Chapter 275: Chapter 116 The Youngsters with Lackluster Spirits_5

“Don’t doubt it, there’s even an essay I wrote on my alma mater Railway First Middle School’s WeChat public account. It’s a little story about visiting my dad’s grave during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival. The teacher’s comment was that the emotions were sincere and heartfelt…”

Qiao Yu used some techniques here, without telling his three buddies that the teacher had deleted his essay’s ending, which was like an O. Henry twist.

But the dormitory fell silent.

In truth, everyone understood that reaching Qiao Yu’s level required more than just hard work, but they really didn’t know how to respond at this point. They hadn’t faced survival pressures before.

At least, none of them had to support a family while studying. In fact, their families did everything possible to provide them with the best resources for their education.

Yu Wei thought even more about it.

In his mind flashed back to that evening in August, when they were invited to participate in the Little Alibaba preliminaries. After the exam, during a brief walk, Qiao Yu said something, and Yu Wei understood what his friend meant by “sacrificing his dad’s lifespan every night for his extraordinary mathematics talent.”

That’s right, that night he also talked about playing a game of Go to gamble, with a complex mood,

If he had known all this earlier, he would have agreed then.

Not out of overwhelming sympathy—in fact, Yu Wei wasn’t a particularly empathetic or understanding person. It was simply because he felt that if he had lost some money to Qiao Yu then, this guy might not have pushed himself so hard, and he wouldn’t have had to suffer such blows.

“I’m sorry.” After a while, Gong Jiatao said softly, apologizing.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was quite clear in the room.

“What’s there to apologize for? There’s a good side to not having a dad. When I was a kid, I had no one to control me, so I had a really happy childhood. All those things you guys experienced, like being bullied or laughed at when you were little, never happened to me.

If anyone was bullying, it was me bullying others! All the brats in the old neighborhood, every single one of them, I’ve beaten them up. Not only did I beat them up outside, but they’d also get beaten up when they got home. It’s because I got used to working harder than others from a young age.

My grandpa used to say, there are plenty of people in this world who don’t have fathers. Most choose to blame the world, using it as an excuse for failure; only a few take it as motivation to push themselves harder and strive for every success.

This is also why there are far more ordinary people than excellent ones in this world. Because blaming the world is so damn easy, while striving is too hard. Like this time, you guys lost a game to me, and you’re already planning to give up, bombing your exams over the past two days.

See, that’s the mindset of the former category. It’s nothing more than losing a game, then blaming it on a dented self-confidence, thus accepting declining exam scores with ease. So don’t apologize to me; go apologize to yourselves.”

Qiao Yu said rapidly.

He didn’t mind about the others in the dorm, but he still recognized Yu Wei and Gong Jiatao’s abilities. If these two got hit so hard they couldn’t even make it into the top sixteen, it would indeed be a pity.

Just like Professor Zhou mentioned earlier, the IMO always values team performance the most.

After these words, there was a long silence again.

After a while, Yu Wei spoke, “I don’t know about the two of them, but I never make excuses for failing. Besides, my goal that day hasn’t changed. I’ll definitely catch up to your achievements, sooner or later.”

Qiao Yu could hear that Yu Wei was speaking with a bit of guilt; in the past, his tone would have been more determined, with an air of certainty, but not this time—it was soft, lacking any force.

However, he simply grinned and didn’t expose it.

“No, Yu Wei, what are you talking about! I’m telling you, I’ll definitely get full marks in the next two exams!” Gong Jiatao mumbled discontentedly.

Alright, it was clear that Gong Jiatao didn’t quite like Yu Wei either.

But that’s normal.

With Yu Wei’s personality, he’s not going to be liked wherever he goes, but he probably doesn’t mind that much either.

Everyone has their own way of living, and besides, Yu Wei has the qualification to be arrogant.

Anyone who’s reincarnated more than once knows that being born with a good start, from ancient times to now, from China to abroad, is a skill that most people can’t master in their lifetime.

“Yeah, yeah, the four of us in this dorm must stick together and go to Australia. I’ve never been abroad in my life, so making it into the top six this time would fulfill my dream of going overseas. I even searched videos online, and Australian women are super pretty, total eye candy!”

Gong Jiatao immediately chimed in, “Yeah, this year’s IMO will be held in the holiday city of the Sunshine Coast. I checked it online; there are tons of beaches there! It’s a pity it’ll be winter in July; it’d be better to go in summer. Summer beaches, you know, there’d be free bikinis to look at, hehe.”

Clearly, classmate Yu Yongjun successfully shifted the topic to a somewhat strange direction.

What a bunch of cheesy teenagers…

But this made Qiao Yu feel reassured; they were already talking about bikinis, so everything was probably fine. So, after casually echoing a few words, Qiao Yu closed his mouth. Besides, he really didn’t have much knowledge in this area.

There’s no denying, despite the two being lacking in other aspects, they knew a heck of a lot about random stuff, which made even Qiao Yu feel amazed.