Chapter 63: What on Earth Triggered Him?

Hearing the murmurs and discussions of the others, Lu Mingzhe felt his spirits dampen somewhat as he sat in the middle of the front row with a stern face.

Over the past few days, he had pondered endlessly over why Professor Zhang Luping treated Xu Ming’s attitude so differently, despite both of them achieving perfect scores. Could it simply be because the other party managed to hand in his test paper two hours early?

Especially after seeing that Xu Ming was even excused from attending the training sessions, he had specifically called the counselor, He Wenbin, to inquire why he had received no such notification.

The ultimate reply he received was that Xu Ming’s exemption from training was specially approved by Professor Zhang Luping himself.

He had always thought that as a recommended student admitted directly through his mathematical prowess and a competition gold medalist, he would remain the most elite existence even after entering Yenching University.

Yet, he had suffered a crushing sense of defeat at the hands of a regular high school student taking the National College Entrance Examination.

This immense humiliation had to be washed away using his own mathematical achievements.

"I will definitely surpass you in the next midterm exam," he muttered inwardly, raising his eyes to watch Xu Ming walk into the classroom, steeling his resolve.

……

Unaware that someone had already marked him as a rival, Xu Ming found an empty seat alongside Jiang Xu and sat down directly.

As a senior professor and the head of the department, nobody dared to be late for Zhang Luping’s class.

The students took their seats early, pulling out the first volume of Mathematical Analysis to preview the material.

In stark contrast, Xu Ming calmly drew a tutorial on Ordinary Differential Equations from his backpack, feeling not the slightest bit out of place.

Today, Zhang Luping appeared just as usual, holding only a double-layered glass teacup infused with wolfberry. He stepped onto the podium, briefly introduced himself, and then dove straight into the core material while offering a timely psychological preparation.

"The pace of our advanced class will be considerably faster than that of the regular classes. I hope you can all adapt to the lecturing rhythm as soon as possible."

"Additionally, you may quietly continue the traditions of the School of Mathematics by forming your own study groups to reduce the failure rate."

As the lecture officially commenced, Lu Mingzhe behaved very enthusiastically.

Not only did he loudly echo the points lectured by Zhang Luping, but whenever a sample problem arose, he would actively volunteer to go up to the blackboard to complete the proof, maximizing his presence in front of Zhang Luping as much as possible.

Having had some contact with Lu Mingzhe during the previous intensive training sessions, Jiang Xu could not help but frown slightly in surprise at this scene.

"I remember the great Lu was usually quite low-key. How come he suddenly started showing off so much after entering university?"

"Could he have been stimulated by something?"

"Perhaps he holds a deep admiration for Professor Zhang," Xu Ming replied casually, recalling Lu Mingzhe’s behavior after the analytical seminar the other day.

"So that’s how it is," Jiang Xu nodded, harboring no suspicions.

Since Xu Ming had already informed Professor Zhang Luping that he had finished self-studying the mandatory mathematics curriculum for the freshman year, studying Ordinary Differential Equations during the Mathematical Analysis class did not result in Professor Zhang calling his name.

Consequently, Xu Ming smoothly entered a state of deep learning, rapidly memorizing the remaining theorems and formulas.

——

[Through diligent study, your [Mathematics] proficiency has increased, gaining 10 experience points.]

It was not until the end-of-class bell rang that he finally snapped back to reality, closing the Ordinary Differential Equations tutorial in front of him and exhaling a soft breath.

"Finally finished reading the whole thing. Next, I can start tackling Real Analysis."

To say it without the slightest exaggeration, among the various courses in the sophomore year, Ordinary Differential Equations could only be considered an appetizer.

The ones with truly the highest failure rates remained Real Analysis and Complex Analysis.

Every year, they drove countless students to the verge of a breakdown.

Having considered himself to have thoroughly mastered Mathematical Analysis, Higher Algebra, and Geometry, and now having completed Ordinary Differential Equations, he was truly ready to launch a fierce assault on Real Analysis.

He believed that given the formidable difficulty of Real Analysis, mastering it would yield an even greater amount of experience points in the mathematical discipline.

By then, the milestone of advancing mathematics to a Level 3 discipline would not be far off.

At noon, everyone dined at the No. 5 Student Canteen.

Having just completed their very first mandatory mathematics course in the School of Mathematics, their emotions were still somewhat stirred and excited.

After sitting down with their meals, they could not help but voice their thoughts.

"The pace in the regular classes is indeed much slower. They start off by teaching some elementary techniques, which is rather friendly for non-competition students like us."

"I can keep up with everything so far."

"We really have to thank Jiang Xu and Xu Ming for helping us tutor and explain the problems; otherwise, today’s class definitely wouldn't have been this relaxing." Zhu Zhixuan, who was usually less talkative, chimed in with a simple, honest smile plastered across his face.

Hearing this, Jiang Xu, who sat across from Xu Ming, proactively brought up another matter.

"Regarding the study groups, what are your thoughts?"

"In order to hand in our problem sets on time and avoid failing, we just have to find a suitable group to join. There should be plenty of people recruiting members on the academy’s triangular bulletin board and community forum," Ni Mingjie was the first to state his plan.

Zhu Zhixuan nodded in agreement as well. "We need to start forming them today."

Back during registration and enrollment, Jiang Xu had already mentioned study groups, which had been a longstanding tradition of the School of Mathematics at Yenching University for many years.

After all, as Mathematical Analysis, Higher Algebra, and Analytic Geometry began assigning homework and problem sets, relying solely on dormmates to supervise each other made it very easy to miss deadlines.

Accumulating three missed submissions would result in failing the course.

It was no exaggeration to say that every weekend in the study rooms of the School of Mathematics, one could find people pulling all-nighters to catch up on homework.

Hearing this, Jiang Xu nodded at the two of them, then raised his eyes to look at Xu Ming and asked once more.

"What about you, Xu Ming?"

Actually, he harbored a strong desire to form a study group with Xu Ming. Alas, given Xu Ming’s current learning pace, it was obviously much more suitable for him to choose senior upperclassmen to form a group, which would generate positive feedback.

"I don't have a suitable candidate in mind yet. I'll look into it a bit more," Xu Ming paused his chopsticks to think before giving his answer.

He had naturally considered this issue. Especially when studying Real Analysis and Complex Analysis, having someone to discuss concepts with would undoubtedly accelerate his efficiency considerably.

However, since he was not very familiar with the senior students, finding a matching group to join was not going to be easy.

He figured he would ask Senior Brother Liu for advice the next time they met before deciding.

With no classes scheduled for the afternoon, and not yet considering a study group, Xu Ming took his laptop to the library alone to continue translating the research paper.

By the time the library closed for the evening and he returned to the dorm, he had basically completed half of the progress.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would be able to publish it within the current week—provided, of course, that he could ensure Professor Zhang found no errors in it.

During this time, a junior student had even proactively come over to consult him on a problem. Upon learning that Xu Ming was actually a newly enrolled freshman, the senior’s jaw practically dropped to the floor, leaving him to sigh repeatedly that the School of Mathematics at Yenching University was truly growing stronger by the day.

The next day.

Following the conclusion of the morning Higher Algebra class came another compulsory core course for the School of Mathematics: Introduction to Computing.

When Xu Ming arrived at the large lecture hall in the science building carrying his C language design textbook and laptop for the theory class, he discovered that the discipline of 'Information Science' had finally appeared on his panel.

And as he reviewed C language design, he began gaining experience points in the information science discipline.

[Through diligent study, your [Information] proficiency has increased, gaining 5 experience points.]

[Through diligent study...]