The classroom was filled with the noisy chatter of students. No one noticed the small crown on Jiang Yubai’s left index finger. Jiang Yubai felt as if he had attended a grand ceremony—his crown was a precisely cut circle of white paper, his throne a row of wooden chairs with foam cushions.
Lin Zhixia had just organized this simple yet grand ceremony for him. His heart surged like roaring waves, the spray carrying him to a mountaintop, placing him at the point closest to the sky. He was excited yet silent, once again finding himself at a loss for words.
Jiang Yubai suddenly understood Duan Qiyan’s earlier behavior of rushing out of the classroom—sometimes, a young man might not know how to face reality.
Jiang Yubai’s jacket had an attached hood. He simply raised the hood, covering his hair and also hiding the side of his face. His right palm enclosed his left index finger, carefully protecting his crown.
Lin Zhixia observed his every move and wrote in her “Human Observation Diary”: “Jiang Yubai is indeed my best friend. He’s always willing to accept my scenario settings, whether it’s ‘Exploring the Universe’ or today’s coronation ceremony, both can capture his attention…”
While writing, she asked him, “Jiang Yubai, have you ever seen a real crown?”
“Yes,” Jiang Yubai thought for a moment, then added, “I’ve seen European royal crowns in museums and private collections.”
“What do they look like?” Lin Zhixia tilted her head to look at him.
He recalled carefully and described, “All jewels, various colors, each jewel about this big…” He indicated a size with his fingers and mentioned a specific location: “The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, second floor jewelry collection, has a large number of crowns inlaid with red, yellow, blue, green, and purple jewels.”
Lin Zhixia exclaimed in amazement, “I’ve only seen antiques online.”
She closed her notebook and continued, “Queen Victoria of England was born in 1819 and reigned for sixty-four years. She and her husband, Prince Albert, facilitated the first World Expo, the London Expo of 1851, which showcased the technological achievements of various countries in the nineteenth century. According to the ‘Report of the Juries of the Great Exhibition of 1851,’ China presented exquisite silk, lacquerware, porcelain, and plant wax at the first World Expo, earning medals. One of the organizers of this Expo was the first director of the museum you just mentioned.”
Jiang Yubai nodded and remarked, “You remember it so clearly.”
Lin Zhixia revealed, “I want to visit museums all over the world.”
“My family has a collection gallery,” Jiang Yubai said generously, “You can come to my home to see it when you have time.”
Lin Zhixia immediately agreed, “Okay!”
After speaking, she asked with slight hesitation, “Jiang Yubai, is your family’s private collection like a museum?”
When Lin Zhixia made the crown for Jiang Yubai, she had cut open a sheet of white paper. Jiang Yubai picked up the remaining part of that paper. He drew a rectangle on the paper with a ruler and wrote a line in the center of the rectangle: Lin Zhixia’s Museum Access Ticket. Issue date: January 7, 2006. Issuer: Jiang Yubai.
He handed this “access ticket” to Lin Zhixia.
“Thank you, Jiang Yubai,” Lin Zhixia clutched the edges of the ticket with both hands, “With this, can I officially visit your family’s private collection?”
Jiang Yubai admitted, “Yes.”
What he was thinking was that perhaps, in the future, they could visit museums around the world together. Only at this moment did Jiang Yubai finally lower the hood covering his head, appearing calm and composed in his classmates’ view.
At the front of the classroom, Teacher Zhai returned with a stack of test papers. He locked the papers in the drawer of the lectern and told the students, “You’ll have tests every day, so you must pay attention in class. Don’t get distracted. I hope everyone can achieve good results!”
The lectern was about one meter wide with a Lenovo computer on it. Teacher Zhai bent down to tap on the keyboard, found Teacher Zhang’s course PowerPoint, and then invited Teacher Zhang to the podium.
Teacher Zhang was responsible for the topic of “Geometry Problems.” He could blend multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and calculation problems, explaining the patterns of past competition questions from simple to complex. He emphasized classroom atmosphere and occasionally asked students questions.
A real competition problem from last year was projected on the big screen, and Teacher Zhang asked, “Everyone, think about this: how do we prove that line segments af and ec are parallel?”
Jin Baihui from Class 18 immediately raised her hand.
Teacher Zhang called her name, and she stood up to answer, “Ceva’s theorem and its converse.”
“Correct!” Teacher Zhang said, “This problem looks difficult, but actually, it couldn’t be simpler. Using Ceva’s theorem we just discussed is enough. I’ll draw the auxiliary lines, and you’ll all understand.”
