They're already in university, and the primary school system is only just starting out?

Behind the judges' panel, Feng Yunhai and Gong Qin were also discussing the matter.

Because the surrounding noise was so loud, the two of them had to put their heads close together, almost face to face, to talk.

Gong Qin's plump face was beaming with excitement: "Old Feng, Xiong Jia's question is really something! It's nothing like those formulaic competition questions. There's no set pattern. It doesn't use many knowledge points; it doesn't test prior knowledge, it's purely testing mathematical talent and flexible thinking!"

Feng Yunhai laughed and said, "Don't just focus on your comments. When Xiong Jia sent me the questions in the group, didn't you see them too? I bet you secretly did them, right? Confess, how long did it take you?"

Upon hearing this, Gong Qin revealed a smug look on his face. He stretched out his chubby right hand and made a "three" gesture.

Feng Yunhai raised an eyebrow: "Three minutes?"

"How is that possible?!" Gong Qin's voice instantly rose eight octaves. "It's thirty minutes!"

Feng Yunhai chuckled, "That's just normal level, what are you so proud of?"

Upon hearing this, Gong Qin was displeased and patted his chest, retorting, "Hey, this was a question set by Xiong Jia, and the fact that you chose it means it's truly exceptional! I bet even among the graduate and doctoral students at Yanbei Mathematics Institute, there aren't many who can beat me, right?"

"Are you getting more and more backward as you get older? Comparing yourself to a child?" Feng Yunhai teased with a smile.

"A kid?" Gong Qin's eyes widened. "You've seen all those brilliant graduate and doctoral students these days; their minds work faster than a supercomputer!"

Feng Yunhai's smile faded slightly, and his expression turned serious: "Xiong Jia and I discussed it, and anyone who can solve this problem within an hour is considered to have exceptional mathematical talent. Not to mention..." He gestured with his chin toward Chen Lin on the stage, "I only learned today that this Chen Lin is a student majoring in Chinese Language and Literature."

Gong Qin's playful smile gradually faded. He touched his multi-layered chin and chuckled, "Besides visiting Teacher Liang today, I also wanted to see for myself whether this mysterious person is really as amazing as you've been bragging about in the group chat with your fellow students!"

He winked enthusiastically at Feng Yunhai: "I bet you, he can't cook a meal as fast as I can!"

Before the words were finished, a clear and steady voice came through the venue's sound system.

"Um, Academician Liang, may I begin solving the problem?"

The venue, which was noisy just a moment ago, suddenly became quiet as if someone had pressed the mute button.

Gong Qin's expression froze instantly.

Feng Yunhai, on the other hand, remained relatively calm. He turned his head to look at his junior brother, a smug smile on his face: "Gong Dapang, have you decided where you're going to treat us?"

Gong Qin's expression changed repeatedly, from shock to disbelief, but in the end it didn't become too ugly. Instead, a strong, almost fiery curiosity welled up inside him.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Lao Feng!" He lowered his voice, his eyes fixed on Chen Lin on the stage. "I want to see how he managed to do it! Don't worry, if he really pulls it off, I, Gong Qin, will definitely not renege on my promise!"

……

The reactions of the university students in the contestant area were clearly divided.

Most of the non-mathematics students were still whispering among themselves.

"You finished it already? Really?"

"This question doesn't seem that difficult, it's just a bit convoluted to read..."

"Yeah, I thought it would be a really complicated formula, but it's just a few lines of text."

The real math students, especially the top ones, were all speechless with shock.

They were either deep in thought or whispering with their companions. It was precisely because they actually tried to solve the problem that they were able to better appreciate its difficulty.

Many people are completely baffled, and even more haven't yet developed a clear problem-solving approach.

This Chen Lin, standing on the stage, did it all in his head without even a piece of draft paper.

Is this guy even human?!

……

Liang Tianshi remained calm, simply nodding and gesturing to the staff on the sidelines.

Soon, a staff member walked onto the stage with a tablet computer and carefully handed it to Chen Lin.

At the same time, the large screen behind Chen Lin instantly switched to a pure white electronic drawing board, which was obviously being projected in real time in sync with the tablet in his hand.

When Chen Lin's fingertips touched the cool electronic pen, he felt as if the whole world had changed.

Just like every time he solved a problem under the influence of the title "Little Mathematician," he entered a mysterious state.

Everything around them, whether it was the whispers of the judges, audience, and contestants, or the pairs of eyes that were curious, questioning, or shocked, all receded like the tide and disappeared without a trace.

In his world, there was only the problem in front of him and the logical framework of various mathematical knowledge gathered and combined in his mind.

Chen Lin's heart became as calm as an ancient well.

He picked up his pen and began to write.

The solution process officially begins.

Behind the judges' panel, Gong Qin practically leaned out, staring intently at every character on the big screen.

