In fact, Lin Zhixia could tell the truth.

She could tell Jiang Yubai: It’s like this, I want to help my family save some money. Saving money is secondary; mainly, I argued with my mom yesterday. I’m not in the mood to prepare for the autumn excursion anymore.

By inductively summarizing the content of her “Human Observation Diary,” Lin Zhixia discovered that most people were unable to put themselves in the lives they had never experienced. Whether children or adults, almost none could put themselves in others’ shoes and think from their perspective; even Lin Zhixia herself couldn’t do it.

So, for Jiang Yubai, “saving money” might be an abstract concept. For him to understand “saving 76 yuan” was even more difficult than understanding “Peccei-Quinn symmetry.”

Lin Zhixia probed: “What do you think counts as a large sum of money?”

Jiang Yubai believed this was an intelligence test question. He prepared seriously and thought rigorously: “The money you’re referring to, is it currency circulating on Earth?”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia answered.

Jiang Yubai concluded: “One yuan is a large sum.”

Lin Zhixia asked in surprise: “Why?”

Jiang Yubai explained with reason and evidence: “Currency is the foundation of modern economy. One yuan represents the progress of human civilization.”

“How idealistic,” Lin Zhixia marveled.

Jiang Yubai wasn’t quite sure: “Are you complimenting me?”

Lin Zhixia nodded: “Yes, of course I’m complimenting you. You’ve elevated a simple and common question… to the level of human civilization and modern economics. I admire the depth of your thinking.”

Jiang Yubai said with restraint: “Thank you.”

Lin Zhixia threw her head back and laughed: “Hahaha, you’re so interesting.”

Lin Zhixia eagerly opened her notebook to record today’s “Human Observation Diary.” She held a fountain pen and wrote solemnly: Today I made a major discovery. Although my deskmate Jiang Yubai doesn’t understand physics and chemistry at all, he maintains a highly acute intuition in the field of monetary economics…

This morning’s Class 4(1) was not quiet; the classroom was filled with the noisy voices of classmates, making it difficult for Jiang Yubai to settle down. He turned his head slightly and looked at the “Human Observation Diary” in Lin Zhixia’s hand.

He only saw one line: Jiang Yubai maintains a highly acute intuition in the field of monetary economics.

In the beginning, when Jiang Yubai first became Lin Zhixia’s deskmate, his self-esteem had once been completely crushed by Lin Zhixia.

He discovered that Lin Zhixia had not only extensively dabbled in physics, mathematics, history, economics, literature, computer science, and other subjects, but could also speak fluent foreign languages.

He wasn’t sure how many languages Lin Zhixia could speak. But he knew that Lin Zhixia’s French was better than her English. Her wording and grammar were impeccable.

And she didn’t even have a foreign language tutor.

How did she learn foreign languages?

Just by borrowing books from the provincial library and paying for limited internet time.

Provincial library, borrowing books, and limited internet time.

These concepts all touched upon Jiang Yubai’s knowledge blind spots.

After a period of psychological rebuilding, Jiang Yubai successfully recovered from the blow. A strong desire to win worked within his body, and he believed that he would have a day of turning defeat into victory.

Unexpectedly, this morning, he had already received initial recognition from Lin Zhixia.

Jiang Yubai immediately took out his “Exploring the Universe” comic series, defining the title of the new chapter as “New Monetary Order.”

The plot development of this chapter was quite tumultuous. The Earth Legion established a base in Orion, founded a central bank, and issued a new type of currency—this currency could circulate in Orion, and Jiang Yubai was responsible for researching the supply relationship of “money supply and money demand.”

“Orion’s commodities,” Jiang Yubai muttered to himself, “how to price them?”

Lin Zhixia pointed out: “We can establish a non-equilibrium model of money supply and demand. According to the short-side principle, assuming the market demand for a commodity is D, the market supply is S, and the price is P, after introducing exogenous variables and random errors, take the minimum value of D and S as Q. Then, the new round of market price will be updated to P plus a parameter gamma multiplied by the difference between D and S, where we can also introduce a new random error[1].”

After explaining, Lin Zhixia said with reason and evidence: “This formula is from a paper I saw from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Systems Science.”

Jiang Yubai appropriately concealed his shock.

He casually picked up a fountain pen—this was Lin Zhixia’s fountain pen—and used it to draw a horizontal line under the formula Lin Zhixia had listed, evaluating: “Not bad.”

He wasn’t deliberately being taciturn. His mind was blank; he had nothing to say.

Lin Zhixia tilted her head: “The pen is out of ink.”

