I had my eye on a storefront. At the intersection of the most prosperous East Gate Street and North Gate Street, there is a locked storefront, with a red paper pasted on the door, written to rent and other words, I see that the date on the paper has been pasted for several days, why is such a good storefront, no one has rented it?

I asked the shop owners in the neighborhood, all of them looked disapplieving, and sneered: "That shop is the ancestral property of the old fortune head on the outskirts of the city, and the old guy loves to tease people the most. ”

Hey? And what's going on? Why don't you rent a good shop, but you have to embarrass people? I was surprised, "Why is he teasing people?" ”

"That old fellow likes to do strange things all day long, and if it weren't for some of his ancestors' industries, a guy like him who has nothing to do all day long ago would have starved to death in the streets." When the neighbors talked about the owner of the shop, they shook their heads. Instead, I became interested, this kind of weirdo, which most people regard as an anomaly, must be very interesting, and I am very satisfied with the location of this shop, this person, I should go and meet him.

When I inquired about Lao Futou's residence, I took Xiaohong and the eldest brother of the Wei family to Lao Futou's house. This legendary strange old man lives on the outskirts of the city, and it is said that he has no relatives and no reason, and the family is only served by a servant and an old mother who does rough work. We hired a sedan chair, went out of the city, and walked a long way until we arrived at a large mansion. The palanquin man told us that this was the residence of the old fortune head, and I asked the palanquin man to wait at the door, and went straight up and knocked on the door.

In the middle of the morning, a handsome maid about ten years old came to answer the door, looked us up and down, and then said crisply: "Who are you looking for?" ”

I smiled: "Little brother, we want to come to rent the shop in Cangdu City, can you pass it on to your master on our behalf." ”

"Rent a shop?" The servant looked at us with a smile, "Do you know the rules of my master?" ”

"Please make it clear." I smiled slightly, sure enough, the owner of this house is troublesome, and the little ghost is also difficult.

"My lord is not short of money for renting a shop, if you can answer a few questions from my lord, my lord will definitely rent it to you." The little servant had a good look on his face, it seemed that many people had been deflated by the old man before.

"Is this question raised by the little brother, or is it your master himself?" I smiled, and became a little curious about the old man's question.

Seeing my smile, the little servant couldn't say anything more gloating, so he said crisply, "You answer me a question first." ”

"Little brother, please speak." I laughed.

"Answer me first, is the land where we are standing round or square?" A hint of narrowness flashed in the servant's eyes.

I was stunned, what does this mean? The earth is round, and everyone on this earth knows it, but can such words be said in this time and space and this dynasty? The little servant was stunned when he saw me, and a smug smile appeared on the corner of his lips: "Can't you answer?" If you can't answer, please go back. As he spoke, he prepared to close the door.

"Wait." I stopped him, and I didn't care, but I told him the truth, "This earth is not round or square, but spherical." ”

The maid stopped closing the door and said in surprise, "Why do you say it's spherical?" ”

"Is that the second question?" I laughed.

The little maid was stunned and said, "You wait, I'll ask my master." ”

He closed the door, opened it again after a while, tilted his head, and said, "Why is this place spherical?" ”

I really can't answer this, but I vaguely remember that the earth is round and seems to have something to do with gravity, but I don't know how to explain it to this person. After thinking about it for a long time, he said lightly: "If you don't believe it, you can do an experiment, take a boat from a port, sail in one direction, and the ship will eventually sail back to the place where you started." ”

I avoided those terms such as continent and voyage, and replaced them with words that are not easy to cause barriers to understanding, and I don't know if he will be satisfied with such a speculative answer, the little servant glanced at me with questioning eyes, closed the door, and after a while, the door opened again, and the little servant came out and smiled: "My lord invites you in." ”

When we entered the house, we saw all kinds of strange things piled up in the courtyard, including huge kites, wooden horse-drawn carriages, models of sailboats, wooden people with brooms and mops, and ...... of wooden people with brooms and mops. The literati in ancient China despised laborers, only talked about it, and did not like to put theoretical things into practice, I don't know if this time and space is the same, in short, from the perspective of the old fortune head is regarded as an outlier, we know that the old man's behavior is not understood by most people. Therefore, he lives in a corner of the world, does not like to contact people, but longs for a soulmate, so he has many problems with people who come to ask for rent, and his problems that are too bizarre in the eyes of ordinary people will naturally be regarded as malicious trouble.

When he entered the inner room, he saw an old man with a red nose in a soft hat and a coarse cloth coat sitting at the table, fiddling with the three little golden figures on the table, and a tall man dressed in the costume of the Yaoyue Kingdom was also sitting around the table. The room is also full of all kinds of wood products, some of which can't be seen at all, I am here, I accidentally saw the glass bottle, and I was surprised in my heart, could it be that this is also made by this old fortune?

