Back at the Qin residence, Tang Xiaosan and Hu Tong were still there. The external injuries had been applied with a swelling-reducing ointment, which was said to have been personally applied by Miss Qin. This made Zhou Xuan stunned for a moment, thinking that he might also be seriously ill and have Miss Qin serve him. Miss Qin was both a doctor and a nurse, wow, this was too much to imagine, evil, evil!

  Zhou Xuan let Hu Tongxian return home first to avoid worrying his family, while Tang Xiaosan temporarily stayed at the Qin residence because there were still matters that required his assistance.

  In order to win the battle against "Xu Huang" two days later, Zhou Xuan began to actively prepare for war, not relying on heaven, earth or luck, but on his own rich knowledge of crickets. Of course, Wu Pianzis subordinate, Tu Bang, will be his powerful assistant, haha.

  Zhou Xuan instructed Lai Fu and Tang Xiaosan to either buy or catch, and prepare a variety of ingredients including soybeans, rice porridge grains, egg whites, leafy greens, carrots, sesame seeds, lambs liver, beef bone powder, water chestnut meat, ants, flies, cooked crab meat, cooked shrimp meat, and cooked carp meat. They were to be steamed or boiled, with a balance of meat and vegetarian options, and fed to "Little General Zhang Fei" at fixed times and in fixed amounts.

  "Little General Zhang Guo" had such a rich diet that Lai Fu envied him so much that he wished he could turn into a cricket.

  After a busy morning, it was already after noon. Zhou Xuan saw Qin Xiaodi going to the outer courtyard to use the restroom and ran over to take a look at the crickets scurrying about in a hurry to return to the inner courtyard.

  "Xiao Di, whats the hurry? Doing homework again? Go problems in Weiqi? Dont worry, your brother-in-law will teach you."

  Miss Qin is very strict with Xiao Di. In the morning, there are poetry and calligraphy classes, and in the afternoon, there are Go classes and traditional medical classes. If she doesnt finish her lessons, she cant play. At just six years old, Xiao Dis life is quite tiring, and Zhou Xuan deeply sympathizes with her.

  Xiao Di said: "This time its not a life-and-death question, but a game between sister and Xiao Di. Let Xiao Di have five sons. Xiao Di likes playing chess, but doesnt like doing life-and-death questions."

  Zhou Xuans heart skipped a beat, if he could play chess face-to-face with Qin Xiao Jie, it would be an incredible feeling. In college, there were several female chess players who didnt look particularly good but were called "beautiful chess players". If there was someone like Qin Xiao Jie back then, who was both beautiful and played chess, the popularity of Go in college would have been overwhelming. Wait, Qin Xiao Jie is only 17 years old, still a high school girl!

  "Can Wuzi win against Xiaodi?" Zhou Xuan didnt know what level of chess player Qin was.

  Xiao Di shook her head and said, "Its hard to win. Xiao Di will try to lose a little less. Last year, my sister let me have nine points, now its five points. Brother-in-law, isnt Xiao Di making rapid progress?"

  Zhou Xuan said: "Its very quick, Xiao Di is really clever, but do you want to let Wu Zi defeat your sister now?"

  "Think." Xiaodi said excitedly: "Sister said that if she wins, she will reward Xiaodi with three pieces of oil fritters."

  Sweat, the oil fritters were bought by Zhou Xuan yesterday for my younger brother to eat, but unexpectedly they were taken away by Miss Qin as a reward for Xiao Dis winning chess game. My wife is really too stingy.

  "Alright, brother-in-law is helping you - where are you and your sister playing chess?"

  "In my sisters room."

  Zhou Xuan pursed his lips, bowed his head and whispered a few words to Xiao Di.

  Xiao Di opened her bright and shiny eyes, smiled revealing two small tiger teeth, and nodded repeatedly.

  Zhou Xuan carried the earthenware basin containing "Little General Zhang Guo" into the inner courtyard, placing it in her own room, which was originally Qin Xiaojies boudoir, and then waited by the door.

  In less than two minutes, a servant woman rushed in and shouted: "Madam, Miss, Master Xiaodi has twisted his foot and is sitting there crying."

  The gate creaked "squeak squeak", footsteps hurried, and a group of people all rushed to the front yard.

  Zhou Xuan saw that Miss Qin had also gone out, so he "zoomed" out of the door and ran at a speed of 11.8 seconds per 100 meters to the room where Miss Qin was currently living. He lifted up the bamboo curtain and almost collided with Xiao Huixiang who was just about to go out.

  Zhou Xuan let out a "hiss" and Xiao Huixiang immediately fell silent.

  By the window, on a small square table with carved flowers, a chessboard was laid out, with more than 40 black and white pieces scattered sparsely. Its okay, it hasnt entered the middle game yet, there arent many pieces, if there were more, I wouldnt be able to remember the position of each piece.

