Keeping Him Up All Night

"You don't believe me?" Leonard Li raised an eyebrow, grinning. "If you don't trust me, there are other ways to solve your problem. My Lawrence Manor has plenty of empty rooms—at least a few hundred. You can use any of them to grow mushrooms. Of course, it's a bit far from your house, and your mushroom-growing technique needs hands-on supervision. I wouldn't mind if you moved in and grew mushrooms at my place, but I doubt you'd agree."

Lily Evans quickly waved her hands. This was ancient times, not the modern era. If she really moved in, who knows what kind of gossip would spread outside—the villagers’ rumors alone would drown her.

"Your village was flooded in the spring, so all the crops had to be replanted and didn’t grow well. Then this summer was hot and dry, so when autumn harvest comes in a month or so, your village’s crops won’t yield much. When that happens, some folks won’t be able to make ends meet and will have to sell land. That’s when you buy it. Those fields are close to your house, so it’ll be easy for you to manage them, right?" Leonard Li explained, waving his fan.

Lily’s eyes widened. This playful young master actually knew all that?

Leonard Li shook his head smugly. "You all think I’m just a useless playboy who doesn’t know anything, but actually, I know exactly what’s going on…"

Leonard Li boasted for a while, clearly pleased with himself. Lily Evans listened, stifling her laughter, not wanting to interrupt. Suddenly, Shane Shen’s voice came from the other room, on the verge of collapse: "Is there even an answer to this problem? Miss Lily, did you just make it up and not even know the solution yourself?"

Lily walked in and saw Shane Shen had messed up his own hair, clearly tortured by the Chicken and Rabbit Cage Puzzle.

Lily touched her nose. Seeing Shane Shen like this reminded her of being terrorized by math competitions in elementary school. She couldn’t help but laugh, then walked over and wrote the answer on paper: twelve rabbits, twenty-three chickens.

Shane Shen’s eyes widened. He quickly double-checked the answer on his abacus several times, muttering, "It really is... This..."

Lily smiled softly. "There’s actually a formula for this—just plug it in and you’ll get the answer. You’re smart, Mr. Shen. If you think about it more at home, maybe you’ll figure it out yourself."

Shane Shen had just been put in his place by Lily Evans and was feeling rather indignant. But the problem he posed was solved instantly by Lily, while he couldn’t solve hers. Now, he was too embarrassed to make a fuss.

Lily said, "Mr. Shen, sometimes you need to broaden your horizons. Don’t assume every woman is just looking to climb the social ladder. Women can do business too, and we can carry half the sky. I work with Mr. Li often, so I hope you won’t say anything unpleasant to me again."

Shane Shen’s face turned pale, then flushed. Through this puzzle, he realized Lily Evans was truly capable—not just some woman trying to get close to Leonard Li for status. Still, his pride as a man wouldn’t let him apologize, so he just sulked in silence.

Leonard Li stepped in to smooth things over. "Haha, our Mr. Shen is usually obsessed with mathematics, and today he finally met his match. That’s a good thing! Haha!"

Lily didn’t press the issue, and gracefully bowed to Shane Shen. "A friendly math challenge—surely Mr. Shen isn’t angry, right?"

Shane Shen’s face was bright red, and he snorted, "I’m not that petty!"

Lily covered her mouth, laughing. He really was prideful. Lily wasn’t petty herself, but she did find Shane Shen’s earlier words rather rude. Since he couldn’t swallow his pride and apologize, she had her own way to deal with him.

Lily gave a mischievous grin, walked over to the table, and wrote: A restaurant has a large vat of wine and two wine jars—one holds five jin, the other six jin. Now a customer wants to buy three jin of wine. How can you use these two jars to measure out exactly three jin?

"Here, this puzzle is a gift for Mr. Shen." Lily handed the question to Shane Shen with a sly smile. Since he was so obsessed with math, this one would keep him up all night!