Chapter 86: The Order is Right, the Difficulty is Insane
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“What’s this?”
Yu Wenzhou quickly hid the item behind his back, his expression guarded. “It’s none of your business.”
The more he acted this way, the more suspicious Zhang Ju became.
“Teacher Yu, we’ve known each other for so many years, we’re old friends after all. Is there a need to hide things from me?” She spoke kindly, with a smile on her face.
The more amiable she was, the more embarrassed Yu Wenzhou felt. It’s true that you don’t hit a smiling face.
He brought out the eight sheets of A4 paper rolled up into a bundle in his hand and casually patted it on his other hand. He said nonchalantly, “Oh, it’s nothing, just the original questions from this round of the competition.”
As if it were no big deal.
Zhang Ju stared at him in surprise, her first reaction being, “Are you kidding me?”
The exam hadn’t even ended yet, how could the questions have leaked?
“Here, see for yourself if you don’t believe me.” He unfolded the papers and held them up in front of Zhang Ju.
She fixed her gaze on them, as if trying to burn a hole through them. Suddenly, she chuckled, “Heh… you’re saying these are the original questions? Do I look so easily fooled? Teacher Yu, you’re as humorous as always.”
This person never acted properly and even when joking, he didn’t engage his brain. It was a pity that such a mischievous monkey had infiltrated the solemn ranks of the gardener team, dragging down the overall atmosphere.
Yu Wenzhou rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, it’s up to you. If you don’t, forget it.”
Zhang Ju frowned.
If Yu Wenzhou had argued logically, she would have readily believed that it was fake, but his current attitude…
It made her even more uneasy.
Having competed against each other for many years between the two schools, they were old rivals. While Zhang Ju didn’t know him inside out, she still had some understanding of him.
“… Are you telling the truth? You’re not fooling me?”
In response, Yu Wenzhou made a disdainful “tch” sound, lifted his chin slightly, and carried an air of indifference.
This time, Zhang Ju believed him.
“Let me take a look—”
“Hey!” Yu Wenzhou pulled it back, “No way! Hehe—”
Zhang Ju was about to be driven mad by this person.
“I showed it to you earlier to look, but you didn’t, now you’re trying to steal it? What’s wrong with you?” Yu Wenzhou muttered under his breath.
“Are you going to show it to me or not?” she said sternly.
“I’m not.” Even though she asked him for something, she dared to act so arrogantly?
“These questions are supposed to be shared resources. What, do you want to hog them all to yourself?”
“What? What? What? Shared resources? Who’s sharing with you? Why should I share?”
Zhang Ju sneered, “Isn’t this copy you have in your hand provided by the competition committee?”
“What competition committee?” Yu Wenzhou had a strange expression, “Are you overthinking things?”
Zhang Ju frowned. She didn’t trust Yu Wenzhou; he never told the truth. So, she turned her inquisitive gaze towards Meng Zhijian.
The latter nodded, “Indeed, it wasn’t from the competition committee.”
“Then where did it come from?”
Meng Zhijian replied, “A student memorized them and handed them to us…”
“Impossible!” Zhang Ju interrupted without hesitation, “Even in joking, there should be limits! The exam isn’t over yet, so how could there be students? And even if the exam is over, who could perfectly memorize all the questions?”
“It’s me.” A clear voice suddenly came from behind.
Zhang Ju turned around and saw the girl setting down her chopsticks. The bowl of noodles in front of her was empty, with only a bit of soup remaining.
“It’s you?!” The memory of the previous invigilation was fresh in Zhang Ju’s mind. It wasn’t until after the results were out that she learned that this girl was Jiang Fuyue!
The same girl who, like Feng Kaixuan, had scored a perfect score and ranked first in the city!
Because of this, Zhang Ju had even called Jiang’s parents to try to recruit her to Second High School. However, she was met with arrogance and disdain. It was clear that Jiang Fuyue didn’t think highly of her.
Clearly, Jiang Fuyue also recognized Zhang Ju, and she commented casually, “What a coincidence.” We meet again.
“Aren’t you supposed to be taking the exam inside?”
