Chapter 33

Once the coaching started properly, Li Lan found the finals were indeed a long way from the league, in both the kind of question and the difficulty. Maths especially: where the league had two papers, the maths final had only six long answers — and those six needed two days.

Chemistry and biology went up in difficulty less; mostly there were simply more questions and a wider syllabus, which meant a great deal to memorise. And memorising was no longer a challenge. With Memory at a hundred and some deliberate practice, she was close to retaining anything she'd read once.

So she put half her time into maths. To get used to the format she treated every practice session as a mock, working a full paper across two days, and when she tired of maths problems she did biology and chemistry instead. Cycling like that, she never felt worn down.

Her three coaches were the first to notice the change. Like Jiao Wenfu, none of them had initially believed she'd achieve much at the finals — nothing against her, but the province's record spoke for itself. Chemistry and biology occasionally produced a student who broke into a national first; maths and physics never had.

They hadn't been resigned about it. Every student they coached was coached towards a national first — and in all these years the best had been a national second, some intakes ago.

There had been a student who took three provincial firsts in Henan, and when the results came out a good many teachers had thought a national first might be possible. He'd even given up his other two finals to put everything into maths — and produced the province's best-ever result, which was still a national second.

So even with four provincial firsts, the three of them privately thought a final was a stretch for Li Lan; a national third might be in danger. Not that they thought poorly of her — on the contrary, they rated her most highly of all, and thought she had a real chance at a national first. Not this year. Next year.

Her weakness, all three agreed, was that she'd come to competition work far too recently and hadn't had time to practise — let alone that she was preparing three subjects at once, which plainly meant a week's outing to the camp and home again.

Thinking it didn't make them slack in their teaching. No chance this time meant a chance next year, surely. Look at what she'd taken at her first attempt; given more time she might well manage a national first. Which reconciled them to her doing three at once.

They changed their minds soon enough.

The great advantage of one-to-one teaching is knowing exactly where your student is. The maths coach distinctly remembered Li Lan still finding her way around final-level questions in the first week — and by the second, and certainly the third, her progress had reached what she considered a creditable standard for a final.

The biology and chemistry coaches found in the third week that she had been through every reference text on the syllabus. On theory she wasn't at a hundred per cent, but ninety was fair. The practical work was rustier by comparison, though it met the standard.

The three of them weren't in the same office but talked often, and teaching the same student they inevitably talked about her. Having compared notes, all three went quiet. The chemistry coach spoke first. "It rather looks as though this school has produced a genuine prodigy."

The maths coach nodded, and added, "Not only a prodigy. What matters more is the work." Three weeks of that change wasn't talent alone. She had seen Li Lan still working in a classroom after evening study more than once, leaving only when the power went off.

The biology coach, thinking of those near-perfect theory papers, allowed herself some hope. "We might actually bring home a national first this time."

The other two shook and nodded their heads respectively, and the chemistry coach said, "To my mind her chemistry theory is no longer a problem. She works quickly, so the sheer volume at a final barely affects her. Provided nothing goes badly wrong in the practical, she might genuinely take a national first in chemistry or biology."

The maths coach was less optimistic. "I wouldn't go that far. Her maths has come on just as fast, and she has no real weakness across geometry, number theory or combinatorics — but she's only just reached the level Liu Lin was at. Give her another month and she'd have a real chance at a national first this time."

The regret came off the last sentence almost visibly. Liu Lin was the student who had taken the national second, still the province's record-holder in the maths competition, now studying computing at Peking University.

Remembering that Li Lan had been doing competition work for barely three months all told, the maths coach could hardly bear it. If only there were another month.

The other two understood. They knew the province's long pain in the maths and physics finals; chemistry and biology were slightly better, but only slightly, with national firsts appearing two or three times in total — a pitiful record beside the strong provinces.

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Whatever her coaches felt, Li Lan went on working problems from morning to night. She was enjoying it so much that when Jiao Wenfu came to see her about the assembly arrangements for the maths camp, she realised three weeks had gone since their last conversation and there were only five days left.

