The intern Xiao Wen hurriedly dug out some fast-acting heart pills, poured a few into Cadre Liu's mouth, and helped him swallow them.
Cadre Liu clutched his chest and crunched the pills, holding them under his tongue.
There were more than a dozen judges and staff members in the grading room. The commotion caused by Cadre Liu's sudden heart attack was so loud that everyone noticed.
"Lao Liu, what happened? You were fine just now. How come you had an attack?"
"I told you ages ago, Lao Liu. You should get bypass surgery. Medication won't cure the root problem. You shouldn't have given up on treatment." His colleagues crowded around him, asking after him with great concern.
"Gurgle... mushroom..." Cadre Liu's tongue seemed to have suddenly tied itself in knots, and he couldn't speak clearly. That was how he always was right after an attack; he needed some time to recover.
"Oh, give it a rest. Lao Liu, don't talk for now. Xiao Wen, help Cadre Liu to the lounge so he can lie down for a while," said another Chinese Mathematical Society staff member surnamed Yuan.
"Okay." Xiao Wen supported Cadre Liu and prepared to leave the grading room.
"Demon... mushroom..." Before leaving, Cadre Liu pointed at Shen Qi's National Finals exam paper, muttering something no one could make out.
Cadre Yuan took charge of the grading room. He sat down in Cadre Liu's former seat and saw an exam paper spread across the desk, still unfinished.
He only glanced at the paper before his whole face turned stunned. "Xiao Xu, quick... quick..."
Everyone in the grading room grew extremely tense. "What the hell? Is he possessed? Has another expert just keeled over?"
Intern Xiao Xu rushed over with fast-acting heart pills, poured a handful into his palm, and said, "Cadre Yuan, take your medicine!"
"No, I'm not having an attack." Cadre Yuan's complexion was perfectly fine. "I was trying to say, bring me my reading glasses. They're on my desk. This exam paper is really interesting. In the more than twenty years since the Math Olympiad was established, I've never seen a student answer a question like this."
"Lao Yuan, couldn't you have said all that in one go? You scared the life out of us!" Everyone let out a long breath, but they were also extremely curious.
All the judges gathered around Cadre Yuan in a fan-shaped formation. They wanted to see what kind of exam paper had such a devilish quality that it had given Cadre Liu a heart attack.
"This... this is..."
"What the hell is this?"
"A demon! Demonic symbols!"
After Xiao Xu and several other interns who were helping out saw Shen Qi's exam paper, they gaped in utter shock.
"Xiao Xu, you're math majors, but you haven't even finished your undergraduate studies. Your experience is limited." Cadre Yuan put on his reading glasses and carefully examined Shen Qi's paper. "This student, Shen Qi, isn't using demonic symbols. He's using the cuneiform mathematical notation of the Ancient Babylonian numeral system. He used cuneiform notation in base sixty throughout the entire problem to prove that the square root of two in the final question is irrational."
"Holy crap. A high school student knows the base-sixty system of Ancient Babylonian numerals and can even use cuneiform notation fluently to lay out a proof. Shen Qi must be a fake high schooler, right?" Xiao Xu covered his face, utterly miserable. He felt as though he'd been hit by ten thousand volts.
Another intern, Xiao Ou, pulled up Shen Qi's contest registration information. "Shen Qi, seventeen years old, second-year student at Nangang Second High School in Nanyue Province. He'll be starting his final year of high school after summer break. He's definitely a high schooler. This kid is kind of devilish. He scared one contestant unconscious and gave a judge a heart attack."
Xiao Xu was devastated. "Maybe I went to a fake university. I can't even compete with a high school sophomore..."
Cadre Yuan said, "Don't look down on high school students. The Mathematics Community has never lacked young geniuses, and it's always been pushed forward by them. I set the final question of the National Finals. It really was rather tricky—I added a lot of stringent conditions. The final question needs to have its own character. Otherwise, how can it be the final question?"
"Teacher Yuan, just tell me whether Shen Qi got the last question right," Xiao Xu asked.
"We're almost 95% of the way through grading the National Finals. There are only a few papers left. I took a look at Shen Qi's, and he got all of the first five questions right. Five times seven is thirty-five. Those thirty-five points alone are enough to earn him a gold medal." Cadre Yuan admired Shen Qi's exam paper as though it were a work of art.
