"Why not use them? I'm terrible at chess." Shen Qian said, full of anticipation. "Manman, don't laugh at me."
"Saying that leaves me wordless." Lian Manman replied, genuinely taking out the chess pieces and board, "if I find out later that you're mocking me, you won't get off easy."
"The punishment is at your discretion." Shen Qian agreed readily.
A few people sat on the kang, Lian Manman sat on one side of the table on the kang, Shen Qian and Xiao Qi sat on the other side, and they really started playing chess. Shen Qian, who had talked about learning chess from Lian Manman, once seated, his attention was divided, mostly focused on chatting with Lian Manman.
"...Xiao Qi said that harvesting wheat involves many processes, and it sounds interesting to me. Manman, I want to come and see." Shen Qian said, holding a chess piece, seemingly contemplating where to place it, but speaking instead.