Zhang Ju hadn’t finished her sentence when Yu Wenzhou interjected playfully, “Isn’t it allowed to turn in the paper early?”
Zhang Ju’s expression was a masterpiece, three parts disbelief and seven parts shock.
“How is it possible… the exam hasn’t even passed halfway… and she’s already turned it in?”
An empty paper?
Could it be… the questions this time were really simple?
No, no, no. If they were that simple, then Jiang Fuyue wouldn’t be the only one turning it in early!
Zhang Ju suddenly thought of something, “Did you also memorize those questions?”
Jiang Fuyue took the tissue handed to her by Meng Zhijian and wiped her mouth. Upon hearing the question, she replied nonchalantly with a casual “Mhm,” not even bothering to look directly at them. She simply turned to Meng Zhijian and Yu Wenzhou, “Teachers, I’d like to go rest at the hotel first.”
Because the theoretical part of the exam would be held in the afternoon, the school had booked rooms at the nearby best hotel for the candidates.
“What about lunch…”
“I just ate earlier.”
“Alright, Old Yu, give her the room key.” Meng Zhijian said as he glanced at the empty bowl. They all had the same dish of lamb noodles, so why did it seem like their brains developed so differently?
As Jiang Fuyue left, Meng Zhijian and Yu Wenzhou remained to oversee the exam until it ended.
During this time, no second candidate who turned in their paper early came out.
With nothing better to do, the two of them decided to study the questions on the paper.
“… Did she memorize the order wrong?” Yu Wenzhou turned his head awkwardly and looked at Meng Zhijian.
The latter also had the same speculation, but…
“Logically, that shouldn’t be the case. Jiang Fuyue has a good memory. During the preliminaries, she memorized the punctuation marks exactly like the original paper.”
Yu Wenzhou looked puzzled, “But this difficulty… something’s off!”
The difficulty of the first question was nearly as high as the previous year’s most challenging question.
Zhang Ju stood by, watching from a distance, and overheard bits of their conversation. Unable to contain her curiosity, she walked over, “What’s off? Let me see.”
Meng Zhijian and Yu Wenzhou exchanged glances and handed the paper over.
Zhang Ju had expected to be rejected, but she didn’t expect them to be so cooperative. However, after she read the questions, she chuckled in disbelief, “I shouldn’t have trusted you two so easily. You dare team up to fool me like this? Is this it? And the first question? Do you take me for a fool?”
“See, she doesn’t believe it either.” Yu Wenzhou shrugged.
Meng Zhijian furrowed his brows, “Let’s see the questions below.”
Ten minutes later, all three of them had puzzled expressions.
They looked at each other, eyes wide with confusion.
“Old Yu, do you know how to solve question five?” Yu Wenzhou blinked.
Meng Zhijian replied, “…I don’t have a clue at the moment.”
He then asked Zhang Ju, “How about you?”
The woman stared blankly and shook her head slowly.
“So, the order is correct, and the first question is indeed the easiest of them all…”
At 12:00 noon, the bell rang.
A few minutes later, candidates poured out. In stark contrast to the relaxed atmosphere during the preliminaries, most of their faces now bore expressions of “heaviness.”
Zhang Ju called the Second High School students over. Although she had anticipated this outcome, she still put on a forced smile, “Alright, everyone’s here. How did you all do on the exam?”
Their heads were down, and no one responded.
After a while, one of them finally spoke, “Teacher Zhang, the questions were so difficult, waaaah—”
Finishing the sentence, they burst into tears.
“What should I do? I only managed to solve one question, I’m definitely going to fail!” Another one broke down.
“I just scribbled randomly. Something about superstring theory, nine-dimensional Grasman numbers of hyperspace vibrations, Bose-Einstein statistics, Fermi-Dirac statistics… I haven’t even heard of them.”
“I didn’t fully understand the meaning of any of the eight major questions. I’m doomed…”
Zhang Ju’s temples throbbed uncontrollably. She took a deep breath, “It’s alright. The questions are the same for everyone. If they’re difficult for you, they’re difficult for others as well.”
“Teacher Zhang,” Feng Kaixuan suddenly looked up, “Why did the students from No. 1 High School say that these questions aren’t difficult?”
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