Why Is It Important?

The atmosphere in the office was somewhat awkward.

Bai Qing regretted saying that she was still in high school as soon as the words left her mouth. Things had already developed far beyond what she had expected, and she had no idea how to explain why she had come. She did not even know whether Director Gao would throw her out immediately.

In the end, Director Gao, sitting on the other side of the desk, spoke first. "Do you know how Lin Sisi and I met?"

"Hm?"

"Before this, the city held a Children's Astronomy Knowledge Competition. Only elementary school students were eligible to enter. That was the official rule, of course, but the schools generally selected fifth- and sixth-graders. Lin Sisi was the youngest participant of them all. She was only in third grade at the time. I don't know exactly what your relationship with her is, but you must have seen her photo. She was tiny, and standing in a crowd, she did not look remarkable at all. But that child was very smart," Director Gao said. "I was one of the judges for that competition. You could tell that most of the children had simply crammed their answers for the contest, for the certificates. But Lin Sisi was different. She genuinely liked this stuff. You could see it in her eyes."

"She came in first?"

"No, she came in second. She got one question wrong during the final buzzer round, but afterward it turned out that she had been right. The new research findings had only just been released, and the question bank had not been updated in time." Director Gao said, "She did not win first place, but she left the deepest impression on me. So I gave her my cell number and told her she