My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 228 Teacher

The sixth day of the first lunar month.

The festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year in Zeyang City has not yet completely dissipated, and sporadic firecracker sounds can still be heard from the streets and alleys in the distance.

The large iron gate of the No. 1 Middle School in the city was half open.

The old man at the gatehouse, wearing a military overcoat, was still listening to the radio with his reading glasses on, listening to Shan Tianfang's storytelling, which he had heard hundreds of times without ever getting tired of.

Chen Zhu greeted the old man and walked inside.

The campus was very empty.

The two rows of plane trees in front of the main teaching building were bare, and there were still some unmelted snow piled up in the shady areas under the trees, which crunched underfoot.

Old Zhao's office is still the same separate office.

The curtains in the office were drawn, blocking half of the glaring sunlight.

The desk was piled high with exam papers, lesson plans, and a few scattered red and blue ballpoint pens.

A small electric heater was placed between two tables, emitting light.

Old Zhao was wearing a pair of black-rimmed reading glasses, holding a red pen in his hand, and staring at a test paper in front of him.

Old Zhou moved a chair and sat opposite him, still wearing that dark brown jacket, holding a chipped enamel mug, and looking down at a reference book.

There was a faint smell of chalk in the air, mixed with the bitterness of aged flower tea.

Chen Zhuo didn't knock; he simply reached out and gently pushed the door open.

The door hinges made a slight creaking sound.

Old Zhao raised his head, his gaze passing over the lenses of his reading glasses, and looked towards the doorway.

He froze for a moment.

The red pen in my hand stopped in mid-air.

The face I saw on CCTV-1 during prime time just a few days ago is now standing right here at the office door, holding two square cardboard boxes tied together with paper rope.

Old Zhou also heard the noise, put down the reference book in his hand, and raised his eyelids.

There was a momentary pause in their reactions.

That was the subconscious sense of helplessness that ordinary people felt when faced with a top genius who had just made his debut in front of the entire nation.

Old Zhao even leaned on the edge of the table, stood up slightly, opened his mouth, but the loud voice he usually used to scold students got stuck in his throat, and he didn't know what tone to use to greet them.

Chen Zhuo smiled as he looked at the two teachers.

He stepped inside and placed the two boxes of Zeyang's time-honored brand of steamed rice cakes on the coffee table against the wall.

"Happy Chinese New Year, Teacher Zhao and Teacher Zhou."

Chen Zhuo's tone was calm and ordinary, just like when he used to come to the office to ask questions after handing in his assignments.

He didn't stop to wait for the two teachers to call him, but instead walked familiarly to the corner of the office, where there was a red plastic thermos with a peony printed on its exterior.

Chen Zhuo picked up the thermos and pulled out the cork.

He walked over to Old Zhao's table, took the glass with the words "Outstanding Class Teacher" printed on it, filled it with hot water, and then walked over to Old Zhou and filled his enamel mug as well.

White steam rose up.

Old Zhao's uneasy tension suddenly eased a little. He sat back down in his chair, looked at Chen Zhuo who had put the thermos back in its place, and suddenly smiled.

"What are you doing here in this freezing weather? Hurry up and pull up a chair for yourself."

Old Zhao pointed to a folding chair next to him.

Chen Zhuo pulled out a chair, sat down next to the small heater, and stretched out his hands to warm them.

Old Zhou stared at Chen Zhuo for two seconds, then snorted.

"You were on TV."

Old Zhou picked up the enamel mug and blew on the tea leaves.

"During the Chinese New Year, I went out to buy some groceries, and the whole market was talking about how a genius had emerged from the No. 1 Middle School. The butcher Zhang kept pulling me aside and asking, 'Where is Princeton?'"

Looking at Lao Zhou's arrogant expression, Chen Zhuo knew that he wasn't being sarcastic.

"It was a lucky fluke."

Chen Zhuo crossed his hands on his knees and continued the conversation, following Lao Zhou's lead.

"It was mainly because of the two teachers who laid a good foundation for me in junior high school. Teacher Zhao's lectures on the podium were much more exciting than that."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhao immediately chuckled and pointed at Chen Zhuo.

