This top-tier academic genius

While the rest of the class was still struggling with their exam papers, Lin Yan, like an outlier, chose to hand in his paper early.

Most people's reaction was that Lin Yan didn't know how to do it, so he simply handed in his paper early.

Some people admired Lin Yan for daring to hand in his paper early in front of Old Man Qin. Old Man Qin was known for disliking students handing in their papers early.

Zhang Yang looked up at Lin Yan, who was walking towards the podium, and cursed under his breath, "Idiot."

However, the expected criticism from Old Man Qin did not come. Not only did he allow Lin Yan to hand in his paper early, but he also nodded slightly and gave him a smile.

Everyone was puzzled. When did Old Man Qin become so good-tempered?

Chen Bin followed suit and got up to hand in his paper, only to be met with criticism from Old Man Qin.

"You finished it before even finishing a class period? There are so many blanks, take it back and redo it!"

Chen Bin stood there, frozen, clutching the exam paper.

Why are the treatments so different? Does being handsome mean you don't have to get scolded?

Qin Zhengyan ignored Chen Bin's thoughts and picked up Lin Yan's test paper to look at it, starting with the last bonus question.

He deliberately added the bonus question; he was well aware of its difficulty and potential pitfalls—it was a bonus question from the second round of the Olympiad.

The reason for setting this question was twofold: first, to deliberately discourage some high-achieving students and prevent them from becoming arrogant and complacent; and second, to see if there were any other students in the class who, like Lin Yan, had suddenly had a breakthrough.

Seeing that the answer on the test paper was to take a little bit of E from BC, Qin Zhengyan knew that Lin Yan had not let him down and had immediately grasped the crux of the problem.

The entire solution process was correct, without a single flaw.

After that, Qin Zhengyan started grading the exam papers from the beginning.

√√√√......

I paused when I got to the fill-in-the-blank question.

Looking at Lin Yan's annotations for the first fill-in-the-blank question, Qin Zhengyan stopped writing and checked the answer himself, only to find that the question was indeed wrong.

"Everyone stop for a moment. There's a mistake in the first fill-in-the-blank question. Please correct it."

The words Qin Zhengyan wrote on the blackboard with chalk were the same notes Lin Yan had added to his test paper. After he finished writing, he glanced at Lin Yan.

Lin Yan didn't look up at that moment; he was reading "Mathematical Analysis".

Many students then belatedly realized why they couldn't find the answer to the question.

Zhu Guanqun breathed a sigh of relief. "No wonder I couldn't do this question; it turns out the question was wrong."

Zhang Yang stared blankly at the answer to this question on his test paper. He had been struggling with the question for a while, but a sudden inspiration had given him a clever solution.

After arriving at the answer, he was somewhat smug and exclaimed, "This question was really difficult; luckily, I solved it myself."

But now you're telling me this question is wrong.

Zhang Yang: ......

As time passed, the two consecutive classes came to an end.

Some students were frustrated that there were still a few questions left to solve, while others finally breathed a sigh of relief and gained a brief respite.

During breaks between classes, it's inevitable that some students, especially the girls, will discuss the difficult problems they just solved.

"Today's test was really difficult; I couldn't do most of it."

"Oh yeah, I just guessed. Was the answer to multiple choice question five C?"

"Ah, I chose B."

"So which one is right?"

"The answer to that question should definitely be C."

Zhang Yang, with his keen hearing, promptly picked up the conversation; his voice always came through at these moments.

The time for divine intervention has come!

Zhang Yang's favorite time is after the exam when he discusses the answers, because it allows him to fully demonstrate his mathematical abilities to his classmates.

This is why Chen Bin and other academically weak students dislike him, but he is happy to do so because there will always be someone to give him a chance.

A student asked, "Zhang Yang, have you finished the questions? I still have two questions left to do."

"I didn't finish either, especially the last question, it was too difficult, I didn't know where to start." The girl who spoke was Meng Xue, the class monitor, who consistently ranked in the top three in math.

"I haven't finished the last bonus question yet; I only did half of it. That question was indeed quite difficult, but I've already figured out the solution. I just need to extend BD to make BC. Two class periods are still too short. I'm sure I could finish it in a normal exam."

Zhang Yang's words carried a hint of regret, but his face also showed a hint of pride. He had already found the solution to the math problem that even the class monitor hadn't started writing, but he just didn't have enough time to finish it.

Lin Yan heard these words, glanced at Zhang Yang, smiled slightly, and continued reading.

They are just too young.

"Brother Yan, can you teach me how to do this math problem?"

Lin Yan's deskmate, Zhu Guanqun, was quietly asking Lin Yan a math problem, but Zhang Yang, who was paying attention, overheard them.

"Seriously, Zhu Guanqun? You're having Lin Yan teach you math?"

Zhang Yang's tone was as if he were telling a huge joke, which drew the attention of the surrounding classmates who all looked towards Zhu Guanqun.

One classmate chimed in, "Yeah, Zhu Guanqun, you're hilarious. Lin Yan's math score isn't even as good as yours."

Zhu Guanqun really wanted to say, "You guys don't know anything. Lin Yan is the real mathematical genius."

However, he wasn't a particularly assertive person, so he ultimately didn't say it aloud.

"The homeroom teacher is here."

Li Shuhua arrived at the classroom door and waved to Lin Yan, "Lin Yan, come here for a moment."

No one knew what the homeroom teacher said to Lin Yan; some guessed that he had been criticized.

Not long after, Lin Yan returned. He wasn't criticized; his homeroom teacher simply had a brief chat with him, telling him to prepare well for the National Mathematical Olympiad and not waste his talent. The teacher analyzed the importance of the competition, explaining that if he performed well, he could participate in the National Mathematical Olympiad and even be guaranteed admission to Tsinghua or Peking University.

During the break between the third and fourth periods in the afternoon, Lin Yan was in the corridor getting some fresh air and clearing his head when he was blocked by a girl.

"Lin Yan, I'm your fan, can you sign my autograph?" The girl was slightly shy and quite pretty.

Lin Yan was stunned and somewhat taken aback. This was the first fan he remembered asking for his autograph after his contract was terminated.

Surprisingly, he still has fans at school. He's only been in the industry for half a year, and before his career collapsed, he didn't have many fans, and they were even fewer scattered in different places.

Most of the students at Xincheng No.1 Middle School didn't know Lin Yan at all. Even the students in Class 2 of the third year of high school only knew that he had failed in the entertainment industry and returned home, but they didn't know the specific details.

In fact, this girl was a fan of the boy band Time Boys, so of course she knew Lin Yan. But after Lin Yan's public image collapsed and he left the group, she stopped paying attention to him.

Last weekend, she learned from Huibo that Lin Yan had started live-streaming her studies again, so she thought she would go and criticize her. However, after watching the live stream, she changed her mind.

Even more coincidentally, she saw the image of Xincheng No.1 Middle School uniform in the live broadcast, and after some inquiries, she actually found Lin Yan in Class 2 of the third year of high school.

So she mustered up her courage and asked for an autograph in person.

This scene was witnessed by many students in Class 2 of Senior Three. The boys assumed it was a confession of love and started making a fuss.

Lin Yan, his expression unreadable, asked, "Okay, where should I sign?"

The girl blushed amidst the teasing, handed over paper and pen, and said, "Sign in this notebook. I watched your live stream; your rendition of 'My Deskmate' was really good. When is your next live stream?"

"We'll see," Lin Yan wrote in his notebook.

"Oh, thank you."

The girl took the notebook and glanced at it. What she saw was written: "Study hard and make progress every day! Lin Yan."

Something feels off.