The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 645 - 634: Pawn (Additional update as a reward for book friend "Moyan")

Chapter 645: Chapter 634: Pawn (Additional update as a reward for book friend "Moyan")

Guan Xin looked at him, "What, you want me to not marry?"

"No, no, no," his comrade-in-arms was terrified he really wouldn’t marry. If that happened, would they even be able to leave Qili Village alive?

Didn’t they see how many villagers lined the roads to watch the excitement on their way here?

In a lowered voice, the comrade-in-arms said, "Just pretend everything I said just now was flatulence, let’s hurry up and go, we can’t miss the auspicious time."

Zhou ErLang ran to the relatives carrying the dowry and pulled out several small baskets, which he filled with candy. He handed the baskets to his younger brothers, and together, they distributed the treats to the onlooking villagers and children along the way.

With the distribution, the children went wild, singing nursery rhymes and following behind, all the way until they were two li out of the village, only stopping when the candies Zhou ErLang and his brothers had were all given away.

Manbao was unable to join in the fun and felt incredibly regretful.

Bai Erlang had already run off with the others, chasing after the wedding procession for two li before heading back with a pocket full of joyous candies.

Bai Shan didn’t join in the excitement. He and Manbao went back to her room to talk. "My grandmother found out I’m learning chess, so she had someone make me a chessboard with fine catalpa wood. However, she said I have to find my chess pieces myself. Can you help me?"

"Sure," Manbao thought that Bai Shan wouldn’t be playing chess with Bai Er, so she would likely be the one using it with him, and was naturally willing to help.

Having just sent her older sister off, Manbao felt disconsolate. With her family busy, and no one to play with, she ended up going with Bai Shan to the Bai Family’s place.

Bai Shan led her to his courtyard and said, "The chessboard is still settling, I just glanced at it. Let’s go pick out some stones."

In Bai Shan’s courtyard, there were two baskets; the servants were all busy with their tasks, either pruning the plants or organizing things.

Bai Shan tipped one basket over, spilling out a heap of black stones, "These were bought from the county city by people my grandmother sent these last few days."

The other basket contained stones of a grey-white color, also filled to the brim, all of different shapes and sizes.

Bai Shan tipped it over and spilled the stones out, explaining, "We need to select appropriate stones from these to polish into chess pieces."

Manbao’s mouth fell ajar and she asked, "Don’t they sell ready-made ones at the bookstore?"

"They do, but usually, the quality is not good, and they’re expensive," he said. "My grandmother says if you want to learn chess, it’s best to "nurture" your own chess pieces. Such pieces become lustrous, and playing with them has a rhythmic quality, which is very satisfying."

He lamented, "My father also had a set of chess pieces, but unfortunately, when the servants went to collect his possessions, many things were lost, including the chessboard."

Otherwise, he could have directly used his father’s chess set.

Manbao also felt sorry as she looked at the stones scattered on the ground and sighed, "This is going to be a big project."

Bai Shan nodded in agreement, "Yes, let’s start picking the chess pieces."

"My grandmother said all these stones are of fine quality for making chess pieces. Despite their disordered and strange shapes, they weren’t cheap."

"Then why did your family buy so many?"

"No choice, these stones are sold by the basket."

Manbao was curious, "What if you can’t find a full set of chess pieces in one basket?"

"That would just mean you have bad luck, and you’d have to buy another basket," he replied.

Manbao thought... suddenly, selling stones seems like a very profitable business, doesn’t it?

But after looking at the stones in her hand, she noticed that such stones were not seen in the village, no, she had never seen them at all, and promptly discarded the thought.

Manbao looked at the grey-white pieces, then at the black ones, and decisively chose to pick out the black ones.

The goal was to select stones that were mostly round, smooth, and of medium size, and to pick out extra, as Ms. Liu would later have a craftsman help cut them and do a simple polish.

However, the finer polishing and stone washing would have to be done by themselves.

Because chess pieces were not something that could be made in a day or two; there were a total of 361 pieces in a chess set, and each had to be meticulously polished and washed by the craftsman, which would take a long time.

The craftsmen might have the time, but Manbao and Bai Shan certainly did not.

Moreover, the most important thing in learning Go was patience; this was just like practicing calligraphy, or even requiring more endurance.

Bai Shan didn’t know how other families handled it, but in the Bai Family, the chess pieces were always polished and washed by themselves. He heard that the chess pieces and boards of his great-grandfather and grandfather were still stored in the warehouse.

It was a pity he couldn’t see them, as his grandmother wouldn’t let him use them. Thus, he could only work on his own chess pieces.

At first, they squatted on the ground, heads bowed as they picked stones. Eventually, they just sat down, picking stones and chatting along, which wasn’t dull at all.

Bai Shan found a very peculiar stone and asked Manbao with a smile, "Doesn’t this look like a turtle?"

Manbao looked up and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, if it were raised a bit here, it would look just like a mouth."

Bai Shan set it aside, saying, "We’ll have the craftsman polish it a bit later."

The inventive Manbao suggested, "You could place it in a brush washer on the desk, and it would look nice."

Bai Shan thought it made sense.

When Auntie Zheng came over with a tray, she saw the two engrossed in conversation. Glancing at the setting sun in the sky, she quickly handed the tray to a maid and approached them, "Have you two been sitting here picking stones all afternoon?"

Bai Shanbao looked up, only then realizing his neck was a bit sore, "Mother, you came?"

"I came to see if you were up to mischief again. Why would you sit and sift through stones under the tree in this heat?" She turned to scold the servants, "Without the master for three months, you’ve become even more unruly, not even thinking to move the stones inside for sifting?"

Bai Shan quickly said, "Mother, it was my choice, the stones are filthy, and I didn’t want to take them inside."

"Then you could have laid down a blanket on the ground; what’s more important, your health or that floor?"

Manbao spoke up, "Auntie Zheng, we’re almost done picking, and now that the sun’s nearly set, it isn’t hot at all."

Auntie Zheng squatted down and wiped Manbao’s forehead with a handkerchief, "Still saying it’s not hot, your forehead is sweating. You’ve only just started to regain some fairness. What if you get tanned again, how much would Auntie Zheng’s heart ache?"

What Auntie Zheng was most satisfied with about her son going to Yizhou City for school was that he returned fairer than before. In fact, all three children had become fairer.

In Qili Village, as soon as school was over, no matter how disciplined they were, they couldn’t help going out to play in the fields and their courtyards every day, running around under the hot sun.

So even though they were three shades lighter than the other village kids, they were still dark.

But after three months in Yizhou City, most of the time they spent indoors studying and learning, with few opportunities to run wild in the sun, they all became fairer.

Especially Manbao, her face was like gleaming jade, which Auntie Zheng adored, and couldn’t help pinching her cheek, "Such plump and fair cheeks, it would be such a pity if she got tanned. Auntie Zheng’s heart would ache."

Bai Shan, "...Mother, your son is right here."

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