Chapter 57
“Not finished yet, a hundred questions a month.”
So, you’re after lasting happiness?
“……” Zheng Fa gritted his teeth. “Fine!”
“First, bring me three hundred questions.” Senior Sister Zhang glanced at the puzzled Zheng Fa and added, “How do I know if you can pass the Immortal Quality Assessment?”
“Okay!”
Senior Sister Zhang nodded in satisfaction, pocketed her token, and walked out of the courtyard. Suddenly, she stopped at the gate and said:
“Put away those suspicious thoughts in front of me.”
“Hmm?”
“At least from my perspective, our enemies as cultivators have never been human.”
That sounded a bit familiar…
---
**Chapter 64: Health Check**
Modern day, classroom.
“Zheng Fa, you’re about to lose me!”
Zheng Fa, who had been buried in his studies, looked up, dazed for a moment. It wasn’t until he pulled his mind away from the incomprehensible math symbols that he realized the one speaking was Wang Chen.
The expression on Wang Chen’s face looked pained.
“I put up with you memorizing textbooks before!”
“You ranked in the top ten of the second-year class, and I let that slide too!”
“Even when you were getting all cozy with Tang Lingwu, I still tolerated it!”
“……”
Wang Chen’s tone turned heart-wrenching. “But look at what you’re doing now!”
Zheng Fa glanced at the “Perfect Score Secrets” in his hands. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re actually memorizing test papers! And the hardest questions at that!” Wang Chen sighed. “We’ve known each other for years, and I thought I knew you well. But now, you’re acting so weird it’s like I don’t even recognize you…”
Zheng Fa fell silent, then said, “Don’t say you, even I think I’m a bit strange now.”
“?”
“You don’t understand the feeling of being forced by life to cram this disgusting stuff into your head… I’m feeling a bit nauseous, I’m out of here.”
With that, Zheng Fa glanced at the sky, shook his head, and headed downstairs. Today was the day he and Tang Lingwu were going to receive tutoring from the old man Bai.
Watching Zheng Fa leave, Wang Chen turned back, dazed, and asked his desk mate, “Was Zheng Fa just cursing himself? Has he lost it?”
“Looks like it!” His desk mate nodded, watching as Wang Chen pulled out his textbook and began reciting with his eyes closed, curiosity getting the better of him. “What are you doing?”
“Studying!” Wang Chen opened his eyes, sounding annoyed. “Don’t interrupt my learning.”
“……You’re learning from Zheng Fa?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Then why are you cursing him?”
Wang Chen turned to his desk mate, surprised.
“Don’t you want to curse him?”
“……I do!”
“Don’t you want to become him?”
“……I do!”
“Then what’s your problem?”
---
Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu walked side by side on their way to the family dormitory.
“Tang Lingwu, have you been preparing for the math competition all this time?”
“Yeah.”
Tang Lingwu glanced at him, seemingly puzzled as to why he was asking such an obvious question.
“Have you encountered any problems that are particularly difficult, particularly annoying, particularly torturous?”
“Your question is particularly hard to understand.”
“Uh, if you’ve come across such problems, could you send them to me?”
Zheng Fa requested from Tang Lingwu.
“What do you want them for?”
“I want to memorize them.”
There was no way around it; picking questions for Senior Sister Zhang was no easy task.
Too simple wouldn’t do; it wouldn’t provide enough thrill for her, and he might lose this valuable support.
Too difficult, like some century-old conundrum, wouldn’t work either. Zheng Fa felt that what Senior Sister Zhang enjoyed was the thrill of conquering tough problems, not the feeling of being ground into the dirt by them.
One shouldn’t, at least shouldn’t… be so twisted.
Proof problems were even worse. Not to mention whether she could solve them, if there were too many of those, Senior Sister Zhang would eventually notice the differences between the math he learned and that of the Xuanwei realm.
He never underestimated a genius, especially the intellect of a Golden Core stage genius.
With that in mind, he needed to find those problems that were particularly complex, even to the point of being nauseating.
Zheng Fa felt he needed to accumulate more knowledge to satisfy Senior Sister Zhang.
Tang Lingwu fell into a long silence, not saying whether she agreed or not.
“Why aren’t you talking?”
