It was eight o’clock. The other students in the lecture hall began to slowly pack up their things with weary expressions and left, clearly finding today’s exercises too difficult – it wouldn’t be enough time for them to even draw the first sub-question in half an hour.
Ningsong packed up as soon as it struck the hour, then looked back at Bailian.
Bailian found the dispersion curve in Jiang Fuluo’s notebook and figured out the minimum deflection angle clearly. She lazily organized her pen, books, and notebook one by one in an orderly manner.
Ningsong hung his head low, his pale fingers fidgeting, seeming to have a momentary impulse to help her pack up immediately.
The two left one after the other, and Tang Ming also looked up from the question he had been on. He quickly packed up the mess of things around him, his voice rising slightly: “You two go ahead first, I’ll be there soon.”
Nearby, Zhu Jiaren naturally didn’t understand that question either. She pressed her forehead as she stood up to pack, intending to return to the dorms, seeing Tang Ming’s behavior.
She raised her eyebrow, seeming like she wanted to laugh: “No, Tang Ming, you didn’t really do the question she gave you, did you?”
The quality of exercises distributed in tutorial class was too high for them to comprehend. Where would they find time to look at Bailian’s questions? It was better to re-do a few more sets of 10-year simulated exams at home.
Tang Ming opened and closed his mouth. “Actually, the question does contain some value.”
“Forget it,” Zhu Jiaren slung her schoolbag behind her back and shook her head. “You do it if you want, but don’t blame me for not warning you – this is a waste of time. Our performance in tutorial class will be recorded as part of our grades.”
Everyone knew what this tutorial class was for. It was most important to cherish the days without tutorial class while they still had a few.
**
Tang Ming caught up to Bailian and Ningsong. Jiang He still sat alone in the corner of the milk tea shop waiting for Bailian, still playing with his Rubik’s Cube.
Without mentioning how shocked Tang Ming was to see what kind of Rubik’s Cube Jiang He was playing with, even Ningsong glanced at Jiang He a second longer.
Jiang He didn’t like crowded places or strangers, and Bailian didn’t introduce Jiang He to the two.
After sitting down, she didn’t say anything but handed them the answers instead. It was the answers Jiang Fuluo left behind last time for the exercises.
Ningsong took the answers and pushed aside today’s exercises to start studying the answers. The answers were not written in Bailian’s handwriting, but in a somewhat neat and flowing script with many symbols substituted – he suspected the person writing the answers thought they were too simple and casual.
Tang Ming took out the questions Bailian copied for them from his bag, originally just planning to casually look over Bailian’s answers. After all, he also felt it was improbable for Bailian to explain questions to them.
The previous questions seemed convoluted with too many concepts, after looking over the first sub-question. Intending to just take a casual look, Tang Ming suddenly sat up straight like Ningsong and took out pen and paper to begin calculating.
Even though Tang Ming’s scores weren’t as good as Ningsong’s, he could tell too. This question contained more value than the electromagnetic questions the teacher left previously.
When Jiang Fuluo arrived at the milk tea shop at nine, they were still studying that question.
Some people seemed to carry their own cold air, and when he entered, the entire milk tea shop seemed to drop two degrees in temperature.
When Ningsong and Tang Ming looked up, they saw a pair of pale eyes veiled in frigid aura.
The milk tea shop was small and only had a four-person small square table, and in the past Jiang Fuluo sat opposite Bailian and Jiang He, but now there were also Ningsong and Tang Ming added.
Jiang Fuluo glanced at Jiang He.
Jiang He’s hand paused for a moment, then he quietly packed up his things and sat at the table behind Bailian.
“What homework did you leave for today?” Jiang Fuluo elegantly sat down, his black windbreaker neatly pressed, without a speck of dust, his long white fingers reaching out to accept the question paper Bailian handed over.
He clearly didn’t say anything else, but the pressure he gave Ningsong and Tang Ming was even greater than the homeroom teacher’s.
“Optical crystals,” Jiang Fuluo glanced over the question and knew immediately, casually turning on his skills to the two across: “The first question can determine the propagation direction of e-light and o-light according to Huygens’ principle. You should both be able to see this at a glance, right?”
The renowned genius Ningsong from Number One Middle School suddenly grew quiet. Ordinary ace student Tang Ming dared not speak.
Jiang Fuluo coldly swept past them with a glance, he opened his mouth to speak. Next to him, Bailian leisurely took out a pen without hurrying and handed it to him.
