Chapter 83: One Question Not Answered Correctly

Seeing his flustered look, Zu An smiled, "Actually, it's very easy to judge our math skills. I'll give you 20 questions. Whether you cheat or guess, as long as you get 20 right—no, let's say even half right—I'll pack my bags and get out of this school immediately. Otherwise, you're out. How about it?"

He knew clearly that the other party was a government official and a hired teacher at the academy. Neither he nor the school would allow him to leave the academy just because of the previous bet. But if he couldn't even solve a single question from a student? He probably wouldn't have the face to stay here, no matter how thick-skinned he was.

Yang Wei was taken aback. The other party's confident demeanor made him feel a bit uneasy, especially when he recalled how easily Zu An had answered 20 difficult questions just moments ago. He felt quite apprehensive.

Beside them, Shang Liuyu's crimson lips slightly parted. "Teacher Yang, surely you're not afraid to agree, are you?"

"How could that be!" Yang Wei immediately straightened up. "Go ahead, bring it on! Not to mention 20 questions, even 200 would be no problem."

Despite his booming boasts, he didn't change the terms of the challenge. He was worried that out of 20 questions, there might be a few he couldn't solve. However, if Zu An only needed to get 10 right to leave, that would be acceptable. Yang Wei was the top arithmetic expert in Brightmoon City; countless sums for the Ministry of Revenue had been calculated by him. How difficult could questions from a mere child be compared to the real-life problems he encountered? Getting 10 right would absolutely be no problem!

Observing his reaction, Zu An roughly guessed his thoughts and couldn't help but smile slightly. "Let me give you a taste of the fear of being dominated by mathematics!"

He didn't come up with problems involving partial derivatives, analytical geometry, or conic sections. Not only would Yang Wei not understand them, but probably no one in this world would. That would only make it seem like he was deliberately making things difficult.

He needed questions that everyone could understand but were incredibly difficult to solve. He had an idea!

He quickly scribbled away, soon completing 20 questions. With an honest smile, he handed them over. "You are an expert in arithmetic, so these questions shouldn't be a problem for you."

Yang Wei was surprised. He hadn't expected such sudden humility from Zu An and felt a bit unaccustomed to it. He scoffed, "Of course. How difficult could questions from a young lad like you be?"

He took the paper and saw the first question:

There are two numbers whose sum is 20. The first person is told their sum, and the second person is told their product. The first person says they don't know what the two numbers are. The second person also says they don't know. Then the first person says, "Now I know." The second person then says, "I know too."What are these two numbers?

Based on the questions Yang Wei had given earlier, the concept of multiplication existed in this world, so Zu An wasn't worried about the question being beyond the scope.

Yang Wei blinked instinctively upon seeing the first question. "What on earth is this? I've never seen a problem like this before!"

"These... what are these conditions? How do I even begin to solve a question like this?"

At first glance, Yang Wei thought the question was simple, but then cold sweat broke out. With all his accumulated knowledge, he had absolutely no idea how to approach it.

It wasn't just him; the other students watching also started discussing it, but they had never encountered such a novel type of problem before. After thinking for a long time, they still had no clue.

"Quiet, all of you!" Yang Wei was already distraught. He had hoped to get some inspiration from the students' discussions, but their chatter was all nonsense and offered no help at all.

The students stuck out their tongues, thinking, "You can't solve it yourself, so why take it out on us?"

Hearing their murmurs, Yang Wei's face turned as black as charcoal. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. "There are only 20 sums in total; I can just try them one by one. I'm bound to figure it out eventually. That guy earlier must have guessed using this method too."

With this thought, he settled down and began various calculations.

The surrounding students watched him scribble furiously on the paper and couldn't help but admire him. "Teacher is truly a teacher; he figured out how to do it so quickly."

Only Zu An remained relaxed, sitting on a stool with his legs crossed, sipping tea that Wei Suo had brought from somewhere, and admiring Shang Liuyu's graceful figure nearby. He had to admit, she was truly beautiful.

Shang Liuyu's attention had initially been on the question. Although she was a foreign language teacher, she had some understanding of arithmetic and could solve many of the problems Yang Wei had given. But Zu An's question was too strange; she couldn't figure out how to solve it no matter how hard she tried.

She instinctively looked at Zu An, only to find him openly staring at her. For a moment, she couldn't help but smile. "This young man is truly bold; he's quite unique."

Unlike the relaxed flirtation between Zu An and Shang Liuyu, Yang Wei's back was already soaked with cold sweat. He was using the brute-force method, which was fine at first, but the more he calculated, the dizzier he became. He constantly felt that something was wrong, either here or there.

