On September 4, 2004, Jiang Yubai had just turned nine years old when he transferred to a new school.

He was assigned to Class 4(1).

The homeroom teacher was a woman in her thirties. She had shoulder-length hair, wore framed glasses, a white shirt, and a linen skirt, with a slightly serious expression.

The principal, vice principal, and academic director all stood at the door of Class 4(1), whispering with the homeroom teacher. She immediately displayed a brilliant smile and said warmly, “Jiang Yubai, I’m your homeroom teacher. My name is Wu Xiqian.”

Jiang Yubai stood straight and replied, “Hello, Teacher Wu.”

Wu Xiqian smiled even more deeply: “Jiang Yubai, please enter the classroom. This period happens to be my Chinese language class. I’ll let our classmates get to know you.”

Teacher Wu raised one hand and knocked on the door of Class 4(1).

In an instant, the entire class went quiet.

Teacher Wu stepped into the classroom, her shoe soles making a muffled sound on the plastic floor. Jiang Yubai, carrying his backpack, walked without making any noise, like a quiet ghost, and stood on the three-foot platform.

“Everyone’s attention please,” Teacher Wu clapped her hands and introduced, “Our class has a new transfer student this semester. His name is Jiang Yubai.”

There were forty-eight students in the class. After Teacher Wu finished speaking, forty-eight gazes focused on Jiang Yubai’s face.

Jiang Yubai wore a light-colored t-shirt and black athletic pants. His height, build, and appearance were superior to all the boys in the class.

The fact was evident to everyone—Jiang Yubai was the most handsome boy in the entire grade, even the entire school. His features could withstand the most critical scrutiny.

He introduced himself: “Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Yubai. ‘Jiang’ is the ‘Jiang’ from the Yangtze River, and ‘Yubai’ is…”

From the last row of the classroom, a girl’s voice continued: “‘The river is blue, birds surpass white, mountains are green, flowers about to burn.'”

“The river is blue, birds surpass white, mountains are green, flowers about to burn.”

That’s right, this poem, from Du Fu’s pen, was also the source of Jiang Yubai’s name.

Who was speaking?

Jiang Yubai looked toward the voice and saw a pretty girl with a ponytail. She still had a childish innocence, with clear bright eyes, looking past the many classmates in the classroom, gazing at him with interest.

There was an empty seat beside her.

She had no deskmate.

Jiang Yubai was a bit distracted. He thought his name’s origin was obscure and that no classmate would know it, but a random girl in class could recite it?

At this moment, Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard. The homeroom teacher wrote “Jiang Yubai” in large characters on the blackboard, diligently instructing the entire class, and finally added: “Jiang Yubai has attended a private elementary school in Singapore for three years. He just returned to the country with his parents this summer. If his Chinese language skills aren’t good, classmates, should you help him?”

The whole class shouted in unison: “Yes!”

Teacher Wu nodded and said loudly: “You are the third batch of students I’ve taught. Every time Teacher Wu takes on students, I always start from first grade and teach until sixth grade… Why? Because this way, Teacher Wu and the students become like a family, very close, right? Our class is also the experimental class for the entire grade, setting a good example for everyone. I’ll be blunt upfront, if anyone dares to bully the transfer student in my class, don’t blame me for not showing mercy, understood?”

The students answered sparsely: “Understood!”

Teacher Wu wiped the blackboard clean, patting off the chalk dust with two “pats.”

The dust particles scattered in the brilliant sunlight, each speck taking on a concrete form.

They fell on Teacher Wu’s clothes, stuck to her hair, like a snowfall from the sky, causing Jiang Yubai to unconsciously take a step back—he had always had mild mysophobia.

Teacher Wu faced the whole class and urged again: “Speak louder! Didn’t you have breakfast this morning? Did you hear what Teacher said?”

The students immediately answered in a more spirited tone: “We heard!”

Only then was Teacher Wu satisfied.

She turned to Jiang Yubai and said, “Alright, see where there’s a seat and choose one yourself. Or Teacher can help you choose one…”

Jiang Yubai hesitated briefly, then walked directly to the last row of the classroom. He sat down next to the girl from earlier. Before he could speak, the girl said to him: “Hello, my name is Lin Zhixia.”

