Chapter 8 Abacus

When the boy came out of the grocery store, he was still thinking about what Tang De said - a soft tongue can break hard bones, a wise head is better than any magic weapon. In any case, Tang De's words gave the miserable green boy a little more inexplicable comfort in his heart, and the originally depressed mood was somewhat better.

When Zhang Railway passed the flea market, the coal lanterns on the street were already lit up one by one. The lamplighters in Heiyan City rode four-wheeled vehicles and rang the bells. Stop before, climb onto the lamp pole, remove the lampshade, add fuel to the street lamp, light it and then come down. After the lamplighter left, under the shadow of the row of coal-stone lamps near the railway station, some women began to appear. Those women were wearing heavy makeup, pretending to be revealing, with their breasts half exposed, and glaring at passers-by on the roadside. The women stood together in twos and threes, occasionally saying something to their companions, and then someone laughed wildly and wildly.

As Zhang Tie walked, he glanced at the women standing under the lamp. Those women made him a little upset, but there was a vague desire that he couldn't explain.

"Baby, come, come to Auntie, Auntie will let you taste what it is like to be a man..." The woman who spoke stood at the entrance of the alley beside the lamp, with red curly hair, a plump and enchanting figure, and seemed to be in her forties. Her face was a little blurry. Seeing Zhang Tiejing's gaze, the woman leaned down slightly so that Zhang Tie could see her majestic and fair breasts through the street light, and then the woman squeezed her hands on the two exposed hemispheres at the neckline of the skirt on her chest. , a slight moan came out of her mouth, "Ah...", then she opened her mouth, licked one of her own fingers, and then slowly put her finger in her mouth. With just one movement, Zhang Tie felt The muscles in his throat trembled like a rubber band that was being bounced, like a fire, and the tent on his crotch suddenly became high, and then Zhang Tie fled in the midst of the woman's unbridled laughter.

The flea market next to the train station didn't really get lively until night. All sorts of people seemed to jump out one by one when the night came. They kept leaving the terrifying and seductive woman about 100 meters away. Zhang Tie jumped. Only then did his heart slowly recover. A certain disobedient guy was still holding his head high. In order to avoid embarrassment, Zhang Tie had to pretend to put both hands into his trouser pockets. Guy holds on firmly.

When Zhang Tie was about to walk out of the flea market, the sound from a stall on the side of the road made Zhang Tie slow down.

"Boss, you got these things from the ruins before the cataclysm?"

"Of course, when you look at this book, the words on it seem to be in Chinese. The Andaman City-State Alliance does not have such publications. Look at the cover. It seems to be an abacus used by the Chinese. It has a long history and is enough to Calculation tools dating back thousands of years before the cataclysm, and looking at the printing quality of this cover, how could it be so well preserved if it wasn't from the ruins?"

"When we are idiots, I also know that this is Chinese, but no one knows it. It's not like you say, there is a bullshit, what bullshit abacus, is such an old-fashioned thing still used now..."

"I'm talking about credibility..."

The words "Chinese" made Zhang Tie stop, and then Zhang Tie walked over and squatted in front of the booth with the two people in front of the booth, picking them at will. Just put it on a tarpaulin, the only thing that can catch the eye on the booth is a few daggers and copper wrist guards pressed against the four corners of the tarpaulin. At the flea market, every guy who sets up the stall encounters some strange things. All things will claim to be from the ruins, the treasure before the cataclysm, but even a fool can't lie to this...

The two people next to them squatted in front of the booth for a while, and one of them picked a decent dagger with a sheath at the price of 8 silver coins and 60 copper coins and left.

Then Zhang Tie was left in front of the stall.

The stall owner is a wretched old man in his 60s, with a red rosacea nose. As soon as he approaches, he can smell the odor of inferior wine on his body. When looking at the image of this old man, one can't help but think of something. animal - mouse.

Zhang Tie casually looked at the booth for a while, then finally picked up the book with an abacus printed on the cover and flipped through it casually, asking, "How much is this?"

