Volume 1, Chapter 55: What If You Simultaneously Chop Off Two Feet from Both Chickens and Rabbits

Watching the popularity of the livestream soar, Bai Qinghe and Lin Xiaolu seemed to have seized another opportunity.

"Diva Huange, leaving aside whatever Shen Qi and that man were plotting, how did Shen Qi get two million when he doesn't even have a job?" Bai Qinghe asked.

Lin Xiaolu chimed in with a veiled implication, "Making money in this society is so difficult nowadays. As a stay-at-home husband with no job, Shen Qi easily pulled out two million. Diva Huange must be very generous with her allowance, right?"

Zhuo Yiyi opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, feeling that it would only bring trouble to Li Huange.

Although everyone in front of the cameras strictly avoided discussing celebrity incomes, even a fool knew that Li Huange was exceptionally wealthy.

Given her status as a diva, her earning power was at the very pinnacle of the music industry.

Furthermore, Li Huange even managed an entertainment agency.

A mere two million... was just a drop in the bucket!

Since Shen Qi performed so well, what was wrong with giving him a little money?

This time, Li Huange chose not to ignore them. Instead, she offered a faint smile.

"I give Shen Qi two hundred thousand every month, and all household expenses are covered separately! Is there a problem?"

"You might think it's disgraceful for a man to live off a woman, but I don't see it that way. Shen Qi possesses the qualities I need, he does a great job, and I am willing to spend this money! I can also afford it!"

"Once this money is given to Shen Qi, how he uses it is his own business. As for what he was discussing with that man just now, I don't care at all!"

Not care?

Could she really not care?

Li Huange thought to herself, *Please, I beg you not to cause me any trouble!*

If he were up to something illegal...

With nearly twenty million people watching the livestream, this would turn into a massive scandal.

It would be no different from exposing a crime in front of the entire nation.

"I'm only saying this for your own good!" Lin Xiaolu said with a worried expression. "If Shen Qi uses this money to do bad things, the fallout for you will be devastating!"

"She's right!" Bai Qinghe nodded in agreement.

Zhuo Yiyi shook her head slightly. "The matter isn't settled yet; no one can say for sure that Shen Qi is up to something bad!"

"Even if it's not something bad, there's still a problem right in front of us!" Bai Qinghe said seriously. "Shen Qi needs to come up with another six million within two months!"

Lin Xiaolu followed up, "Where is he going to earn that six million? He has no job. Without a doubt, he's going to bleed Sister Huange dry!"

Li Huange chuckled inwardly.

*Sister Huange now, are they?*

*They certainly care about me so much.*

[This time, I'm standing with Teacher Bai and Teacher Lin!]

[I can accept lying flat and living off a woman, but what if Shen Qi took the Diva's money to do something illegal? Wouldn't that completely throw the Diva under the bus?]

[Ah, this is driving me crazy! What on earth is Shen Qi up to?]

Li Huange could not help but feel a complex mix of emotions as well.

On one hand, she was genuinely worried that Shen Qi might get mixed up in something shady; on the other hand, she wondered if he would find a way to ask her for money.

Regardless of anything else, this incident at least gave Li Huange an opportunity to understand Shen Qi on a deeper level!

...

Huange Entertainment.

Fu Qing had finally waited for the livestream of Li Huange's family life, keeping her eyes glued to the screen since early morning.

She had become a fan of both Shen Qi and Shen Xiaokun, and was now eagerly consuming gossip about her own best friend and boss.

As a workaholic, she was even more eager to see Shen Qi produce more works.

"When the Moon Will Be Mine" had been utterly breathtaking!

Fu Qing felt completely satisfied...

Yet, seeing this point in the stream, the attractive space between Fu Qing's eyebrows furrowed.

"What on earth is Shen Qi trying to do? I just hope he doesn't do anything that hurts Huange!"

The operations manager knocked and walked in. "President Fu..."

"Don't call me President Fu, I'm just Huange's assistant!"

"Heh, stop joking. The whole company treats you like President Fu."

"Something the matter?"

"Shouldn't Zhou Qiqi's song 'Diva' be released soon? President Huange is always away and instructed that you make all the decisions."

"Then get ready to launch it!"

