Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 548 Hengwu...Sir!
The first round of the competition covered nine aspects: square fields, millet, declining points, small width, commercial work, equal distribution, surplus and deficiency, equations, and Pythagorean theorem. It was almost like taking out the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art and setting up test questions.

Although I finished answering fifty questions in a very short time and got forty-eight correct and two wrong, it is already an excellent result.

But according to Sun Shenxing's level, these two mistakes should not have occurred.

Some people in the audience were already making excuses for Sun Shenxing, saying that Sun Ru was over 60 years old and lacked energy.

This reason made sense and soon gained the support of nearly half of the crowd.

However, it was at this time that Li Shouzhong announced Baochai's results.

"Xue Hengwu, fifty questions, all correct!"

Wow!
The audience immediately went into an uproar, with almost everyone simultaneously focusing their eyes on the dignified, graceful and beautiful woman on the stage.

The eldest daughter of the Xue family in Jinling, the grandson of the cabinet minister He, and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue of Daxia...

These titles already made Baochai eye-catching enough, but today's competition, this perfect result directly made her reach a level of achievement that others may not be able to achieve in their entire lives.

"She...the daughter of the Xue family defeated Sun Ru?"

"What daughter of the Xue family? She is Mr. He's eldest grandson's wife!"

"What do you mean by grandson's wife? How can such a woman be a vassal of a man? She is the deputy minister of our Ministry of Revenue. From now on, you have to call her Lord Xue!"

"Ms. Xue, with such talent, how can you let your career be a burden? You should be a teacher! If Ms. Xue is willing, I can take her as my teacher and learn mathematics!"

It seemed that in an instant, Baochai's identity had been changed several times. From the beginning, she was the daughter of Xue family and the daughter-in-law of He family, she became an official appointed by the imperial court, and was soon elevated to the level of a teacher.

After all, the largest number of people watching the game were students from the Imperial College and young scholars.

Knowledge is always what people admire most.

When a person has knowledge that far exceeds that of others, his gender and identity are no longer important.

"Xue Hengwu, you can call him Mr. Hengwu!"

On the contrary, Sun Shenxing and Jia Cong, who received their test papers and answers, had indescribable expressions on their faces.

After comparing the answers, Jia Cong felt extremely upset.

He slapped his head and started yelling, "Ah, I did everything right before, how come I copied the number wrong? I was careless, I was careless... It's over, it's over, I actually made such a mistake, I'm going to be laughed at to death!"

It turned out that he used Arabic numerals to save time when calculating. The formulas were all correct, but he copied the wrong numbers. One was missing a decimal point, and the other one missed a number...

Some people in the audience laughed out loud, but of course they were not mocking them. After all, such careless mistakes were common when they were learning mathematics.

Jia Cong's carelessness made everyone feel a sense of mutual understanding.

"Don't worry, my lord. I have made the same mistake before. I can go back and ask Her Royal Highness the Princess to teach me some lessons!"

A student from the community, Niu Jiansheng, shouted loudly, which immediately aroused everyone's interest in teasing and joking.

"That's right, Princess Wen'an is extremely talented, and it's great that she can help the Marquis with his studies. I hope he won't make the same mistake next time."

There was a burst of teasing and consolation from the audience. Daiyu, who was sitting on the left side of the audience, also smiled and nodded slightly in response to those students.

Seeing that Daiyu actually responded to their teasing, even more people started to make fun of her.

Of course Jia Cong would not be angry. He actually deliberately made his mistakes public. Not only could he make the young officials empathize with him and bring them closer, but he could also highlight Baochai's excellence in mathematics and disgust Sun Shenxing.

After all, Sun Shenxing looked very bad at the moment, and he had obviously made a fatal mistake that he should not have made.

"Everyone is right. I should study hard. Fortunately, I am not in the Ministry of Revenue. Otherwise, if the Ministry of Revenue's accounts were careless and even a small number was missed, it would cause immeasurable losses to the court..."

Jia Cong bowed to everyone, looking ashamed.

Suddenly, he changed the subject and bowed to Sun Shenxing, saying, "I wonder which two things Sun Ru was wrong about, and where he was wrong? Maybe telling me about it can serve as a warning to me."

How to say it? How can I say it?

Sun Shenxing was almost choked to death by Jia Cong's questions.

He is different from Jia Cong. Jia Cong can admit his carelessness generously, but Sun Shenxing cannot.

Because the reason why there is this competition today is for the position of the Minister of Finance of the country.

He made the same mistake as Jia Cong, being careless.

Jia Cong can be careless, but he cannot.

If it weren't for Baochai's perfect answer, Sun Shenxing's forty-eight right and two wrong answers could still be considered an impressive achievement.

But everything is afraid of comparison. If Sun Shenxing dared to say that he got two questions wrong because of carelessness, how could he have the face to compete for the title of Minister of Revenue.

