Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai had been deskmates for a week.

During this week, they had developed a deeper understanding of each other.

Back when Jiang Yubai was attending elementary school in Singapore, no one in the entire grade could match him. Now, after returning to China, he was no longer his former self. Every morning, he even felt reluctant to get out of bed, dreading school.

This absolutely couldn’t continue!

To rebuild his self-esteem, Jiang Yubai officially regarded Lin Zhixia as his competitor. He also requested his parents: “I want to learn physics.”

At that moment, the family was having dinner.

The dining room was surrounded by six enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the vast darkness of night had dyed the entire lawn, while inside, the crystal chandelier shone brilliantly. Jiang Yubai picked up a glass, and even the cold water inside gleamed under the dazzling light.

Jiang Yubai took a sip of cold water and repeated: “I want to learn physics.”

His mother put down her chopsticks and asked: “Why did you suddenly have this idea?”

Jiang Yubai’s mother was approaching forty but was exceptionally well-maintained. Her face had not a single wrinkle, delicate and beautiful, graceful in every glance, making it impossible to guess her age. She was very beautiful, and her tone was equally gentle: “How old are you, Jiang Yubai? You already have so many classes to attend, it would be too exhausting to learn more.”

“It’s not exhausting,” Jiang Yubai held up his rice bowl and declared firmly, “I like physics.”

“Is that so?” his father casually asked.

Jiang Yubai nodded: “Yes.”

His father asked him: “Every week, besides going to school, you also have martial arts classes, piano lessons, English and French studies at home. Can you manage all that?”

This question stumped Jiang Yubai.

His father continued: “Your mother and I both want you to have a relaxed and happy childhood. If you’re truly interested in physics, of course, we’re willing to nurture that interest. But you’ve never mentioned it before, never talked with us about physics, and today you suddenly changed your mind and insist on studying physics. What’s going on?”

His father had just returned from the company and was still wearing a shirt and suit. While talking to Jiang Yubai, his expression remained unchanged, but his gaze examining his son was full of inquiry.

Jiang Yubai sensed his father’s deeper meaning. His parents didn’t seem to want him to pursue a scientific path in physics research.

He said: “I’ll think about it some more.”

His father raised his hand and gently patted Jiang Yubai’s shoulder: “Mathematics is the conceptual expression of physical reality. If you want to learn physics, you might as well study mathematics. I only have one son, and when you grow up, you’ll inherit my…”

His mother coughed once, and his father changed his words: “Of course, I don’t want to pressure you.”

Jiang Yubai lowered his head and ate his rice.

He couldn’t help wondering: What attitude did Lin Zhixia’s parents have toward her? Would her parents support her no matter what she did or studied?

To resolve this question, the next afternoon after school, Jiang Yubai sent a text message to his driver: I’m going to the stationery store with a classmate to buy supplies. Please wait for me at the school gate for half an hour.

The driver replied: Alright, Young Master Jiang.

*

After a week of school, Jiang Yubai had made a friend. This friend was named Ding Yan.

Ding Yan had been learning Taekwondo since childhood, while Jiang Yubai often practiced martial arts. The two of them had fought on the school playground over the debate of “which is stronger, Chinese martial arts or Korean Taekwondo”—boys’ friendships are strange. After the fight, they came to admire each other, discussed the hardships of practicing martial arts, understood each other, and thus became good friends.

Jiang Yubai told Ding Yan his plan: “I want to follow Lin Zhixia.”

Ding Yan was startled: “What?”

Jiang Yubai explained in detail: “Lin Zhixia has said that her home is close to school. We’ll follow her together, and we can reach her home in fifteen minutes.”

“She… she’s not someone to mess with. Before you transferred here, no one wanted to be her deskmate,” Ding Yan warned.

At five in the afternoon, the sun was slanting westward. As dusk approached, dark red clouds filled the sky, and only the day’s duty students remained in the classroom. The warm glow of the setting sun penetrated a window, carving golden powder-like traces between the desks and chairs. Lin Zhixia arranged the desks and chairs, finished sweeping the floor, said goodbye to the labor committee member, and walked out of the classroom with her backpack.

She didn’t look back.

Jiang Yubai grabbed Ding Yan, strictly executing the “tracking plan.”

“If she discovers us,” Ding Yan warned, “you’re dead.”

But Jiang Yubai said: “If she kills me, she won’t have a deskmate anymore.”

Ding Yan shook his head: “No, you’re wrong, she doesn’t hit people. But those who offend her…”

Jiang Yubai asked in a low voice: “What happens if you offend Lin Zhixia?”

Ding Yan didn’t know how to begin.

After hesitating for a moment, Ding Yan said: “People who offend Lin Zhixia all become extremely unlucky. For instance, Zhou Bufeng, who sits in front of you, likes to steal things from others. He steals pens, steals money. Zhou Bufeng also stole from Lin Zhixia… then during PE class, he was always stung by a swarm of wasps. Zhou Bufeng told us that Lin Zhixia is a freak.”

