Newborn 1927

That night, just as Yang Jiefang and the others were getting ready for bed, there was a sudden, loud knocking at the gate. A voice outside shouted, "Yang Jiefang, get out here!" Everyone was startled. Who was so reckless? The voices called out twice more. Hou Fei said, "It sounds like it's Iron Abacus Kong Zongru. What's he doing here at this hour?" Bao Ziqiang, who shared a bed with him, sneered, "He's up to no good!" Yang Jiefang said, "Open the door and let him in."

The courtyard gate opened, and Kong Zongru stormed in, shouting angrily, "Yang Jiefang, Xiaolan is mine! What right do you have to interfere?" Yang Jiefang was completely bewildered and didn't react for a moment. Bao Ziqiang jumped out first, yelling, "Why should she be yours? Did she agree?" Kong Zongru glared at him and said, "You're a defeated opponent, this is none of your business, get out of the way." Bao Ziqiang laughed instead, "You may know a few words, we can't compare to you. So what? Now there are people who know more words than you, shouldn't you voluntarily withdraw?"

Kong Zongru, Bao Ziqiang, and Bai Lang were the most outstanding young men in Qinglong Village, having grown up there and knowing each other intimately. Black Widow had once considered them potential sons-in-law, hoping Gao Huilan would choose one. Thus, the three were quite close, with Kong Zongru, relying on his literacy and acumen, considering himself superior and excluding the other two. However, Gao Huilan was even more ambitious, only seeing them as brothers and having no intention of marrying them. Kong Zongru refused to give up, relentlessly pursuing her, thinking he would eventually succeed. But then Yang Jiefang appeared out of nowhere, stealing his thunder. After returning from his trip to Yantai, he had gained even more favor with Gao Huilan. Today, Kong Zongru went to talk to Gao Huilan, only to be directly rejected. He was furious and went to confront her. Bao Ziqiang, who was at odds with him, naturally retaliated.

Yang Jiefang had a vague idea of ​​what was going on, and without further ado, he asked, "What do you want?" Kong Zongru replied, "I told you, Xiaolan is mine, and I won't allow you to interfere." Yang Jiefang countered, "Why?" Kong Zongru said, "Because I'm stronger than you." Yang Jiefang laughed and said, "With your skinny arms and legs, you think you're stronger than me? Come on, let's have a match and see who's stronger!" Kong Zongru wasn't strong enough to fight, so he said, "We're all scholars, how can we fight like those crude warriors? If we're going to have a match, it should be a literary one." Yang Jiefang immediately laughed and said, "Your surname is Kong, so you must be a descendant of Confucius, right? Confucius carried a three-foot sword at his waist and could fight on the battlefield. Was he a crude warrior? Confucius taught the Six Arts of a Gentleman, which requires both literary and martial skills. You're not good at martial arts yourself, yet you look down on warriors? Fine, a literary match it is, how do you want to compete?"

Kong Zongru blushed with embarrassment, but for the sake of his beloved Xiaolan, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and say, "Don't think you're so great just because you know a lot of words. I'll challenge you to a math contest." Everyone burst into laughter, and Hou Fei cursed, "How shameless!" Yang Jiefang, however, didn't care and said, "Being so shameless shows how much you care about Xiaolan. If I can't convince you today, I'm afraid you'll keep pestering me later. Fine, let's have a math contest then. But there's one thing I need to make clear first. Your name is Iron Abacus, which shows you're good with an abacus. Using an abacus is just one way of calculating..." There are many ways to count; you don't necessarily need an abacus. Therefore, our arithmetic competition isn't about comparing abacus skills.” Kong Zongru agreed, saying, “As long as you can calculate quickly and accurately, the method doesn't matter.” Yang Jiefang said, “Well, with our skill levels, there's no need to compete in simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. If we're going to compete, it should be something a bit more challenging.” Kong Zongru nodded, “Exactly.” Yang Jiefang continued, “Since you proposed the competition, I should set the questions. You don't have any objections, do you?” Kong Zongru replied, “You set the questions! So you won't say I'm bullying you.”

Yang Jiefang got up, took out a notebook and a sharpened pencil, and quickly wrote something down. He then handed it to Kong Zongru and said, "Look carefully, this is the origin, this is the X-axis, this is the Y-axis, and the equation of this curve is Y=1/X. Now, please calculate the area of ​​the segment from A to B." It was a very simple calculus problem, but in this era, for these people, it was absolutely hellishly difficult. Kong Zongru was dumbfounded; he couldn't even understand the problem, let alone solve it.

