Chapter 3: The Rain Man

  Xu Yuanshuo's not reading books quickly spread on the streets.

  In this neighborhood where everyone knows each other's roots and bottoms, everyone thinks that Xu Yuansuo has finally opened his eyes.

  The Xus are not a wealthy family, and yet they have to support two people studying, isn't this being overly ambitious?

  If it's said that Xu Jiazi has a talent beyond ordinary people, the neighbors would be happy to help him out and form a good relationship. But Xu Yuansuo is actually a stupid and dull person, his life is thinner than paper.

  After being beaten, Xu Yuansuo did not go out for several days. He first took some paper and pen, and wrote down the major events after the second year of Longqing, fearing that time would fade his memory and he might overlook some details.

  Xu Yuansuo stopped writing, and then tried to squeeze out some soap-making and glass-making skills from his mind, but unfortunately, he tore up the paper before finishing writing.

  Looking at the 15 years of life after he took over, soap can't form a crushing market advantage for soap corners. On the contrary, the investment is huge, and the raw materials lack supply channels, which will eventually lead to high costs and low profit margins.

  As for the glass manufacturing industry, it is a labor-intensive industry and I don't have the strength to do it now. If you want to take technology to invest in shares, then you really become a craftsman, maybe even being taken advantage of, abandoned, and kicked out after being used.

  Xu Yuansuo picked up the paper and looked around. This room was where he and his brother slept, with only one bed, at night the two brothers slept with their feet touching, it wasn't even convenient to turn over. There was also a square table and a bamboo bookshelf, all made by his father's own hands.

  The books on the bookshelf... Xu Yuansuo couldn't even remember what books were on the bookshelf, so he walked over to it and flipped through them casually.

  Placed within easy reach were several primers and a volume of unknown origin with handwritten notes on rough paper. Upon closer inspection, the lattice above concealed most of his head; after blowing off the dust, the cover revealed the titles "Commentary on the Ming Code", "Regulations for Interrogation" and "Imperial Edict".

  Xu Yuansuo said: The set of "Yu Zhi Da Chi" was already scarce during the Chenghua period. By the late Ming dynasty, it was even harder to find in the folk, and unexpectedly, his own family had kept one. This is indeed a good thing to preserve and pass on to future generations for money.

  He dusted it off, saw that the goods were intact and not damaged by insects or rodents, and put them aside, planning to find a camphor wood box to store them later. Then he placed an unknown ledger and two law books on the table, ready to flip through them.

  When it comes to running a business, accounting and law are essential knowledge reserves. Regardless of the size of the transaction, high or low status, whether you have lawyers and accountants under your employ, as a boss, you need to understand at least a little bit - at least to the extent that you don't become a laughing stock.

  Xu Yuansuo started with his own expertise, opened the "Da Ming Law", picked a few clauses that were more epochal, took a look, and then closed his eyes. The content he had just seen naturally appeared in his mind, but unfortunately it was only a rough idea. It seems that this time through did not give him the golden finger of perfect memory, and even compared to his previous memory, there was some decline.

  Xu Yuansuo once again carefully reviewed the "Interrogation Regulations", which was a written law newly revised during the Hongzhi years and also revised during the Jiajing period, as a supplement to the "Great Ming Code". It can be said that this legal code is truly the guide for the people of the Great Ming dynasty to follow discipline and abide by the law.

  Relying on his memory of the history of law, Xu Yuansuo found it not too difficult to read Ming law, and he also got a feel for regular script characters, so his speed became even faster.

  As the sun approached noon, Xu Yuansuo finally put down the law book and opened the account book. In just a breath, his eyebrows were already furrowed.

  The ink characters in the account book are still quite clear, and the paper is not too yellowed, so it seems that the days are not too distant. However, the writing is too poor, with loose strokes, light and airy penmanship, often with biased edges, showing that it was written by a person of little culture, who is frivolous and superficial in his dealings with others.

