My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Just as Zhang Qiang was struggling to find walnut brain troughs at the vegetable market.

The No. 1 Middle School staff quarters, fourth floor.

Chen Zhuo's home did not have the tense, oppressive atmosphere filled with formulas and calculations that Zhang Qiang had imagined.

in contrast.

He was huddled in bed, with only his eyes and hands showing.

He was holding a thick book with yellowed pages and a cover decorated with several small figures in ancient costumes.

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.

His glasses were casually tossed aside, next to a bag of Nanjing salted duck that had already been opened.

There's still half a bottle of Jianlibao left, and almost all the gas has evaporated.

This is what a nine-year-old boy should have a weekend like.

Ever since he entered Lao Zhou and Lao Zhao's den of iniquity, his brain has been like a server running 24/7, with its CPU constantly at 90% load.

For the past two weeks, he has been shuttling between the two training camps.

Arithmetic on Monday.

Calculate the electromagnetic field on Tuesday.

Wednesday will focus on combinatorial geometry, and Thursday will be dedicated to deriving variable mass dynamics.

His brain is indeed a sophisticated machine, but machines also need maintenance.

Chen Zhuo is preparing to change the channel.

Chen Zhuo watched with great interest.

Although it was a pirated copy and the handwriting was sometimes slightly blurred, it didn't stop Chen Zhuo from reading it with great interest.

Moreover, reading this kind of book doesn't require using your brain.

There's no need to deduce why this palm strike has the force of 500 jin, nor is there a need to calculate whether the parabola of the lightness skill conforms to the acceleration due to gravity.

Just enjoy it.

He turned a page of the book and sighed contentedly.

You don't need to worry about whether the damn integral converges or not, and you don't need to care whether the circuit diagram will short-circuit.

It's so nice to just watch the fun without having to think.

"Knock knock knock!!"

A series of urgent knocks sounded on the door.

The sound was so loud it sounded like someone was banging on the door with a hammer.

Immediately afterward, before Chen Zhuo could even respond, the doorknob was turned open.

A cold wind, carrying the smell of rain and earth, slipped in through the crack in the door, instantly dispelling the warm scent of the quilt inside.

"Brother Zhuo! Wake up! Something terrible has happened!"

A wet figure squeezed in.

It's Zhang Qiang.

This kid wasn't wearing his school uniform today; he was wearing a gray jacket instead.

He was emanating a chill, his hair was wet and stuck to his forehead, water dripping down from the ends.

But he was tightly clutching a black plastic bag in his arms, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he were escorting some state secret.

Chen Zhuo sighed, closed "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," and tucked it under his pillow.

He looked at this uninvited guest who had barged into his martial arts world with a bit of helplessness.

"Zhang Qiang, today is Sunday."

Chen Zhuo's voice was a little hoarse, as if he had just woken up.

"And it's only nine o'clock. You better tell me you're holding an alien skull, or I'll throw you out."

"Aliens? That's much more important!"

Zhang Qiang chuckled, completely disregarding Chen Zhuo's threat.

He plopped down on the chair next to Chen Zhuo's bed, carefully placed the black plastic bag on the desk, and then began to unbutton his jacket.

"I got up really early this morning and went to the South Gate vegetable market specifically for this thing."

As Zhang Qiang spoke, he mysteriously rubbed his frostbitten hands together.

"Brother Zhuo, you look terrible lately, as pale as a vampire. I heard from Aunt Wang next door that you're overworking your brain and your brain is being depleted too quickly. You need to replenish it."

Chen Zhuo rolled his eyes.

"Aunt Wang said last time that drinking mung bean soup can cure cancer, and you believed her? Besides, my face isn't as exaggerated as you say."

"It's better to believe it's true!"

Zhang Qiang untied the knot in the plastic bag.

Splash!

A pile of round, brownish-yellow things rolled out and covered half of the desk.

It's a walnut.

But this doesn't seem to be an ordinary walnut.

Chen Zhuo glanced at it.

It was a pile of dark, wrinkled walnuts that looked like stones.

"Walnut?"

Chen Zhuo was taken aback.

"You went out first thing in the morning, got all muddy, just to buy this thing?"

"These aren't ordinary walnuts!"

Zhang Qiang took out the ugliest and largest walnut and held it up in front of Chen Zhuo, as if showing off a treasure.

"These were all carefully selected by me! Scientifically proven!"

"Scientific certification?" Chen Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

"yes!"

Zhang Qiang took out the slightly bent plastic ruler from his pocket and waved it in his hand.

"I'll use this ruler to measure them one by one!"

"Anything less than 3 centimeters in diameter is rejected! It's underdeveloped!"

"Those who are all smooth on the surface are out! They're too naive and can't keep secrets!"

"Light and flimsy, out! That's a hollow radish!"

"The rest..."

Zhang Qiang pointed at the pile of misshapen and cracked dates, his face full of pride.

"These are the elite! They're the Einsteins of the walnut world! Brother Zhuo, if you eat these, your brain sulci will at least go two millimeters deeper! Seriously!"

Chen Zhuo looked at the pile of ugly walnuts.

Then I looked at Zhang Qiang's face, which was so serious it couldn't be more serious.

And that broken ruler that he treated like a sacred sword.

Chen Zhuo wanted to laugh.

He instinctively wanted to popularize science:

The idea that walnuts can improve brain function is a pseudoscience based on the principle of "like cures like."

The main components of walnuts are fat, protein, linoleic acid and phospholipids.

