This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 27 Class monitor, could you please teach me math?

When Chen Shi'an returned to the classroom upstairs, Lin Mengqiu was already back in her seat.

However, she wasn't reading or doing papers right now. Perhaps because she had just finished morning exercises and sunbathed for a while, there was a thin layer of sweat on her face, and she was taking small sips of water from her water bottle.

She tilted her head slightly, and a slight tremor ran through her as the bottle touched her lower lip. The movement of her throat was gentle, and a few strands of hair were stuck to her forehead with sweat. Her delicate brow bone, which was exposed, was not as tense as usual, but instead had a thin blush.

If Chen Shi'an were to describe her current appearance, he would say she resembles a soft, sun-dried glutinous rice ball, which is actually quite cute.

Unfortunately, this gentleness didn't last long. When she saw Chen Shi'an walking towards the empty seat next to her, the girl became aloof again.

Lin Mengqiu didn't talk to him. She quietly tightened the bottle cap, put the water away, and then took out the math test paper she would need for class later.

She just saw Chen Shi'an looking at the honor roll at the stairwell.

Unless he's blind, he wouldn't have missed her name, ranking, and score.

Now you know how ignorant you were when you exclaimed "Oh—"!
Lin Mengqiu remained expressionless, took out the test paper and spread it on the table, but she couldn't help but glance in his direction out of the corner of her eye. She felt that he must have something to say, so she temporarily cleared her mind and waited for him to speak.

But Chen Shi'an seemed to have no intention of speaking to her at all.

He pulled out the seventh-grade math textbook from the pile of books, spread out the first section, and took a sip of water while looking at it, just like she had done earlier.

The girl's deliberately cleared mind was left empty, and the feeling of misjudging left her feeling powerless and itchy.

Leave him alone.

Lin Mengqiu uncapped her pen, took out a draft paper, and began working on math problems.

But reality is just so cruel.

When she didn't want a deskmate, her dad arranged one for her.
She had just waited specifically for Chen Shi'an to speak, but he deliberately remained silent;

Now she's really focused on her work, and Chen Shi'an's attention has actually been drawn to her.

Chen Shi'an's gaze fell on the tip of her pen. The mathematical symbols that he found difficult to copy were so smooth and rounded under Lin Mengqiu's rapidly moving pen. He couldn't understand her reasoning and calculation process, but that didn't stop him from finding the process of changing and simplifying the formulas she wrote pleasing to the eye.

At one point, her pen stopped moving, the tip of the pen touching the draft paper, leaving a noticeable ink dot.

When Chen Shi'an came to his senses and looked up again, she was staring at him.

The girl didn't speak, but her eyes clearly conveyed: [What are you looking at?]
Caught red-handed, Chen Shi'an wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, he asked curiously, "Look at you doing the problems. What kind of problems are you doing?"

"Math problem."

"I know this."

"Prove the inequality of sequences."

"Can't understand."

Chen Shi'an was very frank and then laughed, "I just looked at the honor roll and saw that you scored 706 points, and you got a perfect score in math."

"Ah."

Lin Mengqiu's expression was indifferent, but she felt instantly relieved, as if she had solved a problem that had been stuck for a long time, which made her feel refreshed.

"You're really good at math."

"..."

"I just watched you work on some problems. Although I didn't quite understand them, I thought you solved them very smoothly, and it was a pleasure to watch."

"~~~"

Upon hearing this, the girl's previously indifferent expression began to melt; Chen Shi'an's words had surprised her somewhat.

From childhood to adulthood, she has been praised a lot for her good looks and excellent grades, but those were all general compliments. It was rare for her to receive such specific praise as Chen Shi'an, especially for her most prized subject, mathematics.

"How do you know I haven't done anything wrong if you can't understand it?"

"It's not the right or wrong that attracts me, but the way you solve problems—you're confident, focused, and fluent."

"~~~"

Chen Shi'an always spoke his mind. Listening to his sincere words, Lin Mengqiu's body temperature remained unchanged, but she inexplicably felt her earlobes burning.

His answer left her no reason to argue, as if he had found the only solution to that sentence.

