Study Monster Cultivation System-Chapter 348 - 347 dual lines under pressure, I don’t know if I can hold up

Li Zheng somehow managed to sneak into the Shen Family.

The room wasn’t big, but it was bright.

The furniture wasn’t new, but it was spotless.

As soon as Lin Yujing entered the room, she sniffed the air and her eyes lit up.

"Hehe," Shen Yuecen moved to the dining table, pulled out a chair, and said with delight, "Steamed bass, freshly drizzled with oil. Eat it while it’s tender."

"Grandpa’s the best!!" Lin Yujing rushed over quickly, grabbed a bowl, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating.

Li Zheng also took the opportunity to join them at the dining table, rubbing his hands together and said, "Teacher Shen’s cooking is really good."

"No need to flatter," Shen Yuecen instantly stiffened his face, "Do you know why Jingjing is good at studying?"

"Because… she’s smart?"

"Smart she is, of course, but it’s also inseparable from the strict guidance when she was young," Shen Yuecen snorted, stood with his hands behind his back, and said, "Just to give you an example, 4-year-old Jingjing had to recite the first 100 prime numbers before she could eat."

"Huh?!" Lin Yujing, surprised while chewing on a fish bone, looked up and asked, "Really?"

"Yes indeed. You were too young back then, you wouldn’t remember," Shen Yuecen said as he walked over to another bowl of rice, "When I was young, food was scarce, but even under such circumstances, all the best meat, eggs, and milk were supplied to the various universities. To get a full meal, one had to prove their worth first."

"Grandpa..." Lin Yujing, sensing trouble, hurriedly spat out the fish bone and said, "Just let him eat…"

"What?" Shen Yuecen laughed, "Are you afraid that the national math competition runner-up can’t recite 100 prime numbers?"

"No... I’m afraid that you..." Lin Yujing said, covering her mouth and giggling, "Anyway, when it comes to studying, Scum Chap is unlikely to be at a disadvantage..."

"Hmph?" Shen Yuecen’s veins popped upon hearing this.

What? He’s not yet a university student and he’s already not taking Grandpa seriously as an academician?! Does he think your grandpa has been bested in academic matters?!

No, this can’t continue.

It’s not okay to spoil the kids like Ting Lan does.

It’s time for the rod of discipline to strike.

"If that’s the case, let’s have a try," declared Shen Yuecen, stretching out his right hand toward Li Zheng, "You have two minutes. Say as many as you can. If you get over 70, you can sit down and eat. If you recite 100, I’ll serve you soup."

"Then..." Li Zheng pursed his lips and said seriously, "I’ll just have to trouble the teacher to add some pepper."

Shen Yuecen glared.

Li Zheng glared back.

For Shen Yuecen,

To recite 100 prime numbers in 2 minutes would require an extreme speed of speech, even for someone who had memorized them beforehand.

If Li Zheng had memorized them, that would mean he had solid basics and a stroke of luck, so grant him a bowl of rice.

If Li Zheng hadn’t memorized them, but could intuitively come up with 70 on the spot, conceding his talent, a bowl of rice would be his too.

If he can’t do it,

Then let him go home and figure it out.

And I’ll have lunch just with Little Jingjing~~

Hey, that’s exactly what the rod of discipline is for.

Exulting in one’s old age sure is blissful.

For Li Zheng,

In his circle, probably only Gu Jianfeng could accomplish this challenge.

If you attempted it by the usual means one by one, forget two minutes; one might not finish in an hour, and it is very easy to make mistakes.

It can be said that even Li Zheng himself would not be able to complete this task.

Unless he accelerated.

So, to accelerate or not?

Nonsense, of course accelerate!

If not now, then when?

This bowl of soup, I’m determined to have!

This title of Grandpa, I’m determined to earn!

"You start whenever, I’ll time whenever."

Yet amazingly, in that moment of mutual glare, a certain indefinable passion sparked.

The scent of the devil.

The passion for study.

Both of them trembled inwardly at the same time.

Could it be there’s another like me?

