novelraw Chapter 404 - 9: The Mathematical Profound Meaning of the Chu Family Theorem
Chapter 404 - 9: The Mathematical Profound Meaning of the Chu Family Theorem
Chu Aiguo is quite a heroic spirit with a strong fighting spirit!
Just like right now.
He needs to earn the dowry himself, but he can’t rely solely on himself, after all, time waits for no one, and the days are quite torturous. So he went to find Shi Suifeng.
Now everyone is out in the fields. In the whole village, except for the elderly who can’t work and some small children, only Chu River and Shi Suifeng, the two strong young men, are idle.
Chu River, along with his eldest nephew, found his way to the Shi Family. He knocked on the door and saw the other lying in the yard, basking in the sun, looking very at ease.
"Shi Suifeng!"
Chu River called him.
Shi Suifeng had already sat up, his eyes full of surprise: "Why are you here?"
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "I should be making stewed pork trotters tomorrow, shall I bring you a bowl?"
Chu River immediately felt hungry.
His nephew, listening on the side, was drooling and secretly tugged at his aunt’s sleeve: "Aunt, hurry up and get a wife! I want to eat meat too."
Get a wife?
Shi Suifeng looked at this dirty little black child, raising his eyebrows and staring at Chu River.
...
However, Chu River ignored the slightly dissatisfied look, sneakily moved closer, and said, "You should have money, right? Lend me 80 bucks, I want to get a wife."
Shi Suifeng’s face had turned as dark as a millstone. He couldn’t even comment on the phrase "get a wife," and just asked in a low voice:
"Who do you want to marry?"
Chu River glanced at him: "Who else could it be? Out of everyone I know in this village, you cook the best food."
"Of course, I want to marry you!"
Then he rambled on: "Life is unbearable, with all the good meat, eggs, and vegetables being ruined. If I marry you, I can eat the meals you cook from now on."
He then looked at his eldest nephew standing next to him: "He said the bride price in our village is 88 bucks. I don’t have enough money right now. If you lend me 80, I can marry you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shi Suifeng’s tense face relaxed, and his whole demeanor became harmonious, like a gentle spring breeze.
Yet, amidst the joy, the young man’s mouth curled up slightly. Digging deeper into his words, he couldn’t help but look at the girl in front of him, his eyes a little peculiar.
How should I put it?
The absurdity was so overwhelming he didn’t know where to start retorting.
So he simply asked a core question: "You’re borrowing money from me to marry me as your wife. You should at least tell me how you plan to repay this money?"
...
Isn’t that obvious!
Chu River replied matter-of-factly: "Once we’re married, we’ll be one family. That 88 bucks bride price becomes joint marital property, so I only owe you 44."
"Then, if we’re married, it’s joint marital debt. Split it down, and each of us owes 22 bucks. So I owe you 22."
"Further, once we’re a family, we have to take care of our household each month. You earn money, so you need to contribute to the family. Let’s set it at 30 bucks monthly."
"So, as long as we get married and spend a month together, my debt is cleared. But you’d still owe me 8 bucks for living expenses, which you don’t need to pay—consider it your pocket money."
As she spoke, her little stature puffed out her chest with pride: "How’s that? I’m pretty good at math, right?"
Shi Suifeng’s face twisted into a complicated expression.
— This isn’t just pretty good at math.
This could be called the Chu Family Theorem, virtually world-class, and he’s never seen such an exceptional math genius in his life.
...
The nephew, treated as an outsider, listened in utter confusion.
Only in second grade with so-so grades, he found the complex formula challenging, so he focused on a critical point:
"Then... Aunt, you said you’d give me a dime for the wife."
He also wanted to enjoy the good stuff.
Chu River: ...
Oh, almost forgot.
She dug out a handful of change from her pocket and squeezed out two nickel coins to give to Shi Suifeng first.
"Look! I’m quite poor right now; I can’t marry you alone. My nephew said he’d chip in a dime, so we’ll marry together, and we’ll share the food accordingly."
Shi Suifeng’s expression had gone beyond twisted.
After a long pause, he finally suppressed the urge to smack someone, squatted down, and stuffed the dime into the nephew’s hand.
"When it comes to getting a wife, co-marriage isn’t cost-effective... look, others give 87 bucks and 9 dimes, and you give a dime. During meals, with a pot of stewed pig’s trotters with soybeans, you’ll only get a few soybeans."