She still had one earphone in, having just been reciting vocabulary words, fine strands of hair swaying across her brow, lazily propping her chin with one hand: “Teacher Jiang, I still haven’t learned much about dispersion curves.”
Jiang Fuluo withdrew his gaze that had been fixed on the two. He accepted the pen without looking at the question, writing out a beautiful equation on the paper.
“The wave velocity in a uniaxial crystal is quite simple…”
Mingdonghang who sat next to Jiang He at the milk tea shop couldn’t believe the sight before him. Not to mention him – even Jiang Xijia, once renowned across Jingjing University, had been scolded by Jiang Fuluo.
How was it possible??
He admitted Bailian was smart. But those two across from her, how…?
Mingdonghang coldly withdrew his gaze.
The three here were listening very attentively. After Jiang Fuluo finished explaining the four sub-questions half an hour later, only then did the other three begin working on the problems according to their own understanding. Jiang Fuluo spoke without wasting a single word, and his analysis was extremely clear and lucid.
His explanatory ability was such that even a physics dunce could completely understand after hearing him speak.
Bailian had photographic memory and did not need to take notes. She listened concentratedly the whole time, jotting down an occasional technical term in the small notebook she prepared for Jiang Heng.
Bailian still hadn’t eaten dinner yet. After Jiang Fuluo finished speaking, she took her vocabulary notebook and ate with Jiang He.
Jiang Fuluo still sat across from Ningsong and Tang Ming, idly placing a finger on a thin sheet of paper: “You guys have another member in your mutual assistance group, right?”
As always, it was very difficult for Tang Ming to speak facing Jiang Fuluo, so Ningsong nodded.
Jiang Fuluo neatly folded the paper and tucked it into Bailian’s black notebook before glancing at the two: “I don’t want today’s matter to be known by that member.”
Ningsong and Tang Ming were both intelligent people – they immediately understood Jiang Gongzi’s implications.
“We understand,” Ningsong responded on Tang Ming’s behalf.
“Oh right,” Jiang Fuluo replied casually as he got up to eat, “Don’t let Bailian know about it either.”
The question was difficult, and the three of them didn’t finish writing until 11pm. Bailian was still doing exercises – she had many doubts recently and couldn’t sleep, often doing exercises into the early hours of 2am.
Jiang Fuluo sat to one side processing files on his laptop. Jiang He had already fallen asleep on the small sofa beside them.
After finishing their exercises, Ningsong and Tang Ming were the first to leave the milk tea shop, exchanging a glance.
These two were already so clever, yet still so intense in their studies?
Only after seeing Jiang Fuluo out of sight did Tang Ming sincerely ask Ningsong: “Who was that person just now?”
If he had Jiang Fuluo teaching him from a young age, his mother wouldn’t have to worry about him not being admitted to Jingjing University.
The better the scores, the more one could understand Jiang Fuluo’s terror – simplifying even the most difficult problems into the simplest terms of explanation. Even Jingjing University’s hour and a half tutoring sessions every night couldn’t compare to the value of his 10 minutes of teaching.
How many people would queue up for his classes?
Ningsong shook his head.
“Now I finally understand why the new classmate was admitted to tutorial class,” Tang Ming felt deeply moved, “Those two are quite terrifying.”
Ningsong didn’t speak, only implicitly agreeing.
“Hehe, what good luck!” Tang Ming rubbed his hands together eagerly.
**
The next day.
Lu Xiaohan and the cultural secretary finally found an opportunity to talk to Bailian about the upcoming school celebration matter.
Lu Xiaohan sat in front of Bailian, turning around and placing her arms on Bailian’s desk without blinking as she stared at Bailian.
“A performance?” Bailian wrote down a formula and looked up, her pair of doe eyes widening in surprise, “But my talents are all quite ordinary.”
“It’s fine,” Lu Xiaohan clung to her arms, “You just stand on stage, you don’t even need to move. You’ll be Class 15’s trademark! Okay?”
“…”
Bailian truly felt her skills were quite ordinary, but looking at Lu Xiaohan and the others’ gazes, she couldn’t refuse. She could only say martial dance.
“That sounds so cool!” Lu Xiaohan and the cultural officer were a bit excited.
Bailian didn’t understand – what was so cool about twirling a sword? Wasn’t this something anyone could do?
