Nightfall

Chapter 106: Cattles, the Back Mountain and a Prescription

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

On the table near the western window under the starlight was a sheet of paper, two sheets of paper, three sheets of paper...

Chen Pipi looked at the dense small characters in ink on the paper, with wider and wider eyes staring. He could feel his scalp prickling. He wondered about what kind of problem this was, with actually three full sheets of paper, and read them from the beginning subconsciously:

”Haotian shines all over the world, just like the cattleman who loves and is concerned about all the creatures. If you think youʼre a bit smart, then try to calculate the number of cattle raised by Haotian.”

”The cattle gather in the Kaiping Market of northern Tang Empire. Theyʼre divided into four groups to pass through the gates heading towards the barbariansʼ grassland to graze leisurely. The first group is white as milk. The second group has shiny black skin. The third group is yellow-brown, and the fourth group is colorful. Each group of cattle has bulls as well as cows in unequal amounts.”

”Firstly, Iʼll tell you the proportion of the bulls: the number of white cattle is equal to the number of brown cattle plus one third and a half of the number of black cattle. In addition, the number of black cattle is equal to a quarter and one fifth plus all the brown cattle... When the brown bulls and colorful bulls gather together, they form a triangle where no cattle dare break into...”

”Please find out the exact number of different cattle. And please note that I could solve this when I was seven years old.” (Note)

…

…

In the following time, Chen Pipi stared at the dense characters in ink on the paper and began to bite the brush holder. He scratched his head, tugged on his hair, swung his legs around and bit his lips. He took a deep breath of the cold air, licked the tip of the bush and started calculating before giving up. He repeated the actions above and cursed loudly deep into the dark night.

The mountain behind Academy was surrounded by thin fog in the morning. The pavement was surrounded by a few fences, with a faint sound of pecking chicken nearby. Random sounds of reading and questioning could be heard from within Academy where the pavement led to.

The fog gradually disappeared and Chen Pipi went out with an obese body. His eyes were bloodshot after staring at the question all night and the usual tightly tied hair was a mess, like hay tugged on by chicken, which made him look very pathetic. He did not look like he had been reading all night, but more like a poor kid who had been caned by his mother with sticks all night.

He went to the door of the school, listening to the sounds of reading and questioning inside and thinking about his own arrogance in the usual days, and could not help but let loose a look of shame on his fat face. However, the impulse of solving this problem was eventually defeated by the humiliation he might face. Therefore, he made up his mind, pushed the door open and went in to bow to everyone without looking around respectfully.

After a moment, the laughing sounds of shock and ridicule showed up in the study room.

”Is there actually a math question in the world that even our Junior Brother canʼt solve?”

”If you, the only genius in this world canʼt solve the problem, how can we solve it?”

”Pipi... donʼt fool us.”

At this moment, a person appeared in front of the study roomʼs door. The laughter inside suddenly came to an end and everyone including Chen Pipi quickly stood up to respectfully bow and say, ”Hello! Second Brother.”

This man called as Second Brother was very tall, wearing a very ancient crown cap and a suit of ordinary college summer clothes, and was tied with golden silk braided ribbon on the waist. With sword-shape eyebrows and bright eyes, he looked awe-inspiring and was covered with a trace of preciseness and politeness. The whole person standing here was like an unshaken palace.

”Spring is the start of a year. Now itʼs still the end of the spring, not the summer yet. You guys have been lazy! Dawn is the start of a day. Now itʼs still the beginning of the dawn. You guys have been mischievous! Have you forgotten the rules?!”