Don't Fall Too Hard for Me

"Have you had a good appetite these past few days?"

"..."

The women with experience raising children began sharing advice on pregnancy precautions and care. The conversation moved faster and faster, and before long, they were passionately debating what babies should wear at two months, at three months. "I still have my children's old clothes. They weren't expensive; children just grow so fast you can hardly keep up..."

Shen Lantang had only made it into this gathering of mothers by virtue of being a stepmother. She was nearly bored enough to yawn.

"Is Lan Tang finding this dull?" Xie Zhao suddenly turned to her.

Shen Lantang snapped back to attention like a student caught daydreaming in class.

"Ah, not at all."

Xie Zhao smiled. "Lan Tang hasn't had children herself, so of course she'd find it dull. We're all family here. There's no need to force yourself."

"We haven't been considerate of Lan Tang. When I was a teenager, I certainly didn't like listening to talk about motherhood." Madam Zhou came to her rescue too.

"If you're bored, Lan Tang, could you go up front and check on the children? They've all been spoiled rotten, and I'm afraid the maids won't be able to keep them in line."

It was clearly an excuse to let Shen Lantang leave gracefully. She had her pride and was about to refuse in embarrassment, but in the end, the lure of freedom won. Swallowing her shame, she said:

"Then I'll go check on the children."

Xie Zhao smiled behind pressed lips.

"Go on, go on."

Shen Lantang strode away from her seat like an adult banished to the children's table at New Year's for refusing to drink.

There were four children in the front hall. The two younger ones were folding paper, while the older ones were doing arithmetic. Yes, the Jing Dynasty had arithmetic too. There were books devoted to it, and it was tested in every imperial examination.

Shen Lantang had looked through two classic arithmetic books. The first explained multiplication, division, squares, cubes, the Pythagorean theorem, and how to calculate the area of various shaded regions... All that was still within her grasp. The second, more advanced book covered geometric functions, linear equations, and the like. It made her head spin, and she gave up entirely.

Xie Qin Yan and Chen Junze were playing a popular game called "How Much Will You Give Me?" They took turns setting problems. If someone failed to solve one or got it wrong, he gave the other player the corresponding number of tiles. If he got it right, the one who set the problem paid instead. Whoever ended up with the most tiles won.

Given their ages, the numbers couldn't go much higher than the largest product in the multiplication table. She should be able to count that high. Probably.

Shen Lantang sat nearby and watched them play, their young voices drifting to her ears now and then. Perhaps the scene was too peaceful, or perhaps the weather was too hot. Either way, she couldn't help yawning.

Xie Qin Yan noticed at once. Always solemn, he spoke with the respectful gravity of a little adult:

"Auntie, this fine morning shouldn't be wasted idling away. If you have nothing to do, come do arithmetic with us."

Well, now she was being lectured by a child.

I know how to solve quadratic equations, kid. Are you sure you want me to play with you?

"All right, you want me to play? Fine. But I'm giving you a different kind of problem."

Neither Xie Qin Yan nor Chen Junze yet understood how much trouble they were in. "Fine!" they said confidently.

Don't Fall Too Hard for Me

Shen Lantang picked up the numbered wooden tiles already on the table. "Put the numbers one through nine into nine squares. Every row, column, and diagonal has to add up to the same number."

"Can you solve it?"

Xie Qin Yan and Chen Junze frowned at the same time.

Seeing their doubtful faces, Shen Lantang thought, Just wait. This modern math puzzle will have you hooked.

It was nothing like the problems they had encountered before. Its allure ran even deeper than the classic chickens-and-rabbits puzzle. The two little gentlemen sat on square stools, thinking hard. They even had the maids bring them paper and brushes so they could work out their calculations.

Time crept by. Every possible solution hit a dead end after three or four steps. After more than a quarter of an hour, Chen Junze was the first to lose patience.

"I'm not doing it anymore!" He tore up his page of scribbled calculations and shouted, his voice thick with tears:

"It can't be solved! There's no answer! You must be tricking us!"

Shen Lantang narrowed her eyes. Ignoring him, she turned to ask, "Qin Yan, have you solved it?"

Xie Qin Yan's face flushed scarlet, but he shook his head honestly. "No."

One of them wasn't quite five, and the other had only just turned four. It was perfectly normal that they couldn't solve it.

Shen Lantang asked patiently, "Do you know the trick?"

"What number sits in the middle of one through nine?"

"Five!"

"That's right. The trick is to put five in the center. Try again."

Xie Qin Yan considered this and placed the five in the center. He had an idea of his own: put one large number and one small number on opposite sides of the five. Nine on the left, one on the right; eight above, two below. He got it wrong a few more times, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Chen Junze had been sulking nearby with red eyes. But as Xie Qin Yan moved faster and more confidently, he couldn't help edging over for a peek.

Shen Lantang glanced at him. "Want to play?"

Chen Junze pouted. "Yes," he said reluctantly.

"Qin Yan, make room for him."

Xie Qin Yan obediently shifted aside.

"Sit here."

Chen Junze's face turned beet red, but he sat down.

The two put their heads together and discussed the puzzle with great enthusiasm. They were both quite clever, and soon worked it out. One solution wasn't enough for them; they tried several more before they finally felt they had redeemed themselves.

"Do you have another one?" Chen Junze demanded loudly. "I want more problems!"

"Sure."

This one was hard to explain aloud, so Shen Lantang wrote on the paper:

AB − B = A + B

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