Chapter 15: The chess
Shi Tian and Xiu Ying were both sitting on the ground under a tree. At this time, Shi Tian was busy carving some wooden pieces into small sculptures.
"Young Master, what are you making?" Xiu Ying curiously asked as she held the carved wooden statue that was the size of her palm.
"I am making game pieces." Shi Tian replied while focusing on carving the wooden statue in his hand.
"It's called Chess. I have read in some book in the past, it seemed interesting, so I decided to make a one for us." Shi Tian was not making a lie to her, there was indeed a game similar to chess in this world too, but it was somewhat different from the earth's chess game. And it was much boring than earth's chess game.
Xiu Ying was kept tugging him to play with her, by playing her means was sparring martial arts with her. It was his third day in this world. Shi Tian still hasn't used to the new lifestyle of this world, in the morning he was already tortured by the bone tempering pill for three hours straight, so he was quite tire now.
Rather than playing tiresome game like sparing with swords, he preferred some easy games for now.
So he decided to make chess pieces to play chess with her. There were not many indoor games in this world, rather there were not many games in this world. The whole world seemed focused on martial arts.
So he had no choice but to bring out games from the previous world. In the indoors games, Shi Tian is quite fond of chess and cards games.
The chess game was easier to make, as it only needs thirty-two pieces and one plane board to play. Shi Tian could easily carve thirty-two wooden sculptures into the chess pieces and a three square feet wooden plank to use as a chessboard.
After two hours, Shi Tian finished carving all the thirty-two pieced, then he used black ink to paint the wooden plank into the chessboard.
Xiu Ying kept silent and looked at the Shi Tian who was making the chessboard with a serious expression. From time to time, she held the small wooden statues in her hands and inspect them. All of the weird design which didn't seem to resemble any creature except four pieces their upper portion resembled the horse's head.
After painting the chessboard, Shi Tian coated sixteen pieces with black ink. After that, they waited a few minutes for the ink to dry before setting the chessboard. At this time, Shi Tian started teaching her the rules of chess.
"Ying'er, listen carefully. These are all chess pieces." Shi Tian said while pointing towards the thirty-two wooden statues, "The chess pieces are what you move on a chessboard when playing a game of chess. There are six different types of chess pieces. Each side starts with 16 pieces: eight pawns, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, one queen, and one king."
After that, he gave a short introduction to her, "This big guy is king, this is queen, rook, knight, Bishop, and lastly this is a pawn."
Xiu Ying listened carefully and nodded. After that Shi Tian began teaching how to play chess.
After one hour later.
"AHhh, young master... this game is so difficult and confusing..." Xiu Ying pouted cutely and protested.
"Haha, It's because you are still learning the rules, once you understand all the moves of the pieces, you will find it interesting." Shi Tian laughed and said. Xiu Ying nodded slightly.
"Good Morning, Young Master!" At this time, another sweet voice of the girl appeared, Shi Tian looked at the side, a blonde hair girl walking towards them.
"Good Afternoon, Duan Mei!" Shi Tian replied with a faint smile.
"Hmm! What are you both doing here?" Duan Mei said as she came to them.
"Well, I was teaching Ying'er a game." Shi Tian said faintly.
"Young Master invented a new game, but it is too difficult to play." Xiu Ying said as she pointed towards the chessboard.
"Hmm, new game." Duan Mei looked at the chessboard, dozens of wooden statues placed on the board. It looks kind of strange to her. But she didn't place much attention on the chess rather her mind was occupied with another matter.
"Young Master, this is unfair. You are showing difference again. Why didn't you call me as well, I also wanted to play with the young master." Duan Mei set down beside Shi Tian and said with a wronged expression while holding his hand and shaking it.
"Don't worry, I will teach you as well." Shi Tian smiled lightly and said, which surprised Duan Mei. In the past, whenever she tried this kind of act, he would show an annoyed expression while now it was completely opposite.
Duan Mei happily, taking advantage of the moment, moved closer to him, almost clinging to him as she felt the young master seemed in good mood today.
At this close distance, Shi Tian could smell the faint sweet fragrance of her. He couldn't help but give a quick glance at Duan Mei.
Duan Mei's personality was the polar opposite of the Xiu Ying, she was an enthusiastic, loquacious, and cheerful girl. She was moderately mischievous as well. Duan Mei's personality slightly resembled the personality of his girlfriend from the earth.
His predecessor used to be annoyed by Duan Mei due to her cheerful and playful nature as she disturbed his cultivation from time to time. Unlike Xiu Ying who never show disobedient nature,
But Shi Tian didn't find her cheerful nature annoying rather it was his likable.
After that Shi Tian started explaining the moves and rules of the chess game to Duan Mei.
"Okay, it's only a two-person game, so you two can play, I will watch from the side and give you instruction if you girls made any mistakes." Shi Tian said to two girls. Both girls nodded as they were immersed in the chess in no time.
Both girls started playing chess while Shi Tian taught them from the sidelines, explaining other advance rules of the game to the girls.
Soon after, his mother also found out the existence of the new game when she saw them playing in the garden, then his aunt and sister-in-law as well.
"Tian'er, where did you learn this game, I have never heard of chess before." Xiangyue asked curiously.
"Mother, I have read about this in an ancient book in the past." Shi Tian said with innocent expression.
Xiangyue nodded slightly, there were thousands of old books in the library of the Shi Clan that collected by many generations. Shi Tian was a bookworm in the past, he liked to read a lot other than cultivating and practicing the martial arts.
"Mother wants to learn too, teach me." Xiangyue looked at two girls who have extremely serious expression on their faces as they stared at the chessboard, their expression was changing every move they made. It drew her interest a little bit.
Bingyao and Shen Xiaoli just agreed to learn for curiosity.
After that Shi Tian once again started explaining the rules and moves of the chess to three women.