From child prodigy to chief scientist

Compared to him, He Muzhou was even considered a more approachable person.

"Who is He Muzhou? Teacher Ma wants you to come in."

Upon hearing the boy's words, He Muzhou went into the office and closed the door.

"Hello, Teacher Ma."

At this moment, He Muzhou was still relatively calm. As the second-best student in the province in the math competition league, he was considered one of the most outstanding students in the team.

Even though Qian Feng emphasized before leaving that Ma Junfeng was a very strict person, he was at least not prejudiced against him.

But as it turns out, He Muzhou's idea was too optimistic.

"He Muzhou, I see your league score is 248 points. Do you think that's a high score?"

Ma Junfeng's words left He Muzhou speechless for a moment. After a few seconds, he replied:

"This score... is indeed not high. I spent almost an hour on the last question in the second round, but I still couldn't completely solve it."

"No, it's not just not high, it's very low. On the same test, there are countless students from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hunan provinces scoring over 290. With your score there, you wouldn't even get a first place in the province, let alone make the provincial team..."

He Muzhou never expected that Ma Junfeng would be so aggressive, giving him a hard time right from the start.

Even so, He Muzhou didn't know how to refute it, and could only lower his head in silence.

In fact, He Muzhou himself knew that his league performance was not particularly outstanding on a national scale.

The title of "second in the province" is actually not very prestigious; it just sounds impressive.

Nevertheless, hearing these things from others still dealt a significant blow to He Muzhou's self-confidence.

From childhood to adulthood, he has always been seen as a prodigy and has never been denied like this before.

As he listened, He Muzhou's eyes even reddened.

Noticing the change in He Muzhou's emotions, Ma Junfeng did not continue speaking.

"Alright, go and call Xu Xiao in."

Watching He Muzhou's departing figure, Ma Junfeng's feelings were somewhat complicated.

What Ma Junfeng just said was actually somewhat exaggerated.

Even in those competitive provinces, very few teams actually have a league score exceeding 290 points; it's far from being commonplace.

With He Muzhou's grades, he could still make it into the provincial team even in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, but he certainly wouldn't be considered an outstanding student in a strong province.

Ma Junfeng did this mainly to curb the arrogance of these team members.

After all, they are among the top dozen or so students in the Liaoning Provincial Math Competition, and they are young and ambitious, so it would be difficult for them to immediately lower their stance.

The provincial team's training schedule is very tight, and Ma Junfeng must ensure that the team members can get into the best possible condition as soon as possible.

Only in this way will they have a better chance of achieving excellent results in the national finals a month later.

"Hate me if you want, it's worth it for your future if I become a bad guy," Ma Junfeng thought to himself.

On the other side, He Muzhou tried hard to suppress his upset emotions after leaving the office.

Despite this, everyone else could still see that He Muzhou's eyes were still red.

"Teacher Ma... actually made He Muzhou cry?"

Even Xu Xiao found it hard to believe that such a thing would happen on his very first day reporting to the provincial team.

It's worth noting that He Muzhou was practically a god in the eyes of the Yucai Math Competition Team.

Even Qian Feng, who was always very strict with his students, was basically impeccable when it came to He Muzhou.

"No wonder Qian Feng specifically emphasized that Ma Junfeng was very strict; it seems there's some truth to it."

While Xu Xiao was pondering these things, He Muzhou whispered to Xu Xiao:

"Xu Xiao, you can go in now."

"it is good."

Somewhat nervously, Xu Xiao walked into the office, greeting Ma Junfeng while secretly sizing him up.

Xu Xiao originally thought that Ma Junfeng, with his strict style, should be a person with a bitter face.

In reality, Ma Junfeng was quite fair-skinned, and at least judging from his appearance, he gave off a somewhat harmless feeling, unlike what Qian Feng described.

Ma Junfeng was already prepared to repeat the same method he had just told He Muzhou with Xu Xiao.

But upon seeing the very young child in front of him, Ma Junfeng swallowed back the words he was about to say.

"You... are Xu Xiao?"

Surprised, Ma Junfeng involuntarily tilted his neck forward and peered at Xu Xiao through his glasses.

"Yes, Teacher Ma, I am Xu Xiao."

"Are you really a high school student? How old are you?"

"I am eleven years old this year and just started attending the Yucai Children's Class."

"Eleven years old... is that old enough to participate in high school math competitions?"

Ma Junfeng was completely surprised to learn Xu Xiao's age, but it did match Xu Xiao's appearance.

Ma Junfeng had indeed encountered some relatively young math competition students before, but they were at least fourteen or fifteen years old, and for boys, their Adam's apples had basically already grown.

But the boy in front of me clearly hadn't even started puberty yet, and there wasn't a trace of him growing a beard.

After a brief moment of surprise, Ma Junfeng quickly returned to his "strict mode".

"Xu Xiao, don't think that just because you're young, I'll treat you differently. As a member of the provincial team, you're not only representing yourself, but also Liaoning Province."

"Your league score is 246 points. To be honest, this score is not high at all and does not meet the standard for participating in the national finals."

"Our training camp will be very intense in the future. If you feel you can't adapt, you can pack your things now and go back to Yucai. Come back next year."

When talking to Xu Xiao, Ma Junfeng unconsciously became much more restrained and wasn't as sarcastic as he was when talking to He Muzhou.

Speaking of which, Xu Xiao's ability to score 246 points in the math competition league at such a young age can only be described as a "miracle".

Even though Ma Junfeng has always been extremely strict with his students, there is no reason for him to be harsh on Xu Xiao anymore.

Ma Junfeng has a son who is about the same age as Xu Xiao. Under Ma Junfeng's influence, the son has shown remarkable mathematical talent since childhood and has already begun to get involved in some competitions.

Even so, he could only answer a portion of the competition questions correctly, far from being able to win a provincial award or even join the provincial team.

"Don't worry, Teacher Ma, I'm fully prepared."

"Although I don't have much talent, I will definitely do my best in the training camp and try not to hold our training team back..."