Just Different Beliefs

Yang Xiaoman reluctantly handed over Xu Mang's paper to Ms. Wu. After all, seeing was believing. Even if she praised Xu Mang all the way up to the heavens, she doubted anyone would believe her.

"..."

"Xiaoman...this...did you do this paper instead?" Naturally, Ms. Wu still refused to believe what was in front of her. She recalled Xu Mang's bold words before the exam: How many marks do you want me to score, I'll do it.

I want you to get full marks!

He had gotten a perfect score in the end!?

Was...was this a novel being written?

"He did it himself." Yang Xiaoman replied, her tone earnest as she continued, "Take a look at the handwriting, it's not possible for me to have such chicken scratch." 

She was right!

Don't talk about how crooked the letters were, it also looked distorted and mangled. Also, Xu Mang had a bad habit of when writing the alphabet, he would always use small letters.

That being said…

This paper had really been completed by Xu Mang!?

Ms. Wu flipped the paper until she reached the last page, scanning through the essay question. The objective of this essay was to write in the view of a job-hunting candidate, to write a cover letter to the company you were applying for. The difficulty of this question was not overly high as long as you were able to accurately express the key features required.

"His...his English is that good?" Ms. Wu exclaimed, the surprise evident in her voice as she read the composition. 

The words were accurately used and the translation was reasonable. Some of the words used were even more toward the professional tones which was definitely not taught in high school.

"That's right! Ms. Wu...I think that Xu Mang, he's just acting like he's an idiot every day." Yang Xiaoman said in a serious tone. "I already knew earlier on that he was very capable, but I just don't understand how."

A genius walking the path of an idiot?

Was there ever such a person in history?

At this moment, Ms. Wu thought of a mathematical genius—Daniel Tammet. He possessed amazing memory for numbers and was able to recite the pi to the 22,514th decimal point. He was also fluent in 10 languages…

Unfortunately, he had difficulties communicating with people due to him being a high-functioning autistic savant, where the form of his autism was called Asperger's syndrome. Savant syndrome was a very rare condition in which people with developmental disorders were exceedingly brilliant in a particular area and they would usually find social interaction almost impossible. As it only existed on the affected person, it would often result in isolation and ridicule. Simply put, that was just how autism was.

It was said that being a genius is a lonely thing, and the reason stems from that.

However, that didn't sound as if it could be applied in this situation!

Xu Mang was not a lonely person. Even though Ms. Wu had only been teaching Year 3 Class 1 for less than 3 months, she had already heard rumors of Xu Mang's legend. If you say this guy was a lonely guy...who the h*ll would believe it!?

Perhaps Xu Mang was an idiot that was walking the path of a genius—unlike a genius walking the path of an idiot, the essence of the former was an idiot, while the latter was a genius.

"Xiaoman, call that brat over!"

***

Xu Mang was nervous. It was a conditional reflex. Just like when that flat-chested violent woman raised her hand, he would involuntarily shrink into a corner, covering his head.

"Cough, cough! Explain this!" Ms. Wu demanded with a blank expression on her face. "How could you have gotten full marks?"

"Ah? Wasn't that the score that you asked of me?" Xu Mang replied, confusion written all over his face. "You asked for full marks, so I got full marks…"

"I...you...this…" Ms. Wu was going way beyond livid in that few short seconds, and she calmed herself, breathing in deeply. She continued in a warmer tone, "Since you were able to get full marks, why have you been handing in blank papers all the while, and sometimes, not even writing your name?"

Xu Mang thought about it for a while, and then he answered her with a smile. 

"It's tiring to do the exams, lying down is way more comfortable!"

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

Don't be angry!

There was no need to be angry!

Ms. Wu kept inhaling and exhaling deeply, slowing the rapid beating of her heart, however...it didn't help much. The words that Xu Mang had said, particularly 'it's tiring to do the exams, lying down is way more comfortable' was too impactful that it made her blow her top.

Bang!

"Is there any student that is more ridiculous than you?" Ms. Wu said as a burning glare was leveled at him, and she angrily spat out, "Give me full marks for every single test in the future, otherwise, you will copy an entire English book for each mark that is missing!"

Xu Mang was stunned by that and stared at Ms. Wu in horror. Suddenly, he was on the floor, hugging Ms. Wu's leg as he cried and begged. The entire scene was very disheartening to look at.

After a long while, perhaps it was Xu Mang's cries that had reached the heavens, Ms. Wu took back the excessive demand for him to score a perfect score in every exam. However, you could avoid the death penalty, but you couldn't avoid all penalties, and so, he was required to get a satisfying score in the upcoming midterm exams.

"Xu Mang, can I ask you something?" Ms. Wu suddenly changed her stance and asked him in a friendly tone instead. "You're so smart, but you act like an idiot every day, what exactly are your intentions?"

Xu Mang laughed lightly. "Ms. Wu...what kind of person do you think I am?"

Ms. Wu looked taken aback by the question and huffed, "How would I know?"

"I'm an extremely small-minded person with a need for vengeance, I am the modern version of Zhao Gao!" Xu Mang said solemnly, "As such a narrow-minded person, if I wanted to succeed, everyone around me would die!"

"As for what I did today, it was all so I could say the words that I have just said." Xu Mang continued, "I was forced to say and do all of this because I was backed into a corner."

Ms. Wu stared at Xu Mang, her head as well as her heart was in a jumbled mess from his words.

Did this kid think he was shooting a movie?

"Go, get out. Seeing you just makes me angry." Ms. Wu said, glaring at Xu Mang. "And close the door behind you!"

"Ms. Wu?"

"Hm?"

"Don't tell Xiaoman about what we just spoke about."

***

Xu Mang had once thought that he could go against the world alone, but then Yang Xiaoman had appeared, this violent woman who was flat-chested. Emotions were a fickle thing most of the time, and he already knew that if he poked at her, it would lead to slaughter, but he just couldn't help himself.

Perhaps this was the deepest genetics in humans—being an as*hole.

"You're back? What did you and Ms. Wu talk about?" Yang Xiaoman asked curiously, seeing Xu Mang return.

"Nothing much. About life in general, thoughts, and some future plans." Xu Mang replied.

"That's all?"

"That's all."

"..."

Yang Xiaoman's gaze sharpened into a glare, and she huffed in anger. "If you don't want to tell me then don't. But don't give me idiotic nonsense either, otherwise, I'll give you a beating later tonight!"

Looking at the 'honest' face Xu Mang had put on, Yang Xiaoman continued, "Sigh...you moron, can you just be a good person? Even if it's just being a normal ordinary person, do you know why people hate you? Because there's something abnormal about you!"

"Ah? Why do I have to conform to others?" Xu Mang asked, bewildered. "Why can't they be more like me instead?"

Yang Xiaoman had no answer to this question. She often felt that Xu Mang was quite unique. He could accept jokes like the 'Xu Yang Treaty' easily, but he couldn't accept a view in which everyone agreed on, and he would even use his own actions to overthrow those views.

He was a madman, the cancer in this school, but there was one thing that she had to admit…

Yang Xiaoman looked hard at Xu Mang who was still puzzled by her words.

A madman could always be laughing till the end.