When the pears are green

Chapter 154 Annoying Arithmetic

Song Li opened the gate in advance. She and Jiang Qingzhou stood at the gate waiting for Yang Yu to send Jiang Qingye and Song Xing back.

Many neighbors sat together and talked about this year's head tax. Everyone said they didn't expect it to be reduced, as long as it didn't increase. Then everyone looked at Jiang Qian's family with envy. Zhang Ying gave birth to a boy, and this year the head tax for the three adults in Jiang Qian's family would be exempted.

"Don't look at other people. If the second son passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, I heard that not only will their family not have to do labor service, but they will also not have to pay land taxes. Oh, I don't know how much silver it costs to support a scholar." Neighbor Aunt Li sighed, looking at her youngest son who was running around on the side of the road without any worries.

A young woman Song Li was not familiar with continued Aunt Li's words: "Aunt, stop dreaming. Look at your Jiang Shui and then look at Jiang Erhu. Others are sitting in the school studying, but your family is still playing in the mud, aren't they?"

The young woman's words made several other women laugh. Aunt Li couldn't hold back her anger and cursed in a low voice, "Wang Chunyan, I didn't say anything about you, but you came to drag me down, you useless woman who can't even give birth to a son."

Wang Chunyan grabbed Aunt Li's hair angrily and the two of them started to wrestle.

Song Li watched and shook her head. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart that where there are people, there is right and wrong, and where there is right and wrong, there are fights.

The fight between the women had just ended when Yang Yu appeared in the sight of Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou, pulling a cart.

The two of them hurried over, Jiang Qingzhou took the cart and continued to pull it forward, while Song Xing and Jiang Qingye continued to push it from behind.

Song Li hurried home to get some water. She had prepared hot water in advance and it was just right for drinking now.

"Thank you so much, Master Yang. Have a glass of water." At Song Li's signal, Song Xing brought a glass of water from the kitchen and handed it to Yang Yu.

Yang Yu took it with a smile. He looked at Jiang Qingzhou who was moving the bedding and asked, "Madam Jiang, I want to ask when Xiaoxing will be home? My sister wants to go over to visit Sister Wu, but she doesn't know the way. I'm worried about her going alone, so I want her to go with Xiaoxing, just to get to know the way."

"Master, Xiaoxing will go back tomorrow, so you can ask your sister to wait for us at the stone tablet tomorrow, around the same time as the last time we met you. There's no need to go too early." Song Li replied quickly. She also said that Wuzhuang Village was quite far away and it would take about two hours to get there.

"Thank you, Madam Jiang, for telling me. It's getting late, so I'll take my leave now." Seeing that all the things on the cart had been unloaded, Yang Yu pushed the cart and said goodbye to the four people from the Jiang family.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly took out two pumpkins from the kitchen and put them on the cart. He told Yang Yu, "Master, these are grown by our family. Thank you for sending Qingye and Xiaoxing here."

Yang Yu had no choice but to accept it. Before leaving, he specifically told Song Xing and Jiang Qingye not to forget to review their lessons.

Song Xing and Jiang Qingye sent Yang Yu to the village entrance. After they came back, they took out a note from their respective bags and handed it to Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou who were chatting in the yard.

Song Li took the note from Song Xing, glanced at it briefly, and then frowned. She didn't expect that she would see the familiar classic math problems "chickens and rabbits in the same cage" and "when will they meet" again after a thousand years. She recalled that when she was in school, these two problems left a shadow on her that was no less than "when water is added and pumped out at the same time, when will the pool be full?"

Jiang Qingzhou saw Song Li frowning, and he curiously took the note from Jiang Qingye's hand.

"Now there are young rabbits in a cage. There are thirty-five heads on top and ninety-four legs below. How many of each rabbit are there?"

"Now there is a wall five feet thick, and two rats are crossing it. The older rat goes one foot a day, and the younger rat also goes one foot a day. The older rat doubles its length each day, and the younger rat halves its length each day. When will they meet again?"

"Write a five-character or seven-character quatrain on the theme of autumn."

After Jiang Qingzhou finished reading, he returned the note to Jiang Qingye, then smiled and said that he would go to cook and let the three of them slowly think about how to solve the problem.

