A High School Junior Became the Gaokao Top Scholar

The moment Xiao Yi said that, everyone present froze.

Why had he suddenly made a choice?

The admissions teacher from Shangjing University immediately grew anxious and hurriedly said, "Xiao Yi, won't you think it over more carefully? If you really like mathematics, the most suitable place for you is our Shangjing University School of Mathematics. It is the top school at Shangjing University and the best mathematics school in the country. You'll find many like-minded friends there."

"Although I don't study mathematics myself, I know that for a subject like mathematics, the most important thing is exchanging ideas with other mathematicians."

The teacher from Qinghua also became anxious and said, "That's right, Xiao Yi. Come to Qinghua. We have the Yau Mathematical Talent Program. As long as your grades are outstanding enough, I can recommend you to Professor Shing-Tung Yau to become his graduate student."

"Perhaps you don't know much about Professor Shing-Tung Yau. He was the first Chinese recipient of the Fields Medal. He also won the Wolf Prize in Mathematics and the Crafoord Prize, making him a true grand slam winner in mathematics. Professor Yau is also a professor at Harvard University."

"When you enter graduate school, we can recommend you to Harvard University to become Professor Yau's graduate student. We could even recommend you there during your undergraduate years. Qinghua can collaborate with Harvard to train you, allowing you to go straight through bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs and receive degrees from both Qinghua and Harvard."

The teacher from Shangjing University said, "Our Shangjing University has similar policies, and we can also recommend you to Princeton University. Princeton is arguably the world's best university for mathematics. There is no shortage of Fields Medal winners there, and its academic atmosphere is even stronger. Einstein studied there back then."

"We can recommend him to Princeton University too!" The Qinghua teacher started competing again.

Watching the scene before him, Xiao Yi did not know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, he coughed twice and said, "Teachers, I'm very grateful for your trust, but I already promised to attend USTC. If I don't go, it would first make me seem untrustworthy, and second, I would be letting down Professor Liu, who believed in me from the beginning."

"Professor Liu has treated me very well, so I don't want to disappoint him either."

"This..."

After hearing Xiao Yi say that, the admissions teachers from the two top universities did not know what to say for a moment.

If they kept trying to persuade him, they would be asking Xiao Yi to compromise his integrity.

After thinking it over, the only people who could make Xiao Yi change his mind now were probably his parents.

With that in mind, they both turned toward Father Xiao and Mother Xiao, hoping they would say something.

But Xiao Guohua burst into laughter. "Well said! That's my son. We truly cannot break our word to others."

That was also why he had remained calm when the teachers from the two top universities first came to their door. After all, Xiao Yi had already made his promise, and the communication between both sides had been quite pleasant. Xiao Guohua did not want to go back on his word either.

"Teachers, thank you as well for making the trip. As his father, I don't want my son to feel that he has some moral failing in the future."

Seeing this, the two teachers could only sigh.

"Alright. We were simply too late in the end. Then we wish Xiao Yi an increasingly bright future. When you reach the graduate school stage, you will be very welcome to apply to our universities."

"Thank you." Xiao Yi nodded. "I'll consider it then."

After that, the teachers from Shangjing University and Qinghua did not linger any longer. They left the house with their people, since they still had to visit the homes of other high-scoring candidates to recruit them.

Seeing the two major rivals withdraw so directly, Wang Enqing could not help but sigh. "As expected of the home of the top scholar. On behalf of USTC, I also thank you for your trust in us."

Xiao Guohua smiled. "In the end, it was Xiao Yi's decision. Otherwise, after hearing the conditions offered by Shangjing University and Qinghua just now, I was rather tempted too."

Wang Enqing understood.

What parent in the country would not be tempted by the resources those two universities had offered?

All he could say was that when the USTC admissions office returned, they would have to thank Professor Liu Bin properly.

If Liu Bin had not spotted Xiao Yi early on and then provided him with all kinds of help afterward, USTC would have had practically no competitiveness against those two top universities.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Wang Enqing grew excited. This was probably the first time USTC had managed to secure the top scholar of their own province. They had truly struck gold.

"Then, let's discuss the specific details of Xiao Yi's enrollment."

Xiao Guohua nodded, and they began discussing the particulars.

As Xiao Yi listened from the side, he shifted his thoughts back to his paper.

Those trivial matters were far less important to him than his paper.

Time passed quickly. Once the Gaokao scores were released, public attention across the country once again turned to all kinds of Gaokao results.

Stories such as entire families bursting into tears after seeing the scores, or rural children getting admitted to Qinghua, filled every major headline and claimed trending spots on Weibo.

Although those stories were quite popular, none of them was the biggest topic from this year's Gaokao. The title at the top of the trending list now read:

#A High School Junior Became the Gaokao Top Scholar#

Clearly, compared to the other trending topics, this one drew the greatest interest from netizens—and caused the greatest shock.

Setting aside how a high school junior had even taken the Gaokao, the fact that one had actually become the top scholar was enough to astonish everyone.

After all, high school juniors had one less year to prepare for the Gaokao than seniors did.

People were always interested in geniuses, so they eagerly clicked into the trending topic.

What they found there shocked them even more.

The Gaokao results for Hui Province had all been released. According to relevant reports, the top scholar in Hui Province's science stream this year was Xiao Yi, a second-year student from Class 3 of Science Stream at the Affiliated High School of the University of Science and Technology of China. He scored a total of 741 points on the Gaokao, losing only 9 points in Chinese while receiving perfect scores in the other three subjects. His score far surpassed every other Gaokao candidate. Even among students who scored above 700, he ranked first by a massive margin. According to statistics, he was also the highest scorer in all regions using the Gaokao Exam Paper B.

It was understood that Xiao Yi had actually been selected in advance by the USTC Gifted Class, which was why he was able to take this year's Gaokao. However, no one had expected him to achieve such an astonishing score. Therefore, on the day the results were released, admissions teachers from Qinghua and Shangjing University personally visited his home...

After reading the introduction, every netizen had the same thought: Holy shit!

Third update today. Please bookmark and vote with recommendation tickets. Thank you, dear readers.