She picked up an ink bottle.

Jiang Yubai unscrewed the cap and naturally inserted the pen tip into the ink. While squeezing the pen’s water bag, he asked: “Have you read many papers?”

Lin Zhixia only said: “I like ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’ the most.”

Jiang Yubai asked a question that had been deeply hidden in his heart: “Why don’t you skip grades or participate in elementary school competitions?”

“Elementary school competitions are so boring; the questions are all so simple. I don’t want to skip grades either,” Lin Zhixia took the pen from his hand. “Anyway, I self-study wherever I go. I want to make friends with people my age; I want to be friends with you.”

She said, I want to be friends with you.

Jiang Yubai leaned back in his chair, his gaze shifting elsewhere. It was as if he wasn’t talking to her. But his response was indeed for her. He said: “Okay.”

*

It was during the class break, and people were coming and going in the corridor.

The homeroom teacher, Teacher Wu, was about to reach the door of Class 4(1) when she happened to see Lin Zhixia’s mother.

Lin Zhixia’s mother was wearing jeans, a cotton shirt, a windbreaker, and a pair of dark arm sleeves. She spotted Teacher Wu from afar and quickly called out: “Teacher Wu, hello, I’m Lin Zhixia’s mother. I forgot to give my daughter money this morning, so I’ve come to bring her that… 76 yuan for the autumn excursion fee. The school security said I could only stay for ten minutes… Fortunately, I’ve run into Teacher Wu. I’ll hand over the money now.”

Teacher Wu had an understanding expression. She said “Oh,” and agreed with a smile: “Ah, it’s Lin Zhixia’s parent. I remember, I remember.”

The classroom door was open, and Teacher Wu knocked on it, calling loudly: “Tang Leqin! Tang Leqin, bring over our class’s autumn excursion list!”

The classmates sitting in the first and second rows near the door seemed to be participating in a relay race. They all turned their heads and shouted towards the interior of the classroom: “Tang Leqin! Teacher Wu is looking for you! Tang Leqin! Teacher Wu is looking for you!”

Tang Leqin, having received the message, ran faster than a rabbit.

Tang Leqin grabbed the plastic bag and name list, sprinted out of the classroom, stood at attention in front of Teacher Wu, and reported to the teacher: “Teacher Wu, I’ve collected all the money. Seven students in our class aren’t participating in this autumn excursion.”

There were a total of forty-nine students in the class.

Only seven people weren’t participating in the autumn excursion.

Lin Zhixia’s mother opened her pocket and took out 76 yuan—she had one 50-yuan note, one 20-yuan note, one 5-yuan note, and one coin, exactly right, not more or less, and Tang Leqin didn’t need to give change.

“This is Lin Zhixia’s parent,” Teacher Wu introduced.

Tang Leqin quickly said: “Hello, Auntie.”

At this moment, Lin Zhixia walked out of the classroom. She looked at her mother with a bewildered expression. Her mother raised her hand to pat her head: “I was checking goods at the supermarket this morning and forgot to give you money.”

Her mother also said: “Xia Xia looks very pretty with twin ponytails.”

Lin Zhixia opened her eyes wide, and her eyes became somewhat moist. Tears gradually blurred her vision, and the world she saw was covered with a thin mist. However, crying in the corridor was not a very dignified thing to do, so she backed into a corner, stammering: “I-I don’t want to go on the autumn excursion…”

Before she could finish, Teacher Wu teased: “Oh, Lin Zhixia, this child is good in every way, except she loves reading too much. Lin Zhixia, you need to learn to socialize, spend more time with classmates, participate in more group activities, okay?”

Teacher Wu put one arm around Lin Zhixia’s shoulders: “Last time our class had a comprehensive test, there was a multiple-choice question asking students which sport they were good at. I remember there were swimming, skating, tennis, badminton… Lin Zhixia didn’t choose any of them. Lin Zhixia even wrote on the side that she couldn’t do any of those sports. Oh, Lin Zhixia’s mother, when you raise a child, you can’t just let her know how to read books, right? Reading needs to keep up, but physical exercise also needs to keep up. Even Tsinghua University requires students to take a three-kilometer running test.”

Her mother smiled and replied: “Yes, Teacher Wu is right. Is Lin Zhixia generally obedient at school? Thank you for taking care of her, Teacher Wu.”

Teacher Wu nodded repeatedly: “Lin Zhixia is obedient and smart. She’s always first in the grade in every exam, often getting full marks. All of us teachers like her very much.”

“Thank you for your hard work, teachers,” her mother’s smile deepened, “If there’s an opportunity, my husband and I would like to invite the teachers for a meal.”

