137 Math

 

The footsteps on the corridor appeared so abruptly that Han Fei wasn’t sure the owner was coming for him or not. But for the sake of security, he stuffed all the keys and the registration book into the urn. Closing the cracked lid, Han Fei carefully moved to the door.

Dong, dong, dong! The person knocked on his door, stopping before Room 202. The door did not have a peephole so Han Fei had to lean on the crack in the frame to look out. There was a woman in an old, blue dress standing outside the room. Her face was ashen, and her eyes bloodshot. There was a large birthmark around her neck. Her hair was matted with clumps of soil. ‘The landlord’s ring gives no reaction at all, does this mean she carries me no harm?’ Han Fei slowly eased the door open. “How can I help you?”

“Are you Mr. Meng Changan? I just got the call from the boss, he said you have answered my ad for a family tutor.” The woman’s voice was dull and flat. It suggested an exhausted frame of mind.

“Indeed, I am Meng Changan.” Han Fei pulled the door open. “Why don’t you come in? I’m sure you have questions for me.” The woman hesitated before entering Room 202. Han Fei poured a glass of water for the woman and then asked, “I understand that your child is a former student at Yi Ming Private Academy?”

“Yes, my child is very clever and he used to be very good with his studies. But recently, his results plummeted and his behavior turned strange. He would cry and throw stuff for no reason.”

“I bet it’s because he was under great pressure from school. It’s my advice that you give him some time to breathe. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“If I do that, he will definitely hate me in the future! Furthermore, it’s not like he doesn’t want to study but more like he is prevented from focusing on his studies.” The woman thought about it. “I swear it’s that kid that my child shares a room with. He often tells very scary stories to my child, I suspect he’s the one behind my child’s problem.”

“Very scary stories?” Han Fei’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know the name of that child?”

“His name is Jing Sheng.”

‘Jing Sheng? Jin Sheng?’ Han Fei did not expect to hear that name at the hostel. It gave him all the more reason to make the woman stay. “Sometimes, we as parents have limited understanding of our children because we lack a proper channel of communication. Do you mind telling me everything that has happened to your child at school? I’ll help you analyze why your child has fallen behind in his studies.” Han Fei exuded such a professional presence of a teacher that he gained the woman’s trust quite easily.

“Yi Ming Private Academy is a boarding school, I can only see my child once every 6 months. He was perfectly fine when he started at the school but the last time I went to see him, which was 6 months ago, he told me that he had been suffering from a terrible headache. I also noticed there were inexplicable small wounds on his body that refused to heal.”

“What did you do then?”

“I asked him whether there was someone bullying him at school. He denied it. He merely begged me to bring him away from the school.” The woman gripped her dress. “We came from a poor family, I used all of my savings to send my child to this prestigious school so that he could have a better life than I did but who would have thought this would happen to him.”

“In other words, until now you have no idea why he has dropped off from school? Forgive me but that is quite irresponsible.” Han Fei took out his teacher’s work id. “I am a professional educator with years of experience. If you’re willing to place your trust in me, why don’t you bring me to meet that child now?”

“Teacher Meng, I can’t thank you enough for this.” The woman placed her hands inside her pocket and then added in an embarrassed whisper, “But I do not have that much money on me…”

“We can discuss that later. The child’s situation is more important. If we do not handle these problems now, it might affect the rest of his life.” Han Fei picked up the urn from the bed. “Education is not only meant for the children to master skills and knowledge, it is also to help them understand the meaning and value of life.” The woman was even more impressed by Han Fei now.

She led Han Fei to the 3rd floor. Pushing the door open to Room 301, a horrible smell leaked out and the scene that revealed before Han Fei was quite horrifying. The windows were covered with thick black blinds and the dim light casted shadows on papers that littered the ground. A wet sheet was hung across the middle of the room to split the small space into two partitions. Through the sheet, Han Fei could glimpse a giant head.

Han Fei pulled back a corner of the sheet and spotted a boy leaning on the study table. His head was disproportionately large compared to his thin body, in fact, Han Fei could not imagine the boy standing up. His neck would snap from the weight of his head. The horrible smell came from the disfigured boy. He held a pen in his hand and he kept writing the same thing on the papers.

“Why is he still studying at 2 in the morning? He should be in bed already. There should be a balance between study and leisure.” Chill came from the ring. Han Fei hugged the urn and walked through the sheet. He was assaulted by a thicker smelly fog. Upon closer inspection, Han Fei realized the boy’s appearance was even more harrowing than he thought. Giant blood red veins popped on his giant head and they appeared like worms crawling under the skin. Han Fei could hear a voice coming from inside the boy’s head as if calling him to return to Yi Ming Private Academy.

“Child, what is your name?” The smell crawled into his nostrils but Han Fei’s expression did not change like he was born without olfactory cells.

The large head slowly turned around. A large vein pulsed above his eyelid. His eyes were so red like the ocular pressure would push them out at any moment. The bulging eyeballs stared at Han Fei. They were filled with malice. The boy’s hand tightened around the pen as if he wanted to stab Han Fei with it.

“Why don’t you take a break for now?” Han Fei turned to study the exercise book before the boy. The page was filled with different names written down with red pen. “Are these the names of your friends?” The veins on the boy’s head pounded and his expression turned vicious.

“Maybe he’s too shy to share his problems with his family around.” Han Fei turned to smile at the woman at the door. “Do you mind if I speak alone with your boy for a moment?”

The woman hesitated before she turned away.

“Boy, your mother has left, do you know what that means?” Han Fei smiled at the boy. The boy sensed danger from Han Fei’s smile and he said the first word since Han Fei entered the room. “Why don’t you try and put a finger on me?”

“You sure have a temper. In any case, I’m a teacher, there is no way I will use corporal punishment on my students.” Han Fei took out the cursed homework from his inventory and placed it before the boy. He had tried the book on Weep before, he noticed the cursed book could slowly influence the reader’s mind. “Since you refuse to rest, then how about you try some of the questions on this exercise book? We can start with simple math.” Han Fei used Soul-Depth Touch to fix the boy’s gaze on the exercise book. “We have to work if we want a better future. We reap what we sow, right?”

On the previously empty page, lines after lines of question appeared. They pulled at the boy’s soul like an invisible whirlpool.

If x^2+（2m+4）x+m^2+5m=0 has no real root. 1. Find m; 2. If the quadratic equation mx^2+（n-2）x+m-3=0 has real roots, find the roots; 3. If the roots in question 2 are α, β, α:β=1:2 and n is an integral number, find m’s smallest integral….