Chapter 145 You Are Truly Too Wicked

When Yang Meng and his companions left the restaurant, that woman nicknamed Sister Ping was still relentlessly chasing after them, demanding an explanation.

However, when they saw the BMW X5 in the parking lot alongside Yang Meng’s "Rocket 5" motorcycle, Sister Ping found herself at a loss for words.

In the eyes of people these days, having money simply meant being untouchable.

The designated driver they called knew how to drive a BMW X5, but he didn't know how to ride a motorcycle. Since Yang Meng hadn't consumed much alcohol, he used his mystical energy to dispel the alcohol in his body, hopped onto his motorcycle, and sped away into the night.

"Sister Ping, they're gone! What should we do now?" one of the girls asked anxiously.

Sister Ping let out a cold snort. "I refuse to just swallow this insult! Since when is driving a BMW X5 such a big deal? I'm calling my boyfriend!"

Xiao Li asked, "You mean the one who just transferred money to you?"

"Him? No, he won't do. The guy just now only had a little bit of petty cash. Those country bumpkins looked like they had some real tricks up their sleeves, so obviously, I need to find someone much more powerful!" Sister Ping said with a fierce expression. "I've never suffered such a humiliation in all my life! Humph, I happen to have a trump card!"

"But..." Xiao Li hesitated, "We don't even know where they went!"

"Didn't you hear what they said earlier? They mentioned going to the Dynasty Club. Can't we catch them there? Leave it to me, I've got this!" With that, Sister Ping whipped out her phone and walked off to the side to make a call. Shortly after, she returned beaming with joy. "Done! We're heading to the Dynasty Club! Once we deal with them, we'll stay right there to sing and drink!"

Sister Ping guessed correctly. Yang Meng and the others had indeed gone to the Dynasty Club, and right now, they were standing around the private room, looking troubled by the group of hostesses in front of them.

"Gentlemen, which of these young ladies would you like to accompany you for singing and drinks?" the PR manager of the Dynasty Club asked Yang Meng and the others with a beaming smile.

Qi Kun blinked. "Mengmeng, can I just keep all of them?"

Hu Erleng thought for a moment and asked, "Tell me, Manager, are there any college students among them?"

The PR manager smiled and replied, "The hostesses here are all talented and beautiful, featuring both current university undergraduates and top graduates from prestigious universities."

"Really?" Yang Meng was on the phone at the moment. As soon as he hung up and heard the manager's words, his eyes lit up.

"Of course it's true!" the PR manager said, patting his chest. "The young ladies here are absolute cream of the crop!"

A mischievous grin suddenly spread across Yang Meng's face. He opened his cycling backpack, pulled out the twenty thousand yuan Lu Xin had given him, placed it neatly on the table, and beckoned to the PR manager. "Manager, do you have a pen and paper?"

The PR manager was momentarily stunned, but he reached into his pocket, pulled out a pen, and handed it to Yang Meng. "I have a beverage menu here. Would it be alright if you wrote on that?"

"Of course!" Yang Meng took the pen and the drink menu, immediately starting to scribble away. Hu Erleng and Qi Kun exchanged puzzled glances, having no idea what kind of stunt Yang Meng was trying to pull.

After a short while, Yang Meng put down the pen and pointed at the note on the table. "I've written three math problems right here. See the twenty thousand yuan on the table? Whoever can solve these three problems without checking their phone gets the money."

"Really?" All the girls in the room widened their eyes in disbelief.

Yang Meng nodded. "Rest assured, you're all college students, aren't you? These three problems are just things you learn in high school. Anyone who thinks they can answer them is welcome to give it a try. Manager, bring us two cases of beer first—Budweiser Budvar, and a set of Martell XO."

Hu Erleng asked with bewilderment, "Why are we ordering Martell?"

Yang Meng pointed at his phone. "Long Teng and the others just called. When they heard we were hanging out at the Dynasty Club, they said they wanted to come over too. Manager, a few more people will be arriving later, so we'll order more drinks then. Just start with these for now, and hurry up and send in the fruit platters and snacks."

The PR manager looked around at the girls with a troubled expression. "Sir, what happens if other guests arrive later and want to pick hostesses?"

Yang Meng simply waved his hand. "They can come and go as they please. Oh, but once they walk out, they won't be allowed back to try the math problems. The first three people who correctly answer my questions get to stay here. Don't worry, the hourly tips will definitely be way more than twenty thousand!"

The hostesses in the room stared eagerly at the piece of paper in front of Yang Meng. A few of them who were more confident in their academic abilities said to the PR manager, "Manager, let us give it a try! Don't worry, we won't mess up room selections for other tables. You can just call us back here later when needed!"

The PR manager looked at the eager, eager-to-try hostesses and finally let out a sigh. "Fine, you asked for it yourselves. Just don't mess up your table assignments! Sir, I'll have someone send the drinks and fruit platters right over!"

As soon as he left, a group of hostesses impatiently crowded around to look at the note in front of Yang Meng. Seizing the opportunity, Qi Kun poked Yang Meng in the ribs. "Buddy, this isn't how you spend money! Aren't you just throwing it away? What else could you do with twenty thousand yuan? Besides, if someone actually solves them, you'll end up paying even more!"

Yang Meng grinned broadly. "Don't worry, they won't be able to answer them. Besides, even if they do, so what? Long Teng is coming over soon anyway, and someone else is footing the bill for us, right?"

Hu Erleng became intrigued. "What kind of problems did you give them anyway?"

Yang Meng wore a mysterious expression. "It's a secret!"

