Chapter 17: Duel (Part 2)
Song Jiu's method is very simple, he wrote three math problems.
Forced by two PhDs, I wrote down these three questions with utmost grief and indignation.
The next day, before dawn, the students had not arrived, and Dr. Zhang Yan'er had not come either. It was not that they were lazy, but their homes were all in the inner city, and it would take a good while to walk to the river. What made Song Jiu most angry was that every time he and Zhu San finished preparing lunch at noon, the two of them would swagger over and scrounge for food.
It doesn't matter either way, but you can't teach students like that!
So Song Jiuxian wrote these three math problems on a large white paper and posted them on the outer wall of his house.
It's done, go back and make breakfast with Zhu San, Zhu San still doesn't know, work together with Song Jiu to make breakfast, a ordinary noodle dish without chili peppers, but Song Jiu used Qin La, Zhū Yú, Jiè Là, Fú Liú Téng as seasonings, chopped them up, and poured hot oil on top, thus creating the Song Dynasty style numbing and spicy flavor. After cooking, add sesame oil, garlic paste, salt, scallions, and flour to let Song Jiu ferment and knead repeatedly, not only does the noodle have a nice texture, but the flavor is also excellent. Zhu San often praises Song Jiu that if he opens a wide pancake shop, customers will line up to buy.
Song Jiuzhen had thought about it, what he lacked was the ability to take action, but he knew many cooking methods that had not appeared in this era, however, if he really opened a restaurant, his sister would work hard for him. Just cook for himself then.
Seeing the noodles done well, Zhu San's eyes emitted a green light.
Just as Zhu San was putting seasonings into a bowl, he heard a commotion outside and ran out to take a look.
There were three math problems on the wall:
Two trees are 4 feet 8 inches apart, and at a distance of 6 feet 6 inches, a long rope is hung level. The rope hangs down, and there is a young child standing in front of one tree, 1 foot 2 inches away from it. The top of the child's head is level with the rope. The child is 2 feet 1 inch tall. How high is the lowest point of the rope above the ground?
Three vehicles are traveling in the same direction, with a cow cart in the middle. After 10 cups of tea, a horse cart catches up to the cow cart, and after another 5 cups of tea, the horse cart catches up to a rickshaw. The speed remains unchanged; when will the cow cart catch up to the rickshaw?
The workshop produces a certain type of porcelain, with an 80% success rate, and each successful piece yields a profit of 40 wen. The failure rate is 20%, and each failed piece incurs a loss of 10 wen. If the owner fires four pieces of porcelain and makes a profit of no less than 100 wen, what is the exact probability?
Set up a list for one month, and reward 500 bolts of silk!
He rewarded all the silk given by Zhao Kuangyi.
"Brother, five hundred bolts of silk."
"Yes, if it weren't for the five hundred bolts of silk, why wouldn't they come in and discuss together here?"
The students around him made Song Jiu feel a bit embarrassed, and Song Jiu said again: "It doesn't matter, if you can figure out the answers, I won't be stingy with 500 bolts of silk. On the contrary, I will be very happy. However, I have an advice here, these three questions are not within your knowledge scope at present. As long as this book house is still here, there will be people who can solve it in the future. But now, if you spend too much time on it and neglect your studies, that's called being overly ambitious, which I don't like."
Everyone was about the same age, although one by one they stuck their tongues out and went in, but didn't necessarily take Song Jiu's words to heart, continuing to sit in the classroom discussing.
Zhu San is still watching.
"Brother Zhu, if you can solve it, I won't shortchange you five hundred bolts of silk."
She smiled slyly and went in.
Seeing Song Jiu eating noodles, Zhu San rushed in and asked in a low voice: "Is it really difficult? Does it really have an answer?"
"Yes, a month later I will write out all the problem-solving processes and related mathematical formulas together and post them on the wall."
"Can you tell me?"
"I'm stupid! Five hundred bolts of silk aren't worth as much as money?"
Zhu San and Song Jiu each taught in a classroom, later they also accepted 61 students, a total of 124 students. This is a business opportunity. The clever Mrs. Liu from the opposite house saw this situation and immediately opened up a small restaurant by knocking down the wall. Several small vendors often came over to turn around, making the atmosphere of Kuang Jing Xiang more and more prosperous.
It was originally a good thing, but under the leadership of two doctors, the classroom atmosphere became more and more serious, students gradually dared not ask questions, and even several students doubted Professor Song's mathematics. This is the reason why Song made a counterattack.
It can't go on like this!
Two doctoral students arrived, the students were in class, the people of Kuji Alley rarely knew how to read and write, they didn't know what Song Jiu wrote, even if they saw it, they just walked away. But such a large white paper with black characters was posted somewhere, couldn't the two doctoral students see it?
Dr. Zhang is good at arithmetic and also teaches it to the sons of nobles in the Imperial Academy, seeing them stop and think deeply.
However...
After a while, his eyebrows furrowed, actually it was difficult, especially the first and third questions, but they were still junior high school knowledge. If Song Jiyou had an evil heart, he would have come up with several high school-level difficult questions, and Zhang Doctor wouldn't even be qualified to look at them!
"Uncle Da, does this young man's boastful words have any basis?" Doctor Yan asked in a low voice.
"I couldn't think of it for the time being."
"The kid is after us."
