Chapter 14

Gan Tian noticed from the start that among the wedding guests there were relatively few women, and those present were all married women no longer young. She didn't think much of it, assuming local customs were conservative and young maidens couldn't freely appear at such occasions. Such a situation has become rarer nowadays, but it still exists.

But now it seems otherwise... the female guests of this household are in high danger!

Although she wanted to say she was just a passerby, obviously no one cared about her opinion. The young man examined her with interest and muttered, "You're still too young..."

Although he said that, he didn't mean to deny the bride. As for the locals, they even wished for it—no one knew Gan Tian and Wang Sanlang; they were outsiders! To them, sacrificing outsiders was obviously something they wouldn't hesitate over.

"Grandma" seemed unwilling to accept this, but the young man whispered a few words in her ear. Afterwards her face remained grim, yet she said nothing more. As the young man had people summon Gan Tian forward, the original bride, after the stalwart woman released her, quickly slipped into the crowd.

If she weren't currently unable to leave, she would surely have fled at once.

The young man nodded at Gan Tian with a smile, then turned his head and said, "Grandma, take a look—this auntie surely isn't taller than you, right?"

That's natural—this grandma is petite, not a dwarf... Gan Tian is still a child; how tall could she be?

"Grandma" gave a soft hum, ignored the young man, and said coldly, "I'm not making things hard for you, but as a concubine you ought to know how to serve. First wash your hands and prepare soup and dishes; one dish, one soup as an offering."

That doesn't sound too difficult, but Gan Tian looked around and asked doubtfully, "Are we supposed to go to the kitchen to cook? Or should we have someone come over to light the stove and cook here?"

This time "Grandma" said nothing, and the maidservant beside her spoke with contempt: "Really dense! Don't you get it? If the fire and vegetables are already prepared, what's left for you to do? Anyone could cook the dishes! The threshold of this manor isn't that low!"

"Even a clever wife can't cook without rice, grandma, this is too..." The young man seemed to want to say something, but fell silent under her glare.

Gan Tian let out a small sigh: "We don't need those, but we'll need bowls and plates, right? Otherwise, how would we serve the cooked dishes?"

Probably no one expected Gan Tian to say that; the maidservants froze. After a while someone reacted, reluctantly fetching a bowl and a plate for Gan Tian.

Having the bowl and plate, Gan Tian promptly pretended to put something in them, then brought them forward.

Still that maidservant scolded, "What are you doing? The bowl is empty—you're not playing a trick on grandma, are you!?"

At that moment the stalwart woman from before was also glaring, needing only a word to step forward and restrain Gan Tian. Gan Tian hurriedly said, "Don't be so fiery! This is the freshly cooked dish—a bowl of clear-wind soup and a plate of snowflake dried."

Others hadn't reacted yet, but Wang Sanlang couldn't help but chuckle... Fortunately, no one else was paying attention to him, so it didn't draw sideways glances.

"Clear-wind soup, snowflake dried? Those don't exist—you're bringing them up?" The maidservant was quite angry.

Gan Tian spread her hands, looking truly helpless: "How can you say these don't exist? No clear wind, no snowflakes? That's too unreasonable!"

The maidservant wanted to say more, but "Grandma" raised a hand to stop her. "Grandma" gazed at Gan Tian with a sinister look: "Flattery and smooth talk—you were born with a silver tongue... but entering the manor isn't just about having a glib mouth. Our household also has standing; even an auntie can't be an ignorant fool! The second rule for entering the manor: you must be literate."

Saying this, she had someone bring brush and ink, then casually wrote a line: "I'm not being picky—I didn't ask you to be a talented lady, but you must recognize characters! Read these characters out."

a bunch of random characters that look like gibberish

Gan Tian, however, read it without a hitch: "Revere the immortals, then abundant years will come—these words are from the *Song of the Immortals*."

The *Song of the Immortals* isn't a proper scripture, but it's widely circulated; even women who barely know a few characters couldn't recite those profound texts. The *Song of the Immortals* is different—its wording is simple, involves no deep thought, merely instructs ordinary people how to behave, emphasizing karmic retribution and the like.

As for that line just written on the paper... it was simply replaced entirely with variant characters.

Clearly she's a cultivator's second generation in a xianxia world, yet from childhood she's never touched any cultivation matters, being busy with language and math classes—can you believe it?! One focus of the language class was learning various ancient scripts, using the *xungu* method; variant characters weren't highlighted, but she had indeed studied them.

Gan Tian used to be a studious ace who loved learning—not like others who study for a future, she genuinely enjoyed learning itself. After coming to this world she hasn't changed; whenever there's a learning task she completes it excellently—she treats it as entertainment to kill time.

Her foundation is solid, reading poses no obstacle.

