Sitting Back to Watch the Drama

Fortunately, Jian Ruonan was clever and understood after Min gave her a brief explanation.

Min nodded lightly at Nanny Zhou. Nanny Zhou understood: Madam was signaling her to go easy on Fifth Miss and not let her lose too badly.

She had heard that Fifth Miss had grown up on a Farm Estate and suffered some hardship as a child. Such a skinny little thing, who had never even had enough to eat—how could she possibly know how to balance accounts?

Everyone present was certain Jian Ruonan would lose.

Some of the older serving women secretly regretted not raising their hands. They had let Nanny Zhou scoop up five taels of silver for nothing.

Jian Ruonan wanted to stun them all with a single dazzling feat. "Nanny Zhou, I'm rather quick at arithmetic. You don't need to go easy on me."

Determined to win those five taels, Nanny Zhou smiled with genuine warmth. "Oh, Fifth Miss, listen to you! If anyone needs to go easy, it's you on this old servant. Don't let me lose too disgracefully."

A young maid brought over a three-legged bronze incense burner with a stick of incense inside. Once the incense was lit, the contest began.

Nanny Zhou first lifted her tea and moistened her throat before picking up her abacus and setting its beads clattering.

Jian Ruonan did not use an abacus. She took a writing brush and scribbled on the paper.

Ancient account books were rather disorganized, with income and expenses all jumbled together, making them somewhat difficult to read.

The arithmetic took very little time. Reading through the accounts took longer.

Jian Ruonan's reputation as a star student was no empty boast. Nanny Zhou had not finished even a quarter of the calculations when Jian Ruonan was already done.

She could not write the traditional Chinese numerals, and nobody else could understand her Arabic numerals, so she could only state the result aloud. "The Calligraphy and Painting Shop earned sixty-five taels and three mace this month, spent forty-two taels and two mace, and made a profit of twenty-three taels and one mace."

These accounts had been checked before, so Min already knew the answer. Hearing Jian Ruonan report the correct figures left her stunned.

Nan Nan had actually calculated everything without the slightest error.

Wasn't that a little too impressive?

She had not seen her use an abacus or counting rods. How on earth had she done it?

Jian Ruonan lifted her teacup and took a small sip, her expression perfectly calm. "Just luck, just luck."

Her modest manner had quite the air of a refined scholar.

Min silently praised her.

Less than two seconds later, her inner voice rang out: [Wahahaha, I'm a genius!! A genius!]

Min: "..."

Jian Xilu: "..."

Her little sister was so capable, just not particularly modest.

Nanny Zhou laughed loudly. "Oh my, I'll never drink tea while doing accounts again! Fifth Miss, you really are remarkable."

Though Nanny Zhou joked outwardly, inwardly she was unconvinced.

Perhaps Madam was deliberately making a fool of her to establish Fifth Miss's authority. Fifth Miss might well have known the answer beforehand and was merely leading them all around for sport.

She had drawn nothing but ghostly scrawls on the paper and could not even write "one, two, three, four, five" in formal numerals, yet she had worked it all out?

Nanny Zhou was not the only skeptic. The other senior servants present did not believe it either. Min knew these women had plenty of tricks up their sleeves and would not be easily convinced. Even Min herself still had some doubts.

She worried that Xilu might have taken pity on Nannan and deliberately slipped her the answer.

"Bring over two account books that haven't been checked yet this month." Min took the books. "This time, calculate them one page at a time. Does anyone else want to join the contest? You may all participate. The prize remains the same."

A generous reward always brought forth brave souls. Several older serving women immediately raised their hands.

These were new account books that had never been checked, and they would calculate them page by page. Fifth Miss would have no chance to cheat.

This time, Nanny Zhou did not dare be careless. She focused all her attention, and the moment the account book opened, her abacus began clattering.

Jian Ruonan glanced at the account book, wrote down the figures, added and subtracted, and once again finished first.

When they compared answers at the end, Jian Ruonan was right again.

By the time they finished the entire account book, Jian Ruonan had been fast and accurate every single time. The older serving women regarded her with increasing seriousness.

Unsurprisingly, Jian Ruonan won the final victory.

[Wonderful! I don't have to study the Four Books for Women!!!]

[Dinosaur kang-lang kang-lang-lang, dinosaur kang-lang kang-lang-lang~~ I didn't K, I didn't K-K-K~]

Min: "..."

Jian Xilu covered her mouth and giggled. Her little sister worked so hard to avoid work.

Nanny Zhou was astonished. How on earth had Fifth Miss done those calculations?

Could there be some secret hidden in those ghostly scrawls on the paper?

Jian Ruonan happened to need help managing her shops and estates, as well as people to plant potatoes and corn, so she was happy to teach them.

"From now on, don't write income and expenses together. Keep them separate; it makes tallying them much easier. Also, I'll teach you what Arabic numerals are. They make everything simpler to read. Would you like to learn the nine-nine multiplication table? Once you've learned it, you won't need an abacus anymore."