At this moment, Shen Yuecen wouldn’t underestimate him and quickly looked away from Li Zheng and started watching his watch, "You start whenever, I’ll time whenever."

No sooner had he finished speaking,

"2, 3, 5, 7, 11…"

"73, 79, 83, 89, 97…"

"179, 181, 191, 193…"

"353, 359, 367, 373…"

"Pause to breathe."

"547, 557, 563…"

"811, 821, 823…"

"Hasn’t it been two minutes yet…"

"Pause to breathe again."

"1087, 1091, 1093…"

"1217, 1223, 1229…"

When he reached what seemed like the umpteenth number,

"That’s enough," Shen Yuecen, his face flushed, raised his hand, "Sit down and eat slowly; I’ll go get your soup."

Shen Yuecen then bowed his head and swiftly walked away, rushing into the kitchen.

"Huff," Li Zheng panted heavily, cracked a slight smile, and sat opposite Lin Yujing with perfect composure, picking up a bowl and chopsticks, "Solid."

"You... just don’t know how to ease up on him, once you reach 100, you should have stopped..."

"I would have liked to, but I honestly couldn’t remember how many I’d already said," Li Zheng said with a smile as he picked up a piece of fish.

Kitchen.

Shen Yuecen, listening to the conversation outside, felt his hand shaking more and more as he ladled the soup.

Ease up on him?!?!

It’s his job to ease up on me!

I miscalculated...

This is a freak who can recite the prime number table by heart...

Just like me.

This killer stick isn’t angled correctly...

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Let’s try again.

Before long, Shen Yuecen brought two bowls of soup to the table and set them down.

Then he fished out a bottle of white pepper.

Li Zheng quickly stood up and said, "I can do it myself."

"No need, I’ll do it," Shen Yuecen said, glaring at him as he gave a firm shake over Li Zheng’s bowl!

Crack!

The pepper bottle cap fell off!

One-third of the bottle of pepper was spilled into the bowl.

"Oh my," Shen Yuecen looked at the bottle in surprise, while the other hand subtly shook the bowl, "This cap isn’t secure at all."

Li Zheng stepped forward with determination: "No problem, I like strong flavors..."

"Is that so, sorry about that," Shen Yuecen said with a smile, pushing the bowl toward him and taking a seat on the side.

Li Zheng took the bowl and sat down, taking a light sip.

Then he forced himself to show a look of delight.

"Delicious," Li Zheng said with his lips tightly pressed together.

"Really?" Shen Yuecen laughed, "Then drink it all."

Plan B.

Force Li Zheng to consume an excessive amount of condiments, making him drink water and run to the toilet frantically until he feels sick and Jingjing distances herself from him.

However, man’s plans are no match for Jing’s plans.

"Mix it a bit, mix it a bit," Lin Yujing suddenly got up with her own bowl and walked to Li Zheng’s side, pouring some of his soup into her bowl.

But her bowl was already full, and it could only take a little bit more.

"Hmm... I’ll have to drink and mix at the same time," Lin Yujing said, taking a sip from her bowl before happily passing it to Li Zheng.

Li Zheng also took a sip, then took up the bowl of strong-flavored soup and mixed some of it into Lin Yujing’s bowl.

In this way, they took turns, sip by sip, equally sharing and mixing the soup.

It was neither too strong in flavor nor lacking in progressive enjoyment.

Shen Yuecen witnessed the whole process.

Despite maintaining a poker face,

his heart had already exploded.

That Li guy!!!

Who let you drink from that side of the bowl!

That’s Jingjing’s spot!!

How is this any different from kissing right in front of me!

Aaahhh...

After finishing the two bowls of soup and exchanging a smile, Lin Yujing returned to her seat and placed some vegetables in Grandma’s bowl.

"Grandma, you should eat too."

Li Zheng followed by picking up a piece: "Teacher, please."

Shen Yuecen, who had just started to feel a little better,

experienced something dreadful at that moment.

Their chopsticks touched each other.

Then they both shyly retracted them,

and exchanged a bashful, silly smile...

