Chapter 67: Cannon Fodder Sister of the Female Lead (19)

Jiang Lai wasn’t interested, but the math teacher quickly added another sentence.

"If you can win some international awards, you might be directly admitted to college."

"I can, teacher. I think I still need to improve my math performance a bit."

The math teacher saw through her thoughts and smiled with relief.

"Keep it up, and maybe you’ll bring back a big award in two years."

There are about ten members in the interest group, all of whom are top performers in math in the class. Jiang Lai also saw Jiang Qu’s name on the member list on the wall.

Yes, the leader of Group Two, first place in the county’s math competition.

Soon there will be the selection exam for the third year of high school. The main purpose of this exam is to select students eligible to take the college entrance examination.

If you fail the selection exam, you lose the qualification to take the college entrance exam.

So, no third-year students are in these math competition group activities. Only a few second-year students bring first-year students to work on problems in a classroom after school, with math group teachers explaining the problems afterward.

The selected problems are all real questions from previous Olympiad competitions. They do one every day. Today, it was a fill-in-the-blank question. The teacher gave twenty minutes, after which everyone had to submit their answers.

Jiang Lai leaned over the table, using up page after page of paper. In the last moment of the twenty minutes, when everyone else had already submitted their answers, Jiang Lai was the last to hand hers to the teacher.

The tutor glanced lightly at each answer as they accepted them, then nodded, signaling the student to go down.

When they glanced at the answer Jiang Lai handed over, they deliberately looked up at her, then down at the answer again, frowning thoughtfully, and asked.

"Have you done this question in advance?"

"I haven’t done the original question, but I’ve done a similar one before, which was simpler than this, just needing a couple of extra auxiliary lines."

"Okay, write your problem-solving thought process on the board. Everyone below should pay attention to see how she solved it."

Jiang Lai took the chalk and started calculating step by step from a corner of the blackboard. By the time the final answer was out, half the blackboard was covered in formulas.

The teacher nodded, full of praise in their tone.

"Very good, excellent, even more detailed than the reference answer’s solution! You’re called Jiang Lai, right? From now on, you’ll be the leader of this column."

Jiang Lai nodded, and when she walked off the podium, admiring gazes came from all directions.

The class president was sitting right next to her. He joined the math interest group a month before Jiang Lai. He just had a slight idea about the question whereas Jiang Lai not only solved it in just twenty minutes but also clearly detailed the entire process.

"Jiang Lai, you’re really amazing."

"Just lucky, I’ve done a similar question before."

"That’s also because you’re strong. I’ve done similar ones before, but when I see them again, I have no clue. From now on, you’ll be my group leader. Can I ask you if I have questions next time?"

Jiang Lai nodded.

The class president has always had the best math grades in the grade. Even though Jiang Lai stole the spotlight twice, he didn’t feel any competitive jealousy; instead, he humbly sought guidance from her and even lent Jiang Lai a practice book he brought from out of town.

In this era, it’s hard to buy materials for extracurricular tutoring. The book in the class president’s hand is real math exam questions from when the college entrance exam was restored, from all over the country. Jiang Lai flipped through a set and found several questions she didn’t know how to do.

But the class president had already learned all these in advance.

"I finished learning high school math textbooks when I was in middle school, so my good performance is because I’m an early bird, unlike you, who relies entirely on talent."

Jiang Lai likes playing with people who speak nicely, and even though the class president isn’t as smart as her, he has a solid foundation.

So, the two of them stayed behind after everyone left the class to study a challenging math problem from the college entrance exam from two years ago. It’s first-year knowledge but full of traps; many people didn’t answer it correctly that year.

By the time Jiang Lai got the answer, it was already dark outside.

Suddenly she thought of something, quickly packed her schoolbag.

"It’s Friday today, I need to get home early, see you."

"Ah... Oh, see you next Monday."

The class president also packed his things and ran out, calling Jiang Lai’s name.

"Jiang Lai, here, take this home and have a look; sorry to trouble you today."

As he spoke, the class president handed Jiang Lai some key difficult questions he usually organized.

"My uncle is at the city’s No. 3 Middle School, and he usually gives me test papers, from which I’ve summarized some mistakes. Take it home and have a look."

Jiang Lai glanced down and accepted it.

"Thank you, I’ll bring it to you next Monday."

"No rush, you can give it back after you’ve finished watching."

After saying goodbye to the class president, Jiang Lai trotted to the bike shed.

There’s no way around it. Jiang Qiuhe originally said they would come to pick her up, but Jiang Lai told them a classmate could give her a ride.

Now it’s almost six, and Cheng Lie is nowhere to be found. The bike shed is empty, not a single bike left, and as the sky grows darker, Jiang Lai tugged her clothes, put on her big hat, and walked toward the school gate with her head down.

The wind today is particularly biting. It’s only the end of November, but the weather feels decidedly like the depths of winter.

The quilted clothes are thick, but still not warm.

The winter in the South is the hardest to endure, especially for students like her who spend four or five hours on their commute—it’s simply a nightmare.

Riding a bike home herself, her hands could freeze off on the way.

Walking home is even worse, with the wind making everything on her face numb except her eyes.

Just as Jiang Lai was thinking about what to do, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind.

"Why so slow?"

Jiang Lai’s eyes lit up, and she quickly turned around, struggling to lift her head to look at Cheng Lie in front of her.

The other was wearing a black jacket, hands in leather gloves, standing tall in the corner, with dark eyes shining with a faint light.

Jiang Lai had never thought he looked this handsome.

Cheng Lie bent down, looking at the little girl with a red, round face wrapped in a hat, his mouth couldn’t help but curl up.

"If you’re this late again next time, walk home on your own."

"I’m sorry, I got too caught up in solving problems."

"Hmm, since it’s for study, you’re forgiven. Here, eat this on the way."

As he spoke, Cheng Lie tossed a scorching hot thing into Jiang Lai’s arms. She extended her hand to open the paper wrapper and took a look. The rich aroma of chestnuts wafted up, making her feel warm inside in an instant.

"Wow, is there a place selling chestnuts on this street?"