“Then I’ll give you three days to review.”
Liu Honghui put on a generous air.
Si Nanyuan shrugged slightly. “No need. It’s the top students who like reviewing. It makes no difference whether I review or not.”
Lin Lanlan, one of Su Xiyue’s hangers-on, sneered. “At least you know your own limits.”
“Let’s get started!”
As she spoke, Si Nanyuan rolled up her sleeves.
Su Xiyue, you want to see me embarrass myself, do you?
Embarrass myself? Not a chance.
But I do enjoy watching other people embarrass themselves—especially people who can’t stand me.
“First event: physical education. One-hundred-meter dash. Passing time: fourteen seconds.”
Si Nanyuan blinked. “You’re sure it’s fourteen seconds?”
“Pass first, then we’ll talk.”
Lin Lanlan had heard from Su Xiyue that Si Nanyuan was nothing but a country bumpkin from some backwater village. Apart from growing vegetables, she occasionally rode a motorcycle into town with two baskets of produce to sell.
Forget going to school—she’d never even been to Kyoto before. She probably didn’t even know what a hundred-meter dash was.
“Are all the students in the Elite Class taking part in the wager between me and you?”
“Of course.”
As Liu Honghui spoke, he glanced at Su Xiyue.
How could he possibly mess up Moon Goddess’s instructions?
“If anyone doesn’t want to play this boring game, you can leave.”
After Si Nanyuan said that, some people thought it over and left anyway.
No one wanted to put themselves on the line to be humiliated. They didn’t know this girl, and she looked utterly confident.
In the end, some of them stayed only to watch, without taking part in the wager.
Those who remained were all classmates of Su Xiyue’s, along with the young men pursuing her.
“I’m ready.”
Si Nanyuan settled into a sprinter’s starting stance.
A gunshot rang out. Si Nanyuan shot forward like a gust of wind and reached the finish line in the blink of an eye.
The whole crowd was stunned.
“Did she even run? It looked like she flew!”
“I felt a gust of wind. I turned my head, and she was already at the finish line.”
“Is she even human? She must have broken the world record!”
“……”
Su Xiyue stared at Si Nanyuan at the finish line in disbelief.
“Nine point five six seconds.”
“Oh my god! She didn’t just break the women’s hundred-meter world record—she broke the men’s, too!”
“Real talent comes from among the people!”
Si Nanyuan blinked, her mouth parting slightly. “Did I pass?”
The timekeeper, a Kyoto University sports instructor, nodded, still dazed.
“Next event, please.”
Si Nanyuan’s run had left many people’s legs feeling weak.
They were already starting to regret getting themselves into this mess.
Liu Honghui swallowed. “Next event: advanced mathematics.”
Su Xiyue clenched her fists. A country bumpkin, a savage—of course she could run fast. But when it came to brains, there was no way she could compete.
“The test paper.”
So Si Nanyuan took the exam on the soccer field.
Professors from Kyoto University had been invited to grade the papers.
When Professor Liu and Professor Li saw Si Nanyuan, they exchanged a glance.
What was going on here?
Half an hour later, Si Nanyuan handed in her paper.
“No way! That fast?”
“If she can’t do it, sitting there would just be awkward. Might as well hand it in early and get the awkwardness over with.”
“How many points do you think she’ll get?”
“Five at most.”
“Depends on luck! These are competition questions. Getting zero is normal. It just depends on whether she can guess any of the multiple-choice answers.”
“……”
Si Nanyuan sat off to the side, looking perfectly at ease.
After conferring, the professors even connected by video with several renowned international mathematics professors.
“That’s Professor Kevin. Now there’s no way Si Nanyuan can cheat.”
“And the famous math prodigy Mike, too.”
“Wait, if she gets zero or just a few points, why bring in the big names?”
“Strange. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
“Am I going to have to go back to the regular class? My mom will break my legs!”
“……”
As everyone discussed it, Professor Liu of Kyoto University began announcing the score. “Si Nanyuan’s result is… full marks.”
“What? Did I hear that right? Full marks?”
