Chapter 61
After the papers were handed out, everyone helped to copy them, and the final round of the small competition started quickly.

Shen Cui went up, and the referee handed out the freshly dried papers one by one.

It was still the process of nearly fifteen minutes of reading and not moving.

The difficulty of this paper can be said to have greatly increased. For example, “two mice passing through,” “sweeping the cup on the river”… Not only were there examples from the “Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art,” but also from the “Sunzi Suanjing,” “Xiahou Yang Suanjing,” and “Zhang Qiujian Suanjing.”

Shen Cui, of course, couldn’t pinpoint which book each question corresponded to, but mathematics, in general, doesn’t change much. The core principles are similar.

‘He’ went through each question one by one, and in his mind, he already had a rough idea of how to solve them.

When he saw the last question, he first translated the obscure ancient text into modern text in his mind—

It said there was a person who was good at running and was running around a small city at a constant speed. Near this small city, there were stations at regular intervals, and a carriage would depart from each station at the same interval.

Every one-third of an hour, which is 5 minutes, a carriage from a station behind him would pass by. Every one-third of a half-hour, which is 20 minutes, a carriage would approach from in front of him.

If the carriages also traveled at a constant speed and did not stop before reaching the next station, then what is the interval between the carriages departing from these stations?

At first glance, this question was already very tricky. Naturally, it caught Shen Cui’s attention.

But using equations, there were four unknowns: the distance between adjacent carriages L, the speed of the carriage v1, the speed of running v2, and the interval time t.

She still had some ideas about it.
Soon, the referee struck the bronze gong, signaling the start of the answer session. Knowing that the last question was the most difficult, Shen Cui deliberately sped up while answering the previous questions, then checked her work afterwards.

After finishing all the calculations, she first wrote down the answers and then focused on the last question with the remaining time.

In the eyes of Ling Qingming and others, ‘he’ was once again like last time, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep as soon as he got the paper. After a short while, he wrote down many answers in one go.

And once again, all the written answers were correct!

Ling Qingming then looked at the students from his own academy not far away. They were far behind in speed and used more draft paper, still deeply engrossed in their calculations.

But what slightly reassured Ling Qingming was that the young man in front of him didn’t write the last question!

Sure enough, the question from the old headmaster was indeed a bit difficult. And the young man in front of him was not clever enough to solve it.

After another two quarter-hours, the other students in the field finished the previous questions one after another and began to tackle the last difficult question.

The old headmaster had also walked around the exam room and found that no one had answered his question. Even ‘Zhang Sheng,’ who had performed the best in the previous round, was stuck. He couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful and sorry.

People, old or young, always have a childlike side. As they age, their minds tend to regress.

The question he posed, although it was a spur-of-the-moment idea, also represented the current situation of the academies, focusing only on the imperial examination and neglecting mathematics, which was not examined. In the past, there used to be mathematics academies, and mathematics was not a minor subject. But now, with the imperial examination no longer emphasizing this subject, mathematics has declined, and few people pay attention to it.

Although he had agreed with the other judges to make it an additional question, if none of the students could answer it, it would show that his question was inappropriate—after all, setting questions also requires skill. The purpose is not to stump the students but to distinguish their levels.

Given his status and age, the other judges and the headmaster would not criticize him. It was just that, amidst his regret, he felt somewhat embarrassed.

The old headmaster’s cheeks behind his beard were slightly red. Just as he was about to move to a less crowded place, Shen Cui opened her eyes again, wrote down the final answer on the paper, and then raised her hand to indicate that she wanted to submit her paper!

After the paper was collected, Shen Cui didn’t look at the reactions of the judges and immediately went off the field to rest.

The last question was winding and twisted. It took a lot of brainpower, and she had to use a system of three linear equations to solve it. She experienced the pain of being beaten by math problems, feeling like she had returned to her school days.

If the difficulty increased further and required high school math knowledge, Shen Cui really didn’t have the confidence to solve it. After all, how many adults who had graduated for many years could study hard for three months and return to their high school peak?

She had indeed underestimated the difficulty of ancient mathematical problems.

Lao Buyu, Mu Er Pang, and Wei Xi were waiting by the side, and when they saw that ‘he’ looked a bit pale, they all had a bad premonition.

To reassure everyone, Shen Cui patted her chest again and gave a thumbs up.

As a result, the smiles on everyone’s faces became genuine, and they warmly welcomed him back to the stands.

Shen Cui sank into the armchair, and at this time, no one else had submitted their papers yet, which meant that no one had solved the last question by now.

No one submitted their papers early after this round of the competition, and it wasn’t until the end of the exam time that the referee collected everyone’s papers and handed them to the judges.

Shen Cui rubbed her sore forehead, thinking that she might not be able to get the first place in this round, but ‘he’ could still retire victoriously.

Sure enough, after the results of the round were announced, Cuimei Academy ranked first in the top grade!

Yesterday, Lao Buyu and the others praised ‘him’ endlessly, but today, they didn’t know how to praise him anymore. Each of them gave ‘him’ a firm hug!

With all five rounds of the competition over, the final process was to tally the list of those who passed the retest and entered the next round.

Cuimei Academy had no chance in the next round, so there was no need to wait for the results. However, getting two top grades was completely beyond expectations, and they no longer had to worry about Lao Buyu getting beaten up!

Lao Buyu grabbed Shen Cui’s hand and stood up, saying, “I didn’t treat you to a meal yesterday, but today, you performed so well. No matter what, you can’t leave early. Today, our headmaster is in good health, so let’s invite you to our academy as a guest first. Tomorrow, I’ll host a meal and we’ll have a good dinner!”

