Chapter Two: Review

Once her decision was made, Wu Tong no longer forced herself to struggle through problems on her shaky foundation, wracking her brains and relying on the occasional spark of inspiration to get by. The difficulty she faced in solving problems stemmed from her weak fundamentals.

A skyscraper must rise from solid ground—what she needed most at this moment was to lay a strong foundation. Only with firm groundwork could she venture further on the endless path of learning. She drew out her first-year mathematics textbook, determined to start with math and carefully review all her science subjects from the beginning.

Calming her mind, she reached out with her consciousness to the Enlightenment Stone, activating its focus-aiding abilities once more. Instantly, Wu Tong entered a state of deep learning. In this state, all external distractions faded away; her attention, comprehension, and memory were sharpened and magnified, her mind utterly tranquil and undisturbed, wholly immersed in her textbooks. Naturally, her learning efficiency multiplied.

Ideally, a person’s capacity for learning might be one hundred percent, but in reality, with all kinds of conscious and unconscious distractions, even in a state of focused study, one might reach only forty or fifty percent. Without true engagement, even twenty or thirty percent is considered a blessing of natural intelligence.

Now, Wu Tong’s efficiency was like that of an airplane at full throttle, boosted to nearly two or three hundred percent. The knowledge she gained and the speed of her progress were simply incomparable.

Bits of knowledge her teachers had once explained in class—those she’d forgotten or only half-remembered—now surfaced clearly and completely from the depths of her mind as she turned each page, as if annotated in her memory.

Linking her new insights from this deep learning state, the mathematical formulas and complex concepts that once gave her headaches now stood clear before her. She became absorbed in each line of derivation and mathematical language, finally mastering those once-confusing points.

Where before she’d understood slowly and needed much practice to barely grasp a concept, now she soaked up knowledge like a parched seedling drinking rain—she could almost feel herself devouring it.

Her left hand turned the pages, meticulously reviewing each concept and formula, while her right hand wielded her pen, working through and elaborating on each chapter’s topics.

As the saying goes, a good memory is not as reliable as a worn pen—writing down key points and her own understanding, as well as practicing problems, was vital to deepening her mastery.

Once she’d grasped the material and formulas in one chapter, she immediately put them to use, tackling the exercises at the end of the section to test her understanding.

Having truly mastered these formulas, she finally experienced the smooth pleasure of solving math problems—a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction.

When it came to the exercises, she could almost instantly identify the key points after reading each question, and answered them rigorously and fluidly with her acquired knowledge, without encountering any particular difficulty. The ease was astonishing!

The satisfaction was addictive. Wu Tong’s eyes sparkled with delight, and she became even more motivated to continue reviewing. With such assistance, she cherished every moment for study—wasting time was wasting life itself!

Time slipped by unnoticed. Before she realized it, the sun had set and dusk colored the sky.

Just then, her bedroom door was knocked and turned open from the outside. Wu Jingzhong, smiling, pushed it open and called to her. He was home resting today.

“Tongtong, take a break and have some watermelon. After you eat, you can…”

“Dad!” At the sight of her father’s youthful, familiar face, Wu Tong was instantly overcome with tears, leaping up and throwing herself into his arms, clinging tightly to his waist as tears streamed from her eyes.

Her father was safe, her father was well—everything was still all right!

“What’s this? Did something scare you, Tongtong? Don’t cry, don’t be afraid!” Wu Jingzhong was utterly at a loss before his daughter’s sudden tears. He patted her back gently to comfort her and hurriedly called out, “Honey, come quick—something’s wrong with Tongtong!”

“What’s the matter? What happened to your daughter?” Jin Yu emerged from the kitchen with a plate of sliced watermelon, set it on the living room table, and walked over, wiping her hands on her apron. “What’s this now? Are you playing another trick? You’re a big girl, always fooling around instead of studying properly. I scold you a bit and you run to your father for comfort?”

Her brows furrowed. “It’s all because you spoil her. Not much ability, but such a temper. Wu Tong, let me tell you—”

As a teacher, Jin Yu couldn’t stand slackness in studies. She was about to lecture her daughter again, encourage the right attitude, and convince her husband to be less indulgent, when Wu Tong let go of her father and threw herself into her mother’s arms instead, stopping Jin Yu’s words in her throat.

She had always been strict with her daughter, keeping her under close watch, while Wu Tong, from childhood, had been closer to her father. Especially in recent years, with the onset of adolescence, Wu Tong had grown rebellious and impatient with lectures, and mother and daughter had clashed more and more, rarely sharing moments of such intimacy.

“Mom!” Emotionally overwhelmed, Wu Tong sobbed uncontrollably, no longer minding her mother’s strictness. “You have to keep watching over me—never stop!”

Everything must be all right, everyone must be all right!

Keep watching over her? Did the sun just rise in the west today?

Wu Jingzhong and Jin Yu exchanged glances, baffled. Had she had a nightmare?

“All right, all right, you’re such a big girl, crying like a kitten—aren’t you embarrassed?”

For all her stern words, Jin Yu’s heart was soft. She gently patted her daughter’s back, sat her down on the living room sofa, took the damp towel her husband offered, and wiped Wu Tong’s face, then handed her half a watermelon, uncut and with a spoon already tucked in.

“Here, have some watermelon. Your father watched over it today and didn’t cut it up.”

She and her husband usually cut the watermelon before eating, but since their daughter preferred digging in with a spoon, she’d complained about it more than once.

“It was your mother who insisted on leaving it uncut for you!” Wu Jingzhong added helplessly. His wife clearly loved their daughter just as much, but always had to put on a stern face.

“Mom, if you love me, you have to say it out loud! If you don’t, how will I know? There’s no need to be shy about it!” Wu Tong, having calmed her earlier turmoil at the sight of her father, now put on a brave, playful face.

She scooped out the sweetest part of the watermelon and offered it to her mother, and then, not playing favorites, gave a piece to her father as well.

At her age, she had grown used to her parents’ unreserved affection, yet had let the superficial conflicts over discipline create more and more friction. Her waywardness had made her neglect the daily love they showered upon her—something she now realized she should never have taken for granted.