Chapter 57
Although the open space in front of Qingzhu Academy was spacious, there were still restrictions area, which was not enough for dozens of people to dance at the same time. Therefore, after the heads of each academy drew lots, they were divided into three groups.

After the grouping, the musicians from Qingzhu Academy started playing their instruments.

After Laobuyu explained, Shen Cui learned that today’s test was “Da Hui,” which was said to have been created during the time of King Cheng Tang and used to worship the Zhou Dynasty’s founding ancestor, Jiang Yuan.

This was the first time Shen Cui had seen such a large-scale dance.

At first glance, she was quickly attracted by the solemn and classical beauty of this dance, as if she had really watched a solemn and grand ritual.

It wasn’t until the second group came on stage that Laobuyu’s voice brought her back to reality, “Where is that young man who is proficient in mathematics? Why isn’t he here yet?”

In the previous two matches, Cuiwei Academy had performed well, and his senior brother had not looked over here at all, as if he didn’t know him.

Before that, Zaifu brought a lottery drum for the heads of each academy to draw lots and determine the order of appearance. Shen Cui directly announced their forfeiture. Later, when Zaifu conveyed this news, Ling Qingming intentionally or unintentionally glanced over several times.

Although the two were very far apart and couldn’t see each other’s expressions clearly, Lao Buyu vaguely felt that the other party was staring at him.

“If he doesn’t come, then I’ll compete in the ‘mathematics’ match myself.” Lao buyu patted his butt, his expression both fearful and determined.

He had seen the efforts of these two children during this period. They were protecting him, so as their teacher, he could not let them down and must ensure that they pass the preliminary test.

Of course, if he really dared to go and compete with those elementary school students, it would already be considered absurd, and his senior brother’s beating with a cane would definitely be unavoidable.

Mu Er Pang and Wei Xi were naturally unhappy when they heard this. They were about to say that it didn’t matter if they didn’t advance to the next round when Shen Cui said, “The young man may have been stopped outside. I’ll go out to find him and take a trip to the restroom.”

After giving instructions, Shen Cui came down from the stands.

Because there had never been such a grand dance performance in the small town, at this time, the crowd of onlookers outside the circle was not only scholars but also many ordinary people who came to watch the excitement.

It took Shen Cui quite some effort to squeeze through to the supervisor who was maintaining order.

Today, among the people from the academies who came to participate in the competition, although there were many, Shen Cui was still the only woman, so the supervisor remembered her.

Seeing her, the supervisor said, “Is… the head looking for the young man who was supposed to come later? No one has mentioned the name of your academy.”

Shen Cui replied, “Yes, perhaps he was blocked by the crowd. I’m going out to look for him.”
Later, she and the “young man” would definitely not appear at the same time, so Shen Cui was afraid that the supervisor would not remember clearly. She described the “young man’s” physical characteristics and attire in detail, and asked the supervisor to let him in when he saw him.

After thanking him politely, Shen Cui left the competition venue.

Everyone’s attention was focused on the dance inside the venue, and no one paid attention to her. She wandered around and found a secluded dead end, then confirmed with the system: “Are there no people nearby?”

“Confirmed. The host has at least fifteen minutes to change appearance.”

Shen Cui first took out the scholar’s robe and began to take off her spring clothes. When she changed clothes and bathed, she would either block the system or the system would avoid it on its own, but this time, she would definitely need to use the system for disguise.

Since there was no avoiding it, the system immediately said, “It’s better for the host not to do this outside. I’ll activate a one-click change outfit function for you.”

So Shen Cui didn’t have to take off and put on clothes again. She just clicked to use it like a dressing-up game and put on the ordinary scholar’s robe she had designed.

After changing clothes, Shen Cui bought an appearance-changing pill from the system.

Before taking it, Shen Cui checked the data she had set again and found something wrong.

Among all the data that could be set, there was no setting for the voice.

