Lu Zhou was moved by Professor Tang's wise words.
It turns out Professor Tang really cares about me!
However, I have no choice. The system gave me the blueprint, it would be a waste not to use it!
After he was done with dinner, Lu Zhou went to the library. The librarian watched him borrow analytic geometry, ordinary differential equations, complex transformation real functions, functional analysis, topology and differential geometry, and other related textbooks that were on the system's book list.
A third of the book list contained mathematics books.
If he could finish reading the books, he would have basically finished an undergraduate mathematics degree course.
But…
Lu Zhou looked at the pill bottle and thought, "Is 40 focus capsules enough?" He was unsure.
He shook his head and decided not to think about it. He would try his best to complete the system mission.
As for what would happen if the pills ran out?
He would have to worry about that question later.
Lu Zhou twisted open the pre-prepared water bottle and placed a pill in his mouth.
He quickly went into the focus state that he had experienced before.
…
A morning ray of sunlight shined through the window.
The wind blew through the curtains and bursts of bug humming sounds traveled through the windows. Lu Zhou's head was on his desk, his eyelashes moved, and he gradually opened his eyes.
"Ah…"
His entire body was sore, especially his neck.
He had spent all night studying to the point that he did not even remember when he fell asleep. He just remembered that he was really tired and used his phone to look at the time. Next thing he knew, his head was on the textbook and he was sound asleep.
The classroom did not turn off the electricity for the students that were preparing for the graduate entrance exam. The security was loose during the summer so no one woke him up and therefore, he slept all night.
What time is it?
Lu Zhou's phone was on low battery. When he turned it on, he yelled.
"It's already eleven o'clock… I still need to do tutoring in the afternoon."
He sat in his seat for a bit, shook his muddled brain, and went to the bathroom.
Lu Zhou splashed some cold water in his face and felt a lot better. He went back into the classroom to rest and memories of yesterday gradually came back to him.
His conclusion from last time was that even after five hours, the drug would have some residual effect.
In order to test the maximum duration of the capsule, Lu Zhou chose to try it in an environment without any interference.
The results were unexpected.
He found out that after he eliminated distracting objects, even after five hours, his brain would still be under the drug's effect. When there was no distractions and interruptions, he was able to maintain his state of concentration.
Only thing was that the constant state of being highly in focus would damage his brain. At first, it was light headaches. Then, it would trigger his body's self-protecting mechanism and he would fall unconscious.
"I guess the five hour effect time period wasn't absolute. I can increase the effect period by 50% if I tried to. If I was extremely tired and I pushed through my limits, my brain would become abnormally sharp. As for side effects, it was no different than staying up all night."
Lu Zhou talked to himself and could not help but yawn.
"It seems that after taking the drug I've got to grind to maximize the effect."
Lu Zhou moved his sore neck, closed his eyes, and went into the system space. He opened the mission column.
[Mission progress 2/30]
It seemed that the two textbooks "Linear Algebra" and "Analytic Geometry" had been passed by the system. Next up was ordinary differential equations.
If he carried on with this momentum, solving the "reward mission" with these 40 capsules would be of no problem!
…
Lu Zhou packed his stuff in his bag and went back to his dorm first. He took a shower, put on some clean clothes, and went outside the school to call a DiDi cab. He gave the driver the address on the business card.
It was extremely hot in the City of Jin Ling during summer.
Anyway, his transportation fees were covered. He did not want to get sweaty riding the bus so he took a cab.
Soon after, the cab stopped in front of a residential area called "Purple Garden". Lu Zhou hopped out of the car and as he looked up and down, he felt nervous.
This community was worth the name of a "garden". The trees looked like it was cut with sophistication.
This area was considered the prime location near the business district. It had a lot of greenery around the place and the style of apartments was luxurious. The cost of living here must have been unimaginably high. Only the so-called elite could live here.
Forget the first 100 million Mersenne prime numbers. Even if you solved Beal's conjecture and got the million US dollar prize, you might still be unable to buy an apartment here.