"Don't flatter me. What I'm talking about is the rote knowledge a middle school student uses to pass exams, while yours is genuine scholarship discussed with a foreign professor. How can they be compared?"

The atmosphere in the office became lively.

Without the halo of CCTV, and without the sense of distance of Princeton.

Chen Zhuo glanced at the stacks of papers on the table.

"Teacher Zhao, how did Liu Fei and Li Xiaoya do on the high school entrance exam last summer?" Chen Zhuo asked.

Old Zhao put down his red pen, took off his reading glasses and threw them on the table, then leaned back in his chair.

"Li Xiaoya is steady. That girl is meticulous and doesn't panic during exams. She's a little weak in science, but her math and English scores pulled her up, so she easily got into our high school's experimental class."

At this point, Old Zhao shook his head, a helpless smile on his lips.

"As for that mischievous Liu Fei..."

"In the last semester of the third year of junior high, looking at the countdown on the blackboard, I realized I was getting anxious. Every morning before dawn, I would stand in the corridor to memorize politics. In the end, I barely made it into the regular class of the No. 1 Middle School by the last minute in the high school entrance exam."

Old Zhao picked up the glass and took a sip of water.

"Two days ago, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, he sent me a New Year's greeting text message, saying that in the high school, he was moved to the last row next to the trash can by the homeroom teacher because he was passing notes to his deskmate during class. A leopard can't change its spots."

"As long as you pass the exam, that's fine."

"Chen Zhuo said with a smile.

Old Zhao nodded.

"Yeah, I'd be lucky to stay at No. 1 High School. These rascals aren't bad at heart, they're just playful."

Chen Zhuo turned his head and looked at Lao Zhou, who was sitting opposite him and hadn't said a word.

"Mr. Zhou, have you seen any promising young students in the junior high school physics competitions over the past two years?"

Old Zhou, who was looking down at the test paper, slammed the paper on the table when he heard this.

"A promising talent? What a load of rubbish!"

Old Zhou picked up his teacup with a disgruntled expression.

"Since you left, the past two graduating classes have been getting faster and faster at completing tests and more and more proficient at memorizing formulas, but when they get to the lab bench, they're completely lost."

Old Zhou tapped the table with his knuckles, making a dull thud.

"Last month, the city organized a junior high school physics competition selection. One very simple electricity experiment question required you to use the given equipment to connect a mixed circuit and measure the rated power of a small light bulb."

Old Zhou got angrier and angrier as he talked.

"Good heavens, they draw circuit diagrams so beautifully on their draft paper, but when they get to the platform, they just stick wires directly onto the two poles of the power supply! They don't even know to connect a sliding rheostat to protect the circuit first. They don't even have the most basic physical intuition."

Old Zhou curled his lip.

"His mind is full of question types and routines. Physics is something you learn by doing, not by memorizing. He lacks creativity and it's not fun to teach him."

Old Zhao rolled his eyes and mercilessly sabotaged the situation.

"Stop complaining. Do you think everyone is Chen Zhuo? Born with a physical model in their brain? The competition for the high school entrance exam is so fierce now. Students don't have time to spend in your lousy lab playing with oscilloscopes every day. If they can get all the points on the test and win a second prize in the province, they've already met their teaching targets."

"You don't know anything about physics."

Old Zhou glared at Old Zhao.

"You don't understand math!"

Old Zhao retorted without backing down.

The two elderly teachers, whose combined age is over a hundred, started their usual bickering again.

Chen Zhuo sat next to the small heater, feeling the warm orange light on his legs.

After exchanging a few words, Old Zhao waved his hand, ending the argument on his own initiative.

He put his reading glasses back on, pulled one out from a stack of papers next to him, looked at the name on it, and suddenly snorted.

"Speaking of lacking spirit."

"7

Old Zhao turned his head and looked at Chen Zhuo.

"Your childhood friend, Zhang Qiang, is really giving me a headache right now."

Chen Zhuo raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing the name.

"What's wrong with him now?"

"What's wrong?"

Old Zhou slapped the test paper in his hand so hard it made a loud thud.

"His subjects are so unbalanced that it's unbelievable! He's okay at Chinese and English, but when it comes to math, physics, and chemistry, his brain is like it's filled with mush. Even a simple force analysis, which I explain on the blackboard every day, he still makes mistakes every single day."

