With the provincial mathematics competition approaching, Qin Yuanqing's schedule became suddenly tight.
No sooner had the midterm exams ended than he gathered with the other students, and under the guidance of the head of the math department, boarded a bus to Rongcheng. From Jinpu County to Rongcheng, the journey would take four hours.
Qin Yuanqing immediately took out past problems from the high school mathematics competitions and continued studying intently. Compared to the college entrance exam, these problems were far deeper, broader, and sometimes even touched on advanced mathematics.
Among the fifteen participants from his school, the best performer had once won a first prize but failed to make the provincial team, thus missing out on the national competition. For Qin Yuanqing and the others, this would be their last chance; failing to enter the provincial team would mean no chance at the national stage, and of course, no chance at the national team or international competitions.
After four hours on the bus, they arrived at Rongcheng Experimental High School, the venue for this year's provincial mathematics competition. Contestants from various cities and counties would compete here. Winning a first prize might not guarantee admission to a top university, but it would earn extra points for the college entrance exam.
By tradition, about 40% of participants would earn a second prize, 10% a first prize, while the chance of entering the provincial team was less than 0.5%.
The head of the Jinpu County math department gave a few instructions before allowing everyone to find their classrooms. This was so that the next morning, no one would panic searching for their exam location. That night, the students stayed in a nearby hotel—far from a luxury one.
After checking the exam hall, Qin Yuanqing returned to the school gate. Half an hour later, the rest of the group arrived. Zhang Jiaji, the math department head, had them double-check their IDs, pens, 2B pencils, rulers, triangles, compasses, and admission tickets. Any missing item could still be remedied that night—but discovering it during the exam would be too late.
In the hotel, two students shared a room. Qin Yuanqing didn't chat with his roommate; instead, he continued studying problems. Every minute was precious—time could not be wasted.
Gradually, Qin Yuanqing began to have insights. Many Olympiad problems seemed "beyond the syllabus," but in reality, they were just extensions of familiar concepts. With careful analysis, they could all be solved.
Suddenly, his face lit up. He noticed a change in his system attributes:
Host: Qin Yuanqing
Age: 18
IQ: 145
EQ: 100
Subjects:
Chinese: Level 4 (20/100,000)
Math: Level 5 (0/1,000,000)
English: Level 3 (100/10,000)
Physics: Level 4 (20/100,000)
Chemistry: Level 4 (20/100,000)
Biology: Level 4 (20/100,000)
Physical Fitness: Level 1 (0/100)
He hadn't expected his math ability to reach level 5 at this time. While it wouldn't make a huge difference in ordinary exams, it would add significant advantage in a competition of this level.
Sure enough, with math at level 5, Qin Yuanqing found that understanding Olympiad problems became much easier—like a blocked channel in his mind had suddenly cleared.
He spent the rest of the evening going over problems until midnight. Zhang Jiaji came to check the rooms, reminding everyone to sleep. Reluctantly, Qin Yuanqing put his books away, took a shower, and lay down.
All participants had undergone strict checks: only IDs, admission tickets, and basic exam tools were allowed. Phones and any electronic devices were strictly prohibited.
On the day of the exam, Qin Yuanqing arrived at his exam hall and took his designated seat. The standards were stricter than even the college entrance exam: twenty students per room, four columns of desks, five rows each, with ample spacing to prevent peeking. Two proctors constantly patrolled the room.
Qin Yuanqing neatly arranged his pens, pencils, ruler, compass, eraser, and triangles. His admission ticket and ID were placed at the top right. Then he waited for the exam to start.
The broadcast went over rules, time limits, and instructions. The proctors showed that the papers were previously unopened, verified by the first two rows of students, and then handed out the test booklets and scratch paper. Names, IDs, admission numbers, and test codes were filled in first. Only when the broadcast signaled could they begin answering; otherwise, it would be considered cheating.
With ten minutes to spare, Qin Yuanqing checked the problems, examining the types and concepts involved, forming a rough plan.
At 9:00 sharp, the exam began.
The first section consisted of six multiple-choice questions, six points each, totaling 36 points. Qin Yuanqing had to calculate on scratch paper, as mental arithmetic was insufficient. Once completed, he filled the answer sheet with a 2B pencil and double-checked.
The second section was six fill-in-the-blank problems, also six points each. These appeared simple but were trickier than multiple-choice questions; some required two answers, and missing one meant losing half the points. There was no time for a second attempt.
The third section contained four proof-based problems, twenty points each, totaling 80 points. The full score of the exam was 152 points.
Problem 13 involved the intersection of a parabola and a line. He formed equations, solved for intersection points, and calculated the slope of the tangent to the parabola at the midpoint, proving parallelism.
Problem 14 required assuming the existence of a real number and solving for it or proving nonexistence.
Qin Yuanqing paused briefly after solving problem 14. "This exam isn't hard… did I get a fake paper?" he thought. Compared to the national Olympiad, it was simpler—just more calculation, no extreme difficulty.
Problem 15 asked for the smallest positive real number (k) such that:
[
ab + bc + ca + k\left(\frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} + \frac{1}{c}\right) \ge 9
]
for all positive (a, b, c).
Qin Yuanqing immediately set (a = b = c = 1), giving (k \ge 2). Substituting (k = 2) into the inequality, he verified its correctness.
Problem 16, the final question, involved proving a statement using necessary and sufficient conditions combined with inequalities. He carefully wrote out every step, finishing just as the bell rang. Proctors collected the papers immediately.
As students exited, many complained about the difficulty. Qin Yuanqing, however, felt relieved—the provincial problems weren't as hard as he had imagined, only slightly more challenging than the college entrance exam. He remained calm, eating and drinking as usual, earning the math department head's teasing praise for his "huge heart and carefree attitude."
By the afternoon, the provincial math association began grading. Over 1,200 high school students had registered. Multiple graders worked immediately to score the exams and compile rankings. While multiple-choice questions were graded by computer, the workload was still immense. Two graduate students handled data entry into Excel for final statistics.
"Lin Feng, Ludao Shuangshi High School, 110 points."
"Zhou Hu, Shuitou No. 1 High School, 89 points."
"Wang Lin, Provincial Experimental High School, 118 points."
"Li Peirong, Shuixian No. 1 High School, 105 points."
"Tang Liang, Jianyang No. 1 High School… 8 points! Only 8 points?"
The two graduate students laughed at the laziness of some participants. Some papers even scored zero points, often due to illegible or incomplete solutions.
Then they saw a familiar name:
"Wow, look at this—Ludao Shuangshi High School, 140 points! That's the highest score!"
"No, the real marvel is Qin Yuanqing, Jinpu No. 1 High School, 152 points! A perfect score! From Jinpu County's high school—who would have thought?"
Jinpu No. 1 High School was the best in the county and one of the top schools in Shuixian City. But provincially, it was insignificant, with almost no reputation compared to established provincial key high schools. No one expected a student from a small county school to achieve a perfect score at the provincial competition.