When asked about his ranking, Andre began to stutter.
Anyway, he wasn’t on the first page of the electronic screen.
“Well… the steak was okay?”
The topic shifted naturally.
Jiang Fuyue didn’t pursue further questions.
As the sky grew dark, the two of them happily finished their meal. Andre asked if she wanted to go out for a walk. He had a car and they could go to a bar in the city center.
“You go ahead, I want to go back to my room to rest,” Jiang Fuyue had seen him take out his phone to decline a call more than once, so there should be a second half.
“Okay, then I’ll take you back.”
“No need, it’s very close.”
“Alright,” Andre shrugged, “I know you’re a very decisive person. I felt it during our chat and meeting you in person only confirms it more.”
Jiang Fuyue smiled.
They parted ways. She declined the electric bike and decided to walk back.
Night fell, and there was a slight chill in the air.
As she passed by the fountain pool, Jiang Fuyue paused, reached into her pocket, took out a coin, and gently placed it on the water’s surface.
However, it sank after just two seconds.
She didn’t believe it and took out another coin.
Just then, a tall figure stopped beside her, with distinct knuckles handing over a tissue: “Try using this.”
Jiang Fuyue turned to look at the person next to her and raised her eyebrows slightly: “What are you doing here?”
Xie Dingyuan: “The organizers invited me to be the award presenter.”
As for the identity of the question setter…
According to the rules, it needs to be kept confidential until the end of the exam.
Jiang Fuyue took the tissue he handed her, unfolded it, and placed it gently on the water’s surface, then placed the coin on top.
Two seconds later, the tissue absorbed water, slowly sinking, while the coin remained steadily afloat on the surface.
Success.
Xie Dingyuan: “Why did you suddenly conduct this experiment?”
Jiang Fuyue’s expression was strange: “You think I’m conducting an experiment?”
“Isn’t it? The surface tension of water supports light objects because of liquid cohesion…”
“Wait.” Jiang Fuyue interrupted him.
The man was puzzled, showing an inquiring look.
“I’m not conducting an experiment, thank you.” After saying that, she turned around to leave.
Xie Dingyuan followed her: “Then what are you doing?”
“Playing! Can’t you tell?”
“?” The man looked puzzled.
Indeed, he couldn’t tell.
Jiang Fuyue twitched her mouth: “Many children are playing this game.”
Xie Dingyuan: “Are you a child?”
Jiang Fuyue: “…”
Thus, the conversation died out.
She walked ahead with a sullen face.
The man followed behind, neither near nor far. It seemed he really didn’t understand: “Did I say something wrong?”
Jiang Fuyue paused and suddenly turned around.
Xie Dingyuan was surprised and quickly stopped.
There were three steps between them.
Jiang Fuyue: “Are you stupid?”
The man pondered for a moment: “…If you mean intelligence, I should be fine.”
D*mn, he’s still just fine!
Jiang Fuyue: “Stop following me.”
After saying that, she rushed into the hotel.
Xie Dingyuan stood still, watching the girl’s figure disappear. However, there was still a lingering confusion in the depths of his eyes.
He, did he say something wrong again?
On the other side, Jiang Fuyue entered the revolving door, walked straight through the lobby, and entered the elevator.
As the metal doors closed, she pressed the floor button, then—
“Hahaha…”
It turns out that the famous Professor Xie has negative emotional intelligence!
When he seriously said he was fine, Jiang Fuyue couldn’t help it.
Really funny!
Even until she returned to her room, the curve of her mouth had not flattened.
Seeing this, Fan Ye was quite surprised: “Sister Yue, why are you so happy?”
“Am I happy?”
“Yeah yeah! Look…” Fan Ye held a small mirror up to her.
In the mirror, the girl’s eyes were slightly raised at the corners, her brows relaxed.
“Ahem!” Jiang Fuyue cleared her throat lightly, “That’s right.”
“Is there something worth being happy about?”
She thought for a moment, “I met an interesting person.”
Fan Ye: “?”
…
The peculiar Professor Xie soon returned to his room as well. However, along the way, his tightly furrowed brow did not relax, and his expression grew increasingly solemn.
Scenes of his interaction with Jiang Fuyue replayed constantly in his mind, from the content of their conversation to the details of their actions.
