As morning dew steamed from the terraced fields of Cyan Ox Village, the elderly village chief crouched on a field ridge, pulling at his beard as the abacus beads between his fingers bounced into the character for "sorrow": "Lad Zhang, what on earth does this 'five catties of fertilizer per mu' mean? We don't even have a mountain scale!" Zhang Yifan shook his abacus beads and crouched down, the beads bouncing into the character for "measure" against the soil: "Simple—" With a sleight of hand, he produced an Abacus-Bead Measuring Tool made of wood. "This is an Abacus-Bead Measuring Tool. One scoop holds one catty, so five scoops make five catties."
The village chief stared at the wooden scoop in disbelief: "This abacus bead scoop is even smaller than our gourd dipper!" The abacus beads instantly bounced into the scoop, rolling into the character for "accurate," with each bead spaced precisely three inches apart. Moli squatted nearby drawing cartoons, and the abacus beads leaped onto the tip of her brush, transforming the wooden scoop in her drawing into the likeness of Huwa holding an abacus bead, which brought tears of laughter to the villagers.
At three in the afternoon, a villager came running over with a wooden scoop on his shoulder: "This is bad! The abacus bead scoop is leaking!" Xiaotao took the scoop and examined it, and the abacus beads bounced into the character for "repair" right along the crack—it turned out the bottom of the scoop had been eaten by worms. "Leave …
Chapter 177