CHAPTER 871: CHAPTER 875: BORN REBELLIOUS (25)

Lan Chengying and Yu Xiang sat casually, the sparkling diamond earrings on their ears dazzling to the eyes.

Their unique blend of retro and trendy style caught the gaze of many girls.

Chen Hao pursed his lips and walked straight up to them.

"The problem you gave last time, I could only figure out twenty-four methods, how did Su Li come up with thirty-six? Can you tell me?"

The surrounding classmates started making a commotion, as it seemed inconceivable that someone as proud as Chen Hao would lower his noble head.

The legend of Chen Hao was that his mind worked differently from ordinary people—he was just smart.

"Chen Hao, could you have been deceived? If you can’t do it, how could this Su Li manage it?"

"She was part of the archaeology department before, not on the same level as our mathematics department."

Lan Chengying focused his sharp gaze on the person heckling, silencing them immediately.

But aside from this man, no one else at the scene spoke up, which was rare.

Elder Qin from the archaeology department had not long ago become a cautionary tale.

If you speak too proudly, it’s going to hurt quite a bit when you’re slapped in the face later.

Yu Xiang cheerfully pushed Chen Hao aside, saying, "No rush on your question, we’ll get to it later."

Lan Chengying raised an eyebrow and followed up, "The next class is your teacher’s, right? You did pass on our message to him, didn’t you?"

Chen Hao, not understanding, pursed his lips and said, "Yes."

"What are you planning to do?"

Chen Hao calmly stated a fact, "My teacher is far more formidable than me. If you’re planning to challenge him with those types of questions from before, I advise you to dismiss that notion immediately and leave through the back door of the classroom while you still can."

Chen Hao thought these two were somewhat unrealistic.

He had a bit of an idea of what they wanted to do; they were probably trying to clear the name of the girl named Su Li. But using the method of challenging experts across departments seemed far too naïve.

Chen Hao thought they had made a disastrously bad move.

At the same time, he also thought this girl, who was smarter than him, was too arrogant.

His teacher had been studying in the field of mathematics for decades, achieving accomplishments unimaginable to most people.

Upon realizing this, Chen Hao felt a faint sense of pity, then calmly sat down.

His teacher had a good relationship with Elder Qin and was also very displeased with this girl, Su Li.

Originally, Chen Hao wanted to convey that this girl was actually very smart and not as bad as people were saying. But after seeing his teacher’s stern and serious face, he quickly abandoned that thought.

Old children, old children; as people age, they become particularly stubborn in some areas.

Elder Qin was like this, and so was his teacher.

People from their generation seemed to prefer boys and girls who were obedient and steady; they were prejudiced right from the first impression against those with unique personalities.

This was a characteristic of people from that era.

As the class bell rang, an elderly man with white hair, wearing reading glasses, and dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, slowly walked into the classroom.

He timed it just right, not a minute early, not a second late.

Elder Zheng glanced down from the podium and immediately spotted the two most conspicuous students.

It was hard not to notice.

What boy wears eyeliner? It was an eyesore.

Chen Hao sat calmly beside them, pondering what questions these two might bring up.

As the projector on the podium turned on, Chen Hao covered his mouth to stifle his gasp.

He instinctively held his breath, incredulous as he looked at Lan Chengying and Yu Xiang, thinking they must be crazy.

Doing what they did wasn’t openly seeking guidance, but offending someone.

The room was silent, Elder Zheng immediately wore a displeased expression, and these two young kids truly did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

Chen Hao, however, thought that maybe these two scions randomly picked a problem without understanding its significance.

Who would have thought that just as this notion crossed Chen Hao’s mind, it was sharply contradicted by Lan Chengying.

Lan Chengying smiled as he pointed to the question on the screen and asked Elder Zheng, "Professor, I’ve always been puzzled by this mathematical problem, and I was hoping you could help enlighten me."

Except for Chen Hao, the other students in the maths department showed anger.

Several muscular male students stood up, saying, "Are you looking for trouble?"

Yu Xiang smiled and replied, "How can you say that? We genuinely want to seek guidance from Elder Zheng."

"The Goldbach Conjecture, it’s a world-famous unsolved mathematical problem. Bringing up such an issue, isn’t it deliberately frustrating people?"

Chen Hao’s face darkened as he increasingly felt his character was rash.

It was his own presumptions that trapped his teacher.

He always thought he was good at judging people. Even though these two scions had a bad reputation, their passion for knowledge proved they weren’t as others described.

But now, he felt as if he’d been slapped.

Originally, his teacher wasn’t teaching anymore. It was Chen Hao’s casual remark to mention Lan Chengying and Yu Xiang to his teacher that sparked his interest.

Maybe the teacher wanted to teach the two juniors a lesson, or maybe he wanted to suppress their high spirits. Regardless of his intentions, the catalyst came from Chen Hao.

Chen Hao felt deeply regretful.

Some people might not care about reputation and face, but others value it as much as their lives.

Like Elder Qin, like Elder Zheng.

Facing his classmates’ questioning, Lan Chengying remained calm, casually asking, "Is this problem very difficult?"

Elder Zheng slammed a hand on the lectern, his white hair quivering as he said angrily, "Nonsense, the school was right to expel you."

"Students like you only taint Hua University’s academic atmosphere for nothing."

Chen Hao felt he should do something to remedy the situation.

He stepped forward and said, "This is the Goldbach Conjecture, known as the crown jewel of mathematics."

He thought that by saying this, they would back down if they had any sense of dignity.

Unexpectedly, Lan Chengying and Yu Xiang looked innocent, their expression clearly saying: "And then?"

Chen Hao: "...."

Elder Zheng raised a hand to stop Chen Hao from speaking further, calmed his emotions, approached the podium, and calmly waved his hand, "All students, sit down at your seats."

"Since these two have brought it up, today I’ll talk to you about this major mathematical problem."

Elder Zheng also harbored a sense of anger, his tone tight when he spoke, revealing a hint of severity.

"The general methods for studying this conjecture involve advanced mathematical approaches like sieving, circle methods, density-like methods, and trigonometric sum methods."

At this point, Elder Zheng pointed towards Lan Chengying, "You two youngsters, can you explain to the other students what sieving, circle methods, density methods, and trigonometric sum methods are?"