The First Volume of Qinghe County

  Jiang Jing was immediately stunned by Ximen Qing's new terms when they first met, while Zhu Zhi and Shi Ye were already experienced and not too surprised. Zhu Zhi even sat up straight, interested in waiting for Ximen Qing to explain the meaning of "Financial Controller".

  Another careless slip of the tongue by Ximen Qing, his face thicker than the city wall. Fortunately, this financial director was quite good at explaining: "Finance is actually about matters related to various monies and goods; a director is the highest-ranking person in finance."

  "If Mr. Chiang is willing, I am now the accountant of the Ximen family, that is, the financial controller."

  "Oh, I see. So that's what it means." Zhu Zhi County and Shi Ye listened to the explanation, nodding repeatedly.

  Jiang Jing listened to this explanation and Ximen Qing's invitation, seemingly not very interested, instead he cupped his hands: "This Mr. Ximen invited me, Jiang Jing, to be the financial controller of his household for the first time..."

  Jiang Jing seemed to feel awkward about the term "Financial Director", and after a noticeable pause, he continued: "A certain family is grateful. However, since a certain family did not pass the imperial examination, they have become disheartened with their official career. There are still several acres of thin land in their household, and now they only want to return to their hometown to farm, focus on arithmetic, and Your Honor should not mention this again."

  "Jiang Xian-di, what's this?" interrupted Zhu Zhi-xian, unable to hold back.

  "Huh?" Ximen Qing didn't think that as a transmigrated character, although he wasn't extremely powerful, at least he could take down a few people with ease, but the godly calculator Jiang Jing in front of him directly refused him.

  "I was very enthusiastic, but Mr. Jiang didn't seem interested, and I don't want to force it either." Ximen Qing thought for a moment and said: "But all things in the world are just business deals. Can Mr. Jiang tell me what conditions he needs to accept my invitation?"

  "Ximen's younger brother said it well." Zhu Zhi County obviously strongly agreed with this statement: "People all over the world are bustling about, nothing more than for fame and profit. Jiang Xian Di can consider it a bit."

  Jiang Jing's face showed a hint of disgust when he heard the four words "for fame and fortune". He was deeply fascinated by mathematics and had long been indifferent to fame and wealth. However, his friendship with Zhu Zhiyuan was not shallow, so he couldn't directly refuse. Since this official from Ximen asked him to set conditions, Jiang Jing thought it would be a good opportunity to make things difficult for him and take the chance to slip away and return home as soon as possible.

  Thinking of this, Jianzi Jiang's expression remained unchanged, and after a moment's thought, he had an idea: "Since brother said so, I have a math problem on my side..."

  "Math problem!" Zhu Zhi Xian took a deep breath, knowing that it was unlikely he could invite Xi Men Qing to be his brother: "Jiang Xiong Di, you've studied math for over ten years, this math problem should be made simple, don't make it difficult for my brother Xi Men."

  The teacher heard this and couldn't help but feel embarrassed for Ximen Qing, but looking at Ximen Qing's face, he was surprisingly calm and composed, which shocked the teacher.

  Isn't Ximen Qing not only proficient in poetry and literature, but also arithmetic? If so, isn't Ximen Qing even more impressive than Jiang Jing? In other words, has Ximen Qing been hiding his talents all these years?

  The master was startled by his own thoughts and didn't dare to continue thinking, at this time Ximen Qing spoke up: "Mr. Jiang just needs to ask the question, if I, a humble student, can't answer it, then naturally we won't mention this matter again."

  "Good!" Jiang Jing's eyes lit up with excitement as soon as arithmetic was mentioned, and his gaze became fiery: "The official is not a master of arithmetic, but our family has come up with a relatively simple question, hoping that the official will keep his promise!"

  "Mr. Jiang, I'm all ears." Ximen Qing struck a pose, smiling as he waited for Jiang Jing to ask his question.

  Joke, I was always a high scorer in math from elementary school to high school, and even when faced with advanced calculus, I was full of confidence. I just need to come up with two formulas for advanced calculus, and I'm afraid that even the great mathematician Jiang Jing may not be able to understand them his whole life.

  "This question is from the 'Sunzi Suanjing' of several hundred years ago, it's also a classic question and an interesting one." The divine mathematician Jiang Jing smiled and said: "Your Honor, please listen carefully."

  "No problem, as long as Mr. Chiang speaks slowly." Ximen Qing nodded and said.

  In fact, for this kind of traditional Chinese math problem, the key is not how to solve it, but rather being able to understand the question. This is similar to a top Chinese math Olympiad student receiving an American high school math test, if they can't read those English words, they might as well hand in a blank paper.

  "Good!" Jiang Jing, the divine mathematician, has been studying "Sunzi's Algorithm" for years and can recite it fluently. The question is easy: "Now there are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage, with 35 heads above and 94 feet below. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?"

  Got it.

  Absolutely right.

  This ancient text is quite straightforward, "雉兔同笼" means "chickens and rabbits in the same cage".

  This topic, which was almost a cliché even in its own time, has no difficulty at all!

  Ximen Qing could almost see the image of Jiang Jing obediently sitting in his accounting room, tapping on the abacus and writing in the account book.

