of communication is very important, Mom, keep a calm mind and let us follow the guidance of psychology."
The mother patted her daughter on the back. To Lin Zhixia's surprise, the mother also stood up and said, "I have to go check the warehouse. Your father is alone in the store and can't handle it. Lunch is ready and on the table. When you two have finished chatting, don't forget to go to the living room to eat. A harmonious family is the key to success. Mom and Dad don't want to see you quarreling. We are all vulnerable. If you quarrel too much, your father and I won't be able to sleep at night. We have to go to the wholesale market tomorrow morning to buy goods."
Mom was about to leave the bedroom, and Lin Zhixia reluctantly tried to keep her: "Mom, Mom..."
Lin Zhixia called her mother in a baby voice, but her mother suddenly had a heart of stone. She insisted on leaving her son and daughter with independent space, letting them face this contradiction and conflict on their own.
Mom went to her own supermarket.
Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu were the only ones left in the spacious bedroom.
Having lost her backer, Lin Zhixia said anxiously, "I didn't mean to complain to my mother."
"What exactly do you want to say?" Lin Zeqiu stretched out his legs and sat lazily on the chair.
Lin Zhixia thought back to what happened today. Her memory was so good. She remembered every detail clearly, which made her extinguished anger burn again. She was furious: "Lin Zeqiu, I'm telling you seriously! I'm really angry. The last time I was so angry was when I was five years old. You ruined all my watercolor pens! This time is even more serious. No one can comfort me!"
Lin Zeqiu looked at her as if she were a kitten. He said expressionlessly, "Are you angry? I'm scared to death."
Lin Zhixia blushed: "Lin Zeqiu, don't go too far."
"Are you sure? Lin Zhixia," Lin Zeqiu reminded her, "You dragged me here to listen to your nonsense. Do you think I'm being too much?"
Lin Zhixia forced herself to remain calm and questioned, "I just want to find out why you want to sever your blood relationship with me. Last week I read in the newspaper that an old man made a statement, claiming that he wanted to sever ties with his son. Because his son often gambled, drove under the influence, and had a mistress, he felt that he had not raised his son well..."
At this point, Lin Zhixia introduced the topic: "I didn't gamble, drive under the influence of alcohol, or do anything illegal. Lin Zeqiu, why do you want to break off relations with me?"
Lin Zeqiu was stunned: "I didn't break up with you."
"You did!" Lin Zhixia said firmly, "You don't let me call you brother!"
Lin Zeqiu stood up and said, "Once we're out of the school gate, you can call me whatever you want."
"Why?" Lin Zhixia's curiosity suddenly exploded, "Why why why!"
Lin Zeqiu opened the bedroom door: "You are so long-winded. Are you annoyed? I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. I'm going to the living room to eat."
What a wasted opportunity for communication!
Lin Zhixia was furious and said, "Brother, we have a loudspeaker at home. It's the one that mom and dad use for promotions. If you don't tell me the reason, I will bring it to school and shout at the door of your class, 'Brother, brother, brother, brother' so that all the students and teachers in the school can hear my voice."
Logically speaking, if Lin Zhixia issued a terrifying threat, her brother would criticize her harshly.
However, Lin Zeqiu didn't say a word.
He held the door handle and trembled slightly.
His mind went blank, his hands were numb, and his back was stiff.
Why he tried his best to avoid the scenes in his nightmares...
Instead, it caused the nightmare to happen in reality?
If Lin Zhixia really did that, Lin Zeqiu's campus life would be ruined.
Since the second semester of junior high school, Lin Zeqiu has frequently received advances from female classmates. He understands that this is what the textbook "Ideology and Morality" calls "puberty awakening." He follows the teachings of the textbook, carefully controls the scale of communication, and strictly controls the boundaries between classmates of the opposite sex. He is innocent, motivated, and well-behaved, and never borrows others' homework to copy.
Once Lin Zhixia gets involved in his campus relationship network, he will fall from the clouds and be reduced from a star in the sky to a comedian on the earth.
The bedroom door opened a crack, Lin Zeqiu took a step forward, then suddenly turned around and walked back to Lin Zhixia: "Lin Zhixia, if you bring the loudspeaker to school, I will publish an advertisement in the newspaper to sever all ties with you."
"Put it in the newspaper. I'll wait," Lin Zhixia said. "If Mom and Dad see it, you'll be kicked out of the house. You'll shiver in the cold wind, wrapped in tattered cotton, and sleep in the tunnel under the overpass."
Lin Zeqiu was so angry that he wanted to roll up his blanket and run away from home. But the next second, Lin Zhixia's attitude suddenly softened: "Why, brother, I'm so confused. You said before that you wouldn't feel sad because of my existence. No matter what, I'm your sister... Don't you remember what you said? But I still remember that I feel so sad when comparing now with the past... I can't even forget this sad feeling..."
Lin Zhixia sat on the edge of the bed, tears falling onto her stuffed toy.
She held the little penguin in her arms, her hands holding its wings, and the tips of her nails turned slightly white.
"I..." Lin Zeqiu's heart felt like it was cut by a blunt knife. Invisible blood gushed out from the wound. His legs went limp and he sat on the ground exhausted.
He said, "Lin Zhixia, this is not your problem. I... I took the exam for the competition class three times and failed." He couldn't say the words after that.
Lin Zhixia narrowed her eyes slightly: "Because you can't get into the competition class, you can save your face by not recognizing me in school, is that the truth?" She tilted her head: "Why didn't you tell me earlier? With my guidance, you can easily get into the competition class, and you don't have to worry about face issues."
Lin Zeqiu held his forehead with one hand, and his thousands of words turned into two words: "Forget it."
Lin Zhixia squatted beside him and shook his shoulders wildly: "Cheer up! Brother! Cheer up!"
Lin Zeqiu gently pushed her hand away, and she immediately introduced him: "My best friend has always been fearless. He becomes more courageous and has a broad vision. In today's math quiz, I found that his mental arithmetic skills have improved by leaps and bounds, which is simply incomparable! He can even do mental arithmetic for base 58 and base 62 conversion problems! Our class got a total of 19 points, and the most difficult 4 points were all contributed by him alone! You know, in January this year, he often made drafts for the exams."
"Is your best friend a boy or a girl?" Lin Zeqiu asked.
"He's a very good boy." Lin Zhixia answered without hesitation.
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