He politely answered: “Hello, my name is Jiang Yubai.”

“Haha,” Lin Zhixia laughed sweetly, “I already know your name is Jiang Yubai.”

Jiang Yubai unzipped his backpack and took out a black leather notebook. He placed the notebook on the desk, stuffed his backpack into the drawer, and prepared to listen attentively.

His and Lin Zhixia’s seats were in the corner of the last row of the classroom. Lin Zhixia was next to a glass window, with the blue cloth curtain folded with a one-inch curl, hanging on the side.

She was very curious about Jiang Yubai, occasionally turning her face to secretly glance at him, until she finally annoyed him.

He asked in a low voice: “Why do you keep looking at me?”

Lin Zhixia secretly asked back: “How old are you?”

Jiang Yubai answered truthfully: “Nine years old.”

Lin Zhixia asked again: “Did you grow up in Singapore?”

Jiang Yubai shook his head: “I went abroad with my parents when I was six, and returned this year.”

Lin Zhixia rested her chin on one hand: “Can you speak English then?”

Jiang Yubai modestly replied: “Not very well.”

Despite saying this, Jiang Yubai deliberately opened his math notebook in front of Lin Zhixia, with each page containing math notes recorded in English, because when Jiang Yubai was preparing for the TIS and PISA math tests in Singapore, he could only find English-language teaching materials. So his math notebook was full of content like “base conversion” and even two pages of “complex number operations.”

Lin Zhixia’s eyes lit up, seeming very happy: “Complex numbers, have you studied complex numbers?”

She was so excited she didn’t know what to do, talking non-stop to Jiang Yubai: “Complex numbers are such a wonderful invention! They made me realize that physics is the most wonderful subject in the world! The combination of real and imaginary parts makes wave superposition calculations so much easier! Even quantum computation can be simplified using complex numbers. The product of a complex number and its conjugate becomes a real number, and quantum computation first needs to determine a series of possible positions where a particle can be observed, so we can use complex space to do the Hilbert inner product…”

Jiang Yubai’s mind went “buzz.” He couldn’t understand what Lin Zhixia was talking about.

Not a single word.

The reason Jiang Yubai had studied complex numbers was that when he was in Singapore, his parents had found a mathematics PhD from the National University of Singapore as his home tutor.

That tutor was very responsible. He often broadened Jiang Yubai’s horizons, starting from “integers” to “fractions,” then from “fractions” to “base numbers,” and further from “base numbers, real numbers” to “imaginary numbers and complex numbers.”

He often praised Jiang Yubai: You are a very intelligent student.

In fact, during the three years Jiang Yubai attended school in Singapore, he had always been the top student in his grade. His English, mathematics, science, Chinese, physical education, and music were all at exceptional levels among his peers.

The private elementary school in Singapore that Jiang Yubai attended cost 200,000 RMB per year in tuition. In 2003, apartments inside Beijing’s Second Ring Road cost about 10,000 RMB per square meter, and Jiang Yubai’s mother joked: “Your annual tuition could buy a small study room in Beijing.”

At that time, Jiang Yubai’s elementary school classmates were all from wealthy or noble families. Their parents all valued education, and everyone took intense supplementary classes. Jiang Yubai could stand out from this group, maintaining the top position without defeat, so he considered himself to be doing relatively well.

However, today, Jiang Yubai was somewhat bewildered.

The long speech Lin Zhixia gave him reminded him of his experience listening to lectures.

When Jiang Yubai was in elementary school in Singapore, their principal occasionally invited professors from the National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technological University to give lectures. At those times, Jiang Yubai and his classmates would sit properly in their seats, and although they couldn’t understand what the professors were saying, they still had to applaud vigorously.

Those university professors, just like Lin Zhixia, would talk endlessly once they mentioned their research fields.

Jiang Yubai closed his notebook and couldn’t help asking: “Lin Zhixia, what do you usually think about?”

Lin Zhixia clasped her hands: “Do you like physics and mathematics? Do you believe the universe has an end? Do you think time and consciousness can measure this world? Do you think humans have free will?”

