"The Qiu Chengtong Middle School Science Award?"
Hearing Vice Principal Zhao’s question, Li Dong was taken aback for a moment.
The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he wasn’t really sure what kind of competition it was.
So he shook his head honestly. "Principal Zhao, I don’t know."
Hearing this, Elder Chen, who was sitting beside them, frowned slightly.
Vice Principal Zhao chuckled and explained.
"The Qiu Prize was founded by the great mathematician Mr. Qiu Chengtong. It’s one of the most prestigious science research competitions for high school students in the world."
"It’s different from the Ossai. It’s not about test-taking or grinding through practice problems. It requires students, either individually or as a team, to choose their own topic and complete a full research project."
"We’ve specifically chosen the official Asian Region for you. This division is on the exact same level as the Mainland Division. The global finals are held on the same stage, and the award certificates are all personally signed by Mr. Qiu Chengtong. They are highly recognized by everyone from Qingbei to overseas Ivy League schools and MIT. The prestige is identical."
"Furthermore, we have a long-term talent development partnership with the organizing committee, which has opened a special application channel for outstanding mainland high school students. It’s completely legitimate."
"Most importantly, the timeline for the Asian Region fits perfectly. To make it to the global finals, you just need to submit a full academic paper in English and complete a thesis defense, also entirely in English."
Having said this, Vice Principal Zhao looked at Li Dong.
"Li Dong, we at Sixth Middle School very much hope you will represent our school in the physics division of this competition."
"Throughout this research process, your personal academic abilities will undoubtedly be greatly enhanced. It would also be an excellent trial run for a future career in research."
"Of course, if you manage to place, it would be a huge honor for both you and the school!"
In truth, there were a few more things Vice Principal Zhao hadn’t said, words straight from the heart.
The full name of Sixth Middle School’s special talent class was the "Qiu Chengtong Talent Class."
The awkward truth, however, was that in all the years since the class was established, Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School had never even managed to snag a bronze medal in the global finals of this highly prestigious competition!
That was because the final rounds of the competition were perennially monopolized by the country’s top "super high schools," like Renmin University High School in the Capital City, Modu Middle School, and Rongcheng Seventh Middle School.
The students from these schools started working in university labs as early as their first year of high school, some even had academicians officially listed as their mentors.
As a key provincial high school, Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School had always wanted to break into that circle of top-tier "super high schools," but it lacked a major international award to command that kind of respect. In the eyes of those schools, Sixth Middle School still wasn’t qualified.
Vice Principal Zhao wanted to continue painting a picture of the bright future that awaited Li Dong if he won the Qiu Prize.
"Principal Zhao."
Elder Chen, at his side, suddenly stood up.
Although Elder Chen’s tone was still polite, his attitude was firm.
"This kid is already a senior. Isn’t it too late?"
’A competition like the Qiu Prize requires an enormous amount of energy to research literature, conduct experiments, and write a paper in English. It’s usually first and second-year competition students with plenty of time on their hands who participate.’
’A senior doing scientific research?’
’Isn’t that just absurd!’
’A person’s energy is finite. Trying to prepare for the college entrance exam while also taking on a half-year-long research project would most likely end with nothing to show for either effort. It would be a total waste!’
Elder Chen felt that having Li Dong participate now was an extremely irresponsible thing to do.
The atmosphere in the room grew a little awkward.
At that moment, Director Liu Limin, who hadn’t had a chance to speak, quickly stood up. He leaned in close to Elder Chen and lowered his voice.
"Elder Chen, please don’t be hasty."
"It’s like this, you might not know what this kid did in the semifinals of the Huaxuan Cup..."
Then, Liu Limin recounted the entire story of how Li Dong had caught the eye of Huaxuan Technology and been directly offered a two-million-yuan personal research startup fund.
"What?!"
Elder Chen’s previously calm expression finally broke.
He turned his head and just stared at Li Dong, his eyes filled with shock for the first time.
Before, Elder Chen had at most considered the boy a once-in-a-century prodigy at solving problems, feeling only curiosity and admiration.
But now, things were different!
’Huaxuan Technology directly offered a two-million-yuan external research grant, and it was tied to him personally?’
’What did that mean?!’
’It meant that Li Dong hadn’t just "solved a problem correctly"—he had single-handedly solved a real, industrial-grade problem for Huaxuan Technology!’
