After Scholar Zhou stammered out "This is an insult to our dignity," the folding fan in his hand trembled so violently that the ribs were clattering against each other.
He turned to look at his fellow students behind him, trying to find some confidence in their faces.
Receiving Scholar Zhou's gaze, the dozen or so failed scholars immediately jumped up and started cursing.
A scholar in a long gray cloth gown pointed at the abacus on the stage, his face flushed with anger and spit flying as he yelled: "Accounting? Identifying herbs? Repairing weapons? These are all lowly professions meant for merchants and craftsmen!"
"This, this, this... We have studied the books of the sages so hard, learning the great principles of governing the country and bringing peace to the world. How can we be tainted by the stench of copper and rust!"
Another tall, thin scholar echoed, beating his chest in agony: "Lord Xu, you are humiliating the character of us scholars! If word of this gets out, the literary heritage of Zhenbei City will be completely ruined!"
The commoners below the stage listened to these pedantic words but didn't buy it at all.
Old Man Wang, who sold flatbreads, spat on the bluestone slab and cursed.
"Bah! What bullshit character! When you usually come to my stall to buy flatbreads on credit, why don't you mention the stench of copper? You've owed me for three months, and the moment I ask for money, you start spouting literary jargon. Bah!"
Xu Qinghuan stood on the high platform, quietly listening to the clamor of these scholars.
"Governing the country and bringing peace to the world? What a boastful tone!" Xu Qinghuan took a half step forward, her gaze scraping across the faces of Scholar Zhou and the others.
"On normal days, you eat the grain planted by farmers and wear the cloth woven by weavers. Now, at this critical juncture of national crisis and tension at the borders, when asked to calculate the accounts for military supplies and rations, you can't even figure out how to flick an abacus bead."
"Is this what you learned from the books of the sages?"
Scholar Zhou was choked up until his face turned purple, but he stiffened his neck and retorted: "Your Excellency is mistaken! A gentleman stays away from the kitchen, and there is specialization in every profession. What we study is propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. It is the practical knowledge of the imperial court. How can we compete for profit with the common folk of the marketplace?"
"Practical knowledge?" Xu Qinghuan asked in return, her tone suddenly turning sharp and pressing hard. "Of the Six Ministries of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Ministry of Revenue manages the world's money, grain, and taxes, while the Ministry of Works coordinates mountains, marshes, military farming, and the construction of military equipment."
"According to you, the Minister of Revenue is a merchant who does accounting, and the Minister of Works is a blacksmith? They both do lowly professions and are unworthy of standing in the imperial court? Are you, Scholar Zhou, more noble than the Ministers of the Six Ministries?"
With this heavy accusation of criticizing high-ranking court officials thrown at him, Scholar Zhou's legs went soft, and he almost knelt on the ground.
He couldn't squeeze out a single word for a long time, and the scholars behind him also shrank their necks in fear, with no one daring to mention the words "insult to our dignity" again.
Seeing that the time was right, Xu Qinghuan turned to look at the dense crowd of commoners below the stage and announced loudly.
"I have set up this arena today, regardless of background or academic titles! As long as you are a living person in this Zhenbei City, whoever can come up to the stage and win this first accounting competition, I will reward them with ten taels of silver on the spot!"
As soon as these words came out, the whole audience was in an uproar. Ten taels of silver! This was enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for three years! Under such a heavy reward, a commotion immediately broke out in the crowd.
"Ten taels of cash silver?!"
The moment these words landed, the West Market completely exploded.
Ten taels of silver! This was enough for an ordinary family to eat meat at every meal and live comfortably for three years!
Under the heavy reward, the crowd was like boiling oil with a drop of water in it, completely uncontrollable.
Old Man Li, who sold tofu, rubbed his hands in excitement, and Butcher Zhang didn't even care to grab his butcher knife as he desperately squeezed forward. A few idlers who were originally just watching the show had eyes glowing green, wishing they could directly pounce onto the high stage and stuff the silver into their pockets.
