I was a top student in America.

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Reynolds was worrying about the school's competition team when he suddenly heard Li Ao's words. He was taken aback, then abruptly looked up: "You mean you want to participate too?"

"Yes," Li Ao nodded in confirmation.

Reynolds' face lit up with excitement again. He straightened up and eagerly continued, "That's wonderful! With you here, our math department will feel much more confident in next year's competition."

He had barely finished speaking when he seemed to suddenly remember something and immediately followed up with, "What about the team members? Will the school arrange them for you, or will you find them yourself?"

"I'll find one myself at school," Li Ao replied without hesitation.

He had previously promised Isabella that if he participated in the main competition of the American Mathematical Modeling Contest, he would team up with her.

Now that we have the opportunity, we should naturally keep our word.

Reynolds had no objection to Li Ao's decision and immediately approved it: "No problem. Anyway, with your level, the strength of your teammates won't have much of an impact on the overall situation."

When he said his last words, he made no attempt to hide it; the wrinkles on his face smoothed out with a smile.

After finalizing the competition and teaching assistant arrangements, Li Ao didn't linger in the professor's office.

After leaving the office, he planned to greet Isabella first.

Before leaving, he declined the coffee beans that Professor Reynolds offered, feeling that he didn't drink coffee much and that it would be a waste to give him such good stuff.

As for whether, as the professor said, one will naturally come to like this style when they get older, that remains to be seen.

In the afternoon, at the Gordon Integrated Science Center office.

"Leo, is what you're saying true?"

Isabella, who had just returned from the library, became excited when Li Ao mentioned the American Mathematical Modeling Competition and couldn't help but repeatedly confirm with him.

"Of course it's true, Professor Reynolds happens to be in charge of this matter."

Li Ao smiled and gave an affirmative answer.

As soon as Isabella entered the office, he laid out his plans to participate in a modeling competition and his intention to team up with her.

To hand over.

This sudden and enormous surprise left Isabella somewhat incredulous.

"Shall I be your teammate?"

Isabella thought about it seriously, and said with undisguised worry, "Leo, you should think this through carefully. I'm really afraid I'll hold you back."

During the review of the previous school simulation competition, Li Ao mentioned forming a team, but she didn't take it seriously at the time.

After all, Li Ao is currently busy with a very difficult partial differential equation project and also needs to promote independent reading courses, so he doesn't have much free time.

Moreover, even if he does decide to participate, he should team up with people who have top-notch modeling skills.

Only by combining strengths can we achieve better rankings.

Although she also wanted to experience what it was like to be carried by a master, she was absolutely unwilling to delay Li Ao's progress because of it.

Thinking of this, she quickly added, "Based on my performance in the mock competition, if I go with you to participate in the modeling competition, I'm afraid I won't be of much help, and might even delay the overall paper progress. Perhaps—you could ask the math department to assign a few outstanding senior undergraduates?"

Sitting at his workstation, Li Ao listened to her words and, suppressing a laugh, reassured her, "It's alright. We'll see."

You just need to organize the data and literature, and leave the rest to me. We'll definitely be able to submit the paper on time.

His statement was not based on blind confidence.

With his mathematical modeling efficiency and programming speed, coupled with his proficiency in clearly expressing terms and writing papers, he could easily handle the workload of an entire group, even working alone, and perhaps even more efficiently.

If he hadn't promised Isabella beforehand, he could have treated this competition as a personal practice session.

Moreover, if the department were to assign those self-important senior undergraduates, there would inevitably be disagreements in their approaches to choosing and solving the problems due to their different experiences. It would be better to bring two obedient teammates and quietly and easily get the job done.

Carter, who was standing nearby, was already incredibly envious. When he saw Isabella still declining, he exclaimed with exasperation, "What a great opportunity! Leo is going to take you to the top, why aren't you grabbing onto his coattails? Why are you still pushing him away?"

"If it weren't for the rule that graduate students can't participate in MCM, I would definitely be the first to sign up right now. After all, the Outstanding Award is prestigious, and the school will allocate a lot of resources to the winning team."

Having said all that, Isabella felt something was off, but she couldn't find a reason to refuse.

The person in charge of guiding her doesn't mind that she's a burden, so if she makes excuses, it would seem too pretentious.

"Who told you you couldn't participate? Now you can only watch Leo fly away with us."

Isabella first retorted to Carter, then turned to Li Ao and declared on the spot, "Leo, from now on, let me know in advance what you want to drink every day, and I promise to deliver it to your workstation as soon as possible! Or—how about I go buy some energy bars for you to stock up right now?"

Carter was so shocked by Isabella's lightning-fast change of expression that his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"Your change of expression is a bit too obsequious, isn't it?"

Carter rolled his eyes deliberately, sat down in front of the computer while complaining, and then reminded her, "Let's make it clear first, you have to treat us to a meal after you win the award. It has to be a proper restaurant off campus."

Li Ao was a little unaccustomed to Isabella's drastically different attitude.

He coughed lightly twice, composed himself, and then brought up another matter: "By the way..."

"Around the winter break, the department will be offering a short mathematical modeling lecture, taught by Professor Reynolds. I'll be there as a temporary teaching assistant, specifically responsible for explaining some past modeling problems. You can come if you'd like."

"Of course, it's fine if you plan to go home for the holidays. The official competition doesn't start until next year, so it won't affect your participation."

Isabella didn't show much surprise at the news that Li Ao was going to be a teaching assistant.

In her view, this was simply a matter of course.

Although she didn't know the specifics of Li Ao's "weak solutions to boundary conditions of partial differential equations" topic, she often saw him going in and out of Professor Reynolds's office to ask questions, so their relationship was obviously extraordinary.

As for the mathematical modeling lectures personally taught by Professor Reynolds, those are a must-attend.

Although she didn't feel any psychological pressure participating in the competition because she was relying on Li Ao's coattails, she still hoped to improve her own skills from the bottom of her heart.

That way, it can be of some help when the time comes, instead of just being a decoration.