Chapter 97: Want to Fight Back? Can You Even Beat Me?

Walking with Song Yao to the community gate, Xu Qingzhou returned home to find his father and Wang Nushi watching TV.

Wang Xiaping looked surprised, “Huh? Why are you back so early?”

“It’s already nine.”

Xu Qingzhou took a large apple from the cabinet, didn’t wash it, and bit into it with a grunt before sitting on the sofa.

“How unclean! Don’t you even wash it first?”

Wang Xiaping glared, already suffering visual fatigue after just four days—everything looked wrong to her.

“Dirty food won’t kill you,” Xu Qingzhou said lazily.

Day five.

Read! {

“Mom, it’s four-thirty,” Xu Qingzhou reminded.

Guo Zi moved subtly aside, giving space to the two flirting, and marveled at how Xu Qingzhou had learned to flirt—just a few words had shattered Song Yao’s icy demeanor.

In the end, Wang Wei asked for Xu Qingzhou’s bank account number to receive the bonus after the second phase ended.

Xu Shou glanced at the wall clock, also surprised, and said, “Already this late? Call your mom to come back.”

A few minutes later, Ding Jiahui arrived in a rush, dragging her suitcase behind her as it swung wildly.

Xu Qingzhou, backpack on his back, waved at the two people by the community gate, then headed to the entrance of Chengnan Middle School to meet Song Yao and the others.

“Coming,” Xu Qingzhou rose, went over, and indeed found the grocery bag filled entirely with vegetables—eggplants, small gourds.

Song Yao opened the door to find the dorm empty—Zhang Qiong and Teng Xiaojuan had gone to eat. She put down her things, walked to the balcony, and saw people passing below, none of whom she wanted to see. She sighed.

That’s how Mom is—even if she wins two or three yuan, she’ll spend twenty to buy half a chicken for a treat.

Without exact values: f(p), while providing a certain measure of the “density” of primes less than p, has a well-formed expression for p; when q is the smallest prime greater than p, we have qp ≤ f(p), but we still can only prove that f(p) might relate to some power of log p.

Xu Qingzhou: “Still playing mahjong at four-thirty?”

Guo Ziyan arrived first, then Xu Qingzhou; both stood at the school gate, gazing at the prominent sign: “Unauthorized Personnel Prohibited from Entering Campus,” and felt a wave of nostalgia.

Xu Qingzhou, in a strange expression, whispered to Song Yao: “Are you sure Ding Jiahui doesn’t know Guo Ziyan likes her?”

Beijing’s weather was gloomy, utterly unlike Rongcheng—a cool breeze carried a chill, and puddles still lingered on the ground, indicating rain had just passed.

“Son, what is it?”

Xu Qingzhou: “.”

Guo Ziyan, from ten meters away, rushed forward to take her suitcase.

The seventh day of the National Day holiday, 9 a.m.—Xu Qingzhou ate a hearty breakfast and prepared to leave.

After hanging up, he sat down to watch the soccer match with his father.

Later, Xu Qingzhou went out once, to a nearby shop to buy eight Shuangliu Lao Ma rabbit heads—one portion for Song Yao’s dorm mates.

Wang Xiaping wanted to scold him for slouching, but seeing his lazy, carefree demeanor, she gave up and asked: “Just now… with Xiao Yao?”

Xu Qingzhou and his father exchanged a glance—they immediately understood Wang Nushi had lost money, and judging by her expression, the loss might already reach a staggering sum of over ten yuan.

Xu Qingzhou was using the f(p) function to prove q-p ≤ c×log p; even after relaxing the upper bound to c×(log p)^a, progress remained difficult.

About five minutes later, Song Yao arrived.

Dorm 206.

Xu Qingzhou was speechless, shook his head, walked to the fridge, and realized it was empty—no ingredients left to cook. He stood by the window, breathing fresh air, and called his mother. “Ow! Why’d you pinch me again!”

Looking at the empty dorm, she felt an inexplicable loneliness, almost wanting to cry.

“Playing mahjong,” Xu Shou said without turning around.

Seeing Xu Qingzhou packing, Wang Xiaping sighed again, lamenting how fast time flew—her son was leaving for school again in a blink.

“What are you glaring at? Want to fight back? Can you even beat me?!”

“I know,” Xu Qingzhou nodded.

!.

They were scattered in different directions; if their parents came to drop them off, they’d have to run all over. After thinking, they decided to just take a taxi together.

“Good. Your mother and I don’t expect you to achieve great things…”

Half an hour later, Wang Xiaping came in with groceries, glared at the two men lounging in the living room, and snapped: “You two men, you’d starve without me.”

Song Yao’s face stiffened. She turned silently, pulled out a small mirror—her face was flawless, nothing else. She realized she’d been tricked.

“There’s still eye gunk,” Xu Qingzhou said.

It made Xu Qingzhou stare in disbelief—could the soft, delicate girl he’d seen two days ago really be Song Yao?

“Yes, just dropped her off at the community.”

Song Yao noticed Xu Qingzhou staring at her, raised an eyebrow: “Do I have flowers on my face?”

“You eat meat every day? Can’t go a single day without it?” After dinner, Xu Qingzhou received a call from Wang Wei: the second phase had officially ended. Professor Zhao was racing to secure the MRI machine at No. 2 Hospital—hopefully, they could enter the experimental phase after the semester started.

“Xu Qingzhou, stop staring—come peel some garlic!”

She was utterly different from three days ago: wearing a beige T-shirt with high-waisted wide-leg jeans, her expression cold, her icy aura detectable even from dozens of meters away.

“Oh! Four-thirty? I’m coming back… Kong!”

“Dad, Mom, I’m leaving.”

“You’re working on that thing…” During a break in the match, Xu Shou finally had time to care for his son, rubbing his thermos cup. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

At 4 p.m., Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao appeared on the Jingda campus, ate at the Nongyuan cafeteria, then escorted Song Yao back to her dorm.

The heart-to-heart ended quickly—the soccer match was about to start.

Indeed, the vow to “come back often” had faded.

Song Yao gave a slight nod. She’d subtly tested it—Ding Jiahui had no clue about Guo Ziyan’s feelings. She internally scoffed: Jiahui, Jiahui, with your observation skills, you want to ship couples? You want to be a love advisor? The four met up—Xu Qingzhou’s taxi arrived, and they drove straight to the airport, boarding the flight to Beijing.

“No meat?”

The phone connected—sure enough, the sound of mahjong tiles clacking came through the earpiece.

After spending the afternoon at home, Xu Qingzhou was woken by his growling stomach. He put down his pen, stepped out of his room, and saw his father watching the soccer match in the living room. He asked: “Dad, where’s Mom?”

She took a deep breath, suppressed the sadness, opened her suitcase, and took out her things.

First, she pulled out a pile of books—all professional texts and materials. Entering university, everyone around her suddenly seemed brilliant; she already felt the pressure.

Especially since Xu Qingzhou was even more impressive than in high school.

So she brought many books this time, to strengthen her expertise and keep pace with Xu Qingzhou.

(End of Chapter)