The Reincarnated Science Whiz

Chapter 25: Harvest

However, educational reform is a major undertaking! Huaxia is not like Western countries; the Chinese Communist Party and the government do not serve capital, but rather the people. Otherwise, they would not have incurred such enormous costs to combat poverty. Under these poverty alleviation policies, tens of millions of farmers have been lifted out of poverty—a feat achieved not only at the cost of hundreds of billions or even trillions of yuan, but also through the tireless efforts of countless poverty alleviation officials, some of whom even sacrificed their precious lives. At the summary and commendation conference, it was revealed that more than 1,800 poverty alleviation officials had sacrificed their lives—among them were many top students, as well as men who had only recently become fathers. Many experts are calling for China to follow the example of the West and implement an elite education system. In their eyes, ordinary people are not even considered human beings—they are merely cheap labor. Consequently, while the education system has faced widespread criticism, it has not yet shifted toward an elitist model—otherwise, social mobility would be stifled, and social stratification would rapidly solidify. Qin Yuanqing shut down his computer and sighed. He himself didn’t know if there was a new path forward that could combine the strengths of both systems. He only knew that his current abilities were far from sufficient, and these were not matters he could consider. If quality is lacking, make up for it with quantity! With such a vast population in Huaxia, and millions taking the college entrance exam every year, a few geniuses are bound to emerge from among them. “Why are you sighing like that?” Shen Yi washed a piece of fruit, tossed it to Qin Yuanqing, and took a bite himself. “The girls in this year’s competition are so good-looking. That girl from Russia—she’s absolutely gorgeous!” As he spoke, his eyes sparkled—he looked every bit the lecher. Qin Yuanqing was speechless inside. The IMO was such a serious competition, yet Shen Yi actually dared to get distracted by admiring the girls on other countries’ math teams. Not only the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team, but the teams from other countries were also mostly boys; there were only about twenty girls in total, making them stand out like a sore thumb. “And that girl from Sweden—she’s so cute. I wish she could be my girlfriend!” Shen Yi’s mind was running wild with fantasies. “Snap out of it—we’ve got a competition tomorrow!” Qin Yuanqing said exasperatedly. Was he really so obsessed with sex? The next day, at exactly 9:00 a. m. The second day of the IMO competition began right on schedule, and the contestants were set to tackle the remaining three problems. After receiving the test paper, Qin Yuanqing first quickly skimmed through the three problems. “The last problem of these three… is insanely difficult!” Qin Yuanqing took a deep breath, averted his eyes from the last problem, composed himself, and began working on the first one: “In △ABC, AB = AC. AD and BE are the bisectors of ∠CAB and ∠ABC, respectively. K is the incenter of △ADC. Given that ∠BEK = 45°, find all possible values of ∠CAB.” Upon seeing this problem, Qin Yuanqing didn’t hesitate to draw an isosceles triangle, then construct the bisectors of AD and BE, mark the incenter K of △ABC, and label ∠BEK as 45°. Instantly, the textual description transformed into a geometric figure. He then marked the intersection point I of AD and BE and drew CI, which bisects ∠ACB. Since K is the incenter of △ADC, point K lies on segment CI. Let ∠BAC = α. Since AB = AC and AD ⊥ BC, we have ∠ABC = ∠ACB = 90° - α/2. Since BI and CI bisect ∠ABC and ∠ACB, respectively, we have ∠ABI = ∠IBC = ∠ACI = ∠ICB = 45° - α/2. Therefore, ∠EIC = ∠IBC + ∠ICB = 90° - α/2, and ∠IEC = ∠BAE + ∠ABE = 45° + 3α/4. Thus, IK/KC = S△IEK/S△EKC = …… Qin Yuanqing worked through the problem step by step and quickly arrived at the conclusion. Although there were many steps, the process was very clear: first, he visualized the problem, then applied the diagram to work through the steps one by one, and finally determined the range of values. Qin Yuanqing then immediately turned to the second problem: “2. Find all functions ∫: Z⁺ → Z⁺ such that, for any positive integers a and b, the points a, f(b), and f(b + f(a) − 1) form a triangle.” Qin Yuanqing glanced at it. This problem involved functions, mappings, and mathematical induction. After a brief analysis, he began to solve it, ultimately concluding that $f(n) = n$ was the unique solution. The third problem was clearly a significant step up in difficulty; to Qin Yuanqing, it seemed even more challenging than yesterday’s final problem. Let a₁, a₂, ... , a_n be distinct positive integers, and let M be a set consisting of n-1 positive integers, but M does not include s = a₁ + a₂ + ... + a_n. A grasshopper hops along the integer points of the real number line. It starts at point O and then hops n times, with each hop’s step size being exactly a permutation of a₁, a₂, ... , a_n. Prove that by appropriately rearranging the order of a₁, a₂, ... , a_n, it is possible to ensure that the grasshopper does not land on any integer point corresponding to a number in set M during its journey. Qin Yuanqing rubbed his temples; this was the hardest problem he had encountered so far. He closed his eyes slightly to calm himself down. About half an hour later, a flash of insight struck him—it turned out that his math level had finally reached Level 10, and his thinking suddenly became much clearer. Looking at the problem again, he instantly felt confident. Qin Yuanqing picked up his pen and began to work through the problem: When n = 1, M = ∅, so the conclusion obviously holds; when n = 2, M contains only one number m, and one of a1 or a2 must be unequal to m—simply use that in the first step. The rest follows naturally... When Qin Yuanqing finished answering the question, he saw that there was still one hour left before the 4. 