With his exceptional memory, he could not only recall the scenes vividly but also replay them in slow motion, akin to film editing techniques.
Yet, even with all this, he couldn’t pinpoint where the problem lay.
Why did she suddenly fall silent and walk away briskly?
And why did she turn back and ask if he was stupid after he answered?
After her question, she didn’t say he was wrong, but suddenly told him not to follow her. What was that about?
Jiang Fuyue’s reactions were beyond his understanding of behavioral norms.
Xie Dingyuan felt like he had encountered a puzzle again.
But that’s okay; he would look up information and find papers.
Ten minutes later, a new folder appeared on his desktop, renamed as “Observation Record of Women’s Perplexing Behavior.”
After some consideration, he found it wasn’t accurate enough since he was only observing Jiang Fuyue, not other women.
Therefore, the folder was finally named “Observation Record of Jiang Fuyue’s Perplexing Behavior.”
Following his usual methodical approach, Xie Dingyuan believed that meaningful research required strong theoretical support.
Thus, half an hour later, the folder contained over twenty papers, including but not limited to:
“Lucy Eligray’s Analysis of Feminine Discourse Characteristics”
“Who Talks More: Men or Women? A Study of Male and Female Discourse Patterns”
“The Mystery of Fickle Women”
“Revealing Female Consciousness in Humor”
“There’s a Basis for Women’s Fickleness”
“MISSQ: The Most Beautiful Women are the Fickle Ones”
With everything set, deep research was all that remained.
Xie Dingyuan was confident and even wrote an introduction for this observation record:
“I want to understand her.
Just like—
Physicists wanting to explore black holes;
Biologists trying to decrypt genes.
…
On the fourth day of the competition, the second round of IOI started at nine in the morning.
Still three questions, five hours, one hundred points per question.
Jiang Fuyue took twenty-five minutes to finish the first two questions.
The third question, the ace up the sleeve of this IOI.
She didn’t look at the question first but flipped to the end to see who set it—
Dingyuan Xie, From China.
Xie Dingyuan?
It was actually him!
Jiang Fuyue furrowed her brows; wasn’t he supposed to be in biochemical research? How did he end up setting questions for an informatics competition?
And it’s the ace!
However, her confusion didn’t last long and was temporarily suppressed. Jiang Fuyue began to read the question.
After reading it once, she didn’t start.
She read it again for the second time, still not touching the keyboard.
It wasn’t until the fourth read-through that Jiang Fuyue’s hovering guess finally had a confirmed answer.
She felt like this person must be crazy!
To set such a question!
…
Fan Ye’s understanding of informatics was not inferior to Jiang Fuyue’s.
This was evident from her habit of consistently handing in her exam after Jiang Fuyue and before the others, usually with near-perfect scores.
Like yesterday, she easily scored full marks, tying for first place with Jiang Fuyue.
But today…
Fan Ye had finished the first two questions forty minutes ago, but the third question left her at a loss.
She stared at the computer screen for a whole half-hour, sketching sheet after sheet of draft paper, yet still without any clue.
Her eyes were dry and gritty, her thoughts a tangled mess.
Next moment, she slumped onto the keyboard in frustration, falling into an inexplicable sense of defeat.
Wait…
Had she overlooked something?
Fan Ye sat up straight, looked up at the front, and was surprised when her eyes met the familiar figure.
So, Sister Yue hadn’t handed in her paper yet either!
Did that mean this question was indeed difficult, and not just for her?
Fan Ye suddenly regained confidence, blinked her tired eyes, and re-focused her attention, reading the question once again…
Huang Hui and Gao Zhaoming were slower than Fan Ye in speed, but they had already finished the first two questions by now.
When it came to the third question—
After the first read: It doesn’t seem difficult, after all, the question information is so simple it doesn’t seem like a competition.
Second read: It’s simple, but where should I start?
Third read: Try this angle, it doesn’t seem to work; try that one, it doesn’t seem to work either…
Fourth read: Stuck.
That’s where the two of them were right now.
They exchanged a dumbfounded look, then both turned to look ahead at Jiang Fuyue and Fan Ye.
Immediately, they sighed in relief; thankfully, those two were still at it.
But then they thought again, wait!
“Still at it” was scarier than “not at it”!
