Shipin Dalizheng

Chapter 226 Competition

In reality, by the time everyone arrived, the competition had already yielded some small results. Rong Tang asked around for information about the previous test questions. Questions like "chickens and rabbits in the same cage" and "monks dividing steamed buns" had already been asked. Xie Ying and Miss Cui Si still needed to think, while Tang Tiantian could answer almost instantly. In comparison, Miss Luo was the slowest and scored the lowest.

Naturally, she was very dissatisfied and stood up to protest, "This is unfair. Miss Xie and Miss Cui Si had to think for a while about such a difficult question, but Tang Tiantian gave the answer immediately. This shows that she has done all the questions before. This is clearly cheating."

Xie Ying was stunned when she heard this. She had come up with all the questions, so when had Tang Tiantian ever done them? She had only done one, or several, had she done them all?

Seeing that everyone was questioning Tang Tiantian, Feng jumped up and said, "My sister didn't come up with the questions, so why are you accusing her of cheating? Are you referring to Miss Xie?"

When Miss Luo heard that the fire had spread to Xie Ying, she panicked for a moment, but she couldn't help but wonder, it was okay for Miss Cui Si, but how could she, a fake lady from the countryside, calculate faster than herself?

Her face flushed. "Prepared questions are certainly not fair. It would be better if we could give each other a question on the spot. The one with the most correct answers wins."

This sounded fair, so the girls stopped talking and each took a pen and paper to make up a question. Each person wrote three questions and handed them to the corresponding person.

The people who received the questions also quickly examined them and thought about them, calculating non-stop. At this time, everyone noticed that Tang Tiantian was very fast at solving problems. She solved the problem almost immediately after receiving it. Only the last question made her difficult. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Can you find me a handful of abacus chips?"

It was time to use counting rods. The number was likely too large to be accurately calculated mentally. Xie Ying looked up and asked the maid to bring her two counting rods, as she also needed them.

The abacus was brought over, and the two began to calculate. For a while, the sound of crackling and ding-donging was endless. Everyone saw Tang Tiantian moving the abacus with both hands, assisting left and right, and the beads on the abacus flew up and down. She was so focused that she didn't even hear Xie Ying write down all the answers after the calculations were completed, and everyone applauded and cheered.

Rong Tang, who was standing behind her on the left, inadvertently felt that Tang Tiantian's soul was glowing at this moment. Was it an illusion?

The second person to finish the calculation was Miss Cui Si. She didn't use counting rods, but the problem was a bit brain-teasing. She took some time to finish it and felt sweat on her forehead.

Looking at Tang Tiantian again, she finally figured out the third one and wrote down the answer. It turned out to be just twenty-eight.

Looking at Xie Ying and Miss Cui Si's answers, they were obviously much more complicated. The girl in the green dress curled her lips and said, "Miss Tang, yours isn't that great either? It's such a simple answer, but you took the longest time, and you still have the nerve to say you're good at counting."

Seeing the others curling their lips in disdain, Rong Shi waved his fan, walked over, reached out and picked up the question with the corresponding answer, and said slowly, "Ms. Liang, you only see the simplicity of the answer. You should know how complex the calculations are to get this simple answer. Let's look at the problem Ms. Luo posed to Ms. Tang. A number multiplied, multiplied, and multiplied again, the result is 614,656. What is this number? This is a large number raised to the fourth power. You call this simple? Why don't you calculate the process?"

Everyone was shocked. Raising the square root was already difficult for most students in the Imperial College, and even the bachelor's degree holder who specialized in teaching mathematics had difficulty in raising the cube. Tang Tiantian could raise the fourth power, which was already a big deal in Dai Viet.

Some people came to their senses and compared all the questions. They found that the questions Tang Tiantian gave to others were relatively mild, probably not normal math courses, while the questions others gave her were tricky and niche. Not to mention the fourth power, the two questions she wrote out the answers the fastest made everyone dizzy when they saw them.