"Take advantage of cleverness to sell cunning!"
"But if we can't solve it, then we'll lose face."
"It's not us who will lose face, it's the entire capital city's arithmetic experts who will lose face." Dr. Zhang said coldly. This kid definitely only wanted to target the two of them, but he didn't think that this move would use up all the reward money from the Kaifeng Prefecture's challenge matches, which is equivalent to challenging all the people in the entire capital city, and even all the people under heaven.
The two of them stared at it for a while, thinking.
Without them, anyone can solve these three questions, and Song Jiu will get a reputation for being arrogant. Of course, if no one can solve it after a month, not only will others lose face, but the two of them will also lose face, and they won't be able to stay there with dignity anymore.
Their thoughts were already anticipated by Song Jiu. It's also impossible to underestimate the people of this era, and it's possible that someone will solve the second question in this era, but as for the first and third questions, forget about it. However, Song Jiu was worried that someone would make a physical model according to the proportion of the question, because this era only pursues answers and doesn't care about the solution process. Who cares about parabolas? As long as the answer is correct, he can't deny it himself. So, he took out the middle school math problem that was once called the most bizarre in history by examinees from past dynasties and modified it into the third question. Not even a trial run would work!
Two doctors were in a somewhat unpleasant mood.
The school house belongs to Song Jiu's family, but since Song Jiu took the shares of He Zhong's labor, this school house cannot be called Song Jiu's. Moreover, as they are both sent by the imperial court, neither privately nor publicly does Song Jiu have the qualifications to drive them away, even using such an indirect method.
Walked in with a gloomy face.
Song Jiuzai acted silly and crazy, still waving hello.
An unpleasant day passed, Dr. Zhang couldn't think of an answer, but he had many high-IQ, arithmetic-skilled friends, so they gathered together to discuss.
The matter gradually spread throughout the capital, and many people came to watch. Five hundred bolts of silk could buy three thousand stones of rice, which was enough to make many people's hearts move. Even the most respected person in the Song Dynasty called the officials of the Three Departments, who were responsible for managing the country's finances, to come and try to solve it. The Three Departments were in charge of financial management, which meant keeping track of all the accounts and finances. Now a young boy had come up with three questions, and he insisted that they had answers. You officials, come and try to solve them...
……
Three questions have puzzled many people, and after more than a dozen days, someone finally figured out the answer to the second question: Fifteen lanterns will allow the ox cart to catch up with the rickshaw. However, there are still no answers to the first and third questions.
Arithmetic is not as important as the meaning of words, but it's definitely more important than the length of sentences (words), and it will gradually cause a sensation again.
Even if Zhao Kuangyin's brothers made a promise in private, whoever can solve it will be rewarded with 500 bolts of silk. Otherwise, it won't do, the imperial court cannot let an unscrupulous little scoundrel compete with so many officials in charge of accounts.
What a great opportunity to show off, but this seeming opportunity makes countless officials and minor officers worry every day.
The news was blocked in the river, but things started from the river. The elder sister opened a wine shop, and people coming and going from the south to the north were numerous. Even some businessmen ran to Kuji Alley to watch and ponder, then ran to the elder sister's wine shop to drink and discuss.
The elder sister also received many messages. Within a month, no one could solve it, at least proving that her younger brother was very skilled in arithmetic.
She was delighted to come to her mother's home, anyway it's not far, but the fifth sister married a bit far away, at Zhuque Bridge, in the inner city, can't move around frequently.
When they saw Big Sister arrive, the two PhDs also fell silent. Half of the time had passed, and if they couldn't solve it in a month later, they would have to leave without bothering Song Jiu. Song Jiu came forward to greet her.
"Xiao Jiu, this spring you went to your uncle's place, but didn't go to pay respects to our parents on Qingming Festival. On the Winter Solstice, my siblings and I will go together to pay respects."
"Let's go."
"If your parents saw you today, they would be able to rest their eyes in the nine springs below." Big sister said with a sigh of relief. It doesn't matter about the money, now that little brother has opened a school, even the fifth-rank officials from Kaifeng Prefecture have come several times, and the questions he's asked are so difficult that no one in the entire capital can solve them, what a great honor!
"What kind of behavior is this?"
"Look at your attitude, as if nothing matters."
"Yes."
"This is your parents' blessing from the underworld, so you can open the window of opportunity. Work hard and go to the imperial examination again next year, maybe you'll pass and become a scholar."
Mentioning the imperial examination, Song Jiuli's face turned gloomy and his brow furrowed, the green smoke rising from Song Deyuan's tomb reached as high as eighty feet, yet he himself didn't pass either! Just then, a beauty arrived.
A true aristocratic family is very particular about opening the door, with different doors opened for different people. The middle gate is fully open, half-open, or slightly ajar; sometimes only the side gate is opened, and in some cases, even the back door is used. Nowadays, Song Jiu's family keeps the middle gate wide open all day long to facilitate visitors who come to observe and learn. However, do the two PhDs know the rules? And is Song Jiu really an aristocrat?
Two beauties stood outside the door, Song Jiu was not particular about it, and the students who came to study from the river were also not particular about it. The two girls were particular, although the door was open, they did not enter, but instead knocked on the edge of the door and asked in a crisp voice: "Excuse me, is this Song Jiu's home?"
