"This is so sweet! What's written on it? Is it Russian?"
"This part is the ingredients list," Chu Tingwu handed the chocolate box to Chang Yixin after sharing some with Chang Yile. "I received it during the New Year."
Although the New Year atmosphere had faded, the holiday treats at home hadn't been finished yet.
This box of chocolates was indeed a New Year gift that Chu Tingwu received. Teacher Zhang's old Russian friend had visited, and upon learning there was a "child" in the house, specifically... bought Russian chocolates from a local import store and insisted on giving them to Chu Tingwu.
—They had tried this brand before; it was delicious.
The family had come to China for tourism, but when Chu Tingwu returned home on her skateboard that day, only the elderly lady called Narcissa remained. Her younger family members had dropped her off before going to explore Fallen Phoenix City.
In the end, Chu Tingwu, Teacher Zhang, Aunt Mei, and Narcissa gathered for a mahjong game that lasted until midnight.
During the game, Chu Tingwu not only practiced her spoken Russian but also enriched and updated her vocabulary of modern Russian swear words.
Since returning to school, everyone had been exchanging snacks during breaks. The students who had joined the competition preparatory class and had classes in the experimental building were particularly bold, always carrying lots of packages.
Because the competition preparatory class didn't care how much they played around as long as they passed the tri-daily quizzes.
And those who couldn't pass—
That evening, they noticed several students missing from class.
The quizzes weren't ranked; they just had a passing score requirement.
During the day, they studied the regular first-year curriculum, and in the evening, they studied competition material. The pace was clearly faster than normal, covering almost one unit every three days. They had assignments both in and out of class, and after rushing to complete those, they still had to do homework from their regular daytime classes.
Someone complained, "Teacher, weren't we just supposed to participate in competitions this year to get a feel for the atmosphere? We're only first-years!"
They had thought they would just learn a bit extra or get ahead on second-year competition class material, but looking at their daily practice books? They were clearly drilling for competitions!
Even Chu Tingwu could feel that the teachers were trying to pour knowledge into their heads.
It didn't matter if they could remember it all; the important thing was to learn it first and then start solving problems frantically.
The lecturing teacher smiled, "Just getting a feel for the atmosphere? Do you think you have many opportunities? You're already in the second semester of your first year, and counting next year's second year, you only have two chances—"
"If you don't place in either of these two opportunities, you'll still have to take the college entrance exam," he tapped the desk, "and you'll have spent nearly a year studying competition problems and preparing for competitions while still needing to prepare for the college entrance exam... Will you regret joining the competition class then?"
The previously noisy classroom fell silent.
This teacher usually walked hurriedly; he was actually the second-year competition class teacher. After finishing their lesson, he had to teach next door, rarely speaking about anything outside of academics, which made his current words seem particularly heartfelt.
"I've been teaching competition classes for many years. Provincial rankings, national rankings—there are only so many spots. There are so many peers across the country working hard for these competitions, and a large portion might end up with nothing—no extra points, no guaranteed admission—just a more exhausting study experience than their classmates," he said. "You haven't even joined the official competition class yet; if you look next door, you'll see how relaxed you are in comparison, but you're already saying you're 'tired.'"
He smiled helplessly, "The official class division happens in second year, and you can discuss with your parents then whether to pursue competitions—if you want to make that decision now, you can stop attending the preparatory evening classes."
Of course, no one dared to respond; such decisions weren't easy to make.
"If you're not planning to quit... then remember, this isn't just about 'experiencing the atmosphere,' this is one of only two competitions you can participate in."
A few days after that teacher's speech, some students did leave the preparatory class, and the school didn't add new students. There wasn't time to start teaching newcomers from scratch anymore.
Today, they received their subject selection forms from the teacher.
The competitions were divided into five categories: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and information technology, with varying schedules and provincial preliminary rounds happening at different times.
Second-year students seemed to specialize in only one or two subjects, while first-years had no restrictions. The teacher said they could fill in whatever they wanted, whatever they thought they could handle—
However, those who selected all five subjects would have to study all five, and with possible schedule conflicts, they might need to self-study one or two subjects.
