Magnanimous

Mathematics doesn't lie, but it can insult you.

Teacher Bai went on and on, and every word sounded like it was pounding on Zheng Fa's skull.

"Do you understand now?"

He heard Teacher Bai ask him, looked up, and gave him a confused expression.

"And you?"

The old man asked Tang Lingwu beside him.

"More or less," Tang Lingwu whispered. "This isn't hard, is it?"

Teacher Bai nodded as he looked at Tang Lingwu, then glanced at Zheng Fa again and let out a deep sigh.

Zheng Fa: ...You two weren't targeting me, but I feel like you both said some pretty dirty things.

"I'll explain it again. Student Zheng, listen carefully this time."

Teacher Bai didn't give up. He picked up his pen again, wishing he could break it into pieces and feed it to Zheng Fa bit by bit.

Then he made Zheng Fa realize that if you don't go all out, you'll never know how truly incapable you are.

Tang Lingwu on the side was already starting to yawn out of boredom, while Zheng Fa's face remained blank, only half understanding.

"I've never taught a student as stupid as you!"

Teacher Bai slammed the pen in his hand down and said angrily.

Zheng Fa felt a bit dejected and heard Tang Lingwu whisper beside him:

"Teacher Bai used to be a professor at Beijing University. It's normal that you can't compare."

Zheng Fa was actually comforted by this. Beijing University was the top institution in the country, a notch above Jiangnan University, Zheng Fa's dream school.

Zheng Fa was self-aware; he was at most diligent, but definitely not a genius.

But the old man became increasingly impatient, his mouth full of disdain.

"Stupid!"

"You're clueless!"

"Are all students at Qingshui Middle School like you? I think the salary your teacher gets is hazard pay!"

Zheng Fa's mentality was stable, but the old man had clearly run out of patience.

He kept cursing Zheng Fa.

He even got so angry halfway through teaching that he threw down Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu and went to the balcony to smoke.

Zheng Fa wasn't broken by the scolding; the old man had been broken by teaching him.

"Are you okay?" Tang Lingwu had listened to the old man's assessment of Zheng Fa earlier, and now seeing Zheng Fa's expression, she was full of sympathy. "What Teacher Bai said was a bit excessive."

"He's used to teaching geniuses. Teaching me is also a trial for him," Zheng Fa said, maintaining a calm demeanor.

This kind of scolding was quite refined compared to the vulgar jokes from the Zhuangzi.

"That's true..." Tang Lingwu nodded. "I heard him say before that he never understood how people who got perfect scores on the college entrance exam dared to apply to the mathematics department at Beijing University."

"?"

"Because true geniuses mostly get in through competitions."

Tang Lingwu explained, and Zheng Fa once again deeply understood how Teacher Bai viewed him, someone who occasionally scored above 130 in math, as utterly incorrigible.

"But he was still too harsh."

"It's fine. Being strict with me is a good thing!" Zheng Fa even comforted Tang Lingwu.

The girl looked at him deeply, a little impressed. "I find you quite magnanimous. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to stand it!"

"Alright, you won't be able to learn anything else in a short time. I'll make these diagrams clear to you!" The old man finally gave up. "These diagrams you have are actually two types of patterns."

"Some parts might be incomplete." He added a few strokes to the patterns and drew two simpler shapes on the paper. "These diagrams are derived from these two simplest patterns."

Zheng Fa looked at the two shapes and memorized them.

"Teaching you for thirty minutes is like taking three years off my life!" The old man was still complaining, clearly regretting it and wanting to back out.

"How about I teach you?"

"Hmm?"

"A secret technique, a master's ultimate skill." Zheng Fa smiled innocently.

"Come, come, come!" The old man suddenly became excited and led Zheng Fa into an empty room.

"Follow me!"

Zheng Fa was serious about teaching. He struck a Crane Pine Stance pose and demonstrated for the old man. Tang Lingwu watched curiously from the side, but he paid her no mind.

The old man twisted his body and struck a pretzel-like pose.

"Crack!" Zheng Fa slapped the back of the old man's head.

"What are you doing!"

"Your head position is wrong!" Zheng Fa said sternly.

"Oh."

Old Man Bai obediently straightened his head.

"Slap!" "Pull your arm back!"

"Slap!" "Don't stick your belly out!"

"Slap!" "Stand firm!"

The series of slapping sounds made Tang Lingwu, who was watching from the side, wince in pain, grimacing along with Old Man Bai.

"Leg forward!"

"No, no! My legs are going to break!"

Old Man Bai let out a pained cry.

Then he heard Zheng Fa say with a tone of disappointment:

"Stupid!"

"Haven't you oiled your body yet?"

"Your previous master must have been so annoyed with you that he gave up teaching you and turned himself in!"

Tang Lingwu glanced deeply at Zheng Fa from the side.

She sincerely bowed to the word "generous" in her heart.

Only when Old Man Bai had held the stance for ten minutes and could no longer bear it did Zheng Fa let the old man go.

According to Instructor Xu, Old Man Bai's talent was indeed not good, at most it was below average.

Coupled with his old age, his bones were not flexible.

It would be good if he could practice the Crane Pine Stance at one-tenth the speed of Zheng Fa.

Old Man Bai rubbed his sore arm and hopped in place: "Don't say it, I feel like my whole body is much lighter."

Zheng Fa was sure that with the old man's aptitude, he couldn't have achieved anything in this short time. It was most likely a psychological effect.

"Then we'll take our leave."

Zheng Fa wanted to slip away.

"Wait!" Old Man Bai blocked the doorway: "You've had your fill of scolding? Trying to run?"

"..."

"Teach me for another half hour!"

The old man pulled Zheng Fa, and even took out a reference book from his study that he had used during lectures, and began to torment Zheng Fa.

By the time Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu left, it was already around ten o'clock at night.

"Were you doing that on purpose?" Tang Lingwu blinked and asked Zheng Fa in the hallway, "Intentionally provoking Teacher Bai? To make him teach you again?"

"No, he was the one doing it on purpose." Zheng Fa carried his schoolbag and looked back at her: "This old man can't wait for someone to teach him."

He didn't miss the fleeting loneliness on Old Man Bai's face when they said goodbye.

When he woke up again, he was at Zhao Manor.

Gao Yuan, on the other bed, was sleeping crookedly, with several papers scattered by his pillow.

Zheng Fa was already so familiar with the patterns on them that he was about to vomit.

After a weekend of cramming at Old Man Bai's house, although math was still difficult, Zheng Fa had figured out those diagrams.

At least he remembered how to understand the patterns in mathematics.

"Awake?" Gao Yuan mumbled and turned over, looking at Zheng Fa, who was getting up, and rubbed his eyes.

"Hurry up and get up, Instructor Xu is waiting for us."

Zheng Fa urged him. Instructor Xu had become a hands-off manager after teaching them the Crane Pine Stance. Yesterday, or rather, the day before Zheng Fa time-traveled to the modern era.

He suddenly said he wanted to see how the two of them had practiced these past few days.