Chapter 64: Math Genius

After chatting with Third Uncle for a bit, Zhou Yimin finally left.

“Look at this peanut oil, so pure! Not even a trace of residue.” Third Aunt said happily.

This one jin of oil would last their family quite a while.

Right now, almost every household was short on cooking oil. Zhou Yimin bringing over a jin of oil was even more precious than bringing meat—after all, you couldn’t get that much oil even from a whole jin of meat.

“Mhm! This kind of oil is probably filtered. We should use it sparingly,” Third Uncle nodded.

Nowadays, no matter what kind of oil it was, it was incredibly hard to buy.

“Looks like Yimin is still closest to our family. Whenever he needs help, he always comes to you.” Third Aunt’s vanity was clearly satisfied.

Third Uncle scoffed and laughed, “Of course he comes to me for things at the factory! When it’s something about the courtyard, he goes to Second Uncle.”

After all, Zhou Yimin lived in the central courtyard, and that was under Second Uncle’s management.

Just like when Zhou Yimin was renovating his house—he had gone to Second Uncle’s family for that.

Third Aunt wasn’t convinced. “Isn’t First Uncle also from your steel factory? Why doesn’t Yimin go to him instead of coming to us?”

“This is about the workshop. First Uncle wouldn’t be in a position to help. If he doesn’t come to me, who else can he go to? Just don’t go blabbing about what he said earlier in the courtyard. What would First Uncle think of Yimin if he heard?” Third Uncle was clearly speechless at his own wife.

No need to cause trouble for Yimin.

“I’m not some gossip queen,” Third Aunt mumbled.

Third Uncle didn’t bother replying. As if he didn’t know his own wife? Maybe she wasn’t a gossip—but she was definitely a loudmouth. To be honest, the women in this courtyard were all the same in that regard.

After returning home, Zhou Yimin pulled out another two jin of mutton and brought it over to Huang Suqin’s house.

“Just coming to eat is enough. Why’d you bring meat too? Take it back later,” Huang Suqin said, scolding him a little.

Meat was extremely hard to buy these days. Her family knew that all too well. Of course, she wasn’t going to actually cook the two jin of mutton Zhou Yimin brought—then who was hosting whom?

“Auntie Huang, in this weather, it’ll go bad by tomorrow. Better stew it now!” Zhou Yimin said.

Then he went ahead and dropped the mutton right into the kitchen basin.

“You kid…”

Shengli and Shengyi had changed into new clothes and looked much more presentable. Even though they still had injuries, they were clearly in high spirits—after all, they had finally escaped the hellhole of a home they used to live in.

From now on, they’d be children who had someone to love them.

When they saw Zhou Yimin, the brothers immediately called out, “Big Brother Zhou!”

Zhou Yimin pulled out two pieces of White Rabbit candy and gave one to each of them.

“Go on, eat it. It’s really good.”

“Thank you, Big Brother Zhou!”

At that moment, Cheng Siguang returned—with a roast duck in hand. He had left work early just to buy it, and even so, this was the earliest he could get back.

“Yimin, you’re here? Come in, sit, sit! Don’t be so polite with me.”

Zhou Yimin chuckled, “I’m not being polite. It’s not my first time here.”

“Haha! That’s good then!” Cheng Siguang burst into laughter.

You could tell he was in a great mood. The only thing that had been weighing on his mind had finally been resolved. Shengli, mature for his age, had clearly said he’d take care of his aunt and uncle in their old age, acknowledged them as godparents, and was even willing to change his surname to Cheng.

How could that not make someone happy?

Even if the kids weren’t biologically his, they were still related to his wife. That was far better than adopting a child from elsewhere.

Besides, over the past two days, he had gotten a good sense of the boys’ characters. Their greatest trait was that they were grateful—a rare and valuable quality.

“Uncle Cheng, can the two brothers start school?” Zhou Yimin asked.

Especially Shengli. He was already quite old—would a school even accept him?

“Shengyi won’t have any problems. As for Shengli…”

“Godfather, I don’t need to go to school. I’ll work and support the family too,” Shengli spoke up right away, already addressing him as “godfather.”

Cheng Siguang was deeply touched. He patted Shengli on the head and smiled, “You’re still young. No need to worry about supporting the family just yet. Focus on your studies. Godfather already spoke with Teacher Wang from the next courtyard—he’ll put in a good word with the school. Don’t worry!”

Zhou Yimin figured it wasn’t just a simple “talk.” He probably had to offer quite a few “thanks.”

Still, in front of the kids, Zhou Yimin didn’t say anything.

“Shengli, listen to your godfather and study hard. Who knows? You might become an official someday,” Zhou Yimin encouraged.

Shengyi was still worried they might get rejected, so he hurried to speak up, “Godfather, Big Brother Zhou, I’ll study hard for sure! And my brother is really smart—his math is better than any of the kids in our village. You can test him if you don’t believe me!”

At first, Cheng Siguang wasn’t taking it seriously. He casually threw out two or three simple arithmetic problems.

He didn’t expect Shengli to fire back the answers instantly.

Even Zhou Yimin was stunned.

He couldn’t help asking, “What’s 25 times 25?”

“625?”

Took only about three seconds.

Cheng Siguang’s eyes lit up. He’d just discovered something incredible—his godson might actually be a math genius.

Even the question Zhou Yimin had asked—he himself couldn’t calculate that mentally so quickly. Could it be that the boy’s brain was just… newer?

He threw out another, harder question.

“What’s 123 times 123?”

This time, Shengli thought about it for around five seconds, then answered, “15,129.”

Cheng Siguang was still calculating in his head—no way he could manage it without a pen. From start to finish, it took him ten seconds with pen and paper.

Correct.

He was utterly shocked.

He immediately yelled toward the kitchen, “Suqin! Suqin!”

Huang Suqin was slicing mutton. Knife still in hand, she came in, “What is it?”

“Good news—Shengli’s a math genius! He’s a genius, I tell you! What a pity, what a shame we didn’t discover it sooner…” Cheng Siguang was thrilled, but there was a trace of regret too.

If only they had found out earlier and nurtured him properly, who knew what heights he could have reached?

Now he was a little older. It was hard to say how much of a difference that would make.

Still, with Shengli’s abilities and talent, there was no way the school would reject him. No school disliked a prodigy—of that, Cheng Siguang was absolutely sure.

There were some prodigies whom principals would personally go and invite.

He’d take the day off tomorrow and personally bring Shengli to the school. The school had to provide specialized instruction. Who knew—maybe he was raising a future mathematician.

That would really bring honor to the family.

At that moment, Cheng Siguang actually felt a tiny bit grateful to his wife’s scumbag brother-in-law—for sending them this miracle of a child.

“Really?” Huang Suqin was a bit dazed.

Zhou Yimin gave a wry smile. “His math is better than mine and Uncle Cheng’s.”

Hearing that, Huang Suqin was so happy she could barely speak coherently.

Who would’ve thought?

She had just wanted to raise two kids to rely on in old age—and accidentally ended up with a math genius. In the future, who knew how many people would envy her?

“Old Cheng, we have to send Shengli to school! We can’t delay it!”

“I know, I know!” Cheng Siguang was pacing back and forth, excited.

“I’m going to find Teacher Wang and explain everything,” he said, already heading for the door.

It was just next door anyway, not far.

Zhou Yimin said, “Uncle Cheng, why not just invite Teacher Wang over for dinner?”

After all, he had been Zhou Yimin’s teacher back in the day—they were familiar.

(End of Chapter)