The Way of Chess

The severity of this flood disaster was even more serious than Pei Qingwu had imagined.

The torrential rain washed away the banks of the Wei River and brought several mudslides.

In a short time, the counties under Qin Prefecture suffered severe damage, with not only farmland destroyed but also casualties.

Agricultural societies have extremely low disaster resilience; a single flood can leave countless people homeless and displaced.

Although Zhao Jue was a responsible official who had arranged for people to handle the situation early on, the number of displaced people on the streets of Qinzhou had been increasing in recent days, and many problems had already arisen.

Therefore, even before curfew, the people of Qinzhou closed their doors and windows early, blew out their candles, and went to sleep, a far cry from the usual hustle and bustle.

That's bad enough, but this year's harvest was already bad, and then this flash flood made food even more scarce.

Unfortunately, some unscrupulous merchants took the opportunity to hoard large quantities of rice, intending to drive up prices. Pei Qingwu went out to buy rice several times, only to be shocked by the exorbitant prices.

But Sushan Xiaoji has another headache.

"Master, the fruit farmers on that estate said all the fruit trees were destroyed by the flood, and there won't be a single fruit this year," Yin Lan said dejectedly, looking at Pei Qingwu who was fiddling with the abacus.

"Everyone suffered from the disaster?" Pei Qingwu asked incredulously. "The harvests of everyone were bad?"

When he was looking for fruit farmers to cooperate with in the supply chain, he was worried that natural disasters or man-made calamities might lead to a poor harvest. Based on the idea that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, Pei Qingwu specifically looked for several other companies.

As a result, this year's floods were simply a matter of slapping everything away.

Yin Lan nodded helplessly.

"Sigh..." Pei Qingwu was no longer in the mood to do the accounting.

The accounts show that recent revenue has been poor.

That's true. Su Shan Xiao Ji mainly focuses on snacks. These aren't meals, so you won't be in any trouble if you skip a meal. They're just a nice treat to enjoy in your spare time.

These days, people can't even get enough to eat, so who has the time or inclination to buy snacks?

"If it weren't for Master's foresight in buying so much rice in advance, we probably wouldn't have been able to afford food these past few days," Wu Niang said with lingering fear.

Pei Qingwu remained silent, only shaking his head.

A burst of silvery laughter came from the courtyard. Nianci was playing with Tuanzi and Maomao, holding a large bone left over from making soup.

The two puppies were adorable. When they were chasing after the bone, they accidentally bumped into each other and were clearly stunned.

Sitting in his mother's lap, watching his older sister play with the dog, Xiao Mingyi was amused by the scene. He clapped his hands and mumbled a few words, "Silly...silly..."

At times like these, only the world of children and small animals is truly innocent.

After managing to keep the business afloat for a few days, Shi Dayong brought devastating news.

Pei Qingwu was wrapping a box of pastries to be delivered to the princess's residence when he saw Shi walk in with a heavy expression. Knowing something was wrong, he quickly asked, "Brother Shi, what's wrong?"

"Sigh..." Shi Dayong sat down, picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup of hot tea, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp before saying, "Master, something has happened at Caichun Pavilion."

"What?" Pei Qingwu was taken aback.

Caichun Pavilion is also a small pastry shop, mainly selling various kinds of pastries. The original owner was an old woman, but now that she is too old to run the business, she has handed it over to her son and daughter-in-law.

After the change of management, the taste was only "average," but because the owner was honest and never raised prices, the business was able to stay afloat.

How did this happen...?

Did you offend someone? Or what?

The curiosity of bystanders was also drawn over, and they put down what they were doing to gather around and listen carefully.

"No, the shop was vandalized by refugees."

As he spoke, Shi Dayong slammed the teacup down, splashing tea foam onto the table and creating dark water stains.

“The day before yesterday afternoon, twenty or thirty refugees suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They were all emaciated and had green eyes. They blocked the entrance of Caichun Pavilion and begged for food. The shopkeeper was kind-hearted. Seeing that there were women and children crying inside, he distributed all the boxes of Biluo that had not been sold that day. Who knew that once he distributed them, it was like throwing meat buns to a dog. He could no longer get away.”

Pei Qingwu's heart tightened, and she gripped the oil paper wrapping the pastries tightly with her fingertips, making a soft rustling sound.

The others also held their breath at that moment.

"When the shopkeeper was willing to give them some, the refugees assumed he had grain in his granary and refused to leave. Yesterday, even more people gathered there, forming a dense crowd that blocked half of the gate. The village head and the military officer came to drive them away once, but they dispersed. However, they came back at night, banging on the door like madmen and shouting for rice and grain."

As Shi Dayong described it, his face was taut as if he had seen it with his own eyes: "The shopkeeper was so scared that he stayed inside. His wife was timid and fell ill after hearing the shouting and crying outside."

"Early this morning, someone outside shouted, 'He has ten bushels of new rice hidden in his kitchen. He'd rather let it rot than give us a chance to survive.' The crowd immediately erupted. The shop door was just a thin wooden plank; how could it withstand the onslaught of dozens of hungry men? In no time, the latch broke, and the crowd surged inside... Alas!"

"The shop's furniture, steamers, counters... were all smashed to pieces, things were scattered all over the floor, and I heard even the stove was torn up, all to find some nonexistent stored rice..."

Pei Qingwu felt a chill run down his spine.

She could almost see the desperate crowds, like a murky flood, sweeping over the small shop and swallowing up the last bit of livelihood.

In the face of this natural disaster, order and goodness are so fragile.

"Then... what about the shopkeeper and his wife?" she asked in a dry voice.

