Chapter 50: Have You Ever Heard of Me?

Xu Ming briefly waited in line. When it was his turn to approach the table, he greeted politely.

“Hello, teacher.”

“I’m your counselor, He Wenbin.” The man sitting in the chair, with somewhat dark skin, introduced himself proactively.

Xu Ming immediately changed his tone. “Hello, Brother Wenbin.”

The counselors at Yanda University are permanent staff under the Student Affairs Department. Their primary duties revolve around ideological education, daily management, psychological counseling, and health care for students.

They differ from the subject teachers.

At this moment, a senior student beside He Wenbin handed over a sign-in sheet and a pen.

“Student, please find your name and sign next to it.”

“Okay.” Xu Ming reached out to take the pen, lowering his gaze to look for his name.

Before he could write, He Wenbin suddenly noticed something and exclaimed with some surprise.

“You must be Xu Ming, right?”

Xu Ming was slightly stunned but nodded. “Yes, I am Xu Ming.”

Although this was their first meeting, it wasn’t unusual for the counselor to have already recognized the freshmen in the department; it was part of his job.

Moreover, there weren’t many top scorers in the college.

It was easy to remember.

He Wenbin scrutinized Xu Ming from head to toe, then smiled broadly and continued.

“You have the highest score among the six top scorers in our college this year. I believe you’ll quickly adapt to the pace of study here in the School of Mathematics.”

Xu Ming met his gaze, sensing curiosity in his eyes. Although something felt a bit strange, he still responded seriously.

“Thank you, Brother Wenbin.”

Before he finished speaking, the senior student suddenly became inexplicably excited, even lifting herself off the bench.

“You’re that Xu Ming?”

“Have you also heard of me, senior?” Xu Ming showed a puzzled expression.

Although his 741-point score as a top scorer was impressive, in a place like Yanda’s School of Mathematics, full of hidden talents, it only meant he still had room to improve. It was normal for the counselor to recognize him, but for a senior in the department to know him was rather odd.

The girl explained in response, “You’re quite well-known among the freshmen in the math department.”

A question mark appeared in Xu Ming’s mind.

He thought to himself, “I just happened to be a top scorer; have I already made a name for myself in this ‘mad house’ called Yanda?”

Considering others were still waiting in line, he didn’t press further and quickly signed his name on the list.

His strong, confident handwriting stood out like a crane among chickens.

It was almost as if a liberal arts student had infiltrated the math department.

“I didn’t expect your handwriting to be so beautiful. No wonder you nearly got a perfect score,” He Wenbin remarked with surprise.

He then added, “Take the campus shuttle later; it will drop you off at the dormitory office where you can collect your bedding key and freshman gift pack. The college will conduct a health check tomorrow.”

After speaking, he handed over a leather file folder.

“Got it, Brother Wenbin.”

Without delay, Xu Ming boarded the campus shuttle and headed to the 32nd floor.

On the bus, he opened the folder and took out a letter addressed to freshmen and a map of Yanyuan marking important locations like the textbook office.

Before long,

Xu Ming arrived at the 32nd floor, received the brass key to dormitory 203, and picked up the enamel mug bearing the symbol of “sum to zero” Σ on the freshman gift pack.

He went upstairs to find his dorm room. Upon entering, he saw a bespectacled young man on the bed by the west-facing window. The boy had a standard short student haircut and skin even darker than Counselor He Wenbin’s.

Hearing the noise, the boy looked up and seemed to want to greet him.

But in the end, he said nothing.

His expression visibly twisted with hesitation.

Xu Ming noticed this and guessed the boy was introverted. He put his belongings on the bed and desk on the east side, then turned around to take the initiative to greet him.

“Hello, my name is Xu Ming. I’m sleeping on the bed opposite yours.”

“Zhu Zhixuan.” The boy was momentarily startled, then smiled and said his name.

As Xu Ming organized his things, they chatted casually and quickly became acquainted.

From their conversation, Xu Ming learned that Zhu Zhixuan came from a remote mountain village and was the only student from his entire school to enter a key university.

The educational resources there were far inferior to those of Dongping No. 1 High School.

Though Zhu Zhixuan seemed somewhat shy around strangers, he became much more cheerful once familiar. Especially later, he was mostly the one asking questions.

Sitting at the desk, Xu Ming took out his phone to check in with his family. Seeing a message from Chen Lu saying she was getting along well with their roommates, he quickly typed a few lines and sent a reply.

Just as the “sent successfully” notification appeared on the screen, Zhu Zhixuan’s voice came from behind.

“Xu Ming, what was your gaokao score?”

“Over seven hundred,” Xu Ming replied casually, turning around.

Zhu Zhixuan responded, “Then we scored about the same—I’m also over seven hundred.”

Shortly after,

A tall boy pushed the door open and entered. After exchanging greetings, Xu Ming immediately understood why Zhu Zhixuan had asked about the gaokao scores.

“Looks like we have another roommate. I was just in the bathroom taking a big one. Let me introduce myself properly: I’m Jiang Xu, on the national math training team and was admitted without taking the gaokao.”

“I’m Xu Ming, a gaokao student.” Xu Ming extended his hand.

There was inevitably some distance between new students who took the gaokao and those admitted through math competitions. Judging from Zhu Zhixuan’s conversation with Jiang Xu earlier, he probably feared being the only gaokao student in the dorm, which would be quite stressful.

About ten minutes later, the last roommate, Ni Mingjie, finally arrived fashionably late.

Ni Mingjie was tall and well-built, easily mistaken for a sports institute student when seen outside.

He also took the gaokao and was the most outgoing of the group, though he was quite dissatisfied with being assigned to the math department.

Once inside the dorm, he launched into a torrent of complaints.

“I originally wanted to go to the Guanghua College, but I was transferred to the math department. I really don’t know how I’m going to survive the next four years.”

“Normal people don’t do well in the ‘mad house,’ do they?”

“If I didn’t hate wasting a year so much, I’d have dropped out and retaken the exam.”

“The math department is definitely stressful. I saw it firsthand when I attended the summer camp training at Yanda. We even have a gold medalist in math competitions this year.” Jiang Xu chimed in from the side.

Xu Ming had finished the first-year curriculum during the summer vacation and naturally felt confident he wouldn’t be inferior to the competition students.

Meanwhile, Zhu Zhixuan remained on his bed, silently absorbing all the information without joining the discussion.

At that moment, Ni Mingjie’s attention shifted back to Xu Ming, and with some uncertainty, he asked.

“You look kind of familiar. Are you from Dongping County, the science top scorer with a total of 741 points?”

“The ruthless guy who studies eighteen hours a day?”

Hearing this, Xu Ming was stunned. He hadn’t expected even the freshmen to know about him. More importantly, he wondered when the influence of the provincial newspaper had spread to other regions.

Startled by this thought, he failed to notice that Zhu Zhixuan and Jiang Xu were already staring at him with wide eyes.