While Teacher Zhang diligently drew the auxiliary lines, Lin Zhixia was reading a book she had brought called “Geometric Topology.” She began to ponder the relationship between entropy and Euler characteristic that she had seen in Rian’s paper. As early as 2003, Perelman had proven the Poincaré conjecture, but Perelman did not directly apply the Ricci flow of three-dimensional manifolds…
Lin Zhixia was immersed in the world of differential geometry. Wan Chunlei glimpsed the book in Lin Zhixia’s hands and drew in a sharp breath, asking her, “What, what are you reading?”
Lin Zhixia turned back to the title page: “Geometric Topology.”
While Teacher Zhang was explaining triangle solutions on the podium, Lin Zhixia was reading “Geometric Topology” in her seat. The contrast between the two was stark, and Wan Chunlei felt a tremendous impact. The differential equations in Lin Zhixia’s book were dense and complex; Wan Chunlei didn’t dare look in Lin Zhixia’s direction again.
Wan Chunlei couldn’t help but probe Lin Zhixia: “Your book is full of algebraic expressions. Lin Zhixia, do you read and think at the same time?”
Lin Zhixia mumbled to herself, “I’m recalling Perelman’s proof process for the Poincaré conjecture of three-dimensional manifolds. There’s something I don’t understand. When I go home at noon today, I need to call the mathematics department’s doctoral student.”
“Professor Shen gave you the phone number of a math doctoral student?” Jiang Yubai’s note-taking fingers paused.
“Professor Shen is away on a maritime expedition and hasn’t returned yet. Sister Zhu Chan has helped me several times,” Lin Zhixia said honestly. “Zhu Chan gave me the mobile numbers of doctoral sisters from the mathematics, physics, and computer science departments.”
Jiang Yubai asked casually, “What does Zhu Chan usually talk about with you? Marine physics?”
Lin Zhixia recalled the content of her conversations with Zhu Chan, a puzzled expression appearing on her face: “Sister Zhu Chan often asks me what my mother ate when she was pregnant with me and how many hours she slept each day. I find it very perplexing. Adults’ behaviors generally have specific orientations. What’s her motivation?”
Jiang Yubai also felt confused.
Lin Zhixia speculated, “Could it be that she wants someone similar to me…”
“A child similar to you,” Jiang Yubai completed her sentence.
Lin Zhixia raised her book to hide her face: “Sister Zhu Chan doesn’t know that I’m afraid of the dark, ghosts, and injections.”
Shen Fuxuan, sitting in the row in front of her, turned his head and asked, “Are you afraid of exams, Lin Zhixia?”
Before Lin Zhixia could speak, Jiang Yubai declared, “For her, exams are a game.”
All the small movements of students in the tiered classroom couldn’t escape the teacher’s watchful eyes. From the six-foot-high podium, Teacher Zhang gently reminded, “Students, please pay attention and remain quiet. Don’t whisper under the teacher’s nose. Our Class 17 students should be especially mindful of their conduct.”
Lin Zhixia and all the students around her fell silent simultaneously. They maintained silence and completed the morning training.
During the training period, teachers taught quickly, assigned a lot of homework, and students faced intense competition pressure and heavy academic burdens. The noon break was only two hours, and many students didn’t have time to go home. They could only solve their lunch at Provincial No. 1 High School’s cafeteria, then lie down on their classroom desks for a brief rest.
Lin Zhixia’s home was very close to the school. She took the bus home, ate the lunch her mother prepared, and enjoyed a sweet nap on her bed. After waking up, she hurried back to Provincial No. 1 High School with high spirits to attend the afternoon training.
At one-forty in the afternoon, Lin Zhixia stepped into the classroom. The teachers hadn’t appeared yet, and there was noise everywhere. A circle of students surrounded the podium. Duan Qiyan stood on the podium with a red face and neck, shouting, “I didn’t do it!”
A classmate from Class 18 said, “Jin Baihui saw you in the classroom…”
Duan Qiyan cursed, “You believe whatever Jin Baihui says? What is Jin Baihui to you? Why don’t you change your surname to Jin and be her lackey? The lock on the lectern drawer was pried open, and someone saw all the test papers. How could I do something so stupid? When did I ever not rank first in any test at the Normal University Affiliated Primary School? Do I need to steal test papers?”
From Duan Qiyan’s few words, Lin Zhixia understood what had happened.
This morning, Teacher Zhai had placed a stack of test papers in the lectern drawer and locked it. Teacher Zhai adhered to the principle of “digest the day’s knowledge on the same day,” holding a 90-minute test every evening and announcing the test scores the next morning—this was terrifying news for most students.
