Keyboard Immortal

One of the students immediately exclaimed in horror, “Isn’t that family too stingy? Two people have to share a bowl of rice? How in the world do they eat like that?”

Yang Wei’s face darkened. “Why are you picking faults with the question? We’re here to answer the question, not to gossip about whether the family is stingy or not.”

Zu An chuckled softly under his breath. He couldn’t understand why Yang Wei would think that such a simple question was somehow difficult. Could it be that people in this world didn’t understand the concept of algebra?

Zu An did a rough calculation before writing down ‘60’.

“Gulp~”

Yang Wei swallowed in shock. How could this be? Did the fellow see the answer key beforehand? No, that’s impossible. I came up with these questions on the spot! Are these questions actually that easy?

He started to doubt his sanity, but was comforted by the confused looks on the faces of the students all around. Nay, how can that be? That fellow must have guessed the answer to the question, and happened to get ‘60’ on his first try. Yes, that’s definitely the case.

Zu An moved on to the third question.

‘In Brightmoon City’s market, a rooster is worth 5 qian, a chicken is worth 3 qian, and three chicks are worth 1 qian. The farmer used a total of 100 qian to buy 100 animals. So, how many roosters, chicken, and chicks did she buy in total?’[1]

Hm? This question looks pretty interesting. There are three unknown variables but we can only formulate two equations here. However, since the number is pretty small, we can just do a guess and check.

Of course, we won’t exhaustively guess all of the possibilities to figure out the answer. There’s a trick to it. Taking the number of roosters, chickens, and chicks to be x, y, and z respectively, we can simplify the equation to y = (100 -7x)/4.

Given that the number of roosters, chickens, and chicks have to be whole numbers, the equation (100 - 7x) must be a number that is divisible by 4, which means that x has to be an even number.

From there, we can quickly deduce that there are 4 roosters, 18 chickens, and 78 chicks in total![2]

When Yang Wei saw Zu An writing the answer out, his mind blanked out for an instant. Three questions! He has already managed to answer three questions correctly!

He couldn’t throw his weight around and insist that Zu An’s answer was wrong because of the huge crowd watching. While these students might not be able to solve the questions properly, it was easy enough for them to verify the answer by working backward. On top of all that, Shang Liuyu’s eyes were on him too!

How in the world is the fellow doing this? Isn’t he supposed to be trash? How is he able to answer all of these questions so easily? On top of that, the speed at which he’s solving these problems is unbelievable!

With Zu An having answered three questions correctly, the bet had already been lost. Yang Wei couldn’t chase him out of the academy anymore. Instead, he had to pray that Zu An wouldn’t be able to solve all of the questions, or else he would find himself in a tight spot.

He had never thought that such a situation would occur, so he agreed to the bet without any hesitation. Zu An’s high proficiency in arithmetic was unexpected, and it left him panicking inside.

No, there’s nothing to fear. The questions are getting progressively harder, especially for the last one. I found it in an ancient record. Putting aside the students, even he couldn’t solve the question himself!

No matter how incredible this fellow is, there must be a limit to his capability. There’s no way he can solve such an ancient difficult question too!

To his dismay, Zu An’s brush flew across the page as he solved question after question, eliciting shocked exclamations from the surrounding students. Initially, they’d assumed he had just lucked out and somehow managed to guess the right answer. However, the fact that he was able to solve question after question correctly with hardly any pause proved that he was a true arithmetic prodigy.

Many of them were hoping to see Zu An make a fool out of himself. After all, he had married Chu Chuyan, the most beautiful woman in their academy, and flirted with many of those in the Sweetheart Ranking. They couldn’t accept how he had a harem when the rest of them were still single. Any one of them would have pounced on the slightest chance to drive him out of the academy.

Strangely enough, as the challenge progressed, none of them were disappointed to see Zu An answering the questions one after another. Instead, they were starting to tremble in excitement. After all, the one thing that was more interesting than seeing a fellow classmate being expelled was seeing their own teacher being expelled!

