Chapter 13

At 7:50, when Liu Meng, Dong Dong, Deng Jinyao, and Cheng Cheng stepped into the lecture hall, they were all taken aback by the scene. The hall was packed, with only a few scattered empty seats in the last row.

The 1st to 4th classes of the Electrical Engineering Department had their Advanced Mathematics class from 8:00 to 9:30, while the 5th to 8th classes had it from 10:00 to 11:30. Clearly, a large number of students from the 5th to 8th classes had come early for the class.

The top students were unwilling to wait for two hours.

The few of them could only find seats and sit down separately.

Gu Pan and Zheng Wen sat in the front row, whispering to each other. Zheng Wen said, "My dad told me that our Advanced Mathematics teacher, Kong Jidao, is an excellent lecturer. He is the most famous professor in the mathematics department of our school. He even told me to listen carefully. I got up at 6:00 this morning to secure a seat, and I almost didn't get the front row."

Zheng Wen's father was a teacher in the mathematics department of H University.

"Really? I heard he is very strict, known for his iron face. He compiles exercise books for each class and requires them to be submitted before the next class. These questions are newly compiled each year, and you can't find the answers anywhere. Those who have taken his class have suffered a lot," Gu Pan whispered back.

Next to the two of them sat Old Ma, the only male in the first row. The only male in the second row was Jiang Weixin.

Cheng Cheng was texting his wife, He Qin, while looking at the front. He immediately saw the two from his dormitory.

Old Ma was sitting upright, eyes fixed straight ahead, completely focused. Jiang Weixin, on the other hand, was chatting enthusiastically with a girl next to him. Cheng Cheng nudged Liu Meng and said somewhat unhappily, "Look at our two dorm mates, a green spot in a sea of flowers. Jiang Weixin is chatting so warmly with the girl next to him on his first class."

Liu Meng followed Cheng Cheng's gaze and saw Jiang Weixin. The girl he was chatting with was Li Yue, who was about to become his girlfriend. They had quickly become close after the start of the semester, but he didn't expect it to be this fast, on their first class.

Li Yue was quite plump, but very curvy. After the honeymoon period, Jiang Weixin quickly became picky. The girl had incredible perseverance, eating only a few cucumbers every day, and successfully lost weight, achieving a stunning S-curve. It's worth noting that she was not only tough on herself but also on her boyfriend.

The lecture hall was noisy, and the top students were very excited. An old man in shabby clothes walked in with a book, stood at the lectern, and the entire hall suddenly fell silent. This was the power of presence.

"Students, I am your Advanced Mathematics teacher, Kong Jidao. I won't elaborate on how important this course is, because if you don't even know that, I don't think you need to attend my class." The old man spoke calmly and firmly.

"In my class, you can sleep, snore, fart, or skip the class. I never take attendance. Your regular grades are based on the exercise books after each class. Now, let's start the class. Your time is precious."

Kong Jidao then started writing on the blackboard, with a very fast writing speed.

Liu Meng listened attentively for ten minutes and realized that the old man was indeed a good teacher, explaining concepts from simple to complex. He wondered why he hadn't noticed how good the old man's lectures were before, when he had only focused on the endless exercises, which took up most of his time in the first year.

Advanced Mathematics was indeed very difficult. Liu Meng had always been talented in mathematics, but even in his first year, he had only understood it superficially.

Fortunately, he had studied systematically during his postgraduate studies and had specifically researched topics like random number theory, distribution, uncertain functions, and power spectrum analysis, even publishing papers on elusive wind speed models.

He was also rated as the student with the deepest mathematical knowledge at Jianghai Jiaotong University, aside from a few top professors in the mathematics department.

After that, Liu Meng stopped listening to the lecture and started to continue his outline for "Return to the Ming."

...

As night fell over the icy city, it had a unique beauty. The top students, who had been in class all day, were not tired but excited to attend evening study sessions, starting to work on the Advanced Mathematics exercise books.

In the fixed study room 702 for classes 3 and 4, the students were all diligently reading and absorbing the knowledge taught by Professor Kong Jidao, working on the exercise books. Initially, they made good progress, but soon they hit a wall and started frowning.

"What does the fifth question mean? I can't understand it at all," someone said first. The other students quickly joined in, discussing the question heatedly, with various opinions and debates.

