Do you know what it feels like for a complete academic failure to look at a math book?

It’s like holding a book written in a completely incomprehensible language—in other words, gibberish.

Bai Hongyi glared at the math book, as if trying to burn a hole through it, or as if he were looking at those annoying Cheng family members!

His eyes appeared to be fixed on the math book, but in his mind, he was cursing violently, insulting Cheng Shuo and others’ ancestors back eighteen generations.

He used the most venomous language to curse Cheng Shuo and the others.

After a moment, Cheng Shuo said, “Xue Jiao wouldn’t just stare blankly at a math book. Didn’t your mother say you should learn from Xue Jiao? Now take out your pen, mark what needs to be marked, and redo what needs to be redone!”

“Will you shut up!” Bai Hongyi became agitated again.

He wasn’t someone with a good temper to begin with, and now he just wanted to kill Cheng Shuo.

“Take the pen,” Cheng Shuo said coldly.

Bai Hongyi glared back at him, then irritably grabbed the pen and started scribbling randomly in the book.

It wasn’t that he was giving in! He submitted partly because the old man of the house still commanded some respect from him, and partly because… when Cheng Shuo hit someone… it really hurt…

“Enough! I’m tired!” Bai Hongyi scribbled for a while then couldn’t stand it anymore.

Cheng Shuo checked his watch. “Keep reading a bit longer.”

“Why should I?!” Bai Hongyi nearly jumped up.

“Jiaojiao usually studies until 10:50 before going to bed,” Li Sitong added.

“Fuck!” Bai Hongyi cursed inwardly, thinking her an idiot. His mother wanted him to learn from Gu Xue Jiao, but learn what? Going to bed at 10:50 PM?!

Cheng Shuo ignored his swearing and simply watched over him, forcing him to sit at the desk until 10:50.

“I’m hungry!” As soon as he gained his freedom, Bai Hongyi immediately shouted.

“I already said you won’t get dinner if you don’t eat it at dinner time. There’s nothing left now, and besides, it’s time for you to go to bed,” Cheng Shuo said mechanically.

Bai Hongyi bit his lower lip hard, his fingers clenched tightly with fingertips digging into his palms.

After just a moment, he grabbed the chair beside him and hurled it straight at Cheng Shuo.

“Ah—” Li Sitong screamed.

Cheng Shuo remained calm, not bothering to block the chair, but instead pulled Bai Hongyi toward him. Since Bai Hongyi was already holding the chair high, this sudden pull made him fall to the ground with the chair, and worse, he fell onto the chair’s legs.

“Ouch! That hurts like hell! Take me to the hospital right now!” Bai Hongyi shouted.

Normally at home, whenever he fell or bumped into something, his mother would immediately take him to the hospital out of concern.

“This is Xue Jiao’s bedtime, and you’re supposed to learn from her, so you must go to sleep now,” Cheng Shuo said.

“I’m injured! Can’t you see I’m injured?! Where’s my mom? Call my mom over!” Bai Hongyi’s voice was strong and energetic, not sounding injured at all.

“You’re not injured, just bruised. No need for a hospital. Now go to sleep.” Cheng Shuo gave him no chance to argue, pulling him to bed.

Then he went out and locked the door.

Bai Hongyi suddenly jumped up from the bed and smirked. “These idiots think they can keep me locked up? Don’t they know what I’m capable of?!”

With that, he headed straight for the window.

This was just the second floor of the Cheng house; he could easily jump down.

“I’ll go find my mom and make you all pay!” he said as he pulled open the curtains.

Suddenly, Bai Hongyi froze in place.

Security bars on the window…

Who puts those on a second floor?!

Bai Hongyi would never have guessed that Gu Xue Jiao used to be as troublesome as him, and these security bars were installed to prevent her from sneaking out and getting into danger.

He stared at the security bars in front of him, looking devastated.

They definitely did this on purpose!

At that moment, the door opened, and Cheng Shuo walked in calmly. “So, how sufficient are they?”

“You did this on purpose?!” Bai Hongyi looked shocked.

Cheng Shuo glanced at him and said, “Your parents deliberately sent you here to learn from Xue Jiao.”

Bai Hongyi felt as if he’d been struck by lightning.

What?! His parents were in on this too?!

No wonder Cheng Shuo was so confident—his parents were allowing it!

At that moment, Bai Hongyi felt like someone had a tight grip on him, leaving him angry and helpless.

“I suggest you go to sleep now,” Cheng Shuo advised, then left.

How could Bai Hongyi possibly sleep? He was still in shock, and moreover, he usually went to bed in the early morning, so there was no way he could fall asleep now.

—

Morning, six o’clock.

While deep in sleep, Bai Hongyi was suddenly yanked up and rolled directly onto the floor.

“What the fu—”

Cheng Shuo looked at him calmly. “This is when Xue Jiao wakes up. There’s no school today, so you should begin your morning reading now.”

“???” Morning reading?!

Bai Hongyi, who had never attended early morning study sessions, felt like he was trapped in a nightmare.

He hadn’t been able to play with his phone last night, which was already maddening, and had just fallen asleep when Cheng Shuo woke him up again.

Bai Hongyi was so angry he ground his teeth, cursing Cheng Shuo’s ancestors back eighteen generations once more.

“Come on, time to read English,” Cheng Shuo handed him a high school freshman English textbook.

Bai Hongyi didn’t want to take it, preparing to throw another tantrum.

Cheng Shuo calmly said, “No morning reading means no breakfast.”

“…” Bai Hongyi’s eyes widened. What kind of garbage person was this?!

His stomach was growling, and he was starving.

He snatched the book with a “thud,” threw it on the desk, and glared at it.

“English needs to be read aloud,” Cheng Shuo said.

“Fuck you—” Bai Hongyi became agitated again.

Cheng Shuo slapped him on the head hard enough to hurt. Looking at the stunned Bai Hongyi, he said coldly, “Read it aloud.”

Bai Hongyi ground his teeth, furious enough to kill, but eventually held back.

“#@¥…%&”

He read gibberish, as if cursing Cheng Shuo, using all his strength.

But because he was tired, Bai Hongyi seemed especially lethargic, barely able to make trouble.

After breakfast, Bai Hongyi prepared to return to his room to sleep.

Cheng Shuo calmly added, “At this time, Xue Jiao would study Chinese. Go upstairs and read the high school freshman Chinese textbook.”

“You—”

“If you don’t read, then don’t expect lunch later.”

“…”

—

At noon, after finishing his company business, Bai Shuo went upstairs to keep an eye on the drowsy Bai Hongyi.

Li Sitong stopped him halfway—

“How long are you going to keep watching him like this? Your company is so busy!”

Cheng Shuo shook his head. “Just another day or two at most, and he’ll run away.”

With that, he went upstairs.

A moment later, Li Shu and her husband arrived at the door with numerous gifts.

Li Sitong smiled as she greeted them. “You didn’t have to bring all these things!”

Mr. Bai was about to be polite, but Li Shu quickly asked, “Where’s my son?”

Li Sitong’s expression barely changed as she repeated what Cheng Shuo had instructed her to say: “This child is quite naughty. Cheng Shuo had no choice but to stay home with him. Right now, he’s just starting to focus a little on his studies, so when I take you upstairs, please be careful not to disturb him.”

“Alright, alright!” Li Shu smiled so broadly her eyes nearly disappeared.

Li Sitong quietly led the Bai couple upstairs. Through the wide-open study door, they saw the back of their son “seriously” reading.

Mr. Bai’s eyes widened, and even Li Shu’s mouth fell open.

Li Sitong smiled and gestured downstairs. Everyone immediately left quietly.

Bai Hongyi had no idea that his supporters had come. He was glaring at the Chinese textbook, feeling utterly desperate.

Stupid Cheng family!

“I don’t understand a thing!” he yelled at Cheng Shuo.

Cheng Shuo looked at him calmly. “Xue Jiao would be studying math now. You should switch to math.”

“…”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Xue Jiao, Xue Jiao! Just hearing the name, he could tell she was a bookworm. What kind of flavorless life was that?

She’d already ruined her own life, and now she was using her schedule to ruin his too?!

Bai Hongyi ground his teeth in anger, never wanting to hear Gu Xue Jiao’s name again!

Downstairs.

“Oh my, your family is truly skilled at educating children!” Li Shu smiled.

She had originally suspected the Cheng family might be trying to shirk responsibility, since regardless of the reason, both Cheng Mingze and Gu Xue Jiao were indeed not home.

But now it was obvious they weren’t shirking at all—they were being one hundred percent sincere!

Li Sitong noticed she didn’t mention Cheng Shuo staying home to watch Bai Hongyi, which made her a bit angry, but she controlled herself and said—

“Hongyi is good in every way, just a bit resistant to studying. If we hire a tutor, he doesn’t want one. With Jiaojiao and Mingze not at home, Sister Li, what do you think about inviting Mingjiao over to strike while the iron is hot and help Hongyi learn more during this vacation!”

