This top-tier academic genius

Back in his office, Huang Nanfang found Li Shuhua, the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Grade 12.

"Teacher Li, one of your students has finally seen the light."

"A breakthrough?" Li Shuhua asked curiously, "Who? Liu Fen or Wu Minhao?"

Hearing that a student had "gotten it," several teachers in the office also pricked up their ears to listen.

Most people have heard of or witnessed students suddenly becoming enlightened.

Some students who were originally not doing well academically and were considered slow learners suddenly become smarter one day, their grades improve by leaps and bounds, they can learn anything and get all the questions right, this phenomenon is called "enlightenment" by teachers.

Although this sounds strange, the teachers wouldn't think of it as something sinister. Most of the time, enlightenment is due to the accumulation of knowledge, and this phenomenon is more likely to occur after a certain level of knowledge accumulation.

Li Shuhua guessed that Liu Fen and Wu Minhao were good at studying because they studied very hard and were about to accumulate a certain amount of knowledge.

Huang Nanfang shook his head. "No, it's that guy who didn't become a star before, Lin Yan. He only got 8 points on the physics test last time, but today he was able to solve the bonus question that the whole class couldn't. Don't you think he's finally figured it out?"

After saying that, even he found it somewhat unbelievable.

"Him?" Li Shuhua was a little surprised, because this was the second time she had heard other teachers mention him. Last time, Math Teacher Qin also mentioned him.

"Is that the student who didn't become a star and then went back to school?"

"Being able to solve the bonus questions, that sounds like you're quite capable."

After hearing this, the other teachers joined in the conversation, each contributing their own thoughts.

Just then, Qin Zhengyan walked in carrying textbooks.

"What are those teachers talking about that's making such a lively discussion?"

Li Shuhua: "Teacher Qin, Teacher Huang just said that Lin Yan in our class has finally figured things out."

Qin Zhengyan: "Lin Yan? I knew it! Last Friday he suddenly could solve math problems in a flash, which I found strange. Turns out he's had a breakthrough. I was planning to have him do a worksheet in math class today to see how he's doing."

Huang Nanfang chimed in, "Teacher Qin, that's exactly what I was thinking too."

Li Shuhua: "Teachers, my next class is Chinese. Shall I call him over so you can check him out?"

Huang Nanfang: "Sure, but I have another class later. How about Teacher Qin helps out? I have a set of test papers on my desk, let him try."

Qin Zhengyan: "Okay."

Li Shuhua: "Class is about to start, I'll go now."

Huang Nanfang: "I went too."

The school bell rang, and the teachers in the office went to class one after another, leaving only Qin Zhengyan and another teacher behind.

As luck would have it, the phone on his desk rang. Qin Zhengyan answered it; it was Director Wang from the Academic Affairs Office, asking him to come to his office.

Helpless, Qin Zhengyan had to tell another teacher, "Teacher Zhao, I'm going to the teaching office. When that student arrives, you can ask him to wait a bit."

"Okay, go ahead." Teacher Zhao nodded.

A few minutes later, Lin Yan arrived at the office door. His homeroom teacher had asked him to come to the office to find Teacher Qin Zhengyan, but he couldn't find him.

Teacher Zhao, who was in the corner, noticed him and reminded him, "You must be Lin Yan. Teacher Qin has gone out on something and will be back soon. Please sit there and wait for a while."

"Okay, thank you, teacher."

Helpless, Lin Yan could only sit down and wait, thinking to himself: This Teacher Qin is a bit unreliable. He told me to come over, but he has disappeared.

At the same time, Qin Zhengyan arrived at the sixth-floor office of the Dean of Students.

"Director Wang? Is something the matter?"

"Come, come, Teacher Qin, please have a seat."

Wang Youquan is only in his forties, much younger than Qin Zhengyan.

After Qin Zhengyan sat down, Director Wang poured him a glass of water.

