After Descending the Mountain, Seven Big Brothers Spoil Me - Chapter 1025

Chapter 1025: Zhouzhou Cheating?
The championship prize: a hundred thousand yuan!

It was simple and straightforward, easy to understand.

After finishing, Zhouzhou placed it neatly on the desk, occasionally glancing up.

Qin Lie: “…”

Well, there was nothing quite as useful as this motto.

He watched Zhouzhou with a smile, noticing her innocent grin, showing off her little teeth. At that moment, Qin Lie couldn’t help but feel amused.

She was just fond of money, nothing wrong with that. She didn’t steal, rob, or depend on others. She earned it all herself. That was pretty good.

Everyone had their own hobbies, right?

He reached out and patted Zhouzhou’s head, saying, “You can use this for now, but tomorrow I’ll make you a new one.”

Zhouzhou blinked and said, “Okay, okay.”

With that, Qin Lie didn’t disturb her further. He left the room while she continued to work on her problems.

He went to look up more details about the competition and the prize amounts for each stage. He also arranged for someone to make a new board.

The main design would naturally feature Zhouzhou’s favorite golden ingot. It would be divided into stages, with the prize amounts for first and second places clearly displayed, as well as the differences in prize amounts at each stage.

The size of the golden ingot would vary according to the prize, so the difference would be especially apparent when placed together.

Not to mention Zhouzhou, even Qin Lie himself would want to win first place.

After all, it was a lot of money.

The national level championship came with a hundred thousand yuan, but the world championship offered even more: a five-hundred-thousand-yuan prize and an all-expenses-paid trip abroad. The competition would be held in B Nation. The flight tickets alone would cost a lot of money.

It was quite a deal.

Qin Lie placed the new board on Zhouzhou’s desk. The design instantly made her homemade version look like a crude imitation.

Every time Zhouzhou took a break from studying and looked up at the large golden ingot, it immediately reinvigorated her, like she had been injected with adrenaline.

When Qin Er saw it, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency.

Though he ranked first at the school level, Zhouzhou had managed to reach second place in the city-level competition, competing against the best students from all the primary schools in Jing City.

The gap between his score and hers was closing.

This was the first time he felt a sense of competition.

He had always found the competitions easy.

But now, it was different. This time, the challenge wasn’t just about money. It was more stimulating. The experience was far better than any of his previous competitions.

He thought to himself, Caicai really is my soulmate!

Zhouzhou’s momentum didn’t go unnoticed by the exam invigilators. After all, she was the youngest contestant in the competition.

Even during the exam, she had to squat on her chair to answer the questions.

She was too short. The desks and chairs were all meant for fifth and sixth-grade students, and the smallest participants were usually fourth graders. But here she was, a first-grader, and in the class, she was one of the shortest. In front of the older students, she looked even smaller.

Because the desks were made for older students, Zhouzhou could barely see above the desk. It was impossible to answer the questions comfortably.

The invigilators couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the little girl, and eventually, they spoke with the headteacher and arranged for a smaller desk and chair for her. Only then did Zhouzhou manage to sit properly and finish the entire exam paper.

Initially, she thought reaching the school-level competition was already impressive. But to her surprise, she had managed to secure second place at the city level.

When they looked at her answer sheet, her problem-solving approach was simple and direct. The way she tackled the problems was straightforward, efficient, and even simpler than the standard answers.

The teachers were all astonished, inspecting her paper closely.

Just then, one of the teachers from the review group came over holding a section of the surveillance video. His brow furrowed as he pointed to a segment, saying, “Look at this.”

The others followed his gaze and saw Zhouzhou sitting upright, but in her hands, she had three copper coins. Every now and then, she shook them before resuming her writing on the exam paper.

Another teacher took Zhouzhou’s scratch paper and noticed it was covered with a series of long and short horizontal lines.

It looked like… the Eight Trigrams?

The teachers were puzzled and asked uncertainly, “Is she… divining?”

This was the first time they had seen such a method, and they weren’t sure how to classify it.

Someone suddenly recalled something. “Wait, this little girl can read the divinatory symbols.”

Zhouzhou had demonstrated her divination skills during a variety show with Qin Yan, and many people in Jing City knew about it. It wasn’t exactly a secret anymore.

But the issue now was: if she had used the divination to solve the problems, did this count as cheating?

The group of teachers began to discuss this question, but they couldn’t come to an agreement. Eventually, they had no choice but to escalate the issue to the highest-ranking official of the Olympiad group, Elder Xiao.

Elder Xiao had been a university professor before retiring. In his retirement, he couldn’t stay idle, so he joined the primary school division of the Olympiad competition.

When he saw Zhouzhou’s scratch paper, he couldn’t help but laugh. “How could this possibly be considered cheating? Our traditional mathematics originates from the Eight Trigrams!”

He paused for a moment, then continued proudly, “In the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, it says, ‘In ancient times, the emperor of the Yellow Emperor invented the Eight Trigrams, which guided the divine nature, classified all things, and created the nine numbers to match the six changes.'”

“Our mathematics was ahead of the West by a thousand years!”

At this point, Elder Xiao had a look of pride.

“However, the Eight Trigrams are difficult to understand. I only know a little bit myself, but I never expected that such a young child could master it so well. Who is this student? Can I meet her?”

When the teachers who had previously suspected cheating heard this, they immediately pressed Elder Xiao. “Elder Xiao, you’re telling us this doesn’t count as cheating?”

Elder Xiao, visibly displeased, replied, “Why should it be considered cheating? You show me how you can cheat with the Eight Trigrams!”

The teacher fell silent, unable to respond.

Elder Xiao realized he had been a bit harsh in his tone, so he softened and said, “These six lines represent numbers, just a different form from Arabic numerals. The meaning is the same. Are you saying that this is cheating?”

Hearing this explanation, the teachers realized there was no cheating involved.

The teachers had never intended to cause trouble for Zhouzhou. They were just exploring different viewpoints, and now that they were sure there was no cheating, they moved on without further discussion.

Still, one teacher couldn’t help but comment, “This paper belongs to a student named Qin Caicai. She’s the youngest participant this year, only seven years old and in first grade.”

Upon hearing this, Elder Xiao was taken aback. “So young?”

“Wait, she also shares the surname Qin? What’s her relationship with Qin Er?”

Qin Er had also been the youngest participant when he competed. Elder Xiao had noticed him back then and had kept an eye on him through various competitions. He had a deep impression of him.

The teacher responsible for registration said, “Yes, they are siblings. Their addresses are the same, and Qin Caicai’s father is Qin Lie.”

Qin Lie!

The wealthiest man in the city! Who didn’t know his name?

Elder Xiao didn’t care about Qin Lie’s wealth, though. What mattered to him was something else.

“So, they are siblings of Qin Ren?”

Thinking of this, Elder Xiao got excited.

He had been a professor at B University, and when Qin Ren was just starting junior high, Elder Xiao had noticed him. Qin Ren had been the top scorer in the middle school entrance exam that year, a perfect score in all subjects, which caused a huge stir.

Elder Xiao had originally planned to recruit Qin Ren after his high school graduation, but unexpectedly, A University had taken the initiative and snatched him up. Qin Ren had even enrolled in their accelerated program, which Elder Xiao had never agreed with.

But now, looking at his accomplishments, Elder Xiao couldn’t help but feel regretful for not acting sooner.

He slammed his fist on the table and said, “That’s it! I’m going to meet this little girl!”