The arrival of Prefect Zhang startled all the scholars in the hall. They rose to greet him, realizing the rumors were true: Prefect Zhang truly valued Zhan Feiyu, having come in person for a mere wager.
"How can you make a mockery of the prefectural examination!" Prefect Zhang reprimanded sternly, though his eyes held the warmth of an elder.
Zhan Feiyu meekly admitted her mistake, "I know I was wrong."
"Lord Zhang, Zhan Feiyu is also concerned for the border troops. If I lose, the Chen family's accumulated grain will be donated, a full hundred thousand shi," the portly Chen shamelessly defended Zhan Feiyu, actually cornering her.
If it were a typical childish quarrel, Prefect Zhang could have intervened. However, the portly Chen had deliberately elevated the martial contest to a higher level, involving the border troops. If Prefect Zhang mishandled it, he would surely be criticized and perhaps even impeached by the Chen family.
With a sharp gaze directed at the smug portly Chen, Prefect Zhang quickly scanned the wager. "Can you represent your father and make this decision?"
"Of course!" Not wanting to be underestimated, the portly Chen raised his fleshy chin proudly, ostentatiously displaying, "My father is unwell, and I am currently managing the Chen family's business. This is the Chen family's seal!"
The portly Chen produced a cinnabar seal from his pouch, the very seal representing the Chen family. He was now the true proprietor of Chen's. "Li Feng, you are also a merchant. Please inform Prefect Zhang."
"Reporting to your lordship," Grand Master Li respectfully bowed to Prefect Zhang before continuing, "Since late March, the Chen family's business has been managed by Young Master Chen."
The prodigal Chen managed his business with some semblance of order. Although Prefect Zhang had suppressed the Chen family's business, they were, after all, the maternal relatives of the First Prince, and with Chai Yi as their advisor, only the business in Nanxuan Prefecture was affected. Chen's business in other regions remained prosperous.
Prefect Zhang nodded, his scrutinizing gaze returning to the portly Chen. "According to the wager, if you lose, you must fulfill the agreement. If you default, you will donate one hundred thousand shi of grain to the border this year, ninety thousand shi next year, and so on, until ten thousand shi in the tenth year."
"I will not lose!" The confident words blurted out. If it were a scholarly contest, it would be one thing, but since it was a martial contest, the portly Chen felt he could crush that girl Zhan Feiyu with one hand!
Furthermore, even if he lost, it was merely filling the chessboard with rice. Although the portly Chen hadn't calculated the exact amount of rice, the chessboard only had sixty-four squares. If a hundred catties weren't enough, then a thousand catties!
Feeling invincible, the portly Chen declared loudly, "Lord Zhang, please act as a witness, not interfere!"
As for why Zhan Feiyu was being foolish, the portly Chen squinted his small eyes, scrutinizing Zhan Feiyu. She was probably just a renowned name, afraid of failing the prefectural examination, so she found an excuse not to participate.
"Very well, I shall be a witness. According to the Great Qing law, a contract requires three parties. How about Master Li being the second witness?" Prefect Zhang glanced at the scholars in the hall.
"Lord Zhang, Xiong Rui volunteers." A middle-aged scholar stood up.
Prefect Zhang recognized him. "Then I shall trouble Scholar Xiong."
Scholar Xiong was a tutor at a private school. He was entertaining old friends at Li's today, some of whom were scholars, others were talented scholars, all tutors from private schools in the various counties under Nanxuan Prefecture. The group had gathered here for the prefectural examination, never expecting such an event.
"Young Master, there might be a trick," Chai Yi whispered, feeling something was amiss, yet unable to discern the mystery.
"Zi Zhang, you are too cautious. Zhan Feiyu is employing a feigned emptiness strategy. If I dare not gamble, I will fall into her trap," the portly Chen disdainfully looked at the cautious Chai Yi.