Shen Cui had just recovered and naturally couldn’t agree to this, going back to the academy with them would reveal everything, right?

‘He’ withdrew his hand and gestured repeatedly, indicating that he had something to do and couldn’t go!

At this moment, her improvised sign language had the opposite effect. Lao Buyu thought that ‘he’ had encountered some trouble for real and tentatively asked, “Yesterday, our headmaster said you were staying with relatives, but are they not treating you well?”

He now truly regarded ‘Zhang Sheng’ as his own, showing a tendency to support and speak up for ‘him.’

Shen Cui suddenly felt a headache. If she had known, she wouldn’t have been so stingy with her points!

While one was gesturing and the other was guessing, Ling Qingming had already begun to loudly announce the results of the retest—

“The academies that have passed the retest are Hongle Academy, Wenjun Academy, Qingzhu Academy… and Cuimei Academy!”

With this announcement, Lao Buyu and Shen Cui forgot about their argument. They both wore shocked expressions.

Could there be a mistake in the tally even at such a grand competition?

Because there were fewer academies participating in the retest, these academies received much more attention. Soon, other people noticed that Cuimei Academy should not have advanced to the next round. Representatives from various academies quickly came forward to inquire.

At Cuimei Academy’s side, Lao Buyu also acted as a representative and came forward to inquire if there was a mistake in the results?

After inquiring, they realized that the old headmaster had used his right to advance one person and promoted ‘Zhang Sheng,’ thus securing the entire Cuimei Academy’s advancement!

Earlier, Lao Buyu had mentioned that because of past incidents of favoritism and cheating in the academy’s major competition, it had become a laughingstock. As a result, the judges today would not use that particular right anymore!

Even though the highly respected old headmaster had used it, many people underneath him now had some objections.

Shen Cui did not step forward, but she heard plenty of sarcastic remarks.

“This Cuimei Academy is unheard of. I didn’t expect them to be able to flatter Hongle Academy.”

“That’s right. That person can only solve a few arithmetic problems. What’s so worthy of the old headmaster’s favor?”

“That person is also disabled and destined to be unable to take the imperial examinations. What’s the use of protecting ‘him’?”

Amidst the discussions of the crowd, the old headmaster, who was standing at the forefront, also noticed Shen Cui being pointed and talked about by everyone. He smiled and waved to ‘him.’

Suddenly favored by a generation of famous teachers and passing the retest, Shen Cui was naturally grateful to him and respectfully stepped forward to bow.

The old headmaster summoned ‘him’ forward and said, without mentioning anything else, “Don’t listen to those people’s nonsense. It’s not your fault that you have some shortcomings. You were the only one to solve the last question, so it’s right for you to advance to the next round. You have great talent in mathematics. Who was your mentor?”

Shen Cui opened her mouth and then gestured casually.

The old headmaster didn’t understand the sign language ‘he’ had made up, but he didn’t expect that ‘he’ was not only disabled in his right hand but also unable to speak.

Only now did the other judges realize that he not only had a problem with his right hand but also couldn’t speak.

Earlier, they agreed to let the old headmaster use his right to advance one person because they felt that ‘Zhang Sheng’ had extraordinary talent in mathematics despite his disability.

Such a person, even if he couldn’t enter officialdom through the imperial examinations, might become a great teacher and teach others when he grew up.

Helping out a bit in passing a favor along. What if they could find a way to recruit him to their own academy in the future?

But now they knew that ‘he’ couldn’t even speak. Such a person really couldn’t be of any use at all, so why bother attracting criticism for ‘him’?

Several people looked at each other, wanting to say something but hesitating. The unlucky task fell on Ling Qingming, the organizer, again. He hesitated and asked, “Do you think this result is…?”

The old headmaster, who had been smiling before, heard his words and his smile faded. He lightly stroked his beard, looked around at everyone, and said, “The result remains unchanged… I still say that only ‘he’ solved that question, and Cuimei Academy’s advancement is well-deserved! You should know, there is no distinction in teaching.”

Although academies nowadays educate students for the imperial examinations, teaching well and having students succeed will naturally bring fame and fortune to the academy. Both sides benefit each other.

However, Hongle Academy adheres to the principle of the saints — as long as you want to learn, regardless of your status, even your health, you should be treated equally. Similarly, this competition should only focus on ‘Zhang Sheng’s’ outstanding performance, regardless of how many disabilities he has and whether he can be of use to the academies in the future.

This idea may be a bit naive, but who dares to say it’s wrong?

Ling Qingming and the other judges replied reluctantly.

Even Shen Cui felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. She had set up the academy to complete the system’s task, and compared to the old headmaster in front of her, her intentions were impure and overly utilitarian.

In this world, there are still great and selfless people.

‘He’ looked at the old headmaster with a few more genuine expressions of respect and admiration. At this moment, Shen Cui even thought that if she didn’t disguise herself and could participate with her true identity, the old headmaster would not discriminate against her because of her female identity.

The old headmaster insisted on his attitude. After hearing his ‘teaching without distinction’ argument, no one dared to oppose it again, and the outcome of the competition was thus determined.

Shen Cui soon received a notification from the system — [Reward obtained: Time Gain 3 years.]

She had come this far for this reward. Right now, she didn’t rush to check the system but instead walked up to the old headmaster and bowed respectfully.

She thanked him for his favor, for going against the crowd, and more importantly, for his non-discriminatory ‘teaching without distinction.’