I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 171 - 167: Semifinals 3

Chapter 171: Chapter 167: Semifinals 3

After finishing the first question, Qingran had no time to check her work; nine minutes had already passed, and most students were on the second question.

Xie Ying’an had not only completed the second question but was already looking at the third.

Half of the twenty minutes had gone by, and she hadn’t even begun to look at the last two questions.

Qingran raised her head to look at the second question, her eyes quickly scanning over it, and then she began to engage in a tactic she seldom used before.

While still looking at the questions on the big screen, her hand was already writing down the solution steps on the answer sheet.

The fat professor, who was feeling bored, suddenly brightened up at this sight.

This girl really surprised him for the second time.

She could be considered a hidden gem among students.

Even the professor sitting in the third seat to the left couldn’t help but crane his neck to peek at Qingran’s answer sheet, wondering if the words written without looking at the sheet were as crooked as they imagined.

Qingran didn’t need to look at her answer sheet to know that her handwriting would definitely not be messy; she had practiced this skill diligently for over a decade, evident in the neatness of her notebook.

The second question was not very difficult for Qingran, but the real challenge was the third question.

It wasn’t just Qingran who found the third question challenging—Li Qingmo, Wen Shiyi, and Fang Jin, who were consistently among the top ten in their grade at F High, also hesitated on the third question.

After working through the second question with her special tactic, Qingran directly switched to the answer sheet for the third question and continued with the same approach.

There were too few conditions given in the third question, and too many things asked for.

Xie Ying’an had begun the third question when Qingran was still on the second, and even now she hadn’t finished, not to mention the other students.

Even Sun Ningzhi, who was watching from the audience, muttered after staring at the third question for ages, "The last question seems to be a bit harder than those from previous schools."

How could Old Wu not see it?

But before the competition, the organizers had said that the questions were relatively fair for everyone; if they complained about such a minor issue, it would appear that F High students lacked ability.

Old Wu’s eyes never left the stage as he sighed, "It’s all up to their own fate now..."

No one could help them at such a time.

Sometimes you just can’t panic; the more frantic and rushed you are, the easier it is to make mistakes.

Qingran looked at the last question for a full two minutes, her concerned classmates from City No.1 High School were sweating for her.

With just 4 minutes and 48 seconds left, Qingran’s eyes were still on the question, though her right hand was already moving on the answer sheet.

There was nothing obstructing the view from the front; everyone could clearly see their movements, but the actual content of what was being written was unseen by all.

The students from City No.1 High School were already blown away by Qingran’s actions, even more surprised than seeing Xie Ying’an continuously outscoring their top marks.

Even the top male student of City No.1 High School, who adjusted his beer bottle-bottom thick glasses that had slipped down his nose, wondered: "Won’t her writing become a total mess if she writes like that? The characters overlapping each other?"

"No need to think about it," the chubby female teacher sitting beside him casually laughed, turning back to instruct her students: "I’ve told you, there are no shortcuts in learning. The method of not looking at the answer sheet while writing, like that student, is not advisable. Even if the time is pressing, you have to ensure your answer sheet and script are clean and clear, so that the judges can understand what you have written and then you can get the marks."

The ordinarily mild Bai Wenxing suddenly interjected at this moment: "Teacher, do you think the handwriting on her answer sheet will definitely be a mess?"

Facing this temperate and amiable student, even though feeling something off in his words, the fat teacher still smiled warmly: "Of course, even if her answer board isn’t a complete mess, it definitely wouldn’t be as well written as when done attentively. Plus, it was apparent that she was either daydreaming or thinking about her own matters earlier, leading to the lack of time and this last resort strategy. Do you think she would have written her answers well?"

Several students, some with lowered heads and others still looking towards the stage, fell silent.

Old Wu, who overheard parts of the conversation, scoffed with disdain and continued to watch the stage, his heart in knots for his fellow students.

At the seventeenth minute, Xie Ying’an set down his completed answer board and glanced sideways at Li Qingran.

Li Qingran had invested all her energy into the mood of answering questions. Her brain was swiftly solving formulas with the few conditions given on the blackboard while her hand was busy calculating and verifying results on the drawing board and the scratch paper next to it, even drawing several circuit diagrams. Throughout, she only looked down a few times while drawing and calculating her answers.

At this moment, resistors, conductor rods, magnetic induction intensity, and induced electromotive force had already taken countless turns in her mind.

By the eighteenth and nineteenth minutes, Wen Shiyi, Li Qingmo, and others had also put down their pens in succession.

At 19 minutes and 30 seconds, Li Qingran was still listing the last line of answers. With only the last half-minute left on the clock, she knew that even if she managed to write out the answer after the bell indicating the end of the countdown rang, it would be disregarded.

Thus, she had to solve this answer before the ringing of the bell.

There were t2=0.05s, sgmin30°, and some calculations regarding the angle of inclination for a smooth guide rail? written densely over a full page of the scratch paper.

Although there were several other students on stage like Li Qingran who hadn’t completed writing, many in the audience were nervously gripping their hands on her behalf.

The audience wasn’t permitted to shout; otherwise, some would have already been cheering and rooting for Li Qingran.

Even Lin Zhou, sitting among the judges, found himself unconsciously gripping his scorecard tightly.

His gaze fell on the pen in Li Qingran’s hand, wondering how much longer it would need to write.

With the last 30 seconds ticking away, Old Wu couldn’t stand the pressure and had already covered his eyes.

In those final half minutes, Li Qingran stopped looking at the big screen and focused solely on the answer on her scratch paper; the ten-second countdown always came with a warning tone.

With the ’beep beep beep’ of the cautionary alert, she wrote the answer she had just calculated onto the answer board completely, and as the final countdown sound ended, the pen in Li Qingran’s hand was also set down, right on time.

She had managed her time perfectly, down to the last second.

Old Wu, who had released his hands from covering his eyes in the last ten seconds, couldn’t help but stand up anxiously to watch Li Qingran, and when he saw her finally finish writing the answer, he collapsed back into his chair, exhausted as though all his strength had been sapped.

This girl, she was more thrilling than a rollercoaster ride to him.

The professors on stage naturally also noticed Li Qingran’s move, but before the fat professor could speak, the third professor from the left turned on his microphone first. He glanced at the name placed in front of Li Qingran’s answer desk—

"Li Qingran."

Li Qingran bowed her head and replied: "Hello, Professor!"

The third professor nodded: "Hello! Can you first show us your answer card, please?"

What? The professor requested to cut in line for a review?

Li Qingran nodded and began to place her three answer boards in order on the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 display screens.

Taking advantage of the time Li Qingran was placing her answer boards, the fat professor chuckled again and nudged Lin Zhou, saying: "Look, look, someone got impatient even before I did, right?!"

Lin Zhou was looking at the display screen and ignored the fat professor, while the display screens were already showing the answers from Li Qingran’s answer boards.