Shu Yan and Zhixin are approaching adulthood. They don't play together as often as often as they used to. What's more, Shu Yan is very busy, and he has to study and run his family, so they haven't seen each other for a while.

It's autumn, Zhixin has nothing to do at home, helping Ruoxin to review her homework. On this day, when I reviewed the "Book of Songs" and "Zheng Feng", Zhixin read one of them: "Qingqing Zijin, leisurely my heart." Even if I don't go, Zining won't make a sound? Qingqingzi Pei, I think about it. Even if I don't go, Zining won't come? Picky and embarrassed, in the city. Not seen for a day, like March. This poem describes lovesickness, which is in Zhixin's state of mind at this time.

"Brother Yan, stupid Brother Yan, it's inconvenient for me to look for you, and you won't come to me, even if it's to teach Ruoxin homework, not only did you not come to me, but I ......haven't even heard from me recently."

"Zhixin, go get some rice and cook."

Hearing her mother's shout, Zhixin got up in a daze, went to the kitchen, and looked at the rice bag, there were only two handfuls of rice, and she poured all the rice into the scoop.

"The rice is gone, in the afternoon, why don't you ask Brother Yan to go to the rice together? In this way, you can not only do the work, but also meet Brother Yan. Well, that's a bright reason! ”

"Mother, the rice is gone, I'm going to cook some after dinner."

"Okay, you and your brother can get some rice and go to the rice, now it's okay, the Shi family's water is very close, so you don't have to go far."

"Go talk to Brother Yan and ask him if he wants to go to Rice Rice this afternoon." She instructed Ruoxin. Ruoxin agreed, turned around and went out.

Zhixin thought to herself: Shu Yan, that stupid boy, doesn't understand the amorous feelings, how can he understand my mind, if he has rice at home, he will definitely say no. She had the heart to ask Ruoxin a few more words, but in a blink of an eye, Ruoxin had already run away without a trace.

Suddenly, Ruoxin came back, and Zhixin hurriedly asked, "How is it?" Is Brother Yan going? ”

"Go, Brother Yan said, there is no rice left in his house."

Zhixin was overjoyed, in a good mood, and ate half a bowl of rice. Ruoxin was still young and ignored it completely, but the Liu family saw it all in her heart, knowing her daughter Mo Ruomu, she had already seen through her daughter's careful thoughts, but she didn't say it.

As soon as he finished eating, he saw Shu Yan pushing a wheelbarrow over with a bag of rice on it. Shu Yan parked the car at the door, came in first to greet Liu, and asked Ruoxin, "What have you been reading recently?" ”

Ruoxin said: "I am reading the Book of Rites, and occasionally review the Book of Songs and the Analects. ”

Shu Yan nodded and said, "Okay, you can learn from the past and learn the new, and you can be a teacher." You must read good books and be an upright gentleman, so that Uncle Han can be blind......"

As soon as "Uncle Han" and "Blind" were mentioned, Zhixin immediately winked at him and motioned him not to say anything. Shu Yan suddenly thought: Aunt Han is here, and the words of 'Uncle Han's blindness' can't be said nonsense, but fortunately, the Liu family didn't hear it. He immediately changed his tone and said: "The Book of Rites is complicated, and some places are obscure, so I will teach you when I am free in two days." ”

Without waiting for Ruoxin to speak, Zhixin rushed and said: "That's good, a word is a certainty, you can't break your word as a brother." Zhixin usually wears an ordinary brown linen skirt when she works at home, without any decoration, which looks simple and fresh, and is naturally beautiful to the extreme.

Shu Yan just temporarily changed his words in order to avoid Liu's taboo, but he didn't want to, but Zhixin took it seriously. Indeed, he hadn't instructed Ruoxin to read for a long time. "A gentleman's words, the horse is difficult to chase. How can you go back? What's more, with the relationship between our Shu and Han families, it is my bounden duty to counsel Ruoxin's younger brother. In this way, I don't have time to come to you in the future, so you go to me, and we must catch up with our homework. ”

Subsequently, Shu Yan and Zhixin carried the rice to the wheelbarrow, Shu Yan pushed the cart, Zhixin and Ruoxin followed behind, and walked in the direction of Shijia Shuidi. When encountering uphill or difficult places, Zhixin will help push it. From Shu Yan entering the door, to asking Ruoxin's homework, and then to this journey, Shu Yan has always looked at the nose, nose and mouth, asked his heart, and had no distracting thoughts, even a few words of communication were frank and open, and he never looked at Zhixin more. Zhixin saw it in her eyes, and was respectful and angry with Shu Yan, angry that he was incomprehensible and respectful, and respectful that his gentleman was frank.

