Time flowed by.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed since he arrived in this ancient world, and the season was gradually transitioning from spring to high summer. Gardens, rockeries, pavilions, courtyards, streets, painted boats – Ning Yi was gradually growing familiar with this ancient world, but often felt a sense of boredom.

Perhaps it was because he was used to being busy. Now, without a computer, without work, without anything to do, he always felt restless. The Su family was happy to see him bored. After all, they had taken him in as a live-in son-in-law to give Su Tan'er a reason to stay in her own home and avoid being married off, and this reason was best if it didn't involve too much instability. Of course, on the whole, he was still enjoying all this idleness, walking around every day, looking at the customs and scenery of the ancient world, looking at the ancient beauties, thinking all sorts of strange things in his head, and most of all, thinking about how many times he could increase the profits and how to make money if he were to do certain things himself.

He'd been a boss for too long; he was obsessed... He would laugh and scold himself like this, and then these thoughts would simply sink back into the depths of his mind.

Compared to his leisure, his nominal wife, Su Tan'er, was clearly very busy. However, no matter how busy she was, she would basically come home for dinner on time. In this sense, the ancient world had its advantages. Women, no matter what, could not be as casual as men. To put it another way, the pace of work in the ancient world was not as breathless as it was in modern times. Carrying a computer every day, flying here and there, dealing with large amounts of information at any time – such workaholics could not exist in an era when information did not circulate rapidly. You could always find time to rest, because after you gave an order, the other side hadn't even reacted yet.

Probably taking him for a truly honest and simple man, she would always initiate conversations when they sat down to eat, exchanging information and livening up the atmosphere. Ning Yi would just casually give a few perfunctory answers. He had spent so many years in the business world that he had long developed the ability to speak casually without making people feel like he was being perfunctory. He was much more skilled than Su Tan'er. So every time they ate together, Ning Yi would think of the two characters in the movie *Mr. & Mrs. Smith*.

After dinner, if it was raining, they would mostly stay in their respective rooms. Su Tan'er would read, occasionally play the zither, or do some needlework and embroidery. He would simply read and write, or just space out, occasionally taking out a piece of paper to do the business analysis he used to do, making assumptions for the stock market, and then feeling it was pointless. Unless there was an emergency, Su Tan'er would also go out in a carriage. If the weather was good, Ning Yi would basically go out for a stroll, and Su Tan'er would also go to see the shops and workshops in the city. The two of them would go their separate ways.

A maid named Xiao Chan had been following him, and over the months had become his personal attendant. This was also Su Tan'er's arrangement. It was clear that Xiao Chan was trying to get on good terms with him. When tidying up his room, she would always chatter on about this and that, or talk about where Miss went today, what she did, and how much she admired and liked this Miss. Su Tan'er was indeed very kind to her servants. Ning Yi's response was usually just a nod and a smile. When he went out, this little girl would always follow behind him. Sometimes he would feel bad, and when he got tired, he would sit down in a nearby teahouse, have some snacks, and the little girl would take out some loose silver from her exquisite little purse to pay the bill, making him feel like the pampered young masters of ancient times lived.

It was almost the same in modern times. He didn't even have to swipe his own card when he went out to buy things... Well, it seemed like it had been many years since he had actually gone out to buy things.

He recently liked to watch people play chess by the Qinhuai River.

That not-too-busy street by the river was located in the suburbs, a little out of the way. There were no big shops, and the road was mostly filled with small vendors carrying loads. There weren't many pedestrians either. Under a tree by the river, an old man often set up a chessboard. Occasionally, a few old men would watch, and occasionally some scholars would come over. There was a tea stall nearby. The first time, he and Xiao Chan had stopped here to rest when they were tired. While drinking tea, he casually watched. The two old men playing chess were very skilled. He thought to himself that it was worthy of being ancient times; any two old guys could play so well. After that, he often came over. One old man was always there, and his opponent would change frequently, but after watching for a long time, they were mostly acquaintances, and their chess skills were generally very high.

