Chapter 46

There were two invigilators, one female and one male. Neither of them was from the Second School of Qing Cheng. In fact, no invigilators were from the school they were assigned to so as to minimize the chances of cheating.

One thin question sheet and two pieces of answer sheets had been distributed. But no one was allowed to start writing before the scheduled time.

As it was a math exam, few problems could be done without any draft working.

Hence, before the bell rang, all of the candidates were staring at the question sheet intensely, albeit unable to figure out any answer with mental calculation alone.

But Cheng Nuo was different from those ordinary mortals.

“a1=1, a2=8…”

With a simple glance, a few sets of numbers had been registered in his brain and calculations had kick-started.

First problem, C; second problem, A; third problem…

Although he couldn’t write down anything, he was able to arrive at the answers at almost the usual speed.

Ring!

The bell marked the start of the exam.

All the students picked up their pens at once, scribbling their thought process on the draft sheet.

“C, A, C, D, A, B, B, C, A, C.”

Meanwhile, Cheng Nuo instantly shaded all the answers on the answer sheet.

After that, within two minutes, he had completed the five multiple choice problems effortlessly.

“Easy!” Cheng Nuo let out a sigh of relief.

It seemed that Ge Jun hadn’t unleashed his full power this time. But thinking about it, it made perfect sense. This was only a mock exam—of course Ge Jun wouldn’t use his trump cards.

Speaking of which… “Don’t let me down in the Gaokao this year, Uncle Ge!” Cheng Nuo thought.

Cheng Nuo flipped the test over. The noise attracted the attention of those around him.

The student sitting next to him across the aisle couldn’t help but frown as if his train of thought had been disrupted by the flipping sound. He slightly tilted his head and shot a look of distaste at Cheng Nuo.

Cheng Nuo had certainly noticed that.

He smiled at the guy and flipped his test loudly again.

He flipped it over and over as if he was obsessed with this action.

The guy was dumbfounded. He snorted coldly and returned his attention to his test.

“Hmph, another idiot trying to show off during the exams.”

To him, Cheng Nuo was probably the kind of person described in a post popular among the teens back then.

The post said that at the start of the exam, one had to flip the test loudly so that the entire exam hall knew that he was moving on to the next page. This would mess up the thought processes of other candidates. It was also advisable to smash your pen on the table and start drinking water in gulps as if no one were around. When you were halfway through the exam, you had to slap your thighs and shout “OMG they reused a problem from a past year!” In the end, in the last 30 minutes, you could let out a deep breath and start shaking your legs. For bonus effects, you could then glance around at other students who were still struggling with the problems, submit the test and leave with a sigh.

This way, although you might not be able to do the problems, you could pretend that you could.

Cheng Nuo’s loud flipping sounds caught the invigilators’ attention.

The male teacher slowly strolled behind Cheng Nuo while holding a teacup in his hands.

After a brief glance at Cheng Nuo’s answer sheet, the teacher’s brows knitted together.

At that time, Cheng Nuo had already reached the second long-structured problem. His speed was incredible.

The teacher was a math teacher too, so he knew how fast students could manage the problems.

He checked the time. It was 3:05 PM, which meant the exam had only started five minutes ago. Most of the students should be struggling with the second or the third multiple choice problem at the moment.

But this student had almost completed half of the test!

At first, the teacher suspected that Cheng Nuo might have started with long-structured problems. But soon he noticed that all the blanks in the first two sections had been filled in!

The teacher was shocked.

“Could he be guessing his answers?” the teacher thought. Hence, out of curiosity, the teacher compared Cheng Nuo’s answers with the student’s behind him.

To his surprise… All of Cheng Nuo’s answers were correct! At least they agreed with the other student’s.

The teacher turned back to check which problem Cheng Nuo was doing now. Wah! He was already at the fourth long-structured problem! So fast!

The teacher was in disbelief.

“How?!”

The teacher believed that even he himself wouldn’t be able to reach the same speed and level of accuracy as Cheng Nuo if he were to sit for the exam himself.

It seemed there was a genius hidden in the Second High School of Qing Cheng!

In order to calm himself down, the teacher walked around the exam hall a few times.

When he walked back to Cheng Nuo… WTH! He was only left with the last two problems! Unbelievable!

The teacher had to admit that he’d never seen a single student smarter than this after more than a decade of teaching.

Cheng Nuo smiled when he read the last two problems.

So easy!

Cheng Nuo hadn’t gotten stuck at any problem so far. He felt that all the problems on this test were as simple as “1+1=2”.

He could arrive at the answer within seconds once the numbers had been combined and manipulated in his brain.

Now Cheng Nuo was doing a problem on the ellipse.

The teacher saw that after a few seconds of thinking time, Cheng Nuo had begun to write on the answer sheet without using the draft sheet at all.

As Cheng Nuo wrote on, the teacher followed his steps closely.

“Oh. Just the conventional method. Nothing special.”

The teacher had finally gained back his confidence as a teacher.

However… when he saw Cheng Nuo write down “2nd method” on the test, he knew that he had been defeated!

The teacher looked at Cheng Nuo and sighed, deeply impressed.

“Oh, take a look at his perfect answer! My dear God, he should be awarded a trophy in recognition of his mathematical talent!”

Cheng Nuo had written down the second solution because he was bored. He would have written the third method too if there had been more space on the answer sheet.

Then Cheng Nuo moved on to read the last problem of the test.

“OMG they reused a problem from a past year!”

His sudden exclamation echoed in the quiet exam hall.

Shocked, all of the students turned around to look for the culprit with anger in their eyes.

The male teacher was even more tragic. He had been standing right behind Cheng Nuo, reading Cheng Nuo’s steps for the previous problem. He almost toppled his teacup when Cheng Nuo suddenly cried out.

The student next to him let out a cold laugh from across the aisle.

“As expected, you would certainly say that so that you can pretend to be a true genius. Luckily, I already knew your script.”

Then he turned to look at the invigilator behind Cheng Nuo and snorted again. “The invigilator is right behind you. I’m afraid you’ll be asked to leave the exam hall at once.

“It’s called karma!”