ily achieved a great victory. To others, it was surprising that Mayor Jiang Chaoming had supported such an insignificant office supply store. This kind of support aroused much speculation. Even the he...Chapter 87: Solving Advanced Mathematics Problems from the Collection of Bird Poems
Su Can and Zhou sat on a long bench outside the grand auditorium while listening to the unique performance by Xi Wu School's evening orchestra and symphony band. He felt the cool breeze ruffle Tang Wu's long hair, brushing past his neck and cheeks, creating an itchy sensation mixed with the scent of soap.
The melodious music from inside the auditorium filled his ears, accompanied by intermittent cheers, sounding both real and ethereal.
Tang Wu held a newspaper in her hand. It featured Su Can on a special page because, after successful promotion efforts, he had become one of the most notable Chinese exchange students at Exeter College in recent times.
His interactions with the Dungeons & Dragons club upon entering the school made him the first Chinese student to dare participate in an underground organization not welcomed by the college. This also caused the college to pay close attention to him, making his overall rating increasingly precarious while his reputation paradoxically grew.
This was something that greatly worried Tang Wu.
Compared with how difficult it is for someone to appear in a newspaper back in China, getting published in an American newspaper was quite easy and a common occurrence. Especially in a small city like Exeter, the local paper would often feature recent happenings each week.
Some students at the college preferred to take on temporary reporter roles, writing about their observations and feelings for publication, earning them some compensation from the city newspaper. This made Su Can realize that Americans could indeed be quite boring, but they were also adept at discovering interesting aspects of life around them, even if it was just a small bit of fun.
However, Su Can clearly understood that if these ordinary newspapers from Exeter reached China, the reaction would be tremendous. It represented a fundamental clash between two cultures. The idea of his scandal being blown out of proportion in the newspaper was something he could easily imagine the expressions of the people at No. 27 High School.
But compared to this distant country and city, what happened back at No. 27 High School could largely be ignored.
Su Can held Tang Wu's hand while sitting on the bench, quietly listening to the orchestra’s performance. In fact, they rarely had such leisurely time together.
Many people believed American students had an easy academic life, but that wasn't necessarily true. Exeter High started classes at 8 AM and ended around 3 PM with a total of six periods per day. If there was a class on any given day, the teacher could assign homework which was graded in tiers; minimum one minute, medium five minutes, and maximum ten minutes. Usually, senior students took more challenging courses where each assignment's upper limit was ten minutes. So if someone took five classes, that would be over four hours of daily homework, making their workload very heavy.
In particular, for international students like Su Cen and Tang Wu, they would inevitably be weaker in liberal arts compared to local students. Therefore, their lives weren't as carefree as everyone imagined back home. Sometimes, the two of them were invited to parties, but usually, they would attend briefly before returning, just enough to introduce themselves and not appear too isolated, though this did interfere with their study time.
As for leisure activities like traveling, the two were so busy that they didn’t have time to even consider such thoughts.
Su Cen took a deep breath. He had initially imagined his stay in America would be romantic, but reality showed him that academic pressure was just as intense as during his final year of high school back home.
To pass the comprehensive evaluation at the end of high school, their grades couldn't afford to slip too much.
Thus, he could only imagine how satisfying it would be to hold Tang Wu's hand, which had initially resisted but then surrendered, sitting quietly outside the auditorium on a rare free Sunday afternoon, listening to the faint music.
Su Cen even felt nostalgic for his life in high school back home—dull and monotonous, yet also fulfilling.
The first month of their lives as international students ended before they could fully grasp its nuances.
Tang Wu was becoming increasingly popular. Perhaps due to being away from China, her disposition had become more outgoing, often smiling when interacting with Americans, which was well received by everyone regardless of gender. Tang Wu represented Chinese students and left a strong impression on others for her excellence in science subjects.
Su Cen and Tang Wu's proficiency in math led to another incident—the school implemented state education regulations requiring that solutions to math problems be explained in English rather than just calculated, with a significant portion of the answer being verbal instead of numerical.
This meant when encountering math questions, one had to explain how to solve them in English. When this regulation was first announced, Asian students at the school were quite upset, believing it was an attempt by white Americans to target Asians since their proficiency in mathematics was unquestionable and a common trait among international students who excelled in science but struggled with English. However, due to school regulations, they had no choice but to accept this silently.
Su Cen, being new here, didn’t fully understand these issues at first. Moreover, although his spoken English was good, he found it challenging to write essays fluently in English and fell short compared to Tang Wu's proficiency.
