Blind Liu twirled his sparse beard and glanced at Ma Fuquan. "The defeat is obvious. There's no way to turn the tide. You can't even defeat my disciple now. What a pity! What a pity!"
He glanced at Ding Youtian again, making no secret of his affirmation and admiration for him.
"How is that possible?" Although there are some differences between Liubo and the chess played by Ma Fuquan, in that the chariot can only move straight and cannot retreat, it is generally a game between two parties. During the day, he watched Captain He and his men play chess in the town government office. He watched one game first before rolling up his sleeves to join the game. Even the clerk who was good at Liubo was defeated by him, so how could he lose to Ding Youtian?
"Come, come, come." He saw Jian Ning coming out of the room after eating dumplings, so he waved at her, "Come and see, is it a draw or did I lose?"
Unlike Go, Liubo is a popular game enjoyed by both the royal family and the common people. Farmers often use branches and pebbles to draw a board on the ground to play Liubo in their spare time. Children also play it, making it a game suitable for all ages.
Ding Youtian and Ma Fuquan would occasionally play together when they were young. Once, he was defeated by Ma Fuquan. The original Jian Xiu'gu happened to be carrying Lao Liu on her back from the river after washing clothes that day. When she passed by, she saw Ding Youtian playing chess with someone. Lao Liu also pointed his little finger at his fourth brother to go over and play, so she carried Lao Liu on her back and stood next to Ding Youtian.
Xiu Gu watched for a while, then suddenly bent down, picked up the chess piece that Ding Youtian had made into the shape of a car with straw, moved it to the right and locked Ma Fuquan's horse leg. From then on, Ding Youtian and others knew that Xiu Gu could play Liubo, but Xiu Gu herself was confused.
For a while, Ding Youtian often took Xiugu with him, using the excuse of gathering pig grass and firewood. After deceiving his mother, Mrs. Meng, he would sneak her away to kill and conquer the village friends. Xiugu couldn't explain why she learned to play Liubo, and she couldn't teach him, but she knew how to set up and place the pieces, and often helped him win. Even Ma Fuquan was no match for them, losing several bean cakes to them.
At that time, when Ding Youtian lost a game of chess, he would ask Xiu Gu to stand up for him. When he was bullied and lost a fight, he would go home and ask Xiu Gu to help him get revenge. A group of children in the village often made fun of them, saying that Xiu Gu was his young wife, and Xiu Gu would always grant his requests.
Until one time, when it was almost dark, he took Xiu Gu out to play Liubo with others and forgot the time. Meng found that the chickens had not been put into the coop yet and Xiu Gu was nowhere to be seen. She came out cursing and looked for them, and finally found them at the end of the village.
That day, his mother, Mrs. Meng, held the crying Lao Liu in one hand and dragged Xiu Gu all the way home by her hair in the other. Ding Youtian followed them barefoot, admitting his mistakes all the way and begging his mother to forgive Xiu Gu. When he got home, he rolled on the ground and refused to let his mother beat Xiu Gu again. From then on, Xiu Gu never went out with him to play Liubo with others.
But Xiu Gu could play Liubo, and many of Ding Youtian's friends in the village knew about it. Ma Fuquan naturally knew it too, as he had even been defeated by Xiu Gu before. So Ding Youtian wasn't surprised that he asked Jian Ning to come over to help him evaluate the game. He was just worried for Ma Fuquan, worried that Jian Ning would ignore him and embarrass him in public.
Jian Ning didn't. She was proficient in both chess and Liubo because her master, Grandma Wu, was good at both. She came over and glanced at the chessboard. At this time, Liubo did not have the Chu River and Han River dividing the board. There were nine straight lines and five horizontal lines on both sides, symbolizing the supreme power.
"I lost." After saying that, she added, "Let's eat first."
Her tone was light, neither intimate nor distant, and Ding Youtian felt relieved. In addition, he was very happy that he had defeated Ma Fuquan in today's trial. After sending Ma Xiaomai and Dabao to call the head of the village and the clan leader to accompany them, he also helped to prepare the meal and dumplings.
"Continue after dinner. Best of three games. Don't treat winning one game as a New Year's Eve." The current Ma Fuquan and the past Ma Fuquan have a common problem. If he loses a game, he will definitely drag his opponent to play again. Tian Shi also knows this problem of his. Seeing that her husband lost to Ding Youtian this time, she smiled and said, "Let's deal with him after dinner. He has never beaten you once in the past. You must have been careless."
Jian Ning also knew that Ma Fuquan would not give up easily after losing a game of chess. It turned out that when he was in the special police team, he often played chess with the quartermaster Yu Dahai, nicknamed Yu Dapao. If he lost, he would not stop playing until midnight. If the quartermaster did not go home during holidays, the two would often play all night.
She guessed that he would drag Ding Youtian downstairs until very late tonight, so she took out a few energy-saving lamps in advance and hung them on the corridor, in the kitchen and in the dining room. Anyway, these things had their origins, and all fell on the head of her good disciple Yang Jinyu.
"Wow, what kind of lantern is this? It's as bright as daytime." It was the first time that Mr. Ding Sanye and his son saw it, and they asked at the same time.
Ma Fuquan responded first: "Horse lanterns, some wealthy families in counties and prefectures use this."
After hearing this, Mr. Ding Sanye and his son sighed in their hearts. Ding Youtian's family was on the verge of becoming a wealthy family. Working for such a master, their family would definitely not have a bad life in the future. The three of them felt very comfortable.
After sitting down at the table and tasting Jian Ning's flatbread and Yunshan Cui, the father and his two sons felt more relaxed. In front of everyone at the table, Mr. Ding instructed his two sons, "From now on, do some work in this family. It won't kill you to do more. Look at the Tians and Changs who help with all the work. You two should also be more diligent and don't just do the little work that is within your responsibility. After dinner, rebuild the chicken coop in the yard."
Ding Youtian had built the chicken coop, and he'd tinkered with it the day after moving in. He'd gone to deliver a booklet to Blind Liu that day and asked for a few bricks. He also found some rocks and filled the collapsed area with bricks and rocks. One night, it rained, and the chickens were so wet they kept clucking. Jian Ning had to get up in the middle of the night and take them to the utility room.
The two chickens that were divided at the beginning weighed only a little over two kilograms, one male and one female. They were caught by the eldest brother Ding Youwang and sent to the side yard where they originally lived on the day of the division. Jian Ning was counting on them to lay eggs and hatch chicks, and had been thinking about renovating the chicken coop but had always forgotten about it.
When she heard Uncle Ding San mention it, she smiled and said, "Look at my memory. I always forget about this. Thank you Uncle San for thinking about it. I will definitely trouble you two brothers in a while."
She looked at Ding Yang and Ding Jian again.
Both of them said that this was a simple task and not hard at all, and they were extremely satisfied with the meal of dumplings and wine.
Mr. Ding San never thought that he could live such a good life in his lifetime. It was something he could not even imagine in the past. This was all thanks to the fourth uncle and his wife. That old dog Ding Erdan was really unlucky. He had such a good son and daughter-in-law but didn't know how to spoil them. Instead, he pushed them out with his own hands.
Ding Erdan, Ding Erdan, you are such a short-sighted and unlucky bastard!
Uncle Ding San was just muttering about Old Dingtou when Old Dingtou and Mrs. Meng, along with several sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, rushed into the yard.
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