“Do you need me to prepare a stage for you to practice?” Lu Xiaohan shyly spoke up.
“No need, I have tutorial class in the evenings,” Bailian shook her head, emphasizing the key point ingrained in her bones: “But in the past, my sword skills were really quite ordinary.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Lu Xiaohan shook her head.
She didn’t need Bailian’s dance to be particularly good-looking – just having Bailian stand on stage, Class 15 would win for sure. “When do you have time for us to bring you to the stage to rehearse once?”
“Alright,” Bailian took out the math textbook she needed for the next class, lazily pressing her finger on the page she needed to review, her large school uniform draping her features too vividly and softening them, “You prepare a longsword for me.”
Lu Xiaohan and the cultural officer glanced at each other with a smile. Then they wrote down Bailian’s martial dance on the rehearsal schedule, noting they needed to commission a longsword from outside since the school props room didn’t have one, as well as an outfit – they needed to prepare in advance. Both noted it down.
That evening at six, tutorial class.
The Class 8 homeroom teacher collected yesterday’s answers. He then started playing today’s video, still on physics: “Today’s recording is more difficult than yesterday’s. It will get harder from now on, everyone should prepare yourselves.”
At this point it had far surpassed high school level, so the Class 8 homeroom teacher sat at the back, listening to the video while grading yesterday’s questions.
There were a total of four sub-questions yesterday, and most people only did the first two sub-questions.
It was only when he flipped to Ren Wanyuan’s answers that things arose.
Ren Wanyuan wrote out every sub-question, but the last question’s explanation was vague – clearly someone else wrote the step-by-step solving process for her, but the last sub-question she didn’t understand.
The Class 8 homeroom teacher paused, initially wanting to write a “10” for participation points.
He recalled something and took out Bailian’s answer sheet again – she also did all four sub-questions.
Her method was completely different from the answers he received. The Class 8 homeroom teacher’s eyes brightened as he began studying Bailian’s answers, finding them even more detailed and clear than the standard answers.
Actually, the standard answers were quite simple – the first question only had one diagram, yet Bailian additionally wrote the standard analysis next to it.
The Class 8 homeroom teacher, who previously had a vague understanding of the question, finally grasped it after seeing Bailian’s answers.
He made a determination in his heart.
He gave Ren Wanyuan and Chen Zhe eight points, and gave the other two people in their group who only wrote three questions seven points.
Ningsong and Tang Ming received 10 points, Tang Ming’s understanding lagged slightly, though he had the answer the last question was still somewhat vague. He gave him nine points.
Pensively going over Bailian’s answers for a long time, the Class 8 homeroom teacher wondered how to grade her.
Last time he asked Bailian, Ningsong and Tang Ming were in the same group as her – there was no need to say who helped whom.
7:30pm, the video finished playing.
Ren Wanyuan and Chen Zhe didn’t have to reattend class like the previous times and left the lecture hall looking excited.
In the corridor outside, the Class 8 homeroom teacher called out to Ren Wanyuan: “Ren, come here.”
Ren Wanyuan respected the homeroom teacher very much and responded respectfully: “Yes, teacher?”
“Mm,” the Class 8 homeroom teacher held Bailian’s answer sheet in hand, looking at Ren Wanyuan gently: “I looked at your answers. More standardized than analyzing. This was written by Dr. Gao, naturally it’s clear.”
The answers were written by a doctorate, of course they were clear standards. Ren Wanyuan smiled.
The Class 8 homeroom teacher changed topics: “So I was thinking of giving this answer sheet to other classmates as well, is that okay?”
Ren Wanyuan stared at the Class 8 homeroom teacher, suddenly asking: “Including Bailian?”
The teacher said nothing.
“Teacher,” Ren Wanyuan’s resentment grew heavier, not knowing why, every elder seemed to favor Bailian even though her scores were so poor – she held back her sour tone: “Ultimately we will go through evaluations, right? Can the school guarantee the entire process is fair and just?”
“Of course.”
“This analysis was obtained with great difficulty by finding Dr. Gao through my family,” Ren Wanyuan spoke up: “Those who want a clearer analysis and higher participation points should find someone themselves to help explain the questions to them. That is true fairness and justice, isn’t it?”
The Class 8 homeroom teacher looked at her for a long time. “Yes, you’re right. Truly fairness and justice.”
Ren Wanyuan looked into the teacher’s eyes, asking: “So you won’t give this explanation to any other person, right?”
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