Chapter 31: The Gamble Fight

  At breakfast, Shanshu told Lingyun that the first batch of customized ceramic tea packaging had arrived. "As per Mr. Yi's request, we found the largest ceramic workshop in Yangzhou and ordered their most famous celadon from the Yue Kiln. In addition, we also sent someone to Xing Kiln in Hebei to order a batch of their most famous white porcelain. However, since Xing Kiln is located in Hebei, it will take some time for the white porcelain to be delivered."

  Jiangnan Yue Kiln's celadon and Northern Xing Kiln's white porcelain were the most famous ceramics of this era. Since Lingyun positioned Longtong as a high-end tea from the beginning, the packaging naturally adopted ceramic, which was also the most renowned Yue Kiln celadon and Xing Kiln white porcelain.

  "Uh, celadon is better, but many northerners prefer white porcelain. We use white porcelain mainly for packaging Longtong tea to be sold in the north." Regional characteristics are always inevitable. Lingyun threw a gnawed sheep bone under the table, and Hui Feng immediately wagged its tail and flew over to pick it up and start gnawing on it.

  Gao Mingyue snorted in disdain, "Wolves are ungrateful creatures. When they grow up, they'll either turn on their masters or leave on their own." Grey Wind wasn't a small dog, but a young wolf cub. A few days ago, Gao Yi brought his guards to the mountains for hunting practice and returned with Grey Wind. During the hunt, they killed the mother wolf and found this little wolf cub in the den. They didn't bring it back to raise it, but rather planned to abandon it to the hunting dogs' pups in the village as playthings to train them. Luckily, Lingyun encountered it and was immediately taken with the little wolf cub. The little wolf's loneliness and pitiful appearance reminded him of his own anxious state when he first arrived here. In the end, he took the little wolf for himself, raising it by his side and feeding it sheep's milk porridge. Miraculously, the wolf cub survived and thrived. He named it Grey Wind, and in just a few months, it already had a robust build of three to four kilograms. Every day during meals, it would follow Lingyun around, even nibbling on bones behind him.

  It's said that dogs were originally wolves, but later became domesticated and turned into watchdogs. Grey Wind is still young, so it can be tamed. Even if it becomes untamable when it grows up and wants to leave, then so be it. Lingyun said with a smile, and Gaomingyue was his younger sister-in-law after all. People say that the younger sister-in-law's temper has half of her brother-in-law's, but Gaomingyue was not a kind person except when she was focused on calculating accounts. Until now, this younger sister-in-law seemed to have some prejudice against Lingyun. This made him puzzled, thinking back to how it was Gaomingyue who had first proposed that he join the Gao family. Lingyun could only try his best to yield, after all, she was his younger sister-in-law. He broke off a piece of flatbread, sprinkled some salt on top, ate half himself and fed the other half to Grey Wind under the table, which was looking at him with cute eyes. "You can feed it, it's very fun."

  "A lady would never raise a wild animal, let alone feed a dog at the dinner table." She scooped up a spoonful of mutton soup with her ladle, blowing on it to cool it down while speaking with disdain.

  Gao Qianxue had already gotten used to her husband and sister's daily bickering, and smiled as she said: "Alright, Mingyue, you're a noble lady, a true member of the aristocracy, a paragon of virtue. E'lang is your brother-in-law, so why do you always fight with him every time you meet? It's like you're a little kid." She raised an eyebrow, "Speaking of which, you're not as good as your sister-in-law. E'lang knows you like math, and recently he even went to the trouble of making a tool for you that will make it easier for you to do calculations in the future. Oh right, what was the name of that tool that E'lang made for Mingyue again? I'm getting old, I just mentioned it yesterday and today I've already forgotten."

  "Abacus!" Lingyun smiled and said. Although Gaomingyue was a bit stubborn and unreasonable, Lingyun couldn't stoop to her level. The best way wasn't to continue arguing with her, but to think of a way to change her attitude. He knew that Gaomingyue liked math the most, and coincidentally discovered that this era only had counting rods but no abacus. Calculating numbers required laying out hundreds of small wooden sticks on the ground, which was too troublesome. The abacus was a good tool used for thousands of years, he didn't believe it wouldn't work on this little girl.

  "An abacus? A plate that can do arithmetic?" Gao Mingyue laughed and said, seemingly not believing that Lingyun could make such a good thing.

  Lingyun calculated for a moment, then picked up the fine hemp cloth to wipe his hands. He turned around and said to Mulan who was standing behind him, "Mulan, bring me that abacus I made yesterday."

  The abacus was temporarily made and not too luxurious, but the abacus itself is not complicated. What's really powerful is just the oral arithmetic of the abacus. Lingyun put the abacus on the table, his fingers plucked it quickly, and the wooden beads clattered loudly.

  "Is this an abacus? Can it greatly increase calculation speed?" Gaomingyue was skeptical.

