Chapter 52: Studying Is Important!
Su Yang thought about it for a while and did not reject Li Runze right away.
A straight-A student who was researching about A.I.s felt like some supervillain material, so if Su Yang made him mad, he might invent some superweapon that could destroy the world. All Marvel villains shared a similar setting and motivation.
Su Yang gulped nervously and carefully considered his words. “What do you think about girls?”
“Girls?” Li Runze glanced at Su Yang without showing any expression. “Nothing special. They will mess up your books, mess up the codes that you’ve written, and during experiments, they will do all kinds of impractical things to disturb your life. Compared to girls, I like being around men. At least, men are more efficient, but, of course, it is only a comparison.”
Su Yang suddenly felt even more in danger. ‘Has Li Runze fallen for me and will my ‘backdoor’ soon be breached?!’
With that terrifying thought in mind, he suddenly thought of Han Yi. ‘Wait, didn’t Mr. Smart Guy here show his love for Han Yi?’
“What about Han Yi? You like her, don’t you?” Su Yang asked.
Li Runze pushed his glasses up slightly and showed a rare smile. “Yes. She isn’t your average girl.”
Su Yang instantly heaved a breath of relief. ‘Thank goodness he still likes girls.’
“She sings well. I like her voice, but I also like your voice,” Li Runze added.
‘Wait! Can you not drag me into this?!’ Su Yang was once again silenced.
“I actually got to you because of this. I think you sing quite well and your Math is good. I believe we can be friends. We can talk about songs and Math sometimes,” Li Runze said.
Su Yang saw the seriousness on Li Runze’s face, he suddenly started to understand the straight-A student.
‘Mr. Smart Guy here is probably too proud. He looks down on the average. Plus, with his strange personality, he might not have a lot of friends or none at all. His hobby must be studying, reading, and coding while his only entertainment is probably listening to songs. He realizes I can sing and my Maths is good. That’s why he wants to take the first step to be my friend.’
With that in mind, Su Yang somehow stopped his messy and ridiculous thoughts and reached his hand out. “Hi, let’s reintroduce ourselves. I’m Su Yang.”
Li Runze looked at Su Yang’s hand blankly. A while later, his expressionless face revealed a faint smile. “Hi, I’m Li Runze.”
After officially befriending Mr. Smart Guy, Su Yang realized that becoming friends with someone as smart as Li Runze actually had its benefits. At least, he could ask Li Runze any questions and still get a reply.
For example, Su Yang was not clear about the price of the installation of broadband in Shanghai, so Li Runze filled the gaps in for him.
According to Li Runze, he would read magazines during his free time, and he somehow came across a comparison article about all the internet service providers’ broadband packages in Shanghai.
Su Yang simply believed what he said. However, he was also unclear about the pros and cons about general taxpayers and small-scale taxpayers, so he asked questions.
Li Runze also had the answer to that. He claimed that he read through corporate law during his free time and also had a certain level of understanding about corporate legal procedures.
However, when Li Runze revealed that he also knew which river had the least population and how much water flowed through it, Su Yang was completely silenced.
‘Brother, how can you even know all that from reading? What kind of books are you reading anyway? I guess this lesson tells us how important it is to study hard! Work harder, brothers!’
After talking to Li Runze for almost halfway through the lecture, Su Yang no longer suspected his sexual orientation. In fact, he started to suspect Li Runze was not a human being.
Li Runze looked more like an A.I. compared to Deeny. He knew almost everything and barely showed any expression.
On the other hand, Ms. Yuan had been lecturing at the podium in front. Halfway through the lecture, she could no longer tolerate Su Yang and Li Runze talking between themselves in the last row. Both Su Yang and Li Runze were her best students, but even her best students should not be talking during her lecture!
On top of that, one of them had said that Advanced Mathematics was simple in his Friend Circle and the other one liked the status. They obviously looked down on Advanced Mathematics.
As a lecturer in Advanced Mathematics, Ms. Yuan was always a force to be reckoned with and a presence that the students feared, so she had never received such ‘insults’ before!
She called Su Yang out.
“Present.” Su Yang stood up when his name was called.
Ms. Yuan rapped on the blackboard on which there was a typical function limits question. “Answer.”
Su Yang thought for a while and said, “It should be A=-1.”
Ms. Yuan checked the answer and realized that it was correct. ‘What? Is his brain a calculator? Can he count function limits with his head?!’
She switched her gaze to Li Runze. She hesitated for a bit but eventually called him out, “Li Runze, solve the next question.”
Su Yang glanced over at the question on the blackboard. It was also a function limits question but was much harder than his own as the question alone was a lot longer than his question.
Li Runze stood up without showing any expression and walked to the blackboard. He picked up the chalk and started writing as if he did not even need to think about the question. In 30 seconds, half the blackboard was filled with the solution. He put the chalk down and said, “Miss, I’m done.”
Ms. Yuan was in awe. She cleared her throat to hide her awkwardness. “Okay. You two have really studied hard on function limits.”
Li Runze said with a blank expression, “You actually don’t need to study this. If you know the formula, you can simply solve it.”
Ms. Yuan and the rest of the class were silenced instantly.
As Ms. Yuan slammed her lecture notes on the desk, her chest heaved ceaselessly. It was obvious that she could not communicate properly with this student who barely had any EQ.
Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind. “Wait, something isn’t right. You are a student of the Faculty of Information, so what are you doing in the class of the Faculty of Arts?”
Li Runze’s expressionless face immediately turned sour.
Ms. Yuan seized the opportunity to counterattack and asserted, “Get out right now. Don’t disturb the other students while they are learning.”
“Yes, Ms. Yuan.”
Defeated, he returned to his seat and started to pack his stuff. He also whispered to Su Yang, “I’ll wait for you next door.”
He then left the classroom.
Ms. Yuan was not mad at Li Runze, but she was the lecturer, so she had to retain her dignity as one. Besides, the classes with Li Runze always pressured her and mentally exhausted her.
Li Runze was more or less like Su Yang. They never listened to the lecture and always buried themselves behind their books.
Unlike Su Yang, who always minded his own business and dared not disturb the lecture, Li Runze was good at multitasking. He might be reading his book during the lecture, but he was actually listening to the lecture as if he was monitoring how Ms. Yuan conducted her lecture.
She never dared to tell Li Runze to stop reading during her class, but whenever he put his book down, her heart would skip a beat because she knew that she must have made a mistake in the lecture.
The pressure from Li Runze was even bigger than the dean himself attending the lecture.
Without Li Runze’s presence, the lecture continued on smoothly.
After the class, Su Yang tidied up and prepared to go to lunch with Li Runze.
Right after he stood up, Chu Xia walked over and greeted him, “Hey, Mr. Big Star.”
“What’s up, Ms. Busy Woman?”
Chu Xia giggled like a blossoming flower. “Did you know that the organizer is inviting Han Yi to our school to be a judge for the singing competition?”
Su Yang nodded. “I heard, but if you are here to persuade me to join, I’ll still give you the same answer: not really interested.”