Chapter 31

A grown-up naturally cannot compete with a little girl, and Chen Yang could only smile it off. Of course, if possible, he wouldn’t mind giving the little girl a few hard slaps on the bottom to teach her to respect her brother.

The birthday dinner was quickly finished. Xia Yuero put down her chopsticks and said with a tilt of her head, "Mom, I want to go to the pedestrian street with Xiaole and the others to play for a while. Is that okay?"

"Pedestrian street? No way!"

Li Ying'ai shook her head, "The pedestrian street is too crowded at night. What if something happens to the three of you?"

"It’s the pedestrian street, not some remote place. How could anything happen?"

Xia Yuero retorted.

"There are many thieves on the pedestrian street at night, and they especially target young girls. So, Xia Rou, listen to your mother and go during the day tomorrow." Xia Zhenghe also tried to persuade her.

"I’ll be careful with my wallet." Xia Yuero argued.

"Be careful? Being careful will do? They make a living from this dirty work. Can you be careful all the time?" Li Ying'ai still disagreed.

"You..."

Xia Yuero couldn’t give up so easily. She turned her eyes to Chen Yang, "Then let my brother come with us. Would that be okay?"

"This..." Li Ying'ai looked at Chen Yang, a bit hesitant.

"That’s not bad. Xiao Yang can go with Xia Rou and take care of them."

Xia Zhenghe nodded.

Chen Yang wanted to refuse; accompanying three girls shopping was not a pleasant task. However, seeing Xia Yuero’s pitiful eyes, he reluctantly nodded.

"Then that’s fine, but Xiao Yang, you must take good care of your sister and the others. Don’t let anything happen to them."

Li Ying'ai reminded him.

"Oh yeah!"

Xia Yuero and the other two girls clapped their hands, looking extremely happy.

With permission granted, Xia Yuero couldn’t wait to pull the two girls out of the door. Chen Yang had to follow closely behind. If he hadn’t reacted quickly, he might have been left behind when the three girls maliciously closed the elevator door.

Xia Yuero ignored Chen Yang’s existence as if he weren’t there, chatting with the two girls about school and magazine stars, occasionally bursting into laughter.

Once they left her uncle’s house, Chen Yang no longer needed to maintain that fake smile. His face immediately returned to a calm expression.

Actually, even before the parasitic encounter, he rarely interacted with others, often maintaining a look that said “keep away.” He was too lazy to talk much. Now, after being parasitized by an extraterrestrial being, he could only show real emotions in front of his right hand. In front of others, his most common expression was probably “expressionless.”

Looking at Xia Yuero’s capricious behavior, Chen Yang suddenly said, "Xia Rou, you’re already in high school, right? How are your grades?"

Chen Yang’s sudden words startled the three, especially Xia Yuero. The mention of grades made her head hurt. She rolled her eyes and said, "What’s it to you?"

"I was just thinking..."

Chen Yang’s eyelids slightly drooped, and he spoke calmly, "Should we tell your uncle that I can tutor you? High school studies are very important and can affect your future."

Tutoring?

Xia Yuero’s face changed, and she said nervously, "Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t want you to tutor me."

"Fine, if I don’t tutor you, I can suggest to your uncle that he find an experienced teacher to tutor you. High school studies are too important."

Chen Yang repeated the importance of high school studies.

"No one can tutor me. I don’t want tutoring."

Xia Yuero, who loved to play, naturally detested tutoring. She warned, "I’m telling you, don’t mention this to my dad, or I’ll never forgive you."

She then looked at Chen Yang with disdain, "Besides, with your abilities, you want to tutor me? You’re just a graduate from an ordinary second-tier university."

"Beep..."

The elevator reached the ground floor, and Xia Yuero led her two companions out first.

Chen Yang felt no anger at Xia Yuero’s ridicule. He had just wanted to provoke her.

However, Xia Yuero, with her personality, wouldn’t easily forgive someone after being provoked. She whispered something to her two companions and deliberately slowed down to wait for Chen Yang.

"You just said you wanted to tutor me. Do you really have the ability?"

Xia Yuero’s eyes darted around.

Chen Yang’s mind worked incredibly fast. As soon as Xia Yuero spoke, he understood her meaning.

"I am a university graduate."

Chen Yang’s tone didn’t change, and he looked straight ahead as if there was something there.

"Alright, since you’re so confident, I’ll test you. There shouldn’t be any problem, right?"

Xia Yuero’s smile revealed two dimples.

Chen Yang neither agreed nor disagreed.

Xia Yuero, eager to see Chen Yang agree, immediately posed a question: "Given the ellipse x²/16 + y²/4 = 1, with foci F1 and F2, and point P on the line l: x - √3y + 8 + 2√3 = 0, what is the ratio |PF1|/|PF2| when ∠F1PF2 is at its maximum value?"

Xia Yuero rattled off the question at breakneck speed, so fast that most people wouldn’t even remember the question, let alone answer it.

Chen Yang fell silent. Under the streetlights, the shadow on his nose and cheeks made him look dejected.

Xia Yuero felt triumphant, thinking she had gotten back at Chen Yang. But she didn’t want to give him an excuse to admit defeat, "Did you hear the question? If you didn’t, I can repeat it."

"No need."

"The answer is √3 - 1."

Chen Yang’s face was slightly turned, and Xia Yuero couldn’t see his expression clearly, but she could feel the shock in her heart.

This was impossible. She never thought Chen Yang would give the answer after just a few seconds of silence. Yes, this was indeed the correct answer. She had been punished by her teacher to copy this problem twenty times, so she remembered the correct answer clearly.

But precisely because of this, she felt shocked. She knew how fast she had spoken the question, and at that speed, most people wouldn’t even remember it, let alone solve it.

Even if they could remember the question, could they solve it just by mental calculation?

She wasn’t sure if her math teacher could solve it by mental calculation, but she was certain that her math teacher couldn’t solve it in just a few seconds.

Few people in China could do such a thing.

Unless...

"Have you seen the answer to this problem before?"

Xia Yuero thought she had solved the mystery and chuckled, "Don’t think you can fool me."

Chen Yang looked up at the sky, ignoring Xia Yuero’s “misunderstanding,” "Should we take a taxi or the bus or subway?"

"That’s cheating. Knowing the question beforehand doesn’t count as winning."

Xia Yuero ignored Chen Yang’s question. Compared to the mode of transportation, she cared more about making Chen Yang feel embarrassed.

"Xiaole, Xuanxuan, come over. Give this guy a problem to solve."

Xia Yuero couldn’t think of a difficult problem right away, so she called over her two academically excellent companions.

Xia Yuero had already told them her plan, so they understood what she meant.

"Xia Rou, it seems your cousin is very smart. He didn’t get stumped, did he?"

The one speaking was Zhang Xiaole, with short hair that made her look incredibly youthful and lively.

"Hmph, this guy just happened to have seen the answer before. You two, give him a difficult problem."

Chen Yang felt a bit impatient. He wasn’t very willing to accompany the little girls shopping, and now he had to deal with their challenges, which made him even more uncomfortable.

"Alright, then, brother, I won’t hold back."

Zhang Xiaole, seeing Chen Yang as Xia Yuero’s brother, also called him brother.

"Wait!"

Chen Yang suddenly stopped, as if he had thought of something, and his face changed slightly.