Song Li stared at the note and asked curiously, "Was this question left by Master Li or Master Yang?"

"Sister-in-law, it was left by Master Yang. He said he saw it from Sun Tzu's Mathematical Classic and Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art when he was studying in the county school. The master also said that he would teach us more difficult mathematics and history when school starts again." Jiang Qingye replied with a sigh. He was also confused after seeing it and didn't know where to start.

Song Li originally thought that the library only taught students the Four Books and Five Classics, but she didn't expect that they also taught other things. Because the question required multiplication, she asked, "In that case, have you learned the multiplication formula?"

"Multiplication formula?" Song Xing didn't know what Song Li was talking about, and he shook his head in confusion.

Jiang Qingye had learned it from Song Li at home before. He pushed Song Xing and told him, "It's the multiplication table that Master Yang taught us, from ninety-nine equals eighty-one to two and a half equals one."

"Oh, so that's it. That means I've learned it." Song Xing answered again.

Song Li was amused by Song Xing. She handed the note to Song Xing and told them to clean up their respective rooms first and study together after dinner.

After Yang Yu returned home, he first pushed the cart to the wall, then took the pumpkins off the cart and put them in the kitchen.

Yang Yu handed the pumpkin to Yang Jing who was cooking, and then said with a smile: "Jing'er, go to Wuzhuang Village to see Mingshu tomorrow. You have a good relationship with her. We have moved to a new house, so we must inform her. If she goes to the previous address to look for you again, it will be bad if she runs into Yang Cheng."

"Third brother, you actually call her Mingshu. Don't you think it's a bit inappropriate?" Yang Jing didn't listen to what Yang Yu said next. She was surprised that Yang Yu, who always knew his limits, actually called Wu Mingshu Mingshu.

Yang Yu smiled and explained to Yang Jing: "Jing'er, she is younger than me, I can't still call her sister-in-law or Sister Wu. Besides, she and I are familiar with each other, isn't it appropriate to call her by her name?"

Yang Yu spoke frankly, so Yang Jing didn't think much about it. She lowered her head and said embarrassedly: "But Third Brother, I don't know where Sister Mingshu's house is?"

"Tomorrow you will go with my student Song Xing. He is the younger brother of Madam Jiang whom you met last time, and the future brother-in-law of Mingshu's third brother." Yang Yu repeated his conversation with Song Li to Yang Jing. Yang Jing also missed Wu Mingshu, so she did not object.

After Yang Yu came out of the kitchen, he walked over to Yang Zhang who was spinning in the yard and asked, "Mother, how much is a piece of this fine cotton fabric you're spinning?"

"Yang Yu, don't always play tricks on me. I also heard your conversation with Jing'er just now. You said you had moved, so what do you want to do this time?" Yang Zhang angrily put down the spindle in her hand. She began to blame Yang Yu's father for dying at the wrong time. How could Yang Yu, who was still in mourning, really have to force Wu Mingshu and Yang Cheng to divorce.

Yang Zhang once again believed that this was fate. She was ready to break off completely with Yang Cheng's family, and she didn't want her son to regret it all his life.

Yang Yu quickly bent down to massage Yang Zhang's shoulders. He smiled and replied, "Mother, I thought Jing'er couldn't go empty-handed. I'll buy some fine cotton from you and let Jing'er take it to her. Tell me the price."

"Yang Yu, Yang Yu, weren't you calling her Mingshu just now? Why are you calling her her now? Give me one penny of silver and I will sell you a horse. Why do I have a son as stubborn as you? Don't always take advantage of Jing'er. You should find a chance to confess to Jing'er." Yang Zhang scolded Yang Yu in a low voice. She pinched Yang Yu's arm angrily, and Yang Yu cried out in pain.

Yang Zhang kicked Yang Yu again and asked him to get the silver.

"Mother is so heartless." Yang Yu rubbed his arm and walked towards his room. He opened his purse and took out a small piece of silver.

Yang Yu handed the change to Yang Zhangshi, who weighed it in her hand. Although it was less than one penny, it was not much less. She happily went to her room and picked up a piece of fine linen.