The faintest trace of a smile crept onto Shang Liuyu’s lips as well. Her eyes were locked onto Zu An. He really looked quite suave when he was focused on a task.

She was reminded of their first meeting in the gazebo, which further spurred her curiosity about him. Just how many secrets is this fellow hiding?

In contrast to Shang Liuyu’s relaxed demeanor, Yang Wei dabbed at his forehead frequently with his handkerchief, which was already drenched in his cold sweat. He could sense the eyes of the crowd lingering on him silently, which made goosebumps rise all over his body. Calm down, calm down... Yes, there’s nothing to worry about. There’s no way he’ll be able to solve the last question!

Finally, Zu An reached the last question.

‘Two farmers’ wives brought a total of 100 chicken eggs to Brightmoon City’s market to sell, and the two of them earned the same amount of money after selling out their goods. The first told the second, “If I had as many chicken eggs as you, I would have been able to earn 15 silver qian.” The second then replied, “If I had as many chicken eggs as you, I would only have been able to earn 6 and two-third qian.” How many chicken eggs do each of them have?’

The students began discussing the question fervently amongst themselves.

“This is weird. They’re both selling chicken eggs, right? Why are their prices different then?”

“Isn’t that perfectly normal? It’s obvious that one of them is better-looking than the other. People will naturally buy from the farmer’s wife that looks better even if it’s more expensive, and the uglier looking one has no choice but to lower her price to bring in customers.”

“What wise words!”

...

Zu An was stunned to see this question. He turned to Yang Wei and asked, “You can’t actually find this question hard, right?”

Yang Wei was bubbling with frustration. Of course! Why else would I leave it for the last? However, at this point, he dared not underestimate Zu An anymore. So, he responded vaguely, “Those who are able to solve it naturally see no difficulty in it.”

“Indeed, it’s not hard at all,” replied Zu An.

This was basically a problem involving simultaneous equations with four variables. While the calculations were tedious, the question itself was, by no means, difficult.

Yang Wei was ticked off by Zu An’s answer. I was just being courteous with you, but you sure are putting on airs, huh? Why don’t you try solving it and show me the correct answer then!

You have successfully trolled Yang Wei for 222 Rage points!

Zu An threw a perplexed glance at Yang Wei. He scribbled out a series of calculations on another sheet of paper before finally jotting down the answer: The first farmer’s wife had 40 eggs and the second farmer’s wife had 60 eggs.

Many of the students had been diligently checking Zu An’s answers for him. There was a short pause, and one of them exclaimed excitedly, “He got it right! He managed to get all twenty questions right!”

The crowd was astonished. A growing number of eyes began to dart toward Yang Wei, his earlier wager still fresh in everyone’s minds. Since Zu An had successfully answered twenty questions, it was time for him to resign from his job at Brightmoon Academy.

There seemed to be a loud ringing in Yang Wei’s ears. Everything that had just happened defied his common sense. His mission to trample all over an incompetent student was supposed to be sweet and easy! Who could have expected the tables to be turned on him?

This isn’t right! Isn’t he supposed to be a notorious wastrel? How can he possibly be so skilled at arithmetic?

Zu An turned to look at the ravishing Shang Liuyu, and favored her with a smile. “Teacher Shang, right? As our witness, I’d like you to declare the winner of this bet.”

“Needless to say, you’ve won.” Shang Liuyu nodded in response as she directed a knowing smile at him.

With the contest decided, Zu An turned to Yang Wei and said, “Teacher Yang, I recall someone mentioning that he would resign from the academy if I managed to answer all twenty questions correctly. May I know if your words still hold true?”

Yang Wei’s face swiftly flushed bright red. He pointed his finger at Zu An in agitation as he bellowed, “You cheated! That’s right, you must have cheated!”

All concern over embarrassing himself in front of his goddess had flown out the window. The most important thing right now was for him to keep his job! If not, he would go down as the first teacher in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty to be forced to resign under pressure from his student. He would never be able to raise his head again if he suffered such humiliation!