Looking at Miss Luo again, she couldn't answer any of the three questions, and sweat was running down her face.

Infuriated, he threw the questions aside and shouted, "What kind of questions are these? Each one is more confusing than the last. Who needs to waste time on such stupid things in their daily lives? Even the men's imperial examinations wouldn't be this difficult."

No matter how difficult the questions in her hands were, they were not as difficult as Tang Tiantian's. Therefore, in the eyes of everyone, she was a clown who couldn't afford to lose, and immediately caused a lot of ridicule. Fortunately, her father had a high official position, so no one laughed out loud.

Rong Tang walked up to her and said, "Miss Luo, I have a simple problem here that you'll need to solve in your daily life. If you can solve it, you win."

Miss Luo looked at her suspiciously, "Do you really...really think it's that simple?"

"Really, single-digit addition and subtraction, not even multiplication is needed."

Miss Luo bit her lip and said, "Just tell me, I can do the math in my head."

Her maid's face looked very unhappy. The best way for the young lady to deal with the situation right now was to admit defeat and leave gracefully, so as to leave a good reputation. For a question like this that was done by a child, it would be shameful to win and even more embarrassing to lose.

But Rong Tang didn't give Miss Luo time to think, and opened his mouth and said, "Shangjing City and Rongjia Village are dozens of miles apart. There is an ox cart that goes back and forth to pick up passengers. It is known that there are five passengers on the cart when it leaves the village. When it passes through the next village, three get off and two get on. After passing through another village, one gets off and four get on. After passing through another village, two get on. After passing through another village, three get off. After passing through another village, everyone gets off, so six get on. After passing through another village, three get off. When it reaches the city gate, one gets off and three get on. May I ask..."

Ms. Luo excitedly extended her hand, "There are five passengers in the car."

Many people did mental calculations with her and came up with the same answer. Just as they were about to nod in agreement, Rong Tang asked, "How many times did the oxcart stop?"

Miss Luo: “…”

Everyone: "..."

It felt like there was a mouthful of old phlegm stuck in the throat, unable to go up or down, making the person feel like they were suffocating.

Trying to recall what he said from beginning to end, he spoke so quickly and without pause that it was hard to repeat it word for word. Miss Luo blushed and burst into tears. "You, you bullied me. I'm going to find my dad."

"Oh, I'm so scared! The Minister of Revenue is coming to arrest me and put me in jail! Hahahaha..."

Rong Tang's laughter was both impudent and hateful. Miss Luo felt ashamed and embarrassed, and almost cried herself to death. She couldn't stay there for a moment, so she pushed through the crowd and ran away.

Passing by Tang Tiantian, he pushed her hard and yelled, "What are you so proud of? Your mother wanted to divorce your father, but you didn't care and let her do such a treasonous and shameless thing. You and your daughter are both bad people."

Tang Tiantian slapped her face, her action faster than she thought. With a crisp sound, five fingerprints appeared on Miss Luo's face.

Miss Luo was incredulous. "You, you dare to hit me? Do you know who my father is?"

Rong Tang really hated people who kept talking about their father's official position and flaunted it eight times a day. He shook his head and gestured to Zhao Ling, "Cousin."

Zhao Ling stepped forward and said angrily, "Do you know who my father is? Luo Yiyi, this princess has tolerated you for a long time. When you can't compare with others in calculations, you speak ill of others and insult their mothers. It's really despicable. This princess is telling you that Madam Tang deserves to divorce her husband. With a father as cruel as Tang Yuanze, you like being his daughter."

Luo Yiyi cried even harder. This wasn't the end of the matter. Tang Tiantian continued, "I never want to be at odds with anyone. Miss Luo, you are a well-mannered lady. I hope you find a husband of the same character and refinement in the future. Miss Luo, you are loyal and faithful. Even when you are bullied and tortured, you will never abandon me, even until old age and death."

Luo Yiyi’s voice was almost hoarse from howling.