After everyone arrived at the meeting classroom, Fang Bai found a seat and sat down, taking out a professional book to continue reading, with no time to chat with classmates.
He had already finished Mechanical Drawing and Mechanical Design, and his reading speed was very fast. He would first read professional books, and if he didn't understand something, he would temporarily skip it.
Out of the four years of university, professional knowledge is only studied for two academic years. Fang Bai, with his knowledge and experience in mechanics, plus his cheat, would finish his undergraduate professional knowledge in less than half a year.
Yang Tan, who was sitting next to him, initially thought Fang Bai, as a rich young master, was reading miscellaneous books, but upon seeing it was an English periodical with mechanical images, he knew it wasn't miscellaneous. He glanced at it a few times; he couldn't understand many sentences, but he knew the meaning of most words.
"Fang Bai, what book is this? My English is good, but I can't understand your foreign language material." Yang Tan scored 86 on his English exam and felt his English was quite good, but it wasn't enough for a foreign professional periodical, especially since the difficulty of the college entrance English exam in those years was much simpler compared to later generations.
"JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN."
Fang Bai replied indifferently. It was normal for Yang Tan not to understand. Even translators, if they didn't have a foundation in translating mechanical materials, still wouldn't understand mechanical professional terms.
"What?"
Yang Tan frowned. He could understand some words, but after Fang Bai read them out, he couldn't understand.
The school didn't have a listening test, so he found listening to English very difficult.
"Journal of Mechanical Design, an SCI Q1 journal. I'm looking for some information." Fang Bai replied. These past two days, he had specifically gone to the school library to find information on concrete pumps. Domestic information was too scarce, so he could only look for inspiration from foreign periodicals.
Mechanical design is too difficult relying solely on imagination; it's usually about optimizing and improving others' designs, not 100% invention.
Just like cars, someone invented the car, and later generations continuously optimized it, but have you ever seen a sedan with six or five wheels?
Fortunately, Fang Bai had seen concrete pumps and knew their approximate appearance and structure. Otherwise, if he had to design them from imagination, even with his cheat, the resulting product would likely be very different from concrete pumps in his previous life.
Yang Tan shook his head, highly doubting Fang Bai understood, and pointed to a sentence on the cover he couldn't understand: "What does this mean?"
"JMD has traditionally served the ASME Design Engineering Division and its technical committees."
Unexpectedly, Fang Bai quickly read it out in both Chinese and English.
"What is ASME?"
"Pressure vessel standards, United States standards." Fang Bai dealt with ASME when working with valves, so he understood ASME.
Otherwise, with so many abbreviations in professional materials, even English majors wouldn't understand them.
"Fang Bai, your English is so good, have you stayed abroad? I heard there are many overseas Chinese where you come from."
"No, I'm a native. My English is just a bit better."
Yang Tan was somewhat disbelieving; he was now half-believing Fang Bai's words.
But he had to admit, Fang Bai's English level was far above his.
"Then what was your score on the college entrance English exam?"
"Uh, I think it was 100."
"..." Yang Tan wanted to curse. How was that 'just a bit better'? If there were a thousand points, he probably could have scored a thousand points.
He held it in for a while, finally giving Fang Bai a thumbs up.
As the two spoke, their roommates nearby also heard, and only then did they realize Fang Bai was reading foreign technical materials for their major, and his spoken English was also good, which they truly admired.
Moreover, he got a perfect score on the college entrance English exam. If he were to study abroad, English would not be an obstacle at all.
Mei Xihu, sitting next to Yang Tan, asked: "Fang Bai, are you planning to study abroad for further education?"
"I don't have that plan. It's only the start of the semester; thinking about that is too far off." Fang Bai replied with a smile, then lowered his head to continue reading the material. He wasn't in the mood to chat.
Everyone saw Fang Bai intently reading again and didn't bother him further.
After a while, the counselor arrived, a plump-faced young woman in her twenties, of medium build, dressed in a mature style, with shoulder-length, inward-curled short hair that partially covered her ears and plump face, making her face appear a bit smaller.
Fang Bai could already imagine that if he called her "Plump Face," this counselor would probably get angry.
The plump-faced counselor had a calm expression, stood at the podium, wrote her name on the blackboard, and then introduced herself to the students: "Welcome everyone to Jiao Tong University. My name is Qin Xue, and I am the counselor for Class 3 of Mechanics, responsible for your studies and daily life. If you have any issues, you can always come to my office to find me.
Our class has a total of 60 students. We will do self-introductions in a moment; you don't need to come to the podium. Just stand up at your original seat and introduce yourselves. Don't exceed one minute, and it will also allow everyone to get to know each other. Let's start from the front row. There are many people, so let's be quick."
About twenty minutes later, all students in the class finished their introductions.
Some students who wanted to be Class Committee members said a few extra words during their self-introductions, like Yang Tan, who said quite a bit.
There were 52 boys and 8 girls.
