The Reincarnated Science Whiz

Chapter 43: Freshman Orientation

The School of Science at Shuimu University comprised five departments: the Department of Physics, the School of Science Administration, the Department of Mathematics, the Center for Advanced Research, and the Department of Chemistry. The Department of Physics has a total of 85 faculty members, 420 graduate students, and 440 undergraduates. Qin Yuanqing’s freshman class alone consists of only 110 students, with each class having about 30 students, divided into four sections. More than half of those admitted to the Department of Physics entered through the direct admission program, while a smaller portion was admitted through the college entrance exam. The academic advisor gathered the freshmen from Qin Yuanqing’s class—there were only 28 of them—in a classroom that seemed quite spacious, with more than enough room for each student to have their own seat. Once everyone had arrived, the advisor held a brief meeting to explain the rules and regulations and go over important matters. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Shuimu University and to the Shuimu community. Before military training begins, as is customary, our class needs to elect a class president.” The advisor looked around the room and said enthusiastically, “Here’s what we’ll do: let’s skip the secret ballot and take a more efficient approach. The role of class president is primarily about taking the initiative and having a passionate heart willing to serve your classmates. Students who are interested in becoming class president, please raise your hands!” As soon as the counselor finished speaking, everyone raised their hands in unison. “It seems everyone here has a passionate heart willing to serve their classmates!” the counselor said with a smile. “Oh, wait—you there, why didn’t you raise your hand?” The counselor noticed a corner of the room where, while everyone else was raising their hands and vying to be class president, one boy sat there calmly, watching the commotion without reacting. “Oh, right, I almost forgot—I haven’t had everyone introduce themselves yet,” the counselor realized, slapping his forehead. “So, let’s start with self-introductions, beginning with the student in this row, and go in order.” At the first desk in the first row sat a girl—one of only two girls in the entire class. She wasn’t very tall, about 157 cm, and was slender, with bright, lively eyes. She wasn’t shy at all and introduced herself: “Hello, everyone. My name is Liu Ruoyi, and I’m from Pengcheng in Guangdong Province... From first grade through my senior year of high school, I’ve served as class president. I have extensive experience and a passionate desire to serve my classmates. I hope you’ll all vote for me as class president later.” The counselor standing nearby added with a smile, “You may not know this, but Liu Ruoyi is this year’s top scorer in the science track of the Guangdong Province college entrance exam, with a total score of 702 points.” Next up was a young man with a gentle demeanor, who said, “Hello everyone, my name is Mao Zhenhua, and I’m from a rural area in Anhui Province…” The counselor added, “Mao Zhenhua was the runner-up in the science track of this year’s college entrance exam in Anhui Province.” Finally, it was Qin Yuanqing’s turn to introduce himself. He stood up, waved to the group, and smiled, “Hello, everyone. My name is Qin Yuanqing…” “Wow~~~” The students gasped in unison, then burst into enthusiastic applause, interrupting Qin Yuanqing’s introduction. After two months of nonstop media coverage, Qin Yuanqing had become the most famous person in the country. The counselor smiled and said, “It seems everyone already knows Qin Yuanqing, so I won’t go into further detail. I’m just curious, Qin Yuanqing—while the other students are all vying to be class president, why aren’t you interested?” The others also looked at Qin Yuanqing with curiosity. More than half the class had applied to Shuimu University precisely because of Qin Yuanqing’s influence. Qin Yuanqing shrugged, spread his hands, and said with a hint of resignation, “I’ve been class president every single time since I started school. Making me class president again would be a disservice to my classmates!” “Counselor, I don’t think we even need an election for class president. Qin Yuanqing scored a perfect score on the college entrance exam—the top scorer is right here. Who could be more suitable for the role than him?” The chubby boy stood up and stirred up the crowd. “Chubby, academics are one thing, and administration is another—please don’t mix the two!” Qin Yuanqing glared at Chubby. He wasn’t raising his hand to run for class president precisely because he thought the role was too much trouble—a whole bunch of nonsense. But Qin Yuanqing was in for a disappointment. With the chubby kid stirring things up, the other students chimed in one after another: “That’s right, that’s right! It would be unthinkable for Qin Yuanqing not to be class president!” “No, no, no~~~” Qin Yuanqing shook his head repeatedly. “Classmates, I really am not cut out to be class president.” The counselor smiled and interrupted Qin Yuanqing: “Qin Yuanqing, it seems you’re the unanimous choice for class president. You can’t go against the will of the people!” “Let’s give a round of enthusiastic applause to approve Qin Yuanqing as our class president!” As soon as the counselor finished speaking, the classroom erupted in another round of enthusiastic applause. Qin Yuanqing was speechless. What on earth was going on? He clearly didn’t want the position, yet he’d been forced into it—it made no sense at all. But since everyone had already applauded so enthusiastically, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to refuse now. Reluctantly, he said, “Since everyone is so enthusiastic, I’ll give it a try. If I don’t do a good job as class president, you can elect someone else later! Counselor, you can remove me from office at any time!” The counselor officially announced that Qin Yuanqing was the class president of Class ** in the Department of Physics. This was immediately followed by the announcement of the other class officers: vice-class president, academic representative, sports representative, publicity representative, life affairs representative, organizational