After class, she went back to the welfare home to eat lunch, then slipped out again, using the excuse of going to the bookstore to look at reference books. But when she reached the intersection, she hesitated and walked in the opposite direction, wanting to go to Zhuanzhu Lane to see Lao Lin again.
What she was thinking was that, on weekends, most office workers should be on vacation, and if Lao Lin still lived there, there was a high chance that Lao Lin would be caught in a traffic jam.
But plans could not keep up with the changes. When she passed the small park near the school, she was stopped by a familiar figure and could not move forward.
At that time, a lot of people gathered under a camphor tree in the park. The first thing that caught Lin Chaoxi's attention was a hawker's voice: "This material of mine is given to every participant in the National Mathematical Olympiad. It is absolutely confidential..."
Then she saw her arrogant classmate Lu Zhihao standing at the outermost of the crowd with a small schoolbag on his back, standing on tiptoe, opening his little frog wallet, as if counting money.
Lin Chaoxi took two quick steps, patted his left shoulder, and walked to his right side and asked, "What are you doing?"
Xiao Lu's face trembled violently, and he was shocked: "Are you crazy?"
"Hush!" Lin Chaoxi put his index finger on his lips to signal Xiao Lu to keep his voice down, and then asked quietly, "What's the matter?"
Xiao Lu looked dazed. He glanced at the young man who was hawking under the tree and said, "It's none of your business. Go away."
Lin Chaoxi stood on tiptoe and looked in the direction he was looking and saw a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
The man combed his hair behind his ears and fixed it with hair gel. He wore a suit, and looked shiny and sleek, which was very eye-catching. On the trunk of the camphor tree was a small blackboard with a few math problems written on it. There was also a big banner next to it, with the words "King of Mental Arithmetic" written on it, and the font was more dashing than "Chen Dayan Grilled Squid".
Shortly after school was over, parents picked up their children who had just finished their interest classes. Many people were watching. Most of them were elderly people. They were stunned by the man who taught them "mental arithmetic". They looked at their grandchildren and the man who was selling things, and their eyes seemed to be ready to pay.
Lin Chaoxi understood.
After the development of the Internet, this scam also deceived many parents. The most famous one is the "Zhou Genxiang Speedy Calculation" sold on TV shopping, which costs 1,380 yuan for a set of speed calculation methods. Going back to the 1980s and 1990s, Shi Fengshou Speedy Calculation was also popular for a long time, claiming to be able to develop the brain. It just took advantage of the simple wish of parents to make their children successful, and created a shortcut on the road to mathematics, which attracted many parents.
In fact, there are no shortcuts.
"Last time, a parent came to thank me and said that he bought my book for his son to study. His son later won a gold medal in the Jin Cup Olympiad and insisted on giving me money. Do you know why he gave me money?" The sleek man drawled out his words, and a ray of light slid across his glasses.
"He said he wanted to buy out my method by giving me a large sum of money. I would not be able to sell my algorithm anymore, and his son would have no competitors..."
“That’s too bad.”
"This kind of person is so bad."
The grandpas and grandmas who were listening in started shouting, and I wonder if there were any hired agents by Mr. "The King of Mental Arithmetic".
The mental arithmetic king said: "But I didn't agree. I also think that this kind of person has bad intentions. My mental arithmetic is to benefit more students. Money is not important to me. I have too much money. I hope more children can learn math well. So my price is very low, 100 yuan, 100 yuan for a set."
He then held up a booklet, the copperplate cover gleaming in the sunlight. On his right was a woman collecting money, one banknote for a "secret book". An elderly person had already started paying, and the fat boy Lu Zhihao swallowed his saliva, held the banknote tightly, and stared at the "Mental Arithmetic King Secret Book", as if he was making a final struggle.
Lin Chaoxi saw it all. After the first few people paid their money and left with the booklets, the woman next to the mental arithmetic king said nervously, "Teacher Zhang, there are not many books left. I only brought 30 books this time. You see..."
This sentence was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.
A few elderly people became anxious and wanted to go up to pay.
The little fat boy gritted his teeth and was about to dive into the crowd, but Lin Chaoxi grabbed him and shook his head.
"What are you doing!" Lu Zhihao tried hard to break free from her hand.
"That's a liar." Lin Chaoxi's voice was neither loud nor low, but loud enough for many people around to hear.
"You understand it again!" Lu Zhihao was very impatient, but he stopped and looked at her suspiciously.
The crowd was silent for a moment, and there was a brief moment of awkwardness under the tree.
