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Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Old Yang’s Worry

Jiang Yang hadn’t even said anything about Li Dong wanting to sign up for the physics competition before Old Yang, who was at his side, spoke up.

He frowned, put down his red pen, and said,

”Li Dong, why are you thinking about entering the physics competition?”

”Teacher Yang, I...”

Before Li Dong could explain, Old Yang interrupted him.

”I know you’re full of drive right now, but a person’s energy is finite.”

”You’re actually quite gifted in math—I’m not wrong about that. If you take this time to solidify your understanding of the required and elective material, your score will improve very quickly.”

Old Yang paused, then said with a very serious expression,

”Your physics score isn’t bad, so it will be quite difficult to improve it much further.”

”So let’s focus on math. I’m confident I can get your score on the college entrance exam up to around 140!”

Jiang Yang, who was sipping tea from a thermos nearby, let out a ”PFFT!” and nearly sprayed his tea everywhere.

He stared at Old Yang, his face a mask of disbelief.

”One-forty? Old Yang, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Jiang Yang might not be the homeroom teacher for Senior Year, Class 2, so he wasn’t clear on Li Dong’s exact performance in other subjects, but he certainly knew what a score of 140 meant.

At Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School, anyone who could score a 120 in math was considered a top student.

As for a 140? That was considered top-tier in the entire city, if not the whole province.

’Does Teacher Yang even know what he’s saying?’

Old Yang paid no mind to Jiang Yang’s astonishment, continuing in his earnest, heartfelt tone.

”We’re already in senior year. At most, we have less than two hundred days until the college entrance exam.”

”I’ll be blunt about this physics competition. For our Seventh Middle School, sending anyone is just a matter of filling a quota.”

”If you get distracted by that, it will definitely take away from your time studying math. Take your teacher’s advice and think it over.”

Li Dong looked at the concern on Old Yang’s face and was actually quite moved.

In an age where scores were everything, for a teacher to plead with you so earnestly for the sake of your future meant he genuinely had your best interests at heart.

But still, he shook his head.

’Who did he have backing him now? Newton, Joule, Einstein—that whole crew.’

’If he couldn’t even handle a single physics competition, he didn’t deserve to be the Group Leader.’

”Teacher Yang, I understand your concern.”

”But I’m truly interested in physics. Don’t worry, I definitely won’t drop math. Even if I participate in the competition, I can guarantee I’ll keep up with my math review.”

Old Yang opened his mouth, but seeing the determination in the boy’s eyes, he ultimately swallowed his words.

He was a graduate of Beijing Normal University, the top teachers’ college in the country.

He had seen that look in Li Dong’s eyes before—in himself and his old classmates.

’Persuading him was clearly impossible. Might as well let him do what he wants.’

’A teacher’s duty is fulfilled after offering the proper advice.’

Old Yang sighed, waved his hand, and said no more.

At this point, Jiang Yang, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, broke the silence.

He wasn’t quite sure what Old Yang was thinking.

Still, for him, the real priority was completing the registration task the school had assigned him.

But seeing Old Yang’s reluctant expression, Jiang Yang couldn’t very well act too enthusiastic, so he tried to smooth things over.

”Alright, Li Dong, we understand your position. Class is about to start, so you should head back for now.”

”As for signing up, go home and think it over for a couple of days. Come find me when you’ve made up your mind.”

”Okay, thank you, teachers.”

Li Dong nodded, turned, and left the office.

...

After leaving the office, Li Dong walked toward the classroom with his head down.

’To be honest, he hadn’t expected Old Yang to be so concerned, but he had to enter the physics competition. For one, he didn’t even know what level his physics was at right now.’

In just one day, he had completely mastered core high school physics concepts like Newton’s laws of motion, electromagnetic induction, and the conservation of mechanical energy. He had even grasped the fundamental framework for concepts from university-level general physics, like particle kinematics, the kinetic theory of gases, and Maxwell’s Equations.

’If he didn’t get out there and test himself, staying at Seventh Middle School and just stomping on low-level competition would be a complete waste of time.’

Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt his vision darken, as if someone was blocking his path.

Li Dong instinctively raised his head.

A delicate, fair face appeared before his eyes.

It was Misha.

Li Dong froze for a second, then instinctively stepped to the side. But Misha mirrored his movement, stepping sideways as well and blocking his path once more.

”?”

It was the break before the morning self-study session, and the hallway was still quite crowded.

Seeing this, the surrounding students shot gossipy looks their way.

After all, Misha was considered one of the most beautiful girls at Seventh Middle School. Boys were always trying to give her love letters, and rumor had it that even some delinquents from off-campus had tried to corner her at the school gates.

But she rarely paid anyone any mind. So what was this?

’Misha, taking the initiative to block a guy? This was big news!’

But none of this had anything to do with Li Dong.

’Women? They would only slow down his problem-solving speed.’

His only pursuit right now was that soul-shuddering, cerebral climax that came the moment a complex integral formula simplified to zero in his mind.

But they were classmates, after all, so Li Dong still asked politely,

”Misha? Is there something you need?”

Misha looked at Li Dong and spoke, somewhat reluctantly.

”That variation on the bonus math problem from Friday night’s study hall... I spent two whole days at home trying to solve it. I tried tons of different methods but still couldn’t get it.”

She really couldn’t accept defeat.

Over the weekend, she had researched it extensively at home. In the end, she tried to brute-force it using the parameter separation method combined with a second derivative, filling three entire sheets of scratch paper, only to get stuck on determining the sign in the final step.

That level of complex calculation was simply impossible to complete within an exam time limit.

”What problem?” Li Dong was still thinking about how to deal with Old Yang, so he didn’t immediately register what she was saying.

Misha thought Li Dong was putting on an act; she refused to believe he could have forgotten such a difficult problem.

”The one on the blackboard! The problem about the inequality that always holds true, where you had to find the maximum value of ’a’!”

”Oh...” It finally dawned on Li Dong. ”That problem.”

”That problem was indeed quite difficult. For... well, for students at this level, it’s definitely tough.”

He almost let the words ”ordinary high school students” slip out, but thankfully, he stopped himself just in time.

His ”ah, so that’s what it was” expression only made Misha feel more annoyed.

’What’s that supposed to mean, ”students at this level”? You make it sound like you aren’t a high school student yourself!’

”Can you teach me when you have a free moment?” Though annoyed, Misha’s desire for knowledge won out.

”I want to know how you skipped those two differentiation steps.”

After all, she had taken the initiative to ask, and Li Dong wasn’t a petty person.

”Alright. We can talk about it when I’m free,” he said with a nod, which counted as an agreement.

With his reply, Misha didn’t press the matter further. She simply nodded and turned back toward the classroom.

Li Dong thought nothing of the little episode and headed straight for his seat.

Others, however, were not so calm.

Especially Jiang Yizhou, who was sitting in the second row.

Jiang Yizhou’s grades were consistently in the top three of the class, and math and physics were his strong suits.

He’d always had a crush on Misha and had fantasized countless times about them both getting into a top-tier university together, becoming one of those enviable ’power couples’ on campus.

’But now? Li Dong was actually in the hallway, discussing studying with Misha?’

’This was unacceptable!’

’So what if he solved a bonus problem? I solved it at home too. It wasn’t even that hard,’ Jiang Yizhou thought indignantly.

’As for the fact that he had only solved it by looking up the answer? He conveniently chose to forget that painful little detail.’