Chapter 1706 I’ll Learn the Rules First

Vika made his bed and sighed, "This is the security situation in Russia. People were beaten up like this, and not even one person came to investigate. How irresponsible of them. Vesta, what are you looking at?"

Vesta said hurriedly, "Vika, we are in the same room with two magicians!"

"Magician?" Vika was confused.

Vesta said, "I saw them pour cold water into that box, and now it's steaming."

Vika shook his head and said, "That's impossible. They should have poured hot water."

"I saw them pouring mineral water into bottles!" said Vesta.

Xiao Peng and Kaxin smiled at each other, and Kaxin was even more secretly proud - he had seen the self-heating hot pot for the first time, and it was like this!

However, the two women were whispering to each other but did not talk to Xiao Peng and the others: they were a little afraid of the two men. Neither of them was easy to get along with, at least they were both quite violent.

After the hot pot finished heating, Xiao Peng and Kaxin opened the lid together, and the heat and aroma hit them. The two women felt uneasy instantly, and they both wanted to go back to the room they had just been in - it was too uncomfortable to watch others eat!

After such an experience, they dared not sleep. They wanted to go to the upper bunk, but the aroma from the hot pot was definitely stronger there. What was the point in going there? The two of them looked at each other, silently pulled out a chess set, and sat down to play.

"Huh? You can play chess?" Kasim took out a bottle of vodka from the suitcase and poured himself a glass. After seeing the two people playing chess, he watched the game with his glass in hand.

Xiao Peng was stunned and said, "Kaxin, are you still interested in chess?"

After hearing this, Kashin said proudly: "I'm Russian! I was born knowing how to play chess!"

Russia's national sport is chess. Throughout world history, chess masters are basically Russians, especially more than a decade ago when Russia and the former Soviet Union basically dominated the field of chess. The status of chess in Russia is similar to that of table tennis in Bhutan.

Ever since Botvinnik became the first Soviet world champion, chess has become the Soviet Union's "national game." This is similar to the importance of shooting sports in Bactria. Even today, there are "chess corners" in Moscow parks where people can play chess.

Xiao Peng was once visiting Moscow's Gorky Park when a heavy snowstorm suddenly began. A row of statues in the distance piqued his interest: a group of Russians playing chess, surrounded by spectators. He wanted to take a picture of the statues, but when he got closer, he saw—beasts!—they were real people!

The wind and snow battered them, but no one paid any attention. Their focus was on the chessboard, even if they were transformed into snowmen. Chess had a strong popular base here, and the level of skill was high. It was no surprise that Kasim loved watching chess.

Xiao Peng ignored him and continued eating his hot pot. After eating and drinking, he stood up, stretched out a bit, and continued reading. He didn't know how long he had been reading when he heard Ka Xin say, "Great chess! Old... Xiao, these two girls are very good at chess."

Xiao Peng said with disdain: "Compared to you, everyone's chess skills are very high!"

Kashin was unhappy after hearing this: "Old Xiao, you can say I'm stupid, but you can't question the chess level of us Russians! Just like you can't question our tennis and women's synchronized swimming!"

He was referring to several sports that Russians are very proud of, and in which they perform at a very high level. For example, women's synchronized swimming has been a consistent champion since the event was introduced to the Olympics. Tennis is also quite popular here. Xiao Peng was able to find squash courts to play at Ivan's hotel, and squash is often used as a training tool for tennis.

Xiao Peng said, "Well, to be honest, Russians are indeed quite suitable for playing chess."

"Huh?" Kashin was stunned after hearing Xiao Peng say this. "Others are confused when they hear we like playing chess. In their eyes, Russians are the epitome of rudeness and wildness. How can you say we're suitable for chess?"

Xiao Peng smiled bitterly and said, "I discovered this the day I started learning Russian."

Kasim scratched his head and asked, "What does this mean? Is it because you can't pronounce the retroflex sound?"

Xiao Peng rolled his eyes at Kasin and said, "What I meant is that when I was learning Russian, I discovered that it's a language that trains logical reasoning skills."

After hearing his words, even the two women playing chess over there looked at Xiao Peng curiously, not understanding why he said that.

Xiao Peng explained: "You may not feel it because you are Russian, but as a foreigner, I found that Russian has many characteristics when I was learning it. First of all, the words are very long, just like this train, which is a long string of letters. This requires memorization. And even if you memorize all the words, it does not mean that you know Russian. The same word can have different combinations in different grammatical states. The same noun has masculine, feminine and neuter genders, and the same word has completely different parts of speech when used as subject and object. For example, the simple sentence "cat bites dog, dog scratches cat" in Russian requires... First, distinguish between male and female dogs, or a case of man-bites-dog; male and female cats, or a case of a male and female eunuch hat; the sentence order is also reversed, and changing the object case can change the meaning of the same words completely... So, for us foreigners learning Russian, learning Russian is like learning math. Each word is like a formula, and only when it is put into the correct form and the right place can it express the correct meaning. And you Russian speakers are trained in logical reasoning from a young age. This is why Russia produces so many mathematicians, chess masters, programmers, hackers, and financial traders.

After hearing this, Vika couldn't help but interrupt, "This is the first time I've heard someone explain the high level of chess skills of Russians from a linguistic perspective. Then what are the characteristics of your Daxia speaking Chinese?"

Xiao Peng laughed and said, "The biggest characteristic of our Chinese language is 'casual'."

"Whatever?" Everyone was puzzled.

Xiao Peng nodded. "Chinese and Russian are completely different languages. Chinese is not as rigid and logical as Russian. The same word can have four different tones, representing different meanings. A prepositioned sentence and an inverted sentence can also express the same idea. That's why we, the Daxia people, generally have wild and unrestrained thinking. We're both playing chess, but if I ask you Russians to try playing Go, which doesn't follow logic, you won't be able to do it!"

After hearing this, Kasim curled his lips and said, "Let's put aside whether we play Go or not. You don't know how to play chess."

"Hey? Challenge! Wait a minute and I'll play two games with you!"

"Huh?" Kasim was puzzled: "Why wait a little longer?"

"I'll read a book first and learn the rules and techniques of chess!"

“…”