An Shiyan went around gathering information and reported back to her friends: "Everyone seems to want to take the biology competition."
The teachers also recommended the biology competition... because it finished earliest, and if they didn't place in the second-year round, it would leave them enough time to prepare for the college entrance exam.
Chu Tingwu put the light yet weighty registration form in her bag. They got out of school later than usual today, coincidentally running into the second-year students.
While the first-year competition prep class students still chatted and laughed with each other, those second-year students had rather subdued expressions. Though they still talked and conversed, there was a strange, suppressed calmness about them.
An Shiyan elbowed the two people beside her, pointing: "That should be Shen Rao from second year. They say she started participating in Olympics competitions in elementary school and began competition training in middle school. She won first prize in the math competition last year but didn't make it to the national team."
An Shiyan had heard gossip that this girl could already secure admission to other top domestic universities, but she still wanted to try for the national team.
Chang Yixin pondered, "Seems like someone with ambition?"
Yes, some people found competitions arduous, viewing winning rankings merely as a tool to enter better universities, but others seemed to genuinely find joy in competitions and improved themselves step by step.
After saying goodbye to her two friends at the school gate, Chu Tingwu put down her skateboard, rode it into the residential area, and waved at Three-Five-Five who was sprawled on the card reader at the entrance.
Three-Five-Five seemed to have been lying there for a while and yawned widely as she stood up, giving Chu Tingwu a puzzled look.
She had gone to the police dog base for classes and was brought back by Man Xing, but instead of going home, she waited at the entrance for her cub.
But why was her cub coming home so late again?
Three-Five-Five was getting sleepy at this hour since she usually kept regular hours.
Chu Tingwu poked her forehead, finding the cat squinting drowsily, then poked her bottom.
Three-Five-Five: "?"
Chu Tingwu held back a laugh, moving her skateboard back and forth with her foot, gesturing for Three-Five-Five to hop on.
The human and cat returned home, and it wasn't until the door opened that Chu Tingwu felt she could truly relax.
Now she wanted to crawl into the sofa box when she saw it, and lie down in the nest when she spotted it, but she couldn't—
Homework wasn't finished.
System: "=="
Although the System didn't say a word, Chu Tingwu heard teeth grinding beside her ear.
The System looked like it wanted to assassinate the teachers on Chu Tingwu's behalf.
Chu Tingwu: "..."
Parents shouldn't be too indulgent!
Actually, it wasn't too late yet; many young people hadn't even started their late-night activities, but students who had been using their brains all day in classes would feel truly exhausted once they relaxed.
After convincing the System to calm down, Chu Tingwu started doing homework while propping her chin with one hand—otherwise, she might fall asleep.
But even so, she still wanted to sleep... her palm was so soft, it seemed like she could take a nap on it.
Just as she thought this, she felt the tension in her aching head ease, a warm current swirling through her brain, fatigue receding, and her spirit recovering.
Chu Tingwu: "Has your system mall come online?"
System: "?"
What's that?
It explained, "I just stimulated your brain with an electrical current, but this method can't be used too often."
After calculating that it wouldn't affect the child's health, the system, feeling too much sympathy, decided to use it anyway.
Chu Tingwu became energized and quickly filled out all the homework, finally taking out that form.
She stared at the form for a while before asking the system, "Are competitions useful?"
The teacher's words today had also made Chu Tingwu start thinking.
In fact, in her class, Chu Tingwu was among those who could keep up with the teaching progress... The teacher probably hadn't expected her to give up, because no matter how you looked at it, if she worked hard for a year, her chances of getting a good ranking and receiving bonus points or direct admission were quite high.
If Chu Tingwu suggested withdrawing, they might even want to talk to her "parents" about it.
And now, she was talking to her parent.
She wouldn't choose to give up because of difficulties or fatigue, but Chu Tingwu couldn't quite understand the meaning of competitions yet.
The system seemed to notice its cub's confusion and didn't answer immediately.
Three-Five-Five jumped to the edge of the desk, placing its front paws on Chu Tingwu's arm, with its tail resting on her shoulder, causing a slight tickle.
System: "For the macro universe, this is a completely meaningless thing."
It first made this conclusion.
