Chapter 169: Real Talent Wasted – 1
The next day was the first day of the national Physics competition. There were three parts to this competition: the qualifying round, the preliminary round, and the final tournament. Since there were more teams in the qualifying round, the questions would be much harder.
The government had fixed the time for the examination.
Excluding any liberal arts students, No.1 High School had sent a total of 16 teams to the competition.
On Sunday, by the time Ma Mingquan and Fu Zhi’s team arrived, there was a crowd of students and parents standing outside No.1 High School.
“Even though it’s a big competition, you guys just do your best. Treat it like a normal examination and don’t be too hard on yourselves.”
Fu Zhi and her team nodded.
At the same time, Qian Wenrui and Lu Chuwan’s team arrived as well.
The moment the crowd saw Lu Chuwan, everyone went up to her.
After all, she had been one of the top 100 participants in the national Physics competition last year. Thus, other than Gu Yan, who was currently in a foreign country, she was the one who was the most familiar with the competition.
Ma Mingquan frowned when he saw Qian Wenrui roll her eyes at them. He turned to Fu Zhi and said, “You guys should go in and prepare.”
Fu Zhi gave her phone to Ma Mingquan and went into the examination hall with her student ID.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuwan received a call from Bai Yao. She asked, “Are you sure he’s the core member of the research institute in the capital? If the ceramic vial was really made by Master Xu Jiuzhou, then I’ll go meet him after the examination.”
When Lu Chuwan hung up the call, she was in such a good mood that she felt that even the sky had become clearer. Qian Wenrui pulled her to the side and asked, “Do you remember everything that I told you?”
She knew Qian Wenrui loved to compete with Ma Mingquan. She had placed all her hopes on her, so she nodded. “Yes. Don’t worry, Ms. Qian. I’m sure that, given our ability, our class will be able to crush the other classes.”
Qian Wenrui, who was tickled pink by Lu Chuwan, chuckled. “Well, I’ll be waiting for the good news. As for Class 21... You don’t have to care about them. They are not worth your time or effort.”
Qian Wenrui’s words reminded Lu Chuwan of Fu Zhi and how she’d insisted on checking the sample questions in the question bank. She pressed her lips and said, “Fu Zhi was able to answer Professor Han Wei’s questions correctly, so she isn’t entirely useless.”
“Just two questions. I’m confident that, under the same circumstances, you’d be able to do the same. Don’t think too highly of her and just do your best.”
Lu Chuwan nodded. Before she went into the examination hall, she said, “Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Ms. Qian, I have to take two days off from school. I’m going to a studio in the capital to work on my song in a few days. As for Professor He, I think someone will invite me to his class.”
*
In the qualifying round, all the participants were required to answer a set of questions within 40 minutes. Then, the score of each team member would be added and the top 3 teams with the highest total mark would be chosen to represent their province.
The competition was very important to the government. To ensure fairness, all the exam invigilators came from the capital.
Lu Chuwan’s team was in the same examination hall as Fu Zhi’s team. Lu Yubai was busy with his own matters, so he had not arrived yet.
Xu Tongtong turned to look at Fu Zhi and said, “Is this a coincidence? The system always places you and your cousin in the same examination hall. It reminds me of the remora and the shark. The shark does all the hunting, while the remora gets the spoils. You have to be careful, Wanwan. Don’t let her see your answers.”
Lu Chuwan’s heart skipped a beat, and her stomach did some flip-flops.
Fu Zhi was sitting not far away, in the last row next to the window.
Lu Chuwan shot a glance at her.
Truth be told, she had to admit that God must have been particularly careful when sculpting Fu Zhi. She had a near-perfect face, so even if she just sat there without saying anything, she would become the center of attention.
Chapter 170: Real Talent Wasted – 2
Not every student in Class 21 performed badly academically. A small group of students, such as Zhou Zihuai, were originally students from Class 1. There were a few pens and several pieces of paper on their tables right now.
Fu Zhi had just brought one pen with her and she looked rather bored.
She seemed more like she had come for vacation rather than an examination.
Lu Chuwan retracted her gaze as she put her arm on the side of her table that was closer to Fu Zhi.
“What’s done is done. Don’t mention that in front of her anymore. In any case, I won’t help her this time.”
Lu Yubai only arrived at the examination hall 15 minutes before the exam started.
Very soon, the invigilators began distributing the question papers. “A reminder: To remove any element of luck, there are only fill-in-the-blank questions and structured questions during the qualifying round. If anyone is caught cheating, he or she will not be allowed to participate in any large competition for 4 years.”
Fu Zhi soon received her paper and scanned it. There were 60 fill-in-the-blank questions, and nearly 40 of them were sample questions from the question bank.
The guys from Class 21 were excited. They immediately began answering the moment they got their own question papers.
