Chapter 29

Zhou Jing was originally still bowing her head to answer questions, but the voices around her were too loud. Everyone was whispering, and even though it was very small voices, they all merged together, making it so noisy that Zhou Jing couldn’t focus on a single word.

In panic, her wrist trembled, and the pen tip on the paper drew a very long stain.

“Who is this girl? She’s not from our school’s team, right? How is she so good?” Everyone on the school’s Sudoku team knew each other.

“Do you not know her? Don’t you use social media? This is Ji Ran, the school flower of Class 8. Such a beautiful girl.”

“Oh, so she is Ji Ran. But wasn’t it said that her math grades were particularly poor—only 22 points in the last monthly exam?”

“Amazing, she even defeated the school team so effortlessly. How is she so skilled?”

“Yeah, I didn’t even realize, and she’s already finished. She seems even more impressive than the school team.”

The surrounding discussions reached Jiang Yi’s ears.

Jiang Yi was a member of the school’s dance club, and their training room was upstairs. Someone had just come up and said there was a Sudoku competition downstairs, so a group of people came down to watch the excitement.

Jiang Yi didn’t expect that the person competing with the Sudoku team would be Ji Ran.

Even the girls from the dance club, who were usually quick to judge others based on looks, were silent. Although everyone in the dance club was good-looking, for the first time, they couldn’t criticize a girl’s appearance.

Ji Ran, sitting in the chair, was immersed in the orange sunset glow. Even just sitting quietly, she remained pure and beautiful.

Everyone’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on this elf-like girl.

At this moment in the training room, Zhou Jing, who had been bowing her head, suddenly stood up. She pointed at Ji Ran and said angrily, “Cheating! You must be cheating. You must have known the answer in advance; otherwise, you couldn’t have answered faster than me.”

Zhou Jing’s sudden accusation made Xia Jiangming the first to shout in disbelief, “Damn, you can’t accept losing.”

“That’s right; when others win, it’s cheating. Your Sudoku team is so shameless.”

“Such sore losers; it’s embarrassing for the Sudoku team.”

For a while, both the people in the classroom and those standing in the corridor began to argue.

Zhou Jing was trembling all over; she couldn’t believe this result.

Originally, she planned to defeat this beautiful girl in front of everyone, to make everyone recognize her, and to let everyone know that being good-looking is not everything; having a good brain is what truly matters.

But she didn’t expect to lose so decisively and so powerlessly.

Forty-seven seconds.

In her heart, Zhou Jing understood that she couldn’t have such speed. It was too fast, and she even thought that no one in the school’s Sudoku team could have such speed.

So she shouted unwillingly; she felt that Ji Ran must have done this question in advance to win against her.

Ji Ran looked at her with a calm expression and said, “You chose the question.”

Yes, Zhou Jing brought the exam paper, and even the question was selected by her.

Zhou Jing still refused to admit her failure. She forced herself to say, “You must have done this question before; you knew the answer.”

Ji Ran looked at her quietly, her eyes indifferent, and said, “You lost.”

Zhou Jing opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say, and the mocking voices around her were loud.

Wen Qianxia shouted, “Apologize. You just insulted us, saying that we, Class 8 students, are trash. Now that you’ve lost, apologize quickly.”

When Zhou Jing uttered those words, Shen Zhi and the others didn’t hear them.

At this moment, Wen Qianxia spoke, and several boys from Class 8 exploded.

“Oh my, if it weren’t for my policy of not hitting girls, I would have really broken it today.”

“What nonsense.”

At this point, Shen Zhi finally stood up and took a few steps forward. He walked in front of Zhou Jing and looked down at her from a higher position. “What did you say?”

Zhou Jing trembled all over; she was genuinely scared.

Shen Zhi had a notorious reputation; everyone knew he was cold and arrogant, not lenient even with girls.

“Apologize,” his voice was cold and indifferent.

Zhou Jing hurriedly said, “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“To Ji Ran,” Shen Zhi looked at her with ice-cold eyes.

Zhou Jing, inexplicably frightened, sounded almost like she was about to cry as she stammered, “Ji Ran, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have insulted Class 8 and said they were trash. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Ji Ran was initially annoyed by her outspokenness, but seeing Zhou Jing almost terrified by Shen Zhi’s presence, she didn’t want to make things difficult for her any longer.

Quietly standing up, she pulled Wen Qianxia, preparing to leave.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she stood up, a beautiful girl walked in through the door. She glanced at Shen Zhi first and then looked at Ji Ran.

“Can I compete with you?”

As soon as everyone saw that the newcomer was Xue Yirou, discussions erupted again.

“Xue Yirou is here too. Now, there’s something interesting to watch.”

“Just now, weren’t you arguing about who’s prettier between this new student and Xue Yirou? Now, seeing them together, Xue Yirou is clearly no match.”

