Exchange - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I laughed. “Professor Chen, can you please get me a legal document severing parental ties?” I walked out without looking back. Two police motorcycles were waiting. We jumped on. The officer’s radio crackled.

“Dispatch, this is Officer Miller. Requesting all green lights from Maple Street to City High, traffic diverted. Two SAT students need to arrive by 9:15.”

We sped through the streets. My officer, sensing my distress, said, “Hey, kiddo, it’s okay. You’re done with them after today. You survived that mess. Never gave up on yourself. That’s more than enough, college or not.”

Cars pulled over, clearing a path for us. Strangers cared more about my future than my own parents. It was kind of heartwarming. People still believed in the SATs as a life- changer. Underdog stories happened every day.

9:13. We reached the school gates. We sprinted to our respective testing locations.

9:15. I slid into my seat just as the clock’s second hand hit twelve.

The first test was English. The essay prompt: “Talent vs. Hard Work. Which is more important? Thomas Edison famously said, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety–nine percent perspiration.‘ However, some argue the quote is incomplete, missing the crucial addendum: ‘But that one percent inspiration is extremely important, even more so than the ninety–nine percent perspiration.‘ Discuss your thoughts on the above, 800-1000 words.”

As I handed in my essay, I burst into tears. The hurt and resentment finally caught up with me. I’d never expected much from my parents, but this… this would take a lifetime to heal.

Professor Chen picked me up after the test. “I always wanted a daughter to carry on my math legacy, but I got stuck with that physics- obsessed boy. Forget it. You’re my daughter now. They don’t want you? Fine. I do. Your parents are blind, chasing fool’s gold. Haven’t they seen the news? Real estate companies are going bankrupt left and right. I took a look at Miller Group’s financials. Looks flashy, but it’s a house of cards.”

I checked my answers after the tests. Harvard seemed likely. But I was starting to think about UCLA, studying under Professor Chen. He flatly refused. “Ashley! you and Alex need to go far away. Don’t look back. You fulfilled my greatest wish. I have no regrets. Never put me before your own future.”

Some parents were different. Before my SAT scores even came out, I received a letter from Professor Dennis Hansford, chair of the mathematics department at the University of Chicago, and current editor of the Journal of Symbolic Logic.

“I am among the many who have previously tackled this problem without success, and I was quite delighted to see its final resolution, especially with such a beautiful proof. Please accept my congratulations on your wonderful and surprising result!”

“The University of Chicago will be hosting an international conference on mathematical logic, and we are inviting twelve leading scholars to participate. I would like to extend an invitation to you, as the sole representative from Asia, to join us. We eagerly await your presence.”

That summer, at eighteen, I flew to Chicago, representing the US and Asia, presenting my work for forty minutes to the world’s top mathematicians. News channels around the globe carried the story.

After the presentation, the system reappeared, seemingly out of nowhere. I finally got to ask my question. “Sys, why did you change the rules for me?”

The system’s voice, still robotic, seemed….. warmer. “I couldn’t stand by and watch laziness devour everything while hard work went unrewarded. My mission was to help your sister solve that theorem. But when she skipped a math competition for a basketball game, I knew. Even with her talent, her potential was limited.”

“Get a fancy degree, trade her intelligence for beauty, marry rich, have kids, live vicariously through her husband. She didn’t deserve this system. I saw you struggle, night after night, never giving up, even when progress was slow. That’s the spirit of true research. A good bird chooses its tree. A wise official chooses their leader. I chose you.”

I was speechless. “Sys, did you get in trouble for helping me?”

The system’s voice was flat, but I detected a hint of bitterness. “Let’s just say I was transferred from ‘Girl Boss‘ world to ‘Tragic Romance‘ world. The Big Boss said since I hated romance–obsessed heroines so much, I should experience them firsthand.”

What a cruel punishment. “Gotta go. My current heroine is about to throw herself off a bridge. No regrets, though. You were the strongest, bravest, most hardworking host I ever had. You deserved it. I’ll take the punishment for you.”

The system disconnected, Gone, Like it had never been there. Back home, my Harvard acceptance letter arrived. Three prominent mathematicians – Dr. Peterson, Dr. Lee, and Dr. Davis -wrote a joint letter to the Department of Education, recommending me for special consideration, requesting I be given the best possible research environment.

I was offered a tenure–track position at MIT, before even starting my master’s degree. The youngest tenured professor in the country, I continued my research, publishing my second paper two years later in the Annals of Mathematics. I chose my next field of study big data analysis.

Times changed. The once–booming real estate market crashed. My parents, having remortgaged their house and borrowed heavily from relatives to invest in Miller Group’s “high- yield” financial products, lost everything.

They had a mental breakdown. Jessica put them in a nursing home. Miller Group, two trillion dollars in debt, declared bankruptcy. Ethan and Jessica’s marriage, held together by a thread and a child, dissolved. Jessica’s beauty faded.

Her life spiraled downwards.

I remembered a quote from a biography of an ancient Chinese merchant: “Those who serve others with their beauty will lose favor when their beauty fades, and when favor fades, so does affection.”

It felt good to have a brain. Life’s seemingly unsolvable problems often had precedents in history. Concubine Qi, favored consort of Emperor Gaozu of Han, a beautiful dancer, beloved by the emperor, was, after his death, imprisoned, mutilated, and thrown into a latrine.

With the rise of TikTok, my research in big data analysis moved from theory to application. I acquired 10% of TikTok’s initial stock. Alex made breakthroughs in physics. His team solved the lithium battery problem, propelling the US to the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution.

I flipped through the Princeton Companion to Mathematics, the book that had changed my life, watching Alex on TV, looking dapper in a suit, blushing like the boy I’d met in the library.

“For solving the lithium battery problem, I have only one person to thank Professor Ashley Ellis. For never forgetting to include me in her conference acknowledgements!”

His eyes locked onto the camera, his hand clutching his jacket, as if he could see me. “I may not have achieved great things yet, but I have to ask… will you go out with me?”

I remembered that summer, abandoned by my parents, Alex cooking for me every day, making. Sure there was never any shellfish. We’d weathered the storms of adolescence together, faced different tests, chosen different paths, but we’d never drifted apart.

If I hadn’t met Alex, maybe my life would have been rewritten by Jessica and my parents. I was grateful to him, for seeing the spark in me, even when I was at my worst. For recognizing the value of hard work, even when it went unnoticed.

Just keep working. Fate has a plan. It never forgets those who strive.

THE END