Chapter 22: One Cry Shocks Heaven and Earth

  County government office, main clerk's room.

  Niu Qiqing and Yang Yuan sat together, holding tea cups, and glanced at Wu Ji's table, which was piled high with account books, two thick stacks, particularly eye-catching.

  The two of them looked at each other and smiled, sipping their tea and starting a conversation, with many condescending remarks.

  "You said, will he come today?" Niu Qi asked lightly, sipping a mouthful of tea.

  From his tone, it's clear that he doesn't need an answer at all; the answer is already implied.

  "I reckon he won't be coming." Yang Yu smiled smugly, pointing to the two stacks of account books: "With such thick account books, let alone three days, even ten days might not be enough to finish them!"

  Just as the two were discussing, Huangfu Suo, who was originally sitting aside drinking tea, moved his ears slightly, raised an eyebrow, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He glanced at Niu Yang and returned to silence.

  Bang! Bang!

  The footsteps sounded, landing very lightly, quite weak, this was Wu Jie's signature footsteps. Wu Jie had that physique, not much strength, he walked with a very weak gait.

  "Here!" Niu Qiqing was slightly surprised, he had just guessed that Wu Ji would not come.

  "What's the point of coming again?" Yang Yuan didn't care at all, curling up his mouth: "Isn't it just embarrassing!"

  "Who's been talking about me behind my back?" Wu Ji's voice rang out, as he burst in, his eyes scanning over Niu Yang and the others with a hint of amusement.

  "Look who's talking!" Niu Qi Qing, a man as stubborn as his surname suggested, proudly raised his head and puffed out his chest, saying "If you can't even settle the bill, then get lost! Wouldn't that be humiliating?"

  "Niu Qiqing, I'll give you some advice. Don't do things too absolutely, don't speak too extremely, that's asking for trouble!" Wu Jie said coldly, his eyes fixed on Niu Qiqing.

  "Haha!" Niu Qi Qing seemed to have heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, threw his head back and laughed loudly: "Isn't it said that three days later there will be a clear distinction? Yesterday doesn't count, let you have nothing to say, lose with a willing heart and mouth!"

  "No need to wait for three days, today will be clear!" Wu Ji was full of confidence, came to the table, put the abacus on the table, and sat down.

  Huang Fu Su originally had a calm and peaceful appearance, but his eyes fixed on the abacus, his eyebrows twitched again, and he looked quite surprised. His eyes kept measuring the abacus, revealing a thoughtful expression, but he didn't say a word.

  "What's the use of getting something worthless?" Yang Yuan didn't care at all and continued to mock Wu Ji.

  Wu Jie ignored them, picked up an account book, flipped it open, turned the pages with his left hand and moved the abacus beads with his right hand, making a crisp "click click" sound.

  "How ridiculous!" Niu Qi Qing curled up the corners of his mouth and leisurely sipped his tea.

  Yang Yuan didn't even bother talking anymore.

  Wu Jia flipped through the account book page by page, his right hand constantly abacus beads, "click click" sound crisp and continuous, for a time, the whole room was filled with the sound of abacus.

  Huang Fu's eyes flashed with a sharp glint, like a sharp sword, and then disappeared. Wu Ji buried his head in calculation and didn't notice either.

  A thick account book, Wu Ji didn't use much effort to finish flipping through it, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, wrote down numbers on the account book, and put it aside.

  Huang Fu Su stood up, walked over to the front, picked up the account book, and began to flip through it. After flipping through a few pages, he showed a thoughtful expression, thought for a moment, picked up an abacus, and started fiddling with it while continuing to flip through the account book.

  Niu Yang and the other person looked at each other, couldn't help but sneer, sat drinking their tea, didn't take it to heart at all.

  Wu Ji waved his hand, then picked up another account book. His left hand flipped through the pages while his right hand quickly manipulated the abacus beads. This time, the beads clicked even faster, producing a continuous and compact sound, which was due to Wu Ji's increasing proficiency.

  Modern people, apart from those old-fashioned ones, either use calculators or computers. Who still uses an abacus? Wu Ji was skilled at it, but hadn't used one in years and his hands were a bit stiff. As he did more calculations, he became increasingly proficient, and his right hand moved the beads quickly.

  Huang Fu suspended the abacus in his hand, sizing up Wu Ji for a moment, with a look of surprise in his eyes, somewhat unbelievable.

  Niu Yang and Wu Jie saw Wu Jie so focused, they were a bit unsure, Niu Qi Qing lowered his voice and asked: "Is he pretending to be mysterious or does he really have some skills?"

  Yang Yuan sized up Wu Ji and was also uncertain: "Is he pretending to be mysterious? Perhaps, possibly, should... have a few tricks up his sleeve?"

  The two men stood up and came to the front of Huang Fu, lowering their voices and asked: "Huang Fu, how is it?" The two men seemed to be somewhat afraid of this Huang Fu, their tone was extremely respectful, and their bodies were lowered.

  "Can't you calculate it yourself?" Huang Fu's eyes gleamed with a sharp light as he glanced at the two of them.

