187 – Exchange of Views Between the Two Countries (2)

Great Xia had also prepared.

Zhangsun He stood up and said, “Just a few days ago, a friend of this gongzi encountered a problem. This gongzi wants to ask the respected envoys for a piece of advice. My friend is a manager. He wants to hire a worker to work for seven days. His boss gave him a gold bar and told him to give the worker a gold bar at the end of the worker’s daily work, but he was only allowed to break the bar twice. Sheng-daren, how to solve this problem?”

Ye Yunwen and the others’ faces were covered with a layer of dignified. This was a tricky problem. A gold bar was the seven days’ wage and the wage were required to be paid daily. The simplest way was to divide the gold bar into seven sections and pay one section every day. But this problem required that the gold bar could only be broken twice, which meant, it could only be divided into three sections – this was the difficulty.

Chen Mufeng deliberately said: “Your Majesty, for the sake of fairness, should this question be time-limited?”

Emperor Xiaohui said with a smile, “It’s only right and proper – the time is limited to a stick of incense burnt out. If you spend less time than our country, you win.”

Emperor Xiaohui kindly asked his attendants to send writing materials to the people of Tuluo.

Sheng Xuhao was so angry as he calculated on the paper with a wooden face but couldn’t figure out the solution.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin took out small pencils and notebooks from their pockets, then wrote and drew. The two brothers put down their pencils almost at the same time.

Lei Ruilin came to Qin Mian’s ear and whispered a few words.

Qin Mian nodded approvingly.

Princess Yanqing saw it clearly. Although she didn’t know what they were whispering about, Qin Mian seemed to know the answer. She told herself to calm down. The last question was the most difficult one.

The time for a stick of incense to burn out was quite fast – it soon burnt out.

Sheng Xuhao said with a wooden face, “This foreign official has no capability.”

Zhangsun He saw that Ye Yunwen had finished written a moment ago and thought he had solved the problem. He cupped his hands to Ye Yunwen and said sincerely, “Venture to ask: perhaps Ye-daren has a solution to help my friend?”

Ye Yunwen noticed that they intended to give Tuluo some face, so he said with a smile, “You can divide the gold bar into seven parts with a carpenter’s ink marker. For the first time, can cut one-part; for the second time, can cut two-part. The whole bar becomes a ‘one-part’, a ‘two-part’, and a ‘four-part’. On the first day, pay one-part to the worker; on the second day, pay two-part to the worker and get one-part back; on the third day, pay one-part to the worker; on the fourth day, pay four-part to the worker and get one-part and two-part back; on the fifth day, pay one-part to the worker; on the sixth day, pay two-part to the worker and get one-part back; on the seventh day, pay one-part to the worker.”

Zhangsun He applauded as he said, “Wonderful! Many thanks for Ye-daren’s teaching.”

All the ministers, without exception, applauded and praised.

Emperor Xiaohui laughed, “What’s your third question?” The second question went without saying – of course, Great Xia won.

As before, Ye Yunwen spoke on Tuluo’s behalf. He slowly said, “The third question is what this foreign official saw in an ancient book and couldn’t find the answer after much contemplation. Hope that the great talents of Great Xia can solve this foreign official’s doubts.”

All the people of Great Xia sat upright. Whether it was true or not that Ye Yunwen said that he didn’t know the answer, one could imagine the difficulty of this question.

Ye Yunwen said, “It’s dark and five spies need to cross a bridge. The bridge is in disrepair – It can only allow two people to walk at a time and one person needs to hold a light. The light will go out within 30 breath¹. It takes 1 breath for A to cross the bridge, 3 for B, 6 for C, 8 for D, and 12 for E. How should the five people cross the bridge?”

Ye Yunwen’s eyes scanned the military officers again.

After thinking for a moment, all the military officers had no answer. They were afraid of being named. Some young gongzis were interested – they calculated on the paper. No matter how they solved it, it took more than 30 breaths. They couldn’t help suspecting that this problem was wrong. But no one dared to question it. If it was not wrong, Great Xia would make a fool of itself.

Emperor Xiaohui’s brows also wrinkled – it was twice as difficult as the second question.

Unexpectedly, Princess Yanqing looked directly at Qin Mian and opened her mouth again with a surprised tone, “It seems to this princess that Lady of the State Defender Duke has the answer?”

Qin Mian just wanted to reply “har-har” to her. If you don’t seek death, you won’t die.

One had to say that Princess Yanqing was indeed a bit quick-witted. Just now, it was heard that Ye Yunwen didn’t know how to solve this problem. He said that he hoped that the great talents of Great Xia would solve his doubts. If he really wanted to know the answer, he should call Qin Mian’s name after listening to Princess Yanqing.

Ye Yunwen was experienced and astute. Although he didn’t know that there was an enmity between Princess Yanqing and Lady of the State Defender Duke, it was inevitable that Princess Yanqing was a princess and didn’t want to marry to Tuluo. The person she was targeting must be beneficial to Tuluo’s win.

Therefore, a smile of joy immediately floated on Ye Yunwen’s lips as he said to Qin Mian, “In this case, this official asking Lady of the State Defender Duke to grant an advice.”

Emperor Xiaohui stared at Princess Yanqing coldly. If the occasion was right, he would have slapped her in the face. Needed not to mention the usual, but she inclined to help the foreigners at a state banquet, did she still deserve to be a princess?