Old Zhou leaned forward, looking at Chen Zhuo, his tone carrying a hint of complaining, yet also a touch of obsession.

"Before the holiday, I called him to my office and stuffed two thick mechanics problem sets into his hands."

Old Zhou gestured with his hand to indicate the thickness.

"Before I left school, I made a stern statement in front of the whole class, telling him to stay home during winter break, not to go anywhere, and to thoroughly understand what I had given him. If he dared to draw the wrong line again during the placement test at the start of the semester..."

""

Old Zhou sneered and picked up his teacup to moisten his throat.

"I'll make him go to the playground and push the gatekeeper's old tricycle around the playground ten times! Let him experience firsthand what friction really is!"

Chen Zhuo couldn't help but chuckle softly.

He finally understood completely.

No wonder Zhang Qiang hasn't left the house lately, no wonder he's been dreaming about drawing dotted lines and arrows.

Old Zhou's relentless, death stare, determined to achieve his goal, was incredibly oppressive for a ninth-grade student.

"Teacher Zhou, your method really works."

Chen Zhuo gently added insult to injury.

"I think he had a pretty fulfilling winter break."

"It won't work if it doesn't work."

Old Zhou sighed, his tone softening.

"He's in his final year of junior high. This kid may be a bit slow, but he's honest and hardworking. If we don't push him, how will he get into the top high school this summer?"

The office gradually quieted down after Lao Zhou's sigh.

The sun outside the window has shifted slightly to the west.

The winter sun shone through the gaps in the curtains that weren't fully drawn, illuminating the peeling metal filing cabinets next to it.

The little sun emitted a soft buzzing sound.

Old Zhao subconsciously reached for the thermos to refill Chen Zhuo's water bottle, only to find that it had been emptied.

He put the empty kettle on the ground and turned his head away.

Looking at Chen Zhuo sitting in the chair.

The thirteen-year-old boy had already grown tall, though he was still rather thin. But when he sat there, his back was very straight, and there was a calmness and gentleness in his eyes that far exceeded that of his peers.

Old Zhao stared for a while, his gaze gradually becoming somewhat unfocused.

Time flies.

Old Zhao said something softly, as if he were talking to himself.

He took off his reading glasses, took out a cloth from his pocket, and slowly wiped the lenses.

"After this year, next autumn, you'll be going to the US, right?"

Chen Zhuo nodded.

"Yes, I'll leave in September."

Old Zhao paused for a moment while wiping his glasses.

He looked at the reading glasses in his hand, his tone carrying a sense of reminiscence.

"Back in the 1980s, we were studying at the provincial normal school."

Old Zhao's voice sounded somewhat distant in the quiet office.

"The conditions were tough. If you wanted to read a paper published by a top foreign mathematician or physicist, the school library simply didn't have it. You had to take a slow train to the provincial capital's big library to find it."

"Found them. They were all Russian or English journals that had been reprinted countless times, with blurry print. Since they couldn't afford photocopies, they brought hardcover notebooks and sat in the reading room, copying each letter and symbol into their notebooks."

Old Zhao raised his head and looked at Chen Zhuo.

"Back then, when we poor students got together to chat, we talked about scientists who had won major international awards, about the Fields Medal..."

""

Old Zhao smiled, revealing deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"In our hearts, academic giants of that caliber, those who can change the course of human science, are like stars in the sky."

"They can see the light, but they know they can never reach it in this lifetime; they are people from two different worlds."

Old Zhao put his clean reading glasses back on and let out a long breath.

"Who would have thought?"

Old Zhao looked at Chen Zhuo, and there was something gleaming in his eyes, but he tried to widen his eyes to hide it.

"I, Lao Zhao, have stood on the podium for most of my life, teaching junior high school students to solve quadratic equations. One day, the students I teach will be sent a fax by the stars in the sky, specifically requesting to be my last disciples."

Old Zhao patted the stack of ungraded test papers on the table.

"It was worth it."

Old Zhou sat across from me without saying a word.

At this moment, he also put down the enamel teacup he was holding.

He usually can't stand Lao Zhao getting sentimental and always has to jump out and say a few sarcastic remarks.

But today, Lao Zhou wasn't being sarcastic.

