Chapter 71: A Teacher
Liu Huixiang shook her head slightly and smiled, "It's not too tiring actually. Since we switched to making stinky tofu, Cuihua and I have reduced our workload by 50%. It's a lot easier now."
"That's good." Su Xian felt a little better.
"but."
Liu Huixiang looked at the account book with a hint of difficulty on her face, and said, "Although the stinky tofu stall is small, all the expenses and income are piled up in one account book, which is really messy..."
Su Xian looked at her expression and glanced at the account book.
Indeed, the densely packed words piled together are not articles or poems, but numerical accounts.
In addition to recognizing words, you also need to use your brain to calculate, which is really troublesome.
Even an ancient person like Liu Huixiang found it messy, so for Su Xian, it was even more unsightly.
Because he knew that Arabic numerals could be used to simplify things so that they could be clear at a glance!
Su Xian withdrew his eyes from the account book, pondered for a while, and said: "I know a way to make Madam's account book look better and clearer at a glance!"
"Sir, do you really have a solution?"
Liu Huixiang instantly became interested and faced Su Xian. She was two heads shorter than Su Xian, so she slightly tilted her head upwards, her watery eyes sparkling with stars and her face full of anticipation.
Su Xian was very pleased with her questioning and performance, and said, "Yes! But this method is difficult to learn at first, but once you learn it, it will be even more powerful! Madam Liu, do you want to learn it?"
"I want to learn! If I want to learn, please teach me, Master Su!"
Liu Huixiang immediately took advantage of the situation. She was worrying about how to get in touch with Su Xian, but unexpectedly, Su Xian provided one himself.
Su Xian was very satisfied with Liu Huixiang's eager-to-learn attitude.
This brought out his "teacher's side".
Besides, he also had a share of the money earned from the stinky tofu stall, and if he could reduce the difficulty of her handling the accounts by using Arabic numerals, it would be a help to him.
"Okay, then I'll teach you how to write the numbers from zero to nine in simplified form."
Su Xian nodded and was about to say "Pen and ink are ready" when Liu Huixiang had already spread out the paper and handed him the brush dipped in ink.
Su Xian was very satisfied. He took the brush and drew a duck egg on the paper. He said, "This circle is the abbreviation of zero..."
Su Xian's voice of explanation echoed in the quiet study.
The bean-sized oil lamp swayed gently, casting the shadows of Su Xian and Liu Huixiang on the wall, making their shadows hazy.
Liu Huixiang's intelligence was beyond Su Xian's imagination.
There are ten numbers from zero to nine. He only explained them twice and Liu Huixiang had already mastered them.
Su Xian randomly checked her and found that she had reached the level of a second or third grader in elementary school.
"Mrs. Liu has already mastered the abbreviations of ten numbers. Her talent is unparalleled!" Su Xian praised.
"No... Mainly because Master Su taught me well..."
After a while of business talk between the two, Su Xian prepared to start the next stage of teaching -
Use simplified numbers to perform simple addition and subtraction calculations.
However, at this moment, there was a knock on the door, and Zhang Cuihua's voice came from outside the door: "Miss, Sister Zhilan has finished her bath."
Liu Huixiang was stunned for a moment, her smile gradually faded, and she said casually, "I know, I'll be right there."
After she finished speaking, she looked at Su Xian, her watery eyes clearly showing reluctance.
Su Xian said, "In that case, let's go out first and we'll talk about the rest later."
"good!"
After putting down their brushes and using a paperweight to hold down the manuscript paper filled with simplified numbers, the two men opened the door and walked out.
As he walked out of the room, Su Xian saw a short woman standing behind Zhang Cuihua.
She was wearing a set of Liu Huixiang's half-worn clothes, which seemed a little big for her. Her hair was wet and draped over her shoulders. Her face was very thin, but her facial features were pretty. Her skin was not as fair and tender as Liu Huixiang's, but it was also of average quality!
She has a very good figure, but she is too thin.
If you ignore Yang Zhilan's motionless body and expressionless face, she looks like a little girl next door.
"Not bad, you seem like a different person after taking a bath." Su Xian commented, pinching his chin.
Yang Zhilan turned her head slightly and looked at Su Xian. When she met his scrutinizing gaze, a trace of shame appeared on her face, which had not changed in thousands of years, and she lowered her head slightly.
Liu Huixiang, who was standing next to Su Xian, was all smiles. In her opinion, this cousin would definitely become a little beauty if she took care of herself for some time and put on some makeup!
She was just about to say this, but at this moment, Yang Zhilan quietly walked from behind Zhang Cuihua to Su Xian's side and stood there. The distance between her and Su Xian was even closer than the distance between her and Su Xian!
Well……
Liu Huixiang's smile froze, and she felt a sense of alertness for no reason.
But then she thought again: "Perhaps, my cousin has just arrived and is unfamiliar with the place, so she can only rely on her cousin, Master Su... This makes sense."
As soon as she thought about it, her vigilance disappeared, and a smile reappeared on her pretty face. She then took a step forward and said with a smile, "Cousin, please follow me into the house. My clothes from previous years are smaller, so they may be more suitable for you."
Yang Zhilan remained unmoved and turned to look at Su Xian.
Su Xian instructed, "Go ahead. By the way, don't be petty and annoy Madam Liu."
Yang Zhilan nodded and followed Liu Huixiang into the boudoir, and the door slammed shut.
Women can't change clothes that quickly, so Su Xian went downstairs and sat down at a small wooden table against the wall to wait. Zhang Cuihua brought a cup of tea and then sat aside to chat with Su Xian.
Zhang Cuihua is also a wonderful person. She revealed in her idle chat that Liu Huixiang had a secret crush on him, and then she tried various ways to test Su Xian...
As Su Xian chatted with her, he recalled what happened that night.
Chastity was very important to women in ancient times, especially for women like Liu Huixiang who came from a scholarly family. She even valued it more than her life!
The solution to this problem is actually very simple, just marry her.
It just so happened that Liu Huixiang had a secret crush on him, and Su Xian also had that feeling for her, so they were a perfect match and hit it off immediately.
But, the same old question...
Oh, that's not right!
Su Xian's heart was suddenly shocked.
Today he sent the jade token symbolizing his identity as an inner guard to the county government office, helping Tang Ju solve a huge problem. The reward of one thousand taels and being treated as an honored guest by Tang Ju were already set in stone.
In other words, Su Xian’s second small goal was achieved!
Gained a certain degree of self-protection power!
This small goal is the biggest obstacle for Su Xian to accept Liu Huixiang's affection.
Now it's gone.
Su Xian's eyes sparkled as he rubbed his hands together, thinking about how to break up his relationship with Liu Huixiang.
But when he thought about it a little more deeply, he couldn't help but frown.
There would be a lot of obstacles to accomplish this. Not to mention Liu Huixiang's bad reputation, if he married a widow of 25 or 26, he would probably be unacceptable to the world, or at least cause gossip...