Fu Zhi finished the fill-in-the-blank questions in 5 minutes. The remaining 4 structured questions were new questions. It was more difficult to answer them, and more sophisticated thinking was required.
Meanwhile, a man appeared outside the door. He was the leader of the invigilators from the capital.
When he walked across the examination hall, he shook his head and sighed. One of the exam invigilators walked up to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It seems to me that most of the students did not expect that the association would use questions from the samples in the question bank. This time, the participants are required to answer a lot of questions in a very short time. If any of them have checked through the question bank, then this round will be a breeze for them.”
He paused for a while before adding, “Most importantly, the last 4 structured questions are way too hard. I can see that most of the participants are unable to answer them. Even I didn’t expect that Old Master Sheng Hua would set up the questions of the qualifying round. The participants won’t have enough time to answer the structured questions, and I think the fill-in-the-blank questions will be the deciding factor.”
Generally speaking, the president of the association or the director of the research institute would only set up the questions of the final round. However, it was different this time. None of them had expected that Sheng Hua would actually set up the questions of the qualifying round.
He walked across the examination hall, and most of the participants were indeed unable to answer the structured questions.
“It seems like our country is not going to win this time...”
The leader of the invigilators frowned as he pinched the badge in front of his chest.
He had heard that most of the participants in this examination hall were pretty good, which was why he had come to have a look. However, he was disappointed.
Just as he was about to leave, someone stood up and handed in the paper.
It was a young girl with a pretty appearance.
He frowned and asked, “There are 20 minutes left. Are you sure you want to hand in the paper now?”
Fu Zhi nodded. “Yeah.”
The students that could not answer the questions looked at her in awe.
Lu Chuwan noticed her as well, and her heart skipped a beat. She could not believe that Fu Zhi had finished the question paper so fast. She bit her bottom lip, lowered her head, and continued to answer the question paper.
Piqued by curiosity, the leader of the invigilators scanned Fu Zhi’s answer sheet and was stunned. Fu Zhi’s answers were inch-perfect, and even though he did not have the answers to the questions, he was able to deduce from a single glance that her answers were all correct.
She had been able to finish an ultra-difficult question paper in less than 20 minutes. He could already vaguely see the flag of their country being raised in a foreign land.
“It would be such a waste for this kind of student to stay in Yu City,” he mumbled after Fu Zhi left the examination hall.
Chapter 171: Goddess Fu Zhi
The remaining invigilators walked over and were all equally shocked.
“This... This is incredible. Judging from the answers alone, all I can say is that she’s as good as the monsters from Country M.”
“I remember this participant last year that was called Li Baocai. Despite his level, he needed at least 30 minutes to complete this kind of question paper.”
“As long as Fu Zhi doesn’t drop the ball last minute, there will still be hope for us to get the Junior Nobel Prize this year!”
Absolute silence was necessary in an examination hall. When the leader of the invigilators came back to his senses, he made a gesture to shush the remaining invigilators.
The invigilators began to collect the question papers 20 minutes after Fu Zhi left the examination hall.
Lu Yubai felt like the entire world was spinning when he walked out of the examination hall.
At the same time, Lu Chuwan’s expression was dark. She had not managed to finish the last 3 structured questions, and most importantly, she had overheard the conversation between the invigilators.
When she’d heard that Fu Zhi was going to get full marks, she had felt frustrated.
After exiting the examination hall, Xu Tongtong approached her and complained. “The duration of the examination for the past few years was 90 minutes. How come this year they changed it to 40 minutes? This is so unfair!”
Lu Chuwan was not satisfied either. “Yeah, you’re right. The duration of this examination was indeed unreasonable. The association needs to improve on this matter.”
After saying that, she went to report the situation to Qian Wenrui.
“My cousin didn’t manage to finish the last 2 questions either. All 100 questions were questions I had never seen before. We only had 40 minutes to finish the paper, so other than a few students who gave up and handed in the paper ahead of time, all of us had our papers taken away by the invigilators,” Lu Chuwan said as she pulled out her phone. “My uncle knows someone in the Education Bureau, so let me ask for the opinion of the other participants. If all of them agree, I’ll request that the result is voided and we are allowed to retake the examination!”
As she was talking, she looked at her phone and realized there were a lot of messages in No.1 High School’s official WeChat group.
Most people were complaining that they had not had enough time to finish the paper, and some of them even said that they had to give up on the last 4 structured questions. There was also a group of students who were expressing their gratitude for Lu Chuwan, saying that if she had not guessed the 4 questions correctly, they would not have been able to answer them so smoothly.
The corners of Lu Chuwan’s lips curled up a little when she saw these messages. She could not bear the fact that Fu Zhi was better than her.
Just as she was about to send a message, a few more messages popped up.
[??? Are you all stupid? Other than the last 4 structured questions, most of the questions were sample questions from the question bank. It goes without saying that they had to shorten the duration of the exam.]
