The exam hall was like a battlefield, every difficult problem an opponent. The enemy’s fortress was impregnable, trapping most of the competition class students. Jiang Yubai had just finished the first page of the test paper when he heard a series of sighs from the seats behind him.

Spots for the winter training camp were limited. Before this mid-term exam, Teacher Zhang had told everyone that only students ranked in the top forty of the grade would qualify for the winter training.

Many students in Class 17 had made thorough preparations for the training. They solved problems day and night, working diligently without daring to slack off. No one had anticipated that this mid-term exam would be so difficult!

Mathematics was no longer mathematics; it had transformed into hellfire, scorching a group of helpless examinees.

In the classroom, the windows were tightly closed, and the atmosphere was silent. Invisible pressure crashed down on Duan Qiyan’s head. He was stuck on a fill-in-the-blank question, unable to figure it out despite racking his brain.

It was a seemingly simple geometry problem. Duan Qiyan immediately spotted the trap set by the examiner. But precisely because he understood that ordinary methods wouldn’t apply to this problem, he couldn’t think of what other approach to use.

Coincidentally, Lin Zhixia was sitting to Duan Qiyan’s right.

Duan Qiyan’s peripheral vision shifted slightly to the right—this glance made him regret for a long time and left him feeling short of breath. He saw that Lin Zhixia had already written to the eighth page of the test paper.

Lin Zhixia didn’t use scratch paper. She held a pen, made a few random marks on the problems, and could immediately find the solution, her pen flying across the answer sheet.

Pages eight and nine were mathematical proof problems. Lin Zhixia deliberately slowed her pace, writing the answers in great detail. She even took a moment to look up toward Jiang Yubai’s seat, secretly cheering for him in her heart: Jiang Yubai must score higher than Duan Qiyan!

Jiang Yubai sensed someone watching him. He glanced back and met Lin Zhixia’s gaze.

Jiang Yubai hadn’t expected Lin Zhixia to stare at him so directly during the exam. Perhaps she was worried that he couldn’t solve any of the problems… but actually, he was working on the problems on the fourth page of the test.

He planned his time reasonably, answered questions meticulously, and three hours passed in a flash. A loud bell rang through the speakers. The proctor said sternly, “All students, put down your pens now. No more writing. The boy in the brown clothes in the fourth row of the second group! Yes, you! Put your pen down, don’t make me give you a zero!”

The student being threatened by the proctor was none other than Duan Qiyan.

The test paper had sixteen pages, and Duan Qiyan’s writing stopped at the twelfth page.

The moment he handed in his paper, Duan Qiyan’s heart seemed to stop for an instant. Just as England’s King Henry VIII hadn’t expected to fall off his horse, just as France’s King Louis XIV hadn’t expected to be publicly beheaded, Duan Qiyan’s life met its Waterloo. He stood up shakily from his seat, his mind empty, as if mathematics had drained it.

His only wish was that Jiang Yubai would score worse than him.

He walked over to Jiang Yubai’s seat.

Jiang Yubai unscrewed his thermos and poured a cup of warm water. Lin Zhixia, Shen Fuxuan, Han Peng, and others all gathered around Jiang Yubai. Shen Fuxuan was the first to ask, “Jiang Yubai, how did you do?”

Lin Zhixia worriedly said, “For you all, was today’s test… especially difficult?”

“You could guess the difficulty of the test?” Jiang Yubai looked at Lin Zhixia.

Lin Zhixia placed both hands on the desk: “During the exam, many people were sighing.”

“Why did they make this test so difficult?” Han Peng couldn’t help but question. He was one of the dejected students in the exam hall.

Jiang Yubai said, “The test makers wanted to widen the gap between us.”

Jiang Yubai calmly discerned the test maker’s intention. His unruffled demeanor made people suspect he had done exceptionally well. Shen Fuxuan suddenly became energetic and shouted, “Jiang Yubai! Let’s compare answers! Let’s check the multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and the first four major problems. Hahahahaha, I wrote so smoothly.”

Jiang Yubai readily replied, “Let’s start with the major problems. For the fourth major problem, the answer is seven-ninths, right?”

