Hey, the sound of abacus beads clicking "clack-clack" rang out in the Yangzhou Yunjin Workshop today! Master Zhang patted the striking Gear Counter and cursed angrily, "This useless hunk of wood! It gives me a bigger headache than Huwa's arithmetic class!" Huwa squatted beside the machine, giggling secretly, and shoved a bamboo abacus into the gears. The counter actually started clicking as the abacus beads spun, popping out a candied hawthorn stick marked with a "10" code for every inch woven. Moli looked at the "sugar-spitting" counter and laughed heartily, "Well, what do you know! This 'Huwa Abacus Counter' is even sweeter than 'The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art'!"
"Pei Hongxiu! Hurry up and open the 'Abacus Gambling Den'!" shouted the Protagonist. Pei Hongxiu raised an eyebrow with a smile, setting up an "Abacus Bead for Candy Stall" right among the workstations: "Ten white beads for sesame candy, one red bead for osmanthus candy! Answer a question wrong—and you write ten sheets of 'Code Calligraphy' for Huwa!" The weaver women burst into laughter, and the jacquard shuttles clacked away even smoother than Huwa reciting his multiplication table, while the abacus beads fell into a wooden basin like raindrops. The young apprentice exclaimed in surprise, "This is even more fun than our 'private school arithmetic'!"
Just as things were getting lively, a weaver spun the abacus like a top: "Miss Xiao! This '1010' code abacus spins even more cheerfully than my rattle-drum!"…
Chapter 369