Ancient Heavenly Scroll

"Young Master, today is the first day the new agreement officially takes effect. Boss Ding built a large workshop in the east city, oh, a winery! Old Zhou helped him build it. We still provided the yeast and Ting Rice as raw materials. The first batch of wine is out. Old Zhou is there weighing it; it's 863 jin in total. We charge 3 qian of silver per jin. That's... 3 times 8 is 24, carry the 2. 3 times 6 is 18, plus 2 is 20, carry the 2. 3 times 3 is 9, plus 2 is 11. So, 2589 qian. That's 258 liang and 9 qian of silver. Young Master, we're losing a lot. If we used the old agreement, he'd have to give us 863 liang..."

Lin Su smiled, "You need to look at this with a developmental perspective! Have some vision! What does it matter if we earn a little less today? Haining Tower plans to build 8 such wineries, and we'll expand in the future. Calculate it, 8 wineries, assuming the same scale, how much silver will they give me for free every day?"

"8 wineries, 258 liang and 9 qian each. Young Master, I can't calculate this in my head. I request to write out the equation..." Xiao Tao's peach blossom eyes blinked, with a hint of a spoiled tone.

"Granted!"

Xiao Tao clapped her hands, picked up the chopsticks from the table, and inverted them to draw an equation on the ground:

Soon, the result was obtained: 2071 liang and 2 qian!

"Not bad, the answer is correct!" Lin Su said, "So, did we earn more, or did we earn less?"

"Young Master, you are truly brilliant..." Xiao Tao was overjoyed. As the money increased, she, the little accountant, was the happiest.

Suddenly, she was startled. A woman in white appeared before her. She stared blankly at the ground, where the equation she had just drawn was. She recognized the person who had arrived; it was the Heavenly Immortal who had visited the Young Master yesterday...

Zhang Yiyu looked at the equation on the ground, completely bewildered. There were strange symbols on the ground, none of which she recognized. Yet, why was it that using these symbols, this little girl had provided the answer to such a complex arithmetic problem in the blink of an eye?

863 jin, 3 qian per jin, how much would that be? If asked, she definitely wouldn't know, and it would take a long time to calculate using counting rods. But this young woman answered it casually, saying it was mental calculation.

One winery is 2589 qian, how much would 8 wineries be?

This was too terrifying, the numbers were too large. If she were to calculate using counting rods, the rods alone would stack up high. But this young woman squatted on the ground and calculated it in moments.

Good heavens, this woman is a mathematical genius!

But what kind of equation was she calculating? She didn't understand it at all...

"Xiao Tao, what kind of calculation method is this?" Zhang Yiyu slowly raised her head, her eyes shining brightly.

"How would I know what method it is? My Young Master taught me. Young Master, what is this called?" Xiao Tao asked proudly, tilting her head up to ask her Young Master, her chest also lifting. Her chest was something she was very proud of, seemingly even higher than this fairy sister in front of her.

"Multiplication. Didn't you memorize it for three whole nights? Still don't know what it's called?"

Zhang Yiyu became even more confused, "Multiplication? What is multiplication? And these symbols..."

Lin Su was stunned. He had entered the world of mathematics and forgotten where he was.

There was no multiplication or division in this world. All multiplication had been converted into addition and subtraction. For example, 8 wineries, each winery costing 2589 qian. If you asked an ordinary person to calculate this, they would directly bring out twenty thousand counting rods and count them one by one...

Moreover, how would they understand Arabic numerals?

All the numbers were in Chinese characters, and they were traditional ones at that. I ask you, is this any way for people to live?

"This is a new set of counting symbols. This is 1, this is 2, ... As for multiplication, it's derived from addition and subtraction, making calculations more convenient and increasing efficiency a hundredfold..."

Zhang Yiyu's heart began to race. Good heavens, her brother had said he was proficient in various miscellaneous studies, but he hadn't said he was proficient to this extent! Creating a secret technique that improved efficiency a hundredfold, the Ancient Heavenly Scroll, truly no one could compare to him!

