There were still quite a few parents standing at the entrance of the association, and upon hearing this, they all looked over in surprise.
Although no one said anything out loud, the judgmental looks in their eyes did not escape Jiang Si's notice.
Jiang Si patted Zhaozhao's little head, comforting her with a few words, before turning her gaze to the staff member.
Her voice was calm and unhurried, "May I ask, do the competition rules specify that a four-year-old cannot register for the youth group?"
The staff member was taken aback. "Well, no, there isn't such a rule."
The Abacus Association only stipulated that children over six years old could not register for the preschool group. In previous years, there had been five-year-olds who signed up, but their results weren't ideal, often being eliminated in the second round.
"Since it complies with the rules, which event she registers for is her own choice." Jiang Si's words were directed at the other children.
They were children, but they were at least twelve or thirteen years old.
Unfortunately, they were less sensible than a three-year-old.
"Zhaozhao, just remember this: to forge iron, you must be strong yourself. Useless mockery and doubts are worthless."
Zhaozhao nodded vigorously. "Mm, Zhaozhao remembers."
"Go on. Mom and Great-Grandpas will wait for you outside."
Zhaozhao nodded with great force.
Just then, the preliminary bell sounded over the broadcast.
She gave a little wave and followed the large group into the Abacus Association.
Due to the high number of registrants for the youth group this time, the competition venue was arranged directly in the association's activity center.
There weren't enough desks and chairs inside, so they had to temporarily bring some over from the offices.
Even so, there still weren't enough seats.
Zhaozhao's steps were small, so she ended up at the very back. By the time she entered, there were no empty seats left.
Just as she was looking around for a vacant spot, a group of people walked in carrying test papers.
The person leading them was none other than President Lan of the Abacus Association, also one of the invigilators for this youth group competition.
He had already heard from his subordinates that the youth group had its youngest-ever registrant this year.
With a mix of curiosity and appreciation, President Lan pointed to the invigilator's desk where he was sitting. "Little friend, there are no seats over there. You can sit here."
Zhaozhao wasn't the least bit shy. She bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Grandpa," before obediently taking her seat.
Then, unhurriedly, she took a pair of sleeve protectors out of her pocket.
The test papers were printed with ink that was hard to wash off clothes.
Only after putting on the sleeve protectors did she take out her small abacus.
When she looked up, she found everyone in the room staring at her.
Zhaozhao blinked in puzzlement. Why were they looking at her? The answers weren't written on her face.
Fortunately, soon after, the official competition bell rang.
The entire activity center instantly erupted with the clattering sound of abacus beads being moved.
While everyone else buried their heads in intense calculation, Zhaozhao remained completely still.
Well, not entirely. Her eyes were fixed on the test questions.
Her right hand, however, was rapidly flicking the beads.
This strange behavior once again piqued President Lan's curiosity.
He had set all the questions for this round, and the difficulty was significantly higher than last year's.
Most were Level 5 questions, with several even exceeding the syllabus, testing Level 4 abacus content.
For a four-year-old child, this was undoubtedly asking a bit too much.
Just as President Lan was wondering if she might not be able to solve a single question,
Zhaozhao had already started rapidly moving the beads on her abacus.
Surprisingly, her hand speed was extremely fast, and she often didn't even look at the abacus.
In the brief moment President Lan was lost in thought, Zhaozhao had already begun writing down her answers.
The Arabic numerals she wrote were clear and neat, completely unlike the handwriting of a typical four-year-old.
The allotted time for answering was ten minutes. Zhaozhao finished in less than six.
After finishing, unlike the other children who looked around restlessly, she picked up her test paper again and began checking her calculations from the beginning.
The ten minutes passed quickly, and the first elimination round officially ended.
There was a one-hour break in between.
When Zhaozhao came out, her family didn't ask her how the test went or how she answered.
The fact that she was standing here today was already enough to make them proud.
Zhaozhao initially wanted to tell everyone that she should be able to advance.
But remembering her mother's words, "Remember, never pop the champagne halfway," she ultimately held back.
Whether she advanced or not, they would find out soon enough.
She didn't say anything, but Jiang Si wasn't worried in the slightest.
Zhaozhao did have a certain talent for abacus.
This was also evident from Zhuo Mingda's expression of constant praise.
So her advancement shouldn't be a problem.
The hour passed quickly. Soon, staff members came to announce the list of those who advanced, clearly stating that the list was based on total scores.
After all, this was the youth group; the participants all had a certain foundation.
So in the first elimination round, there were quite a few contestants with perfect scores.
After more than a dozen names were called, everyone finally heard the name "Jiang Jingyan."
