No Lines for the Performance

Su Qiangwei had been focused on Ma Ran for a long time—for a total of five minutes and seven seconds since he entered the classroom.

As a high school senior aiming for Tsinghua and Peking University, she found this waste of time almost unforgivable.

But the problem was...

He seemed to possess a mysterious charm that kept her gaze fixed on him.

Ma Ran's features and physique were exactly the same as before, showing no changes. He was just ordinarily handsome.

The key was his demeanor!

His sharp, unbridled aura made Su Qiangwei subconsciously think of a peerless swordsman from wuxia novels.

Having hidden his blade for years, never revealing himself. One day, his swordsmanship finally reached perfection, and he decided to stop being low-key, emerging to conquer Kunlun and witness all the world's beauty!

In this moment, Ma Ran stood out from the other male classmates, exuding an irresistible charm.

"He was only on break for half a semester..."

"What exactly happened to this guy?"

Su Qiangwei was puzzled.

She was different from the superficial girls in her class; she didn't fawn over handsome guys.

In her opinion, the most important thing for a man was talent. His looks didn't matter much, as she figured her future husband's looks wouldn't be higher than hers anyway.

She was just feeling a bit confused.

Demeanor was something ethereal; people usually couldn't sense changes in it.

Yet, Ma Ran's transformation was utterly baffling.

In fact, it wasn't just Su Qiangwei. The gazes of other classmates, whether subtle or overt, were all focused on Ma Ran.

"Brother Ma, why are you suddenly studying?"

"Hey! Don't just laugh! I feel like you're laughing at me for being an idiot. Am I overthinking this?"

"I feel the same way. His gaze... it's like a human looking at a gorilla in a zoo..."

"Holy crap, Young Master Ma, are you solving Olympiad math problems? I can't understand a single word!"

"Brother Ma is awesome!"

A flash of inspiration struck Su Qiangwei. She clapped her hands softly, her eyes gleaming, as a guess formed in her mind.

"Everyone, make way!"

She parted the crowd, her gaze falling on Ma Ran's desk.

At this moment, he was writing furiously, scribbling what looked like gibberish.

As a top student who had self-studied and finished "Advanced Mathematics" ahead of schedule, Su Qiangwei had the right and capital to be proud.

At the very least, she wouldn't just stand by and watch.

"These are the symbols for gradient pressure and vector form..."

Su Qiangwei quickly glanced at Ma Ran's scratch paper and immediately felt a splitting headache, her temples throbbing slightly.

What he was studying was definitely beyond the scope of a high school student!

Even a master's student in a top university's mathematics program might not bother with such infuriatingly complex problems!

"Wait! These formulas..."

Su Qiangwei's pupils contracted slightly. She pulled out her phone, opened the browser, and typed in a string of characters.

After comparing the search results, she couldn't help but exclaim, "It really is the Navier-Stokes equation!"

Hearing this, one of her roommates asked in a low voice, "The Nav-what-what equation?"

Su Qiangwei, who was struggling to follow Ma Ran's train of thought, immediately lost her progress.

She turned her head and rolled her eyes impatiently. "On May 24, 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute announced at the Collège de France in Paris that they were offering a $1 million prize for seven [Millennium Prize Problems]."

"The 'Poincaré Conjecture' has already been solved by the Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman. What Ma Ran is currently trying to prove is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, the N-S equation."

To be honest, Su Qiangwei didn't think Ma Ran had actually found the correct solution.

If his mathematical talent was truly that high and he possessed such ability, why did he always score around the passing mark of ninety on exams?

Hmm?

At this thought, Su Qiangwei's pupils contracted slightly.

Always around ninety?

Su Qiangwei had an excellent memory.

Ma Ran scored 90 on the last monthly exam, 91 on the one before that, and 92 on the one before that.

An arithmetic progression in reverse?

"This is impossible!"

Su Qiangwei stared intently at Ma Ran, murmuring, "If it were me, I should be able to achieve this level too?"

"No..."

"I don't think I can do it."

What kind of crazy person is she?!

What normal person would do that?!

Putting aside Su Qiangwei, who was lost in self-doubt, the entire classroom instantly turned into a noisy marketplace because of her few words.

Millennium Prize Problems, N-S equations – the classmates didn't care about any of that.

Everyone's attention was focused on the words "one million dollar reward."

"Is it real? That's a lot of money, it's unbelievable!"

"Of course it's real, my goddess never lies!"

"Alright, stop flattering her. No matter how well you suck up, she won't even spare you a second glance."

"Now you've offended me! How is that flattering? I'm stating objective facts!"

"One million! US dollars! Oh my god! If I could earn that much money, my parents wouldn't scold me even if I played games all day!"

"Heh, do you have the ability to get that million dollars?"

"I don't have the ability, so do you?"

Su Qiangwei put on a stern face and said loudly, "All of you, shut up!"

Right after she yelled, the math teacher walked into the classroom.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward.

The math teacher was a tall, thin middle-aged man with thick glasses perched on his nose. His surname was Zhu.

Seeing that the atmosphere in the classroom was not quite right, he greeted Su Qiangwei, "Yo, is the sun rising from the west today? I've never seen you get angry with anyone before, what's going on here?"

Su Qiangwei was not only the class monitor but also the best student in the class. Since he took over this class, Su Qiangwei had always scored a perfect score on every math exam, big or small.

The saying, "You score 150 because that's the maximum you can get, but I score 150 because the test paper only has 150 points," could perfectly describe Su Qiangwei.

"Teacher Zhu."

Su Qiangwei quickly regained control of her emotions, her small face stiff as she replied, "Ma Ran is solving the N-S equation."

Teacher Zhu leaned in and casually glanced at the paper.

Once he started looking, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

The unremarkable piece of draft paper seemed to possess a magical charm.

He had been the lead teacher for the high school's Olympiad math team for five consecutive years, so he could understand it.

The more knowledgeable one was, the more they understood the difficulty.

"It's done."

Ma Ran's expression didn't change much, but inside, he was laughing wildly.

An outstanding actor doesn't need much dialogue!

The slightest expression, an unintentional gesture, can perfectly portray the image they want to create!

At this moment, in everyone's eyes, he was a hidden master on par with the Demon of Learning Seeking Defeat or the temple sweeper in the library!

To reach this point smoothly, he had to thank classmate Su Qiangwei for her support.

"One thing at a time. While I'm grateful, I'm determined to get the spot that rightfully belongs to me!"

Thinking this, Ma Ran looked up and gave Su Qiangwei a deep look.

There were many ways to join the academic society, and as time went on, more methods would become available, but...

The Academic Power assessment was the safest and fastest route.