My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chen Zhuo swallowed the watermelon.

He put down his fork.

Pick up the pencil with the eraser that Zhang Qiang had just thrown on the coffee table.

He leaned forward.

He moved closer to Zhang Qiang's exam paper, which was covered in sweat stains.

The pencil tip landed on the word problem about the meeting of cars A and B.

There was no lengthy explanation.

I didn't write out those tedious equations.

Chen Zhuo simply drew a straight vertical line on the simple diagram that accompanied the title.

The half hour spent repairing vehicle A was separated out.

"During the half hour that car A was being repaired, car A did not move."

Chen Zhuo's voice was soft, but clear in the quiet living room.

"But during that half hour, car B was moving."

The pencil tip drew a distance along the route of car B.

"Calculate the distance traveled by car B in the past half hour."

"Subtract it from the total distance."

The pen tip crossed out a section of the total path.

"The remaining distance."

Chen Zhuo connected the two ends with a pencil.

"They ran together."

"The meeting problem becomes a meeting problem of people who start at the same time."

Chen Zhuo finished speaking.

Place the pencil gently next to the exam paper.

He leaned back on the sofa, picked up his fork, and took a second bite of watermelon.

Zhang Qiang was still chewing on a piece of watermelon.

His cheeks were puffed out.

He stared at the vertical line drawn by Chen Zhuo on the exam paper.

I watched for ten seconds.

His eyes didn't blink.

Sudden.

Zhang Qiang swallowed the watermelon in his mouth in one gulp.

He slapped his thigh.

It made a crisp snapping sound.

Holy crap!

"It's that simple?!"

Zhang Qiang quickly grabbed a pencil.

He didn't even bother wiping the watermelon juice from the corner of his mouth.

He quickly grabbed the pencil from the table.

He leaned over the coffee table and quickly wrote down equations on a piece of scrap paper.

The total distance minus half an hour's journey for car B.

Divide by the sum of the speeds of the two vehicles.

Add that half hour.

Less than two minutes.

Zhang Qiang raised his head.

His round face turned bright red.

"I've figured it out! It's two and a half hours!"

He stared at Chen Zhuo, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I just set up three unknowns and wrote a system of three linear equations, and after solving it for ages, all I got were negative numbers. You just drew a line and it worked?"

Chen Zhuo pushed up his glasses.

"Arithmetic methods are sometimes more direct than algebraic methods."

"Algebra is machine thinking, arithmetic is logical thinking."

He looked at Zhang Qiang's excited face.

"The entrance exam for junior high school tests your thinking skills, not your rote calculations."

He stretched out his hand.

He pointed to the word problems at the back of the test paper.

"Keep going."

Zhang Qiang stared at Chen Zhuo, his round face turning red, and shouted a righteous and heroic cry.

"When school starts, I'll go to your class and be your deskmate! Let's see who dares to push you in the cafeteria then!"

Chen Zhuo was still holding the iron fork he used to eat watermelon.

Upon hearing this, he stopped eating the watermelon.

He looked at the fat man in front of him, who was 1.5 meters tall, weighed over 130 kilograms, and was sweating profusely, still worrying about being bullied.

Chen Zhuo did not speak immediately.

He lowered his head slightly, and the corners of his mouth, which were originally straight, couldn't help but curve upwards a little.

He pulled out a tissue and wiped his hands.

He spoke in a very soft tone.

"The junior high school section of the No. 1 Middle School has separate teaching buildings for grades 7 and 8."

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang.

"There's a large playground between us, so we can't be deskmates."

Zhang Qiang was stunned.

His burning passion instantly caught in his throat.

The flesh on his round face twitched, and he suddenly realized what was happening.

Yes, my brother skipped a grade and entered junior high at the age of nine. He will be in junior high in the second half of the year.

Even though I worked my butt off to get in, I'm only a first-year junior high student.

There's always a grade gap between them.

"……Grass."

Zhang Qiang awkwardly scratched his prickly short hair, his ears turning red.

The boastful words I just uttered.

*Splat*

It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

I didn't even hear a sound.

He lowered his head in frustration, looking at his exam paper, his pen aimlessly poking at the draft paper, leaving black dots.

The room was silent for two seconds.

The only sound is the air conditioner blowing air.

Chen Zhuo picked up the Zhonghua pencil with the eraser tip.

The end of the pen tapped lightly on the back of Zhang Qiang's hand.

not heavy.

"However, the No. 1 Middle School only has one large canteen."

Chen Zhuo looked at the exam paper, but not at Zhang Qiang.

"I really like the sweet and sour pork ribs stall on the second floor. There's always a long line after class. In the second year of junior high, get out of class ends late, so I figured I wouldn't be able to get any."

Zhang Qiang's hand, which was poking at the draft paper, stopped.

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes instantly lighting up.

"I can get it!"

Zhang Qiang shook off his earlier embarrassment, and his excited voice rose eight octaves.

"Grade 7 students finish school early!"

"As soon as the bell rings, I don't even pack my bag; I sprint up to the second floor!"

"With my size!"

As he spoke, he patted his broad chest forcefully.

"I just stood by the window and blocked the view!"

"I am a mountain! No one can push me out!"

Zhang Qiang became more and more excited as he spoke, even gesturing wildly.

"Sweet and sour pork ribs for lunch from now on."

"I'll take it all!"

"I'll give you as many pieces as you want!"

"Just come to the cafeteria on the second floor after class and pick up your lunchbox from me. I'll even wash your chopsticks!"

Chen Zhuo pushed up his glasses.

The pencil drew a circle on the next word problem.

A very round circle.

"Um."

He said.

"Then hurry up and do this question. The pork ribs stall doesn't sell to people who can't pass the exam."

Chen Zhuo tapped the circle with the tip of his pen.

Zhang Qiang chuckled foolishly twice, grabbed a pen, and almost lowered his head to the test paper, writing with such force that he seemed to want to tear the paper apart.

He did not mention the school construction fee again.

The pencil made a scratching sound on the draft paper.

The sound was louder than ever before.

Chen Zhuo watched his retreating figure.

Swallow the last piece of watermelon.

He didn't speak.

He simply reached out and took a piece of white paper from the side, and picked up a red ballpoint pen.

I started writing down the key points I was going to cram for Zhang Qiang tonight.

A breeze blew from the air conditioner, causing the draft paper on the corner of the table to flutter slightly, carrying a hint of watermelon sweetness.

outside the window.

The May sun gradually slanted downwards.