So Annoyed

"..." Lu Zhou did not answer.

"I understand. You must have your own thoughts on this," Teacher Liu said with a smile. "Just like us researchers—every research team always has one or two people who muddle through, only thinking about skating by every day. You can never completely get rid of people like that."

"Teacher, you really have a good attitude," Lu Zhou said with a smile.

"It is not that I have a good attitude." Teacher Liu waved his hand and smiled. "I have simply seen too much."

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Lu Zhou on the shoulder, speaking earnestly. "You need to understand this: making it into the national first prize is our only goal. It may seem a little unfair to capable people that the capable must do more, but it is also a form of training."

Lu Zhou thought for a while, then nodded. "All right, I understand. I can handle both the Mathematical Modeling and the paper, but I have one condition."

"Go ahead," Teacher Liu said with a smile.

"For future training, I want to reduce these group sessions and switch to independent training in private, with group training only before the competition." After pausing for a moment, Lu Zhou continued, "That way, I can arrange my training time more flexibly."

This kind of training that gathered everyone together was far too much of a waste of time.

Lu Zhou still preferred working at his own pace.

"No problem. That was how I intended to arrange it anyway," Liu Xiangping said with a smile.

The two returned to the computer lab.

In the end, Lu Zhou finished the paper.

After all, he had the experience of writing an SCI paper. To complete the system's task, he had also made quite a few preparations in private. When it came to writing papers alone, not to mention an outsider like Lin Yuxiang, even Wang Xiaodong, who was a year ahead of him, could not compare to him.

Of course, today was only training, so there was no need to polish the paper according to competition standards. Something that took up ten or twenty pages could not be thrown together in a single day.

Following the format of a Mathematical Modeling paper, Lu Zhou selected key sections such as "Model Assumptions" and "Problem Analysis" and wrote them out. As for the less important parts, he only wrote down the headings and omitted the specific content.

Looking at the completed paper, Lin Yuxiang repeatedly thanked Lu Zhou. She also pitifully admitted that she had dragged everyone down today and was terribly sorry, promising that she would work hard to catch up with everyone when she got back...

Lu Zhou smiled without saying anything, but inwardly, he sighed.

Take care of yourself.

After they dismissed, Lu Zhou politely declined Lin Yuxiang's invitation to dinner.

With his laptop bag slung over his shoulder, he headed to the library as usual and began grinding away at his papers.

Chen Yushan sat beside him. Apart from occasionally asking him about one or two problems, she spent most of her time buried in practice questions. Although she was very curious why a Mathematics major like him was writing a computer science paper, she did not ask further.

Leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms, Lu Zhou was about to go to the restroom when the phone on the table suddenly began vibrating.

When Lu Zhou picked it up, he saw that it was Fatty Wu calling. He stood and quickly headed toward the library restroom.

After answering the call and bringing the phone to his ear, Lu Zhou leaned against the window and spoke.

"Hello? What's up?"

"It's me, Wu Dahai. Are you free this week?"

Fatty Wu's hearty voice came from the other end of the line. Obviously, his part-time job was short on cheap labor again.

Though they were both third-years, this guy was not in the slightest hurry to take the postgraduate entrance exams or look for work. He spent all day making money outside, and Lu Zhou hardly ever saw him on campus. If he did not have a student ID, Lu Zhou would have doubted whether he was even from Jin University.

"What kind of job?" Lu Zhou asked.

Although he was busy right now, he could consider it if the pay was high enough.

Though he knew that was unlikely.

"A new housing development in Jinling is hiring people to hand out flyers. Twenty yuan an hour, and they need people every day this week. Are you coming?" Wu Dahai asked.

"...I've been pretty busy these days, so I'll pass." Although he was tempted, Lu Zhou thought of the nine papers still waiting for him and politely declined.

"No problem. I'll ask someone else, then." Fatty Wu did not mind and laughed heartily. "You get back to work."

After hanging up, Lu Zhou used the restroom and returned to the library.