Of course, there were also those who did not participate in the discussion!

Liu Meng took the exercise book, marveled at Professor Kong's question-setting skills, which were indeed tricky and tested deep understanding. However, it didn't stump him. He wrote quickly and completed all the questions in about 10 minutes.

He was confident that if he hadn't skipped some intermediate steps for convenience, his answers would match Professor Kong's standard answers perfectly.

"You're thinking wrong. If you just change the upper and lower limits of integration, it won't help."

"It should be testing the relationship between odd and even function integrals."

"Bullshit, if it were that simple, I would have solved it already."

"Damn, we're discussing the problem, not insulting each other."

The top students always argued based on reason.

"The noise is giving me a headache." Liu Meng, who was thinking about his novel, couldn't stand the noise anymore. He said casually, "Why don't you all look at mine? I've finished! Stop making noise!"

Fortunately, Liu Meng's voice was loud enough, and everyone in the argument heard him. One person took the exercise book and looked at it, suddenly realizing the solution. "Right, right, it should be this way. Oh, why didn't I think of it earlier?"

Hearing this, the students who had been arguing heatedly also grabbed the exercise book to look at it, and they all had an "aha" moment.

These were all top students; they just needed to see the correct solution to understand the key points.

The study room became even more lively, with students fighting over Liu Meng's exercise book. Soon, one person copied it, and others copied from the copies, passing them around.

The noise was unbearable, and Liu Meng couldn't stay any longer. He sneaked out while everyone was busy copying, deciding to go to the computer lab 508 to surf the internet.

Old Ma, while doing the exercises, felt a bit uncomfortable. He knew how to solve the fifth question, which had stumped everyone, but Liu Meng had beaten him to it.

Liu Meng had completed the questions in such a short time, which surprised him. He thought to himself, "I'm a third-year student from Peking University, and I reviewed Advanced Mathematics during the summer after retaking the college entrance exam!"

Originally, everyone would copy Old Ma's homework, as he was the true top student. Four years later, he was directly admitted to Tsinghua University for a Ph.D. and received the highest scholarship, worth 10,000 yuan, at the end of his third year.

This made Liu Meng, who had been obsessed with writing novels to make money but failed to earn a single cent and even spent a lot on internet fees, extremely envious and jealous.

However, now that Liu Meng was here, Old Ma's fate was sealed; he would always be the second-best.

Liu Meng went to the computer lab, put on shoe covers, found his machine, and started browsing the web, looking for other ways to make money. He opened AliBao, where online shopping was just beginning, and the guarantee system and online banking payments were not yet mature.

He slapped his head, thinking, "How could I forget about online stores? In a few years, an AliBao store can easily earn over a million yuan a year, and many even earn over ten million. Why not register several stores now, for clothing, electronics, cosmetics, and so on, and start building up the credit?"

Liu Meng was immersed in excitement when someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and shouted, "Liu Ruyi, why are you here?"

The girl, clearly startled by Liu Meng's sudden shout, was confused. He had called her by name, but she had no real memory of him. "Um... do I know you?"

Liu Meng, who couldn't tell her that he was from ten years in the future and knew her name and that she had a twin sister studying back home, was momentarily flustered. "Well... we know each other, right?"

Their relationship was a bit complicated. They were both class life committee members and had some interactions. They truly became familiar at the entrance to 508, where they chatted about martial arts novels after surfing the internet. Liu Ruyi loved the world of martial arts.

Liu Meng had read almost all martial arts novels, and they had many enjoyable conversations. He had some feelings for her, but in the first semester of his first year, his attention was on Gu Pan. After being rejected at the end of the semester, he started to pursue Liu Ruyi in the second semester.

Strangely, Liu Meng could sense that Liu Ruyi didn't dislike him, but she always kept her distance, unwilling to take the next step. Moreover, he never heard that she had a boyfriend during their four years of college.

Liu Ruyi, he had to admit, was a bit of a regret. They had been close friends for a while, talking about everything.

Looking at Liu Ruyi, who was close by, with her petite and delicate features, round face, and short hair, Liu Meng really wanted to ask her, "Why did you gradually distance yourself from me when I wanted to pursue you?" ... Update request, push for the new book ranking.