After handing in the math test, just as he was about to leave the classroom, he was called back by his teacher. "Su, besides giving the correct answer, you also need to explain how you arrived at this solution."
The entire examination hall watched him; some people who usually struggled with a single problem felt rather pleased and thought that this policy was quite good.
Wrinkling his brow, Su Can took back the test paper from his teacher, returned to his seat, and in just a few minutes, under everyone’s gaze, he quickly submitted it again. The teacher held onto Su Can's test paper, removed his玳瑁眼鏡from the bridge of his nose, rubbed his eyes, and seemed to be lost in thought for quite some time.
"Thoughts flit across my mind like flocks of wild geese passing through the sky; I hear the sound of their wings as they soar high above. Looking up at the blue sky and white clouds, answers come naturally."
Su Can's response became a hot topic among American male and female students in the twenty dormitory buildings and classrooms on campus.
The principal summoned Su Can to his office again, frowned, and said, "Do you know You've set a bad precedent for our school. Now, many students are quoting Tagore, Longfellow, Voltaire, Whitman, and others in their answers, which is not good for Exeter College.
Su Can shook his head and said regretfully, "I am sorry about this." He thought to himself that now he had made a thoroughly bad impression.
But the principal shook his head again. “I don’t accept your apology, but we do not restrict students' independent thinking or creative ideas. All I can say is that while I disagree with you, I admire your ability to think independently!”
The new Exeter College newspaper reported under the headline "Who Solved Advanced Math Problems With Stray Birds"
Tang Wu was amused and somewhat embarrassed by this. Still, when she heard girls asking her about Su Can’s background because of his closeness with her, she felt a faint sense of vanity. She thought to herself that even if she talked about these overseas study experiences back home in China, no one would believe her, but they had indeed happened.
This boy always seemed to bring unexpected miracles.
However, Su Cen's dorm mates were no longer as indifferent to him as they once were. After all, in the Exeter College, Su Cen was a unique Chinese exchange student. Terry Ai, one of his roommates, said that among all the previous exchange students at Exeter College, he had high hopes for Su Cen and believed that Su Cen had enormous potential.
Su Cen hoped to get through this period smoothly; it seemed that achieving full ratings was becoming even more challenging now.
While Su Cen's exchange program at Exeter College was thriving, Mark Zuckerberg, still an unknown person with tremendous potential, was complaining to Su Cen about his troubles.
"I want to get into Harvard University. Princeton, do you think I need anything more than good grades Take the SATs, for example; we all know that some of those students carry heavy books every day and only sleep five or six hours a day. Yet their high school graduation scores are already very high. However, how many chances do they have to enter Harvard University"
"It's probably less than 10%. On the university application form, there is a section asking about extracurricular activities during high school, the years of involvement in these activities, positions held, and awards or honors received. These awards or honors can be at the local, state, national, or international level."
Mark was an extremist and an unruly person who sometimes acted like a child, such as when he got angry with Su Cen and Tang Wu, his close friends.
"But I don't have any of that. Do you understand You always ask what I am苦惱的原因。對於將來，那是我們的事業不是嗎？我現在更應該重視這些課外活動，所以我很高興你能把我當成好朋友看待，並且給了我你公司的股份，但是我想清楚了，那將是我們的未來事業，或許是我們大學以後的事業。相信我，現在我的使命是進入哈佛大學。”
After leaving the place where he met with Zuckerberg, Tang Wu looked at Su Cen in surprise. "Are you starting a company"
Su Cen frowned and said, "I want to create an online platform for students to upload their information and contact their classmates. Zuckerberg was very interested in this idea, and I hope we can work together."
"Hmm." Tang Wu nodded. She felt that Su Cen's idea sounded good but didn't see anything wrong with it. Perhaps from Tang Wu’s perspective at this stage, starting a small company or engaging in some minor projects as a high school student in the US was just like joining a club for Su Cen—it was merely an interest and hobby, especially something abstract like a website.
However, it seemed that there were obstacles. The result of forcing progress too quickly was that Zuckerberg was being led rather than genuinely interested in this project. Unlike before when he suddenly thought up the idea at Harvard University and put it into action, which continuously fueled his interest.
Now, his interest only stemmed from Su Cen's input and mentions; it wasn't enough to support him pursuing this career path. He was still yearning to get admitted to Harvard.th deeper thoughts but also external stimuli that enabled him to tap into his potential. The former failure of an uncle could only effectively remedy his shortcomings after identifying where he failed...