Scripture of Days Past

”One, two, three...”

Using a tree branch, Chu Qiguang wrote out the Arabic numerals from one to ten, while Zhou Yujiao watched with a confused expression.

He then instructed Qiao Zhi to summon a few cat fiends for a demonstration.

He pointed at Qiao Zhi and said, ”This is one cat.”

He drew a cat’s head beside the number ”1”.

He then instructed White Rice to join Qiao Zhi.

”These are two cats.”

He drew two cat heads beside the number ”2”.

Chu Qiguang repeated the process for all ten numbers, and Zhou Yujiao quickly understood what they meant.

Has he already invented simplified numbers? Qiao Zhi thought. If I remember correctly, he didn’t invent them until after he became grand secretary last time.

Having previously undergone comprehensive training, Qiao Zhi was already very familiar with Arabic numerals, though he referred to them as simplified numbers.

Once Zhou Yujiao understood the meaning of the ten numbers, Chu Qiguang tossed the tree branch to her and instructed her to copy each one ten times.

”Ten times?!” Zhou Yujiao exclaimed. She turned to look at the dense cluster of ten cat heads beside the number ”10” and the thought of copying everything ten times was extremely unappealing.

”Why do I have to copy them so many times?” she complained.

”Because you’re stupid,” Chu Qiguang replied.

”I’m not stupid!” Zhou Yujiao protested.

Chu Qiguang led her to an empty patch of ground and wrote the number ”6” in the dirt with the tree branch.

Handing the branch to Zhou Yujiao, he instructed, ”Write the numbers that come directly before and after this one.”

Zhou Yujiao immediately fell into deep thought. She hadn’t yet memorized all the numbers, so she held the branch hesitantly, while trying to sneak a glance at the numbers written on the ground behind her.

Chu Qiguang turned to Qiao Zhi, who also possessed an eidetic memory, and asked, ”Do you know the answer, Qiao Zhi?”

Qiao Zhi immediately ran over to them and confidently used his front paw to write the numbers 5 and 7 beside the 6 already on the ground.

”Even a cat can remember the numbers after seeing them only once, yet you still say you aren’t stupid? Go and copy everything ten times!” Chu Qiguang instructed.

Zhou Yujiao unhappily did as she was told.

Am I really stupid? But my brother clearly isn’t stupid, so why am I stupid?

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Zhou Yujiao, she completed her assignment. When she turned back to Chu Qiguang, she discovered that he had written a series of questions on a sheet of paper.

They included questions such as, ”Write down the numbers that come directly before and after this one,” ”Arrange the numbers below from smallest to largest,” and ”How many cats are there in the picture below?”

Chu Qiguang handed the test paper to Qiao Zhi and instructed, ”I’m going to be leaving for a while, so you’ll teach her in my place. She has to answer at least ten questions on this test paper correctly every day, and she’s not allowed to eat until she’s done. I’ll check on your progress the next time I return. Do you understand me, Zhou Yujiao?”

Before Zhou Yujiao even had a chance to react, she was seated in front of a desk, staring at the wall of questions laid out on the test paper before her.

I have to answer ten every day?

Ten was already the largest number she had learned, and the thought of answering ten questions every day immediately brought tears to her eyes.

Chu Qiguang nodded with satisfaction as Zhou Yujiao started working on the test paper. His plan was to eventually teach everyone in the village Arabic numerals before moving on to more advanced mathematics.

He had previously released kindergarten-level mathematics all at once through his Ring of Ignorance,l. That had been enough to incapacitate the troublemaking fiends, but it was nowhere near enough to drive them to demonification.

If the fiends in the village learned everything slowly and steadily, their chances of falling prey to demonification should approach zero.

After speaking with Qiao Zhi for a while, Chu Qiguang discovered that he was already familiar with Arabic numerals. Not only that, but he also understood basic arithmetic, geometry, fractions, decimals, and other areas of primary school mathematics.

This made Chu Qiguang’s job a lot easier, and he instructed, ”From now on, use Zhou Yujiao as a test subject. Anything she’s able to learn can also be taught to the fiends in the village.”

Qiao Zhi had endured a great deal of suffering to attain his current level of mastery in mathematics, so he was thrilled at the thought of putting all the other fiends in the village through the same ordeal.

Once they’ve all attained basic literacy and mathematical competency, I can have them learn professional skills from the skilled workers in the village, Chu Qiguang thought. By the time they finish their training, they’ll all be educated, skilled workers ready to contribute to the prosperity of the village.

Like Zhou Yujiao, most of the fiends in the village were completely illiterate and had no mathematical knowledge whatsoever. Whenever the numbers became too large, they resorted to vague descriptions like many, a lot, and very far.

If Chu Qiguang wanted to develop the village according to his vision, everyone would have to learn primary school mathematics. Otherwise, as the population of the village continued to grow, everything would become increasingly disorganized.

Eventually, the entire village would become bloated and impossible to control. Only those who were literate, mathematically competent, and possessed certain specialized skills would be of use to the village.

What Chu Qiguang wanted wasn’t just skilled workers who met those requirements. What he wanted was a system capable of efficiently and consistently turning complete blank slates into qualified workers.

Now that the village was nearly self-sufficient, its population would steadily increase. However, most of the fiends in the village were woefully uneducated, which severely limited what they could do.

The planters were capable of handling all the manual labor in the village. As their numbers continued to grow, the fiends would have to take on jobs that required brainpower instead.

Going forward, Chu Qiguang would need more and more educated fiends who were capable of performing tasks beyond simple manual labor. To achieve that, he had to create a system that could continuously produce fiends who met his requirements.

Otherwise, how could the village continue to develop if he had to handle everything himself?

Fortunately, Qiao Zhi already possessed all the knowledge needed to educate the villagers, so he could have Qiao Zhi teach everyone in his stead.

As more fiends in the village became literate and mathematically competent, they could begin teaching other fiends who came to the village in the future.

Literacy, mathematics, and ideological education. These will be the three core elements of the education that the fiends in the village receive.

In Chu Qiguang’s view, the fiends’ resistance to demonification would allow them to learn more than humans. They also possessed another distinct advantage. They hadn’t yet been poisoned by religious doctrines and the feudal system.