  What made him frown even more was that this account book recorded three-legged accounts, which can be said to be the transition from single-entry bookkeeping to double-entry bookkeeping, and is still essentially a current account. Xu Yuansuo was used to seeing the borrowing and lending pages of the left-borrowing right-lending method, and at first glance, the top-down structure format was somewhat unfamiliar, but what really made him frown was not just a scribbled pen and an unfamiliar structure, but the numbers inside.

  The numbers in the account are all written in formal large characters, and some edges and corners are also written in cursive script.

  Xu Yuansuo swept his eyes over it, and what was mapped out in his mind wasn't Arabic numerals, but the concept of numbers.

  These numerical concepts were as vivid and lively in Xu Yuanchao's mind.

  But in this vividness, there is a sense of discord.

  This is why Xu Yuanshuo frowned.

  Why do I feel like this number is not harmonious?

  Xu Yuansuo's gaze drifted out of the window, but his mind was more focused than usual.

  Got it! I was never so sensitive about numbers before, otherwise I would have become a fake scientist long ago!

  It seems that I was wrong about Xu Yuanshuo in the past. He may not be stupid and unwilling to use his brain, but rather because his talent lies in numbers, not words.

  Xu Yuansuo knew that many people who are extremely sensitive to numbers often have autistic tendencies or brain disabilities. Such people in later generations had a special name, called "Rain Man". In this era, the private school did not emphasize arithmetic, Xu Yuansuo's talent could not be displayed, and he would naturally be underestimated by others.

  Xu Yuansuo thought to himself that he had lost in the mulberry fields but gained in the eastern suburbs, and his mood was great. Moreover, with this numerical talent in hand, the knowledge of mathematics and physics he learned in his later life would not be wasted.

  He casually wrote two sets of numbers on the paper, and his mind naturally went through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and even square roots, all without any hesitation, just like reciting a Chinese historical timeline.

  Xu Yuansuo's heart skipped a beat as he thought of the paranormal phenomenon in mathematics: Benford's Law.

  Physicist Frank Benford found that in naturally occurring datasets, numbers with 1 as the leading digit occur about 30% of the time. Numbers starting with 2 occur about 17.6%, and those starting with 3 occur about 12.5%.

  The larger the number, the lower the probability of a number with it as the leading digit.

  From the point of view of Xu Yuanshuo's time, this law had not yet been mathematically proven by mathematicians but was widely used to distinguish between true and false data.

  For example, in 2001, Enron, the largest energy trader in the United States, announced its bankruptcy. After the event, it was discovered that Enron's earnings per share from 2000 to 2002 did not conform to Benford's Law, proving that Enron's top executives had indeed altered these figures.

  This is also why Xu Yuanshuo felt that the numbers were not harmonious.

  For anyone with a high sensitivity to numbers, naturally generated numbers and artificially created fake data are as incompatible as fish eyes mixed in pearls.

  In the end, they were a group of people who interpreted the world with numbers.

  Xu Yuansuo quickly flipped through the account book and found that his sensitivity to numbers had reached a terrifying level. He only looked at the more than 100 pages of account books once, but surprisingly, he remembered all of them in his mind.

  But I only remember the numbers, and the text notes are not in my mind.

  It's somewhat less than perfect.

  Xu Yuansuo put down the account book, looked out of the window, rested his eyes, and happened to be able to speculate about the origin of this account book.

  Suddenly, he heard the clang of a bell on the street, pulling him out of his contemplation.

  This is called "reporting to the lord", it's a blind fortune teller's opening line.

  "Mr. Blind, come here for a moment, I have something to ask you." It was Mother's voice.

  Xu Yuansuo, because he didn't read books anymore and had no way to make a living, staying at home was just an idle eater, a freeloader, so he didn't want to go downstairs and show off in front of his mother. When he heard that his mother had invited a fortune teller, however, curiosity got the better of him, and after tidying up his appearance, clearing his throat, and putting on a brave face, he went out of the room.