I was a top student in America.

"Mr. Miller, has the list been checked?"

In the project office next to the Department of Mathematics at UIUC, a young male teacher wearing thin-rimmed glasses pushed open the door and walked straight to the desk by the window.

He stared at the middle-aged female teacher in front of the computer, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Just finished."

Ms. Rachel Miller released the mouse, rubbed her eyes, and said, "This year's black belt group is even more exciting than last year, with several perfect scores on the USAMO. In addition, there are a few 9th-grade prodigies in the red belt and blue belt groups."

As she spoke, she pushed the monitor outwards, gesturing for her colleague to look at the screen.

"There's a rather special student here, Leo Lee, from Wyndham High School in the South Side of Chicago."

Teacher Miller pointed to a line of data on the screen, "This child not only got a perfect score of 42 on USAMO, but also perfect scores on AIME and AMC12."

"Wow, that's incredible! These math competition students are amazing these days." The young teacher bent down in surprise and leaned closer to the screen to take a closer look.

"It's not over yet," Mr. Miller tapped on his keyboard and pulled up a screenshot of a webpage. "He's an athlete. His profile includes a local news article. This kid just won the MVP award in the first game of the Greater Chicago High School Basketball Tournament a few days ago."

"A physical education student participating in a math competition? A perfect score on the USAMO? And in a regular public high school in the South District?" The young teacher straightened up, his tone full of disbelief.

After all, there are only a handful of top math competition schools in the United States. It's not uncommon for geniuses to emerge from private schools, top-tier schools, or science-focused high schools. But for such an extraordinary resume to suddenly appear in a place like the South Side of Chicago, where educational resources are scarce, is truly eye-catching.

"Yes, this morning a few of us teachers spent half the day just looking at his materials and talking about it," Miller said, leaning back in his chair.

When the young teacher saw the school name in the next column, he couldn't help but sigh:

"The pressure on these dozen or so kids in the black belt group is immense this year. Not only are they competing for the six official spots on the national team, but a basketball prodigy has also joined them out of nowhere."

"He's not the only impressive one. Several familiar faces from last year's summer camp are here, and there's even a former IMO gold medalist competing for the second time," Teacher Miller chuckled.

"This is going to be interesting." The young teacher waved the folder in his hand. "I'll go check the accommodation list with the logistics department first."

After saying that, he picked up the folder, turned around, and pushed the door open to leave.

Because MOSP is a high-intensity selection summer camp, students not only attend classes but also do intensive training exercises every day. In the end, the official members of the US team will be selected from the black belt group, so the grouping and accommodation cannot be taken lightly.

Every year after the list of selected candidates is released, the teachers in charge of the project always try to guess who will make it to the end this year.

However, this year is clearly more suspenseful.

……

Li Ao, who was more than 100 miles away, was naturally unaware that he had become the hot topic in the UIUC office.

He was sitting on the leather sofa in the principal's office, head down, wolfing down his boxed lunch from the cafeteria.

Principal Smith unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it over, his face beaming with joy.

"The Chicago Tribune reporter is on his way and will be there in twenty minutes at most."

"Don't worry, Principal, I'll definitely say good things about the school during the interview."

Li Ao swallowed the food in his mouth and made a half-joking promise.

"cough……"

Principal Smith, having his thoughts exposed, rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly and chuckled dryly, "No need to be too deliberate, just tell the truth."

In fact, both of them knew exactly what was going on.

Wyndham High School is consistently ranked at the bottom of the Chicago public system, struggling to even offer a decent number of AP courses, let alone have a math competition team.

Smith simply wanted to take advantage of the local newspaper's coverage to boost his profile and get more funding and teachers from the school district.

Li Ao didn't have any objection to being this "publicity ambassador." During this time, he was able to focus on preparing for the competition and playing basketball because the school did open many back doors and provided a lot of resources.

Seeing that Li Ao did not answer, Principal Smith leaned forward again and lowered his voice:

"By the way, don't worry about Mr. Harris. His sporting goods store has been on 59th Street for over ten years. He's a long-time resident and knows how to conduct himself properly. He won't try to scam you with some shady contracts. As for the sponsorship and the photo shoot, we can just go through the school's compliant donation process."

Li Ao wiped his mouth, nodded, and was not surprised at all.

As a businessman, he's bound to be driven by profit. But since the principal has endorsed him, Mr. Harris is spending money to gain fame while he gets paid to do the work – a win-win situation.

……

Not long after we finished eating, a bread truck with the Chicago Tribune logo slowly drove into the campus.

