“I’m not joining.”
Wan Xiutong: “Alright then, I won’t go along with the crowd either.”
Soon, six or seven students signed up.
Only then did the class entertainment rep, Zhang Xinxin, crack a smile and hurried to jot down the names. After class, she gathered the group for a meeting, and by the next day, rehearsals were already underway.
The performance was reportedly going to be a street dance. Zhang Xinxin was in charge of organizing and, of course, also took part—she was even the lead dancer.
For the next week, their “Eight-Person Dance Crew” could be seen practicing their moves during every class break—working on steps, posture, and positions.
But the results were… less than ideal—
“Pfft! He Huan’s wave is hilarious—what is this, kids’ dance class?”
“He Zhuyan moves like a stick—like, the kind you can’t even bend.”
“Xu Tingting’s a bit better, but her thighs are so thick. If she wears hot pants on stage, it’s gonna be a disaster.”
“Only Zhang Xinxin dances decently—no wonder she’s an arts student.”
“Stage performances are about overall effect. One person dancing well is useless.”
“Well, there’s still time, right? Practice makes perfect.”
“Easy for you to say…”
Everyone had something to say.
Even though the rehearsals were kind of a mess, they unexpectedly brought a bit of fun to everyone’s stressful Grade 12 life.
When class got boring, people peeked at the dancers. When homework got frustrating, they peeked again.
Happiness really could be that simple.
Since Jiang Fuyue said she wouldn’t join, she didn’t pay them any attention at all.
Even when others crowded around to watch, she just stayed at her desk, minding her own business—either doing practice problems or reading.
And not just textbooks.
For example, a few days ago, Wan Xiutong saw her reading The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon in the morning. By the afternoon, she’d switched to Treatise on Cold Damage and Essentials from the Golden Cabinet.
The next day, she’d moved on to The Physical Universe and Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Wan Xiutong couldn’t even understand the titles anymore.
Jiang Fuyue would read whenever she had time, even during class. If the teacher called on her, she’d answer without even looking at the board—answers rolled right off her tongue.
Eventually, the teachers just stopped bothering her.
Wan Xiutong figured they didn’t want to give up, but had no choice—so they let it slide.
Lately, though, Jiang Fuyue had stopped reading and started fiddling with something instead.
She had a small transparent cube, palm-sized, which she kept assembling and disassembling over and over again.
Wan Xiutong peeked: Inside the cube, tangled wires, three copper tubes of different sizes, and various metallic button-like components were all arranged in a very intricate and complex structure.
Once the casing was closed, the insides were hidden, and it just looked like a plain transparent cube.
“Jiangjiang, what is this?” Wan Xiutong asked, full of curiosity. “Is it a Rubik’s cube? But it doesn’t have little colored squares.”
“It’s something even cooler than a Rubik’s cube.”
“Huh?”
“The Universe,” Jiang Fuyue replied. “The cosmos.”
Wan Xiutong thought she’d misheard. How could this tiny thing have anything to do with the cosmos?
But Jiang Fuyue just smiled and kept working.
Day after day, she didn’t touch anything else—just focused entirely on the cube. Wan Xiutong got more curious but managed to hold back from asking further. After all, even if she asked, she wouldn’t understand.
Better to wait and see what it did when it was finished—far more vivid than any explanation.
Liu Bowen had also noticed Jiang Fuyue’s new project. He came over a few times during breaks but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He was too embarrassed to ask too many questions in case he didn’t understand and ended up looking stupid.
So: better to stay silent.
“If I don’t ask, I won’t not understand. If I don’t not understand, then I’m not stupid—”
Flawless logic.
Lin Qiao, on the other hand, didn’t ask out of pure disinterest. After all, if it couldn’t be eaten, why bother?
Could it explode? Could it fry things?
Jiang Fuyue was unaware of everyone’s reactions.
Her whole world at the moment revolved around this cube.
Whenever she hit a wall, she emailed Old Peter.
