At the same time, at City High School in City A, Lin Yiyi sat in her seat, waiting patiently for class to end.
The first class this morning was math. The slightly chubby homeroom teacher was explaining the solution to the third-to-last problem on the mock exam cheat sheet.
Although the teacher had emphasized before class that the third-to-last problem on the annual math exam was a question that could be solved using formulas and normal logic — and was a must-win for ordinary students looking to overtake their peers — the students below had little interest.
Except for a few high achievers who were listening intently, most students with average math scores weren’t paying attention.
Even though their eyes were fixed on the blackboard, there was no focus in their gaze.
For these students with weak foundations and little talent for math, it was hard enough to get two and a half of the five long-form questions right.
Getting full marks on three was simply too difficult for them.
Sitting to the side, Lin Yiyi understood the educational landscape of City A well, so she didn’t harbor any strange thoughts.
She only wanted the bell to ring so she could take her cheat sheet to the math-savvy students in class and ask about the solutions to the sub-questions.
According to the method Lu Ren had taught her, as long as she was sincere and said thank you to whoever helped her, they would quickly become friends.
Just thinking about it made her a bit excited.
At the thought that she, who had been a loner for all three years of high school, could actually make friends, Lin Yiyi’s body trembled with uncontrollable excitement.
On the platform, the homeroom teacher pushed up his glasses and looked at Lin Yiyi with confusion, not understanding what kind of performance art she was practicing.
However, considering her grades were good, she was reliable, and she never engaged in forbidden romances or broke school rules, the teacher didn’t bother her.
He continued to focus on the key points of the problem, attempting to teach the students who didn’t know how to solve it.
Soon, the forty minutes of class time passed.
The teacher looked at the handwriting on the blackboard, which had been erased and rewritten many times, then saw that only a few students had barely understood.
He announced the end of class with a sense of relief.
Being able to teach even a few confused students in a single class meant it wasn’t a waste.
With that thought, the homeroom teacher took his materials and walked out of the classroom.
The moment the teacher left, Lin Yiyi’s heart began to pound.
She looked nervously at a student with excellent math skills, constantly cheering herself on in her mind.
But no matter how much she encouraged herself, during the time when she should have been proactively starting a conversation, her legs shook with such nerves that she couldn’t even stand up.
She understood that as long as she could successfully stand up, this attempt at making a friend would be a success.
But she just couldn’t do it.
She worried that if she approached that classmate, she would see disdain in their eyes, watch them wave her away, or hear an annoyed “tsk.”
Because she was afraid of the potential situation, she feared the action itself.
She felt that staying the way she was might be for the best — at least nothing bad would happen.
‘Ugh… I really can’t do it.’
Lin Yiyi sighed inwardly and slumped onto her desk, accepting the fact that she might not make a single friend during her three years of high school.
But just then, clear footsteps reached her ears.
She thought it was a student going to clean the blackboard, but to her surprise, the person was coming for her.
“Um, h-hello, Lin Yiyi. Regarding that big problem the teacher just explained, I’m still a bit confused. Could you explain it to me?”
Lin Yiyi’s body jolted at the words. She slowly raised her head to look at him, her face filled with shock.
She really hadn’t expected that with only six months left before the College Entrance Examination, a classmate would actually approach her to ask a question.
He was doing her a huge favor!
“If you’re resting, I won’t disturb you. I’ll go ask someone else…”
Seeing Lin Yiyi’s dazed expression, the boy thought he had said something wrong and quickly apologized, intending to ask another student.
But Lin Yiyi shook her head and spoke.
“No, I was just waiting for the next class. Go ahead, what did you want to ask?”
“Th—this one… finding the value of p. I didn’t quite understand it. Can you explain it to me?”
“The value of p… Let me see.”
Lin Yiyi glanced at the boy and naturally took the cheat sheet from his hand. Looking at the dense notes and question marks, she got a general idea of his math level.
His middle school foundation was weak, and he had only started studying seriously in the second half of his eleventh grade year.
Consequently, he only knew the formulas and their basic applications for many points but didn’t know how to adapt them properly.
If he was willing to spend one or two months catching up on past knowledge and doing some practice problems, he should be able to solve this kind of problem easily.
“To find the value of p, we first look at the conditions given in the problem. The line x – 2y + 1 = 0 and y^2…”
As Lin Yiyi considered the boy’s math situation, she naturally began to explain the solution to the first sub-question.
Even though the problem was quite simple, she explained it in great detail, even pointing out where the relevant knowledge points originated.
She didn’t finish explaining the steps for finding the value of p until only three minutes remained of the break.
As the boy listened to her explanation, he nodded continuously.
His gaze was fixed entirely on the scratch paper Lin Yiyi was writing on, without any hint of worldly distractions.
When Lin Yiyi stopped talking, the boy slowly picked up his test paper and asked in an almost pleading tone.
“Lin Yiyi, can I have this scratch paper? I plan to look it over more carefully later.”
“Oh, sure, take it,” Lin Yiyi nodded happily, accepting his request.
“Thank you! Lin Yiyi! During evening self-study, how about I bring you some snacks?”
“That’s not necessary. It was just one question, there’s no need for that… Hmm? What is this?”
Just as Lin Yiyi was declining the gift, she noticed a Black Star Badge pinned to the boy’s chest and asked with a look of curiosity.
As far as she knew, this student, Wang Zixian, was a staunch believer in Materialism and had no religious beliefs whatsoever.
But looking at that Black Star Badge, it looked very much like a religious item.
‘Hmm…’
‘Could he have studied so hard that he lost his mind and started believing in these illusory things?’
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