Chapter 188 The Belated Preliminary Round

"Didn't you say that I could find a teacher?"

"You just found this teacher yesterday! Don't you have to go through the procedures? Don't you have to arrange a schedule?"

"So this is what you're surprised about..." Li Yan smiled and took off his shirt, revealing his muscular body. "I thought you were worried that I wasn't prepared and would fail the exam."

"Lao Yan, with your figure, I should be able to sell your photo for a good price among other girls." Lin Heng interrupted.

"Are you going to send it to Lin Zhengmo?" Zhu Qinglun's verbal attack remained unabated.

"She will kick me out of the Lin family!" Lin Heng shook his head. "But seriously, if Lao Yan could be my brother-in-law, it would be great. I'm just afraid he wouldn't like Zheng Mo!"

A chair cushion hit Lin Heng in the face like a whirlwind.

"School violence!" Lin Heng caught the cushion and threw it back, "Is it finally time for you to use your power to bully us, Old Yan?"

"This is passing practice."

Chen Fan was still able to follow the conversation. "You've already scored full marks in 40 minutes, why should I worry about this? Teacher Dong told me that the provincial organizing committee would come, are they so enthusiastic?"

"Teacher Dong also told you that I have an exam this weekend?"

"Of course, you are my chosen teammate, and you represent New Taipei First High School."

Chen Fan's questions were answered on Sunday morning. Not only did people from the provincial organizing committee come, but they also came with some weight.

Linjiang Province Computer Society, Gold Director.

Li Yan thought that this kind of thing would be handled by just a staff member, but she didn't expect that a member of the management would come.

Since Li Yan was the only one taking the exam, there was no need to arrange a decent exam room. On the weekend, they could just arrange tables and chairs in the activity room in the teaching building and use it as the exam room.

As the leader of the first-year junior high school group, Guo Qiwen and Dong Chengliang, the only computer course teacher, acted as representatives of the school.

Director Jin was wearing a suit and had a straight figure. He looked very different from the image of a computer expert in most people's minds. Instead, he looked like a financial elite.

Dong Chengliang was not wearing glasses and was wearing casual sportswear. He looked young, and if you didn't know him, you would think he was a physical education teacher.

"It's Director Jin who's here in person. Thank you for your hard work." Dong Chengliang seemed to be more adept at dealing with people than Guo Qiwen, which made Li Yan a little uncomfortable.

He thought it would be an awkward conversation between two introverted men in plaid shirts and glasses.

"We are all in the education field, and we are also very interested in Li Yan." Director Jin shook hands. "Linjiang didn't have any junior high school students participating in the national competition last year. Chen Fan is very good. If Li Yan can be as good in the computer field as in other aspects, this year we can show the higher-ups the results of Linjiang's computer education in junior high schools."

"Li Yan, it's up to you." Teacher Dong said with a smile.

How come we are so familiar with each other? Today is the first time I meet you, Mr. Dong.

"Li Yan, do you have any objections to the environment and the three of us supervising the exam?" Director Jin said gently.

"No, you can start anytime."

Although there were few people, the necessary procedures were still followed. After reading out the exam rules, the three teachers pulled up a chair and sat down, just staring at Li Yan as she answered the questions.

At the beginning, Li Yan's speed in answering the multiple-choice questions only made Director Jin nod with satisfaction.

But soon, his expression changed.

Li Yan's speed in solving problem-solving questions is really too fast.

This question requires the answer to be given in the form of a string. Having quick thinking is one thing, but most children will have difficulty writing strings because of brain conversion - at least they can't do it as fluently as writing Chinese.

Li Yan can do it, his speed is almost like copying equations on a white paper.

Li Yan also finished the subsequent program reading comprehension questions fluently and instantly.

At this point, only 15 minutes had passed.

Director Jin was a little unconvinced. He glanced at Dong Chengliang, but found that Teacher Dong's expression was full of confusion and disbelief.

As they came to the final program improvement question, Li Yan finally slowed down.

Director Jin noticed that Li Yan had some impatient expressions such as frowning and pouting, but in the end he completed the test paper at a speed far beyond normal.

Thirty-four minutes in total.

These questions were not difficult in the eyes of Director Jin and Dong Chengliang, so as soon as Li Yan finished writing, they knew the result.

Full marks, indisputable.

Director Jin looked very happy. "So, let's go to your computer classroom, Mr. Dong?"

"Let's go." Dong Chengliang did not expect Li Yan to be able to answer questions so quickly, and thought to himself that Chen Fan was not exaggerating.

The rule of taking off shoes before entering the computer room was broken today.

Computer classes are only available in the first year of junior high school, and the first class will not be until next Tuesday. Li Yan has not attended the class yet.

The computer test was not difficult, it was just that the preliminary program improvement question became a program design question, and the scoring was relatively not as rigid and harsh as the written test, as long as the answer was completed within the scope allowed by the rules. Li Yan's quick answer to the written test made Director Jin and Teacher Dong think that this boy had some talent, but now the speed of hand-coding was really too surprising.

Just kidding, the skills of thinking speed, programming and typing are not ambiguous at all.

What made Director Jin even more happy was that Li Yan’s solution was simpler than the standard answer - this fully demonstrated that Li Yan had the hard skills above the junior high school group.

