My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 443, please proceed slowly.

Chapter 444, please proceed slowly.

In early July, the No. 1 Middle School in the city started its summer vacation.

After the bell rang, the high school teaching building suddenly became lively.

The desks and chairs creaked as they were dragged around. Stacks of test papers, workbooks, and summer homework were pulled out of the desks. The corridor was filled with voices: someone was calling out who was carrying a ball, someone was asking if they were going to the internet cafe in the afternoon, and someone was complaining that the teacher was handing out curls on the last day of school.

Zhang Qiang slung his schoolbag over his shoulder.

It didn't bounce up.

The backpack was too heavy, and the straps were digging into my shoulders.

He glanced down at his bulging backpack and cursed.

"This isn't a holiday, it's like being transferred to another place to serve time in jail."

A classmate next to him laughed at him.

"Zhang Qiang, stop pretending. Aren't you quite good at learning now?"

"Get lost." Zhang Qiang pulled his schoolbag back up, his school uniform back was soaked.

The entrance to the convenience store downstairs is still the same as before.

The freezer lid was opened and closed, and soda bottles clinked together. Someone had just bought mung bean ice, tore open the packaging and took a bite, gasping for breath from the cold.

Zhang Qiang slowed his pace as he walked to the entrance of the convenience store.

He knows this place very well.

In the past, when Chen Zhuo was making international calls from Princeton, he would sometimes call here. When the shopkeeper answered the phone, his voice could be heard from behind the counter all the way to the edge of the playground.

"Zhang Qiang! Phone call! From America!"

At that moment, the entire convenience store would fall silent for a moment.

The boss kept bringing this up, making it sound as if he himself had some connection to Princeton.

Just as Zhang Qiang was about to leave, someone called out to him from behind.

"Hey, Zhang Qiang."

He turned around. A boy from his class ran over, carrying a basketball.

"Aren't you familiar with Chen Zhuo?"

As soon as Zhang Qiang heard this opening, he knew that what followed was not a pleasant conversation.

"What are you doing?"

"Is he coming back this year?"

"have no idea."

"you do not know?"

"I'm not his secretary."

The boy wouldn't give up.

"They say he's going to Spain, is that true?"

Zhang Qiang frowned.

"How would I know?" "Didn't you say you lived together?"

"Does living together mean I have to know where he goes every day?"

After Zhang Qiang finished speaking, he picked up his schoolbag and left.

After walking a few steps, he turned back and added:

Don't listen to other people's nonsense.

The boy was laughing from behind.

"You definitely know!"

Zhang Qiang ignored him.

He came out of the school gate, and the sun outside was so bright it hurt his eyes.

Several bicycles were parked under the shade of a tree across the street, and some parents were waiting for someone, fanning themselves rapidly with fans.

Zhang Qiang walked to the bus stop, his backpack pressing down on his shoulder, and he felt increasingly hot as he walked.

He was a little annoyed. Not because others had asked Chen Zhuo.

I've received so many questions about this in the last two years.

They asked Chen Zhuo if he was in the United States, if he was the one who appeared on TV, if he could really prove some world-class problem, and if he was this scary when he was a child.

Zhang Qiang usually says he doesn't know.

Sometimes when I get tired of talking about it, I just say:

"He was so young that he couldn't even get food in the school cafeteria. Don't think of him as some kind of superhuman."

Others thought he was being modest.

Zhang Qiang was even more annoyed.

It was almost evening when the bus arrived at Jinxiu Garden.

The leaves on the trees at the entrance of the residential area were wilted by the sun, and the electric fan in the guardhouse creaked and groaned.

As soon as Zhang Qiang entered the building, he heard his mother calling from inside his own door:

"Zhang Qiang, you're back just in time!" Zhang Qiang's heart skipped a beat.

This phrase usually doesn't bring good news.

Sure enough, when the door opened, his mother was carrying half a watermelon, which was wrapped in a red plastic bag.

"Send it to Aunt Liu's house."

Zhang Qiang glanced at the door across the hall.

"It's not like they don't have watermelons at home."

"Just deliver it when I tell you to. Your Aunt Liu brought us some beef sauce a few days ago."

"Is that for me?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

Zhang Qiang took the watermelon, still protesting.

