Xie Dingyuan looked at the system message “The other party has accepted your friend request. You can now start chatting,” and his heart pounded.
Xie: [Hello.]
No response from the other end. The man furrowed his brows.
Xie: [Do you know the formula r=a(1-sinθ)?]
Still no response.
Xie: [How about r=a*cos(Kθ)? Also known as the rose curve formula.]
Xie Dingyuan took a deep breath and waited quietly.
After about half a minute—
Yue: [F*k!]
Xie Dingyuan: “?”
Yue: [Did you install a Trojan on my computer?]
The man was stunned. He had already removed it. How could…
Yue: [Even though it was only for a minute, you can’t fool my defense system!]
So, there were traces left behind.
Xie: [I can explain.]
Yue: [Explain my *ss! You creepy old uncle!]
Creepy… Creepy?
Old uncle?!
Xie Dingyuan’s face darkened.
Just as he was about to explain, she bombarded him with words—
Yue: [I also hacked into your computer with a virus, so it’s even now. Otherwise, I would definitely make you regret it!]
Yue: [Don’t think you can flirt with girls just because you know some math.]
Yue: [When I was playing with Cartesian functions, you were probably still in diapers!]
Xie Dingyuan was left dumbfounded.
By the time he could react, the other person had already deleted him as a friend.
It was quite sudden…
Jiang Fuyue reinforced her defense system again before shutting down her computer.
Just then, Fan Ye entered with her phone, still wearing headphones, probably in the middle of a video call with someone.
Jiang Fuyue gestured to her to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
Fan Ye responded with an “OK” gesture.
Jiang Fuyue tried to avoid the camera as much as possible and slipped into the bathroom.
“Dad, I’m back in my room.”
A deep voice, tinged with the vicissitudes of life, came from the other end. “Are there others with you?”
“Yeah! My roommate! Sister Yue! I mentioned her to you before.”
On the screen, the man with a beard paused slightly. “… Then rest early. Don’t video call with any opposite sex in the dormitory, including me, to avoid disturbing others.”
Fan Ye stuck out her tongue. “Okay, I know, but I don’t think Sister Yue would mind…”
“Do your duty.”
“I got it, Dad. I won’t do it next time.”
“Mm.”
…
On the third day of the competition, the formal examination began.
Five hours, three questions, with a trial run allowed midway.
Forty minutes into the exam, Jiang Fuyue completed all questions and successfully ran the trial, then submitted her paper and left the examination room.
Fan Ye was the second to come out. Judging by her relaxed demeanor, she must have done well.
“Sister Yue, there are small cakes over there that look really delicious. Shall we go?”
“Okay.”
The two waited in the rest area for about fifty minutes before Huang Hui and Gao Zhaoming emerged one after the other.
The exam ended at 2 p.m.
The rankings were immediately displayed on the electronic screen—
Jiang Fuyue and Fan Ye both scored 300 points, tied for first place.
Huang Hui and Gao Zhaoming followed closely behind, with scores of 298 and 295, respectively, in third and fourth places.
When the four of them exchanged thoughts, they all had the same feeling: the questions were not difficult, even simple.
But the results of other international participants seemed less than ideal.
For example, the fifth-ranked contestant from Country H scored 265 points, a whole 30 points lower than the fourth place.
“It’s too early to evaluate the difficulty now,” Jiang Fuyue said.
Huang Hui nodded. “Yes, there are still three questions tomorrow.”
Gao Zhaoming scratched his head. “It seems that the news about experts from Huaxia setting the questions was fake.”
Fan Ye blinked. “Not necessarily! Maybe they’ll come tomorrow?”
“Unlikely. In previous years, Huaxia was only invited for the first three questions, and they’ve never been given the chance to set the last three questions. So…” Huang Hui shrugged.
“Okay.” Fan Ye sounded regretful. “It’s about time. Shall we go eat?”
Jiang Fuyue stood up. “You go ahead. I have plans.”
…
Dining Hall No. 3.
The beautiful waitress brought the food and left with a graceful Russian farewell: “Please enjoy your meal~”
Then she left with light steps.
Back in the prep area, she excitedly shared with her little sisters—
“Oh! That guest was so handsome! I bet he’s mixed race!”
“But I heard him speaking Chinese.”
“Can Huaxia people have such prominent facial features?”
“What did he say to you?”
“Unfortunately, nothing at all. He seemed a bit cold, but still very handsome.”
“Oh! Elisa, do you know you look like you’re in love right now?”
“I think if it were him, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Haha… Shameless!”
A group of beautiful E-country girls burst into laughter, their laughter clear and crisp.
The organizers specially arranged Dining Hall No. 3 for Xie Dingyuan as his dining place during the competition.
Since it was self-paid, few participants came here; only professors, researchers, and local staff of the host country frequented it.
Xie Dingyuan skillfully cut his steak. The aroma wafted, but he seemed to have little appetite.
His thoughts inevitably turned to yesterday. After being deleted by Jiang Fuyue, he called Shen Qiannan—
“My goodness, do you know what time it is?! Can’t I sleep?!”
Xie Dingyuan: “I have a question.” His familiar opening line.
Shen Qiannan groaned. “Do you have questions every day? I won’t answer anything that’s not related to emotions, and you’d better not mention academic topics.”
Xie Dingyuan: “… It’s not an academic topic.”
“Mm?!” Shen Qiannan instantly woke up. “So it’s an emotional consultation, huh?”
Xie Dingyuan didn’t speak, which was equivalent to an affirmation.
Shen Qiannan immediately got excited. “Tell me, what did that girl do to you this time?”
“She cursed at me.”
“Huh?”
“And then she deleted me.”
“Ha? Hahaha—”
“Shen. Qian. Nan!”
“Okay okay, I’m not laughing. Haha… I really stopped laughing! Haha… I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it! Hey, I’m holding it now! Haha…”
Xie Dingyuan: “…”
It took him five minutes to stop laughing.
“Cough… now, we can talk seriously.”
