After Su Tao wrote down some numbers, he looked up and said calmly, "Village Chief, I'm calculating now. I'll be done soon."
What? Calculating? The village chief was a little confused. You haven't even used paper yet. You don't use an abacus, but you used paper like yesterday. You can tell the answer just by looking.
Look at the other person over there, their abacus is whirring, a busy air. And you, on the other hand, look like you're leisurely reading a book. How can you be calculating? The village chief was a little discouraged. He had thought he had a good grasp of the situation, but now he had lost all confidence.
He Xinyi kept glancing at Su Tao while she worked on her abacus, a smug smile curling her lips. "I'll let you pretend, but your usual skills are just so-so. Now you can't compete in a live competition anymore, right? Besides his ugly face, Su Tao is nothing but a fool. Just wait to be her stepping stone."
The crowd below was also whispering to each other.
"Isn't Su Taotao stupid looking at the accounts? He can't even use an abacus, and he's trying to calculate the accounts."
"She hasn't been made the accountant yet. If she undercounts our work points, who can we turn to?"
Hu Xiao was anxious in the crowd, muttering to himself, "Come on, Su Taotao, you can do it."
He Chuan frowned, not understanding what Su Tao was saying. He had calculated so quickly yesterday, there was no way he couldn't calculate anything today. Never mind, at worst, he could just keep cutting grass for the pigs. With him anyway, no work points would matter.
He Xinyi had already figured out most of it and victory was within her grasp.
"That's it, I'm done." A crisp voice cut across the square.
A sudden silence fell over the square. Who had finished the calculation? Su Taotao? She hadn't even used an abacus, just written a few numbers on it and finished calculating. The silence was followed by another uproar.
The team leader picked up the loud speaker and shouted, "Be quiet! Wait until He Zhiqing finishes his calculations so we can verify the answer together."
He Xinyi was also surprised. How could Su Taotao finish the calculation so quickly? She hadn't even used the abacus yet. Yes, she must have written it randomly. He Xinyi consoled herself, then calmed down and continued to calculate the problem. "I've finished it too."
"Okay, now please ask the village head and the party secretary to come together and verify the answer for us two educated youths."
After reading the two people's answers, the village chief and the party secretary were stunned and silent for a long time. After a while, they came back to their senses and announced, "He Xinyi, you got one question wrong. Su Taotao... got all the answers right!"
The whole audience roared again.
The winner was Su Taotao? How is that possible?
He Xinyi rushed forward like crazy and snatched the question from the village chief's hand. With a ferocious expression, she kept muttering, "Impossible, impossible, she must have cheated. She knew the answer in advance."
"Yes, she must have known the answer in advance." He Xinyi pointed at Su Tao and shouted crazily.
"Are you questioning the impartiality of the village chief and the party secretary? The questions were randomly selected by the villagers on the scene." The team leader shouted.
"Well, Su Tao, explain to me how you figured it out?" The village chief turned and shouted at Su Tao. He was also surprised that Su Tao could write down the answer directly without even using an abacus or paper.
Su Tao smiled sweetly and said, "Village Chief, I'm doing mental arithmetic. The abacus in my mind is faster than using it physically." Su Tao wasn't exactly a 21st-century academic, but he was certainly an elite. He might not remember many of his lessons, but math is something you never forget once you learn it. It's something you use every day, and your proficiency will only grow.
Su Tao took a few more questions and used an abacus to calculate them for everyone to see. Only then did everyone really believe that she was proficient in arithmetic.
In reality, Su Tao had taken a shortcut. If she had used an abacus from the start, she certainly would have been able to solve the problem, but she probably wouldn't have been as fast as He Xinyi. Instead of using abacus, she employed a more modern form of mental arithmetic, which enabled her to calculate quickly and accurately, finishing the problem before He Xinyi and winning the competition. Later, she demonstrated abacus arithmetic to the crowd, proving that she was also skilled at it and, more importantly, performing the calculations mentally, which further allayed the villagers' concerns.
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