The first thing slackers train is their trash talk.

Lin Mo's arrival was like a stone tossed into a still pond, instantly drawing the attention of all the supervising teachers waiting nearby.

Xu Haoming felt his throat go dry, his feet rooted to the spot as if nailed there, too hesitant to step forward.

There was no helping it—Lin Mo had done the same thing during the last city-wide competition: finishing first and emerging with an air of arrogance that was impossible to ignore, especially with so many rival schoolteachers watching.

Of course, Xu Haoming knew full well that this kid had every right to be arrogant.

Lin Mo ignored the mixed gazes around him and strode straight toward Xu Haoming, his steps so relaxed it seemed like he’d just wrapped up a casual pop quiz.

He casually handed over a few densely scribbled sheets of draft paper, letting them flutter lightly into Xu Haoming’s hands.

"Teacher, there’s another round tomorrow, right?"

Director Huang, standing nearby, reacted swiftly, smoothly offering a pre-prepared bottle of water with a beaming smile.

"How was the difficulty? I heard from Teacher Xu that you finished in half an hour last time—how about this round?"

"Thanks, teacher." Lin Mo twisted off the cap and took a long swig, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

He wasn’t particularly thirsty, but refusing the gesture would’ve felt like a slight to Director Huang.

Setting the bottle down, he continued unhurriedly,

"Honestly, I could’ve finished in half an hour this time too, but Teacher Xu said that’d be pushing it, so I took some extra time to simplify the steps and write them out on the draft paper."

The words nearly made Xu Haoming choke on his own spit, forcing him to cough awkwardly to cover it up.

Lin Mo’s reply also earned an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Director Huang, who raised his voice just enough for the surrounding crowd to hear. "That’s our school’s top student for you! Such composure, such skill!"

Xu Haoming sighed, his eyes instinctively scanning the area.

Sure enough, he could practically feel the disdainful glares stabbing into them like daggers. The expressions on those faces said it all:

Show-off.

Just then, a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses approached, a badge from a top-tier Pengcheng high school hanging from his chest. His smile was thin and insincere as he spoke,

"Finished already? Mind if I take a look at those notes? I’m genuinely curious what kind of genius treats a provincial competition like a classroom quiz."

The barb in his tone was unmistakable.

"Nothing special, just a talented student. No need for such concern, Teacher Chen."

Xu Haoming shrugged, feigning nonchalance. He’d expected this kind of reaction.

Most of the supervising teachers knew each other.

And they were all math teachers.

Where there were people, there was competition—and these teachers were no exception, except their battles were fought through their students.

Seeing Xu Haoming refuse to engage, the nearly sixty-year-old Teacher Chen sidled closer, eyeing Lin Mo up and down.

"Kid, did you actually finish all the problems? Rushing out like this—what if you missed a step? Provincial competitions don’t come around often, you know."

The words were gentle, but the mockery beneath was sharp.

Against such a veiled jab, the best counter was a blunt force strike.

But Lin Mo merely smiled faintly.

"Steps aren’t an issue. The last problem was about non-Euclidean geometry in composite functions.

The conventional method requires constructing six auxiliary functions, then performing four integrations—it’d fill a whole page by the end.

But if you reframe it as a topological problem on a closed surface and find the critical point of the genus, the answer practically writes itself.

See? Just three lines.

Of course, I can write it like this, but others might not get it.

Anyway..."

Lin Mo stepped right up to the teacher.

"What’s it to you, old man? Maybe you should spend your time praying your students can even finish their papers before time’s up."

The words were a direct slap to the face, forcing Teacher Chen to stumble back a step.

"You—this student has no manners! No respect at all!"

In his past life, Lin Mo had been a troublemaker—and troublemakers honed their verbal sparring first.

"Don’t call me ‘student.’ You never taught me, so you’re not my teacher. You came begging for insults, and now you’re crying about manners? If you had any decency, you wouldn’t have approached in the first place.

This is just Sima Zhao’s ambition with Sima Zhao’s character."

Everyone present was a math teacher, but they were all educated—they knew exactly who Sima Zhao was.

And it was clear what Teacher Chen’s intentions had been. Sima Zhao’s ambition—everyone saw through it.

As for character...

Picking a fight with a student wasn’t exactly noble behavior.

Many knew there was old bad blood between Teacher Chen and Xu Haoming.

But with one based in Pengcheng and the other in Yangcheng, their paths rarely crossed.

No one intervened—they just watched.

Drama was entertaining.

Teacher Chen, now thoroughly humiliated, retreated another step. A seasoned educator, he wasn’t about to keel over from a verbal lashing.

But his face was flushed with rage.

"How dare you speak like that? Did your parents never teach you to respect your elders?"

"Shut the hell up, you fossil. Did your mom never teach you to cherish the young? And are you even retired? Got a senior citizen bus pass yet? Just because I called you ‘old man,’ you think you’re ancient?"

Lin Mo advanced again, practically jabbing a finger in Teacher Chen’s face.

Since Teacher Chen was alone—no teammates to pull him back—he had no choice but to endure the verbal onslaught.

But Xu Haoming, not wanting things to escalate further, finally tugged Lin Mo away.

"Enough. What if you accidentally give him a stroke?"

"Won’t happen. I’m monitoring it."

Lin Mo’s spiritual senses had been tracking the old man’s blood pressure and heart rate the whole time.

If necessary, he could’ve stabilized him better than a coronary stent.

But Teacher Chen didn’t need intervention—just yet.

He stood there wheezing, backing away further, finger raised as if to retort.

Luckily, Director Huang stepped between them, cutting off any chance of another round.

The onlookers, though enjoying the show, now saw how highly Xu Haoming valued Lin Mo.

Xu Haoming had already carefully tucked away the draft paper. Once the problems were released, they’d see whether Lin Mo’s solutions held up.

More importantly, Xu Haoming had absolute faith in Lin Mo’s abilities.

After all, the kid always finished early, no matter the test.

Director Huang even thumped his chest. "Come on, Lin Mo, I’ll treat you to a soda outside."

Seeing no reason to stay, Lin Mo followed him out.

Xu Haoming called after them, "Get me one too!"

"Buy your own." Director Huang waved him off, taking only Lin Mo with him.

Teacher Chen glared darkly at Lin Mo’s retreating figure, but with no outlet for his anger, he could only slump into a seat and wait for the competition to end—then grill his own students about that final problem.