Hearing Teacher Ma's words, Ye Qianying couldn't help but pause in surprise.
CGMO? What was that?
It was the system that quietly explained it to her.
"CGMO, short for the Chinese Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, is a competition exclusively designed for female students in China. Even if a boy were to cross-dress, he wouldn’t be eligible to participate. The top twelve performers in CGMO directly qualify for the Winter Camp."
Ye Qianying was astonished. "What? Our country actually has such a competition?"
The system responded with a deliberately exaggerated tone of concern. "Though the competition somehow ended up including aerobics as part of its process, it really is a legitimate event for girls—oh, and by the way, there’s also the Southwest Cup, a math competition only open to students from southwestern provinces. Top performers there also earn Winter Camp qualifications. But since your school registration isn’t in the southwest, no need to covet what’s in someone else’s bowl."
Ye Qianying ignored the system’s last remark.
After a quick crash course from the system, she was now able to follow Teacher Ma’s train of thought.
At this moment, Teacher Ma looked at her with hopeful anticipation, and Ye Qianying nodded appropriately. "Alright, then I’ll sign up for CGMO as well. I’ll definitely make it into this year’s National Training Team."
Her voice was clear and steady, just loud enough for the entire class to hear.
The statement was so audacious that the students couldn’t help but turn their heads in disbelief. A few close friends exchanged glances, silently conveying their bewilderment.
The National Training Team! Did Ye Qianying even understand what she was saying?
Take the Chinese Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) as an example: candidates had to overcome hurdle after hurdle—first passing the preliminary round, then the provincial finals to secure a provincial first prize, and even then, they had to stand out among the top provincial winners just to be among the 120 elite students nationwide who qualified for the Winter Camp.
And the Winter Camp was only the first step toward the international competition. From there, candidates had to outperform at least half their competitors to make it into the National Training Team, becoming one of the sixty selected.
Of course, the final selection of the six official team members from those sixty was an even greater challenge. Right now, no one believed Ye Qianying could pull it off.
Not just in Shenji High, but across the entire G Province, only eight students had made it into the National Training Team in the past three years—and none of them had stayed till the end.
Ye Qianying, who had ranked in the thousand-something place in math just last semester, now had the nerve to declare she’d definitely enter the National Training Team? That was one giant leap—wasn’t she afraid of overextending herself?
Still, no one openly objected to Ye Qianying’s ambition.
After all, even if she overextended herself, it wasn’t like she had anything to lose—wait, no, what they meant was, someone who had only studied math for four months had not only skyrocketed to third place in the grade but also earned Teacher Ma’s praise. That kind of talent was terrifying. Who could predict how far she might go?
As for those who mocked her…
Well, hadn’t there been one just yesterday? Qi Yuanwen’s deskmate had made exaggerated, smug faces at Ye Qianying when she entered the classroom.
And then he’d been subjected to the "Teacher Ma is watching you" treatment. Even now, he hadn’t finished the competition homework Teacher Ma had assigned him.
The students in the math competition class weren’t fools. No one wanted to be the next victim.
While the students were torn between shock, envy, and unspoken jealousy, Teacher Ma was practically dancing with joy inside. The little figure in his mind even broke into a symmetrically choreographed rap performance.
So what if the student was a little arrogant? He loved that kind of confidence.
"Of course, just making it into the National Training Team—I believe you can do it." At this point, Teacher Ma straightened up and addressed the whole class, answering his own question. "If I asked you to compete in the International Olympiad, that would be unreasonable. But just getting into the top sixty in the country? Is that really too much to ask? Not at all."
The entire class: "…"
Listen to this—was that even human speech?
We might not be true prodigies, but you, sir, are a genuine teaching tyrant.
Whatever. What could they do about a teacher like this? They’d already committed to the class—it wasn’t like they could drop out now. Might as well endure it.
Having discovered a new talent in his class, Teacher Ma was visibly invigorated. His lecture was more eloquent than usual, brimming with references and examples.
After finishing the day’s problems, he strode off the podium without hesitation, ignoring the fact that the class was still watching, and headed straight for Ye Qianying in the front row.
"So, do you understand those three problems now?"
"I do." Ye Qianying nodded and slid her test paper toward him. "Here, I had an idea—could Ptolemy’s inequality be applied?"
Teacher Ma took her pen and crossed out a few redundant steps. "That works too. Your approach is faster than the one I taught. But you’d have to set up a coordinate system and solve a quartic higher-order equation, which tests your computational skills. If you’re used to taking shortcuts like this, you might as well go for proof by contradiction instead."
Then, he modified the problem, erasing two lines of the question and adding a new condition.
"Now it’s a completely different problem. Give it a try."
The entire class stared in stunned silence at this uncharacteristically gentle version of Teacher Ma, feeling like they’d never truly known him.
Wait, was this the same Teacher Ma?
Since when did he ever say things like, "Your approach is faster than mine"?
Whenever they suggested alternative methods, he’d either give a perfunctory nod or scold them with, "You haven’t even learned to walk yet, and you’re already trying to fly? This is just suicidal!"
Hearing the muffled whispers in the classroom, Teacher Ma straightened up and coughed loudly.
The room instantly fell silent.
Satisfied, he leaned down again and asked Ye Qianying in the same gentle tone, "What about this problem? Do you understand it now?"
