At seven in the morning, the usually quiet No. 1 High School gate suddenly came alive after over a month of quiet.
As students returned to campus, most stopped at the bulletin board near the entrance, either to discuss with friends or exclaim in amazement.
Three red congratulations notices were posted on the board.
The first notice congratulated Jiang Fuyue on winning the gold medal and special prize with a perfect score in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).
The second notice also celebrated Jiang Fuyue, for once again achieving a perfect score, this time in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), and setting the highest record score in the competition’s history.
The third notice recognized Jiang Fuyue once more, as her paper, A Physical Study of Bacterial Movement: Analyzing from the Perspective of Space Biology and Condensed Matter Physics, was published in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters (PRL), sparking considerable discussion in the field of physics.
Within just a week, the paper’s download and repost numbers had both exceeded a thousand.
It seemed that the author herself was as much a topic of interest as the content of her paper.
First, there was her age—at 18, she was an adult by conventional standards, but for a researcher, this was still considered extremely young. Yet this young girl had accomplished what even master’s and doctoral students from top universities often could not.
Additionally, based on the paper’s publication date, people deduced that it was written during the summer camps for both academic competitions. The appendix clearly indicated that the experiments were conducted at Q University’s interdisciplinary lab.
“Isn’t this too impressive? She trained for two competitions and still managed to find time to write a paper?”
“Curious to know what’s in that brain of hers. I wonder if I could ever be so lucky.”
“Forget about it. You’re already a finished product; you’d have to be melted down and remade.”
“You’re… ruthless!”
“But seriously, standing before these three announcements, isn’t it normal to feel a little defeated?”
“Haha, that’s true.”
“Isn’t it easy to score perfectly in international competitions like these? Sister Yue got two, after all.”
“Heh… Easy for her; for us, it’s like climbing Everest.”
“Sure, it’s as easy as a pig climbing a tree or a tiger eating vegetables. Why don’t you give it a try?”
“…” Duck no need.
“Is PRL that big a deal?”
“Leaving aside general journals like Science and Nature or review journals like Reviews of Modern Physics, PRL has the highest impact factor among physics journals. So, yeah, it’s a big deal.”
“Oh my God! Goddess Yue is amazing!”
“Can’t believe I’m in the same class as the goddess. So lucky~”
“Me too!”
“I wish I were in Class Three!”
“I’d love to be her desk mate.”
“+1”
“I’m afraid I’d be crushed to dust if I sat next to her.”
Wan Xiutong spoke up, “Don’t worry! Jiang Jiang is really nice.”
“Eh? Which class are you in? You call the goddess ‘Jiang Jiang’? How do you know she wouldn’t crush you?”
With a proud lift of her head, Wan Xiutong softly said, “Because I’m her desk mate!”
“No way—really?”
“You’re sitting next to Jiang Fuyue?”
Wan Xiutong nodded confidently. “Absolutely.”
“So, tell us: does she really sleep during class, do assignments for other subjects, and even debate with teachers to the point they’re left dizzy?”
Wan Xiutong replied, “Not at all! Jiang Jiang has her own study schedule. Even if she sleeps, it’s part of her plan. And she doesn’t do ordinary homework, only competition papers, because regular assignments are too simple and meaningless to her.”
With a casual tone, she said some of the most outrageous things.
And that was just her desk mate’s description. Seeing it firsthand would likely be even more shocking.
“Sister Yue could crush me a hundred times over.”
“Why don’t I have such a desk mate?”
“Maybe that’s what it means to be a genius.”
“It’s just a gap of a hundred thousand competition papers between me and a genius.”
…
Meanwhile, students in the junior high section, especially the newly enrolled seventh-graders, were largely unfamiliar with the name “Jiang Fuyue.”
“Who’s Jiang Fuyue?”
“She’s a senior who’s won tons of awards and is incredibly talented!”
“Wow!”
“I overheard people saying she’ll be directly admitted, with her choice of any prestigious major at Q University or B University.”
“Whoa! Q University and B University! That’s incredible!”
A group of junior high students couldn’t hide their admiration.
They might not fully understand IPhO, IOI, or PRL, but they certainly knew Q University and B University!
From a young age, their parents had said: “If you can get into Q or B University, we’ll smile even in our sleep.”
“I also heard from the older students that Jiang Fuyue is very pretty, like the kind of beauty that could be accepted into the acting department at a film academy!”
“I’m a sucker for looks, too. I’d love to see her in person.”
“Me too! Me too!”
“Let’s sneak over to the high school section once school starts…”
Standing proudly in their midst was Little Brother Jiang, his small chest puffed out. They’re talking about my sister! My real sister! She’s the smartest, prettiest girl in the world!
Many parents had also come along and were now gathered around the bulletin board, chatting animatedly.
“This young lady is just remarkable!”
“I saw the video. When she went up to receive her award, I almost cried.”
“She put those four R-country contestants in their place, standing up for Huaxia!”
“I wonder if her parents are here today?”
“Why?”
“To learn from them, of course! I just want my kid to be half as good.”
“Well, I’m asking too…”
“You’re all just standing here. Why not grab a pancake from Jiang’s shop?”
“Pancake? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“You don’t know? Jiang Fuyue’s parents run a pancake stall on the street behind No. 1 High. My son loves their breakfasts; says it brings him luck from a top student. Last semester, he actually did improve on his exams.”
“Is it that good? Let’s go now!”
“Let’s go together…”
Jiang’s pancake shop was nearly packed out, mostly by parents of No. 1 High students.
“Ah, are you Jiang Fuyue’s mother? You look so young.”
Han Yunru nodded while quickly wrapping orders.
“Your daughter is truly outstanding! How did you raise her like this?”
“Exactly. If my child were even half as good, I’d be so grateful!”
“….”
A group of middle-aged women clustered outside, chatting enthusiastically.
With the student crowd growing and more parents arriving by the minute, Han Yunru was overwhelmed.
Thankfully, Jiang Fuyue had anticipated this and arranged for Liu Jinzhong to send extra help.
With this support, Han Yunru could finally catch a breath.
Seeing the helpers work skillfully, she felt reassured enough to focus on greeting parents, organizing the line, and chatting with them.
Naturally, most of the talk centered around Jiang Fuyue, and beyond the typical questions about study techniques, parents even asked what she liked to eat, if she had a favorite sport, if she followed celebrities, and if she watched dramas.
After a busy morning, the parents dispersed, and the couple finally had a chance to rest.
Jiang Da said, “Our Yueyue has become a panda—a whole crowd coming just to see her.”
Han Yunru replied, “I think they’re here to see us and not Yueyue.”
“Us? What’s there to see?”
“It’s because of our daughter. They can’t see her, so they’re curious about her parents.”
“Isn’t that what they call love the house, love the crow?”
Han Yunru scolded him with a smile, “I am not a crow.”
Jiang Da chuckled, showing his white teeth. “Then I’ll be one.”
“No, you won’t be!”
“Alright, whatever my wife says, no crows here.”
…
In the Q University residential area, at the small garden downstairs:
“PRL? It actually got published? Who told you?” Yan Zhenfeng’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Qin Libin, who was just finishing his morning warm-up.
“No. 1 High started today, and they posted the congratulations notices. It’s definitely true.”
“Which section?”
Qin Libin replied, “The main section.”
“Phew…”
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