[Look at this picture. I guess I don’t need to explain anymore, right? I vaguely remember Fu Zhi mentioning before that we should check the sample questions in the question bank, didn’t she? How come nobody ever listens to her?]
[If you guys praise Lu Chuwan for guessing 4 questions correctly, then should we treat Fu Zhi to a meal for guessing 40 questions correctly? Right now, I just want to ask Lu Chuwan a question: How do you feel? Does your heart hurt over refusing to listen to Fu Zhi?]
[All I managed to do was write down the word “solved”. That was the end of the story...]
The atmosphere in the group began to change. More and more students were emerging one after another to scold Lu Chuwan and complain about her.
Her heart skipped a beat and her face turned pale.
It was only now that she understood why Fu Zhi had been able to finish the question paper so fast and why those invigilators had kept praising her.
Fu Zhi had had the answers to the fill-in-the-blank questions since the beginning. It was not fair to the other students!
Xu Tongtong was reading the messages as well.
“Holy... Fu Zhi was right, but how did she...” Xu Tongtong said as she skimmed through the sample questions in the question bank. Just as she was about to praise Fu Zhi, she saw the expression on Lu Chuwan’s face and hastily said, “She just got lucky. Don’t overthink, Wanwan. Since she handed in the question paper so soon, I’m certain that she didn’t know the answers to the structured questions either.”
Chapter 172: Lu Yumo Wanted To Drown Himself In A Pool
After Fu Zhi finished the examination, she bought a cup of bubble tea from a shop outside her school and then hailed a cab to go home.
She was in a good mood right now. However, by the time she arrived at home, there was a group of people standing at the entrance.
She walked closer and realized that a man with a disheveled appearance was pointing at Xu Wei. “You think you guys are rich and can just refuse to admit it? Let me tell you something! We’re living in a world governed by laws and rules. Your son has defiled my daughter, so he has to marry her! Otherwise, how is my daughter going to live for the rest of her life?”
“Don’t point your finger at my mom! I already told you that I was as drunk as a skunk last night, and a person can’t lose his or her head when they are drunk. This is common sense! There’s no way I would do something like that to her!” Lu Yumo explained.
He had just gone to a birthday party, so he had not expected that he would wake up to find Zhou Tingting sleeping beside him the next day.
“Bullsh*t! My daughter came back with her clothes all torn apart this morning, and now you are telling me that you didn’t do anything to her? How am I supposed to believe you? Are you saying that you two were just chit-chatting in bed the whole night? You b*stard!” Mr. Zhou shouted. There were plenty of people outside the Lu Mansion, and he made no effort to protect his daughter’s chastity at all. It was as if he was trying to tell everyone that his daughter had been hurt by Lu Yumo.
“Please calm down, Mr. Zhou. Both of them are still young, and I know my son very well. I’m certain that he would not do something so absurd to your daughter.”
Zhou Tingting and her family had been busted for scamming them out of their money. Therefore, she knew how greedy and untrustworthy the Zhou Family was.
If she made her son marry Zhou Tingting, she could imagine that she would have to beg for money on the street alongside a skinny Fu Zhi before long.
“Absurd? You call this absurd? It’s about my daughter’s chastity! How can you say it’s absurd?!” Mr. Zhou shouted as he pulled Zhou Tingting over. “Come over here, my daughter. Tell them. Did he hurt you last night?”
“Dad... I...”
Zhou Tingting kept her lips shut tight and cried beside her father. She made it look as if Lu Yumo had indeed done something bad to her.
Mr. Zhou harrumphed, “If it were not for my daughter, do you think I would have come here? I just want justice for my daughter.”
The crowd of people outside the Lu Mansion began to lean toward Zhou Tingting and her father’s side after what they said. After all, nobody would make fun of their children’s reputation.
One of the people in the crowd then said, “Yumo, you’re a man, so take responsibility for your actions!”
Fu Zhi pressed her lips firmly.
She looked at Zhou Tingting and realized that she had gotten even skinnier since the last time she had seen her.
Lu Yumo felt so anxious that he wanted to drown himself in a pool of water.
He feared that he was not clean anymore. However, the dingy hotel that he’d slept in last night had not had any surveillance cameras.
He was so devastated that he covered his mouth, as he did not want anyone to know he was crying.
The world was too harsh on him.
Meanwhile, Mr. Zhou was full of confidence. He glanced around the Lu Mansion with his murky eyes. Then, he stood with his arms akimbo and said righteously, “Let me tell you something. I’ll do whatever it takes to get justice for my daughter, even if it costs me my life. If you guys refuse to admit it, I’ll expose everything your son did to Yu City’s broadcast station. I want the entire world to know what your son has done to my daughter!”
When Zhou Tingting had come home today and told him that Lu Yumo had defiled her, he had gotten fired up, as he knew his chance had come.