Genius Fundamentals

Chapter 46 Liar (2)

While they were talking, Zhang Liang’s mother’s phone suddenly started ringing. She looked at the caller ID and got excited but didn’t immediately answer the phone.

She nudged Zhang Liang, pointed at her phone, and said, “Zhang Liang, the summer camp selection test results are out!”

Her voice was very loud, and just when Old Lin finished talking, the two groups of students subconsciously looked at her.

She had attracted a lot of attention. She slowly answered the phone in earnest and said, “Hello, Director Feng. Sorry for the bother, you’ve been so busy, but you’re still calling us directly… So are the Summer Camp Selection Test results out?… Did my Zhang Liang do well?… What? Full marks!”

At the moment Zhang Liang was surrounded by his friends, and when they heard this, they started patting him on the back and exclaimed:

“No way!”

“You’re too good!”

The people in Zhang Liang’s group were all pretty smart themselves. Once they heard Zhang Liang’s result, they all flocked around Zhang Liang’s mother and asked her about their results.

“Auntie, can you ask them about my results?”

“Auntie, and me! And me! My name is Ma Deng Deng, Ma Deng Deng!”

While the students swarmed Zhang Liang’s mother, she enjoyed every bit of the spotlight.
She signaled everyone to quiet down and said into the phone, “Ah, Director Feng, sorry to bother you, I have a few other children here with me, and they’re all eager to know their results as well… Your secretary is sending the list of names to me? Thank you so much!”

With that, she hung up the phone. She patted Zhang Liang’s head and said to the students in Zhang Liang’s group, “After the service, Auntie will treat everyone here to HeTianJu [/mfn] A Chinese restaurant[/mfn] to celebrate Zhang Liang’s accomplishment!”

“Great!”

“Long live Zhang Liang’s mom!”

At the table, the atmosphere was calm. Hua Juan said quietly, “You guys participated in the selection test as well, right? Don’t you want to know your results too?”

“The test is done with, it’s too late to be worried about it now, so what’s the hurry to find out the results?” Lu Zhi Zhao impatiently said, while trying to solve a particularly tough question given out by Old Lin.

“How about you?” Hua Juan turned to look at Lin Zhao Xi.

Lin Zhao Xi felt that it was too hot today. She sat under the tree and slowly raised her head. “I’m definitely going to pass, there’s no question about it.”

“Damn, you really are arrogant!” Hua Juan retorted.

At the table, Old Lin asked Pei Zhi, “Did you take the selection test?”

When Lin Zhao Xi heard this, she didn’t mind it at first, but three seconds later, she stood up.

Why did you ask Pei Zhi and not me???

Pei Zhi, under the watchful eyes of Old Lin could only nod his head.

“Then why don’t we celebrate as well?” Old Lin said.

Lin Zhao Xi was angry but then felt something was wrong when Old Lin asked Pei Zhi first.
What the hell, why do you care about Pei Zhi so much? I’m your daughter, you know!

Suddenly Old Lin’s tone became serious, “In combination games, there’s a particularly
special type of combo game called the Nim Game. It seems simple, but it is an important foundation in every combination game theory. Want to try it?”

Pei Zhi looked at the man before him and felt the seriousness in his tone. He nodded and said, “Okay.”

Pei Zhi said but one word, however, it was countless times more arrogant than Zhang Liang.
Old Lin laughed out loud. He then grabbed all the stones on the table, split them into two piles, and said, “The rules are as follows, players will take stones from a certain number of piles, you have to take at least one stone, players can’t both take from the same piles, the last player to take the stones from a pile wins.”

In the distance, Zhang Liang’s mother received the list of people that passed the selection test and the children from the Experimental School started yelling.

“Auntie, how about me?”

“Did I pass?”

“No need to hurry, they still haven’t finished listing out all the names yet.”

On this side, Old Lin finished explaining the rules, and asked, “Understand?”
Pei Zhi nodded. “Do I go first?”

“That doesn’t make sense. Since you’re very smart, it’s only fair that I go first.”
Pei Zhi didn’t move but said, “We’ll have another match after this.”

