Awakening Elementary School System in University
Chapter 19 - 18: Is Everyone This Outrageously Rich?

Chapter 19: Chapter 18: Is Everyone This Outrageously Rich?

Time ticked by. Chen Lin typed the final line of code for the last function in Chapter Three and pulled himself out of a state of deep, immersive focus.

He let out a long sigh of relief, gazing with satisfaction at the screen full of code he had typed with his own hands.

Chen Lin glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It was just past twelve-thirty.

"Not bad progress," he muttered to himself.

At this rate, getting through the Python Mathematical Programming book within two weeks wouldn’t be a problem.

’When the time comes, I can try combining programming with my Little Mathematician ability to get some things done.’

’Just thinking about it is a little exciting.’

But it was still a bit early for his one-thirty meeting with Shen Yan.

Chen Lin thought for a moment, then simply closed his laptop and packed up his things.

’It’s fine. I’ll just go over early and wait for her in the study hall.’

He left the library. On his way to the math department building, he stopped by a convenience store and bought two meat buns and a bottle of water to serve as his lunch.

Chen Lin had never been picky about food. When he had time, he’d have a proper meal at the cafeteria. When he was short on time or it wasn’t convenient, like now, just filling his stomach was good enough.

Making short work of his lunch, he sauntered to the entrance of the familiar study hall in the math department building.

Just as he was about to push the door open, his phone suddenly buzzed twice in his pocket.

It was a notification from the selling app.

Chen Lin paused, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen.

’Oh, a new customer.’

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [Hello, you there?]

Chen Lin raised an eyebrow, his fingers flying across the screen.

Seller: [Hello, how can I help you?]

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [I have 14 fill-in-the-blank questions and 6 long-answer problems. How fast can you get them to me?]

Chen Lin froze for a moment when he saw the message. Then, the corners of his lips curved up into an involuntary smile.

’This familiar distribution of questions... this classic "14+6" combination...’

’Talk about a blast from the past!’

’The Jiangsu Province college entrance exam for math has already switched to the national version, yet some teachers are still using old papers for surprise quizzes? That’s just sadistic!’

Seller: [High school student?]

He sent the message, and the reply came back almost instantly.

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [How did you know?]

Chen Lin chuckled to himself.

’Could it be that I was young once, too? That I’ve also been tortured by these surprise tests?’

’Most likely, during lunch break or study hall, the math teacher suddenly drifted into the classroom, slapped down a test that was way harder than anything on the syllabus, and ominously announced it was due before the end of the school day. Then, before the last bell, they’d wait by the classroom door to collect their "debt" from every student leaving with a backpack.’

’Every time this happened, even the top students in the class would be pulling their hair out, let alone the average ones.’

Seller: [Answers only for the fill-in-the-blanks, full solutions for the long-answer problems. 880 total. Sound good?]

Chen Lin couldn’t be bothered with small talk and stated his price directly.

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [How fast can you get it done? It’s no use if you’re too slow.]

Chen Lin glanced at the time at the top of his phone: 12:33.

Seller: [I’ll try to get it to you in half an hour.]

’If I finish this order quickly, it won’t interfere with my "consultation" with Shen Yan.’

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [Okay. Change the price, I’ll buy it.]

Chen Lin smiled to himself. ’They must be really desperate.’

He skillfully changed the item price to 880. Almost at the exact moment he did, the system notification chimed: Payment received, 880.

"Are kids these days all so ridiculously loaded?"

Chen Lin clicked his tongue, a little shocked.

’Back when I was in high school, 880 was almost two months of my living expenses.’

’But hey, the customer is king.’

’Whatever the situation, I just need to solve the problems!’

Then, the client sent a series of photos. Chen Lin opened them. The lighting was dim and the angles were crooked, but the content was clear enough.

’Heh. Just as I thought. A high school math paper from Jiangsu Province, from before 2019.’

He opened the first image, his eyes scanning the fill-in-the-blank questions.

[1. Given the function f(x) = ln(x + √(x²+1)), its derivative f’(x) is ______.]

[2. In space, the edge lengths of the tetrahedron ABCD are as follows: AB=CD=5, AC=BD=6, and AD=BC=7. The volume of this tetrahedron is ______.]

...

[14. Given circle C₁: x²+y²=4 and circle C₂: x²+y²-6x-8y+24=0. The radical axis equation for these two circles is ______.]

For an average high school student, each of these problems would take quite a while to solve.

But for the current Chen Lin, solving the fill-in-the-blanks was instantaneous.

He didn’t even bother to find scratch paper. He just unlocked his phone, opened a blank notepad, and started typing rapidly.

[1. 1/√(x²+1)]

[2. √95]

...

[14. 6x+8y-28=0]

He finished them all in one smooth, continuous flow.

He neatly typed the answers to the fourteen fill-in-the-blank questions into his notepad, took a screenshot, and sent it directly through the selling app.

From the moment the client placed the order and paid to the moment he sent the answers to the fourteen questions, less than five minutes had passed.

The image had just been sent when a frantic message from the client popped up.

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [Did you just fill in random answers? You’re not a scammer, are you?]

Even through the screen, Chen Lin could feel the client’s shock and suspicion.

Then, another message popped up.

Black Whirlwind is not the McDonald’s Vortex: [Or did you use an AI? What AI is this fast? Can you tell me? I can pay you more!]

Chen Lin looked at the message and sneered inwardly.

’You’re probably the second person to think that.’

He couldn’t be bothered with the fuss. He just opened the images of the long-answer problems, found a seat by the window, and took out a pen and paper from his backpack.

He was going to start on the long-answer problems.

...

...

Chen Lin wrote down the last number and gently put down his pen.

He gripped his slightly aching right wrist with his left hand and let out a long, heavy breath.

’All done. Time to wrap this up.’

He glanced at the time on his phone’s lock screen: 13:29.

Even though high school math posed no challenge for him, and he even had his physique enhanced by Little Champion, his wrist still ached a bit after handwriting solutions at high speed for nearly an hour.

He took out his phone and carefully photographed the densely-filled pages of scratch paper, making sure they were in the correct order before sending them one by one.

After sending all the pictures, Chen Lin’s finger hovered over the send button for a moment.

Considering that the person on the other end was, after all, a generous, high-paying client, he decided to add a little reminder.

Seller: [By the way, if your grades are normally just average, you should probably get a few questions wrong on purpose.]

Then he immediately exited the selling app, ignoring any further messages from the client.

Because he had already noticed a familiar, graceful figure holding a few books, quietly walking up to his side.

Sunlight streamed through the window, glinting on the ends of her hair.

"High school problems?"

Shen Yan’s gaze fell on the scratch paper on his desk, covered in formulas and derivations, and she asked softly, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Yup." Chen Lin casually pushed the scratch paper aside, leaned back in his chair, and replied breezily, "Just finished a job I took on."

He looked up, meeting Shen Yan’s pure and earnest eyes, and said in a slightly teasing tone:

"So, my big client, what difficult problems have you brought for me today?"