How Dare You Call Brother Xiao By His Name!

The news that a second-year student capable of entering the Gifted Class had appeared had long since spread. Over the past week or so, trying to figure out exactly which student it was had almost turned into a game of Werewolf.

However, the identity of this student remained a mystery. According to news leaking from Class 1 of Science Stream, they had already "interrogated" all their best math students, but they had "refused to talk even under threat of death."

In short, this "Math Prodigy" had almost become a campus urban legend.

Rumors like, "As long as you put a small blackboard in the west corner of the first-floor corridor of the Senior Year Department and write a math problem on it, the mysterious Math Prodigy will appear, quietly solve the problem, and then quietly leave."

"This mysterious Math Prodigy might be right beside any of us, but don't try to find him."

"Once you try to find this Math Prodigy, you will fall victim to the curse of math problems. Every night after that, you will have the same nightmare: you try to solve a math problem in your dream, only to wake up screaming, 'I can't do it!'"

Ahem, I digress.

But now, just when everyone thought this mysterious student must be from Class 1 of Science Stream, the students of Class 3 of Science Stream never expected that this person was actually one of their own!

In an instant, the eyes of the entire class turned toward Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi's deskmate, Chen Wei, was even more stunned.

So the mysterious Math Prodigy was right beside me?

He stiffly turned his head and looked at Xiao Yi beside him. "Old Xiao, you..."

"You hid this from me so well!"

Nearby, several of Xiao Yi's other roommates also wore expressions of deep heartbreak.

"We were brothers heart-to-heart, yet you played mind games with us."

"How could you not tell your brothers about something so big!"

Hearing these guys, the corners of Xiao Yi's mouth twitched immediately. He pointed at them and said, "You're slandering me! You're slandering me!"

"I already told you guys, but you were the ones who didn't believe me at the time!"

Chen Wei and the others thought about it, and it seemed...

It seemed that was indeed the case?

Previously, when they were in the classroom and the dormitory, they had discussed who that student was. Xiao Yi had told them it was him, but none of them believed it.

And now...

"The world is going downhill, and people aren't as honest as they used to be. How can there be so little trust between people?"

Xiao Yi put on a compassionate expression.

The corners of the surrounding students' mouths twitched even harder.

"Little" trust?

Good heavens, last week, the only person who would have believed Xiao Yi was that mysterious Math Prodigy was probably a mother who believed her child could turn into Ultraman when they were little, right?

But regardless, now that the facts were out, what else could they say?

"Brother Xiao, I knew it was you! Only someone as handsome as you could easily do something like this."

"Brother Xiao, you are the lighthouse, guiding my path forward!"

"Brother Xiao, let me massage your legs."

"I'll pat your back."

Just like that, a bunch of sycophants suddenly appeared around Xiao Yi.

However, at this moment, Luo Penghua walked over, chased the sycophants away, and said to Xiao Yi, "Xiao Yi, come out with me for a moment. Professor Liu Bin is here to see you."

Xiao Yi was stunned for a moment, then nodded, stood up, and followed Luo Penghua out of the classroom.

Inside the classroom, Xiao Yi's classmates looked at each other in dismay.

"God, a professor?"

"Professors are from universities, right?"

"That's for sure. Professor is a title you can only get at a university; high schools don't have them. At least, I've never heard of our school having any professors."

"This professor must be from USTC, to actually come to our school in person to find Xiao Yi."

"How bold, you actually dare to call Brother Xiao by his full name! Someone, take him down!"

"My bad, my bad, a slip of the tongue."

After a bit of playful banter, they returned to silence, but they all knew in their hearts that Xiao Yi's life had now diverged onto a track that would likely never intersect with theirs again.

After all, by the second half of the year, they would be in their third year, entering a period even more arduous than the second year, while Xiao Yi would already be on a university campus, gathering with a group of the most outstanding young geniuses in the country this year, having broken free from the shackles of exam-oriented education to begin studying real science.

Thinking of this, they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts: why is the gap between people so large?

Outside the classroom.

Xiao Yi did not know that he had been infinitely elevated in the hearts of his classmates; perhaps years after graduation, he would become the "Xiao Yi from back then" passed down by word of mouth among his classmates.

At this moment, he was only surprised that Professor Liu would come to find him so early.

After all, it wasn't even 7 o'clock yet!

Luo Penghua explained with a smile, "Didn't Professor Liu promise you back then that he would bring you some competition problems and materials?"

Xiao Yi nodded. Of course he remembered that; he had been waiting for over a week, and now they had finally arrived?

"Professor Liu has already prepared everything for you. As it happens, he has to catch a flight to Shangjing today for an academic conference, and it will probably be a week before he returns. That's why he got up extra early today just to bring these materials to you. You should make sure to thank him properly later."

A wave of emotion washed over Xiao Yi. He hadn't expected Professor Liu to take his request so seriously.

He nodded. "Mm, I understand."

Without further ado, they headed straight to the back of the teaching building. A car was parked there, and Liu Bin was standing beside it. Seeing them approach, he waved.

"You're here. Come on over. My flight is after 9 o'clock, so I have to head to the airport as soon as I drop these off."

As he spoke, he walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk.

Then, Xiao Yi and Luo Penghua were stunned.

Good grief, there were four whole stacks of books inside, and each stack looked to be at least ten volumes thick.

"Professor Liu, this is... isn't this a bit too much?" Xiao Yi couldn't help but say. "Are these... all competition problems?"

Liu Bin laughed. "Of course not. The competition problem sets you asked for are here."

Finally, he took a briefcase from his car and pulled out a stack of bound A4 paper. "It's just this."

Xiao Yi was momentarily dazed. This stack of A4 paper...

It wasn't even as thick as a single one of the books in the trunk.

He remembered only asking for the competition problem sets, didn't he?

At this moment, Liu Bin smiled and explained, "For you, doing those competition problems doesn't really hold much significance. You can do them in your spare time just for amusement, much like a game of Sudoku."

"But these books, these are what I truly wanted to give you."