She lowered her head slightly, her voice very soft, with her fair face turning slightly red from excitement.

She also pointed a finger 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 deep into Jiang Yubai’s heart, puncturing his self-esteem, making him bleed.

“I…” Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, but before he could speak, Teacher Wu shouted from the podium: “Lin Zhixia!”

Lin Zhixia sat up straight and opened her textbook.

Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard again: “You all! Don’t talk during class! Classroom discipline! You must observe classroom discipline! I’m still willing to reason with you, but when you advance to middle school, which teacher will bother with you? They’ll immediately expel you, chattering students, from the classroom. When you can’t attend class, your grades drop, you fail the high school entrance exam, you can’t get into a good high school, then you’ll understand that Teacher Wu is doing this for your good today!”

Lin Zhixia covered her face, secretly laughing.

Even though Teacher Wu’s gaze was fixated on the area around Jiang Yubai, he still asked: “Lin Zhixia, what are you laughing at?”

“It’s fun,” Lin Zhixia answered, “I’m a human behavior observer.”

*

After this Chinese language class ended, just as Teacher Wu stepped out of the classroom, most of the classmates gathered around Jiang Yubai.

The students formed a solid barrier, with Jiang Yubai like an exhibition item within it, available for everyone to view.

Everyone was just nine or ten years old, with feelings of jealousy, curiosity, and inquiry completely undisguised.

A slightly chubby boy spoke up: “Jiang Yubai, my name is Zhou Bufeng, I sit in front of you.”

Jiang Yubai had seen his exercise book and recognized his name, so he nodded and said: “Hello.”

Zhou Bufeng placed both hands on Jiang Yubai’s desk. He wore a cotton undershirt that was a bit tight around the waist, revealing a small 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. Does your family have a sports car? Is it an Aston Martin?”

Aston Martin refers to the luxury sports car brand under the American Ford company, with its headquarters in London, England.

As soon as Zhou Bufeng finished asking, Jiang Yubai answered: “My father didn’t come today. The person you saw was my family’s driver.”

“Woah—” An uproar erupted among the classmates.

This kind of collective noise made Jiang Yubai somewhat uneasy. Besides that, 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 rather, his family background was among the extreme minority in the class.

Sure enough, Zhou Bufeng pushed Jiang Yubai: “Where do your parents work? Your family is so rich!”

Lin Zhixia also said: “Yeah, when you transferred, even the principal stood at the door to greet you.”

Zhou Bufeng glanced stealthily at Lin Zhixia and incessantly asked: “Jiang Yubai, where does your family live? Does your family have a big villa?”

Does your family have a big villa?

This direct questioning seemed impolite. And a presumptuous answer would be abrupt. After all, most classmates’ families didn’t have sports cars, and probably didn’t have villas either. Jiang Yubai’s home in this city wasn’t just a villa… more precisely, it should be called a private estate. His home had a tennis court, swimming pool, rose garden, and even a martial arts practice area.

This July, during the first few days after Jiang Yubai returned home, he often got lost in his own house.

Jiang Yubai lowered his head to think, slightly furrowing his brow: “I don’t know.”

He was satisfied with his response, so he repeated: “I don’t know.”

“You don’t even know this?” Zhou Bufeng looked at him like he was an idiot.

But Lin Zhixia asked: “Because your house is too big, so you can’t tell if it’s a villa?”

“You’re right.” Jiang Yubai coldly admitted. Having sat next to Lin Zhixia for less than half a day, he had already started to resent her quick wit and pretended 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. He’s the richest in our Class 1! Jiang Yubai, you’re even richer than him!”

Dong Sunqi heard someone calling him. He turned to glance at Zhou Bufeng, then turned his face back.

Class 4(1) had imperceptibly divided into two camps.

The first camp centered around Dong Sunqi, with mostly boys around him. The second camp centered around Jiang Yubai, with the ratio of boys to girls near one-to-one.

Dong Sunqi wore a red scarf and a badge with two stripes. He extended his left arm, showing off the two stripes, and the boys around him all laughed, with a mysteriously joyful atmosphere in the air.