[It's not right or wrong that attracts me, it's your state of mind when solving problems that attracts me], is that really true for mathematical research...? Maybe not, but she was happy to hear it.

Lin Mengqiu didn't reply to him again; she continued solving the problem.

Yu Guangzhong noticed that Chen Shi'an was watching her solve the problem again, and his eyes seemed to be fixed only on the tip of her pen.

It feels strange to be watched while doing a problem.

Not to mention that this person had just praised her lavishly.

The girl's slender, white fingers tightened their grip on the pen, and she unconsciously sat up straight, writing each symbol and number with even greater care...

It wasn't until she finished the problem that Chen Shi'an's gaze shifted from her pen to her pretty face.

"Is it finished?"

"Ah."

"Is it a difficult question?"

"Fortunately."

"I don't understand it at all."

"Your foundation is weak."

"You're really good at math."

After saying this, the young Taoist priest revealed his true intentions—

"So, class monitor, could you please teach me math?"

"..."

Lin Mengqiu turned her head and saw Chen Shi'an looking at her with a clean, pure, and sincere smile.

He sat on the aisle side, with the noisy classrooms behind him during recess. The moment he saw her smile, like a frozen silhouette, made Lin Mengqiu slightly lost in thought.

Lin Mengqiu was about to say "yes" subconsciously, but the meticulous Lin Mengqiu realized that Chen Shi'an had said "teach" instead of "can I ask you if I don't understand something?" There was a fundamental difference between the two, which was probably the difference between actively "teaching" and passively "explaining".

Seeing that she remained silent, Chen Shi'an was in no hurry to say the next word, nor did he turn his head. Just like when he first asked her name, it seemed that as long as she did not answer his question, he would keep staring at her like this.

Impolite – deduct one point from his record.

Lin Mengqiu surrendered. She didn't like being stared at, but she didn't give him a direct answer. She simply said:
"I'm not very good at teaching. If you don't have a foundation, it's difficult for me to teach you."

What kind of foundation is required?

"You've never been to school."

"I just didn't go to school, not that I wasn't educated."

Do you know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?

"meeting."

"What is 743 + 849?" Lin Mengqiu asked casually. "1592," Chen Shi'an blurted out.

Chen Shi'an answered so quickly that Lin Mengqiu didn't even have time to react; he gave his answer almost immediately after she asked the question.

Lin Mengqiu herself was taken aback. She had just blurted out the question, and only after Chen Shi'an finished asking did she mentally calculate the answer, which was exactly right.

But his speed was obviously not as fast as his.

"What is 367 × 276?" Lin Mengqiu asked again.

"101292." Although Chen Shi'an didn't blurt it out this time, he still answered mentally, and his speed was still extremely fast.

Now it was Lin Mengqiu's turn to freeze.

This time, she deliberately asked the question while also doing mental calculations.

Simple multiplication is not difficult, but because the number of digits is higher, the amount of calculation required also increases, which is quite a test of a person's memory and calculation ability.

She had only just begun verifying her calculations, and Chen Shi'an had already finished?!
367×276……367×276……The process of waiting for the answer to be verified was so long that it made the girl a little embarrassed. She, who was never in a hurry before, seemed a little anxious, but the less calm she was, the harder it was for her to quickly calculate the answer.

That stinky Taoist priest even added insult to injury!

I asked, "Are you thinking about the next question?"

"..."

Lin Mengqiu's face flushed red, but she refused to admit that she hadn't figured it out yet, and said somewhat irritably, "Let me think about the problem..."

My mind is completely in disarray, and I can't do mental calculations in a short time.

Lin Mengqiu gave up on verifying the answer on the spot. Instead, he decided to write down the question and verify his answer later...

What is 178945 ÷ 321?

"More than 557."

"..."

You can't ask him basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division anymore!!
Either he answered randomly, or he actually figured it out.

But did he really just give random answers?

Although Lin Mengqiu did not calculate the exact answer, he estimated based on his number sense that it was indeed within this range.

Judging from Chen Shi'an's relaxed and calm expression, the questions she posed posed no difficulty whatsoever to him.

