Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 22

Song Man naturally didn’t go to the restroom. She skipped class and went to the familiar Starbucks, ordered a drink, sent a greeting to Lingnan on WeChat, and opened the Question Bank app.

【A Man】: What are we competing on this time?

Everyone knew A Man was a science student, so the competition wouldn’t be on Chinese or integrated humanities. Other subjects were optional.

【Lingnan】: Math, I’ve been looking at a lot of math problems lately.

【A Man】: Okay.

A Man and Lingnan had another PK. Most people on the Question Bank app came to watch. Although there weren’t as many people as in the evening, since it was a weekday and students had classes, the number of comments didn’t decrease much.

People were still betting on the outcome, but there weren’t many comments discussing who would win or lose.

【September 23rd, cloudy weather. Solved a difficult problem today, feeling great.】

【Did a practice test today, almost got everything right. Rewarded myself with fried chicken!】

【Was out sketching today. The beauty of nature is captivating, so I must work hard to live for these beautiful sights.】

【Go, Nan Shen! Go, Man Shen!】

【When it comes to problems, winning or losing isn’t important. What matters is how much you’ve mastered. Nan Shen is already far ahead of many people.】

【Rubbing hands together, waiting for it to start!】

Song Man looked at the comments and felt the warmth from strangers towards the seriously ill girl on the other side of the screen. Her heart also warmed.

But even so, she wouldn’t go easy.

Lingnan was still behind Song Man this time.

Her condition wasn’t good after all, so she couldn’t compare to Song Man.

Song Man could have won against Lingnan even using only eighty percent of her strength, but she didn’t. She used one hundred percent.

This was her respect for her opponent. If someone was someone she needed to go easy on, then sorry, it meant she didn’t consider them on the same level.

【Ah… Man Shen, there’s no need, right? You’ve already won twice. Lingnan is a girl with a serious illness, there’s no need to be so harsh.】

【I think even if you can win, don’t be so heartless. Wouldn’t it be nice to let Lingnan be happy for a bit?】

【Are the people above stupid from doing too many problems? If you know it, you know it. If you’re fast, you’re fast. This is a PK, okay? Get it straight.】

【Lingnan used to be the PK King, she’s just sick.】

【I don’t get it. Studying is studying, being sick is being sick. If you lose, you accept the result. Lingnan hasn’t said anything, why are you guys being so morally manipulative?】

Song Man didn’t care what the comments said. To her, it was just a good problem-solving app. She didn’t plan to invest any real emotions into it. Her ability wouldn’t decline because of a few words from others, so it was none of her business.

【Lingnan】: I’m going to start a live stream, want to come watch?

【Lingnan】: I want to record as much of my current life as possible. Before, I really disliked recording videos or taking photos, avoiding them whenever I could. Now, I want to leave more behind.

【A Man】: Okay.

Song Man put on her headphones, took a sip of her drink, and clicked into the live stream room.

The screen on the other side shook slightly, and a beautiful-faced girl appeared. If it weren’t for the hair loss due to chemotherapy and the gaunt, thin face from illness, she would have been even prettier.

“Good morning, everyone, I’m Lingnan.”

The girl’s voice carried a hint of cheerfulness, and a smile appeared on her face.

“I’m feeling pretty good today. I especially want to thank classmate A Man for being willing to PK with me and for showing me great respect. I’m very happy he didn’t go easy on me out of sympathy. I’m also happy to be defeated. Isn’t that what competition is about? If I won because he went easy, I would be unhappy.”

Lingnan stuck out her tongue slightly. Song Man knew she was explaining the recent comments.

“Speaking of which, the Ah Q you mentioned seems really impressive too. He even beat A Man. It’s a shame I always miss him online. Otherwise, I’d really like to compete with him.”

Lingnan kept smiling as she spoke. Song Man watched her and felt how much she wanted to live.

If it wasn’t truly too painful, who wouldn’t want to live well?

【Wow, strongly recommend Q-Shen. Q-Shen’s problem-solving approach is similar to yours. Do the ones you’re good at first, then tackle the harder ones.】

【Q-Shen isn’t online right now, his avatar isn’t lit up.】

【By the way, is Man Shen in the live stream room? Ask him to call Q-Shen, they have a good relationship.】

【Liu Bai seems to have a good relationship with Q-Shen too. Anyone who knows Q-Shen, please help out!】

Song Man saw the comments and suddenly remembered that although she had been in contact with Ah Q and their relationship was decent, they didn’t have overly close private contact. They hadn’t even exchanged contact information, only chatting within the Question Bank app.

Neither of them had really discussed this kind of thing. Song Man’s only WeChat friend from the Question Bank was Zhuazhua, and that was only after Zhuazhua persistently bothered her for the chance. No, now it was two; for convenience, she had also added Lingnan.

Next time she saw that guy, she should exchange contact information with him. That way it would be easier to get in touch and they could arrange PKs together.

In the live stream, Lingnan had already taken out a problem book and was adjusting the camera position with her hand.

Her fingers were thin and bony, like dry branches, which was a bit startling to see.

The screen showed practice problems and scratch paper. Song Man looked and saw that Lingnan wasn’t doing basic problems but was tackling some difficult ones.

The scratch paper quickly filled with calculations. That hand wrote answers in the notebook, sometimes pausing to think. Even though she couldn’t see Lingnan’s face, Song Man could feel that her expression must have been very serious.

Song Man couldn’t help but wonder what she would do if she were to become seriously ill one day.

Hmm… if she didn’t want to move, she’d probably just do problems, trying hard to conquer the ones she didn’t know or understand. If she entered a certain field later, maybe she’d just keep working towards that goal. That would make her feel that living wasn’t such a painful thing.

Lingnan probably thought the same way.

Song Man casually took a sip through the straw, the cool sensation melting in her mouth.

She didn’t continue watching Lingnan’s live stream. Instead, she went to the difficult problems section, selected the grade level, and clicked “Tackle”.

There was no doubt that the problems in the difficult section were challenging. Even Song Man couldn’t easily see through to the answers.

But things like math, physics, and chemistry all followed logic. They didn’t talk about feelings and weren’t swayed by subjective consciousness. That’s why Song Man liked science subjects.

She enjoyed the feeling of exploring within the realm constructed by logic. It made her forget the passage of time.

After class, Chu Fengqiu still hadn’t seen Song Man return.

She sensed something was wrong. Remembering Song Man’s last look, she ran to the restroom. There were many people, but Song Man wasn’t there.

She didn’t see Song Man until school ended.

She didn’t bring her phone to school, so she couldn’t contact Song Man.

Chu Fengqiu hailed a taxi to go back to Song Man’s house. As the car passed an intersection, it stopped for a red light. There was a Starbucks on the street corner.

Chu Fengqiu unconsciously looked out the window and saw the person she was looking for.

“Driver, stop the car.”

Song Man was completely unaware of this. She was wearing headphones, holding a pen, and writing calculation formulas on scratch paper.