The next day at lunchtime, Chen Zhao happened to spot Zhao Xiaobai eating all alone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, so he carried his tray over to join her.
"I heard you signed up for the Middle School Subject Olympiad. Is that right?" Chen Zhao asked bluntly.
"Yeah, I signed up for math." Zhao Xiaobai was smart enough to know Chen Zhao wouldn't ask without a reason. "Did you sign up too?"
"I signed up for Chinese, math, physics, chemistry, and biology," Chen Zhao said, gnawing on a chicken leg.
"Holy crap!" Zhao Xiaobai's eyes widened in shock, and she swore outright. "Are you crazy?"
"What's wrong?" Chen Zhao was startled by her reaction. "Can't I?"
"This is an Olympiad! It's not an ordinary exam!" Zhao Xiaobai explained. "You might be able to get close to a perfect score on an ordinary exam, but getting even 50 points in this competition is incredibly difficult! Plenty of people can't even get ten! You signed up for so many subjects at once. How are you going to prepare for them all?"
Chen Zhao shrugged. "It's fine. I'm smart. If I sign up for several subjects, I'm bound to pass one or two, right?"
Zhao Xiaobai looked at Chen Zhao like he was an idiot. "Have you already studied a lot? You just signed up, didn't you? The exam's next week. How are you planning to prepare?"
Chen Zhao scratched his head. "Should I buy a couple of workbooks? Do you have any good ones to recommend?"
Zhao Xiaobai was even more baffled. "You haven't done any specialized practice problems yet?"
Chen Zhao shook his head, wondering if there were actually specialized workbooks for this stuff.
Zhao Xiaobai sighed. "Finish eating, then come with me. I have some specialized workbooks. I'll lend you a couple to look through."
After lunch, Chen Zhao followed Zhao Xiaobai to her classroom.
Along the way, lots of people stared at them in astonishment, and some even secretly snapped photos of Chen Zhao and Zhao Xiaobai.
For one thing, Zhao Xiaobai was the campus goddess, and there were so many boys at school with crushes on her that if you picked up a stick, closed your eyes, and threw it, you'd hit a whole bunch of her admirers. For another, Chen Zhao had become a big name himself, and plenty of people knew him. It was only natural that two campus celebrities together would attract attention.
But neither Chen Zhao nor Zhao Xiaobai paid any attention to the stares. When they reached the classroom, Zhao Xiaobai took out several thick workbooks and handed them to Chen Zhao.
<Collected Past Papers from the National Middle School Olympiad>
There was one for each of the five subjects, making five books in all.
Chen Zhao was delighted. He thanked Zhao Xiaobai and went back to his classroom to look over the problems.
He'd assumed that every subject recycled the same types of questions. Even if the Olympiad made them more difficult, surely they'd only use trickier numbers and more complicated twists. As long as he was careful and bold, he should still be able to get a high score.
But the moment he opened the first page and saw the first problem, Chen Zhao was stunned!
The problem alone took up eleven lines!
There were four diagrams!
An eleven-line question with four diagrams—and it was the very first problem on the whole paper. It was downright terrifying!
He'd never seen or heard of anything like it!
Chen Zhao composed himself and carefully read the problem, studied the diagrams, and tried to see if he could solve it.
After reading it once, Chen Zhao was dumbfounded. He didn't have the faintest idea how to approach it!
It was completely different from any problem he'd done before. All the familiar tricks, methods, and ways of solving problems were useless. This was an entirely new type of question, and he had no experience with it.
Chen Zhao's expression darkened. It looked like things weren't as simple as he'd thought.
He took a deep breath, focused with all his might, and studied the problem!
......
In the blink of an eye, it was the next evening after school. Zhao Xiaobai was walking out of the school with her backpack when she happened to see Chen Zhao waiting under a tree with a workbook in hand.
"Here you go. The problems are just too hard." Chen Zhao handed the book to Zhao Xiaobai and sighed. "They're absurdly difficult. The Olympiad really lives up to its reputation. Compared to these, the college entrance exam questions are practically as easy as one plus one equals two."
Zhao Xiaobai gave him an I-knew-it look and took the book.
The moment she'd lent Chen Zhao the past papers the day before, Zhao Xiaobai had already had a feeling. Chen Zhao clearly had no idea how difficult the Olympiad was, which was why he'd arrogantly signed up for five subjects at once. Once he took the past papers home and realized he could barely solve a single problem, he'd understand that the competition wasn't as simple as he'd imagined. After that, he'd either give up or focus on one or two subjects he was best at and return the rest of the books.
And now, sure enough, Chen Zhao had come to return one.
"Giving up? Not planning to compete anymore? Or have you decided to focus on just one subject?" Zhao Xiaobai asked with a smug smile.
"I'm not giving up. Why would I?" Chen Zhao said, taken aback. "The exam isn't until next week. I've still got several days, which is enough time to finish these workbooks. I've already finished the physics one, so I'm returning it to you."
Now it was Zhao Xiaobai's turn to be dumbfounded.
What did he just say?
He'd already finished physics?
In just a day and a half, he'd finished such a thick, difficult physics workbook?
"You... How did you do it?" Zhao Xiaobai murmured.
"I just read each problem, tried solving it myself, then flipped to the answers in the back," Chen Zhao said. "The problems really are hard. I used to hardly ever need to work things out on paper, but now I do. I went through two whole notebooks of scratch paper!"
Zhao Xiaobai was completely dumbstruck!
He'd done every problem?
Was that... for real?
Was he messing with her?!
"Anyway, I can't stay and chat. I've got things to do at home. Bye." Chen Zhao turned and walked away with his hands in his pockets, leaving Zhao Xiaobai alone in the evening breeze, holding the physics workbook and reeling...
When he got home, Chen Zhao turned on his computer and started streaming.
He hadn't streamed for several days because he'd been busy, and all he'd done was put up leave notices in his livestream room. He'd lost more than five hundred followers, so he had to stream a few games to turn things around. His studies were demanding, but the system's mission was even more important. Becoming a popular Winner Winner Chicken Dinner streamer was Chen Zhao's current goal.
As soon as he went live, Little Bamboo Shoot sent him a team invite. It looked like she'd been waiting for a long time.
"Waaah, big brother, why didn't you stream the last couple of days? I've been getting slaughtered. I haven't survived ten minutes in a single game. Carry me to a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner tonight!" Little Bamboo Shoot's plaintive voice rang out.
At the same time, both Chen Zhao's and Little Bamboo Shoot's livestream rooms exploded with comments, the messages flooding by!
Chen Zhao's livestream room:
"Streamer, you're incredible! You've got Little Bamboo Shoot wrapped around your finger!"
"So this is what it's like when a girl asks you to carry her? I'm so jealous. Why do I suddenly have a lemon in my mouth?"
"Why doesn't any girl beg me like that and wait for me?! Am I not cool enough when I drive my Ferrari with one hand?"
"Little Bamboo Shoot's totally fallen for Chen Zhao!"
Little Bamboo Shoot's livestream room:
"Oh no, I can hear hearts breaking. Little Bamboo Shoot's totally been tied down by Chen Zhao!"
"Goddess, how could you say something like that?"
"Little Bamboo Shoot, don't you love us fans anymore? Have you switched to loving a little streamer instead?"
"Little Bamboo Shoot, why are you so devoted? Is it because that man can get you into the Final Circle? I can do that too!"
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