2 Chapter 2: Guessing Answers to Questions

"Niu Lianhua!"

"No wonder no one at school ever mentions it, I bet even the teachers consciously avoid it…"

Zhao Yi grumbled, standing at the classroom door.

The cleaning lady in the distance just happened to look over and gave him a smile full of sentiment.

"Ha, ha…"

How awkward!

A person who had lived for over thirty years could still be punished to stand outside the classroom by a teacher.

Zhao Yi decided to wander and take a look around.

Class three was next to class two.

As he passed by the door to class two, Zhao Yi glanced inside, noting a figure in the middle of the third row.

Long braids, almond-shaped face, small dimples.

Even though he hadn't seen her for over a decade, Zhao Yi recognized her at once.

Sun Jiali.

The object of his affection in high school.

A very vivid memory!

Every morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as during breaks, he would sneak off to the hallway, just to catch a glimpse of her, hoping to greet her, to say something to her.

He remembered that it was near the end of the last semester when he took advantage of the afternoon break to deliver a love letter to her.

Then, he was rejected in person.

Very embarrassing.

Very painful.

Zhao Yi had pondered countless times how he would feel if he saw Sun Jiali again.

As he passed the door to class two, he suddenly realized he didn't feel anything special, she was just a pretty ordinary girl to him.

Sun Jiali was the kind of girl who easily attracted boys, with her fair complexion and fashionable dress sense. But there were so many more attractive women in society, with better looks and figures. Compared to them, a girl like Lin Xiaoqing, who was full of youth and had a sincere personality, was much more appealing.

"So some people can only exist in memory," Zhao Yi thought to himself, "But why am I suddenly thinking of Lin Xiaoqing?"

"Back to the third year of high school, studies first!"

"Aim for Shuimu!"

"I must get into Shuimu!"

In class two, sitting in the middle, Sun Jiali, with her long braids, fair neck, and her chest on the desk, noticed a long lingering gaze at the entrance. A hint of amusement flashed across her face, she was certain that he was watching her.

She couldn't help but remember that love letter.

Very interesting.

She didn't know how many boys had liked her since she was young. Having one more boy like her just made her feel a little bit happy.

That was all.

Zhao Yi casually strolled to the staircase, deciding to head down.

Around the corner.

A tall, long-faced male teacher was walking up the stairs with some documents in hand.

Zhao Yi instinctively waved and greeted him with a smile, "Teacher Xue, you seem to be getting younger as you get older! After more than a decade, you still look the same as when I was in school...?"

He suddenly realized something wasn't right.

Teacher Xue had a long, horse-like face, he looked forty-five when he was only thirty, but the good thing was that he still looked the same in his forties.

Decades later, Zhao Yi and Teacher Xue lived in the same building, becoming neighborhood friends. When they ran into each other, they would occasionally chat for a bit.

Teacher Xue hated it when people talked about his age.

He was only twenty-eight!

He asked angrily, "What are you doing out of class?"

"Going to the bathroom!"

Before his words had even fully left his mouth, Zhao Yi had already scurried away.

In class three.

Niu Lianhua stood in front of Zhao Yi's desk, looking surprised at the test paper on the desk. The paper only had a few A's, B's, C's, D's, but after scanning through ten continuous questions, she found that all the answers were correct?

She checked again!

The first multiple-choice question, correct.

The second one, correct.

The third one, also correct.

...

Niu Lianhua in one breath read till the last question, finding that the answer was still correct, her astonishment written all over her face.

The difficulty of this set of questions was not high, but the last two multiple-choice questions were a little bit tricky. The time given just now was less than ten minutes, even Lin Xiaoqing had only just started the penultimate question.

Zhao Yi had actually finished all of them and even got them all correct?

Did he cheat?

Impossible!

Niu Lianhua looked at Sun Liang sitting next to her, who had also just finished the multiple-choice questions.

Sun Liang was the top student in math among the senior third-year students. He had even made it to the municipal Olympics competition in his second year. Although he did not win any awards, it was quite an achievement.

Zhao Yi finished faster than Sun Liang, so he definitely wasn't copying. He was barely passing in math on his regular days. Thinking that he could get all the multiple-choice questions correct was nearly impossible.

So, did he guess?

Was he just lucky?

Niu Lianhua pondered as she walked back to her podium and called out to the door, "Zhao Yi, come back in and continue the problem set!"

"Zhao Yi!"

"Zhao Yi?"

There was no response from outside.

Niu Lianhua walked to the door and glanced at the empty corridor, anger making her tremble.

Five minutes later, Zhao Yi came back.

Zhao Yi didn't really go to the bathroom, he walked to the entrance of the building to take in the calm atmosphere of the campus, suddenly feeling a little uneasy to continue.

He thought about his identity-- student.

Just a student!

Could he dare to directly skip the punishment of standing in the hallway assigned by Niu Lianhua?

Getting his parents called into school would be the least of it!

Zhao Yi hurried back to the classroom, hoping that Niu Lianhua hadn't noticed. But as he approached the classroom door, he met her wide, bulging eyes, and the stern question that followed, "Where have you been?"

"I had to go to the toilet, I couldn't hold it!" Zhao Yi explained hurriedly, even patting his stomach for effect.

