Chapter 16: A Stunning Performance in Arithmetic Class

As soon as the teacher called the name, all eyes turned to Li Su. Only then did Li Su lift her gaze from the book, stand up, and bow respectfully to the teacher. "Sir, I couldn't find my abacus, but I can calculate directly."

Everyone gasped in shock—how could she be so brazen without even an abacus? Wasn't this too bold?

The teacher frowned, his expression growing even more displeased. "Are you saying you can give the answer without using an abacus?"

Li Su nodded. "Isn't it simple?"

The teacher laughed in disbelief. Such arrogance! Even he couldn't do that, and among all the students, not even Lin Ze, who was best at arithmetic, would dare to make such a claim.

He had thought Li Su had changed for the better, but clearly, he had been mistaken.

The other students looked at Li Su as if she were a fool who didn't know the limits of the sky.

Li Su: "???" What? Is this supposed to be difficult?

"If you don't believe me, sir, you can test me. I haven't lied." Li Su felt she was being sincere, but the others only thought her insufferably arrogant.

The teacher repeated "good" several times, then began to pose a question: "Now, there are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage. There are thirty-five heads above and ninety-four feet below. How many pheasants and how many rabbits?"

Li Su immediately recognized it as the classic "chickens and rabbits in one cage" problem—a problem any elementary student could solve. Without hesitation, she answered, "There are twenty-three chickens and twelve rabbits."

While the other students were still scratching their heads and frantically clicking their abacuses, Li Su had already answered.

She must be making it up, right? How could she answer so quickly?

The teacher had prepared the problem in advance and had spent quite some time solving it himself.

Everyone looked to the teacher, ready to hear him berate Li Su loudly.

Lin Ze and the other two wore anxious expressions, feeling the teacher was being unfair by posing such a difficult problem.

But the teacher glanced at his own pre-calculated answer in surprise and nodded slightly. "Li Su's answer is correct."

"How is that possible?"

"That's impossible!"

The students below all wore expressions of disbelief.

At this moment, Lin Ze also finished his calculation. "That's right, that's the answer."

A gleam of excitement flashed in the teacher's eyes. "Now, there is an unknown number of items. When counted by threes, two are left; by fives, three are left; by sevens, two are left. How many are there?"

"Twenty-three," Li Su replied.

The teacher looked at Li Su as if beholding a prodigy. "Correct, it is twenty-three!"

Li Su felt chills at the way the teacher looked at her.

The other students: "???" Since when did Li Su become so brilliant at arithmetic?

Lin Ze, Ren Shuhua, and Qin Ming gazed at Li Su with worshipful eyes, their admiration so great it sparkled in their faces. Su-ge, you're amazing!

Their respect for her elevated her from "Little Su" to "Brother Su."

They couldn't help but feel a bit proud—such an extraordinary person was their friend!

Li Su couldn't understand their reactions; weren't these problems quite simple?

"Li Su, you may sit down. You truly have the ability to do arithmetic without an abacus. Let's continue the lesson," the teacher said, letting Li Su resume her seat before continuing.

Li Su quietly returned to reading. The teacher's methods were a bit convoluted, but she had no intention of challenging him publicly.

Glancing over, she noticed Lin Ze and the others weren't paying attention either; instead, they stared at her with shining eyes.

Li Su shivered, goosebumps rising as she whispered, "What are you all doing?"

"Su-ge, how did you learn this? You're incredible!" They weren't much interested in the classical texts, but arithmetic fascinated them.

Li Su blinked. Were these three the type who preferred the sciences?

"I'll teach you after class," she said, not wishing to be disturbed from her reading.

The three nodded vigorously. Making this friend was their greatest stroke of luck.

Qin Ming thought to himself—his father had consulted a fortune teller who said he had good fortune, and perhaps it was true.

After class, a crowd gathered around Li Su, all eager to learn her methods for studying arithmetic.

Lin Ze and his friends looked on plaintively at the others, thinking them opportunists; but Su-ge was closest to them, and the rest shouldn't even think about it.

The teacher thought, secretly, that he too wished to consult Li Su, but decided he would find another opportunity.

Li Su figured she was going to teach Lin Ze and his friends anyway—whether it was one sheep or a whole flock, it made no difference—so she let everyone listen in.

"I'll explain my method now; how much you learn depends on yourselves. Xiao Ze, Shuhua, Ming, come here," she said, placing them in the best spots.

If they didn't understand, they could ask her.

Lin Ze, Ren Shuhua, and Qin Ming lifted their heads and made their way through the crowd, basking in the envy of the others. It felt wonderful!

Their smiles were impossible to suppress.

"It's actually simple. Take the chickens and rabbits problem: let's suppose there are 'A' chickens and 'B' rabbits..." Li Su explained as thoroughly as she could.

Marvelous—what a clever method!

"Similar problems can all be approached this way. Once you're sensitive to numbers, you can find the answer quickly."

Qin Ming asked Li Su about the parts he still didn't understand, and she patiently explained everything to him.

After this incident, most of the students at the private academy became friendly with Li Su.

…

For several days, Li Su lived a routine life between home, the academy, and the bookstore.

Lin Ze couldn't help but marvel, "Su-ge, you're so diligent! How do you do it? Don't you get tired from studying so much?"

Li Su looked up. "It's not hard. Besides reading, what else is there to do?"

Ren Shuhua hesitated before speaking. "Su-ge, is reading really a form of relaxation for you?"

Li Su laughed lightly. "Not really. I just don't have anything else to do at the moment besides reading."

Qin Ming held his forehead with a pained expression. "I can't understand why anyone would enjoy reading textbooks. I can manage storybooks, but with these, I just get sleepy."

Li Su: "..." Relying on these three to join her in the civil service exams seemed like a long shot.

Her eyes sparkled with an idea. "Since that's the case, let me tell you a story."

The three of them stared at her, full of anticipation—Su-ge could tell stories?

Li Su blended stories from novels with the textbook content and narrated to them, which also helped reinforce her own understanding.

The three: "..." It felt as if knowledge had taken root in their minds in a most peculiar way; their souls felt uplifted.

Actually, this was quite interesting.

Chen Ping walked by, shot Li Su a displeased look, and slammed a money pouch heavily onto her desk. "Here's your silver. Give me back the IOU."

Li Su counted the money. The amount was correct, so she returned the IOU to Chen Ping.

Chen Ping tore it up in front of Li Su. "You're just a peasant. I'm warning you, stay away from them, or you won't even know how you end up dead." His tone was full of condescension.

"People ought to know their place. Do you really think they consider you a friend? You're nothing but a lackey to them." Chen Ping looked at Li Su with contempt.

Lin Ze exploded on the spot. "What's your problem? We're good friends with Su-ge. Bullying him is bullying us!"

Other students chimed in, "Chen Ping, stop picking on Li Su. Be magnanimous." They, too, wanted to befriend Li Su in hopes of receiving extra lessons.

Chen Ping was stunned. He didn't want to believe Li Su had actually made friends, but now so many at the academy were eager to befriend her; he couldn't afford to offend them.

What's so great about it? So she's good at arithmetic—arithmetic isn't even a big part of the civil service exam!

Chen Ping muttered to himself—let Li Su be proud for a few more days. She'd see at the poetry gathering.

The money he gave Li Su was from Lin Ze's older brother. He'd heard Lin Xi say that he would embarrass them at the poetry gathering, and Chen Ping couldn't help but look forward to that day.