"Classmates, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome back our honored returnee, Qin Yuanqing!"
As soon as Qin Yuanqing walked into the classroom, a loud voice echoed through the room, followed by enthusiastic applause. It was his classmates, who had organized this welcome for him.
Qin Yuanqing smiled.
He had joined this class later than the others and had spent one semester less with them. After arriving, he wasn't good at socializing, so his relationships with classmates were average. He seemed somewhat aloof and didn't join in their liveliness.
After graduation, he rarely kept in touch with his high school classmates. Except for a few individuals, they almost never gathered. Only after starting work did they occasionally meet, or attend a classmate's wedding.
Their relationship wasn't particularly deep, but it wasn't shallow either.
At this moment, however, Qin Yuanqing felt truly touched.
He bowed to everyone and said, "Thank you all for your enthusiasm and applause. Thank you for your blessings and encouragement. With you all, I feel very happy!"
As soon as he finished speaking, another wave of applause erupted. Even students from neighboring classes came over to watch.
"This semester is already halfway through. In the days ahead, let's work hard together for the college entrance exam. If anyone has questions they don't understand, feel free to bring them to me. As long as I know how to solve them, I'll do my best to help!" Qin Yuanqing said.
Once again, thunderous applause filled the classroom.
At that moment, their English teacher, Ms. Zhan, arrived at the door and walked in. She told everyone to sit down, as the listening practice was about to begin.
The first fifteen minutes of every evening self-study session were always devoted to listening practice.
About three minutes later, the broadcast started. Qin Yuanqing wrote down the answers to each question. When it ended, Ms. Zhan sat on the podium and began grading.
The students worked on their homework, and Qin Yuanqing picked up a book to read.
In fact, he would only stay at school for about three more weeks. On December 15, he would participate in the CMO.
The winter camp lasted five days:
The first day was the opening ceremony.
The second and third days were exams.
The fourth day was for academic lectures or sightseeing.
The fifth day was the closing ceremony and award announcements.
The CMO exam fully simulated the IMO format: three problems per day, four and a half hours each session. Each problem was worth 21 points, with a total of 126 points. First, second, and third prizes were awarded.
Only the top 30 qualified for the national IMO training team. After further elimination, six students would form the national team to represent Huaxia and compete against international math geniuses.
Because of this, Qin Yuanqing cherished his time with classmates. When someone brought him questions, he patiently explained.
"Classmates, I've finished grading the listening test. Everyone did well this time—especially Qin Yuanqing. He got a full score of 30. If I'm not mistaken, this is his first perfect listening score. Let's congratulate him with applause!" Ms. Zhan suddenly announced.
After a brief pause, the classroom burst into applause.
Everyone knew that Qin Yuanqing's listening used to be terrible—barely passing, sometimes only 12 points. That was why his English scores weren't high. No one expected him to get full marks this time.
Qin Yuanqing was helpless.
With his English already at Level 10, if he still couldn't get full marks, that would be absurd.
Now, he barely even read English textbooks. He mainly flipped through the Oxford Dictionary to expand his knowledge.
He focused more on Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. As for math, he reviewed it in the dormitory, since he was no longer studying high school-level material.
His classmates gradually discovered that Qin Yuanqing seemed capable of solving any problem. When teachers were busy, they even let him explain exam papers.
He never refused.
He explained each question clearly, and his classmates found his explanations even easier to understand than the teachers'.
Sometimes, he would use problems as examples to expand and extend concepts during evening study sessions. His derivations and formulas often left everyone enlightened.
Gradually, his reputation grew even stronger.
Whether out of convenience or genuine recognition, teachers frequently let him teach and solve problems. The math, physics, and even English teachers openly admitted that his level had surpassed theirs.
On December 8, Qin Yuanqing quietly disappeared from school again.
He headed to Rong City, where he and five other qualified students would undergo special training organized by the provincial mathematics association.
