Chapter 56: The Mysterious Huarong Dao (Part 2)

  It turns out that Wang Kuang is also very shameless. When he has nothing to do, he thinks about the universal treasure of the Crossover Tribe and wants to copy some entertainment tools. At first, he wanted to make a Go game, but it was extremely difficult to find over 100 small stones in black and white. Two years ago, he asked someone to custom-make a Go set, but until now, they haven't been able to gather a complete set. However, for Wang Kuang, polishing the stones is simple. He just needs to call out at the Taoist temple, and a group of beggars will follow him, each one grinding several small stones according to his requirements. After grinding, they can eat a full meal at the inn. Making Go sets is difficult, but making Checkers is much simpler. You only need to find 15 pieces of the same color, so he used his free time to make a set of Checkers. At night, he would play with Wang Xian in his room, or play by himself, which could also pass the time.

  Because Wang Kuang usually didn't take out the hopscotch, Lin Xuanmu also saw it for the first time. He leaned over and took a closer look: "Hopscotch? Look at these round stones, they do resemble marbles, but Second Brother, aren't you trying to trick us? I don't know what this is called. It's just that your marbles don't have a board, how can we play with them? Moreover, marbles don't come in so many colors." Having been with Wang Kuang for a long time, Lin Xuanmu had indeed learned many new terms from him.

  "What's '弹棋'?" Wang Kuang was puzzled, the word sounded like "jumping chess", could it be that this era already had jumping chess? Or did someone bring it over?

  "Haha." Lin Xuan's mood was called comfort: "I didn't expect it, there are also things that Wang Erlang doesn't know about, but it can't be blamed on you. Those traveling merchants and husbands don't have the opportunity to play Weiqi, so they naturally won't tell you about it either."

  Lin Xuanmiao finally got a chance to show off, so he naturally wouldn't miss it. He picked up his chopsticks and began demonstrating what "tán qí" (弹棋) was to Wang Kuang. After watching for half the day, Wang Kuang finally understood that this "tán qí" was actually very similar to the later "Kong Le Qi" or billiards, which had already appeared in the Qin and Han dynasties and were popular among the upper-class nobility, with only slightly different rules.

  It turns out that billiards originated from China and was popularized by Europeans. Wang Guan guessed it was probably introduced by Marco Polo.

  The little girl saw the jumping chess and also pouted, looking down on Wang Kuang: "What's so fun about this jumping chess? You're still treating it as a treasure."

  Wang Kuang, who had been paying attention to Xiao Yatou's expression, couldn't see any surprise on her face. Wang Kuang was certain that unless this little girl was extremely cunning, she wasn't someone who had also crossed over like him. However, based on the personality Xiao Yatou had shown earlier, she was still a child in terms of mental age and it was impossible for her to have such deep schemes, so from this point, it could be basically ruled out that Xiao Yatou had crossed over. But then where did her Huarong Dao come from? Was it really just picked up by the side of the road?

  To be on the safe side, Wang Kuang decided to try again. He smiled and said, "You two are wrong, this is not a popping chess game, but a jumping chess game. The board is in the box." After explaining the rules of the game, Lin Xianglian and Xiao Yatou quickly understood it. However, after playing for a while, Lin Xianglian lost interest: "It's no more interesting than popping chess, and not as good as Go. But it's suitable for women to play with." This kind of game that doesn't require much brain power is something that only children would play with in the future, and adults basically wouldn't play with it. The Tang people valued literature and martial arts equally, so they naturally wouldn't like this game either. This was contrary to Wang Kuang's expectations. He had thought that once he brought out the jumping chess, it would cause a sensation, so he had always been afraid to take it out and only played with it secretly. This time, he took it out just to test Xiao Yatou.

  No wonder every time he played checkers with Wang Xian, except for the initial excitement, he was a bit reluctant afterwards. Wang Kuang suddenly realized that he himself was bored and thought of playing checkers just to pass the time, not even mentioning liking it.

  However, since there is now a cue ball, it can be properly pushed out of the way. Cue balls are not comparable to jumpers. Cue balls require consideration of many factors, including physical coordination, eye power, and judgment of the overall situation. It can be said that cue balls are an invisible sport that consumes a lot of brainpower and physical strength. In this era of reverence for literature and martial arts, it should be easy to promote, while the reason why jumpers have not been widely promoted is largely due to the small size of the board and the simplicity of the rules.

  It was Xiao Yatou who, after all, had a child's nature and still liked to play Go. Seeing Lin Xiangruo unwilling to continue playing, she took the Go board in her arms and refused to let go.

  Now Wang Kuang can confirm that Xiao Yatou did not come from afar, but how did that Huarong Dao come here?

