Chapter 135

Chapter 135: The Bag

Hei Dan was indeed very intelligent. While Ji Huan taught Naji and Ah Ye counting (up to ten), he learned just by listening from the side. After Ji Huan gave him one-on-one lessons, Hei Dan quickly mastered the pronunciation of numbers from one to ten. He even learned how to write the numbers one, two, and ten, matching their written forms with their spoken and meanings!

This was a challenging step for a preschool-aged infant, but Hei Dan accomplished it flawlessly!

Ji Huan didn't push for further lessons. A child's intelligence didn't mean they should be overloaded with knowledge. Praising them when they learned something unintentionally would motivate them to learn more for more praise. However, if they realized that learning fast equaled learning more, many children might feel pressured. This wouldn't be noticeable at first, but gradually, they would perceive it as a burden, regardless of how smart they were.

After all, Hei Dan was still just a child.

Although Ji Huan was strict with Hei Dan, demanding accuracy in what he had learned, he never rushed the process. Once he was confident that Hei Dan had grasped the concept of counting to ten, he asked him to teach Ah Ye and Naji.

In truth, Ah Ye and Naji only needed someone to repeat after at this point.

This task was right up Hei Dan's alley.

Watching the unconventional age-gap teacher-student pair at the table, Ji Huan's lips curled into a small smile before he turned and headed for the storage room.

He found an old garment of Ah Ye's, unpicked its threads, and laid out the fabric to create a relatively intact piece. Using scissors, Ji Huan cut the cloth into long strips, using only slightly more than half of the entire cloth.

Next, he measured the length and cut the strips in half again, transforming them into small squares. Ji Huan then took out his sewing kit.

Starting with the small grids, he placed a thread at the top of each square and folded the upper fabric down to sew it in place, similar to the way elastic waistbands are treated. After completing this for all the squares, he began attaching them to the long strips.

The squares now attached to the long strips formed small pockets, each with two strings at the top. A simple pull would close the pocket opening, and securing it would prevent anything from falling out.

Once all the strips were adorned with these pockets, Ji Huan connected the ends of the strips together, turning them into loops that resembled loose belts.

Satisfied with the stability of the pockets, Ji Huan carried them outside. The Hei Dan brand echo machine was still tirelessly working, while the Naji brand learning machine... was on the verge of malfunctioning.

Hei Dan was even more persistent than Ji Huan. If a student made a mistake, he wouldn't rest until they corrected it.

Ji Huan interrupted Hei Dan.

"Hei Dan, come here and take a look at this."

Hei Dan's little head instantly turned, offering a obedient smile when he saw his uncle before curiously examining the long strips in his uncle's hand.

Ji Huan draped one of the strips across Hei Dan's shoulder like a sash or a cross-body bag. The little creature reached out its paw to touch the object hanging from him, then lifted its head, its white-ringed eyes fixed on its uncle.

"Hei Dan, now Uncle wants to test you to see if you've forgotten what I just taught you about numbers," Ji Huan said, then pointed at the pouches, "Ten."

"Put ten bone coins in this bag."

At first, Black Egg didn't understand, but with Ji Huan's demonstration, the little one instantly caught on. He began filling the small bag on his body with the bone coins from the table. Upon reaching the tenth coin, he lifted his head and shouted loudly, "Ten!"

His voice was filled with confidence!

Ji Huan gave him a thumbs up, then lowered his head to teach him how to tie the string to seal the bag properly. After teaching him all that, he asked Black Egg to fill all the bags on the cloth strip, with ten bone coins per bag. Once Black Egg had completed this task, Ji Huan made him count how many bags were on the cloth strip.

"Ten!" Black Egg declared after a moment.

With identical bags, it was easy for even adults to make mistakes when counting without marking them, yet Black Egg managed to count correctly!

"Well done." Ji Huan praised him again, then wrote a 'ten' on the bag where Black Egg had counted to ten.