As the operations person left, Fu Qing stared at Shen Qi on the screen, her confusion deepening.

"Needing to raise six million in two months... Will you ask Huange for it?"

"If you really ask for that money, I might have to badmouth you to Huange again."

...

Shen Xiaokun emerged from the room looking extremely excited, dancing around and shouting at the person before him:

"Shen Qi! I've solved the chickens and rabbits in the same cage problem!"

"There are a total of 12 rabbits and 23 chickens!"

"Wahahaha..."

[Xiaokun got it right! It's the exact same answer I got using algebraic equations!]

[Equations are easy to use, but solving it without them is hard. How on earth did Xiaokun do it?]

[I don't recommend letting kids do such difficult problems at a young age, because it makes us adults look really stupid!]

Shen Qi chuckled, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Shen Xiaokun.

"Did you figure that out by guessing one by one?"

Shen Xiaokun was taken aback and instantly retorted angrily, "No! I calculated it!"

"Then tell me how you calculated it."

Shen Xiaokun proudly explained:

"I had all 35 chickens and rabbits lift half their feet at the same time. That leaves 47 feet standing on the ground. At that point, all the chickens are standing on one leg like a golden rooster, but the rabbits still have two feet on the ground."

"Subtract the 35 chicken feet from the 47, and the remaining feet belong to the rabbits. So there must be 12 rabbits!"

"And that leaves 23 chickens!"

Shen Qi was completely dumbfounded.

"Is... that even allowed?"

The chat screen flooded with comments reading, "I'm not even as smart as a kid?"

A wave of applause echoed through the studio.

Even Fang Qian and Li Lei started clapping.

Zhuo Yiyi laughed heartily. "That's amazing!"

Bai Qinghe and Lin Xiaolu were equally stunned.

This Shen Xiaokun was practically defying the heavens.

Li Huange felt immensely gratified. Allowing Shen Xiaokun to join this variety show was precisely because he possessed intelligence far beyond his peers.

"Could it be that Shen Qi himself didn't know how to solve it?" Bai Qinghe teased.

Lin Xiaolu chuckled as well. "Most likely!"

Annoyed, Li Huange replied indifferently:

"It seems like neither of you is ever quite accurate..."

"Don't you worry that the netizens might think you're just jealous after being wrong so many times?"

"Or have you simply gotten used to being wrong?"

The two of them were instantly choked with anger, biting back their words.

*Fine, let's just watch!*

...

Seeing the look of astonishment on Shen Qi's face, Shen Xiaokun put his hands behind his back and looked immensely proud.

"Did you have no idea how to solve this problem? You're actually less capable than a child like me!"

Shen Qi rolled his eyes.

"I just didn't expect you to figure it out, let alone use my method."

"Hmph..." Shen Xiaokun said dismissively, "You didn't know how to do it at all!"

Shen Qi said calmly:

"If the chickens and the rabbits all lifted two feet at the same time, that would be 70 feet lifted. The remaining 24 feet would belong entirely to the rabbits, meaning there are 12 rabbits and 23 chickens!"

"Wouldn't that be much simpler and easier to understand?"

Shen Xiaokun's brain froze for a second.

"Whoa? That actually works..."

Shen Qi started looking smug.

Suddenly, Shen Xiaokun shouted:

"No, no, no! Chickens only have two feet to begin with, how can they lift both at the same time?"

Shen Qi burst out laughing and roughly ruffled Shen Xiaokun's little head.

"Then let's phrase it differently: what if we chop off two feet from every chicken and rabbit..."

"Huh?"

Shen Xiaokun frowned, batted Shen Qi's hand away, and said unhappily:

"You are way too cruel!"

Shen Qi replied nonchalantly:

"Aren't chickens and rabbits raised to be eaten? You gnawed on three chicken legs last time I made them."

"Our goal is to figure out the number of chickens and rabbits, not to worry about their lives!"

"This story teaches us a valuable lesson..."

Shen Xiaokun stared blankly at Shen Qi. "What lesson?"

"A person must know what they want in order to make the most correct choice!"

"Just like how my goal was to find the number of chickens and rabbits, so I didn't need to care about whether they lived or died."

"Just like how my only goal is to lie flat and live off a woman, so I don't care about what other people think."