Someone shouted: “Tiger Team Adventures! Dong Sunqi bought more Tiger Team Adventures!”

Dong Sunqi slowly stood up to let the students in the last row see his inventory.

Looking over, everyone could see that on Dong Sunqi’s desk were stacked seven “Tiger Team Adventures” books.

“Tiger Team Adventures” was a series of books popular throughout the school. Students were keen on reading them while using a transparent “decoding card” to find clues in the books.

One “Tiger Team Adventures” book costs 18 yuan.

Buying them yourself would be a loss.

But borrowing them from classmates would be very worthwhile.

Dong Sunqi was a long-term supplier of “Tiger Team Adventures,” and he had good relationships with everyone in the class. Besides “Tiger Team Adventures,” he also frequently purchased series like “Goosebumps,” “Ghost Blows Out the Light,” and other book series to satisfy the extensive extracurricular reading needs of his classmates.

Dong Sunqi once claimed: My family has money! I’m loaded with cash!

Therefore, his nickname was “Dong Wanguan” (Dong Thousands), and some people called him “Young Master Dong.”

Zhou Bufeng led the way to Dong Sunqi’s desk, calling out: “Dong Wanguan, lend me a book to read! I’ll return it next week.” As more people came to borrow books, the area around Dong Sunqi became noisy.

Jiang Yubai’s side became somewhat quieter.

Lin Zhixia tidied up her desk and said to Jiang Yubai: “In our city, the best schools are all public schools. Public school tuition isn’t expensive… the school choice fee might be a bit more expensive. But compared to private elementary schools in Singapore, our good schools are still much cheaper.”

“What do you mean by ‘your Singapore’?” 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 very innocent.

Jiang Yubai blushed as she stared at him. He could only turn his head to look the other way before answering: “I’m not angry.”

“That’s good!” Lin Zhixia clapped once, “Move aside, don’t block my way. The break is only ten minutes, I want to go play card flipping.”

“Card flipping” was a fun little game popular throughout the school. This game had been circulating in the entire school for a long time, originally started by upper-grade students, then passed down to lower grades, and even became popular in all elementary schools across the city.

Before participating in the “card flipping” game, one first needed to prepare 1 yuan as startup capital.

This 1 yuan could buy 40 small cards at the small shop at the school gate. The back of each card was covered with interlaced blue patterns, while the front featured different characters from the Japanese anime “Pokémon”—including Pikachu, Togepi, Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, and more.

At the start of the game, two students would stand on opposite sides of a desk, show their cards, then flip them face down on the table. Then, they would slightly bend down and take turns slapping the table with their palms—whoever could flip the cards over would get to keep them.

“What’s so fun about this?” Jiang Yubai asked in shock.

Jiang Yubai watched the fascinated looks of his classmates, especially Lin Zhixia, who was also enjoying herself… Jiang Yubai found it incomprehensible.

A new round of cards began.

In this round, Lin Zhixia faced off against Dong Sunqi.

Lin Zhixia wore a pink long-sleeved shirt and gray jeans, her figure thin and frail. Her wrists were too slender, soft and weak, seemingly incapable of generating enough force to flip two cards over.

Facing such an opponent, Dong Sunqi did warm-up exercises on the spot. He bounced up and down a few times, stretched his arms and legs, and prepared himself: “I’ll go first!”

Lin Zhixia cheerfully agreed: “Okay! You go first!”

She placed a “Mew” card.

The onlooking classmates exclaimed: “Mew! Mew is so rare! A sixth-grade senior is willing to pay 3 yuan for a Mew card!”

“How about it?” Lin Zhixia said, “I put down Mew, what will you put down?”

Dong Sunqi felt the pressure of a strong opponent. He had to stay calm. He took a breath, the air settling in his lungs. He spread his five fingers, gripping the two corners of the table: “I’ll put down… Pikachu!”

“Ah! Pikachu!” Another classmate commented, “Last time I spent 7 yuan and bought several hundred cards, but couldn’t get a single Pikachu! Class Monitor Dong, you’re so generous!”

Dong Sunqi raised his palm and pressed it down, gesturing for the crowd to be quiet.