Such mental labor was probably one of the few forms of entertainment he could find here. In fact, the Qinhuai River was then recognized as the most prosperous and extravagant area, with all kinds of painted boats and brothels clustered together, turning into a city that never sleeps at night. He often heard some scandalous stories as he walked around every day, but everything had to be done in moderation. Since he had been taken in as a live-in son-in-law to the Su family, he was mostly cut off from this kind of entertainment. However, in his previous life, he had already seen all kinds of extravagant things, so he naturally didn't have much interest now.

Then one day, the weather was a bit cloudy, but it looked like it wouldn't rain yet. He and Xiao Chan went to the tea stall, and there were two old men playing chess again. After playing for a while, a servant-like person came over and said a few words to one of the old men. The old man nodded: "Mr. Qin, there's an emergency at home, this game..."

"The game is currently undecided, how about we call it a draw?"

"Very well..."

The two men spoke a few polite words, and then one old man left. The old man who set up the chessboard began to put away the pieces. Ning Yi finished his tea in one gulp and stood up: "Nothing to see, Xiao Chan, pay the bill."

Xiao Chan was taking out her purse when the old man behind him spoke: "This young master has been watching chess lately, so he must have gained some insights into this art. Would you be willing to play a game with this old man?" He had no opponent, so he just grabbed someone at random.

"Uh..." Ning Yi was stunned for a moment, looked at the sky, and said, "So-so... Okay."

He sat down opposite the old man. While helping to put away the pieces, there were naturally questions like "What is this young master's background?" Ning Yi casually answered a few questions. After putting away the chess, he guessed who would go first. Ning Yi chose white and went first. He didn't stand on ceremony, and placed a piece with a *thwack*.

"Uh, this opening..." The old man looked at him, then just frowned and followed suit.

After about a dozen moves, the old man frowned even deeper and asked doubtfully: "Young master's chess skills, may I ask who you learned from?"

"I studied the chess scores myself."

"Oh, no wonder..."

After this sentence, the old man didn't say anything more. Under the tree by the river, the two men silently played chess. Xiao Chan sat on the side, occasionally looking up at the sky. She really didn't understand Go, but she just felt that the more they played, the longer the old man thought, and the deeper the wrinkles on his forehead became. He would occasionally look up at Ning Yi, or occasionally shake his head. On the chessboard, the white pieces were imposing, and the black pieces were gradually being slaughtered into disarray.

After about an hour, the old man resigned, looked up and carefully sized up Ning Yi for a moment. Ning Yi still had that faint look of seeming to find everything interesting: "Young master's chess skill... is superb, but the methods of playing chess, are they somewhat..." The old man carefully chose his words. Ning Yi was putting away the pieces, but smiled: "Playing chess is about winning, like two armies fighting each other, what's the difference between methods?"

"Playing chess is a gentleman's study..."

"Old man thinks playing chess can reveal a person's character." Ning Yi said casually, putting the pieces back one by one, "Is it accurate?"

The old man was stunned for a moment, pondered slightly, and then shook his head and smiled, reaching out to put away the pieces: "It's not very accurate."

After putting away the chessboard, seeing that the sky was gloomy and about to rain, Ning Yi and Xiao Chan went back towards the Su residence. On the way, Xiao Chan looked at him with a bit of surprise and couldn't help asking: "Did master win?"

"Ah, I'm afraid it won't be good to go watch chess again in the future."

"Why?"

"Don't you think he thinks I'm a bad person?"

"Just playing a game of chess makes master a bad person?" The little girl looked back, "It must be because master won him and he got angry... The old man's temper is really small."

These words were naturally just said casually. The old man was also quite cultured and naturally wouldn't get angry over such things. However, at this time, Go emphasized propriety. Friends playing chess should be fair and stop at the right time. Some aggressive or even relentless methods that lost their composure would not be used indiscriminately. But playing chess was just a mental game for Ning Yi. In addition, due to the imbalance of information between the two sides, although the old man also had considerable chess skills, he was still defeated by Ning Yi's repeated small tricks, which brought a small sense of satisfaction to Ning Yi, a modern person bullying an ancient person.

