I'm A Math Idiot, So What? - Chapter 25

To compete for time with Fang Congxin, I secretly lobbied to schedule the meeting for today. We headed straight to the restaurant reserved by Professor Fang from the airport. Upon getting out of the taxi, we realized the restaurant was actually in a private room within a garden hotel. The room featured a large round table, sofas, a washroom, and potted plants. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, we could see the fountain and palm trees outside, and catch the scent of wealth in the air.

It was immensely luxurious. I’d been in gardens before, but never set foot inside a garden hotel. I imagined the cost of this meal might equal a month’s worth of my food expenses, accounting for Xu Zheng’s share too.

My mom pulled me, wandering around like a country bumpkin who’s never seen the world: “Don’t act like a country person who’s never seen the world, touching everything. Stay calm.” As she leaned back, the automatic curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows made a “zii” sound and slowly descended. As the room dimmed, she frantically patted the wall like a confused cat, muttering, “Oh dear, what’s happening with this thing! Why is it falling for no reason?”

Calmly, I found the control button behind her and watched the curtains roll back up. Then I calmly pulled her to sit down at the table set with swan-shaped napkins all around.

After a long pause, my mom said, “This place is indeed upscale. When you get married, the first meeting with both sets of parents should be conducted to this standard.”

Choosing a temporary hearing loss, I took out my phone and started playing a game, but was stopped by my dad with a sharp glance.

“Wasting time on games ruins your ambition. With this time, you could be memorizing math formulas. Just because you withdrew from the course doesn’t mean you won’t need to learn math. You’ll have to study it next term! Failing birds fly first; prepare in advance. Can math be crammed at the last minute?” My dad gave me a disappointed look.

So I put my phone aside and diligently began wiping the spotless table.

How could I let math desecrate this sacred, high-class place!

As I was making the table shine, the private room door opened. Professor Fang walked in, accompanied by an elderly lady with silver hair, led by the server.

Before I could call out “Professor Fang,” the lady beside him exclaimed in a loud voice, “Xu Xiaolan?””It really is the Xu Xiaolan I know!”

The three of us were all confused. The elderly lady looked at me gently and said, “Xu Xiaolan, do you remember why this angle is 45 degrees? What was your reply? You said, ‘I measured it with a protractor.'”

“Teacher Feng!” My mom was so excited that even the hairpins on her head trembled.

“Fang Rui mentioned meeting a classmate from Taixi today. As soon as I heard the name, I thought it might be you, so I told him I would join the gathering. If it wasn’t you, I would leave.”

As she spoke cheerfully, her eyes swept over me, and she smiled. I quickly gave a slight bow.

Teacher Feng turned to my mom, shook her hand cheerfully, and said, “Did you continue to study math well afterwards? You didn’t have to repeat a grade, right?”

Both my dad and I shivered in embarrassment.

Judging by my dad’s clueless expression, oh dear, what a dramatic reveal of hidden truths! Now I finally understood where my poor math skills came from!

My mom jumped around like a little girl: “Teacher Feng, it’s all thanks to you that I learned math well! Unfortunately, you taught for such a short period, and when you were transferred, I cried secretly. I never expected you to remember me after all these years.” She paused, glanced at Professor Fang beside her, and said, “Isn’t this a small world? I didn’t know you were Fang Rui’s mother! Lin Meng, quick, come and greet Shi Nainai!”

Instantly transported back to when my mom held my hand to greet elders in my childhood, I reflexively with a big smile showed all my teeth and said, “Hello, Shi Nainai!”

Teacher Feng looked at me with a smile, and I felt her gaze was a bit peculiar, as if she was studying me. But perhaps it was just my imagination, because Teacher Feng quickly pulled my hand affectionately and said, “Your daughter is all grown up now. She resembles you a bit, but she’s taller.”

With tears in her eyes, my mom said, “She wasn’t as pretty as I was when I was young, but her math is as equally weak.”

Me: …

The teacher and her former student, joyfully reunited, linked arms and sat on my left. The two family friends sat on my right. Stuck in the middle, I looked at the heavy cards on both sides and secretly crossed my fingers, thanking the heavens that even though the door slammed shut on my face, a small window was still open for me, providing a faint escape path.

With this family connection, withdrawing from the course was now a certainty!

I sighed and fully relaxed my tense nerves.

Amidst the relief, my dad had already started a polite conversation with Professor Fang, seemingly discussing Professor Fang’s son.

“Him? He graduated early this year. He’s starting a business, just trying things out.”

As the discussion turned to stories of successful children, I treated myself like a painting, silently diminishing my presence.

“Oh, which university?”

“Peking University,” Professor Fang paused.Upon hearing it was Peking University, my dad, in true occupational habit, sat up straight. “How many points did he score on the college entrance exam back then?”

“730,” Professor Fang waved his hand dismissively. “Just luck.”

I considered this for a moment. If I got lucky, maybe my Sesame Credit score could reach 730 too, so I ignored my dad’s glances in my direction and continued to pretend I was invisible, like a painting on the chair.

But Professor Fang wasn’t about to let me disappear. “By the way, my son, you know Lin Meng, right?”

“Huh?”

Professor Fang glanced at his watch. “I thought you might know each other, so I asked him to come over.”

It was like a scene from a movie. Just as he spoke, “Clang,” the door to the living room opened.

The scene reminded me of that iconic moment in “Detective Conan” where the door opens, there’s a flash of gold, and then darkness before your eyes adjust again.

In walked a Conan.

No, wait, someone even more reminiscent of a murder scene than Conan.

Fang Congxin entered, enveloped in a steamy haze, looking travel-worn.

It felt like playing Tetris, where just as you’re about to reach the top, you finally have four perfectly lined rows and a long piece appears in the nick of time, only for it to be misplaced at the last moment. The feeling of chaos struck me.

What’s your deal, man? Even a blood feud wouldn’t justify you tracking me down so rigorously, right?

While I was frozen in place, this man smiled warmly at Professor Fang and called out crisply, “Dad.”

Boom. If I were living in an anime world, I would by now have been blown up by the landmine of life, my hair singed and my face smoked black.

What did he just say? My left side of the brain queried.

No – it – can’t – be – Dad, my right side of the brain answered.

Is there another word in the Chinese dictionary that uses the fourth tone “ba”? My left side continued to question.

Then he called out “Grandma” to Teacher Feng.

My right side responded: it means “dad”, father, dad, dad, o tou sang, aba.So, I swallowed hard. F-Professor Fang—Professor Fang is F-Fang Congxin’s father?!

I was so shocked that I almost shoved my fist into my mouth.

Given: The probability that Fang Congxin caught me cheating back then was 1/10000, the probability that Fang Congxin got beaten by Huang Tao is 1/10000, the probability that Fang Congxin caught me cheating a second time is 1/10000, and the probability that Fang Congxin’s father happens to be my math teacher is 1/10000.

Questions: 1. By how much has the probability of Professor Fang agreeing to my course withdrawal decreased? 2. What is the chance of my dad finding out about the cheating? 3. What are the odds of my dad hitting me on the spot?

Answer: I’m doomed, I’m doomed.