Seeing Jiang Si's expression visibly darken, he quickly waved his hands, "I wasn't staring at her! I'm tall, and right after I sat down, the invigilator moved me to the back row. Lots of people saw it happen."
With those words, the atmosphere in the lounge instantly dropped to freezing point.
The few parents who had participated in the earlier discussion now regretted it so much their guts were twisting.
The people from this morning had spoken so convincingly, even leading the charge to cause trouble, so they genuinely believed those individuals had solid evidence before joining the fray.
It was true they had their own selfish motives, but in this day and age, who doesn't want fairness and justice?
Who would have thought that all of this was entirely the doing of those parents themselves.
The remaining parents, who hadn't been involved, weren't as frightened now.
But just for this baseless incident, not only had everyone been dragged into a whole day of chaos, but they had also ended up lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet.
Everyone knew that this quiz-style competition was far more difficult than answering questions within a set time limit.
After all, it wasn't just about accuracy now, but also about speed.
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but sigh again.
Ah, what a mess this is!
Jiang Si took in everyone's reactions, a faint trace of mockery flashing in her eyes.
And so, with everyone in the lounge lost in their own thoughts, no one spoke another word.
It was at this moment that a staff member arrived.
Pushing the door open, the person clearly paused in surprise.
Just moments ago, this place had been as noisy as a marketplace, so why was everyone so silent now?
Seeing that no one was talking, the staff member cleared their throat a few times. "Ahem, President Lan has asked everyone to proceed to the activity center. The competition will begin in ten minutes."
Only then did everyone snap out of it, but upon clearly hearing what was said, their faces burned with shame.
Jiang Si paid no attention to this, simply taking Zhaozhao's hand and walking straight out.
Seeing this, several parents quickly tried to negotiate: "Comrade, could you please relay to President Lan that we should just stick to the original competition rules?"
"Yes, yes, no need to make things so complicated." Catching on, the others chimed in agreement.
The staff member's lips twitched, their expression clearly saying, 'Are you kidding me?'
They had worked hard for half a day to get everything ready, and now these people wanted to change it back? Did they really think the staff were pushovers?
"Those who don't want to compete can go home now. The rest, hurry up. Exceeding the time limit will also be treated as automatic withdrawal."
With that remark, the staff member, her two braids swinging, turned and left, leaving the crowd standing there, stunned for a long moment.
"Ah, let's go."
At this point, regret was useless; they could only give it their all.
As for those who had spread the rumors and caused trouble earlier, their feelings were even more complicated.
Lost in thought, the group soon arrived at the activity center.
But right at the entrance, they were informed by a staff member.
The children were to enter first, leaving their abacuses behind, while the remaining parents were to stay put and await further instructions.
The parents looked puzzled. "Comrade, why do the abacuses have to stay?"
Most of these abacuses were specially custom-made. To put it professionally, the material, size, and weight of the beads all affected a child's tactile feel, so of course they needed to use their own!
Moreover, the children were already used to theirs. What if they couldn't adapt to a sudden change?
The staff member thought to herself: Like I care what you do!
"Weren't you the ones demanding fairness and justice?" the staff member said. "For the sake of fairness, all children must use standardized abacuses. Don't worry, these are all specially made for competitions."
The parents: "..."
Now they finally understood deeply how painful it was to lift a rock and drop it on your own foot!
Dissatisfied as they were, under the staff's urging, they could only comply.
By now, the children were already lining up to enter, so the parents hurriedly gave their own children last-minute advice.
The gist was pretty much the same: don't rush during the competition, stay calm and composed, only hit the buzzer when you're sure of the answer, and so on.
After all the nagging was done, everyone finally turned their attention to Jiang Si.
Jiang Si didn't say much either. She unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into Zhaozhao's mouth. "Go on, just enjoy the process of the competition."
With the chocolate in her mouth, it wasn't convenient for Zhaozhao to speak, so she just happily waved her little hand.
Seeing this scene, the other parents felt an even more complex mix of emotions.
Meanwhile, the other children, without exception, all looked on with envy.
Once all the children had entered, the staff member led everyone to a room next door and brought out a wooden box.
"The box contains the questions for today's finals. Each association teacher contributed 100 questions, so there are over 1,600 questions in total. To ensure fairness, each parent will randomly draw one question."
After everyone had drawn their questions, the staff member said, "Now open your question and take a look."
Though confused, everyone did as instructed and opened their slips.
What met their eyes was a long string of numbers mixed with various symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
No further explanation from the staff was needed; everyone understood.
The questions were created on-site by the teachers today.
But which specific fifty questions would be used, even the teachers who wrote them didn't know, as these were all drawn randomly by the parents themselves.
The possibility of the questions being leaked was almost zero.
No matter how powerful or influential Jiang Jingyan's mother might be, she couldn't possibly bribe this many people.
Just as everyone thought it was over, the staff member brought out twenty-five paper balls, again having each parent draw one.
"Each number inside corresponds to a staff member. These individuals will be responsible for supervising the children's hand movements during the competition to ensure there are no rule violations."
After this explanation, the staff member asked, "Does anyone have any other questions?"
The crowd: "..."
This series of procedures had completely silenced everyone.
Seeing no response, the staff member said, "Alright, you may enter the venue now. The last two rows are for parents. Please be quiet when entering, no loud talking!"
Meanwhile, on the other side.
During the interval when the parents were drawing questions, President Lan had already finished announcing the competition rules.
Considering Zhaozhao's young age, President Lan specifically asked after the explanation, "Little friend Jiang Jingyan, did you understand all the rules I just explained?"
Zhaozhao nodded, her little face serious. "Understood."
However, just as President Lan was about to continue, Zhaozhao suddenly raised her small hand.
President Lan: "What is it? Do you have another question?"
Zhaozhao: "Can we use both hands during the competition?"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the venue focused their gaze on this little child named Jiang Jingyan.
In fact, the contestants were not unfamiliar with this 'two-handed bead manipulation method.'
The two-handed bead manipulation method, as the name suggests, involves operating the abacus with both hands simultaneously during calculation.
Typically, the left hand handles the carrying and borrowing for higher-place-value operations,
while the right hand is responsible for lower-place-value calculations and writing down the answer.
Since this competition uses a buzzer system and does not require handwriting, one could raise their hand immediately after finishing the calculation with their right hand, allowing the answer to be given simultaneously. Its advantage lies in speed.
However, for the same reasons, the two-handed bead manipulation method, due to its difficulty and the extremely high demand it places on the left hand's dexterity,
even those in the youth group who have taken courses on it would not dare to use it lightly in a competition.
Most importantly, Jiang Jingyan's abacus small group never taught this method. So how did she know it?
