Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 402 - 375: Sober, Yet Speaking Nonsense

Yu Xiaolian was not familiar with Li Wenyuan, only hearing Mrs. Sun mention him occasionally, saying that Li Wenyuan was the most cherished son of the Li family’s master, smart from a young age, good at essays, but his shortcoming was mathematics.

Perhaps because Sun Manyu was her relative, or perhaps thinking that more friends means more paths, Yu Xiaolian did not refuse Li Wenyuan’s request.

She asked the maid to bring paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, and presented two math problems, one about measuring rainfall and the other about the weight of grain.

Li Wenyuan was very grateful to Yu Xiaolian, believing in his heart that these two problems pointed him in the right direction.

If Yu Xiaolian had the fortune to participate in setting the Autumn Examination questions this year, the type of questions would surely focus on this direction, and with these two problems, his efforts would not be in vain.

Li Wenyuan was overjoyed, unable to hide his smile, as he didn’t expect his foolish wife Sun Manyu to still hold some favor with Yu Xiaolian.

After carefully examining the questions, Li Wenyuan began to ponder deeply.

To avoid disturbing Li Wenyuan, Mrs. Sun excused herself to prepare lunch, taking Sun Manyu with her, leaving only Yu Xiaolian and Gao Qiao’er in the hall.

Yu Xiaolian noticed Li Wenyuan hesitating to write, knowing he had no clue and couldn’t find the entry point to the problems. She wasn’t worried, leaning back in her chair and leisurely sipping tea.

This tea was taught by Yu Xiaolian to Gao Qiao’er, brewed with tangerine peel, black tea, and jasmine tea; since Yu Xiaolian liked this type of tea, the maids at home always had it ready.

About a quarter of an hour later, Li Wenyuan finally rolled up his sleeves and started writing.

Li Wenyuan used a whole half hour to compute the two questions, going through more than a dozen sheets of scrap paper for calculations.

Yu Xiaolian took Li Wenyuan’s answers and shook her head silently.

Li Wenyuan, originally full of confidence, saw Yu Xiaolian shaking her head, and immediately doubted whether his answers were correct.

Without a formula, it just doesn’t work. Although Li Wenyuan used the most clumsy method, step by step deriving the answers, it took too long.

Moreover, such an approach had a significant drawback: if there was even one mistake in the middle, the entire thing would be wrong, and even if wrong, he might not realize it, as there wasn’t enough time to re-check calculations.

"Did I do it wrong? Let me redo it!" Li Wenyuan hurriedly spoke up.

Yu Xiaolian put down the problems, "You did it right."

Yu Xiaolian picked up the scrap paper with Li Wenyuan’s calculations, "Come here! Carefully look at your calculation process, did you notice any pattern?"

Li Wenyuan actually noticed this pattern, but the first and third steps had the same ending number, and the second and fourth had the same ending number. Although the numbers were the same, the remainders were different, so Li Wenyuan couldn’t understand this pattern.

Yu Xiaolian pointed out the key for Li Wenyuan with her index finger, continuing, "Look here, with each iteration, the change in result..."

At the end of her explanation, Yu Xiaolian wrote down several improved formulas on paper, "This question used three formulas, first apply this formula to calculate the first step..."

Hearing Yu Xiaolian’s explanation, Li Wenyuan felt as if a new world had opened to him, exclaiming, "So, such a complex problem can be solved in just three steps?"

To think he had calculated from one to a hundred; if Yu Xiaolian had presented him with ten thousand bushels of grain, wouldn’t he have to calculate until he was old?

Li Wenyuan was instantly full of regret, feeling utterly foolish. Upon discovering the pattern, he should not have forced himself to continue step by step, but should have studied the pattern to find the simplest solution to this problem.

"This question isn’t complex; if it were the Autumn Examination, the quantities might be larger. After all, grain is crucial to a nation, and a question of a hundred bushels likely won’t appear."

Yu Xiaolian put down the brush, and Li Wenyuan kept the paper with the formulas as if it were a treasure, thanking Yu Xiaolian repeatedly for her guidance.

Seeing Li Wenyuan’s good attitude and eagerness to learn, Yu Xiaolian asked Gao Qiao’er to fetch the problems from her desk.

"I wrote this last night, and it has a similar charm to the previous two problems. Brother-in-law, take it back and try it."

Li Wenyuan received them with both hands, respectfully bowing to Yu Xiaolian, "Thank you, Master Yu!"

At this moment, Li Wenyuan did not dare to address Yu Xiaolian as "little sister" like Sun Manyu did, feeling that a mere respectful bow wasn’t enough to express his admiration for Yu Xiaolian.

Mrs. Sun and Sun Manyu, having timed their return, came in to invite them to the dining room. Li Wenyuan originally didn’t plan to dine here, but Mrs. Sun had already prepared the meal, and so, unable to refuse the hospitality, he joined them.

At the table, Sun Manyu continuously praised Yu Xiaolian while eating. At one moment, she admired her growing beauty, at another praised the usefulness of her store’s shampoo. In short, throughout the meal, Sun Manyu’s mouth was rarely still, either eating or speaking.

Yu Xiaolian responded with perfunctory "hmm" and "ah" until Sun Manyu mentioned that Su Jingchen was not a match for Yu Xiaolian, at which point Yu Xiaolian looked up with a cold gaze.

Sun Manyu, noticing Yu Xiaolian’s cold stare, realized that Yu Xiaolian was displeased, but she persisted, "Xiaolian, I know you don’t like hearing bad things about that Scholar Su, but I’m only thinking for your good..."

Li Wenyuan frowned and lightly kicked Sun Manyu under the table, but she ignored him and continued, "I heard that asthma or whatever it is, can be passed down to the next generation. Imagine having children in the future, and they are born sickly..."

With a loud snap, Yu Xiaolian placed her chopsticks on the table.

Fearing Yu Xiaolian’s temper would flare and she would kick Sun Manyu out, Mrs. Sun quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

Mrs. Sun first reprimanded Sun Manyu, "Manyu, can’t you keep your mouth shut while eating? Don’t you know the saying, ’Speak not while dining or resting?’ Besides, Scholar Su’s illness isn’t as severe as the rumors, and is already being treated. You mustn’t talk nonsense again."

Then she turned to Yu Xiaolian, "Lian’er, your sister Manyu speaks without thinking it through, she doesn’t mean it. Don’t lower yourself to her level!"

Yu Xiaolian stood up, pulling her chair back, "I have matters at Zhenpin Pavilion, I will be staying there tonight and won’t be returning home." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After speaking to Mrs. Sun, Yu Xiaolian nodded to Li Wenyuan, then left without looking back.

After Yu Xiaolian left, Sun Manyu hurriedly spoke to Mrs. Sun, "Aunt, is Lian always so disrespectful to you? Even though you’re her foster mother, but..."

"Slap!" Mrs. Sun gave Sun Manyu a slap on the face, "You haven’t even had a drink, speaking nonsense like a drunkard?"

This slap left Sun Manyu stunned. What did she say wrong? Wasn’t it true that Yu Xiaolian was adopted? Why wasn’t she allowed to say it? It wasn’t a big secret, was it?