  The two of them seemed to have done something wrong, busily lowering their heads, not daring to look into Huang Fu's eyes, as if avoiding his gaze. The two had intended to find the account book to calculate it, but saw that Wu Ji had not finished calculating yet, and wanted to calculate with Huang Fu together, and gave Huang Fu a glance, scaring them so they didn't dare speak. For a moment, the two were at a loss for what to do.

  Fortunately, it didn't take long for Wu Ji to finish his second book. He picked up his pen and wrote a few more words on it before putting it aside. The two of them quickly grabbed it and returned to their seats, picking up the abacus and starting to calculate.

  Bang! Bang!

  The crisp abacus sounds kept ringing, dense like stir-frying beans. Listening to such a tight abacus sound, Niu Yang's two people were even more shocked and couldn't grasp it, making every effort to calculate the accounts.

  Huang Fu's hands moved non-stop as he worked on the abacus, spending a great deal of time and effort before finally finishing one account book. As he looked at the numbers in the ledger, his face was filled with surprise, and his eyes revealed an incredulous expression. Turning his head to glance at Wu Ji, he saw that there were four more finished account books on Wu Ji's desk, meaning that Wu Ji's efficiency was five times his own.

  It's too unbelievable, Huang Fu Su stared at Wu Ji, his eyes shining with a sharp light: "Lord Wu, have you learned it long ago?"

  "What's going on?" Wu Ji stopped and looked up to see that Huang Fu had undergone a complete transformation, his spirit was refreshed, and his entire body was filled with a sharp and refined aura, which made him look like a completely different person from before, leaving Wu Ji utterly astonished.

  "This thing has appeared from time to time, but it can only perform addition and subtraction, not multiplication or division. The Imperial Academy... " Huang Fu seemed to realize he had misspoken and quickly changed the subject: "It's said that mastering this thing is no worse than mental arithmetic!"

  "Isn't it worse than heart calculation?" The voices of Niu Yang and others rose in surprise, their faces looking very unsightly.

  "The way of mental calculation, although it's attainable, but people like that are too rare, among a million, there may not be one. However, if this thing is learned well, even ordinary people will have the ability to calculate mentally!" Huang Fu looked at Wu Ji with a face full of astonishment, sizing him up repeatedly.

  "Uh..." Niu Yang and his partner realized that they seemed to have kicked an iron plate, and sweat seeped out of their foreheads.

  "Who taught you?" Huang Fu asked with great expectation.

  "Does something so simple need to be taught?" Wu Ji shook his head, this abacus thing, Wu Ji just found some materials online and bought an abacus, then he learned it.

  "Simple?" Huang Fu's eyes widened and his chin almost hit the table.

  The abacus has been around for a while, but it can only perform simple addition and subtraction calculations, not multiplication or division. It's still in the research stage and hasn't become widespread yet. To Huanfu Song, someone like Wu Ji who is extremely skilled at using it is a master among masters, elevated to an unparalleled level.

  Wu Ji's casual remark shocked Huang Fu Song half to death!

  "Is it all right?" Wu Ji looked at Huang Fu's shocked expression and felt a little amused.

  Things that are very ordinary in modern society, when they appeared in the Song Dynasty, were earth-shattering events that could shock a great Confucian scholar and intimidate this small official.

  Burying his head, he continued to calculate, the sound of the abacus echoing throughout the room.

  "Huangfu sir, is the outcome favorable?" Niu Qiqing asked quietly, suppressing his shock.

  "Calculate it yourself!" Huang Fu Su responded with a bad tone, picked up an account book again, fiddled with the abacus, and continued to calculate.

  Niu Qi's cooling face pack had reached the cold buttocks, it was not pleasant, and he couldn't afford to provoke Huangfu Song, so he had to go back and continue calculating with Yang Yuan.

  The two of them kept glancing at Wu Ji, only to see him flipping through the ledger with ease, as if it wasn't a thick account book, but rather a small trifle that was effortless to calculate. The more they looked, the more frightened they became, and their ominous feeling grew increasingly intense.

  "Are you kidding me?" When the two finished calculating, Wu Ji's calculation was incredibly accurate, and he couldn't help but be stunned, and could only attribute this result to Wu Ji being confused.

  "You guys try to figure it out!" Wu Ji was not in the mood to bother with them, but Huang Fu Xuan picked up a few calculated account books and put them in front of the two: "These are all correct! Can you both be completely confused?"

  "...The two of them opened their mouths wanting to speak, but couldn't find the words."

  Three people used all their might, busy to the point of being drenched in sweat, while Wu Ji was exceptionally relaxed, as if strolling in a leisurely courtyard, without any tension at all. When the three of them had only calculated less than one-third, Wu Ji pushed away his abacus and let out a breath: "Done! Finished calculating!"

  "Is that all?" Huang Fu was surprised, although he knew that the abacus method was very powerful and comparable to mental arithmetic.

  "These...!" The two men, Niu Yang and another, ground their teeth and turned pale with rage.