Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 14

Song Man didn’t know why things had turned out this way.

Before the Magic Fairy incident, her life could be described as smooth sailing. She was like a fish in water academically, lived a life of comfort without worries about food or clothing, was the ‘Top Dog’ on the streets, and everyone at school had to call her ‘Man Jie’ when they saw her.

Until that day, nothing had gone right for her.

She kept embarrassing herself in front of Chu Fengqiu, to the point where she couldn’t even bear to look at herself.

Song Man sat down at the table. Chu Fengqiu had also flipped her phone face down and placed the homework in front of Song Man.

《Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Mocks》 Version B.

Oh, fvck.

“Are you sure you want me to do this?”

Song Man was a little suspicious.

Song Man felt that Chu Fengqiu should know her current identity was that of an academic underachiever. If she was going to tutor her, she should start with the basics.

“Yeah, I just bought it recently.”

This practice book was blank. Chu Fengqiu had previously bought an identical one and finished it. This was one of the practice books her dad had bought her yesterday to show his concern, and it was perfect to give to Song Man. She knew Version B was much harder than Version A, but she wanted to test Song Man this way.

“Let’s start with the first unit. Here’s the textbook; it has definitions and theorems. Read through it first.”

Chu Fengqiu brought the math textbook over and placed it in front of Song Man.

To maintain her persona as a true underachiever, Song Man could only pick up the math book and start reading with a look of deep suffering. Theoretically, pretending not to know was much easier than pretending to know. All she had to do was act clueless when asked.

While Song Man was reading, Chu Fengqiu’s phone vibrated again.

“Aren’t you going to check your messages?”

Song Man looked up from the book.

Hearing this, Chu Fengqiu picked up her phone.

【Liubai】: Wow, A Man is still amazing, won again.

【Liubai】: Lingnan left because he lost in physics back then, and now he’s back to PK and lost again. I wonder how he feels.

【Liubai】: Especially with so many people supporting him.

Liubai’s words were full of regret, but Chu Fengqiu didn’t feel it was a pity. The focus of this match for her was actually on Lingnan. Because she was too familiar with A Man’s process and style, including some details, she was paying attention to Lingnan.

Lingnan also put his heart into the match this time. In terms of accuracy, they were tied, but A Man’s speed was faster. However, Lingnan’s speed still surpassed most people; in a formal exam setting, he would be someone who could stand out among the crowd.

Just as Chu Fengqiu was thinking about how to reply to Liubai, Liubai sent another message.

【Liubai】: Holy crap!!! I knew it!!! Lingnan couldn’t be that fragile, disappearing for a year or two just because he lost one match!

【Liubai】: Lingnan just wrote the reason on his homepage, he was sick.

【Liubai】: Cancer.

Liubai and Chu Fengqiu fell silent simultaneously. They knew what those two words represented.

【Liubai】: I hope he gets better.

【Fengqiu】: Yeah.

Lingnan was very talented. Perhaps in the future, he would become an elite in a certain field, instead of falling and disappearing like this.

While Chu Fengqiu was looking at her phone, Song Man’s phone also vibrated in her pocket. Song Man secretly glanced at Chu Fengqiu and took out her phone.

The WeChat notification showed the contact name ‘Sand Sculpture Netizen’, which was Zhuazhua.

Zhuazhua was a friend she met on Question Bank, and also a top figure on Question Bank, but his strength wasn’t in how fast, accurate, or meticulous his problem-solving was, but in his memory. His memory was exceptional, almost photographic, the kind that could participate in ‘The Brain’, and he had even helped the criminal investigation team solve cases.

When Zhuazhua first approached her to make friends, Song Man treated it like recruiting a follower on Question Bank. They competed in problem-solving, and she completely crushed him. Then they competed in memory, and she was crushed. Her recall rate was 89%, while Zhuazhua’s was 100%.

This successfully caught Song Man’s attention. After competing two more times, Song Man was convinced and became friends with him. Later, she found out that Zhuazhua wasn’t strong in logical thinking; he maintained excellent grades by relying on his powerful memory to memorize knowledge points and similar problem types.

Because Zhuazhua watched her live streams of problem-solving and saw her thought process was completely off, he secretly came to make friends, attempting to clear up his own confused thoughts. After Song Man found out, she generously shared her thought process and successfully taught Zhuazhua to become Question Bank’s second A Man. The two of them became closer and closer. Song Man guessed Zhuazhua was probably here to shower her with praise.

As expected, upon opening it, there was a string of compliments.

【Zhuazhua】: My Brother Man is awesome!

【Zhuazhua】: Crazy for you, wild for you, banging my head against the wall for you!

