When the twilight of Green Ox Lodge was steeped in the fragrance of sesame, Xiaotao was squatting before the stove kneading dough. The Huwa wooden carving on her double hair buns was flecked with flour, and the abacus beads in her apron pocket bounced into the character for "exhausted": "Brother Fan has been staying up late these past few days... Xiaotao is going to help him do the accounts!"
Zhang Yifan leaned against the door frame with a soft smile, and the abacus beads between his sleeves bounced into the character for "Tao": "Wait a moment, Lady Xiaotao—" He walked closer, rattling the abacus beads. "Calculate this batch of sesame flatbreads first: ten coins for three, buy six and get one free. How much should we collect?" Xiaotao counted on her fingers, and the abacus beads rolled in her palm into the character for "confused": "Six divided by three is two strings of coins, plus one free... Should, should we collect two strings?"
"Wrong!" The Protagonist tapped the tip of her nose with an abacus bead, which bounced into the character for "foolish" in the flour. "Buy six, get one free means you actually pay the price of six and get seven flatbreads. Lady Xiaotao's arithmetic is more crooked than the misshapen melon Huwa carved." Xiaotao puffily beat the back of his hand with a rolling pin, but ended up leaving a floury imprint of the Huwa figurine on his lapel. The abacus beads immediately bounced beside the figurine, spelling out the two characters for "sprightly".
Chapter 164