"This is a treasure brought from the ruins, at least 20 silver coins..." The old man said treacherously.

"What is this book for?"

"Well, it seems to be a skill book on how to use this kind of calculation tool called abacus!" The old man was not sure. He had read this book, but he couldn't understand the Chinese in it at all. He also found someone who knew a little Chinese. I looked at the half-bucket of water, but that person could only clearly distinguish some simple numbers in the book, which are some inexplicable things like 33225566...

"What's the use of this, let me count the stretches to sleep?"

"Well, well, if you want it cheaper, 16 silver coins, can't be less!" The old man said with a look of regret.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? This book has less than 16 pages in total. It's not enough for me to wipe my butt once when I poop. Do you want 16 silver coins? I asked because it was a little strange to read this book. "Zhang Tie angrily dropped the book. He had never eaten pork and had seen pigs walk. In this market, it is not rude to talk about bargaining, and others will usually be slaughtered as a fat sheep.

"Then you give me a price?"

"80 coppers!"

"80 copper coins?" The old head jumped up like a rat whose tail had been stepped on, "Boy, this is from the ruins, no, at least 10 silver coins!"

"What bullshit ruins, lie to children, within 1,000 miles of Heiyan City, there are ruins there, even if there are, they have already been removed, and it's your turn to get 80 coppers!"

"9 silver coins, no more!"

"Well then, depending on your age, I respect the old and love the young, I will add ten coppers, 90 coppers!"

"90 coppers?" the old man shouted like killing a pig, "It's not enough for the cost I received!"

"That silver coin!"

"7!" The old man gritted his teeth...

After two minutes of dry mouth bargaining, Zhang Tie stood up without any hesitation, turned around and left, after five steps, the old man's frantic voice came from behind, "Don't go, just do as you said. , four silver coins, sold to you!"

There was a smile on Zhang Tie's mouth. Of course, those who didn't know Chinese couldn't understand the title of this book, but Zhang Tie was stunned when he saw this book - "Absurd Mind", this book There is a very cool name. Zhang Tie just flipped through it and found that the book was about a mental arithmetic method related to abacus, which was quite special, so he bought this book...

On the way home, Zhang Tie's stomach was already growling, but when he touched the book in his pocket, Zhang Tie was satisfied. In this era, knowledge is more expensive than many people can imagine. Anything that is not learned in school It can be said that the skills and knowledge of the common goods have its uniqueness and preciousness. Zhang Tie remembered that when he first arrived at the grocery store as an apprentice, Tang De spent more than three months inspecting him before he came up with that strange thing called abacus, taught him how to use it, and gave him a piece of money. In Heiyan City, according to Zhang Tie’s observation, there are really not many people who can use abacus, at least he has not seen anyone else use it, the general calculation is enough on paper, and more advanced, I heard In those exchanges and commercial houses, there are metal hand-operated calculators, so the skills of this abacus are a bit tasteless, but no one can learn the skills even if they want to learn it. Zhang Tie just now He casually flipped through this book of "Abacus and Divine Calculation", and when he saw the abacus pattern and formula on the inside title page, he determined the value of this book. In general, this book may not be so precious. But at the price of four silver coins, in exchange for such a skill, even if the value of this skill could not be used for the time being, Zhang Tie also felt that it was worth it, not to mention that the four silver coins were not his own.

Yiduo does not press his body, this is what Dad often talks about.

When I was a child, my parents forced me to learn Chinese with a bamboo board. It took me ten years to know all the words in a Chinese dictionary that would make anyone look at it. This was Zhang Tie's darkest experience when he was a child. After more than ten years, Zhang Tie found that he had finally used the Chinese he had learned in reality, and he picked up a small leak, so he was a little proud.

