Is It Painful?

"Hmmm…" Lin Yujing let out a long sigh, then tossed down her pen and brought her paper over to Sun Leyang.

Sun Leyang started grading the paper.

Unlike how he was with Li Zheng, he was surprised time and time again this round. He was elated. The shine on his hair seemed to become several degrees brighter.

A moment later...

"Nine… 95 points… That's considered top-notch at my school." Sun Leyang's mouth dropped open wide. He turned around and looked at Lin Yujing. "Do you want to attend the Olympiads?"

Lin Yujing hopped half a step back in surprise and repeatedly waved her hand.

"Aiya, that's right." Sun Leyang slapped his thigh and cursed. "Your school can't form a team… Tell me, Lin Yujing, how did you study chemistry? How did you become so exceptional in this environment?"

Lin Yujing exhaled and shrugged her shoulders.

"That's frustrating. But I guess that's what a genius is." Sun Leyang anxiously scratched his head. He haphazardly pulled out a small wad of papers from his bag and said, "These, take these with you and complete them slowly. I'll be here next Friday to explain them to you."

Lin Yujing squirmed behind Yu Hong in fright.

She was in pain.

She had been in pain while attempting those difficult questions just now. She'd had to use all of her brainpower.

She had only managed to achieve that score with a great deal of effort.

However, Yu Hong forcefully pushed the wad of papers at Lin Yujing.

"Don't forget. Come back next week." Sun Leyang grabbed his bag and left for the classroom in a hurry.

Yu Hong only tapped on Lin Yujing's head after Sun Leyang left.

"That is Sun Leyang, the leader of the Chemistry Olympiad Team in the High School Affiliated to the Renmin University of China. What was your reason for hiding?" Yu Hong grumbled. "He's a great teacher. As for his appearance… He can't help it. Try your best to overcome it."

Lin Yujing hugged the test papers and pouted in frustration.

"Alright, go to your classes. You're already late." Yu Hong also pushed Li Zheng. "Now that you're following Mr. Sun, you can study on your own during my class if you want. Mrs. Xiaotang approached me in the morning and asked that I slow my pace and allow everyone to do more practice questions. It's not easy for her as a young teacher. I should help her out."

Li Zheng bowed and thanked her.

The two of them walked side by side with their pencil case and test papers in hand. They walked out of the chemistry department office together toward the stairs.

The lesson had already started. They were already late.

But they didn't walk quickly.

Lin Yujing felt a wave of energy.

She raised her hand and waved her test papers around with glee.

Ninety-five against 59. They were complete opposites.

"Now you know the difference in our abilities," she thought.

However, Li Zheng was silent. He concentrated on walking down the stairs.

Lin Yujing waved her test papers around again.

Li Zheng remained silent.

Even though Lin Yujing was right in front of him.

He didn't see anything.

His thoughts were overwhelmed by the radiance of a genius.

This time, he truly felt it—what a genius was.

He thought, "I, Li Zheng, seven hours, rote memorization, 59.

"You, Lin Yujing, clearly in pain, very unwilling, forced yourself to do the paper for half an hour, 95.

"Genius.

"It sure is disappointing.

"There's an intelligent thought process in your mind at every moment.

"While I can only tackle a little bit of the problem by testing every method, every calculation out one by one.

"Mrs. Hu.

"You're right again."

Lin Yuijing raised her hand and waved it effortfully in front of Li Zheng. "Hm?!"

"I know, I know, you won." Li Zheng smiled as he shook his head. He raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. "I know. I know I won't be able to surpass you no matter what I do."

"Tch…" Lin Yujing turned her head in disdain.

"There's no point looking down on me. I'll move at my own pace from now on. I might truly become depressed if I keep comparing myself to you," Li Zheng thought.

Clank.

Lin Yujing suddenly tapped on the stair railing.

She then tapped on it twice.

Clank, clank.

She then nodded heavily toward Li Zheng. "Yes!"

Then, she made a finger gun and pointed it toward her head.

"Bang—"

She stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes, pretending to be killed.

"Are you still harping over that question about the bell?" Li Zheng smiled as he shook his head. "My talents are ordinary. All I know how to do is use a tried and true method. It was merely luck."

However, Lin Yujing fiercely blocked Li Zheng's path. She shook her head hard.

