He Just Wants to Sleep

Professor Wang stared in disbelief and asked, "Lin Xuan, have you already solved this problem?"

"Yes," Lin Xuan nodded.

The professor swallowed hard and glanced at his watch. By his count, Lin Xuan had only taken three minutes. If the answer was wrong, it wouldn’t be surprising—but if it was correct, then Lin Xuan was nothing short of a genius among geniuses!

Eagerly, Professor Wang scrutinized Lin Xuan’s solution, his eyes growing brighter with each passing second.

"This is incredible. Absolutely incredible!" Twenty minutes later, just as the students were beginning to doze off, the professor slammed his desk in excitement, jolting them all awake.

His eyes gleamed as he looked at Lin Xuan.

This approach to solving the problem was something he had never even considered. Lin Xuan—he was far more brilliant than Professor Wang had ever imagined.

"Excellent, truly excellent," Professor Wang murmured in admiration. "Lin Xuan, you really are remarkable."

Since Lin Xuan rarely attended class, the professor wasn’t about to let him off so easily.

"I’ll explain this problem to all of you later. Today’s lesson is about problem-solving, so let’s move on to the next exercise," Professor Wang said with a warm smile.

He could use this opportunity to have Lin Xuan tackle the backlog of unsolved computer science puzzles he’d been struggling with.

The professor nodded to himself, pleased with his cleverness.

Unnoticed by him, the students exchanged stunned glances.

"What’s going on? Does Professor Wang seem unusually cheerful today, or is it just me?"

"It’s not just you—I noticed it too."

"Maybe he’s found love again? That would explain why he’s so happy."

"Ninety-nine percent chance that’s the reason."

"But the way he looks at Lin Xuan… it’s kind of intense. You don’t think he’s into Lin Xuan, do you?"

"What are you even saying? That’s impossible!"

"Yeah, you’re right."

The student shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought.

Definitely overthinking it.

Lin Xuan.

"Now, let’s move on to the second problem. You have two minutes to study it before I call on someone," Professor Wang announced seriously.

Two minutes?

The students exchanged confused looks.

"Professor Wang," one student raised his hand, "isn’t two minutes too short? This problem looks complicated. Usually, you give us at least ten minutes for difficult questions like this."

Professor Wang cleared his throat. "Today, I’m training your problem-solving speed. Every question will have the same short time limit. Those who solve them will be rewarded."

Of course, this was just an excuse. He still had several unsolved problems, and he needed Lin Xuan’s help to crack them within these two class periods. He couldn’t afford to waste time, so he had to cut the thinking time short.

"Stop wasting time—start thinking," Professor Wang urged.

The students reluctantly racked their brains, staring blankly at the projected problem with furrowed brows.

Where did Professor Wang even find these questions? They were ridiculously hard.

When time was up, Professor Wang began calling on students.

As before, none of them could solve it.

Once again, he turned to Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan took just seven minutes to type out the complete program code.

The same pattern repeated with the third and fourth problems.

Professor Wang’s excitement became more and more visible with each passing minute.

He looked at Lin Xuan with an expression as if gazing upon a priceless treasure.

Never did he expect that the computer science problem that had troubled him for so long would be solved by Lin Xuan in just over an hour—and that didn’t even include the time spent asking questions.

Lin Xuan was truly incredible.

Now, only one problem remained unsolved, and with fifteen minutes left before class ended, Professor Wang figured Lin Xuan could probably finish it.

Just as Professor Wang was about to switch to the next slide, a student couldn’t help but blurt out, "Professor, didn’t you say there’d be a reward? Where is it?"

Professor Wang smiled warmly at Lin Xuan. "Lin Xuan, you’ve performed exceptionally well. Whatever you want, as long as it’s within my power, I’ll grant it to you."

Lin Xuan replied, "I only have one wish."

"What wish?" Professor Wang pressed eagerly.

He hoped Lin Xuan would quickly voice his desire so he could then ask him to solve the next problem.

Lin Xuan said, "That wish is—please don’t make me do the next problem."

Right now, all he wanted was to slump over the desk and take a good nap.

Professor Wang: "…"

Lin Xuan frowned. "Professor Wang, can’t you fulfill this wish for me?"

The professor tried to negotiate. "Lin Xuan, this wish is too… casual. Why don’t you think it over and ask for something else? Like, say, a gift from me?"

Lin Xuan: "This is the only wish I have right now."

Professor Wang: "…Fine. Lin Xuan, I won’t call on you for the rest of this lecture."

He sighed. "Actually, there’s nothing left to ask anyway. Let’s continue with the lesson."

Truthfully, there was still one problem he couldn’t solve himself—one that required Lin Xuan’s expertise.

But since Lin Xuan refused, and none of the other students would know the answer, bringing it up would be pointless.

Professor Wang cast a resentful glance at Lin Xuan, who was now sprawled over the desk. His expression resembled that of a jilted lover.

Why did he get the feeling that Lin Xuan was just… lazy?

"Did you see that?" whispered one female student, unable to contain her amusement. "The moment Lin Xuan said he wouldn’t answer any more questions, Professor Wang’s face turned as sour as if he’d swallowed a fly. I seriously suspect he was just using Lin Xuan to solve his own unsolvable computer science problems."

"Now that you mention it, I think so too," another student chimed in. "No wonder the problems he gave were so hard—I couldn’t even begin to crack them. Turns out even Professor Wang couldn’t solve them himself!"

"Lin Xuan is just on another level. Professor Wang is sixty, a heavyweight in the computer science world. Yet, problems he couldn’t solve were effortlessly cracked by Lin Xuan. How does his brain even work?"

"Why is this surprising? Don’t forget, Lin Xuan solved the Oli Problem—a puzzle that stumped experts for years. After it was released, the entire computer science field spent months hitting dead ends. Then, at the National College Computer Science Team Competition, Lin Xuan solved it in just minutes. Compared to that, Professor Wang’s problems must be child’s play for him."