Chapter 505: Chapter 504: Got Used to Losing a Lot
After careful consideration from several aspects, Wong Xiao eventually gave up on the idea of making lipsticks.
Researching ti and costs aside, the main reason is that there are only so many people in Lan County, and most of them are peasants. Setting up a new factory in haste and trying to recruit workers would be impossible. If all the peasants were recruited into the factory, what would happen to the vast farmlands?
Wong Xiao painfully abandoned this business opportunity that was poised to take off.
When Lin Nianhe confird multiple tis that Wong Xiao had no intentions of pursuing this, she flipped open her book again, adding only, “If you don’t do it, I will in a couple of years.”
“Ah?”
Wong Xiao felt that Lin Nianhe was just joking. What’s the use if she did it by herself? She wouldn’t be able to sell it either.
What he didn’t know was that costics was one of Lin Nianhe’s most familiar industries, and she really planned to venture into this field in the near future.
If Wong Xiao had persisted a bit longer earlier, Lin Nianhe would have let him take the opportunity, as she had countless other paths and wouldn’t miss just this one.
The train they were on was a special for the Spring Trade Fair, with sleeper cars connected to freight cars for transporting industrial factory samples. The train headed south, stopping only at stations where exhibition teams boarded, which made it sowhat faster than regular trains.
Upon arriving at Xi City Station, Factory Director Sun, along with a few people from the Steel Factory, boarded the train. He spotted Lin Nianhe waving at him from the platform, and shortly after boarding, he brought an elderly master with graying temples to find her.
“Xiao Lin, long ti no see!”
“Uncle Sun, hello. This is our leader from Lan County, Mr. Wong Xiao.”
“Hello, hello, Mr. Wong’s insight is outstanding, truly a discerning eye!”
“You flatter ; Xi City Steel Factory is the truly renowned one…”
After exchanging pleasantries, Factory Director Sun said to Lin Nianhe, “Xiao Lin, we are in carriage four. This is our factory’s chief engineer, just co to us if you need anything.”
“Thank you very much, I will co to ask for advice in a bit.”
Lin Nianhe, with a beaming smile, saw Factory Director Sun and his colleagues out of the carriage before turning back.
Life on the train was inevitably a bit boring, even Niuwa quickly went from excited to bored.
The little fellow slouched on the table, listlessly blinking his eyes.
Just as Lin Nianhe finished a book and was taking a light breath, she saw Niuwa’s bored deanor and poked his face: “Want to have a competition?”
Niuwa suddenly perked up: “Yes!”
Lin Nianhe casually handed out two pieces of paper to Wong Xiao: “Uncle Wong, please write down so questions, just multiplication and division of three or four digits.”
Wong Xiao was baffled: “What are you all up to?”
“A competition!”
Still puzzled, Wong Xiao just scribbled a string of numbers on the paper.
Soon, each piece of paper had twenty questions.
Lin Nianhe took off her watch, set it on the table, and raised an eyebrow at Niuwa: “Ten minutes?”
“Five minutes will do.” Niuwa was brimming with confidence.
“Okay, it’s about accuracy.”
“Mm!”
The competition started.
Lin Nianhe and Niuwa each took a pencil, silently calculating and writing down answers.
Wen Lan was dumbfounded: “What kind of boredom makes them do math for fun?”
Wang Shui clicked her tongue: “These two, their ntal arithtic must be like magic!”
Wong Xiao: “Xiao Lin is really amazing! Niuwa is amazing too!”
Five minutes later, both human calculators put down their pencils.
They turned to look at the others, then tacitly exchanged papers for marking.
Since Wong Xiao’s questions were written spontaneously, the two papers were not identical, so they had to ntally calculate again to mark each other’s work.
Another five minutes.
Lin Nianhe spoke first: “Niuwa is really great, got them all right.”
Niuwa also nodded repeatedly: “Sister Hehe got everything right too!”
The first ga, a draw.
They each took a couple sips of water, and then began the second ga, the third ga, the fourth ga…
By the end of the fifth ga, Wong Xiao finally finished checking their first round of papers, exclaiming, “You both really got everything right, how did you do it?”
Lin Nianhe: “…”
Niuwa: “…”
Wang Shui and Wen Lan were already used to it, and seeing Wong Xiao’s astonished face, Wang Shui explained, “Don’t worry about it, Uncle Wong. When we were at the Educated Youth Corps revising, she would just pass by, glance at the howork, and directly give the answers.”
Wong Xiao: “…!”
Wen Lan also nodded: “Just the other day, I saw so fifth graders asking Niuwa for help with their questions.”
Wong Xiao: “…!”
“Did you two split Accountant Zhao’s abacus and eat it?”
Lin Nianhe: “…”
Niuwa: “…”
Watching Wong Xiao, Lin Nianhe could only say, “Doing more math problems trains nurical sensitivity. We just play around like this when we’re free; it’s not that exaggerated.”
“You do this just for fun at ho? Then what do you do when it’s ti for serious work?”
Wong Xiao felt his understanding of the world crumbling.
Seeing Niuwa, Lin Nianhe silently decided to say to Wong Xiao, “Niuwa just started learning chess recently. If you want to play, we can do that too.”
Wong Xiao’s spirits lifted imdiately: “Bring it on! Let try!”
Chess, well, he had been playing since his teens. Chess is mostly a ga where the older you are, the better you get, and he was very confident!
Lin Nianhe took out a chess set from his small carry-on box and swapped places with Wong Xiao.
Wong Xiao looked at Niuwa’s soft little face, rolled up his sleeves, and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you!”
Niuwa, smiling rrily, innocent and harmless, said: “Okay, thank you, Uncle.”
The first ga, Wong Xiao lost.
Wong Xiao: “Haha, not bad, little guy. Next ga, I won’t go easy on you!”
The second ga, Wong Xiao lost.
Wong Xiao: “Hmm, I underestimated you, underestimated you. Let’s go again!”
The third ga, the fourth ga, the fifth ga… Wong Xiao didn’t win a single one.
Wong Xiao: “Xiao Lin, you tell honestly, when exactly did this little bastard start playing chess?”
Lin Nianhe, who had already picked up a second book, thought about it and replied, “Three days before we left. That day, a fourth-grader brought his family’s chess set to school, and that’s when Niuwa learnt how to play.”
Wong Xiao shook his head rather vigorously: “I don’t believe it! It’s impossible!”
Lin Nianhe whispered to Niuwa, “How about you go easy on Uncle Wong? Just to show respect and care for the elderly.”
Niuwa pouted: “But I only want to go easy on Sister Hehe, that’s your special privilege.”
Lin Nianhe’s heart instantly turned to cotton candy, she frowned at Wong Xiao: “Uncle Wong, you’re grown up, don’t be a sore loser!”
Wong Xiao’s lips trembled: “Xiao Lin, you can fool a child, but you can’t ignore your uncle’s fate!”
“Look at what you’re saying. It’s only five losses. Why so serious? Keep going; you’ll get used to losing.” Lin Nianhe considerately reset the chessboard for them.
Wong Xiao: “…”
Wong Xiao didn’t want to get used to it, not at all.
Adhering to the principle of not being the only one hurt, he took a deep look at Niuwa, then got up and left.
In just a little while, he brought back those factory directors and deputy factory directors who had once looked down on him.
“Niuwa, co, show them what it ans when they say ‘youth produces heroes’!”
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