“Are you treating the whole class?”
“Does that include drinks, fruit platters, and snacks?”
“Is it from Monday to Friday, or on the weekend? The weekend is better since we have more time, but it’s a bit more expensive. You okay with that?”
“Uh… can we bring family members? Hehe.”
“…”
Zou Hao was almost driven to tears in frustration.
From the way they talked, it was as if they were certain he would lose!
No way!
With all the dignity he could muster, he declared, “Weekend! Everything covered! No bringing family!”
“Oh yeah! Now that’s some style, junior!”
Zou Hao felt a pat on his shoulder, leaving him utterly confused.
The next moment, a senior student gave him a thumbs-up. “Nice job! Our class was just missing someone as generous (and clueless with money) as you, little bro.”
Zou Hao: “…” He had tried to sound tough, so why did he still feel like he had been completely played?
D*mn it!
“Look! Jiang Fuyue has started writing—”
Someone shouted, and instantly, all eyes turned to the front.
Indeed, Jiang Fuyue had begun.
On the other side, Tan Jiaxu hadn’t even taken off his pen cap. He wasn’t looking at the problem; his deep black eyes were fixed on the whiteboard, lost somewhere between zoning out and deep thought.
“Haozi, can Jiaxu really do this? The other side already started!”
“Shut up! What’s with you? Stop doubting our guy! You know he always spaces out for three to five minutes before starting on a tough problem.”
“Oh, right. Haven’t seen him tackle a hard problem in a while. Almost forgot.”
Zou Hao nodded and glanced over at Jiang Fuyue. The next second, he almost lost his mind—
Holy cr*p! Why was she writing so fast?!
It had only been a few minutes, yet half the whiteboard was already covered with dense numbers and formulas.
“D*mn…” Others noticed too.
“Wasn’t this problem supposed to be really difficult?” Then why was she solving it so fast?
“It is hard… It hasn’t even been proven globally yet…”
“We’re doomed.”
“Wait, I don’t think she’s even using scratch paper.”
“Seriously?”
“Look for yourself! She writes the equation, substitutes the numbers, and gets the answer instantly.”
“She really is…”
A senior sitting in the front row suddenly turned his head, smiling playfully. “Now do you guys see how powerful she is?”
“…”
The senior continued, “Sister Yue never needs scratch paper. Just a glance, and she calculates faster than a computer.”
“…” D*mn.
At that moment, Tan Jiaxu, who had been zoning out, finally moved.
His hand flew across the page—
It was as if he already had the entire solution in his mind and was just transcribing it.
“Haozi! He started! He’s writing!”
Zou Hao smirked and shot a provocative glance at the seniors. “Our Jiaxu isn’t bad either. Let’s see who laughs last!”
Instead of getting mad, the senior simply shook his head with regret.
This kid still hadn’t been humbled by reality…
Zou Hao: “?” We’re talking smack here, why are you shaking your head?
Twenty minutes later, Jiang Fuyue capped her pen and nonchalantly said, “I’m done.”
The whole room fell silent.
Tan Jiaxu, who had been writing furiously, paused for a brief moment before silently continuing his work.
Ling Xuan stepped forward. Even though he had expected this, he was still taken aback.
Too fast.
For her, problems didn’t seem to have levels of difficulty—
The only difference was how long it took to solve them.
There was never hesitation or confusion on her face. No matter the challenge, she remained steadfast and fearless.
Mount Everest could be measured, but no one knew the limits of Jiang Fuyue’s mind.
At that moment, Ling Xuan seemed to see the gap between them—
Not just a divide, but an unbridgeable chasm.
And when he thought about her relationship with her father…
Ling Xuan’s eyes darkened.
With three minutes left on the clock, Tan Jiaxu finally put down his pen. “Done.”
Now, it was time to judge.
Since this was a proof-based problem rather than a calculation, as long as the logical steps were correct and the final conclusion held, it would be considered solved.
Ling Xuan addressed the class: “Everyone is a judge now. If you can find any logical flaw in either solution, the proof will be deemed incorrect. You have twenty minutes. Start.”
Some students were stunned. Others, completely dumbfounded—
“Huh? You want us to check their work?”
“Can I just say I didn’t even understand the question…?”
“You’re not alone.”
“This is a new problem. None of the major math websites worldwide have a standard solution yet. What else can we do? Got a better idea?”
“At least it’s a proof question. If it were a numerical solution, who the heck would know the right answer?”
