After the test papers were handed out, everyone helped to copy them, and the final competition began soon.

After Chen Cui left the test, Zhaifu handed out the test papers with the ink just dried on them one by one.

The process is still the same, where you can only mark the papers and cannot move for nearly a quarter of an hour.

The difficulty of the test paper this time has been greatly increased, for example, "Two Rats Fighting Each Other" and "Cups Swinging on the River"...not only examples from "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art", but also from "Sun Zi's Mathematical Classic", "Xiahou Yang's Mathematical Classic" and "Zhang Qiujian's Mathematical Classic".

Of course, Shen Cui couldn't figure out which specific book the question corresponded to, but as for mathematics, no matter how things change, the core remains the same.

He read through them one by one, and a rough solution already appeared in his mind.

When I saw the last question, I also translated the obscure ancient characters into modern characters in my mind.

It is said that there was a person who was good at running and ran at a constant speed around a small town. There was an inn at regular intervals near the town, and a carriage would be sent out from these inns at the same interval.

Every third of a quarter of an hour, or 5 minutes, a post carriage would pass behind him, and every third of a half hour, or 20 minutes, a carriage would pass in front of him.

If the carriages also travel at a constant speed and do not stop before reaching the next post station, then how long is the interval between the carriages being dispatched from these post stations?

At first glance, this question is already very tricky. Naturally, it attracted Shen Cui's attention.

But if we use equations, we have to set up four unknown quantities, namely the distance L between adjacent carriages, the speed of the carriage v1, the speed of the runner v2 and the required interval time t.

She still has some ideas.

Soon, Zhaifu struck the gong and people could start answering the questions. Knowing that the last question was the most difficult, Shen Cui deliberately sped up when doing the previous questions and then checked the calculations after finishing them.

After completing all the calculations, she copied the answers down first and spent the rest of the time focusing on the last question.

In the eyes of Ling Qingming and others, it seemed that 'he' was just like last time. He closed his eyes and dozed off as soon as he got the test paper. Not long after, he wrote down many answers in one breath.

Because he performed well in the previous competition, even Ling Qingming no longer dared to think that he was fooling around, and involuntarily came over to see the answers he wrote.

Once again, all the written answers are correct!

Ling Qingming looked at the students from his own academy not far away. Not only were they much slower than him, but they also used more manuscript paper and were busy calculating.

But what made Ling Qingming feel a little relieved was that the boy in front of him did not answer the last question!

Sure enough, the question asked by the old headmaster was indeed a bit difficult. And the young man in front of him was not that smart.

Another quarter of an hour later, the other students in the room finished the first few questions and started to tackle the last difficult question.

The old headmaster also walked around the examination room and found that no one could answer his questions. Even Zhang Sheng, who had performed best in the previous exam, was stuck. He couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

People are always children. When they get older, their mentality tends to develop like that of a child.

Although he asked the question on a whim, it also represents that many academies nowadays only focus on exam-oriented education and do not pay attention to mathematics which is not tested in the imperial examinations.

There was a mathematics school in the previous dynasty, but mathematics was not yet a primary subject at that time. Nowadays, the imperial examination no longer attaches importance to this subject, and mathematics has declined, so no one pays attention to it.

Although he and the judges agreed to treat it as an additional question, if none of the students could answer it, it would seem that the question he asked was very inappropriate - after all, there are certain rules for setting questions, and the purpose is not to stump all the students, but to distinguish each person's level.

Given his status and age, the other judges and the headmaster would not blame him, but he himself felt regretful and a little embarrassed.

The old man's cheeks behind his long beard were slightly red, and he was about to stand in a place with fewer people. Shen Cui opened his eyes again, wrote the last answer on the paper, and then raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to hand in the paper!

This time the papers were taken away, and Shen Cui didn't even bother to look at the judges' reactions, and immediately went off to rest.

The last question was very complicated and she used a lot of brain cells and used a system of three linear equations to solve it. She experienced the pain of being beaten by math problems in her school days.

If the difficulty is increased and high school mathematics knowledge is required, Shen Cui really has no confidence that she can do it. How can an adult who has graduated for many years return to the peak state of high school after three months of hard study?

It was true that she had underestimated the difficulty of ancient mathematics problems.

Lao Buyu, Mu Erpang and Wei Xi were all waiting for him on the sidelines. Seeing that his face turned pale, they all had a bad feeling in their hearts.

In order to reassure everyone, Shen Cui patted her chest again and gave a thumbs up.

Then a few people had genuine smiles on their faces, and welcomed him back to the stands with concern and care.

Shen Cui slumped down in the armchair. At this moment, no one else in the room had handed in their papers, which meant that no one had finished the last question yet.

After this small competition, no one handed in their papers early. It was not until the end of the exam that Zhaifu collected everyone's papers one by one and handed them to several judges.

Chen Cui rubbed her aching brows, thinking that she would definitely win first place in this match, and 'he' could retire with honor.

Sure enough, when the results of the competition came out, Cuiwei Academy ranked first!

Yesterday, they praised him without hesitation with lavish words, but today, they didn't know how to praise him anymore, so they just gave him a firm hug!

All five competitions are over, and the final process is to compile a list of those who have passed the re-examination and entered the next round.

Cuiwei Academy has no chance of advancing to the next round, so there is no need to wait to hear the results. However, coming in first place in two matches was completely beyond expectations, so there is no need to worry about Lao Buyu getting beaten!

