I was a top student in America.

Chapter 99 The Unromantic Iron Tree (Please Subscribe)

Coach Durant looked at everyone and patted Li Ao on the shoulder, saying, "From now on, when I'm not around, he'll be your leader."

After a season of adjustment, the basketball team members had long since recognized Li Ao's performance, so naturally no one had any objections.

As soon as the coach finished speaking, a burst of enthusiastic applause rang out in the empty stadium.

Li Ao's teammates all turned their attention to him, and several veteran members of the team laughed and shouted "Captain!"

Li Ao stood up from the bench, met his teammates' gazes, and sincerely thanked them.

Thank you for your trust.

After the group disbanded, Li Ao changed his clothes and was just picking up his backpack to call Jamal to leave when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Leo, congratulations on becoming the captain of the Eagles."

Lin Jinni stood in front of Li Ao with her hands behind her back, her tone tinged with excitement, "I heard you also won a gold medal in the International Mathematics Competition. I'm planning to take AP Calculus next semester. If I have any questions after school starts—can I ask you for help?"

Li Ao recognized that it was a classmate and didn't feel anything was wrong.

It's perfectly normal for classmates to ask each other for help with their homework, so he readily agreed.

"Okay, no problem."

"See you when school starts!" Lin Jinni smiled and waved to him lightly before turning and walking out of the gym first.

Jamal, the "63rd Street Casanova," who stood by the side the whole time, saw the whole thing clearly from beginning to end.

After Lin Jinni walked away, he finally couldn't hold back and blurted out a sarcastic remark.

"Hey Leo, that girl sat in the stands all night watching you the whole game, it's obvious she's interested in you, and you just brushed her off with a 'no problem'?"

"Otherwise what?"

Li Ao shrugged indifferently, slung his backpack over one shoulder, and pushed open the stadium door before walking out.

Jamal and Jaylen, who was standing next to him, looked at each other in bewilderment.

Watching Li Ao's decisive departure, the two shook their heads helplessly and quickly followed.

Anyone with eyes could see what Lin Jinni was thinking, but unfortunately their new captain was an old iron tree whose mind was only focused on studying and training.

Lin Jinni's little scheme was probably just a flirtatious glance at a blind man.

As soon as the group arrived at the school gate on their bicycles, Li Ao saw Emily waving at him.

And standing half a step behind her was Mr. Brown.

The old man clasped his hands together in front of him, looking slightly flustered.

Li Ao was slightly surprised, but he still pedaled his bike a couple of times to go over to meet them.

When Jamal and Jaylen saw that Mr. Brown was there, accompanied by a tall, beautiful woman they didn't recognize, they exchanged a knowing glance.

"Hey Leo, let's go to the street corner and buy something to eat to tide us over!"

"Yes, to buy food!"

Before Li Ao could even reply, the two of them hit it off immediately, turned the car around, and sped off in a flash.

Li Ao gripped the brakes and brought the car to a steady stop about half a meter away from Emily.

"Mr. Brown, Emily, what brings you here?" He stood on one leg, supporting himself on the ground. "If you need anything, just give me a call. You don't need to come all this way."

"Actually, it's nothing important. My summer program at UIUC has ended, and I just got back to Chicago today."

Emily looked up at him, her tone light and cheerful, "I just happened to be passing by Wyndham High School and thought I'd drop by to congratulate you in person on winning the IMO gold medal and publishing two SCI papers."

This afternoon, Ms. Brown drove to UIUC to pick up her daughter and take her home.

During their casual conversation on the way, the father and daughter mentioned Li Ao. Besides talking about his perfect score on IM0, Emily also casually mentioned that he had recently published two serious academic papers.

This startled Mr. Brown quite a bit.

As a math teacher, he knew all too well what this level of expertise meant.

So he subtly hinted to his daughter that she should definitely go see Li Ao, that young people should get to know each other better, and that it would be best if they could get closer to each other.

Emily had actually left a message for Li Ao on Facebook before, and originally did not plan to go on this trip with her father.

But looking at her father's stubbornness, she suddenly recalled the profile of Li Ao patiently explaining calculus problems to her in the UIUC library.

As if by some strange twist of fate, she got into the car half-heartedly, letting her father drive all the way to the entrance of Wyndham High School.

"Thank you." Li Ao smiled faintly.

Looking at his calm expression, Emily continued, "Your grandma must be incredibly happy and proud of you for winning the gold medal."

"She's been having a really good time these past few days," Li Ao casually replied, glancing at Ms. Brown beside him before turning to remind her, "You'll be starting school in a few days too, so take advantage of these few days at home to spend some quality time with Ms. Brown."

"Okay." Emily nodded, then added, "Also, thanks to you for helping me preview calculus. I should be able to pass my first-year math exam easily next semester. I'll treat you to dinner sometime."

"Okay." Li Ao was happy for her too.

The two people, who were about the same age, stood by the roadside chatting casually, their atmosphere familiar and natural.

On the contrary, Mr. Brown, who couldn't get a word in edgewise, stood to the side looking rather helpless, while Cheng Liang's bald head was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

I don't know if it was the hot and humid summer evening breeze, or the nervousness I felt watching my daughter chat with her genius male classmate.

As dusk approached, Li Ao was about to say goodbye and head home when Emily suddenly called out to him, her voice tinged with anticipation: "By the way, you'll be spending most of your time doing research at the University of Chicago, right? I've applied for a collaborative project there next semester. If I get accepted—see you at Hyde Park!"

After listening, Li Ao looked into her bright eyes, raised his hand and gripped the handlebars: "Okay, see you at Hyde Park."

After saying that, he started pedaling his bicycle again and disappeared into the night on the street.

With summer school over, there are less than two weeks left before the start of the fall semester.

For most students at Wyndham High School, it was finally time to catch their breath and enjoy a few carefree days of summer vacation.

However, Li Ao's schedule did not change as a result, and he continued to operate at full capacity.

Having saved up some money, he now only works at the "Iron Box" on weekends, and spends the rest of the time busy with his own things.

I spend most of my time studying Complex Analysis and the C++ programming language, and occasionally I ride my bike to the University of Chicago to listen to Professor Jensen's group meetings or attend a couple of lectures.

In addition, the school team's basketball training four times a week is also a must.

Under this continuous high-intensity consumption and training, the agility attribute on the panel is finally about to accumulate to 120 points.