In the small supermarket on the first floor of the dormitory, Zhang Zhou waved his smartphone triumphanly in front of Gu Zhengliang, "See, I knew Su Mucheng would definitely take the bait."
"No shit, as if I didn't know that," Gu Zhengliang casually picked up two bottles of Pepsi, then headed straight for the checkout counter to pay.
"How do you still not get me? I only drink Coke!" Zhang Zhou, busy replying to WeChat messages, called out in a hurry.
"Pff, dream on. I'm getting these for Qiao. You're a good guy, so buy whatever you want for yourself," Gu Zhengliang tossed out casually.
"Fuck..." Zhang Zhou cursed subconsciously, but couldn't be bothered to argue with Gu Zhengliang, instead quickly replying to Su Mucheng's WeChat message.
...
Solitude Boat: "For real? There's even more exaggerated stuff, but I can't talk about it in the group because of Liu. Did you know the new kid started reviewing the papers our university's geometry professor has published over the years as soon as he arrived in the dorm? Guess what he commented?"
Sweet Orange: "?"
Solitude Boat: "Haha, knew you wouldn't guess. He said the professors at our university who specialize in geometry are too lousy, their papers are nothing novel, and they even use other people's analysis tools with no innovative points! Oh, and the papers he was reading are all in pure English. Can you understand them?"
Sweet Orange: "You think I've got nothing better to do than to look at that stuff? Are you guys joking just for the attention?"
Solitude Boat: "If even a single word I said doesn't match reality, may Gu get hit by a car and end up crippled when he steps outside, but not die!"
Sweet Orange: "..., so what's he doing now?"
Solitude Boat: "Back in the dorm reading papers again!"
Sweet Orange: "Call him out so I can see if he's as incredible as you say!"
Solitude Boat: "Fine, just wait, I'll go back to the dorm and ask if he's willing to come out."
Sweet Orange: "You're not in the dorm? Then hurry up!"
...
Reading this message, Zhang Zhou quickly snatched up a bottle of Coke, sped through the checkout, and then started running while dragging Gu Zhengliang with him.
"Fuck, what's the rush?"
"Don't you want to see the century face-off between the genius girl and the new kid?"
"Psh, have some shame! It's clearly because you're three months older than me! Anyway, Qiao Ze, let's go. We're taking you to meet someone, the class monitor who ranked first in our class. She doesn't quite accept you and specifically asked me to help her challenge you. Go show her a thing or two so she'll know how capable our Qiao is!"
Zhang Zhou said eagerly, waiting for Qiao Ze to nod and then planning to drag him out.
However, Qiao Ze shook his head and calmly replied, "Not interested."
"Uh... Look, Qiao, don't think that Su Mucheng only does well in studies, she's also pretty good-looking. Don't believe me? Look, I have group photos on my phone..."
Qiao Ze looked at Zhang Zhou with confusion and asked, baffled, "What does her being pretty have to do with this? I just think this kind of thing is very boring."
"Huh?!" Zhang Zhou stared blankly at Qiao Ze. Wasn't it a sign of courtesy to accept a beauty's invitation?
Unable to hold back, Gu Zhengliang pleaded, "Come on, Qiao, it's more interesting to show off in front of a beauty than in front of us two, right? Seriously, just go show off a little and let that girl see there's always someone better. Our Basic Class 1 has 40 students, only 7 of them are girls, and over 30 guys are being overshadowed by one girl.
As a fellow guy, shouldn't you help us strike down her arrogance?"
Qiao Ze looked at Gu Zhengliang with some annoyance.
After their enthusiastic explanations, Qiao Ze had already roughly understood what they meant by showing off, but he genuinely didn't understand when he had ever shown off in front of them.
So he asked seriously, "Why do you always think I'm showing off in front of you guys?"
Zhang Zhou paused, looking at Qiao Ze's serious face, and subconsciously replied, "Well... when you offhandedly said that our school's geometry professors aren't up to par, doesn't that count?"
Qiao Ze blinked, realizing, and then said evenly, "I see, so if I can prove to you that I was merely stating a fact, will you then think I wasn't showing off?"
The two guys were instantly stunned.
"No, Qiao, I admit you're awesome, but how can you prove that?" Gu Zhengliang asked, puzzled.
Qiao Ze calmly provided a plan, "It's quite simple, really. The professors listed their email addresses on their papers, and they're also available on the university's official website. I'll point out the issues in the papers and send them through email, then wait for their feedback. If there's something wrong with what I said, those professors will naturally argue back.
Truth becomes clearer by argument, as does mathematics."
After speaking, Qiao Ze had already sat down at his desk and reopened his computer, beginning to edit the text calmly.
Behind him, two guys were going completely crazy...
What the heck...
Qiao Ze wanted to prove he wasn't showing off, but why did they feel like this guy was seriously the master of showing off?!