“Is she even human?”
“No, wait. Before, you only needed sixty points to get into the Elite Class. Are we going to need full marks now?”
“……”
A lot of them had only just gotten over their jelly legs, and now their brains were short-circuiting.
Si Nanyuan stretched. “I’m so lucky. What’s the next event?”
“M-music. Instruments.”
Liu Honghui could barely get the words out.
“Choose an instrument and play it, then—”
“I get it. The professors will grade me, and I have to pass.”
Si Nanyuan said with a smile, then trotted over and touched each instrument. “What instruments do people usually choose?”
“Piano and violin.”
Lin Lanlan lifted her chin, folding her arms with confidence.
Someone from the mountains had probably never even seen a piano or a violin.
Su Xiyue relaxed a little, too. Even if Si Nanyuan was good at math, she surely had never touched a piano.
“I’ll do both.”
Without another word, Si Nanyuan sat down at the piano. Her slender fingers settled on the black-and-white keys.
At first, everyone looked down on her. Less than three seconds later, every face in the crowd had changed.
The beautiful melody flowed like a river, the piano notes cascading like a waterfall and ringing clear as pearls falling onto a jade plate. At times they danced with joy; at others, they rushed like rapids, stirring the heart.
The music sounded like something from heaven, soothing everyone’s hearts and drawing them, without their realizing it, back to the sweetest memories they held.
When the final note faded, no one had yet come to their senses. Then Si Nanyuan switched to the violin, and its clear, bright notes soon drew them into the music.
When the piece ended, many people still hadn’t emerged from the spell of that beautiful music.
“That was the most flawless performance I’ve ever heard.”
“If I were judging, I’d give it full marks. That was the highest level of performance I’ve ever heard in my life.”
The two music teachers spoke at the same time, bringing everyone back to their senses.
“Next event.”
Liu Honghui was so flustered by Si Nanyuan’s words that he couldn’t even answer.
Actually, they had only prepared three events. After all, Si Nanyuan looked like such a delicate, frail girl that they’d assumed she would be bad at sports.
She’d dropped out of school at eleven, so surely she couldn’t handle advanced mathematics—especially competition questions.
She’d grown up in a mountain village, so remote that even President Su couldn’t find it. Surely she’d never seen a piano or violin.
She was just an uneducated country bumpkin from some mountain village, and yet they were the ones getting slapped in the face.
“There aren’t any more.”
Someone said it in a voice as faint as an ant.
They’d been so full of bluster before. Now they wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole.
“Then… did I pass?”
The entire crowd fell silent.
At last, Professor Liu broke the eerie stillness. “You passed. Of course you passed.”
“In that case, all of you who did worse than me, better work hard—or you’ll be sent back to the regular class.”
Si Nanyuan smiled with disarming innocence. “Oh, right. Who was it who said he’d eat shit while standing on his head?”
Liu Honghui could only lower his head and silently repeat to himself, Don’t see me. Don’t see me.
Everyone turned to look at Liu Honghui. In the end, he slumped to the ground, enduring everyone’s scornful looks for being unable to accept defeat.
With both hands clasped behind her back and a bright smile on her face, Si Nanyuan strode toward the cafeteria.
The others went wild.
The Elite Class teachers were dumbfounded.
“Ah! She got full marks on that test in half an hour. How am I supposed to teach students after this? The whole class might as well disband.”
“Nine point five six seconds—and who else can do that? Will anyone even come to my PE class now? Am I going to lose my job?”
“After hearing her play like that, I’m embarrassed to call myself a teacher.”
Si Nanyuan bit into a chicken drumstick. “Senior brothers, senior sisters, long time no see! You’d better work hard. After all, your students are the kind who can only pass the hundred-meter dash with a time of nine point five six seconds, and get full marks on advanced mathematics competition questions.”
The Elite Class teachers all turned around at once.
“Ah… Who was it? Who provoked Crazy Si?”
Back when they were students, Crazy Si had been the undisputed queen of cramming. Now that they were working, she was still outdoing them. Didn’t they have any pride?