Chapter 68 - 65: Have to Recite Classical Chinese, No Time
Li Dong felt like he was about to fall apart.
He wanted nothing more than to give himself a couple of hard slaps across the face.
’I’m such a complete and utter idiot...’
He’d finally figured out why he didn’t have any Passive Skills in mathematics, yet possessed a mathematical intuition far beyond that of an ordinary person.
The [Concentration +1] from Newton!
He was essentially sharing Newton’s brain, basking in all the top-tier halos that came with being the inventor of Calculus!
And what had he done?
What had he used the trial cards for?
The first time, he used it to take a monthly math exam from Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School—a test with a maximum score of 150 that he could normally only score in the 80s on!
He’d gotten a really solid grasp of high school-level set theory and trigonometry...
The second time, he’d at least done something slightly more productive: he’d tackled *University Physics* and *Feynman’s Lectures on Physics*!
It was still dumb, but at least it was university-level material.
Because of these two profound "divine possession" experiences, his brain had unknowingly latched onto Newton’s halo, and his body and thought processes had already begun to take on a bit of Newton’s shape!
That was why he could dominate in math and physics without needing a separate math skill.
’What a criminal waste! A criminal waste!’
If he had used those two trial cards to research the Riemann Hypothesis or the Navier-Stokes equations, he might not have been able to solve them, but he probably could have at least proven some weaker conjectures...
Just as Li Dong was on the verge of tears.
In an office within a certain government building in the provincial capital.
A middle-aged man was on a landline phone.
"Old Zhao, I’ll have to trouble you with this matter."
"Our province’s education stats haven’t been looking good these past two years. Our admission rate for top-tier universities has almost dropped out of the second bracket! The higher-ups have called us out and criticized us several times in meetings!"
"The Huaxuan Cup is one of the top commercial competitions in the country. We need to do a great job publicizing the fact that a student from our province won this time to boost our province’s educational morale. So, I’m counting on you!"
The person on the other end of the line replied.
"Oh, Old Li, what are you saying?"
"We’re sister departments; cooperating on publicity is what we should do. This doesn’t violate any principles, and besides, it brings honor to our province..."
...
Because of that single phone call.
At ten o’clock at night, in the Jiangcheng TV Station’s Integrated Media Center building.
Normally at this hour, every department except the on-duty news team would have already clocked out and gone home.
But today, the floor where the education channel was located was brightly lit.
In the office, the staff were complaining endlessly while chugging coffee to stay alive.
"What the hell is this? An urgent task in the middle of the night, telling us to produce an in-depth popular science and education interview about a high school student’s tech innovation!"
Program director Zhang Ye stared blankly at his computer, not feeling great at all.
Huaxuan Technology’s latest official announcement was full of corporate jargon, but it didn’t say a single word about what spectacular performance the winning student had given or why he was being awarded one million yuan.
Zhang Ye grabbed a handful of his already sparse hair and wailed in despair.
"How the hell am I supposed to write a script for this? A popular science feature? My ass..."
"Should I do a feature on why his name is Li Dong?"
...
「The next morning.」
Li Dong strolled into Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School, laptop in hand.
Technically, students weren’t allowed to bring laptops to Sixth Middle School.
But did Li Dong care?
What a joke. Elder Chen was constantly trying to find excuses to get him out of class so he could focus on the Qiu Prize.
Since the school had tacitly allowed him to do scientific research, was it not perfectly reasonable for him to bring a computer to look up literature and maybe write an inventory management system on the side? Absolutely!
Just as he reached the back door of the senior year’s honors class, Migo called out to him.
"Brother Dong! Director Liu was just here. He said you should go to his office as soon as you arrived."
Hearing this, Li Dong was speechless.
’The office again?’
Ever since he transferred to the honors class at Sixth Middle School, he had spent more time in the teachers’ office than in the classroom.
’What kind of knowledge can’t be learned in a classroom, anyway?’
Though he was complaining internally, Li Dong put down his laptop and headed for the office.
As soon as he reached the office door, Li Dong sensed that the atmosphere inside was off.
He could faintly hear the sound of an argument.
Li Dong gently pushed the door open.
Elder Chen was glaring at a middle-aged male teacher in his thirties.
The Dean of Students, Liu Limin, stood to the side, looking like he wanted to mediate but didn’t know where to start.
The middle-aged male teacher was Li Dong’s Chinese teacher, whose surname was Wang.
