CHAPTER 410: CHAPTER 391: DAD SHOWS HIS SKILLS (1)

After Mr. Song introduced the new teacher, Prince Luling, to the children, he bid farewell to everyone and, with the help of his granddaughter, went back to rest.

Li Yuzhu followed him, checked his condition, changed the medicine on his foot, measured his blood sugar, and asked about his condition after taking medicine.

Mr. Song thanked her, "My eyes aren’t as blurry as they were yesterday, and after applying the medicine to my foot, the wound doesn’t hurt as much."

Li Yuzhu felt relieved, "That’s good."

After settling Mr. Song, Li Yuzhu returned to the school.

Concerned, Li Yuzhu called Prince Luling outside.

"Father, when a new official takes office, there are three fires, which burn the subordinates. When a new teacher takes office, there are also three fires, but it’s the students who burn. Father, you must be aware of the students’ challenges, and you must not joke with them; you must establish authority to intimidate them," Li Yuzhu said.

They are all boys.

All at the most mischievous age.

Prince Luling glanced at the kids in the room, frowned, "Father knows, father will not joke with them."

He waved to Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu, then walked into the school.

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu each found a small stool and sat outside to listen to Prince Luling’s lecture.

The children were of different ages; although they sat in the same school, they were taught separately.

It must be said that although Prince Luling seemed muddle-headed, when he got serious, he was quite precise.

He called each child in turn to check their academic progress.

The younger children were in some awe of the stern-looking Prince Luling.

Whatever Prince Luling asked, they answered.

These younger children were only learning simpler texts like the "Thousand Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Surnames." Prince Luling would ask them to recite a few lines of the Thousand Character Classic or write some characters to test their recognition level.

The older children would be asked about geographical knowledge from the "Travelogues," such as how to travel from this county to Zhen An Prefecture, then to the Capital, what places to pass through, the distances from place to place, and what mountains or rivers are there in the county.

They were also asked about the etiquette from the "Six Rites," like how to speak when meeting elders, how to respond when meeting a mentor, what to say when meeting women, and what to say when meeting officials.

Or they were asked some "arithmetic" problems, like how much would it cost to buy seven jin and six liang of cabbage if one jin of cabbage costs one wen six qian.

What is the size of a brick, and how many bricks are needed to build a house?

These arithmetic problems were quite brain-twisting, and the children being questioned were dumbfounded.

Prince Luling shook his head, were these children not taught, or did Mr. Song not teach them?

Why were they stumped by these questions?

Bang—

Prince Luling threw the book heavily on the desk, glaring angrily at the children.

"A bunch of useless things!" he angrily scolded, "Such simple questions and they can’t answer them? If you can’t do math, you wouldn’t even know if you were cheated while shopping!"

The skinny kid who had secretly mocked Prince Luling stood with his hands behind his back, sticking his neck out, and said, "We’re students, of course, we don’t know, that’s why we came to learn. So, teacher, who knows everything, tell us, if one jin of cabbage costs one wen six qian, how much for seven jin and six liang?"

This question was bold, and the other children chatting quietly all looked over.

Prince Luling was stunned, "..."

Sitting outside, Li Yuzhu squinted, whispering to Mu Yuanxiu, "This kid is impressive, daring to question the teacher. Alas, with my father’s muddle-headed nature, who knows if he can figure it out."

Mu Yuanxiu also sweated a bit for Prince Luling, whispering, "If he can’t answer right away, he’ll lose authority in front of the kids."

Li Yuzhu sighed, "He hasn’t established his authority yet! It’s not losing it, at most, it means he completely can’t control the students."

Just when the two were worried that Prince Luling couldn’t answer, that skinny kid burst out laughing, "Teacher, you don’t know either, and yet you’re testing us? Hahaha, it’s killing me."

As he laughed, the other children laughed as well.

In an instant, the classroom was as noisy as a marketplace.

The classic plot of seasoned students bullying a new teacher never gets old.

Li Yuzhu saw this and was anxious.

She couldn’t help, nor could she go in to help.

Mu Yuanxiu pressed her shoulder, saying, "Uncle Li seems to have a way, see, he’s smiling."

Li Yuzhu looked over at Prince Luling, and indeed, Prince Luling had a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Eleven wen eight qian." Prince Luling chuckled proudly.

At that time, one jin was sixteen liang.

Some children quickly used an abacus to calculate.

After a while, the children all said, "That’s the right amount."

The skinny kid turned to glare at the other children, then said to Prince Luling, "Still at the cabbage price, buy five jin seven liang of cabbage, plus three jin four liang of carrots at two wen three qian per jin, what’s the total cost? Figure it out."

Ha, this really is making things difficult.

Li Yuzhu’s face turned serious.

Unexpectedly, Prince Luling, unhurried and calm, quickly said, "Rounded, it’s sixteen coins and two qian."

A few children quickly calculated on abacuses, and after a while, one child said, "Song Baoshun, it is indeed that much."

The skinny child, Song Baoshun, was surprised.