When the old man saw us coming in, he squinted at us, then looked at me and said with a smile, "Is it that you little girl said that the ground is spherical?" ”

"It's me." I smiled and saluted: "Let the old man smile." ”

"How do you know that a boat going in one direction will bring you back to where you came?" Old Fu squinted. I don't know what else I want to ask, I thought about it and said with a smile: "When the little girl was young, she heard those businessmen in her hometown who went to the sea to do business say, but the little girl herself has not experimented, so I don't know if it's true or not." ”

"I heard it." The man in the costume of the Yaoyue Kingdom laughed, and his tone was quite disapproving. The man was supposed to be young, but he had a big beard and was so messy that he couldn't even see his face clearly. I don't know who he is, so I can't speak casually, so I just looked at Lao Futou and said, "Then did I answer this question correctly or incorrectly?" ”

The old man smiled and beckoned to me: "Little girl, come here?" ”

I walked over, and Lao Futou pointed to the three little gold figures on the table, and said with a smile: "Tell me, which of these bronze figures is the most valuable?" ”

I looked at the three little golden figures on the table, the three little golden figures were exactly the same, delicate and cute, I picked up the three golden figures, heavy, the weight was not light, and said with a smile: "The old man asked me so, then the weight of these three golden figures must be the same." ”

"You're a pretty smart little girl." Lao Futou nodded with a smile and glanced at the man in the costume of Yaoyue Kingdom, "This is a tribute that Chibei entrusted me to make for the royal family of Yaoyue Kingdom, and the weight and appearance are exactly the same." ”

Akit? Is this the name of this man from Yaoyue Country? Can pay tribute to the royal family of Yaoyue Kingdom, and this person is also a businessman? Or someone from the court of Yaoyue Kingdom? I didn't have time to think too much, I took the three little golden figures in my hand and observed carefully, and found that the three little golden figures were really very realistic, the appearance was exactly the same, I couldn't tell the difference, and the outside couldn't be distinguished, the mystery must be hidden in the golden man, I saw the ears and eyes of the little golden man, and I had an idea in my heart, and said with a smile: "Old man, can you find me three straw poles?" ”

The handsome servant of the old fortune head found three dog-tail grasses, and I plucked the leaves, picked up a small golden man, and put the fine straw pole through the golden man's ear, and the straw pole came out of the golden man's other ear. I was overjoyed, and sure enough, there was a plan. Picked up the second little golden man and put it in his ear, but the straw pole came out of his mouth, and the third little golden man, after the straw went in, fell directly into his stomach without any sound. I had an idea in my heart, put down the golden man, and said with a smile: "It is this third little golden man that is the most valuable." ”

"Why?" The man of Yaoyue Kingdom was puzzled when he saw that I chose this little golden man after a series of actions. Lao Futou looked at me with a smile on his beard, and said with a smile: "Little girl, explain it to him." ”

I laughed and said, "The most valuable person is not necessarily the most able to say." God gave us two ears and a mouth, which was meant to let us listen more and talk less. The first little golden man hears everything in his left ear and out in his right ear; The second little golden man couldn't hold anything when he heard it, and it all leaked out of his mouth; The third little golden man, good at listening, is the most basic quality of a mature person. I saw the Yaoyue Kingdom man's face suddenly realized, thought about it, and sighed, "However, these three little golden figures need to be three together in order to show their respective value, and it is impossible to separate any of them, in my opinion, the warning meaning brought by these three villains is the same, and the value is not high or low." ”

"Well said." The man from Yaoyue Kingdom stood up, high-fived and said, "The girl is really smart, I took this golden man in my hand and counted it, but I didn't figure out any mystery. ”

Lao Futou was also happy, and said with a smile: "Where did you come out of this girl, you even guessed the meaning of me bothering to be these three little golden men." ”

I took the opportunity to explain the purpose of this trip: "The little woman's name is Ye Haihua, she is from the capital, and she is going to do some small business in Cangdu, isn't this just to rent a shop from your old man, and the old man is now willing to rent me the shop in Cangdu City?" ”

"You've only answered two of my questions, and you're still one short of that." Lao Futou smiled and narrowed his eyes, "If you answer this question to me, then the shop, Xiao Lao'er can lend it to you directly, and you don't have to pay rent." ”

I was happy in my heart, such a good shop, no rent, where to find such a good thing? I was still thinking about it, but I heard the old fortune head say to the man of Yaoyue Kingdom: "Chibei, tell me your topic and let the little girl think about it." ”

Chibei said with a smile: "This question is not from me, it is a question from the prince of my country, and no one in the court can answer it, so Chibei took the opportunity to prepare the tribute to ask Mr. Fu Lao." ”

I smiled and said, "The old man must have answered." ”

Lao Futou shook his head and said: "This topic is quite tricky, and the little old man has thought about it for a while, but he hasn't come up with it." ”

"Oh?" I don't know what the topic is, I sighed, I have to ask for someone, but I can't help it, I have to listen to his question, I said to Chibei: "Chibei Gongzi, please speak, the little girl does her best." ”