"Wasn't it luck?" Li Zheng scratched his head. "From your perspective, shouldn't you look down on the kinds of inflexible thought processes I use?"

After Lin Yujing was done shaking her head, she patted her chest and nodded toward Li Zheng again. It was as if she was recognizing Li Zheng as an influential figure.

"You admire someone like me?" Li Zheng said in surprise.

Lin Yujing raised her hand and waved the test papers she was holding. She then pointed toward both of them. "Hm, hm."

"You… You want to compete again?"

"Yes!" Lin Yujing couldn't stop nodding her head.

"You really… Do you want to torture me until I cry?" Li Zheng scolded. "You must be perverted. You finally found an opponent you can beat up. Do you want to play with me until I die?"

Lin Yujing raised her eyebrows. A glimmer of anticipation flashed in her eyes.

"You…" Li Zheng was so agitated that his scalp turned numb. "Think clearly about it. I've caught up with you by a good amount in one night."

Lin Yujing started swaying from side to side. She hummed a small tune. "Hng hng hng— Hng—"

Then she slipped.

Tumbled.

She fell.

Li Zheng burst out laughing. "Hahaha!"

"..." Lin Yujing rubbed her head as she stood up.

"Is it painful?" Li Zheng was even happier now.

Lin Yujing made a fist. She wanted to beat someone up.

"Alright, let's stop playing." Li Zheng felt better after seeing Lin Yujing take a heavy fall. "I've recovered. Now that I think about it, there's still a lot of time. Plus, I can now understand chemistry. I might even have already surpassed you. Get ready to pack up your things from your seat after the mid-semester examinations."

"Eh?" Lin Yujing squinted provocatively.

The two of them chatted as they reached the second floor.

They encountered Sun Xiubin when they turned the corner.

"Ah!! You two! Ah!!" Sun Xiubin's eyebrows almost turned vertical. "What are you doing? What are you doing? It's lesson time! Is this right? Is this right?"

Lin Yujing quickly lowered her head and fled to the classroom with her test papers in hand.

As usual, Li Zheng answered with a cold expression. "We were studying together just now."

"My foot!!!" Sun Xiubin almost cursed, she was so furious. "I'm not going to argue with you because you two are good students. Quickly, go back to your class!"

[Energy: ↓↓↓]

"Not good. I'm about to be squeezed dry!" he thought.

Li Zheng could only look down and scurry away.

Sun Xiubin let out a frustrated sigh. She turned around and said to the girl following her, "You're such a good student. Don't get involved in an early romance like them."

"I am very obedient, discipline mistress."

…

Class 2-4 was having their language lesson.

Jiang Qinghua had helped Zhang Yue out with many concepts during the afternoon.

Along the way, Zhang Yue had taken the opportunity to kick and grab Jiang Qinghua a few times.

In other words, Jiang Qinghua was severely injured.

But when he thought about how he could snow on Li Zheng and Lin Yujing, he resolved to tolerate it. He became braver the more setbacks he faced.

The monthly exams were the main focus of the language lesson that day. Jiang Qinghua actively headed up to the stage and helped Tang Zhifei hand out copies of the model essays.

Someone opened the door while he was distributing the essays.

Lin Yujing ran into the class with her head hung low. Her face was red.

Tang Zhifei smiled and didn't say anything.

Jiang Qinghua didn't feel too good.

Then, Li Zheng snuck into the class with shifty-looking eyes.

Jiang Qinghua was furious.

"Damn you," he thought.

"Aren't you going to at least give me a fighting chance?"

Tang Zhifei's gaze became serious.

Hu Chunmei had told her over the phone that the two of them knew what they should and should not do.

If the two spent time together, it would create friendly competition between them, which would then result in their improvement.

She could afford to be relaxed with them.

"Are you being serious, Sister Chunmei?" she thought.

"You call that knowing what they should and shouldn't do?"

Rip… Rip…

Tang Zhifei heard the sound of paper being ripped.

"Qinghua… Qinghua…" She quickly pulled on Jiang Qinghua. "Get the groups to hand the essays down…"

"Oh, oh." Jiang Qinghua only realized now that he was behaving inappropriately. He quickly grabbed the essays and handed them out to the groups.

Tang Zhifei was very conflicted.

She felt that this matter was more complicated than she had imagined.

"Let me ask Sister Chunmei about it after class," she thought.