After the closing clapper of Green Ox Lodge sounded, Xiaotao rested her chin on the ledger, staring blankly at the abacus beads. The dough doll Huwa on her double-bun hair twisted into a crooked knot, and the beads bounced across the candied hawthorn column to form the character for "chaotic." "Brother Fan! Three skewers of candied hawthorns for one string of cash, how many should you actually get for five skewers?"
Zhang Yifan shook the abacus beads as he sat down beside her, a dusting of candied frost falling from the beads into her hair. "Look here, little Xiaotao—" Like a magician, he produced five skewers of candied hawthorns, the abacus beads bouncing along the bamboo sticks to spell "buy." "If you buy five, calculated under the 'buy five, get one free' deal, you actually only need to pay for four."
Xiaotao counted on her fingers with a frown, the beads rolling in her palm to form the number "four." "B-But isn't five minus one four? Why did I calculate one and a half strings of cash?"
Chapter 159