Tang Lingwu bit her lip, and after a long pause, finally spoke: “If you’re feeling too much pressure, I know a good hospital for that.”
---
“Grandpa Bai went to the hospital?”
When they arrived at Old Man Bai’s house, they found he wasn’t home. The door was opened by a middle-aged woman they hadn’t seen before.
“It’s nothing serious. The old man is getting on in years; he has to have a check-up every year.”
“And you are?”
“You must be Tang Lingwu and Zheng Fa, right? Come in.” The middle-aged woman welcomed them in and introduced herself. “I’m his daughter.”
Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu exchanged glances.
They both knew that Old Man Bai’s daughter worked at Qingshui Middle School, apparently in the logistics department, but they had never met her before.
The three of them settled on the sofa in the living room. Old Man Bai’s daughter sized them up, as if she wanted to say something.
After a while, she finally organized her thoughts: “I’ve heard your names from my father. He says you both work hard and are quite smart.”
“……”
Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu exchanged glances, remaining silent, but listening intently to what she had to say next.
Usually, such an opening wasn’t meant to praise them.
“I also want to thank you both. I have a job, and there are kids at home. There’s a lot going on, and I’m quite busy.” Old Man Bai’s daughter continued, “With you two keeping my father company, I feel more at ease knowing he’s not alone.”
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu, who seemed uncomfortable talking to adults, and spoke up: “We should be the ones thanking Professor Bai for teaching us.”
Old Man Bai’s daughter smiled and replied, “That’s just his nature. He enjoys being around young people, doesn’t want to feel old. Even in retirement, he can’t let go of his math and wants to stay in Beijing to write some book.”
Zheng Fa began to understand the implication of her inviting them in.
“I brought my father back because I wanted to take care of him,” she said with a wry smile. “But the old man refuses to live with us, saying he’s afraid of the noise and only wants to stay in this old house.”
“He’s worried about bothering you,” Zheng Fa nodded.
Old Man Bai’s daughter agreed, then said, “You’re not much older than my kids, so I see you as younger relatives. I’ll be straightforward: I invited him back so he could rest more in his later years and enjoy some family time.”
“I don’t mind him taking on two students, but… I’ve heard he’s been staying up late drawing some diagrams, and I can’t agree to that.”
Zheng Fa thought of the notebook at home.
“What I mean is, do you understand?”
Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu nodded. This was a hint for them to avoid bothering Old Man Bai, especially not to let him stay up late again.
Zheng Fa felt this was mainly directed at him.
“Only when the old man isn’t around can I say this. Otherwise…”
The door creaked open, and Old Man Bai walked in, carrying a white plastic bag with the words “Second Hospital” printed on it.
“Eh? You’re here so early?” He spotted Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu, then turned to his daughter, frowning. “What did you tell them?”
“Dad, how did the check-up go? What did the doctor say?” Old Man Bai’s daughter didn’t answer his question.
“The results won’t be out for a while. They said I could check on my phone, but I wanted to come back first. The doctor prescribed some medicine, just the usual stuff. I’ve been taking it for over a decade; I could write the prescription myself.”
Old Man Bai answered his daughter’s question but didn’t let the earlier question slide. “You can’t persuade me, so you’re trying to persuade them?”
“Dad…”
“I told you I’m in great health.” A flash of annoyance crossed Old Man Bai’s face.
“Do I not know you? You get so caught up in writing a book that you forget to eat and drink, and then you fainted in the library, scaring the staff half to death!” Old Man Bai’s daughter didn’t let up. “Why else would I bring you back?”
“It’s just a bit of low blood sugar, an old problem. Besides, it’s nothing serious!” Old Man Bai’s voice dropped a little.
“You’re getting old! Do you understand what getting old means?” Old Man Bai’s daughter raised her voice slightly. “Just wait and see the check-up report. How many issues do you have all over your body?”
“It’s not like I’m going to die…” Old Man Bai muttered, clearly lacking confidence, but his mouth kept moving: “When I was young, your mother kept me in line, and now you’re doing the same…”
His phone in his pocket buzzed, as if a notification had come through.
Old Man Bai picked it up to take a look, his expression shifting slightly. He quickly put the phone down, looking a bit guilty.
“The report must be out, right? Come on, Dad, take a look!” Old Man Bai’s daughter shot him a cold glare.
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