No!!!

This is elder abuse!!!

I’m leaving, will that suffice?!

"You... you guys... take your time... eating..." Shen Yuecen struggled to his feet, supporting himself on the chair back, "I’ll be... heading back to school now, I still have classes in the afternoon..."

"Oh, is Grandma not eating anymore?" Lin Yujing couldn’t help feeling delighted.

Li Zheng immediately glared and stood up, beaming: "Then have a safe trip, Teacher Shen!"

Pfft...

Shen Yuecen spat out another mouthful of blood in his heart.

Not even a fake attempt to stay?

Watching the excited Li Zheng, Shen Yuecen gritted his teeth again.

I can leave, but...

All my painstaking efforts...

In the house of my daughter...

And with my granddaughter...

"By the way, there’s one more thing," Shen Yuecen suddenly stopped and asked, "Li Zheng, do you have any preferences for the courses you’ll select next term? Yingpei College offers a lot of flexibility, regarding both required and elective courses."

Li Zheng immediately nodded: "I’ll follow Teacher Shen’s arrangements."

"Heh," Shen Yuecen swallowed back his frustration and smiled as he turned, "Many students think that they are liberated after graduating high school, that university is just for play, just for dating. This is a very naive perspective. For those with true ambition, university is just the beginning of learning. The ’liberation’ spoken of is the trust the school places in you, the freedom of choice you are given; it is certainly not the start of corruption."

Li Zheng became even more excited, "Teacher Shen is so right, to study freely, to choose courses freely, I can hardly wait."

"Oh?" Shen Yuecen narrowed his eyes and said, "How ambitious are you then, willing to sacrifice how much leisure time? Willing to sacrifice how much time for dating?"

"I can do both, do both!" Li Zheng nodded fiercely, "Grandma, rest assured, after entering university, I will grasp both my studies and Jingjing with both hands and be firm in both, never neglecting my studies nor Jingjing."

"!!?!!" Shen Yuecen abruptly had his veins bulge again.

Have you gone too far in your excitement?

Calling me ’Grandma’ directly???

Who allowed you to grasp both! Who permitted you to touch Little Jingjing!

Is it your place to call her ’Jingjing’!!

Even more irritating was the sight of Lin Yujing with her head down, giggling shyly and foolishly.

"I made a mistake, Scum Chap... it’s my grandmother..."

"Oh, yes, yes, yes." Li Zheng quickly corrected himself, "Teacher Shen’s insights into studying are so accurate, I was so agitated that I misspoke, Grandma, please forgive me."

Still not correcting it, huh!!

Even though Shen Yuecen at this moment indeed had murderous intent.

But he knew, in front of Jingjing, to forcefully deal with Li Zheng would probably backfire.

For teenage girls, the more you forbid them to do something, the more they want to do it.

Confronting Li Zheng aggressively at this time would only lose Little Jingjing’s affection, pushing her into Li Zheng’s arms by his own hands.

Forbearance.

Was the only choice.

"However, Li Zheng, a person’s energy is limited, it is hard to excel in everything." Shen Yuecen managed a strained smile through his facial twitches and said, "Your relationship with Jingjing is your own business, I have no right to comment, what I can arrange for you is only concerning your studies. From what you’ve said just now, do you wish for a higher intensity of study schedule?"

"Yes, yes, the more saturated the better, max it out."

Shen Yuecen looked straight at Li Zheng’s side face, expressionless.

The side face from within the shadows, however, revealed a cold smirk.

Young man.

Can your Lake Ying compare with my Ji University’s courses?

Which of my Ji University’s lecturers isn’t talking about something profound?

And our Ji University’s exams, aren’t they all like competitions?

Especially in our Mathematics department, how many favored talents thought they were coming to cultivate into immortals, only to end up battered and bruised, worse than dogs over four years of college.

Forget about saturated and maxed out, even if you only take my Mathematics department’s freshman courses, it would be enough to leave you struggling to catch your breath.

Still too young.