  With a smile, Ximen Qing stretched out three fingers: "As for this topic, I happen to know three solutions. Which one would Mr. Jiang like to hear?"

  "What!" This was completely beyond the expectation of Jiang Jing, who looked up and down at Ximen Qing with his eyes, and then asked in a suspicious tone: "Although this question is not difficult, but Master Ximen has three solutions as soon as he hears it?"

  "As long as the master can come up with one of the solutions, our family will agree and let him be the accountant."

  "These three solutions are either straightforward or boring." Ximen Qing burst out laughing and said, "Since Mr. Jiang has put it that way, I'll tell you the most interesting solution."

  "But before that, I'd like to ask Mr. Jiang, are the chicken and rabbit in the title alive? Is the chicken a rooster or a hen?"

  "Huh?" Jiang Jing didn't expect Ximen Qing to suddenly throw out this question, which had absolutely nothing to do with arithmetic. Whether the chicken was a rooster or a hen, whether the rabbit was dead or alive, it had no relation to the problem itself.

  Zhu knew that Xie and the teacher were also looking at Ximen Qing with strange expressions, this question completely deviated from the topic itself, and didn't know why Ximen Qing suddenly asked this.

  "They are all alive. If they were dead, they would have been taken out of the cage long ago. There are both roosters and hens." Jiang Jing felt that his answer was also inexplicable.

  "Good!" Ximen Qing laughed and said: "It's good that it's alive. Whether it's a rooster or a hen doesn't matter."

  Zhu Daquan was originally stroking his beard and thinking deeply, but when he heard Ximen Qing's words, he almost pulled out his own beard. What are you asking about?

  "Thirty-five heads, ninety-four feet." Ximen Qing continued: "That is to say, the rabbits and chickens together have thirty-five heads."

  "That's right." Jiang Jing said without hesitation.

  "A rabbit has four legs, a chicken has two legs, no problem."

  "This... is correct!" Jiang Jing had a "brother, I surrender" expression on his face, looking very helpless.

  "Now I'll cough, and the rabbits and roosters in the cage will all lift one leg. So now you can only see fifty-nine legs, right?"

  "Huh? What kind of solution is this?" Jiang Jing was completely led astray by Ximen Qing: "Ninety-four minus thirty-five, that's fifty-nine, no mistake."

  "Now I'll cough again, and the rabbits and chickens in the cage will all lift one leg each. So now you only see twenty-four legs, right?"

  "What's this?" Jiang Jing was stunned, even as a master mathematician: "Sir, chickens have two legs. If it were like that, all the chickens would fall to the ground!"

  "Right! You're absolutely right!" Ximen Qing showed a self-satisfied smile: "So the rest are all rabbits, or to be exact, rabbits that lift up their two front legs."

  "Hmm." Jiang Jing felt his brain had rusted, as Ximen Qing spoke to this point, Jiang Jing could already feel that the question had actually been solved by this Ximen Daren, but this strange solution sounded completely unreasonable, yet completely flawless.

  "So twenty-four divided by two is twelve." Ximen Qing looked at the abacus with an expression like a fox that had stolen a chicken: "Twelve rabbits, so the number of chickens is twenty-three."

  Jiang Jing, also known as God's Calculator, was like a chicken lifting its two legs and fell to the ground with a thud: "Teacher! You are my teacher!"

  The master's face was incredibly colorful, while Zhu Zhixian stood up straight: "Brother Jiang, what is the meaning of this?"

  Jiang Jing raised his head, looking at Ximen Qing with eyes full of reverence: "Teacher, today I realized that the hard work and research of over a decade was actually like building a cart behind closed doors! If it weren't for seeing you today, I wouldn't have known how long I would be lost!"

  Ximen Qing felt that the play was almost over, and he reached out to help Jiang Zhushan up: "Mr. Jiang is too modest, I was just playing around for a moment, how can I be considered Mr. Jiang's teacher?"

  "The teacher's insight is far beyond the students'!" Jiang Jing completely ignored Zhu Zhi Xian's question, his attention fully focused on Xi Men Qing: "Today, the teacher's solution is unheard of by the students. If one has not been immersed in mathematics for many years, how can they come up with such a wonderful method?"

  "If a teacher is unwilling to accept a student, but only hopes that the student can often be by their side, the student will already be very satisfied!"

  "Ah..." Ximen Qing's heart was secretly sweating profusely, never expecting this godly calculator to be so obsessed with arithmetic. However, he had already taken in this accountant gentleman for himself.

  "Mr. Jiang and Zhu Zhiyuan have a deep relationship, and I am still several years younger than Mr. Jiang." Ximen Qing said sincerely: "Since Mr. Jiang is willing, come to my house as an accountant, and we can call each other brothers from now on."

  Jiang Jing was overjoyed: "This is natural! As long as the master can spare some time to guide me, whether it's Mr. Accountant or Financial Director, I won't take a single cent!"

  "Haha!" Zhu Zhi County nodded repeatedly: "I didn't expect Ximen's younger brother to be so proficient in arithmetic, it's really surprising. This brother of mine can be handed over to Ximen's younger brother, and I can often drink and chat with Jiang's brothers, great!"

  When it comes to drinking, Ximen Qing suddenly thought of something and asked, "I wonder where the owner of Haomen Building is, do they have any white wine?"