Zi Zhang was intelligent, but unfortunately, his perspective was too narrow and he was overly cautious, always fearing the wolf and the tiger. However, it was understandable; Zi Zhang came from a poor family, and perhaps the hundred thousand shi of grain had intimidated him.
Seeing that Zhan Feiyu had already signed, the portly Chen pushed aside the interfering Chai Yi and strode forward, signing and stamping his mark, thus establishing the wager.
The Six Arts of a Gentleman included archery and charioteering. Even though charioteering had evolved from driving carriages and war chariots to daily horse riding, for the portly Chen, who felt the ground shake with every step, he was not proficient in archery or horse riding.
"Zhan Feiyu, the circle drawn with lime is the boundary. Whoever steps out of the circle first loses!" The portly Chen was the first to step into the circle, tucking his robes into his belt and assuming a ready stance.
The surrounding scholars showed disdain. This person was utterly shameless. They had expected a martial contest involving archery and charioteering. In fact, Zhan Feiyu had a disadvantage in age for both, so how could they have imagined the portly Chen would propose such a martial contest!
Recalling how Zhan Feiyu had once slit a killer's throat with a knife underwater, Prefect Zhang sat calmly on his chair, even picking up his teacup to leisurely sip his tea.
Zhan Feiyu also took small steps into the circle. "Young Master Chen, please!"
The moment the words fell, Zhan Feiyu's previously smiling face turned stern. Looking at the portly Chen charging like a bear, Zhan Feiyu clenched her fists and met him head-on.
Moments later, the dull thud of fists hitting flesh echoed. The crowd watched the portly Chen, who was covering his head and yelping in pain, inexplicably feeling a bit of sympathy.
Howling in pain, the bruised and swollen portly Chen collapsed onto the ground. Seeing Zhan Feiyu charging at him with her fists, he cried out in terror, "I surrender... Stop hitting me..."
Zhan Feiyu fully utilized the principle of "lack of strength, compensated by skill" in her offense. Every punch landed squarely on the portly Chen's face. Since he had so much flesh, he probably wouldn't even feel the pain with one punch.
Seeing Zhan Feiyu about to strike again, watching her airborne body, and the right foot about to kick his face, the portly Chen mustered a surge of strength and abruptly sat up from the ground.
Just as everyone thought he was making a final resistance, they saw the portly Chen cover his head with both hands and charge out of the white circle with such speed that it fully demonstrated what a nimble fatty he was!
Panting heavily, the portly Chen, finally safe, glared at Zhan Feiyu and accused her indignantly, "You cheated! You didn't say you had trained!"
Even though Zhan Feiyu was only nine years old, her skills might not be enough to defeat true masters, but against a prodigal like the portly Chen, she could definitely handle one or two.
Zhan Feiyu's breathing was steady. "Young Master Chen, are you a sore loser?"
"A sore loser? The grain from my Chen's can drown you!" The portly Chen wiped his bloody nose, his face numb with pain. He angrily cursed Chai Yi behind him, "Send five hundred catties of white rice from Chen's over here!"
Soon, the shopkeeper and employees of the Chen family delivered the rice, piling sacks in the middle of the hall.
The battered portly Chen, furious, grabbed a knife and slashed open a sack, then dumped a sack of white rice onto the ground. He shook the empty sack and declared, "A bet is a bet! I, this young master, can afford to lose! The extra rice will be my act of charity for you to eat!"
Two employees pulled the mouths of the sacks. The portly Chen pushed aside the shopkeeper and grabbed a handful of rice from the ground. "Zi Zhang, mark the grid after you fill it, one grain of rice!"
As the portly Chen dropped a handful of rice into the sack, Chai Yi took a vermilion brush and marked the first square of the chessboard with a red dot.
"The second grain, four grains for the third square, eight grains for the fourth..." Before the portly Chen finished dropping the handful of rice, he had already calculated up to the eighth square, dropping one hundred and twenty-eight grains of rice.