So, at noon today, a bold student had pried open the iron lock of the drawer and stolen the test papers for this exam.
Based on Jin Baihui’s identification, Duan Qiyan had become the suspect.
Lin Zhixia ran to the edge of the podium and spoke up for Duan Qiyan: “I am Lin Zhixia, the monitor of Class 17. Duan Qiyan is my classmate. I’ve known him for a semester, and I don’t believe he would pry a lock to steal test papers. The lock is broken, and the teacher might cancel the test. We in Class 17 are never afraid of tests and do not need to pry locks.”
Several students from Class 17 spontaneously gathered together and stood behind Lin Zhixia. The people confronting her included the monitor of Class 18 and three boys from other schools.
The monitor of Class 18 said, “Our Jin Baihui just said that she saw Duan Qiyan sneaking around, crouching here…” The monitor drew a circle on the ground with the tip of his foot: “Duan Qiyan took advantage of the fact that no one was in charge at noon and crouched here to pry the lock.”
Jin Baihui, who had been working on problems, was drawn into this complicated dispute. Jin Baihui’s seat was in the first row of the tiered classroom, and she inevitably heard the conversation on the podium. With a pen in her right hand and an exercise book in her left, she quickly walked to the Class 18 monitor’s side and righteously accused, “At twelve-thirty this afternoon, everyone in the classroom was sleeping. Duan Qiyan hid behind the lectern—what was he busy doing?”
“I brought a USB drive,” Duan Qiyan hastily explained. “I wanted to copy Teacher Zhang’s PowerPoint to take home. I have a computer at home. Open your eyes and look carefully—the computer tower is under the cabinet. Don’t I have to squat down to plug in the USB? There’s a row of ports on the tower. I couldn’t see clearly which was the USB port, and it took me a while to find it!”
Jin Baihui didn’t believe his explanation. She raised her arm, pointing the tip of her pen at Duan Qiyan: “Last January, right after you finished an exam, you deliberately picked a fight and argued with Lin Zhixia in the corridor…”
Lin Zhixia interrupted, “But that incident from last year seems to have no connection to today’s matter.”
Jin Baihui, however, said, “Duan Qiyan is not a reliable person. When the teacher comes, I’ll report it.”
Jin Baihui placed one foot on the edge of the podium. She was convinced that Duan Qiyan was the culprit. There was no video surveillance installed in the tiered classroom, so eyewitness testimony would become crucial evidence.
Moreover, Jin Baihui often achieved the second-best results in the grade. Generally speaking, teachers were more likely to believe the testimony of good students.
Although the classroom was equipped with radiators, Duan Qiyan felt cold from head to toe. The winter snow seemed to fly through the window and settle on his heart, placing him in a space of resentment and oppression. His mind was somewhat dazed.
Duan Qiyan raised his leg and kicked the lectern: “Jin Baihui, what right do you have to falsely accuse me? Everyone knows I’m the most reliable person. I always fulfill what I promise to others one hundred percent. I’m going to tell the teacher that you’re smearing me.”
Jin Baihui’s eyebrows wrinkled into the shape of the character “川”. She stepped onto the podium with both feet and looked up at Duan Qiyan: “If you didn’t steal the test papers, then who did?”
“It wasn’t any of our Class 17 classmates,” Lin Zhixia stated with conviction.
Her elementary school classmate Zhou Bufeng had been fond of stealing things. Based on her observations of Zhou Bufeng’s daily habits, she believed there was no one like Zhou Bufeng in Class 17.
Behind Lin Zhixia, the students of Class 17 responded in unison: “It wasn’t us! We in Class 17 would never pry a lock, even if it killed us.”
More and more students began filling the classroom. Jiang Yubai and Shen Fuxuan had also arrived. Seeing Lin Zhixia surrounded by a circle of people, they immediately rushed to the vicinity of the podium. Jiang Yubai squeezed through the crowd gathering around the commotion, clarified the cause of the incident, and gently tugged at Lin Zhixia’s sleeve, wanting to lead her to a seat in the back row.
Lin Zhixia said to Jiang Yubai, “I am the monitor of Class 17, and Duan Qiyan is a Class 17 student. I cannot flee in the face of battle. I must find the real thief and uphold justice for Duan Qiyan. This is the duty of a class monitor.”
Jiang Yubai reminded her, “Monitor Lin, there’s no surveillance in the classroom. You can only figure this out with your 174 IQ.”
“What method? If I can help you, just say so.” Shen Fuxuan’s pitying gaze fell on Duan Qiyan. “Jin Baihui has scared Duan Qiyan so badly his face has gone white.”