CHAPTER 21: THE LIBRARY
Looking at his own math solution, Zhang Yang felt proud of
himself as he put the piece of paper between the pages of the book. He felt a
great sense of accomplishment, and he reckoned that his cla.s.smates wouldn’t
have been able to solve this question.
Zhang Yang didn’t know that he was fully focused on solving
the problem, when the daytime came across and the old man was not too far from
looking at him, apparently seemed to have lost in his own thoughts.
………
That night, Zhang Yang slept very well, he had his money,
sleep incense, and as he was lying in his bed, the old man was sitting on the
desk with the “The principle of computational fluid mechanics” book on his
table. And the old man was holding the piece of paper in his hand.
This needed Harvard science and technology inst.i.tute’s
students’ level of talent to understand the extent of three-dimensional
geometry. As even the remarkable students of this garbage school only knew
plane geometry, the old professor was shocked to see this kind of person to
actually appear.
Although the old man resided in C City’s College of Art and
Sciences, he was actually a professor from Harvard Inst.i.tute of Science and
Technology, retired to return to his hometown and occasionally came to the school
for few lectures only.
Of course, the old man was not shocked that Zhang Yang
solved the question but the method Zhang Yang used to solve the problem. The
question was solely applied the knowledge of three dimensional geometry but
still to solve it with just using plane geometry patterns allowed the old man
to be full of excitement.
Because the method of the solution to the problem was way
too simple, simple enough to make him incredible. Zhang Yang first used plane
geometry to infer a few three dimensional geometry of the formula, and then
used his own reasoning to solve the problem.
The old man didn’t know that Zhang Yang entirely was a kind
person at heart. He was afraid that the students wouldn’t understand the note
so he wrote the solution in the simplest way as possible. He didn’t know that
his own kindness would leave the old man so shocked.
The old man sighed and gently put down the paper from his
hand and he felt a little excited. This sensation hadn’t appeared for a long
period of time. There was a trace of sadness in his eyes as he remembered the
time when he had felt this kind of feeling many years ago.
……………….
There was a specialized course the next morning so Zhang
Yang woke up early and made his bed. Whether it was junior or senior, Zhang
Yang would generally go to such specialized course. He had his own set of
personal standards. He believed that as he studies this specialized course, he
would also know the key strong points to some extent.
The morning light was in the window, Zhang Yang glanced at
the half opened curtains. He could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva,
eventually, Zhang Yang could not bear the temptation so he gently walked
towards the window to open the curtains … …
“Cha …”
“Chaa…”
Zhang Yang scared a jump he had just merely opened the
curtains when from the opposite building came a bursting sound of the curtains
being opened. According to the situation, the distance was so far that Zhang
Yang should not be able to hear anything but still he persistently heard the
sound.
Zhang Yang quickly hid himself and pulled the curtains to
look outside from the gap between the curtains. He saw the buildings behind the
dormitory had their window curtains pulled, and a lot of them were still
swinging, obviously, they were just pulled down a moment ago.
He couldn’t help but feel depressed in his heart, such a
good weather on such a nice day and because of his own stupidity, there was
nothing left to see. ….
“Bro, don’t be strenuous, as long as there’s a slight
movement in our curtains here, the curtains over there will be completely
pulled down.” Zhang Yang’s roommate stretched his head.
“Ahem … cough … cough …. No … no … I just realized the
ventilation …..” Zhang Yang said in an embarra.s.sing way.
“Zhang yang, we also thought of the ventilation ah, however,
now they suspect the ventilation too. You can still pull the curtains if you
want to see, there’s a crack inside from where you can see the same thing. Rest
a.s.sured, we won’t tell anyone ……” Another roommate also lift his head.
“………………” Zhang Yang was silent.
“Zhang Yang, we lived together for a few years, no one among
us blame you for that matter but we just have one question for you.” Yet
another guy raised his head from the bed.
“Well “ Zhang Yang was not feeling good, still he had no
choice but to toughen his scalp (force oneself to do sth against one’s will).
“Why did you wanted to put those pictures on the internet,
several of us brothers live inside the dormitory to look at such wonderful …. Alas
…” said the roommate with a deeply regrettable expression.
“That … you just…., I have to go to cla.s.s, also for the
preparation, you also know that we have important professional preparation
cla.s.ses for a long time. …..”
Zhang Yang fled.
That morning, Zhang Yang spent his time inside the studio, a
dull painting of some plaster sculpture, and he finally painted with a
watercolor to leave the studio. Then, after eating his lunch he went straight
to the library.
The library was desolate. Zhang Yang saw the old man and
both of them nodded at each other then immersed themselves into reading their
books.
For Zhang Yang had an introverted personality, he didn’t
like to engage in social activities, not to mention that the old man seemed to be
much older in age, nor was he a target for communication.
This time, Zhang Yang had brought a paper and a pen as every
time he picked up a library book he
would feel like calculating on the surface.
Time pa.s.sed gradually, Zhang Yang’s intensity was still fast
and outrageous. A difficult book for half an hour and then exchanging it.
Occasionally when he encountered a difficult problem, he would pause to pick up
the pen and write down a few gestures.
Zhang Yang was involved in more and more extensive
proportional a.n.a.lysis, algebraic methods, logical methods, ordinary
differential equations (ODE), fluid mechanics … practically, he began to dabble
in some of the designs of the mathematical subjects.
Before long, Zhang Yang at present, the books inside the
library had been unable to meet his satisfaction in reading.
In fact, the school was merely a low- grade inst.i.tution and
the library investment can also be expected to be less. Many of the books have
been unable to keep up with the present times, but fortunately the school had a
long history with so much information. Zhang Yang could not figure out how
long, after all, Zhang Yang was now reading with a considerable selectivity. Many
school had the information books in a narrow range for desultory reading.
About five o’ clock in the afternoon, Zhang Yang had already
been on some of the shelves of the math book as he began to lose interest. The
library started to turn boring and he was trying to find something interesting
with relevant information.
“Zhang Yang?”
“…. Du Xue …!”
Zhang Yang just wandering around inside when a clear voice
of a girl came from behind. Zhang Yang looked back and it was actually Du Xue.
“Excuse me …” Du Xue saw Zhang Yang, her clothes got stirred
then she lowered her head and her ears and neck looked red.
“Oh, its okay, you read too?” Zhang Yang did not wanted to dwell on the above mishap.
“Yes, I come here every day to read, I like this atmosphere …
…oh .. which book are you reading?” Du
Xue immediately felt relieved as she saw Zhang Yang did not seem to have
noticed anything.
“Nothing… just flipping around some books …”
Zhang Yang smiled and put the book “Shan Hai Jing” on the
shelf. He used to read that book when he was younger so when he saw it just a
moment ago, he just casually looked through the book.
“What kinds of books do you like to read?”
“There is no interest, before, I liked to read some internet
novels but recently I’m busy and I also haven’t gone out.”
“Ah … you also like to read internet novels?” Du Xue looked
excited.
“Well, sometimes …”
Looking at Du Xue’s white and soft skin, Zhang Yang skipped
a heartbeat. Du Xue was a kind of extremely beautiful girl, soft and delicate
which could easily let a person form a protective psychology. As a matter of
fact, on the train, Zhang Yang’s sudden burst of courage and Du Xue’s weak
temperament were connected. In every man’s heart, there will be a subconscious protectiveness
for the small and weak called the male chauvinism ……………