That's a Different Price

The little incident in Jiangcheng only concerned the leaders and parents of Jiangcheng's few middle schools.

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, thousands of miles away.

Huaxuan Technology's R&D center.

Inside an optics laboratory.

"Success! We did it!"

Zhang Mo stared at the optical simulation interference pattern displayed on the computer screen, practically trembling with excitement.

He grabbed the data report from the table and hurried toward Director Lin Wei's office.

"Director Lin! The contrast of the interference fringes has reached our expectations!"

He pointed at the figures in the report.

"Following Li Dong's simplified Dual-Beam Laser Interference Without Mask approach, we rebuilt the underlying optical path model."

"We then used a non-polarizing beam splitter prism to divide one highly coherent deep-ultraviolet laser beam into two, and finally adjusted the incident angle θ through a mirror system."

"When the two coherent beams overlapped on the photoresist-coated substrate surface, they formed perfect standing-wave nodes!"

"Moreover, after digging deeper along his line of thought, we discovered that without the complex projection objective lens assembly, the most troublesome spherical aberration was completely eliminated! We only need to introduce a simple piezoelectric ceramic-driven mirror fine-tuning mechanism to adjust the optical path difference between the two beams, allowing for precise translation of the interference fringes!"

Zhang Mo suppressed the wild joy in his heart.

"This not only reduces the dozens of inherent aberration error sources caused by the projection objective lens directly to zero, but also eliminates the supporting complex real-time aberration correction module. And for exposure of specific periodic micro-nano structures, the resolution directly approaches the theoretical limit of λ/2 in an air environment!"

Lin Wei sat behind his desk. As he listened to Zhang Mo's report, his heartbeat sped up as well.

But he was the director, after all. He could not simply take Zhang Mo's word for it.

So he carefully flipped through the report.

"Have you calculated the costs?"

Zhang Mo nodded.

"Our preliminary estimate is that, compared to our previous plan, Li Dong's approach reduces our costs by 17%!"

17%!

In the field of lithography equipment, where a single unit could cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, that was a figure enough to drive any investor mad!

Lin Wei took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He had seen the exam paper before and thought this high school student's idea was brilliant, perhaps even feasible.

But he had never imagined that in just a few days, the R&D team would not only complete the simulation but also produce such an astonishing cost reduction.

Just a few days!

In the past, even with a clear idea, overcoming a technical bottleneck often required months or even most of a year of repeated trial, error, and adjustment.

Although Li Dong's idea this time merely optimized their existing technology.

They had completed the whole loop in only a few days?

What did that mean?

It meant that the proposal Li Dong had written on that paper was far more than a high school student's flash of inspiration. It was an engineering framework that was already extraordinarily mature in its underlying physical logic, nearly perfect! He had even accounted for boundary conditions and industrial constraints!

"This kid's physical intuition... he's practically a monster..."

Lin Wei muttered to himself.

He opened his eyes and waved at Zhang Mo.

"Good work, Old Zhang. Take the team out for some rest first. Start the physical verification project immediately afterward. I'll approve the funding!"

After Zhang Mo left the office, Lin Wei opened his computer and entered the contestant database for the Huaxuan Cup semifinals.

He pulled up the file for candidate number SC-2026-001.

Jiangcheng No. 7 High School. Dean of Studies/Physics Group Leader: Zheng Hua.

Lin Wei picked up his phone and dialed the number directly...

Meanwhile, Li Dong, standing at the very center of the storm, knew absolutely nothing about what was happening in Shanghai.

Jiangcheng, Mi Xia's home.

In the spacious, brightly lit study, Li Dong sat beside the desk, scribbling calculations on a sheet of scratch paper.

Beside him, Mi Xia wore loose home clothes and sat primly, even breathing with caution."

"Look, for this final derivative problem, if you use the standard high school approach, you need to construct an extremely complicated difference function, then differentiate it twice to determine monotonicity, right?"

Li Dong pointed at a major problem on the exam paper.

Mi Xia nodded repeatedly.

"Right. Every time I try to construct the function, I can't find the entry point. It takes way too long."

Li Dong smiled. "Since your high school fundamentals are already solid, let's step outside the high school framework."

"Have you ever considered that many complicated transcendental functions can actually be approximated locally with polynomials?"

He wrote down a formula on the paper.

"This is the Maclaurin Form of the Taylor Expansion."

"For example, e^x can be expanded as 1 + x + (x^2)/2! + ..."