"Xiao Tao, I have something to discuss with your Young Master. How about you step out for a moment?"

Xiao Tao's gaze shifted to her Young Master.

Lin Su nodded gently, "Go to the winery and tell Boss Ding that he doesn't need to settle accounts with cash every day. Let's settle once a month with silver notes directly. There's no need to have a pile of silver sitting in the manor."

"Okay!" Xiao Tao left.

Lin Su poured Zhang Yiyu a cup of tea. His heart quietly quickened. If his prediction was correct, she should bring up the Ancient Heavenly Scroll...

Zhang Yiyu gently took a sip of tea, and after mentally reviewing all her plans one last time to confirm them, she spoke, "I wonder if my brother mentioned something to you when he was here, which is... the Ancient Heavenly Scroll."

Lin Su frowned, "I don't think so. What is the Ancient Heavenly Scroll?"

The Ancient Heavenly Scroll, named "Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll," was obtained by a top elder of the Bishui Immortal Sect ten years ago during an overseas exploration. Its content was profound and extensive. Countless cultivation experts had spent a full seven years deciphering it, but to no avail.

Later, the people of the Bishui Immortal Sect speculated, since the Heavenly Scroll was named "Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll," did it mean that only a genius of the Literary Way could decipher it?

Therefore, her brother was... brought up the mountain by her and cultivated diligently for three years, deciphering one scroll. Indeed, a genius of the Literary Way was effective!

But it was precisely because of his deciphering that the experts of the Bishui Immortal Sect believed that deciphering the ancient scroll had nothing to do with cultivation level, but rather with miscellaneous studies such as arithmetic, the five elements, and astronomy.

"It has something to do with arithmetic and such things. That's quite interesting, but I'm afraid it might not be convenient for me to participate, as this is a great secret of the Immortal Sect."

"The Heavenly Scroll is named 'Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll,' which already indicates that people of the Literary Way are the chosen ones to decipher the Heavenly Scroll. If you decipher it, it aligns with the will of heaven. How could the Immortal Sect go against the heavens and harm you? They would only be immensely grateful."

"I naturally believe what you say. How about we give it a try? Perhaps I won't be able to decipher it at all."

Zhang Yiyu raised her hand, and a book appeared out of thin air in her palm. On the cover were four large characters: Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll.

Lin Su opened the cover. As the contents entered his eyes, his heart raced. In an instant, he understood that the people of the Bishui Immortal Sect had completely misunderstood.

The Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll did not refer to a literary person deciphering it, but rather... this book was closely related to a person named Wen Wang.

He was King Wen of Zhou.

King Wen of Zhou was from the Zhou Dynasty.

The Hundred Schools of Thought on Earth appeared more than 600 years after him.

But he couldn't understand this world.

There were works by the Hundred Schools of Thought, but King Wen of Zhou was nowhere to be found.

Now, a Wen Wang Heavenly Scroll suddenly appeared, containing the principles of Bagua.

He had also seen the Bagua diagram, and it was clearly displayed in his super memory system now.

He scanned through it rapidly, his eyes taking in ten lines at a glance. The first chapter had some markings on it, made with new ink, clearly by Zhang Haoran. This first chapter was the result of his three years of deciphering. From this, it seemed the ancient scroll wasn't the original, but a rubbing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been allowed to write on it.

But Lin Su was utterly confused, because what was written there was only vaguely similar to the Bagua he remembered.

The Bagua he recalled started with a diagram, followed by detailed explanations.

Where was the diagram?

From chapter one, chapter two, all the way to chapter ten, there wasn't a single diagram.

Without the Bagua diagram, what were they talking about? If you just spoke empty words, wouldn't that be an Ancient Heavenly Scroll?

Lin Su suddenly froze. Could it be that this was the fundamental reason the Heavenly Scroll became a Heavenly Scroll? It was missing the most crucial Bagua diagram!

He closed the book and slowly looked up. Zhang Yiyu's beautiful eyes were also fixed on him, full of hope.

"Did you figure anything out?"

"It's not that easy. Let me take another look..."