The empress dowager and the empress still smiled elegantly and gracefully, but the smile did not reach the bottom of their eyes. The empress dowager, in particular, wanted to strangle Princess Yanqing – If she had some pity for Princess Yanqing in the past, she had nothing left at this time. She secretly scolded Yanqing as a white-eyed wolf.

The empress noticed the empress dowager’s face, and her smile became more real.

There was disdain for Princess Yanqing hidden in Princess Duanning’s eyes.

Lei Tie pinched Qin Mian’s hand.

Qin Mian pinched back and stood up composedly. With calmness, he bowed in respect to Ye Yunwen, “Grateful to your respected envoy to think highly of this lady.”

Ye Yunwen said to Emperor Xiaohui, “This problem is difficult to solve. It’s better to limit it to two sticks of incense.”

Emperor Xiaohui knew that Qin Mian was 14 years old when he suddenly appeared in Green Mountain Village; he didn’t know how much education Qin Mian had received before. He was about to find a way to buy more time for him when Qin Mian said with a smile, “No need.”

Ye Yunwan was stunned.

The others were taken aback. Is Qin Mian going to admit defeat in front of so many people?

Qin Mian looked at Ye Yunwen, “This lady can answer it now. You may need to take notes.”

The entire audience was shocked.

Princess Yanqing narrowed her eyes, pinched her palm with her right sharp fingernail so hard it bled but she didn’t care. She inwardly yelled: It’s impossible!

Ye Yunwan had a look of solemnity, “Please say it, Lady of the State Defender Duke.”

Inwardly, Qin Mian laughed in a sneer. Although I didn’t get into a good university only because I didn’t do well in liberal arts, my science department was the best. On this problem, you underestimated this lady too much!

“First, A and B cross the bridge, and A return with the light – it took 4 breath. Then, A and C cross the bridge, and B return with the light – it took 9 breath. Next, D and E cross the bridge, and A returns with the light – it took 13 breath. Lastly, A and B cross the bridge – it took 4 breath. The total time it took is 30 breath.” Qin Mian finished and asked Ye Yunwen modestly, “Wonder if this lady’s answer is right?”

Ye Yunwan made a careful calculation and praised him unceasingly while his heart was heavy, “There is no mistake, this official has been taught.”

In disbelief, Princess Yanqing opened her mouth to speak but the empress dowager pinched her arm hard. She turned her head to a pair of cold and strict eyes. As though she fell into an icehouse, she was so frightened that she did not dare to say anything.

Emperor Xiaohui laughed heartily, “State Defender Duke, your lady is a hidden gem!”

Lei Tie said modestly, “Your Majesty overpraises.”

The empress proposed a toast with a smile and said in a sweet and girlish voice, “State Defender Duke has martial capabilities and Lady of the State Defender Duke has literary capabilities – It can be said that they are a perfect couple. This empress would like to propose a toast to you both and wish you both a harmonious union lasting a hundred years.”

Qin Mian and Lei Tie raised their cups together. After saluting, they said in unison, “Many thanks for the kind words of Your Majesty the Empress.”

All the ministers smiled and honored them from afar.

Liu Manqing was not satisfied with this and said, “I wonder what your third question is?”

Qin Mian just sat down and stood up again, “Reporting, Your Majesty. This humble one ventures to ask the Tuluo envoys a question. Hope Your Majesty approves.”

Emperor Xiaohui straightforwardly said, “Approved!”

The people of Tuluo solemnly waited.

Qin Mian slightly smiled, “This strange thing happened in an inn. Three people stayed for a night in separated rooms and a room cost 10 taels of silver. Therefore, they paid the innkeeper 30 taels. The next day, the innkeeper remembered that some minor problems in the three rooms had not been repaired, so he thought that the three rooms should be charged 25 taels. He asked the assistant to return 5 taels to the guests. Who would have known, the assistant was greedy – he embezzled 2 taels and returned 1 tael to each of the three guests. In this way, it means that each of the three guests spent 9 taels – a total of 27 taels. 27 taels plus the 2 taels stolen by the clerk is 29 taels. Where did the remaining 1 tael go?”

“Eh?”

All the people who followed to calculate were surprised – they nodded one after another and discussion ensued.

“Yes, that’s right. The three people spent a total of 29 taels. What about the remaining 1 tael?”

“This is really strange. It’s clearly 30 taels, so why is the sum turned out to be 29 taels?”

“……”

The Tuluo gentlemen were a little disheartened. This question was really strange.

Emperor Xiaohui was in a good mood when he saw this. “How about this? Any of your envoys can answer this question, and any of Great Xia’s officials and young ladies can also solve it. No matter who solved it, Zhen will reward greatly. The time is limited to two sticks of incense.”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin calculated in the small notebooks.

Qin Ruiqi first realized and came to Qin Mian’s ear, “Dad, there is a miscalculation on this money.”

Qin Mian gave him a thumbs-up under the table.

Lei Tie handed the cup to his wife.

Lei Ruilin’s realization was no slower than his Gege’s. He pulled Qin Mian and Lei Tie’s clothes and motioned to the two fathers to see his calculation.

Qin Mian also gave him a thumbs-up. He was proud of his two sons.

Footnotes