"Chen Zhuo isn't home, why would I send him anything?"

His mother glared at him. "He's not home, his parents aren't home?"

Zhang Qiang was speechless.

He carried a watermelon and knocked on the door across the hall.

The door opened quickly.

Liu Xiuying smiled as soon as she saw him.

"Is Qiangzi on vacation?"

"Just released."

"Come in quickly, it's hot outside, isn't it?"

"good."

Zhang Qiang handed over the watermelon.

My mom asked me to deliver it.

"Your mother is really something, she just brought peaches a couple of days ago." Liu Xiuying said this, but still took the peaches and let him into the house.

Chen Jianguo sat in the living room with a disassembled electric fan beside him, screws on a newspaper, and a screwdriver in his hand.

He looked up when he saw Zhang Qiang.

"Are you on holiday?"

"Um."

"Your grades are alright, aren't they?"

Zhang Qiang was about to sit down, but upon hearing this, his buttocks stopped in mid-air.

"Uncle Chen, we just got a day off today."

Chen Jianguo smiled.

"I already have final grades even though it's just the start of the holiday."

Zhang Qiang pretended not to hear and went to the restroom to wash his hands.

Liu Xiuying cut the watermelon and gave him a big piece. "Eat. Your Uncle Chen is just teasing you."

Zhang Qiang took the watermelon and took a bite.

sweet.

He sat on the edge of the sofa, his eyes casually scanning the room.

The Chen family's living room is much the same as before.

There were just a few more English books on the bookshelf, as well as some small items brought back from the United States. There was a cardboard box in the corner with several sealed packages inside, which looked like they were going to be sent out again.

Liu Xiuying came out of the kitchen and wiped her hands.

"You just mentioned Xiao Zhuo?"

With watermelon in his mouth, Zhang Qiang mumbled, "No."

Liu Xiuying smiled.

"He probably won't be able to come back this year."

Zhang Qiang paused in his chewing of watermelon. "Oh."

"I'm going to Madrid in August, and there are a lot of things to take care of before and after."

"Is Madrid the one in Spain?"

"Um."

Zhang Qiang lowered his head and took a bite of watermelon.

"It's quite far."

Chen Jianguo put the fan cover back on and tightened the screws, saying:

"It's not far."

Just then, the phone in the living room rang.

As soon as the bell rang, Liu Xiuying's movements noticeably quickened.

She went over and answered it.

"Feed?" After a couple of seconds, a smile appeared on his face.

"Little Zhuo."

Zhang Qiang was biting into a watermelon, looking at her.

Liu Xiuying asked a few questions: Had they eaten? Had they slept? Was it hot over there? Then she said:

"Zhang Qiang is here too. He just started summer vacation and brought watermelons home."

Zhang Qiang almost choked on the watermelon juice.

He quickly put the watermelon back on the plate and wiped his hands on his pants.

Liu Xiuying had already handed the phone over.

"Say a few words to him."

Zhang Qiang was stubborn.

"What's there to say?"

The hand was already in his grasp. The phone was pressed to his ear.

There was a very faint electrical hum inside.

After a pause, Chen Zhuo's voice came from the other end.

"Zhang Qiang?"

"Nonsense, who else did you think it was? Does your dad sound as young as me?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Chen Zhuo asked, "Is my dad next to me?"

Zhang Qiang glanced at Chen Jianguo, who was tightening screws.

"exist."

Chen Jianguo looked up at him.

Zhang Qiang immediately turned around and lowered his voice.

"Don't try to sow discord," Chen Zhuo said with a smile.

"Are you on holiday?"

"Just released."

"Do you have a lot of homework?"

Zhang Qiang sneered.

"You're asking questions like you've never been to the No. 1 High School in the city."

"I did not attend the senior high school section of the No. 1 High School in the city."

"And you're quite proud of it?"

"Don't be arrogant, state the facts."

Zhang Qiang choked for a moment.

On the other end of the phone, Chen Zhuo was very quiet.

Unlike Jinxiu Garden, where there's the sound of running water in the kitchen and children running around upstairs. Zhang Qiang bit into the watermelon in his mouth and asked:

What time is it where you are?

"Morning."

"You're calling so early in the morning again?"

I woke up early today.