This wasn’t Cheng Shuo’s idea—he would never harm his beloved niece, no matter how angry he was. This was Li Sitong’s own idea out of frustration.

Li Shu’s eyes narrowed with pleasure, and she immediately called Liu Yazhen.

Liu Yazhen, who had schemed so much, never expected to get herself entangled in her own plans!

But how could she possibly send Mingjiao into the hands of someone like that?

She had done her research before—Bai Hongyi couldn’t stand pretty girls. Not to mention someone like Xue Jiao, even Mingjiao would likely catch his attention!

“Um… Sister Li, Mingjiao isn’t available…” Liu Yazhen stammered.

Li Shu frowned. “Why not?”

“Well, Mingjiao and Xue Jiao have some conflicts, and the two children…”

Li Shu laughed. “Come on, I thought it was something serious! Xue Jiao isn’t home—she won’t be home the entire winter break—that’s why we suggested having Mingjiao come over to help.”

“Well…” Liu Yazhen was suddenly at a loss for words. She stuttered, “Mingjiao also has plans; she’s about to visit her grandmother’s house…”

“Then just come over today and teach him a bit!” Li Shu insisted.

“Today… today is also…”

“Liu Yazhen, I understand now. You’re the insincere one. I even thought you genuinely wanted to help Hongyi, but you just wanted to push him onto Gu Xue Jiao’s family! Let me tell you, I won’t be manipulated like this!” Li Shu abruptly hung up the phone.

Coming from the influential Li family in her hometown, Li Shu was quite prominent in C City’s social circles. Offending her meant being ostracized by the entire circle of wives!

“Hello? Sister Li! That’s not it! Sister Li? Sister Li?!” The call had already ended, and Liu Yazhen nearly cried with anger and frustration.

She threw her phone on the floor, both hateful and fearful—

“Li Sitong! I underestimated you!”

Meanwhile, after hanging up, Li Shu took a deep breath. “This Liu Yazhen turns out to be that kind of person. What is she afraid of? That my son will harm her daughter?”

Though she spoke with disdain, Li Sitong inwardly rolled her eyes. Yes, indeed, everyone’s afraid your son will harm their daughters.

But Li Sitong was genuinely happy that Li Shu had come to dislike Liu Yazhen. She continued cheerfully, “You can leave your child here with us, don’t worry about it.”

“Ah! We’re truly grateful to you!” Mr. Bai said.

“Yes, yes, we won’t disturb you anymore, we’ll be going now!” They were completely unwilling to go upstairs and disturb their son, afraid their appearance might distract him.

With that, the couple hurriedly left.

Li Sitong looked at the gifts and said, “These two really know how to be generous!”

—

Li Sitong brought a glass of milk upstairs and casually mentioned, “Sister Li and her husband have left. They left quite a few gifts.”

Bai Hongyi, who had been drowsily half-closing his eyes, suddenly widened them and jumped up. “My mom was here?!”

Li Sitong glanced at Cheng Shuo, and seeing him nod, smiled and said, “Yes, they didn’t stay long before leaving.”

She didn’t mention that Li Shu and her husband had come upstairs, and Bai Hongyi instinctively felt they must not have!

Otherwise, how could they leave without even saying hello?

His mom and dad had truly abandoned him to these garbage Cheng family members!

Bai Hongyi was so angry he was panting heavily. He kicked the chair forcefully and shouted furiously, “I’m not staying! Everyone get out of my way!”

Cheng Shuo didn’t move at all, calmly saying, “It’s time to study science.”

“…”

Bai Hongyi was so angry he could hardly breathe. Combined with hardly sleeping the night before, his body was weak. When Cheng Shuo pushed him down firmly, he immediately collapsed.

“Read the book.”

—

Once again, Bai Hongyi was dragged out of bed at six in the morning. Before he could even get properly angry, the familiar words came—

“Xue Jiao would be reciting English and Chinese at this time. You should follow her example now!”

“Xue Jiao, Xue Jiao! Can you stop mentioning that bookworm’s name? It makes me want to hit someone!” Bai Hongyi’s small eyes widened, with dark circles underneath. Though he had been kept up late here, he already had dark circles before, so he didn’t feel he’d been mistreated.

Cheng Shuo said calmly, “Read the book, then you can eat.”

“…”

After enduring until the third day, Bai Hongyi felt he was completely breaking down.