That day, when he returned home, Su Tan'er was also returning from outside. A little maid named Xing'er was greeting a few people to move cloth into the Miss's room. It was probably new goods, colorful and vibrant. Seeing them return, Juan'er upstairs brought down a large wooden box: "Master, master, Miss heard that master likes to play chess very much, and saw it on the street today, so she specially bought it back for master." Actually, it was a gift from someone else. Su Tan'er didn't need it, so she conveniently took it back. It was a box containing Go. Ning Yi was startled: "Like this, help me thank madam."

"Master thank madam yourself." The little girl smiled playfully and ran upstairs again. Ning Yi shook his head, took the Go back to his room. There was no one he knew here, who would he play with?

Juan'er returned to her room. A few people moving goods had already left the courtyard. She imitated Ning Yi's voice: "Miss, master said 'Help me thank madam'." Then she was tapped on the forehead by Su Tan'er, who was looking at the account books. The master and servants had grown up together since they were young. Although there was respect for rank, they had always had a close relationship like sisters. However, when Su Tan'er was busy, it wasn't good to joke too much. After reading the account books, Su Tan'er carefully looked at the cloth. At this time, Chan'er and Xing'er also came in. Seeing Chan'er, she smiled: "Did you go out with master to watch chess again today?"

"Yeah." Chan'er shook her little head, "I don't understand."

"I don't like Go either." Su Tan'er shook her head. She had been busy running around all morning and only now could she rest a little. She picked up a piece of Xuan paper on the table, frowned, and asked Chan'er: "Did master really write this poem?"

The Xuan paper was something Chan'er had grabbed in the morning. At this time, she leaned over to look and immediately confirmed: "Yes, I saw master writing it, he said he was practicing calligraphy."

Su Tan'er frowned and looked at it a few more times before putting it down. Chan'er had taken this poem over hastily in the morning, Su Tan'er was busy the whole morning, and only had time to look at it after returning home. Xing'er who was downstairs also hadn't seen it yet. Seeing her Miss's rich expression, she came over to look with interest. All three maids had learned poetry, literature and arithmetic, at this time they held it in their hands, but they also wrinkled their little faces into buns.

"Three lotus roots floating in the emerald pool... raft can have love thoughts, dew... wet sand wall, evening secluded dawn silent... what does it mean?"

In the other room, Ning Yi stood at the table sorting out the draft paper, preparing to throw it away or burn it. He wrote ten pages yesterday practicing calligraphy, only to find that one was missing. After thinking about it, he shook his head and laughed: "It would be strange if you could understand..."

Then, it started to thunder and rain.

The summer rain came violently. In the sounds of the sky and earth, the sky darkened as if it were evening. However, in such weather, pushing open the window and looking at the garden residence immersed in the heavy rain was quite leisurely. Looking from here, you could occasionally see Su Tan'er and a few little maids walking around in the opposite room. After a while, Chan'er came over with some colored fabrics. Ning Yi was opening the Go box at his desk: "Master, Miss said this is newly arrived silk, let this servant measure master to make some clothes. Which color does master like?"

"Anything."

"You can't just pick anything when making new clothes." The little girl muttered, picked up a soft ruler, and measured Ning Yi's height and length. Ning Yi looked at the rain outside, then looked at the little girl beside him.

"Do you have anything to do this afternoon?"

"Nothing."

"Let's play chess then."

"This servant doesn't know Go."

"Not Go, I'll teach you Tic-Tac-Toe."

"Tic-Tac-Toe?" The little girl looked up at him, a look of confusion flashing in her eyes. She hadn't heard of this kind of chess...

Thus, this usually quiet little courtyard, in the afternoon, often heard the cheers of the little girl. Although usually quite quiet and steady, Su Tan'er was eighteen years old, and the three little maids around her were only fourteen or fifteen years old. When they encountered something interesting, it was inevitable that they would forget themselves. In the other room, Su Tan'er sat by the window reading a book. Xing'er and Juan'er were sitting in a row on small benches embroidering. Occasionally hearing the faint cheers of "I won, I won" in the rain from across the way, they couldn't help but look up curiously. Repeating this several times, Xing'er pricked her finger with a needle, sucked her fingertip in her mouth and looked over there in confusion.

"Chan'er, what's wrong..."