Yi Lianfan stopped writing and put aside the piece of paper. His voice was filled with defeat when he said, “You really are brilliant.”


  He used to think that he would defeat Huo Yao one day. It was only now he realised that she was at a completely different level from him.

  A sad smile swept across Yi Lianfan’s face. No wonder she always seemed so disinterested when he challenged her.

  There was a yawning gap between them.

  Huo Yao coughed. “You are quite outstanding as well.”


  Yi Lianfan glanced at her when he heard her. “I think you are mistaken. I’m not seeking consolation. I was just stating the truth.”


  Huo Yao lowered her head and ate some porridge before she said patronizingly, “Yes, I am better than you. Now do you think I’m consoling you?”


  She had already noticed that he was a straightforward guy.

  Yi Lianfan pursed his lips without uttering a word. He looked at Huo Yao quietly for a long time before he finally said, “I admit that you are far smarter than me, but I won’t ever stop trying to surpass you.”


  Huo Yao nodded and said something to encourage him, “Good luck!”


  Yi Lianfan didn’t reply.

  After Huo Yao finished her porridge, she wiped her mouth with a tissue. Her eyes landed back on the paper and she asked him. “Haven’t solved it yet?”


  Yi Lianfan said nothing.

  Huo Yao took the paper and looked at the equations listed on it. She detected the error right away. Taking out her pen, she corrected it. “It wasn’t wrong to use the NS equation, but you made things complicated by using it, so the first step was unnecessary……”


  Huo Yao put down the pen five minutes later and placed the solution in front of Yi Lianfan.

  Huo Yao’s voice kept landing in his ear as she pointed out Yi Lianfan’s problems accurately.

  He looked at the paper and the equation came alive in his head with clarity.

  Although it was a tough question, he was suddenly enlightened after she gave him the pointers.

  Huo Yao was long gone by the time Yi Lianfan gathered his thoughts.

  He picked up the piece of paper with the solution on it. His sense of defeat from failing to solve it, since yesterday, disappeared instantly. With Huo Yao’s guidance, he could fully grasp it.

  Huo Yao was beyond outstanding.

  **

  At 9:00 am sharp.

  A total of 23 students from all over the country participated in the National Quiz Contest finals and had already entered the exam hall.

  They were all assigned to the same exam hall with Huo Yao sitting right in the front row.

  Almost everyone knew who she was because she stood first in the heats and had attained full marks.

  Huo Yao sat in the front row with a winner’s aura and appeared so lofty that the rest of them could only look up to her.

  She truly surpassed them overwhelmingly.

  The invigilator came in the room with their test papers and distributed them across.

  The entire paper was three hours long, like the previous one.

  But the questions were entirely on a different level and were based on the International Quiz Contest standards.

  This time, Huo Yao did not submit her script early.