At this point, the old gentlemen could no longer remain calm. Holding up their banner, they started a new round of cheering.
It was only after Jiang Si's persuasion that the two managed to barely suppress their excitement.
With the announcement of the advancement list, more than half of the people left the competition venue.
It wasn't that they weren't good enough, but this year's competition was exceptionally fierce. In previous years, eighty points were enough to advance, but this year not only was the difficulty increased, the cutoff score was also raised by ten points.
Those who had scored perfect marks were initially quite happy.
But upon hearing that Zhaozhao had also advanced with a perfect score, they instantly felt their own hundred-point scores were devalued, and their gazes towards her became complicated.
"I told you she has connections, but you didn't believe me," said the tall, thin boy from the Children's Palace. Having been eliminated in the first round, he was now complaining indignantly to his companions. "Who else gets special treatment like her, sitting up on the stage!"
The stage was so high that others could only see her little hands moving.
Whether she was moving the beads randomly or not, no one knew.
Thus, when they were taking their seats for the second elimination round,
one of the little boys directly blocked Zhaozhao's way, telling her not to go sit on the stage again!
Zhaozhao didn't think much of it. She even said thank you, then found an empty seat and sat down.
The boys exchanged glances and then sat down right next to her.
They had already agreed: during the competition, if they saw her move a single bead incorrectly, they would report her immediately.
However, they were destined to be disappointed.
The Zhaozhao of now was no longer the Zhaozhao from half a month ago who knew nothing about multiplication and division.
Once she grasped the logic of multiplication and division, no matter how many digits were involved, it made no difference to her.
This time, Zhaozhao's answering time was almost the same as in the first elimination round.
But those little boys, because their attention was constantly on Zhaozhao, lost focus while answering their own questions. They either moved a bead incorrectly here or filled in a wrong number there.
The final result was that Zhaozhao successfully advanced to the finals, while the other children were all eliminated.
Upon learning this outcome, the parents waiting outside all looked rather displeased.
On such a cold day, they had specifically taken a day off to wait outside, only for their children to not even make it to the finals, performing worse than a four-year-old toddler.
It was downright embarrassing to even mention.
The children hung their heads low, also feeling that losing to a little kid was a blow to their pride.
So, they could only try to save face by making various excuses.
They even mumbled some vague and insinuating remarks.
For the already furious parents, these words were like adding fuel to the fire.
Soon, this news spread like wildfire among the crowd.
Not long after, the enraged parents, blinded by anger, went directly to President Lan of the Abacus Association to demand an explanation.
As for what happened next, Jiang Si knew nothing about it. Right after confirming Zhaozhao's advancement to the finals, the family hurried back to the old house.
Grandfather and Third Granduncle were getting on in years; having stood outside for several hours, their feet were nearly frozen stiff.
So, after some persuasion from Jiang Si, it was decided that she would take Zhaozhao to the afternoon finals alone, while Grandfather and the others waited at home for the good news.
Regardless of whether it was good news or not, Mother Huo had made up her mind.
She would definitely prepare a table full of delicious food in the evening to properly reward her darling grandchildren.
However, no one expected that as soon as Jiang Si took Zhaozhao to the Abacus Association that afternoon, they were informed that the rules for the finals had been changed.
The new format was a buzzer-round system: one point for a correct answer, one point deducted for a wrong answer, and any contestant who failed to answer a question would be immediately eliminated on the spot.
Furthermore, some of the questions in the finals would be beyond the standard scope.
Hearing this, Jiang Si frowned. If she remembered correctly, this seemed to be a format used only in tie-breaker rounds.
"There must be a reason for changing the rules at the last minute, right?"
"Well..."
Seeing the staff member's troubled expression, Jiang Si didn't press her. Instead, she went directly to find President Lan of the association.
President Lan was also quite helpless about the situation.
During the first elimination round, this child had been sitting right next to him.
He knew better than anyone whether she had the skill to advance to the finals.
But now the parents were agitated, threatening that if the format wasn't changed, all the finalists would collectively withdraw from the competition.
While saying this, President Lan kept observing the expression on Jiang Si's face.
He expected her to be angry, to strongly oppose, or to demand a face-to-face confrontation with the parents who doubted her child.
Unexpectedly, she was very calm.
Jiang Si didn't respond to President Lan immediately. Instead, she asked Zhaozhao calmly and patiently, "Zhaozhao, did you hear everything President Lan just said?"
Zhaozhao understood, but she had a question, "We have to buzz in for the questions ourselves?"
"Yes," Jiang Si asked, "So, do you still want to compete?"
Hearing this, Zhaozhao looked up, her face showing rare excitement, "Yes!"