"Ten tens make a hundred." Ji Huan said this to all the monsters present.

"In the future, let Black Egg use these bags to count bone coins. One full bag equals a hundred bone coins, and ten bags will be a thousand. Our pricing for goods will only be in multiples of ten, no haggling allowed."

Bargaining was a game for those skilled in mathematics, not for them... They had to maintain their aloofness and avoid haggling.

This plan was excellent—Naji and Ajin understood it instantly. Their eyes gleamed as they gazed at the bags on Hei Dan's body.

Lowering his head, Ji Huan said to Hei Dan, "Hei Dan might get tired helping Ajin and Naji, but can you persevere, okay?"

"Hei Dan good!" The little monster replied promptly.

"However, if you're too tired, tell Ajin and Naji, and you can go home." Ji Huan stroked Hei Dan's small head and added.

"No! Not tired!" Hei Dan spoke two words, making Ji Huan smile rarely.

After arranging to meet the next morning, Naji bid farewell to Ji Huan's family.

Ji Huan quickly got Ajin to wash up and go to bed. He then carried Hei Dan to the bedroom.

The moment they reached the bed, Hei Dan immediately crawled towards the pillow. His tiny claws fumbled around until he found a small bag underneath. He sat up with the bag in hand and reached into it again. After a while, he pulled out a ring.

It was the ring Ajin had given him. Unlike the slightly worn bracelet, this ring was too eye-catching. Not only was it golden, but it also had a large red gemstone. Thus, whenever Hei Dan left home, the ring had to be kept inside.

Hei Dan had quite a few possessions, and Ji Huan had unified their management, entrusting them all to Hei Dan, including this ring. The location to hide the ring was also chosen by Hei Dan himself.

Under Uncle's pillow was currently the safest spot in his opinion. There, Hei Dan would store many of his cherished items, even though it could be a bit uncomfortable. However, Ji Huan tolerated it.

After playing with the ring for a while, perhaps because he missed it too much, Ji Huan saw that Hei Dan kissed the ruby on the ring and even licked it several times.

"Hei Dan, it's time to sleep." During the teething phase, children had the urge to bite everything. Ji Huan knew this, so he made sure their home was clean. He wouldn't snatch things away from Hei Dan and scold him but would interrupt what Hei Dan was doing or suggest another activity.

Hei Dan was very obedient. With reluctance, he glanced at the ring in his hand, gave it one last lick, then placed it back into the bag, finally returning it to under Uncle's pillow.

The little monster soon fell asleep, sprawled out on his stomach.

Ji Huan, however, couldn't sleep. He found the remaining cloth and created a thicker "long strap" with a single, larger pocket than before.

The next day, when Hei Dan and Grandfather went out to sell their wares, Ji Huan put this bag on Hei Dan's back and gently lifted the frog from his own body, placing it inside:

"The frog will accompany Hei Dan."

"Ribbit~" For some reason, the frog had recently started to croak, although not frequently, only occasionally.

With his luminous white-ringed eyes, Hei Dan glanced at the frog, then at the bag containing it, and finally landed his gaze on Uncle's face.

"Aww~~" It was a sweet, affectionate sound.

Carrying the small bag on his back, Hei Dan sat in the secret compartment as Grandpa and Naji carried him out of the house.

But this time, he wasn't alone. His little frog companion accompanied him, sitting in the compartment. As Hei Dan gazed at the frog, he began to teach it how to count.

Grandpa: ...

Naji: ...

Frog: Croak!

Watching Grandpa and the others depart, Ji Huan checked the windows and doors once more before locking up and heading to work.

Throughout the day, Hei Dan truly dedicated himself to being an impeccable cashier. Naji forcefully deterred any attempts at haggling, while Grandpa introduced the concept of taste tests as a marketing strategy. They returned home with their bags brimming with purchases.

All the money they earned was stored at Ji Huan's place. They planned to save a substantial amount before heading to the town bank to convert it into cards.