He said: “I’m our Class 1’s monitor, who else would be generous if not me?” He looked at Lin Zhixia: “I’m going to make my move!”

Lin Zhixia urged: “Hurry up, don’t waste my time.”

Dong Sunqi bent down, using all his might, and slammed his palm heavily on the desk, with such force it seemed like he wanted to crack the entire table.

The two cards on the table didn’t move at all.

Dong Sunqi’s expression crumbled.

“Hahahahaha, it’s my turn!” Lin Zhixia was extremely happy.

She knelt on a chair, flattened her right hand, adjusted the angle, and muttered something.

What was she saying?

Jiang Yubai couldn’t help but walk over to eavesdrop. He was very close to Lin Zhixia. He heard Lin Zhixia say: “Angle thirty-seven degrees, torque in this direction…”

Then, she gently slapped the table, and both cards flipped over simultaneously, revealing the faces of “Mew” and “Pikachu.”

The classmates applauded for her: “Lin Zhixia, you’re so strong!”

“Oh, just got lucky.” Lin Zhixia happily collected the cards and joined the group of girls to play string games.

Dong Sunqi sat on his chair, dumbfounded, silently grieving the departure of “Pikachu.” His expression was sad and melancholic, with nearby classmates consoling him: “Class Monitor Dong, don’t be sad.”

Dong Sunqi shook his head. His gaze penetrated the window, looking far into the sky: “No, I’m not sad. Victory and defeat are both the meaning of battle… What I wanted to protect, I ultimately lost! Farewell, Pikachu!”

Jiang Yubai muttered: “Lunatic.”

These Class 4(1) students still carried the childishness of third grade, not yet developing the steadiness of fourth grade. Jiang Yubai walked out of the classroom, wanting to get some fresh air, when the phone in his pocket suddenly began to vibrate violently. He stood in the corridor, took out his phone, and answered: “Hello?”

His family’s driver replied: “Young Master Jiang, you left your water bottle in the car. I just discovered it and am bringing it to your school right now…”

“No need,” Jiang Yubai insisted, “I’m not thirsty, I don’t want to drink. No need to bring me the water bottle.”

The driver’s tone was anxious: “That won’t do, Young Master Jiang. Children are growing every day, and I’m already at your school gate.”

While Jiang Yubai was talking to the driver, he vaguely sensed someone behind him. He turned around, and Lin Zhixia was standing right behind him. She looked as if she had just uncovered a huge secret, staring at him with wide eyes.

He stepped back, his back touching the cold railing.

He asked: “Why are you looking at me again?”

Lin Zhixia asked instead: “Are you afraid of me?”

Jiang Yubai asked back: “What’s there to be afraid of about you?”

Lin Zhixia stated: “Some of my relatives call me a freak. Just like your relatives… call you Young Master Jiang?”

Jiang Yubai’s driver wasn’t local, but had worked for the Jiang family for a long time, and was used to calling Jiang Yubai’s father “Mr. Jiang,” and consequently called Jiang Yubai “Young Master Jiang.”

Jiang Yubai disliked being called “Young Master Jiang.” But he was too embarrassed to ask them to change it—that would make him seem narrow-minded, actually caring about a mere title.

He was about to speak when the bell for class rang.

Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai returned to the classroom one after another, quietly sitting back in their seats.

Today the sunshine was bright, with white light spots falling on the desk, making the wooden surface gleam gold and silver. Lin Zhixia found it fascinating, holding a ruler to chase the bright spots. She also imitated others, calling him: “Young Master Jiang.”

He avoided her gaze, turning his face to the side: “If you call me that again, I won’t play with you.”

Lin Zhixia became more amused and called out again: “Young Master Jiang.”

In elementary school, many classmates like to give others nicknames, and they especially like calling others by these nicknames. Lin Zhixia once thought this behavior was very boring.

But when Lin Zhixia discovered how fun it was to call someone by a nickname, she couldn’t stop. Especially when the person was more embarrassed, she became more curious and couldn’t help calling him: “Young Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang… Young Master Jiang!”

Jiang Yubai slammed his fist hard on the desk.