Doing It Over Again

When the plane landed in the capital, it was already two or three o’clock in the afternoon.
The meal on the plane didn’t taste good, which meant the six people in their group didn’t eat very much.
After they got off the plane and met the organizer with their luggage, it was already late, and the hotel was no longer serving lunch.
The six people had no choice but to find a restaurant near the hotel and eat a makeshift meal.

Vice Principal Yao, who led the team, was a slightly fat, middle-aged man with a friendly face.
At school, he had the nickname “Maitreya”.
The school sent him to lead the team, hoping his personality would help the students relax and lower their tension before the competition.

This time, the three staff members knew Jingcheng No.
1 High School and Yanghe No.
3 High School were participating, so they no longer had much hope.
At best, they might keep third place.
Out of the three students, Vice Principal Yao was most optimistic about Shen Shao.
When the list of participants was decided, he looked over Shen Shao’s academic achievements since entering school.
His exam results were excellent and stable almost every time.
There wasn’t any drastic rise or fall in his scores, which meant the young man not only had smarts, he was good at managing his emotions.

“Zhang Li, you’ll share a room with Ms.
Sun Qin.” Since both Zhang Li and Ms.
Sun were women, Vice Principal Yao arranged for them to stay together.
“Shen Shao and Zeng Ping will also share a room.
It’s OK to discuss math problems with each other, but make sure to go to sleep on time.
Mr.
Jiang and I will come by later to do a bed check.”

Shen Shao and the other two students nodded.
Math wasn’t like other subjects where you had to memorize a lot of things by rote.
It wasn’t necessary to stay up late reviewing.
At most, he’d do a few practice exercises later to refresh the concepts in his mind.

The group returned to the hotel.
Because the three rooms were close together, they didn’t have to give the students any special instructions, and everyone went back to their rooms.

Zeng Ping watched Shen Shao skillfully unpack the things he brought as if he had a lot of practice.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Shen Shao, why are you so good at straightening up?”

“Well, I’m used to it.” Shen Shao looked up and surveyed the room.
The sheets on the two beds were clean, and the carpet looked neat and tidy.
On the whole, it was very much in line with a five-star hotel.
The sponsor of the competition was really generous.
More than a hundred contestants came from all over the country, which meant they spent a lot just on the hotel rooms.

Zeng Ping followed his example and began to tidy up his things.
“I heard Jingcheng No.
1 High School is participating this time too.
Do you think we can beat them?”

“The competition hasn’t even started.
How can we know that yet?” Shen Shao thought he looked a little nervous, so he smiled and comforted him.
“Even if we don’t win, as long as we perform at our own level, we’ll have a clear conscience.”

Apparently his words of comfort didn’t have much effect.
Zeng Ping nodded but he still looked tense.

The next morning, the process of the mathematics competition was announced, and most of the participating teachers and students began to sweat.

Although it was a math competition, more was involved than just doing a few exam papers.
The competition was divided into three stages.
The first stage was a written exam—that is, taking a test.
That step would eliminate half of the students.
The second stage would be a test of their ability to do mental math.
The test examiner would announce the questions, and the candidates had to provide the correct answers on the spot within the time limit.
The top ten students would enter the third and final stage of the competition, which was even more complicated.
The examiners would read out the prices of one hundred items.
Then, they’d randomly select five items from the list and ask the candidates to calculate the total price of the selected items within thirty seconds.
If their answer was correct, they had to provide the respective prices of each of the five items within one minute.

The second stage of the competition was a little hard, but at least it was something normal people could do.
However, the third stage of the competition was basically just screening for geniuses.

When Vice Principal Yao heard about the competition process, he began to sweat.
But when he noticed the principal of Jingcheng No.
1 High School was just as dumbfounded as he was, he began to feel a little better.
At least this time Jingcheng No.
1 High School didn’t have a built-in advantage.

The principal of Jingcheng No.
1 High School could probably guess what was running through Vice Principal Yao’s mind, and he sneered inwardly.
This previously defeated opponent was just trying to bluff.
Furong No.
3 High School might put on airs in their province, but now they were facing Jingcheng No.
1 High School.
The outcome was already decided.

Even as he thought this, he sighed to himself.
If only Second Young Master Gu had agreed to participate.
Then it would be a certainty their school would win the championship.

Some schools tried to protest to the organizers that the third stage of the competition had little to do with mathematics, but the organizers blocked them by saying, “Accounting is a fundamental application of mathematical ability”.

The organizers were right.
The third stage of the exam really did have something to do with accounting, but the biggest focus wasn’t math, it was memory!

They couldn’t protest any longer.
In the end, everyone just hoped that when they reached the third stage, the students from other schools wouldn’t be able to remember the prices either, and they allowed their students to enter the first stage of the competition to take the written test.

The results of the written test were announced on the afternoon of the second day.
Shen Shao and the other two students all passed.
Vice Principal Yao and the teachers were relieved.
At least the first stage had gone smoothly.

After seeing the results, Vice Principal Yao asked the two teachers to take the three students out to have some fun to soothe their nerves.
Maybe if they were in a good mood, everyone would pass the mental math competition tomorrow too.

Shen Shao followed the teachers out of the hotel.
He noticed that the capital city of this era was somewhat different from what he remembered later, but what remained the same was its air of wealth and gravity.

People on the street came and went in a hurry.
Shen Shao held a cup of milk tea bought by the teachers and sipped it slowly.
Occasionally, he admired some distinctive buildings along the street, strolling as leisurely as a tourist.