I really didn't expect this! If the previous stage could be chalked up to luck, now she's passing by sheer ability—Grandma knows this is what she learned in her youth, and that ordinary people don't study such things. In fact, her grasp of this knowledge isn't solid either; if someone else wrote variant characters for her to read, she might stumble or even fail to read them.

However, it's not impossible for her to perform this well; perhaps this young lady comes from a literary family, having read with her father and brothers since childhood, giving her expertise in this area.

Thinking thus, "Grandma" sat down again: "You look rude, yet you recognize a few characters. Well then, let's see how you handle accounts... the manor often needs accounting; if you can't assist the eldest master in this, what use are you?"

After a pause, she continued: "One peony costs five silver cents, one hibiscus three silver cents, three gardenias one silver cent. If one tael of silver buys exactly one hundred flowers, how many peonies, hibiscuses, and gardenias are there?"

Seeing Gan Tian stunned after hearing the question, "Grandma" thought it had stumped her and smiled smugly: "This isn't really a difficult problem; it just requires carefulness."

That was a lie; when she studied this before she used the "Great Derivation Seek One Technique," which is also the standard solution. This solution perfectly solves the problem... albeit it's a bit more involved. Of course, within arithmetic it isn't the most complex problem, but given her cultivation level, it's already the hardest she can solve.

The young lady who just appeared out of nowhere couldn't possibly answer this!

Gan Tian glanced oddly at her, silently calculated in her mind, and within about a minute said softly: "First, hibiscus twenty-five, gardenia seventy-five. Second, peony four, hibiscus eighteen, gardenia seventy-eight. Third, peony eight, hibiscus eleven, gardenia eighty-one. Fourth, peony twelve, hibiscus four, gardenia eighty-four."

"Grandma's" previously smug expression froze, and she blurted out instinctively: "Did you hear someone explain the solution to this problem?"

This is the only possibility she could think of; otherwise, how could one solve this problem? How could one solve it so quickly!

Erm... if Gan Tian were to say it, she could only spread her hands and say "Too simple!"

This is the classic "hundred fowls problem"; for ancient people it might be a top‑tier challenge, but for her it's too easy. She certainly doesn't remember the answer, but the computation isn't complicated; even if she worked it out from scratch she'd do it quickly.

"Naturally I worked it out myself." Gan Tian smiled: "Looks like I got it right!"

"Nonsense! How could such an arithmetic problem be answered that quickly? It's impossible unless you'd heard someone explain it!" As "Grandma" spoke she stepped forward: "Let me cut off that lying mouth of yours, so you won't spout falsehoods!"

Gan Tian hastily stepped back two paces: "Don't wrongfully accuse me! Such a simple problem hardly needs any time to solve—the method is also simple: assume peonies are x, hibiscus y, gardenias z; then x+y+z=100 and 5x+3y+(1/3)z=100, from which we get..."

"... Finally, using the earthly branch 'zi' to represent x, y, z, we find x equals four zi, y equals twenty‑five minus seven zi, z equals seventy‑five plus three zi. Since x, y, z, and zi must be non‑negative integers, zi must be ≥0 and ≤3 4⁄7, so zi can only be 0, 1, 2, 3. Each case corresponds to a different solution for x, y, z."

Gan Tian almost lost her breath—clearly something that could be expressed simply with Arabic numerals and symbols becomes extremely convoluted when put into words—yet she knows that nowadays many arithmetic problems are phrased in text, and their solutions are likewise expressed numerically.

In fact, the use of operation symbols, Arabic numerals, letters, etc., is a relatively recent development; later generations regard it as natural, but historically it emerged only after much accumulation and trial.

Actually, there's nothing inherently obvious—just progress through twists and turns.

"Can you understand?" Gan Tian looked at her with a little worry; the other party seemed not very bright.

"Grandma" was fuming to the point of nearly toppling over—she never expected to be questioned like this by some unknown young lady. Still, Gan Tian's answer did give her no reason to strike... although she hadn't fully grasped what method Gan Tian used, hearing it made it seem not like nonsense.

"She really is clever..." "Grandma" suddenly calmed down, as if the earlier rage hadn't been hers.

Looking at Gan Tian, she suddenly realized the young lady's life hung in her thoughts alone—there was no need to be angry with her. After a brief pause she added: "Since you're this clever, there's no need to test anything else. However, there's still one most important condition for entering the manor: whether a person is smart or not isn't the main issue; what's feared is harboring ill intent or a disloyal heart—if so, isn't that inviting wolves into the house?"

"Hurry up and bring out your heart for the eldest master to see, so he can know you're wholeheartedly devoted!"

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Thanks to the little angels who cast domineering votes or poured nutrient solution for me from 2020-04-18 09:14:59 to 2020-04-19 09:00:06~

Thanks to the little angels who poured nutrient solution: Phoenix Flower Blooms Again, I'm a Lucky Little Cookie 1 bottle;

Thank you all very much for your support; I will continue to strive!