"Fortunately, the neighborhood head heard the news and led the military officer to the scene quickly. They managed to rescue the man from behind the wall. I heard that the shopkeeper was hit on the head while protecting his wife and bled quite a bit. He is currently staying with relatives. As for the shop, it is completely destroyed." Shi Dayong sighed, "A perfectly good business to support his family is gone just like that."

The room was completely silent, except for the soft clatter of the abacus beads being moved by the wind blowing in through the window.

Everyone felt a sense of desolation, as if the rabbit had died and the fox was mourning.

Who knows if the fate of Caichun Pavilion today won't be their own tomorrow? In this season when grain is as precious as gold, isn't their shop selling delicate pastries also a piece of fat meat in the eyes of those refugees on the verge of despair?

Pei Qingwu remained silent for a long time, his gaze sweeping over the box of exquisite pastries on the table that was about to be sent to the princess's residence, and he found it extremely irritating.

She slowly wrapped the oiled paper and tied it with a silk ribbon.

Then I looked up and gazed at the gray sky outside the window.

“This world,” she said softly, as if speaking to herself, “is probably not enough to just keep the peace of our little courtyard.”

“Alright, let’s not do business for the next few days. We’ll keep the shop closed and try not to go out.” She said decisively, “And don’t tell anyone that we have stored up food.”

"clear."

Everyone in the shop came from humble backgrounds and naturally knew the wickedness of human nature; at this critical juncture, they dared not be careless.

"And..." Pei Qingwu thought of Zheng Youning and immediately said to Shi Dayong, "Brother Shi, take Aheng and go to bring Madam Zheng over to live with us. It's very chaotic outside now, and she's a single woman, so there are probably many things we can't do for her."

"good."

Before long, Zheng Youning was brought back by the two.

She understood that things were different now, so when Shi Dayong and Gu Heng came to pick her up, she didn't refuse and readily agreed.

Then the gates of Sushan Xiaoji Courtyard were tightly closed, the doors and windows were reinforced, and everyone stayed inside, unwilling to go out.

The only thing that had anything to do was Nianci, as Zheng Youning wanted to teach her to play chess.

As dusk filtered through the window paper, casting a soft light on the table, Zheng Youning picked up a white jade chess piece and gently placed it on the star position of the chessboard, making a crisp sound.

“Nianci, do you know that there is also heaven and earth on this chessboard? The four corners are like the four seasons, and the center is like the Taiji. These 361 intersections are a microcosm of all things in the world.”

Nianci imitated her, picked up a black piece, and placed it next to a white piece, the two pieces almost touching.

Zheng Youning shook his head slightly, picked up the black piece, and placed it back in a position one space away from the white piece.

"In chess, flexibility is key; one should not fill in the gaps. Just like in life, one must leave room for maneuver." She looked up at Nianci: "Especially in this world, pressing too hard often leads to mutual destruction."

Nianci nodded as if she understood, but her gaze involuntarily drifted to the window.

Cries seemed to drift on the wind from afar, but quickly faded away.

"Focus." Zheng Youning gently tapped the chessboard, drawing her attention back.

“Look, these pieces of yours are surrounded by me. If they have no ‘liberties,’ they are doomed.” She lightly tapped the intersection of the black pieces and the white pieces around them with her fingertip: “Just like Qinzhou City now, if the supply lines are all blocked, no matter how many people there are, they cannot survive.”

Nianci suddenly realized that, upon closer inspection, her black pieces indeed had nowhere to go.

She frowned. "Then... what should we do?"

Zheng Youning did not answer, but instead asked, "If you were the magistrate of a city, and there were starving people besieging it from the outside, and no surplus grain to feed it from the inside, what would you do?"

Nianci bit her lip, pondered for a long time, and finally placed a piece, trying to create an "eye" for the trapped black piece.

"There must always be a way out."

“Not bad.” Zheng Youning nodded approvingly, then placed a piece, which landed precisely on the “eye”.

"But what if even this last path to survival is seen through?"

Nianci looked at the black pieces on the chessboard that had completely lost their vitality, and her little face fell.

Zheng Youning smiled slightly, picked up the captured pieces one by one, and arranged them into a small pattern on the edge of the chessboard.

"The beauty of chess lies in making choices. Sometimes, sacrificing a piece can give you the initiative. Rather than being trapped in a dead end, it's better to find another way out."

As the sun began to set, Pei Qingwu came in and lit an oil lamp for them.

The dim light shone on the chessboard, where black and white pieces were scattered like stars.

"I lost." Nianci said honestly, looking at the game, which was already hopeless.

Zheng Youning stared thoughtfully at the chessboard and said softly, "This game of chess reminds me of something."

She looked up at Pei Qingwu: "The disaster at Caichun Pavilion was caused by their failure to properly plan their charity. Giving alms is a good thing, but without a proper plan, it can backfire."

Pei Qingwu sat down beside the chessboard, picked up a white chess piece and examined it closely: "What does Madam Zheng mean?"

“Now the refugees are like isolated pieces on this chessboard. Without life, they will die. If we can give them a glimmer of hope, we may be able to prevent the tragedy of Caichun Pavilion from happening again.” Zheng Youning slowly pushed a few white pieces into the black formation in the center.

Nianci looked at the white pieces gradually connecting on the chessboard and suddenly said, "It's like making 'eyes'! To give them a way to live, you have to make them solid and clear to everyone!"

Zheng Youning and Pei Qingwu exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise and approval in each other's eyes.

“How could I not want to?” Pei Qingwu said. “Now that my treasury is overflowing, I could release the surplus to provide porridge to the refugees. But as you know, apart from Brother Shi and Aheng, everyone else here is a woman…”

"If something happens, there's really nothing we can do."

Zheng Youning frowned slightly: "Then, Master Pei, you need to think this over carefully."