He barely had the energy to make trouble anymore. Being only eighteen years old with no one to back him up, he was quickly “beaten down” by life.

“Honey, are we still keeping him?” Li Sitong handed over a cup of tea.

Cheng Shuo took it, sipped, and then quietly said, “It’s about enough. Let’s send him back tonight.”

At two in the morning.

The Cheng house was completely silent, with no sound from outside either. At this hour, everything was shrouded in darkness.

“Click—” The guest room door made a sound, then fell silent.

A moment later, the door slowly moved, first creating a small gap, then gradually widening.

Eventually, a slightly chubby figure squeezed out of the open door, moving like a thief, carefully heading out.

One step… another step…

“Thud!” Something fell to the ground, scaring Bai Hongyi so badly he collapsed on the floor.

After a long while with no further sound, Bai Hongyi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn! What the hell was that! Scared the crap out of me!

He got up and continued carefully down the stairs until he reached the door.

He pushed gently.

“Click—”

It opened?!

It actually opened?! Did they forget to lock it today?!

Bai Hongyi didn’t even bother wondering why the door had been left unlocked. Like someone finally escaping from prison, he flung the door open and sprinted out.

Ahhhhhhh!!! I’m free! Never again will I stay at the Cheng house.

To hell with the Cheng family!

To hell with studying!

To hell with Gu Xue Jiao!!!

After Bai Hongyi had raced away, the master bedroom door opened, and Li Sitong yawned. “That kid really has endurance. I’m exhausted.”

Cheng Shuo nodded and yawned as well.

“Why did you drop a book earlier?” Li Sitong turned, curious.

Earlier, while they were watching Bai Hongyi “sneaking out,” Cheng Shuo had suddenly dropped a book on the floor.

Cheng Shuo smiled and said, “To scare him. I can’t stand the sight of him.”

Li Sitong gave him a sidelong glance, with a hint of coquettishness. “When did you become so mischievous?”

Cheng Shuo smiled and shook his head, then said, “Come on, let’s go to bed. We still have work tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, at the Bai household.

When Bai Hongyi returned home, he was in a pathetic state. He had used every possible method to navigate past the gatekeepers along the way, making himself look extremely disheveled.

“Ahhhhhhh—” Bai Hongyi kicked his front door while shouting loudly, “Mom! Open the door!”

Upstairs, the half-asleep Bai couple were startled awake—

“What’s that?!”

“It sounds like… our son’s voice?”

“Impossible! Our son is at the Cheng house!”

Li Shu was still uncertain and worried. “Let’s go down and check.”

The couple got out of bed and went downstairs.

The closer they got to the door, the clearer the voice became. Li Shu was shocked and quickly went to open it: “It really is our son!”

As they opened the door, Bai Hongyi’s appearance came into view.

His hair was disheveled, his eyes unfocused, with leaves stuck to his clothes, looking both ragged and frightening.

“Son! What happened to you?!” Li Shu embraced Bai Hongyi, crying out in concern.

Bai Hongyi let out a breath. His mother was still his mother, caring for him. He would never leave the Bai household again, nor would he ever return to the Cheng house. In just a few days, they had nearly driven him insane.

“Mom, I feel terrible. I wasn’t treated well at the Cheng house. I never want to go back there!” Bai Hongyi burst into tears.

He had always known how to manipulate his parents. Tears streamed down his face, making him look both pitiful and wronged.

His previous tears might have been fake, but this time he genuinely cried at the thought of life at the Cheng house, sobbing uncontrollably.

His tears broke Li Shu’s heart as she fussed over him. Mr. Bai was concerned too, but still asked seriously, “What happened? How did they mistreat you?”

“They forced me to study!” Bai Hongyi became furious again, cursing, hoping his father would immediately rush over to confront them.

Kill those damn Cheng family members!

But parents’ understanding has a generation gap. Mr. Bai and Li Shu exchanged glances.

Studying?

Thinking back to the “harmonious” scene they had witnessed during their visit…

That wasn’t harm!

That was absolute sincerity!

Mr. Bai began scolding Bai Hongyi: “How is making you study harming you?! Your Uncle Cheng barely went to his company these past few days, spending all his time educating you, and you ran away! He was so good to you—how can you face your Uncle Cheng?”

Bai Hongyi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Good to me?

Bai Hongyi was so angry he questioned his sanity.

Mr. Bai was also angry but eventually softened his tone and said, “Go upstairs and sleep. Tomorrow I’ll take you back to Uncle Cheng!”