"Yes, as long as you're willing to teach us, Fifth Miss!" The older serving women were rather excited. With this skill of hers under their belts, they could practically do half a shopkeeper's job.

What had begun as Min teaching her two daughters to read account books suddenly became Jian Ruonan teaching these senior managing servants modern bookkeeping methods.

Indeed, even Min thought Jian Ruonan's method was excellent.

And the tables Jian Ruonan drew with a charcoal pencil made income and expenses clear at a glance. Once one became familiar with those Arabic numerals, everything was much more concise, and outsiders would not even be able to understand such account books.

"Nan Nan, where did you learn this?" Whoever could invent such concise numerals must possess profound learning.

Jian Ruonan said, "I learned it from Indians."

The people who invented Arabic numerals were Indians.

Min: "??"

Jian Ruonan said, "People from foreign lands."

Great Xia had only recently begun trading with other countries. Min knew little about foreign lands and simply assumed Jian Ruonan had encountered some extraordinary person back on the Farm Estate.

And that nine-nine multiplication table was much more useful than an abacus.

Min thought Nannan was so clever.

If she was so clever, why was she unwilling to study the Four Books for Women?

Nanny Zhou practically worshipped Jian Ruonan. Her initial disdain had turned into reverence, and she now treated Jian Ruonan's every word as gospel.

Jian Ruonan took the opportunity to ask for Nanny Zhou to be assigned to her, so she could help manage the fields Min had given her.

"This is called a potato. It can yield three thousand jin per mu. Take it back and cut it into pieces, then sprout them first. Potatoes can grow in sandy soil and be harvested in three months. This is called corn..."

It was the first time Nanny Zhou had heard of a crop yielding three thousand jin per mu, but Jian Ruonan had already astonished her several times. By the time she received the potatoes and corn, she was quite composed and simply regarded them as rare things brought from foreign lands.

By the time they finished meeting with the senior managing servants, it was nearly time for supper. Min took her two daughters to pay their respects to the old madam.

Inside the Joy and Longevity Court, both of Min's sisters-in-law had already arrived with their daughters.

Young Shi-shi, the wife of Jian Lang from the second branch, was the old madam's own niece. Xue-shi, the wife of Jian Jin from the third branch, came from a family of imperial merchants.

The second branch had three daughters. The eldest, Jian Chuyun, was born to Shi-shi. She was fifteen this year, and marriage negotiations were underway.

Jian Chuyun wore the latest style of dress, with a pair of Gold Buyao in her hair.

The two concubine-born daughters, Jian Panlan, ten, and Jian Panyue, nine, were dressed much more plainly. Their hair ornaments were simple, and they wore only a pair of silver earrings.

The third branch had only one legitimate daughter, Jian Chuxia, who was fourteen. With her oval face and cheeks like freshly peeled lychees, she was quite charming.

Everyone was curious when they saw Jian Ruonan and began asking over one another who this younger sister was.

Min introduced Nannan to everyone. "Nannan has just returned from her great-aunt's home in Jiangnan and brought some local specialties. We'll have them sent to your courtyards later."

Min had already prepared plenty of Jiangnan specialties for this purpose.

Young Shi-shi curled her lip. The uproar over Jian Ruonan supposedly bringing misfortune upon her relatives had been enormous back then. Who in the household did not know her background? Her eldest sister-in-law was always good at keeping up appearances, but she could only fool the few younger ones who knew nothing.

Jian Ruonan exchanged greetings with everyone. Young Shi-shi and Xue-shi gave her welcoming gifts, one silk flowers and the other a hairpin. After checking that neither woman had athlete's foot, Jian Ruonan accepted them with a smile.

"Nannan really does look like you, sister-in-law. Anyone can tell you're mother and daughter." Young Shi-shi teased, "Now that Nannan is here, we'll have to rearrange the young ladies' rankings. Don't blame us if we call someone by the wrong number."

Young Shi-shi appeared to be smiling, but her appraising gaze held a trace of mockery. Both openly and through insinuation, she painted Nannan as an unwanted extra. "What will Chuxue do? Poor little thing. Why hasn't she come?"

Min immediately felt displeased, but her expression remained calm and gentle. "What is there to pity? Chuxue isn't here because she did something wrong, and my husband confined her to her quarters."

Jian Xilu was also unhappy to hear her little sister being needled, but there was nothing she could do.

Young Shi-shi was the old madam's niece and her greatest favorite. Even when she deliberately stirred up trouble, the old madam simply kept one eye open and the other closed.

Nan Nan would just have to suffer this slight.

[Oh, looks like Second Aunt still doesn't know about Second Uncle and Concubine Wei. She's still sitting here merrily laughing away!]

[Huh, it seems the old madam doesn't know Second Uncle was taken to the magistrate's office either. In another half an incense stick, a servant will come report it.]

[Sitting back to watch Second Aunt's face change!]

[Sitting back to watch the old madam get so angry she spits blood!]

Hearing that inner voice, Min suddenly felt refreshed in body and spirit.

She had originally intended to leave after paying her respects, but now she decidedly stayed, waiting to watch the show.