Chapter 614: Far Ahead

Da Wang kept spouting big talk nonstop, Wei Ke tried to interrupt several times but never got a chance to jump in. No, Da Wang, what misunderstanding do you have about yourself? If there are a few top students opposite, how will you manage to get out of this?!

Wei Ke finally found an opening, grabbed Da Wang and whispered: "If in the second round they ask something too hard and you can't answer, what will we do?"

Wei Shen, on the other side, tried to deflate Da Wang: "Exactly, not mentioning your status, losing would be embarrassing. Just say you're a proper disciple of Xie Yuanzheng—if you lose, can Xie afford to lose this person? What if we're expelled from the school?! Today's problem is that we didn't bring Xie Tu; in terms of studying, even me and the boss together aren't as good as him."

Da Wang, at a loss for words, said: "What's the difference between the eldest cousin himself and the eldest cousin plus you?" Adding you or not adding you—what's the difference?

Da Wang: "Wei Shen's learning is about zero~"

Wei Shen: "Adding you makes no difference!"

Seeing them like that, Wei Ke realized that if they could still argue at this point, Da Wang must still have some confidence.

Sure enough, Da Wang said: "Just end the match after the first round—rest assured, my question they won't be able to solve."

The collection of an ordinary academy and the academy Mengmeng built for him are completely different directions; the Northern Border Academy's breadth of study is indeed the best in the world, but nowadays it has produced few graduates, and no one can claim to have read through all the books in its library—including Xie Tu.

In the time it took to say those two sentences, Da Wang immediately summoned an attendant to light the incense timer.

"Listen up to the question! A turtle and a crane together have sixty legs; if we replace two of the cranes with two turtles, then the numbers of legs of turtles and cranes become equal. Now the question: how many turtles and cranes are there?"

The six Minglun students: …

"What kind of question is this?"

"How could anyone come up with such a boring question?"

Da Wang, pleased with himself, thought: "Who doesn't know the level of arithmetic in Great Jin? One question and it's over—no need to answer, hahaha~"

"Not boring at all—can't you Minglun students solve any arithmetic problem under a hundred? You Minglun couldn't possibly only know how to add one plus one equals two, two plus two equals four, could you?"

Led by Han Zheng, the students found themselves in a tough spot, having to grit their heads and seriously think about the problem.

Da Wang also kept order: "Everyone, be quiet, don't disturb the Minglun Academy's talented students as they think!"

After everyone from the hall joined in, Minglun had no chance to retreat; this wasn't just a matter of face for the six individuals, it concerned the reputation of the whole Minglun. But what a lousy question—who the heck came up with this?

Several people pondered hard, even dipping tea water on the table to scribble and draw.

Wei Ke thought for a moment… and realized he couldn't solve it. Seeing Da Wang's confident little look, he felt the question was likely a trap, and they were probably done for.

Things developed at lightning speed, and he also figured it out: Da Wang wanted to give the Northern Border Academy fame. He thought Da Wang was eager for talent, after all the Northern Border Academy's graduates have broad and practical studies. He never imagined Da Wang had a long‑pending side quest that remained untouched to this day.

This guy has tried everything from black to red, yet today's routine hype is utterly insignificant! Da Wang dreams of winning the academy's worldwide renown award; today it's just bad luck for Minglun. He silently decided to go back and submit to Xie Tu, hehe, publish in the newspaper!

Da Wang ordered the attendant to fetch paper and brush; the incense burned quickly, and seeing it half gone, the Minglun table still wore a bitter face full of question marks.

The whole hall was gesturing at the table, just looking at each other more and more bewildered. The numbers aren't big, so why is it so hard to solve?

Wei Shen leaned in close to Da Wang and whispered: "Are you really completely sure?"

Da Wang, pleased, said: "Not even one stick of incense would help—even a whole bundle would be wasted. The people of Great Jin just can't figure out this question!" Advanced version of the chicken‑and‑rabbit puzzle, safe!

Wei Shen: ……

This kid is really sly!

Looks like Xie Yuan's reputation is safe.

The question involves numbers under a hundred, but upon careful thought, Han Zheng felt his brain had several strings tangled together—in short, a mess.

Seeing the incense about to burn out, he slammed the table and stood up: "There's simply no answer!"

"Exactly! There's none! How could swapping two legs still be equal?!"

Da Wang, leisurely: "There is~"

"Fine, we lose—then tell us how to calculate it!"

Da Wang, full of confidence, waved his hand: "Bring paper and brush!"

The attendant beside him quickly presented paper and brush; Da Wang waved at everyone around: "Everyone come over, I'll explain it to all of you!"

He sat down at the Minglun table with paper and brush, completely at ease; having been warmly invited, the well‑meaning crowd truly gathered. It's rare for the struggling student Da Wang to get a chance to lecture others, and he was delighted.

"【A turtle and a crane together have sixty legs; if we replace two of the cranes with two turtles, then the numbers of legs of turtles and cranes become equal. Question: how many turtles and cranes are there?】"

"This question is very simple; our Northern Border Academy has a numeracy course, and anyone who's heard it can solve it. Below, I'll give everyone a brief explanation."

"First, a crane has 2 legs, a turtle 4 legs, together 60 legs, right? Let's set up an equation."

He wrote on the paper:

2 cranes + 4 turtles = 60

"Then replace two cranes with two turtles…"

cranes minus 2, turtles plus 2;

2(cranes − 2) = 4(turtles + 2)

From that we get cranes − 2 = 2 turtles + 4;

Next, cranes + 2 turtles = 30;

Adding the two equations: 2 cranes = 36, so cranes = 18, turtles = 6;

"At this point, cranes are eighteen with thirty‑six legs, turtles are six with twenty‑four legs, total sixty legs. Swapping two cranes for turtles gives cranes sixteen, turtles eight, leg counts equal—this is the final answer. The answer is 18 and 6; I've finished explaining, do you understand?"

Besides himself, the people in the two surrounding circles felt their mental knots tighten even more.

"I completely don't understand."

"But working backward, the result is correct."

"How did you even work it out…"

Han Zheng, sitting next to him, was still stuck on the first line of the paper, pointing at the Arabic numeral 2 Da Wang had written: "Do you lot in the Northern Border write the number two like this?" Then the others started chattering, asking what the plus sign means, what the parentheses mean…

Da Wang hid his talent and fame, at the right moment showing a surprised expression: "I'm just an average student at our academy; you actually can't understand such a simple question… how am I supposed to explain it? Ah! I just remembered I haven't fed my bird—I'm leaving first!"

Even the excuse made the dogs dislike it; the onlookers in the hall felt unjustly scolded.

Da Wang turned back and called his cousins; before leaving he still couldn't resist putting on a big show.

"You guys keep thinking about it—it's really simple. Sigh… looks like our Northern Border Academy is far ahead academically!"

Ming Lun's six people: ……

The Great King led the team away, and several of Ming Lun's stepping stones were still studying that dragon‑flying, phoenix‑dancing scrawl of the Great King's. To be honest, they still didn't understand a thing!

He was scratching his head when two old men came down from the second floor; the one in front came to borrow the Great King's 'genuine work'. He said that this building, renovated for the auction, offered a full view of the bustling main hall from the second floor.

Han Zheng raised his head, about to refuse, when it turned awkward—the person who came was none other than Xiao Zi himself, who had just been stepped on.

The Libationer of the neighboring academy……