It was during class time, and the corridor was quiet, which saved us from the trouble of being watched by students peeking through the windows.

Li Ao initially thought it would be just a simple Q&A session, but when he saw the reporter pull out a recording pen and the photographer next to him set up his long lenses, he realized that this was a big deal.

Not only do you need to write text, but you also need to add pictures and shoot videos.

The interview was conducted in front of the eye-catching celebratory banner at the entrance of the auditorium.

Principal Smith and Mr. Brown had somehow changed into sharp suits and ties, as if afraid of embarrassing the school in front of the cameras.

The reporter's questions were all standard, and Li Ao answered them flawlessly.

He went along with it and praised the school to the skies: thanking the school for sponsoring competition materials, thanking Mr. Brown for facilitating off-campus workshops, and thanking Coach Durant for giving the green light on training time. He even went so far as to rave about his basketball teammates' screens and plays.

They gave us all the face we needed in every aspect.

"Leo," the reporter asked one last question as the interview drew to a close, "what experience do you have to share with the other kids in our South District who also aspire to participate in math competitions?"

"The main thing is to be diligent," Li Ao thought for a moment and answered seriously. "As long as you make sure you get regular physical exercise, you can spend all your remaining time studying. Of course, you can't just do endless practice problems. You have to learn to apply what you've learned to other situations and develop your abstract thinking skills."

The reporter nodded and followed up with, "So, how much time do you spend studying each day?"

"I haven't calculated it carefully." Li Ao mentally calculated his recent schedule. "When there are no competitions, I spend about sixteen or seventeen hours a day doing practice problems, reading books, and organizing proofs. On days with training, it's less. After deducting playing ball and commuting, it's probably only twelve or thirteen hours."

The reporter's pen paused on the notebook, unable to continue the conversation for a moment.

Mr. Brown pretended to look down at some documents, while Principal Smith laughed so hard his back teeth were almost showing.

During the wrap-up of filming, the reporter asked again:

"Leo, could you take a picture of your textbook and notebook? I need it for some footage."

"no problem."

Li Ao readily opened his backpack and took out "Algebra II" and the "USAMO Real Problems Explained" book that his teacher Brown had given him.

The two books were brand new and crisp, without a single crease, and the pages were cleaner than a face.

After all, American textbooks are ridiculously expensive, and he was hoping to resell them for a good price after the exam, so he was very careful when turning the pages.

"This...it's way too new." The photographer hesitated, holding his camera. "Do you have any workbooks or sketchbooks with notes made on them?"

Li Ao was stunned for a moment.

Since he developed abstract thinking, he has been tracing the steps in his mind, and he has long since sold his draft paper as waste.

He scratched his head slightly embarrassedly: "No, I'm sorry, I don't really need those things right now."

The reporter silently closed the notebook.

Okay, geniuses really do think differently than ordinary people.

……

As soon as Li Ao got home in the afternoon, he told his grandmother about the school's bonus and Mr. Harris's sponsorship offer.

Liu Guifang was stunned for a long time after hearing this.

She could understand if her grandson got a perfect score and received a bonus; winning MVP in basketball and making the newspapers was considered a stroke of good luck.

But now, the sporting goods store on the corner is giving him two thousand dollars for free, just so he can take a few photos?

This way of making money is faster than those street gangsters who risk their lives to get involved!

The old lady's first reaction was to quickly lock the front door, then she turned back and whispered a reminder:

"My goodness, you're not a kid anymore. You can't let so much money sit at home looking good. Go to the bank tomorrow and open a deposit account. Save it for when you get married!"

In the past, my family was so poor that even mice would leave with tears in their eyes if they came in.

Now, suddenly found herself a "rich person" with four-figure sums of money, the old lady clearly hasn't adapted to this change in status.

As it turns out, when it comes to leveraging trending topics for publicity, businessman Harris is far more efficient and decisive than Principal Smith.

Within two days, he had arranged the photo location and time perfectly.

Following the Chicago Tribune's report, Wyndham High School was once again in an uproar.

Not only were students gathered around the bulletin board to see what was going on, but even during breaks in basketball training, teammates would come running over with newspapers to gossip, insisting on asking Li Ao if his claim of "fifteen or sixteen hours a day" was just bragging.

Li Ao let them tease him, not taking it to heart.

Most students in the South District are just there for the fun of it; very few of them actually put their minds to studying.

With the math competition temporarily over, he needs to refocus and turn his attention to the upcoming SAT and AP exams.

……