“Tsk!”

Disgruntled snorts echoed throughout the classroom. The students were all rather dissatisfied by his weak-minded attempt to renege on his promise.

Shang Liuyu frowned as well. “Teacher Yang, all of us can bear witness to the process. How could he have possibly cheated?”

Yang Wei could feel contempt in Shang Liuyu’s gaze, which made him even more agitated. He hurriedly fashioned an excuse. “I remember now! These questions can all be easily guessed as long as you’re lucky. The numbers aren’t that big anyway. He could have just tried each number one by one to get the answer. Look at his workings! Do any of you understand what he’s written down? He’s obviously guessed his way through!”

Some of the students carefully examined Zu An’s workings, and they found themselves agreeing with Yang Wei’s words. They really are illegible... If he really guessed all of the answers, doesn’t that mean his luck was way too good? Then again, he did win seven-and-a-half million silver taels from the casino just yesterday, so he probably has no lack of luck.

Zu An sighed deeply. “Your reputation as a shameless man precedes you, but your shamelessness has managed to exceed my wildest imagination. You have no qualms spouting nonsense in front of your own students. Why don’t you just tell us whether my answers are right or not?”

“What’s the point of getting the answers right? If the steps you take to get there aren’t right, these answers are all just flukes that deserve no marks!” Yang Wei forcefully argued for his logic. “This is simply the common rule of arithmetic classes. The purpose of the rule is to deal with those who copy answers, and others who luck out like you!”

Shang Liuyu chuckled softly before remarking, “Teacher Yang, I don’t think that words make much sense. Even if he’s lucky enough to guess an answer or two correctly, he can’t possibly be that lucky to get all twenty questions correct. Perhaps he’s using a method so novel that no one has seen it before?”

Her good looks and refined poise allowed her to convince others easily, without the need for her to push her point of view aggressively.

“Teacher Shang is right!”

“It doesn’t make sense for there to be such a huge coincidence in the world.”

...

Yang Wei’s eyebrows twitched in anger. Is this woman intentionally trying to go against me? With both his job and his honor on the line, he couldn’t care less about fostering his relationship with her.

His face dark with rage, he began putting Shang Liuyu down. “Teacher Shang, you’re a foreign language teacher, so I don’t blame you for not knowing arithmetic. The methods he has jotted down are absolutely nonsensical. Even the arithmetic teachers of the Royal Academy in the capital wouldn’t be able to understand them. There are no such methods in the world. Therefore, the only remaining possibility is that he managed to get everything correct by chance. If you don’t believe that, why don’t you get him to explain the steps he took to reach the correct answer?”

He had already decided that, no matter whether Zu An’s explanation made sense or not, he would simply shrug it off as nonsense. With his reputation on the line, he couldn’t care less about how others thought of him at this moment.

Shang Liuyu found herself in a tight spot. Yang Wei was a renowned arithmetic expert in Brightmoon City, which made him quite an authoritative figure on the subject. She wasn’t in a good position to comment on this matter.

With no way to help, she turned her gaze toward Zu An. She was curious to see how he intended to deal with this situation. He always had a knack for resolving problems through unusual means.

“With your poor aptitude in arithmetic, I doubt you would understand my methods even if I tried to explain them to you,” Zu An replied calmly.

Yang Wei was so angry that he began laughing instead. “Hahaha! Do you hear what that arrogant man is saying? I’ve never heard such an insolent student before. I’ll report this to the academy and have it expel you under the grounds of disrespecting your teacher!”

You have successfully trolled Yang Wei for 521 Rage points!

1. Tael and qian are units of weight measurement used in Ancient China, with 1 tael (~37.7g) roughly being equal to 10 qian (~3.7g). Qian is more frequently used in reference to coins whereas tael is used in reference to the larger ingots.

2. There are actually two other possible answers to the question. I will leave it to the reader to figure out the other two possibilities, either by using the method outlined, or by further refining the second-to-last step.