5-hour time limit ended. Another solution occurred to him, so he wrote down an alternative approach on the answer sheet. This time, the process went much more smoothly—after all, since he already knew one method, the other was simply a matter of shifting his perspective. So, when he saw that only 5 minutes remained until the end of the exam, Qin Yuanqing stood up and raised his hand to signal that he was turning in his answer sheet. Only after the proctor had placed the answer sheet in a sealed envelope did Qin Yuanqing leave. With the exam over, all that remained was to wait for the results. Qin Yuanqing seemed quite relaxed, while the other five team members appeared somewhat anxious. Upon asking, he learned that none of them had managed to complete the final question. But since the exam was over, they left the hotel to walk around and even went to watch a Werder Bremen soccer match. Qin Yuanqing had to admit that there was indeed a good reason why European soccer had surpassed basketball to become the world’s number one sport—and the one with the greatest influence. The fans were passionate and loyal; the professional players upheld a strong code of ethics; referees rarely dared to make corrupt calls; and both teams gave it their all throughout the entire match. The competition was fierce, and the games were highly entertaining. In contrast, domestic soccer in China is plagued by constant scandals—it’s a complete farce. That group of players, coaches, and referees are practically professional actors, collecting high salaries while treating fans like fools. Whenever problems arise, they come up with all sorts of excuses and shift the blame onto others. In such an environment, Huaxia won’t become a soccer powerhouse even in 20 years, and Huaxia soccer fans will have no choice but to find their favorite teams in soccer in Europe. During the break, the assistant team manager asked Qin Yuanqing how the exam had gone. Qin Yuanqing simply gave him an “OK” gesture, and the smile on his face instantly put the assistant manager’s mind at ease. One day later, the results were announced. Upon receiving the official ranking list from the organizers, the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team erupted in cheers. The scores of the six team members were: Qin Yuanqing 42 points, Yang Teng 34 points, Shen Yi 32 points, Luo Wei 32 points, Wu Jie 28 points, and Cui Yu 28 points. Huaxia Math Olympiad Team total score: 196 points All six members of the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team—except for Wu Jie and Cui Yu—won individual gold medals, and the team’s score of 196 was the highest in the competition. “Yes, we’re the champions!” “We’re the champions!” Every member of the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team was overjoyed; they high-fived each other in celebration, and the atmosphere was jubilant. “Qin Yuanqing, you’re so awesome! You’re the only one who scored a perfect 42 points at this IMO!” “Awesome—you got them all right! That’s incredible. The problems were much harder this year than in previous years, and you still managed to get a perfect score!” “You’re definitely the gold medalist and first place—congratulations!” If it hadn’t been for Qin Yuanqing’s perfect score, the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team would have lost to the team from Russia—the scores of 28 points from Wu Jie and Cui Yu were simply too painful to look at. Although no one on the Russia team scored a perfect 42, two of them scored 40, bringing their total score to just one point behind the Huaxia team. So one by one, the team members paid their respects to Qin Yuanqing—he was simply superhuman! In the past, there were always a few who scored a perfect score, but consider this: out of so many competitors, Qin Yuanqing was the only one to achieve it. What an incredible feat! Qin Yuanqing was overjoyed as well. As the results were announced, he received his corresponding rewards, and his consciousness entered the system space: Host: Qin Yuanqing Age: 19 IQ: 165 Emotional Intelligence: 100 Subjects: Chinese: Level 6 (80,000/10,000,000) Math: Level English: Level Physics: Level 7 (3,000/100,000,000) Chemistry: Level 6 (70,000/10,000,000) Biology: Level 6 (90,000/10,000,000) Physical Fitness: 10 At the same time, he received a reward of 6,000 Study Coins for completing the task, bringing his total to 9,000 Study Coins. “Congratulations, Host! You have won an IMO individual gold medal and a team gold medal!” the system announced. “We hope you will continue to strive for excellence and achieve even greater glory!” Shortly after, Qin Yuanqing noticed that two new honors—the IMO Individual Gold Medal and the IMO Team Gold Medal—had been added to his Honors tab. As for the task panel, it had now changed to: Task 1: Rank first in the city on the Gaokao; reward: 500 Study Coins. Task 2: Become the top science student in the Gaokao for Fujian Province; reward: 500 Study Coins. Seeing these new tasks, Qin Yuanqing was speechless. The system was being way too stingy—the title of top science student in Fujian Province carried far more weight than the city-level title, yet the reward was a mere 500 Learning Coins. Did it think his college entrance exam would be that easy? That afternoon, the awards ceremony took place as scheduled. Qin Yuanqing and his teammates, all dressed uniformly, cheerfully accepted the team gold trophy symbolizing the highest honor. Meanwhile, the media in the audience snapped photo after photo, and reporters immediately published their coverage. “The Huaxia Math Olympiad Team won the team championship at the International Math Olympiad with 196 points! Congratulations to the Huaxia Math Olympiad Team on successfully defending their title!” This was the Chinese-language breaking news report, published immediately. Next came the silver and bronze medals for second and third place, respectively; Russia took the silver, while the Japan team claimed the bronze. Next came the individual gold medals, as Qin Yuanqing, Yang Teng, Shen Yi, Luo Wei, and others took the stage one after another. Qin Yuanqing was positioned in the center—as the only contestant to achieve a perfect score in this competition, he naturally took the center spot. “Congratulations to our Huaxia Math Olympiad team members Qin Yuanqing, Yang Teng, Shen Yi, and Luo Wei on winning individual gold medals! Congratulations to Qin Yuanqing for achieving the only perfect score in this competition!” The news was immediately relayed back to China.