Chapter 21 - 21 21 Eight or Nine out of Ten Things in Life Don't Go As Planned

Words : 1403 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

21: Chapter 21: Eight or Nine out of Ten Things in Life Don’t Go As Planned 21: Chapter 21: Eight or Nine out of Ten Things in Life Don’t Go As Planned Pleased, even a bit excited. Qiao Yu immediately started registering and signing up according to the guidance on the website without any hesitation. What delighted him was that this competition truly had no barriers; after filling out personal information, he was successfully registered without even needing to pay a registration fee. After confirming his successful registration, Qiao Yu did not start practicing problems but began searching online for other online math competitions that offered prize money. For Qiao Yu, most of the problems in Little Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition did not exceed his capabilities, which was an unexpected delight. Because it was a path he had already given up on, the initial sunk costs had already been invested, so he didn’t need to put in much effort to get results directly. From the perspective of maximizing benefits, the most important thing at this time is to open up channels for reaping rewards, and naturally, the more prize money, the better. But soon this world disappointed him greatly. Apart from this publicly international event, there were practically no domestic math competitions so generous with prize money. Most competitions just give a certificate to gloss over things, especially the finals of college student math competitions where the prize money for a certificate is only a mere thousand yuan. What’s even scarier is that many competitions even charge registration fees. Seriously? A deep contempt arose in Qiao Yu’s heart. How could college students be valued so low in this day and age! At this moment, he probably never considered that many of the competitions he found, people spent thousands or even tens of thousands of times more money than just the registration fees just to qualify for participation. For many parents, the investment in education and training is the most expensive, and what they value is that certificate. Who cares about that bit of prize money? A typical mismatch of needs. Of course, Qiao Yu would never think the problem was actually with him and not the competitions. Unable to find other suitable competitions, Qiao Yu also gathered his thoughts and seriously began to ponder last year’s test questions. Just now, he roughly browsed through them, only being able to determine that for the majority of questions, he could find solutions in his head, but this did not mean he could get them right. For the sake of a thirty thousand US dollar reward, sacrificing some time to practice questions and trying out the answer system provided by the test website was very necessary. Qiao Yu had always been very serious about making money. … At Railway First Middle School, the bell rang. It was already nine p.m., and after finishing the evening self-study, the day of learning finally ended, and the campus started to become lively. Lan Jie also finished the evening self-study, went back to the office, picked up his phone, opened WeChat, and his mood wasn’t very great. In the afternoon, after parting ways, he sent this kid a WeChat friend request, and it still hadn’t been accepted, truly saying one thing and doing another without any hesitation. Thinking about how the guy repeatedly promised to add him as a friend on WeChat as soon as he got his phone, Lan Jie was amused with anger, simply dialed a call, and after a long time, no one picked up. Lan Jie waited for over twenty seconds, and just as he was about to give up, the call suddenly connected. “Hello, who is this?” “It’s me, Teacher Lan.” “Ah, Teacher Lan? Hello, sorry, I got busy after I got home and forgot to check WeChat.” Hearing this explanation, Lan Jie felt a bit better. He didn’t really believe the “busy” explanation, but at least Qiao Yu still remembered what he’d been instructed to do before. “Oh? Busy reading the two books I gave you?” “No, I’m doing past test papers from the Little Alibaba Global Competition. By the way, Teacher Lan, do you know how to use LaTex? I checked online and it seems it’s best to use LaTex to format answers during the test.” Lan Jie was stunned. Regarding the global math competition held by Little Alibaba, he only mentioned it casually, intending to inform Qiao Yu that there was a math competition where he could earn money, hoping Qiao Yu could develop a deeper interest in mathematics. To avoid giving Qiao Yu too much hope, he had specifically mentioned that this competition included many top students from world-renowned universities. But this guy actually went back and tackled those advanced math problems? “Yes, I can use it. LaTex is just a formatting tool, you’ll often use this software during university when writing papers. S~eaʀᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The software operation itself is quite easy, you should be able to learn it in a day or two. To use it fluently, you’ll need to practice regularly, but that’s a minor thing. But can you handle those problems?” Lan Jie suppressed his emotions and replied. “Thank you, Teacher Lan. As for the problems, there are some I can do and some I can’t. However, I saw that the finals are divided into different tracks, and I can choose the one I’m good at. The preliminary questions seemed okay to me, moderately difficult.” After hearing this, Lan Jie was somewhat unsettled. Speaking of which, back in the day, he studied Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Shuangdan University, then went on to study for a master’s degree at Nanjin University in the ancient capital. After taking the teacher qualification certificate during his master’s study period, he returned to Star City after graduation and became a math teacher at Railway First Middle School. Five years ago, when Little Alibaba held the first mathematics competition, he had entered out of a playful mindset. He didn’t want to talk about his results; probably because he had stayed in high school too long, mostly dealing with elementary math problems, and ultimately, he didn’t even make it to the finals. Although he didn’t have the interest to apply again after that, he would still roughly look at the competition questions every year, fully aware of the difficulty of the questions. Could it be that Qiao Yu’s skill level could really surpass mine? If that’s the case, what could I possibly teach him by calling this kid into the Olympic Competition class for training? The use of LaTex? Although he felt quite complicated and his expression wasn’t well managed, when he spoke, Lan Jie didn’t reveal any weakness: “Okay, work on the questions first, and remember to add me on WeChat. After the competition class tomorrow, I’ll take some time to teach you LaTex.” “Sure, thank you, Teacher Lan. I’ll hang up now.” “Okay.” After hanging up the call, the other side quickly added him on WeChat. Lan Jie calmed down a little, deciding to seriously explore where exactly Qiao Yu’s skill level was tomorrow. With this in mind, Lan Jie walked to the window, looking towards the playground below. The campus was still lively, and a bunch of teenagers were gathering in groups, walking happily and chatting towards the school gate. Youth is wonderful. It would be even better to have more students like Qiao Yu. … “Xia Keke, wait for me.” Xia Keke had just walked out of the school gate with her desk mate when she heard a voice from behind. She stopped and turned around to see it was her classmate Xu Zhe, a boy who had consistently ranked among the top five in the class. Catching a glimpse of her desk mate Hu Xiyao by her side covering her mouth, laughing, Xia Keke couldn’t help but turn her head to glare at her before gracefully looking back at Xu Zhe behind her and crisply asking, “What is it?” The young boy on the opposite side glanced at the girl standing beside Xia Keke, hesitated a little, but upon meeting Xia Keke’s bright eyes, courage surged like a tide… In simple terms, he got ahead of himself…

Chapter 21 - 21 21 Eight or Nine out of Ten Things in Life Don't Go As Planned

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