Chapter 381 Sitting on my lap, held in my arms

Pei Yuan looked at Ling Ce suspiciously.

"You're not afraid of settling accounts, and you don't want to do it with her, so you're just looking for trouble and deliberately picking a fight with me at the door, are you?"

"That's not surprising. Judging from your appearance, you don't seem to be very bright, so it's understandable that you can't figure out the math."

These words struck Ling Ce squarely at his weak point.

It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting.

His face immediately darkened. "Pei Laoliu, don't talk nonsense. Who said I can't do the math?"

"I stopped you at the door because you were here, and I was afraid you'd disturb my junior sister. Otherwise, I'd be inside doing accounts right now."

*Pfft*

Han Feng, who was sitting calmly by the door embroidering, couldn't help but laugh.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the boastful Ling Ce with a smile.

Where's your face?

Ling Ce straightened his back and puffed out his chest.

He didn't care about saving face; after all, he was wearing A-Chu's face anyway, so he had no psychological burden.

Ling Ce snorted coldly.

"Anyway, Junior Sister is busy right now, so don't even think about seeing her. You should explain about your secret lover first."

Pei Yuan rubbed his forehead. "What do you mean by 'hidden beauty'? I don't have any hidden beauty. She's already left Yangzhou."

I will also return to the capital as soon as possible to settle this matter, so before returning to the capital, I would like to see A-Chu one last time.”

Ling Ce snorted, "That's more like it."

Pei Yuan stepped forward. "Can I see A-Chu now?"

Ling Ce was still somewhat reluctant to move aside.

Ever since he met Pei Laoliu, he has always been the one who suffers setbacks, and there has been a rare time when he can get the upper hand over Pei Laoliu.

How could he let him off so easily?

Clearing his throat, Ling Ce was about to make his outrageous request.

Pei Yuan suddenly called out, "Miss Li, what brings you here?"

Ling Ce subconsciously straightened up and looked ahead.

Where is Li Anning?

A figure flashed past him, and Pei Yuan slipped into the house with lightning speed.

Bang.

With a loud bang, the door slammed shut from the inside.

Ling Ce was so angry he jumped up and down, "Damn Pei Laoliu, get out here!"

Then came Han Feng's coaxing voice.

"Aren't you tired after talking for so long? Let's go, let's go have some tea to soothe our throats."

Ling Ce was dragged away by Han Feng while cursing.

It's finally quiet outside.

Pei Yuan turned to look at Shen Chu, who was writing furiously at her desk.

Shen Chu heard everything that was happening outside.

As she wrote down the accounts she had just calculated, she smiled and said, "My two senior brothers are just looking out for me and are worried about me. Don't get really angry with them."

Pei Yuan hummed in agreement, "I know."

It was precisely because he knew this that he didn't actually fight Ling Ce.

Chen Chu put down his brush and was about to rub his slightly sore wrists.

The next second, Pei Yuan's large hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.

His pressure was just right, pressing on the acupoints on the wrist with each stroke, and Shen Chu immediately felt the soreness in her wrist relieved a lot.

"You must be exhausted from doing so many accounts," Pei Yuan said, glancing at the thick stack of account books on the table.

The two boxes on the ground next to it also contained account books.

Seeing how many sheets there were to calculate, he felt a pang of heartache.

"Take a break, I'll help you with the calculations for a bit."

After saying that, before Shen Chu could say anything, he reached his long arm under her armpit and gently picked her up.

Pei Yuan sat down in the armchair and then placed Shen Chu on his lap.

Shen Chu had never sat sideways on a man's lap before, and her face flushed. She wanted to jump down.

"Don't move."

Pei Yuan wrapped his arms around her. "Be good, don't move. I'll help you settle the accounts."

His voice was deep and gentle, like a feather brushing against Chen Chu's heart.

Chen Chu's heart trembled, and a warmth rose from her neck, extending all the way to behind her ears.

She was held in Pei Yuan's arms, her nostrils filled with the refreshing and pleasant scent of cedar foliage emanating from him.

As her heart raced, she also felt inexplicably at ease and comfortable, so she gently leaned on Pei Yuan's shoulder and watched him deal with the account books.

Seeing that she had suddenly quieted down, Pei Yuan smiled slightly, lowered his head to kiss her, and said, "Good girl."

He had only intended to give her a light, fleeting kiss, but once his lips touched Shen Chu's, he found himself completely captivated.

He held Shen Chu tightly, their breaths mingling, and they couldn't help but kiss each other deeper and deeper.

Pei Yuan only let go of Shen Chu when she felt she could hardly breathe.

Her lips, now even redder from being moistened, parted slightly as she breathed in the fresh air. She couldn't help but shyly punch Pei Yuan's chest.

"Didn't you say you'd help me with the accounts? Hurry up and do it!"

Pei Yuan, a large wolfhound, smiled with extreme satisfaction and said indulgently, "Alright, it's settled then."

He held the ledger in one hand and a pen in the other, carefully examining the ledger.

Chen Chu leaned against him, slowly adjusting her breathing and heartbeat. Looking down, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise.

In such a short time, Pei Yuan had already finished calculating two pages.

You calculated that fast?

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that Pei Yuan hadn't used an abacus at all; he had simply calculated the number in each row at a glance and written it down directly.

She silently checked the numbers Pei Yuan had calculated and found that none of them were wrong.

"You don't even use an abacus to do your calculations?"

In response to her surprised question, Pei Yuan raised an eyebrow as he wrote numbers in the ledger.

"Is that strange? I haven't used an abacus since I was very young."

Shen Chu excitedly grabbed his hand, "You're proficient in mental arithmetic? Who taught you?"

Sensing the excitement in her voice, Pei Yuanfang looked down at her.

"Is this mental arithmetic? I've known it since I was a child, and I've never learned it from anyone."

Shen Chu bit her lip, suddenly feeling a little lost.

Pei Yuan noticed her emotions, put down his brush, and asked in a low voice, "Is there something wrong with this algorithm?"

Shen Chu shook her head and gave a slight smile.

"The so-called mental arithmetic is actually a simple method of calculation, but it is not a method that everyone knows."

She and her fellow disciples all knew how to do it because they learned it from their master when they were young.

My master once said that this method of mental arithmetic is something that almost no one in the world understands except for her.

Those who can understand and calculate quickly are child prodigies with exceptional calculation talent.

Coincidentally, she knew such a child prodigy.

Lu Zhan, her Zhan-gege (older brother Zhan).

But why does Pei Yuan also know this kind of algorithm? And he even said that he has known it since he was a child.

Pei Yuan frowned deeply after hearing Shen Chu's description.

"You mean my cousin Lu Zhan also knew mental arithmetic from a young age?"

Shen Chu nodded, "That's right, Brother Zhan showed amazing talent in calculation when he was five or six years old."

Once, at a banquet held at the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, someone deliberately made things difficult for the Duke by posing several very difficult arithmetic problems.

One of the problems goes like this: "There is a wall five feet thick, and two mice are going through it. The larger mouse gains one foot per day, and the smaller mouse also gains one foot per day. The larger mouse doubles its daily gain, and the smaller mouse halves its daily gain. Question: When will they meet?" (From *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*)

"At the time, no one present could figure it out. Just as the person who set the question was mocking Uncle Duke, Brother Zhan stepped forward."

He was probably not even six years old then, and he calmly said with his hands behind his back, "Three days."

As Shen Chu recalled Lu Zhan's past, her eyes crinkled with joy, and she began to talk incessantly, oblivious to Pei Yuan's increasingly strange expression.