Chapter 62 An Arithmetic Problem

Lunchtime had arrived, and the students of the Zheng Family School sat crouching on the stone steps with their lunchboxes, chatting animatedly.

One of the senior apprentices said, "The arithmetic problem the teacher taught today was way too difficult. I didn't quite understand it."

Another chimed in, "Oh, goodness, just thinking about arithmetic problems makes my head spin. The master said there will be an exam next month, and anyone who fails gets hit on the palm with a ruler."

Hearing about getting hit on the palm, little De-ge shuddered all over, shrunk back, and said fearfully, "Shanzi, we must not let the master hit us with the ruler. It hurts so much."

A couple of days ago, De-ge had received a hit on the palm from the master. After the sharp pain of the strike passed, he thought he was fine, but by the next day, his hand had swollen up like a pig's trotter, throbbing with pain that brought tears to his eyes.

De-ge had even run to Third Uncle Sun and Third Aunt Sun to seek comfort.

As a result, the married couple treated him to a paired combo beating.

The eldest and second brothers had also been beaten with the ruler before. There was no need to ask about such red swelling—it was undoubtedly inflicted by Master Zheng of the school. It must have been because De-ge hadn't been serious about his studies that he received the punishment.

The mere thought of their hard-earned copper coins being wasted made Third Uncle Sun and Third Aunt Sun hesitate not a single second before picking up wooden sticks and starting to beat him.

It was only when Sun Shan called De-ge to go to school together that he was finally rescued from the palms of the devil.

Sun Shan ignored De-ge, but upon hearing them discuss arithmetic problems, he realized that Master Zheng also taught mathematics.

Thinking about it a moment later, it wasn't surprising since Master Zheng's purpose wasn't preparing students for the imperial examinations, but rather focusing on practical skills for daily life.

He asked out of curiosity, "Brother Dingqing, what kind of arithmetic problems did the master teach?"

Dingqing from the Second Uncle's household had a personality identical to the Second Uncle's—honest, simple, and straightforward. He recounted faithfully, "There is a problem: someone borrows a thousand coins with a monthly interest rate of thirty coins. Now someone borrows seven hundred and fifty coins and returns them in nine days. How much is the interest?"

Sun Shan didn't quite catch it the first time, but upon hearing it a second time, he understood. This was a loan problem.

Sun Dingqing continued, "The master taught us problems from *The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art*. He said we might encounter such situations when we go out to work in the future, so it's best to understand them well. Even if someone borrows money from you, or you borrow money from someone else, you'll know how much interest to collect or repay."

Sun Shan understood and felt an even greater admiration for Scholar Zheng. Whether teaching students how to read public notices or how to do arithmetic, these were common and practical skills in everyday life that would definitely prove useful in the future.

Master Zheng was pragmatic, starting from reality and pursuing an education oriented toward practical application. He was a rare and good teacher.

***

De-ge and Yang Qingbei, upon hearing the older apprentices' discussion, whispered quietly, "Shanzi, do you know what they're talking about? What's this about borrowing people and monthly interest? What does it mean?"

Sun Shan explained, "The problem goes like this: suppose you are short of money and borrow from a moneylender. The moneylender stipulates that if you borrow 1,000 coins, you must pay 30 coins in interest per month. That means after a month, you have to return 1,030 coins. Now, suppose you don't want to borrow 1,000 coins; instead, you borrow 750 coins and promise the moneylender to return the money in 9 days. The question asks how much interest you need to pay the moneylender after 9 days."

An interest of 30 coins per month on a 1,000-coin principal meant a monthly interest rate as high as 3%, making the annual rate 36%. It was blatantly usury.

When De-ge and Yang Qingbei heard this, they were completely baffled, having no idea how much interest should be returned.

Yang Qingbei said with a serious tone, "Even if you have no money, you must never borrow from a moneylender. That's high-interest usury. With interest rolling over on interest, it will ruin your family, forcing you to sell your sons and daughters."

The moneylenders referred to here were usurers, and clearly, Yang Qingbei knew the perils of borrowing loan-shark money.

De-ge also knew that usurious loans were no good. He often heard villagers talk about how people in neighboring villages or towns who indulged in heavy gambling would borrow usury, end up selling their fields, lands, wives, and children, and literally anger their parents to death.