At Sixth Middle School, even the principal had to respectfully address Elder Chen as "Elder Chen."
The other teachers held this highly respected and decorated coach in even greater awe.
But Teacher Wang was not afraid.
This was the backbone of a man of letters!
He taught Chinese literature, the path of the sages, and no amount of physics gold medals could bend a scholar’s spine! Even if the Jade Emperor himself came today, this matter had to be argued out clearly!
"Elder Chen! Don’t give me all that high-minded talk!"
Teacher Wang said.
"You’re always requesting leave for Li Dong, for half a day at a time. He’s barely attended my Chinese class a few times! You say it’s so he can focus wholeheartedly on the Qiu Chengtong Science Award!"
"So I’d like to ask you, and Director Liu, since you’re both here today—let’s get this straight!"
Teacher Wang pointed at Li Dong, who had just walked in.
"He’s already a senior! You know better than I do how long the cycle is for the Qiu Prize, from application to results! Let’s not even talk about whether he can win. Even if he does, by the time the award is announced, he’ll have already graduated."
"Does he or does he not have to take the college entrance exam? And does that exam not include Chinese?!"
Teacher Wang grew more and more agitated as he spoke.
"Do you know what he scored on the weekly Chinese quiz? 110! A score of 110! It’s disgraceful!"
"When the time comes, if his Chinese score holds him back and he can’t get into his ideal university, what then? Are you going to make him repeat a year?!"
Standing at the door, Li Dong couldn’t help but shudder.
He had relied on his 0.2 Memory to cram all the required high school classic poems and essay materials into his brain. He thought he’d at least score a 120 or 130 this time.
But when the results came out, it was 110!
Only then did Li Dong truly understand that Chinese was sometimes so damn illogical!
But Elder Chen was unfazed.
"Teacher Wang, your perspective is too narrow!"
"As long as Li Dong can succeed in an international award of this caliber, proving he has top-tier research aptitude, so what if he stumbles on the college entrance exam and has to repeat a year? It’s not a big deal!"
Repeat a year?!
Hearing those three words, Li Dong was immediately unhappy.
What kind of international joke was this!
There was no way he was repeating a year!
He’d had enough of the Newbie Village, and besides, it would be too humiliating.
The guiding light for the great Newton, the man who could stop a battle of gods between Einstein and Bohr!
Li Dong repeating a year? Heh...
"No! Absolutely not!"
Li Dong shouted anxiously.
"Teacher Chen! I’m not repeating a year! Please don’t request any more leave for me!"
He turned to look at Teacher Wang.
"Teacher Wang, I want to learn Chinese!"
To dissuade Elder Chen from the idea of getting him more leave, Li Dong quickly added.
"Besides, Teacher Chen, I’ve already found a research direction for the Qiu Prize!"
"You’ve found it?"
Hearing this, Elder Chen forgot all about arguing with Teacher Wang and grabbed Li Dong’s arm.
The Qiu Prize research direction had been on hold because Huaxuan Technology was stubbornly holding onto the patent, which had been worrying Elder Chen sick these past few days.
"Quick, tell me! What’s the direction? Which branch of physics?!"
RINGGG.
Just then, the bell for class rang.
Li Dong pulled his arm out of Elder Chen’s grasp.
"Teacher Chen, I’m going to Chinese class first. We can talk after class!"
With that, Li Dong followed Teacher Wang and headed toward the classroom.
Elder Chen stood there and cursed.
"Hey! You rotten kid! Why are you running off after only saying half of it!"
Just as the office quieted down and Liu Limin had just breathed a sigh of relief, about to take a sip of tea.
A young teacher ran in, covered in sweat.
"Director Liu! This is bad... no, this is great!"
"Someone from Jiangcheng TV Station is here!"
"The person leading their team said they want to do an in-depth, exclusive interview with our school’s student, Li Dong, and it’s going to be on the provincial station’s educational science channel!"
An exclusive interview?
This was great news!
"Excellent, excellent! Hurry and arrange for a reception room! I’ll go get Li Dong out of..."
"Interview my ass!"
Before Liu Limin could finish, an angry shout came from the side.
Elder Chen’s face was dark.
"What kind of nonsense interview is this! Can’t you see Li Dong doesn’t even have enough time to prepare for the Qiu Prize?"
"Didn’t you hear what Teacher Wang said just now? The kid needs to study Chinese!"
"Tell them to go back! Just say Li Dong has to memorize classical Chinese texts and doesn’t have time!"