"Have you not eaten again?"

"have eaten."

"What did you eat?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

Zhang Qiang immediately said, "See, you stopped."

Chen Zhuo said, "Bread."

"You call bread 'eating'?" "In this context, yes."

"No wonder you couldn't get a meal at the No. 1 Middle School cafeteria when you were a kid."

Chen Zhuo said, "Back then, the main issue was height."

Zhang Qiang suddenly got excited.

"You still know that? If I hadn't been bringing you lunch from the back gate of Yuhong Elementary School every day, you would have been crushed by those ninth graders long ago."

"It's not that serious."

"Of course you say it's not serious. You didn't queue up to grab the braised pork."

Liu Xiuying, who was standing nearby, heard about the braised pork and glanced at Zhang Qiang with a smile.

Zhang Qiang held the phone and spoke more and more fluently.

"I passed by the convenience store today, and the owner was still there. The price of mung bean ice has gone up by 50 cents."

"The evil capitalism failed to defeat it, but inflation defeated it first."

"Did you buy it?" "I couldn't afford it."

"Aren't you on vacation?"

"What does having a holiday have to do with being rich?"

A soft laugh came from the other end of the phone.

Zhang Qiang looked down at the watermelon rind on the coffee table, his finger twirling around the telephone cord.

He actually had a lot of questions he wanted to ask.

Those people at school asked that.

It's what people in the neighborhood are spreading.

It appears occasionally on television.

What Hodge, what Princeton, what Madrid?

But when he actually heard Chen Zhuo's voice, he didn't feel like asking anymore.

I wouldn't understand even if you asked. It's better to just ask if you've eaten.

Zhang Qiang said, "People at school keep asking you about it."

"What do you want to ask?"

"I'm asking if you've proven anything yet."

"What did you say?"

I said I didn't know.

"and then?"

Then I said, "You couldn't even get a bite to eat in the cafeteria when you were a kid."

Chen Zhuo said, "This doesn't prove anything."

"That shows you weren't born with three heads and six arms."

"I was never that way."

Zhang Qiang curled his lip. "They don't believe it."

After he finished speaking, he paused for a moment, then added:

"Some people even asked me if I used to read books all day long."

Chen Zhuo asked, "What did you say?"

I said no.

"Um."

"I told you you can also play King of Fighters."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Zhang Qiang immediately said, "Don't pretend, you're the one who taught me that Iori Yagami combo."

"You never mastered it."

"I play by feel, unlike you, who memorizes moves when playing games."

Chen Zhuo said, "You said something similar in physics before." Zhang Qiang immediately sat up straight.

"That's different."

"What's different?"

"I'm much better at physics now than before."

"What about The King of Fighters?"

Zhang Qiang fell silent.

Chen Zhuo asked, "Isn't it that you still can't beat me?"

"You're in the US, so stop being so arrogant from afar."

This time, Chen Zhuo genuinely smiled.

When Zhang Qiang heard him laugh, he wanted to laugh too, but he held it in.

After a while, he still asked the question.

"So you're really not coming back this year?" There was no immediate answer on the other end of the phone.

Zhang Qiang stared at the coffee table.

A little watermelon juice had accumulated in the plate, forming a small red puddle.

Chen Zhuo said, "I probably can't go back."

"oh."

Zhang Qiang untied the telephone cord from his fingers.

"Alright."

He said it very casually.

"Anyway, you might not have time to play King of Fighters with me when you come back."

Chen Zhuo said, "You should pass the physics exam first before talking about King of Fighters."

"Don't give me that, I scored eleven points higher on my final physics exam than last time."

"That's good." Zhang Qiang was about to retort, but after hearing this, he didn't.

He looked down and nudged the coffee table leg with his toe.

"It's alright."

Chen Zhuo said, "That's good."

Zhang Qiang suddenly felt his ears getting hot.

He quickly changed the subject.

"They said you're going to Spain."

Madrid.

"Aren't they all pretty much the same? They're all far away anyway."

"It is quite far."

"Where are you going?"

"Give a report." "For whom?"

"Mathematician."

"A lot of people went?"

"a lot of."

Zhang Qiang thought about it.

"A room full of foreign professors?"

"There are also Chinese."

"That's about right."

"Quite different."