"Don't push! You stepped on my foot!"
"Get out of the way, these ten taels of silver are mine!"
Just as everyone was pushing, cursing, and making a total mess.
"Make way for me! If you block my path to getting rich, watch your skin!"
A loud and energetic shout slashed in from the outside, making people's ears ring.
A few idlers who were shoved aside were just about to hurl insults, but when they turned around and saw who it was, they forcefully swallowed the curses on the tip of their tongues and hurriedly shrank their necks to clear a wide path.
The person who came was none other than the boss of the fabric shop in the West Market, Sun Erniang.
She was wearing an eye-catching bright red silk jacket, her waist as thick as a water bucket. Waving two arms like wooden mallets, she forcefully waded through the wall of people.
When the surrounding commoners saw it was her, not only did they lose their temper, but they also started whispering to each other, their tone full of admiration.
"Well, with Sun Erniang stepping up, these ten taels of silver are secured."
"Absolutely! In the entire West Market, who doesn't know that Sun Erniang's iron abacus skills are unmatched? She can clear up three years of bad debts with her eyes closed!"
"These pedantic scholars really kicked an iron plate today. When it comes to accounting, even if you tie ten Scholar Zhous together, they wouldn't be enough for Sun Erniang to handle with one hand! It's a pure crushing defeat!"
"Make way! Everyone make way for me!" A loud and energetic shout came from the outer edge of the crowd.
The plump boss of the West Market fabric shop, Sun Erniang, was seen waving her arms, forcefully squeezing a path out of the crowd.
Sun Erniang took a few steps onto the high platform, curtsied to Xu Qinghuan, and her loud voice made people's ears ring.
"Imperial Envoy, I am Sun Erniang. I've run a fabric shop in the West Market for over ten years. I am willing to give this accounting job a try!"
Xu Qinghuan looked her up and down and nodded in agreement: "Good! Sun Erniang, go ahead and pick an abacus."
Sun Erniang walked up to the table on the stage, casually picked up a large rosewood abacus, and ran her fingers over the beads.
She turned her head, looking sideways at Scholar Zhou, and mocked him without any politeness.
"Oh, isn't this the great Scholar Zhou? Last month you bought two feet of coarse cloth at my shop, and the thirty-two copper coins you owe haven't been settled yet. What, do you want to compete with me today?"
Having his secrets exposed in public, Scholar Zhou's face turned as red as a monkey's bottom.
He gritted his teeth, pointed at Sun Erniang, and cursed: "Vulgar woman! This is simply an insult to dignity! How can I compete on the same stage as you!"
Xu Qinghuan coldly interrupted him: "Scholar Zhou, if you don't dare to compete, roll off the stage right now. However, from now on, I'm afraid no one in Zhenbei City will ever believe in your profound knowledge again."
Scholar Zhou was roasted over the fire, with nowhere to retreat.
He looked at the ten taels of silver, then looked at the expectant gazes of his fellow students around him, and could only bite the bullet, walk to the table, and grab an abacus.
"Fine, let's compete! I simply don't believe that a dignified scholar would lose to a marketplace shrew!"
Li Sheng walked forward holding two thick account books and placed them in front of Scholar Zhou and Sun Erniang respectively.
"These are the military supply accounts for the Bing Battalion of the Zhenbei Army from last winter, which are full of errors and omissions. The time limit is one incense stick. Whoever calculates the true deficit first wins." Li Sheng lit an incense stick and placed it in the incense burner. "Begin!"
Scholar Zhou hurriedly opened the account book. He saw that it was densely covered with tiny characters, saying things like "Three hundred piculs and four pecks of millet, converted into a certain amount of silver," "Transported from Songjiang, with a twenty percent loss"...
...He usually only read the Four Books and Five Classics; where had he ever seen such complicated accounts?
After reading just two pages, he felt dizzy, and his mind was buzzing.
