Cen Huai An was writing down what he had learned from the radio during this demolition project when he heard Jiang Zhida speak.

He looked up, waiting for him to continue.

“If you deceived your parents about something very important, and now your mom is forcing you to continue with it and wants you to provide evidence, what would you do?”

Cen Huai An lowered his head, continuing to take notes. “Uncle, the relationship is fake?”

“How could that be?! Our feelings are so strong!” Jiang Zhida immediately rebutted without thinking.

Cen Huai An looked up, his eyes fixed on him. “Uncle, you’re flustered. Looks like I guessed right.”

At that moment, Jiang Zhida hated Cen Huai An’s cleverness and stopped pretending.

Leaning back, he said, “Now, tell me, if it were you, how would you solve it?”

Cen Huai An replied, “I wouldn’t deceive my parents in the first place.” He spoke seriously.

Jiang Zhida: …

“Hypothetically, is that okay? Think about what you would do.”

“Make the fake real, or find a real one again.”

Cen Huai An didn’t think much before responding; those were his solutions.

“Oh, and another one: confess to my uncle and aunt.”

Jiang Zhida knew these methods too, but the problem was that they were hard to implement.

Rubbing his head in frustration, he said, “Forget it, forget it; it’s normal for you to not understand these things.”

Cen Huai An glanced at him, then lowered his head to continue taking notes. “Uncle, worrying is the most useless method.”

Jiang Zhida replied, “… Don’t speak anymore; you just know how to annoy me!”

Cen Huai’An fell silent.

When Chu Xia and Cen Zhengnian returned and heard about Jiang Zhida’s predicament, Chu Xia was taken aback.

No wonder Jiang Zhida found a partner in just two days; it turned out to be a “temporary partner” he rented.

She had the same idea as Cen Huaian. “In this situation, you don’t want your parents to know, so you only have these options.”

“Let me think; there are still two years.”

Cen Zhengnian said, “Two years is not a short time.”

Chu Xia smiled and said, “Right, Dazi, you could totally use these two years to find a real suitable partner.”

Jiang Zhida said hopelessly, “I’ll try my best.”

…

Cen HuaiAn started school again; he was now a senior-to-be.

As soon as he entered the school gate, he saw a banner with his name on it, announcing that he had won a gold medal at the IMO International Mathematical Olympiad.

Cen Huai An tried hard to ignore the banner as he passed through the big gate.

He thought to himself: Thankfully, people only focused on the name; not many knew him…

Before he could finish his thought, he heard Zhang Lu shout, “An An! Look at the banner at the entrance; it has your name on it!”

All the students around immediately turned their attention to him.

Cen Huai An: “…”

“Sis.” He looked at Zhang Lu with an exasperated expression.

Zhang Lu excitedly grabbed his arm, urging him to look. “Come see, you’ve brought great honor to our school this time!”

Cen HuaiAn pulled his hand away and said, “I’ve already seen it.”

He started walking toward the classroom, but Zhang Lu hurriedly followed him, chattering nonstop and asking about how it felt to win the IMO gold medal and bring glory to the country and the school.

“It doesn’t feel that special…”

He paused and continued, “It’s just that there are a lot of classmates watching me.”

Zhang Lu replied, “True, you’ve never liked being in the spotlight.”

The seniors started school early, along with students who were repeating the previous year.

Cen Huaian’s classmates from the math Olympiad class last year were either given direct admission or were preparing for the college entrance exam.

After the exam, they all entered their respective universities.

As a result, he hadn’t seen those classmates again at school.

Teacher Jiang had been looking forward to seeing Cen Huai An again after a summer break and immediately called him to the office.

“You must participate in this year’s city competition too. Do your best to bring glory to our school.”

From now on, various math competitions would be starting in the country, and Cen Huaian had already prepared to continue competing for another year.

“Teacher, I only want to participate in math competitions.”

Cen Huaian looked at the small stack of physics papers Teacher Jiang had taken out and said.

Teacher Jiang showed a regretful expression and tried to persuade him, “Your science subjects are also very good. Your physics teacher scolded me for being unfair, saying I occupied your time making you do math, leaving you no time for her physics tests. Otherwise, you would have definitely won a national physics competition first prize.”

Cen Huai An replied, “Teacher, you’re overestimating my abilities.”

With all the preparation for math Olympiads and regular math classes, Cen Huai’an had no time for himself and was unwilling to participate in physics competitions anymore.

Teacher Jiang, with an unchanged expression, put away the physics exam papers. “Since you don’t want to, you can go back.”

After all, he had said that if students chose not to study physics, it wasn’t his fault for not trying.

When Cen Huai’an returned to class, he was met with applause and congratulations from all his classmates.

The halo of bringing glory to the country made him an object of admiration for all the students.

The importance and difficulty of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) were well-known among high school students.

“An’an, I watched the entire live broadcast of your competition at home!”

Cao Gaocong excitedly turned to Cen Huai’an.

“Thank you for your support,” Cen Huai’an replied.

Cao Gaocong waved his hand dismissively. “It’s a school requirement; everyone in our school watched.”

“Everyone?” Cen Huai’an’s pupils widened as he looked at Cao Gaocong and asked, “All the teachers and students?”

“Yeah,” Cao Gaocong continued without realizing the significance, “My mom even told me that you’re amazing. She said if I could learn just a third of what you know, that would be enough!”

Cen Huai’an was still thinking about how the entire school watched his competition.

Now that he knew, he was sure he would uncontrollably remember that he was being watched by all the teachers and students during any future live competitions.

Time always flew by during study periods. In the blink of an eye, Cen Huai’an and the others had their three-day National Day holiday.

Before school ended, Cao Gaocong excitedly arranged to go out with Cen Huai’an and Chuxia.

“Should we go to the reservoir again?”

Zhang Lu looked at Cen Huai’an, who shook his head. “I already have other plans.”

Zhang Lu really didn’t know about Cen Huai’an’s plans; he hadn’t shared them with her.

She didn’t ask either, believing he would naturally tell her when he was ready.

“Then let’s go see a movie! I heard there’s a really good one recently.”

“What movie?” Cao Gaocong’s attention was indeed drawn in.

“God of Gamblers!” Zhang Lu exclaimed. “My friend told me that if I don’t see it, it would definitely be the biggest regret of the year!”

Cao Gaocong gave up on going to the reservoir and enthusiastically discussed going to see the movie with Zhang Lu.

“An’an, which day do you have free?”

Zhang Lu asked him quietly, “I’ll choose a time when you can join us.”

Cen Huai’an looked up at Zhang Lu, who was smiling at him and noticed his gaze, giving him a wink.

Cen Huai’an replied, “You guys don’t have to wait for me.”

Zhang Lu thought for a moment and said, “That won’t do. It wouldn’t be the same without you. If you’re not free during the National Day holiday, we can watch it after the holiday!”

Warmth surged in Cen Huai’an’s heart.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “I should have time on the afternoon of the last day of the holiday.”