Can't Distinguish!

Chang'an County Office.

Even though it wasn't time to get off work yet, Li Nuo had already finished judging all the cases.

Judging cases was his old profession. As he grew more familiar with the Great Xia Codex, his speed in handling cases increased, allowing him to complete his tasks ahead of schedule.

Today's gains were good. Although they were still trivial matters and domestic disputes, the Codex had actually granted him two extra days of Lifespan. He had woken up with twenty-four days left, and after finishing the last case in the afternoon, it became twenty-six days.

By calculation, he had gained a net of one day.

Walking out of the Court Hall, Li Nuo said to the Magistrate of Chang'an, "Tomorrow's cases will be troublesome for you, Lord Pei."

Pei Zhe's face showed difficulty, and he seemed to want to say something but stopped.

Li Nuo noticed that he seemed to have something to say and asked, "What's wrong?"

The Magistrate of Chang'an explained, "Young Master, you may not know, but tomorrow is a day of rest. The yamen, whether it's the constables, runners, or clerical officials, will all be resting and bathing at home..."

Then, he added, "Whether we rest or not, I don't have much of a problem, but I'm afraid my subordinates will have opinions. After all, they've been working hard for ten days and must be quite tired..."

Li Nuo had flipped through the Great Xia Codex these past few days, which included regulations on official holidays. Civil servants in Great Xia worked for ten days and then had one day off.

It seemed harder than the five-day work week with two days off in later generations. In reality, officials in Great Xia had a much more comfortable life. There were holidays on the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, Summer Solstice, and Winter Solstice, each granting a day off. Significant festivals like Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival were granted at least three days off, with no make-up days.

Great Xia valued filial piety. On the birthdays or death anniversaries of parents, one could request leave from their superior, and it would always be approved.

If the superior did not approve, submitting a memorial of impeachment would be enough to drown him in the saliva of the Censorate officials.

How could one expect someone who was not filial to their parents to be loyal to the country?

By this calculation, out of over three hundred days in a year, one could get more than 150 days off.

Li Nuo glanced at the surrounding runners. They indeed didn't seem very energetic. After toiling for ten days for a single day off, making them work overtime would be no different from those idiotic leaders in later generations, wouldn't it?

But if he didn't do anything, wouldn't his day be wasted?

Li Nuo thought for a moment and said, "How about this, please help me select ten people who are willing to stay at the yamen tomorrow..."

Before he could finish speaking, many runners secretly took a step back.

After finally getting a day off, they had already planned to go out and have fun. Who would be willing to stay at the yamen?

Li Nuo continued, "I will give these ten people a month's salary as compensation."

A group of runners suddenly looked up.

What?

Working for one day tomorrow would earn them a month's salary?

Then what was the point of taking a day off!

Fearing they would be left out, the quick-witted ones had already run out and said to the Magistrate of Chang'an, "Lord, your subordinate is not tired. Your subordinate is willing to stay at the yamen tomorrow!"

"Me, me, me, I'm not tired either!"

"Me too!"

"I'll stay too!"

In the blink of an eye, the number of applicants exceeded ten. Those who came out later and saw the situation wasn't good immediately said, "Lord, choose me. I only need half a month's salary!"

Others cursed this guy in their hearts but had to lower their prices, speaking one after another.

"We only need half a month's..."

"I'll take ten days, ten days' salary is enough."

Pei Zhe could understand these scrambling individuals. Working for one day and getting a month's salary, he would be willing too. His wife managed all his finances. If he could save some private money, he could go to Phoenix Perch Tower next time to help those unfortunate women...

A gambling father, a sick mother, an unmarried younger brother, and a pitiable self. As a parent official, who else would he help if not them?

Thinking of this, he looked at Li Nuo and said with a smile, "Young Master does not hold an official position and is presiding over cases alone at the county office. It might cause gossip. How about this, tomorrow I'll have my wife return to her maternal home, and I'll stay here with Young Master..."

Li Nuo felt embarrassed, "This is not good. How can I delay Lord Pei's family matters?"

Pei Zhe waved his hand and said, "The people's affairs are the most important. I, as a parent official, still have much to learn from Young Master...

Not long after, Li Nuo left the Chang'an County Office.

Constables and runners might seem imposing, but their salaries were not high, only about two taels a month. For ten people, that was only twenty taels. Li Nuo didn't know exactly how much money he had at home, but he figured twenty taels was affordable.

Back at the Li Manor, Song Mu'er was already waiting in his courtyard.

