Luo Penghua Can't Believe It

Outside the Senior Year Department office.

Grade 2 Director Qin Song and Class 3 of Grade 2 Science Stream homeroom teacher Luo Penghua appeared there.

"Director Qin, did Xiao Yi cause some kind of trouble? Did Director Chen Liang say anything to you?"

Luo Penghua asked worriedly.

Qin Song shook his head. "I'm not sure either. Director Chen just said to bring you along."

"But don't worry. Xiao Yi is a Grade 2 student, so it's not Chen Liang's place in Grade 3 to discipline him. Let's just go see what he's up to."

Qin Song snorted. We're both grade directors. You, Chen Liang, call me over, and I come just because you said so?

If it weren't for the student involved, he would have given Chen Liang a piece of his mind over the phone.

Hearing Qin Song say this, Luo Penghua felt a little more at ease.

But just then, the office door opened, and a hearty laugh came from inside—it was Chen Liang.

"Hahaha, Old Qin, no need to be so hot-tempered."

Stepping out of the office, Chen Liang patted Qin Song on the shoulder and said, "I was thinking there's a great piece of good news here, and I wanted to surprise you, so I didn't go into detail on the phone."

At Chen Liang's words, Qin Song's earlier irritation faded, replaced by confusion.

"Good news? What good news?"

Luo Penghua was also puzzled. Thinking of Xiao Yi, could this good news have something to do with him?

Chen Liang laughed heartily. "I've dug up a real gem for you—someone who could get into the USTC Young Scholars Program!"

Qin Song froze on the spot, his eyes widening. "What? The USTC Young Scholars Program? Are you joking?"

"Pfft, I'd joke with anyone but you."

"Is it that Xiao Yi?"

"That's right." Chen Liang nodded.

Qin Song racked his brain, recalling the top-performing students in Grade 2, but he didn't seem to remember any Xiao Yi.

Class 3 of Science Stream was a decent class, but Class 1 of Science Stream was the school's elite class, so the top ranks in their grade were mostly taken by that class.

This Xiao Yi—at best, he might be in the top hundred of the grade, right?

Definitely not in the top fifty, because Qin Song basically remembered all the names in that range.

Thinking this, he couldn't help but look at Luo Penghua.

Luo Penghua was equally baffled. Was Xiao Yi really that impressive?

How come he, the homeroom teacher, didn't know?

With that in mind, he asked, "Director Chen, are you sure it's Xiao Yi from my class?"

Chen Liang waved his hand with a smile. "Forget it, just come in and see for yourselves."

He walked inside, and Qin Song and Luo Penghua followed.

Once inside, Luo Penghua spotted Xiao Yi right away.

After all, he was the only student in the office wearing a school uniform, and with that face—since he was his own student—Luo Penghua recognized him instantly.

But then...

Right now, Xiao Yi was sitting next to a teacher Luo Penghua had never seen before, apparently working on some problem?

"This problem... it's interesting, but it should be solvable like this..."

"Use proof by contradiction. First, construct a quadratic equation, let x be the smallest solution..."

"Then, based on Vieta's Formulas, deduce the other solution."

"Next, use the other solution to derive a contradiction, so the original equation has no solution, meaning the original assumption is false."

"Got it!"

Xiao Yi put down his pen, his face full of interest in the problem and the joy of solving it.

Luo Penghua had no idea what problem Xiao Yi had solved, but he could see the middle-aged teacher beside him looking at the student like he was some kind of treasure.

It gave him the feeling...

Like his own treasure was being coveted?

Just then, Xiao Yi suddenly turned his head, saw them, and immediately called out, "Teacher Luo."

Liu Bin also turned to look, stood up, and put on a smile.

These two—especially Luo Penghua—were basically Xiao Yi's guardians at school.

So whether Luo Penghua agreed or not would have a big impact on Xiao Yi's chances of entering the Young Scholars Program, because Luo Penghua's opinion would directly influence Xiao Yi's parents' opinion.

If Luo Penghua agreed, the chances of Xiao Yi's parents agreeing were pretty high.

Liu Bin probably hadn't even realized that he was already worried about whether Xiao Yi would want to join the Young Scholars Program.

In the past, it was always others scrambling to get in.

At that moment, Chen Liang began introducing them to Qin Song and Luo Penghua.

"Come, let me introduce you first. This is Professor Liu Bin from the School of Mathematics at our University of Science and Technology of China. Professor Liu originally came to our senior year to find some students who might have a chance to get into USTC through independent enrollment, but as luck would have it, he stumbled upon Xiao Yi, this promising talent."

"Director Chen, and you too, Teacher Luo—you've hit the jackpot!"

Luo Penghua glanced at Xiao Yi before finally asking, "So, what exactly is going on here?"

"Have a seat first, and I'll explain slowly."

Chen Liang pointed to the stools nearby, signaling everyone to sit down, and then began recounting the events of the past few days.

By the end, Luo Penghua was staring at Xiao Yi with a peculiar expression.

This kid...

Was he really that good at math?

Sure, Xiao Yi's math scores in every exam were among the top in their class, but was he really good enough to casually crush math competition problems?

And that thing about solving a problem so difficult that even the IMO committee hadn't selected it—wasn't that a bit too exaggerated?

But then, Liu Bin spoke up again: "Oh, by the way, I just gave Xiao Yi two more problems to solve, and he knocked them out in no time."

"Especially that last one—it was the legendary Problem Six from the IMO. I don't know if you've heard of it, but even Terence Tao couldn't solve it back then. Yet Xiao Yi, through his own reasoning, came up with the Vieta Jumping method and cracked it."

As he spoke, he handed over the scratch paper with Xiao Yi's solutions to Luo Penghua and Qin Song for them to see, while continuing his high praise: "I can only say that Xiao Yi is a natural-born talent for mathematics, one of the most brilliant prodigies I've encountered in all my years in the math world."

"Our USTC Young Scholars Program also offers the opportunity to enter the Hua Loo-Keng Class. As long as he gets into that class, the cultivation of Xiao Yi's mathematical abilities will be in no way inferior to that of the School of Mathematics at Shangjing University!"

While listening to Liu Bin's account, they also looked over the two sheets of scratch paper.

However, neither Luo Penghua nor Qin Song taught math, so they couldn't really understand the two problems on the paper. In fact, even a math teacher might not have been able to grasp them.

But that didn't stop them from guessing that Xiao Yi's talent seemed to far exceed their imagination.