But later, because he had to write his graduation thesis, and everything related to graduating was insanely busy, Song Ming just tossed this whole thing to the back of his mind and completely forgot about it. He never expected that years later he would get this test paper in his hands again, run into the same last problem, and still not be able to solve it. He couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh, wondering if his advisor had ever solved it.

If I were studying abroad right now, I’d probably be able to do this one already, right? Too bad I stayed here to work for my junior. I don’t even know if she’ll accept me. If she does, then everything I’ve gone through will finally have been worth it.

Meanwhile, Xu Ke stared at the last problem for over ten minutes, but still couldn’t figure it out. He hadn’t expected that this final question would actually be so hard. Seeing Xu Ke finally stop writing, Ji Feng couldn’t help throwing out a sarcastic remark.

"Oh wow, looks like this paper is really way too hard. Even our almighty CEO actually stopped. Guess you’ve run out of things to BS, so you can only put the pen down, huh? Don’t worry, we won’t laugh at you. Just hope, CEO, that you stop acting so smug, or everyone’s really going to lose control and slap you in the face."

Song Ming put his pen down with a heavy thud, turned his head and glared at his junior. He’d originally thought she was just competitive, but now she was getting more and more out of line. The fact that the CEO could even attempt this paper was already impressive. A lot of total outsiders wouldn’t be able to answer anything at all.

"Junior, we don’t even have the results yet. Don’t talk nonsense. Besides, I think the CEO did very well, so I hope you can be a bit more humble."

Right now Song Ming was extremely on edge. He looked at Xu Ke, and saw that after thinking for a moment, Xu Ke actually started working on the last problem. Even Song Ming was shocked at this point. No way. This last problem wasn’t even solved by his advisor—how could anyone possibly do it?

Besides, Xu Ke only had an elementary school education. Sure, he could do those math problems, but that had to have been a fluke, right? If he could do this finance problem too, how insanely strong would he have to be? Thinking of that, Song Ming was terrified.

At first Xu Ke was still a bit confused, but after reorganizing the relevant knowledge in his mind, he suddenly discovered a method. His writing became smoother and smoother, and he actually worked out the solution to the last problem. Just as he finished the solution, he suddenly heard a loud thud.

He looked up to see Song Ming dropping to his knees in disbelief, shaking his head hard like he’d been dealt some massive blow.

"This is absolutely impossible. Back then even my advisor couldn’t solve this question—how could anyone solve it? And if my advisor finds out about this, won’t it hit him hard? No, I have to tell my teacher. Someone actually solved this problem, and the method is this simple? Looks like I’m the one who’s shallow and ignorant."

Right now, Song Ming was like someone who’d plunged into an ocean of knowledge, completely crazed, barely recognizable. Ji Feng felt utterly embarrassed; she never imagined her senior would turn into this. They hadn’t even graded the papers yet and he’d already surrendered.

Ji Feng held the two test papers in her hands and checked the earlier questions. The answers up front were identical for both. But Xu Ke had done the last question, and on the second-to-last one, the two of them had different answers. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

So Ji Feng assumed that her senior must have skipped the last problem, but got everything else right, while Xu Ke had one wrong. Even though she was deeply shaken inside, she still had to protect her pride right now.

So she suddenly let out a shrill scream, her voice full of excitement: "Told you, my senior is amazing, how could he lose? CEO, you’ve already lost, so hurry up and apologize to me—and get the hell out of our company. We don’t welcome villains like you here."

As soon as Ji Feng’s words fell, the basic-level employees all got excited one by one. They hadn’t expected Xu Ke to really lose. They’d thought that because he answered so much, he knew everything. Turns out writing more doesn’t mean getting more right.

"Looks like Song Ming is still the impressive one. Graduating from a top university really is different. But what’s with Song Ming’s expression? Something feels off."

"Who cares if it’s off or not. Maybe geniuses are just like that. We’d better not disturb him. Let’s just sit tight and enjoy the show. Don’t overthink it. Oh right, I have to record this."

"I still feel like something’s wrong. If he’d really won, Song Ming should be over the moon. After all, he just won over his goddess. Why does he look unhappy? Did something go wrong somewhere?"

Xu Ke, of course, already knew that he’d gotten everything right on this paper. But the people here were showing zero grace and had no idea what they were looking at. Couldn’t they see that Song Ming had already lost?

"Aren’t you going to hurry up and get out of the company?"

Ji Feng shrieked again, snapping Song Ming’s thoughts back. Looking at his aggressive junior, all he felt now was a bleak emptiness.

He got up from the floor like a student starving for knowledge, quickly grabbed Xu Ke’s test paper, and studied it carefully for a long while. Then, out of nowhere, he dropped to his knees in front of Xu Ke.

"I never thought this problem could be solved like this. I’ve been searching for a solution for over a year and never found one. You’re incredible. This time I concede completely. I hope you’ll be my teacher and guide me properly."

Song Ming’s voice was especially loud. The entire hall went dead silent—you could probably hear a pin drop. Even Ji Feng, holding Song Ming’s paper, felt like she’d been struck by lightning. What on earth was Song Ming saying?

Did he realize that saying all this didn’t just destroy his own dignity, it would make it impossible for her to show her face again? Right now, Ji Feng practically hated Song Ming, the man who liked her, to death.

In the past, Song Ming had believed that without academic credentials, you could never access this much knowledge. But Xu Ke had completely overturned all his beliefs. How could someone this powerful even exist? So at this point, Song Ming had already made up his mind to learn from Xu Ke.

Xu Ke was in no way inferior to any of his advisors—in fact, he was even more impressive than they were. Running into a CEO like this was practically the greatest fortune of his life. And yet, laughably, he’d offended the CEO over that woman. Offending someone with knowledge and ability at this level—he really must have been blind.

Even Xu Ke couldn’t help twitching his lips. What was wrong with this Song Ming? Did he forget they were supposed to be rivals? Had he been scared stupid by him? That shouldn’t be possible.

The kid didn’t look stupid at all and seemed pretty normal. So what on earth was going on?

Xu Ke really couldn’t figure it out, so he just stared at Song Ming like he was looking at an idiot.