“No,” Shen Fuxuan frowned. He supported his right elbow with his left hand, his right hand propping up his chin, and thought deeply for several seconds before saying, “The answer to the fourth problem is two-seventeenths. It’s a simple inequality calculation problem, I couldn’t have miscalculated.”

Shen Fuxuan’s statement drew Duan Qiyan over.

Duan Qiyan chimed in, “Two-seventeenths, I got the same result! Shen Fuxuan!”

Shen Fuxuan glanced at him sideways: “If that’s what it is, then that’s what it is. Why are you shouting at me?”

Duan Qiyan’s face was pale. He had faltered on today’s battlefield, and the title of “Number One Warrior of the Normal University Affiliated Primary School” would likely be buried from now on.

The glory of yesterday would never return—where would his future path lead? Full of worry, Duan Qiyan swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple moving slightly as the adolescent boy’s developing throat worked. He asked softly, “Shen Fuxuan, if I drop out of the class top twenty, will you be my deskmate?”

Shen Fuxuan was taken aback: “Drop out of the top twenty?”

Duan Qiyan stood tall: “Well? I’m asking you a question!”

Shen Fuxuan smiled and said, “Sure.”

Duan Qiyan thought he was hearing things. He asked again, and Shen Fuxuan replied once more, “Sure.”

Duan Qiyan pointed a finger at Shen Fuxuan, waving it three times: “Keep your word.”

Shen Fuxuan generously agreed. Meanwhile, his current deskmate—Han Peng—simply couldn’t believe Shen Fuxuan’s impromptu decision. Han Peng and Shen Fuxuan had been classmates for six years at Victory Primary School and had been good friends for six years as well. Now, for the mere “Number One Warrior of the Normal University Affiliated Primary School,” Shen Fuxuan had abandoned Han Peng!

Why?!

Han Peng hooked his arm around Shen Fuxuan’s shoulders, but Shen Fuxuan ignored him. The deep friendship built over six years collapsed in an instant. Han Peng wanted to make Shen Fuxuan regret it. And in Class 17 of the first year, only Lin Zhixia was stronger than Shen Fuxuan!

Han Peng took two steps back and faced Lin Zhixia, saying, “Lin Zhixia! After the rankings are announced, be my deskmate. I’ll buy you strawberry candy every day. Your pencil case is covered with strawberry stickers.”

Many classmates liked to buy sticker sheets for fifty cents each from the school store. The selection of sticker sheets was quite extensive, including various fruits and cartoon characters. Lin Zhixia was passionate about strawberries; her love for them was well-known to everyone.

Sure enough, as soon as Han Peng mentioned strawberry candy, Lin Zhixia’s eyes lit up, and she softly repeated, “Strawberry candy?”

While observing Shen Fuxuan’s expression, Han Peng casually responded, “Yes, Lin Zhixia, I’ll treat you every day…”

Before he could finish, Jiang Yubai stood up with a “whoosh.” Jiang Yubai blocked Han Peng and righteously declared, “Eating candy every day is bad for your teeth. If Lin Zhixia becomes your deskmate, she might develop dental caries.”

Dental caries?

Jiang Yubai was so good at sophistry!

Han Peng opened and closed his mouth, unable to refute. He wanted to approach from another angle and continue to win over Lin Zhixia. However, Lin Zhixia showed half her face from behind Jiang Yubai and earnestly declared, “I’ll only be Jiang Yubai’s deskmate.”

She also said, “Jiang Yubai, for the fourth major problem, you calculated correctly. The answer is seven-ninths, not two-seventeenths. Shen Fuxuan and Duan Qiyan both got it wrong because they considered an extra case, incorrectly narrowing the range of the correct result.”

“What did you say?” Duan Qiyan pressed his lips together. On the surface, he asked a question, as if challenging Lin Zhixia. But in reality, he had already submitted to Lin Zhixia from the bottom of his heart, treating all her judgments as standard reference answers.

Jiang Yubai turned around and asked Lin Zhixia, “Is the answer to the fifth problem six point seven?”

