As the pine resin fragrance drifted through the ancestral hall of Cyan Ox Village, the old village chief's tobacco pipe tapped a crisp rhythm against the abacus-bead blackboard, where the abacus beads instantly bounced into the character for "Class": "Little ones! Tonight we're learning the 'Miraculous Method of Pest Removal'—" Before he could finish, the abacus beads scrambled across the board to spell out "Ask the Abacus," drawing loud laughter from the villagers.
Zhang Yifan pushed open the doors of the ancestral hall, rattling the abacus beads as they hopped into the character for "Teacher" along his sleeves: "Uncle, take a look—" Like a magician, he produced an Abacus-Bead Insect Repelling Lamp. "This lamp is wired according to abacus bead trajectories; aphids will give it a wide berth." Moli followed closely behind, her wolf-hair brush still stained with wet comic pigments. The abacus beads instantly leaped to the tip of her brush, turning her sketch of an "Insect Repelling Lamp" into a picture of Huwa holding an abacus-bead torch.
A villager scratched his head: "How does this lamp light up?" The abacus beads instantly darted to the wick, spelling out "Oil"—it turned out the lamp oil was infused with mugwort juice soaked in abacus beads. Xiaotao trotted in, waving a skewer of Abacus Bead Medicinal Crisps: "Brother Fan says, study as you eat, and your memory will be even better!" The abacus beads hopped onto the skewers, forming the character for "Study," with every si…
Chapter 179