Jiang Yubai coldly mocked: “You believe what a thief says?”

Ding Yan immediately said: “I-I don’t believe it.”

Jiang Yubai sarcastically remarked without mercy: “Are you afraid of Lin Zhixia? You, a boy, afraid of a girl…”

Ding Yan tightly gripped his backpack straps: “Who’s afraid of her? I’m not afraid at all!”

Jiang Yubai ran quickly forward: “Keep up with me!”

Ding Yan was very helpless. He could only keep pace with Jiang Yubai, jointly exploring Lin Zhixia’s family environment. He also told Jiang Yubai that he had seen Lin Zhixia’s mother during a previous parent-teacher meeting at school. He said: “Lin Zhixia’s mother is quite pretty.”

Jiang Yubai casually remarked: “Lin Zhixia is also very pretty.”

After saying this, his face turned bright red.

He simply couldn’t forgive himself for making such a grave error in front of his classmate.

Lin Zhixia was his competitor. How could he pay attention to his competitor’s appearance and looks? Wasn’t his pursuit to far surpass Lin Zhixia’s intelligence and make her clearly understand the principle that “there’s always a higher mountain”?

Jiang Yubai steadied himself and refocused on Lin Zhixia’s silhouette.

Lin Zhixia paused her steps and turned her head to look back. She saw Jiang Yubai and Ding Yan quickly hiding behind a utility pole and didn’t quite understand what they were doing.

Are they following me? Lin Zhixia guessed.

Then she wondered: Why would they follow me?

She walked while thinking. Before she realized it, she had arrived at her front door.

This was an old residential area.

The main entrance of the community could only accommodate one car passing through, with two pillars about three meters high standing outside the gate. Four iron wires connected the tops of the pillars, bending into an arch, resembling a bridge. A sign hung on the wires with the words “An Cheng Residential Area” written in large characters.

An Cheng Residential Area had a total of 27 residential buildings. The exterior tiles of the buildings were yellowing, cement poles stretched with disorganized electrical wires, and a few households had even secretly extended two power lines below their apartments, stealing electricity.

Some miscellaneous items were piled between the buildings. A middle-aged man riding a tricycle held a rattle drum and was collecting scrap nearby. He parked his tricycle next to the pile of miscellaneous items and bent down to pick up cardboard boxes scattered on the ground.

Not far away was a road that seemed to have been damaged, leaving a large hole. Muddy water had accumulated in the hole, forming a ditch. Lin Zhixia stepped over the ditch with one foot and quickly ran toward a small supermarket, shouting: “Dad, Mom! I’m back!”

Her mother sat on a chair next to the cash register, holding an account book. She calculated twice with a ballpoint pen and scolded: “Old Lin! Old Lin! Come over here!”

Her father immediately came over.

Lin Zhixia’s father was only thirty-three years old this year. He was still young, but his wife liked to call him “Old Lin,” and he couldn’t do anything about it. He was the same age as his wife, and when they were just twenty years old, they had set up a wedding banquet in their hometown, borrowed some money, and headed to the provincial capital to work and run a small business.

He and his wife had two children. The eldest was named Lin Zeqiu, a boy who had just started seventh grade this year. Lin Zeqiu had a heart problem when he was born and had undergone two heart surgeries, but was fine now. Thanks to Lin Zeqiu’s “heart problem,” he and his wife had successfully obtained permission for a second child, so they had Lin Zhixia.

Lin Zhixia, this child…

How should I put it?

She was very special.

For instance, now she leaned on the cash register, coaxing: “Mom, Mom, give me the account book… I’ll help you check it.”

The so-called “cash register” was a glass cabinet. The cabinet was filled with cigarettes and alcohol priced above 10 yuan. On the counter, there was a large barrel of chewing gum, and hundreds of lollipops stuck in a hemispherical piece of soft plastic.

Lin Zhixia reached out to grab a lollipop. She continued to coax her mother: “Mom, Mom, I’ll help you check the account book, will you give me a lollipop? I want a strawberry-flavored lollipop.”

Her mother sternly replied: “No!”

Lin Zhixia fell silent, with two pools of tears welling up in her eyes. Her skin was very fair, as white as snow, and her eyes were very black. Long eyelashes wet with tears, she was as adorable as could be, as pitiful as could be—her mother simply couldn’t resist, and soon softened.

Her mother gently said to her daughter, “Xia Xia, how many times has Mom told you that you can’t always eat candy? Every time I restock, I only get this many, and if you eat them all, what will we sell?”

Her father was also mediating from the side: “One piece of candy, it doesn’t matter, right?”

