I was a top student in America.

DeMarcus's figure flashed past the alley corner and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Li Ao stared in that direction for two seconds, then frowned slightly.

That's not the way DeMarcus can go home.

What is he doing outside so late?

Just then, Jamal caught up from behind.

He clearly hadn't noticed what had just happened, and asked with a grin:

"Leo, do you think I should get a new hairstyle? How about cornrows? My last girlfriend broke up with me because she thought my hairstyle was tacky."

Li Ao turned to look at him: "I said... you think the problem is with the hairstyle?"

Jamal thought for a moment, then chuckled.

The two walked down to the apartment building. Jamal said goodbye to Li Ao and scurried into the stairwell.

Li Ao went up to the third floor, took out his key, and opened the door.

The living room light was still on, and the small radio on the windowsill was playing Teresa Teng's "Tian Mi Mi" (Sweet Honey), its notes swaying softly.

Grandma Liu Guifang, wrapped in an old down jacket, was dozing on the sofa when she heard the noise and immediately opened her eyes.

"You're back?" She first looked Li Ao up and down. "Did you go to basketball practice?"

"Um."

"Is it really training? He didn't just hang out with those kids outside, did he?"

"The captain's keeping an eye on things, there's no time to mess around." Li Ao said as he hung his backpack on the back of the chair and pulled out his jersey, which was wrapped in a plastic bag.

The jersey was soaked with sweat; you could wring it out and it would drip water.

Liu Guifang glanced at the jersey, muttering, "Your coach is really something, it's so late and it's so dark, it's not safe at all." She got up, took the jersey, and carried it to the bathroom, where she splashed it into the sink.

Li Ao rinsed his face and brushed his teeth. When he went back to his room, he turned off the living room light and then collapsed onto the bed.

The basketball team's training intensity is very high.

At this moment, his shoulders ached, his calves were tight, and even turning over in bed felt difficult.

Before going to sleep, he habitually starts going over his plans for tomorrow in his mind.

But after only two or three thoughts had crossed her mind, her eyelids couldn't hold on any longer and drooped heavily.

When he woke up again, the room was pitch black, with only a sliver of cold white light coming through the gap in the curtains.

He subconsciously glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table—2:17 a.m.

I only slept for a little over four hours.

But he felt refreshed and invigorated.

The aches and pains I felt before bed were completely gone, and all the fatigue vanished. It felt like I had rested for three days and three nights, and my whole body felt fully charged again. I had inexhaustible energy and couldn't wait to go downstairs and run a couple of laps right now.

Li Ao stood there stunned for several seconds in the darkness, then suddenly became overjoyed.

The effects of deep sleep were much better than he had imagined.

I slept for less than four hours and recovered to my best condition.

This is equivalent to having three or four extra hours every day out of nowhere.

Whether you use this time to practice coding problems, train, or earn money by reviewing materials for others, it's all free money.

Li Ao quietly got up and turned on the lamp on the bedside table.

Warm yellow light shone on the table. He took out his competition book and draft paper from his bag and turned to the page he had worked on yesterday.

Start practicing coding problems.

After some time, soft footsteps echoed down the corridor.

The door was pushed open a crack, and Liu Guifang, who was getting up in the middle of the night, peeked out with half her face, squinting at the room.

"What time is it?" she asked in a low voice, a hint of complaint in her tone. "Aren't you asleep yet?"

"I'm awake, but I can't fall back asleep."

"How can a young person sleep so little? You're still growing, and if you don't sleep enough, your brain won't work properly."

"My brain works perfectly."

Liu Guifang glared at him, but didn't really do anything to him. She wrapped her cotton-padded coat tighter and turned to walk back.

As she reached her doorway, she paused, muttering to herself, "This child has finally settled down lately."

The sound wasn't loud, but Li Ao could still hear it through the thin wall.

He smiled and continued reading and doing practice problems.

The old apartment was eerily quiet at three in the morning, with the occasional muffled sound of wheels rolling over manhole covers in the distance.

Li Ao opened a number theory problem, which required proving that a certain integer expression is divisible by a specific prime number.

