Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 71

Several days later, Xia Heng finally returned from her state of walking death.

Her period was over, her body no longer ached so badly, and she no longer walked stiffly. Her throat and hand had also improved considerably.

She might not have been back to full health, but she was at least eighty or ninety percent recovered.

That morning, Xia Heng opened her door and found more than a dozen people standing in the courtyard—men and women, young and old. The moment the door opened, every one of them looked up at her.

Xia Heng silently closed the door.

I must have opened it the wrong way. Shall I try again?

She pulled the door open once more. The same people were still there.

“You’re awake, Miss Xia.”

Uncle Zhao hurried forward. He could not let her retreat again. He was genuinely afraid she would go inside and refuse to come out.

“Uncle Zhao, what’s going on?” Xia Heng asked in a whisper, sidling closer to him.

“It’s like this. The General has ordered all the mansion’s accountants and managers to study Mathematics.

“The Zhenbei Army’s quartermasters are here as well, and Deputy General Zhang is among them. Those two lads Mo Qing and Mo Bai said their own learning was too shallow for them to presume to teach, so the General sent everyone to you.”

“Oh. I see… All right, then. My room won’t hold this many people, so why don’t we find somewhere larger?”

“How about the public kitchen?” Chef Xiang suggested. “No one uses my place outside mealtimes.”

“That’ll do,” Uncle Zhao agreed.

The group of more than a dozen filed into the public kitchen en masse. Little Wude trailed beside Uncle Zhao, swaying as he walked like a tiny tail.

By the time Xia Heng arrived with paper and brushes, everyone was sitting ramrod straight. Their solemn expressions made it look as though they were about to go to war.

Xia Heng looked at Qiulin, who occupied a seat in the front.

“Why are you here too?”

“The General told me to serve as your teaching assistant… and keep an eye on you while I’m at it.”

For once, a look of utter despair appeared on Qiulin’s normally impassive face. Evidently, although she had not borne the brunt of the earlier lessons, Mathematics had tormented her plenty.

Xia Heng laughed.

“It isn’t that serious! It’s just arithmetic. It’s very simple.”

What followed finally taught Xia Heng that highly educated people like Cang Chuli and his companions were exceptions.

It also taught her why, in ancient times, literacy was worth its weight in gold.

An hour later, after she had finally explained the four basic operations and talked herself hoarse, Xia Heng questioned Wude. He was the youngest student but had already learned the Multiplication Table Song.

“What is four added together three times?”

“Sixteen!”

Little Wude’s answer rang with absolute conviction.

Xia Heng drew a deep breath and pinched the spot beneath her nose with her left hand.

“Three fours! You know the Multiplication Table Song, don’t you? Three times four is…?”

“Twelve!”

“Right!”

Xia Heng nodded firmly in encouragement, then pressed on.

“Then what is four plus four plus four?”

“…”

Wude pondered for a moment before looking up at her cautiously.

“Sixteen?”

Qiulin passed Xia Heng a cup of hot tea at exactly the right moment.

It’s all right. He’s a child. He’ll learn if I teach him a little more. I might have been worse at his age…

Xia Heng comforted herself in silence.

Another half hour passed.

“Aunt Chen, look. This is one addend, and this is the other addend. When they’re added together, the result is called…?”

“The product?” Aunt Chen from the Washing Workshop answered uncertainly.

Breathe. Just breathe. It was an understandable mistake. This was her first lesson, after all!

After taking a moment to calm herself, Xia Heng said, “Aunt Chen, it’s the sum. A product comes from multiplication.”

Aunt Chen nodded with only vague understanding.

“Accountant Xu, this multiplication…”

Before Xia Heng could finish, the elderly Accountant Xu waved his hands in shame.

“Miss Xia is truly learned and accomplished. I cannot compare! I can manage this method without an abacus when the numbers are below ten, but I will have to go home and study the larger numbers further.”

“Chef Xiang…”

“Ah, Heng, my girl!

“Your Uncle Xiang started thinking about what to cook for lunch. By the time I came back to my senses, Mathematics and I had already been separated by the boundary between life and death!

“Why don’t I learn it tomorrow instead?”

Qiulin grabbed Xia Heng just as she was about to explode. The corner of her own mouth twitched.

“Chef Xiang… Who taught you to use an idiom that way?”

By the end of the morning, Xia Heng was utterly drained.

She assigned homework to everyone present and told them to complete it at home, then bring it back to the next day’s lesson so she could grade it that evening.

Only after everyone had left did Xia Heng seize Qiulin’s arm.

“Third Sister! Don’t you think your second sister’s illness is getting worse? Why am I dizzy, seeing spots, and struggling to breathe after just one morning?”

“How did you find out about that?”

The moment Qiulin heard “Third Sister,” she whipped her head around.

“Mo Bai told me… Hehe. Let’s not discuss what happened that day. The result was pretty good in the end, wasn’t it?”

Xia Heng felt a little guilty whenever that drunken night came up, especially since the other two were absent and she was here alone.

Qiulin gave a cold laugh. Mo Bai and Chuqing—you two truly deserved each other.

She looked at Xia Heng with a wooden expression.

“You’re not ill. Teaching is enough to make anyone’s temper flare. Drink more chrysanthemum tea when you get back.”

Xia Heng had assumed her first day of teaching would be the worst of it.

She had no idea it was only the beginning.

The next day—

“What is nine times nine?”

Xia Heng was shouting herself hoarse.

“Forty-five!”

Seated below, Deputy General Zhang held his brush like a valiant warrior, enunciating every word of his answer with ringing confidence.

“Forty-five! Hahahaha! Forty-five!

“Three times! You’ve calculated it three times, and it’s still forty-five! Isn’t that infuriating? Qiulin, tell me that isn’t infuriating!”

Qiulin forced Xia Heng back into her chair and patted her chest to help her catch her breath.

If Xia Heng had possessed a blade at that moment, Qiulin had no doubt it would already have left its sheath.

Her missing arm truly was inconvenient. At times like this, she worried she would not be able to hold Xia Heng down.

Xia Heng felt all hope leave her.

Why? Why in the world was an English major and human resources manager running a Mathematics training class in ancient times?

Where was Xiao Yaqing? Heroine, open your eyes! You were a science student—have mercy on this poor liberal arts student!

She was about to die on the spot!

Xiao Yaqing had no time to worry about whether Mathematics lessons were driving Xia Heng mad, because she was currently screaming inside her family’s alcohol factory too.

Dongfang Wei!

I donated the alcohol formula so soldiers like Cang Chuli, who defend the country, and unfortunate injured civilians might have a better chance of survival!

The substance was difficult to transport, and even the Xiao Family could not build factories selling alcohol in every part of the nation.

Besides, plenty of people were already coveting their formula, even with her father serving as Minister of Revenue.

But that doesn’t mean an economics major like me should have to teach chemistry!

Have you people no humanity?

They had kept her so busy that she had not even found time to visit Xia Heng at the General’s Mansion. She had no idea how Ah Heng was doing.

“Miss Xiao… Why do alcohol and water have different boiling points? And these glass tubes are far too expensive. Could they be replaced with something else?”

The technical official dispatched by the court kept writing in the booklet in his hand, never forgetting to ask about anything he did not understand.

Xiao Yaqing wiped her face and took two deep breaths before patiently beginning her explanation.

She had to teach them. What else could she do?