He swallowed with difficulty and instinctively glanced at Zu An, meeting his enigmatic gaze.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. "This fellow must have deliberately placed the most difficult question at the beginning to trick me. Hmph, I almost fell for his elaborate scheme!"

He decided to look at the later questions first and tackle the most difficult one last.

He saw the second question:

You are standing in front of three doors. Only one of them has a treasure behind it; the others are empty. After you choose a door, someone opens one of the remaining two doors, and it is empty. At this point, that person asks you: Do you want to change your choice and pick the other remaining door? To maximize your chances of getting the treasure, should you switch or not? Please explain your reasoning.

Yang Wei was instantly overjoyed. "This fellow really did put the hardest question first. This one is much simpler!"

"Hmph, isn't the probability the same whether I switch or not? He's deliberately trying to mislead me with all sorts of false hints. Does he think I'm an idiot?"

He directly wrote down "do not switch." Still uneasy, he added that the probability remained the same regardless of whether one switched or not.

Only then did he contentedly look at the third question:

Five pirates obtained 100 elemental stones from a robbery. They are designated A, B, C, D, and E. Pirate A is to propose a distribution plan, but the plan must be approved by more than half of the pirates; otherwise, A will be thrown into the sea, and B will then propose a plan, and so on. What kind of distribution plan should Pirate A propose to get the most elemental stones?

Given conditions: Each pirate is very intelligent and can rationally judge gains and losses to make their choices.

After reading the question, Yang Wei was instantly stunned. "How did this fellow's mind work to come up with such an obscure problem?" He quickly started calculating on paper. His first thought was 20 stones for each, but he immediately dismissed that answer and began working on other calculations.

The other students also fell into heated discussions, but they were all like headless flies, with no one hitting on the right solution.

When Shang Liuyu saw the word "pirates," she felt a peculiar sense of familiarity and thought, "These questions this young man poses are truly interesting."

A moment later, Yang Wei once again took out his handkerchief to wipe away sweat. He found that his handkerchief was already soaked, and he was genuinely starting to panic because he wasn't even sure if his answer to this question was correct.

"Maybe I should look at the next question?" He thought, remembering that fellow deliberately put the hardest one first. Perhaps the next one would be easier.

Yang Wei swallowed with difficulty and began reading the fourth question:

There are 5 prisoners, each numbered 1 to 5, who must take green beans from a sack containing 100 green beans. Each person must take at least one bean. The people who take the most and the fewest beans will be executed. They cannot communicate with each other, but when they take beans, they can feel the number of remaining beans. Who among them has the highest chance of survival?

Hints:1. They are all very intelligent.2. Their principle is to prioritize their own survival, then to eliminate others.3. All 100 beans do not have to be taken.4. If there are ties for the most or fewest beans, those individuals will also be considered the maximum or minimum and executed along with the others.

Yang Wei almost cursed out loud. "This fellow is asking doggone questions, each one so tricky! They look simple, but once you think about them, your head feels like it's going to explode."

After working on it for a while, Yang Wei, with a dark expression, decided to move on to the next question:

On an island live 100 people: 5 with red eyes and 95 with blue eyes. The island has three strange religious rules:1. They cannot use mirrors or see their own eye color.2. They cannot tell others what color their eyes are.3. If someone discovers they have red eyes, they must commit suicide that very night.One day, a traveler arrived on the island. Unaware of the rules, during a celebration with all the islanders, he inadvertently remarked, "There are people with red eyes among you."

The final question is: Assuming the islanders are intelligent enough to perform rigorous logical deduction, what will happen on this island?

Yang Wei's eyes lit up. This question seemed a bit simpler than the previous ones. He picked up his pen and began writing furiously.

And so, Yang Wei alternated between smiling and scratching his head. As he read through question after question, he eventually realized he could barely solve any of them.

By this time, the classroom doorway was already crowded with students from other classes. Class was long over, yet none of the usually most playful students from the Yellow Class had left, piquing the curiosity of other classes. Someone came to check, and soon word of what was happening spread throughout the entire school. Students from all classes couldn't resist coming to watch the spectacle.

Of course, if it had just been a contest between Zu An and Yang Wei, the arrogant geniuses from the Heaven Class probably wouldn't have bothered to show up. But with Shang Liuyu there, it was a different story.

Shang Liuyu was the most popular teacher in the school. Many students might not want to attend other teachers' classes, but hers were always packed, and no one ever fell asleep or lost focus. They barely had enough time to admire her beauty, let alone get distracted.