Although it is good for the brain, it has absolutely nothing to do with whether it looks like a brain or how deep its wrinkles are.

Furthermore, using a ruler to measure the "perfect roundness" and "depth of the lines" of walnuts is simply...

Neuropathy.

but.

The words were on the tip of Chen Zhuo's tongue, but he swallowed them back down.

He looked at the black ash on Zhang Qiang's nose and his hands, which were red from the cold wind.

This is Zhang Qiang's logic.

Clumsy, ridiculous, and not scientific at all.

But it's hot.

It's scalding hot.

"OK."

A smile appeared on Chen Zhuo's lips.

"Then let's try this Einstein of the walnut world."

"Okay!"

Zhang Qiang was excited.

He pulled out the two largest walnuts from the bag, one in each hand.

"Brother Zhuo, wait for me, I'll drive! I'm got the energy!"

Zhang Qiang took a deep breath, focused his energy in his dantian, and squeezed the two walnuts in his palms with all his might.

"Click... um..."

Zhang Qiang's face turned red.

The walnuts remained completely still.

These are walnuts from old trees, their shells are as thick as armored vehicles, no elementary school student could possibly crack them open with their bare hands.

"I...I don't believe it anymore!"

Zhang Qiang was not convinced, so he changed his posture, put his hands together, and continued to squeeze.

Aside from the painful chafing in my palm, the walnut remained perfectly intact.

"Alright, that's enough."

Chen Zhuo got out of bed, slipped on his slippers, and walked to the bedroom door.

He picked up two walnuts and walked to the door frame.

It was an old-fashioned wooden door, the hinges were a bit loose, and the gap in the door was just big enough to fit a walnut.

The crack in the door is the best nutcracker in the world.

Chen Zhuo stuffed the walnuts into the crack in the door near the hinge.

Chen Zhuo grasped the doorknob and gently pulled it inward.

"Snap!"

A crisp popping sound.

The "Einstein" that was just indestructible in Zhang Qiang's hands was instantly shattered into pieces.

Chen Zhuo let go and caught the falling walnut kernel.

The skin and flesh separated cleanly and efficiently.

"Give."

Chen Zhu handed the walnut kernels to Zhang Qiang.

"Eat."

Zhang Qiang was dumbfounded.

He looked at his hands, then at the door.

"Brother Zhuo... what's wrong with you...?"

"physics."

Chen Zhu picked up another one, and it snapped with a click.

"The Lever Principle, Chapter 1 of Grade 8 Physics."

He put the walnut kernel into his mouth.

I chewed it.

It's a bit astringent, with a hint of the rancid oil flavor unique to aged walnuts, but the aftertaste is very fragrant.

"Is it good?" Zhang Qiang asked.

"It's alright." Chen Zhuo nodded. "It smells quite good."

"That's right!"

Zhang Qiang immediately forgot his earlier embarrassment and started chuckling to himself.

"How could my choice not be delicious? It's full of brains... no, full of wisdom!"

......

It's still raining.

The lights inside the room were a warm yellow.

Two boys sat on the living room floor, with a pile of walnut shells in front of them.

"Brother Zhuo, how come that Xu Zhu is so lucky?"

Zhang Qiang chatted idly as he painstakingly picked out the walnut kernels.

"I just can't understand how he managed to break that intricate chess puzzle. I also wish I could receive seventy years of internal energy, so I wouldn't have to memorize those awful English words."

"That's a novel."

Chen Zhuo leaned back on the sofa, chewing on walnuts, and picked up the book "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" again.

"In reality, there is no Wuyazi, only Lao Zhou and Lao Zhao."

"and."

Chen Zhuo glanced at Zhang Qiang.

"The Zhenlong Chess Game is about putting yourself in a do-or-die situation to survive; you're just trying to get something for nothing."

"Oh, I was just thinking about it."

Zhang Qiang stuffed a large piece of walnut kernel into his mouth.

"Brother Zhuo, do you think if I eat this whole bag of walnuts, I'll be able to get into the top high school next year?"

Chen Zhuo looked at him.

"Eating only walnuts won't work."

"Huh? What else do we have to eat? Pig brains?"

"I still have to do practice questions."

Chen Zhuo pointed to Zhang Qiang's schoolbag.

"Take out your math workbook. Yesterday's distance-rate-time problem: Two people, A and B, start from point A and travel in opposite directions. You calculated that they eventually collided. How did that happen?"

Zhang Qiang's smile froze instantly.

"Brother...it's Sunday today..."

"You need to nourish your brain even on Sundays."

Chen Zhu swept the walnut shells into the trash can and clapped his hands.

"Walnuts are like hardware upgrades, while problem-solving is like software installation. If you only have hardware but no software, it's just a brick."

"Hurry up."

"Oh……"

Zhang Qiang, with a bitter face, reluctantly reached into his schoolbag.

But he wasn't actually averse to it.

He looked at Chen Zhuo's face, which was still calm but had clearly regained some color.

And there was that pile of crushed walnut shells.

He felt that the trip was worthwhile.

Forget about leverage principles, forget about calculus.

As long as Zhuo Ge is still willing to eat the walnuts he bought, still willing to call him stupid, and still willing to force him to do math problems.

Then there's no problem.

"Brother Zhuo, here's how I figured out the problem: Look, person A walks slowly, person B walks fast, and since the Earth is round, they'll eventually circle back, won't they..."

"Shut up. This is plane geometry, not a round-the-world trip."

"oh."

Outside the window, the rain gradually stopped.