The scholars watching, the common folk gathered outside Li's shop, and even Prefect Zhang sitting in his chair, none of them understood anything. Only Zhan Feiyu calmly waited for the portly Chen to continue.
"I'm too lazy to count. Shopkeeper Qiu, you do it," the portly Chen pulled up a chair and sat down, too lazy to count the rice grain by grain.
"Yes, Young Master." Shopkeeper Qiu took over the portly Chen's task and continued to put rice into the sacks.
However, gradually, as the rice was being placed, the portly Chen's smile froze on his face. He suddenly stood up and glared at Chai Yi, "You didn't miscalculate? How can there be so much?"
The vermilion brush had already marked the sixteenth square, but the calculated number of rice grains was thirty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty-six. Based on the weight of ten thousand grains of rice from Shopkeeper Qiu earlier, it was about eight catties, and over thirty thousand grains were twenty-four catties.
Crucially, this was only up to the sixteenth square, with forty-eight squares remaining.
The next square would require nearly fifty catties of rice, the one after that a hundred catties, then two hundred, four hundred, eight hundred, one thousand six hundred catties... Soon, one square would require ten thousand catties of rice, then it would quickly reach a hundred thousand, and after a few more squares, it would be a million...
"How is this possible?" Most of the people present were scholars. Although their arithmetic skills varied, by roughly estimating the weight of the rice grains, everyone realized something was wrong.
If all the hundred thousand shi of grain from Chen's were brought out, it wouldn't even fill one-third of the chessboard. The critical point was that each subsequent square required double the amount of the previous one, ten thousand shi, then twenty thousand shi, and further calculations showed that not only Chen's grain shop, but all the rice in the Great Qing Dynasty wouldn't be enough to fill the chessboard.
"Everyone says Zhan the little prodigy is proficient in arithmetic. Seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation!" Scholar Xiong looked at Zhan Feiyu with admiration. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have thought that this small chessboard, with its sixty-four squares, could hold all the rice in the Great Qing Dynasty.
"I don't deserve Scholar Xiong's praise. It's just a minor skill, not worthy of being presented in grand assemblies," Zhan Feiyu said with a smile, turning to Prefect Zhang beside her. "Lord Zhang, I intend to send this wager to the capital to my teacher."
"As it involves the border troops, it is indeed appropriate for His Majesty to decide." Prefect Zhang agreed. As a fourth-rank prefect, he probably couldn't force the Chen family to fulfill the wager.
However, if Scholar Gu reported this matter to His Majesty, even if the Chen family was unwilling, they couldn't deny it. After all, the Chen family was as rich as a nation. Even if they donated such a large amount of grain, it wouldn't shake their foundation, but it would certainly cripple them.
The portly Chen's face turned ashen. He opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word. He was finished, and the Chen family's grain shop was also finished.
...
As night fell, the portly Chen returned to the Chen family and collapsed onto his bed, falling into a deep sleep.
In the study, Old Master Chen, who was supposed to be bedridden, glared at Chai Yi, his face contorted as he spat out through gritted teeth, "Chai Zi Zhang, why didn't you stop him? Do you know our Chen's is ruined!"
"I underestimated Zhan Feiyu. I didn't expect her to be so ruthless!" Chai Yi, who was being scolded, had a grim expression. He had previously looked down on Zhan Feiyu, calling her talent mere luck. If he could become a disciple of Scholar Gu, wouldn't becoming a top scholar be difficult?
But at this moment, Chai Yi had to admit Zhan Feiyu's intelligence. Her small wager had directly caused the Chen family to lose hundreds of thousands of shi of grain. Crucially, this grain was to be sent to the border. If the Chen family dared to refuse to comply, the military officials in the court would likely tear the Chen family apart.
"Master, why don't we send someone to snatch the wager back?" Chai Yi tentatively suggested.
Although everyone in Nanxuan Prefecture knew about this matter, if Zhan Feiyu lost the wager, then the Chen family would only suffer a damaged reputation if they defaulted, at least avoiding the annual loss of one hundred thousand shi of grain, a total of five hundred and fifty thousand shi.