Of the students who rushed over after hearing the news, a small portion came to watch the show, while the majority came for Shang Liuyu. However, as time went on, they all became captivated by the questions Zu An had posed.

The interesting thing about his questions was that everyone could understand them, and everyone felt like they could solve them. This was unlike some difficult problems, where people would take one look, realize they were beyond their capabilities, and immediately lose interest.

Secretly, everyone began discussing how to solve each question. Even the eccentric students from the Heaven Class, who were usually only interested in cultivation, started calculating in their minds.

"Brother-in-law is amazing!" Chu Huanzhao was the happiest person there. She didn't know why, but seeing him in the spotlight felt like she herself was in the spotlight. She didn't overthink it, simply treating him as a member of the Chu family, feeling a sense of shared honor and disgrace.

Meanwhile, Ji Xiaoxi, a cute and gentle girl, silently memorized the questions in the crowd. Her delicate eyebrows, even when furrowed, still looked quite lovely. "How exactly do you solve these problems? Should I go back and ask Father? But Father doesn't seem interested in these things; he only cares about those messy picture books. Recently, he got a new book from somewhere, and he won't even let me touch it, hmph..."

On the other side, Pei Mianman, her impressive figure hidden beneath a black robe, had the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. "This fellow is really quite interesting. It seems Chuyan misjudged him. Should I take this opportunity to snatch him away? Taking her things would surely be fun..."

Hidden behind the crowd, Zheng Dan was filled with doubt and surprise. All the reports she had received previously indicated that Zu An was a good-for-nothing. Even when he won 7.5 million taels from the Silverhook Casino a few days ago, everyone just attributed it to sheer luck. But now, considering his profound arithmetic skills, it seemed the Silverhook Casino's loss of 7.5 million taels might not have been unjust at all.

Today, Yang Wei was clearly having a tough time against him. She wondered which side he was from.

It seemed she needed to be more careful, lest her honey trap turn into a situation where she lost both the bait and the catch.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Liuyu couldn't help but remind him, "Teacher Yang, time's up."

Yang Wei wiped the sweat from his cheeks. "Almost done, almost done." In the past, only he, as an examiner, would watch students struggle with his questions, trying to buy more time. He never expected to experience such a situation himself one day.

However, with so many people watching, he couldn't bring himself to drag it out much longer. After writing for a little while more, he said, "I'm finished."

Out of these twenty questions, he was only confident in one or two. But after racking his brain, he thought his calculations shouldn't be too far off, and he should at least get around 10 correct in total.

Thinking this, he secretly congratulated himself for not boasting earlier that he would get all 20 right. Otherwise, he might as well not be alive right now.

Getting a dozen or so correct would be acceptable, considering how difficult these questions were—everyone present had experienced it firsthand.

"So, how many did I get right? A dozen or so?" Yang Wei asked, watching Zu An check his answers. He put his handkerchief back in his pocket, a smug smile on his face. In all of Brightmoon City, he thought, no one could have done better than him—except, of course, for the anomaly that was Zu An.

"As expected of Teacher Yang, he actually solved all the problems!"

"Yeah, I didn't know how to do a single one."

"Teacher Yang is the academy's math teacher, after all. How could he maintain his authority without some real skills?"

"But these questions Zu An came up with are quite tricky. I think his math skills are no less than Teacher Yang's."

"Most likely, the teacher was just going easy on him. Who would make it hard for a student?"

Hearing the students' whispers, Yang Wei felt his back straighten even further. It seemed his prestige at the school was still high after all these years. With this thought, he couldn't help but glance at Shang Liuyu, hoping to salvage his image in front of her. To his surprise, she wasn't even looking at him; her beautiful eyes were curiously fixed on Zu An, who was examining the paper on the other side.

Just then, Zu An's voice suddenly reached his ears. "Is this your math level? I truly overestimated you. You didn't get a single one right!"

A sudden uproar filled the classroom!

"What?" Yang Wei suspected he had misheard. How could he not get a single one right? But seeing Zu An's mocking expression, he immediately became enraged. "You scoundrel, how dare you slander me!"

Rage points from Yang Wei +1024!

One moment he was beaming with pride, and the next, in front of almost all the school's teachers and students, he was criticized for not getting a single question right. The contrast was too immense, and he simply couldn't afford to lose face like this!

To those guys who said it was easy yesterday, why don't you try today's questions? If you can solve them without cheating, you could probably walk into a big company like Microsoft or Tencent.