Chibei looked at me and said the title: "There are three big tigers in A, B and C, and they are crossing the river with three small tigers in A, B and C." There is only one boat on the river, which can only carry two tigers at a time, regardless of size. How do they cross the river safely? Chibei's eyes flashed, and he said with a smile: "One thing to pay attention to is that the three little tigers can't stay alone with the big tigers other than their mothers, otherwise they will be eaten by other big tigers." Does Miss Ye have a way to answer? ”

This kind of problem is a bit similar to the puzzle problem that my father asked me to solve when I was a child, a man crossing a river with a sheep, a wolf, and a blue cabbage, but obviously, the problem of Akabei is more complicated. After thinking for a while, I raised my eyes and smiled, "There is a solution." ”

"Oh?" Both of them were interested, and I smiled and said to Lao Futou's servant: "Can the little brother get pen and ink for me?" ”

Chi Bei said: "The girl wants to use pen and paper to answer?" ”

I shook my head and said with a smile: "It's better to use an intuitive method to draw on paper, the more you draw, the more confused you become." I bowed my head, took out six copper plates from my money bag, took the pen and ink from the servant, and wrote on the copper plates three big characters A, B, and C, and three small characters A, B, and C.

I smiled and pointed to the six copper plates on the table and said, "These three copper plates with big characters represent the three big tigers of A, B and C, and the three small characters represent the three little tigers of A, B and C." As he spoke, he pushed out the two little tigers A and B, and said, "First of all, the two little tigers A and B cross the river first." ”

Then he pushed Xiao B back, and then pushed it out with Xiao C, and said, "Then come back at random and cross the river with Little Tiger C." Then he pushed Xiao C back and said, "Just come back one more, since the little tiger C comes back, the big tiger A and B will go over." As he spoke, he pushed Da A and Da B to the other side. At this time, the copper coin on the table turned into two large and two small tigers on the other side of the river, and this one was two tigers the size of C.

Lao Futou looked at the situation on the table and said with a smile: "We have figured out the first few steps, but when we get here, we can't solve it, no matter which tiger comes back on the other side of the river, a single baby tiger will be eaten." That's the end of the question. ”

"Why did you want one to come back?" I smiled, the key to solving this problem is in this step, as the old fortune said, no matter which of the four tigers on the other side of the river come back, a single little tiger will be eaten by other big tigers, I pushed Dajia and Xiaojia back from the other side of the river together, and said with a smile: "In the past, you can carry two tigers, and of course you can carry two tigers when you come back." ”

Lao Futou's eyes lit up, and he stood up excitedly: "Little girl, she is really smart." ”

"Isn't it already unraveled?" I smiled and pushed Da A and Da C over, "A and C, two big tigers, go over again." Little Tiger B came over and took another one across the river. "I pushed Xiao A and Xiao B over, and then pushed Big C back," Big Tiger C came back, took away Little Tiger C, and all six tigers crossed the river safely, and none of them would be missing. ”

Chi Bei's eyes widened as he watched me finish solving this problem by dividing it by two, stood up and said, "I didn't expect that I would be no match for the girl in the Yaoyue Kingdom, the Manchu Dynasty, and the civil and military. ”

"Don't dare to be." I quickly stood up and saluted, "Chibei Gongzi is too much, the little girl is just playing a little trick." As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Lao Futou: "Old man, the matter of renting a shop ......"

"You girl, you always think about that shop, if you get it, my old fortune will lend you that shop, and you can use it as long as you want." The old fortune head said proudly. I hurriedly bowed down and said, "The little girl doesn't dare to take advantage of the old man, just make the rent you give the little woman a little cheaper." ”

"If you don't take it, you won't accept it." Lao Futou showed a calculating expression on his face, and his smile was also a little deceitful, "You are from the capital, where do you live now?" ”

"For now, I'm staying at the inn." I raised my eyebrows, noticing the expression of the old man, but I was afraid that things were not so simple. Lao Futou smiled: "You can't stay in the inn all the time, right?" I still have some vacant rooms in this big house, you can move here, I don't charge you for the house, how about it? ”

"This ......" I hesitated for a moment, I was originally going to find a place to live when I had a good shop, but now that I had obtained such a good thing so easily, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Seeing that I was hesitant, Lao Futou smiled and said: "You little girl is very interesting, and your brain is smart, I won't hide it from you, you live here, you just need to be able to answer my questions at any time like today." ”

I laughed dumbly, this old man, is he bored to the extreme, looking for someone to play with him, right? I smiled bitterly and said, "You always think I'm a jack of all trades, can't you solve any problems?" ”

Lao Futou smiled: "It doesn't matter, I finally found such a smart little girl, naturally I want to keep you to play, you move in, my shop will be lent to you for use, and there is no charge, how about it?" ”

What else? No matter how you look at this condition, I took advantage of it. Looking at this old fortune is not bad, the conditions of this house are good, and the shop is ......, I don't think about it anymore, I smiled and gave a salute to the old fortune, and said with a smile: "Since the old man is so gracious, the little woman is disrespectful." ”

――2006、10、12

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