Others Drilled Problems, I Read Books

At six in the morning, feeling the bedframe shake slightly, Liu Rui squinted his still-sleepy eyes and searched for the source of the disturbance. He happened to see Lu Zhou, who slept at the other end of the room, hugging the ladder as he climbed down. Liu Rui grumbled, "Zhou, getting up this early?"

Not wanting to wake the other two roommates who were still asleep, Lu Zhou answered quietly.

"Yeah."

Liu Rui pressed on.

"Going to your part-time job again?"

Lu Zhou hesitated, then shook his head. "No. I'm taking a break these next few days."

"Then why are you up so early?"

"The library."

Liu Rui instantly wasn't sleepy anymore.

After brushing his teeth at the sink, Lu Zhou made a quick detour to the restroom. When he came out, he happened to see Liu Rui climbing down from his bed too, so he asked curiously, "You're not sleeping anymore?"

"Reviewing." Liu Rui grabbed his toothbrush mug and jogged over to the sink on the balcony.

Watching his roommate act as though he were facing a formidable enemy, Lu Zhou did not know whether to laugh or cry. He shook his head without saying anything, put on his shoes, slung on his backpack, and headed out.

Jinling in June was like a furnace, except in the early hours around five or six in the morning.

The air carried the fragrance of morning dew, and the occasional breeze brushing against his cheeks held no stifling heat, only freshness. At six o'clock, the campus was like a quiet young lady strolling gracefully out of the morning twilight, as though it were an entirely different world from the campus at dusk.

He bought two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk from the cafeteria. After breakfast, Lu Zhou leisurely made his way to the library.

Jinling University truly deserved its reputation as one of the nation's finest institutions. At this hour, the library staff had not even arrived at work, yet quite a few people were already standing in the open space outside, doing their morning reading.

He took out his CET-4 vocabulary book and memorized words for a while as well. It was not as good as studying inside the library, but with the learning atmosphere around him, the results were still passable. Lu Zhou waited at the library entrance until seven-thirty before the staff finally arrived and opened the doors.

As the library doors opened, the army of postgraduate entrance exam candidates surged inside like a tide, quickly clearing out the open space in front of the library.

Following the crowd inside, Lu Zhou did not rush to dive into the ocean of books. Instead, he picked a copy of Higher Algebra from the shelves, then found a quiet corner of the library and sat down.

Lu Zhou had estimated that, in his immersive reading state, fully mastering the knowledge points in one unit took roughly one to two hours. This included memorization, mental calculations, problem-type analysis, and every other step.

Judging from the remaining pages, the copy of New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis in his hands would last him at most the morning. In the afternoon, he planned to take this chance to make up for his shortcomings in higher algebra as well.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Zhou opened New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis to the bookmark he had placed yesterday and focused on the book once more.

Very quickly, he entered the same state as yesterday. He forgot everything around him, as though there were only himself and the book in the world...

Time passed second by second. At eleven-thirty at noon, Lu Zhou let out a long breath and put down his book.

He had finally finished New Lectures on Mathematical Analysis, and its value coefficient had dropped to 5.

This also confirmed Lu Zhou's guess: the system's evaluation of a book's value coefficient was not based on its significance to the academic world of this world, but on his own level of knowledge.

As for why it was 5 rather than 0, perhaps there were still parts of the book he had not fully mastered. To completely absorb it, he might have to read it again.

However, Lu Zhou clearly would not do that. Wasting precious deep-reading time just to squeeze out those last 5 points of value coefficient was a losing deal no matter how he looked at it.

It was time to eat anyway, so Lu Zhou put down his book and headed outside the library.

As he passed the library's main entrance, he glanced at the holographic display there. The remaining time on the idle task had already changed to 18 hours.

Lu Zhou suddenly felt that it would not be so bad if the task took a little longer to finish. In just these six hours, he felt like he had learned more than he had in the entire previous year.

Thinking of the unopened copy of Higher Algebra on the desk, Lu Zhou rubbed his chin as he walked toward the cafeteria.

He still had a C Language exam at the end of the term. Should he find a C Language book to read too?

And there was English as well.

He just did not know whether English books had value coefficients. The English newspapers placed outside the library certainly did not. This Black Technology System seemed to have some strange prejudice against liberal arts subjects. That was not good.

He used his meal card to buy a set meal. After eating, Lu Zhou hurried back to the library. He first returned the books he had finished reading at the counter, then went to the shelves and took a copy of C Language Explained, Fifth Edition, tucking it under his arm before returning to his seat.

