Diqin Designer

Chapter 190 Arithmetic Examination
Fan Zeng walked out of the examination room with his bag and saw that many people had already come out. Some of them were obviously acquainted with him and were gathered together talking in low voices.

Passing by several people gathered together like this, Fan Zeng heard them discussing the test they had just taken: What did you choose for this multiple-choice question? What did you fill in for that fill-in-the-blank question?
One of them looked unhappy and said, "Oh no, it's over!" Obviously, he had chosen a different answer from the others and would not get any points for that question.

Fan Zeng looked strange when he heard this, which gave him a new and strange feeling he had never experienced before. However, he couldn't tell what the feeling was, but it was very fresh anyway.

Most people did not communicate with others. They found a place to sit down alone, or took out the water and dry food they had prepared in advance and started drinking and eating, or closed their eyes and waited for the next exam.

The Qin people had obviously put a lot of thought into this Xianyang exam. They set up many tables, chairs and benches so that all the candidates had a place to rest. To prevent them from getting frozen in the cold weather, they also piled up firewood and set up stoves, but the weather was good today so they couldn't be used.

Fan Zeng also found a place to sit down and took out the water and food he had prepared.

After the exam, he felt a little hungry and thought about something while eating.

The reason he came to Xianyang this time, in addition to taking part in the Xianyang Examination, was also to learn more about Li Nian.

In the eyes of many knowledgeable people in the world today, all the changes in Qin are closely related to Li Nian.

When the King of Qin proclaimed himself emperor, Li Nian's name also spread throughout the world and became known to everyone.

He made the bench he is sitting on now, the new plow, the tofu, and the paper used for today's exam. These things alone are enough to prove his talent.

What's more, many knowledgeable people generally believe that Qin's revision of Qin laws, change of official system, establishment of the Zhiyutai, and change of previous methods of governing the people are all related to Li Nian, which further proves his talent!

Because before Li Nian appeared, Qin's way of governing the country and the people was not completely different from now, but it was also quite different.

And these differences only occurred after Li Nian appeared. How could people not suspect that it was he who caused the changes in Qin?
Moreover, the Emperor of Qin did not even take credit for it and allowed Li Nian's name to spread throughout the world.

Apart from the fact that the Emperor of Qin was very proud and disdained to take credit for Li Nian's achievements and trusted Li Nian very much, there is another explanation: Li Nian was a very talented person and the Emperor of Qin wanted to use his talents, but was worried that taking credit for his achievements would make Li Nian unwilling to work for Qin anymore.

Fan Zeng glanced at the other candidates and estimated that many of them had the same idea as him. They all came for Li Nian and wanted to know who he was and how talented he was. Of course, the most crucial question was why someone with such great talent would help Qin.

After arriving in Xianyang, Fan Zeng received more news about Li Nian: the Qin Emperor promised a princess to him in marriage on the day he became emperor, the world map was made by him, a Hun delegation came to visit, and the Hun prince was killed by him.

How serious a crime is it to kill an envoy from another country, especially the prince of another country?
The Emperor Qin did not pursue the matter...

All of this information revealed Li Nian's talent and Emperor Qin's trust in Li Nian.

But having such talented people assisting Qin was not a good thing for Fan Zeng, who wanted to restore Chu. The enemy's hero became our enemy.

After eating, Fan Zeng checked his bag to make sure that everything he had prepared for the exam was still there, then he closed his eyes and rested on the bench.

The familiar "dang" sound rang out again, and Fan Zeng opened his eyes. He had rested and was full of energy and in excellent condition, ready to take the next exam.

But this class is going to test mathematics, and I don't know what the test method is? The other candidates also started to move. A Qin soldier reminded them: "The next exam is about to start. If you want to go to the toilet, go to the toilet quickly. This exam will last for an hour and a half."

After Fan Zeng went to the toilet as the Qin soldier reminded him, he entered examination room No. 8 and sat down in seat No. 23.

He noticed that there was a new person in front of him. He was not the Qin official who was taking the exam, but this person was also telling them about the things to pay attention to before the exam.

Fan Zeng understood and thought that he would explain it to them once in every exam, and this would become a rule for future exams.

With another "dang" sound, the new Qin official held up a bag and said, "This is our exam paper. This exam is about mathematics and will take one and a half hours."

After he finished speaking, the Qin official took out the test papers from his bag and distributed them. They were made of paper, just like the test papers for the policy examination. The questions were written in the seven languages, and there were multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank options, except that the last type of questions were changed to short-answer questions.

What was even more different was the content of the questions. Fan Zeng only took a quick glance and knew that he probably, perhaps, possibly... could not finish answering the test paper.

Just like the policy test paper, there are a few easy-to-scoring questions at the beginning: Question: What is the sum of three and nine?
One, twenty-four; two, thirty-five; three, twenty-seven; thirty-nine.

But the difficulty starts to increase with the ninth question: There are twelve squares as follows. One grain of rice is put in the first square, two grains of rice are put in the second square, four grains of rice are put in the third square... and then each square is put with twice the number of rice as the previous square. How many grains of rice should be put in the twelfth square?

One, four thousand three hundred and ninety-six; two, four thousand ninety-six; three, four thousand five hundred and ninety-six; four, four thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

After Fan Zeng finished reading, he calculated that this question was simple. There were eight grains of rice in the fourth grid, sixteen grains of rice in the fifth grid, and thirty-two grains in the sixth grid...

But as he calculated, Fan Zeng discovered something was wrong. Why were the numbers growing so fast?

In the seventh grid, it was less than a hundred, but in the tenth grid, it had exceeded a thousand, and by the twelfth grid, it had reached four thousand and ninety-six.

Although he figured out the answer, Fan Zeng seemed to understand some truths from this question. Many things in the world, including population growth, seemed to be explained in this way.

This is exactly the explanation Li Nian gave when he asked Ying Zheng about the royal family before he became emperor. The royal family must never be raised like pigs, otherwise, as the royal family continues to multiply from generation to generation, the huge royal family population will seriously drag down the Qin Dynasty.

This is why Ying Zheng announced the royal family reform policy at the ceremony of his enthronement. The power of the royal family cannot be ignored, but it cannot be restricted too much either.

After finishing the ninth question, which he found somewhat difficult, Fan Zeng looked at the tenth question: Question: If one, two, three, four... are added together to eighty, what is the final number?
One, three thousand two hundred and fifty; two, three thousand two hundred and forty; three, four thousand nine hundred and forty; four, six thousand four hundred and eighty.

Fan Zeng was stunned when he saw these options. If one adds up to eighty, could it be that big?

Obviously, each of the numbers is less than a hundred, but the total is at least over three thousand!

But how to calculate this?
Fan Zeng pondered for a while. The sum of eighty numbers was such a large number that he probably couldn't figure it out in a short time. So he skipped this question and looked at the next one. He would answer it after he finished the questions he knew how to answer.

(End of this chapter)