Without being able to change her voice, wouldn’t she reveal herself as soon as she spoke?

Seeing that she had noticed, the system didn’t hide it anymore and said directly, “The appearance-changing pill, of course, only has the effect of changing appearance. Of course, there are other things in the system that can help the host.”

After speaking, the system sent her a popup window and pushed a “Voice Mimicking Pill.” The price was also 500 points.

Since August, Shen Cui had consciously been accumulating shopping points, and the system hadn’t set any crazy consumption traps again. She still had about 1000 shopping points.

Although she had enough points on hand, the final test might not be until tomorrow. It would be more than 12 hours before her new identity appeared for the second time. Among the 500 points, she was saving them to buy the second appearance-changing pill.

If she bought two pills at once for both times, her pocket would really be cleaned out by the system!

The system also felt a little guilty, and its voice was even softer than usual: “Don’t be angry. I saw that you didn’t ask before, so I didn’t suggest it to you. 500 points is indeed not cheap, but think about the reward for winning the final test…”

With limited time, Shen Cui couldn’t be bothered to argue with it. She directly switched to the face shaping interface, removed her tongue, and then took the pill.

In the blink of an eye, Shen Cui’s figure disappeared, and the person standing in her place turned into a slim young boy.

She didn’t have any discomfort, except that her mouth felt a little strange—losing a tongue suddenly, although there was no real pain, must have been uncomfortable. But Shen Cui would rather be mute than fall into the system’s consumption trap again!

Shen Cui didn’t bring a mirror, so she found a puddle on the roadside to check her appearance. Her figure, features, and even hairstyle were completely identical to the data she had set in the system.

After tidying up, she cautiously observed the alley for a while, confirmed that there was no one nearby, and then walked back into the crowd.

After some effort, Shen Cui squeezed her way to the supervisor. Although she couldn’t speak now, when she designed the scholar’s robe, she also embroidered a mark of Cuiwei Orchid on the chest of the robe. Seeing “him,” the supervisor immediately said, “Your Academy leader just came out to look for you. Hurry in, don’t miss the match.”

Shen Cui respectfully thanked him and bowed like a scholar.

After letting “him” in, the supervisor and the people next to him laughed, “I thought that female Academy leader’s description was lacking. Describing someone as having ‘neither fair nor dark skin, neither big nor small eyes, neither tall nor short nose, neither square nor round face, the most ordinary appearance’… Isn’t that just a white description? Hey, I didn’t expect someone to really look like that. Such a truly ordinary face.”

When Shen Cui arrived, the second group of musicians had just finished dancing, and the third group was about to start.

Although she knew the location of her own stand, she still pretended to look around and finally arrived in front of Lao Buyu and the others.

Although her scholar’s robe was different from the Cuiwei school uniform, it had the same emblem embroidered on it. Lao Buyu naturally recognized the teenager in front of him as the foreign aid, just like the supervisor did, at a glance.

Although he had complained that “he” was late, Lao Buyu would definitely not blame the younger generation when he really saw him.

He just said, “The Academy leader went to look for you. Maybe you missed each other because of the crowd. Sit down and rest first.”

Later, Lao Buyu’s gaze involuntarily fell on “his” right hand, which was turned outward half, and he thought it was no wonder he had a high mathematical attainments but wrote like that. It turned out that there was some inconvenience with his body.

With just a glance, Lao Buyu quickly looked away and began to ask “him” where he was from, how old he was, and what his name was.

Shen Cui opened her mouth directly, showed him her tongueless mouth, smiled apologetically, and then wrote her name on her palm to show him.

“Zhang Sheng, from Liaocheng, fourteen years old.” Lao Buyu looked at the words “he” wrote and felt sorry. He only felt that it was unfair of fate to give “him” a clever brain but burden “him” with a disability.

