When the morning mist of Green Ox Lodge was laced with the fragrance of sweet osmanthus, Xiaotao leaned over the counter, tapping the abacus beads. The Huwa wood carving on her double buns wore an osmanthus crown, and the beads bounced at her fingertips to form the character "pastry." "Brother Fan! Three baskets of osmanthus pastries for five strings of cash, buy four and get half a basket free—how much should I charge?"
Zhang Yifan came out of the kitchen, rattling the abacus beads, which bounced between his sleeves to form the word "smile." "Mistress Xiaotao, look here—" He used an abacus bead to nudge the osmanthus flowers on the table. "Buy four and you actually get four and a half. Calculated at 'three baskets for five strings,' four baskets should cost..." "Seven strings!" Xiaotao blurted out, but the abacus beads bounced into the character "wrong" on the account book.
"Silly girl," the Protagonist gently tapped her forehead, and a piece of osmanthus fell from her hair into the beads. "Four baskets is three plus one, and five strings plus one-third of five strings. It should be six strings and six hundred sixty wen." Xiaotao puffed out her cheeks and tapped the osmanthus with an abacus bead. "Brother Fan's beads are even thicker than the osmanthus flowers!" The beads immediately formed the word "thick" amidst the osmanthus pile, making her giggle.
Chapter 165