"When you encounter problems requiring bounds, directly expand it to the second or third order. All those transcendental inequalities instantly become ordinary quadratic inequalities in one variable."

"And for this limit problem, while L'Hôpital's Rule is useful, it fails for certain oscillating functions or at points where derivatives do not exist."

"If you understand a little about remainder analysis in Taylor series, or the deeper logic of equivalent infinitesimal substitutions, you can see through its tricks at a glance."

Li Dong explained smoothly and effortlessly, but Mi Xia listened with her heart pounding.

Li Dong stopped writing, looked at Mi Xia as she furiously took notes, and could not help saying,

"Mi Xia, your foundation is honestly very good. You could definitely get into a first-tier university from No. 7 High School. I really think you don't need to spend money hiring me for tutoring."

Mi Xia merely glanced at him and did not respond to that subject.

"But... that modified bonus problem Teacher Jiang put on the blackboard before—I spent two nights on it and still couldn't solve it."

"You said at the time that problem was too difficult for students at our current stage, so I felt like I still had a long way to go."

"You just said too that university knowledge was needed to solve it instantly..."

Halfway through listening, Li Dong suddenly caught on. His eyes widened as he stared at Mi Xia.

"Wait, you mean... you brought me here today to tutor you in university advanced mathematics and calculus?"

Mi Xia's small face reddened slightly, and she nodded somewhat sheepishly.

Li Dong's eye twitched.

No way. Seriously, no way!

You paid for high school tutoring and want me to teach you Mathematical Analysis from a university math department?

Were you hiring a tutor or a slave laborer? Were you trying to take advantage of me?!

Just as Li Dong's mind raced, trying to figure out how to tactfully tell Mi Xia, "That's a different price,"

Knock, knock, knock.

A sudden knocking sound came from outside the door.

Mi Xia frowned in confusion.

Her parents normally never came home during the day on weekends. So who was knocking?

She stood up and asked,

"Who is it?"

"Sis, it's me." A boy's voice came from outside.

Mi Xia opened the door and discovered that it was her younger brother, Mi Ge.

She was even more puzzled. Although No. 6 High School did not require first- and second-year students to attend supplementary lessons, her brother was in the Rocket Class and spent every weekend at school. Why had he come home at this hour?

"Why are you back?"

As she asked, a middle-aged man with a balding head stepped out from behind Mi Ge.

Mi Ge quickly introduced him.

"Sis, this is Director Liu from our No. 6 High School."

Mi Xia froze.

Why had her brother brought the school's dean of studies home? Had he gotten into some kind of trouble at school? Skipped class? Gotten into a fight?

She nervously greeted him.

"Ah? Hello, Director Liu. Um... did my brother get himself into some trouble at school?"

Liu Limin smiled and shook his head.

"No, no. Mi Ge's performance at school has been excellent."

"I came here mainly to ask about something. I'm sorry if I've disturbed you."

"Not at all, not at all. Director Liu, please come in."

Mi Xia hurriedly stepped aside.

As Mi Ge entered, he glanced toward the study, and his eyes immediately went wide.

Holy crap! There was actually a boy in the house?!

His sister was dating someone? That couldn't be right! Wasn't his sister a total academic obsessive? How could she possibly date before she was sixty?

Mi Ge suspiciously sized up Li Dong as he emerged from the study, his face filled with wariness.

Liu Limin entered the living room and naturally spotted Li Dong as well.

He also saw the sheets of scratch paper on the desk.

Although he was some distance away, Liu Limin could still vaguely make out the symbols written on them.

Limits, partial derivative symbols, integral symbols...

This was clearly an advanced problem bridging high school competitions and university-level advanced mathematics.

Liu Limin nodded to himself.

Not bad, not bad! No wonder Mi Ge had made it into the Elite Class. The learning atmosphere at home was so strong that even on the weekend, his sister was studying such advanced math problems with a male classmate at home.

What an excellent academic environment!

Seeing everyone looking at Li Dong, Mi Xia hurriedly introduced him.

"Director Liu, this is my classmate. He came over today to help tutor me in math."

Then she turned to Li Dong and said,

"This is my younger brother, Mi Ge, and Director Liu from their No. 6 High School. They came to see me about something."

Li Dong had already been considering how to escape the fate of teaching advanced mathematics for a low fee. The moment he heard that the director had come looking for Mi Xia about something, he immediately took the opportunity.

"Alright, Mi Xia. Since you have guests at home, you guys carry on. I'll get going first."