When he returned to his seat, he found a sheet of scratch paper pressed onto his keyboard. Chen, who had obediently moved a chair over and sat beside him, looked at him expectantly. Seeing that expression on her face, Lu Zhou could not help smiling and shaking his head. Without saying anything, he picked up a pen and began solving the problem.

Finding the general solution to a second-order linear differential equation with constant coefficients was considered one of the major difficulties in advanced mathematics. Since it could test several topics at once, including trigonometric functions, integration, and differentiation, it was usually used as either the second-to-last major problem or the final major problem on an exam.

But for Lu Zhou, it was nothing difficult.

He was not bragging. At the university level, there was no advanced mathematics problem left that could stump him.

Watching Lu Zhou work, Chen Yushan softly asked, "Who was calling you just now?"

"A senior who brings me along for part-time work," Lu Zhou answered casually.

"You have a part-time job too?" Chen Yushan widened her eyes in surprise and quietly asked, "But I see you in the library all day..."

"I have been doing less lately. Last time, I only went at night..." Lu Zhou's pen paused, and he added, "It was sorting packages."

"Why did you have to emphasize that?" Chen Yushan asked curiously.

"Nothing... I've solved it."

As he spoke, Lu Zhou handed over the scratch paper. From reading the question to solving it, it had taken less than three minutes in total. It was remarkably fast. Given the difficulty of the problem, it would not have been surprising for an ordinary person to get stuck on it for half an hour.

"Ah, thank you... If you do not mind me asking, is your living allowance not enough?" Chen Yushan took the scratch paper and asked quietly.

"...More or less," Lu Zhou answered casually.

That kind of thing seemed like it had never existed in the first place, right?

Chen Yushan nodded thoughtfully, indicating that she understood. After a while, she continued, "Then... I also have a part-time job here. It might be easier than sorting packages. Do you want to do it?"

Lu Zhou's hands stopped over the keyboard. He turned his head and gave her a strange look. "You are not going to ask me to teach you Mathematics, are you?"

"Is my Mathematics... really that bad?!" Chen Yushan glared. She was just about to raise her voice, but suddenly remembered that she was in the library. She could only grit her teeth and lower her voice. "It is tutoring Mathematics, but not for me... I have a cousin in high school. She is also from Jinling City, and her home is not too far from our campus. She is about to enter her second year of high school, but she cannot keep up with her grades at all, especially Mathematics. My aunt is worried sick about her studies, so she asked me to find her a tutor, preferably someone especially good at Mathematics..."

At this point, Chen Yushan gave Lu Zhou an embarrassed glance. "Originally, I wanted to ask my roommate, but she is preparing for the postgraduate entrance exams like I am, so she has no time at all. Besides, after so many years, we have forgotten most of our high school knowledge. I just thought that, anyway, you seem pretty harmless, so I wanted to ask whether you would have time during summer vacation..."

Lu Zhou: ???

What the hell did "harmless" mean? If she wanted to say he was handsome, there was no need to beat around the bush like this, right?

Seeing that Lu Zhou had not spoken for a long time, Chen Yushan quietly said, "No time? Then I'll ask someone else..."

"How much?" Lu Zhou decided to ask about the pay first before considering whether to accept.

He had originally planned to find a part-time job during summer vacation to earn some living expenses anyway. Working for Fatty Wu or working for Chen seemed about the same.

Chen Yushan thought for a moment. "Two hundred yuan an hour, with round-trip transportation reimbursed. It starts in July, and you only need to go on Saturdays and Sundays each week."

"How much???"

"Two hundred an hour... What's wrong?"

After hearing that, Lu Zhou rested both hands on the keyboard and remained silent for a long time.

"Is it too little?" Seeing that he had not spoken for so long, Chen Yushan thought he found the pay too low and cautiously asked, "How about I ask my aunt again..."

"No need to ask." Lu Zhou shook his head. "Deal."

"Then why did you look so serious? I thought you thought it was too little." Chen Yushan let out a sigh of relief and rolled her eyes at Lu Zhou.

"Nothing. I just feel..." Lu Zhou looked up at the sky and sighed softly. "So annoyed."