He hurriedly reached out to flick the abacus beads, but his fingers were stiff. The way he fumbled with the beads made him look exactly like a blind man fluffing cotton on the street, completely chaotic and without any rhythm.
As he calculated, he kept forgetting the previous numbers and had no choice but to start all over again.
He was so anxious that he broke out in a heavy sweat. The perspiration rolled down his cheeks, soaking his blue cloth gown.
When he reached the fifth page, he realized he had forgotten to carry over a digit for the horse fodder depreciation entry earlier. He slapped his thigh in frustration.
In his flurry of panic, his fingernail got caught in the gap between the abacus beads, making him grimace and gasp in pain.
He glanced up at the incense burner; the incense stick had already burned down by nearly half.
Turning his head to look at Sun Erniang, he saw that she had already flipped to the second half of the ledger.
Scholar Zhou was thrown into a panic. His fingers trembled, and he accidentally swept the abacus right onto the ground, sending wooden beads scattering everywhere.
In stark contrast, Sun Erniang was the picture of ease.
Her left hand turned the ledger pages, taking in ten lines at a glance, while her right hand flew deftly over her abacus.
The abacus beads clattered together in a crisp, continuous rhythm.
She even had the leisure to pull a handful of melon seeds from her pocket, cracking them and spitting out the shells onto the floor as she calculated.
The commoners below the stage watched with great relish, occasionally erupting into bursts of cheers.
Widow Zhang, who sold tofu, covered her mouth and laughed, Look at that, this is the great talent of our Zhenbei City! He cannot even hold an abacus steady, yet he talks about governing the state and bringing peace to the world. If you ask me, he is not even as good as the donkey that grinds my tofu!
Before half an incense stick's time had passed, Sun Erniang suddenly pushed her abacus away, clapped the melon seed crumbs from her hands, and shouted, Calculated! Last winter, there was a total deficit of one hundred and twenty dan of millet and eighty catties of pig iron, which converts to exactly four hundred and fifty-six taels and three mace of silver!
The entire venue fell dead silent, everyone's eyes fixed on Xu Qinghuan.
Xu Qinghuan pulled out a pre-verified master ledger from her sleeve, glanced down at it, and then looked up to announce loudly.
Not a single fraction off! The winner of the first round of accounting is Sun Erniang!
Bravo! Thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd below. Old Man Wang shouted at the top of his lungs, Way to go, Sun Erniang! You have done us common folks proud!
Li Sheng stepped forward carrying a tray, upon which sat ten neatly stacked ingots of snow-white silver.
Sun Erniang's eyes lit up. She scooped the silver into her arms, grinning from ear to ear. Thank you for the reward, Imperial Envoy! You are truly a righteous official!
Scholar Zhou stood frozen in place. He looked at the numbers on his ledger, which he had only calculated up to the third page, and then looked at the silver in Sun Erniang's arms.
The world spun around him; he wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
The scholars behind him were equally ashen-faced, unable to utter a single word of defiance.
Xu Qinghuan stood at the edge of the high platform, watching all of this coldly.
She did not rush them, nor did she offer any sarcastic remarks. She simply watched quietly as Scholar Zhou made a fool of himself.
This was exactly the effect she wanted: to thoroughly tear away the fig leaf of these pedantic scholars and show the whole city what real, life-saving, and practical skills looked like.
Looking at the group of scholars who looked as if they had just lost their parents, Xu Qinghuan's tone was full of mockery. Scholar Zhou, it seems that a great talent like you, who has thoroughly read the sages' books, truly cannot handle this lowly work of accounting.
But rest assured, we still have two more rounds.
Xu Qinghuan pointed to the remaining baskets of medicinal herbs mixed with poisonous weeds on the stage.
This second round is identifying herbs.
Which of you scholars, full of profound learning, dares to come up and continue the competition? If you lose all three rounds completely, then for the rest of your lives, do not you ever mention the words governing the state and bringing peace to the world again!