Groans filled the room, but some remained composed—like Ling Xuan.
He had been thinking about this problem ever since he saw it in a magazine two days ago. He already had a rough idea in his mind, so following their steps wasn’t difficult for him.
Another example was Chen Cheng.
To the older Olympiad math team members, this situation felt familiar.
When Jiang Fuyue first joined, a similar event had taken place, except back then, the challenger had been Ling Xuan.
Chen Cheng had been the only one to stand up during that “Jiang vs. Ling” showdown and point out a logical flaw in Ling Xuan’s solution.
And now, history repeated itself. Ling Xuan was the one setting the problem and judging, the challenger was a new junior, and only Jiang Fuyue remained constant.
Thinking about it, Chen Cheng couldn’t help but chuckle.
He wasn’t the same boy who used to blush just from speaking up anymore.
As soon as the problem was given, he pulled out his scratch paper and started working alongside them.
While he hadn’t reached the final step, he was close.
It took him eight minutes to review Jiang Fuyue’s proof. Her thought process was clear, her logic airtight, and her solution method simple yet elegant.
Then he moved on to Tan Jiaxu’s proof—this time, he needed a full eighteen minutes. Some steps even left him momentarily puzzled.
Still, the final conclusion was correct.
From this alone, he could already tell who was on a higher level.
Twenty minutes flew by.
Ling Xuan announced, “Time’s up. If anyone found any mistakes, feel free to stand up and point them out.”
Everyone exchanged glances, but no one moved.
Ling Xuan tried a different approach: “Alright, then did everyone understand the solutions?”
“…” Silence. A guilty, uncertain kind of silence.
The truth was, most people hadn’t even fully grasped the question.
“I was never worthy in the first place.”
“Maybe the Olympiad math I studied isn’t the same kind as what Sister Yue is doing?”
“I understood Jiang Fuyue’s solution, but Tan Jiaxu’s… I’m a little lost.”
Ling Xuan noticed that while everyone whispered among themselves, no one dared to speak up. Finally, his gaze landed on Chen Cheng.
This guy was a logic master. He might not be the best in computational problem-solving, but when it came to logical rigor, he was undoubtedly the strongest in class.
“Alright, I’ll give my thoughts.” Chen Cheng stood up under everyone’s watchful eyes.
“Overall, I could follow Jiang Fuyue’s steps from start to finish without any obstacles. As for Tan Jiaxu’s, his approach started differently but was fundamentally similar—it was also a proof by contradiction. No major issues there.”
“So both solutions are correct?” someone interrupted eagerly.
“Then Sister Yue still wins! She finished ten minutes earlier!”
“Right, challenging her in terms of speed is just asking for trouble.”
“…”
Ignoring the chatter, Chen Cheng continued, “The key difference lies in the proof of Lemma 1. Jiang Fuyue nested Lemma 2 within Lemma 1 and conducted a case-based proof. On the other hand, Tan Jiaxu attempted to prove Lemma 1 directly using an inequality theorem. While his conclusion was correct, his approach doesn’t hold for all positive real numbers.”
“As for why that limitation occurs… I’m not entirely sure yet.”
Ling Xuan nodded—his analysis aligned with Chen Cheng’s.
Jiang Fuyue was undoubtedly correct. Her logical chain was flawless.
But calling Tan Jiaxu wrong wasn’t entirely fair either.
After all, they hadn’t pinpointed the exact flaw in his proof.
In that case…
“Why don’t you two check each other’s solutions?” Ling Xuan suggested.
Jiang Fuyue shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
Tan Jiaxu’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Alright.”
The two switched places.
Five minutes later—before Jiang Fuyue could even point anything out—Tan Jiaxu spoke up himself.
“I lost.”
The room fell silent for a moment. Then—
“Sister Yue is a legend!”
“This is what an undefeated streak looks like!”
“We won! I won my bet!”
“Junior, you’re treating the whole class. Thanks in advance!”
“Make sure to announce the time in the group chat. I’m an admin, I can @ everyone for you.”
“Oh, and we want the biggest fruit platter—with cherries.”
“…”
Zou Hao: “?”
“What, feeling the pain now? A bet’s a bet.”
Zou Hao forced a smile. “Not at all. Not even a little.”
His wallet: I’m dying! Slimming alert!
At that moment, Ling Xuan turned to Jiang Fuyue. “How about explaining your thought process to everyone?”