Anyone who ranked in the top 30 at the CMO would definitely gain admission opportunities to top universities such as Tsinghua, Peking University, Fudan, Nanjing University, Huaxia University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Every year, students recommended to these elite universities mostly came from high-level competitions like this.
Qin Yuanqing didn't care much. If he wanted, he could have chosen any of them after winning first place in the national league.
On December 14, the six of them flew directly from Rong City to Harbin. Their tickets were booked by the provincial association, so they paid nothing. Otherwise, traveling by train would have taken two days and two nights.
At Harbin Airport, staff from the National Mathematics Association were already there. After registering, they boarded buses with contestants from other provinces and headed to Harbin Normal University Affiliated High School.
By mid-December, Harbin was extremely cold. It had snowed as early as November 1. Seeing the snow-covered roadsides, the students were thrilled.
In Fujian, it almost never snowed. In Qin Yuanqing's hometown, Shuixian City, there had never been snow in recorded history—not even during the 2008 snow disaster.
He recalled his first time seeing snow in his previous life, during college. He had tried to catch snowflakes with his hands, shouting excitedly like a madman.
He had also visited Harbin before.
In his freshman year, he had met an online friend studying at Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology. Fascinated by descriptions of northeastern winters, they visited Harbin together in late 2011.
They were nearly frozen into popsicles. While skiing, he even rolled straight down the slope in embarrassment.
So this time, he wore a thick down jacket.
Here, if you didn't dress warmly, you would regret it.
At the hotel, with heating, it was much better. Some people could even wear short sleeves.
Qin Yuanqing felt calm.
Compared with the last competition, his math level had risen by another level, reaching Level 8. He didn't believe he still couldn't win first place.
The participants were mostly the same 400 students as before. He didn't think their improvement could outpace his.
The winter camp had a strong academic atmosphere.
At the opening ceremony, he saw many mathematicians and the president of the Huaxia Mathematical Society.
The exams on the second and third days were extremely difficult. Though there were only three problems per day, the four-and-a-half-hour sessions were intense. The difficulty even exceeded the previous national competition.
No wonder the CMO was said to be harder than the IMO.
After two days of exams, Qin Yuanqing was confident.
This championship was his.
For three problems, he wrote three different solutions. For two others, he provided two methods.
On the fourth day, academic lectures were held. Participants could freely choose which to attend.
Qin Yuanqing attended a young mathematician's lecture on algebraic geometry. Much of it was new to him, and he was deeply impressed by how vast mathematics truly was.
He realized he had only touched the surface—barely even entered the field.
During the Q&A session, he raised his hand and asked three questions about things he didn't understand. The speaker patiently answered each one, which thrilled Qin Yuanqing.
He later attended a topology lecture. Since he had only recently encountered the subject, much of it was unclear to him. He memorized the ideas, planning to study them later.
On the fifth day, at the closing ceremony, the president announced the scores.
Qin Yuanqing once again achieved two perfect scores, with a total of 252 points.
He deservedly won first prize.
Holding the glass trophy in his left hand and the certificate in his right, he smiled brightly.
The sense of achievement was overwhelming.
Even becoming a billionaire couldn't compare.
He was also delighted to receive 2,000 Learning Coins as a reward.
Meanwhile, his task list updated:
"Task 1: Rank first in the city in the gaokao. Reward: 500 Learning Coins."
"Task 2: Win an IMO individual gold medal. Reward: 3,000 Learning Coins."
"Task 3: Win an IMO team gold medal. Reward: 3,000 Learning Coins."
Clearly, competing in the IMO would be much harder, but the rewards were also richer.
At this moment, Qin Yuanqing focused on his balance.
He now had 3,000 Learning Coins.
He hadn't decided how to use them yet, so he saved them for later.
Meanwhile, others came to congratulate him one after another.
At the same time, Qin Yuanqing accepted the invitation from the Huaxia Mathematical Society and was selected for the national Olympiad training team.