“That’s right!” Lin Zhixia clapped for him once. She generously announced, “The answers to the multiple choice questions are CBACDDBAC. Jiang Yubai, are yours the same as mine?”

“Lin Zhixia, did you specifically flip back to memorize the multiple choice answers before handing in your paper?” Duan Qiyan persistently asked.

Lin Zhixia didn’t answer him. She picked up her backpack and left the classroom with Jiang Yubai.

People came and went in the corridor, light and shadows intertwined. Lin Zhixia followed Jiang Yubai down the stairs, and their silhouettes were gradually completely covered by the steps. They seemed to have built another world in their daily interactions, a world containing trivial life insights and resonance that other classmates found hard to squeeze into.

Duan Qiyan held his breath and suddenly realized, “I’m so stupid.”

Han Peng teased, “How did you figure that out?”

Duan Qiyan gazed into the distance: “Lin Zhixia must have tutored Jiang Yubai. How else could he improve so quickly?”

“You just don’t understand,” Han Peng told him. “Jiang Yubai was known as the richest kid at Experimental Primary School. His elementary school classmates all called him ‘Rich Jiang.’ I heard he has several tutors.”

Duan Qiyan felt a sense of foreboding.

On the day the math scores were released, Duan Qiyan went outside the classroom to get some fresh air as soon as class ended. The homeroom teacher had posted the score sheet beside the blackboard for the whole class to evaluate.

There were significant changes in the class rankings for this mid-term exam. Lin Zhixia remained unshakably in first place; she had even scored another perfect mark. Jiang Yubai followed closely behind, with Shen Fuxuan ranking third… Jiang Yubai didn’t look further to find Duan Qiyan’s name. Let bygones be bygones—he decided to give Duan Qiyan a break and not actively stimulate his already wounded heart.

Lin Zhixia, however, seemed a bit schadenfreudian: “Duan Qiyan will have to shout ‘Your Majesty Jiang Yubai’ at the winter training camp! How did he come up with this idea? What TV dramas does he usually watch at home? Hahahahaha…”

Lin Zhixia’s arrogant and eccentric laughter transmitted without loss into Duan Qiyan’s ears.

Standing at the classroom door, Duan Qiyan couldn’t go in or retreat, making every step difficult. During the days when he made the bet, he had been watching “The Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty” at home and was indeed influenced by the TV drama, yearning to become a heroic figure like an emperor.

However, reality was too cruel to him.

Time continued to pass day after day. The competition class students gradually became accustomed to life with mathematics. The connections between classmates grew tighter, and Lin Zhixia’s work as class monitor progressed very smoothly. Because of her test scores, almost all students in the class showed genuine reverence and respect for her. No matter which corner of the classroom Lin Zhixia went to, people would call out to her: “Monitor Lin.”

Monitor Lin was the pride of Class 17.

No matter how difficult or extreme the test papers became, Monitor Lin would never fail.

Before the winter training camp began, the upper-class sisters and brothers from the second-year competition class had all heard of Lin Zhixia’s reputation.

In the depths of winter, the railings were covered with a layer of unmelted snow. The entire campus was cold, with howling north winds. Three senior girls from the second year, undaunted by the harsh conditions, came together to peek at Lin Zhixia.

Lin Zhixia happened to be sitting by the window. During the break between classes, she wrote in her “Human Observation Diary”: “Winter has come, and it’s snowing again this year. What changes has Jiang Yubai undergone in 2006? His mental calculation abilities have steadily improved, and he has also gained some basic understanding of the introductory principles of physics. Although he is struggling with a simple irrational number proof problem, I believe he can at least solve it today…”

Lin Zhixia glanced sideways at Jiang Yubai and found that he had only written the word “Solution.” So Lin Zhixia crossed out the words “today” on the page and changed it to “this year.”

Her entire sentence thus became: “I believe he can at least solve this problem this year!”

After finishing the “Human Observation Diary,” Lin Zhixia stopped writing. Through the glass window, the senior girls standing outside the classroom commented, “Is that Lin Zhixia? The first place in the first-year competition class.”

One of the senior girls said, “Lin Zhixia is so cute.”