Because they were very close, Song Man had told Zhuazhua that her ID came from her name ‘Man’, so Zhuazhua called her Brother Man. Song Man didn’t emphasize her gender, and Zhuazhua never specifically asked, so she just let him call her that.

【Zhuazhua】: Holy crap, holy crap, so Lingnan was sick before.

Song Man raised an eyebrow. She guessed Lingnan had explained the reason for his previous disappearance. She had known during the match that Lingnan was sick.

【Zhuazhua】: Oh my god… it’s cancer.

Song Man’s brow twitched, tightening unconsciously.

Although she roughly knew that a sickness that could make Lingnan disappear for so long must not be a minor illness, she didn’t want to dwell on it. In this situation, any words of sympathy seemed pale and powerless.

Song Man clicked into Question Bank. She had exited directly without closing the app, so when she went in, it was still the victory screen. Song Man pressed back and saw the message Lingnan had sent her.

The first few messages were probably saying how happy the feeling made him and hoping they could PK again when they had time.

But she had been talking to Chu Fengqiu just now, so she hadn’t checked her phone.

This lack of reply might have caused the other party to misunderstand, leading to a long string of messages.

【Lingnan】: Don’t worry, I don’t mean to emotionally blackmail you, we can PK whenever you’re free and I’m free.

【Lingnan】: You should understand the feeling of giving your all in a match, right?

【Lingnan】: When I was in pain, constantly recalling the problems I had done, or some that I couldn’t solve before, it helped alleviate the pain greatly. So when my condition stabilized and I could pick up my phone, I came online immediately, and I happened to run into you.

【Lingnan】: My speed just now actually broke my previous record.

【Lingnan】: I’ve rambled on and on, I actually don’t know what I want to express, maybe I just want to say, it’s good to be alive.

【Lingnan】: I want to live, I want to keep pursuing that feeling, you are a very good opponent.

Song Man pressed a few keys on the input keyboard, then deleted them. She really didn’t know how to say those comforting words; it felt like any form of condolence carried a sense of powerlessness.

【A Man】: Just find me when you’re free, I’ll give you my contact info.

【A Man】: Until you beat me, I hope you don’t give up.

【Lingnan】: Of course! Until I beat you! I’ll try my best not to give up!

Song Man switched out of Question Bank and saw a WeChat friend request. She clicked to accept. Lingnan sent her a smiling face emoji. Song Man replied with a happy face emoji, though her mood was actually quite bad.

A cool hand suddenly landed on the side of her face, making Song Man jolt.

“If you can’t read it anymore, then…”

Chu Fengqiu’s voice stopped abruptly.

Chu Fengqiu had just seen Song Man looking down at her phone, radiating a low pressure. She thought Song Man was unhappy about being told to read and wanted to suggest a break. But when Song Man looked up at her, she suddenly felt a tightening in her chest.

Song Man’s expressionless look could actually be a bit unsettling, but now her mouth was turned down, giving an unwarranted feeling that she was about to cry.

Song Man didn’t know what her expression was right now, nor did she care. She just waited for Chu Fengqiu’s next words, but Chu Fengqiu was slow to continue.

“Then what?”

“Then take a break.”

“Are you serious about teaching me?”

Song Man closed the book, turned the swivel chair, and met Chu Fengqiu’s gaze.

If she was serious about helping her with tutoring, she wouldn’t start with the B version of “Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Mocks”. If she were truly the academic underachiever ranked last in the entire grade, she wouldn’t be able to understand these problems. Even if she memorized all the theorems in the book, she wouldn’t necessarily be able to apply them flexibly.

Song Man knew her dad meant well, so she didn’t refuse this arrangement. But if Chu Fengqiu was really going to stick with her and go through this together, Song Man didn’t care about her goddess or top student halo; she just wanted to ask one thing: was she sincere?

If Chu Fengqiu was just doing this out of obligation to her dad, then forget it. If they were both unhappy, what was the point of trying to make it work? It would be a complete waste of each other’s time.

Song Man simply asked a question. Chu Fengqiu was stunned for a moment, a thought flashed through her mind, bringing sudden clarity. Then she nodded solemnly.

“Yes.”

She knew the problems she gave weren’t basic. She just wanted to see Song Man’s reaction. She felt that Song Man definitely knew but was pretending, and this pretense aroused her curiosity, making her want to peel back what Song Man was hiding.

But just now, she suddenly understood. Since it was a secret, there must be a reason it was hidden. If she kept digging to see what was behind Song Man, what would happen even if she found out?

“Alright then.”

