The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 434 - 423 Question 1

Chapter 434: Chapter 423 Question 1

Mr. Zhuang smiled slightly and said, "Look carefully, and let’s see if you’ll understand in the end."

Old Master Bai, however, squinted his eyes with a smile.

Using a measure, one could not only check the condition of each seed, but also avoid shaking the measure—after pouring, the pointy top could yield twelve jin or even twelve and a half jin. Experienced people, like the tax collectors at the County Governmental Office, could even make it thirteen jin with one pour.

Old Master Bai decided he would use the measure for all the grain he took to Zhou’s house later.

However, while he could be strictly business with Zhou’s family, there was no need to be so stringent with the three children, so he would strike a balance—half and half—just to teach them a lesson.

Old Master Bai felt reinvigorated, having gained the upper hand in the situation again.

The wheat they moved out was placed on the ground, and the hired hand came forward to untie the bag. Old Master Bai’s steward was prepared, taking a measure and stepping forward, followed by a servant with an empty bag.

As they worked in tandem, the steward poured the grain into the bag with a swift motion, and together with Manor Head Bai, he announced "one" before continuing.

They called a number for each measure, and once a bag was filled, any amount not completing a measure was set aside to be included in the next bag. Meanwhile, Old Master Bai’s accountant and Bai Erlang each noted a number in their respective ledgers.

Sitting to one side, Manbao and Bai Shanbao made notches with their counting rods.

Recently, Bai Erlang also began to learn how to use counting rods, though Mr. Zhuang did not impose strict requirements on him; if he felt like learning, he learned, and if not, he would stop.

Because Mr. Zhuang thought his arithmetic skills were not yet advanced enough for counting rods, he had tightened his oversight on Bai Erlang’s math ever since he bought a set of rods.

Unaware that his Senior Sister and Senior Brother had led him astray, Bai Erlang felt that his teacher had become particularly lenient, always smiling at him during counting rod lessons, never finding fault with him.

So, he was somewhat enthusiastic about things like bookkeeping lately.

When they started measuring the second bag, Manbao became a bit bored and, looking around, decided to calculate the price of the fourteen measures of grain they had measured out so far.

To save space, the hemp sacks used for storing the wheat were the largest size, holding about one dan, roughly one hundred and sixty to seventy jin.

In contrast, the hemp sacks typically used by farmers were much smaller. Manbao, who had often helped her own family count grain during tax payment, knew that a sack held about one hundred jin or so.

One measure was worth one hundred fifty wen, so fourteen measures would be...

Manbao fumbled with the counting rods, looking at the number she calculated.

She blinked in doubt, "Is it really that much?"

Bai Shanbao leaned over to take a look and simply recalculated. To their surprise, they found their calculated numbers were exactly the same.

Did that mean they got it right?

They exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Wow!"

Bai Erlang immediately became distracted and moved closer, asking, "What’s going on, what happened?"

Manbao immediately had him note the money on the ledger, "Just write down two thousand one hundred wen. Later we can just add it using the counting rods, and there will be no need to multiply again."

"Exactly, it’ll be a bit quicker that way," Bai Shan agreed, showing Bai Erlang an example by writing "money two thousand one hundred wen" after the total of fourteen measures for the first sack.

Old Master Bai exchanged looks with Mr. Zhuang and immediately turned to the servant behind him, commanding, "Go get another measure. One person measuring is too slow; we need two people at it."

With an additional group of people, the three children became somewhat flustered; they had just finished measuring one sack when Manor Head Bai announced a number, and Bai Erlang had not yet finished writing when the other group completed theirs.

The overseer in charge of supervision announced their number too, and then they continued with the next sack.

Bai Erlang’s hand couldn’t help but tremble slightly, his lips muttering numbers, and as soon as he finished writing down Manor Head Bai’s number, he quickly noted the overseer’s, afraid of forgetting it after he finished.

Then Bai Shan and Manbao, on the side, used counting rods to calculate the money total. Sometimes, when their calculations matched, Bai Erlang would record it; if they differed, they recalculated.

That meant they had to calculate at least two sets of numbers each time.

But they had only been learning the counting rods for a few days. They might know the multiplication tables by heart, but they were still slow and hesitant when manipulating the rods.

Each time, before Bai Erlang could even finish writing down their numbers, the measuring group would announce new ones.

Bai Erlang, too busy to wipe the sweat from his brow, was helped by Bai Shan and Manbao, who took out pen and paper to assist. Each took charge of recording one group’s numbers; they noted them on the side, and once Bai Erlang was done with the previous entries, he copied them over.

The two were distracted as they took notes while calculating, all the while incessantly nagging Bai Erlang, "You write too slowly; you have to speed up."

Manbao said, "I told you to practice regularly. You never take notes during Mr. Zhuang’s lessons, otherwise, how could your writing be so slow?"

Old Master Bai glanced at his son and snorted but said nothing.

But Bai Erlang was too busy to care about his father’s opinion and didn’t even hear the snort.

Watching the children’s chaotic frenzy, Old Master Bai’s lips curled up in pleasure. Once they got the hang of the pace, he signaled to the steward and others to speed up.

The children were busy again, but fortunately, not as disorganized as before; they were busy but methodical.

Old Master Bai watched with mixed feelings.

As an observer, he could see that much of the orderly calm amid the chaos was thanks to Shanbao and Manbao taking control, one managing each side. After recording the data, they would calculate together, and only when both agreed would they note down the figure. In this way, in the end, his son only needed to copy down the numbers given by the two sides.

Old Master Bai had a couple of chairs brought over and sat under the eaves with Mr. Zhuang, each holding a cup of hot tea in his hands, enjoying the spectacle and occasionally sighing.

Mr. Zhuang sipped his tea with a smile, thinking that Bai Er had improved greatly compared to the previous year, which was undoubtedly influenced by the small classroom setting that allowed him to pay more attention to the boy.

It was also because Manbao and Shanbao now often included him in their play.

In the past, there were many students in the school, and Bai Er had his close friends, while Manbao and Bai Shan had classmates they got along with well.

After school and classes, everyone had their own groups.

But after the school was gone, the social circles of the three, or rather the two groups, coincidentally overlapped.

On rainy days, Manbao and Shanbao would follow Bai Er to catch loaches in the fields, and when it rained, Bai Er would sit with them in the study room to read and write.

Bai Er made progress in his studies, while Shanbao and Manbao became better integrated with the children of Qili Village of similar ages. The impact was mutual.

Bag by bag, the wheat was opened and measured into another sack, and Bai Er’s ledger turned one page after another.

When about half the wheat was estimated to be measured, Old Master Bai had the rest tied on the scales to be weighed directly.

This measurement was calculated differently than before, using a rate of twelve and a half wen per jin, a half-wen that gave Bai Shan and Manbao quite a headache.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.