He picked up a pen, wrote down the known conditions on the draft paper, and began to dissect the structure.

The energy restored from deep sleep is now fully effective.

Once my mind is clear, I can memorize the conditions of the question after reading it once, and I can grasp the key points without having to read it repeatedly as usual.

The efficiency of associating ideas by drawing inferences from one instance is also significantly faster than during the day.

Normally, when he solves these kinds of number theory problems, he has to spend a lot of time on scratch paper, but today he knows exactly which direction to take once he starts writing.

Moreover, as soon as he finished the problem, two similar variations of the problem automatically popped into his mind, and he even had a rough idea of ​​how to construct them.

He pushed the pen down line after line, the tip scratching across the paper with a soft, rustling sound.

I did get stuck on a few questions; my thought process just wouldn't work, so I had to try a different approach and start over.

Even for the questions I got stuck on, it took much less time than during the day.

The school bought us a set of "The Contest Problem Book VII" for 100 yuan, but it was definitely worth the price.

It categorizes all similar AMC past exam questions together, from easy to difficult, making it particularly suitable for the learning method of "learning by analogy".

Before I knew it, several pages of draft paper had been piled up on the table, and I had turned more than half a chapter of the book.

When his mind started to feel slightly heavy, Li Ao put down his pen and stretched his wrists.

My gaze fell on the stack of printed papers peeking out from the side of the backpack.

Since he was just trying to relax his mind, he picked it up and flipped through it.

Daryl's material was not much, only seventeen or eighteen pages in total, and he read it through from beginning to end.

This guy looks big and burly, but his GPA is actually quite high, 2.7 according to the NCAA system. He would definitely be considered a top student at a place like Wyndham High School.

The grades are fine; there's no need to prepare supplementary materials like Tayshaun did.

The reason for failing the initial review can only be due to the materials themselves.

Li Ao flipped through two more pages and quickly figured out what was going on.

Daryl included a copy of his SAT score report in his materials, but one look at the format and you could tell he had printed it out himself from the testing center’s website.

The NCAA Qualifying Center does not accept transcripts printed by students themselves; they must be sent directly by the testing center.

Of course, it's definitely not free.

Daryl probably thought that printing it out and attaching it to the materials was enough, and had no idea that he had to pay extra to apply for official points.

That's why it got rejected.

Without an official copy from the testing center, this transcript is worthless, which is why Daryl's file status is stuck at "incomplete," and no one will even look at the rest.

This is understandable. Wyndham High School is a terrible school and doesn't even have a college counselor. With Daryl's taciturn personality, it's only natural that he would fall into this trap without anyone watching over him.

Having found the problem, Li Ao casually flipped to the last few pages.

That was Daryl's personal statement.

I couldn't read any further after reading just three lines.

This person's statement is clearly fabricated and was written without any guidance.

Not to mention the numerous spelling and grammar errors, the entire piece just repeats the same message: "I've loved playing basketball since I was a child."

I wrote two pages, but there wasn't a single memorable point.

If you submit this directly, even if it passes the first round of preliminary review, it will eventually be rejected.

However, don't rush the application materials. First, tell Daryl about the score reporting issue and tell him to apply for official submission as soon as possible so as not to miss the deadlines for the remaining schools.

Li Ao stuffed the materials back into his bag, took a sip of water, picked up his pen again, and continued working on the practice questions.

When he looked up again, the light coming through the gap in the curtains had changed from a cool white to a grayish blue.

It's almost dawn.

Li Ao carefully put the draft paper into his book, slung his schoolbag over his shoulder, and went out the door.

In November in Chicago, the morning wind was cold and damp, cutting like knives against my face. My head, which had been a little groggy from studying late into the night, suddenly snapped awake.

He tightened the zipper of his coat and quickened his pace toward school.

After walking through two intersections, Li Ao discovered something.

In the past, if I stayed up half the night before going out, my legs would start to feel heavy after walking only a few steps, and I would have to rest for half a day when I got to school.

Today was completely different. As I walked, I felt more and more energetic, and my legs felt as light as if they were springs.

It turns out that my physical recovery speed has also increased.

Li Ao couldn't help but grin.

This entry is really useful.