Volume 1 In the Countryside Chapter 23: I'll throw money at you
Because the second question gave him a warning, Lu Sanlang, who had just thought the first question was easy, no longer dared to underestimate these questions. He took down the bamboo boards one by one, looked at them carefully, and hung them back one by one, his brows furrowed.
Liu Yin originally planned to continue watching the fun from the sidelines, but when Qi Liang couldn't hold back and winked at her for the third time, she finally said reluctantly and slowly, "Mr. Lu San, take your time to solve the problem. I'm leaving first. If I don't go back, the young lady won't be able to find me and will be angry."
"Okay, take care." Lu Sanlang said this, but his eyes didn't move away. Anyway, he didn't really want to please Miss Zhu, so he didn't care what Liu Yin thought of him.
It’s best not to be there, he can still concentrate on solving the problem!
At this moment, he took back the second bamboo card and racked his brains to think about the solution to this problem. He was the youngest son that his father disliked the most, although he was the most beloved by his mother. However, he thought that he was born with talent and would be useful. He would make it back even if he lost all his money. However, he never found a good opportunity.
He didn't expect to take the exams to become a scholar, a juren or a jinshi, but as a person who was the best at mental arithmetic, he didn't believe that he couldn't solve these math problems!
When Zhang Shoudang in the bamboo house found that Liuyin turned away in annoyance, he was too lazy to hide his figure. He quietly moved to the window and looked at the fat and big-eared boy with interest.
In his initial conception, Lu Sanlang, the suitor that Zhu Ying disliked, should be a playboy who was well-fed all day long. He was just relying on his father's official position and his mother's favor, and was obsessed with the beauty of the rich girl, so he was so persistent.
So when seeing those difficult problems, this person's reaction should not be like this.
Lu Sanlang shouldn’t have been so angry and yelled - what do these questions have to do with the Four Books and Five Classics? Are these things made by humans?
Suddenly, he heard Lu Sanlang ask without even looking up: "Which problem did Miss Zhu solve?"
Qi Liang, who had been standing behind Lu Sanlang calmly, was stunned. He looked up in the direction of Zhang Shou and saw the young master smiling and nodding at him. He immediately replied in a very casual tone, "It's the first question that Mr. Lu San has seen."
"No wonder!"
Lu Sanlang then smiled with satisfaction and said, "I think she can only answer questions of that difficulty at best."
"The first question is very simple. The two carts traveled a total of 170 miles a day. On four of those days, they traveled for four full hours, which means a total of 680 miles. On the other three days, they traveled for only three hours a day, so the distance they traveled was naturally three quarters of the distance they traveled on each of the previous four days. Adding it all together, it's 382 and a half miles."
"So, the distance between the two cities is easy to calculate. It's a total of 1,062 and a half miles."
Qi Liang was not too surprised to hear this answer, so he nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Lu San got this question right."
He felt that this was an easy question for the young man!
Lu Sanlang looked unhappy and coughed softly again.
"The second question is a little bit harder, but it's not that difficult. The water inlet pipe takes in one-fifteenth of the entire pool every hour. The water outlet pipe takes out one-twenty-fourth of the entire pool every hour. First, only let the water in for two hours, so the water in will be two-fifteenths. Then, open both pipes at the same time, one in and one out, and the water in one hour will be one-fortieth of the entire pool."
"The remaining thirteen fifteenths of the pool, divided by the one fortieth of water that enters each hour, equals thirty-four and two-thirds hours. This is equivalent to two days plus ten and two-thirds hours."
This time, Zhang Shou couldn't help but suck his teeth. Although this was only the level of an elementary school student's problem in the future, Lu Sanlang didn't have any draft paper and calculated it directly in his mind. This level can be considered very good. At least, it was definitely not a pig's head!
He had just come up with this thought, but he saw Lu Sanlang suddenly smile and wink at Qi Liang.
"Mr. Qi, since you copied these questions, how many of them can you answer?"
If Lu Sanlang spoke with an arrogant attitude, it would inevitably make people feel uncomfortable, but at this time he was as friendly as a friend next door. In addition, it was rare to meet someone like him who could solve math problems. Qi Liang, who had just passed the county exam and could not even be called a student, unconsciously developed a sense of identification with Lu Sanlang, and of course a bit of pride.
"Of course I can solve these dozen questions."
Zhang Shou couldn't help laughing when he saw Qi Liang revealing some of the arrogance of a science nerd. He didn't even have time to worry whether the pampered Lu Sangongzi would be jealous because of this, he just saw someone suddenly reach out and hook Qi Liang's neck with a smile. At first glance, if he didn't know that the two met for the first time, he might have thought they were good friends.
Looking at the four or five Lu family followers who had turned their backs to Lu Sanlang early on and were looking at the bamboo forest, how could he not know that Lu Sanlang's behavior, which was completely different from what Zhu Ying described, was definitely not an act, but his true face?
"Brother Qi, how about we have a discussion?"
Lu Sanlang was already fat, and at this moment, he hooked Qi Liang, and even if Qi Liang struggled hard, he couldn't escape his clutches. And he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the sudden change of address, and smiled even more cunningly.
"Can you teach me how to solve the remaining questions? I have some ideas about a few questions, but I can't figure them out for the time being..."
Qi Liang was annoyed by Lu Sanlang's sudden action, especially when he heard the very soft voice in his ear. He was about to ask "Why", but he didn't expect Lu Sanlang to throw out a condition that he could hardly refuse.
"Five taels of silver for one question! There are twelve questions on this rope. If you help me solve all the questions in front of this room, I will give you sixty taels!"
Six...sixty taels? !
Thinking back to the time, his family owed a total of ten taels of silver in foreign debt, but it was this number that almost drove him to death!
Qi Liang took a deep breath, and finally managed to not let himself be overwhelmed by the money: "Mr. Lu San, this is not a good idea..."
"What's wrong with that? Why, are you worried that I will tell the old gentleman here? Only God and the earth know, and only you and I know!"
Lu Sanlang patted his chest as he spoke, then raised his head and looked around. It would have been fine if he hadn't looked, but when he looked, he found an old man in blue wearing a conical hat with a white veil hanging in front of the hat, who walked out of the Qingfeng Xulai Hall in the middle without any hurry.
The reason why he thought it was an old man... Didn't Liu Yin call the owner of this place "old gentleman"? Moreover, when he unconsciously let go of his hand, he saw from the corner of his eye that Qi Liang bowed respectfully to the visitor.
Almost in a flash, Mr. Lu San walked towards the visitor with a smile on his face.
"Old sir, Mr. Qi has just proved that I have solved two problems. According to your rules, can I stay here for two days? To be honest, I am very interested in mathematics. If possible, can you explain to me the bamboo board problems hanging in front of the bamboo house? I am willing to pay a tuition fee, so please help me!"
Since Qi Liang seemed a little resistant, he might as well just go and study under this old gentleman!
Zhang Shou was in a state of confusion. Although he wore a bamboo hat and a veil, and a pair of silk gloves that Zhu Ying had forced on him to prevent him from being exposed, he still felt a little awkward when he was called an old gentleman by everyone, even though he was a fake.
However, before he could pretend to be an old gentleman, Mr. Lu San showed the same momentum that he had just used to stun Qi Liang with money.
"I am willing to offer fifty pieces of Hangzhou silk and a set of four treasures of the study as a gift for my studies!"
Zhang Shou was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He was originally planning to slaughter a fat sheep, but now he felt like he was being hit by the fat sheep with money.
Although this unique feeling is really good...