  "The little girl wants this jump chess, it's not impossible, but you have to bring something to exchange." Wang Kuang saw the little girl hugging the jump chess and didn't let go, so he wanted to use the jump chess to exchange for Hua Rongdao. He had seen it before, but at that time, due to some concerns in his heart, he didn't look carefully. Now if he could exchange it, maybe he could find some clues from it.

  "What do you want to exchange?" The little girl saw that there was hope of having the jumpers, and she was naturally willing, as long as it wasn't something important.

  "Can you little girl remember what happened two years ago when Li took that thing from me?"

  "You're talking about that strange thing with many squares?" Seeing Wang Kuang wanting to exchange for such a thing, Xiao Yatou hesitated: "I gave that kind of thing as a birthday gift to Father last year, how can you exchange it now?"

  "Is that so?" Wang Kuang was a bit disappointed, it seemed there was no hope. Forget it, he didn't like playing checkers much anyway, and now he had the idea of playing billiards, checkers were no longer important. Besides, making this checkerboard was extremely easy for Wang Kuang, if he really wanted to make another one, it would be no more than treating someone to a meal: "Then there's no need to exchange again, I'll just give this checkerboard to the young lady."

  Since Wang Juan didn't force her to give anything, Xiao Yatou felt a bit uneasy and thought to herself: When I get home, I'll talk to Father about it, maybe he can help me get that thing back. Father loves Xiaoying the most, so maybe he'll agree. Then I can just send it over to this Wang Erlang later.

  "Hmm, it seems that Wang Erlang is not a bad person after all." The little girl turned her head and said to Wang Kuang with great certainty.

  At this moment, Wang Kuang really had the feeling of finding a piece of tofu and banging his head against it. Could it be that Xiao Yatou's standard for judging whether someone was good or bad was so simple? Whoever treated her well and catered to her whims was a good person? And whoever made her unhappy was a bad person?

  Lin Xuanmo was already accustomed to his sister-in-law's words, but seeing Wang Kuang also helpless towards his own sister-in-law, he felt extremely relieved. He burst out laughing and patted Wang Kuang on the shoulder: "I say, Second Brother, have you had any new dishes recently? Hurry up and bring some for me to try."

  Wang Kuang gave him a white eye: "Do you think I'm really Star Lord descending to the world? This new dish is not something that can be easily made, it's also necessary to try many times before it's possible. You don't know how difficult it is, otherwise, come up with a new dish for me casually?"

  Lin Xuanmu was speechless, although he had an interest in cooking and would occasionally go into the kitchen to try his hand, but when it came to making a new dish from scratch, he still had some self-awareness. (In ancient times, there was a saying that "a gentleman keeps a distance from the kitchen", but this did not mean that a gentleman could not cook, rather it meant that a gentleman should not lightly take life. This was mentioned in a classical text in middle school, and is not what later generations understood as "a gentleman should not enter the kitchen". Many idioms have changed their original meaning over time, with many being altered by so-called "brick experts" who misinterpret them. For example, the phrase "out of your attitude, return with the same attitude" originally meant that if you approach someone with a certain attitude, they will respond in kind, similar to the idea of "an eye for an eye". However, over time it came to mean "unreliable" or "untrustworthy".)

  She got the copper plate and stopped bothering Lin Xiangyan with ordering food, originally she just came to hear that Fuli Inn had a lot of new dishes in the past two years, and her eyes were red with envy for Lin Xiangyan's copper plate. Lin Xiangyan usually has to go to school, it's impossible to accompany her every day, so she thought about getting it during Jian'an's days off to come to the inn often to eat those new dishes. As a "senior", it's not good to ask for it openly, so she would make things difficult for Lin Xiangyan. Now that she has the copper plate and got a new toy, she is naturally satisfied.

  Lin Xuanmiao slightly revealed to Wang Kuang about Lin Han's trip to Jian'an, and then left with the little girl.

  For Lin's family to come at this time, Wang Kuang had already expected it, and earlier in his own room, he had basically confirmed with Sun Ming that he would allow Lin's family to participate in the chili industry to a certain extent. It would be best if they could also pull in one or two other powerful families to join in, so that the business would be secure. If he just wanted to monopolize everything for himself, he wouldn't know how he would end up dying.

  Now it can be said that the entire Fulaiguan Inn has been handed over to Wang Kuang for management, and Sun Mingqian is happy to enjoy his life at home. Moreover, Wang Kuang is not autocratic, and whenever there are important matters, he will consult with him, which makes Sun Mingqian confident that he did not misjudge the person, and often proudly tells his wife about his keen eye for talent.

  After seeing off Lin Xuanmiao and the others, Wang Kuang fell into a dilemma again: what was going on with that Huarong Dao?

  Division

  Finally finished coding before 12 o'clock. Thanks for the reward from book friend Huishui Luodi.

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