Song Man nodded, picked up the math problem book, and continued looking at it, waiting for Chu Fengqiu to put away this copy of “Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Mocks”.

Under Song Man’s gaze, Chu Fengqiu put it away.

Then she pulled out another one and placed it in front of Song Man.

《Xiaoti Kuangzuo》.

Sister, don’t be like this????

“This one has specialized training for basic problems. You can practice one type of problem repeatedly, or you can start with this one.”

Song Man, who didn’t want to do problems and had to pretend not to know, fell into despair.

“You don’t like this one?”

Chu Fengqiu’s tone was hesitant.

“I also have 《Huanggang Secret Scrolls》 and 《New Curriculum Standard》 here. You can pick whichever one you like.”

Song Man’s mouth twitched.

Sister, are you a devil????

“Why did you buy so many practice books…?”

“My dad bought them for me.”

Chu Fengqiu answered truthfully.

“Why did your dad buy you these?”

Song Man was even more confused.

“Probably to express his mountain-like fatherly love.”

Chu Fengqiu pondered.

“He once asked me what I liked.”

“I told him I liked doing problems.”

“Then the next day, he bought me a box of problems of various types, subjects, and from different publishers.”

That’s truly mountain-like.

“And every year, he sends me practice books, and they even get updated. I have a lot here, you can do whatever you want, and if it’s not enough, I can go home and get more.”

“Let’s not. Your fatherly love should be borne by you alone. I can’t selfishly share your fatherly love like this.”

Song Man said with a sincere face.

“If it’s you, I’m willing.”

Chu Fengqiu said affectionately.

“No, I’m not willing. Goodbye.”

Whether you’re a devil or a show-off, I’m not interested.

They looked at each other for a while, and after a few seconds, they suddenly broke into laughter together.

The atmosphere seemed to lighten considerably. Chu Fengqiu felt that the barrier between her and Song Man seemed to be loosening, with bricks and tiles falling from it.

Seeing Chu Fengqiu reach for the practice books on the table, Song Man quickly grabbed Chu Fengqiu’s hand.

“Why is your hand so cool?”

Song Man found an excuse for grabbing Chu Fengqiu’s hand. After saying it, she was actually a little curious. She had noticed it before at school; even in the stuffy heat of late summer and early autumn, Chu Fengqiu’s hand was cool and felt quite comfortable to touch.

“It’s natural.”

Chu Fengqiu let Song Man hold her hand. Song Man seemed quite happy touching it, her fingers rubbing the back of her hand.

This was the second time she had such close contact with someone her age. The first time was also with Song Man, that time their fingers were intertwined under the desk. For some reason, Chu Fengqiu suddenly felt that warmth, starting from her hand, climbing upwards, and rushing into her heart, making her shiver unconsciously.

“Then do your hands get very cold in winter?”

Song Man tried hard to find a topic, wanting to prevent Chu Fengqiu’s sinful hand from reaching for the pure and innocent practice problems on the table.

“Yeah.”

Chu Fengqiu naturally had a lower body temperature. Her hands were prone to frostbite in winter. This was great in summer but quite a hardship in winter.

“It’s okay, my hands are warm. I can warm your hands for you in winter.”

Song Man liked that feeling of lower temperature. She was naturally warm, practically a walking human heater.

“Okay.”

Chu Fengqiu’s lips curved up unconsciously when she heard her words, and her voice carried a hint of lightness.

Seeing that this topic was about to end and the atmosphere was about to return to how it was before, Song Man desperately thought of a new topic.

Chu Fengqiu prepared to withdraw her hand to open the practice book on the table. As soon as she pulled it back a little, Song Man immediately grabbed it again.

“Let me hold it a bit longer, it feels really comfortable.”

Chu Fengqiu paused, relaxed her body, and let Song Man hold her hand, preparing to use her other hand to flip the book. But her other hand was also grabbed by Song Man.

Chu Fengqiu: ???

“This way both hands can be taken care of.”

Song Man said with a matter-of-fact expression, praising her own speed in her heart.

So the situation became two people sitting in chairs holding hands, looking a bit… juli juqi.

Chu Fengqiu felt something was off, but thinking about Song Man’s personality, it also didn’t seem wrong anywhere.

When Xu Qinglang knocked and entered, he saw them holding hands.

As soon as Xu Qinglang came in, they subconsciously let go of each other’s hands.

“I came to bring you some fruit. Don’t mind me, you two continue.”

Xu Qinglang was cheerful and happy to see the two girls holding hands, thinking it was good that they had a good relationship. He had been worried before that Chu Fengqiu wouldn’t be able to handle Song Man, that little troublemaker, and that Chu Fengqiu would be bullied by Song Man. Now it seemed that worry was unnecessary; the two had no conflicts and were getting along well.