No wonder this mathematical prodigy couldn’t find a school to affiliate with. Most scholars nowadays pay attention to face, like his senior brother. Even the other small academies in the county would probably feel embarrassed by “him” and would not waste resources on such a young man who was destined not to pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Although the boy in front of him had a very ordinary figure and appearance, he was nowhere to be seen in the crowd, but his smile was sincere. He showed his shortcomings to others without reservation, without becoming gloomy or self-deprecating because of his disability.

At such a young age, with such high mathematical attainments, and such a broad mind, even Lao Buyu, who considered himself experienced in the world, felt inferior!

His emotions fluctuated, and he couldn’t help but shed tears, which also made Mu Er Pang, who was sincere, and Wei Xi, who was emotionally sensitive, tear up.

Shen Cui was dumbfounded. How could she have thought that her attempt to save money would actually make Lao Buyu and the two children cry?!

But they also knew that they shouldn’t show such emotions in front of the teenager, so they quickly adjusted their emotions and sent tea and snacks to “him” as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, the third round of dancing ended quickly. After the judges gave their scores, it was time for the fourth round of the competition.

“The fourth round, ‘Mathematics’!”

As soon as Ling Qingming announced it, Shen Cui stood up, bowed to Lao Buyu, and indicated that she was leaving.

Afraid that Lao Buyu would cry again, Shen Cui immediately left after bowing.

When she was watching from the sidelines earlier, Shen Cui was already nervous. Now that she was going on stage, she needed to perform herself, and her palms were sweating.

The dozens of scrolls were brought over by the supervisors again. After Shen Cui queued up and sat down, she took a few deep breaths, then turned her head to look at her own stand—

Seeing Lao Buyu, Mu Er Pang, and Wei Xi, she felt a little relieved.

Soon, the test papers were handed out.

The content of the preliminary exam was indeed simple, just following the outline of “Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.”

There were a total of nine questions, corresponding to “Square Fields,” “Millets,” “Diminishing Shares,” “Fractional Widths,” “Trade Profits,” “Equal Shares,” “Surplus and Deficiency,” “Equations,” and “Gougu.”

The types of questions had not changed, just the numbers were different from the examples in the book.

With such simple questions, the competition was definitely about speed.

Along with the test papers, several sheets of draft paper were also handed out.

Shen Cui certainly didn’t need the draft paper. First, she was not proficient in using a brush, and second, she was already used to the online courses in her brain by the system—simulating her own Q-version character in her mind, with a classroom, a desk, and various stationery.

Of course, the system didn’t make it easy for her. Before the gong rang and announced the start of the exam, the little person in Shen Cui’s mind couldn’t move, just like the other students in the room, she could only read the paper.

In an instant, the gong rang, and the exam began!

The room fell silent again, only the sound of people writing and calculating could be heard.

Shen Cui closed her eyes, and the little person in her mind began to calculate quickly on the desk.

Ling Qingming and the other judges continued to patrol the exam room. When they came to “him” again, they found that “he” hadn’t moved. Naturally, they slowed down their pace and took a few more glances.

When they saw the mark of the Cuiwei Orchid on the teenager’s robe, Ling Qingming looked at the direction of Lao Buyu’s stand with a bit of annoyance—his junior brother was really inconsiderate. The Cuiwei performed well in the first two rounds, so he thought Lao Buyu had changed for the better. He didn’t expect Cuiwei to forfeit in the third round… The fourth round was probably too embarrassed to forfeit again, so he randomly put someone here to bluff!

But this was also good. Ling Qingming rubbed his fingertips and was already thinking about how to use the cane passed down by his teacher.

Lost in thought, Ling Qingming continued to patrol the exam room. When he turned to Shen Cui again, “he” suddenly opened his eyes and moved.

They saw “him” awkwardly pick up the pen with his oddly shaped palm, dip it in ink, and instead of using the draft paper, write the answers directly on the test paper.

One question, two questions, three questions… “He” actually finished all nine questions in one go, and then raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to hand in the paper!