Hearing this, Bai Hongyi was dumbfounded. He sat down on the ground and began to wail, “If you send me back there, I’ll kill myself! I don’t want to live anymore!”

He howled as if his heart was being torn out, appearing completely broken down.

“You—” Mr. Bai pointed at him, speechless.

Seeing her son howling like this, Li Shu also felt heartbroken. After thinking for a moment, she restrained Mr. Bai. “Don’t be angry. Our son doesn’t understand, and we can teach him slowly. If he doesn’t want to go, then he doesn’t have to go. Even if it’s good for him, we can’t let our son suffer like this. He made it back safely on his own tonight, but what if he runs away again next time and encounters danger…”

“Sigh! How did I end up with such a son!” Mr. Bai collapsed onto the sofa, extremely angry yet utterly helpless.

Li Shu was also distressed but more concerned for her son. She helped Bai Hongyi up. “Son, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. When Xue Jiao returns, we’ll invite her over to tutor you a bit.”

Xue Jiao?!

Hearing those two familiar syllables, Bai Hongyi instantly recalled having to wake up at six in the morning, being forced to do morning reading, and then reading books all day!

“No!!! I don’t want to meet that bookworm!!”

“I never want to see her in my life!”

—

Bai Hongyi was so resistant to Gu Xue Jiao and to going to the Cheng house that Mr. Bai and Li Shu had no choice. They brought a large number of gifts to express their gratitude and properly thanked and apologized to Cheng Shuo and Li Sitong.

In contrast to Li Sitong’s satisfaction at having resolved everything, Liu Yazhen was nearly driven to death with anger.

Li Shu was a woman of her word and didn’t immediately confront Liu Yazhen.

However, in the days that followed, whenever someone invited people to play mahjong and wanted to include Liu Yazhen or mentioned her—

Li Shu would always say contemptuously, “I don’t like that person. She’s insincere, full of lies, and loves to scheme behind people’s backs.”

As a result, Liu Yazhen’s social standing in W City’s wives’ circle plummeted, enraging her to the point of cursing wildly.

—

In Beijing.

“The situation at home has been resolved,” Cheng Shuo said as he approached Xue Jiao.

As high school students, the competition wasn’t grouped by classes, so they studied together.

Quite a few people from their province had advanced to the next round, including Chu Sheng, Gu Xue Jiao, Cheng Mingze, Li Lei, Pang Ming, the person who had been taken away by the police for questioning, and several students from other schools. Li Lei had achieved a perfect score in the previous competition.

Yin Fang had mentioned that this person had been preparing for competitions all along, following the path of academic contests.

The pressure to achieve good results was immense.

“That’s good,” Xue Jiao let out a breath.

Cheng Mingze nodded and gently rubbed her head. “Good luck with tomorrow’s training!”

“Thanks, you too.”

The mathematics competition they were participating in was different from the previous Mathematical Olympiad. The current winter camp for mathematics competitions was more like intensive training, with many teachers teaching parts of mathematical history and testing them through various small quizzes.

The training would continue until the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, with the exam on the twenty-fifth and the closing ceremony on the twenty-sixth.

The pressure during this training period was extreme, leaving no time to think about other matters.

As the exam approached, more and more problems surfaced.

The greater Xue Jiao’s pressure, the less she checked her phone in the evenings, but she still occasionally looked at Lin Zhihua’s messages.

He was also in Beijing, but they hadn’t had a chance to meet yet…

Lin Zhihua knew she was in training and wouldn’t disturb her. He would only chat with her about the mathematics competition when she was feeling extremely stressed.

On the twenty-fifth.

Xue Jiao bundled herself up like a rice dumpling. Lin Zhihua had reminded her that the second-round examination room had no heating, only air conditioning.

Moreover, since the doors couldn’t be closed, the room temperature wouldn’t rise much, so she needed to dress warmly.

Xue Jiao had passed on this reminder, and most people who knew her dressed much more heavily.

The regular training classrooms could be closed, keeping the temperature reasonably high, but the exam room with the doors open was at an entirely different temperature.

Sure enough, even with Xue Jiao’s good seating position, she had no desire to remove her down jacket.

Students seated near the back door, from another province, sneezed several times, clearly suffering from the cold.

In the entire examination room, only she and Chu Sheng were from the same school.

Chu Sheng was seated near the front door. He was dressed much more heavily than usual today, but Beijing was experiencing heavy snowfall, and people from the south who hadn’t experienced this before might not withstand it well…

Soon after the exam papers were distributed, Xue Jiao had no time to worry about others.

