Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 58

There was a small bell on each of their desks. Pressing the bell after finishing meant they were done, and someone would time them with a stopwatch.

Originally, the staff planned to call another person over, but Xiang Ziling was standing right there and immediately volunteered, taking on the task of timing Song Man.

Song Man pressed the bell and heard a sound ring out at the same time as hers.

No, it was slightly faster.

“Ah Q is two seconds faster.”

The staff member compared the stopwatch times and reached a conclusion.

“I’ll check the answers now.”

He took both test papers and began checking them against the answer key.

Song Man, meanwhile, was draped over Chu Fengqiu, waiting for the results.

“Lao Chu, you’re good! You were actually two seconds faster than me. Did you deliberately pick these kinds of problems?”

Song Man had just glanced over and saw that five out of the ten problems were moving point problems, almost like a specialized training session for them.

She knew Ah Q had improved in this area, which meant Chu Fengqiu had improved, but she didn’t expect her to be this much faster.

If Chu Fengqiu hadn’t been faster than her, she would have thought Chu Fengqiu was going easy on her.

“I just grabbed them randomly.”

Chu Fengqiu’s hand covered Song Man’s. The weather had gotten colder, and her hand was still icy. In contrast, Song Man’s was much warmer.

Song Man felt the chill on the back of her hand, took Chu Fengqiu’s hand in hers, and warmed it while waiting for the answers.

“Both have 100% accuracy, but Ah Q is two seconds faster.”

Song Man was stunned and immediately let go of her hand.

It was time for their friendship to capsize!

“Chu Fengqiu, you’ve been practicing problems behind my back!”

They had agreed to love each other and progress together until old age! But Chu Fengqiu was secretly improving her skills behind her back!

Too much! Too much!

Who the hell would dare say this area was Chu Fengqiu’s weakness now?

Song Man was defeated in a PK face-to-face. Although it was only by two seconds, she couldn’t stay calm.

Song Man’s competitive spirit was ignited. Just as she was about to slam the table and say, “Let’s do it again,” she heard Chu Fengqiu say something faintly.

“I wonder who’s been practicing problems behind whose back.”

Song Man’s fire died down.

It was her, that’s right, it was her!

She had decided to be academically useless, but she had been secretly practicing problems and becoming a top student behind Chu Fengqiu’s back!

“And you even made me guess problems and explain one problem three times.”

Chu Fengqiu’s tone became more resentful. Song Man’s smile froze on her face, feeling like she’d been hit where it hurts again.

She shouldn’t have come out today! She shouldn’t have come to this meetup!

“Didn’t you suspect my identity a long time ago?”

Song Man weakly defended herself.

“But I didn’t have proof.”

“Ahem, well, you know, we’re all sisters, let’s not be so calculative, right? What’s the big deal about problems or not problems, it doesn’t matter, right?”

Song Man patted Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder, still thinking about how this scoundrel Chu Fengqiu had improved behind her back. The sense of superiority she had wanted to use to defeat her was gone.

Just two seconds, just two seconds! Isn’t that infuriating?!

Song Man wanted to bite Chu Fengqiu’s cheek to vent her frustration.

“Besides, I’ve always been writing in front of you.”

“Those things you wrote when I was doing homework?”

“Not just that, also at school.”

Ah!

Ah!!!

Even more infuriating! She was improving right in front of her, and she was completely unaware!

Song Man didn’t actually bite Chu Fengqiu’s face. Since she was leaning on Chu Fengqiu’s back, she simply bit her shoulder. Relying on the fact that it was autumn and the clothes were thick so it wouldn’t hurt, she bit down and even ground her teeth a couple of times, feeling much better inside.

A slightly damp sensation came from her shoulder, not very obvious, but exceptionally clear.

An inexplicable tingling spread from her shoulder to her heart, causing a slight palpitation.

Chu Fengqiu’s fingers curled up unnaturally, trying to hide her rapid heartbeat and the blush rising on her face.

“I feel like a pickled fish dish right now, sour, weak, and redundant.”