“Okay.”

Lin Zhao Xi had already reached the table. She looked to the left and then to the right, she didn’t know what was going on. When the two people started distributing the stones on the table, she soon understood that they were playing a new game and had already started.

“Lin Zhao Xi?”

Suddenly, she heard someone say her name in the distance. She glanced at where the voice came from. A female student stood there, staring at her like she had done something wrong. She was with a group of other Experimental School students, huddled together and whispering to each other.

“It’s really her.”

“She also passed.”

The joyous atmosphere of the group of Experimental School students started to go cold, Zhang Liang frowned.

She also vaguely heard the names Lu Zhi Zhao, Pei Zhi, and lastly, perhaps someone said Hua Juan.

Hua Juan had been lurking in the other group the whole time. When he saw the list of names, he hurried over to the table and said, “Are you guys happy with your results?”|
He was a little too enthusiastic but the rest held their breath watching the game.

“Quiet down,” said Lin Zhao Xi.

Old Lin and Pei Zhi continued to play their game while Hua Juan calmed down.
Taking stones from several piles differed greatly from just taking stones from one pile. Now there were already five piles of stones on the table.

3/5/7/19/50, it’s currently Pei Zhi’s turn.

There must be a winning strategy for this game. Lin Zhao Xi was also calculating but still hadn’t calculated further when Pei Zhi took 28 stones out of a 50 stones pile.

Old Lin continued to add stones.

The two started to speed up but the speed of them collecting stones couldn’t keep up with that of their calculation. Old Lin pushed all the stones off the table, picked up a piece of red brick, and started jotting down his calculation. He wrote three numbers on the surface of the table, each number representing a pile of stones.

Pei Zhi followed his lead. He picked up a piece of brick and wrote down three numbers on the surface as well.

Old Lin continued to write, one after the other the rounds ended. The numbers started to increase, but it was obvious that Pei Zhi couldn’t keep up with Old Lin’s calculation speed.

“Uncle, didn’t you say we can’t doodle on the surface?” Hua Juan asked jokingly.
“Why do you care?” Lin Zhao Xi retorted.

In the end, both of them gave up on writing and started using their mouths for calculations.

“1203, 351, 9901 … Who will win? I will go first,” said Old Lin.

A series of numbers were presented. From time to time, Old Lin would ask Pei Zhi whether the boy thought he would win. One question, one answer; one old, and one young. Their voices weren’t loud, but their tones were very serious.

Old Lin was calm, Pei Zhi wasn’t showing any emotions either. His calculations were getting slower and slower.

In the end, Pei Zhi was the first one to stop; he looked at Old Lin but said nothing.
The sun had lost its heat by noon, and a warm light shone on the two of them.
Old Lin laughed. “You’re definitely smarter than me, but you’re way slower, do you know why?”

Pei Zhi shook his head.

“Do you want to know why?” Old Lin asked.
“I want to know.” The boy put his hands on the table, even if his voice sounded childish, his eyes were bright and serious like an adult.

….

Later that day, because Old Lin taught Pei Zhi and the group a new game, they decided to clean the park playground.

Cleaning the playground areas, wiping the railings, sweeping the ground…

The red glow from the setting sun turned the white clouds into a beautiful pale pink.
Lin Zhao Xi didn’t know what Old Lin saw in Pei Zhi, but their level of communication was way beyond her. Perhaps it’s genius attracts genius, or maybe Old Lin thought that Pei Zhi was like him when he was young or thought that he(PZ) was just someone worth teaching.
Whatever it was, Lin Zhao Xi just didn’t understand.

Currently, they were standing at the gate of the deserted playground and bidding farewells to each other.

“Then see you guys in summer camp,” said Hua Juan as he pulled on Lin Zhao Xi’s cheeks.
Lin Zhao Xi smacked his hands away.

“At the summer camp, let’s defeat Zhang Liang together!” Hua Juan laughed.
“He’s not important,” Lin Zhao Xi, Lu Zhizhao, and Pei Zhi said in unison.
Pei Zhi hesitated but shyly mouthed, “Goodbye… See you at the Summer Camp.”