The competition didn’t have many questions, but each one was very challenging, with novel types of problems.

Even without Lin Zhihua’s advance analysis, Xue Jiao was extremely careful of the many traps.

Especially the final induction problem—induction problems frequently appeared in competitions, and they had done countless related exercises before.

Xue Jiao thought carefully. It was somewhat difficult, but not unsolvable.

She drew carefully on her scratch paper, deducing step by step, trying both traditional methods and new approaches mentioned during training. She obtained the same K value from both, leading to the same answer, and only then did she copy it onto her answer sheet.

This was the most heavily weighted question. Halfway through copying, Xue Jiao suddenly recalled something Lin Zhihua had said a few days earlier—

“Competition problems sometimes require strong logical thinking, but sometimes… you need to be careful. Logical deductions aren’t always correct; the original conditions are the key.”

Xue Jiao froze.

This isn’t right!

It shouldn’t be like this!

The K value I found is contradictory!

Thinking this, Xue Jiao quickly flipped her answer sheet to a new page and took out scratch paper to work backward.

Outside, snow was falling heavily. The cold made all the students unconsciously move their numbed feet. Some who couldn’t bear it had already turned in their papers and were being led out by staff.

Xue Jiao was sweating profusely, recalculating again and again.

This isn’t right!

This isn’t right either!

Still not right!

Not right!

Not right!

Xue Jiao kept checking, becoming increasingly anxious.

At this moment, Chu Sheng, seated near the front door, also left. He walked unsteadily, his face pale.

Xue Jiao glanced around. Not many people remained; it was too cold, and most who had finished left immediately.

Sensing the proctor’s gaze shifting toward her, Xue Jiao returned her focus and took a deep breath.

Lin Zhihua’s words echoed in her mind again—

“When you encounter a problem you find extremely difficult, simplify it, break it down layer by layer. Competition problems are challenging, but they’re still just math problems.”

Her fingers trembled slightly, with the submission time approaching quickly.

By now, only four people remained in the entire examination room.

Her fingers shook badly as Xue Jiao gripped her pen and wrote the answer to the last question very slowly, one character at a time—

Answer: This problem has no solution.

As if puncturing something, the writing stood out clearly, nearly tearing through the answer sheet.

After finishing, even in this bitter cold, her back was soaked with sweat.

Throughout competition history, there have been many different types of problems and many novel ones, but there has never been a case where the final problem, worth the most points, had no solution…

Xue Jiao was very afraid, but she knew the K value she had calculated wasn’t the real K value.

The teacher came down to collect the answer sheets one by one. Xue Jiao slumped in her seat for a while, only leaving the classroom when she felt the cold again.

Their building housed all the contestants, and those who had finished could only wait outside the doors if they didn’t leave.

When Xue Jiao went out, all the Seventh Middle School students were already there.

“Xue Jiao, over here!” Cheng Mingze waved, and Xue Jiao quickly went over.

“What did you write for the last problem? What’s K equal to?” a senior girl asked.

Having just taken the exam, everyone naturally cared about their scores, and they had already compared answers.

“No solution,” Xue Jiao said these two words and several people’s expressions changed.

“I also wrote ‘no solution,'” Cheng Mingze said quietly.

“Me too,” said Li Lei.

Cheng Mingze and Li Lei were recognized as having strong competition skills, and their answers matched…

“That seems unlikely. This wasn’t a problem asking for a value; it was an induction problem. How could an induction problem have no solution?” A senior girl from the third year turned pale. She had invested a lot in the competition, and if she was truly wrong, all her efforts would be wasted.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore. Chu Sheng, are you catching a cold? You should get some medicine first. Let’s go eat. After the exam, don’t think about it anymore. We’ll find out at tomorrow’s closing ceremony,” Cheng Mingze said with leadership presence, and everyone listened to him.

So the group headed to the dining hall.

That evening.

Xue Jiao lay in bed, took out her phone, and told Lin Zhihua about the strange final problem of the day.

He replied quickly—

“Lin Zhihua: Do you remember the problem?”

Xue Jiao quickly described the problem to him.

After a while, he replied—

“You’re correct. No solution.”

Ah!

Naturally, Xue Jiao was excited at that moment, but the other side quickly sent another message—

“But it mainly depends on the organizers’ answer. ‘No solution’ is correct, but it depends on whether they require a detailed explanation.”

Xue Jiao had just finished reading when another message came—

“You did great.”