Lao Buyu stood up, holding Chen Cui's hand, and said, "I didn't invite you to dinner yesterday, but you've behaved so well today, you can't leave early no matter what. Our headmaster is not feeling well today, so I'll invite you to our academy first, and I'll treat you to a good meal tomorrow!"

Shen Cui had just recovered from her shock, so she naturally couldn't agree to what he said. If she followed him back to the academy, wouldn't she be exposed?

'He' pulled his hand back and gestured repeatedly, indicating that he had something else to do and it was very inconvenient!

At this time, her random sign language had the opposite effect. Lao Buyu thought he was really in trouble and asked tentatively, "Yesterday our headmaster said that you were staying at a relative's house, but your relative didn't treat you well?"

He now truly regards Zhang Sheng as his own family member, and has a subtle tendency to support and make decisions for him.

Chen Cui was immediately overwhelmed. If she had known this, she would not have been so stingy and saved points!

While one of them was gesturing and the other was guessing, Ling Qingming had already begun to loudly announce the results of the retest -

"The academies that passed the re-examination are Hongle Academy, Wenjun Academy, Qingzhu Academy... Cuiwei Academy!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lao Buyu and Shen Cui had no time to argue anymore, and shock appeared on their faces.

In such a grand event and competition, is it possible that there are errors in statistics?

Because there were fewer academies participating in the re-examination, these academies received much more attention than before. Others immediately discovered that Cuiwei Academy should not enter the next round, and quickly sent representatives from various academies to inquire.

On the Cuiwei Academy side, Lao Buyu, as a representative, also stepped forward to ask if the result was wrong?

After asking, they found out that it was the old headmaster who used his power to judge one vote for promotion and saved Zhang Sheng, which meant saving the entire Cuiwei Academy!

Lao Buyu said before that because of the favoritism and fraud that occurred in the academy competition, it became a laughing stock, and now no one will use that right to judge!

Even if the respected old headmaster was mobilized, the people under him still had some opinions.

Chen Cui didn't step forward, and heard even more sour words.

"This Cuiwei Academy is not well-known, but I didn't expect it to be able to flatter Hongle Academy."

"That's right. That person can only do a few arithmetic problems. What's so special about him that the old headmaster would take notice of him?"

"That person is also disabled and is destined to have no chance of taking the imperial examinations and becoming an official. What's the point of protecting him?"

Amid the discussion among the crowd, the old headmaster standing at the head also saw Chen Cui being pointed at by the crowd, and waved at him with a smile.

Shen Cui was naturally grateful to the famous teacher who suddenly favored her and helped her pass the re-examination, so she stepped forward and saluted respectfully.

The old headmaster called him over and said nothing else, "Don't listen to those people's nonsense. It's not your fault that you don't have enough knowledge. You are the only one who got the last question right, so you should enter the next round. You are very talented in mathematics. Who is your teacher?"

Shen Cui opened her mouth and gestured casually.

The old headmaster did not understand the sign language he had made up, but he did not expect that he had more than one disability. His eyes showed a little more care and love for the younger generation.

It was then that the other judges discovered that not only did he have problems with his right hand, but he was also unable to speak.

Earlier, they agreed to the old headmaster's right to use the guarantor's right hand because they felt that although Zhang Sheng had a disability in his right hand, he was indeed gifted in mathematics.

Even if such a person cannot pass the imperial examination and become an official, when he grows up, he may become a famous teacher and teach others.

I might as well do him a favor. What if I could find a way to recruit him to my own academy later?

But now that we know that 'he' can't speak, such a person is really useless, so why should we invite criticism for 'him'?

Several people looked at each other, hesitant to speak. The unlucky task fell to Ling Qingming, the organizer, again. He hesitated and asked, "Do you think this result is..."

The old headmaster had been smiling a little bit earlier, but when he heard his words, the smile faded. He stroked his beard and looked around at everyone, saying, "The result remains the same... I still say that only 'he' solved that problem, so Cuiwei Academy was promoted, and he deserves it! You should all know that there is no discrimination in education."

Although the academies at that time educated students for the purpose of preparing for the imperial examinations. If the teaching is good and the students are successful, the academy will naturally gain both fame and fortune, and the two will complement each other.

But Hongle Academy adheres to the saints' idea - as long as one wants to learn, everyone should be treated equally regardless of their social status or even health. Similarly, this competition should only focus on Zhang Sheng's outstanding performance, regardless of how many disabilities he has and whether he can be used by various academies in the future.

This idea is admittedly naive, but who dares to say it is wrong?

Ling Qingming and several other judges responded with an embarrassed look.

Even Chen Cui felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. She opened the academy in order to complete the system tasks. Compared with the old headmaster in front of her, her purpose was impure and too utilitarian.

After all, there are great sages and saints in this world who do not ask for anything in return.

The look he gave the old headmaster was filled with genuine respect and admiration. At this moment, Chen Cui even thought that if she did not change her clothes and could participate in her original identity, the old headmaster would not discriminate against her because of her identity as a woman.

The old headmaster insisted on his attitude, and others who heard his statement of "teaching everyone without distinction" did not dare to object, so the outcome of the competition was decided.

Chen Cui soon received a system notification——[Received reward: 3 years of time gain. 】

She had come here just for this reward, but now she was not in a hurry to enter the system to check. Instead, she bowed to the old headmaster in a fair and just manner.

Thank him for his favor, thank him for going against the majority, and thank him for his non-discriminatory "teaching without distinction".