All the events on the first day of Sports Day ended smoothly, and Chen Shi'an even brought home the Chinese Chess championship for his class.
When one person won, the whole family benefited.
During evening study, Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan stopped playing Gomoku and turned around to play Flip Chess with Chen Shi'an instead.
"Chen Shi'an, how do you play this game you mentioned?"
"It's simple. You use half the board, shuffle the pieces, and place them face down. Then the two players take turns flipping pieces to determine their sides. Each turn, you can flip a piece, move, or capture. All pieces can only move one square. Cannons can capture across exactly one intervening piece, regardless of distance or rank. The ranking goes general, advisor, elephant, chariot, horse, cannon, soldier, but soldiers can capture generals. Capture all your opponent's pieces and you win."
Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan looked a little confused. They scratched their heads, then looked at Lin Meng Qiu, who had also been listening beside Chen Shi'an.
"Class Monitor, did you get all that?"
"...Mm-hmm."
The Class Monitor said little and merely nodded. Afraid Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan would ask her to explain, she hurriedly picked up her cup and busied herself drinking water.
Seeing that the silly girls were still completely lost, Chen Shi'an set up the board and demonstrated a round.
The girls finally understood. It really was simple.
Even the Class Monitor put down her cup, now able to answer Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan's questions with confidence.
"It's pretty fun. Let's play a few rounds. I haven't played in ages either."
"Sure!"
Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan readily agreed. Tonight's evening study was just like yesterday's: with exams over and Sports Day underway, how could they settle down to study?