Xiang Ziling spoke up meekly from the side. Sure enough, good-looking people always hung out together.

“You’re quite self-aware, aren’t you? How have you been lately?”

Song Man turned her head to look at Xiang Ziling, no longer mentioning continuing the PK. She pulled a chair over and sat next to Xiang Ziling, asking about his recent situation.

“Just the usual, I guess. Good enough is fine, as long as I can get into the university I want.”

Xiang Ziling wasn’t particularly good at math, but he had a good memory and excelled in liberal arts. However, he wanted to go to his preferred university and couldn’t let math hold him back, which was why he used the Question Bank app to practice, befriended Song Man, clung to Song Man’s leg, and had Song Man guide him hand-in-hand with math problems.

“Look at you, so unambitious. Don’t you understand that learning has no end? There will be a broader world in the future.”

Song Man rolled her eyes at Xiang Ziling. How could learning have boundaries? In this regard, Song Man was never someone who sought comfort and thought it was enough to stop when it was sufficient. It would never be sufficient.

“Oh, come on, don’t hold me to the standards of a master, Brother Man. Do you know what the most amazing skill of our domestic students is?”

“What?”

“Being able to get the answer right even if you don’t know how to write the solution.”

Xiang Ziling spread his hands. He was quite good at memorizing answers.

“For example, look at this…”

Xiang Ziling tried to reach over Song Man to grab the nearest set of problems. His hand brushed against Song Man’s shoulder, and in that instant, he suddenly felt a needle-like pain in his arm, causing him to immediately retract his hand and strangely rub the area where his hairs had stood up.

Chu Fengqiu withdrew her gaze, pulled Song Man up, and took her to look at the problems on the whiteboard.

As soon as Song Man held Chu Fengqiu’s hand, she frowned.

“Why is it still so cold? You should wear more clothes when you go out next time, or bring gloves or a hand warmer.”

It wasn’t that Song Man was nagging, she just couldn’t stand to see it. In the summer, Chu Fengqiu was her human air conditioner, so cool and refreshing, but this point was also particularly prominent when the temperature dropped. The weather wasn’t even that cold yet, but Chu Fengqiu’s hand felt like ice, suddenly shoved in and giving her a chill.

“Isn’t that what you’re for?”

Chu Fengqiu’s fingers gently stroked the back of Song Man’s hand, not annoyed by the scolding.

“Having you is enough.”

Chu Fengqiu chuckled, her eyes curving. She was wearing a beige high-neck sweater today, and her smile was especially gentle.

Song Man turned her head, wanting to say that wasn’t enough, she couldn’t keep her warm all the time, but for some reason, she didn’t say it.

Xiang Ziling continued to be a humble transparent person, always feeling like there was no place for him in the middle of them.

When Song Man was already discussing a problem on the whiteboard with Chu Fengqiu, Xiang Ziling belatedly remembered that he was supposed to ask Song Man to teach him how to look at the problems. How did Song Man suddenly go over there?

But Xiang Ziling didn’t dare to ask. After all, that was where the masters were competing. He would just humbly look at the problems here and wait for others to come.

As time went on, more and more people arrived. Most of the special guests had arrived. Song Man knew several of them. Everyone was shocked that A Man turned out to be a good-looking girl. In comparison, it wasn’t as surprising that Ah Q was also a girl.

After introducing themselves, everyone immersed themselves in a friendly learning atmosphere. Song Man was chatting with someone when she suddenly realized Chu Fengqiu wasn’t by her side. She quickly looked for her and found Chu Fengqiu standing by the entrance of the area, talking to a girl from the other side.

For some reason, Song Man felt a little irritated. She strode over and put her hand on Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder.

“Lao Chu, who’s this?”

If it were just Ah Q, Song Man wouldn’t have come over to ask who it was, but this was Chu Fengqiu, so it was different.

“Liu Bai, a friend from the Question Bank.”