Lin Zhixia heard someone calling her name. She immediately looked outside, and the senior girls scattered, but she remembered each of their faces. She confided to Jiang Yubai, “Jiang Yubai, the senior girls from the second-year competition class seem to have something to ask me, or perhaps they just came to take a peek at me. Which do you think it is?”

“I think it’s the latter,” Jiang Yubai’s pen tip hovered over the reference book.

Lin Zhixia picked up her mechanical pencil and listed an expression in his notebook. With Lin Zhixia’s slight guidance, Jiang Yubai figured out how to solve the problem. He exclaimed, “Teacher said the winter training would be hard. For you, there shouldn’t be any hardship, only…”

Only what?

Before Jiang Yubai could finish, Lin Zhixia helped him complete the sentence: “Only ease.”

She pressed down on the lead of her mechanical pencil and also told Jiang Yubai her innermost thoughts: “The countryside home doesn’t feel like my home. The place where I live with my dad, mom, and brother is my real home. This winter vacation, I don’t have to go to the countryside and can see you all every day. I’m so happy.”

Jiang Yubai noticed that Lin Zhixia said “you all” instead of “you.” He subtly asked, “Which classmates do you want to see during the winter break?”

Those classmates might all be potential competitors who could surpass Jiang Yubai in future exams.

Jiang Yubai believed that the classmates Lin Zhixia paid attention to must certainly be strong ones with capability and ability.

But Lin Zhixia said, “I, Lin Zhixia, am now the monitor of Class 17!”

Jiang Yubai cooperatively responded, “Monitor Lin.”

“Mmm!” Lin Zhixia nodded proudly, “So, I want to see all our classmates at the winter training camp.”

Jiang Yubai thought to himself that only twenty-three students from Class 17 had made it into the grade’s top forty. The total number for the winter training camp was one hundred and four. At that time, classmates from Classes 17 and 18, seniors from the second year, and those students from other schools would all witness Lin Zhixia’s uniqueness.

*

The winter training camp of the Provincial No. 1 High School officially opened on January 7, 2006.

The head coach of the junior high mathematics competition was in charge of this training camp.

This coach was about forty years old and spoke with a slight accent. He was efficient and had his own set of principles. At the mobilization meeting for the training camp, he introduced himself in a booming voice: “Hello, students! My surname is Zhai, I am your Teacher Zhai! Let’s keep it short! There are only two goals for this training session. The first is to solidify the knowledge points for the junior high mathematics competition! The other is to familiarize yourselves with the types of questions from previous years’ mathematics competitions! After the winter vacation, you will have made qualitative improvements, from quantitative to qualitative changes, from ordinary students to first-prize winners in competitions, depending on how much sweat you are willing to put in!”

The students from Classes 17 and 18 of the first year were all attending the training for the first time. They had varying degrees of curiosity, anticipation, and nervousness. Yet Lin Zhixia was sitting in her seat, enthusiastically playing cat’s cradle with Wan Chunlei.

As long as Lin Zhixia didn’t mention Go, Wan Chunlei was willing to play any game with her.

A person’s bottom line collapses suddenly after a series of concessions—Wan Chunlei knew this principle well, yet she still set up the red string and played happily with Lin Zhixia.

The students sat in the first-tier classroom, with each class having a designated area. To Wan Chunlei’s left was Lin Zhixia, and to her right was Duan Qiyan. Even though Teacher Zhai was talking about some meaningless motivational clichés, Duan Qiyan was writing them down in his notebook.

Duan Qiyan was arrogant and self-important, but his handwriting was elegant. He wrote stroke by stroke: From quantitative to qualitative changes, from ordinary students to first-prize winners in competitions, depending on how much sweat you are willing to put in…

After writing, he also mocked Wan Chunlei: “Isn’t cat’s cradle for kindergarteners?”

Wan Chunlei snickered: “Duan Qiyan, when are you going to call Jiang Yubai ‘Your Majesty’? After this class, do you dare to go to the first row and shout it?”

Duan Qiyan shuddered. He remained silent, as if he was going to renege on his bet.