"What about the subject areas?" Shen Yuecen prodded, still restraining himself, "Do you intend to focus on one subject, not so saturated, or cover as many subjects as possible, to be well-rounded in knowledge?"

"Of course, max out all subjects." Li Zheng answered without hesitation, "But is that realistic? Can I choose like that?"

"Usually not quite possible." Shen Yuecen said, suppressing a laugh, "But with me, you can have what you want."

"Ah, having Grandma backing me up is fantastic!!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuecen coughed.

I will endure...

With that, he took out his cellphone, opened the meticulously filled timetable he had prepared, and handed it to Li Zheng.

"What do you think of this timetable?"

When Li Zheng took the phone and looked, his eyes lit up.

"Brilliant!!!"

"Not... feeling even a bit of pressure?" Shen Yuecen swallowed, leaning in to say, "Look clearly, it includes courses from almost every college, not just a double degree, it’s enough for seven degrees."

"No problem!"

"You... think it over carefully." Shen Yuecen stiffened his face, sensing something off with Li Zheng’s excitement, "You can’t drop compulsory courses once chosen, and if you fail, you have to retake them. I won’t even mention, you might not be able to keep up with the final exams."

"It’s okay, I’ll finish the exams early." Li Zheng gestured confidently, "I can handle up to three subjects at the same time."

Shen Yuecen felt as if he was somehow at a loss, as though he had given Li Zheng a lot of unwarranted advantages.

"Having ambition is good, but don’t be presumptuously arrogant."

Li Zheng slapped his chest confidently: "I have a strong foundation, most classes I won’t need to put in much effort."

"Don’t let blind confidence interfere," Shen Yuecen said stiffly, "With this intensity, if you can’t handle it, say something. If you can’t graduate because of the courses I helped you choose, I would have harmed you..."

"No, Grandma, I can catch everything that comes my way in my studies."

"I am still a bit worried." At this point, Shen Yuecen was genuinely concerned.

This selection intensity, this breadth of subjects, among the people he knew, only one could handle it.

And that was himself...

He intended to put some pressure on Li Zheng...

But if Li Zheng really took this schedule, it was very likely that he would get scared off, burned out, or even develop a fear of studying, resulting in academic PTSD.

Whether he would be able to graduate smoothly or not, that was a concern for the future.

After thinking it over, Shen Yuecen still took the phone back, shaking his head, "Perhaps like this, reduce the courses by a third."

"No need to reduce, really, no need." Li Zheng hastily advised, "To tell the truth, I have previewed a lot of content in the past two months, so selecting these courses would help me earn more credits."

"How much can you preview in two months." Seeing Li Zheng still persistent, Shen Yuecen asked out of formality, "Have you studied differential geometry?"

"I have a rough understanding."

"Briefly describe isometries in Euclidean space."

"d(F(x), F(y))=d(x, y),..."

"Hmm." Shen Yuecen then asked, "In nuclear physics, what are fermions and bosons and how do they differ?"

"Particles with a half-integer spin are fermions, including electrons, neutrons..."

"In molecular biology, the process of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis?"

"Perpendicular in two dimensions, respectively..."

Every time Shen Yuecen asked a question, Li Zheng answered instantly.

It felt like an argument out of spite.

The more Shen Yuecen asked, the more anxious and angry he became.

Li Zheng was getting more and more into it as he answered, becoming increasingly excited.

For him, this kind of comprehensive oral exam that spanned all subjects was just too tempting!

Bring it on.

Before they realized it, the two were squaring off like they were competing, and had churned out more than 30 problems in 20 minutes.

In the end, Shen Yuecen was getting frantic.

After all, he was pretty much blundering through subjects outside of mathematics and couldn’t pose very deep questions.

In his urgency, Shen Yuecen had already forgotten who Li Zheng was, and he glared, demanding furiously,

"In abstract algebra’s finite fields, suppose F is a field with Char(F)≠2, then for any quadratic extension K of the field, which can be created by adjoining a square root... then [F(δ): F]=2—prove it!"

Li Zheng glared back at Shen Yuecen, almost beginning to speak.