Chu Fengqiu introduced her. Liu Bai was one of the few friends she could talk to on the Question Bank app. After all, she didn’t play PK much and mostly practiced problems alone, only accepting challenges when others or Song Man invited her.

“Hello.”

Song Man greeted her and sized up the girl opposite her.

She seemed quite lively. Hmm, not as good-looking as her.

For some reason, Song Man’s irritation disappeared, replaced by a feeling of refreshment.

“Are you A Man? I’m so surprised! I always thought you were a boy.”

“Maybe everyone defaults to male for online users.”

Liu Bai smiled, then suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right, I was in the area ahead just now and saw a few people who seemed to want to see you. But they were stopped by the examiner outside and couldn’t get in. I even heard them say they were waiting for you in the communication area.”

Song Man hadn’t planned to go to the communication area. Her original plan was to leave after the test, but plans never kept up with changes.

She suddenly thought of the people who said in the comments during her live stream that day that they were coming specifically to see her.

No way, they actually came?

“Where are they?”

“They should be in the area ahead of mine, maybe one or two sections further.”

There were five areas in the testing section. Song Man was in the fifth, Liu Bai was in the fourth. According to Liu Bai, they should be at the boundary between the second and third areas.

“I’ll go take a look.”

Song Man going to see them wasn’t like meeting her little fans. In fact, she felt that she just did problems and there was nothing to like about that. She was just worried that others would wait in vain.

“I’ll go with you.”

Chu Fengqiu followed behind Song Man, walking towards the areas ahead.

In the testing section, those in the front areas had to pass tests to go to the back, but those in the back didn’t need to pass tests to go to the front.

As soon as Song Man reached the third area, she saw two girls sitting by the entrance as if they had survived a disaster, their eyes scanning outwards.

Song Man walked over and saw two more girls sitting there writing furiously, clearly taking the test to pass the section.

They were all wearing white shirts, looking very uniform, clearly together.

“I’m crying. I never thought there would be a day when my math accuracy reached 80% just to see someone. If my mom knew, she’d say my grandpa’s grave was smoking with good fortune.”

One of the girls inside said while wiping sweat. When she turned around, Song Man saw a large “蛮” (Man) character on her shirt. The other girl also had the same character on her shirt.

Song Man felt her temples throb twice, and even had the urge to turn around and run.

Could it really be that they were looking for her?

“Can those two get in?”

The other girl worriedly looked at the two girls still taking the test, fanning herself with her hand.

It was long-sleeved weather, yet both of them were sweating profusely, showing how hard they had pushed themselves during the test.

“Probably. Even if they can’t, we can wait here until A Man comes out anyway. There’s only this one path. I just talked to the lady at the door, and she said A Man is inside.”

Wow, they really were looking for her.

Song Man stood behind them, feeling complicated.

Chu Fengqiu held Song Man’s hand, her eyes slightly cold.

What was going on with these people?!

Why would writing problems have these kinds of support girls? They were too invested!

“Um… are you looking for A Man?”

Song Man spoke up. The two girls immediately turned their heads.

“Yes, yes! Miss, have you seen A Man?”

“That would be me, humble as I am.”

Song Man almost forced herself to reveal her identity, feeling that these two girls might not be able to handle the disappointment. Perhaps in their minds, A Man was a boy.

The two girls’ expressions went blank for a moment, then turned to surprise.

“Chen Chang, Xiao Su, stop, stop writing! It’s okay if you don’t pass! A Man is here!”

At least they weren’t too unrestrained and kept their volume within a reasonable range. The other two girls heard this and felt like they had been granted amnesty. They immediately waved at the staff member, picked up their test papers, and came over.

“Wuwuwu, is it really A Man? I thought it was a cool and aloof young man, but I didn’t expect it to be such a good-looking young lady.”

“Ah, I’m dead! How can someone be so talented and so good-looking!”

Song Man was surrounded by their enthusiasm, feeling a bit flustered.

Fortunately, she was also someone who had been a boss, so she quickly calmed down.

“We can go to the communication area to talk, it’s more convenient there.”

