Talent

Talent

Tang Lingwu cherished the last sip of milk tea, sucked it into her mouth, then thought for a moment while holding the empty cup before stuffing it into her backpack and taking Zheng Fa upstairs.

"I drank your milk tea, so leave this matter to me!"

She was just short of patting her ample chest.

When they reached the fourth floor, she stopped and pointed at a security door. "My teacher lives here. Wait here while I go in and talk to him."

She knocked on the security door. Someone inside opened it. Tang Lingwu shot Zheng Fa a look telling him to wait, slipped through the gap, and casually left the door ajar behind her.

Zheng Fa stood behind the door and waited as indistinct voices drifted out from inside.

"Teacher Bai, can I ask you a favor?" Tang Lingwu's voice was crystal clear.

Zheng Fa grinned.

That voice was a little too sweet.

"Tell me first."

An elderly man's voice came through, full of vigilance. Zheng Fa somehow found it familiar.

"I brought you another student!"

"Are you dating?"

The old man's voice immediately rose.

"What dating? I mean, one of my classmates has some questions he wants to ask you."

"A studious student? Male or female?" The old man clearly did not believe Tang Lingwu's explanation.

"Male... but we really aren't dating!"

It was obvious that, for one cup of milk tea, Tang Lingwu was giving it her all.

"Hmph. You young people think I don't know what's on your minds? There aren't many young men who love learning, but I've seen plenty who love women! I won't agree."

The old man clearly regarded Tang Lingwu as one of his juniors.

He harbored a measure of hostility toward every male around her.

"Teacher Bai, aren't you a university professor? Answering questions and clearing doubts, teaching without distinction!"

The old man replied indignantly, "I'm retired! Retired, understand? I taught students before retirement, and I'm still teaching students after retirement—then wouldn't I have retired for nothing?"

This old man clearly had some lingering resentment toward work.

Put simply, he was lazy.

"Teaching one more is still teaching! What difference does one extra student make?"

Tang Lingwu was truly going all out. Listening outside, even Zheng Fa felt his whole body go numb at that voice.

It was hard to imagine it coming from her somewhat cool and aloof face.

"You're different. Your mother paid too much... No, I mean, you have a great talent for Mathematics! You're smart!"

"But you haven't even met him. Maybe he has talent too?"

"This thing called mathematical talent—when you look at someone and directly say they don't have it, that method is actually quite accurate."

"...So this really can't be done?"

"Can't be done!"

Tang Lingwu came out of the apartment dejectedly, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry. He doesn't want to see you."

"It's fine. You already did your best."

From outside, Zheng Fa could imagine how Tang Lingwu had acted cute and coaxed the man inside. He could even hear how hard she had tried from her voice.

Besides, that cup of milk tea had originally been to thank Tang Lingwu for being willing to bring him here.

He had also heard just now that Tang Lingwu's family had spent no small amount of money to find this teacher for her.

Even a hundred times twenty-eight yuan would not have been enough.

He was not greedy enough to think one cup of milk tea could make this teacher willing to teach him.

"How about..." Tang Lingwu turned to glance at her backpack. Seeing the empty milk tea cup still inside, she hesitated before saying, "I'll buy you a cup of milk tea to pay you back?"

"It doesn't have to come to that. If you really feel bad about it, I can ask you whenever I have questions in the future. If I can't ask the teacher, asking the student is close enough."

"Don't worry, I will. I'll definitely teach you!"

"Teach my ass! A cup of milk tea bought you off? He just wants an excuse to talk to you more!"

An elderly voice came from behind her, sounding as though he hated iron for not becoming steel.

Zheng Fa watched as a head of white curls poked through the crack in the door.

Looking at that familiar old face,

Zheng Fa suddenly understood. No wonder that voice sounded so familiar!

Inside the apartment, the three of them sat on the living room sofa, and the atmosphere was awkward for a time.

Neither Zheng Fa nor Teacher Bai—the curly-haired old man he had met in the park before—knew how to begin.

Tang Lingwu still looked a little dazed, glancing at one and then the other, seemingly unsure how the three of them had suddenly ended up inside.

"Um... young hero."

"Please call me Little Zheng, or Student Zheng."

Hearing the words "young hero," especially in front of a classmate like Tang Lingwu, made Zheng Fa's inexplicable sense of shame explode.

"Fine then, Student Zheng. And don't keep calling me sir. Just call me Old Bai or Teacher Bai." The old man continued, "The person she mentioned just now, was that you?"

"Yes. I came across a few diagrams and wanted to show them to you, Teacher Bai."

"No rush, no rush. You want to study under me?"

"I don't dare hope to become your student, Teacher Bai. It would be enough if I could ask two questions."

Remembering this man's firm refusal just moments ago, Zheng Fa spoke somewhat embarrassedly.

"No! I gave it some thought just now. I've been a teacher all my life, and after suddenly retiring, this desire to teach and cultivate others just won't stop."

Tang Lingwu's face was filled with question marks.

That was not what you said just now, was it?

Zheng Fa was stunned as well, looking at the old man's sincere face.

"Then what do you mean, Teacher Bai?"

"What I mean is, as someone who does Mathematics, I just want to find students with good mathematical talent and teach them. Young hero—no, Student Zheng—your sect must also seek out people with high talent to pass down certain secret arts that are never taught to outsiders, right?"

"Hm?"

"Look at me..." Teacher Bai pointed at himself again.

"At a glance, I could tell Teacher Bai possessed extraordinary bones and a remarkable frame!"

Zheng Fa suddenly understood.

"I can see that you're pretty sharp when it comes to Mathematics too!"

Tang Lingwu watched from the side, her eyes full of bewilderment.

These two men seemed to have completed some filthy transaction right in front of her.

Looking at the several diagrams Zheng Fa handed over, Teacher Bai frowned slightly, his face turning serious.

Compared with his earlier grinning and joking manner, he now finally had something of a university professor's bearing.

He ran his fingers over the diagrams, then looked up at Zheng Fa.

"Just these?"

"Yes."

"Then I can't make heads or tails of them." Teacher Bai set down the sheets of paper. "Why don't you find some fortune-tellers? Let them pinch their fingers and calculate what the hell these things are."

Zheng Fa: "..."

"Still, if you're asking whether these patterns have any rules, then there are some."

"Please explain."

"This one, this one, and this one." Teacher Bai pointed at three patterns and said somewhat uncertainly, "From the perspective of our mathematical Topology, they are actually the same kind of pattern."

"Huh?"

Zheng Fa stared at the three diagrams in confusion.

No matter how he looked at them, he simply could not see them as the same.

"Topo... what?"

"That involves a relatively elementary and simple concept in Topology, called Homeomorphism..." Once Teacher Bai began talking about his field of expertise, he became an endless torrent, gesticulating wildly.

After talking for quite some time, he finally stopped and asked Zheng Fa, "Do you understand?"

"..."

Zheng Fa felt as though a tiny knowledge man had just tried to pry open his skull with a chisel, only to discover that he had somehow mastered an iron-head technique without a teacher.

(End of Chapter)