A street urchin turned academic genius, starting by saving the blind school beauty.

Chapter 80: The New Competition Format

The students were all stunned by Lu Zhaoye's words. What did he mean by saying that this question was too easy and that someone else had to explain it?

"Alright, let's have Xu Qingwan give a presentation then," Old Chen said with a smile as he stood on the podium.

Xu Qingwan was stunned. She buried her head, her face flushed, and grabbed Lu Zhaoye's arm with her left hand.

Lu Zhaoye's lips curled slightly as he whispered to the very nervous Xu Qingwan,

"Don't be afraid, you know how to do this problem, don't worry."

"I...I dare not," Xu Qingwan knew in her heart that her bad deskmate was testing her mentality, but she was just shy.

Lu Zhaoye did indeed think so, because he knew the importance of mindset in the examination room.

Take the new college entrance examination in 2022 as an example. The math exam at that time caused many students to have a mental breakdown and not perform at their best.

However, he also understood the importance of proceeding step by step, and then said something to the trembling Xu Qingwan.

"How about this, I'll go up with you. I'll write the more complicated solution, and you can write the simpler one, okay?"

After saying that, Lu Zhaoye looked at Xu Qingwan in a soliciting manner, giving her ample time to consider.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Qingwan mustered her courage and nodded firmly.

The two walked up to the podium together, and under everyone's watchful eyes, Lu Zhaoye grinned and picked up the whiteboard marker to write a rather complicated solution on the blackboard.

Many students only had a superficial understanding after reading it, and even those in the advanced class did not grasp it quickly.

The reason is simple: Lu Zhaoye solves problems as if he's memorizing them, writing down the steps in a flash, and even Guo Zichen, who has the best grades, can only barely keep up.

After finishing writing, Lu Zhaoye didn't hesitate. He simply spread his hands, stood to the side, and said with a grin,

"There's another way to solve this problem. Let Xu Qingwan explain it to everyone."

After saying that, Lu Zhaoye took the lead in applauding.

As the applause grew louder, Xu Qingwan glanced at her mischievous deskmate standing to the side, silently cheered him on, picked up her whiteboard marker, and began to seriously solve the problem.

After she finished writing the last equation, Xu Qingwan quietly breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and whispered under everyone's gaze,

"I've finished writing, thank you everyone."

After saying that, Xu Qingwan saw that no one reacted, so she gave everyone a cute bow.

The students were all stunned for a moment, which made Xu Qingwan very anxious. She anxiously looked back at her solution steps, thinking that she had written them wrong.

"Very good! Xu Qingwan and Lu Zhaoye both wrote very well. Let's give them a round of applause!"

Fortunately, Old Man Chen spoke up in time to save the day, which eased Xu Qingwan's anxiety.

He looked at Lu Zhaoye and Xu Qingwan with a glint in his eyes. He had long recognized Lu Zhaoye's talent, but it was truly remarkable that Xu Qingwan had become like this.

Back in Class 7, Xu Qingwan was practically invisible, spending her days either doing math and physics problems or memorizing Chinese and English.

Her teachers noticed this, and Ms. Chen, the English teacher, often reminded her to take breaks, but the child simply wouldn't listen.

Seeing the child successfully enter the intensive class and make new friends, Old Man Chen was genuinely happy.

At this moment, the students also realized what Xu Qingwan had done with her ingenious solution.

In Lu Zhaoye's eyes, Xu Qingwan's solution was so simple it was almost unbearable to look at, but in the eyes of most students who couldn't even pass math, it was a very ingenious solution.

In an instant, thunderous applause erupted in the classroom.

"Aww, I got it, I got it."

"Oh wow, so that's how it's written! I get it now!"

Standing on the podium, Xu Qingwan was a little flustered by the sincere gazes and enthusiastic applause of the audience, but she was very happy inside. She smiled slightly and looked at Lu Zhaoye beside her.

Lu Zhaoye and Teacher Chen stood to one side, the sunlight streaming in falling squarely on Lu Zhaoye's back. Xu Qingwan looked at the smiling Lu Zhaoye and suddenly realized that the applause around her had become much quieter, and the air seemed to slow down a bit...

until,

"Hey, don't just stand there like an idiot, everyone's hands are about to fall off from your clapping," Lu Zhaoye said, then led the way back to their seats.

Xu Qingwan then came to her senses and quickly followed Lu Zhaoye back to her seat with her head down.

The morning classes passed quickly. Lu Zhaoye originally thought he could still show off in the Chinese class, but he didn't expect that his heartfelt narrative essay would only get 38 points.

Argumentative essays with ulterior motives ruined my youth.

Lu Zhaoye was too lazy to listen to the Chinese class. In his experience, he believed that when it came to Chinese composition, it was enough to just memorize some general materials. He didn't care about making any mistakes, just trying to avoid any problems.

After realizing that he was no longer in charge, Lu Zhaoye began preparing for the competition questions.

Sitting in the back row is great; apart from the occasional nagging wife, there's practically no one to bother him.

The atmosphere in this class is strange. The teacher basically never comes down to walk around; he just stands there and does his job.

Lu Zhaoye witnessed Qin Tian secretly reading a novel during Old Chen's class, and the guy with the jump shot by the back door playing Go with his deskmate during Old Yun's Chinese class.

Lu Zichen stopped acting altogether and simply lay down to sleep during physics class.

So, Lu Zhaoye gave a word of advice to Xu Qingwan, who was sitting up straight.

"Baby, tell me when the teacher comes that I did my math problems."

Xu Qingwan nodded, but after a short while she quietly turned her head and said,

"Lu Zhaoye...can I participate in the competition?"

"Sure," Lu Zhaoye replied without hesitation, without even looking up, "but it will be a bit difficult to achieve good results."

Xu Qingwan said "Oh" and immediately turned her head away dejectedly.

Lu Zhaoye glanced at it and continued,

"But I think you can participate; it will be helpful to you."

Xu Qingwan nodded, understanding that what her "bad deskmate" meant by "helpful" was that it helped her mindset, but she was still a little unhappy.

"So, are you going to team up with Xu Ziqing and the others?"

"?"

Lu Zhaoye didn't react at first, turned his head, frowned, and asked in return,

"What kind of teams?"

Xu Qingwan blinked, noticing Lu Zhaoye's confused look, and explained,

"Didn't you participate in this competition wanting to team up with Xu Ziqing and the others?"

"No," Lu Zhaoye denied, frowning, then continued, "I only went there for the prize money."

Xu Qingwan was silent for a moment, then timidly asked a question.

Are you short of money?

"Yeah, I'm really short of money. I'm almost starving," Lu Zhaoye said bitterly.

"But what do you mean by team formation? Is this competition a team event?"

Seeing this, Xu Qingwan patiently explained,

"My dad told me that the competition format this time is different from the past. It's not an individual ranking competition, but a brand new format. I don't know the specifics, but I know that it's a five-person team competition."

After listening, Lu Zhaoye rubbed his chin and began to make plans in his mind.

He suddenly felt a little panicked, wondering if his own strength could really compare to those geniuses and prodigies.

"But I heard that the prize money for first place in the provincial competition is 200,000 yuan, and there is also a chance to enter the provincial team."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhaoye instantly gained confidence. For this 200,000, he would take on any genius or prodigy!