Song Man held Chu Fengqiu’s hand, left the testing area, grabbed her phone, and headed towards the communication area.

The communication area was very spacious and had booths. As soon as Song Man sat down, she saw the four girls push gifts in front of her and perform a synchronized bow.

“Arigato!”

Song Man’s expression froze for a moment. How cringey, how embarrassing.

“Um, you don’t have to be so polite. Sit down, sit down. Were you the ones who sent comments that day?”

“The day you live-streamed doing problems! I did! Wherever Brother Man… Sister Man is, I, Chen Chang, must be there!”

The girl with the ponytail smiled, patted her chest, looking very proud.

“You don’t need to be like this. Just normal communication is fine.”

“Of course not! If it weren’t for you, none of us would have gotten into high school. We are truly grateful to you.”

Song Man was full of questions. What had she done?

She looked at Chu Fengqiu, and Chu Fengqiu looked at her.

Chu Fengqiu also really wanted to know!

She was feeling very sour right now and really wanted to stuff these support girls into a trash can and throw them out.

Chen Chang explained the reason. She was originally a fan of celebrities, obsessed with various idols, and didn’t focus on studying. It was her third year of junior high, and her grades were still terrible, possibly preventing her from getting into high school, leaving her only with vocational school. Her parents, of course, were unwilling. They hired a tutor, and the tutor recommended she use this app to practice problems.

Chen Chang was initially very reluctant, but under the pressure from her parents, she had no choice but to check it out.

After entering, she felt the world’s disdain.

What kind of world of masters was this? They were all non-humans.

Then Chen Chang happened to click into Song Man’s PK. Song Man was PK-ing English at the time. Anyone who had seen Song Man do English problems on the Question Bank knew how fast she was.

“Wow, at that time, I thought I was seeing things. My weak little heart was truly shocked.”

Then Chen Chang’s fan-girl syndrome kicked in, and she thought this brother was really cool.

So she followed every match, never missing any of Song Man’s live streams or PKs after that, even though she couldn’t understand anything Song Man was writing.

But how could a fan girl just give up like that? Chen Chang started studying late into the night, cramming knowledge, diligently learning formulas, trying to understand just a little bit when A Man explained problems.

Because studying exhausted her so much that she couldn’t even keep up with her idols, she decisively abandoned those celebrity crushes and started studying.

Never underestimate the perseverance of a fan girl. Chen Chang even uninstalled Weibo and squatted on the Question Bank app as soon as school was over.

“Once during a live stream, I asked you if you could praise me while doing problems if my test ranking improved.”

Chen Chang was still a little embarrassed.

“And then you actually praised me! Wow, it was truly a spiral ascent! I improved so much that time. My dad and mom both praised me, and my teacher also commended me. And when you praised me on the Question Bank, I couldn’t help but cry. It sounds embarrassing, but it’s true. At that moment, I suddenly felt that studying was really enjoyable.”

“And then she recommended it to us.”

The girl next to her chimed in.

“We originally met online, followed the same idol for a while, and fought for our idol together. Then Chen Chang said she was switching idols, so we went to question her, and she desperately recommended it to us.”

The past was unbearable to recall. Chen Chang chased after them, shouting, “Come see our Brother Man! He’s a super smart top student, you’ll definitely become a fan if you watch him do problems! Studying is super fun!”

“We even suspected Chen Chang had joined a cult at one point.”

Song Man’s temples throbbed. This was too embarrassing!

“Our grades were originally very average. I probably could have gotten into high school, just depending on whether it was a good or bad one. Because of Chen Chang, I became very curious and also downloaded this app.”

“So the four of us formed a study group.”

“Every time we asked for encouragement, you encouraged us. Although you might not remember us, we are truly grateful to you.”

“We all got into high school, and not even the bad classes.”

“Although I’m not very good now, I’m at the bottom of my class, but I’m still working hard.”

Chen Chang wanted to hold Song Man’s hand to thank her, but saw that one of Song Man’s hands was in her pocket and the other was being held by the girl next to her, so she gave up.