Elder Chen looked at Li Dong, his blood boiling with an excitement he hadn’t felt in many years.
"What a pity... what a pity he’s already a senior. If he were even a junior, I could have gotten him into the national training team..."
Elder Chen heaved a long sigh.
However, precisely because he saw this spark in Li Dong, Elder Chen felt even more strongly that he couldn’t let him go down the wrong path.
"Li Dong, don’t listen to your Principal Zhao!"
Vice Principal Zhao’s face darkened beside him.
Elder Chen completely ignored Vice Principal Zhao’s resentful look.
"At your age, having missed the Ossai system, the college entrance exam is basically your only route to get into a top-tier university.
For this Qiu Prize, Principal Zhao and the others want you to use the same line of thinking from the final problem of the Huaxuan Cup, which means you have a high chance of winning a very prestigious award."
"But I must tell you plainly, as your teacher, that writing a paper like this has a lot of pitfalls, and it’s not easy at all!"
"I’ve laid out the pros and cons for you. So, are you willing to participate?"
However, almost the instant Elder Chen’s voice fell,
Li Dong nodded. "I’m willing!"
’Writing a paper?’
’Just the other day in Old Yang’s office, he had been captivated by those papers from Duke that he couldn’t understand.’
’He also dreamed that one day, his own paper would appear in a top-tier journal like that.’
’As for Elder Chen’s worry about it "affecting his studies for the college entrance exam"...’
There was one thing Li Dong didn’t quite understand.
’Why did all the teachers think high school material required so much time to review?’
’Hadn’t he completely mastered high school math and physics in just half a month?’
’As for the humanities...’
’Were the Chinese and English sections of the college entrance exam that hard?’
’Well, maybe a little...’
’But if he really wanted to, with his terrifying Memory Attribute, he could cram all the required Chinese recitation passages and the entire English syllabus—vocabulary and grammar included—into his brain in a month at most.’
’With nearly half a year left until the college entrance exam, there was more than enough time!’
’Even if he couldn’t get a perfect score in Chinese because of the subjective questions, getting a 120 or 130, and aiming for around a 140 in English didn’t seem that hard.’
Seeing the confidence in Li Dong’s eyes, Elder Chen naturally didn’t say anything more.
After all, he had only just met Li Dong and didn’t know the full extent of the boy’s abilities. His earlier advice had stemmed purely from a teacher’s concern for his student.
Seeing Li Dong agree, Vice Principal Zhao, who was standing to the side, also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Elder Chen, then I’ll have to trouble you with the burden of being his advisor!"
Elder Chen looked "kindly" at Li Dong. "No problem."
And just like that, the matter was settled.
In the days that followed, Li Dong officially became a member of the Sixth Middle School’s talent class.
Li Dong felt particularly good here.
The students at Sixth Middle School were indeed of high caliber. They didn’t show hostility like Jiang Yizhou did just because he’d instantly solved a difficult problem in class, nor did they gape in shock.
Their reactions were all very composed.
Of course...
That was merely what Li Dong himself thought.
Several Ossai students in the class were secretly gearing up, determined to outshine this genius who had "put Qiao Fan in his place" during regular quizzes and class questions.
Until...
During physics class, Elder Chen presented an extremely complex modeling problem that combined an Atwood Machine with a Double Pendulum.
While the top students in the class were still performing free-body diagrams and analyzing the forces,
Li Dong walked up to the blackboard without even drawing a force diagram.
He directly wrote down L = T - V.
Then, he casually applied the Euler-Lagrange Equations: d/dt (∂L/∂q̇) - ∂L/∂q = 0.
In just thirty seconds, he had bypassed all the complicated Newtonian Mechanics derivations and directly produced a set of elegant system differential equations.
It was the same in math class.
Faced with a multivariate extremum inequality that had stumped the entire class, Li Dong skipped the conventional method of substitution with mean values. Instead, he constructed a Hessian matrix, determined the local minimum by checking the matrix’s positive definiteness, and finally tacked on a third-order Taylor expansion to prove boundary convergence.
After that, the emotions of the students in the talent class became very stable.
The days passed one by one, and the date of the Huaxuan Cup national finals drew closer and closer.
On Sunday at noon, Li Dong was eating in the cafeteria when he got a call from Old Yang.
"Li Dong, your twenty thousand yuan has been approved by the school’s finance department."

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