Yang Jiefang said, "Brother Hou, go get him the abacus. Without it, it's like Sun Wukong without his golden cudgel—how can he play?" Hou Fei agreed and immediately got out of bed. Kong Zongru stopped him, saying, "No need, I can't calculate." The abacus is just a counter; the real calculation is in your mind. If you can't calculate in your mind, holding the abacus is useless. Hou Fei said, "So you admit defeat?" Kong Zongru refused, saying, "It's not that I can't calculate it, it's that I don't know how. It looks like a Western problem; I've never learned it. This doesn't count!" It was clearly a case of cheating.

Yang Jiefang said nonchalantly, "If it doesn't count, it doesn't count! Since you're in charge of Qinglong Village's finances, I'll give you a question even an accountant could answer! Hmm, fill out these reports based on Qinglong Village's current financial situation: a balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow statement." Then, with a few quick strokes, he drew out the formats for the three reports. He thought to himself, "If you fill out these three reports well, I'll also have a clear understanding of Qinglong Village's current financial situation."

Kong Zongru glanced at it, shook his head, and said, "I don't know how to fill it out. My father never taught me, and I don't understand many of the new terms." Neither he nor his father were professional accountants; they were just literate and could do arithmetic to manage the finances in Qinglong Village. They usually kept accounts using single-entry bookkeeping, recording only cash flow. They had never done a report like this before. Yang Jiefang was almost going crazy, saying, "Any accountant in any merchant house in Yantai can do this. If you say you can't, then what can you do? What's there to compare us to?" Everyone looked at Kong Zongru with disdain.

Kong Zongru finally realized the vast difference between himself and Yang Jiefang. No matter how shameless he was, he couldn't hold back any longer. Finally, gritting his teeth, he said, "What I don't know now, I can learn. I'm smarter than you. What you can learn, I can learn too. You're nothing special." Yang Jiefang knew his confidence was about to crumble; he was just one final blow away. So he said, "So you're saying that as long as I prove I'm smarter than you, you'll admit defeat?" Kong Zongru grasped at another straw, saying, "That's right. Everyone has their own strengths and areas of expertise. Intelligence and stupidity are what truly distinguish superiority." Bao Ziqiang scoffed, "Now you know how to say that? Back then, you deliberately used your strengths to attack our weaknesses." Kong Zongru ignored him, staring intently at Yang Jiefang.

Yang Jiefang, brimming with confidence, said, "Then I'll ask you a few simple IQ questions. The questions aren't difficult; don't tell me you haven't learned them. But to answer them correctly, you'll need to be exceptionally intelligent." Hou Fei chimed in with a laugh, "If you can't answer them, then you're just stupid." Kong Zongru ignored everyone else, simply waiting for Yang Jiefang to pose the questions. Yang Jiefang thought for a moment, then immediately came up with an idea, saying, "Listen to the question! Under what circumstances does one plus one equal three?" Upon hearing this, not only Kong Zongru was dumbfounded, but everyone else was as well. One plus one equals two—even a three-year-old knows that—how could it equal three? Others might stand there dumbfounded, but Kong Zongru couldn't. He replied, "One plus one equals two, it can never equal three. Haha, you're really smart! You don't even know this?" Yang Jiefang shook his head and said, "I'm not asking you what one plus one equals, I'm asking under what circumstances one plus one equals three? Please listen carefully to the question!" Kong Zongru said very confidently, "Don't mislead me, one plus one equals two. Even if the King of Heaven himself came, he couldn't possibly equal three." Yang Jiefang asked, "Is this your answer?" Kong Zongru nodded and said, "Yes, this is my answer." Yang Jiefang asked again, "You..." "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." Yang Jiefang said helplessly, "What if I insist that one plus one equals three?" Kong Zongru said domineeringly, "Then it means you calculated it wrong, you're really stupid!" Yang Jiefang laughed and said, "That's right, I calculated it wrong, so it equals three, is there a problem?" Kong Zongru was stunned at first, but quickly reacted, opened his mouth wide, pointed at Yang Jiefang, and said, "You...you...calculated wrong? I said it equals four." Yang Jiefang agreed, "That's right, if you calculate it wrong, it can equal three, four, five, six, seven, eight...it just won't equal two." Everyone suddenly realized. Kong Zongru said, "What kind of arithmetic problem is this? It's clearly a fallacy." Yang Jiefang said, "I said, this is an IQ question. The question isn't difficult, but only intelligent people can answer it. You didn't answer it, which means you're stupid. Are you convinced?"

