How could one hold such a record? Was there an instrument that could measure the extent of a person’s memory? Would a value appear on the machine as soon as it did a test?
Qiao Mei looked at Xia He carefully and sized her up from head to toe. Could it be that Xia He was really possessed? Why had she started to spout nonsense? Xia He was not usually like this.
“Why are you looking at me like that! I really hold a record. No one has broken it in our school until now. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Xia Wen! Xia Zhe must know about it too. They both graduated from the same school as me,” Xia He said proudly.
“Then how do you get such a record? Does someone have to grade you?” Qiao Mei asked curiously.
“We have to memorize the value of pi. You’re given two hours to memorize as much as you can. Then, you have to recite it or write it down from memory. Whoever can memorize the most number of decimal places will be the winner,” Xia He said.
“Then how many decimal points did you memorize?” Qiao Mei asked with a grin.
Xia He patted her chest and looked at Qiao Mei smugly as she said, “Hmph! It’s not that I want to brag! At that time, I memorized 512 decimal places! The second place was only in the 260s! At that time, I couldn’t say so many numbers in one breath. If I paused, I would forget everything, so I wrote it down. The piece of paper which I wrote on is probably still in school!”
This was indeed quite convincing. The value of pi had no pattern at all and could only be memorized by heart. Anyone who could memorize more than 500 decimal points in two hours was indeed not an ordinary person.
“I don’t think you bumped into anything supernatural. It could be a kitten or some other animal. It probably moved too fast for you to see it clearly,” Qiao Mei said as she comforted her.
Xia He did not believe what Qiao Mei said at all. How could there be such a big kitten? Unless it was an animal spirit! She decided not to think about it anymore. Even if she could know what really happened, there was nothing she could do. It was better not to pursue this matter.
After lunch, Qiao Mei planned to go out for a walk, but an uninvited guest came unexpectedly.
Tan Jing stood at the door of Qiao Mei’s house primly. She had stood at the same spot for a long time as she did not know what reason and excuse she could use for her visit. As she was still hesitating, she did not expect Qiao Mei and Xia He to suddenly open the door. The three of them stared at one another and stood rooted to the ground. They all stared blankly and no one knew what to say.
In the end, it was Xia He who broke this awkward silence.
“What… are you doing here?” Xia He questioned.
Most people’s impression of Tan Jing seemed to be that she was just an incompetent person who usually kept quiet but looked like a nice person. That was why everyone just let her be. In reality, only Xia He knew what Tan Jing was up to. Someone who grew up in an environment surrounded by people like the Tan family would not have a good character.
Tan Jing was not nice to Qiao Mei previously so they did not know what she was up to now.
“I… I’m just here to visit Qiao Mei and to see if she’s doing well,” Tan Jing said self-consciously.
Xia He snorted mockingly. She did not take the initiative to come here for such a long time, but suddenly came so diligently today. As the saying went, when the fox preached, one should take care of one’s geese. She was definitely up to no good!
Previously, Jiang Yi had threatened to hang herself outside Qiao Mei’s house. Even after such a big fuss, Tan Jing did not even come to take a look or apologize. What was she trying to do now?
Qiao Mei sighed and patted Xia He’s hand, telling her not to become as prickly as an angry hedgehog whenever she was agitated. She was clearly the elder sister and was so much older than them, but she still had a child’s bad temper.
As soon as Tan Jing entered the courtyard, she started looking around. This was the first time she had come to the old residence. In the past, whenever she wanted to accompany Xu Lan here, Xia Fang would always stop her using all kinds of reasons. Even when she got married, she did not hold a ceremony at the old residence. She only came by to pay her respects and left after that.
These flower pots and paintings were probably antiques. These were all left behind by the ancestors and Qiao Mei had gotten them for nothing. She had really benefited too much!
Tan Jing had no idea that Qiao Mei had bought everything in the house herself. When she took over, it was an empty house and the only valuable item that came with the house was the bed in her bedroom.