Teacher Wu held her teaching materials and waved her hand slightly: “No need, no need, that would be too polite.”

There was a clock hanging on the outside of the administrative building. Her mother glanced at it, seeing the hour and minute hands. She immediately said goodbye to Teacher Wu: “Teacher Wu, if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first. My husband is watching the shop alone, and I’m afraid he might be overwhelmed.”

Lin Zhixia wanted to see her mother off to the school gate, but suddenly the class bell rang. Her mother urged her to return to the classroom quickly.

The melodious bell gradually stopped.

Lin Zhixia crossed the threshold of Class 4(1), and her mother’s figure also disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Teacher Wu walked to the podium with a teaching plan in her arms, and today’s Chinese class officially began.

The whole class recited in unison a text titled “What is Happiness,” and everyone said in one voice: “You wish us happiness. Please tell us, what is happiness?”

Lin Zhixia lay on her desk, lifted a corner of the curtain, and stared blankly at a bicycle storage area at the bottom of the building. She saw her mother pushing out a bicycle.

That was her family’s bicycle.

The edge of the bicycle seat had aged, the stitching had broken long ago, exposing the pale yellow foam filling inside. Her mother got on the bicycle, steadied the pedals, and rode towards the school gate.

Rows of white magnolias were planted on the school campus.

The intertwined branches and leaves of the magnolia trees blocked Lin Zhixia’s view. The magnolia’s flowering period had ended a few days ago, the fallen flowers had a yellowish-white color, retaining their rich fragrance, scattered all over the ground with the autumn wind, like the splendid scene of a white wax candle dripping flame.

*

The fourth grade’s autumn excursion will take place next Monday.

So, this weekend, most classmates were preparing snacks at home. Lin Zhixia was no exception.

She emptied her backpack completely and unexpectedly found a hundred yuan—it was the hundred yuan that her brother had insisted on giving her that night.

What was going on?

Lin Zhixia thought briefly, then immediately ran out of her bedroom and burst into Lin Zeqiu’s room.

The aggressive sister charged in like a brutal bandit, giving Lin Zeqiu a shock.

Lin Zeqiu felt very frustrated being a brother, with no dignity at all. He straightened his back and put on a stern face: “Lin Zhixia! What are you doing? Knock before entering! Are you learning to rob like a bandit?”

“Brother, returning your hundred yuan.” Lin Zhixia handed over a hundred-yuan bill.

Lin Zeqiu was stunned on the spot.

Lin Zhixia explained: “If this hundred yuan was from Dad, Mom wouldn’t have come to my school to bring money. So, I think this hundred yuan is my brother’s own saved pocket money.”

Lin Zeqiu put on a baseball cap, but his mouth still had only one sentence: “Lin Zhixia, what are you doing…”

He picked up a basketball, preparing to go out and play with his classmates. He walked around Lin Zhixia and tossed her a sentence: “Just keep that money, I have nowhere to spend it anyway.”

“I don’t want to take your pocket money,” Lin Zhixia said.

“Why are you so nagging, really annoying?” Lin Zeqiu complained, “Can’t you just buy some strawberries and take them to eat in the aquarium? I’m going out to play basketball now, don’t pester me.”

He changed his basketball shoes and left home.

Lin Zhixia opened his desk drawer and directly put the bill inside. She also left a note on Lin Zeqiu’s desk.

The note read: Thank you for your brother’s concern. Wish your brother progress in studies and increasing intelligence (also, please speak gently and patiently to your sister). Respectfully, Lin Zhixia.

That evening, Lin Zeqiu returned covered in sweat from playing basketball.

The night was deep, and there were thousands of lights outside the window.

Lin Zeqiu went straight to his bedroom and locked the door. He took off his T-shirt, stood bare-chested in the room, picked up a cup of water, took a sip of cold boiled water, and caught sight of a note from the corner of his eye.

He picked up the note, read it, and snorted lightly: “‘Respectfully, Lin Zhixia’?”

Lin Zhixia, who was packing her things, sneezed.

Lin Zhixia had already packed potato chips, strawberry milk, and strawberry cake rolls into her backpack. She was looking forward to next Monday’s autumn excursion.

Just one visit to the marine aquarium, walking through all the exhibition halls, and she would be able to constantly savor the journey and continuously dig up details from her memory. All those marine creatures would be remembered by her, for her to admire countless times in her mind.

So exciting!

Hope is probably the source of happiness.

Lin Zhixia, fantasizing about the marine aquarium trip, happily spent a weekend.