Chapter 46: Mathematics Competition Books

"It's the Qian family from Team 3 in Poling; even if I told you, you wouldn't know them." Tan Deming waved his fan: "Cotton clothes are still the most comfortable. This weather is almost deathly hot."

"I'll go ask him again today to see if there are any other books. Anyway, they're just going to sell them to the waste collection station; it's better to sell them to me, and it saves them the trouble of hauling them there."

"If they're useless, I'll just use them as kindling in the kitchen."

Tan You smiled: "Isn't that a waste? If they really aren't needed, just sell them to the waste station. Just help me find more books; you can read, after all."

Tan Deming also smiled: "Alright, go inside and study. Turn on the electric fan if you need to; don't mind what your grandma says."

Tan You: "No need, I can handle this little bit of heat."

Watching Tan Deming drive his small tricycle away, Tan You dazed off for a moment before lowering her head to look at her textbook again. From now on, she was going to establish her reputation as a top student; no one would be able to pull her down from the number one spot!

Seeing that there were no other people around Tan You, the Beauty System finally surfaced: "Host, aren't you going to do your mission? You've been pondering on the second mission for three days already."

Tan You knew that as soon as this little system appeared, it wouldn't say anything useful; in just a few sentences, it was already urging her to do her mission. Although she did get benefits, compared to the system, it seemed like the little system was the one coming out ahead, wasn't it?

She worked herself to death to earn a few energy points, only to spend them all on the system. Yet, Tan You truly couldn't bring herself to abandon it; she was still eyeing that miraculous eye drops from the high-level mission worlds.

"What's the rush? I'll wait until tonight." Tan You waved her hand, clearly unwilling to do the mission right now. She couldn't just head out the moment the little system urged her, making it look like she was an easy person to push around.

Having received a definite answer, the Beauty System stopped nagging. After it disappeared, Tan You buried herself in her studies once more. She was gradually developing an interest in learning; the more she studied, the more interesting she found it.

At this moment, Tan You selectively forgot the pain she used to feel when she had to burn the midnight oil.

Estimating that her grandmother would be waking up from her nap soon, Tan You pulled a basket from the well. Inside was a jar of mung bean soup. The soup had been hanging in the well, making it very refreshing to the taste; it felt as if all the day's heat was driven away by this single bowl of mung bean soup.

The Tan family was very poor. Tan You herself was highly nearsighted, as were her father and grandfather, so the heavy burden of the household fell on the shoulders of her grandmother and Cheng Wenhui. Consequently, many essential household facilities were missing; for instance, things every household had, like washing machines, refrigerators, or microwaves, the Tan family did not have.

To say they lived in bare walls was not an exaggeration at all. Tan You had recently wondered if she should find a way to make some money herself, but after thinking it over, she really had no way to do so.

First, there was the age restriction. If calculated by her actual age, she was barely fourteen. She wouldn't be able to get an ID card until she was sixteen; this single fact blocked most of Tan You's paths.

She knew how to manage finances, but she was a minor, and she had no capital.

She had also considered submitting manuscripts, but she hesitated upon reflection. Tan You's essays had indeed been very well-written in the past, but writing essays and writing articles were two different things; she didn't think she possessed that specific talent.

Of course, if the opportunity arose later, she could try submitting them, regardless of whether they were accepted. Thinking about failure before even trying was not Tan You's style.

As for making clothes to sell, Tan You didn't think she could make a living from it. She could guarantee that if she started making clothes at home to earn money, she would immediately be met with a storm of fury from her mother, Cheng Wenhui.

In her biological mother's eyes, Tan You shouldn't do anything except study; everything else was considered a distraction from her studies. To keep life smooth, Tan You chose not to step on her mother's landmines.

If life was poor, then let it be poor. To improve the family's situation, she would have to wait at least until she was sixteen. For now, she would quietly be a good student; that way, everyone would be happy.

She would work hard on her missions over the next two years, striving to upgrade this little system to a high level. Tan You had calculated that upgrading to a high-level system required 600 energy points.

In a primary mission world, if she could get an S-grade reward every time, she would receive 10 energy points per mission. That meant she only needed to complete 10 missions to upgrade to a mid-level system.

As for how many energy points she could get from a single mid-level mission, Tan You didn't know, but the harvest should at least double, right? Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth the fivefold increase in energy points required.

So, by this calculation, as long as she completed enough missions, reaching 600 energy points was not impossible. While pondering these things, Tan You's work on her exercises was not delayed; a series of smooth formulas flowed from her pen.

Looking back at these formulas now, Tan You only felt familiarity. Speaking of which, when the time came for the academic track split, she would choose the science track. After all, compared to the arts, science was indeed easier for finding employment.

Around four o'clock, Tan Deming finally returned. The old man had returned with a full load; the tricycle bed was filled with many more books. In addition to various exercise books, there was also a stack of magazines.

Things like *Certain Lin*, *Certain Read*, *Certain Bud*, and so on, along with many newspapers, mainly local city newspapers.

Tan You picked one magazine from each set, but she only stared at the submission information on the last page. As for the content inside, she would need to study it further. Tan Deming didn't say anything; weren't books brought back specifically for people to read?

"When I went over today, Old Qian even asked me where I bought these clothes." Speaking of this, Tan Deming was somewhat proud, his old face smiling like a chrysanthemum.

Tan You looked up: "You didn't tell them it was mine, did you?"

Tan Deming: "Of course not. I said I had them altered and just paid a small labor fee."

Tan You smiled: "It's good that you didn't. There's no need for everyone to know about such things."

Tan Deming acted as if he were displeased: "I'm not the type of person who likes to show off. Besides, you're a student; gaining a reputation for being able to sew isn't a good thing. We must prioritize your studies."

Tan You knew her grandfather was sensible, so she didn't say much, merely helping Tan Deming categorize the books he had brought back. She put the ones she already owned to one side and the ones she didn't have to the other.

Flipping through to the end, Tan You even found a book on mathematical competitions. After reading the first two pages, Tan You gradually became interested. She hadn't thought about entering competitions, but since she had already studied high school books, she had to find some enjoyment.

Setting the book aside, Tan You flipped through the rest, but in the end, there was only this one math competition book. Tan You wasn't disappointed; it was free, after all, and she estimated she might not even finish it in one summer break.

For high school science studies, she could use the "sea of problems" tactic, but that wouldn't work for math competitions. This required testing mathematical logical thinking; relying solely on a sea of problems likely wouldn't suffice.

But Tan You wasn't planning on pursuing the path of math competitions; she just wanted to find some fun in life.

(End of Chapter)