"First, we use Sylvester's theorem to derive a corollary: if an integer c cannot be written as a linear combination of the coefficients of the natural numbers of coprime positive integers a and b, then ab - ab can be written as a linear combination of the coefficients of the natural numbers of a, b, and c... Hmm, not bad, not bad, that's the same line of thinking as mine!"

He excitedly nudged Feng Yunhai beside him with his elbow: "Hey, Lao Feng, do you think he can handle this later?"

Feng Yunhai shook his head, his gaze equally focused on the screen, a hint of expectation in his voice: "I don't know. But I hope he can solve it."

In the audience area, Principal Chang Kai's palms were already sweating.

He turned his head with some concern and whispered to Gu Ming beside him, "Gu, do you think Chen Lin can solve this problem?"

Professor Gu Ming adjusted his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses flashing with a complex light. He shook his head: "It's not certain yet."

"Sigh," Chang Kai sighed, his voice filled with anxiety, "I hope he can resolve this smoothly. Whether our school's reputation can be salvaged this time depends entirely on him."

Gu Ming suddenly said, "Principal, if Chen Lin can really solve this problem in such a short time, then your original plan will probably have to be changed."

Chang Kai was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

Gu Ming's gaze never left the tall figure on the stage as he slowly said, "We all guessed before that Academician Liang was looking for Shen Yan. But now it seems we were all wrong. The person he's really looking for is this Chen Lin."

"That's right." Chang Kai nodded.

"Therefore," Gu Ming's tone became more serious than ever before, "Chen Lin absolutely cannot be let go!"

Chang Kai: "Your reason?"

Gu Ming took a deep breath: "You'll understand once he finishes solving this problem."

In the contestants' area, a considerable number of students were completely unable to keep up with Chen Lin's written proof steps. They frantically pulled out their phones and began searching for the theorems and corollaries that appeared on the whiteboard.

Some more observant students noticed things beyond the proof steps.

"Have you noticed... that Chen Lin never seems to make any corrections when writing his testimonies?"

"Yes, I noticed that too! It's like he considered every single possibility before he put pen to paper; his thought process was frighteningly smooth from beginning to end!"

"And another thing, all the theorems and corollaries he wrote down seem to be complete, but he never looked at his phone even once! His memory is terrifying!"

……

On stage, Chen Lin's fingers moved steadily and powerfully as the electronic pen glided across the tablet, leaving behind lines of clear characters.

He discovered that the proof steps for this problem were actually not very long, and soon he had written the last part:

[...We can deduce that if in the first two steps, A and B respectively wrote coprime terms a and b, such that ab - ab > 1, then A will definitely win. This is because if, after A writes ab - ab, B can make A lose by writing a certain term c, then A can switch to writing c, putting B in the same losing position.]

Therefore, in the first step, as long as A can find a number 'a' such that B can write a number 'b' in the second step, it will always satisfy the conditions that a and b are coprime and ab - ab > 1.

[The condition can be satisfied by taking a prime number greater than 3.]

Therefore, A's first step, writing 5, is a winning strategy.

After writing the last period, Chen Lin gently placed the electronic pen back into the tablet's slot.

He calmly took two steps to the side, clearly displaying the complete proof process on the large screen behind him to everyone.

Then, he picked up the microphone again and added calmly, "The 5 here is just a smaller solution I found after trying it. Theoretically, there are other numbers; if you're interested, you can try them yourself."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the entire room.

"I've taken up a bit of everyone's time. My proof is now complete."

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously somewhat noisy meeting room behind him suddenly became quiet.

It was so quiet that Chen Lin could clearly hear the thumping of his own heart.

He wasn't worried about any problems with his proof process; he was simply waiting quietly for the academic giant's reaction.

offstage.

In the center of the judges' panel, Liang Tianshi's eyes, which had been slightly narrowed, slowly widened.

The taut line at the corner of his mouth suddenly relaxed, revealing an irrepressible smile.

He put down his pen, took off his reading glasses, and gently pinched the corners of his eyes, which were slightly sore.

Then, he picked up the microphone.

Everyone in the venue was on tenterhooks.

Liang Tianshi only said one word.

"very good."

surprise.

surprised.

Shocked.

The venue was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Chen Lin's enhanced vision clearly captured that the first person to break the silence was Principal Chang Kai in the audience.

He suddenly stood up and clapped his hands vigorously.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

The second person to stand up was Professor Gu Ming.

Then came the third, the fourth...

Chen Lin saw that the two men, one fat and one thin, who had been whispering with Academician Liang earlier, also stood up with smiles and clapped vigorously.

And there's also Teacher Qu Chengfeng, who's been constantly worried about them, and Li Zihan and the others, whose eyes are always shining with admiration...

Applause gradually rose and quickly spread from one point to another.

What started as a light drizzle quickly turned into a torrential downpour.

Snap snap snap snap—!

Thunderous applause filled the entire venue.

Chen Lin stood in the center of the stage, the center of attention, and amidst thunderous applause, he gave a slight bow to everyone in the audience.