Song Man picked up a fork next to the plate, speared a piece of watermelon, and put it in her mouth, thinking her dad was really something, telling them to continue holding hands and not be disturbed. However, thinking about Chu Fengqiu’s mountain-like fatherly love, she felt her dad being like this was quite good.

Xu Qinglang was afraid of disturbing the two girls’ bonding time, so he closed the door and left.

“Eat some fruit, why aren’t you eating?”

Song Man looked at Chu Fengqiu, who wasn’t moving, and said somewhat indistinctly while chewing the fruit.

Only then did Chu Fengqiu withdraw her gaze from her own hands, pick up a fork, and put fruit into her mouth. Just now, when the door opened, Song Man had let go of her hand. In that instant of letting go, Song Man’s fingertip brushed her palm, bringing a feeling like an electric shock, which made her a bit dazed.

Chu Fengqiu didn’t know how to describe that feeling, only that it was very strange and wonderful.

Sweet juice burst in her mouth as she chewed, bringing a cool sensation. Chu Fengqiu looked at the girl next to her eating fruit in big bites and felt the joy of summer.

Song Man ultimately couldn’t escape the fate of practice problems. After finishing the fruit, she wrote answers on the practice book at a slow pace, even having to painstakingly write two wrong answers. This slow, deliberate behavior was simply a form of mental torture.

She could have solved these problems without even looking two years ago, and now she had to work hard to pretend to be a beginner, which was really uncomfortable. But the persona she had created for herself, she had to maintain it even if she cried.

While Song Man was studying the problems, Chu Fengqiu was working on the B version of “Wu San”. Her thought process was very fast. For some problems that were obvious at a glance, she directly wrote the answer or a formula, quickly solving them.

Song Man zoned out while doing problems and unintentionally glanced at Chu Fengqiu, attracted by her speed. Unconsciously, she moved closer to Chu Fengqiu and watched her solve problems.

Chu Fengqiu’s thought process was very clear and smooth, every formula hitting the mark. Song Man suddenly remembered Deng Wei’s long-winded praise of Chu Fengqiu in front of her. It seemed she was quite deserving of the reputation.

Some of the problems in this book were quite interesting, especially the Gaokao questions from this year. This year’s provincial Gaokao math section could only be described as dismal. Countless third-year high school students had their minds blown after leaving the exam hall, shedding tears on the spot, only to find that everyone else couldn’t do it either, and their hearts immediately felt balanced.

This year’s Gaokao math questions came from a certain university teacher known as the “devil question setter”. This teacher had set the Gaokao math questions once three years ago, and that year had the most students failing math. This year, this devil single-handedly lowered the average score of a province by twenty points, truly terrifying.

After the Gaokao questions were released, Song Man specifically did them. They were indeed very difficult. Even she didn’t dare to be careless, repeatedly considering every step, and still got a small part wrong. Only by checking the answers did she realize, and she couldn’t help but marvel at the question setter’s skill.

What piqued Song Man’s interest wasn’t the Gaokao questions in the “Wu San”, but another problem Chu Fengqiu was working on. It also came from that devil, but it wasn’t content from the exam paper; it was something Song Man hadn’t seen before.

After Chu Fengqiu carefully read the problem, she calculated it in her mind, then took out scratch paper. Song Man saw the steps she wrote and showed approval on her face. The thought process was basically the same as hers, but she wouldn’t solve it this way. She would draw a different auxiliary line to complete the first part of the problem.

As Chu Fengqiu picked up her pen to write down the process, Song Man calculated silently in her mind. Although she could simulate the derivation process in her mind, it was still not as intuitive as using paper and pen, which allowed for a smoother thought process. Unfortunately, she couldn’t openly use paper and pen to write down her thought process and steps, so her progress was a bit slower.

When Chu Fengqiu’s calculation had entered the final step, she hadn’t reached there yet.

Song Man used her hand as a pen, rushing to keep up with Chu Fengqiu’s progress, and calculated the relationship.

She leaned in to look at Chu Fengqiu’s answer but accidentally leaned on Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder.

Chu Fengqiu was startled, and her pen tip left a mark.

She had been too focused just now and hadn’t noticed when Song Man stood behind her.

“Keep writing, you look really good at it, I can’t understand any of it.”

Song Man said this and simply rested her head on Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder to look at her final answer.

Exactly the same.

Nice!

Song Man rubbed against Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder, expressing her joy.

Chu Fengqiu, being rubbed, stiffened, her mind buzzing.