In fact, Lin Zhixia could tell the truth.
She could tell Jiang Yubai: It’s like this, I want to help my family save some money. Saving money is secondary; mainly, I argued with my mom yesterday. I’m not in the mood to prepare for the autumn excursion anymore.
By inductively summarizing the content of her “Human Observation Diary,” Lin Zhixia discovered that most people were unable to put themselves in the lives they had never experienced. Whether children or adults, almost none could put themselves in others’ shoes and think from their perspective; even Lin Zhixia herself couldn’t do it.
So, for Jiang Yubai, “saving money” might be an abstract concept. For him to understand “saving 76 yuan” was even more difficult than understanding “Peccei-Quinn symmetry.”
Lin Zhixia probed: “What do you think counts as a large sum of money?”
Jiang Yubai believed this was an intelligence test question. He prepared seriously and thought rigorously: “The money you’re referring to, is it currency circulating on Earth?”
“Yes,” Lin Zhixia answered.
Jiang Yubai concluded: “One yuan is a large sum.”
Lin Zhixia asked in surprise: “Why?”
Jiang Yubai explained with reason and evidence: “Currency is the foundation of modern economy. One yuan represents the progress of human civilization.”
“How idealistic,” Lin Zhixia marveled.
Jiang Yubai wasn’t quite sure: “Are you complimenting me?”
Lin Zhixia nodded: “Yes, of course I’m complimenting you. You’ve elevated a simple and common question… to the level of human civilization and modern economics. I admire the depth of your thinking.”
Jiang Yubai said with restraint: “Thank you.”
Lin Zhixia threw her head back and laughed: “Hahaha, you’re so interesting.”
Lin Zhixia eagerly opened her notebook to record today’s “Human Observation Diary.” She held a fountain pen and wrote solemnly: Today I made a major discovery. Although my deskmate Jiang Yubai doesn’t understand physics and chemistry at all, he maintains a highly acute intuition in the field of monetary economics…
This morning’s Class 4(1) was not quiet; the classroom was filled with the noisy voices of classmates, making it difficult for Jiang Yubai to settle down. He turned his head slightly and looked at the “Human Observation Diary” in Lin Zhixia’s hand.
He only saw one line: Jiang Yubai maintains a highly acute intuition in the field of monetary economics.
In the beginning, when Jiang Yubai first became Lin Zhixia’s deskmate, his self-esteem had once been completely crushed by Lin Zhixia.
He discovered that Lin Zhixia had not only extensively dabbled in physics, mathematics, history, economics, literature, computer science, and other subjects, but could also speak fluent foreign languages.
He wasn’t sure how many languages Lin Zhixia could speak. But he knew that Lin Zhixia’s French was better than her English. Her wording and grammar were impeccable.
And she didn’t even have a foreign language tutor.
How did she learn foreign languages?
Just by borrowing books from the provincial library and paying for limited internet time.
Provincial library, borrowing books, and limited internet time.
These concepts all touched upon Jiang Yubai’s knowledge blind spots.
After a period of psychological rebuilding, Jiang Yubai successfully recovered from the blow. A strong desire to win worked within his body, and he believed that he would have a day of turning defeat into victory.
Unexpectedly, this morning, he had already received initial recognition from Lin Zhixia.
Jiang Yubai immediately took out his “Exploring the Universe” comic series, defining the title of the new chapter as “New Monetary Order.”
The plot development of this chapter was quite tumultuous. The Earth Legion established a base in Orion, founded a central bank, and issued a new type of currency—this currency could circulate in Orion, and Jiang Yubai was responsible for researching the supply relationship of “money supply and money demand.”
“Orion’s commodities,” Jiang Yubai muttered to himself, “how to price them?”
Lin Zhixia pointed out: “We can establish a non-equilibrium model of money supply and demand. According to the short-side principle, assuming the market demand for a commodity is D, the market supply is S, and the price is P, after introducing exogenous variables and random errors, take the minimum value of D and S as Q. Then, the new round of market price will be updated to P plus a parameter gamma multiplied by the difference between D and S, where we can also introduce a new random error[1].”
After explaining, Lin Zhixia said with reason and evidence: “This formula is from a paper I saw from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Systems Science.”
Jiang Yubai appropriately concealed his shock.
He casually picked up a fountain pen—this was Lin Zhixia’s fountain pen—and used it to draw a horizontal line under the formula Lin Zhixia had listed, evaluating: “Not bad.”
He wasn’t deliberately being taciturn. His mind was blank; he had nothing to say.
Lin Zhixia tilted her head: “The pen is out of ink.”
She picked up an ink bottle.
Jiang Yubai unscrewed the cap and naturally inserted the pen tip into the ink. While squeezing the pen’s water bag, he asked: “Have you read many papers?”
Lin Zhixia only said: “I like ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’ the most.”
Jiang Yubai asked a question that had been deeply hidden in his heart: “Why don’t you skip grades or participate in elementary school competitions?”
“Elementary school competitions are so boring; the questions are all so simple. I don’t want to skip grades either,” Lin Zhixia took the pen from his hand. “Anyway, I self-study wherever I go. I want to make friends with people my age; I want to be friends with you.”
She said, I want to be friends with you.
Jiang Yubai leaned back in his chair, his gaze shifting elsewhere. It was as if he wasn’t talking to her. But his response was indeed for her. He said: “Okay.”
*
It was during the class break, and people were coming and going in the corridor.
The homeroom teacher, Teacher Wu, was about to reach the door of Class 4(1) when she happened to see Lin Zhixia’s mother.
Lin Zhixia’s mother was wearing jeans, a cotton shirt, a windbreaker, and a pair of dark arm sleeves. She spotted Teacher Wu from afar and quickly called out: “Teacher Wu, hello, I’m Lin Zhixia’s mother. I forgot to give my daughter money this morning, so I’ve come to bring her that… 76 yuan for the autumn excursion fee. The school security said I could only stay for ten minutes… Fortunately, I’ve run into Teacher Wu. I’ll hand over the money now.”
Teacher Wu had an understanding expression. She said “Oh,” and agreed with a smile: “Ah, it’s Lin Zhixia’s parent. I remember, I remember.”
The classroom door was open, and Teacher Wu knocked on it, calling loudly: “Tang Leqin! Tang Leqin, bring over our class’s autumn excursion list!”