“Who asked you?” Her mother didn’t have the heart to get angry at her daughter, so all her anger was transferred to her husband, “Where did you record yesterday’s accounts? I can’t balance the books, there’s a discrepancy of seventy yuan in cigarettes and alcohol…”

While her parents were talking, several people suddenly came in from outside.

Her mother immediately fell silent. She opened the glass cabinet and arranged a row of cigarettes more neatly.

This group of people was all middle-aged men in their thirties and forties. The leader was Lin Zhixia’s uncle. Her uncle was the first university graduate from their rural hometown. After completing his undergraduate degree, her uncle had also earned a master’s degree, obtained a “lawyer’s license,” and stayed in a renowned law firm in the provincial capital, becoming a prestigious litigation lawyer.

Her uncle lived in a large flat in the city center and had a son, Lin Zhixia’s cousin. Her cousin was one year older than Lin Zhixia, had just started fifth grade, and attended the same school as Lin Zhixia.

Upon seeing her uncle, Lin Zhixia greeted him politely: “Hello, Uncle.”

Her uncle was dressed in a suit with a designer watch on his wrist. He introduced the people behind him: “This is my sister and brother-in-law, and this is my little niece.” Then he said to Lin Zhixia’s mother: “Four relatives have come from our hometown. My work this month is especially busy, and next month I still have to go to Shanghai on a business trip. You know my situation—my wife is very strict with me, and we have few spare rooms at home, simply not enough to accommodate four people…”

Lin Zhixia interjected: “Uncle, we can’t accommodate them either. We only have three bedrooms: one for Dad and Mom, one for me, and one for my brother. There are cardboard boxes everywhere, and no place to step in the living room. Your house is different, it’s spacious and bright.”

Her uncle was startled and stroked Lin Zhixia’s head: “Xia Xia, have you been studying well lately?”

“No,” Lin Zhixia answered, “I only like watching TV and playing games.”

She dodged her uncle’s hand and hid behind her father. She tugged at the hem of her father’s clothes, secretly looking outside, and discovered that Jiang Yubai and Ding Yan were still standing on the steps outside the supermarket.

She waved at Jiang Yubai.

Jiang Yubai reacted as if he had encountered a terrifying monster. He stepped back four paces to a farther distance. Before Lin Zhixia could say anything, Jiang Yubai turned and ran, running faster and faster, his silhouette gradually merging into the glow of the setting sun.

Inside the supermarket, more customers came in. These customers were all residents of the community and acquaintances of Lin Zhixia’s parents.

Her mother left her uncle and those four relatives standing there. After greeting the customers, she finally spoke: “Big brother, I leave home at four in the morning every day to restock, and I have to take care of the children and handle the business. If you bring people to me, I can’t manage it all, can I?”

Her uncle took a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from the glass cabinet but didn’t pay for them. He tore open the cigarette box, lit a cigarette, exhaled a thin white mist, and put his left hand in his pocket.

One of the relatives asked: “Where will we stay? Give us a definite answer. Fellow villagers coming to the city to work, if you can help, then help, if not, then forget it!”

The others all chimed in agreement.

Her uncle waved his right hand outward: “Let’s go. Don’t worry, I’ll arrange it.”

The relatives all praised him for being righteous; no wonder he could remain in the big city as a lawyer.

Lin Zhixia watched her uncle walk away.

She leaned against the door, sighing inwardly.

*

The twilight glow dimmed, and the city’s lights began to shine.

Around five-thirty, her brother came home.

Her brother was already a seventh-grade student, wearing a set of middle school uniforms. His height exceeded 1.8 meters, much taller than Lin Zhixia. Lin Zhixia liked his name—Lin Zeqiu, Lin Zeqiu, the benevolence of autumn nourishing all things, seemingly having a unique artistic conception.

As for Lin Zeqiu himself…

Lin Zhixia didn’t have a very good relationship with him.

Lin Zeqiu rode his bicycle back to the front door. He carried his bicycle into the supermarket and locked it in the warehouse at the back. Their mother was still watching the store, while their father had prepared dinner and called for his son and daughter.

The dishes were placed on a round table with only three chairs around it. There were four people in the family, but someone always had to go out to watch the store.

The living room space was narrow, with just a sofa, a round table, and a television on a wooden cabinet. The television was a twenty-eight-inch color TV, as wide on the side as on the front, with a very long antenna for receiving signals.

Lin Zhixia held the remote control, switched to CCTV-1, and contentedly waited for the “Big Windmill” program to begin.

Soon, music came from the television. Lin Zhixia stood up and sang the theme song of “Big Windmill”: “The big windmill turns squeakily, the scenery here is so beautiful, the sky is beautiful, the ground is beautiful… and there’s a group of happy little friends!”

Lin Zeqiu took a deep breath: “So noisy! Lin Zhixia! Can you eat quietly? If not, get out!”

