“Six Principles Chess?” Xia Qian had already taken out her digital camera and, with An Nuo’s permission, was continuously photographing the wooden box on the table. The flash was extremely dazzling, but no one was willing to close their eyes. Even Wei Zhuoran, who hadn’t shown much interest, revealed a curious expression.
Inside the wooden box were only three types of items: a square wooden chess board, twelve rectangular jade chess pieces, and six bamboo sticks. The front center of the board had a square area carved in intaglio and painted with red lacquer depicting four dots, with three areas drawn at each end, plus several curved paths. The chess pieces were also different—among the twelve rectangular pieces, five were made of Hetian jade, five were black Hetian jade, and two jade pieces with an emerald hue were noticeably larger than the other ten. There were six sticks, made from small bamboo tubes split in half with curved cross-sections.
“These chess pieces look quite like mahjong tiles…” Xia Qian muttered softly while taking photos.
Looking at what appeared to be an authentic Six Principles Chess set before him, Lu Zigang couldn’t help but become excited under the constant clicking and flashing of lights. His uncle beside him couldn’t see the significance and was nudging Lu Zigang’s leg under the table with his knee, hoping he would explain a few things.
Lu Zigang steadied himself. What he most wanted to do right now was to hold the Six Principles Chess set in front of him for authentication, to see exactly what era it was from. As for his uncle’s questions, just as he was about to organize his words to respond, someone else spoke first.
Few of the young people present knew what Six Principles Chess was, so a middle-aged man in his fifties sitting on the other side of his uncle coughed lightly and explained: “Six Principles Chess is an ancient board game that was quite popular during the Spring and Autumn, Warring States, and Qin-Han periods, with a history of several thousand years. According to chess historians’ research, this ancient Six Principles Chess is actually the ancestor of all piece-based board games in the world. Games with different pieces like Chinese chess, international chess, Japanese shogi, and so forth all gradually evolved and developed from Six Principles Chess.”
This middle-aged man with a scholarly air was named Chen Miao. According to what was said, he was the director of a private library, collecting countless rare and unique volumes. He was frequently invited by major universities to give lectures, and when he spoke, his intonation was melodious and pleasing to hear.
“Six Principles Chess is that amazing?” Lin Yan, one of the twins, was somewhat skeptical. He was a history student after all, and though he studied the humanities, Lin Yan considered his knowledge to be dozens of times greater than others, so he couldn’t help doubting Chen Miao’s claims. “Professor Chen, if Six Principles Chess was as amazing as you say, how could I have never heard of it?”
Wu Yu, who had been standing excitedly while leaning on the table edge, snorted coldly upon hearing this and said with arrogant disdain: “Young man, your learning is still shallow. If you haven’t heard of Six Principles Chess, then you’ve surely heard of the term ‘gaming strategy’ (博弈)? The ‘Yi’ (弈) in ‘gaming strategy’ refers to the game of Go…”
“Ah! Could that ‘Bo’ (博) character be the ‘Bo’ from Six Principles Chess?” Xia Qian stopped taking photos and exclaimed with her hand covering her lips, interrupting Wu Yu mid-sentence.
Wu Yu frowned at being interrupted. Though he disliked others cutting in while he was speaking, since the other party was a young and beautiful woman, he couldn’t say much, pressing his hand on the table edge and slowly sitting down.
The scholarly Professor Chen smiled slightly and picked up the topic: “The Analects of Confucius, Yanghua chapter states: ‘Those who eat their fill all day without applying their minds to anything are hopeless! Are there not gamesters and chess players? Even these would be better than doing nothing at all.’ This is roughly the earliest source of the term ‘gaming strategy.’ Song dynasty scholar Zhu Xi once annotated this passage: ‘Bo refers to board games; Yi refers to Go.’ Miss Xia guessed correctly—the two characters ‘gaming strategy’ originally referred to Six Principles Chess and Go.”
