With Zhang Qiang, he had used a combo list from The King of Fighters.
In essence, there was no difference.
Seeing Zhang Qiang solve two final challenge problems in a row and excitedly flip the page to start a third, Chen Zhuo reached out and pressed his hand down on the workbook.
"Alright, that’s enough."
Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang.
"Don’t overdo it. This is just a tool. The point is to get the feel of those conditional triggers. You don’t need to grind through a whole semester’s worth of problems in one day. If your brain stays this overstimulated, you’ll just end up forgetting it all."
Zhang Qiang finally put down his pen and let out a long sigh of relief.
He stared at the difficult problems on the desk that he had personally dismantled, feeling terrifyingly smart. He even had the deluded thought that he could challenge Old Zhao to a one-on-one tomorrow.
Chen Zhuo stood up and smoothed out his clothes.
"Stay seated."
Chen Zhuo added in a low voice.
Zhang Qiang didn’t know what Chen Zhuo was up to, so he just sat obediently in his chair.
Chen Zhuo turned, walked to the study door, gripped the handle, and yanked the door open.
Outside, Zhang Qiang’s mom was sitting on the living room sofa watching TV. The moment she heard the study door open, she turned her head toward it.
Chen Zhuo stood in the doorway, a gentle and sensible smile on his face—the kind adults loved to see.
"Auntie."
Chen Zhuo raised his voice slightly, ensuring he could be heard clearly in the living room.
"Qiangzi was in great form today. Those final challenge problems from the second semester of eighth grade we were just working on—he completely grasped the core geometric logic and solved them on his first try."
Zhang Qiang, sitting at his desk, felt a wave of goosebumps wash over him at those words. He had to admit, though, when Chen Zhuo put on his ’good kid’ act, it was absolutely flawless.
The moment Zhang Qiang’s mom heard that, her face lit up. Forgetting all about the TV, she stood up, walked over to the study door, and peeked inside.
"Oh, really? So Qiangzi being cooped up in his room all these days wasn’t for nothing after all."
His mom was smiling from ear to ear, her voice filled with pride.
"You really have a way with him, Xiaozhuo! A few words of guidance from you are worth more than a thousand from us. Qiangzi, what are you waiting for? Thank Xiaozhuo!"
Sitting in his chair, Zhang Qiang called out lamely.
"Thanks, Brother Zhuo."
Chen Zhuo glanced back at Zhang Qiang, then turned to his mom again.
"There’s no need for thanks, Auntie. But his brain has been operating at high intensity all afternoon. He’s at full capacity now."
Chen Zhuo said, his tone full of lofty justification.
"With something like math, you can’t just rely on rote memorization. He needs to relax and give his brain a change of scenery. That’s the only way to truly solidify the problem-solving techniques he just learned."
Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang’s mom.
"I’ll take him downstairs for a walk and some fresh air. School’s about to start, so I can also talk to him about adjusting his mindset for the new semester, make sure he doesn’t feel too much pressure."
Hearing this, how could Zhang Qiang’s mom possibly refuse?
To have the nation’s top young genius not only tutor her son but also provide psychological counseling? You couldn’t find a deal like that if you searched high and low.
"Yes, yes, of course. You two go on, take a walk."
Zhang Qiang’s mom hurriedly stepped aside to let them pass.
"It’s not good to be cooped up all day. Go get some fresh air. And Xiaozhuo, you’re staying for dinner at our place tonight!"
"Okay, thank you, Auntie."
After saying that, Chen Zhuo turned and jerked his chin at Zhang Qiang.
"Get your coat. Let’s go."
Zhang Qiang shot up from his chair, deftly snatching the down jacket hanging on the back and shrugging it on as he headed for the door.
As he passed the desk, his hand made a lightning-fast swipe across the corner.
The stack of fifty arcade tokens slid instantly into the cavernous pocket of his down jacket.
One after the other, the two of them walked out the door.
They went downstairs and walked out the main gate of the residential complex.
The cold northern wind hit them in the face, carrying a few stray snowflakes.
The moment they were out of parental sight, the ’good kid’ and ’little teacher’ expression on Chen Zhuo’s face vanished without a trace.
He stopped and turned his head to look at Zhang Qiang, who was beside him.
Chen Zhuo had his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.
He didn’t mention anything about ’adjusting his mindset’, nor did he say a single word about math.
Chen Zhuo simply jutted his chin toward Zhang Qiang’s bulging jacket pocket.
"Have those fifty tokens in your pocket gotten rusty yet?"
Chen Zhuo’s tone was light and cheerful.
Zhang Qiang froze for a moment.
"Let’s go."
Chen Zhuo turned and started walking down the street.
"We’re going downtown. I want to see just how responsive that brand-new The King of Fighters ’97 arcade stick you were talking about really is."
Zhang Qiang stood in the cold wind.
He clutched the fifty heavy game tokens in his pocket, listening to the faint metallic clinking as they knocked against each other.
In that moment, as he watched Chen Zhuo’s somewhat slender back walking ahead, Zhang Qiang was so moved that his nose began to sting, and he felt the urge to drop to his knees and kowtow to him right there on the spot.
’Now *this* is what you call a true brother.’
’He’ll put you on the spot in front of your mom, but then turn right around and bust you out of that study-room prison to go play games.’
’This was a true, ride-or-die brother!’
"Hey! Brother Zhuo, wait for me!"
Zhang Qiang sniffled, let out an excited shout, and broke into a run, stomping through the patches of leftover snow as he sprinted in the direction he’d been dreaming of for days.

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