When they came to the water mill, Shu Yan and Zhixin both had an inexplicable emotion. This Ru River and this former field of their own family carry too much joy and helplessness in childhood. Clay figurines, vows, weeding, sun exposure, giving, flooding, loss of parents...... Now built a tall water mill house, the section of the water mill house to the side of the Ru River has built a small water channel, the flowing water of the canal hits the big round wheel of the water mill, the big round wheel is connected with two wooden poles, the wooden pole is connected with the stone hammer, below the stone hammer is a big stone trough, the rice is put into the stone trough, and the uninterrupted water flow drives the stone hammer to swing up and down constantly, so as to achieve the purpose of licking the rice and removing the shell. Two skillful people are busy, husking, sifting chaff, all in one go. In front of the water mill house, a road has been specially built to facilitate people who come and go to eat rice. This piece of land, in addition to the original small piece of Shu and Han's two families, two large areas on the east and west sides belong to the Shi family, with paddy fields in the east and dry fields in the west. After the Shi family exchanged the land of the Shu and Han families, they built a large canal and transformed the dry fields in the west into paddy fields. In this way, no matter how dry the year is, this large area of land can be cultivated and watered in time.

The efficiency of this machine is very high, and the rice is fast, so there is no need to queue for a long time. After waiting for a while, it was Shu Yan's turn to do so. Shu Yan poured Zhixin's rice into the stone trough first. He watched as the stone hammer struck the golden rice in the stone trough and slowly turned white.

Shu Yan couldn't help but be overjoyed: the Shi family really created some blessings for the people and saved a lot of time for the people. Thinking about it this way, even if my family lost this good land, it was worth it.

At this moment, he heard someone arguing behind him, and when he looked back, it turned out to be his neighbor Shu Xiaoliu and the head of the Shi family's grange.

Shu Xiaoliu asked the head of the farm: "How do you collect the money for the rice here?" ”

Tian Zhuangtou said: "Little Liu, didn't you ask knowingly?" You've been here more than once, of course, it's one out of ten, isn't it the same price everywhere else? ”

"Since it is one out of ten, should I be charged ten liters of rice for one piece of rice?"

"That's right, one bucket is ten buckets, one bucket is ten liters, one hundred liters is one hundred liters, one hundred liters takes ten liters, that's right!"

"Then did I charge 12 liters of rice for the rice I just cooked here?"

The head of the grange said: "There are so many rice, how can I remember whose number?" ”

A rice master next to Shui Ji replied: "That's right, I met Xiao Liu, and I remember that I received twelve liters of rice from him." ”

The head of the grange glared at him: "You don't need to talk too much, do your job well." Then he said to Shu Xiaoliu, "Oh, you have scooped a total of one and two buckets of rice, and you should be charged twelve liters of rice." ”

Shu Xiaoliu hurriedly said: "What is one and two buckets? My family has a large population and often eats rice, and last time I felt that something was wrong and charged me an extra two liters of rice, but I was not sure in my heart. This time, I deliberately got the right amount, and when I went home, I measured it again, and it was obviously not very full, how did it become a hundred and two buckets? ”

Faced with Shu Xiaoliu's questioning, Tian Zhuangtou asked unhurriedly: "Do you have Hu at home?" ”

Of course, Tian Zhuangtou knew that ordinary people did not have such a measuring device, so he was sure to ask like this.

