My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 184, two-fifths

That classic cough came from the speaker.

The penguin icon in the lower right corner of the screen stopped shaking and remained steadily in the taskbar.

The pop-up interface was very simple, without the later fancy pop-ups and glitches. The blue and white border had a rough texture unique to the early 2000s.

Chen Zhuo gripped the mouse and clicked on the group chat that had been flashing wildly in the lower right corner.

The group is called the Nanjing Roast Duck Squad.

The chat history had accumulated to over a hundred messages. Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair and slowly scrolled through the messages, reading through his friends' casual conversation line by line.

【Chasing the Wind】: Help!

[Chasing the Wind]: Is anyone there? I need to come out and catch my breath, I'm about to suffocate.

[Chasing the Wind]: For the first three days after returning from vacation, I was the apple of my family's eye. My mom practically fed me, and my dad didn't even dare to breathe loudly while I was watching TV. Today, the fourth day, brothers, just the fourth day! I can't even breathe properly anymore.

[Chasing the Wind]: My mom came in to mop the floor just now, and she thought I was lifting my feet too slowly, so she poked me with the mop handle! She poked me! A really hard poke!

[Chasing the Wind]: I'm a self-taught student in this field of study. Even if I pass the highest level of the imperial examination, I still won't have any status in my family. I just wanted to eat an ice cream, and my mom said that all I do all day is eat, like a glutton.

The group was quiet for about two minutes.

Zhou Kai's reply popped up immediately afterward.

His ID is very simple, just the initials of his name, ZK. His profile picture is a landscape image that comes with the system, and he looks as serious as an old cadre.

【ZK】: You should be content.

【ZK】: I'd rather be poked by a mop than suffer like I am now.

[Chasing the Wind]: What's wrong, Lao Zhou? Aren't you the pride of your city? I remember when you left, they even hung up a banner for you. Is the pride suffering at home?

【ZK】：Proud my ass! My aunt dumped her elementary school son at my house yesterday, saying that I, a top student, would be in charge of his math tutoring this summer.

[ZK]: Do you know what question he just asked me?

[Chasing the Wind]: Goldbach's Conjecture?

【ZK】: He asked me why one-half plus one-third does not equal two-fifths.

【The Wind Chaser】: ...

[ZK]: I patiently explained to him the principle of finding a common denominator, what the denominator and numerator are, and when I got to the least common multiple, I drew three pizzas on a piece of scratch paper to demonstrate! I talked for a full half hour, and my mouth was dry!

【ZK】：He looked at me with very clear eyes and asked me why I made it so complicated. He said that the top plus the top equals two and the bottom plus the bottom equals five, so why did I have to cut the pizza into such small pieces? He doesn't like to eat crushed pizza.

【ZK】：I just went to the bathroom and washed my face with cold water. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was afraid that if I went out, I would lose control and strangle him.

The group chat was quiet for a moment, as if everyone was mourning Zhou Kai through the screen.

Then, a new message popped up.

【Return to the Past】: In the current canteen of USTC, there is no need to queue, and the aunties' hands do not shake at all when serving the food.

[Chasing the Wind]: Damn! He Gui, you didn't go home?

【归去来兮】: I didn't go back. I stayed at school to help the department organize some experimental data and read some books. It just so happens that I'm the only one in the dormitory now, so it's very quiet. The cicadas outside the window are chirping quite nicely.

[Chasing the Wind]: You pervert, spending the whole summer vacation at school. But to be honest, after hearing what you said, I kind of want to go back to school too. At least in the dorm, no one cares what time I get up, no one pokes me with a mop, and I can eat instant noodles whenever I want.

【ZK】: He Gui, is your physics lab short-staffed? How about I go to SMTH for a couple of days? I really can't teach elementary school students. I'd rather solve partial differential equations or calculate those infinitely divergent series than see that two-fifths face again.

【归去来兮】：There is a lack of people to clean the house.

【Chasing the Wind】: Hahahaha! Old Zhou, go ahead and sweep the floor with the same rigor you use to calculate the least common multiple, until it's spotless!

As Chen Zhuo watched the scrolling text on the screen and listened to the occasional notification sounds coming from the internet cafe speakers, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his eye.

He picked up the half-empty carton of Bailey's milk from the corner of the table, took a sip through the straw, then placed his hand on the keyboard and typed a word.

【C】：Tragic.

The chat window seemed to freeze for a moment after the message was sent, but then it responded immediately.

[Chasing the Wind]: Professor Chen has made a surprise appearance!

【ZK】：Chen Zhuo, you're such a busy person, you're actually online?

【归去来兮】：拙哥。

[Chasing the Wind]: Brother Zhuo, what world-class problem are you tackling this summer? Goldbach's Conjecture or the Riemann Hypothesis? Or are you writing a paper you plan to submit to a foreign journal?

Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair, his fingers lightly tapping on the keyboard.

【C】: Did not engage in scientific research.

【C】: At my childhood friend's house.

【ZK】: Your childhood friend must have had a tough time. How much pressure must he feel being around you? Does he not even dare to breathe loudly?

【C】: No, he's doing physics problems.

[ZK]: Junior High School Physics?

【C】: Hmm.

【ZK】：：

【ZK】：Chen Zhuo, please don't tell me that you are also tutoring others.

【C】: It wasn't really tutoring; I just gave him two colored pencils.

Zhou Kai on the other end of the screen was clearly stunned, and the message took several seconds to arrive.

【ZK】: Colored pencils? Drawing?

【C】: Red and blue coloring.

Chen Zhuo typed at a moderate pace, just like the rhythm of his usual speech.

【C】：The red wire is connected to the positive terminal and the blue wire is connected to the negative terminal. It stops when it encounters a light bulb. It short-circuits when the same color is involved, and explodes when the colors collide.