He immediately called out another number, and Prince Luling only twirled the tip of his beard twice before a number slipped out of his mouth.

The kids who could use abacuses frantically operated them with a flurry of clicks before they arrived at a number.

The verification showed Prince Luling’s calculation was correct.

The skinny child, unconvinced, quoted the prices of three dishes.

Prince Luling twirled his beard three times and stated the numbers.

The skinny child gritted his teeth and quoted the prices for five dishes.

This time, Prince Luling twirled his beard five times and gave the accurate answer.

The skinny child was dumbfounded, "..."

A clever child whispered, "Could the teacher’s beard be a divine tool? Every time he twirls his beard, he calculates it, faster than our abacus."

The skinny child, being reminded, pointed at Prince Luling’s goatee and said, "Teacher, you’re not allowed to twirl your beard!"

Prince Luling laughed, "Alright, no twirling then. What other prices do you want to test? Just bring them on."

The skinny child then named the prices again, and this time, Prince Luling did not twirl his beard. He just pinched his fingers together and uttered the prices.

The children were astounded, calculating accurately even without a divine tool?

Outside the house, Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu were also amazed.

"My father has this ability? If I’d known he was so incredible, when Second Sister and I went to the market to sell pancakes, we should have brought him. None of us are good at arithmetic; we’re afraid of making errors, so we simply set prices that are easy to calculate." Like buy five get one free, buy ten get three, only selling whole numbers or singles. Numbers like thirteen, eighteen, or thirty-three, they simply didn’t sell.

Because their minds weren’t quick, and they didn’t have calculators, and abacuses were inconvenient to carry around.

Prince Luling looked around disdainfully at a room full of children, snorting coldly as he asked, "Want to test some more? Hmm?"

The skinny child gritted his teeth, conferred with a few companions, and eventually proposed an extremely complex number he thought Prince Luling couldn’t calculate without an abacus.

"If you can figure this out, we’ll acknowledge you," the skinny child said.

After a few rounds, the competition was a one-sided defeat, and all the children were both curious and nervous.

Outside, Li Yuzhu squinted, "Is this still going on? A bunch of rascals that need a good dealing with!"

Mu Yuanxiu, however, still smiled gently, "It seems Uncle Li has found a way to deal with them."

Indeed, Prince Luling’s face darkened as he slammed a book down on the table, "What? Do you still dare to doubt this teacher’s learning?"

The skinny child said, "Teacher, it’s not that we don’t believe you intentionally, it’s just that you’re new here, never taught before, we just don’t know whether you’re impressive or not. Mr. Song has taught for forty years, my grandfather learned to read from him. Anyone he teaches, none of us would doubt, but you..."

Prince Luling sneered, sat up straight with his robe gathered, and crossed his legs comfortably, "Alright then, you may test as you please. But let me say first, if you lose again, I’ll have to exert my teacher’s authority to punish you."

The skinny child and his companions exchanged glances, then turned back and said to him, "We are children; a few of us will compete with you. Whoever calculates the numbers first wins. If we lose, we’ll obey you from now on, but if teacher loses, the teacher has to listen to us."

Li Yuzhu huffed angrily, "The adults in their homes paid money to send them here to study, and they actually demand the teacher to ignore them? A bunch of prodigals!"

Mu Yuanxiu said, "I hope Uncle Li punishes them severely."

"If they’re not punished, what will happen? If they don’t learn well as children, when they grow up, they’ll get out of hand!" Li Yuzhu snorted coldly.

In the classroom, Prince Luling agreed to the skinny child’s demands, "Alright, give me the problem."

The skinny child cleared his throat and said loudly, "Listen up, it’s still the five dish prices from before, however, when buying five jin of cabbage, you can save one qian per jin, buying five jin of carrots, you save two qian per jin, buying ten jin of beans, it’s three qian off per jin, buying seven jin of winter melon, it’s one qian off per jin, and buying five jin of cucumbers, it’s two qian off per jin. Now we buy twelve jin of cabbage, nine jin of carrots, thirteen jin of beans, eight jin of winter melon, fifteen jin of cucumbers. Calculate it, how much money?"

After he finished speaking, his five companions behind him quickly began calculating on abacuses.

These five themselves calculated the respective dish prices.

Prince Luling frowned, pinched his fingers and said a number.

And those five children, only each calculated their own dish, hadn’t had time to total them.

The children were instantly dumbstruck.

Unwilling, the skinny child urged his companions, "Continue calculating quickly, what if he got it wrong?"

The sixth child snapped back to reality, tallied the numbers from the five children’s abacuses.

He said, dejected, "Song Baoshun, teacher didn’t get it wrong, it’s correct."

Sitting outside the house, Li Yuzhu let out a sigh of relief.

She whispered to Mu Yuanxiu, "I didn’t expect my father to have such ability; his mental arithmetic is truly formidable! Pity he won’t sell pancakes and vegetables, take money, and keep accounts; sitting idly at home is a true waste of his genius."

Mu Yuanxiu glanced at her with a teasing smile, "Is Uncle Li someone who would sell vegetables or pancakes?"