representative, sanitation representative, and Youth League branch secretary. It was truly a case of “small but fully equipped.” Moreover, Huaxia’s enthusiasm for holding office is no mere exaggeration—the competition for each class officer position was incredibly fierce. With all sorts of campaign slogans and canvassing tactics in play, it took over an hour to confirm every class officer one by one. Qin Yuanqing had already written the QQ group number for the class on the blackboard, instructing the students to join the group. Privately, he also created a separate QQ group for the class officers and added them all to it. Although Qin Yuanqing had never served as class president himself, he knew that as long as he managed the class officers effectively and delegated tasks to the right people, the entire class would run smoothly. Early in the morning on August 27, the freshmen gathered under the guidance of their respective class advisors for the undergraduate orientation ceremony. President Gu Binglin delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony, extending a warm welcome and heartfelt congratulations to all students on behalf of the university. It was also at this ceremony that Qin Yuanqing learned that Shuimu University had admitted more than 3,300 undergraduate freshmen this year, including over 500 students admitted through recommendation—accounting for nearly 20 percent of the total—and that the top ten students in both the liberal arts and science tracks from each province, municipality, and autonomous region had essentially been swept up in one fell swoop. Of course, the disparity between male and female students remained very pronounced, with women making up only 30 percent of the student body. This meant that many male students would be unable to find girlfriends on campus and would have to look for them at Yan Da University or other nearby institutions. Following the president’s address at the opening ceremony, it was announced that military training and orientation would take place from August 28 to September 20. A major in military uniform then took the stage to introduce himself, accompanied by a squad of soldiers in uniform—these would be the military training instructors. Representing the military, the major made a solemn pledge... After the opening ceremony, Qin Yuanqing instructed the dormitory life committee to collect students’ measurements for shirts, pants, and shoes. A few students then went to the Logistics Support Office to pick up their military uniforms, as uniform attire is required for military training. Seeing that he had nothing else to do that evening, Qin Yuanqing shouldered his backpack and headed to the library—this was his first time visiting the library at Shuimu University. True to its reputation as one of Huaxia University’s top universities, Shuimu University’s library was indeed larger than he could have imagined. Recalling the information he’d looked up, he realized that the Shuimu University Library had been approved by the State Council as one of the first National Key Units for the Preservation of Ancient Books, with a total physical collection exceeding 5 million volumes (items). The library building covered a total area of over 70,000 square meters and provided approximately 4,800 reading seats. As soon as he entered the library, he saw many students intently reading; some had their laptops open and were watching videos with headphones on. Qin Yuanqing looked up the catalog, then selected a copy of *Advanced Algebra (Tu Boyun Edition)* from the shelves and found a quiet spot in a corner of the library to sit down. Taking some scratch paper out of his backpack, Qin Yuanqing flipped through the book, jotting down and analyzing new concepts as he encountered them. In less than half an hour, Qin Yuanqing had finished reading *Advanced Algebra (Tu Boyun Edition)*. He then picked up a copy of *A New Introduction to Mathematical Analysis*, which he read even faster, finishing it in less than twenty minutes. Just as Qin Yuanqing was immersed in the ocean of knowledge, he suddenly felt something tap his arm. He turned his head and saw a pretty girl with round-framed glasses and a single ponytail, holding a pen in her hand and looking at him shyly. “Excuse me for bothering you… Could I ask you a question?” Qin Yuanqing nodded graciously and said, “Sure, go ahead.” “Thank you.” After whispering her thanks, the girl quietly pulled up a chair and sat down next to Qin Yuanqing, thoughtfully handing him a pen and a sheet of scrap paper. Qin Yuanqing took a look—it was a limit problem. He thought to himself, “Such a simple problem, and she doesn’t know how to solve it? This girl must have gotten in through the back door.” Qin Yuanqing picked up the pen, wrote out the solution on the paper, arrived at the conclusion, and handed the paper to the girl. “Is… is that it?” The girl stared at Qin Yuanqing in disbelief, thinking to herself, “This can’t be a trick, can it? I’ve been racking my brain over this problem all day and still couldn’t figure it out, but this guy solved it in less than three minutes? Seeing that the girl was a bit skeptical, Qin Yuanqing thought to himself, “Sure enough, a woman’s looks are inversely proportional to her IQ. What’s so hard about such a simple problem?” “Classmate, take a look at the steps. If you don’t understand, feel free to ask me.” Then, smiling, he added, “By the way, I don’t know which freshman class you’re in yet.” The girl whispered, “I… am preparing for the graduate school entrance exam.” Qin Yuanqing was speechless. She’s trying to get into grad school, yet she’s struggling with such a simple problem? Since when has getting into grad school in Huaxia become this easy? No wonder some jobs in the workforce require a Ph. D. The quality and caliber of graduate students have really declined drastically. “What about you, classmate? Are you a math major preparing for the graduate entrance exam? This problem isn’t easy—even our class can’t solve it!” the girl asked in a low voice. “I… I’m a freshman in the Department of Physics, Class **!” Qin Yuanqing said expressionlessly. A twinge of regret suddenly welled up in Qin Yuanqing’s heart. It seemed that Shuimu University didn’t live up to its reputation after all. If he’d known, he would have chosen Yan Da University back then.