Jia Cong's words directly blocked the way for careless people to become officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

"Your Majesty has a keen eye. When Lady Xue first entered the court as an official, I was wondering how a woman could be an official... Now it seems that Lady Xue's appointment to the Ministry of Revenue is a blessing for the people of the court."

Look, someone has already defined the officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

Only someone like the Xue family girl is worthy of being an official in the Ministry of Revenue!
Sun Shenxing's face was almost as black as ink, but he still didn't dare to respond to Jia Cong's question publicly. He could only say coldly: "Let's finish this competition quickly. I have other things to do. As for exchanging mathematical experience, I will discuss it with Yongfeng Hou in detail another day."

Jia Cong wanted to press the issue further, but he saw Baochai shaking her head, indicating that it was time not to pursue the desperate enemy.

After all, the other party is a renowned scholar, and if he continues to press him in front of everyone, it might seem a bit too aggressive.

If you are aggressive, someone will take care of it underneath.

Duang! Duang! Duang!

Three gongs sounded, and the second competition began.

Today's competition is to determine the appointment of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, which naturally requires the summary audit of the money and grain accounts, as well as the calculation of the country's tax revenue and expenditure.

The second round still had fifty questions, but the questions were more about practical issues such as the tax allocation reported by local governments, the expenditure of money and grain on military campaigns, etc.

There was even information about compulsory education expenditures allocated to local areas by the Ministry of Revenue some time ago. The huge amount of data in it made Sun Shenxing take a deep breath.

Is the imperial court so rich and inhumane now?
A small educational expense actually amounted to 10 million taels of silver in one year?
Arithmetic, arithmetic, essentially still depends on calculation.

If he were young and strong, no matter how big the number was, with his talent and ability in mathematics, it would only take him some time to solve it.

Can……

What's that noise? It's so loud!
Crackling, crackling...

Jia Cong mainly relied on the convenience of Arabic numerals and directly listed the formulas for calculations.

Baochai is naturally sensitive to numbers and has been in charge of the Xue family in Jinling for several years, so accounts are a piece of cake for her. The beads on the small abacus make a clacking sound.

The two of them have completely entered the state, and Sun Shenxing is still surprised at the current wealth and power of the court.

At this time, the people in the audience also noticed the different states of the three people, and even those who supported Sun Shenxing noticed the gap between the three.

Sun Shenxing, it’s obvious that his mentality has collapsed!
"Sun Ru, it has already begun!"

"Hmph, I know, no need for you, Li Ru."

Li Shouzhong's reminder not only failed to gain the other party's gratitude, but instead only earned a cold snort, which made the old priest extremely unhappy.

He returned to the armchair with a sullen face, and said to a great scholar beside him: "Sun Ru is indeed a man of great learning. He even yielded to two juniors even after losing a match..."

Li Shouzhong did not deliberately lower his voice. Instead, he openly praised and assassinated Sun Shenxing.

When Sun Shenxing heard these words, his mentality collapsed again.

He seemed to feel that the words on the test paper were twisting and jumping. His eyes were dazzled and his hands shook, and he copied another wrong number...

Once a person's mentality collapses, let alone calculating huge and complex data, even writing will make him uneasy.

Sun Shenxing himself realized that he was wrong and wanted to adjust his mentality.

But the nasty little woman opposite him, the sound of her abacus clacking, seemed to be urging him to die, making it difficult for him to calm down.

He wanted to ask Li Shouzhong, who was hosting the competition, to forbid Baochai from using the abacus, but this was a mathematics competition, could you forbid people from using an abacus?

Crackling, crackling... crackling!
The sound of the abacus stopped abruptly. Sun Shenxing's heart skipped a beat and he raised his head in horror.

Is it the end of Xue's daughter so soon?

How can this be?

He himself only answered less than half of the questions!

Baochai had put down her pen, rubbed her brows, then put away her abacus, picked up the test paper, stood up, and respectfully brought it to the review desk.

This time even Li Shouzhong was stunned, and he actually said something to persuade him: "He... Lord Xue, it's still early, why don't you check and fill in the gaps?"

Baochai glanced at Jia Cong who was still writing furiously, and at Sun Shenxing who was staring at her blankly.

She smiled and shook her head, and replied in a gentle voice: "Thank you Mr. Li for reminding me. I have calculated it twice and I feel that there is nothing wrong."

hiss!
Li Shouzhong took a deep breath. The seven judges were even a little impatient. They snatched the test paper from Li Shouzhong's hand and began to review it together by comparing the answers.

Needless to say, everyone in the audience had their eyes widened.

Are there such great people in our dynasty?

Many of them are still struggling with the third question!

Snapped!
Just as everyone was surprised, Jia Cong slammed the pen in his hand, shouted that he had finished answering, hurriedly picked up the test paper with the ink not even dry, and rushed to the review desk.