[This "world" is very, very, very big. Humans use competitions to select the most excellent young people from all of humanity, to achieve honors like world champion. Then, a small portion of these young people will continue to study deeply in their fields - mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, and information technology - and with an extremely small probability, achieve breakthroughs in knowledge and technology.]
[However, in their lifetime, they still seem unable to comprehend how vast the universe is, and life will pass along with time.]
[But for themselves, "competition" is a very valuable thing. Without such competitions, some people might never discover their talents and wouldn't take this path.]
[When they believe something has meaning, then it has meaning.]
There's no need to care about what the universe thinks, because the universe doesn't think anything.
"So," the system said, "if you enjoy doing this, then it has meaning for you."
Other people's judgments and views don't matter, because this is Chu Tingwu's own life.
Chu Tingwu: "What if I don't get into university... well, never mind."
Not only was this probability very low, moreover, the system obviously thought: "Does a little cat need to go to university?"
If Chu Tingwu got into university, she would be the cat with the highest education in the whole world!
Chu Tingwu stroked Three-Five-Five's back: "If I could get into a better university, of course I'd want to go. For others, spending over a year to secure a better four years of university is something with high value for the effort - just need to work hard for one year."
It wasn't that she couldn't work hard; she just felt something wasn't right.
She had done many problems, analyzed many types of questions, passed the frequent small tests—
Chu Tingwu walked to the window, opened it, and looked up.
Clouds covered the stars.
And under the night sky, spring had already quietly arrived long ago.
System: "Do you want to quit?"
Chu Tingwu: "No."
System: "?"
Chu Tingwu smiled: "I actually don't dislike the knowledge I've learned during this time."
If she didn't like it, she would have quit long ago.
In fact, she was interested in biology because of the changes in her own body. She found researching biology to be a very interesting thing. She was also interested in physics because when assembling the blueprints provided by the system, she always felt she could glimpse a corner of cutting-edge technology. And if current technology was already so mature, what would the system's restricted technologies be like?
She was also very curious about information technology, after all, she had the strongest "information technology" right beside her. Every bit of understanding made Chu Tingwu feel that this knowledge was so complex yet beautiful - it was a new world.
—But she had no interest in doing practice problems.
Doing problems, of course, was useful, it was one way to consolidate knowledge.
But when doing large amounts of memorization problems, Chu Tingwu always felt she wasn't a... no, wasn't a person, but rather a machine constantly being input with test answers, then precisely outputting those answers - she would be a perfect machine.
"I want to learn that knowledge," Chu Tingwu said, "but I don't want to participate in competitions anymore."
The next day, she said the same thing to that teacher.
Teacher Shi, upon hearing this, widened his eyes and looked at Chu Tingwu's empty subject intention form: "You mean you want to continue studying with the preparatory class during evening self-study, but won't register for competitions or do homework, is that right?"
Having been a teacher for many years, Teacher Shi had seen rebellious children before, but this was the first time he had heard such a request as Chu Tingwu's.
Some children were intelligent but didn't want to get caught up in competitions because they could easily get into good universities anyway, so there was no need to squeeze onto that narrow bridge. But someone like Chu Tingwu, attending classes yet not taking tests - wasn't this just a waste of time?
Teacher Shi instinctively wanted to say "there's no need to come learn if you're not participating in competitions, learning these things is for the tests," but he paused before the words came out.
He lowered his head to organize files and casually said, "You should discuss this with your parents and homeroom teacher. I don't mind having one more audit student, but we previously eliminated several students from the class due to grades, so I can't make a special exception for you — you'll have to participate in the class internal tests, and if your grades don't meet the standard, you can't stay."
As for whether Chu Tingwu would continue in the competition class in her second year of high school, that would be her own choice.
Teacher Shi thought: There's still one more chance in the second year, and she can make another choice then.
After Chu Tingwu left, a teacher at the adjacent desk came over to gossip: "Teacher Shi, don't you know who she is?"
Teacher Shi: "Of course I know her, doesn't she come to class every day?"
"No, that's not what I mean," the teacher waved their hand, "She's quite famous, does social media, has a very popular cat, and I heard she even went to film a movie recently... Even if she can't get into a good university, she can already earn plenty of money now, easily supporting herself, and her family seems quite well-off too."
