Not a single word.
The reason Jiang Yubai had studied complex numbers was that when he was in Singapore, his parents had found a mathematics PhD from the National University of Singapore as his home tutor.
That tutor was very responsible. He often broadened Jiang Yubai’s horizons, starting from “integers” to “fractions,” then from “fractions” to “base numbers,” and further from “base numbers, real numbers” to “imaginary numbers and complex numbers.”
He often praised Jiang Yubai: You are a very intelligent student.
In fact, during the three years Jiang Yubai attended school in Singapore, he had always been the top student in his grade. His English, mathematics, science, Chinese, physical education, and music were all at exceptional levels among his peers.
The private elementary school in Singapore that Jiang Yubai attended cost 200,000 RMB per year in tuition. In 2003, apartments inside Beijing’s Second Ring Road cost about 10,000 RMB per square meter, and Jiang Yubai’s mother joked: “Your annual tuition could buy a small study room in Beijing.”
At that time, Jiang Yubai’s elementary school classmates were all from wealthy or noble families. Their parents all valued education, and everyone took intense supplementary classes. Jiang Yubai could stand out from this group, maintaining the top position without defeat, so he considered himself to be doing relatively well.
However, today, Jiang Yubai was somewhat bewildered.
The long speech Lin Zhixia gave him reminded him of his experience listening to lectures.
When Jiang Yubai was in elementary school in Singapore, their principal occasionally invited professors from the National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technological University to give lectures. At those times, Jiang Yubai and his classmates would sit properly in their seats, and although they couldn’t understand what the professors were saying, they still had to applaud vigorously.
Those university professors, just like Lin Zhixia, would talk endlessly once they mentioned their research fields.
Jiang Yubai closed his notebook and couldn’t help asking: “Lin Zhixia, what do you usually think about?”
Lin Zhixia clasped her hands: “Do you like physics and mathematics? Do you believe the universe has an end? Do you think time and consciousness can measure this world? Do you think humans have free will?”
She lowered her head slightly, her voice very soft, with her fair face turning slightly red from excitement.
She also pointed a finger at Jiang Yubai’s notebook: “Jiang Yubai, you should know more than… just some complex number operations, right?”
Lin Zhixia didn’t know that her words were like a knife, stabbing deep into Jiang Yubai’s heart, puncturing his self-esteem, making him bleed.
“I…” Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, but before he could speak, Teacher Wu shouted from the podium: “Lin Zhixia!”
Lin Zhixia sat up straight and opened her textbook.
Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard again: “You all! Don’t talk during class! Classroom discipline! You must observe classroom discipline! I’m still willing to reason with you, but when you advance to middle school, which teacher will bother with you? They’ll immediately expel you, chattering students, from the classroom. When you can’t attend class, your grades drop, you fail the high school entrance exam, you can’t get into a good high school, then you’ll understand that Teacher Wu is doing this for your good today!”
Lin Zhixia covered her face, secretly laughing.
Even though Teacher Wu’s gaze was fixated on the area around Jiang Yubai, he still asked: “Lin Zhixia, what are you laughing at?”
“It’s fun,” Lin Zhixia answered, “I’m a human behavior observer.”
*
After this Chinese language class ended, just as Teacher Wu stepped out of the classroom, most of the classmates gathered around Jiang Yubai.
The students formed a solid barrier, with Jiang Yubai like an exhibition item within it, available for everyone to view.
Everyone was just nine or ten years old, with feelings of jealousy, curiosity, and inquiry completely undisguised.
A slightly chubby boy spoke up: “Jiang Yubai, my name is Zhou Bufeng, I sit in front of you.”
Jiang Yubai had seen his exercise book and recognized his name, so he nodded and said: “Hello.”
Zhou Bufeng placed both hands on Jiang Yubai’s desk. He wore a cotton undershirt that was a bit tight around the waist, revealing a small belly. He patted his belly and suddenly asked: “Jiang Yubai, Dong Sunqi, and I saw you and your father at the school gate this morning. Does your family have a sports car? Is it an Aston Martin?”
Aston Martin refers to the luxury sports car brand under the American Ford company, with its headquarters in London, England.
As soon as Zhou Bufeng finished asking, Jiang Yubai answered: “My father didn’t come today. The person you saw was my family’s driver.”
“Woah—” An uproar erupted among the classmates.
This kind of collective noise made Jiang Yubai somewhat uneasy. Besides that, Aston Martin, his family’s garage, also had Porsche, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and McLaren F1. Jiang Yubai guessed that he didn’t fit in with his classmates. Or rather, his family background was among the extreme minority in the class.
Sure enough, Zhou Bufeng pushed Jiang Yubai: “Where do your parents work? Your family is so rich!”
Lin Zhixia also said: “Yeah, when you transferred, even the principal stood at the door to greet you.”
Zhou Bufeng glanced stealthily at Lin Zhixia and incessantly asked: “Jiang Yubai, where does your family live? Does your family have a big villa?”
Does your family have a big villa?
This direct questioning seemed impolite. And a presumptuous answer would be abrupt. After all, most classmates’ families didn’t have sports cars, and probably didn’t have villas either. Jiang Yubai’s home in this city wasn’t just a villa… more precisely, it should be called a private estate. His home had a tennis court, swimming pool, rose garden, and even a martial arts practice area.
This July, during the first few days after Jiang Yubai returned home, he often got lost in his own house.
Jiang Yubai lowered his head to think, slightly furrowing his brow: “I don’t know.”
He was satisfied with his response, so he repeated: “I don’t know.”
“You don’t even know this?” Zhou Bufeng looked at him like he was an idiot.
But Lin Zhixia asked: “Because your house is too big, so you can’t tell if it’s a villa?”
“You’re right.” Jiang Yubai coldly admitted. Having sat next to Lin Zhixia for less than half a day, he had already started to resent her quick wit and pretended cleverness.
Zhou Bufeng pointed at another boy with a crew cut in the class and said, “Hey, that’s Dong Sunqi! Dong Sunqi is our class monitor. He’s the richest in our Class 1! Jiang Yubai, you’re even richer than him!”
Dong Sunqi heard someone calling him. He turned to glance at Zhou Bufeng, then turned his face back.
Class 4(1) had imperceptibly divided into two camps.
The first camp centered around Dong Sunqi, with mostly boys around him. The second camp centered around Jiang Yubai, with the ratio of boys to girls near one-to-one.
Dong Sunqi wore a red scarf and a badge with two stripes. He extended his left arm, showing off the two stripes, and the boys around him all laughed, with a mysteriously joyful atmosphere in the air.
Someone shouted: “Tiger Team Adventures! Dong Sunqi bought more Tiger Team Adventures!”