Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Xu Su, You Were Taught by Me

Although Teacher Wu’s Rocket Class was the cream of the crop for the science track, the other classes still had a few top students of their own. Altogether, about ten were gathered from them.

The Rocket Class itself contributed eleven students.

Teacher Wu leaned against the lectern, gesturing toward the empty desks and chairs as he said to Xu Su and the others, “Just find a seat anywhere. From now on, you’ll come to this classroom for evening self-study. I won’t be assigning seats, so sit wherever you like.”

Xu Su: “…”

She was reminded of what Xi Zirong had said that afternoon.

’Want to give being my deskmate a try?’

Xu Su wanted to wait for Xi Zirong to choose his seat before picking hers, but she saw the boy just standing off to the side, not making a move.

…Ultimately, Xu Su wasn’t as patient as Xi Zirong. He could stand there under everyone’s stares without batting an eye, but she couldn’t.

Xu Su chose a seat by the window in the third row. Not long after she sat down, Xi Zirong came over.

He smiled at Xu Su, then very naturally sat down beside her.

Xu Su: “…”

Teacher Wu and Mr. Song, the math teacher from Class 12, were jointly in charge of the students for this math competition.

First High School was a key city high school, but its annual competition results were never particularly outstanding. The school’s leadership placed great importance on the competition.

The teachers took it very seriously as well.

With eleven from the Rocket Class and thirteen from other classes, a total of twenty-four students from First High School were participating this time.

They never returned to their own classrooms for evening study. Instead, they spent every night with these two teachers, constantly working on problems, grinding through practice sets, and listening to explanations.

After less than a week of cramming competition problems, the twenty-four students had a pretty good idea of each other’s abilities.

Several students had likely signed up just for the experience. Whenever Teacher Wu explained a slightly more complex problem, a few of them would be completely baffled and unable to understand a thing.

And what kind of person was Teacher Wu? He certainly wasn’t going to waste his breath teaching dunces.

A week later, the twenty-four students in the competition class had become nineteen.

After this culling, the remaining “survivors” threw themselves completely into the rigorous training.

If it weren’t for Xi Zirong giving her private tutoring sessions from time to time, Xu Su figured she would have started to struggle as well.

It wasn’t that Xu Su was stupid. It was just that after being subjected to high-intensity information dumps from all her teachers during the day, she then had to endure brainstorming sessions with Teacher Wu and Mr. Song at night.

For several days in a row, Xu Su’s dreams were filled with nothing but math problems.

While there was a great sense of accomplishment in solving one difficult problem after another, the feeling of being stumped by one was also sheer agony.

In stark contrast to the other overwhelmed students in the competition class, Xi Zirong’s relaxed and carefree demeanor perfectly lived up to his title of “God Xi.”

Only when a problem stumped everyone else would the two teachers call Xi Zirong up to the board to solve it.

A few times, they even had him explain the solution method directly to the class.

He was less like a competition student and more like a junior teacher.

However, this junior teacher reserved his extreme patience only for Xu Su.

Previously, Xu Su hadn’t understood why so many people in their class were intimidated by Xi Zirong. Her time in the competition class was starting to give her some insight.

’He’s a study god, high and mighty and beyond reach. Plus, he normally has such a cold personality, he just looks unapproachable.’

Several times, students wanting to ask him about a problem had asked Xu Su to pass it along for them.

“…” Xu Su turned her head to look at the boy beside her, who was quietly explaining a problem to her.

’His features aren’t as exquisitely handsome as Zhou Mochen’s, but he’s more than handsome enough to be called refined and distinguished.’

’And he’s so fair-skinned, too. His eyelashes are pretty long.’

’…Why is his face turning red?’

Xi Zirong covered his warming face with a hand and said, “Xu Su, look at the problem, not at me.”

Xu Su: “…”

’Oh my god, I was actually staring at Xi Zirong so intently that I zoned out.’

’Did I make him blush?’

Xu Su stiffly changed the subject. “I already know how to do this problem.”

Every evening, the two teachers would assign them five major problems. This was the final, most challenging problem of the day. Xu Su hadn’t been able to figure out where to start, but after hearing just the beginning of Xi Zirong’s explanation, she already understood how to solve it.

Xi Zirong had been teaching her for so long—he had practically held her hand and guided her through almost the entirety of her first year of high school.

Xu Su’s ability to apply all sorts of formulas had reached a point of near-perfection. Even when she encountered a problem that was hard to grasp, it wasn’t actually that difficult once she carefully broke it down, identified the pitfalls, and found the right formula to plug in.

In the end, math was all about logical thinking and imagination.

Xi Zirong was a genuinely excellent teacher. Not only had Xu Su’s overall grades improved, but it seemed her innate talent for math had been unlocked a little, too.

At the very least, no matter how complex or troublesome a problem was, Xu Su could now unravel it layer by layer and find the solution.

Hearing her say that, Xi Zirong nodded and didn’t continue his explanation.

Instead, he watched from the side as Xu Su solved the problem step-by-step, giving a slow nod in the end.

A commendatory smile played on Xi Zirong’s lips. He said, “Xu Su, you’ll pass the preliminary round.”

Seeing that he wasn’t dwelling on the fact that she had been staring at him, Xu Su slowly let out a sigh of relief.

She picked up the thread of conversation. “I heard from Fengfeng that a lot of high schools in the city are participating. All told, there are probably a few hundred people. The competition must be intense.”

City No.1 High School wasn’t known for its performance in competitions. Compared to other key high schools like No. 2 High or Experimental Middle School, they had very few students participating.

So Xu Su couldn’t even imagine a competition with hundreds of participants. Could she really pass the preliminary round?

Xi Zirong nodded. “There are about two hundred-some students from across the city competing, but trust me, you will pass the preliminary round.”

His words made Xu Su a little flustered.

His words were full of conviction, just like before the final exam scores were released last semester, when he had said with complete certainty, ’You’ll make it into the top three of your grade.’

Having entered the competition, Xu Su of course didn’t want to get eliminated in the first round. That would be so embarrassing.

Xi Zirong was extremely serious. He said, “Just listen to me, Xu Su. I’m the one who taught you. You won’t just pass the preliminary round; you have to pass the semi-finals, too.”

Xu Su: “…”

’What’s with this overwhelming, domineering aura all of a sudden?’

’Hey! This doesn’t fit your gentle and refined persona at all, dude!’

For the entire month of August, Xi Zirong served as Xu Su’s diligent and dedicated tutor. The practice problems he gave her were all ones he had written himself.

Some of the problems were so difficult that Xu Su couldn’t help but call them twisted.

’The person who could come up with problems like these… was that really the ’gentle and patient’ Xi Zirong?’

’But then again, considering his cold and aloof public image, it seemed to fit perfectly.’

The competition class’s daily homework consisted of the five problems assigned by the teachers, and students could only leave after finishing them. On several occasions, some students were still in the classroom at eleven-thirty at night.

And because the competition class let out at a different time from the regular evening self-study session, Xu Su hadn’t been walking back to the dorms with Huang Feng and the others at night.

Instead, she grew closer and closer to Xi Zirong. Every evening, they would leave the classroom and walk back toward the dorms together.

「Time flew by, and soon it was late August.」 The new class of students was about to begin their military training.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep