Chapter 48: Paige: Sheldon, you need to reflect!
"I am the smartest person in the world!"
Little Sheldon shouted and danced, repeating the declaration three times in a row.
"Excellent!"
Beverly put down the hot cocoa and turned around. Hearing this, she immediately spun back and praised: "Let's record this meaningful moment and monitor your brain waves."
"Okay!"
Little Sheldon usually enjoyed being tested, especially in this joyful state of triumph. He said happily and proudly: "If the brainwave graph can show letters, then what we'll see must be a capital H for 'happy'!"
As he said that, he tilted his head and made an H shape with his head and arms.
"I believe it, come on!"
Beverly agreed enthusiastically.
Little Sheldon obediently walked over and let Beverly help him apply the sensor patches to his head. Suddenly, he thought of something: "Wait, I need to call Paige and let her know who's the smartest!"
"Smart thinking!"
Beverly nodded in agreement. "We really need to call her right away. Otherwise, if she solves the problem, it'll be hard to say who finished first. But you don't have to get up."
Seeing little Sheldon about to get up to make the call, she simply held him down and called out to the air, "Leonard!"
"..."
Little Leonard, who had been feeling invisible all along, was so upset by his mother's dismissive treatment that his face scrunched up in frustration.
Here we go again—it's all about Sheldon! How could he possibly be inferior to this know-it-all?
"Leonard!"
Beverly was busy helping little Sheldon apply the sensor patches. Seeing no response from the first call, she couldn't help but call again, still without even looking at him, "Leonard!"
"Mom!"
Little Leonard, no matter how hurt and reluctant he felt, saw his mother call him a second time. Deep down, he craved her approval above all else, and he couldn't help but respond.
"Go get the phone for Sheldon."
Beverly ignored her son's response and continued fiddling with her experimental equipment without even glancing at little Leonard.
Under the gaze of little Sheldon who raised his eyebrows to signal him to hurry up, little Leonard picked up the cordless phone and handed it to little Sheldon with obvious irritation.
"Thank you."
Little Sheldon was polite but completely insincere. He took the phone and dialed Paige's number. The moment the call connected, little Sheldon couldn't help but lift his chin up and said proudly: "Paige, let me tell you something. I have solved the advanced Fourier transformation!"
"So?"
Paige responded with complete indifference.
"..."
Little Sheldon frowned in confusion: "Didn't you hear me clearly? I solved it. I was the first to solve it. In other words, I am the smartest one!"
This reaction was definitely not what he expected.
"The first one?"
Paige scoffed: "Sheldon, don't you have any friends in college?"
"Not yet."
Little Sheldon was put off by this reaction and said dismissively: "I don't need friends either. When I was in high school, I only befriended Tam because my mother insisted I needed social connections. She didn't understand that I don't need friends at all when I have the mysteries of the universe to keep me company. Now I'm in college and don't have to worry about her interference anymore."
At this point, he glanced at Beverly who was attaching the electrodes and added: "Besides, I have Beverly!"
"Poor little thing, you found yourself another mommy."
Paige sneered: "It sounds like your college experience is really pathetic."
"My college life is fantastic, it's not pathetic!"
Little Sheldon said defensively: "And Beverly is my friend, not my mother!"
"Yeah, right."
Little Leonard rolled his eyes at this, muttering under his breath, "Nobody's buying that story."
"If you actually had friends in college, you would have known by now. You're not the first to solve that advanced Fourier transformation."
Paige scoffed, "Only a sheltered kid living in his substitute mommy's bubble would still be clueless two days later."
"Impossible!"
Little Sheldon exclaimed. "You're saying someone solved it before me? Who?"
"Who do you think?"
Paige heard the panic in Sheldon's voice, and her own disappointment at not being first began to fade. She laughed mockingly.
"You?"
Little Sheldon said reluctantly.
"Bingo!"
Paige nodded with satisfaction.
"I don't believe it! You're lying to me!"
Little Sheldon instinctively glanced at Beverly. Seeing her give him an encouraging nod, he immediately remembered what Beverly had coached him on. He puffed out his chest and regained his confidence. "If you solved it first, you would have called me immediately to gloat, because you'd want to claim victory! Since you didn't call me, and I'm calling you, that means you haven't solved it yet."
"The answer is 2.7 multiplied by pi to the fourth power, divided by the integral of the cosine function from zero to infinity."
Paige gave the answer directly.
"..."
Little Sheldon was stunned into silence, because this was indeed the correct solution. He mumbled to himself, "Impossible, how could this be? There must be some mistake."
"Can't wrap your head around it?"
Paige smiled, "Actually, I solved it yesterday, a full day before you!"
"But why?"
Little Sheldon asked in bewilderment, "Then why didn't you call me?"
"Because after I solved it, I found out that someone had already beaten us both to it."
Paige paused, sounding a bit deflated, "And they solved it that same night, which means I finished a day before you, but he finished a day before me. Since neither of us was first, what's the difference between second and third place?"
"Who was first?"
Little Sheldon asked uncomfortably.
"Who else could it be?"
Paige shrugged.
"Chuck Wolfe..."
Little Sheldon struggled to say the name, which made him feel sick to his stomach. "That's impossible! How could he have solved it two days before me?"
"I didn't want to believe it either, but the news is confirmed. I heard it from Mona herself,"
Paige sighed. "After we all left that day when we saw the problem posted, he apparently stayed on the Princeton campus for hours. He only left after he'd solved it completely. Mona was there—she's dating him and saw the whole thing."
"Impossible..."
Little Sheldon simply couldn't accept this reality, this crushing defeat.
"Looks like my college social life is way better than yours,"
Paige said with obvious satisfaction, twisting the knife. "After all, I don't even go to your school, but I knew about this news days ago. And you're actually a Princeton student, living with a professor on campus, and you didn't even hear about the news that was buzzing around all weekend. Sheldon, you seriously need to reflect on this!"
Little Sheldon's jaw dropped, completely speechless.
Suddenly, little Leonard's voice piped up from beside them: "Hey, why does this brainwave pattern look exactly like the letter O for 'Oh no'?"
(End of chapter)
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