Jiang Yubai humbly asked: “What is momentum?”
“A vector that describes the cumulative effect of force over time,” Lin Zhixia explained concisely.
Jiang Yubai stood upright, nodding repeatedly.
“Did you understand?” Lin Zhixia asked, knowing the answer.
“No,” Jiang Yubai answered honestly.
Lin Zhixia was not discouraged and patiently told him, “Life is like a k-means clustering algorithm. At first, we all randomly choose reference points, not knowing where we stand. Later, as the collected data changes, our reference points also begin to update. When we stand at different reference points and observe the same things, we will reach different conclusions. People are constantly growing and adjusting their reference points… like before this class, you thought boys fighting was nothing, but after this class, you might think twice before taking action.”
Jiang Yubai looked at her: “K-means clustering algorithm. Thank you, I’ve learned it.”
Lin Zhixia smiled sweetly: “Mathematics can make people feel happy and also make us think about life.”
*
As the class Chinese representative, during this class break, Lin Zhixia needed to go to the teacher’s office to get a stack of homework books. She happily walked to the office door. The door was half-closed, and the homeroom teacher’s voice came from inside.
The homeroom teacher laughed and said, “Teacher Qian, calm down. Jiang Yubai’s father is a major taxpayer in our province; their group contributes quite a lot to GDP annually and can also attract foreign investment. The principal told me that Jiang Yubai’s family has connections in Beijing. Don’t be hard on him, he’s still a child, usually very polite.”
Teacher Qian replied: “I’m not being hard on him. I just entered the classroom and saw him knocking Zhou Bufeng down, stepping on his leg… isn’t that bullying a classmate?”
“Ah, Zhou Bufeng often causes trouble in our class,” the homeroom teacher defended Jiang Yubai. Zhou Bufeng’s parents work in Shanghai. He’s being raised by his grandparents, and he’s been stealing things for quite some time.”
Teacher Qian was somewhat surprised: “He steals things?”
The homeroom teacher described: “Last year, your office was across from here, not with me. At that time, students in our class came to complain to me, but you didn’t hear. Zhou Bufeng had stolen the class monitor’s pocket money and Gan Shuli’s fountain pen… he can’t control himself. I’ve talked to him, advised him, but it’s useless.”
Teacher Qian sighed: “Kids these days, really something.”
The homeroom teacher continued: “Jiang Yubai is better. He has good family education.”
The homeroom teacher’s defense of a student was summarized by Lin Zhixia as “Schrödinger’s defense.”
The so-called “Schrödinger’s state,” also quoted from “Quantum Mechanics,” refers to a state that seems to be and yet isn’t, both is and isn’t.
Lin Zhixia fell into her thoughts.
When she returned to her seat, Lin Zhixia called out: “Jiang Yubai.”
“What is it?” Jiang Yubai responded.
Lin Zhixia cleared away the stationery and books on the desk and sincerely confided in Jiang Yubai: “You’re the only one in class willing to listen to me talk about math and physics, even though you never understand what I’m saying…”
Jiang Yubai always displayed a serious attitude, listening to Lin Zhixia’s various thoughts, but she seemed to have known all along that he couldn’t understand at all. He sat stiffly upright and feebly defended himself: “I will gradually understand.”
But Lin Zhixia said: “By then, I’ll have graduated from elementary school! Maybe I’ll never see you again.”
The math notebook was almost worn out from Jiang Yubai’s constant flipping. He held a Parker pen and cautiously responded: “Never see me again?”
“Yes,” Lin Zhixia said sincerely, “while we’re still desk mates, I’d like to formally invite you to be my human observation subject. I’ve always wanted to understand… how ordinary people think. For example, when you see problems related to Hilbert space, what’s your first reaction? Do you get a headache? Do you feel intimidated? Hahahahaha.”
A few minutes ago, Jiang Yubai was deeply moved by Lin Zhixia’s consolation. Now, he just wanted to punch himself awake, to open his eyes wide and look at Lin Zhixia! She was still the same!
Jiang Yubai calmly inquired: “Why choose me as your human observation subject?”
Lin Zhixia was particularly honest: “I heard the homeroom teacher say that your family is a major taxpayer in our province, contributing a lot to GDP annually, and your family also has foreign-invested enterprises. Your insights must be broader than others. Studying you is like studying many people at once.”
Jiang Yubai pondered for a moment, and, enduring the humiliation, agreed: “Okay.”
“Thank you!” Lin Zhixia was overjoyed.
She softly said: “Jiang Yubai, you are my good friend.”
Jiang Yubai remained silent.
After this class, Ding Yan came to play with Jiang Yubai.
The daylight from the window fell on the paper, and Ding Yan saw Lin Zhixia write “A Preliminary Research Review on the Thinking Patterns of Ordinary Humans” in large characters on a draft paper.
Then, Lin Zhixia started a new line, wrote “Abstract,” and added two colons.
Lin Zhixia solemnly recorded: This paper further explores the thinking patterns and cognitive limitations of ordinary humans through observation of the author’s desk mate—classmate Jiang Yubai…
Ding Yan was surprised.
He put both hands in his pants pockets and called Jiang Yubai out of the classroom.
As soon as they stepped outside, Ding Yan asked: “Jiang Yubai, how can you tolerate this? Why don’t you ask Teacher Wu to change your seat?”
Jiang Yubai shook his head: “I have a battle plan, first let her taste some sweetness, let her guard down.”
Ding Yan didn’t quite understand: “You want to be nice to her?”
“No!” Jiang Yubai denied, “I’ve made her my competitor.”
Ding Yan looked perplexed: “You think you can compete with her? I heard people say she only needs to look at a book once to memorize it. It takes me thirty minutes to memorize a text, it takes her three seconds.”
She memorizes texts in three seconds.
Yes, the opponent is very strong.
Jiang Yubai slightly clenched his fist. He wouldn’t give up. He would prove himself in front of Ding Yan and Lin Zhixia, far surpassing Lin Zhixia, leaving her far behind, reclaiming that self-esteem she had crushed.
He said: “Lin Zhixia’s birthday is coming soon.”
Ding Yan looked nervous: “What are you going to do?”
Jiang Yubai stood behind a pillar, with crisscrossing light falling on him, illuminating half his face in light and half in shadow.
He was like the most handsome robber in the Hong Kong film “Young and Dangerous,” bearing a heaviness that didn’t belong to his age: “I’m going to give her a gift.”
Ding Yan shuddered.