The four hours of free activity time passed quickly.
At lunch, while eating, the lead teacher said, "Because of the competition rules, we teachers can't give you any guidance or advice during the contest. Everything this afternoon will be up to you. We won't be able to help at all."
All the students nodded, saying they would strive to bring honor to their school.
Huang Yifan nodded as well, but for him, it was all about that 10.000 yuan reward.
Soon, 2 PM arrived, and the county-wide junior high academic competition officially began.
First, the staff handed each of the 120 students a number tag, which was then affixed to their clothing. Afterward, each student received a buzzer device.
"Looks like it's going to be a buzzer round," Sun Jin said, examining the device in his hand.
A few minutes later, a host from the cultural center came on stage holding a microphone.
"Hello, students! I'll be your host for this round. I'm sure you've noticed the buzzer in your hands. That's right, our first round is a buzzer round. We'll ask 60 questions. Whoever buzzes in first and answers correctly will advance. The rules are that simple. Got it? If you have questions, now's the time."
"Host, there are 120 of us. Why only 60 questions?"
One student quickly raised the question.
"You think we should prepare 120 questions so that everyone answers one and all pass?"
The whole room erupted in laughter.
It was obvious, 60 questions meant to eliminate half the field.
"Alright, any other questions? If not, I'll begin."
The host glanced around, then pulled out a booklet containing the questions.
"Which of the following mountains is not one of China's Four Great Buddhist Mountains? A: Yandang Mountain…"
Before the host even finished, someone had already hit the buzzer. It was the academic queen of Tieshikou Middle School, Li Luozhi.
"Number 50, I hadn't finished reading the question. Are you saying you already know the answer?"
Li Luozhi was number 50. The others were: Yu Bin 51, Jiang Weiwei 53, Huang Yifan 54, Sun Jin 55, and Wu Haihua 56.
"Host, Yandang Mountain is not one of the Four Great Buddhist Mountains. I don't need to hear the rest to know the answer is A."
"Correct. Congratulations, you've advanced."
Tieshikou Middle School got off to a strong start, and the crowd murmured in admiration.
"Li Luozhi, you're amazing!"
Sun Jin praised from nearby.
"Yeah, I didn't even hear the full question, and you already answered. That's incredible," Wu Haihua added, clearly impressed.
Unfortunately, their compliments had no effect. After qualifying, Li Luozhi walked straight into the rest area without a word.
Huang Yifan couldn't help but chuckle. This girl really was the cold type.
But that didn't matter. These were just little girls, and Huang Yifan had no time to waste on them. Better to focus and secure his own spot in the next round.
The buzzer questions were mostly general knowledge, but while labeled "general," many questions touched on topics that, due to lack of exposure or awareness, fell outside the comfort zone of most junior high students. For Huang Yifan, though, they were laughably simple.
Without drawing attention, Huang Yifan answered correctly on the 12th question and smoothly advanced.
An hour later, the first round ended.
Sun Jin and Wu Haihua from Class 1 and Yu Bin from Class 3 were all eliminated. The only ones who made it through were Li Luozhi, Jiang Weiwei, and Huang Yifan.
The three eliminated students were visibly disappointed. They had come with dreams of reaching the finals, only to be knocked out in round one.
Huang Yifan offered a few words of consolation, saying it was just bad luck, not a lack of ability.
The three gave faint smiles and said no more.
With the first round over, the second round began.
Unlike the first, this round was not a buzzer contest but a team-based math competition.
Of course, the so-called "teams" were temporary formations. Since the first round had already eliminated half the students, many schools had lost all their participants. Even those with remaining students, like Tieshikou Middle School, were down from six to three.
Fortunately, the team size for this round was also three, so the Tieshikou students didn't have to seek teammates from other schools. Others, depending on their luck, might still be able to form intra-school teams, or might have to rely on strangers.
And since neither the lead teachers nor the organizers would intervene in team formation, it was all up to the students.
It didn't sound like a big deal, just find teammates and compete. But in truth, the team round was won or lost as a unit. Coordination was critical. Students from the same school would naturally cooperate more smoothly, while cross-school teams were more likely to misfire or even clash.
"The second round is math-based written questions. Since we're a team, let's discuss our plan," Jiang Weiwei said to Li Luozhi and Huang Yifan after the rules were read.
"In this round, each team and its opponents will draw three multiple-choice questions. The first is easiest, the second is slightly harder, and the third is the most difficult. It's a best-two-out-of-three format. So if we win the first two, the third question doesn't even matter."
"I'll handle the second question," said Li Luozhi flatly.
"Then I'll do the first," Jiang Weiwei quickly followed.
With their assignments sorted, they left Huang Yifan hanging.
"Uh… so I don't get a turn?" Huang Yifan gave a helpless smile.
"Heh, Huang Yifan, I remember what you scored on your last math test. You'd better sit this one out."
"Alright then. If you say so, I'll go relax. But, just in case, I mean just in case, what if one of you loses?"
"Lose?"
Jiang Weiwei shook her head. "Impossible."
"The first question is the easiest. With my math skills, I'm guaranteed to win. Besides, our opponents will probably send a weaker player to the first question, saving their stronger ones for questions two and three. But with Li Luozhi handling the second one, do you honestly think she'd lose? If I win the first, and she takes the second, your round won't even matter."
"Alright, if you're that confident, I'll just wait on the sidelines. But, again, just in case, if one of you slips up, I'm still here."
With that, Huang Yifan said no more.
These girls were still too young.
Did they really think victory was that simple?
Ha! How naive.
If the opposing team decided to pull a "Tian Ji horse race" strategy, one of these girls was guaranteed to lose.
Good thing he was around to clean up after them.
Wait! Not like that. Clean up for them. Ugh, that sounded wrong.
Cleaning up after little girls…
Man, that just sounds way too creepy.
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Glossary
1 - The term "Tian Ji horse race" (田忌赛马) refers to a famous ancient Chinese strategy used to win by smart matchups, even when you're at an overall disadvantage.
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