"Sure." It took only three seconds for Jian Yue to reply firmly. She never thought she wouldn't be able to solve a basic middle school question. Whether it was English, math, or physics, and even chemistry, she had no problem tackling them.
Unaware, the little boy who had been sitting so still like a statue turned his head, looking at her confident back with a hint of thought in those abyss-like eyes.
Jian Yinchen almost laughed out loud, but he restrained his expression. He beckoned to one of the security guards.
"Can you get us a pen and some paper?"
Without further ado, the guard bowed and left to tend to their needs.
Within two minutes, the paper and pen were brought forward.
Jian Yinchen then took out a piece of paper from his pocket. It made you wonder if he had prepared it beforehand.
Feeling Jian Yue's gaze, he explained, "I couldn't solve these questions and brought them here with the hope of finding some teachers to help. But then, I forgot that I have a genius little cousin back at home. My bad."
His explanation seemed plausible enough, and Jian Yue didn't really care that much. It was just a middle school question, how hard can it be? She thought as she concentrated on the questions on the paper, sitting at the provided chair and table.
Her expression was serious, and everyone else wore relaxed expressions as they waited patiently. They were all reassured that she would solve the question as easily as 2 plus 2.
Jian Yue felt the same. After understanding the question, she began scribbling on the paper.
Her focused expression didn't falter. She would pause for a bit, then write, then pause again. She was so deeply concentrated that she actually flipped to the other side of the paper to continue solving.
"Yue'er, it's almost twenty minutes. Are you not done yet?" Xiao Xue tugged her gown, looking bored.
The little ones were beginning to get restless.
"I'm almost done." Without looking up, Jian Yue responded. She only needed some basic arithmetic before she'd be finished with the question.
But soon enough… she suddenly frowned and paused.
This pause, however, lasted longer than the others. Her brows furrowed even tighter, her hand clenched around the paper.
Her gaze shifted over the steps she had written, then back to the answer she was about to derive.
It's total nonsense. The realization jolted her heart, her eyes dilating at the discovery.
She couldn't solve the question!
"Yue'er, are you okay?" Jian Yinchen asked with concern, and Jian Yue raised her bloodshot eyes. It was a rarely seen expression, but Jian Yinchen wasn't surprised.
"Can't you solve it?" He glanced at the paper tightly clenched in her fingers. "Should I go get another paper for you?"
Without waiting, he asked the guards to bring several A4 sheets this time.
Jian Yue was unconvinced. She couldn't accept this. She had been working on the question for almost thirty minutes. Just when she thought she was close to the answer, so close, she realized all her steps had been wrong, and she was stuck so badly there seemed to be no way out—except to start over from the very beginning again.
Determined to solve it, she waited patiently for the papers to arrive, and soon, she began writing again.
This time, she blocked out every sound. Even the wind couldn't distract her. Her mind was razor sharp, filled only with mathematical equations.
This time around, she must solve it. She had to.
So she spent another fifteen minutes. Just as she was about to reach the final steps, she realized once again…
"Wrong." She muttered, her face turning red with both shock, disbelief and confusion. She had trouble regulating her breath as her chest heaved up and down.
"Yue'er, you can't solve the question?" Xiao Xue covered her mouth in shock, having clearly heard her friend's words. They had been standing here for almost an hour, and Yue'er still wasn't able to solve a single question?
Seeing Jian Yue neither admit nor deny it, the others' expressions shifted—confusion, shock, then excitement.
Turns out… Turns out…
Pei Lu, who had been hiding behind his brother, stuck out his head. "How dare you claim to be our leader when you can't even solve a simple middle school equation! All you ever do is lie and act arrogant!"
They say the greater the fame, the greater and easier the fall. If you're not popular, whether you trip or crash, no one would care. But if you're the center of attention—oh, imagine the spectacle when you stumble.
People's opinions are like the weather—capable of changing in an instant. Those who once looked at you favorably, once they turn, it's the opposite—drowning you in silence.
Such was the case now.
The highly revered genius who had supposedly left respected teachers in awe couldn't even solve a middle school question?