The chess stalls that used to line the alley from one end to the other, were empty now.
A small paper-made stool, wooden chessboard with intersecting lines, and the black and white chess pieces, were all hastily left in the winter air.
Almost everyone had gathered around a chess stall deep in the alley.
Zhao Douan and his group passed by the century-old cold plum tree and reached the outer periphery of the crowd, which was three layers deep inside and out.
No command was necessary.
Hou Renmeng, Shen Juan, and the female warriors from the Western Regions forcibly cleared a path through sheer brute force.
"Who is it?"
"Don't push!"
Inevitably, a flurry of curses followed.
But the chess players, dressed in thick cotton robes and craning their necks to see, immediately silenced upon catching a glimpse of Zhao Douan and Princess Wen Zhu hand in hand, swallowing their curses back down.