  "Zhou Gongzi, what are you doing? Miss will be back soon." said Xiao Huixiang worriedly.

  Zhou Xuan said, "Lets go." He took another glance at the chessboard, lifted the curtain, and walked out in big strides. Just as he reached the bottom of the large locust tree, he saw Madame Qin and Miss Qin walking into the inner courtyard with Xiao Di between them, one on each side holding her hand. After all, Xiao Di was still a child, she didnt know to stall for time, almost getting Zhou Xuan blocked in Miss Qins room, that would have been embarrassing.

  "Xiao Di, did you twist your foot? Let me take a look." Zhou Xuan warmly came up to express his concern as her brother-in-law.

  "Its okay, brother-in-law. Xiaodi just tripped a little." Xiaodi replied in a crisp voice, struggling free from her mother and sisters grasp, running over to grab Zhou Xuans hand. "Xiaodi wants to talk to brother-in-law first, brother-in-law, lets go." She pulled Zhou Xuan towards the small study in the living room.

  Xiao Dis enthusiastic "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law" was met with awkward glances from both Madame Qin and Miss Qin. Miss Qin felt a surge of annoyance and, out of character, loudly said: "Xiao Di, you havent finished your chess game yet."

  "Got it, Ill be right there. Im going to beat my sister."

  Zhou Xuan quickly set up the board with both hands, and asked, "Now its Xiao Dis turn to make a move, right?"

  Xiao Di nodded.

  Zhou Xuan said: "Lets play five sons chess, as long as you dont get killed by the big dragon, its generally very hard to output, your brother-in-law taught you, in the next five hands of chess, no matter where your sister goes, you just follow these places, rest assured, your sister wont compete with you for these places, because this is the way to play the first move of dividing the board, the child will not be so obedient, and then, wherever your sister goes, you just follow and respond, dont fight with her, just rely on the advantage of the childs power to make every piece of chess come alive, Xiaodai will win, remember?"

  Xiao Di excitedly said: "Remembered." Little brain confidence inflated, ran into sisters room and said: "Sister, continue next." As she spoke, she picked up a black piece and "slapped" it onto the position designated by Zhou Xuan.

  Miss Qin didnt mind this move and asked: "Xiaodi, what did you and that young master Zhou say in the small study?"

  Xiao Di shook her head and said, "We didnt say anything."

  "Hmm, Im sure he said something. Let me tell you, dont mention sister to him, that guy is good at cheating kids..." At this point, Ms. Qin gave the little parsley next to her a sideways glance and added: "And also Xiao Yatou."

  Xiao Di said loudly: "Brother-in-law would never cheat anyone, brother-in-law is the best to Xiao Di."

  "Exactly, Master Zhou is a really good person."

  "Be quiet, no talking!"

  Miss Qin slammed her hand on the chessboard, "Play properly, if you lose, youre not allowed to play for a whole day tomorrow, especially with that Zhou kid."

  Xiao Di waited for her sister to fall, and quickly followed her brother-in-laws instructions to occupy another position with the black chess piece. She said, "This time, Xiao Di must win against her sister."

  In the next five moves of Go, Xiaodi occupied three major areas on the board.

  Miss Qins delicate eyebrows furrowed, when did Xiao Di have such a clear overall view, strange!

  The game went as Zhou Xuan had expected, with Qins lady making every effort to kill Xiao Dis big dragon, and Xiao Di remembering her brother-in-laws teachings, playing each piece with both eyes open, even if it meant being at a disadvantage.

  Down to one hundred and fifty or more moves, the game has entered the endgame stage. Black has a total of seven pieces left, although many have been eaten by White, each piece is still active, leaving no room for White to win.

  Miss Qin glanced at her brother and said on purpose: "Xiaodi, the trick that Master Zhou taught you is useless, you still lost."

  "Ah!" Six-year-old Xiaodi was bad at arithmetic and couldnt count, and exclaimed in surprise: "How did I still lose? Brother-in-law said so, as long as the big dragon is not killed, Xiaodi wont lose."

  Miss Qin angrily threw the white chess piece into the box, stood up and walked out in a huff, the bamboo curtain was lifted with force, stirring up a gust of wind.

  For the past two days, Miss Qin has been extremely depressed and in a bad mood. Her elder cousin is overdue to arrive, and in order not to enter the palace, she had no choice but to find someone to pretend to marry her for no reason. She thought that with just a few dozen taels of silver, she could get rid of him, but unexpectedly, this man named Zhou was wealthy and had bribed everyone in the mansion, from top to bottom, so that they all spoke well of him, including her younger brother Xiao Di and even her personal maid Xiaohuixiang. Whats most annoying is that her foolish father actually let this man move into the inner courtyard, and even into her own boudoir! How can she explain this to her elder cousin in the future?

  ……