“Since Tan Mo found it from another source, it’d be the same as if Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi saw it while she wrote it,” Lin Fuxi assertively said. “Furthermore, it’d be more compelling if a mathematics major wrote it. After all, Tan Mo is from the Department of Finance.
“Allowing a finance major to be a representative of the Department of Mathematics and write the question would be like opening ourselves to mockery—letting them call us a pack of imbeciles!”
Lin Fuxi put on a faint smile as she stared at Professor Yao confidently.
“At any rate, I won’t go up even if Tan Mo did see it from somewhere else,” Chi Xuanzi insisted. “It was my lack of expertise that I couldn’t win against them. I should be ashamed of myself. Why didn’t I come across it when Tan Mo did? That just goes to show that I lack practice. If I were to study and explore more, I could’ve won the honor for us as a mathematics major.”
“She’s right.” Du Zeyang nodded. “This is Tan Mo’s work, and we have no part in it. This incident has taught me a lesson. It seems I’ve been a little too self-conceited of late when I’m only one of the top junior year students. Our strength is comparable to theirs, but this is insufficient. We need to have an overwhelming victory.”
“But Tan Mo won’t mind that at all.” Lin Fuxi did not expect these two mathematics majors to be this obstinate.
The headstrong duo refused to change their course of action.
“As we all agreed earlier, we should put the reputation of our university first when we’re outside of it. This has always been a virtue that we’re proud of. To uphold our name, especially the Department of Mathematics, I believe Tan Mo won’t hesitate to let either of you write the question.”
Lin Fuxi turned to glance at Tan Mo pretentiously. “Isn’t that right, Tan Mo? You said that yourself earlier.”
“If we were talking about upholding our reputation, then we should not even think about this. It’ll show us in a bad light. Chi Xuanzi and I will be humiliated.” Du Zeyang furrowed his brows in frustration.
Had Lin Fuxi always been such an annoying person?
Song Mingqi, who was watching from the sidelines, thought, ‘No wonder Tan Mo isn’t on good terms with Lin Fuxi.’
Lin Fuxi was an opportunist who would scourge others’ interests.
“Professor Yao, what do say you?” Lin Fuxi laid her eyes on Professor Yao.
Professor Yao was management-level personnel. He would always seek the university’s best interest, unlike Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi, whose actions were driven by their emotions.
“Tan Mo, did you see this question from another source or make it yourself?” Professor Yao asked.
Mr. Zhu knitted his eyebrows together.
Would they have to listen to Lin Fuxi if Tan Mo found that question somewhere?
Mr. Zhu glared at Lin Fuxi with disdain.
It was an embarrassing sight to behold with so many Beijing University students looking.
Who was Tan Mo’s class instructor? Why would they send a person with an awful personality like Lin Fuxi here?
It seemed he had to look for Tan Mo’s class instructor to have a nice talking-to and ensure that they should never let Lin Fuxi join in any events like this ever again.
Naturally, Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi gave their approval to that as well.
“I made it myself just a while ago,” Tan Mo answered.
“You mean you made it by yourself? Just like what we lecturers did for the test papers and quiz?” Professor Yao was taken aback.
“Yeah. This is pretty easy. I just needed to combine several formulas and make them a math problem. Oh, I can still make a few more. Do you want to see it?” Tan Mo looked at Professor Yao and turned her eyes to Lin Fuxi, who widened her eyes in astonishment.
How was that even possible?
How could Tan Mo make a math problem by herself?
Had combining formulas always been that simple?
If that were the case, she also knew a few formulas.
Even if there were more advanced-level formulas she was unfamiliar with, she could look them up on the Internet.
If such a feat were that simple, wouldn’t that mean everyone could make advanced math problems?
“If you don’t believe me, you can search it up online with your cellphones and see if you can find any result,” Tan Mo said. “If this question was made by someone else, you’ll definitely find it.”
“I’ve got nothing here.” Wei Haosong came up to them out of the blue. He had been doing a frantic search on Tan Mo’s question on the Internet for some time.
He had begun browsing on the web right after Lin Fuxi mentioned it.
“Professor Yao, please have a look.” Wei Haosong passed his cellphone to Professor Yao.
After glancing through it, a blank page could be seen on the mobile web browser. No result was found at all.
Lin Fuxi asked, “Can you let me see it?”
Professor Yao shot her a look and passed her the cellphone.
Lin Fuxi took Tan Mo’s tablet and compared every detail side by side—root and branch.
Upon seeing that, Wei Haosong rolled his eyes to the back of his head.
“How is it? Are you guys done with your discussion yet?” Peng Jiayou urged.
“Tan Mo, you may go ahead and write it out,” Professor Yao ordered. “After all, you’re the one who made this question.”
“I was just trying to prove that I was the one who made the math problem. In fact, it’d be more appropriate to let either Du Zeyang or Chi Xuanzi write it. At the very least, the Hua University team won’t have a chance to nit-pick about us.”
“No.” Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi shook their head simultaneously. “We won’t do that.”
Tan Mo giggled at the sight of it.
Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi were the archetypes of mathematicians.
They tend to be conventional and inflexible.
As detail-oriented and rigid individuals, they would not allow an error in the placement of decimal points, let alone taking credit for Tan Mo’s work.
“Alright, I’ll go.” Tan Mo bowed her head and walked past the crowd. “Stop rushing us. We’ve already done our preparation here.”
“What are you doing here?” Peng Jiayou asked, as expected from a mouthy person like him. “Aren’t you a finance major?”
“Imagine how frustrated you would be if I can defeat you as a finance major,” Tan Mo commented as she headed toward the whiteboard.
Peng Jiayou was at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, the whole classroom was filled with the sound of snickers.
A long blackboard was mounted on the wall in front of the classroom. A pull-down dry-erase board was installed before it so that professors and instructors could write more lecture notes on it.
For a professional-level match between Beijing University and Hua University, a piece of blackboard might not have been sufficient.
If they were running out of space to write on the blackboard, they could always pull the dry-erase board down to proceed.
After Tan Mo pulled the dry-erase board down a little, it retracted back into its hood.
The writings on the backboard had been wiped clean by the students in the classroom.
Just then, Tan Mo grabbed a piece of chalk and was about to write on the blackboard. Before she could do it, Guo Xiaohui jeered, “Are Beijing University’s mathematic majors just a bunch of losers? How can they let you, a finance major to stand up for them?”
“What are you talking about? Our Chinese literature majors are here as well,” Tan Mo sassed while playing dumb.
“Tan Mo, stop acting dumb,” Guo Xiaohui hissed, “Do your mathematics majors need to rely on you to cover their asses?”
“Do you even listen to yourself? Did you forget that your Chinese literature majors were defeated by me, a finance major?” Tan Mo mocked with a smirk.
Guo Xiaohui burst into anger upon hearing that.
No matter how far a conflict went, one should never exploit people’s vulnerabilities.
Yet, Tan Mo had been doing it to them with every word that came out of her mouth since she entered the classroom.
As it happened, Professor Jiao became embittered after recalling the event in which their Chinese literature majors suffered a crushing defeat in the Ancient Text Competition.