He turned his head and looked at the bare sycamore tree outside the window.

"Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton".

When Lao Zhou pronounced the name, his tone was very soft, and he enunciated each word very clearly.

For anyone studying mathematics, physics, or chemistry, this name has a fatal magic.

"Einstein worked there, von Neumann worked there, and Oppenheimer served as the dean there."

Old Zhou's fingers unconsciously rubbed against the table.

"That place, even the air smells of genius."

Old Zhou turned around and stared at Chen Zhuo.

His usually droopy eyes now revealed an extremely pure longing and envy, belonging to a physics teacher, for the highest academic temple of mankind.

"That is the pinnacle of human reason."

Old Zhou's voice was a little hoarse.

"Our generation is trapped in the middle school entrance exam papers of Zeyang, a small piece of land, and we don't even have the right to go outside and take a look."

Old Zhou leaned forward slightly, his eyes extremely solemn.

"Xiao Zhuo."

He rarely called Chen Zhuo by his name.

"Going to a place like that will give you more eyes and a better brain."

"Go and see for me and Lao Zhao what the world's most advanced laboratory looks like, and see how the world's smartest minds think."

"Let's see what the end of physics looks like."

The only sound in the office was the faint glow of the small heater.

Chen Zhuo sat there.

He met the gazes of Lao Zhou and Lao Zhao.

These two middle school teachers from the county town, whose combined age is over a hundred, unreservedly placed their purest admiration and regret for science on his shoulders.

No slogans, no pressure.

Only the most basic expectations of Buddha.

Chen Zhuo did not avoid their gaze.

He didn't stand up and pat the capital to make grand promises about winning glory for the country.

He simply placed his hands on his knees, leaned forward slightly, and kept a low profile. His voice remained gentle, but every word was sincere.

"Old Zhao, Old Zhou."

Chen Zhuo looked at them.

"Princeton is just a university; it has a library, blackboards, and chalk."

Chen Zhuo smiled, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.

"Once I've settled in there, I'll send you two a couple more photos of the Institute for Advanced Study so you can see what it looks like."

Chen Zhuo looked at Lao Zhou.

"If I come across an internal physics journal or the latest cutting-edge experimental data that I'm interested in reading in the lab or archives over there, I'll print it out and send it back to Professor Zhou. It'll be like supplementing our No. 1 High School physics group with extracurricular materials."

Old Zhou snorted coldly upon hearing this, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

"You've got a conscience, kid."

Chen Zhuoshi turned to look at Lao Zhao.

"The same goes for Zhao Laoheng's side. I'll keep an eye out for the basic education materials from the US, as well as their junior high school exam papers, and send them back for your reference."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhao immediately perked up.

"This is great! Middle school exam papers from the US? Let those brats see what's what."

The clock on the wall made a soft sound.

It's 4:30 PM.

Chen Zhuo stood up and pushed the folding chair with a missing corner back into its original position.

"It's getting late, Zhao Laoheng, Zhou Laoheng, I'm going back now."

Old Zhao stood up and escorted him to the door.

"Okay, hurry back to Ren, it's getting dark and the roads are slippery," Old Zhao instructed.

"When you get back to Huizhou, take good care of yourself, eat on time, and don't stay up all night doing math problems. And when you're out there, don't forget to call the deputy director."

"understood."

Chen Zhuo nodded.

Old Zhou remained seated in his chair, only picking up his enamel teacup and waving it around.

"Don't embarrass yourself when you get there."

Old Zhou didn't look at him, staring at the test paper in his hand.

"We can't lose our physical intuition, let's go."

Chen Zhuo smiled, turned around and walked out of the office.

He gently closed the door behind him.

The winter sunset was already hanging on the rooftops on the edge of the city.

The light turned a warm, deep red, shining on the bare sycamore trees.

Chen Zhuo walked out along the cement road on campus.

On the street outside the school, stalls selling roasted sweet potatoes have been set up, and the white steam drifts in the cold air, carrying the sweet aroma of sweet potatoes.

The bicycle bells jingled as people left work.

Chen Zhuo put his hands in his coat pockets, stepped through the water stains left by the melting snow on the roadside, and walked slowly towards the direction of Jinxiu Garden.

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