At this moment, Lin Zhixia hooked the edge of the red string and created a beautiful red flower, bringing it before Wan Chunlei’s eyes: “Look, a little red flower!”

Wan Chunlei froze: “You’re even better at cat’s cradle than others.”

Lin Zhixia then turned her head to face Jiang Yubai, who was sitting on her left: “The Tang Dynasty poet Wen Tingyun wrote in a poem—’Red flowers first bloom as snow flowers flourish’—Jiang Yubai, look, it’s snowing outside, and I have a small red flower here. Isn’t that fitting with the scene?”

Jiang Yubai put down his paper and pen. He lowered his head slightly and picked up the string with his fingertips. He wanted to play with Lin Zhixia for a while, but with just a slight force, he undid Lin Zhixia’s red flower. He quickly said, “I’m sorry, the flower disappeared.”

“It’s okay, Ji-Ji-Ji-Jiang Yubai!” Lin Zhixia laughed and said, “The flower hasn’t disappeared; it will always bloom in my mind.”

Jiang Yubai used a red pen to draw a red tulip on the paper: “This one is also for you, Li-Li-Li-Lin Zhixia.”

At the front of the tiered classroom, Teacher Zhai had finished explaining the outline of the training course. He brushed off the chalk dust from his hands and said loudly, “Students, there will be a fifteen-minute break between classes. In the next class, Teacher Zhang from Class 17 of the first year will summarize and categorize the first major type of competition problems for everyone. We aim to digest each day’s knowledge on the same day! After each morning and afternoon session, we will hold a classroom test in the evening! Test papers will be handed out the next morning! Your scores for each test will be recorded, and outstanding students will have the opportunity to be selected as representatives to participate in provincial and national mathematics competitions!”

Some students in the tiered classroom ran out to get some fresh air, while the remaining students listened to Teacher Zhai.

Teacher Zhai told everyone, “Last year, I took students to Macau to participate in the national league match. Those students also took a tour around Macau, and the school covered all expenses. The competition prize money was substantial too. Don’t treat competitions as something painful; competitions have many added values within them, you understand? You’re all teenagers now, boys and girls, you should have confidence and not develop a fear of difficulty.”

Many students were resistant to the rule of “a classroom test every day.” Everyone knew how exhausting and terrifying the “winter vacation training” was, yet Lin Zhixia was deeply attracted by Teacher Zhai’s mention of “taking a tour around Macau.” She again expressed her thoughts to Jiang Yubai: “This training camp activity is so interesting!”

Before she finished speaking, Teacher Zhai walked out of the tiered classroom’s main door. He was going to the printing room to get materials for the students.

Duan Qiyan slapped the table and stood up.

His fountain pen rolled onto the floor. He didn’t pick it up.

The classmates of Class 17 guessed what he was about to do, feeling both anticipation and anxiety. If Duan Qiyan’s performance was too embarrassing, the reputation of Class 17 would suffer.

Duan Qiyan stood at attention, stomping his left foot heavily on the ground. The sound was steady and forceful, attracting the gazes of nearby students. He was so embarrassed that he could barely open his eyes and could only identify Jiang Yubai’s location through the slits of his eyelids. He bowed deeply toward that direction and shouted, “Your Majesty… Your Majesty!”

Jiang Yubai didn’t make a sound. Lin Zhixia answered for him: “Who are you?”

Duan Qiyan, gritting his teeth and with a red face, replied, “I am his subject!”

The entire tiered classroom fell into silence for a full three seconds, then erupted into a tidal wave of laughter. Numerous students from both this school and others made Duan Qiyan the butt of their jokes, but Duan Qiyan didn’t run out of the classroom. He struggled to maintain his composure, sitting in his seat with his arms wrapped around his knees.

This was his growth.

Lin Zhixia was completely undisturbed by the outside noise. She cut out a delicate little crown from white paper and personally placed the crown on the tip of Jiang Yubai’s left index finger. Then, she leaned on the desk and whispered to him, “Congratulations, Jiang Yubai, the little prince has successfully ascended to the throne. Lin Zhixia crowns you.”