The grand mirror hung high, located in the Qin's manor in the city center, which looked like a holiday villa. The lights were brightly lit, shining in multiple colors.
The well-trained bodyguards in black suits patrolled back and forth.
Qin Yan, the assistant, walked quickly, stepping on the expensive black sandalwood stairs and went upstairs. The carvings on the handrails of the stairs were exquisite works of art, but they showed low-key luxury in a subtle way.
Qin Hanyue disliked foreign buildings more and more. Compared with the flashy Western-style buildings that lacked connotation, he preferred such low-key, steady and magnificent Chinese-style buildings. The first floor was purely Western-style just for the height of the living room. The second floor was a mix of Chinese and Western styles, with more Chinese elements.
Walking through the long corridor, Assistant Qin Yan knocked on the study room. After getting consent from inside, he pushed the door and walked in.
"Third Uncle, Qin Shao."
The uncle and nephew were sitting on the sofa discussing work, with multiple folders on the thick pear wood coffee table.
Qin Yuchen was pouring tea for his Third Uncle Qin Hanyue. Seeing his uncle's assistant Qin Yan looking exceptionally...lively, he couldn't help but be curious: "What's the matter?"
Qin Yan said, "Our people have been discovered by the girl."
The uncle and nephew looked at each other simultaneously.
Qin Yuchen said in surprise: "Discovered?" How was that possible?
"Just now, when the girl went out for a while, she caught our people." Qin Yan felt it was unbelievable.
Qin Yan certainly did not dare to be sloppy since Qin Hanyue had personally instructed him. The people he had sent were the best at fighting skills and reconnaissance abilities. But they were still found by an ordinary female student.
Qin Yuchen asked: "Did it scare her?"
Qin Yan's expression was even more interesting. After carefully considering his wording, he said, "I think the ones who were scared should be our people."
Qin Yuchen was stunned for a moment. Seeing Qin Yan's expression, he almost laughed out loud but held back because Qin Hanyue was here.
To cover up the embarrassment, he said to Qin Hanyue: "She is really a very smart girl."
Just after hearing it, Qin Yuchen was also shocked inevitably. But when he thought about Qiao Ying's intelligence and courage carefully, it didn't seem too surprising that their people were discovered by her.
Qin Yan said: "Yes, so our people revealed their identities and purposes to her, so as not to cause her trouble."
Qin Hanyue asked: "Then what did she say?"
But Qin Yan looked at Qin Yuchen with a tangled expression, seeming hesitant whether or not to say it.
Qin Yuchen saw this and quickly asked: "Did she mention me?"
He couldn't help raising some expectations in his heart. He had never met such an interesting girl and was very curious what Qiao Ying would say about him.
"Yes." Qin Yan thought for a while, and passed on Qiao Ying's words verbatim: "She said - It turns out the Qin family spent all their money hiring bodyguards."
Qin Yuchen: "What does that mean?"
Qin Yuchen didn't understand at all. But he heard Uncle Qin Hanyue ask him like this: "How much money did you give her exactly?"
Reminded by Qin Hanyue, Qin Yuchen seemed to understand the implied meaning: "One million."
Sure enough--
Qin Hanyue said: "No wonder she said we Qins spent all our money hiring bodyguards."
This was an indirect way of saying Qin Yuchen was stingy.
Qin Yuchen: "..."
"I just didn't want to scare her. And one million is not a small amount for a teenage student like her."
Qin Hanyue didn't respond. Qin Yan shook his head: "No, she didn't say anything else either."
If Qiao Ying had asked for more money at this time, the Qin family would have no reason to refuse. But she did not.
This made both Qin Yuchen and Qin Hanyue look upon her more highly.
Seeing that the uncle and nephew did not speak again, Qin Yan asked on behalf of those men: "Do our people still need to stay there to protect her in secret?"
Now that they were completely exposed, this secret protection would be a bit... Qin Yan felt embarrassed for those men.
Qin Yuchen said: "Of course, she is only smart and can't fight. You must ensure her personal safety."
Realizing that he was too impatient in front of his elder, Qin Yuchen immediately looked at the silent Qin Hanyue.
Seeing that the latter's face was unchanged, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Qin Hanyue nodded slightly to the assistant, tacitly approving.
But Qin Yan inexplicably felt that Qiao Ying didn't need their protection. However, he didn't dare to say this bizarre idea.
Qin Yuchen began to regret not insisting on going to Yuncheng to see Qiao Ying in person this morning.
Noticing Qin Hanyue's gaze falling on his face, Qin Yuchen, aware of his absent-mindedness, quickly withdrew his thoughts and concealed it by saying: "She really is a very special girl."
Qin Hanyue didn't respond.
She was indeed special, and didn't seem as simple as she looked.
-
Qiao Yi was holding the copied math problems and knocked on Qiao Ying's door.
"Sis, can you solve this problem?"
Qiao Ying took it and looked through the questions. Her slender eyebrows couldn't help but curl up: "Where did you get this problem?"
This question was particularly tricky and quite interesting.
"It was made by the president of Peking University and several professors and mathematicians last year. It seems they couldn't solve it themselves, so they posted the question online to see if anyone could solve it."
"The president of Peking University promised verbally that whoever could solve this problem would get direct admission to Peking University, with the freedom to choose any major. People already working could get a job at Peking University and choose any position. Many mathematics enthusiasts rushed to try but no one could give a correct answer. They could only solve halfway before getting stuck and not knowing how to continue. Even Xu Zhiyi, who was known as a math genius, struggled for half a year without results."
Because of his lame leg, Qiao Yi worked harder than anyone else. He had no friends or hobbies, so he poured all his passion and time into studying mathematics, which he was interested in.
He was self-studying first-year university math courses, and had learned some related knowledge in advance targeting this problem. But whenever he looked at this question, he didn't know where to start.
Qiao Yi had been waiting for the math genius Xu Zhiyi to release the answer.
However, after half a year, there was no news at all.
Last month, Xu Zhiyi publicly released the first part of the solution process, but was still far from the final answer.
At that time, Qiao Yi thought that even Xu Zhiyi couldn't solve it, there shouldn't be anyone in the world who could solve it.
But now, he felt that the answer he had been waiting for half a year was about to come out.
Qiao Ying did not disappoint Qiao Yi's expectations. Holding the draft with the questions, she said, "Give me half an hour."
"Half an hour?"
Qiao Yi stared with wide eyes, to confirm it wasn't half a month or half a year?
Qiao Yi found that his eyes had been staring wide these days.
Before Qiao Yi could ask if it was half a month or half a year, Qiao Ying shut the door and went to solve the problem.
Seeing this, Qiao Yi went from half believing to gradually expecting, then getting excited. His heart pounded faster and faster.
He simply didn't go anywhere but waited at the door. He kept bowing his head to look at his watch, counting every minute and second.
It was quiet in the room, occasionally hearing the faint sound of paper rustling. Time became long and unbearable.
Finally, when Qiao Yi lowered his head to check his watch for the Nth time, the door clicked open suddenly. Qiao Ying was holding his notebook.
And there were still five minutes before half an hour was up.
Before Qiao Ying could ask why he was waiting at the door, Qiao Yi hurriedly asked, "Did you figure it out?"
Qiao Ying handed him the notebook.
