Yu Wanwan kept shaking her head.
After guessing several major Japanese cities without success, Zhang Jingxu felt his brain was about to crash.
Seeing his frustrated expression, Yu Wanwan slowly announced the answer: "It's in Dongbei (Northeast China). Dummy! 4000!"
Zhang Jingxu frowned, deeply puzzled. "Why?"
"Haven't you heard a song?" Yu Wanwan tapped his head with the light hundred-yuan bill, her tone shifting from light to heavy. "'My home (Di Jia) is in Dongbei!' Dummy!"
She looked down at the man in the chair and concluded, "It seems your brain really is flawed. You can't even answer such simple brainteasers."
Zhang Jingxu: "..."
Damn!
He had expected the answer to be ridiculous, but not this ridiculous!
The pun was so forced, how was he supposed to know?
But it proved that his brain was indeed flawed—severely.
"Ahem." Yu Wanwan coughed twice, slightly mocking. "Forget it. I feel like you're a bit slow. Teaching too much at once might not stick. We'll stop here for today. Remember to review before bed. I'll quiz you anytime. We'll... continue tomorrow."
She said "Good night" and started walking toward the stairs, but then turned back, gave him a meaningful look, and reminded him softly, "I found that you still have a long way to go in pursuing that derpy girl. You must review hard tonight. Also, transfer me that 4000 within 24 hours."
With that, she skipped upstairs merrily, leaving the man alone in the living room, bewildered.
Late at night, Zhang Jingxu lay in bed after showering, growing more restless.
He turned on the light, grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and opened Douya to search for 'pun brainteasers.'
He tapped the magnifying glass on the right of the search bar, and a bunch of pun brainteasers popped up, including the ones Yu Wanwan had asked him tonight, some with answers so obscure they seemed to come out of nowhere.
As he scrolled, a realization dawned on him: she must have gotten all those brainteasers from here.
So it wasn't that his brain was flawed; he just didn't browse the internet enough.
He decided to study hard and started watching every video related to brainteasers.
He refused to believe that he would still get stuck during the next quiz!
After about half an hour of brainteasers, Zhang Jingxu felt immensely powerful. Just as he was about to put down his phone and sleep, two notifications popped up at the top of his screen—updates from accounts he followed.
Yu Wanwan had two accounts on Douyin. The main one focused on food videos, currently with 7.8 million followers. The second account posted lifestyle vlogs, makeup tutorials, and outfit-of-the-day videos, with 4.15 million followers.
Zhang Jingxu clicked in. Yu Wanwan had posted two videos today.
On the main account, there was a video showing her back while cooking and a close-up of dinner. The caption read: "Finally understood the value of 'Marry a New Oriental chef' (a popular Chinese saying)."
On the second account, it was the first half of the same video, with only a dog emoji as the caption, still tagged as 'Ideal Type.'
The videos had only been posted for 20 minutes but already had hundreds of thousands of likes.
Zhang Jingxu carefully watched the full video on her main account. Her filming technique was exquisite, the composition, light, and angles flawless.
She only used a phone, but the result was even better than professional equipment.
He skimmed through the comments, and his mind drifted back to the afternoon when Yu Wanwan had called him 'hubby' naturally in front of Lu Peizhi.
Thinking about it, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled into a smile.
—
Having stayed up all night cramming brainteasers, Zhang Jingxu eagerly asked Yu Wanwan to quiz him the next morning.
He placed an elaborate breakfast in front of her and sat down beside her. "Ask me quickly."
The woman at the table was half-asleep, her eyes droopy, and her voice sleepy and lazy. "Ask what?"
"Didn't you tell me to review last night and you'd quiz me today?" Zhang Jingxu said. "I reviewed all night. Test my results."
Yu Wanwan looked up. At that moment, the man seemed like an energetic golden retriever eager to interact with its owner.
She took a deep breath to invigorate herself. "Why doesn't a crocodile dare to sleep at night?"
Zhang Jingxu answered confidently, "Because it's afraid of having nightmares (crocodile dreams, a pun in Chinese)."
Yu Wanwan ate her breakfast and continued, "There are two elephants. One is fake. How do you quickly identify it?"
"Throw them into the river. Only the true elephant (truth) will surface."
Yu Wanwan paused mid-bite and lifted her eyelids to look at him.
This guy's 'combat effectiveness' had clearly improved after a night of review.
She thought hard for a brainteaser she hadn't used before. "Piggy, Calf, and Lamb went to a convenience store. Piggy and Calf were beaten up. Why wasn't Lamb beaten?"
"Because the convenience store is open 24 hours a day (24 hours not closing, 'closing' sounds like 'lamb' in Chinese)."
Hearing that he could even answer this, Yu Wanwan's drowsiness vanished. She began to treat this opponent seriously. "What is between five and seven?"
"And (the word 'and' in Chinese is a homophone for 'with')."
"How many legs does a sheep have? How much wool?"
"Four legs, one body of wool."
"Why?"
"Feed grass (a pun: 'why' sounds like 'feed' in Chinese)."
After seeing his perfect answers, Yu Wanwan couldn't help but marvel, "Not bad. Did you oil your brain last night? It's turning pretty smoothly."
He had even dodged her tricky trap questions.
The man looked smug. "I reviewed all night."
Yu Wanwan smiled, satisfied, and said cheerfully, "Alright, I declare you passed this quiz. We'll continue tonight."
"Okay." Zhang Jingxu glanced at his watch. He had a morning meeting. "I'll head to work now?"
"Mm." Yu Wanwan took a bite of her sandwich. "Go ahead."
He added, "A cleaning lady will come at noon to cook for you. I've sent you her WeChat. Tell her what you want to eat."
"Got it." Yu Wanwan nodded, and only then did the man leave with peace of mind.