The students, cowed by Teacher Ma’s usual sternness, could only swallow their grievances and weep inwardly—
Teacher Ma, you’ve changed. When have you ever asked us if we understood a problem? You’d just make us line up by height and stand in the hallway!
Unfazed by the accusatory and resentful gazes of his students, Teacher Ma remained utterly unapologetic in his favoritism.
Not only did he use an unprecedented tone of kindness with Ye Qianying, but he also dug out a few treasured problems from the depths of his oversized backpack and solemnly placed them on her desk.
"Take these problems home and solve them by tomorrow." After a pause, he finally spared a glance for the rest of the class.
You should know, the students sitting next to Ye Qianying were practically eyeing that test paper with a green glow of envy.
Teacher Ma cleared his throat. "Want it?"
The moment the students sensed an opportunity, they practically roared with desire from the depths of their throats: "Yes!"
Yes, they wanted it!
Teacher Ma frowned, looking somewhat reluctant. "Such beautifully crafted questions—I stayed up all night writing them. The essence of the essence, the core of the core. If I give them to you, can you actually solve them?"
"We can! We’ll solve them, Teacher Ma, just give them to us already!"
"You can solve them?" Teacher Ma’s expression was full of disdain. "You usually drag your feet even on homework and never finish it properly. Giving you these questions would be a waste—sigh, your class only gave me a glimmer of hope today. Before this, you were practically driving me to an early grave."
As he spoke, he reached out and rapped his knuckles against Dou Xinran’s desk. "This one—barely puts any effort into math, just aiming for a provincial first prize so he can scrape by with a lower admission score."
Dou Xinran calmly lifted Teacher Ma’s test paper a little higher, covering the unfinished homework from the student behind him.
Teacher Ma then leaned past Dou Xinran and Ye Qianying, pressing his chalk-dusted hand onto Qi Yuanwen’s desk with an expression of utter despair.
"And this one—need I even say more? Spends all his time thinking about romance, to the point he’s practically lost his mind. Since ancient times, have you ever heard of a renowned mathematician famous for their love stories? What does love have to do with studying math?"
The entire class burst into laughter, their eyes darting back and forth between Qi Yuanwen and Ye Qianying.
Qi Yuanwen’s neck flushed red, and he wished he could vanish into the floor on the spot.
Ye Qianying, however, paid no attention. She had already started drawing auxiliary lines for the geometry problem, radiating an air of solitary elegance.
Teacher Ma returned to the podium, flipping the chalkboard eraser in his hand before slamming it down with a loud thud, steering the conversation back to the test paper like a storyteller.
"If I give you this paper, will you actually take it seriously?"
Only then did the class remember their original goal. Instantly forgetting about the drama, they clamored in unison: "Teacher Ma, please give us the questions! We promise we’ll do them properly! We won’t slack off on today’s homework!"
"You swear?"
"We swear, we guarantee it!"
"Fine!" Teacher Ma waved away a student who was reaching for Ye Qianying’s paper and, like a magician, pulled out—
A stack of pre-printed test papers from his oversized backpack!
The math competition students’ eyes nearly popped out of their heads. They let out a collective shriek: "Aaaah—!"
Dammit, they’d been tricked!
Even Ye Qianying’s eyes widened slightly. Staring at the sly grin on Teacher Ma’s face, she couldn’t help but see a shadow of Teacher Zhong’s cunning in it…
All teachers are cut from the same cloth.
But math teachers? Their hearts are especially black.
In Classroom Sixteen, Xing Yuwei placed a cup by Qi Yuanwen’s hand, a light, airy smile on her lips.
"Lemon black tea. Last time you said you didn’t like it too sour, so I added three extra spoons of honey…"
Her voice was soft and sweet, carrying a faint hint of citrus fragrance. Just listening to her speak was enough to make Qi Yuanwen’s deskmate feel their bones go weak.
But the next moment, Qi Yuanwen bluntly cut her off.
"Didn’t you sign up for a competition?"
"Ah… yes, the chemistry competition." Xing Yuwei blinked in surprise, then quickly smiled again. "I’m not as busy as you, Yuanwen—your preliminary round is in April. Ours isn’t until July or August, so before then, I can still—"
"Aren’t you going to prepare?"
Qi Yuanwen didn’t even glance at the tea. His voice was edged with frustration, each word bitten off sharply—as if he was speaking to Xing Yuwei, but more like he was arguing with himself.
"If you don’t prepare, what then? Settle for just a provincial first prize? What’s the point of an ordinary provincial prize? If you can’t make it to the national training camp, you might as well not even bother with the competition—just focus on the college entrance exams!"
Xing Yuwei’s face paled. She stared at him in disbelief, murmuring his name softly.
"Yuanwen… what’s wrong with you…?"
Only then did Qi Yuanwen snap out of it, though his tone remained stiff.
"Nothing’s wrong… I was just thinking, maybe I really should learn from Ye Qianying."
He lowered his voice on the last part, the words trailing off indistinctly. At the very least, Xing Yuwei couldn’t tell whether he meant he should learn from Ye Qianying—or if he wanted her to learn from Ye Qianying.
Xing Yuwei’s teeth pressed into her lower lip, biting down until it turned white. It took every ounce of restraint to stop herself from flinging that cup of lemon tea straight at Qi Yuanwen’s head.
Learn from Ye Qianying?
Ha. What a goddamn joke.
What exactly was she supposed to learn from her? How to slap Qi Yuanwen across the face?!