Kong Zongru, of course, wouldn't accept it and shouted, "I'm not convinced, let's try again!" Yang Jiefang said, "Then let's try another one. Listen carefully to the question! There's a monkey squatting on the ground, and a monkey riding on a tree. How many monkeys are there in total?" Kong Zongru blurted out, "Eight monkeys." Yang Jiefang shook his head and said, "Wrong." Kong Zongru thought for a moment and insisted, "No, there are eight monkeys." Yang Jiefang imitated the actions as he spoke, saying, "There's a monkey squatting on the ground, and a monkey riding on a tree. That's only two monkeys. Where did the eight monkeys come from?" Kong Zongru was stunned and said, "You...you're misleading me. If I answered two monkeys, you would say the answer is eight monkeys, right?" His reaction speed was quite fast. Yang Jiefang agreed, "Why didn't you answer like that just now? Your IQ is still questionable!" Kong Zongru was even more unconvinced and said, "Now I know your tricks. Let's try again. I'm sure I can answer correctly." Yang Jiefang laughed and said, "Are you sure?" Kong Zongru's confidence returned, and he said, "If I answer wrong again, I'll admit defeat."

Yang Jiefang clapped his hands and said, "Okay, listen carefully to the question! It's almost Chinese New Year, and we haven't prepared much for it, just a pig and a donkey. Should I kill the pig or the donkey?" This time, Kong Zongru didn't rush to answer. He thought about it carefully for a while before saying, "Generally speaking, a donkey can not only be killed for meat but also used to pull a millstone, so it's very useful; while a pig can only be killed for meat. So, normally, you should choose to kill the pig. But if it were that simple, you wouldn't ask this question. Although I still can't figure out your reasoning, I believe you should kill the donkey. Yes, kill the donkey!" This thought process is quite something. Yang Jiefang asked again, "Are you sure?" Kong Zongru nodded and said, "I'm sure, kill the donkey." Yang Jiefang clapped his hands and said, "Congratulations, you got it right!" Kong Zongru breathed a sigh of relief, finally winning back some points for his intelligence, and couldn't help but be overjoyed and smug. But then Yang Jiefang continued, "You're thinking the same thing as that pig." Everyone was taken aback at first, but quickly realized what he meant and burst into laughter, pointing at Kong Zongru and saying, "You're really clever, thinking like a pig."

Kong Zongru's face turned a deep purplish-red, and he swayed, almost falling. Just then, Master Kong rushed over, calling out, "Zongru, Zongru!" He had heard that his son had stormed off to find Yang Jiefang and, fearing he might be harmed, had come looking for him. Seeing his son's state, he felt a pang of heartache and asked, "What's wrong?" Kong Zongru's eyes were vacant, and he didn't answer. Master Kong demanded, "What did you do to him?" Everyone waved their hands, ignoring him. Kong Zongru, however, waved his hand and said, "Father, I'm fine. Let's go home." Then he staggered out. Master Kong glared fiercely at Yang Jiefang and helped Kong Zongru away.

After the two men had walked away, Yang Jiefang muttered to himself, "With such limited abilities, you still dare to look down on everyone. I hope that after this setback, you can re-evaluate yourself, calm down and study hard, and achieve something in the future! Otherwise, no matter how intelligent you are, you will only be eliminated by history." Since the men were already far away, they naturally couldn't hear him anymore; these words were actually meant for those present.

Bao Ziqiang walked up to Yang Jiefang and said, "Brother Yang, I'm completely convinced this time. Only someone like you is worthy of Xiaolan." Yang Jiefang shook his head and said, "You misunderstand. I don't necessarily want to marry Xiaolan. She is beautiful, and I have some feelings for her, but it's not to the point where I can't live without her. Don't be discouraged. Since you like her, you can continue to pursue her!" Seeing that Yang Jiefang seemed to be telling the truth, Bao Ziqiang was slightly taken aback and said, "You're quite generous. But you don't understand. Xiaolan only sees me as a brother, nothing more. Do you know? Before this, she didn't care about the affairs of our Qinglong Village at all, completely treating herself as an outsider. Now, she's suddenly getting involved in Qinglong Village's affairs. This change is enough to show that there's something she cares about in the village."

Sun Zhiyong chimed in, "Judging from her involvement in rescuing your sister, her intentions are quite clear. I hope you won't disappoint her, and you won't disappoint us brothers either!"