After transferring to 4th Middle School, Ji Ran had never been seen publicly with Xue Yirou. Although everyone recognized Ji Ran as the school flower, a small faction of Xue Yirou’s supporters on online forums claimed that Xue Yirou, being both smart and beautiful, best represented the image of Fourth High School.

As for Ji Ran, the incident of her scoring only 22 points in the last math test had been mocked by Xue Yirou’s supporters.

Unexpectedly, they met today.

Everyone was excited about the upcoming drama.

Ji Ran had no intention of competing with this girl again. She had challenged Zhou Jing earlier because Zhou Jing had insulted Wen Qianxia and Class 8.

Now that the apology had been given, Ji Ran had no intention of staying.

But Xue Yirou didn’t want her to leave so easily. She said, “Student, if you’re afraid to compete with me, does that mean you really guessed the answer to this question? After all, our Sudoku team members are very strong.”

Originally, when Zhou Jing was insulting others, the Sudoku team members seemed indifferent.

But after Ji Ran easily defeated Zhou Jing, the surrounding discussions began to criticize the Sudoku team as just a facade. These team members were all top students, usually proud and arrogant. Suddenly being looked down upon like this, how could they not be angry?

When Xue Yirou said these words, some Sudoku team members immediately whispered in agreement, “That’s right, answering so quickly; maybe she really did this question in advance, just guessing the right answers.”

“I also think so. Actually, Zhou Jing is not bad.”

Xue Yirou continued, “Student, are you afraid?”

Her methods weren’t sophisticated; she was trying to provoke Ji Ran into another competition.

Originally, Xue Yirou didn’t care about Zhou Jing’s humiliation, but when she saw Shen Zhi actually standing up for Ji Ran at the door, she couldn’t hold back.

Actually, that day at the bubble tea shop, she had been standing not far away, watching as Shen Zhi bought bubble tea for everyone. However, the cup of bubble tea for Ji Ran was handed over by Shen Zhi himself.

She liked Shen Zhi so much that she even used Xia Jiangming to deliberately get close to him.

How long has Ji Ran known him? Why did she deserve his favor? Xue Yirou looked at the beautiful face of the girl across from her, feeling an indescribable jealousy.

So, she had to defeat the other in front of Shen Zhi, letting him know who the real Sudoku goddess was.

“Why should I compete with you?” Ji Ran said calmly.

Xue Yirou straightened her chest and said, “You can make any demands, as long as I can meet them.”

When Ji Ran hesitated, Shen Zhi suddenly walked to her side, looked down at her, and said, “Want to play with them again?”

His tone was full of nonchalance, even treating this competition as a game.

He completely ignored the members of the Sudoku team.

Looking up at him, Ji Ran didn’t expect him to say that. He was so indifferent, as if he had already assumed that she would win.

Ji Ran had forgotten the last time she participated in a Sudoku competition. Perhaps it had been too long, and Sudoku seemed to her like an embellishment, not worth wasting too much time on in Pei Yuan’s eyes.

As a result, Ji Ran had distanced herself from Sudoku for a long time, almost forgetting the feeling of exerting all her strength to solve the puzzles.

Once, she was a Sudoku prodigy that amazed everyone.

“Then let’s compare these two questions.” Ji Ran extended her finger, pointing towards the two whiteboards standing in the classroom.

Questions placed individually on whiteboards were definitely not simple.

Moreover, with a casual glance, these two questions were types that would only appear in world championships.

Especially complex.

Xue Yirou didn’t expect her to challenge these two questions, but now there was no room for her to back down. So she nodded in agreement and said, “Fine, let’s compare these two questions.”

So everyone watched as they each took a pen, standing in front of the whiteboards.

The guy who had the timer earlier once again played the role of a referee.

“Begin.” With the command, the competition officially started.

Ji Ran stared at the question in front of her. Clearly, those hanging here were indeed challenging. But she had been sensitive to numbers since childhood. Starting at the age of six, she attended specialized Sudoku classes for specific training.

She even became the youngest national Sudoku champion.

Although those honors had been gathering dust over time, the instinct to solve problems never disappeared.

As her delicate fingers danced across the whiteboard, everyone held their breath, awaiting the result of this competition.

Until Ji Ran wrote down the last number,

She turned to look at the male student’s timing, softly saying, “I’m done.”

This time, the guy with the timer was very prompt. He immediately pressed the stopwatch and loudly declared, “Ji Ran, one minute and thirty-seven seconds.”

At this point, everyone saw that Xue Yirou had only written down half of the numbers.

Ji Ran won again, and this time, the victory was without suspense.

Xia Jiangming and the others went crazy, first stunned, then hugging Xu Yihang and shouting, “She won again; my little sister-in-law won again.”

Xu Yihang and Chen Song were also dumbfounded.

No one expected Ji Ran to be this good. She was truly astonishing. Xue Yirou’s skills were indeed impressive; she had won awards several times representing the school in Sudoku competitions and even received special commendation ceremonies.