Laughter broke out in the classroom.

Even Lin Xiaoqing couldn't suppress her amusement, her mouth curving into a smile.

Niu Lianhua took a deep breath, seeing that Zhao Yi didn't seem to be lying, she swallowed her anger, brought an elbow down on the table, and felt a little embarrassed to delve into the physiological needs of a male student.

With a reprimanding tone, she said, "Go back and sit down! Time to start the lesson!"

"Yes, yes!"

Zhao Yi quickly entered the classroom.

On his way back to his seat, several classmates covertly gave him a thumbs-up. Who would've thought he'd dare to sneak off to the toilet while Demon King Niu had him standing as punishment?

He's the real boss!

Less than half a minute after Zhao Yi sat down, he was called upon by Niu Lianhua, "Come and explain this problem to everyone!"

The question being discussed was the sixth one.

Zhao Yi had answered it correctly!

The sixth question was a combination of sets and ellipse equations. It wasn't as difficult as the last two questions, but it was certainly more tricky than the others.

Zhao Yi stood up.

Looked at the problem.

After a long silence, he finally said seriously, "Teacher Niu, although this question looks familiar, and it must know me, I... I really don't recognize it!"

"Haha!"

The classroom erupted in laughter.

When faced with the stern Teacher Niu, most students would just stand quietly and listen to her explanation when they didn't know the answer.

But Zhao Yi dared to joke around!

The anger Niu Lianhua had just swallowed resurfaced. She asked sternly, "Didn't you get it right?"

"Just filled it in randomly."

Zhao Yi candidly looked up.

Niu Lianhua took a deep breath and pointed to the test paper, continuing, "Then explain the ninth question!"

"I don't know it!"

"The tenth question!"

"I still don't know it!"

Zhao Yi's reply sounded pitiful, almost as if he was about to burst into tears.

Niu Lianhua asked angrily, "You don't know anything, and yet you got them all right?"

The others were astonished.

He had all the answers... right?!

Lin Xiaoqing also turned her head in surprise, her gaze flashed towards the test papers on the desk behind her.

Zhao Yi rubbed his forehead forcefully, "I just answered at random. I can't help it if I'm lucky."

Niu Lianhua found it hard swallowing her anger, and chastised him immediately, "So, you expect to get every answer right on the College Entrance Examination through luck?"

"You don't know anything, you don't understand anything, you just guess! How can you guess when doing assignments usually! It's not an exam. Of course, you can guess if you don't know how to do it during the exam. Now the class is for consolidation of knowledge points…"

"Blah, blah, blah~~~"

Niu Lianhua spoke at length, essentially expressing that guessing the answers was incorrect, the right approach was to work out each step, preferably to directly solve for the answer.

This was an attempt to educate the entire class, using Zhao Yi as an example.

Zhao Yi felt his head pounding from her lecture and couldn't help but retort, "Teacher Niu, this is a multiple-choice question!"

"You still can't guess on multiple-choice questions!"

"But," Zhao Yi rubbed his forehead as he spoke, "The reason it's a multiple-choice question is because there are correct options. You can get the correct answer by a simple method, even guessing."

"Otherwise, wouldn't fill-in-the-blank questions be better?"

Niu Lianhua opened her mouth to refute but was at a loss for words. Annoyed, she decided to ignore Zhao Yi and gritted her teeth, "Bad grades, plenty of excuses! Ignore him! Let's continue with the question!"

Zhao Yi felt awkward.

He should sit down but felt it wasn't right, standing made his legs stiff, so he could only lean back and listen as she continued lecturing, also standing up for the students behind him.

What if he really had a stomach ache... what then?

The bell rang for the end of the class.

The piercing sound was joyful to Zhao Yi's ears, he was finally free.

Niu Lianhua glared at Zhao Yi one more time before packing up her things and leaving the classroom.

The teacher left.

The students instantly became lively, discussing what had just happened in class. Zhao Yi became the focus of attention.

"Zhao Yi, you're awesome!"

"Daring to wrestle with Demon King Niu! And even winning! That's amazing!"

"You can't mess with Demon King Niu!"

"She's going to retaliate, right? Poor Zhao Yi…"

Lin Xiaoqing also turned her head, but her focus was elsewhere, "Zhao Yi, you answered all the multiple-choice questions correctly?"

"Yeah!"

Zhao Yi replied nonchalantly.

Lin Xiaoqing opened her eyes wide, scrutinizing the papers on the desk, she looked over it from top to bottom, "How did you guess? I also didn't know the last question. Tell me, how did you guess? I guessed A…"

"What do you mean 'guess' — it sounds bad!"

Zhao Yi glanced at the test paper, pulled a face, and feeling disinclined to argue with a little girl, he heard Sun Liang inviting him, "Going to the toilet?"

"Together!"

As he got up to leave, he suddenly turned his head and asked Lin Xiaoqing, "Together?"

"Get lost!"

With these words, Lin Xiaoqing swung her fist at him.

Zhao Yi covered his arm, his teeth gritted in pain, he glared angrily at Lin Xiaoqing.

"What?"

Lin Xiaoqing glared back.

Zhao Yi took a deep breath to soothe his anger and then left the room with Sun Liang.

Never mind!

No point arguing with a little girl!