"Pfft—Siya, it's not good for a little girl to lie!"
Meng Wenyuan didn't believe a word Siya said, thinking she was lying, and he laughed while clutching his stomach.
"I'm not lying! Don't underestimate us!" Si Ya said angrily. "If you don't believe me, you can give me a quiz!"
Seeing how serious she was, Meng Wenyuan casually asked her a question: "Chinese cabbage costs three coins per pound. How much would it cost to buy twenty-five pounds?"
Without a second thought, Si Ya said, "Seventy-five coins in total!"
"Wow, you actually know how to do math!" Meng Wenyuan was a little surprised, but since the question was very simple, he didn't think much of it and just assumed that Siya had done a lot of business and had just done similar questions.
"This question is too easy. How about I give you a harder one?"
Si Ya raised her head proudly: "Pay, pay whatever you want!"
In order to save face, Meng Wenyuan was not careless this time. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, and deliberately thought of a complicated question before speaking again.
"The cabbage was still three coins a pound. Aunt Li had a total of two hundred coins in capital. She bought 50 pounds of cabbage at three coins a pound, then sold it for five coins a pound. Finally, she bought eight pounds of honeydew melons at eight coins a pound. How much money did Aunt Li have left in the end?"
This problem involves not only multiplication but also addition and subtraction, and it's quite convoluted. For the Great Sheng Dynasty, whose arithmetic skills are not high, it's not an easy problem.
Even Meng Wenyuan himself needed to use paper and pen or an abacus to calculate it.
He didn't believe that a girl as young as Siya could calculate something out of thin air.
Sure enough, when Siya heard the question, she frowned and didn't answer as quickly as before.
Meng Wenyuan grinned, intending to tease Siya, but before he could speak, Siya slapped her thigh and announced a number.
"236 coins!"
"Aunt Li had 236 coins left!"
Meng Wenyuan was stunned.
He had done this question before in college, so he knew the correct answer was 236!
"You, you can actually do math, and you're so good at it! You calculated it so quickly without using an abacus or paper and pen. Could it be that you have a special talent for math?"
Siya rolled her eyes without giving her any face: "What special talent? The question you gave was so simple, my whole family could have calculated it just as quickly!"
It's already remarkable that one person in the family is so good at math; how could the whole family be so fast?
Meng Wenyuan didn't believe it, but when she took out the questions she had done before and tested them one by one, she found that what Siya said was the truth!
Everyone in the Liang family could mentally calculate the result in a short time without using any tools.
Meng Wenyuan suddenly questioned his existence: "Am I just too bad, or are you guys just too amazing?"
Siya laughed heartily: "Of course it's because you're too weak! I thought the son of the academy's headmaster would be so amazing, but he's nothing special!"
Meng Wenyuan: "..."
Seeing that Meng Wenyuan's hard-won confidence was about to be crushed again by Siya, Wan Shu quickly suppressed the smile on her lips and tried to smooth things over.
"Alright, alright, Siya, stop teasing him."
Wan Shu looked at Meng Wenyuan and said, "It's not that you're too bad, nor that we're too amazing, but the multiplication table is just too useful."
Actually, when we first started the business, the five kids in the family weren't good at math and often miscalculated the amount of money when setting up the stall, which caused them to lose money.
However, Wan Shu knew that they had done a good job without any prior learning experience.
So she didn't scold them, but instead taught them the multiplication table in her spare time.
Multiplication tables are not difficult to memorize. In addition, there were few entertainment options in ancient times, so people would memorize them when they were bored. Over time, their mental arithmetic skills became very strong.
Meng Wenyuan was completely bewildered: "The multiplication table? What's that?"
It's hard to explain just by talking, so Wan Shu simply found a wooden stick and wrote it down on the cement floor.
"This is the multiplication table. I obtained it by chance from a master. I found it very useful, so I taught it to Siya and the others."
Meng Wenyuan stared at the multiplication table on the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief: "This is not just easy to use, it's simply amazing! I've never seen such a simple and convenient way of calculating!"
He asked Wan Shu somewhat embarrassedly, "Aunt Liang, this is such a good method, can I learn it too? Also... if I can return to the academy in the future, I would like to teach this method to the students, and then have them spread it so that when the multiplication table is widely available, there won't be so many farmers being cheated."
"This is a good thing, why would I refuse?" Wan Shu said generously, "This wasn't my own idea, but rather..."
Wan Shu wanted to talk about a nation, but was afraid of revealing too much information, so she had to change her words.
"This is actually the culmination of a family's wisdom. The family invented this method to benefit the public and make everyone's life more convenient. You just need to learn and teach."
"Thank you, Aunt Liang!"
Meng Wenyuan initially agreed with delight, but then became somewhat emotional.
"I promised to use my talents to repay you, but not only did I not get to repay you, I also have to learn from you while being fed and taken advantage of. It's really..."
Meng Wenyuan looked ashamed, but unlike before, he didn't completely dejected after a moment of sadness.
He was only emotional for a short while before quickly cheering himself up again.
"But don't worry, I definitely won't just stay here and do nothing. I'll think carefully over the next few days about how I can use my talents to help you!"
It seems this child has completely adjusted his mindset.
In that case, it's time for him to play his proper role!
Wan Shu smiled and said, "Speaking of which, I happen to have an idea that can both utilize your talents and do us a great favor."
Meng Wenyuan hurriedly asked, "What are your thoughts?"
Wan Shu: "I want you to give Dazhu and the others their first education and teach them to read."
“Teaching someone who has never received any formal education takes at least several years to be effective.” Meng Wenyuan seemed to finally understand something, and his face immediately turned red: “Aunt Liang, I didn’t expect you to like me so much, and want me to stay here for several years!”
Wan Shu: "..." I really didn't expect that Meng Wenyuan was not only an emo prince, but also a narcissistic prince.
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