Although Mi Xia regretted not hearing the rest of the important material, she could only nod apologetically.

"Sorry, Li Dong. Thanks for today. Be careful on your way home."

"No problem."

Li Dong waved, changed into his shoes, and pushed the door open to leave.

After the door closed, Liu Limin sat down on the sofa and smiled at Mi Xia.

"Student Mi Xia, don't be nervous. Like I said, your brother is excellent."

"I actually came here today mainly to ask you about someone."

Mi Xia found that strange.

She was a senior at No. 7 High School, yet the dean of studies from No. 6 High School had come all the way to her house to ask about someone? What kind of connection was that?

Still, out of politeness, she poured him a glass of water and handed it over.

"Director Liu, who would you like to ask about?"

Mi Ge, being younger, could not hold back.

"Sis! Director Liu wants to ask about that Li Dong from your class! You know, the big shot who got first place in your school's physics competition!"

"Li Dong?"

Mi Xia froze for a moment and instinctively glanced at the front door that had just closed.

Liu Limin smiled, trying to make his tone sound casual.

"Oh, it's nothing particularly important."

"I just wanted to ask, Student Mi Xia, do you know Li Dong's phone number? Or perhaps his parents' contact information?"

This concerned a classmate's privacy, and the other party was not even a teacher at her school.

Mi Xia asked cautiously,

"Director Liu, could you tell me why you're looking for him? Otherwise, without his consent, I don't feel comfortable giving you his contact information casually."

Liu Limin was not angered by that. Instead, he gave Mi Xia an appreciative look.

This young lady not only loved studying, but also had strong principles. No. 7 High School had produced several promising students in recent years.

Liu Limin pondered for a moment and decided to reveal a little.

"It's like this, Student Mi Xia."

"Our No. 6 High School has always been committed to cultivating top innovative talent."

"In this Huaxuan Cup, Student Li Dong demonstrated an exceptionally rare talent for physics."

"But this isn't meant to disparage a fellow school. Whether in terms of facilities or teaching staff, No. 7 High School is relatively weaker."

"Our No. 6 High School believes that if a student like Li Dong could have a broader platform, with national-level master teachers guiding him, then his potential would absolutely not end here."

"We are acting out of appreciation for talent..."

Liu Limin continued speaking eloquently. His words sounded lofty, making poaching talent sound as noble as targeted poverty alleviation.

Mi Xia already understood. Wasn't this simply poaching?

Had Li Dong become so outstanding that the dean of studies from Jiangcheng's top key high school had personally come to ask for his contact information?

Beside them, Mi Ge was fired up by what he heard. He was straightforward by nature and did not think Liu Limin's words were insulting No. 7 High School at all. He only thought it was awesome.

"Sis, did you hear that? Just tell him already! Such an amazing big shot is totally wasted at your No. 7 High School! Hurry up and get him to come to our No. 6 High School!"

Mi Xia shot her brother a fierce glare.

She looked at Liu Limin, her expression somewhat strange, then slowly revealed a truth that nearly gave Liu Limin a cerebral hemorrhage.

"Director Liu... I really can't give you his contact information for now."

"But... the boy who just left my house... he was Li Dong."

"What?!"

Liu Limin cried out, nearly spilling the water from the cup in his hand.

"The one who just went out was Li Dong?!"

Liu Limin recalled how he had glanced at the advanced mathematics draft paper on the table and had even praised Mi Xia in his heart... Only to find out that Li Dong had been teaching her?!

Mi Ge also widened his dog eyes at the side.

"Holy shit! That guy who was even better-looking than me was the big shot dominating the rankings?!"

"Student Mi Xia, I've troubled you enough today. I still have something urgent to do, so I'll be leaving first!"

Although Liu Limin said the polite formalities, his steps as he left were incredibly hurried. He practically jogged toward the front door, clearly intending to catch up with Li Dong before he got too far away.

"Director, wait for me!"

Mi Ge still had classes that afternoon and needed to return to school as well, so he hurried after him.

Before heading out, Mi Ge did not forget to turn back and give his sister a huge thumbs-up.

"Sis, you're fucking amazing!"

As the door closed.

Only Mi Xia remained in the spacious house.

She walked to the window and watched Director Liu and her younger brother hurriedly chase after him downstairs, her emotions tangled beyond measure.

Was Li Dong really going to be poached? If he went to No. 6 High School, would she no longer even be qualified to look up to him?

Mi Xia gritted her teeth and took out her phone.

"Hello, Teacher Yang? This is Mi Xia."