Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 73: Mental Sums

Anji ate while she browsed through the intermediate spell guidebook her teacher left on the table. She glanced at the counter pebbles piled neatly to one side and wondered if she needed to do more training.

According to the introduction of the intermediate spell guidebook, an advanced mathematical formula was required. There was a concept of quick multiple addition involved called multiplication. Basically, Anji would group the same set of numbers and add them several times over. It was useful when calculating how many sets of spell combinations to repeat in a complicated circuit.

However, Anji wasn’t very good at counting, much less remembering the sum of the last number she calculated. She often lost track of how many times she had counted a repeated number and would make a mistake when tallying the total with the new balance. It was quite the headache.

Just as Anji was trying to decide what to do, Yan Ping entered the hut. Her teacher looked tired, but before Anji could ask what was wrong, the blind prophet pulled out a familiar calculation tool from inside her sleeve.

"I sent someone back down to your family to get this," she smirked. "To train the body is to train the mind. After learning how to count with the pebbles, it’s time for the actual thing. It’s a little ridiculous collecting over a hundred pebbles for this exercise, so we will do this without visual aids."

Anji listened to Yan Ping explain the purpose of mental sums. The blind prophet had someone from her family write up several charts, which Yan Ping pasted on every wall in the hut. There was only one chart Anji recognised. It was the chart that helped her count to one hundred.

"Every day, you will memorise one of these charts. By the end of our closed-door training, you should know all these by heart and have all twenty meridian paths open. From today onwards, you will open the rest of your meridian pathways yourself without my assistance under my watch. As for the chores, I’ll have your maid to take care of them. Your learning progress will still be closely monitored, so don’t think you can slack off. We will have lessons starting from tomorrow onwards in the afternoon."

Surprised by the change of pace, Anji wondered if her teacher changed her mind due to her significant progress or because she was extremely exhausted. If the dream dragon was real and his words accurate, Yan Ping must have suffered tremendous setbacks in her cultivation progress from helping Anji create her own meridian path.

"Anji will work hard!" the youngest princess promised. "Shifu, rest well."

Stunned at how observant the four-year-old was, Yan Ping wondered if her exhaustion was that apparent. Instead of questioning it, she patted Anji on the head and left to recuperate.

After her teacher turned around, Anji quickly activated her Heavenly Eyes to inspect her teacher’s cultivation level sneakily. If the colour changed, Grandpa Jin’s words had to be true.

Before Yan Ping turned the corner to retreat to her room, Anji saw the aura colour around her teacher. It was still white.

Sighing in relief that the dream dragon was lying, Anji deactivated the Heavenly Eyes and smiled. It was good that her teacher was merely exhausted and did not sacrifice her cultivation levels to help Anji create her meridian paths.

Looking at the many charts on the wall, Anji wondered if she would have a way to memorise them easily. The mental sums that her teacher talked about seemed to be used very frequently in the intermediate spell guidebook. The runes no longer used simple basic symbols. There were unlimited combinations of this with complex calculations, including strange tables with numbers called matrices.

With a heavy heart, Anji braced herself for an afternoon of mental torture. The mental sums activity was somehow more tiring than the pebble hopping activity. However, her shifu had reasons for her to learn them. Thankfully, they were simple sets of numbers with a recurring pattern that Anji could memorise.

Closing the book, Anji stared at the wall. The first chart involved skipping numbers. The two-timetable was the first chart Anji committed to memory. She made no mistakes and swiftly moved to the three-timetable chart.

Here, Anji struggled a little. The numbers were slightly trickier as they did not follow any sequences. It took the girl almost an hour to remember everything in order. However, when she tested her understanding using the blank matrix formula according to her new textbook, Anji made many calculation errors, mixing her two and three timetables.

"I don’t get it," she lamented. "What’s the difference between three times two and two times three? Why is that number the same in the first column but different in the second? Do we really have to split this up?"

If it were a linear equation, Anji could still understand how to apply the timetable concept. However, the matrix is a system of calculations that can be applied both inside and outside. Anji struggled with understanding the example in the book. She spent the next few hours until lunch trying to decode the formula until she heard someone at the door.

Knock! Knock!

"Young miss, are you inside? It’s me, Lizi. I’ve come with some lunch."

Lizi! Anji jolted upright. She hadn’t realised how improper her posture was while trying to figure out the new lesson material. The girl was positive; she started at the table, sitting on the chair like she had been taught. However, after not understanding the charts on the wall, Anji hopped off the stools and walked around the living space to understand the pattern between all the charts. Then, her legs grew tired, and she sat on the floor. The book was too high on the table, so she took it down. After holding it upright cross-legged on the wooden floor, Anji eventually adopted a lazy lying down position so that the book and the charts on the wall were in the same line of sight. It was funny how she looked like a literal bookworm, but Anji hastened to straighten herself out. Lizi would not be happy to see her behaving without manners.

After putting the book away on the table and clearing some space for the food Lizi brought, Anji opened the door and welcomed her maid in.

"Lizi," she greeted with a smile. "The hut is a little messy because I’m still in the middle of learning. However, I hope this is fine. Shifu made some other things in the kitchen behind. Would you like a tour of this place before we start eating? You’d be staying here with me, right?"

Lizi initially wanted to stay for a little while and leave after confirming her young lady’s condition. The Madam told her that Yan Ping instructed for daily housekeeping services because Anji was progressing faster than expected. She did not want the little girl to be preoccupied with menial chores as she was racing against time to complete teaching Anji the basics before she returned to take care of the traitor from her sect. However, after seeing Anji’s sparkly doe-eyes, the maid’s conviction wavered.

"For a while," Lizi agreed. "I cannot stay here overnight because the Madam has errands for me and Gu Ying. The sect is very busy now due to official business, but I hope you can train and study well with Sect Leader Yan."

Official business? Somehow, that sounded ominous to Anji. However, Lizi’s smile told Anji she could not get any more information out of the maid. Hence, Anji pretended not to notice and showed Lizi around the hut.

"There’s a little pond not too far from here for laundry..." trailing off, Anji paled when she remembered she left the clothes there. "The laundry!"

Seeing how panicked Anji was, Lizi quickly coaxed the child to finish lunch while she went to retrieve the clothes Anji had washed and left hanging in the pond.

Anji felt bad. It was originally her responsibility. However, Lizi reassured her that nothing was more important than having Anji focus on her lessons and learning well.

"Children should always eat, sleep, play and study well. Leave the rest to the adults," she chided and made sure Anji was eating lunch before she left to retrieve the forgotten clothes.

"Make sure to finish the bowl of rice and those two chicken drumsticks before I return," Lizi warned. "Otherwise, I’m telling Doctor He that you’re not eating properly, and he will prescribe you more nourishing pills. You can’t neglect basic health just because you’re studying. One moment of neglect could make you sick for a long time."

Nodding with deadpanned eyes, Anji smiled robotically at Lizi’s nagging. In the few days she did not see her personal maid, Lizi had levelled up her ability to nag. At this rate, Lizi would become an old maid by the time Anji finished her training if she continued to improve at nagging. It wasn’t a thought Anji wanted to entertain for now.

"I got it," she sighed with a small huff. "I’ll finish my food well. Please hurry up with the laundry before shifu finds out I’ve forgotten them!"

Reluctant to part with Anji, Lizi left with lingering looks until she disappeared from the front gate. With her gone, the little hut finally regained its serenity. Taking this momentary silence, Anji looked at the food and wolfed it down. She could tell how the chef had made more effort to prepare the food. It tasted twice as tasty as usual!