Everyone was looking at Lin Chaoxi, including the "mental arithmetic king" Mr. Zhang.
The mental arithmetic king stood in the middle of the crowd, and he couldn't see clearly who was calling him a liar. But the voice was crisp and sweet, and it sounded like it was from an elementary school girl. An elementary school student, or a girl, what was he afraid of?
"Little girl, you are too impulsive to speak like that. You will understand when you grow up. People who talk nonsense like this will suffer in society."
Generally speaking, after he said this, ordinary people would know how powerful he was and would not meddle in other people's business and would just keep their mouths shut. However, outside the crowd, the smiling voices continued to ask: "Teacher Zhang, since you want to benefit the students, why don't you give it away for free?"
Mental Arithmetic King: "Little girl, knowledge is power. There is no such thing as a free lunch. If something is too cheap, will you not cherish it?"
"You mean the knowledge of Arthur Benjamin and the power of Michael Sheldon?"
The girl's voice was clear, like the sparkling water of a lake under the sun, but it sounded extremely harsh to the mental arithmetic king. He pushed his glasses and saw a little girl walking out from behind the crowd.
He narrowed his eyes and scanned the little girl from head to toe. He originally thought that she was a well-informed child from a wealthy family, but what he saw was a little girl with tattered clothes, worn shoes and bags, who was not even as tall as his chest.
The little girl exuded a sour air all over her body, except for her eyes, which were very interesting. They were black and shiny, and seemed to be smiling but not smiling, full of sarcasm.
"What's wrong?" asked the King of Mental Arithmetic.
Looking at the look on the King of Mental Arithmetic's face, Lin Chaoxi knew that the reason for saying "what's wrong" was because he really didn't know who these two people were. She suddenly couldn't say what she had been thinking about. She mentioned the names of these two people because they had co-authored a book that systematically summarized various mental arithmetic methods. She had once been forced to read it by Old Lin, so she remembered it very clearly.
Now, she glanced at the doubtful grandpas and grandmas around her, wondering how she could make them believe what she was going to say next. But after a moment, she realized that the doubtful eyes of the grandpas and grandmas were not directed at the King of Mental Arithmetic, but at her, (parentheses), mainly at her back. She just remembered that there were the words "Red Star Primary School" on the back of her school uniform. As a student from a poor school, perhaps it was not credible no matter how she said it.
"It's like this. I've read a mental arithmetic book written by these two people before. It's available at Xinhua Bookstore. It's only 17.5. I wonder if it's very different from Teacher Zhang's book?" She wasn't actually sure whether the version of the mental arithmetic king was copied from the book co-authored by these two people, but she glanced at the equation "13×13×13=2197" on the small blackboard and continued, "I remember it mentioned a cubic algorithm formula. I wonder if you used this formula to calculate it so quickly, 13×13×13 = (13-3)×13×(13+3)+3×3×13, which is 2197." She paused. The mental arithmetic king's face was already not looking good. There were slight doubts around him. She took a breath, smiled and asked, "There is also a method of counting with finger joints. I wonder if your book has it..."
The King of Mental Arithmetic really interrupted her: "Have you read my book?"
"No, I'm poor and can't afford it. Your book is too expensive," she said.
The people watching around were all grandpas and grandmas, who were more concerned about counting money than the young people.
“It seems a bit expensive.”
“How many books can you buy with 100 yuan?”
They were whispering to each other, and some even took their grandchildren to go to the Xinhua Bookstore to have a look.
The King of Mental Arithmetic's face turned pale and he said nothing.
Lin Chaoxi decided to quit while he was ahead and was ready to slip away while Lord Wang, the calculation master, wasn't paying attention.
However, her small world is still no match for the "old world".
As soon as she turned around, she heard the mental arithmetic king say, "You are very good, kid. Did you learn the value of 92960675÷78 in the mental arithmetic book you are reading?"
Lin Chaoxi stopped and understood. Teacher Zhang had been in the business for many years and had certainly encountered many people who wanted to mess up things. He had already prepared many ways to deal with them, such as memorizing the answer to a random arithmetic problem to prove that he was indeed an expert in fast calculation.
She turned around, raised her head slightly and looked at the man's smug face, unable to answer for a moment.
It was very quiet around, with only the rustling sound of wind blowing through the camphor trees. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for her answer.
Lin Chaoxi pursed her lips and frowned. Just when she was about to say "I don't know", a very clear and calm boy's voice sounded from outside the crowd.
"1191803.525641."
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