This young boy was a new face she hadn't seen before, so she nodded and asked, "I'm Zhao Zhitong, who are you?"
Her eyes were red from crying over the child-selling matter, and as she turned around abruptly, they were still misty, and her rims were red.
Seeing this scene, Qiao Muchen was at a loss, and the imposing manner he had when he came over was instantly halved: "I, I didn't bully you, you, why are you crying."
Zhao Zhitong was always concerned about her face, immediately rubbed her eyes, stood up, and said angrily, "I just got something in my eye, I did not cry!"
"Alright then." Qiao Muchen pursed his lips, straightened up his chest again, and robustly declared his purpose: "My name is Qiao Muchen, I heard the teacher say you are very capable, solving a problem that troubled Mr. Wei for a long time, I'm here to challenge you!"
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This matter has to be talked about from the first time Zhao Zhitong came to the school with Sun Mei.
That day was as bright and sunny as today.
Sun Mei placed Zhao Zhitong at the kitchen door, instructed her not to run around, then went into the kitchen to get busy.
This little rascal Zhao Zhitong couldn't stand being good, and after playing at the kitchen door for less than a minute, she ran off joyfully.
Coincidentally, she ended up in the courtyard.
The school was divided by a courtyard wall into a front courtyard and a back courtyard, the back courtyard was where the kitchen and students' dining area were, the front courtyard was where the students studied.
When she mistakenly barged in, Mr. Meng was leading a class of students in the courtyard, studying a big black bull led by Landlord Wei.
Suddenly seeing such a massive bull, Zhao Zhitong's eyes lit up, and she really wanted to go forward and take a good look.
Thinking this way, she did exactly that.
After she got closer, she gathered some information from their conversation.
Turns out, this big black bull was one that Landlord Wei wanted to buy from a cattle dealer, but this bull was of excellent breed, the dealer wanted to keep it for breeding next year, so he was reluctant to sell it.
But he didn't dare offend Landlord Wei either, so he came up with this idea, the bull had to be sold by weight.
That meant if Landlord Wei wanted to buy the bull, he had to weigh it first. However, where could he find such a large scale? Even if there was one, who could lift the bull?
Unless they slaughtered the bull and weighed it in pieces.
But, let alone killing the bull being against the national regulation, he couldn't bear to kill it either; the bull's breed was top-notch, and he truly liked it a lot.
After pondering for a few days and still not finding a solution, he brought the bull to the private school today to seek advice from Mr. Meng.
As it happened, today Mr. Meng was teaching mathematics, and intending to enlighten the students, he made it into a math problem, asking each student to come up with a solution.
At that moment, those students were all babbling about their ideas.
Some students said that as long as an extremely large scale was built, and a hundred people were gathered to lift it, they could weigh it.
There were others who fancifully suggested they could weigh the front half first, then the back half, and add the results together.
...
Listening to the students brainstorming, although all were impractical ideas, Mr. Meng was not angry, instead, he stroked his beard and smiled kindly.
"You can use a boat."
At that moment, a crisp voice still carrying a childish lilt suddenly rang out, piercing through the noise and reaching directly into Mr. Meng's ears.
His eyes lit up immediately: "Who said to use a boat?"
The students quieted down, looking at each other, confused.
"I said it."
At that moment, the girl's clear and childish voice rang out again, and everyone realized that there was actually a little girl hiding behind them.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Zhao Zhitong was not shy at all, rather, she was very happy and grinned at everyone.
Nobody expected it was a little girl who spoke, Mr. Meng was surprised too but still waved her over: "Come, you come over here."
At that moment, among the students, Zhao Yue, looking at Zhao Zhitong, widened his eyes—wasn't this the annoying little bug who always peeked in at his home's doorway listening to his reading? He immediately bared his teeth at her.
"Blah~" Zhao Zhitong made a face at him, then happily walked towards Mr. Meng.
When Zhao Zhitong approached, Mr. Meng stroked his beard and asked: "Come, girl, what do you mean by using a boat?"
"Sir, it's like this, drive the bull onto a boat, wait until the boat is stable in the water, then mark the water level, and drive the bull off the boat.
Then load stones onto the big boat until the water level reaches the marked line, stop loading stones, and finally, the weight of the stones on the boat is the weight of the bull."
"Hey! That's clever!" remarked Landlord Wei in surprise.
"Not bad, not bad."
Mr. Meng said "not bad" twice, clearly quite satisfied with Zhao Zhitong's answer, nodded, and then addressed the students.
"The girl's method is excellent! As the legend goes, during the Three Kingdoms Period, Cao Cao's son, Cao Chong, used this method to weigh an elephant, known in history as Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant. Today, let's learn about this historical reference..."
Over there, Mr. Meng had already begun using this incident to give a lesson to the students, making Landlord Wei unable to stay longer.
Anyway, he had obtained a satisfactory solution, and he left happily with the bull.
As for Zhao Zhitong, who helped him solve the problem, Landlord Wei praised her a lot. After returning, while educating his children, he often mentioned this matter, telling them to learn more from Zhao Zhitong.
Then, in the time that followed, Zhao Zhitong started running to the front courtyard, sometimes crouching by the door, eavesdropping on the teacher's lectures.
Sometimes she would be inspired by Old Mr. Bai in the space to do good deeds, like sweeping the floor for the teacher, wiping tables, or helping water the vegetable garden.
Sometimes she would sit quietly in the courtyard, waiting for the teacher to finish class, then bring food for the teacher, eagerly waiting to hear him tell interesting stories.
Thus, through these interactions, Mr. Meng became increasingly satisfied with Zhao Zhitong.
He discovered that sometimes this kid would just read along a few times outside the classroom, but after class, when he asked her casually, she could recite it from memory!
For a teacher, meeting such a clever child was a delight, a pleasant surprise for him.
But after the extreme delight, it all turned into a sigh!
"Such a clever child, yet born a girl!"
This sentiment unconsciously slipped into his classroom speeches occasionally.
As for what provoked Qiao Muchen to come looking for Zhao Zhitong to challenge, it was because, during the bull weighing event that day, Qiao Muchen was ironically sick and not in school.
While convalescing at home, he often heard Mr. Wei praising Zhao Zhitong, and after he recovered and came to school, the teacher also praised her a lot.
For someone who was always the object of praise like Qiao Muchen, hearing about some other child being praised stirred an interest in Zhao Zhitong, prompting him to come for a challenge.
"Chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, mathematics, etc., the project for comparison is up to you."
Upholding the stance of a young gentleman, Qiao Muchen generously let Zhao Zhitong choose the competition project.