Lu Zhou looked at the security guard and the security guard looked back at him. It was obvious that Lu Zhou did not live here so the guard did not plan on letting Lu Zhou go inside.
Lu Zhou was getting impatient so he called Mrs. Yang. She called the guard room and told the security to let him in.
He got off the elevator and pressed the doorbell. Suddenly, he faintly heard smashing and screaming sounds behind the door.
"… You don't care about me at all, so stop pretending you're doing everything for my good!"
Bong!
Lu Zhou could still hear the muffled sound through the door.
Oh no…
This job doesn't look good.
Lu Zhou hesitated in his heart as he was thinking if he should leave.
Suddenly, footstep sounds came through the door and the door was opened.
It was actually Mrs. Yang that opened the door.
Lu Zhou was surprised the instant he saw Mrs. Yang. From her cold facial expression, he knew that she just had a big fight with her daughter.
Mrs. Yang said calmly, "Teacher Lu, right. There are slippers right here. Please come in."
With a subtle smile, Lu Zhou said, "I'm not a teacher, just call me Lu Zhou."
"A tutor is still a teacher. Please come this way."
Lu Zhou went through the entrance and noticed a pile of broken glass. It seemed like an art piece.
There was a closed door and he thought it must be the room of Chen Yushan's calmly.
Mrs. Yang did not leave him in the living room. Instead, she brought him into the study room. She signaled him to sit down and smiled gently.
"Sorry that you had to see that."
It was slightly awkward…
Lu Zhou smiled and did not respond.
He was just here to work and he did not want to be involved in their family's business.
Mrs. Yang did not say anything and took out a box of cigarettes.
"Do you smoke?"
Lu Zhou declined, "I don't smoke."
Mrs. Yang nodded and did not say anything. She closed the cigarette box and looked at the clock on the wall before saying with a slightly tired voice.
"It's one o'clock right now. I get off work at six o'clock. You'll have to take care of Han Mengqi during this period. I put all her textbooks, practice exam papers, and other materials in the study room. You mainly just have to teach her mathematics."
"Her situation right now, is it okay?" asked Lu Zhou as he hesitated.
if she stayed in the room, he could not teach her.
"No problem," said Mrs. Yang. Without any expression, she pulled out a set of keys and gently placed it on the table. "This is her room key."
The f*ck?
You, you call yourself her mother?
This problem is serious!
"I think…"
"What do you think?"
"Nothing…" Lu Zhou shook his head.
He wanted to say that this would intensify the tension between them and that he was only an outsider. It was not his place to make remarks about other people's families because it was a sensitive topic.
Besides, he believed that Mrs. Yang would not see it from his perspective.
Just what…
He did not know if she was desperate or she just did not care.
Mrs. Yang stood up and said, "Then I'll give the keys to you. There's an exam in July before her holidays. If her result is over 100 marks, then I'll give you a bonus. If she didn't even get 80, then I'll think about changing tutors."
She did not even wait for Lu Zhou's reply and left the study room.
"Oh yeah, one more thing. To prevent my daughter from escaping, I'll lock the door from outside, you have no problem with that right?"
"… No problem," said Lu Zhou as he shook his head.
She would be back at six o'clock and anyway, he had nowhere else to go.
But…
Even though your niece recommended me, is it really okay to lock a stranger inside your house with your daughter?
However, her next words solved his doubts.
Also, there are a dozen or so security cameras around this house. There are no dead spots. If you think it interferes with your privacy, feel free to tell me.
Her expression did not change at all after saying this, but Lu Zhou felt a sense of warning coming from her.
As expected…
Are you even her real mom?
"I don't have any problems with it."
Anyway, Lu Zhou did not have any interests in doing naughty things. He was just here to work.
As for the cameras, there were cameras all around his library and classrooms, he was used to it.
However, after hearing that she had a dozen security cameras installed in her house, Lu Zhou slightly understood why there was so much tension between the daughter and mother.