99 Addition and Subtraction
At the back of the Liu family’s house, Li Xiao led the cow to the big tree, then strapped the cart on. He watched Lin Xiaoyue ride away.
At this time, the sun was scorching. Lin Xiaoyue broke a branch by the roadside to shade herself from the sun. As she rode to the main road, she felt a little sorry for the ox.
Fortunately, Daishi Village wasn’t too far from town, and there wasn’t anything else in the cart. Otherwise, the ox definitely wouldn’t be able to stand such hot weather.
An hour later, Lin Xiaoyue arrived at Qingshi Town. Then, she rode the ox-cart all the way to Ruyi Restaurant.
The people in the kitchen all knew Lin Xiaoyue. The waiter even helped Lin Xiaoyue unload the ox-cart and parked it in the courtyard.
Lin Xiaoyue went to the accountant’s room. When Liang Chengcai saw Lin Xiaoyue, he was so happy that he quickly got up to welcome her.
“I didn’t see you come to sell wild animals in the morning. I thought that you would not come this afternoon.” Liang Chengcai gave Lin Xiaoyue a bow.
She didn’t teach him yesterday afternoon, and she didn’t come to sell anything this morning. He almost suspected that he was being scammed.
Fortunately, he was just overthinking.
Lin Xiaoyue smiled and saw through Liang Chengcai’s thoughts.
Liang Chengcai felt a little guilty.
“My family is busy with the house construction, so there are too many things that need to be taken care of these two days. I actually came to town in the morning, but it was almost noon by the time I finished my business. I was afraid that it would be inconvenient to come over, so I went back to have lunch before coming.” Lin Xiaoyue explained.
“I see.” Liang Chengcai’s eyes flashed with understanding.
“Don’t worry about it next time, you can come directly. I am quite free after 9 in the morning.”
Lin Xiaoyue smiled, “sure!”
Then, she checked Liang Chengcai’s homework.
“Yesterday, you learned how to write numbers with symbols. Today, I’ll teach you how to calculate.”
…
“One horizontal and one vertical is a plus sign, one horizontal is a minus sign, and two horizontal is the equal sign.”
Liang Chengcai took a brush and practiced with Lin Xiaoyue on the paper. He thought it was interesting.
After Lin Xiaoyue demonstrated two examples to Liang Chengcai, she began to speak as he wrote.
Liang Chengcai didn’t let Lin Xiaoyue down. He wrote quickly and accurately.
“Very good. Next, I’ll give you some questions, and you’ll list the equations.” Lin Xiaoyue said again.
“Please go ahead.” Liang Chengcai’s eyes were full of expectation.
“The first question. Xiaoming had 10 wens, and he spent 6 wens on candied gourd. How much money is left?”
“10-6=4.” Liang Chengcai said. At the same time, he wrote down the equation on the paper and calculated the result.
“Yes.” Lin Xiaoyue nodded.
“The second question. Xiaoming had two wens, and his mother gave him three wens. How much does Xiaoming have now?”
“2+3=5!” Liang Chengcai responded with ease.
“Not bad.” Lin Xiaoyue nodded.
“These are the simplest calculations. Next, we’ll talk about the more complicated ones.”
“Before you start, memorize the combination of the numbers that add up to 10. Also, do some addition and subtraction with numbers under 20.”
Liang Chengcai smiled and bowed to her.
“I have already mastered all of these. Please test me.”
Lin Xiaoyue glanced at Liang Chengcai. He was an accountant after all, so these basic things might really be no problem. Hence, she began to test him.
“8+7,”
“15.”
“6+6.”
“12.”
“18-9.”
“9.”
…
Lin Xiaoyue tested a few addition and subtraction questions and found that Liang Chengcai was indeed able to answer them correctly.