This was right in his field—no one knew it better.
Naturally, Old Peter responded to all her questions in detail, practically wishing he could help her in person.
But then one day, Xu Kaiqing accidentally discovered that the two had exchanged over a hundred emails in just three days.
“Well, well, Old Pete,” he said, leaning against the lab bench, arms crossed, chin raised. “Chattin’ up Chou behind my back, huh?”
Old Peter: “Suddenly, I’m sensing some vinegar in the air. What’s the term you Chinese use…? Like you were just pulled out of a vat of it.”
“Bullsh*t!”
“Oh Xu, the angrier you get, the more it proves I’m right.”
Xu Kaiqing: “……”
He glanced at the computer screen, then again, then again, and snorted. “What were you two even talking about?”
Old Peter answered honestly: “Chou’s been asking me professional questions.”
“Why didn’t she ask me?”
“Because it’s astrophysics. That’s my specialty, okay?”
“I studied astrophysics too, you know! What, she looks down on me now?”
What, in Chou’s eyes, was he less professional than Old Peter?
Unacceptable!
Xu Kaiqing: “I’m joining in. Just wait—I’m emailing her now!”
“Hey—!” She already asked everything she needed. What are you gonna email her for?
While the two old men bickered and competed over nothing, Jiang Fuyue didn’t have time to care.
After confirming the solution with Old Peter, she moved on to implementation. And during a math class, it finally worked.
A beam of bright light shot out of the cube and projected a densely packed image onto the ceiling.
Jiang Fuyue immediately thought: Cr*p! and shut off the power.
The beam vanished instantly, and the image disappeared—but the classroom atmosphere had already been disrupted.
Everyone had seen it.
Whispers spread—
“The light came from Jiang Fuyue, right?”
“My god, it was so bright! I was practically blinded. Did anyone catch what that was?”
“No…”
“Me neither.”
“Just a whole bunch of stuff—it looked kind of scary.”
“She’s playing with gadgets in class? Doesn’t she have to pay attention?”
“You’re just finding that out? Bro, where’ve you been?”
“No wonder she’s our Sister Yue—cool and wild as always.”
“Look! Teacher Xu is walking over—he looks pissed.”
“She’s not gonna get chewed out, is she?”
“……”
Xu Jing stopped in front of Jiang Fuyue, knocked on her desk, his gaze sharp and cold: “Come to my office after class.”
“Okay.”
“D*mn— Sister Yue got summoned.”
“As expected of Old Xu. Fair and impartial.”
“No wonder he’s the homeroom teacher. We better behave—if even a god-tier student like her got called out, us scrubs better not push our luck.”
“Right, right.”
After class, Jiang Fuyue obediently went to the office.
The moment Xu Jing saw her, his mouth twitched. “You—you! I usually turn a blind eye to whatever you’re doing, and I’ve even told the other subject teachers not to bother you. But this time?! You made such a scene, with dozens of eyes watching! I had no choice but to call you in.”
“…Got it,” Jiang Fuyue nodded. “I understand.”
Xu Jing: “?” Understand what?
“I’ll keep it quieter next time so I don’t distract others.”
“……” That wasn’t wrong, per se, but why did it feel so off?
Jiang Fuyue: “So, can I go now?”
“Wait—what exactly is that thing you were messing with?”
Jiang Fuyue paused, choosing her words: “You could think of it as a MEMS gyroscope combined with an Air Data Computer—or ADC. Functionally, it’s similar to an inertial cross-coupling control system. In Chinese, that might translate to Inertial Coupling Control System, but it’s not quite the same. The energy control and pressure dimensions differ, leading to different outcomes…”
“Besides that, it also integrates FMS—Flight Management System—functions, meaning it’s made of a display control module and navigation computer, connected via ARINC429 bus, and uses INS, LORAN-C, VOR, and GPS systems to continuously calculate trajectory and flight distance…”
Xu Jing: “???”
What in the world is she even talking about?!