  "I know you're great at math, and they say you're the best in Gaojiazhuang. Why don't we make a bet? You find an account book, and we'll calculate it together. You use your abacus, and I'll use my arithmetic plate. Let's see who can get the answer first?" Lingyun said with a smile. Although computers and calculators are now ubiquitous, making abacuses obsolete, he still had a bead calculation course in school when he was young, and he never lost it. His level of bead calculation couldn't compare to those old accountants who could calculate faster than calculators, but he also knew the oral arithmetic formulas by heart, so his calculations weren't slow either. Competing with a Sui Dynasty girl who still used over 200 rods to set up a large array, this did feel a bit like a strong man bullying a child.

  Gao Mingyue was clearly very confident in her arithmetic and didn't believe that Ling Yun could win with just a new tool. Without hesitation, she said: "Fine, let's compete, but what do you plan to bet?"

  "Hmm, what to bet on." Lingyun pinched his chin and smiled, a moment later, with a mischievous grin: "How about this, if you lose, you'll help me give Grey Wind a bath for a month!"

  "No way!" Gao Mingyue refused without hesitation, letting her give the little gray wolf a bath, how could this be possible. If it weren't for her sister's face, she would have had someone beat this wolf cub to death with a stick long ago, and now they want her, the noble county princess, to give it a bath.

  "What are you betting on?"

  Gao Mingyue gnashed her silver teeth and glared at her brother-in-law with a wicked smile, "Let's make a bet. If you win, I'll give you 10,000 yuan. But if you lose, don't even think about asking me for money. Just throw this little wolf cub out of the house." She knew that Lingyun was penniless, yet she still deliberately made such a large bet, clearly intending to drive Little Wolf away.

  But Lingyun agreed without hesitation, and this bet was won.

  Rumor has it that Second Miss and the new son-in-law are going to have a math competition, and suddenly the High Family Village is bustling with excitement. The news spread like wildfire, and soon the front hall was packed with people. The High Family Village has always been known for its good reputation, and they have always treated their servants kindly, especially during this time when Lingyun tells stories in the house every day, boosting everyone's morale. One is the beloved Second Miss, and the other is the new son-in-law who is currently very popular, so everyone is extremely excited to find out who will win or lose in this math showdown.

  Gao Qianxue acted as the chief judge, while Guan Jia Gao and Zhang Bo from the accounting room served as deputy judges. Zhang Bo selected a new account book from the accounting room for use in the competition. Within the time it took to burn an incense stick, whoever could calculate the most accurate result first would win.

  "You're definitely going to lose!" Gaoming Yue had a look of certainty on her face from the very beginning.

  "Don't be too happy yet, 10,000 yuan is not a small amount." Lingyun had been in the Sui Dynasty for some time and had gained an understanding of prices. To take the most basic price of rice as an example, during the Kaihuang period, the 18th year after the founding of the Great Sui, the country was unified, with the north conquering the Turks and the south pacifying the Chen Dynasty, it could be said that this was a time of great prosperity. Especially in recent years, the international situation had been good, with no major wars, only some small border conflicts, and no large-scale projects or natural disasters, resulting in several years of bumper harvests. The court had even built large granaries to store grain in various places. Even the price of rice in the capital, which needed to be transported from Jianghuai River East and other places, was only 10 cents per dou.

  What is the concept of ten copper coins? After Sui established the country, it cleaned up various private coins in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and officially unified the casting of five-zhu coins, with a weight of four catties and two taels per thousand coins. This coin was commonly known as "meat good", with strong purchasing power. A modern liter of rice weighs 1.25 kg, and ten liters weigh 12.5 kg, or 6.25 kg. However, during the Sui dynasty, one liter was only about 0.6 liters in modern times.

  Converting, one dou of rice in the Sui Dynasty weighed 3.75 kg, and one jin in the Sui Dynasty was equal to sixteen liang, with each liang approximately 42 grams, so one jin was 668.19 grams. One dou was equivalent to 5.6 jin. After calculation, it is clear that ten wen of money could buy five jin nine liang of rice, and the price per jin of rice was 1.78 wen, less than two wen for a jin of rice.

  If converted according to the rice price of later generations, one wen would be worth about two yuan in soft currency. Of course, in reality, the purchasing power of Sui Dynasty copper coins was higher than that of soft currency. After all, the grain prices were high in later generations, and the grain prices in the Sui Dynasty were not cheap either. Nowadays, an ordinary worker with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan can buy 1,000 kilograms of rice, while the monthly salary of ordinary people in ancient times could not reach 1,700 or 1,800 wen.

  Ten thousand yuan is a big gamble. Converted into rice, it's 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms, enough to crush and bury Lingyun directly.

  "Begin!" With Gao Bo's command, Lingyun immediately opened the ledger and quickly started calculating with his abacus. To create a more shocking effect, he directly showcased his skill of fast calculation with both hands. In the past, Lingyun had represented his school in an abacus competition and won awards, earning the admiration of countless female classmates. Now that he was demonstrating it again, it indeed had a stunning effect. Everyone saw Lingyun staring at the ledger, without looking at the strange abacus full of beads, but his two hands moved swiftly like phantoms on it, creating a series of crisp sounds that were rhythmic and engaging.

  That voice made Gao Mingyue feel uneasy and unable to calm down, involuntarily turning her head frequently to look at Lingyun. Seeing his mysterious appearance, she couldn't believe it in her heart, comforting herself that he must be randomly guessing, absolutely not actually calculating.