In everyone’s eyes, Xue Yirou was the ace player of 4th Middle School’s Sudoku team, the face of the team.

So Ji Ran’s easy victory surprised everyone, whether it was the people in the training room or the students outside peeking into the room.

Ji Ran quietly looked at the whiteboard, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

Xue Yirou tightly held the marker in her hand; she had only completed half of the numbers. If there were only a few seconds’ difference between them, she could console herself by saying that she was careless.

But just like Zhou Jing, she was completely overwhelmed by Ji Ran, without any ability to retaliate.

The members of the Sudoku team now had pale faces.

When Zhou Jing lost, they all believed that Ji Ran must have solved the puzzle in advance.

However, this time, Xue Yirou lost again.

Once could be considered lucky, but the same thing happened for the second time—overwhelmed, overwhelmed by pure skill.

“This time, she chose the questions. Do you think she might have done this one too?” Finally, a girl from the Sudoku team couldn’t help but mutter under her breath, her tone full of discontent.

Hearing this, Wen Qianxia rolled her eyes and said, “Yes, yes, yes. When others win, they must have seen the questions before. Why isn’t Ji Ran a member of the Sudoku team? She must have seen every question. You guys, who occupy this training room all the time for specialized training, haven’t seen anything, have you?”

Members of the Sudoku team were always arrogant at the school. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been the incident where Ji Ran and the others were driven away from the window while talking earlier.

Apparently, they had done such things many times.

Finally, Xue Yirou angrily threw down her pen and turned to leave.

But before Xue Yirou left, Ji Ran shouted, “Oh, you said you would agree to a condition for me.”

Xue Yirou turned back, looking at her with resentment. Ji Ran appeared calm and still had that soft and obedient demeanor. However, when she spoke, it surprised everyone.

Ji Ran looked at Wen Qianxia and said, “Qianxia, you mentioned it was chilly outside earlier. Do you like this room?”

Wen Qianxia was stunned.

Ji Ran leisurely continued, “I won’t make it difficult for you. I won’t ask for anything excessive. This training room of yours is quite nice. Let us borrow it during evening self-study and classes.”

“Why should we?”

“This is the Sudoku team’s training room. Who are they?”

“Too arrogant; dare to ask for our training room.”

When Zhou Jing was insulting people earlier, the members of the Sudoku team were just watching the excitement. Perhaps they thought the Sudoku team could remain superior. Even when Xue Yirou appeared, she immediately wanted to compete with her, as if refusing would be considered cheating.

As they say, when an avalanche occurs, no snowflake is innocent.

So Ji Ran didn’t think there was anything wrong with temporarily using this training room.

The members of the Sudoku team were still unwilling and arguing with each other. However, Shen Zhi glanced at them, indifferently saying, “When Xue Yirou said she represented your Sudoku team in the competition, none of you objected. lost and don’t want to admit it?”

With both hands in his pockets, Shen Zhi’s slender black eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a cold gleam.

“Get lost.”

When the big shot gets angry, who dares to say no? Moreover, Ji Ran had already won, so whatever request she made was reasonable. In no time, the members of the Sudoku team packed their bags and were driven out.

As for the onlookers in the corridor, they dared not linger any longer.

However, with such a lively event, some people couldn’t wait to rush back to the classroom and share it with others.

So, in a short while, both inside and outside the classroom, only Ji Ran and Shen Zhi were left. Seeing this, Xu Yihang quickly pulled Xia Jiangming to retreat.

Xia Jiangming pulled Wen Qianxia with him, leading her away.

Wen Qianxia looked at this spacious and warm training room, sobbing, “This is the empire Ji Ran has built for me…”

But her voice had already disappeared in the corridor.

Seeing that they had all left, Ji Ran, left alone with Shen Zhi, immediately said, “If you like it here, you can have it.”

She also wanted to leave, but she was suddenly held back by Shen Zhi, who grabbed her wrist.

“Help me with the timer in a moment.” Shen Zhi placed the timer back in Ji Ran’s palm and turned to walk to the whiteboard where Xue Yirou had stood just now.

He erased all the numbers Xue Yirou had written and then said softly, “Start.”

As if bewitched, Ji Ran obediently pressed the timer.

Then, Shen Zhi’s fingertips moved back and forth on the white board, his other hand still in his pocket, displaying a relaxed and effortless demeanor.

Until he wrote the last digit, Ji Ran pressed pause again.

Without turning around, Shen Zhi faced the whiteboard and asked in a deep voice, “How long?”

“One minute and twenty-six seconds.”

“Did I win?” This time, Shen Zhi turned around leisurely, looking at her with a smile.

Ji Ran: “…”

Win… I won.

Until Shen Zhi walked slowly in front of her, bent down slightly, approached her, and gently tucked the stray hair behind her ear, he spoke in a low voice, “You said you like someone who wins everywhere, so I will fulfill your request as soon as possible.”

“Ji Ran, consider being my girlfriend.”