Chapter 635 Chess Piece (Additional chapter for the reward from the book friend "Mo Yan")
Guan Xin looked at him and asked, "Why, you want me to not get married?"
"No, no, no," his comrades were afraid that he really would not marry. Would they be able to leave Qili Village alive then?
Didn’t you see how many villagers were lining the streets to watch the fun?
My comrade lowered his voice and said, "Just treat what I said just now as bullshit. Let's get going quickly so as not to miss the auspicious time."
Zhou Erlang ran to the relatives and friends who were carrying the dowry, took out several small baskets filled with some candies, gave the baskets to his younger brothers, and then the five of them distributed them to the villagers and children who were watching the fun along the way.
The children went crazy after this, singing nursery rhymes and running after the wedding candy, and they followed it for two miles until Zhou Erlang and the others had distributed all the wedding candies in their hands.
It was a pity that Manbao couldn't join in the fun.
Bai Erlang had already run far away with Santou, and he chased the wedding procession all the way for two miles before returning with a bag of wedding candy.
Bai Shan didn't join in the fun. She went back to her room with Man Bao and sat down to talk. "Grandmother knows I'm learning chess, so she had someone make me a chessboard made of the finest zelkova wood. But I have to find the chess pieces myself. Can you help me?"
"Okay." Manbao thought that Bai Shan would definitely not play chess with Bai Erlang in the future, so it would probably be between her and him, so she was naturally willing to contribute.
Manbao had just seen off her elder sister, and she felt very melancholy. Everyone in the family was busy, and there was no one to play with her, so Manbao followed her elder sister to the Bai family.
Bai Shan led her to his yard and said, "The chessboard is still being made. I just took a look at it. Let's go choose stones."
There were two baskets in Bai Shan's yard, and the servants were all busy, either pruning flowers and trees or tidying up things.
Bai Shan pushed over a basket and poured out a basket of black stones. He said, "These are what my grandmother sent people to the county town to buy these two days."
The other basket was filled with grayish-white stones, a full basket of different shapes and sizes.
Bai Shan pushed it over and poured out the stones inside, introducing: "We need to select the right stones from them and polish them into pebbles."
Manbao closed his mouth and asked, "Don't the bookstores have any ready-made ones?"
"Yes, there are, but they're usually of poor quality and expensive." He said, "My grandmother said that if you want to learn chess, it's best to take care of the chess pieces yourself. That way, the pieces are smooth, and each move is like music, which is very pleasant."
He lamented, "My father also had a chess set, but when the servants went to collect the remains, many things were lost, and the chessboard was also missing."
Otherwise he could have just used his father's chess pieces.
Manbao also lamented, looking at the stones scattered on the ground, and sighed, "What a huge project."
Bai Shan nodded and said, "Yes, come on, let's pick the chess pieces."
"My grandmother said these stones are top-notch material for chess pieces. Don't be fooled by their messy and odd shapes; they're not cheap."
"Then why do you buy so many?"
"No way, these stones are sold by the basket."
Manbao was very curious. "What do you think would happen if you couldn't find a chess set from a basket of stones?"
"That just means you're unlucky. You'll have to buy another basket."
Manbao: ...What should I do if I suddenly feel that selling stones is also a very profitable business?
But she looked at the stone in her hand and found that she seemed to have never seen such a stone in the village. No, she had never seen it at all, so she shattered the idea and put it behind her mind.
Manbao looked at the gray and white chess pieces, then looked at the black chess pieces, and decisively chose to pick the black chess pieces.
To select chess pieces that are round, mellow and of moderate size, you have to choose a lot of them. Later, Liu will ask craftsmen to help cut them and then polish them simply.
But they have to do the more detailed polishing and stone selection themselves.
Because chess pieces cannot be made in a day or two. There are 361 chess pieces in a set, and each one needs to be carefully polished and washed by the craftsmen. How long does that take?
The craftsmen do have time, but Manbao and the others don’t.
Moreover, the most important thing in learning Go is patience, which is just like practicing calligraphy, and even requires more patience than practicing calligraphy.
Bai Shan didn't know what other families had requirements, but in their Bai family, they had always made and cleaned their own chess pieces. It was said that his great-grandfather's and grandfather's chess pieces and chessboards were still in the warehouse.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see it, and his grandmother wouldn't let him use it, so he could only polish his own chess pieces.
At first, the two of them squatted on the ground with their heads down, picking up stones. In the end, they just sat down on the ground, choosing and talking at the same time. It was not boring at all.
Bai Shan touched a very special stone and asked Man Bao with a smile: "Do you think this looks like a turtle?"
Manbao looked up and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, if it were a little more raised it would look like a mouth."
Bai Shan put it aside and said, "Let the craftsman help us grind it later."
Manbao suggested, "You can put a brush washer on the desk and put it inside. It will definitely look nice."
Bai Shan thought it made sense.
When Zheng came over with the tray, she saw the two of them talking animatedly. She glanced at the setting sun in the sky, quickly handed the tray to the maid, and said, "You're just going to sit here picking up stones all afternoon?"
Bai Shanbao looked up and felt his neck a little sore. "Mom, why are you here?"
"Come and see if you've been naughty again. Why are you sitting under the tree picking stones in such hot weather?" He turned and scolded the servants, "The master is away in March, and you've become even more unruly. Don't you know how to bring the stones inside to pick them up?"
Bai Shan quickly said, "Mother, I didn't let you do that. This stone is dirty, I don't want to move it into the house."
"Then just put a blanket on the floor. What's more important, your body or the floor?"
Manbao said, "Aunt Zheng, we should choose one now. The sun is about to set, so it's not hot at all."
Zheng squatted down and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief. "You said it wasn't hot, but your forehead is sweating. You've finally gotten a fair complexion. What if you get tanned again?"
If we were to say what Zheng was most satisfied with her sons studying in Yizhou City, it was that they had become whiter after their trip. It should be said that all three children had become whiter.
When they were in Qili Village, as soon as school was over, no matter how self-disciplined they were, they couldn't help but go out to play every day, go to the fields, run around in the yard, and run around under the scorching sun.
So even though they are three shades whiter than the children in the same village, they are still black.
But during the three months in Yizhou City, the three of them spent most of their time studying in the house, and rarely had the chance to go out and play in the sun. As a result, the three of them turned pale.
Especially Manbao, whose face was like jade. Zheng liked him so much that she couldn't help pinching him. "This flesh is so white and tender. If it gets tanned, Aunt Zheng will be so heartbroken."
Bai Shan: ...Mom, your son is over there.
Good night
(End of this chapter)
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