Peng Jiayou didn’t even know when his hand that was holding the chalk had begun to sweat.
Indeed, the students and teachers from Beijing University had high moral principles.
As soon as Peng Jiayou grabbed the chalk, everyone from Beijing University shut their mouths.
It was frustratingly quiet for Peng Jiayou and meant that he would not have the chance to blame the people from Beijing University for distracting him.
For a short time, he unconsciously put too much strength into the fingers that were holding the chalk.
Suddenly, with a clear snap, the chalk broke in half.
“He broke the chalk, but he hasn’t even written a thing yet…” someone whispered.
The classroom was now eerily quiet.
It was as if everyone had focused their attention on Peng Jiayou solving the question that Tan Mo had written.
They were all curious as to whether the student from Hua University’s Department of Mathematics could solve the question.
That was why the whisper was so clear that everyone could hear.
Peng Youjia turned around and glared at the crowd.
Tan Mo blinked innocently and asked, “Why are you glaring at us? We didn’t say that.”
“He said it!” One of the high school students pointed at the male student sitting next to him.
“Yep! I said that.” The male student nodded with his head held high. “Hurry up and solve it!”
Since the male student wasn’t going to Hua University anyway, he didn’t mind if he offended a few of them.
From what he saw that day, his impression of Hua University was as low as it could get.
The male student then checked his phone and said, “It’s been 10 minutes. You should at least have a formula in your head already, right?”
“He’s right! Even if you don’t have the right formula, at least you still have a few options already to test them on, right?” a female high school student asked.
“Quiet!” Guo Xiaohui scolded the students who were talking nonsense. “Do you kids have no manners? Shut your traps when other people are solving a question.”
“But I didn’t see any of you from Hua University keeping your traps shut when the student from Beijing University was solving the question,” the male student challenged. “They still solved the question despite that, so doesn’t that mean you guys should be able to do the same too?”
Tan Mo was surprised to find an ally among the high school students.
As for Guo Xiaohui, there was nothing she could say to refute that.
Peng Jiayou gritted his teeth. Even though he had no idea where to start, he began to write on the board to pretend that he knew it.
At least it would make him look like he was doing something.
Fortunately, the high school students hadn’t learned about the question on the blackboard yet, so they didn’t know anything about it.
Unfortunately, Peng Jiayou wasn’t able to hide it from the students from Beijing University and Hua University, especially those from the Department of Mathematics.
Both Professor Jiao and Professor Yao also noticed it. The former had a deep frown on his face.
Professor Yao didn’t even try to hide the smug look on his face.
He knew that even if he didn’t turn to look at Professor Jiao, his peer from the other university would still turn to look at him.
The moment Professor Jiao turned his head, the first thing he saw was the mocking expression on Professor Yao’s face.
“We should all give Peng Jiayou some time,” Tan Mo addressed the whole class with a smile and her soft voice. “Even though they weren’t displaying their best manners when we were answering the question, we shouldn’t steep as low as them, right? An excellent person should know what good manners are.”
“Tan Mo!” Professor Jiao scolded, unable to believe that Tan Mo would dare to insult their university in front of them.
“Did Tan Mo say something wrong?” Professor Yao stood up. “I haven’t scolded your student for being mannerless kids. Why are you yelling at Tan Mo?”
Seeing that Professor Jiao wasn’t going to refute, Professor Yao continued, “If you want to keep this on and interrupt your student solving the problem, then go on. I’m not the one that’s in a pinch here.”
As Professor Yao spoke, he tilted his head up a little.
It was then that Professor Yao finally experienced the feeling that the Department of Chinese Literature had back at the Ancient Text Competition.
It was an addictive feeling.
It felt as if they were invincible, and there was nothing for them to worry about.
Seeing the angry and desperate expression on Professor Jiao’s face only made Professor Yao happier.
They finally had a chance to make Hua University lose so bad that not one of them could even say anything.
It was a great feeling.
Professor Yao couldn’t help but praise President Mu silently in his head.
Sending Tan Mo to Jiaoyuan City was definitely the right choice.
To be more precise, inviting Tan Mo to Beijing University was the best and smartest choice that President Mu had ever made.
“Shush…” Tan Mo pushed her index finger on her lips and whispered, “Please give Peng Jiayou here a great environment to answer the question. It’ll save us the trouble of them blaming us for interrupting him and not because he didn’t know how to do it.”
“You’re right!” The rest of the students agreed.
Even if they wanted to trash-talk the people from Hua University, they held the urges in.
They had decided to wait until Peng Jiayou either finished answering the question or gave up before they said anything. Otherwise, they would’ve been the ones to get blamed.
Just like that, the whole class returned to the eerily silence.
The level of silence was comparable to the time the students were preparing for the graduation exams when the turning of pages and writing on papers could be heard.
Peng Jiayou was completely rendered speechless.
The silence only made him feel more pressure. He could not think of anything to write on the board.
Just like that, half an hour had passed.
Peng Jiayou kept deducing the question. No matter what he did, he didn’t get anywhere close to the answer.
Both Du Zeyang and Chi Xuanzi were also doing calculations in their heads and could not solve them.
Professor Yao frowned and asked, “How long more do we have to wait? Are you expecting us to wait until nightfall? Is this ever going to end?”
Professor Jiao could only stay quiet as he could not argue with his peer.
To be frank, even Professor Jiao was getting restless.
If Peng Jiayou had started to solve the question, the professor wouldn’t have been this restless as long as there was a progression.
The problem was that Peng Jiayou didn’t know how to solve it.
The algorithm he had written on the board was gibberish. It was a total embarrassment.
“Tan Mo, if it was you, how long would it take for you to solve it?” Mr. Zhu suddenly asked.
“Around 15 minutes,” Tan Mo said without thinking twice.
“Tan Mo! Even if you want to embarrass us, you don’t need to lie by saying you could do it in 15 minutes!” Pang Xinlu scoffed.
She thought Tan Mo was lying.
Even Professor Jiao had an angry expression on his face, unable to believe that Tan Mo would boast that big.
“I created this question. Do you really think I wouldn’t know how to crack it? I built the question on top of the answer,” Tan Mo said. “Fifteen minutes is considered slow in my opinion.”