As for the old man saying that the book came from the ruins, Zhang Tie wouldn't believe it even if he was killed. The things in the ruins are at least a thousand years old. This book doesn't look like something from 1,000 years ago, but the few words that are about to be blurred can be vaguely seen under the abacus pattern on the page. It's a little strange - "Primary school students recommend extracurricular reading materials" - people who are about to enter the society will not have access to this kind of knowledge. Where are the elementary school students so good, and they are still reading materials in class, I rely on, people are more than people, they are mad!

He was beaten for no reason, and finally used the money from the search to exchange for a book, joined the Airplane Brotherhood, and lost face in front of Mr. Dinah...

On the way home, taking stock of today's hard work and gains, even Zhang Tie didn't know whether he made a profit or lost...

Zhang Tie’s home is in the civilian gathering area north of Heiyan City. If the Upper East District of Heiyan City is the back garden of the rich, then the North District is the comfort zone of all the well-behaved workers and commoners in Heiyan City. Compared with the East District, the streets of the North District are not beautiful, but they are still clean and orderly. The row of plane trees on both sides of the street has brought some warm market atmosphere here. The parents’ hard work for decades has only paid off. It is a building on the street of the community that covers an area of ​​less than 100 square meters, and also has a two-story log cabin with a backyard. The family uses the house downstairs to open a rice brewing shop facing the street. My father works in the factory, and my mother Running this small shop, the business in the shop is lukewarm, and the business of rice brewing is mainly taken care of by the residents and neighbors around the community, and the profit is also very thin, barely able to provide a little for the family.

When Zhang Tie came home, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening. His parents were not at home. He probably went to church again. The rice brewing shop was also closed. Dinner is not rich, a pot of mixed vegetables is hot, a bowl of bacon stewed with cloud beans and a large bowl of pointed white rice is the whole of the dinner, there are a few pieces of broad bean-sized meat floating in the bacon stewed cloud beans, Zhang Tie. I know, it was left by my parents for myself. In fact, every time they are reluctant to eat it, they only say that they don't like eating meat and always keep the meat for themselves. Zhang Tie's nose was inexplicably sour after eating a poor dinner, and he secretly vowed that in the future, when he made money, he would make sure that his father and mother would be able to take care of them every day.

After eating hastily, he cleaned up the kitchen, dragged his tired body, and Zhang Tie went upstairs. When he got to the second floor, the door of his brother's room was closed, but Zhang Tie heard a sound from his brother's room. There was a rhythmic crash, and there was a clearly suppressed gasp. This was not the first time. Zhang Tie naturally knew what was going on in the room, so he eased his footsteps and walked towards the aisle. After a few steps, when he was about to reach the end of the aisle, Zhang Tie felt the rope on the wall and pulled it slightly. A wooden board on the floor at the end of the aisle slipped down, and the other side of the board was the stairs, which led directly to the small attic above.

Probably because I forgot to oil the pulleys for a few days, the sound of the stairs falling was not small, creaking. When the stairs were falling, the sound of the crash in my brother's room was quiet for a few seconds, and then he didn't wait. Tie walked up, and the crash sounded even more intensely.

Zhang Tie climbed up the stairs. When he reached the attic, he pulled the stairs up again, and the floor was reset. This small attic with a triangular roof was Zhang Tie's nest.

The area of ​​the home is not large, and a rice wine shop has opened downstairs, so there are even fewer places for people to live. Zhang Tie can only live in the attic on the roof. In addition to the people, the originally small attic has nearly Half of the place was separated by iron sheets and wooden boards, and the sundries in the house were piled up. Zhang Tie's small nest could barely fit a bed, a table, and a small wardrobe. The space in the middle of the furniture is only enough for two people to pass by without being crowded. The furniture in the nest is half-old and not new, and many of the paint has lost its color and even started to fall off. These things are all given to Zhang at home. Iron bought second-hand goods from outside, and a total of two silver coins have not been used...

A small house of less than 8 square meters, a few pieces of second-hand furniture, this is all that the 15-year-old miserable green teenager Zhang Tie has in this world...

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