Not long after, the door to the private room was pushed open, and a crowd of people walked in. Alongside Long Teng, Duan Bowen, and Bai Ze, even Long Xixiang, Qiao Yu, and Quan Jingjing had tagged along.

Upon seeing Yang Meng, Qiao Yu flashed a mischievous smile. "What's the meaning of this, Mengmeng? Do household flowers not smell as sweet as wild ones? You ditched us gorgeous beauties just to come here and find female companionship? Well, well, you guys certainly know how to have fun, rounding up such a massive group of girls?" However, once she took in the situation in the room, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What on earth is going on here?"

The room was indeed packed with girls, but every single one of them was staring intently down at sheets of paper, trying to solve math problems.

Yang Meng explained what had just transpired to the newcomers. "The PR manager here claimed that all the hostesses are college students, so I decided to test them. To my surprise, these are just three math problems at a high school level, and yet not a single person can solve them? Sigh, I hate it when people lie to me!"

Long Xixiang laughed heartily upon hearing this. "High school math problems? What kind of questions did you give them?"

Hu Erleng pointed to a slip of paper on the table and said, "That's the original problem. Even though I actually went to high school, I was a total slacker back then. I can't even make heads or tails of it now. I'm handing this over to you guys!"

Long Xixiang picked up the note and read aloud: "Given that the three side lengths of a triangle $ riangle ABC$ are rational numbers, prove that: (1) $cos A$ is a rational number; (2) $cos nA$ is a rational number..."

"During the ancient Greek period, people believed that the ratio of the length from the top of the human head to the navel, compared to the length from the navel to the soles of the feet, was approximately $0.618$, which became known as the golden ratio. The famous 'Venus de Milo' is an example of this. Furthermore, the ratio of the length from the top of the head to the throat, compared to the length from the throat to the navel, is also approximately $0.618$. If a person satisfies both of the above golden ratios, with a leg length of $105 ext{ cm}$ and a length from the top of the head to the lower neck of $26 ext{ cm}$, what is this person's height...?"

"Prove the following proposition: (1) For any positive integer $a$, there exists a positive integer $b$..."

Yang Meng grinned widely. "These are all college entrance examination questions. Surely high school students can handle them!"

Long Xixiang slapped her forehead. "You basically dragged Grandpa Tao from Jiangxi and Grandpa Ge from Jiangsu into this club, didn't you? I remember the third question is seemingly the final problem from the 2010 Jiangxi Science College Entrance Examination."

Yang Meng placed a finger over his lips. "Shh, you know way too much. Sit down first before we talk!"

Long Xixiang rolled her eyes at Yang Meng. "You are simply too wicked!"

With that, she plopped down right next to Yang Meng and refused to move.

Hu Erleng asked with utter confusion, "Who the heck is Grandpa Ge? Does Ge You know how to make up math problems?"

Yang Meng turned to Long Xixiang. "Since you know all about it, why don't you explain it to him?"

Long Xixiang nodded. "These are two legendary math giants in our country. Grandpa Tao's real name is Tao Pingsheng. Back when Jiangxi's college entrance examination didn't use the national unified test and instead designed its own papers, the name 'Tao Pingsheng' was an absolute reign of terror that traumatized three hundred thousand students in Jiangxi. That third question you just read? Out of those three hundred thousand students, fewer than five answered it correctly. The most infuriating part is that whenever he gives lectures outside, he always loves to mention, 'I gave this problem to my colleague's elementary school-aged daughter, and she solved it instantly.' Isn't that just maddening?"

Hu Erleng blinked, looked back down at the piece of paper filled with equations, and let out a long sigh of relief. "I always thought my family's financial situation was the reason I couldn't go to college. But seeing this now, even if my family could afford my tuition, I'd never be able to pass the exams. I recognize every single one of these characters when they're written separately, but strung together like this, I haven't the slightest clue what they mean."

Long Xixiang waved her hand with a smile. "Tao Pingsheng is still relatively mild, especially since Jiangxi uses the national exam paper nowadays. But Grandpa Ge from Jiangsu is by far the most terrifying entity of all. People always say that taking the college entrance exam in Jiangsu is set to 'Hell Difficulty,' and Grandpa Ge bears a significant portion of the blame for that."

"Why is that?" Hu Erleng asked, bewildered.

Long Xixiang paused to collect her thoughts before reciting dramatically:

"Receiving the test paper sends a chill through your heart,
Panic sets in, formulas tear apart,
They look vaguely familiar,
Yet the method remains unclear,
Vectors and geometry stretch into a boundless sea,
Looking at the number sequences, tears fall endlessly.
Stepping out of the examination hall two hours later,
Meeting classmates, sharing mutual grief and labor,
Such a pathetic score brings shame to mother and father,
When the teacher finally hands back the graded test,
Off to the graveyard to drink arsenic at best..."

"That was a poem titled *Jiang Cheng Zi - The Legend of Ge Jun* written by a Jiangsu student back in the day. Someone once asked him why his test questions were so unimaginably difficult, and do you know how he explained it?"

"How did he explain it?"

"He said this: 'Well, this year's math exam wasn't actually that difficult. For the final few questions, students could have simply tried solving them using the Lagrange Mean Value Theorem. The definite integrals only required the application of improper integrals with infinite limits and narrow integrals, and as for the sequences, as long as you thoroughly master the general methods of series convergence coupled with Taylor's formula, it's actually quite simple...'"

Hu Erleng turned his head to stare at Yang Meng. "You bastard, you are truly evil!"