"Of course, I don't have Hu at home, but I have Dou and Sheng at home. Just now, my rice was measured by you for one and two buckets, but the amount at home is only nine buckets and eight liters, so you charged me an extra two liters of rice! ”

"Joke, how can we overcharge you! Our Hu is made according to the standards of the imperial court, which is the most standardized, but your dou and sheng do not know how many generations of your ancestors have passed down, and you can't even tell which dynasty you yourself are. It's just that you can use such an old measuring device secretly at home, and do you dare to correct it with my new Hu? Besides, even if it is the same standard, if there is a difference in the size of the measuring device, there is also a saying of 'one hundred taels per catty' - it is naturally not enough to divide the things packed in a large number of containers into several small measuring instruments. ”

Shu Xiaoliu's Dou Hesheng was indeed an old measuring instrument left before, which made him suddenly feel aggrieved by three points, but he was still unwilling, grabbed the last handle and argued: "Even if it is 'one hundred taels per catty', the difference is only a fraction of the difference, how can it be so bad?" It is clear that you want to deceive the people and make more money from the people. ”

As soon as there was an argument between the two, the people at the scene listened attentively, and the more onlookers, the more the head of the grange could not admit that there was a problem with his Hu. In the past, the standards of weights and measures of various dynasties were very inconsistent and very chaotic, even after Qin Shi Huang unified weights and measures, the standards of weights and measures often changed, especially after the end of the Han Dynasty, the politics were chaotic, and everything else was more chaotic. It is precisely because there is no standard, and there is no measuring device like "Hu" in ordinary people's homes, so the Shi family uses Xiao Hu to pretend to be a standard Hu. I didn't want to meet a scheming person like Shu Xiaoliu today, and he actually went home and corrected his Hu with Dou and Sheng.

After listening to the argument for a while, Shu Yan had already guessed in his heart that most of the Shi family's Hu had a problem and overcharged the benefits of the people, so he decided to take care of it, although he remembered that a few months ago, Shi had to take care of his own firewood, but one yard is one yard, and he can't ignore the interests of many ordinary people because of his personal relationship. After a long time, how can these poor villagers stand it?

So Shu Yan came over and said hello first: "Sixth uncle, the head of the grange." ”

Shu Xiaoliu saw Shu Yan and said busily: "Yan'er, it just so happens that you are also here, I am a rough person, you are a scholar, you give a review, his Hu has a problem, and he charges more money." ”

Tian Fu reprimanded: "Nonsense, how can there be a problem with our Hu? ”

Shu Yan said: "Don't argue with the two of you, I heard what you said just now, and the key to the argument is whether this Hu is standard." The Shi family opened such a large water mill house, and the villagers are cooking rice here, not overnight, but for a long time. No matter who is right, it is not a matter of one or two liters of rice every time, but it is much worse after a long time, so it is necessary to clarify this issue. I have been reading for a few days, and I often go to the west of Ruyin City, so I know the size of Hu. Since the Wei Dynasty, the imperial court has stipulated that the diameter of the court is one foot three inches and five minutes and five centimeters, and the depth remains unchanged, and it is still one foot, and its volume is three thousand, four hundred and forty-one inches and ten inches. Our Dajin still follows the standards of the previous dynasty. As the saying goes, there are no rules, there is no circle, now measure the size of this Hu to know whether it is standard. ”

When the common people heard that they were going to correct the Shi family, they all gathered around to watch. Those who have good deeds in the crowd will immediately go home and bring a ruler. The face of the head of the village has become embarrassed, and there is no way to stop it at this point. Shu Yan took the ruler and measured the depth first, yes, exactly one foot.

The head of the grange said: "How about it, a foot is a foot, what else is used?" ”

Everyone said: "Eh, Grange head, since you have measured it, you have to measure it together, and the amount of light is high, what is it." ”

The head of the grange couldn't, Shu Yan began to measure the length of Hu's diameter, and everyone stared at Shu Yan's ruler, and the result was a little more than one foot, two inches, and three minutes.

Shu Yan put down the ruler and said to everyone: "One foot, two inches, and three minutes, let's calculate it according to one foot, two inches and four minutes, and everyone will calculate what the product of this Hu is." ”

Shu Xiaoliu and the others all laughed and said: "Yan'er, you are joking with everyone, we are all rough people, it's good to know the ruler, who will calculate the product of this Hu, or you will calculate it for everyone." ”

Shu Yan used the nine-chapter algorithm to calculate, and the result came out in a moment: "Folks, the product of this Hu is 1,207 inches. ”