"So Shen Qi got the last question wrong, then." Xiao Xu had regained a little of his dignity as a university student. He knew the standard answer to the final question: the obscure Pythagorean reductio ad absurdum method of reduced common measures, or indirect proof. I can't prove it's true, but I can prove it's false.
"No. We can't yet determine whether Shen Qi's direct proof in base sixty is right or wrong. But I have to give him credit for his bold innovation and willingness to try. This is the final question of the National Finals. Who else would dare to try something like this? Shen Qi did. At the very least, he deserves praise for his courage. Even I hadn't thought of an attempt as ingenious as his." Cadre Yuan had never met Shen Qi in person, but he'd caught a glimpse of his personality through his mathematical language. He added, "Xiao Xu, go to the archives and bring me the reciprocal table for the Ancient Babylonian numeral system. I can't remember all of it anymore. I'm getting old, after all. I'll have to check the table to see whether Shen Qi's proof is correct."
Huh?
Xiao Xu nearly fell over. Teacher Yuan, after all that talk, you can't even fully understand these weird symbols yourself?
Early the next morning, Shen Qi, all his teammates, and their team leader gathered in their dormitory, checking their phones.
At nine o'clock that morning, the Chinese Mathematical Society would publish the final National Finals rankings and awards on its official website.
Shen Qi said to Teacher Tian with heartfelt gratitude, "Teacher Tian, the Pythagorean reductio ad absurdum method of reduced common measures really is too obscure. I'd never seen such a weird proof before. I only learned about it when I got the standard answer yesterday. Who knew there was such a sneaky trick? Luckily, you taught me how to estimate with the base-sixty system of the Babylonians. I made a few adjustments and completed the proof directly."
Teacher Tian was both gratified and smug. "Your innovative proof in base sixty was even sneakier than that Pythagorean reductio ad absurdum method. Shen Qi, you're the only one with the patience to listen to me talk about ancient mathematical history. I'm not bragging, but even at the Chinese Mathematical Society's headquarters in the capital, there aren't many people who know more about ancient mathematics than I do."
"Teacher Tian, you're at least a vice president. A branch vice president is still a vice president. How can those staff members compare to you?"
"No, I'm the vice president. The president of our Nanyue Province branch is a genuine mathematical master, but he's devoted entirely to academic work and doesn't know how to cultivate personal connections. Otherwise, he'd have been president of the headquarters long ago."
The teacher and student kept boasting, and before they knew it, it was nine o'clock.
The Chinese Mathematical Society's official website updated the National Finals results right on time.
Shen Qi's hand trembled slightly as he held his phone. He was actually a little nervous.
No matter how confident someone had been before, anyone would get nervous when the moment came to see their name on the honor roll.
"Whatever happens, happens. Open!" Shen Qi tapped the screen and revealed the electronic honor roll.
The Chinese Mathematical Society's official website showed:
National Finals team champion: Ebei Province Math Olympiad team, 185 points
National Finals team runner-up: Liaodong Province Math Olympiad team, 166 points
National Finals team third place: Capital Math Olympiad team, 165 points
National Finals team sixth place: Nanyue Province Math Olympiad team, 157 points
The Ebei Province Math Olympiad team was extremely strong overall. They led the runners-up by nearly twenty points, winning the team championship by a wide margin. The six questions in the National Finals were worth a total of forty-two points. In such a difficult exam, the Ebei Province team averaged over thirty points per person. Their overall strength was unmatched.
Unexpectedly, two of the traditional top three, Xiangnan Province and Zhedong Province, had both missed the top three in the team rankings this time. The biggest dark horse was the Liaodong Province Math Olympiad team. They'd leaped from the second tier into the first, winning the team runner-up spot.
The smaller dark horse was the Nanyue Province Math Olympiad team. They'd barely qualified for the National Finals in tenth place at the National Preliminary, yet they hadn't finished last as a team. They'd even beaten four teams to place sixth.
"Sixth place as a team. That's a nice little surprise." Shen Qi checked the team rankings first. As long as they didn't finish last, he could accept any other result.
The exciting moment was about to arrive. Shen Qi tapped into the individual rankings for the National Finals, and the website showed:
Six gold medals in the National Finals:
Shen Qi, 42 points; Song Yang, 35 points; Yu Zhengtian, 35 points; Zhou Xiaoyue, 34 points; He Yan, 33 points; Wei Xu, 32 points.
"YEAH!" Shen Qi, who had been holding it in for ages, suddenly let loose with a loud yell. What a relief!
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