“Shen Shao, look!” Zhang Li, who was walking beside him, pulled his sleeve and surreptitiously pointed to several black BMWs parked on the street in front of them.
“So many Benzes.”

Shen Shao looked over and saw several expensive Mercedes Benz cars parked not far from them.
Beside each car was a bodyguard in a suit, as if they were waiting for someone to come out.

Just as he reached this conclusion, a group of people walked towards the cars.
Three people were in the middle of the cluster.
In front was a man who was about forty years old, followed by two boys, one taller and one shorter.
The taller one smiled, but the shorter one was expressionless.

When the three people got into the car, the caravan of Mercedes Benzes drove away, leaving a cluster of flatterers behind.

After the people dispersed, the two teachers who were leading the team relaxed a little.
Although they didn’t know those people, they knew just by looking that they couldn’t provoke them.

“It’s nice to be rich,” Zhang Li said admiringly, looking at the cars as they drove into the distance.
After a while she turned back and said somewhat reluctantly, “If only I had that much money.”

Shen Shao smiled.
“As long as you work hard, you can always get what you want.”

Zhang Li looked at his smiling profile, and then stared in the direction of the Mercedes Benzes again and nodded heavily.

Inside the car, Eldest Young Master Gu looked over at his expressionless younger brother.
“I heard your school signed up for the national mathematics league.
Why didn’t you go?”

“No point,” Second Young Master Gu said in a flat voice.
He continued looking out the window at the fleeting scenery.
“I’m not interested in a competition sponsored by my family.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let Dad agree to become a sponsor,” Eldest Young Master Gu said with a smile.
“Then you could have gone to the competition too.”

Second Young Master Gu continued to stare out of the window, as if he hadn’t heard Eldest Young Master Gu say anything.

When Eldest Young Master Gu saw his brother like this, although there was a smile on his face, there was worry hidden in his eyes.
He waited a long time, and his brother still didn’t speak.
Eldest Young Master Gu could only smile and say, “If you don’t like it, that’s OK.”

The eyes staring out of the window blinked.
The long eyelashes trembled slightly but couldn’t conceal the indifference in those eyes.

“By the way, I heard the competition will be broadcast live on TV tomorrow.
Do you want to cheer on your classmates on TV?” After enduring more silence in the car, Eldest Young Master Gu spoke up again.
“I heard it’s going to be an interesting competition this time.
It would be a pity not to watch it.”

“OK.” Second Young Master Gu finally took mercy and uttered a word.
To be honest, he didn’t have any interest in whether some students he couldn’t even name would win a competition or not.
It was just that he didn’t want his father and brother to worry about him, so he reluctantly agreed.

Obviously, he thought he was fine the way he was.
Why did his family look at him like that? What was the point of bothering with people he had nothing to do with?

After taking a long stroll outside, the teachers and students returned to the hotel with a pile of local snacks, which was probably their biggest prize of the day.

“Tomorrow’s mental math competition will be broadcast live on the Jingcheng TV station.
If you see camera equipment inside, don’t be nervous.
Just pretend it’s not there.” At dinner time, Vice Principal Yao picked up some food from the hotel buffet.
When he saw that all three students had already chosen some food and were sitting obediently, he couldn’t help but start up again.
“The biggest thing is participating.
As long as you work hard, the school will be proud of you no matter how you do.”

Shen Shao took a bite of mango with his fork.
When he heard Vice Principal Yao say the competition would be broadcast live on TV, he felt surprised.
“Why is a TV station going to be there?”

“This is the national math league.
People from all over the country consider it important.
Did you really think no one was going to broadcast it?” Vice Principal Yao frowned when he said this.
“What makes it different this year is the live broadcast.
Maybe the interest level increased because they changed the competition format.
Also, the sponsor is a big company.
Broadcasting live is a good thing.
You don’t have to be nervous about it.” At any rate, the participating schools would greatly increase their visibility in front of a national audience.

Even if the competition wasn’t more interesting, they’d certainly dug a deeper pit for the competitors.
Shen Shao looked at Zhang Li and Zeng Ping and felt sorry for his classmates.
Their faces were even more nervous after hearing the news.
Obviously, being broadcast live on TV was a test of mental fortitude.

After the vice principal gave his instructions, Shen Shao finished the food on his buffet plate and ate several more pieces of fruit.
While eating, he summarized the vice principal’s central message to himself.

Which was—if they were going to lose, they had to lose with grace.
Make sure the audience in front of the TV appreciated Furong No.
3 High School’s style.

Tsk, why not think about how to win with grace?

 

TL Notes:

Maitreya – 弥勒佛 – According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who’s prophesied to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma.
In some Chinese Buddhist monasteries, it’s common to see him depicted as a monk with a bare chest, smiling face, and a big belly, signifying abundance and the ability to laugh at ridiculous people in the world (Wikipedia, Baidu)

The outcome was already decided.
– from 就永远没有他们什么事。 – “They wouldn’t be able to do anything”

 

Transliterated names, places, and titles—new in this chapter:

Vice Principal Yao – 姚副校长

Zhang Li – 张莉, 孙莉 – The author calls her “Sun Li” (孙莉) a few times in this chapter, but she’s called “Zhang Li” most of the time so I corrected it

Ms.
Sun Qin – 孙琴老师 – Sūn Qín lǎoshī

Zeng Ping – 曾平 

Eldest Young Master Gu – 顾大少 – Gù dà shào

Dad – 爸爸 – bàba