A new semester started once again, and the new freshmen replaced the old freshmen. Jiang Wei and the others became sophomores.
Class Zero returned to the seriousness of studying and school quicker than other classes. Almost everyone was preparing for the competition, except for Yu Qingyin.
This competition was for colleges and universities to single out outstanding and gifted students, or to provide a channel for outstanding students.
But no one knew how the story of Yu Qingyin framing Zhi Ying was spread to the university recruiters. For students who obviously had moral problems, colleges and universities would secretly communicate that they did not want these students.
When Yu Qingyin's parents went to inquire about the competition, they were told by an acquaintance of this incident. Her parents felt extremely ashamed, and prevented Yu Qingyin from leaving home for the entire summer break. She couldn't even step out and was also forbidden from participating in the competition. One embarrassment was enough.
…
Oblivious to everything that seemed to have worked out on its own in this seemingly magical world, Zhi Ying sat in the classroom, shifting her eyes from the window to her deskmate.
"Jiang Wei." Zhi Ying poked the tall boy next to her, "Do you feel hot?"
They were by the window, and the curtains were drawn. Zhi Ying wanted to open the window to let the air in, but she was afraid that the sun would shine on her deskmate.
Already getting used to her weirdness, Jiang Wei stopped writing and shook his head quietly, "You don't need to ask me, just open the curtains."
"Thank you." Zhi Ying turned around and pulled open the curtains, wanting to continue working on her problems. However, she saw books unrelated to school on Jiang Wei's desk, and couldn't help asking, "Aren't you going to prepare for the competition?"
Jiang Wei looked at Zhi Ying, thought of something and laughed softly, "I don't plan to get any ranking."
Zhi Ying would definitely be able to enter the rankings for mathematics, maybe she would even represent the national team in the competition. Jiang Wei knew her strengths. If anyone in the class could make it to the end, it would be Zhi Ying.
If he also went to participate in the competition, he would not be able to watch Zhi Ying's competition if she wished to travel abroad, or the capital for the training. Jiang Wei wished he could stay in the same place and just watch her compete.
So Jiang Wei planned to give up the competition from the very beginning. However, the teacher asked everyone to sign up, so he decided to give up after the first preliminary exam.
"Why? The competition is fun." Zhi Ying was puzzled. Although she refused to accept that she was defeated by Jiang Wei, she still hoped that he could participate in the competition.
"The competition is very tiring. I don't want to work so hard and do a lot of practice every day," Jiang Wei explained, pretending to sound lazy while he had just made the excuse on the fly.
"But..." Zhi Ying wanted to say something and convince him otherwise, but Han Jiaojiao yelled, which attracted her attention.
"Ying Ying, my dad told you to contact a senior." Han Jiaojiao asked after conveying Lao Han's words, "Who is the senior?"
After Zhi Ying thought about it, she realized that it was the senior who ordered mathematics journals for her.
"He was a senior from class zero before, he studied mathematics." Zhi Ying explained to Han Jiaojiao, but she didn't know why she needed to contact him.
Soon Lao Han would answer her questions, and Zhi Ying was called into the office as soon as the math class was over.
"Sit down." Lao Han smiled kindly, "Has someone contacted you before?"
Zhi Ying shook her head blankly, "No."
Lao Han frowned and replied in confusion, "Your senior said he called you, but you hung up on him."
Zhi Ying recalled the phone calls she had received recently. There was indeed a call from someone claiming that he had a doctorate in mathematics. But Zhi Ying thought he was a liar, the kind of telecom fraud that specialized in researching people's psychology and picking targets to cheat.
"I thought... he was a scammer." Zhi Ying muttered a little awkwardly, scratching her head to hide her feelings.
The senior ordered foreign mathematics journals for her, yet she hung up on him.
"You child!" Lao Han exclaimed helplessly, "Forget it, it's not a bad thing to be more vigilant."
"Teacher, why did the senior call me?" Zhi Ying asked in a low voice, afraid of not getting more math journals in the future.
"Well, I told him about your situation. Your senior is very interested in you, so he called to ask about you. You can ask him if you don't understand anything in that journal." Lao Han cared a lot for Zhi Ying. He always felt that it would be best for Zhi Ying and Qin Li to take the path of mathematics in the future.
The path of mathematics was indeed difficult to walk. Most people lived a relatively poor life, compared to other industries. But if they didn't go that route, their talent would be wasted. And even if they pursued another field of study to earn money, it would feel too pressurizing for them.
Unaware of the complicated thoughts of Lao Han, Zhi Ying took out her phone from her trouser pocket, opened the address book and showed it to Lao Han. "Is this his phone number?" she asked tentatively, pointing to the call she hung up.
Lao Han watched his student take out her phone despite them not being allowed to bring phones in school, but he had no other choice than to pretend to not have seen it. "Mhm, it's this number, you can ask him if you have any questions, whether it's about mathematics, or anything else. Bring Qin Li."