It's true that some people have received special training in mental arithmetic and can calculate the answer in a very short time, but Chen Shi'an has never even attended school, so Lin Mengqiu naturally doesn't think he has received any special training in mental arithmetic or speed calculation.

So there's only one answer: he really did calculate it by brute force. He might have his own unique techniques, but his keenness for numbers is undeniable, a direct manifestation of his mathematical ability.

However, doing math well isn't simply about being fast at calculating...

Lin Mengqiu calmed down. In fact, Chen Shi'an had already surprised her enough by this point, almost overturning her understanding of the 'Nine Leaks Fish'.

However, she still didn't give up. After thinking for a while, she asked him a common problem in junior high school: solving an equation.

“（x＋1）/（x-2）=2x/(x+3)-1，x是多少？”

Chen Shi'an was taken aback and asked, "What does 'Ex' mean?"

"...is an unknown."

"Oh--"

Oh! I'm deducting one point from your score!
Because the problem involved more variations than simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, Chen Shi'an solved it less quickly this time.

Problems like this involve simplifying equations, which Lin Mengqiu herself couldn't solve mentally.

Seeing that Chen Shi'an had not given an answer for a long time, Lin Mengqiu managed to regain some ground.

"?"

"Um, wait a minute, I need to calculate this with a pen."

Lin Mengqiu watched him as he took out a notebook and pen, used a circle to represent the X symbol, wrote down the equation, and then began to calculate it...

In no time, Chen Shi'an had filled an entire page of draft paper, but he had also figured out the answer.

"one third?"

"Um……"

Lin Mengqiu couldn't help but say, "Just multiply both sides of the equation by the least common denominator (x2)(x+3) to get the denominator, then expand all terms and rearrange the terms to simplify the equation. You won't have to calculate it so complicatedly."

"Oh, right...!"

Chen Shi'an suddenly realized that this was the first time he had solved such an equation problem. He had indeed managed to calculate the answer by brute force, but it was clearly not as easy and convenient as the method Lin Mengqiu had described.

Lin Mengqiu's assessment of Chen Shi'an was: "He has strong mathematical abilities, but his mathematical thinking is lacking."

However, this is not a hopeless situation. After all, math classes in school cultivate students' mathematical thinking, and mathematical ability is the only thing that determines the upper limit of a person's mathematical ability.

Seeing that Chen Shi'an had put down his pen and was looking over, waiting for her to give him a question, Lin Mengqiu didn't intend to give him any more questions.

She acknowledged that Chen Shi'an had a certain mathematical talent, at least he was extremely sensitive to numerical calculations, but only knowing basic calculations was meaningless for junior and senior high school mathematics. The most important thing was to cultivate that kind of mathematical thinking.

"Aren't there any more questions?" Chen Shi'an asked.

“I can teach you,” Lin Mengqiu said to herself.

Chen Shi'an was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Thank you, class monitor."

"..."

The girl's expression was complicated. She began to regret saying those words as soon as they left her mouth. What kind of impulse made her, who hated trouble the most, willing to invite trouble upon herself?

It was all Dad's job!
If not, how could she possibly teach?
I'm in a bad mood, let's deduct a point from him first...

Lin Mengqiu thought to herself, "When I can get him down to below 60 points, I can righteously and forcefully ask my dad to change my deskmate."

……

Class begins.

Chen Shi'an took out his seventh-grade math book and turned to look at it. Lin Mengqiu was writing something on the draft paper.

He glanced at it curiously, but he didn't expect it to provoke such a strong reaction from the girl—

She quickly covered the contents of the draft paper with her small hand, while glaring at him fiercely.

Chen Shi'an: "..."

The young Taoist felt very sorry; he really shouldn't have looked this way.

Because she was verifying 367 × 276...

It's wrong to expose someone's shortcomings in front of them...

　Thank you to Earth Hurricane Organization, Book Friend 20240421023206305, Qingye Xianren, Dulian灬Love, Xuexuezi, At the End of Dreams, Rio Lemon Tea, Obsessed with Pig, Xiaoyang Xiaoyang Xiqiyangyang, and other students for their generous donations. I haven't been checking the backend much lately and have missed a lot of support from everyone. Thank you all! There will be another 4700-word bonus chapter this evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)