He straightened up, picked up the microphone again, and his eyes, sharp as lightning, precisely locked onto a certain direction in the contestants' area.

Finally, I'd like to say one more thing.

His voice, transmitted through the speakers, clearly drowned out the applause.

"Yang Han from Jiangcheng University, please formally apologize to Shen Yan and to Yannan University for your baseless accusations!"

After he finished speaking, he stood quietly on the stage, his gaze sharp as he looked toward that corner.

Yang Han slumped in his seat, his face ashen, his eyes vacant, as if all his strength and soul had been drained away.

......

The host, having seen it all before, quickly recovered after a brief moment of surprise.

She quickly walked to Chen Lin's side, a professional yet admiring smile on her face, and skillfully took over the conversation: "Thank you so much, Chen Lin, for your excellent answer!"

She gently patted Chen Lin's arm and softly guided him, "Please go back to your seat and rest. The organizing committee and teachers from both schools will handle the rest."

These words were perfectly worded, giving Chen Lin a way out while preventing the situation from spiraling out of control, thus shifting the conflict from a public setting to a private resolution.

Chen Lin knew when to stop. At the moment when everyone's attention was most focused, he made sure Yang Han couldn't hide in Meimei, and that's how he achieved his goal.

After that, whether it's the netizens' righteous actions or Principal Chang Kai's underhanded tactics, Chen Lin can just wait and see what happens.

He nodded politely to the host, then turned and walked off the stage.

Below the stage, Shen Yan stood quietly waiting for him. Her eyes, which were always as clear and cold as autumn water, now seemed to be filled with dazzling stars, shining with an unprecedented light.

She watched him approach, wanting to say something to thank him, but it felt too inadequate.

Chen Lin walked up to her, looked at her adorable expression of excitement and a little bewilderment, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.

He lowered his voice, asking in a whisper that only the two of them could hear, "How much are you planning to pay for this consultation?"

"Huh?" Shen Yan was taken aback. She hadn't expected that this guy would still be thinking about this in such a high-profile moment.

But this time, she didn't shy away from his gaze as she usually did.

She raised her head, meeting Chen Lin's gaze. Her eyes sparkled, and her voice carried a hint of coquettishness and shyness that she herself was unaware of.

"I can treat you to a big meal."

"You think you can just fob me off with a big meal?" Chen Lin raised an eyebrow, feigning displeasure.

Shen Yan's face flushed again. She bit her lower lip, as if she had made up her mind, and her voice became even softer: "Then many meals."

Seeing her like this, Chen Lin was secretly delighted. He stopped teasing her and readily nodded, "Okay, you said it, so I'll remember it. Don't try to renege on your promise."

The two smiled at each other and walked back to their seats side by side.

As soon as they sat down, Li Zihan, Zhang Rong, and Sun Jing, like three excited little birds, swarmed around them, chattering excitedly.

"Chen Lin! You're so handsome! Absolutely stunning!" Zhang Rong and Sun Jing looked at him with the eyes of idols.

"Exactly!" Li Zihan excitedly patted Chen Lin's shoulder, waving her phone enthusiastically. "Let me tell you, I've been live-streaming your amazing performance on stage on our school's forum! The forum's gone viral!"

Chen Lin's lips twitched as he listened.

However, he doesn't really care about the so-called exposure.

With so many media reporters here today, and so many academic luminaries on the judging panel, plus the current era of social media, even if Li Zihan doesn't post, she'll probably be trending on social media tonight, no matter how small.

He silently considered to himself that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The only good thing is that I can finally legitimately put my own name on the homework writing and technical consulting services I post on Xianyu (a second-hand marketplace).

Previously, they had been using Shen Yan's admission notice and transcript as a golden brand, but this time they caused such a small blunder, almost getting her into trouble.

By the way, I can also raise prices by leveraging my fame. I still need to carefully prepare for setting up the company, so I'll make as much money as I can.

A few minutes later, while the group was still excitedly talking, their leader, Teacher Qu Chengfeng, quickly walked over.

"Chen," Qu Chengfeng's tone was still tinged with excitement, "Um, Principal Chang asked me to come and tell you that he's waiting for you in the same area outside the venue this morning, and he'd like you to come over."

……

……

Just minutes earlier, when Chen Lin stepped down from the podium, the entire audience erupted in applause.

In the audience area, Principal Chang Kai's palms were red from clapping, and his face was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

He turned his head to look at Gu Ming beside him, who was equally shocked, his voice trembling slightly: "Little Gu! Did you see that! Did you see that?!"

Gu Ming nodded vigorously. He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, seemingly trying to conceal the turmoil in his heart, but the rapidly contracting pupils behind the lenses still betrayed his extremely unsettled state of mind.

"Xiao Gu," Chang Kai's excitement subsided slightly, and he immediately recalled Gu Ming's meaningful words from earlier, asking eagerly, "You just said that Chen Lin absolutely cannot be let go. Now can you tell me why?"