Such gossip wasn't uncommon in the teachers' office, and Teacher Shi slightly furrowed his brows: "I couldn't tell, I thought she was quite low-key in class."
Her grades weren't bad, she was attentive in class, and her homework didn't seem perfunctory... So Teacher Shi hadn't expected Chu Tingwu to make such a request.
As agreed with her, this "attending class but not doing homework" arrangement started that evening. The preparatory class was split between two classrooms, with two subjects taught simultaneously - mathematics and biology - to avoid schedule conflicts for students taking multiple subjects.
Teacher Shi and Chu Tingwu agreed that whichever of the five subjects she chose to attend, she would need to reach the passing grade in tests for that subject, otherwise she wouldn't be allowed to continue.
Chu Tingwu chose three subjects: biology, physics, and information technology, seemingly planning to specialize in one of them.
They had tests very frequently, almost daily for one subject or another. That weekend, Teacher Shi specifically pulled up all of Chu Tingwu's grades—
Physics and information technology had both declined somewhat, dropping from the middle of the class to the lower end, while biology had fallen from upper-middle to nearly last place, barely meeting the requirements to continue attending.
Teacher Shi sighed helplessly: After subject specialization, the teaching pace for each subject had increased, becoming more difficult than before, with more content covered daily. Many students focused on at most two subjects at once, but Chu Tingwu was studying three simultaneously, without doing homework or review - it would have been strange if her grades hadn't declined.
Thinking of using these grades to try to persuade Chu Tingwu again, he carefully examined her test papers.
As he looked, his expression became somewhat strange: "Teacher Qi, could you come help me look at her biology—"
Teacher Qi, who had been called to stop, paused puzzlingly and examined the test papers as well. "Her answers to these questions... hmm, is this good or bad?"
How strange that she got two simple memorization questions wrong, yet managed to solve all those difficult experimental problems? In fact, both first and second-year high school students took the same test, just with different minimum scoring requirements. The questions Teacher Qi pointed out were ones that even second-year students struggled with - only two or three students, whom Teacher Qi considered strong contenders for provincial first prizes, had gotten them all correct.
Looking at just these questions, Teacher Qi felt Chu Tingwu showed great talent, but considering her overall score, he thought she shouldn't be studying competitive biology at all.
Teacher Shi pulled out the physics test papers to show Teacher Qi: "All her test papers show the same pattern."
Simple questions wrong, but complex experimental problems correct.
Could it be that she just had a special talent for experimental questions?
The two teachers left the office one after another, both wanting to have a good talk with Chu Tingwu about her test papers. Just then, the information technology class had ended, and when they looked through the classroom window—
Chu Tingwu was sleeping on her desk, and from the looks of it, she had been asleep for quite a while.
The teachers: "..."
The IT teacher who had just finished lecturing quietly took a sip of water. After putting down her cup, she glanced at her colleagues outside the window, then tapped the student in the front row and pointed at Chu Tingwu: Wake her up.
Actually, she had noticed Chu Tingwu during class and knew about this special student. During the lesson, Chu Tingwu had been reading ahead in the textbook, and halfway through, she had glanced at the blackboard once before putting her head down to sleep.
The student assigned this task looked confused.
The student turned to look at Chu Tingwu, then at the teacher, before walking over and taking Chu Tingwu's jacket from the back of her chair to cover her.
—She might catch a cold sleeping like that, surely that's what the teacher meant!
The IT teacher: "..."
Perhaps she had taught so much that the children had all become a bit slow.
She used her eyes to signal to the person sitting next to Chu Tingwu.
Chang Yixin caught this look and then noticed the two teachers outside the window.
She smiled slightly, reached over, and pulled the hood of Chu Tingwu's jacket over her head, even pinching it to form two cat-ear points.
-
Chu Tingwu wasn't actually sleeping.
Of course, she was in the virtual classroom created by the system.
During previous physics and biology classes, she had also often suddenly put her head down on the desk. In reality, she was requesting to enter the "tutoring space" with the system.