“Moreover, looking at the two characters for gaming strategy, ‘Bo’ comes before ‘Yi.’ According to ancient customs, this means Six Principles Chess was initially more widely popular than Go,” said the gaunt Yan Ao, his small eyes gleaming with intensity, wishing he could scan the Six Principles Chess set before him as thoroughly as an X-ray.
“That’s so impressive!” Lin Yan listened in amazement. Though he still didn’t understand Six Principles Chess, he knew the importance of Go in Chinese history. Learning that Six Principles Chess was historically even more prestigious than Go, his gaze toward the wooden box changed from indifference to growing fervor.
Wei Zhuoran, Xia Qian’s husband, differed from the others’ excitement and asked pointedly: “But now Six Principles Chess isn’t as universally known as Go. There must be some reason for this?”
“Six Principles was invented very early. According to research, it was no later than the Shang dynasty at the latest. It then flourished from the Spring and Autumn period through the Qin and Han dynasties, becoming indispensable content in people’s daily lives. Compared to Go’s obscurity and profundity, Six Principles Chess with its gambling nature spread widely among people of all social levels. During the Qin and Han periods, everyone from emperors to peddlers and laborers was utterly fascinated by it. Those skilled in Six Principles Chess could even enjoy official positions in the palace and receive people’s respect.” Yan Ao took a sip of the now-cold Biluochun tea and sighed lightly before continuing: “But after the Eastern Han dynasty, Six Principles Chess began to decline. The playing methods gradually became lost to history. Existing historical records are fragmentary and unclear—how to cast the sticks, how to move the pieces can no longer be known in detail. The reason for Six Principles Chess losing its playing methods might be related to people’s modifications of it. Later, chess with more specialized divisions of labor appeared, and Six Principles Chess was gradually eliminated by the times.”
Yan Ao’s voice was slightly hoarse, sounding somewhat desolate in the spacious hall. Everyone seemed to follow his words back to the era thousands of years ago when Six Principles Chess flourished, temporarily falling into melancholy silence.
“Then what era would Elder Yu’s Six Principles Chess set be from?” The uncle wasn’t particularly moved by everyone’s sentiments—his purpose was single-mindedly trying to please Elder Yu.
Lu Zigang came back to his senses, understanding his uncle’s meaning, and began explaining: “From the Spring and Autumn period through the Western Han dynasty, Six Principles Chess had no difference in form. But during the Eastern Han period, there was once an innovation. The renovated Six Principles Chess was called Small Bo, while the pre-innovation version was renamed Great Bo. The main difference between the two lay in the number of casting sticks. Great Bo had six sticks, Small Bo had two qiong. Qiong served the same function as sticks—they were dice-casting implements. Look, qiong were shaped roughly like modern dice, except they weren’t six-sided but multi-faced spherical forms.”
“Oh oh! So this Six Principles Chess set could very likely be an antique from before the Western Han dynasty?” His uncle appeared very excited, as if the Six Principles Chess set before them belonged to him.
Not very likely. Lu Zigang swallowed these words back down. The four characters “before Western Han” were easy to write, but how could something from thousands of years ago possibly be preserved so simply? Especially since this was made of wood—it was most likely a later imitation of Six Principles Chess, though it could still have several hundred years of history. Lu Zigang didn’t dare say much at this moment. Though most of those present were young people, there were quite a few insiders, and he certainly wasn’t the only one who could recognize quality goods.
Xia Qian had no interest in the Six Principles Chess set’s age. She was flipping through the pictures in her camera when she suddenly made a discovery and exclaimed: “Eh! This chess board’s pattern looks so familiar!”
With her saying this, everyone’s gaze fell on the chess board. Except for the confused Lu Zigang, everyone else successively showed expressions of surprise.
An Nuo raised her hand to sweep the long hair that had fallen to her chest back over her shoulder and smiled elegantly: “That’s right, this chess board closely resembles the floor plan of this residence. Or rather, the original owner of this residence was so obsessed with Six Principles Chess that he imitated the Six Principles Chess board to build this residence.”
