The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

The clan school competition continued. The headmaster on the stage stood up and announced, "The second competition is mathematics, with a total of twenty questions, including two bonus questions. You can choose one of them. The time is about two incense sticks' time."

As soon as the headmaster finished speaking, the second round of the arithmetic competition officially began.

A huge scroll was unfolded, covered with densely packed arithmetic problems.

The students below the stage, each holding an abacus in their left hand, all looked up at the questions.

In just a short while, the entire square was filled with the clattering sound of beads colliding with the abacus.

Zhuge Yunshu was startled by the sudden sound of the abacus and didn't react for a moment.

In contrast to her bewilderment, an eleven or twelve-year-old girl in the room appeared much calmer.

This person is none other than Wang Yi, the winner of the previous calligraphy competition.

She kept looking up at the problem, her fingers flying across the abacus like a blur.

After a while, the girl quickly picked up a brush and wrote down the answers she had calculated on a piece of paper.

Such a smooth and flowing style is like that of an experienced accountant who has worked for many years.

Not only were the onlookers stunned, but the students sitting around her were also affected, and for a moment they forgot to answer the questions.

Only when the girl put down the abacus and wrote down the answer did these people realize what was happening.

Zhuge Yunshu, having just adapted to the environment, began answering questions.

There was an abacus on the desk, but it wasn't of much use to her, so she didn't use it.

What Zhuge Yunshu didn't know was that, thanks to her uncle Zhuge Laigui, the onlookers were talking about her.

"Look, that girl in the middle of the front row doesn't even know how to use an abacus."

"Where is it? Let me see."

"Oh my, it's true. They don't even know how to use an abacus, yet they dare to participate in the clan school's literary gathering."

At this moment, the onlookers who had previously been at odds with Zhuge Laigui mocked, "With this level of skill, he still dares to call himself talented."

"He's just a clown."

Hearing the crowd's comments, Zhuge Laigui was angry, but he held back so that Da Hua could compete well.

Liu Lan didn't hold back and directly retorted: "Brother, my niece is not very talented. She is not good at arithmetic and only got third place in calligraphy. I wonder which one is your child, the first or second place?"

"Young lady, you don't know this, but in Li Dazui's family, not a single child goes to school." The onlookers, always eager for a good show, found the situation quite amusing.

"When did the children of Master Zhang and Manager Wang become yours, Li Dazui's children?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

"You...you...don't talk nonsense."

After saying that, he left in a disheveled state amidst the pointing and whispering of the crowd.

Seeing that there was nothing exciting to watch, everyone turned their attention to the students competing in the arena.

By this time, one incense stick had burned out.

The students who had been working quickly on the questions earlier began to slow down.

Especially the girl from before, who took a long time to pick up her pen and start calculating.

He wrote and stopped, occasionally moving the abacus beads, and it was clear that the problem was very difficult.

At this moment, Zhuge Yunshu also looked at the last question on the scroll and frowned slightly.

It's not because the questions are difficult; on the contrary, they are very simple. I estimate that many people in China who have gone through nine years of compulsory education have heard of them.

This comes from a problem in "Sunzi Suanjing": "A cup swaying on the river."

A woman was rowing a boat on the river, carrying many cups. A ferryman asked her, "Why are there so many cups?" The woman replied, "I have guests at home." The ferryman asked, "How many guests?" The woman replied, "Two people share rice, three people share soup, and four people share meat. In total, I use sixty-five cups. I don't know how many guests I have."

In simple terms, a woman was washing dishes by the river. An official asked her why she was washing so many dishes. The woman replied that guests had come to visit. The official then asked how many guests had come. The woman answered that two guests shared one bowl, three guests shared one soup bowl, and four guests shared one meat bowl. In total, there were 65 bowls. How many guests came in total?

Well, although she hadn't calculated it in her previous life, it was incredibly easy for someone who had studied linear equations in one variable.

Zhuge Yunshu picked up a brush and wrote down his thoughts one by one.

The law states: Assuming a total of (draw a square) guests come to the house, then the equation is:

Dividing by 2, 3, and 4 by 2 equals 65. (2 + 3 + 4 = 65)

The result is 13 divided by 12, which equals 65. (13/12 = 65)

Then: the square equals sixty.

The answer was: There were sixty guests.

Zhuge Yunshu picked up his pen and wrote down the final answer. After glancing at it again, fearing that the students grading the papers might not understand, he came up with a solution that was easier to understand in this era.

The method states: Multiply two by three to get six, then multiply by four to get twenty-four, then multiply by the total of sixty-five cups to get one thousand five hundred and sixty... Add these together, totaling twenty-six. Subtracting from the actual number, we get sixty people.

The answer was: Sixty people.

After writing down these two problem-solving approaches, Zhuge Yunshu saw that he still had more than half an incense stick's time left, so he prepared to write down the other major problem as well.

The "chicken and rabbit in the same cage" problem is a type of question that has been played to death by elementary school students in modern times.

"It's so difficult, we don't have a clue at all," the merchants sitting on one side of the platform discussed.

Mathematics is their area of ​​expertise.

"Manager Wang, what do you think?"

"There were sixty-five guests. I went in and tried it with each of them before arriving at this result, but I don't know the solution." Manager Wang shook his head, looking troubled.

He looked at his daughter in the center of the arena, and if he was not mistaken, she would use the same method.

Meanwhile, the scholars on the stage were discussing the last two questions.

"Weren't these last two questions obtained when the county school went to study in Liang?" a teacher asked in surprise.

"Who was so heartless as to include this in the exam questions?"

"Keep your voice down. Besides Brother Wang, who else is there?" the man gestured with his eyes.

In an instant, everyone understood and shut up.

Listening to the other people's discussions, Headmaster Lin couldn't help but whisper to Teacher Wang beside him, "Qingyu, aren't the last two questions too difficult for the children below?"

Master Wang remained expressionless, his voice icy: "Is it difficult? Even a six-year-old child from Liang can solve it. Is my great Xia Kingdom inferior to them?"

After saying that, he ignored them and continued to stare at the audience.

Headmaster Lin sighed helplessly. Since his junior brother went abroad for study and exchange, he had become less talkative and had become increasingly strict with his disciples.

I don't know if it's good or bad.

Zhuge Yunshu, sitting in the audience, always felt that someone was watching her.

But considering it was a public competition with so many people present, it was inevitable that some would look at her.

Besides, her uncle and aunt are still there.

So I didn't pay much attention to it.

At this moment, Wang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After verification, the answers to the last two major questions were correct.

After a while, once the ink on the scroll had dried, he checked it again and, finding no errors, applied to submit the scroll.

Those students who were still struggling with the final, most challenging questions were already at a loss, and seeing others hand in their papers early only made them more frustrated.