Chapter 64: A Bountiful Harvest

Fourth Uncle Ning was stunned for a moment before hurriedly saying, "You didn't mention this before. After all, we've always split everything evenly right down the middle. Since you didn't plan on making a profit from this, I certainly wouldn't have done it either, but whatever needs to be calculated still has to be accounted for."

Ning Ye reached out and took the account book from Fourth Uncle Ning's hands. After carefully flipping through a few pages, he realized that his fourth uncle was actually remarkably skilled at abacus calculation.

Although a great deal had already been recorded, the final calculated totals had not a single error so far. As for whether that would hold true in the future, they would just have to wait and see.

"Fourth Uncle, I remember Master Zhang didn't really teach all that much about arithmetic. How did you learn it so quickly?"

Fourth Uncle Ning laughed heartily. "I have no idea why, but whenever I looked at those classical texts, it was like reading heavenly scripts. However, those so-called numerals you wrote down really caught my interest, and learning them was exceptionally fast."

Only then did Ning Ye remember that he had indeed distributed a book to everyone, and inside those books were multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction tables.

As for Arabic numerals, combining just ten digits in total made it even simpler. Learning them was not nearly as difficult as one might imagine.

Yet, given the sheer volume of calculations, his fourth uncle had managed to clearly and accurately compute the correct results.

"Fourth Uncle, let me ask you a question. Forty-three sacks of rice plus two sacks of soybeans, how many catties is that in total?"

Fourth Uncle Ning answered without missing a beat, "A total of fourteen hundred catties, not a catty more, not a catty less. Of course, if we were to buy them normally from a shop, they probably wouldn't give us that much."

Ning Ye was slightly startled. The answer had been calculated almost instantaneously, and such a calculation speed was already quite impressive.

After quizzing him with a few more consecutive problems, Ning Ye could finally confirm that his fourth uncle possessed extraordinary talent in mathematics. There would be absolute no problem in him becoming a logistics officer in the future.

"Fourth Uncle, I'm just now realizing that you're quite the talent yourself. Do you have any idea how many people are completely stumped by arithmetic?"

Fourth Uncle Ning was also a bit excited; after all, this was the first time in so many years he had ever been praised. "Bah, it's all thanks to the things you taught that I could understand them. If it were just listening to classical jargon all day long, I wouldn't understand a single word."

To let Fourth Uncle Ning get some rest earlier, Ning Ye had no choice but to pitch in and help with the calculations. Before long, Lin Qinshu joined the fray as well. After calculating for quite some time longer, they finally managed to tally everything up.

Ning Ye's trip this time had lasted less than half a month, yet he had reaped a harvest of one hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver and three thousand taels of gold.

Such a massive sum of wealth was likely difficult for even some large aristocratic families to produce on short notice.

In an instant, Ning Ye's family fortune had multiplied manifold. With so much money firmly in his grasp, Ning Ye finally felt at ease; at the very least, he certainly wouldn't lack money to spend in the short term.

However, the good fortune for the day did not end there. Old Man Bai paid a visit that very evening.

The immensely endearing little girl, Bailing, naturally tagged along as well. Ning Ye casually pulled out two pieces of candy and slipped them into Bailing's hands.

Bailing looked timidly at Ning Ye and said, "Big Brother, I remember you. You're the kind person who helped us before."

Ning Ye smiled and said, "The candy I just gave you is delicious. Hurry up and try it."

Bailing unwrapped one piece of candy, but with remarkable maturity, she popped it straight into Old Grandfather Bai's mouth. Only after the old man had eaten it did Bailing place the second piece of candy into her own little mouth.

At a time when sweetness was considered a rare luxury, the destructive appeal of a piece of candy was quite formidable.

At the very least, Ning Ye had previously used this exact candy to coax Lin Qinshu into doing somewhat unmentionable things. While Ning Ye felt it was all part of the joys of the boudoir, to Lin Qinshu, it had been a bit too overly stimulating.

Old Man Bai drew a money pouch from his bosom and said, "Young Master, this is the money I made over the last ten days—one hundred and forty taels of gold in total."

Ning Ye scratched his ear and said, "Old Man, tell me again how much you made these past ten days?"

Old Man Bai smiled and said, "Young Master, you heard correctly. Although what I sold previously was all in silver, I felt there was too much of it, so I exchanged it for gold. These books really sell quite well."

Ning Ye couldn't help but admire these beasts of burden. One had to realize that a single tael of gold could be exchanged for at least ten taels of silver. In such a short span of time, he had managed to sell fourteen hundred taels, and that was just the old man casually retailing them all by himself.

One could only imagine just how potent the appeal of *The Plum in the Golden Vase* truly was, and wonder how many of the buyers were planning to use it as study material.

After accepting the money, Ning Ye took out five taels of silver from the pile and handed them to Old Man Bai. "Old Man, I can't let you do this work for free. From now on, every month when you come to see me, you will take a half-percent cut as your commission."

Old Man Bai hurriedly declined. "Young Master, your kindness to me is already more than enough. I can't possibly accept this money; if I did, wouldn't that make me an ungrateful, heartless wretch?"

Ning Ye put on a straight face and said, "Whenever I have people working under me, there has never been a time when I didn't pay them. If you aren't even willing to take this money, wouldn't that leave my conscience troubled?"

Lin Qinshu also chimed in, "Old Man, just take the money you rightfully deserve. My husband always means what he says; please don't think he's just trying to scare you."

With trembling hands, Old Man Bai accepted the five taels of gold. Although the sums he had handled earlier were much larger, he had considered none of them his own. But these five taels of gold truly and solidly belonged to him.

In all his years of living, he had never seen so much money. One had to know that the purchasing power of five taels of gold was currently quite formidable—buying a small courtyard residence and hiring a couple of maids might just allow him to live out the rest of his days in comfort.

Such a life was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine before, yet now it had been realized so effortlessly.

Tears streaming down his face, Old Man Bai said, "From now on, whenever the Young Master has an order, just say the word. Even if I have to sacrifice this old life of mine, I will never let the Young Master down."

Naturally, Ning Ye wouldn't let an elderly man like him travel back late at night, so he directly arranged a guest room and told him to leave early the next morning.

As for tonight, Ning Ye still had major business to attend to—and it was business that absolutely had to be done!