After the lunch break ended, the library gradually filled up again.

Lu Zhou was engrossed in working through Higher Algebra and was about to move on to the next knowledge point when he suddenly felt something poke his arm. Turning his head, he saw a pretty girl with round-framed glasses and a single ponytail, holding a pen and looking at him apologetically.

"Excuse me, sorry to disturb you... Could I ask you a question?"

Lu Zhou nodded generously. "No problem. Go ahead."

Although his book-reading had been interrupted, he was not angry at all.

Why, you ask?

It had to be said that humans were creatures of aesthetics. In interpersonal interactions, looks really mattered.

Why didn't this girl ask someone else? Why did she come to me?

Isn't it because I'm more handsome than everyone else?

Lu Zhou liked explaining problems to straightforward, honest people with such good judgment.

Not because he wanted anything.

It just felt good!

"Thank you." The girl thanked him softly, then carefully moved her chair and sat beside Lu Zhou. She even thoughtfully handed him a pen and some scratch paper.

Lu Zhou did not stand on ceremony. After taking the pen and paper, he looked over the problem.

"Let me see... Find the limit, right?"

Find positive numbers a and b such that (\lim_{x\to0}\frac{1}{x-b\sin x}\int_{0}^{x}\frac{t^2}{\sqrt{a+t^2}}dt=1).

He did not seem to have done this particular problem before, but while reading just now, he seemed to have seen a similar type of question.

He had just been reading higher algebra, so this was a good chance to test the system's abilities.

Out of habit, Lu Zhou twirled his pen and thought for a moment. Less than a minute later, he said, "Solved it."

"Y-you solved it already?" Chen Yushan stared at Lu Zhou in disbelief. You haven't even put pen to paper. How have you solved it already?

To be honest, though, even he was startled by his own speed. In the past, he might not have been unable to solve this kind of problem, but he definitely would not have solved it so easily and smoothly. He had not even needed scratch paper; the entire solution process was crystal clear in his mind.

Without any false modesty, Lu Zhou grabbed the pen and began writing out the solution across the scratch paper in broad strokes. As he wrote, he explained, "It's a typical indeterminate form of 0/0. Just use L'Hôpital's Rule. First, split up the integral. That part isn't difficult, right? Since (\lim_{x\to0}(1-b\cos x)=0), we get b = 1. Substitute that back into the original expression, and you get a = 4. Check the answer and see whether I got it right."

Chen Yushan stared blankly at the scratch paper, feeling that this Guy solved problems faster than she could even follow his explanation.

Especially when he wrote down the final two answers, her thoughts were still stuck on the step involving the integral.

With mixed doubt and anticipation, she opened the answer section, and her eyes widened at once.

It really was the answer!?

Noticing the expression on her face, Lu Zhou, slightly carried away with himself, smiled and twirled his pen. "It's a very simple application of L'Hôpital's Rule. The calculations themselves aren't difficult either. By the way, are you a freshman? What major are you in?"

Chen Yushan blushed and said softly, "I'm preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam..."

As soon as she finished speaking, her face turned even redder.

Not from embarrassment, but from anger!

This is infuriating!

So what if he solved one Mathematics problem? What's he showing off for? I haven't touched advanced Mathematics in years, so what if I gave it all back to my teachers? He has no manners at all. No wonder he's single! No wonder he comes to the library alone!

Thinking that, Chen Yushan felt a little better.

As for the fact that she herself was also alone at the library, she selectively ignored it.

"Uh..." Lu Zhou looked awkward. He had thought she was in the same year as him, but instead he had shown off in front of a fourth-year senior.

Just as he was about to apologize, a loud cough came from the row in front of them.

Realizing that their conversation had disturbed the others, Chen Yushan blushed, stuck out her tongue, and hugged her exercise book and scratch paper as she returned to her seat.

Now Lu Zhou had lost even the chance to apologize, much less ask for her name and WeChat number...

He sat there conflicted for a while, then shook his head and picked up the unfinished Higher Algebra again.

How could girls be more important than studying?

Interpersonal relationships?

Sorry, real top students don't need that stuff.

Raise Mathematics to LV1, and I'll have the whole world!

Very quickly, Lu Zhou entered his state again and completely put the incident out of his mind, treating it as nothing more than a small interruption during his book-grinding session in the library.