But he didn’t even know where to start.

What the hell is this?

Finally, Lin Yujing couldn’t take it anymore.

"Grandpa!!" Lin Yujing put down her chopsticks and said, "Isn’t this what they learn after becoming graduate students..."

"Is it?" Shen Yuecen rubbed his forehead, "Abstract algebra and finite fields, are they really that advanced..."

"Scum Chap!!" Lin Yujing picked up her bowl and glared at Li Zheng, "Why are you so insistent on showing off?"

"It’s just a habitual response to learning questions..."

"Then keep it up, I’m full," Lin Yujing picked up her bowl and headed for the kitchen, "I’m going to sleep."

"Don’t go, Jingjing..."

"Don’t go, Jingjing..."

Both men reached out at the same time.

And then, a Study Demon staredown followed.

"..."

"..."

This was probably what you’d call a lose-lose situation...

Bang.

Jingjing closed the door to her bedroom.

"Sigh..." Shen Yuecen went limp and slumped down in his chair, "I really lost my composure, you’re qualified to take those courses."

"Hmm..." Li Zheng slumped down as he sat, "Teacher Shen is right... maybe it truly is impossible to focus on both at the same time..."

"It might not necessarily be so..." Shen Yuecen said, stroking his chin, "If I want, I could pick out a few courses for you that Jingjing will also be taking."

"Oh? Then, Grandpa..."

"Unless." Shen Yuecen tapped the table and stopped holding back, "You solve the abstract algebra problem I posed to you before the term starts."

"!" Li Zheng immediately bowed and handed his bowl and chopsticks back to Shen Yuecen, "Grandpa, please eat."

"Mhm."

Despite that earlier clash ending with both sides getting hurt,

the elder and the younger were both reluctant to let go of their love for learning, weren’t they?

Li Zheng was figuratively slapped in the face with Shen Yuecen’s tremendous Academic Power.

And wasn’t Shen Yuecen too fighting with all his might, utterly delighted by the challenge?

If they continued to spar like this, they’d both lose Jingjing.

There was no other choice but to negotiate a peace.

The issue of how to divide the Jingguo.

Therefore,

Li Zheng took the first step back.

"Grandpa has been working hard these past few days..." Li Zheng said respectfully, "I won’t disturb you at noon tomorrow, you can just prepare Jingjing’s portion."

"Is that so... Since that’s the case, I have classes in the afternoon," Shen Yuecen said as he picked up a fish tail, "I’ll eat and leave, won’t be in the way here."

"How would you be in the way? I would welcome more problems from someone with as broad knowledge as you."

"You flatter me," Shen Yuecen said with a laugh, lifting his hand, "It’s no trouble to cook an extra portion, you can come tomorrow as well."

"Oh? Then I’ll take up that politely..."

Shen Yuecen’s eyes widened, "Wait, suddenly my back hurts, I’m going to lie down inside for a bit..."

Li Zheng immediately withdrew, "Ah, I have important things to do tomorrow at noon, I’m afraid I won’t be able to come."

Shen Yuecen also yielded, "Mm, the school is urging me too, can’t neglect the foundational calculus class. Have you studied calculus?"

"I have some understanding."

"Oh? Then may I ask..."

Time passed once again.

No chance of the Ultimate Lover making an appearance.

Just two more hours of being thrashed by Teacher Shen’s problems.

Ultimately, neither of them got to spend time with Jingjing.

Instead, they were both scolded by Jingjing into washing dishes.

As he rode to the examination room, Li Zheng’s mind was somewhat muddled.

Jingjing, however, laughed.

"Scum Chap seems quite favored by Grandpa, huh?"

"Is this called being favored?"

"Yep, yep, yep! The harsher Grandpa is on a student, the more he likes them."

Li Zheng silently swallowed.

The one accustomed to academic challenges was for the first time doubting himself.

The intensity of going head-to-head with Gu Jianfeng was already quite something...

And in the future, to handle the pressure of dealing with Grandpa on two fronts.

I wonder if I can withstand it.