Only she and a maid from the Song Manor were in the small courtyard. Song Jiaren was nowhere to be seen. Li Nuo worried that she would ask him to play shuttlecock with her or do her hair again. The portraits of the female assassin and Steward Zheng's concubine had dimmed. Currently, besides being good-looking, he had no other special skills.

The thing Li Nuo was worried about did not happen. Song Mu'er walked over holding a small booklet and said sweetly, "Brother Li Nuo, I have a question I don't know how to answer. Can you explain it to me?"

Hearing that it was just about explaining a problem, Li Nuo was slightly relieved.

Back in the day, he had scored a perfect score on the college entrance examination math. Could he be stumped by elementary school math?

Taking the booklet handed over by Song Mu'er, Li Nuo's gaze fell upon it, and he was slightly taken aback.

It wasn't that he didn't know how to solve this problem. Li Nuo had been reading books in his spare time these past few days, mostly skimming rather than reading carefully, aiming to understand this world as quickly as possible.

Li Nuo had a general idea of the mathematical level in Great Xia. Modern mathematics had not yet emerged here. The arithmetic in Great Xia was all for solving practical problems, such as measuring areas and volumes, calculating grain prices, and taxes...

Song Mu'er's question was about calculating grain prices.

"There are nine dou of hemp, seven dou of wheat, three dou of beans, two dou of vetch, and five dou of millet, worth one hundred and forty cash; seven dou of hemp, six dou of wheat, four dou of beans, five dou of vetch, and three dou of millet, worth one hundred and twenty-eight cash...; one dou of hemp, three dou of wheat, two dou of beans, eight dou of vetch, and five dou of millet, worth ninety-five cash. What is the value of one dou?"

In terms of type, this problem is similar to the "Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage" problem.

However, "Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage" only has two unknowns, while this problem has as many as five.

For Li Nuo, solving a system of five linear equations is not difficult; he could use either the elimination method or the matrix method.

The difficult part was how to explain it to Song Mu'er.

After all, she was only six years old, and even in later generations, this would be high school mathematics, and high school math problems wouldn't typically be this hard.

Song Mu'er didn't even have the concept of a system of equations, so it wouldn't be easy for Li Nuo to explain it to her.

He first found a piece of scratch paper, set up the matrix for this problem, quickly calculated the answer using linear algebra, and then converted the problem into Great Xia's notation, listing it on another sheet of paper.

Great Xia's numbers also had their own shorthand. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division all had corresponding symbols.

Song Mu'er could understand the individual equations.

But she didn't understand why two equations could be added together.

Li Nuo had no choice but to start from the very basics and explain it step by step. Fortunately, Song Mu'er was intelligent, and after Li Nuo gave a few examples, she gradually began to understand the operations between systems of equations.

The rest was much simpler.

Solving a system of five linear equations was merely a process of elimination through addition and subtraction. Li Nuo had already calculated the answer, so he just needed to tell Song Mu'er how to do it and let her calculate it step by step. Although it took a bit longer, she eventually arrived at the answer herself.

Li Nuo looked at her and asked, "Do you understand?"

Song Mu'er was surprised to find that the problem she had found so difficult just moments ago had been solved by herself.

She pouted and muttered, "I knew it. You explain things better than Teacher. Teacher wouldn't be happy if she heard that..."

She looked relaxed, but Li Nuo was not.

In order for her to understand, he had started with simple examples, moving step by step, gradually breaking down almost all the knowledge points and feeding them to her bit by bit. If she still didn't understand after all that, Li Nuo would have no other options.

Thankfully, Mu'er didn't disappoint him. Li Nuo patted her head and said, "You can't say that about Teacher..."

"Brother Li Nuo!"

Before Li Nuo could finish speaking, a familiar voice called out from not far away.

He turned his head and saw Song Ninger and Song Jiaren walking in together from outside.

Song Ninger ran over and greeted him with a smile.

Li Nuo was a little surprised. Since when had he and Song Ninger become so familiar?

Song Mu'er, who had been running halfway, suddenly stopped and stared fixedly at the spot beside Li Nuo.

Song Ninger glanced at her, then proudly lifted her chin.

A moment later.

Li Nuo looked at Song Mu'er, who had turned away and was pouting, ignoring him, and then at the smug Song Ninger, and covered his face in exasperation.

Who could have imagined that Song Ninger would pretend to be Song Mu'er to ask him questions?

The two sisters looked exactly alike, their clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, and even the scent of the sachets they wore were the same. He really couldn't tell them apart, he really couldn't!