What left the deepest impression on him was a period when Third Uncle Sun somehow befriended people from a neighboring town and hung out with them to play at a gambling house. This was spotted by a fellow villager, who promptly reported it to the village head, the Madam Huang clan, and the Madam Zheng clan.

The village held a struggle meeting. First, they gave Third Uncle Sun a beating, then ordered him to kneel in the ancestral hall. The clan elders took turns coming forward to give Third Uncle Sun ideological lectures for several days.

Third Uncle Sun initially protested his innocence, claiming he had merely been curious and wandered into the gambling house without actually gambling.

But the villagers wouldn't buy it. He had clearly been seen hanging out with the top gambler of the neighboring town; saying he didn't gamble was something not even a ghost would believe.

Regardless of anything else, whether you gambled or not, stepping foot into a gambling house was a grave crime, and the cudgels came out first.

In the end, investigations revealed that Third Uncle Sun truly hadn't gambled; he had simply followed people into the gambling house out of curiosity. According to his explanation, even if he wanted to gamble, he couldn't have—he didn't have a single copper coin on his person, as all his money was kept by Madam Zheng.

The women of the village looked at Madam Zheng with envy. Sure enough, the rumors outside were true: Sun Shuwen was indeed henpecked.

In view of the fact that he hadn't committed an actual offense, the village only punished him by making him kneel in the ancestral hall for a single night, while simultaneously instructing Madam Zheng to keep a strict watch on him and forbid him from playing with the gamblers from the neighboring town.

Madam Zheng took this official mandate and used it like a chicken feather as an arrow, becoming even harsher toward Third Uncle Sun. In the past, she would occasionally reward him with a few copper coins, but afterward, she became completely stingy, and he couldn't even touch a single copper.

De-ge had always known that usury was no good and that good kids must never touch it. He agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "I will never borrow money from a moneylender. If I want to borrow, I'll borrow from Shanzi. Shanzi has money."

Then he looked at Sun Shan and said, "Shanzi, you'll lend money to me, right?" His tone became uncertain.

***

Sun Shan shook his head and said, "No. If I lend it to you, you'll just buy firecrackers to play with. First, firecrackers are no fun at all, and second, firecrackers are dangerous and will blow your hands to pieces."

De-ge looked at Sun Shan in disbelief, clutching his chest as he said pitifully, "Shanzi, and here I thought of you as a brother, yet you won't even lend me money."

Yang Qingbei patted De-ge's shoulder and said solemnly, "Shanzi is right. Firecrackers are very dangerous. Last year, a little boy in our village even had his eyes blinded by them. De-ge, don't play with firecrackers."

Sun Dingming, standing nearby, was speechless. How did a conversation about an arithmetic problem drift into usury, and then wander all the way to borrowing money to buy firecrackers?

However, he had heard third sister Xiaoxue say that Shanzi's lucky money and New Year coins were saved by himself and didn't need to be handed over to the eldest uncle and eldest aunt.

Xiaoxue even said that Shanzi was quite wealthy, having at least fifty copper coins.

As for how Xiaoxue knew, it was because Hansun had told her. The young girls of the Sun family often went into the mountains together to gather firewood and dig up wild vegetables. Amidst their idle chatter, they naturally talked about their family's brothers and sisters.

Sun Dingming asked Shanzi, "Shanzi, do you know how to solve it?"

Sun Shan knew, but in everyone else's impression, he had only just started school, so he shouldn't understand such problems yet.

Shanzi smoothly went along with the flow and said, "Brother Dingming, I don't know how yet. After a while, once I've studied it, I will know."

The older apprentices of the Zheng Family School burst into laughter upon hearing Shanzi's words and teased, "Alright, Shanzi, study up quickly then. We'll be waiting for you to tell us the answer."

The loud ringing of the class bell sounded, and everyone forgot about chatting, hurrying quickly back to the classroom.

Running was something no one dared to do. Master Zheng had said that the school was a place for learning, and no romping or playing was allowed. If anyone was caught acting wild, they could just wait for a beating with the ruler.

Well, aside from teaching, Master Zheng was most proficient at hitting people with his ruler. Furthermore, a beating was just a beating without any risk of being reported by anyone. The parents would only stand firmly on Master Zheng's side and serve the student a paired combo beating of their own.