However, the presence of Hei Dan didn't mean Ji Huan could neglect his studies. From that day on, every evening, Ji Huan taught Naji and Grandfather arithmetic, with Hei Dan listening in on the side. If he felt like learning, he would; if not, he'd play.

Despite this, Hei Dan seemed to be making the fastest progress in his studies.

From that day forward, Naji's business also started to take shape.

Ji Huan's job was going smoothly as well.

Every night, he practiced using the computer for an hour, simultaneously memorizing vocabulary through typing. His typing speed had significantly improved, even though it was still slower than writing by hand. Nevertheless, the old monster had already asked him to start creating his resume on the computer.

The computer ordered through the old monster's friend had arrived. It was a bulky machine even larger than the old monster's previous outdated one. When the delivery personnel from the computer company came, Ji Huan almost thought they had delivered the wrong item. He double-checked with them to ensure there wasn't an error before allowing them to install it.

One by one, the components were taken out of their boxes, consisting of multiple screens and casings of different sizes. They filled up the old monster's entire room, leaving Ji Huan somewhat stunned when the installation was complete:

This computer looked so sophisticated! It resembled something straight out of a sci-fi movie, a massive computational machine that might only be found in cutting-edge laboratories.

Yet, this advanced computer was solely for Ji Huan to create his resume.

"Your requested games have been installed. In addition to those, we've also installed 857 popular games for you to play on this screen," the installer informed the old monster after configuring the computer.

The ancient monster Adan, with the assistance of his partner, opened a game on the computer, revealing a Connect-the-Same-style game interface.

Ji Huan: ...

Alright, this computer wasn't just for creating resumes; it could also entertain Adan with matching games...

After the staff had left, Adan promptly threw the user manual at Ji Huan. From then on, exploring the computer became Ji Huan's responsibility. Not only did he have to figure out how to create a resume using the device, but he also needed to assist the old monster in understanding various games. While Ji Huan was working on his resume, the old monster would be engrossed in gaming beside him.

=-=

It was a strangely harmonious scene.

In addition to the super high-definition screens in the server room, the computer came with a portable input device resembling a tablet. The keyboard was fixed to the wrist, directly connected to the main control center. This allowed Ji Huan to input text data at any time, with the results immediately saved onto the central computer for later refinement.

Now, when the old monster conducted tests on other monsters, Ji Huan no longer needed to trail behind with paper and pen. Instead, he wore this portable recorder.

At first, he was not very proficient, but the old monster insisted on using the computer for record-keeping. Initially, Ji Huan struggled to keep up with the old monster's pace. Fortunately, he had a good memory and could fill in the gaps after the tests through recollection. If there were details he genuinely couldn't recall...

Adan would have the monster repeat the test.

No matter how much the monster protested, there was only one testing center, and it was authoritative like that.

Under Adan's understanding and urging, Ji Huan's typing speed progressed rapidly day by day, advancing at a breathtaking pace. Soon, his typing speed surpassed his handwriting. After mastering several office software programs smoothly, he could process resumes almost three times faster than before!

This left Adan struggling to keep up with his pace.

Adan lodged a protest.

In response to his boss's complaint, Ji Huan had no choice but to revise his schedule. He limited the number of tests Adan was willing to conduct each day, only accommodating that specific number of people. Once these individuals completed their tests, they could leave, and Ji Huan would compile the results the following morning.

As a result, the testing time was now consistently confined to before 1 p.m., allowing them to finish just in time for lunch. In the afternoons, Ji Huan could unify the processing of the morning's test data and then compile the reports collectively.

As for Adan...

He could now enjoy gaming blissfully.

Adan expressed his utmost satisfaction.

Amidst his joy, he decided to give Ji Huan another salary raise. Thus, though it wasn't apparent from his appearance, Ji Huan was undoubtedly among the high earners in Ye Falar now.