“Then the Question Bank held a meetup, and the four of us agreed to meet up and also come to see you.”

How to describe Song Man’s mood? It was a mix of being flattered and touched. Because for her, ever since the incident with Song Qinglan, after she seemed to give up on herself, she had never thought of becoming a role model for anyone, let alone inspiring others.

Those guidance and encouragement were just casual or spontaneous small things to her, not worth mentioning at all.

She subconsciously tightened her grip on Chu Fengqiu’s hand next to her. Chu Fengqiu gently stroked her fingers, soothing her mood.

“Actually, your success is just your effort. If you should thank anyone, it’s yourselves for studying so hard.”

That process was actually somewhat boring and even painful, but if you studied hard and persevered, you would know that your efforts were definitely worth it. Others could take everything from you, but they couldn’t take away the knowledge that belonged to you, hidden in your mind.

“It’s different. Anyway, thank you very much for leading the way. I’m especially happy to have met you. We will continue to work hard, and we hope you can write a message for us!”

Chen Chang shook her head. Having good guidance was really important. Just like before, she thought she could only be like that, but later she found that she could actually grit her teeth and persevere.

Not for anything else, but because the person in front of her was already smart enough, yet still persistently improving. That kind of effort from someone who is already better than you is something you can’t truly feel the shock of without experiencing it yourself.

“Okay.”

As soon as Song Man finished speaking, the four girls uniformly took out cardstock and handed her a pen.

They were really… well-trained.

After the four girls received their messages, they finally turned their attention to the person next to Song Man.

“May I ask who this young lady is?”

“She’s Ah Q. You should know her too, she’s also really amazing.”

As soon as Chu Fengqiu was mentioned, Song Man became energetic, introducing her with a proud look.

When others praised her, she always felt embarrassed, but she felt she could talk about Chu Fengqiu for a long time.

“Wow! Is it Q-Shen? So she’s also a girl! I’m so jealous! Why are you all so good-looking and so excellent?”

Song Man was too embarrassed to say that her family was also rich.

“I think we’ve found the real thing.”

Chen Chang suddenly said this. The other three girls were secretly excited, while Song Man and Chu Fengqiu looked confused.

“What’s real?”

“Nothing, nothing! Sister Q, can you also give us a message! Just write it next to Brother Man’s!”

Chu Fengqiu nodded. She was always happy to do things that involved being close to Song Man.

Chen Chang saw the same look in her sisters’ eyes and cried inwardly.

They found the real thing!

They weren’t just solo fans of A Man, they were also CP fans of ManQiu.

Double top students, both rivals and teammates, clashing yet able to move forward side-by-side. What kind of perfect, divine love was this!

When she saw Song Man, Chen Chang immediately reverted to being a solo fan. After all, a little fairy like their Man Shen, who was super attractive and super amazing, no one on earth was worthy of her. Why ship her with anyone!

When she discovered that the person next to Song Man was Chu Fengqiu, she immediately went back to shipping them.

Fairy love, must be locked together!

After getting Chu Fengqiu’s message, although the four girls were a little reluctant to leave, they didn’t bother them further. After cheering for Song Man and Chu Fengqiu, they stood at a distance.

“I’m really surprised.”

Song Man said, watching their backs.

She felt she had lived her life haphazardly, but it turned out she had once been a source of strength for others to move forward.

“You’ve always been great.”

Chu Fengqiu intertwined her fingers with Song Man’s, leaning on Song Man’s shoulder, smelling her hair.

“Praising me again? You’re not bad either.”

Song Man smiled and lowered her head, meeting Chu Fengqiu’s eyes.

The sunlight outside the window passed through the glass, leaving beams of light on the floor, emitting a clean and warm scent.

Song Man’s lips accidentally brushed against Chu Fengqiu’s face, but Song Man was in a particularly good mood right now, so she directly planted a loud kiss on Chu Fengqiu’s cheek, watching Chu Fengqiu’s stunned expression, finding it hilarious.