Their father hit Lin Zeqiu on the head with his chopsticks: “How dare you speak to your sister like that? Is this how you act as a brother, so fierce? Is she your sister or your enemy?”

Lin Zeqiu angrily picked up some food and put it in Lin Zhixia’s bowl: “I’m sorry!” He apologized to his sister, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.

Lin Zhixia smiled brightly: “It’s okay! Don’t be angry, brother!” Then she added: “With your moral character, being able to say ‘sorry’ to me is already the limit of your social abilities!”

Their father slammed his chopsticks on the table: “Lin Zhixia!”

He admonished: “Lin Zhixia! You say such harsh words to your brother? Are you your parents’ daughter? Which family’s girl is like you, unable to suffer even a little loss?”

“Why should I suffer any loss?” Lin Zhixia scolded, “I’m not a fool! Lin Zeqiu is the fool!”

Lin Zeqiu slammed his bowl: “I’m not eating anymore!”

“Lin Zeqiu! Who are you trying to intimidate?” Their father was fuming, “Starve you for three days and you’d eat a toad! You’re throwing a tantrum at me now, but when your mother comes, no one can save you!”

At the mention of “mother,” Lin Zeqiu became a bit afraid. He reluctantly regained his composure and took some spinach from the plate, placing it on top of the rice in his bowl.

Lin Zeqiu lowered his head to eat, with a high bridge of his nose and deep-set eyes. Even though he was only twelve years old, one could tell he would be a handsome man when he grew up.

Looking at Lin Zhixia, she also had extremely delicate features, every inch a beauty in the making. In ten years, she would surely be a very beautiful young woman.

Heaven had bestowed such a precious pair of children on the Lin family. Both children had inherited the Lin family’s excellent genes, and both had very good academic performances—especially Lin Zhixia, whose performance could no longer be simply described as “good”…

Lin Zhixia’s father suddenly felt, he was asking too much from life. Was he being a bit too ungrateful? Was he being too strict with the children? His anger gradually subsided. He shone like a benevolent father and gently advised: “Lin Zhixia, Lin Zeqiu, you are siblings. Siblings should help each other, not always blame each other. Listen to Dad, okay?”

Lin Zhixia, with a chicken leg in her mouth, repeatedly agreed.

Lin Zeqiu also said: “Fine then.”

Their father was very satisfied. He picked up his rice bowl again and asked with concern: “Xia Xia, did you have any new insights at school today?”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia finished chewing and, while watching cartoons, narrated: “Today at school, I was thinking about the quantum Monte Carlo method. Traditional Monte Carlo algorithms consume substantial computational power when calculating probability distributions for bosons and fermions, while quantum Monte Carlo can’t integrate. Do you know about Bose-Einstein condensates? What I mean is, when particles are divided into bosons and fermions, boson atoms will present gaseous and superfluid states in an environment close to absolute zero [1]…”

“Please stop talking,” Lin Zeqiu interrupted.

Lin Zhixia lowered her head slightly.

The incandescent light was bright. Lin Zeqiu gripped his chopsticks and looked at his sister: “If you keep talking like this all day, you won’t have any friends at school.”

“I don’t talk about it with others,” Lin Zhixia defended, “At school, I only talk about it with my deskmate.”

“You have a deskmate now?” Her father and brother asked in unison.

Her brother’s face showed disbelief, while her father’s face showed joy.

When Lin Zhixia first started elementary school, she often said “strange things” to her then-deskmates, making both boys and girls cry. The homeroom teacher asked Lin Zhixia’s former deskmates: What exactly did Lin Zhixia say to you?

Not a single child could articulate clearly.

They all exhibited the same symptoms—blank eyes, absent-mindedness, stuttering speech, with their mouths spouting all sorts of jumbled terms like “galactic collapse,” “id, ego, and superego,” “De Broglie hypothesis,”… and other chaotic things.

Homeroom Teacher Wu had said to Lin Zhixia: “Lin Zhixia, have you read many books? Reading is good, but you can’t influence others negatively, right? You’re a good child, the teacher won’t criticize you. Teacher hopes you can continue to improve and have a positive influence on your classmates, okay?”

So, starting from second grade, Lin Zhixia had no deskmate.

She learned to behave like a normal person in class.

But now, Jiang Yubai had become her new deskmate.

Lin Zhixia happily told her father and brother: “My new deskmate, his name is Jiang Yubai, he’s very nice! Jiang Yubai is my good friend. He likes to hear me talk about physics, and every day he asks me to tell him more.”

Lin Zeqiu questioned: “Does he understand what you’re saying?”

Lin Zhixia was very certain: “He doesn’t understand a single word.”

“And yet he still asks you to talk to him about physics,” Lin Zeqiu marveled, “At such a young age, he’s already so hard on himself.”