As her form teacher he knew how hard she'd been working: for the past month, apart from eating and other necessities, she'd put essentially everything into it. He'd expected her to crack somewhere in the middle, and every time he saw her she was bright as ever.

The advantages of youth, he thought.

In the same office, he asked, "How's the preparation going?"

"All right, I think." She had no idea what standard anyone else was at, so she could only report how it felt.

He nodded, took a thick envelope and some sheets of paper out of a drawer and handed them over. "Your prize money from the competition — it's finally come through, you've waited long enough. And these are the assembly arrangements. Read them and ask me anything you don't follow."

She left the money and read the notice first: assembly details on page one, then the camp's programme.

The travel arrangements surprised her. High-speed rail wasn't widespread yet, and she'd assumed a long-distance train or a coach; Guangzhou being ten hours or so away, she'd been braced for an overnight journey. They were flying.

The final was being held at a university-affiliated high school in Guangzhou, from Sunday the seventeenth of December to Saturday the twenty-third — a week, every day of it accounted for.

Sunday was registration. The camp proper opened on the Monday with the opening ceremony, a group photograph and a look at the exam rooms. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were the exams, with free afternoons. Thursday and Friday were academic talks and exhibitions, which also gave the markers time to work. The last day was results and prizes.

Watching her flick through it in a few seconds, he suspected she hadn't read it all. "Finished? Anything you want to ask?"

She shook her head; it was a schedule and there was nothing hard about it. She did have other questions. "Sir, who's the supervising teacher? And do you know who else is going?"

He hadn't expected that, and paused. "Ah — this year it's Teacher Deng from the Experimental Middle School. Ours took it last year, so it's their turn. He's a decent man, don't worry." Assuming she was anxious about the supervisor, he added that deliberately.

"As for the other students, I don't know much. One from the key high school and one from the Experimental, both third-years. Beyond that I couldn't say."

Seeing he knew little, she didn't press; she'd asked out of curiosity rather than any need, and she'd find out at the assembly anyway.

He sent her back to class with a reminder not to leave her prize money behind, and she didn't stand on ceremony — a thank you, and the envelope went into her coat pocket.

The four thousand she'd transferred to her mother, in case the family needed it, had come out of her own savings; with the prize money through she pocketed it without hesitation. It would do for presents and local specialities to take home from Guangzhou.

The five days went quickly. The province had booked a midday flight, and since they were travelling to the airport together and the city was some way from it, the notice said seven in the morning at the airport coach terminus, for the quarter past seven departure.

Getting off at the terminus and about to ring ahead, Li Lan was recognised by Teacher Deng, who had arrived shortly before. As the other two turned up in turn, she registered with some disappointment that including the teacher, she was the only girl. Not being good at talking to strangers, she sat to one side and waited for the coach.

The other two had plainly come from home, and stood talking to their parents until the coach pulled in, at which point they said goodbye.

On board, the two boys sat together, their parents having exchanged a few words downstairs. Teacher Deng, avoiding any appearance of favouritism, sat alone at the front working through the itinerary, and Li Lan was perfectly happy to sit by herself with her eyes shut.

The airport was a good deal quieter than she'd expected. Few people flew then and the hall felt half empty — and it was immediately apparent that the teacher and both boys had barely flown before. Teacher Deng had done his homework, but he was still at a loss once inside, and in the end Li Lan couldn't watch any longer and took all three of them through collecting tickets, checking in and security.

Watching her lead them methodically to the desk, check the bags and get through the queue, Teacher Deng was curious. "Li Lan, have you flown before?"

She shook her head. "No." Not in this life, certainly.

He and both boys spoke at once. "Then how do you know how it works?"

She asked, puzzled, "I saw it on television. I didn't expect it to actually work. Haven't you?"

The three of them looked at each other. They'd watched a great deal of television. Why had none of it been the slightest use? Unable to resolve it, they concluded they simply hadn't watched enough and let it drop, their attention turning to the first flight of their lives.

Li Lan's small performance closed the distance between the four of them considerably. Teacher Deng wasn't old himself and wasn't much good at easing an atmosphere; there had been almost no conversation on the coach. They were still formal with each other — but a great deal better than the silence they'd started with.