Sunflower Kindergarten's Top Little Genius

The afternoon sun had grown a bit harsh, spilling lazily onto the wooden floor through the gaps in the blue curtains.

The air was thick with the warm, stifling scent of baby powder mixed with the breaths of dozens of toddlers.

Chen Zhi buried his face in his arms, trying to block out the suffocating heat.

For an adult with a twenty-something-year-old soul, being forced to lie on a hard little wooden bed during the energetic toddler years was pure torture.

He finally managed to endure until the wake-up bell rang.

Chen Zhi sat up immediately, folded his SpongeBob SquarePants blanket into a neat, perfect square, and stuffed it into his cubby.

If he didn't move fast enough, the teacher would come over to help, pinch his cheek in passing, and praise him with a "What a good boy."

Being treated like a pet was a feeling he never wanted to experience a second time in his life.

The classroom was a chaotic mess.

Someone couldn't find their shoes, another had put their pants on backward, and someone else was waking up on the wrong side of the bed, sitting on their bed and howling dryly.

Chen Zhi avoided these sources of chaos, walked alone to the reading area in the corner, casually pulled out a picture book, and covered his face with it.

As long as I don't move.

No one will notice me.

Suddenly, a noisy argument erupted outside the classroom. It was so loud that it even drowned out the crying inside.

"Liar! You're just a liar!"

"Nyah nyah nyah, you little brat from the junior class, bragging through your teeth!"

Immediately following that was a familiar, miserable wail.

"Waaah! Boss! Help me!"

Chen Zhi's eyelid twitched.

It was Li Zihan.

He pressed the picture book down a little harder, pretending to be deaf.

Didn't hear it.

Absolutely didn't hear a thing.

Thump thump thump!

A flurry of hurried footsteps approached from a distance, making the floor vibrate.

"Zhizhi! Stop sleeping!"

A warm little hand suddenly yanked the picture book off Chen Zhi's face.

Lin Wanwan's magnified face appeared above him. Because she had been running, her cheeks were flushed red like ripe apples.

With both hands on her hips and her chest heaving violently, she shouted indignantly, "Someone is bullying a kid from our class! And they called you an idiot!"

Chen Zhi looked at her expressionlessly, rolled over, and turned his back to her.

"Let them talk."

"No way!" Lin Wanwan grabbed Chen Zhi's arm and pulled with all her might. "Li Zihan is outside arguing with the kids from the senior class. He said you're a genius, but they said he was bragging and threatened to throw him in the trash can!"

Chen Zhi didn't budge an inch.

"That trash can is new. It's very clean."

Seeing that she couldn't drag him, Lin Wanwan stomped her feet in anxiety, her two little pigtails bouncing up and down.

"Argh! That chubby guy from the senior class said the junior class is full of babies who still drink milk, and that it takes us half a day just to calculate one plus one! He also said..."

Lin Wanwan paused for a moment and secretly peeked at Chen Zhi's expression.

"Said what?" Chen Zhi kept his eyes closed.

"He said, what's so great about being able to recite the multiplication table? Your parents probably forced you to memorize it by rote, and you actually don't even know what those words mean!"

Chen Zhi opened his eyes.

He slowly sat up and straightened his slightly wrinkled collar.

Although he didn't want to bicker with a bunch of little brats, since others had come knocking at his door to provoke him, it would seem cowardly if he didn't step up.

Besides, if he let that bigmouth Li Zihan spout nonsense outside, he could forget about having any peaceful days in this kindergarten from now on.

He had to solve the problem once and for all.

"Lead the way," Chen Zhi spat out coldly.

Lin Wanwan's eyes lit up. Like a triumphant little general, she immediately marched forward valiantly to clear the path.

A circle of people had gathered in the hallway.

Most of them were kids watching the show, and a few passing teachers were standing not far away, watching the group of brats argue with great interest.

In the center of the crowd.

Li Zihan was sitting on the ground, crying with a runny nose and tears, pointing at the tall boys in front of him and accusing them.

"My boss is really awesome! I won't let you talk bad about him!"

Standing opposite him were three boys wearing the senior class uniform.

The leader was a sturdy, thickset boy who was a full head taller than Li Zihan. He held a Transformer toy in his hand and looked disdainful.

This was the tyrant of the senior class, Zhao Xiaolong.

"Enough already, little fatty," Zhao Hu looked down at Li Zihan condescendingly and waved the toy in his hand. "You junior class kids were just learning how to wipe your own butts, right? Our senior class has already started learning addition and subtraction. That is real knowledge."

The surrounding senior class students burst into roaring laughter.

Li Zihan's face flushed red. He wanted to retort but couldn't find the words, so he could only sob in frustration.

"Move aside, move aside!"

Lin Wanwan pushed through the crowd and charged in like a fiercely protective little tiger, shielding Li Zihan behind her.

"Zhao Hu! What gives you the right to bully people?!"

Seeing Lin Wanwan, Zhao Hu slightly reined in his arrogance.

After all, Lin Wanwan was cute and had gained immense popularity in the kindergarten right after she enrolled. Even the senior class had quite a few of her "fans."

"I didn't bully him, he's the one bragging over here," Zhao Xiaolong curled his lip. "He said that guy named Chen Zhi is smarter than everyone in our senior class. Isn't that hilarious?"

"He is smarter than you!" Lin Wanwan put her hands on her hips and retorted loudly.

"Then tell him to come out," Zhao Xiaolong lifted his chin provocatively. "Coward."

The crowd automatically parted to make a path.

Chen Zhi strolled in leisurely.

Without even glancing at Zhao Xiaolong, he walked straight to Li Zihan and nudged his butt with his foot.

"Get up."

Seeing his savior arrive, Li Zihan immediately stopped crying. He scrambled up on all fours, hid behind Chen Zhi, and poked his head out, acting tough behind his boss's back.

"Boss, it's him! He called you an idiot who only knows how to brag!"

Chen Zhi sighed.

He raised his head, and his gaze finally landed on Zhao Xiaolong.

The six-year-old boy was in the middle of losing his baby teeth. He was missing a front tooth, which gave him a bit of a lisp when he spoke, but that didn't affect his self-righteous arrogance.

"You're Chen Zhi?" Zhao Xiaolong looked the tiny kid, who was a lot shorter than him, up and down. "I heard you can recite the multiplication table?"

Chen Zhi didn't say anything, just looked at him quietly.

That calm gaze made Zhao Hu feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

It was as if he were being stared down by a strict father at home.

Zhao Hu shook his head, throwing off this absurd feeling.

"Who doesn't know how to memorize things? I could recite Tang poetry when I was three," Zhao Xiaolong sneered. "If you have the guts, let's compete in arithmetic!"

The surrounding kids let out gasps of amazement.

The senior class challenging the junior class to an arithmetic competition?

This was simply a crushing mismatch.

Lin Wanwan grew anxious and was about to speak up to help, but Chen Zhi reached out and stopped her.

"Compete in what?" Chen Zhi asked calmly.

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

Zhao Xiaolong was stunned for a moment, not expecting this kid to actually take up the challenge.

His eyes darted around, and he decided to teach this ignorant little brat a lesson.

"Listen up!" Zhao Xiaolong cleared his throat and said loudly, "What is five plus five?"

The surroundings fell into dead silence.

Chen Zhi: "..."