Chapter 182: Blood Flows into A River
The modified question went like this: Xiao Hong’s little brother did a head count. The number of brothers he has is one more than the number of sisters he has. How many more brothers does Xiao Hong have, compared to Xiao Hong’s sister?
The original question’s answer was supposed to be three, but the original question did say that Xiao Hong was a girl. This question did not.
Yun Xiangxiang guessed that most people would ignore this part. Who said Xiao Hong must be a girl?
To answer this question correctly, one must consider two probabilities: Xiao Hong is a girl, and Xiao Hong is a boy.
It might look like a bonus question, but there were traps everywhere. From this question onward, there were no more easy questions.
When Yun Xiangxiang entered the calculations section after she finished the problem solving section, a voice rang, “Teacher, there’s a problem with this question.”
Yun Xiangxiang couldn’t help but turn aside to look. It was Du Jing. Yun Xiangxiang ignored her and continued answering the paper.
The invigilator came to Du Jing’s side. Du Jin pointed at the question, “Teacher, is this one a boy or a girl?”
Yun Xiangxiang shook her head slightly. If she was the one asking, she would ask whether Xiao Hong was a boy or a girl. With how Du Jing phrased the question, it was clear she did not want too many people knowing what she asked. She even lowered her voice to a whisper.
“There is no problem with the question,” the teacher went away after that curt answer.
“How can there be no problem?” Du Jing mumbled.
Obviously the teacher would not tell you about assuming two possibilities to answer it, but it seems she’s stuck in a dead end.
The questions rose in difficulty as the paper progressed. There were two practical questions. The first question was still okay. It was just an applicatino of the Lagrange multiplier.
The question wanted them to list a functional relationship, asked for the increase in range of sales, and maximizing profits.
Yun Xiangxiang saw a simple question when she arrived at the last one. Only a simple graph of a function was there, and everything else was blank. That brought the most trouble to her.
“This is crazy!” Yun Xiangxiang cursed silently when she made the calculations on the draft paper.
A maniac must be behind this comprehensive question. There were five subquestions, and each one needed a long-winded calculation.
Yun Xiangxiang spent a long time finding the answers after she finished calculating. She almost had an existential crisis when she looked for them.
Yun Xiangxiang had no time to cross check her calculations. Time was not her friend here. She had to finish the questions before she could check. It was a pity that they had to hand in the papers after Yun Xiangxiang finished it and barely finished checking the first subquestion.
She covered the paper with a blank one and left the examination hall.
“How was it, Xiangxiang? Have some hot water,” Tao Manni and the others had already finished their classes when Yun Xiangxiang exited the hall.
“Most of my brain cells are dead,” Yun Xiangxiang took a sip of water. “I need to do some haircare when I go back to prevent hair loss.”
“How much confidence do you have?” Ma Linlin asked.
“The first part was still okay. I did not check for the last question. It’s in fate’s hands now,” Yun Xiangxiang shrugged. “I’m starving, let’s go eat.”
The paper was already done and over with. Naturally, Yun Xiangxiang would not dwell on it. She spent too much brain power, and her stomach was asking for nourishment.
During lunch, Yang Qi trotted over and whispered, “Xiangxiang, my three roommates want to celebrate your birthday too.”
Yun Xiangxiang looked in the direction he came from. She saw three young lads scrambling to greet her.
“There’s only three of them, right?” Yun Xiangxiang asked.
Yang Qi nodded, “I guarantee you, just three of them.”
“Okay, but not expensive gifts. Or there will be no next time,” Yun Xiangxiang reminded him.
Yang Qi was Song Meng’s great helper. They would bring Yang Qi along on many of their events. He lived in the same dorm as the other boys. If Yun Xiangxiang rejected him and put Yang Qi in an awkward place, she could always treat him to a meal.
The boys howled when Yang Qi returned. It drew the attention of other students to them. With it, their guesses too.
Yun Xiangxiang still attended the afternoon class obediently. The results would be announced next Monday. This intra-school competition had cash prizes and trophies.
This intra-school competition for the freshmen was a warm up to selecting sophomores to take part in the national math competition.
The requirement for the competitors of national graduates’ math competition was to be at least a sophomore. The top three in the intra-school competition would receive the best training in the following year. Yun Xiangxiang would not take part in the competition next year.
Entering this competition was just to prove the validity of her results. It was not as if she could not accept any doubts.
It was because she was doubted even when it was only her first semester. She still had numerous semesters to go. She could not have everyone doubting her every time.
She needed to counterattack when she had the time now. Or else the rumors would turn nasty.
She would be even busier after this. Her goal was to keep herself in the top ten of her course and graduate smoothly.
When her classes were over, Yun Xiangxiang went to the Song Manor after picking up Yun Lin. She continued learning opera from Yuan Pingqiu. Song Mian was not there, but she had a fangirl.
She was Yuan Wan, the eldest granddaughter of Yuan Pingqiu, whom he mentioned before. She was younger than Yun Xiangxiang by two years, and was in Grade 11 now.
“I thought I was already early enough in my studies. You are earlier than I was,” Yuan Wan adored Yun Xiangxiang. “I’ll train with you. I’m better than my grandpa.”
Yuan Wan’s basics were solid. As they were of similar age, they had a great time talking to each other. Yun Xiangxiang learned it faster.
Since Yun Xiangxiang was gathering with her friends on the next day and would not be coming back, she took Yuan Wan together with her.
“Heh heh. Sorry girls. Self-draw pure hand [1]”
“Can anyone help me? My wallet’s empty. If I lose more, that’s it for this month’s meal,” Feng Xiaolu wailed at the people who were playing billiards beside her.
“I’ll have a go,” Chu Ting replaced her.
Zhu Yuan and Yang Qi replaced Chu Ting and Tao Manni after a couple of rounds. Three of them, including longtime player, Ma Linlin, left after three rounds. Yang Qi’s roommate trio replaced them.
The trio might be decent mahjong players, but they only lasted five rounds…
Everyone stared at Yun Xiangxiang confusedly. She held up against nine of them. She won against all nine of them alone!”
“You’re just looking for trouble playing mahjong with her,” Song Meng gloated with chips in her mouth, rejoicing in others misfortune.
Yun Xiangxiang knew how to play mahjong when she was around ten years old. Hua Xiangrong was also engrossed in this discipline. When two become one, they were invincible.
“It’s horrifying. She can draw whatever she wants. When I finally got her stuck for once, in excitement, I threw the tile I drew because my arm bumped into something…”
The rules on mahjong tables went like this: If a tile left the player’s hand, that meant the player played that tile. It just so happened that Yun Xiangxiang needed a replacement tile, and she won on the replacement tile.
When Zhu Yuan won, she dragged Yang Qi and Ma Linlin into this hole.
“Hahahaha. Eat more later. You guys have to win what you lost by eating,” Yun Xiangxiang counted her money happily.
Twenty yuan was the minimum they must bet. Two hundred yuan was the maximum. Yun Xiangxiang managed to win more than ten thousand yuan. One person lost an average of a thousand yuan to her…
“This world is magical. I was planning to play Six Craks, but for some reason, I played Five Craks…”
When Yang Ao, Yang Qi’s roommate, recalled how he gave Yun Xiangxiang a seven pair win in the last round, he was dazed.
“She could even self-draw a dragon’s seven pair. What can we say to that?” Tao Manni looked dejected.
“I lost two thousand yuan. Basically I did my winter part-time for free. I will never play mahjong with Yun Xiangxiang ever again,” Feng Xiaolu pretended to cry.
“I finally know why Sichuan calls this play Blood Flows into A River!” Chu Ting exclaimed with a look of pained realization.