In an exam, as long as one person fails to hand in the paper, the torture for the remaining candidates will naturally be indescribable.

Sun Shenxing's mentality completely collapsed. He could no longer calm down and calculate, and even felt dizzy.

While the reviewers were still reviewing Baochai's test paper, someone exclaimed that all the answers were correct again. Then, with a "pu" sound, Sun Shenxing suddenly covered his chest, spat out a mouthful of blood, and fell straight down.

"This……"

"Sun Ru? Sun Ru!"

The people in the audience were stunned, and the people on the stage were terrified.

In the second round of a competition, the most popular fortune teller Zisun Shan vomited blood and fell on the stage.

How can I do this? I dare not die!

Li Shouzhong immediately shouted to the back of the platform in panic: "Go to the palace and get the imperial physician!"

The imperial physician and the like won’t be able to come for a while.

Fortunately, the Imperial College already had a young disciple from the old master of the Imperial Medical Bureau in charge, who would usually practice his skills by treating minor illnesses of the students.

A young doctor ran up to the platform, put his finger on Sun Shenxing's wrist, and his eyes became strange.

"How is Sun Ru?"

Uh……

The young doctor hesitated for a moment, but finally said to Li Shouzhong who was asking, "Sun Ru is over sixty years old, and his mind has been exhausted for a while, so... uh, uh, it's noisy here and it's almost hot at noon, so it's best to send Sun Ru to a secluded and cool place. I'll give him a few injections and prescribe a prescription, and he'll just need to rest for a while."

I really can't continue to make up a story. I can't say that the great scholar, the descendant of a fortune teller, fainted with blood vomiting because he was so angry that he couldn't beat a woman.

Moreover, Sun Daru at this time clearly seemed to have awakened...

Li Shouzhong also had some knowledge of medicine. As soon as he heard it, he understood that the young doctor wanted to make amends for Sun Shenxing and save a little face.

He changed the subject and shouted to the servant, "Come here quickly and carry Sun Ru to the guest house for the doctor to treat him!"

"Ah? Jijiu, then this competition..."

As for the competition, it was just a hammer competition. Sun Shenxing was beaten to the point of vomiting blood by the young man and the young woman!
It was still in the field of mathematics, which Sun Shenxing thought he was best at.

Li Shouzhong glared at the instructor who had given him a reminder, feeling helpless and bitter.

He picked up Sun Shenxing's answer sheet, took a glance at it, and curled his lips.

Although some of the words on it were stained with glaring blood, it could still be seen that Sun Shenxing had not even finished half of his answer.

"Let's calculate the winner based on the current results... Everyone, how are Lord Xue and Marquis Yongfeng doing? Then calculate Sun Ru's results, and the result of this competition should be able to determine the winner."

Immediately, a great scholar who was immersed in marking the papers raised his head and shouted, "Master Xue Hengwu has answered all fifty questions correctly. Yongfeng Marquis Jia Cong also answered all five correctly! Master Xue took the least time, so he should be first!"

As for Sun Shenxing's, another great scholar quickly finished marking the test paper that was less than half completed, took a deep breath, and announced loudly.

"Sun Shenxing, I answered 21 of the 50 questions, and 9 of them were correct..."

The young doctor only felt that Sun Shenxing's pulse was obviously disordered. Looking closely, he saw that the man's eyelids were trembling rapidly and the blue veins in his neck were throbbing.

Alas, it’s true. It’s not good to have a bad temper.

Look, he fainted again!

The young doctor ordered people to carry Sun Shenxing away. Most of the people in the audience exclaimed, which soon turned into waves of loud cheers.

Only a small number of people, with grim faces, wanted to argue for Sun Shenxing and implement the plan they had made earlier, but they didn't know what to say at this time to make everyone support Sun Shenxing to take charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

In two consecutive scenes, Sun Shenxing was severely slapped in the face by Baochai and Jia Cong, and his way to becoming the head of the Ministry of Revenue was completely blocked.

Sun Shenxing's reputation as a genius calculator naturally proves that he is indeed ahead of most people in mathematics.

But compared with Baochai and Jia Cong, there are eighteen Zhengyang Streets missing.

Moreover, in the second round, Sun Shenxing didn't even finish half of his answer and he performed a "blood escape", which was so embarrassing.

How can such a person be the Minister of Finance of Daxia?
At least you need to have the meticulousness and talent of Miss Xue, and the ability and sincerity of Marquis Yongfeng!

Amid the noisy discussion, Li Shouzhong cleared his throat and loudly announced the results of today's competition.

"I hereby announce that the winner of today's mathematics competition is Xue Hengwu, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, with Jia Cong, the Marquis of Yongfeng, in second place, and Sun Shenxing in third place!"

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　Thanks to cyndi1982 for the reward.

　　I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)