"Knowledge" itself isn't flat; it has developed step by step until becoming the words and diagrams we see on paper today. In the "tutoring space" created by the system, Chu Tingwu could observe and even personally experience how unknowns became knowns.
The teacher's explanations built a framework for Chu Tingwu, and she extracted the parts she was curious about and presented them to the system. The system then helped her sort through everything from the beginning to the cutting edge, and even for parts she didn't yet understand, Chu Tingwu gained the opportunity to observe experiments.
This explained why her test scores showed such large fluctuations. She hadn't spent time studying or memorizing certain memory-based questions yet, so naturally, she couldn't answer them. But after some time, she would be able to thoroughly master these "wrong" questions and imprint them in her mind.
Spending her days in class and nights in practice, she lived very fulfilling days while contemplating which subject to specialize in.
Chu Tingwu was very self-aware. While she had enhanced her body, she hadn't enhanced her brain, and with her current energy levels, she could only choose one subject to delve deeper into.
She had a vague feeling that whichever subject she chose would likely influence her future university major choice and have even more far-reaching effects on her life.
—Looking back years later, she would realize it all started when Teacher Yuan approached her, saying that although she hadn't taken the start-of-term exam, her previous semester's grades qualified her for the competitive exam preparation class.
Chu Tingwu imagined such a future, finding her feelings peculiar yet interesting.
She told the system this, and it puzzled: "Does learning have to stop after university graduation?"
Chu Tingwu: "Of course not."
She understood what the system meant. While her current choices might influence her future, they weren't so crucial in the grand scheme of a long life.
If she wanted to do something, she should just do it well.
-
If she wanted to sleep in class, she just slept in class.
As a result, Chu Tingwu's seat in the experimental building classroom was moved to the very back row.
She guessed the teachers didn't want her to influence other students.
However, this position wasn't bad at all, especially since Chu Tingwu seemed to have grown taller. The back row was more spacious, and when she needed to put her head down, she could use the empty desk next to her without having to clear her own desk.
Today, as she put her head down, she heard the system say: "The patient has arrived."
Patient?
Chu Tingwu realized: it was the patient invited by Jiao Mountain Orthopedic Hospital, an extreme sports athlete who needed surgery.
She scanned the files provided by the system in the space and found that the patient was a rock climber who specialized in bouldering and had achieved impressive results in international competitions.
However, a few months ago, during training, the athlete had torn their hand muscle tendon.
Rock climbing involves many moves that require supporting one's entire body weight with their fingers, so many climbers often develop hand problems—while tendon surgery isn't uncommon, athletes have higher requirements for surgical outcomes.
The success of the surgery would determine their athletic longevity.
When Chu Tingwu opened her eyes, she found herself above the cleaning robot again.
This time there was no secretary to guide the way, but during this period, the central control system for various hospital room doors had also been renovated.
System: "Baby can treat this place like home!"
Meaning just like at home, it could help its little cub open and close doors at any time.
And not just that! It could even drive the little cleaning robot car for its cub!
The system was very pleased.
However, while opening doors and "driving" along the way, when Chu Tingwu reached the observation room next to the operating theater, Lian Tong noticed the boss's ride.
Although he still didn't know whether this cat was the boss's virtual avatar or the boss's daughter, Lian Tong had a strong sense of secretary service awareness and immediately stepped forward to help open the door for a cleaning robot.
The little cat perched on top turned its head and gave him a look.
The cleaning robot also paused, then, "click."
The door that had just been fitted with a smart lock suddenly closed automatically.
Lian Tong: "?"
How could the door malfunction right when the boss arrived!
Just as he was about to step forward to open the door again, he noticed the cleaning robot backing up half a turn, then approaching again—
The door opened automatically.
The little cat on the robot yawned, crouching on the forward-moving cleaning robot as it entered the door.
Noticing that Lian Tong hadn't followed, it turned back puzzled and lifted its paw.
The nearly closed door opened again.
Lian Tong: "...Thank you."
So he shouldn't have opened the door earlier, right?
Although the doors were controlled by electronic systems and theoretically had no emotions, somehow he managed to read a hint of eagerness from the door's automatic opening motion.
...As well as disdain for his "lack of perception" in rushing to help unnecessarily.
