Chapter 292
"Regiment Commander Zhou? Regiment Commander Zhou is out on a mission," said the sentry at the gate.
"Oh no, what should we do? Regiment Commander Zhou said any letters should be delivered to him immediately," the mail carrier worriedly replied. "When will he be back?"
The sentry shook his head. "I don't know."
Yang Yujie had rushed out to see off Wang Jianguo and Zhou Yueshen, only to find they had already left.
Hearing about a letter for Zhou Yueshen, she narrowed her eyes and asked, "A letter for Regiment Commander Zhou?"
The mail carrier saw her and nodded.
A shadow passed over Yang Yujie's eyes.
Zhou Yueshen had only been at the military district for about twenty days, yet he was already receiving a letter almost every week.
In the past, he had family who would write occasionally, but it was very rare.
His older sister had passed away, and it was said he had a younger sister with whom he'd had a falling out.
That left only one possibility.
"Regiment Commander Zhou won't be back for a while. Give it to me, I'll deliver it for you," she offered.
The mail carrier took two steps back. "I'm sorry, Regimental Commander Yang, but I can't hand this letter to anyone other than Regiment Commander Zhou himself."
"What do you mean? Do you think I'd peek at it?" Yang Yujie's face darkened.
The mail carrier quickly waved his hands. "That's not what I meant, it's just..." He flipped the envelope over and pointed to a line of small characters on the back, his expression complicated. "The sender left a note."
Yang Yujie was taken aback. She looked and saw a line of tiny handwriting.
"To the auntie who likes secretly writing letters to my dad: Hands off my mom's letter."
Yang Yujie: "......"
...
In the blink of an eye, the day of the second round of the competition arrived.
Zhou Zedong entered the classroom with his classmates and took his seat.
The proctors were the same teachers from before.
When they saw him, their expressions were somewhat meaningful.
After the same routine reminders, the exam began.
The questions for the second round were even more difficult, requiring a score of 95.5 to advance to the final round.
Though they were all just eleven- or twelve-year-old children, their faces were already set in serious expressions.
The moment they received their test papers, they began scrutinizing the questions intently.
The more they looked, the more grave and anxious their expressions became.
Some children even began to sweat.
Having made it through the preliminary round, everyone wanted to reach the finals.
To lose here would be the most regrettable.
After reading through the paper, Li Youcai's heart sank.
Students with good academic performance could easily tell if an exam was difficult.
During regular tests, he hardly needed to think before knowing how to solve a problem and what method to use.
Even with some challenging questions, he could usually figure them out.
But this test paper was much harder than last year's.
For about half the questions, he hadn't even found a starting point yet.
He didn't know how much time it would take to solve them.
Although Zhou Zedong only scored 88 in the preliminary round, while he himself got 95, Li Youcai felt no joy.
Because his 95 points were the result of nearly ninety minutes of work, right up until the end.
Meanwhile, Zhou Zedong had achieved a passing score of 88 in just half an hour.
Li Youcai had excelled in math since first grade. His family members were either department heads or teachers at the school; three generations were educators.
Growing up in that environment, he had been cultivated from a young age.
Li Youcai was quite proud and very confident in his subjects.
That's why he understood even more clearly what level of skill it took to solve problems so quickly.
However, seeing today's questions, while he felt somewhat panicked, he also found a sliver of comfort.
These types of questions had never appeared in previous years; they were new. That meant even he, who had practiced countless problems, hadn't encountered them. Zhou Zedong, coming from the countryside, was even less likely to have seen them.
Li Youcai instinctively glanced at Zhou Zedong, only to see that he wasn't previewing all the questions first like everyone else. Instead, he had already lowered his head and started writing.
Li Youcai was immediately stunned.
By the time he recovered, Zhou Zedong had already turned the page.
His eyes widened in disbelief. A proctor nearby noticed him staring and coughed. "No looking around. Focus on your test."
Startled, Li Youcai hurriedly looked down, realizing he was already sweating profusely.
For some reason, he felt very flustered.
His train of thought for solving the problems was completely disrupted.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Feeling like he had only solved a few problems, he saw Zhou Zedong stand up and hand in his paper.
It was like following a routine.
A group of teachers was also taken aback.
As Zhou Zedong left, a proctor instinctively picked up his test paper to look.
The teacher's face grew more and more astonished the further they read.
Other teachers gathered around.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen talented students before, but this child's speed in finishing was simply too fast.
A glance at the watch confirmed it was within half an hour, just like the day before.
Logically, it should have been impossible to finish.
After all, math problems require calculations on scratch paper, solving steps, and thinking time.
Yet he hadn't used any scratch paper, writing the answers directly.
For a moment, everyone felt a twinge of doubt.
Was he truly that brilliant, or was there something fishy going on?
But if there really was some underhanded scheme, he probably shouldn't be this brazen about it.
Teachers from other schools couldn't help but feel anxious.
Last year, the Foreign Language Primary School had taken first place in the math competition. Called a 'foreign language' school, yet their math skills still crushed the others.
Teachers from other schools had lost face.
This year, only ten students advanced to this round, and three were from the Foreign Language Primary School.
Now, seeing a student finish so quickly, it was hard not to have suspicions.
To ensure fairness, the questions were contributed by teachers from various schools.
Before the test papers were distributed, no one knew the complete set of questions.
So, in theory, it shouldn't be possible.
But how could a normal person write that fast?
The speed was like copying answers.
After all the children had handed in their papers, a group of teachers began to stir.