Chapter 37: Mahjong, Completed

Chapter 37: Mahjong, Completed

The two of them returned to the Royal Palace and found a relatively empty room. Aierjisi brought out the piece of wood she had from earlier.

“Here, this is the piece of wood you wanted to see. What do you think?”

“It looks just like any ordinary wood.”

Yake examined the square timber closely; it was indeed indistinguishable from regular wood.

“Isn’t that obvious? Because it is just a regular piece of wood! But in your hands, it will soon become extraordinary.”

“So, what exactly do you need me to do?”

At this point, Yake still didn’t understand why Aierjisi had called him over. What could he possibly do to make this wood no longer ordinary?

“It’s simple. First, cut this wood into some rectangular pieces, preferably small enough to fit in your hand.”

“Like this?”

Yake swung his sword, using the swordsmanship he had learned to cut the wood into pieces just the right size Aierjisi had mentioned.

“Yeah, that’s about right. Keep going!”

“Okay.”

Though curious about what they were making, Yake didn’t ask any further questions and obediently continued cutting the remaining wood into uniform pieces.

“Let me count them and see if it’s enough.”

Watching Yake cut the timber into evenly sized pieces, Aierjisi jogged over to the pile and counted them to see if they met the quantity required for Mahjong.

“Looks like we have two extra pieces, but that should be fine. Come on, Yake, this was just a warm-up. The real task is what you need to do next.”

“So what am I really supposed to help with…?”

“You need to carve some characters onto these pieces. For example, ‘two bamboo’ and ‘nine circles.'”

Aierjisi shared the titles from the Mahjong tiles with him. Ideally, she wanted Yake to carve the complete designs, but after considering it, she decided that might be too much, so she settled for having him carve just the characters.

“This is definitely not an easy job, but I’ll give it a try.”

Yake picked up his sword and attempted to carve the characters Aierjisi just mentioned onto the small tiles.

However, attempting to carve such small characters proved to be quite a challenge. Especially since the tiles kept slipping away as he tried to carve them. Reluctantly, he decided to ask the Little Princess for help, as it was her request after all, so it wouldn’t be too inappropriate to ask her for assistance.

“Aier, can you come and hold these tiles steady? Otherwise, I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue.”

“Sure, no problem. This part is pretty easy.”

Aierjisi reached out, placing her palm down to stabilize the wood.

“Alright, it’s secured. You can continue now.”

“Got it.”

Yake carefully carved the characters into the tiles with his sword. Just like that, over half an hour passed.

“Ah, finally finished! I swear, I’m never taking on a job like this again. It was exhausting!”

As he completed the last tile, Yake collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. Physically, it hadn’t been too strenuous, but mentally, it was a different story. Just imagining using a sword, which was meant for combat, to carve such tiny characters was a task that required immense concentration.

“Wow, all perfectly carved! As expected of Yake, amazing work. Since you’re done, let’s head back.”

“Uh… you go ahead. Just let me rest here for a bit. I’m way too tired. My head is killing me.”

Yake cradled his head, the mental strain from the task had nearly blurred his consciousness, babbling nonsense…

“Alright, I’ll take you back to your room to rest.”

Aierjisi realized she had put Yake through a tough job. Perhaps out of guilt, she couldn’t just leave him there. She hoisted Yake onto her shoulder and carried him back to their room.

“Just sleep well here for a while. I’ll go find Weirafiya and the others. Good night, and sweet dreams.”

After stripping Yake down to his underwear, she tucked him under the covers, allowing him to sleep tightly before she left to find the little Phoenix and her attendants.

“Weirafiya, I’m back! How are you feeling now?”

“How do you think I feel? Can’t you see it for yourself…?”

Weirafiya crossed her arms, looking sadly at Aierjisi. She had been stuck in this place for so long, feeling extremely bored, while the Little Princess got to run around. Surely, she couldn’t understand her feelings.

“Yeah, you do seem a bit unwell. But don’t worry, apart from your requests, I brought some toys for you. Want to take a look?”

“Toys? What kind of toys did you bring me? Show me!”

Hearing about toys piqued Weirafiya’s interest, and she urged Aierjisi to take them out.

“Here it is: I made Mahjong myself today. Though because the patterns were too complex, I simplified them. But they should be fine for playing. What do you think?”

“Hmm… I see, so these characters are used instead of the original patterns?”

Weirafiya examined one of the Mahjong tiles. Truth be told, if they were to use these for a game, it could be a great way to pass the time. But there was just one problem…

“However, I don’t really know how to play Mahjong.”

“That’s nothing to worry about. Let me teach you! I used to be really good at playing ‘Mahjong Soul.'”

While not many young people knew how to play Mahjong, there was a game called ‘Mahjong Soul’ that had introduced many to its rules. Aierjisi had also learned the basics of Mahjong through that game.

“But there’s another problem—doesn’t Mahjong need four players? There are only three of us here, so what do we do?”

“That’s easy! Besides you two, there’s one more person recovering over there!”