Fang Bai had never attended university and didn't know the specific situation, but he didn't expect the proportion of girls in their major to be so small. Fortunately, he had a wife; otherwise, it would truly be a case of many wolves and little meat, making it hard to compete.
Girls in this type of major were too fortunate; they completely held the right to choose a partner for all four years of university, even if they were ugly.
Being ugly didn't matter; as long as one had an interesting soul, they would still be popular.
After the students finished introducing themselves, Qin Xue announced the first item: "I will first announce the Class Committee candidates for the first semester. These were selected based on the students' high school performance. Next semester, students will freely campaign for positions."
Upon hearing this, Yang Tan felt that his two days of visiting dorms and building connections were in vain. Now he could only hope he would be chosen.
Zhang Li, one of the eight girls, had a doll-like face and a sweet appearance. She had originally wanted to run for Class Monitor and was quite confident; in high school, she was not only Class Monitor but also a cadre in the school's student union. Now that it was an appointment by the counselor, she felt it was a bit uncertain.
The students below couldn't help but whisper. Students who hadn't thought about being Class Committee members felt indifferent, but they were curious about who would become the Class Monitor.
Qin Xue coughed, and the classroom immediately quieted down. She announced: "Fang Bai will serve as Class Monitor, Li Kai as Youth League Branch Secretary, Zhang Li as Life Committee Member, Lin Luochen as Study Committee Member, and Wu Shengyang as Cultural and Sports Committee Member. There are a total of five Class Committee members. I hope you will diligently fulfill your duties and strive for the development of the class and the interests of your classmates."
Upon hearing the appointments, many students were disappointed.
Yang Tan felt very surprised. Didn't Fang Bai say he didn't want to be Class Monitor? Why did they choose him specifically? Was it because of his family background?
If that was the reason, he was indeed a bit unwilling to accept defeat.
What made him even more disappointed was that he didn't even get a Class Committee position. Damn, that was too miserable.
Zhang Li, who was equally confident, didn't expect to lose the Class Monitor and Youth League Branch Secretary positions. If she couldn't be Class Monitor, Youth League Branch Secretary would also be fine. Making her a Life Committee Member, ultimately, meant that girls have those few days every month, and she would be given special care.
She had just noticed that particularly charismatic boy and hadn't expected him to actually become Class Monitor.
Fang Bai, who only wanted to quietly read, was surprised when the plump-faced counselor mentioned his name. It was too unexpected. Why would he want to be some troublesome Class Monitor? There were too many miscellaneous tasks; he would be completely a class firefighter, and he had already promised his roommates he wouldn't be a Class Committee member. Announcing it like this now, wasn't it setting him up?
Without much thought, he raised his hand, stood up, and said: "Teacher Qin, can I not be this Class Monitor? I think many classmates in our class meet the conditions, for example, Yang Tan from our dorm. He has a cheerful and lively personality, many specialties, and knows how to deal with people."
Qin Xue motioned for him to sit down, and couldn't help but smile, saying: "Classmate Fang Bai, please sit down. I see you're quite articulate and know how to care for your classmates, which proves I didn't misjudge you."
"Choosing Fang Bai as Class Monitor is not just my decision, but also the decision of the department leaders.
Firstly, Fang Bai is the national college entrance examination top scorer, with a score of 675, and perfect scores in three subjects. In terms of grades, he is far above the vast majority of classmates in the class. For the next semester's Class Monitor competition, grades must be in the top one-third of the department to be eligible, and other Class Committee members must be in the top one-half." Qin Xue continued, as a counselor, she naturally had access to students' grades and family information.
As soon as Qin Xue finished speaking, the classroom erupted.
"Wow, 675 points, and perfect scores in three subjects, that's insane! Mine was only 612 points."
"586 points. Just based on grades, I'm convinced."
"Admiration! How did he score 675 points? The highest score in our province was only 639 points. This score should have gone to Qingbei."
Yang Tan and his other roommates sitting nearby looked at Fang Bai a few more times: What a monster! Not only perfect English, but two other perfect scores.
Seeing the good effect, Qin Xue tapped the desk. After seeing the students below quiet down, she continued: "Of course, being Class Monitor isn't just about grades. Comprehensive quality must be strong: responsibility, organizational skills, communication skills, coordination skills.
Classmate Fang Bai's communication skills are naturally not an issue; other abilities are not yet visible.
But the most important point is that his character must be up to par and he must be able to serve his classmates.
There are also one or two other things that some of you classmates are not very clear about."
Qin Xue's words aroused even more curiosity among the students below. What else didn't they know? Many students glanced at Fang Bai again.
At this point, among the students in the class, the one who left the deepest impression on everyone was undoubtedly Fang Bai.
At the same time, the students in the class were also curious that Fang Bai had even gained the recognition of the department leaders, because it wasn't just about his grades, was it?
Could it be related to the department leaders? This shouldn't be the case. When Fang Bai introduced himself, he said he was from Wen City. It's impossible that he was recognized by the department leaders as soon as he arrived at the school.