Old Master Chen suddenly looked up, his sinister gaze fixed on Chai Yi with a bloodthirsty glint. He sneered and questioned, "Are you planning to kill or set fire? Prefect Zhang is just looking for an excuse to seize my property. Or do you think Scholar Gu would allow the Chen family to bully his only disciple?"
The more he thought about it, the more enraged he became. Old Master Chen violently smashed everything on the display shelf. Fulfilling the wager meant a loss for Chen's, his money, but offending Scholar Gu would mean imprisonment!
"What if the young master hired assassins?" Chai Yi's voice was calm, but his icy eyes were filled with killing intent. Such a talented young girl should not be allowed to live. He was eliminating a scourge for the scholars of Nanxuan Prefecture.
The enraged Old Master Chen narrowed his eyes in thought. This was indeed a plan to kill two birds with one stone. His legitimate son had made a grave mistake and was dead, allowing his carefully raised illegitimate son to be brought back openly.
"What we can think of, Prefect Zhang and Zhan Feiyu can also think of. They might have set a trap waiting for us to act." Old Master Chen ultimately abandoned the idea. The young servant beside Zhan Feiyu was a master, and there might be secret guards sent by Scholar Gu.
Sui Baode was the commander of the Nanxuan Guard, formerly a fierce general under Prince Yu. Since Zhan Feiyu had a share in the assets of "Mei Ren Zhuang," military officers would not interfere with prefectural affairs on weekdays. However, if someone were sent to assassinate Zhan Feiyu, Sui Baode would surely intervene.
Chai Yi also realized that he could not harm Zhan Feiyu in Nanxuan Prefecture at all. Openly, she had Prefect Zhang's protection, and secretly, she had Commander Sui's escort.
In the span of one day and one night, a secret letter was sent from Nanxuan Prefecture to the顾学士府 (Gu Xu Shi Fu) in the capital.
And the next day, after the morning court session, in the imperial study.
"Imperial Uncle, what is this?" The Emperor smiled as he looked at the hurried Prince Yu after granting him a seat. Imperial Uncle was old, but his temper hadn't changed at all.
"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, a bet is a bet. It's already signed and sealed, so it's a done deal. If anyone dares to break the agreement, although my beard has turned white, I can still travel a thousand miles to pursue them!" Prince Yu's booming voice almost shook the roof. These nonsensical words left the Emperor utterly confused.
Putting down his teacup, the Emperor looked at Gu Qingzhou, who was sitting below, calm and collected. "Minister Gu, could you enlighten me?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, it's all the trouble caused by my wayward disciple. The prefectural examination is in a few days, yet she's still causing such a ruckus. It seems I must personally discipline her." Gu Qingzhou shook his head with a look of helplessness and presented the secret letter he had received.
Eunuch Liu immediately walked over to receive it. After discreetly checking it and confirming there were no issues, he presented it to the Emperor.
Zhan Feiyu's letter to Gu Qingzhou was filled with familiarity, her words more like casual conversation, summarizing to: Teacher, your unworthy disciple has caused you trouble again. As the saying goes, the capable should work harder. Teacher, as a Grand Scholar of the Hanlin Academy, please help your disciple resolve this minor issue.
The Emperor found nothing unusual in the letter. He set it aside and picked up the wager submitted with the letter. After reading it, even though the Emperor was known for his impassive expression, his face showed a momentary crack.
"Your Majesty, this is the letter Prince Yu rushed to deliver from Sui Baode." Prince Yu quickly placed the letter in his hand directly onto the imperial desk, without going through Eunuch Liu. This showed the Emperor's trust in Prince Yu, his imperial uncle.
Sui Baode detailed the wager. Of course, as a military officer, the focus of his letter was that the hundred thousand shi of grain was to be sent to the border, so he requested Prince Yu to ensure the Chen family fulfilled the wager.
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