Director Jin smiled and shook hands with the two teachers.
"It's amazing. I can only say that it lives up to its reputation. This set of test papers is top secret. I also saw him operate the computer test with my own eyes. I have no doubts. I will apply to the society and the organizing committee. Linjiang has great potential in this year's junior high school competition!"

"Junior high school competition?" Li Yan suddenly spoke.

"Of course," Dong Chengliang patted Li Yan, "You are only in the first grade."

“Are the provincial selections separate for middle and high schools?”

"Eh?" Director Jin pulled out a chair and sat down. "So you don't understand the competition system?"

"Chen Fan's invitation was a bit sudden, and I really haven't understood it well yet."

"Teacher Dong, you haven't done your job well." Director Jin teased.

Dong Chengliang smiled awkwardly, "Indeed, indeed."

"You have already passed the preliminary and semi-finals of the junior high school advanced group of the league. There will be a provincial selection competition on May 1st this year. Normally, 15 to 20 players will be selected from 130 to 160 players to represent the provincial team in the national competition held in Shangjing in August..."

"Teacher Dong told me this."

Dong Chengliang's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you want to ask questions about junior high school and high school students, right?" Director Jin responded, "Our competition is for teenagers. Since junior high school students have a narrower knowledge base than high school students and have more time to learn computer technology, you can assume that we are mainly targeting high school students."

Li Yan raised an eyebrow.

"The league is divided into four levels. Junior high schools and high schools each have an entry-level improvement group. The provincial first prize winners in the junior high school improvement group and the provincial first and second prize winners in the high school improvement group can enter the provincial selection. The provincial selection is for junior high schools and high schools together, and the final qualification is determined by the ranking of grades. If there are particularly outstanding junior high school players who can defeat high school players and enter the provincial team, they can of course obtain the qualification to participate in the national competition C category."

"C-Class?"

Director Jin didn't quite understand what Li Yan was struggling with. "The national competition has three levels: A, B, and C. They are the high school elite group, which consists of five contestants selected from the provincial trials and the incentive quotas from each province... Linjiang will basically have ten, a total of fifteen participants; Category B is a summer camp competition. A summer camp will be held during the national competition. The participating campers are composed of the first-class contestants in the provincial high school improvement group league but did not enter the finals. They are considered informal contestants and use the same set of test papers for an experiential competition; Category C is a junior high school national competition organized for junior high school students with outstanding performance. The difficulty of the questions is lower than that of high school, but a formal certificate will be issued as well. If you can win the first prize, schools like Xinbei Middle School will directly recruit you."

It seems that Director Jin does not quite understand Li Yan's fighting ability. Even when the special recruitment of New Taipei Middle School is in front of him, he feels nothing at all.

"You've already defeated the high school players, so why are you still competing in the C category? Can't you compete in the A category?"

Director Jin finally came to his senses and realized that this kid was really arrogant!

"Li Yan, we have held many trials, and there has never been a junior high school student who could make it to the top five in the provincial selection. Only five people are selected in the selection. Normally, junior high school students are selected to participate in the competition because they are indeed outstanding in ability and are given a chance to perform. If the selection requirements are strictly followed, no junior high school student can pass the provincial selection. Chen Fan and you are indeed very outstanding. No one from Linjiang participated in the C category last year. This year, you two have a good chance of winning the C category national award..."

In fact, Director Jin was being very tactful in his words, expressing the meaning of "don't think too much".

But Li Yan said: "What if I make it to the top five? Can I participate in Class A?"

What's wrong with this kid? I've already given you a big opening, what are you still talking about?

Director Jin frowned, but saw that Teacher Guo was smiling and Teacher Dong pretended to scratch his head.

"Strictly speaking, only high school students are allowed to participate in Class A competitions. That's the rule."

"Rules are used to break."

Director Jin laughed, thinking it was just a middle school boy having an attack, and continued:

"However, if you can really make it into the top five, it is not impossible to arrange for you to take the B category and use the same set of examination papers. The prerequisite is that you have to finish the junior high school group examination first."

The same set of test papers... "Okay for now." Li Yan nodded.

As long as there is a chance to prove it, everything is easy to say.

By then, it will be the organizing committee that will have to bear the heavy burden.

As if to dampen Li Yan's enthusiasm, Director Jin suddenly asked, "Li Yan, just now you were doing the program improvement questions for the junior high school advanced test, and your speed slowed down. Is it because of the difficulty of the questions?"

Li Yan knew all his combos. It must be that although Li Yan was very fast, the test paper was for junior high school after all. His ability was enough for junior high school students, but it was not good enough compared to high school students. If this kind of question could make him feel stressed, then he would not have to think about the high school group.

"Although you are very fast..."

Li Yan was not going to give him this opportunity, "because the solution given in the question was too difficult."

"Huh?" Director Jin was interrupted from casting a spell.

Li Yan took the test paper directly from him and began to write codes with a pen in the blank spaces of the program improvement questions. His writing was smooth and fluent, which was refreshing to read.

"After reading these questions, I have simpler solutions in my mind. If you insist on asking me to go around in circles with such basic solutions, won't that slow me down?"

Director Jin finally understood Guo Qiwen's smile. He frowned and looked at Li Yan's head teacher in surprise. Guo Qiwen said slowly:
"That's why I kept silent. Other kids might just be bragging, but he might actually be able to do it. I can't judge."

(End of this chapter)