"Never mind whether it's good or bad," Zhang Qiang frowned. "It's just a bunch of really talented people sitting down there listening to you explain a problem, right?"

"You could say that."

There was a few seconds of silence on the phone. Zhang Qiang looked at the calendar on the opposite wall.

Several dates in July were circled in red, indicating the tutoring times arranged by his mother.

He suddenly remembered a long time ago, when Chen Zhuo sat on a small stool in his house and told him the story of the chicken and rabbit problem with a pencil.

As he was explaining, he had already written down three steps on the paper.

He's only on the first step.

Later, the questions came from the No. 1 Middle School of the city.

Then came physics, geometry, pulley systems, and circuit diagrams.

Chen Zhuo always felt that he had explained things very clearly.

Zhang Qiang knew that he had indeed explained things clearly.

It's fast.

He was so quick that he often wanted to snatch the pen away and shut Chen Zhuo up.

Zhang Qiang gripped the phone a little tighter. "Then speak slowly."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

Chen Zhuo asked, "Why?"

"You used to explain problems to me so quickly," Zhang Qiang said. "You thought it was so easy, and before I could even process what you were doing, you'd already finished the next step."

Chen Zhuo remained silent.

Zhang Qiang continued:

"No matter how brilliant those professors are, they can't guarantee that everyone can keep up with you."

Chen Zhuo said, "They should be a little stronger than you."

Zhang Qiang immediately said, "Come on, even if you're strong, you have to speak slowly."

Chen Zhuo said, "I will try my best."

"Not as much as possible."

Zhang Qiang's tone became serious. "Just explain things at half the speed you used to explain problems to me."

"That one hour might not be enough."

"If that's not enough, ask them to add more time," Zhang Qiang said. "You've already gone so far, what's a little extra time?"

Chen Zhuo chuckled on the other end of the phone.

Hearing that laugh, Zhang Qiang suddenly felt a little relieved of the inexplicable tightness he had felt earlier.

He resumed his usual tone.

"Anyway, don't go up there and start writing all at once, then ask people if they understand it."

"I didn't do that."

"You have."

"When?"

"There are too many, I'm too lazy to bring up the past."

Chen Zhuo said, "Then you are more familiar with the account books now than before." Upon hearing the name account books, Zhang Qiang immediately recalled the days when Chen Zhuo forced him to write down the wrong answers, and his face darkened.

"Shut up."

Liu Xiuying, standing to the side, finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zhang Qiang turned to look at her.

"Aunt Liu, he's bullying me."

Liu Xiuying said with a smile, "Then give me the phone, I'll talk to him."

Zhang Qiang did not give it to him immediately.

He then said to the person on the other end of the phone:

"Anyway, go to Madrid and talk things out properly."

Chen Zhu hummed in agreement.

Zhang Qiang paused.

"Speak slowly." "Okay."

"It's not about knowing, it's about remembering."

"I've got it."

Liu Xiuying took the phone and started asking Chen Zhuo if it was hot over there, if he had enough clothes, and if he still had beef sauce. Chen Jianguo said that the small fan had been fixed and told Liu Xiuying not to keep asking about food, but to ask about important matters as well.

Liu Xiuying glared at him.

"Isn't eating the important thing?"

Chen Jianguo immediately fell silent.

Zhang Qiang sat on the sofa, picked up the watermelon he hadn't finished eating, and took a couple of bites.

It's still sweet.

But he didn't eat as fast as before.

After a while, he stood up. "Aunt Liu, I'm going back now."

While listening to the phone call, Liu Xiuying waved to him, telling him to wait, and then took two slices of watermelon from the kitchen and gave them to him.

"Take it back."

"My mom just brought it."

"Then take it home and eat it."

Zhang Qiang, carrying the watermelon, was somewhat speechless.

"So it was sent back again."

Liu Xiuying smiled and pushed him out the door.

Zhang Qiang left the Chen family's house; the hallway was more stuffy than the room.

He had just walked down two steps when he ran into a classmate coming up from downstairs.

The man's eyes lit up when he saw him come out of the Chen family's house.

"Hey Zhang Qiang, you just went to Chen Zhuo's house?" "Yeah."

"Is he really not coming back?"

"I won't reply."