An eerie silence fell over the group chat.

The silence lasted longer than before, about half a minute.

[ZK]: That's it?

【C】: That's it.

[ZK]: What about the principles? What about Kirchhoff's laws? What about the concept of potential drop? You didn't explain to him why the current flows this way? You didn't explain to him the microscopic manifestation of Ohm's law in parallel circuits? You didn't tell him about the node voltage method?

Zhou Kai's typing speed noticeably increased, and a series of questions came out like cannonballs; you could even feel the force he used when he pressed the Enter key.

【ZK】: Chen Zhuo, you are insulting physics.

【ZK】: Physics is a rigorous science, a edifice built on axioms and logical deduction! Teaching it like this is not only ruining physics, but also ruining that child. You're treating a middle school student like a kindergarten senior, teaching them a coloring game!

Looking at Zhou Kai's pained tone on the screen, Chen Zhuo could almost picture him sitting at his desk, pushing up his black-rimmed glasses, his brows furrowed, and his face serious.

He smiled, picked up half a chilled watermelon from the table with his left hand, took a bite, and slowly typed with his right hand.

【C】: As long as it works, that's fine.

【C】: He spent half an hour on a question, almost pulling his hair out, but with colored pens, he finished it in a minute and got all the answers right.

【ZK】: He just memorized the rules! He didn't understand the essence of physics at all! He didn't know why electricity flows; he only knew that red couldn't touch blue! That's called rote memorization!

【C】: He doesn't need to understand the essence.

Chen Zhuo typed out these words.

[C]: He only needs to get the score in next year's high school entrance exam and get into the top high school in the city.

【C】: Moreover, he now thinks he is a genius and is bursting with confidence.

After that message was sent, the group went silent again.

After a while, Wang Huashao sent a system-provided QQ emoticon of a shivering little soybean-shaped figure hugging its shoulders and trembling.

[Chasing the Wind]: As expected of Brother Zhuo, he's truly a master of destroying one's spirit.

[Chasing the Wind]: Zhou Kai, learn from others. Stop talking about the least common multiple all the time. Aren't you tired of it? Just tell your cousin that this is magic. One-half plus one-third equals five-sixths. It's a magical law ordained by heaven. Just remember it.

[ZK]: Sulking.jpg

Just then, an account that had been lurking for ages, with its profile picture always grayed out, suddenly lit up and popped up.

The profile picture is a white rabbit that comes with the system and looks harmless.

【.】:it works.

Lin Yi.

[Chasing the Wind]: Holy crap! Big sister, you actually came back from the dead! Didn't you say you were going into seclusion during the summer vacation?

【】：Just passing by, Zhou Kai, so stupid.

[ZK]: Lin Yi, what do you mean? How am I stupid? Is it wrong for me to reason with you?

【.】：Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

【.】：To deal with an idiot, use a stupid method.

【ZK】：......My cousin isn’t stupid, he just hasn’t developed a complete mathematical logic system yet.

【.】:oh.

Chen Zhuo looked at the lone "oh" on the screen and couldn't help but chuckle.

Lin Yi's ability to kill conversations and punch cotton hasn't changed at all. Even through the screen, he could feel Zhou Kai's frustration and helplessness at that moment.

"Brother Zhuo!"

A sudden, excited cheer came from the coffee table behind me, breaking the silence of the room filled with the sound of the air conditioner.

Chen Zhuo turned his head.

Holding the book "Junior High School Physics Summer Break Enhancement" in his hand, Zhang Qiang sprang up from the slightly cramped little stool, his face flushed red.

"I've finished coloring! I've solved all five of the last big questions!"

Zhang Qiang was so excited that he danced around and ran to Chen Zhuo's side, slamming the workbook, which was already a bit worn from being flipped through, onto the computer desk.

"Look, look! They're all correct! I just checked the answers against the answer sheet one by one, word for word! Even the last, most difficult question about the sliding rheostat, I got it right!"

Chen Zhuo glanced down at it.

The original clean black and white circuit diagrams in that workbook, which were as neat as a maze, are now completely covered with red and blue markers.

Although Zhang Qiang's drawing was somewhat crooked, with rough edges on the red and blue lines, and ink even seeping into the back of the paper in some places, the red and blue boundaries were extremely clear, like the Chu-Han border.

It's immediately clear which path is open, which path is short-circuited, and where the voltmeter is stuck.

Chen Zhuo did not check the specific options.

"good."

He nodded, his voice gentle.

"Even a god couldn't be as good as you. With your coloring skills, you could definitely get a red flower in kindergarten."

"Absolutely!"

Zhang Qiang chuckled foolishly, completely oblivious to the teasing in Chen Zhuo's words.

He reached into the fruit plate next to him, grabbed a large piece of watermelon, and without caring about his image, took a big bite. Watermelon juice dripped onto his T-shirt with Jordan's image on it.

"This question isn't actually that difficult."

While chewing on watermelon, Zhang Qiang mumbled something indistinctly, his tone full of smug satisfaction at finally being in charge.

"Before, Old Zhou would spit all over the place on the podium, talking about things like voltage division and series voltage division, parallel current division. It gave me a headache, like listening to gibberish. But Brother Zhuo, your trick is amazing. Just draw red and blue, and it can go on and on however you want. It can't fool me at all!"

Chen Zhuo looked at him, who seemed to be strutting around like he was about to fly to the sky, and didn't say anything. He just silently pushed the tissue box next to him over.

Zhang Qiang tore off two pieces of paper and wiped his mouth haphazardly.

"But Brother Zhuo, there's something I still don't understand."

He frowned, staring at the battery symbol on the workbook.

"explain."

"So what exactly is electricity?"

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