“Thank you!! It’s all thanks to your guidance all this time!”

“No problem.”

After replying, Lin Zhihua stared expectantly at his phone, but Xue Jiao only wished him good night.

Tomorrow was the closing ceremony… probably after it ended tomorrow afternoon, Xue Jiao would leave Beijing.

She had come, but they hadn’t met.

Lin Zhihua had waited the entire training period, right up until the closing ceremony was about to begin and she was about to leave…

So… did Xue Jiao not want to see him?

Thinking this, Lin Zhihua stared aimlessly at the ceiling, frowning, the atmosphere oppressive.

—

On the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, the closing ceremony.

First came speeches from the organizers, then from several officials, all keeping their remarks brief.

Then a teacher representative spoke, followed by a student representative.

The student representative was quite impressive, named Yang Zhan. Both his appearance and demeanor were excellent. His speech was dignified.

He was a local Beijing student from an especially prestigious school, and ranked at the top of his grade. He was currently in his third year of high school and had already won first prize in the Physics Competition, first prize in the Chemistry Competition, and first prize in the Middle School Mathematics Competition when he was in junior high.

Since starting high school, both Tsinghua and Peking universities had gone to great lengths trying to recruit him, but at the beginning of this semester, he had chosen the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At his current high school, he had a specially approved chemistry laboratory and a physics laboratory.

Xue Jiao had heard these stories when she first arrived. Now, watching him speak eloquently on stage, she couldn’t help but feel envious.

This was the most academically brilliant person she had ever met in her two lifetimes.

Indeed, the higher one climbs in life, the more one sees, and the more one discovers people even more capable than oneself.

And then you realize that the summit you’ve reached isn’t the highest peak—above this mountain, there are countless higher mountains.

This gives you greater motivation to climb higher.

This upward climb is by no means a derogatory term—it’s about striving, about—

Youth not losing its ambition.

After Yang Zhan finished speaking, the moment students both feared and anticipated the most arrived—the awards ceremony.

The organizers had rushed to compile the results last night, finished producing the certificates in the morning, and were now ready to present the awards.

“First, we’ll announce the third-prize winners of the Eleventh High School Mathematics Competition Winter Camp!”

Everyone held their breath. Xue Jiao clenched her fingers, raised her head, and earnestly watched the speaker.

The middle-aged, balding organizer spoke very slowly with a strong regional accent, yet everyone nervously watched him.

Cheng Mingze sat next to Xue Jiao, and a senior female student sat on her other side. The senior’s hand gripped the armrest, showing her fear.

Cheng Mingze appeared almost emotionless, looking very calm.

Xue Jiao touched her rapidly beating heart, thinking—he is the male lead!

“Chen Xiaoxiao, Wang Xiang, Liu…” The third prize list was quite long. The senior girl received a third prize, clearly disappointing her.

Only first-prize winners could participate in the final National High School Mathematics Competition!

It was also the final competition for universities to evaluate students.

In other words, only those who won first prize had a chance at direct admission.

Xue Jiao took a deep breath, slightly closing her eyes, listening intently.

“Don’t be nervous,” came a voice from beside her.

“Mm,” Xue Jiao nodded slightly, calming herself.

“The second prize winners are—”

Thump, thump, thump—

The entire auditorium fell silent. Xue Jiao seemed to hear countless heartbeats, though she couldn’t tell if they were her own or others.

“Chu Sheng, Wen You, Chang…” Name after name.

Those from Seventh Middle School who had gotten the last problem wrong all received second prizes.

After the second prizes were awarded, only Li Lei, Cheng Mingze, and Xue Jiao remained from Seventh Middle School. Now they would either win a first prize or nothing at all!

Xue Jiao had never felt such tension before, standing at a point where she would either advance or receive nothing.

Suddenly, a warm hand covered her own.

Xue Jiao froze.

“It’s okay, don’t be afraid…” Cheng Mingze’s eyes looked at her, appearing gentle and refined, his gaze exceptionally soft.

Xue Jiao was stunned for a moment before pulling her hand away.

Cheng Mingze said nothing, merely withdrawing his hand.

After the second prize winners took their group photo, it was time to announce the first prize.

“Finally, we present the first prizes for this competition—”

Thump, thump, thump—

Xue Jiao’s heart pounded like thunder.

“Yang Zhan, Cheng Mingze, Xu Qingsong, Li Lei… Gu Xue Jiao…”

Xue Jiao’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t help but smile!

“Congratulations, Jiaojiao!” Cheng Mingze turned, his voice full of joy.