"Here's the thing, Ms. Qin, we're not holding the math competition next month, so the school wants you to lead the organization."

The "High School Mathematics League" refers to the National High School Mathematics League, also known as the National High School Mathematics Olympiad (preliminary round).

"Me? No way." Qin Zhengyan refused outright. "Isn't Teacher Cai from Class 8 always handling this? I'm too old for that."

Xincheng No.1 High School has twelve senior classes, three of which are humanities classes and the remaining nine are science classes.

Class 8 is the top class among science classes, also known as the elite class, and every student in the class is aiming for a key university.

Mr. Cai is the homeroom teacher of Class 8 and also a very skilled math teacher. He has led the school's teams in most math competitions.

Director Wang's face darkened. "Teacher Cai can't go this year. I just got a call; he was hit by a car."

"Oh, is he alright?"

"He's in the hospital now. It's nothing serious, just a broken leg. It won't be healed for at least two or three months."

"It's alright as long as it's nothing serious."

"Ms. Qin, besides Ms. Cai, you're the most qualified person in our school to lead the team. Everyone knows you're the best at math. If you don't take on this responsibility, who else can?"

After being given a tall hat, Qin Zhengyan's complexion improved considerably.

Director Wang was right. Qin Zhengyan graduated from the Department of Mathematics at Jinling University when he was young, and his mathematical level was far superior to that of other teachers.

"Teacher Qin, then it's settled. I already had the registration information, past competition materials, and mock exam papers put on your desk last class. You should have seen them, right?"

"Oh, I really didn't notice."

When he got back to the office after class, he didn't even notice his desk; he was just chatting.

"It's alright, check back later to see if you've received it. There are a few things to keep in mind..."

Meanwhile, in the teachers' office on the third floor, Lin Yan had been sitting for a while.

Seeing that the students had been waiting for a long time, Teacher Zhao said, "Student, your teacher Qin just said he wanted you to make a sample paper. Why don't you check if he has one on his desk?"

"Exam paper?"

Lin Yan looked at it and found that it really was there.

A stack of blank mock exam papers lay on the desk.

Lin Yan picked up a pen from the table, drew a question from the list, and began to answer the questions.

He soon discovered that the questions were slightly more difficult than those in the "Five Years of College Entrance Examination and Three Years of Mock Exams" series, but it wasn't a big problem.

"For the first question, well, we can use Cauchy's inequality, so the answer is B."

"This question can be homogenized, so the answer is C."

"This question has a trap; the answer is D."

Lin Yan answers questions very quickly, spending no more than half a minute on each multiple-choice question.

Of the eight multiple-choice questions, I only spent a little more time on one question; the others were solved with just a few strokes on the scratch paper.

The three fill-in-the-blank questions didn't take much time either, and soon I started working on the problem-solving questions.

As Qin Zhengyan left the dean's office, he felt a sense of satisfaction, but he was also thinking about how to lead his students to achieve good results in this year's college entrance examination.

In previous years, led by Teacher Cai, the best result was eighth place in the provincial first prize.

Although this result is quite good, only the top six are selected to advance to the National Mathematical Olympiad (CMO), so Xincheng No.1 Middle School has not advanced to the next round in recent years.

Xincheng No.1 High School is indeed a key high school, but it is not the top school in the province.

Director Wang just mentioned that if there is a breakthrough in this National Higher Education Institutions League, then there should be no problem with his promotion.

However, this is difficult.

None of the students who signed up this year were from the senior high school elite class; the senior high school elite class participated in the competition with the aim of securing a place in the university through the guaranteed admission program.

However, several promising students from the senior year elite class had participated in the competition two years prior, but all of them failed.

Since they couldn't get into university through the guaranteed admission program, they didn't want to waste time participating in the competition and planned to focus on preparing for the college entrance examination.

Therefore, most of the students who signed up this year were first- and second-year high school students, with a few third-year students.

If the soldiers are not brave, the general will be worried; this is a problem.