Everyone collectively gasped, all understanding the implication in An Nuo’s words. Obsessed with Six Principles Chess? That would place it somewhere between the Spring and Autumn period and the Eastern Han dynasty. Did this mean this residence had actually existed for at least two thousand years?
Only then did Lu Zigang understand why he had felt the layout was strange upon entering. The square hall they were currently in should correspond to the rectangular area drawn in the center of the Six Principles Chess board. The surrounding curved paths and areas at both ends probably had corresponding curved corridors and pavilions.
With An Nuo’s explanation, no one could sit still anymore. Previously they had only suspected the buildings here were constructed imitating Qin and Han architectural styles, but now upon careful consideration, this place was remotely located and might truly have escaped the baptism of warfare. Combined with careful repairs and maintenance by successive owners… Taking a step back, even if the wooden buildings weren’t original from over two thousand years ago, the furnishings and objects in the residence might well have been preserved intact…
Lu Zigang immediately began scanning the tables, chairs, screens, and even teacups before him, then disappointedly withdrew his gaze. At least within his sight, only the Six Principles Chess set before him seemed like a genuine antique.
An Nuo smiled slightly: “Tonight we happen to have twelve people here, and Six Principles Chess happens to have twelve pieces. The residence we’re in is also a Six Principles Chess board. Why don’t we personally experience the pleasure of Six Principles Chess?”
“How do we experience it?” Lin Yan, young and spirited, was eager for anything fun. “Like in Harry Potter where people ride on the chess pieces?”
“Not that exaggerated—I don’t know magic.” An Nuo giggled, revealing two cute dimples at the corners of her lips. “Only two people will actually play chess. The others will cooperate by moving around the residence, considering it an after-dinner stroll.”
With her suggestion, most people agreed. Some felt bored sitting here but hadn’t left out of politeness, while others wanted to take the opportunity to look around the residence and search for evidence of its antiquity.
“Six Principles Chess has six pieces per side—one xiao and five san, hence called Six Principles. The xiao piece is the king piece, to be played by Elder Yu and another person. Casting the sticks means throwing these six bamboo strips—however many curved surfaces face up determines how many steps you can move. The rules are simple. Who’s interested in playing a game against Elder Yu?” An Nuo stood up and carefully removed the Six Principles Chess set from the wooden box. Her movements were both careful and elegant, extremely pleasing to watch.
For a moment no one responded. The young people didn’t want to play chess with an old man, while the older ones preferred to walk around the courtyard. Seeing no one responding, his uncle immediately volunteered. He was eager for any chance to strike up conversation with Elder Yu and wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
An Nuo clapped her hands, and someone brought over twelve walkie-talkies from the side. She distributed them to everyone: “The cell phone signal here isn’t good, so we’ll use walkie-talkies to communicate shortly. There are various ancient blades from Elder Yu’s collection on these walls. Everyone can take one to hold. When someone takes the blade from your hand, it means you’ve been captured. Of course, this requires everyone’s cooperation with the instructions sent through your walkie-talkies!”
There wasn’t much that needed special instruction. They had everyone draw lots to form teams. On Elder Yu’s side were the white-haired youth named Hu Hai, An Nuo, Xia Qian, Lin Mo, and Wu Yu. The remaining six people formed Lu Zigang’s uncle’s group. Married couples and twin brothers were coincidentally separated, which was quite interesting. Each person was given a chess piece and a brush dipped in vermillion.
Lu Zigang remembered there was a saying about it being inauspicious to write names in red ink, but seeing everyone else doing it, he suppressed his unease and neatly wrote his name on the white chess piece.
When returning the chess piece and going to select a blade, Lu Zigang realized the walls of this hall were covered with ancient blades from various dynasties, all sharing one characteristic—none had sheaths. The sharp or rust-stained blades gleamed with captivating cold light in the dim candlelight. It seemed Elder Yu’s favorite collection was bladed weapons. Lu Zigang casually picked a willow-leaf saber most common in the Ming and Qing periods, then turned and walked out.