He Was a Messenger of Perfect Scores

Night fell, and the Provincial Mathematics Society's headquarters building was ablaze with light.

All 600-plus First Test papers from the Nangang division had been graded. One had earned a perfect score of 120.

Scores from the other divisions across the province had also been compiled at the Provincial Mathematics Society headquarters. There were two perfect papers in total.

"This year's problems really were harder. There were only two perfect papers, compared to thirty-eight last year," said the Provincial Mathematics Society's vice president, who was mainly responsible for mathematics competitions for primary and secondary school students.

"Last year's problems were too easy and failed to reflect our society's authority. So this year, we raised the difficulty of the competition appropriately," said one of the judges, who had helped set this year's First Test.

"Raising the difficulty is fine, but don't make the problems so devious. The original purpose of establishing the Mathematics League was to foster young people's interest in mathematics, a foundational subject. If you make the First Test so hard and tricky that it scares students away, what then?" the vice president said earnestly.

At that moment, a balding judge spoke up. "I have something to report. One paper from the Nangang division hasn't been included in the tally yet. This is the one I have here."

"Oh? Is there something unusual about it?" the vice president asked.

The balding judge handed him the paper. "I graded this one. I'd like you to review it, Vice President."

The vice president was a senior administrator at the Provincial Mathematics Society. He generally didn't handle specific tasks like grading and marking papers, and only made the final calls on major matters.

After taking the paper and glancing over it, the vice president looked puzzled. "Nangang Second High School, Shen Qi. You gave him a perfect 120, but added three question marks after the score. What did you mean by that?"

The balding judge explained, "When I was grading Shen Qi's paper, my first impression was that it was a pleasure to read. He got every fill-in-the-blank question right, and every proof and solution was correct, too. There wasn't a single sign of erasure anywhere, and his handwriting was neat and his diagrams precise. It showed that he'd worked through the whole paper in one smooth flow. I gave him a perfect 120 without a second thought."

"Then why did you add three question marks after the 120?" The vice president grew interested and began to examine Shen Qi's paper closely.

"Afterward, the more I thought about it, the more something felt off. So I reviewed Shen Qi's paper again and finally found the problem. That's why I added the three question marks," the balding judge said.

The vice president's interest in Shen Qi's paper deepened. The fill-in-the-blank questions didn't seem suspicious, so he focused on the three proofs and the solution questions.

As he read, the vice president spotted the issue. "Well, this Shen Qi is pretty crafty. The first proof is a solid geometry problem: he has to prove that the centers of gravity of a sphere and an inscribed triangular pyramid coincide exactly. And he actually used the Mercator Projection Principle."

The balding judge said, "Exactly. The Mercator Projection Principle is a topic in university geometry, mainly used to make nautical charts and route maps. It's widely applied in navigation, but hardly anyone uses it to solve high school geometry problems."

"Shen Qi's auxiliary line is very cleverly hidden. With the Mercator Projection Principle, lines of latitude and longitude on Earth are represented as straight lines instead of curves. He knew that concept, and that auxiliary line gave him away." The vice president had seen right through it. He was an old hand, after all.

"Shen Qi must have known we discourage using knowledge beyond the high school curriculum to solve problems, so he used a covert trick to exploit a loophole. Ninety percent of his proof uses high school math, but for the most crucial auxiliary line, he applied the Mercator Projection Principle," the balding judge said.

"Very crafty, very crafty indeed. But even the craftiest fox can't escape an old hunter's gun in the end." The vice president continued reviewing the last two questions on Shen Qi's paper. "Well, well, well! This Shen Qi really is something. He used Bernoulli's Lemniscate Theory for the second question and Descartes' Rule of Signs for the third. Same trick both times: openly building one path while secretly taking another. But he's still young, and his skill is shallow. No matter how great Sun Wukong's powers were, could he jump out of Buddha's palm?"

The balding judge asked, "So, Vice President, do you think Shen Qi's paper deserves a perfect 120? Or should we take off a few points as a warning?"

The vice president replied without hesitation, "Give it to him. Why shouldn't we? Your problem-setting skills are limited, and you left loopholes for contestants to exploit. What's there to say? Shen Qi used his own ability to find those loopholes, skillfully applying the Mercator Projection Principle, Bernoulli's Lemniscate Theory, and Descartes' Rule of Signs—and he gave completely correct answers. We have no reason to deny him a perfect score. I'll write the semifinal paper myself. Let's see who can get a perfect score then!"

"Ahem." Several judges who had set the problems coughed at the same time. A moment ago, he'd said their problems were too hard and tricky; now he was saying their skills were limited. Awkward.

The next day, Monday, in the classroom of Class 2, Grade 11, at Nangang Second High School.

Early that morning, the moment Shen Qi walked into the classroom, he sensed something unusual.

Every classmate's eyes were fixed on him, following him from the front door to his seat.

Shen Qi sat down and rubbed his chin. "Did this handsome guy get even better-looking?"

"Pfft!"

A chorus of jeers rang out.

Shen Qi spread his hands and shrugged. "Then why are you all staring at me? You're making me blush."

"Blush my ass! Shen Qi, just tell me: how many points did you get in that Math League, and what place did you come in?" Xu Rui shouted. He had the loudest voice in the class.

"Yeah, Shen Qi, we're all really curious," Chen Xiaoting said, looking expectant.

"Don't let Classes 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 look down on our Class 2," Huang Zikun added.

"The test was only yesterday morning. How would I know what place I got?" Shen Qi genuinely didn't know the results; no one had told him.

"Was the Math League hard?" Chen Xiaoting asked again.

"Not hard." Shen Qi shook his head.

Ring, ring.

The class bell rang.

The first class of the morning was math.

Teacher Zhang strode into the classroom. His first words were, "I have some good news to announce. In yesterday's High School Mathematics League First Test, Shen Qi represented our school and earned a perfect score of 120."

"Holy crap!"

"That's awesome!"

"Another perfect score!"

"Absolutely insane!"

"Double-tap 666!"

The whole class erupted in amazement. Wherever Shen Qi went, perfect scores followed. He was a messenger of perfect scores.

"Congratulations, Shen Qi! That's amazing!" Chen Xiaoting was right there beside him, so she was the first to send her congratulations.

"Thanks, Xiaoting. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, Teacher Zhang!" Shen Qi smiled as he thanked them. Being a top student meant bearing pressures that ordinary people could hardly bear and enduring a loneliness they could hardly imagine. But ordinary people also couldn't understand the joy of reaping the rewards.

Teacher Zhang stayed silent for a full minute, not doing anything to stop the noisy commotion in class. He let Shen Qi savor the moment.

Shen Qi smiled at Teacher Zhang. No words were needed.

"Okay, quiet down." Teacher Zhang regained control of the room with ease, then continued, "Our school sent twelve Math Olympiad team members to compete this time. Three won second prizes, one won first prize, and one qualified for the provincial team. That sole qualifier is Shen Qi. He'll continue onward, representing our school and city in the provincial semifinals, where he'll compete for one of the six spots on the provincial team's main roster. I hope Shen Qi will bring honor to our school and achieve even greater results."

"Holy crap!"

"That's incredible!"

"He's a fighter jet among top students!"

"Shen Qi, 666! You're insane—999!"

Class 2, Grade 11, erupted once again. The uproar was so loud that even the teachers in neighboring Classes 1 and 3 came running over, thinking the students were staging a revolt!