All Hail Cousin Brother

194 Cousin, Teach Me Chess

Yu Youyao was stunned for a moment before her eyes widened. “It won’t take 49 days like in the book, right? Then Cousin…”

However, Zhou Linghuai laughed when he heard that. “Don’t think too much. It’s just a medicinal pill to nourish the body, not an immortal pill. Why would it take so long? The medicinal pill will be refined in three days at most.”

When Yu Youyao heard this, she was relieved. “It’s not as it seems. Otherwise, Cousin would have to wait for a long time, and his recovery would take a long time.”

Zhou Linghuai looked at her. “Don’t read any more nonsensical books. If you like books, I’ll give you a few some other day. You can choose one.”

Yu Youyao nodded wildly. It was unknown if she had heard him or not. She took out a sachet from her sleeve and held it in her hand. She handed it to her cousin as if she was presenting a treasure. “Cousin, I prayed for you in the palace today and even asked for a safety talisman for you. Cousin, you can wear it on your body to ensure your safety.”

Zhou Linghuai’s gaze paused. Instead of looking at the sachet she was holding in her plam, it landed on her fair wrist.

The Blood Beeswax Buddha beads flowed with the light, emitting a beautiful and pure shine. The pure red light contrasted with the little girl’s plain clothes, making her look stunning.

Noticing her cousin’s gaze, Yu Youyao fiddled with the prayer beads on her wrist. “This was given to me by my grandmother today. She said that it had been blessed in the temple ten years ago and had been used during worship non-stop day and night. It was infused by incense, baptized, and absorbed with Buddha nature. It was even personally consecrated by Master Hui Neng. It’s a rare Buddhist treasure.”

Zhou Linghuai nodded. “It’s indeed rare.” He paused for a moment and continued, “There are three characteristics of beeswax: spirituality, medicinal properties, and Buddhist nature. It’s spiritual and can help to avoid evil and calamities. According to the Medicine Scripture, beeswax is one of the five treasures of Chinese medicine. It’s a precious treasure that can nourish the body and mind. It also has ten types of Buddhist fate, so wear it well.”

Yu Youyao smiled and said, “I have a golden honey beeswax Buddha pendant in my house. It’s also very good. The golden honey beeswax is a Buddhist orthodox and the color is suitable for Cousin.”

Beeswax was one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. In addition, beeswax was rare. Usually, it was made into Buddhist beads, Buddha statues, and other items related to Buddhism.

Zhou Linghuai did not know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s as if I’m trying to get something from you.”

Yu Youyao looked like she was rich. “The blood beeswax prayer beads that Grandmother gave me are enough. I can’t wear any more. It’s a pity to leave such a good thing lying around. I might as well give it to Cousin. It’ll be put to use.”

Not to mention anything else, the beeswax fragrance was natural, and it wasn’t strong when worn on the body. However, occasionally, a wisp of fragrance would curl around the end of her nose, lingering between her heart and mind. It made her feel at ease. It could be seen that the effects of the beeswax were really amazing.

Even if there were many strange things in the Heavenly Fragrance Records, it couldn’t compare to the natural ingredients of the earth.

Her cousin was not in good health. Only by recuperating both physically and mentally could he achieve twice the results with half the effort.

At this point, Zhou Linghuai did not say anything else. In any case, he could not refuse.

Yu Youyao handed the sachet over again. “Cousin, quickly put on the safety charm I requested for you.”

Under the little girl’s sparkling gaze, Zhou Linghuai took the sachet and slowly placed it on his chest. He pressed it against his heart and felt his heart pound. “Thank you, Cousin.”

Yu Youyao smiled. Even the dark room lit up.

Zhou Linghuai picked up his tea and took a sip. He lowered his eyes and asked, “I just saw the heir of the Marquis of Zhen coming out of your small courtyard.”

The two of them stood side by side. The scene was blinding.

He quietly went up to the Precious Peace Temple. There were many inconveniences in his actions. Initially, he had not planned to see the little girl. However, when he passed by the little girl’s room, he could not help but take a detour and suddenly changed his mind.

Yu Youyao replied with an “Oh” and her attitude was a little cold. “He was only here to greet Grandmother. At the same time, he wanted to thank me for giving Old Madam Song the prescription and medicinal tea. Grandmother asked me to send him off.”

Zhou Linghuai nodded and did not ask further. He only picked up a black chess piece and placed it on the chessboard.

Even though Yu Youyao did not know much about chess, she could vaguely tell that this game was very dangerous. It was like a long knife smashing into a yellow dragon, and it was very powerful. She suddenly said, “Why don’t you teach me how to play chess too? When I master it, I can accompany you to play against you in the future. You won’t have to play chess with yourself anymore.”

When she went to her cousin’s study, she would occasionally see him sitting alone with a white chess piece in one hand and a black chess piece in the other.

At first, she was surprised.

However, as time passed, she inevitably felt that such a cousin was too lonely.

Such a delicate and lazy person wanted to learn chess skills just to play chess with him. Zhou Linghuai was stunned. “Chess isn’t as easy to learn as zither skills. You need to study it…”

When Yu Youyao heard this, she waved her hand. “Cousin, you think too highly of me. I will just learn casually and play with you. I don’t have time to study it.”

“I’ll teach you.” How could Zhou Linghuai refuse? He placed the black and white pieces on the chessboard onto the chessboard one by one.

Yu Youyao also helped. Suddenly, she said, “I still have a set of top-notch chess pieces in my house. When I return to the residence later, I’ll send them to Cousin’s courtyard with the golden beeswax Buddha beads. There’s also a chessboard made of camphor wood. I heard that the chess pieces are a perfect match.”

These were all sent over by her maternal grandfather. She didn’t know much about chess, so it was indeed a pity to put them away. If she gave them to her cousin, it would complement his talent.

His little cousin was rich and overbearing, wanting to give something away at the slightest disinterest. Zhou Linghuai felt helpless. “Just listen.”

Yu Youyao stuck out her tongue and stopped talking.

Zhou Linghuai said, “The chessboard is a square, and the chess pieces are round. On the chessboard, it means that the sky is round and the ground is square. The chess pieces are divided into black and white, which means Yin and Yang. There are a total of 361 points on the chessboard, which correspond to the number of days in a year. The Heavenly Yuan point means that everything begins at the same time. The nine star positions correspond to the number of nine palaces. The star positions divide the chessboard into four quadrants, which mean that there are four seasons in a year. Each quadrant has about 90 chess points, which means the number of days in a season. There are 72 points around the chessboard, which means that there are 72 days in each season.”

As he explained, he gestured and pointed at the chessboard.

Initially, Yu Youyao felt that there was nothing special about these small square chess boards. However, when she asked her cousin to gesture and give pointers, she felt that she was ignorant.

No wonder Ms. Ye had asked her to dabble in chess and paintings. It had indeed broadened her horizons.

This time, she was indeed a little interested. She followed her cousin’s gestures and carefully observed the chessboard. Gradually, she felt like she was one with it.

Zhou Linghuai explained and said, “The game moves in a circle, and the game is quiet. It’s for the game.”

The rules for placing the chess pieces were very simple. Zhou Linghuai explained it and Yu Youyao remembered it. After playing for a while, she basically grasped the rules, but it was only limited to placing stones.