Xue Jiao hugged him briefly, also very happy: “Congratulations to you too, Brother.”

One “Jiaojiao,” one “Brother.”

The previously unfriendly relationship between the two seemed to have experienced a breakthrough.

People nearby quickly made their way. Cheng Mingze walked in front, and Xue Jiao followed behind, making their way toward the stage.

The first prize included nearly fifty people. They each shook hands and received their certificates, then took a group photo.

“Quickly now, line up properly, look this way, students!” The photographer up front waved his hand.

There weren’t many girls. Xue Jiao crouched in the front row, holding her certificate.

She wore the Seventh Middle School uniform, as required by their supervising teacher, who insisted they wear the school uniform on such an important day.

Others had the same idea, as almost all students were wearing their school uniforms.

“Alright! Nobody moves, one, two—”

Xue Jiao looked ahead, her eyes slightly moist.

She had been reborn and was living her life more brilliantly than before, with even more brilliance to come.

She was just one of nearly fifty people, among them Cheng Mingze who had been first place since childhood, the legendary Yang Zhan, Li Lei who had prepared for competitions for years, and many other formidable and impressive individuals.

Xue Jiao was just an ordinary member of this group.

But that was okay, she wasn’t discouraged at all. In life—

Recognize your ordinariness,

But refuse to be ordinary.

Xue Jiao’s moist eyes shone with brilliant light as she looked determinedly ahead.

“Three!”

“Click—”

A photograph captured the moment.

—

Almost the instant after they received their awards, a message appeared in the Seventh Middle School faculty chat group, sent by the supervising teacher.

Yin Fang’s son was in ninth grade, about to take the senior high school entrance exam. She was tutoring him at this time.

“Mom, I need a break.”

“A break? Do you still have time for breaks? Son, let me tell you, studying requires complete dedication. You need to put your whole heart into it, determined to study! Nothing should distract you!” Yin Fang insisted.

Her son rolled his eyes and continued looking at his book half-heartedly.

Yin Fang suddenly became slightly distracted.

Today was already the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month. How did Gu Xue Jiao do on her exam?

“Why waste time on these things?” she muttered.

“Mom, what did you say?” her son asked.

Yin Fang tapped him on the head. “I wasn’t talking to you! Let me tell you, your current grades still aren’t outstanding enough. Study hard and move up. There’s a student in my class who was particularly diligent. Originally she wasn’t studying well, but now she’s put in full effort, giving it her all, and suddenly reached first place in the grade!”

“Mom, you’ve said this so many times!” Her son rolled his eyes again.

Yin Fang continued, “But this girl is too stubborn. During such a long vacation, instead of studying properly, she went to participate in a mathematics competition. Her foundation isn’t strong, so isn’t that just a waste of time?”

Just as she finished speaking, her phone vibrated. Checking it, she saw many people frantically tagging her in the workgroup. Yin Fang frowned.

What happened?

When she opened it, her eyes immediately widened and her mouth formed an O shape!

“Mom, what’s wrong?” her son asked with concern.

Yin Fang excitedly jumped up: “She won first prize!!!”

“Holy shit!”

—

After the first prizes were awarded, the organizers made some concluding remarks and offered more encouragement, and the winter camp came to an end.

Xue Jiao and Cheng Mingze walked out of the auditorium. She took out her phone—

“Lin Zhihua! I got first prize!!”

He quickly replied—

“Congratulations!”

“I should thank you! Thank you!”

The interface on the other side showed someone typing for a long time, but no message came through. Xue Jiao was puzzled.

Lin Zhihua smiled bitterly. Xue Jiao had never thought about meeting him…

The training center was closing for the holiday, so students had to leave today, most returning home since the Spring Festival was approaching…

He had driven to the training center several times but never told her.

He raised his hand slightly, touching his chest.

So this thing doesn’t just beat wildly; it can also… hurt?

Lin Zhihua couldn’t quite describe this feeling, only that it was very uncomfortable, very unpleasant.

It felt swollen and sour.

After a moment, he replied—

“Are you going back right away?”

Xue Jiao replied very quickly—

“No, I’m going back tomorrow.”

Lin Zhihua raised an eyebrow. Tomorrow’s ticket?

Another message came from her—

“I haven’t even seen you yet, how could I go back today!”

Author’s Note: Cheng Mingze: I was the first to hold Xue Jiao’s hand! The first to hug her!

Yi Tianyu: Lin Zhihua! Shall we beat him up together or separately!